Walk at the Gravels and afternoon at SCAPA

I have been volunteering at SCAPA on Fridays for a couple of months now. I go into Stephenville with Mike in the morning  when he goes to work and I usually have a couple hours to put in so last week and this week I went to Port au Port and hikes the Gravels trail

Hopefully, the weather will stay good for a while yet and I can keep it up 

It's a beautiful place to spend a couple hours 

The trail is to the right in the picture

May be a little difficult to see; snow dusting the mountains in the background 

In one of Farley Mowats books....he tells of the isthmus being covered in walrus at one point of the year. Not so anymore 

My eyes can't help but scan the water looking for whale spouts or seal heads bobbing up and down 

  

A week left until Samhuinn

I am enjoying the cooler autumn weather. Getting outside chores done has become more comfortable. With the cooler air and the absence of the ever present midges and mosquitoes it's easier to get lost in the day 

We are up to 22 chickens. Two roosters; Mortimer and Stanley. I am hoping that we can get the coop enlarged before the ground freezes or at least the new poles put in. It is so mucky out there for. We expect fifteen of the hens should start laying in the next few weeks 

My first summer with the greenhouse was a bust 

My tomato plants grew huge but I think in the end that it was just too hot in the greenhouse. Learning curve. I have some spinach and broccoli and peas and kale that hopefully will continue growing until the cold really starts to get serious 

This is our foster cat Beauty. We take her to Corner Brook tonight so she can make the journey tomorrow to her new home in St. John's. We are going to miss her but are confident that she ha an awesome home to go to 

 I did it again. I talked hubby into helping me out dreads into my hair again(maybe I have some hope of making a free-spirit out of him?) Now to wait for them to tighten up 

A little planting

My raised bed of carrots in a painted and repurposed window frame that I planted a couple weeks ago are starting to show themselves  

And my bed of beets from Heritage Harvest Seed finally filled and planted 

Need $$ for more paint before I can proceed further....next week I suppose  

Hardest thing is letting go.....

A few more hours and we will be heading to Edmonton to catch the train eastward.
I am so grateful to Ma and Pa for the opportunity to go with them on this trip.
The emptiness that I feel having my children so far away is no less but I am grateful to have gotten to see everyone.
Mike and I were planning on building another cabin for us on our property. That has changed now. I would rather save the money to come and see my children and grandchildren every couple years.
That makes more sense for living on less and making due with what we have as well. The cabin that we live in was not built in the best location on the property but we will make due and get it all together with what we have.
My heart is heavy. Stifling a primal scream kind of heavy.
It never dawned on me years ago that I would not be able to be "hands on" with my grandchildren. And that rips my heart out.
The only things I have to give them are my time and my love of life and the natural world.
But we adapt(what choice is there)  Hopefully Hayden remembers the flower garden that we planted. And remembers to keep it watered and to take a picture for me when the flowers bloom.(then I will mail her a little something to add to her garden)
I love you guys so much. I am proud beyond words. I wish you all the best and rainbows and happiness and the strength to get through the rough spots.

A little out of my comfort zone but okay for a visit

 This Nanny and Jackson Lamont

 Nanny and Lincoln Charles

Nanny and Hayden Justus

These three are the highlight of my trip.
My heart is happy beyond words that Hayden now knows who her Nanny is.

A food court that serves actual food!!! Awesome. That fish was delicious. I have also had greek ad thai food. Loved both. Though next time I wouldn't get the hot sauce on the Schwarma(?)

I coped better with all the "commotion" than I ever thought that I would.
I could never stay here. It feels to me like all these people are trapped. They think they are free but they are not.
This trip really brought home just how differently that I live. How blessed that I am.
I really just think of the way that I live as normal and it seems extremely strange to me that people would not be fighting to get out of cities.

Nanny and Hayden planting some marigolds and petunias. Hayden promises to keep them watered and to send me a picture when they flower and Nanny will send her a little something for her garden as a reward.

home

Late tomorrow night we begin the long trek back to our beloved island. Three days on the train.
With soul deep sorrow we leave our loved ones on their own path and continue back to ours. Back to watching them grow on facebook.
It's the only reason that I live off grid and still have a cell phone; my personal preference would be to be without it. But it keeps me connected to my family and keeps me involved in the area cat rescue.

I am eager to get back to my critters and gardens and husband. Back to my slower pace of life. Back to the trees :)

Hopefully we will come back in a couple years.

Vernal Equinox 2013

Spring is a time of new beginnings
Recently, I sent away to the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids for a home study course that takes about three years to complete.
I have been in a search for a more "specific" path for my spirit. Being an "eclectic" pagan felt so scattered to me and my spirit feels scattered enough as it is.
This feels very right to me. This is the direction I yearn for.
I believe, I know that there is spirit in everything; in the trees, animals, in the waters and rocks. There is something there. They all have their own story.
I long for the knowledge of what my ancestors may have believed and values before Christianity set about wiping out our cultural memory. I hope that this will help me channel that.

I am always is a quest to learn more about this world and the history of "my story" , which to me, means my ancestors' stories

I started a new tradition
I plan to set out some kind of house/feeder/waterer/protection etc for the birds and the squirrels each spring equinox.
Here are some pictures of what I set out today.

