Summer in Maine is marked by all kinds of things - restaurant patios, cruises, tourists, and fiddleheads! Whether you steer clear of the little local fern buds or gobble 'em up with garlic and parmesan, you gotta admit that fiddleheads are a quintessential Maine thing.

I only just tried them last year after moving to Maine, and had never even heard of them before that... but tons of Mainers grow up picking and making these at home. Jeremy T. Grant captured the journey these local veggies take from field to plate, courtesy of John Gibbs, one of the owners of Harborwalk Restaurant in Belfast, Maine.

Along with John's 92-year-old father Derol, John and Jeremy ventured out to fight the bugs, collect their fiddleheads, and drive back to the restaurant to thoroughly clean and prepare them for consumption. What I didn't know about fiddleheads is how sick you can get if you don't prepare them properly, due to the wild bacteria that can live inside their tightly coiled head. Enjoy the process captured by Jeremy, be aware of how to prepare, then go out and gather to your hearts content!

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