We Love Our Animals!

 Kesten and Boos are best friends. At least, Kesten thinks Boos is his best friend. Not sure how Boos feels about it.

 Our first chick hatched today. I'm calling him Rod Stewart because he looks like he has a sweet mullet.

 He's got a pea comb, which comes from the Ameraucana in him. The rest is Australorp. Three more eggs have pipped and nothing from the other two yet. We'll have to see tomorrow!

 Rock on, Rod. Rock on.

Goodbye Roosters!

 Today I sent off these two roosters to their new homes- my cochin and one of my blue laced red wyandottes. Sometime today or later this weekend and I am dropping off the other blue laced red wyandotte, leaving me with just my two gold laced wyandotte hens.

 At six weeks old, they look like mini adults now.

 They had one last snuggle together before it was time to go. Awww.

 My eggs in the incubator went on lockdown yesterday and I am expecting hatching either Monday or Tuesday. Stay tuned! Six eggs have made it into lockdown, so we'll have to see how many chicks we get out. Want to place bets again? A,B,C,D,E, or F? Which will be first?


And now it is time to enjoy this weekend with the spastic weather! One minute hot sun, the next pounding rain or hail, then back to sun. It is hard to do anything outside in that kind of weather, you are constantly peeling off layers and hurriedly pulling them back on again. Oh well, at least I don't have to water the garden. Have a good long weekend!

An Herbal Workshop

This week, Nak'azdli hosted a 3 day workshop called "Own Your Health." One of the classes was about herbal medicines. I got to go to two of the three days and I was so glad I did! On Thursday, we loaded into a van and drove up to the keyoh (pronounced kay-oh) of one of the elders. "Keyohs are the traditional land holdings of the Dakelh (Carrier) people..." There we learned about different plants and gathered some to make medicines with later. I got to bring Kesten with me and he loved climbing on the fallen spruce tree in the forest. One of the plants we gathered was Devil's Club, which we later made into a cream, by infusing it in oil and mixing it with beeswax and sweet grass water. We got to bring little jars home with us.

 Another plant we learned about is fireweed. When it is young (like in the picture below), it can be picked an eaten like asparagus. We had some steamed fireweed for dinner with cheese sauce. Delicious! The roots of fireweed can be made into a tincture and it is a good medicine for men with swollen prostates (non-cancerous).

We learned so much and I hope this week to buy the book that the presenter wrote. There are so many good recipes in there for medicine and food and it is all plants that grow in our area (for a change!). *The author is Beverley Gray and her book is called "The Boreal Herbal."*

Hummingbird Swarms!

The Hummingbirds have been swarming our feeder in the evenings, draining the nectar each day. Until I moved here, I have never seen so many hummingbirds in one spot. Watch near the end of the video on the right side, as one hummingbird, desperate for a spot at the feeder, briefly lands on the back of another already feeding.
Since I took this video, the activity at the feeder has gone down because one male has claimed it as his own and lurks about, chasing off any other hummingbirds who come for a drink. He sits on the handle of a lantern on our porch and just waits, guarding his food.

A Garden Tour in May

Time for a little garden tour. Things are starting to grow and I am excited for this growing season!

First of all, look at these boys! I have three little roosters and it is about time to find them a home!

 Here is the garden at the back of the yard. To the left in the back is the garden bed with garlic, onions, and potatoes. In the raise bed in the foreground is broccoli. The square raised bed beside that has strawberries and the raised bed to the left of that has quinoa. Behind all of that is my wheat field.

 Purple Peacock Broccoli.

 Garlic. My first time growing it.

 Quinoa. Not very big yet, but getting there. When it is bigger, I'll thin it out.

 Strawberries.

 The quinoa bed again.

 Look at my wheat! It is growing well.

 My new blueberry bush.

 All my plants in the cold frame. Tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, nasturtiums.

 The chicken coop garden.

 Peas in the coop garden.

 Kale coming up.

 This willow support will have a tomato inside and peas growing up the back.

 Pansies :)

 I love the little flower box on the side of the coop.

And that is it for now. Here's a list of the edibles that we will be growing in the backyard this year:

Vegetables
zucchini
pumpkins
broccoli
carrots
peas
lettuce
kale
potatoes
onions
garlic
tomatoes

Fruit
strawberries
blueberries
raspberries
blackberries
apples
cherries
rhubarb

Herbs
lavender
oregano
mint
lemon balm
chamomile
dill

Grains
wheat
quinoa

Edible Flowers
sunflowers
nasturtiums
breadseed poppies
calendula
pansies
dandelions :)

Protein
eggs :)

And let's hope at least some of those work out! It is a pretty substantial list when you look at it all laid out like that. I hope I didn't forget anything.

