Gardening

A Spring Inspired White Cake with Lemon Filling

/ admin

Happy May, my dear blogging friends and family. If Spring has arrived in your part of the world, I hope nature is doing her thing and providing a restorative balance for you. Ahhhh, there’s nothing like the feeling of warm sunshine on our faces, fresh air in our lungs and being surrounded by Spring’s beauty. It makes my heart sing and I have to confess to a few tears too, over the wonder of it all.

We are experiencing a lovely spring here and that saying;

has held true this 2022 spring season. That thrills me, as we live in an arid climate, which requires lots of moisture in the ground before we head into our usual, hot summer season. (But who knows with climate change what will come this summer) Last week was glorious though and I gleefully wandered through our yard snapping pictures of some of the blooms.

First I went down to our fruit orchard and snapped a few pictures of our larger cherry trees. I was absolutely delighted to see so many bees happily buzzing from blossom to blossom. Oh the joy of seeing bees is another glorious spring sign! The plum tree to the right in the above picture is also about to erupt in bloom,. In the forefront, you can see my newly conditioned strawberry beds. There are little white flowers blooming in that bed too so hopefully we get lots of luscious strawberries…that is if they make it into the house!

Then I strolled up the west side of our house to capture the last blossoms of our neighbour’s gorgeous Star Magnolia tree. Sadly I missed it’s peak of bloom as you can see from the petals lying on their garden shed roof, but it’s still a stunning sight in the spring time.

Another beautiful sight are the baby pink blossoms on our Flowering Plum tree. I pruned it back a bit last year as I wanted it to eventually have branches arching over our gate. You can’t really see from this angle but if you come from the other side you see that it’s starting to happen. In our summer climate it’s nice to have trees near our house to keep things cooler.

I snapped a few pictures of some flowers blooming too….

The pool is not open yet but the brilliant perennial, “Alyssum,” is brightening up our rock wall beds. We planted these three summers ago now.

Another eye catching perennial on display in our garden next to the bunnies is the gorgeous purple “Abrecia.” This is so easy to split and move…which is another reason I love perennials so much.

Are you looking for an early blooming Clematis? Check out our, “Niobe,” which has just given us two beautiful, fuchsia pink blooms to enjoy early this May.

Our lawn is looking great too and while some people are removing their lawns, since we still have kids that love to run, we still have a bit of lawn in our backyard. Also, I use the lawn clippings to mulch our garden in the summer which improves the soil and keeps the plants cool in the summer.

Yesterday we had a torrential rain storm. It felt so good after several days of sunny weather. Later in the afternoon, just after my sister J came for a quick visit, it really started to pour. As I looked out into the garden you could just see all the green plants shining with happiness as they danced in the showers. I even danced a bit when I went out briefly to plant some Lovage and Catnip in my herb bed. Our cat Ryuuki is going to love the Catnip. I plan to dry it and stuff a little fuzzy mouse toy with it next fall. He doesn’t catch the real things anymore!

Ryuuki is enjoying the beautiful Spring days too and after he does a tour through the garden, he often can be found on Grace’s bed full of furry blankets. Just like our garden helps to restore our energy, Yuuki reminds us to take little cat naps throughout our day.

“And hope, if it had a scent, would smell like spring, like rain, like something new and alive.” ~Jennifer Rush~

Well, I could chat on and on about plants, gardening and pets, but what I really intended to do was share a recipe with you. Since Mother’s Day is quickly approaching, I thought I’d share my latest fav cake recipe. And, (hint, hint) if you know anyone who might want to surprise their mother, or special woman in their life, this is the perfect dessert to do that.

It’s light, lemony, and speaks of all things blooming.

Before I jot down the recipe, I thought I’d share a few pictures of the cakes I’ve made this spring. The first one I made was for my sister J’s birthday in March. She and my mom used to share March birthdays together. (mom’s been gone 10 years now)

Mom used to say that my sister J’s arrival was the best birthday present she was ever given as she was born the day before our mom’s birthday on March 20th….the first day of spring. Also, whenever I see ladybugs (long story) it reminds me of our mom, so when I found a lady bug kitchen timer, I had to put it on J’s cake to remind her that mom was right there singing Happy Birthday to her too.

I used three layers to make this cake and filled it with lemon….it was so yummy! Also, I used a bit of yellow icing on the cake as J has recently renovated her kitchen and cozy living room and while I haven’t seen it in person due to Covid, I know she has splashes of yellow accents in her newly renovated house. Yellow is the perfect spring colour!!!

And then I made the cake again at Easter. My mom made Bunny cakes every year at Easter and I have continued the tradition. I made the same recipe above but split all the icing into two cake pans instead of three. Below you can see how you cut the cake up for the bunnies, head, ears and bow.

Kate, Will and Tori had such fun decorating this year’s Easter bunny cake. I’m glad I got a picture of it as that bunny was eaten in record time!!!

I hope these pictures inspire you to create your own Spring white cake and share it with your loved ones. Maybe take it outside to the garden and have a little tea party. Here’s the recipe that I used and hopefully it will become another of our family favourite recipes.

White Spring Cake with Lemon Filling

Ingredients

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon cake flour

3 ½ cups sifted cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 ¾ cups sugar

¼ cup softened butter

1 ½ tablespoons sunflower/ or vegetable oil of your choice

2 large egg whites

1 ⅔ cups milk

½ cup plain fat-free yogurt…I used vanilla yogurt and it was lovely

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract/ 1 tbsp lemon zest

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Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray 3 or 2 round cake pans with cooking spray and then dust with 1 tbsp of flour (some people like to use parchment paper cut to fit the bottom of the pan….you choose what you would prefer)

Combine sifted flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in one bowl. Mix well!

