Eggs, Blizzard and Fire Cider

Farm fresh eggs ready for freeze drying

I do 18 per tray.

I also freeze dry the egg shells and add to oatmeal etc for the chickens which obviously aids in egg production

Brought in what we hope will be enough hay and straw for winter

2 Hay, 6 Straw

Ladies are happy and providing a full meal deal of 15 eggs/day

Not too shabby for 15 chickens! In winter!

The rabbit cages are ready for pickup, but....

We had a blizzard!

8" of snow in 14 hours

Baby its cold outside

The snow sure looks magical on the trees, though. The bows are hanging low and heavy. We had trouble getting the new snow blower going, Brad had to disassemble and fix it which took up a lot of the day yesterday. It propels itself along, which is fantastic!

I had to shovel a small path from the back door down to the rest of the garden as the deep snow and incline was too much to get that thing up to the back steps. 

I also had to shovel a small area beside the back door where Robbie is trained to do his business, he doesn't like to get snow on his underbelly and likes to have something tall to lift his leg against so I just made a higher wall with the moved snow and voila.

I cleared a path in front of the chicken coop and put down a bunch of straw along it so the birds have an outdoor space without burying their whole bodies in the snow as it was taller than most of them. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, sorry.

This morning I strained a 'Fire Cider' that I made - well, 6 weeks ago and so I am taking the strained bits out to the chickens for a treat... have to remember to add a bit of eggshell to it first.... (I did run it under water for a few seconds and strained it just so it isn't soooo strong for the chickens).

For the chickens

I've been keeping a stash of our used glass bottles and I thought this one was fitting for the Fire Cider. I did show it to Brad and advised that he not confuse the two!!! 

HAHAHAHA

Once we get the cages, we have to complete the rabbitry area to make arrangements for their highly acidic urine and to separate the poop as we will use it for the garden. Free this year, last year we bought it from a local I found who was willing to sell it, not cheap either. 

Then we can get the rabbits!

 

A week in a day

So a few days ago Kathy from Its About Time did some baking and I was inspired. Last fall I made 10 Quarts of Apple Pie Filling (we live on an orchard after all) and so I decided to make a pie. The recipe I used allowed me to make 1 pie (I only have 1 pie plate) and 12 mini apple pies. The 8 serving recipe gives you enough for the base (9 inch pie) and you could make a strip top for the pie but not a full top, I had doubled this recipe to get 1 pie with full top and 12 mini's.

Round 1

We sent 4 mini's home with Stacey, 2 went to our neighbour next door and the big pie went to our landlords which didn't leave much for us. The pie crust recipe I found for that was sooo flaky and delicious that I decided to make more...

Hummers are happy

At Dollarama the other day I saw these hummingbird feeders, I have had it in my head to have 5 strung across the deck but they are almost $20 each so I haven't done it yet. But at Dollarama I was able to get the extra 4 I needed for $3 and yes they are plastic but BPA free.

The birds finally found the feeder but then we were overly inundated with birds and I was concerned for our BBQ cover so I moved it to the garlic box below, we had a hook to hang it but our drill has died...

1st pie of round 2... I made a 6x batch this time... this one also went to Stacey and Jon. The recipe calls for it to sit 4 hours or overnight so I overnighted it.

I'm calling her Martha since I just shipped out Mabel

I was waiting for an email notification that the new machine had shipped but yesterday morning a woman was at the backdoor with my new machine. So today I will be doing some sewing finally. Our front curtains are more than a little saggy because they are so long and it has been driving me nuts.

2nd pie of round 2 and 37 mini pies.

The feeder is hung

Stacey came to pick up her pie and brought us her drill so we could hang the bird feeder. We can clearly see the feeder (there are birds out there as I type this) from our dining room window. I'm sure they appreciate the feeder with everything covered in snow this morning.

As you can see from the bird feeder picture, it snowed last night and continues actually... they are calling for 9 inches although again - I expect that will be in higher elevations than we are.

The broccoli microgreens I planted on Tuesday are coming along very nicely. They have a 2 week grow period before you can harvest them so it won't be long now. The other tray I did on Tuesday has a few sprouts coming through, mostly leeks and red onions.

One. More. Sleep.

 It's Christmas Eve!!!

We have finally made it to Xmas Eve... soooo excited..... Brad is like a kid at Christmas, so I do the whole excited/can't wait thing which he just loves. Robbie gets excited too... I do a countdown with him, he has a vast vocabulary - so I tell him "Santa's coming, go sleep, go sleep, go sleep, Prezzies!!!!" (with proper finger showing, of course), anyway he gets it.  He's 11 now... almost as old as Grandma LOL TeeHee.

Merry Christmas One and All

Santa Anticipation

Our week in pictures:

It Snowed!!!

Not dandruff -- SNOW!

Can you see it falling?

Can you see it now?

The orchard from the upper deck

How Christmassy is this?, Right?!

Tonight Santa comes and tomorrow morning I will awaken Brad with a cup of coffee bright and early, actually probably well before the bright part starts, to open all the prezzies - You know, because 'I can't control myself' ;)) He will moan about being woken up so early, we will open all the prezzies and ooh and aah about everything. Robbie will sniff out the Grandma gifts and his little tail will wag, he opens his own prezzies, we hold the prezzie and he pulls the wrapper off all by himself - did I mention he's 11 now?! Big Boy, but still gets excited about Santa, just like Daddy.

