Busy, Busy, Busy...

What can I say?
I knew I was going to have amazing adventures here.
I dreamed about it, planned it, prepared for it.
I want to share my adventures with you.
Little did I know that these amazing adventures would keep me so busy that I have not found time to write.

My garden is growing great!  However it has taken quite a while before I was able to say that. For two months, it has been growing at a snail's pace.  Not all of the plants have been successful.  This first year is a learning experience for me, mostly by trial and error.  I have learned better how to NOT FREEZE everything in the mini-greenhouse, that weeds grow like weeds- but only when I'm not looking, ALL the outdoor critters like to eat my garden too, and to be really really patient.  The surviving plants that remain in the garden are:  (10) Tomatoes, (3) Patty-Pan Squash, (2) Chard, (1) Zucchini, many Lentils, (+/- 40) Sugar Peas, (6) Cilantro, (2) Beets, (20 +) Carrots, (3) Eggplants, (3 Sq Ft) Romaine Lettuce, (26) Bush Beans, and about 30 Potatoes.  In my herb bed, I have Thyme, Sage, Mint, and Chammomile, all growing very well.


As I said, everything grew at a snail's pace.  Only just a couple weeks ago I was able to start harvesting the snow peas and the lettuce, and a couple leaves of chard.  The first Fall frost is expected by the end of this month, so I may not get much more.  The lettuce, however, is exploding with growth- much more than I can eat or juice.  I have supplemented much of my diet with wild edibles- Nettles, Wild Chammomile, Dandelion leaves, Plantain, and Bedstraw.

Like lemonade?  Try steeping 1 cup of Sweet Clover blossoms in 1/2 gallon hot water.  Then use that Sweet Clover tea as the water for your lemonade!  Wonderful!!!

Saskatoon Berries

Saskatoon berries, Blueberries, Gooseberries (Currants), Cranberries, Strawberries, and Raspberries!
They all grow here in abundance.  There's some other berry here also that I haven't identified yet.

Blueberries

Cranberries

      
This is a very busy month for us.  I just returned from a camping trip with friends, and their friends.  There was about 80 persons total, mostly of off-the-grid families.  A fantastic trip meeting interesting people.  Tom did not get to join us, as he had a lot of work to get caught up on at home.  However, this coming weekend,we will be away together, revisiting a resort we went to when we first met.

Grizz with Summer coat

Grizz???  He's still a most handsome pup, perhaps except when he goes for a swim in our lagoon (Canada's version of a septic system).  Strangely, he has not grown as we expected.  He had reached 70 lbs by 9 months old, then he just stopped growing.  He recently turned 1 year old. He's a crazy nut, but we love him.

Warmer Days

New adventures have continued here.  Tom and I got out one afternoon for a nice snowshoeing trip.  It was only for just under 3 miles, but neither of us have been out snowshoeing much and this trip seemed to be a small challenge.  Along our way we found an area with many older White Birch trees, whereas many areas here are dominated by Poplars.  We both came back with sore knees, but it was great just to get out together.  Grizz went with us.  The trip began by snowmobile, so we've had to teach Grizz to ride calmly, half way laying in my lap between us.  He quickly gets over the engine noise, but staying balanced sideways on a snowmobile is no small feat for such a large beast.  Teaching him to duck when low branches come our way will be miraculous.

I have been hearing much from everyone about the lack of rain in California.  We've had a fair share of snow, but really it has been much warmer for January than we had anticipated.  The thickly laid snow began melting and then freezing again, leaving a lake of ice covering our yard and drivespace.  The warm temps then brought rain instead of snow which didn't help matters.  It was the lake of ice that kept me trapped inside on some days.  I became afraid to walk out there even with good boot treads as the result of a few falls. One great thing about having such a large pup is being able to teach him to stand still and strong while allowing me to pull myself upright by grasping his face or shoulders and leveraging myself up again after an icy fall.  (He didn't always appreciate this at first, until he realized why I was doing it, then he stood stronger each time I needed him.)  Grizz started missing out on his outdoors ball time because he often fell and slid past his beloved ball with legs spread out in all directions.  Hearing the crack sound of his jaw or head hitting the ice was enough to end our game time. We had a truckload of sand and ice spread around which improved the drivespace greatly.

