Hiking in B.C

We've been in British Columbia for almost 1 week now and we've been having a great time. Nelson B.C. is a very laid back, down to earth community and we feel really at home here.

The view here is absolutely beautiful with mountains all around us.

Today my brother-in-law and I took a few of the kids on a hike up the road. It was likely a wee bit too ambitious but we did it anyway.

We hiked up the road from their house and headed 11 km's up in to the mountains. The walk was worth it because at the end of the road was this picturesque lake.

We hung out at the lake and had lunch and then explored around for about an hour or so until we had the energy to walk the 11 km's back home. On the way back home we stopped to pick some fiddleheads growing along side a mountain stream. We picked enough for a nice side dish for dinner.

I washed the fiddleheads and then boiled them in water for about 5 minutes. I then added a little butter and a splash of lemon juice. Everyone except for the youngest kids tried the fiddleheads. The rest went to the adults. They were enjoyable and an nice addition to a delicious meal.

I had looked for fiddleheads back home but I didn't find any so I'm happy we found some while on vacation. The hike, the beautiful lake and the fiddleheads will make for a nice memory for the kids. The adults too I'm sure.

The goats got my goat

We've been busy preparing for our trip out West so things have been hectic around here. We spent a lot of time planting in the garden over the weekend. We planted various seeds in the old garden and young seedings in the new garden. Unfortunately I didn't spend any time finishing the new garden gate. Rookie hobyfarmer mistake.

The goats broke though my shabby excuse for a gate and ate almost everything in the garden. They left me a couple of tomato plants and almost all of the zucchinis. I guess goats don't like zucchini seedlings.

I screamed. Really, I did. Loudly too.

My corn was doing very well and was about 2 inches high. Even worse .... I potted my herbs and had them in the garden getting some sun. They ate em too. I'm extremely disappointed.

Barb's going to pick up more plants tomorrow and the whole family will help plant them tomorrow night before bed. You can see my fortified garden gate in the picture above. I hope this will keep the goats out while we're away. My mother will have to spray the water hose over the fence to water the garden but so be it. That's the way it will have to be.

Life Lesson

Barb's out tonight so I needed to milk the goats and feed the babies on my own. Michael and Matthew didn't want to go outside. It's raining out so I don't blame them.

When I'm on my own I like to feed the kids through the fence because I can rest the bottles on the fence wire and feed all three at once.

The kids also get protection from the older goats because they can fit through the split rail fence to get to the bottles. You can see Lucy's nose in the picture. She's trying to check out what's going on.

After I was done feeding I let Buddy out of his prison. He was locked up for the day because the blacktop was going on the driveway today. We didn't want him burning his feet on the hot asphalt so Barb locked him in the barn. Well Buddy quickly got busy doing his business as soon as I let him out. And then I remembered that Barb said Buddy ate a rabbit yesterday ... bones and all. Well, I could tell Buddy was taking a good long time doing his business so I decided to stick around to make sure everything was all right.

Then it hit me ..... I saw a dead rabbit on the road yesterday morning. I drove by it and thought "I hope Buddy doesn't find that". Well he found it. And this my my punnishment for not stopping and cleaning up that roadkill when I saw it.

I had to wait to make sure Buddy didn't run in to trouble while passing that rabbit. Let me tell you I learned my lesson. I will always stop to clean up roadkill from now on.

Enough said.

Catching up

What a difference it makes when everyone pitches in to help! Barb picked up the parts needed to fix the lawn tractor and Michael cut the grass.

Daniel and I spent Saturday morning finishing the new garden fence. So far no goats or chickens have figured out a way to get inside the garden. I'm sure later in the summer they'll have more incentive and will try a little harder. I've only planted my potatoes and some seedling corn. It's a start.

I would be posting more updates on my blog if it wasn't for our crappy rural internet connection. We use a wireless modem and it doesn't seem to like the leaves on the trees. I suspect that the leaves may be blocking the signal from the cell tower. The result is a very bad internet connection. It can take several hours just to check email - very frustrating. All our neighbours are in the same boat. We need someone to build a few more cell towers in the area ... hopefully soon!

Lots of small chores = lots of time

My regular chores are starting to pile up! This warm weather and timely rain has caused our lawn to grow like crazy these past few days. Unfortunately I ignored the fact that my lawn tractor had a flat tire all winter. Now, when I really need to cut the grass, I have to spend time fixing the flat tire. I should have seen this day coming.

We are also in the middle of having our driveway paved and I have to put up a basketball hoop before they return to lay the blacktop. No pressure. I have all the parts for that job. I hope.

On a positive note, I finished nailing up the cedar rails around the garden. Next steps: put chicken wire around the inside, build a gate and plant my garden! Easy, yeah right.

I've had the chickens and goats locked up for two days now so they won't dig up the potatoes Barb and I planted on Sunday. Barb said the livestock were very very loud today ... not happy about having spent two days in their pens. I'll have to get the fencing done sometime soon to keep them quiet.

I have exactly 2 weeks to get everything done. We get on a plane two weeks from today!

I can do this ... I think.

Rainy Day

Matthew climbed up on the barn to take this picture. If it wasn't for the rain I would be outside finishing putting up the fence. I'm just slightly over half way done. I'm running out of nice rails to use but I should have enough to finish the job.

I'm not complaining about the rain because we really need it. It's been a very dry April this spring.

We should start finding morel mushrooms any day now .... without the rain this year might not be a very good one for morels. I'm crossing my fingers for a good harvest.