Early Summer

It feels like we jumped straight from Winter into Summer. The temperatures have been soaring here and are expected to last the week. We made the most of it this weekend, celebrating our 6 year anniversary, gardening, going into town, and taking our first family bike ride.

My sister came up with the genius idea of using our old baby bathtubs as kiddie pools (since neither of us have one).  Kesten loved it. Like really loved it! He splashed about and loved climbing in and out and then into his tent and then back in his pool. We played with the tub at least three times yesterday. As we were filling it up the last time, he climbed right in before I could even get his clothes off. That was one soggy diaper! 

 He had so much fun he didn't even realize he had a hat on! It's a miracle!

I candled my eggs this weekend to see how they are doing. So far, it looks like 6 out of the 7 are growing. Some of the eggs had really good visibility and I was able to see the hearts beating and pulsing in the growing chicks. It was really incredible. Here is a picture I took yesterday, 5 days into their development. The arrow points to the embryo in the centre. It's the little red kidney bean shape. You can see the blood vessels fanning out from it. We'll cross our fingers and hope that everything goes well for these eggs over the next 15 days.

And the chicks are loving being outside. They are scratching and frolicking and dust bathing to their little hearts' content. I really love that little Cochin, it is just too bad he is a boy! He comes running to see me and loves to chase anything I drag through the dirt, like a piece of straw. His legs are so fluffy, he reminds me of a little kitten! I think I'll have to get a Cochin next time.

Our First Taste of Summer

 What a day! It felt like Summer. I don't know how hot it got, but who cares! (Well, I do care, since I have to record it on my temperature scarf. How is yours doing?) I got to wear shorts and a t-shirt and run barefoot through the yard. The chicks moved outside permanently yesterday and today they enjoyed some time playing in their yard.

 And Kesten enjoyed watching them! He quickly figured out how to open the latch on their door. Oh dear!

 Haha, it looks like I've got him in a cage.

 Boos was enjoying watching the chicks too! And cursing the chicken wire!

LOOK AT MY WHEAT!!!!!!!!!! I am soooo EXCITED! Can you tell?

 This stuff is the Blue Tinge Ethiopian Wheat. Such a different colour from the Chinook Wheat in the picture above.

 After dinner, we took a drive out to see our former neighbours (they moved and we miss them!) and have a look at the ice piled up on their beach. What a beautiful warm evening for a walk along the lake!

 The rock is so smooth, worn down by centuries of crashing waves and gently lapping ripples alike.

 The pattern on this rock reminds of reflected light off water.

 Kesten and I stood in front of the pile of ice, so you could have some perspective of how high the ice is.

And then waiting for us at home was the delicious rhubarb upside down cake that I made this afternoon. I've probably already told you how much I love rhubarb, but I will say it again. I love rhubarb! It is my favourite comfort food. Mmmm, stewed rhubarb on toast!

 And whipped cream! I found the recipe for the cake here.

Well, that caps off of our first Summer day. The weekend looks like it will be amazing! Have a good one!

Canning Jar Soap Dispenser

We had an upcycle challenge here at the Fort, with prizes for various categories. We had to do a picture or video tutorial of an upcycle idea. I made a video tutorial on making a soap dispenser from canning jars and won "The Most Upcycled" category and got a cordless drill! Whoo hoo! Here's my video if you want to see it:

I've already used my new drill :)

Welcome to May!

Yesterday we took a little walk along the lake to check on the progress of the ice melting.

We waded out into the water. It is so nice to hear splashing sounds again.

We said hello to our river otter friend, as he swam by.

It was so nice to see reflections in the water. You miss these things when they are gone.

The birds are busy nesting and buds are swelling on the trees.

The neighbour has ducks this year in his yard. We joke about being a farming neighbourhood. Chickens, geese, ducks, and lambs. Our backyards have had them all!

And now it is May and I couldn't be happier. I saw the weather forecast for the coming week and it is all above 20c! :D I am grinning from ear to ear. I'll get to add some new colours to my temperature scarf. We plan to head to the city on Saturday to pick up some things and go to the garden centre. I am so excited to buy plants. Oh boy oh boy oh boy!