I have four raised garden beds, each is four feet wide and sixteen feet long. This year I've planted lettuce, spinach, mustard green, carrots and swiss chard in the first bed (the one closest to the house). The second has bush beans (which I just planted this week),...
My husband and I took the Learning Circle rock climbing at Skaha Bluffs earlier this week. Initially my husband was hesitant about bringing such a large group to try a sport that can be difficult and dangerous but with a little reassurance...
Today I preserved spinach from my garden. Last fall I planted Tyee spinach and it survived the winter. It was such a successful experiment that I plan on doing it again this fall. Not only have we've been eating spinach almost every day since April, but planting in...
We arrived home earlier this week. It was a good thing we arrived late at night because my yard had transformed itself into a jungle and I was itching to be working out there. In the week that I was gone everything became so green and alive. In some places the grass...
My parents-in-law live in a cozy cabin on a lake away from town. It's a little oasis out here and the atmosphere is calm. Their front deck faces south and gets toasty warm when the sun shines, so warm that I wish I had packed a pair of shorts for lounging in. While...
On Friday last week, my children, sister and I made the 800km north to my home town. We stopped several times along the way, a must with three small children. By the time we reached Williams Lake, I...
Today was the perfect May Day. Mamas and their daughters wore beautiful dresses, some of boys wore colourful capes. The children gathered around a picnic table and wove together flower crowns. The crowns were made of willow branches and covered in balsam root flowers,...
Happy Easter! We were away from home for Easter which was a nice respite for everyone, especially me. While we were gone it rained quite a bit and there were some exciting changes around the yard. The muscari and daffodils are in bloom, the lawn is lush and...
It's actually closer to 250 steps to the beach but that's still quite a bit. Our adventures geocaching brought us to bottom of multiple flights of wooden stairs that switched back and forth down the hill towards the beach. The stairs ended and we followed a pebbly...
The Learning Circle gathered today to make concrete stepping stones. We were lucky to have a couple dads join our groups and prepare the concrete. It is easier to use premixed concrete for this project but if you have a...
Easter is this weekend and it marks the beginning of what will be a month of various road trips and adventures. Our pace in the last few weeks has increased by several notches. We've been hiking, planning, spring cleaning, home learning, visiting...
You never know what magical places you will find when you step outdoors and explore beyond your home. Sometime you don't even have to go very far. Today our Learning Circle hiked up Peach Cliff, an area that I've driven passed numerous time. From the road Peach Cliff...
Raspberry cane. Chinese cabbage. Fast growing tomatoes. There is no denying that spring has arrived. I see signs of newness everywhere. Birds are busy building their nests and searching for food. In the last week we've seen woodpeckers, robins, quail, red winged...
Can you spot the toad?Friends of ours rescued a Western Toad out of their well pit last fall. The toad had fallen in somehow and wasn't able to escape. As a result, it was severely dehydrated and unprepared for the winter which was fast...
The first time I heard about geocaching I thought it had something to do with rock hounding. Both geocaching and rock hounding involve hunting for something but they are quite different. Rock hounders look for special rocks and minerals and geocachers search for...
Spring has arrived. The equinox was chilly and there was even a sprinkling of snow, as if winter made once last attempt to stay. Last weekend (March 16th) I started my tomato and pepper seeds. I planted thirty tomato seeds, which were a combination of Gardener's...