Clamming in Humboldt bay...

is everything I hoped it would be. 

Last year I attended the Humboldt Bay Symposium and saw a presentation on Humboldt bay clams that ignited an interest in me to go clamming.  Apparently not many people around Humboldt bay clam.  And in fact the number of clammers continue to decline every year.  For this reason, the bag limit of clams is 50 here, practically double the limit of any other county or state in the Pacific Northwest.

So for the last few months I've been amping up my enthusiasm to try this.  The biggest hurdle to going clamming here seemed to be the lack of information of where and how to.  I could find plenty of information about clamming in Oregon but nothing came up online for Humboldt.  I emailed around and eventually found a map from 1978 that showed Humboldt Bay and the different types of clams that could be found in certain areas.  I also talked to someone who had clammed around here and got some good tips.

The tides were right this weekend to get out on a low tide during daylight hours.  I purchased a fishing license grabbed my mud boots, shovel and a bucket and we were off.  I really wasn't sure what to expect.  I didn't want to get my hopes up, not knowing if I would find any clams or not.

But that worry was short-lived as Trevor pulled out a large gaper clam, arm covered in sandy mud, from the first hole that he dug.  Just a few minutes later I had one myself.  We dug and dug and dug for 2.5 hours as we honed our technique.  Towards the end we were both getting tired and our hands quite numb.  At one time I had both arms completely submerged in a large hole I had dug and it was collapsing on my arms.  I no longer had the strength to pull myself out and had to solicit Trevor's help to pull me out before I went in head first.

We ended up with 19 clams in the end.  Mostly gapers and Washingtons, and we were exhausted!  We both woke up sore the next morning but with smiles on our faces.  I was a little worried about cleaning the clams but it really wasn't that bad.  I gave thanks to the clams many, many times and did my best to get all their meat and not waste any.

We ended up making a yummy fresh Humboldt Clam Chowder for dinner with extra meat to spare for fritters.
We are looking forward to the next time we go out, having a little experience now, and would love to take anyone else interested in helping to dig some holes.

It's not 2010 anymore...

so will I or will I not continue this blog?  The year will tell.

Why did my blogging fall short last year?  I believe I know.  Heartbreak followed by working on my thesis, followed by falling in love, followed by being in love and finally defending and finishing my thesis.  Mainly it was thesis.  I spent way too many hours on my computer last year doing research and writing to want to spend more time blogging.

Once my thesis was submitted at the end of last year my brain began expanding in many directions.  For the first time in a long time I have time to research and learn about topics other than my thesis.  This has been exhilarating and overwhelming all at once.  My brain wants to catch up on all the many things that I haven't been able to give my attention to for the last 4-5 years, only those years are gone and I can only move forward.  I must have more patience with myself and stay focused on a few topics rather than being scattered over the many topics that I have an interest in.

I must take advantage the time that I have right now in my life to learn as much as possible in preparation for times when I may not have so much free time.  It's time to organize, learn, and establish healthy and environmentally conscious habits that will be useful in my life journey (more insight to what this means in upcoming blogs).

Oh, and I need to practice my guitar more, take another ceramics class, learn more about green building, learn about beekeeping, research my latest business idea, practice more yoga, learn to collect seaweeds, learn to make sprouted bread, sprout more often, design an expanded garden, create a better nighttime routine, meditate daily, be better at planning weekly meal plans, learn how to raise goats, make my own soap?, communicate with aliens > not... just checking to see if you're actually still reading this.  Oh yeah, patience!