A few weeks ago, I spent four days in Terschelling as part of my studies. We, the students, were invited to see it as a “scenographic retreat” hosted by Oerol festival.
Knowing that I would get lost if I went there without an idea or a topic in mind, I decided to keep my focus on decay, and to look beforehand for an “activity” to do there.
I heard that Terschelling used to be a fishermen island, but the practice has nowadays almost disappeared, and I was curious to know how do the remaining practitioners were still earning their bread, and what were their thoughts on the situation. I have thus contacted Maurice, our guide there, and asked him if he could help to put me in contact with a fisherman. Luckily, Nienke, the creative producer of Oerol told me about Raimond, who was willing to meet me on his boat on Tuesday, the day after our arrival.
That did not go through.
First, I learned while texting Raimond that he was expecting me to come on Thursday, so the date got postponed. Then, his net broke, and he had to go back to the main land to fix it. Therefore, we never had the occasion to meet.
So, I had to improvise, have fun, and look for (the meaning of) decay.
The day after our arrival on the island, I joined my classmate, Puck, on a trip to see seals. It was fascinating to see how they were living within their own system. If one seal becomes too sick, it would step away from the herd. We saw a few of them that had some kind of plastic rope stuck around their neck, but only one was far from the others. That one required human intervention. The other ones were still fine.
After that, we went on a walk in the Noordsvaarder, a natural reserve near the harbour. That is where I noticed the mushrooms. The poisonous ones, the not so pretty ones, the destroyed ones, and the decomposing ones. As I observed the latter type, and I saw fungi (or mold), taking advantage of the decay to infect the mushroom.
The next day, Puck and I went to a guided tour around the Boschplaat. It is important to know that three days before our arrival, a storm took over the island, and submerged part of it under the water. Luckily, the sea has receded rather quickly, but many artifacts remained on the ground: plastic, algaes, crabs, shells, dead animals, some water stuck inland that could not go back with the sea, and some that just needed more time.
And I wonder, how much more time will be needed for all of it to disappear, or go back to the sea, if that can ever happen? What will be the consequences linked to their disappearance? And what are the consequences of their stay?
It was impressive to see how the inhabitants, humans and nonhumans, were so well adapted to the climate and the constant reshaping of the island. They were more tolerant towards the unexpected, and have actually adopted it as part of their daily life.
On Thursday, the final day of our trip, I went around the forest with Ioana, another classmate, looking for a demolished-to-the-ground-house.
Moss, leaves and insects have already covered the ground, and the wooden foundation has started to disappear. It was an inspiring site to explore, especially because at the end, the only sturdy remainings were the tiles that were constituting the floor.
One funny encounter that I had during this trip was a man who was collecting photos of mushrooms. After a nice conversation about mushrooms, fishermen, art, and life in Terschelling, he insisted on showing me his secret stash of cranberries that he had collected for his wife.
Inspired, I also went to collect some, and decided to bring them to my grandmother in Tunisia, who liked the store bought cranberry jam but found it a bit too sweet.
So on Sunday, as soon as I arrived to Tunisia, I went to her house with exactly 242gr of cranberries, to make a jam:
First, wash the cranberries. Then, put them in a pot, cover them with water, and cook them until they become soft.
Secondly, add 150gr of sugar and let them cook again until the jam becomes less liquid.
Finally, put the jam in jars, close them with a lid, and let them cool down upside down.
And that is how you obtain a cranberry jam that will never decay, until you open the jar.
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