The unseasonably warm weather has also begun calling some of the Grizzlies out of hibernation early.  I haven't seen any yet, but I'm keeping my eyes open during my hikes, and always taking Grizz with me.

Green grass started peeking out above the melting snow, though I knew it would not stay for long.  It was a great reminder to me that Spring planting season will be upon us eventually!  During a trip to town, we bought many of the veggie seeds I would like to grow.  According to the Farmer's Almanac info I found online for this region, the date of the last Spring frost here is expected to be around June 5th.  June 5th????  That still shocks me as I am used to California where you can grow many vegetables outdoors year round.  June 5th is so far away.  Here there is expected this year to be a growing season of about 84 days, with the first Fall frost being August 29.  I will definitely be starting most of my seeds indoors and then placing them in my mini-greenhouse until I can plant them out in the garden.  Even though the growing season is much shorter here, a bonus is that the daylight hours are longer making everything turn out just right.

Hopefully I can buy some chickens soon and start getting some fresh eggs.  I love farm chicken eggs.  There's a bit of work to do to get their coop ready before their arrival sometime around April or May, I think.

Its snowing a again and I have some work to do outside.  Have a great day!

Yogurt in a Crockpot

Hello all!  Time has been flying by fast for me.  Though I keep planning to write much more often here, I find myself keeping busy starting my business instead.   Not much has been changing around here otherwise.  We have had much snow and Spring is so far away so I will not be getting out to do much foraging for a while.  Soon I will post about some winter foraging that I have been doing.

Grizz has continued growing to be a wonderful dog. Now at 6 months old, he is a big 55 lbs of bouncing puppy joy.  Grizz just had his first snowmobile ride.  It will be good to train him to stay comfortably on a snowmobile or quad for when we take long trail trips.

I love making homemade yogurt, and found a method that uses a crockpot to heat the milk, and then turned off to cool for a bit before adding the yogurt culture.  Then, the crockpot just rests for hours while the yogurt culture works its wonders.

Homemade yogurt is a beneficial probiotic for healthy digestion, though there are many controversies involving its use in the regular diet.  I recommend using only organic, raw, grass-fed milk from local farmers, but its difficult to obtain raw.  There are many varieties available including Greek-style which has a higher protein content.  Yogurt the only dairy product that I regularly consume.  Pasteurized milk irritates my stomach, though raw feels just fine to me.   The yogurt culture I purchase currently is an organic pasteurized Greek-style.   I flavor my yogurt portions (usually with fruit and maple syrup or honey) only just before I eat it, but I also love to include yogurt in a smoothie for breakfast made with apple, oatmeal, honey and yogurt.  I also add it to soups instead of cream, or use it to make a delicious tangy cream cheese!  Do not use any yogurt culture that contains pectin.  I choose unflavored, but I have successfully used a vanilla flavored yogurt as the culture.

There are several methods of making yogurt easily found online, (or your local library), but here is the instructions I use to make it in a crock-pot:

Makes 1/2 gallon yogurt.

1.  Pour 1/2 gallon milk into a crock-pot with ceramic interior.
2.  Heat milk until thermometer reaches 175 degrees F.
3.  Meanwhile, let 1 cup yogurt set out to warm to room temperature.
4.  When crock-pot has heated to 175 degrees, unplug the crock-pot and allow it to cool until 115 degrees.  You may occasionally stir it to prevent a top-skin forming.
5.  Stir in 1 cup organic yogurt culture.
6.  Wrap the unplugged crock-pot with bath-sized towels, and let set undisturbed for 10 hours.  The resulting yogurt should be thick and delicious.

Store in the refrigerator and use as desired, saving 1 cup to use as a culture for your next batch of homemade natural goodness.  Enjoy!

Here's some more interesting and useful info on yogurt:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=124