The purple square house is installed on the side of the wood shed. I am planting hardy kiwi below where it is, so I hope that it will have a neat green camouflage come summer.

Garlic Oil

As part of one of the courses in herbology that I am doing I needed to make an herbal oil.
I decided to give garlic oil a try using a method that I have not utilized before.

What I did was break apart three heads of garlic. I suppose it wouldn't have hurt anything to leave the skin on but I peeled and sliced each in half
I put them in the bottom of my pot and just covered them with grape seed oil
I then set my propane oven as low as it could go. This involved getting on my hands and knees to find the point at which the pilot light lit the flame so I could leave it there. I left the pot in the oven for about three hours and then shut it off to let it cool.

I strained the oil from the cloves, mashing it with a fork to get as much oil as as possible.
Using a funnel I filled my containers. They both are labeled with the date and that it is garlic in grape seed oil in the container.

Take a teaspoon every hour against cold and flu and infections

Use it for earaches by putting one or two warmed drops into the affected ear.

And, the first way I plan to try it out.... on "on aches and strains". I think my elbow is in that category
Also for use in minor skin disorders so I will try it out on the sweat rash that I get under my tummy.

I spent some of the day moving more boughs into a pile, hopefully a warm home for a bunny or two next winter, by the time I am done.

I included a picture of Mortimer, my rooster. After I peeled the veggies for this evenings meal, I took the lot down the the chickens. I tossed a turnip peel towards Mortimer and it landed right on his rump!!

I like it when I can see what I have done

Again, not too much on the go. Spent a few hours today picking up chunks of wood with my sled and hauling them up to the wood shed. Feels good to see it getting filled up once again.

The temperature is starting to warm up.
I don't know what it is about early spring but I never seem to be able to get warm. I have been fine all winter but now that we are looking towards spring; my blood is cold. I get like that every year. Though it seems to feel more drastic to me as I get older.

I thought about it but didn't do it as I was picking up the birch logs. Next batch of birch that comes down I am going to take some bark and put it in apple cider vinegar for use on summer salads.
I will cover that when I do it.

I have gotten in the habit of letting the chickens out of the coop when I am outside. They are starting to get braver and venture a little further each day. Today they discovered the spruce boughs that are on the ground and spent some time scratching around in those.
I was worried at first that I would have problems getting them to go back in their coop. I was worrying for nothing.

A bit of a lazy day

Except for preparing a meal of Italian sausage cut up with turnip and onion and carrot and brussel sprouts that is simmering on the stove, it's moontime and I am taking it easy today

I had planned on hauling up a load of dirty hay from the chicken coop to add to the compost pile but it was so frosty that the hay wasn't very movable and I have already broken the handle on one hay fork this winter so I left the hay alone and just made due when I went to empty the toilet bucket.

The Hunanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins is by far the best description if a low cost do it yourself compost toilet.

To briefly explain, below is a picture of my purple sawdust toilet. One side is where you "go" and the other side contains a bucket of sawdust to cover your shit.
When starting a new bucket you would add several inches of sawdust to start to absorb urine and then when you make a deposit into the toilet bucket you cover it up with sawdust, just like a cat.
I work at a grocery store and can come home with old newspapers that were going to be thrown away. I tear those up and use them as a cover material as well.
There is no odour, except the usual odour that we all make when we go and that dissipates just like with a flush toilet.


Today was washing out bucket day. Info admit that the process is quite a bit more difficult in the winter. From having to melt snow or use water left from washing dishes or laundry to wash out buckets. There has to be a little more planning than when the rain barrel is full
I have found it easiest to empty the buckets as we go and wash them all at once. Though I have several buckets that have gone snowbound that hopefully will surface shortly.
Another problem that I have run into each year is that I run out of space in the compost pile So making two new bins is definitely a priority this summer
Another issue with the compost pile in winter is that sometimes it freezes solid and sometimes you don't have enough cover material. I can't do much about it freezing solid but my supply of cover material gets more abundant each year.

Back at it

2012 was a dud year for numerous reasons. Back at it. I blog mainly as a record for myself.

It's a nice bright but cool February afternoon. I worked until three.

A couple weeks ago I had stuck trail tape on trees in this section of the property in hopes of cheating a bit and having my husband take them down with the chainsaw. I have been plucking away at them over several years, with the bow saw, while we were working on other areas
So he is at it a bit for me this afternoon.
He's cutting and I am hauling the wood up to the shed in my sled.
I must add here that this is a Pelican brand sled from Canadian Tire. Second winter with the same sled. I am very impressed, very impressed Its used daily when the snow is down to haul wood from the she to the house I use it to haul stuff all over It's a very rugged product(you would think that instead of planned obsolescence that companies would make durable products and generate business by positive word of mouth!!)

This is the first stage of this clearing. I want to reassess after these trees are gone.
This summer a greenhouse is hopefully being built behind the chicken coop.
I want to add some hazelnut trees apple trees and blackberry and honey berry and sea buckthorn bushes in this area.

The anticipation of spring is getting under my skin!!

Now to see how this publishes so that next entry, hopefully I can put a description beside the pictures.