Bonyun Preserve, Westport Island, ME

To combat the onset of stir-craze due to endless days of isolation from the COVID-19 outbreak, my thoughts return to a beautiful preserve we visited last fall.  We’ve now spent two full weeks at our farm with no close contact with other humans.  The next sunny day I plan to travel to Westport Island, near Wiscasset, Maine, to enjoy Bonyun Preserve.  It is easy to avoid human contact in the woods of Maine.  We are lucky to have so many active land preservation groups here.  Without their work, our access to the gorgeous Maine coast would be severely limited.

Bonyun Preserve is 68 acres of land with frontage on the Sasanoa River estuary, a tidal saltwater area.  There are over 2 miles of walking trails through mature forest, skirting tidal creeks, over a wooden bridge and along shore front.  Several interesting islands dot the off-shore scenery and the remains of a 19th century tidal mill used to saw wood and grind corn.  The best time to get the full scenic effect would be the several hours around high tide when the mud flats are covered. 

Bonyun Preserve is valuable as a home for many species of birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and invertebrates.  So much of the coast of Maine is developed for private homes that large tracts of wild land are becoming increasing rare.  The wildlife needs a place to live and roam if we are to keep Maine’s natural beauty.

The preserve was donated by the Bonyun family.  Bill and Gene Bonyun were popular folk singers and folklorists in Maine.  They purchased the land in 1940 and their children donated it for public enjoyment.  The trust that holds the land plans to expand the size of the parcel with additional purchases.  What a gift to future generations!

Pineapple Meringue Pie

This old fashioned pie is delicious and easy to make.  Pineapple brings a sweet tropical decadence to a pie that is made much like lemon meringue.  It’s also a great way to use up extra eggs.  You will need to separate three eggs.  I like to use a commercial shortbread pie crust, but graham cracker or home made crust work fine.  I believe the recipe came from the back of a can of pineapple.

Pineapple Meringue Pie

20 oz can crushed pineapple

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

9″ baked pie shell

Pre-heat oven to 400F.  Heat pineapple in a sauce pan on medium heat.  Mix together sugar, salt and cornstarch in a small bowl and add all at once to the hot pineapple.  Cook stirring until thick and clear.  Beat the egg yolks.  Stir a small amount of the hot pineapple mix into the yolks then add all back into the pineapple.  Cook, stirring well for one minute.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and lemon juice.  Pour into the pie shell.

Meringue

3 egg whites

pinch of salt

6 tablespoons sugar

Place egg whites in a medium mixing bowl.  Add salt and beat until soft peaks form.  Add sugar one spoon at a time, beating, until all the sugar is combined and the whites are stiff.  Spread the meringue over the pineapple, assuring the topping touches the edges of the piecrust to keep the meringue from shrinking away from the sides.  Bake at 400F for 8 minutes until the meringue is browned.  Store in refrigerator.

 

New Buck

Phoenix Farm welcomes a new baby buck to the rabbitry.  Agate has been here about a week.  He’s 14 weeks old, a chocolate colored French/German cross angora.  What a cute, snuggly little bundle of fur!  Agate settled in quickly to his new home and has already made friends with his does, although he’s more interested in trying to nurse rather than mate!

His mother is a pure French angora fawn colored doe named Maple.  His father, Samwise, is a black French/German angora cross.

Agate replaces the buck named Garnet I acquired last year.  Unfortunately, I discovered that Garnet was closely related to my does, even though I drove two hours east to buy him.  He was at grandson level to my senior doe and cousin to the younger one.  The breeder is located in southern Maine, two hours drive south of us.  Her rabbits get around!  So I sold Garnet last fall and have been looking for a replacement.  It was great to find Agate.  He was also a two hour drive east, but he definitely is unrelated to my does.

There are a lot of different colors in Agate’s background.  Fingers crossed I get some nice colored babies from him and not just bunches of albinos, also called red-eyed whites.  Albinos are lovely with their pure white fiber, but it gets kind of boring after a while.  My senior doe, Moonstone, threw pearl colored babies with my old albino buck.  That color is creamy all over the body with colored ears and face.  I would love to have a pearl doe.  Agate should be ready to be a father by May, so I hope he’s paying attention to my requests!