Snowbound week

Well we are still waiting for the snow to disappear. Ended up with somewhere between 34"-37" depending on which side of the creek you were on... brutal.

Most of the campers here have 4x4 so were able to get out okay, Brad drove one to town a couple of times because she wasn't able to get up the long driveway.

There are still plenty of people plowed in, unable to get out of their driveways by car. Brad spent about 4 days last week sitting downtown waiting for hitch hikers and driving them here or there. Hitch hiking is a thing here on Salt Spring Island, all year long you will see plenty of people with their thumbs out.

Generally we do not pick up hitch hikers but in such adverse conditions as we experienced last week, Brad felt it was a good way for him to contribute to the efforts of many people on the island who were out helping others.

Don't know when the weather will get warm enough, but the moment it does I will be out there trashing our outdoor enclosed living area in an attempt to make it a comfortable place for us and maybe some friends/family. It would also be great to have somewhere for the winter crowd of campers to be able to gather and interact occasionally.

PS: In the 70's ( my childhood - when the world was a better place?!) I heard of a man ( in Canada, no less) who picked up a hitch hiker and ended up with his throat slit, hence my no pick up policy.

PPS: Yes, I am a little crazy but a whole lotta cute! Right?!!!!   :D

Move to BC they said...

...they don't have winter, they said...

This morning.

The snow is over my rubber boots.

I moved the (lifted) Jeep and the engine compartment was dragging through the snow. We have a snowplow guy coming but no ETA as the roads take priority obviously.

Incredibly beautiful nevertheless

One of our campers decided to snowboard down the driveway before the plow comes.

 Snow was too deep and fluffy I guess, he just couldn't get it going, but fun to try.

Last night the snow measured 7" on top of the solar golf cart.

This morning...

22"

You may remember this picture from the Blog header in the fall.

I took this one last night at the 7" mark. Same angle, etc. So I think I'll take one for all four seasons. 

(current header picture)

No matter the weather or the season, this place is a Magical Wonderland!!

Yes, even in the rain.

Christmas in February

The edge of the Polar Vortex is upon us. It was supposed to begin snowing at noon, so Brad and I were out first thing to remove the blackberry bush clippings that were lining the edge of the entrance road. We weren't at it long when the boss man stopped by and we stopped for a coffee and a chat, then right back at it and we managed to get all the clippings that were in view of any current campers.

Still a bunch up Tenting Ring road, we can get to that once the snow melts, it was more important to clear up the unsightly stuff. It got quite cold (it's all relative, I know) so we called it a day and tucked up in the warmth of our RV for the night.

When I took Robbie out late last night, this is what I found:

A sprinkling of snow 

Then this morning....

About 2 inches of snow

I was tempted to run back and turn on the Xmas lights strung along the roofline of this outbuilding but since its daytime... tonight I will put them on though. I love this building, its so cute... its like living in a western film, the office building looks very similar too. I'm tempted to put red checkered curtains in the windows -- might just, but I'll have to change out the Xmas light bulbs as they are blue at the moment.... maybe blue checkered curtains? No, red is better me thinks.

I will put a poll up on the blog and you can tell me what colour you think is best.

Update with bad internet

We are having a lot of issues with the internet at this location. Sometimes it works, sometimes it kind of works but more often it doesn't work.

Here are a few pics from our day trip to Canmore's downtown yesterday. Hope it posts.

Brad has his massages here at Back At It Massage

Metal Artwork

Dog, Cow, Superman... I've no idea.

The 'Ritzy' shop Stonewaters in downtown Canmore where you can furnish your entire home, although they seem to be either out of stock or turning away from the furniture aspect of it in lieu of more decor items.

Lots of really cool Mountain/Wilderness signs which Canmore is all about

Very expensive but cool art. This is very popular artwork in this area.

Bear Carving

Lunch once again at The Grizzly Paw

The Alberta Brewer's Burger wasn't nearly as good as it was on Thursday, they gave us a staff discount to compensate ($14 off)

A View of the Rockies down the Bow River

Gap Lake

Heart Mountain

Okay so here's my pet peeve ( one of many). When riding a bicycle: FACE ONCOMING TRAFFIC. Especially along this particular road (1A at Canmore - Exshaw) as bikers get killed here every year. If you can't see them coming.... DUH!

Seebe Reservoir

We had a nice night out last night next door visiting with our neighbours. Emma had a bad tooth (which should be fixed by now as she was going to see 'the man'). Todd and Brad had a long conversation about some legal stuff Todd is dealing with and I just drank a couple glasses of Crown and Coke and looked cute.... nice and relaxing. Home in time for bed.

Today I did the laundry at the campground facility and Brad cleaned the Jeep inside and out. Then off to Canmore's Rocky Mountain Flatbread -- get used to it, we go there A LOT. 

Our friends up the hill (Brenda & Phil) that we cover for when we work up there, sent a pic this morning - they woke up to snow! I can't post it as she hasn't said I could yet. The internet is shoddy up there so when she responds, I will post that pic then.