I used no name cake flour and it turned out great…flour is getting really expensive right now so watch for the sales and stock up.

In a large mixing bowl combine, sugar, butter, and oil and using an electric mixer; beat at medium speed for around 5 minutes. Add egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine milk and yogurt and place in a small bowl.

Now alternating between the flour mixture and milk mixture, add these to the sugar/butter and eggs. Do this alternating method until everything is combined really well. Finally, stir in the vanilla and lemon zest.

When everything is combined well, pour cake batter evenly into prepared pans. Give the pans a sharp tap on the counter to remove any bubbles.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the wooden pick inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks; remove from pans.

Cool completely on wire racks.

Just a thought as I’m looking at the two layers I cooked above….if your oven is hot like mine, a large cookie sheet on the bottom oven rack may prevent the cake from getting too hot and it will be a lighter brown on the bottom. We all have different ovens but I’m finding that this is helping my baked items come out a bit more golden brown. It really helps if you know your oven!

And now the fun part. Filling and Icing. While your cake bakes, you can make the lemon filling. (Doubling the recipe is a good idea if you want some on the top too. Also, if you are like me, you can eat spoonfuls of the stuff…. my mom used to put it on toast!)

Lemon Filling Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1 egg, beaten

1 cup water

1⁄2 cup lemon juice (fresh is best)

1 teaspoon lemon rind, grated (from the fresh lemon)

1 tablespoon butter (no substitutions)

Directions

Mix sugar and cornstarch together thoroughly

Combine the beaten egg, water, lemon juice and rind, add to the dry ingredients.

Cook in a double boiler about 15 minutes on medium high, stirring constantly…in that old figure 8 configuration we learned in high school foods class.

Take it off the burner when it looks like it’s thickening and then add the butter. Mix it in well and then cool completely before you spread it between the cake layers.

Make sure the cake and the filling are well cooled before you put them together. I often pop my cake layers in the freezer for 20 minutes before I start to put everything together. When the cake and the lemon filling are cooling this is a great time to make the frosting. What kind do you want on your cake??? I think a lemon, buttercream frosting is perfect for this cake personally. Layering the lemon is a bit like layering a favourite scent….perfectly luscious!!!

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1 cup softened butter

4 to 5 cups of icing sugar (depending on how you want it to spread….firmer allows you to use it for piping decoration)

1 tbsp lemon zest

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

A drop of yellow food colouring, depending on the appearance you want for your cake. While I used predominately white icing to make J’s ladybug and the Easter bunny cake, I did do some yellow icing to decorate J’s cake to make it look a bit more spring like.

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Directions

  1. In a mixer, add the butter and the lemon juice.
  2. Cream together on low speed until they are completely combined.
  3. Add the icing sugar, one cup at a time and continue to beat on medium speed until the frosting is creamy.
  4. Add the lemon zest and 1 small drop of yellow food colouring (if desired)
  5. Continue to mix.
  6. Tip…I like to add the icing sugar slowly… 1/2 cup at a time until it reaches the consistency I want for my cake

Now for the BEST part…put your bottom cake layer on your cake plate and decorate the bottom layer’s sides. Spread the top with some lemon filling, then add another cake layer. Do the same as above until you finally have the top layer on the cake. You can ice all of the top with buttercream icing but if you have any lemon filling left you can spread some of it in the middle of the top layer. I did that with J’s ladybug cake. This is where you can be as creative as you like. I put sweetened flaked coconut on the bunny cake and it was yummy! Look at the one I found below on Pintrest….that can’t be too hard to ice right?

Well that’s it my dear people. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing this spring, I hope you take some time to get out in nature and let it fill your soul with all things beautiful. With all the crazy stuff happening in our world right now we need to do whatever we can to keep our spirits peaceful. And if you take a bit of cake out into the garden with a cup of tea I think you will find that all the sweeter.

Weeding Racial Hatred

/ admin

~A successful garden, full of abundance includes diversity of plants, where no weeds thrive~ Lee Reynolds

Thanks for coming to visit my blog today. While I want to chat about harvesting garlic, sharing my strawberry shortcake recipe and growing a productive raspberry patch, there are weeds of racism growing all over the world and I can stand by and be silent no longer; it’s time for me to grab my hoe and start weeding….and sharing my thoughts. What better place than here at Hope’s Homestead. So welcome, grab a glass of ice tea and pull up a chair and stay awhile.

While our kids have been out of school, in isolation, during this COVID-19 global pandemic, we’ve been reading books as a family. After our children’s evening bath and donning of jammies, we settle into our favourite chair in the living room, pull up our softest quilt and take turns reading. Sounds lovely doesn’t it? Except the books we’re reading, fill our living room with a heavy sadness, and with each book, a bit of our children’s innocence fades.

We’re reading stories from the Second World War, shining a light on the atrocities of that time, when six million Jewish people were exterminated. Books like, “Number the Stars,” by Lois Lowry, and “Anne Frank; The Diary of a Young Girl,” take us back to a darker time in history.

Currently, we are glued to the book, “Refugee,” by Alan Gratz. It tells a story of three different children, living in three separate eras, who are all trying to escape war. We haven’t finished it yet but the back cover implies that although “Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud,” are separated by continents and decades, surprising connections will tie their stories together in the end.

You may be wondering why I’m exposing our children to such books, when there are kinder, gentler genres to read. What I hope my children will pick up after reading these books, is how fortunate they are to live in Canada, where there is excellent health care and education opportunities. I want them to be grateful for all they have been given. I also want them to learn to chant, something that started after Nazi Germany, systemically murdered two thirds of Europe’s Jewish people, during the Second World War. I want “never again,” to be on my children’s lips and in their hearts.

Never Again!

Yet here we are again, in the shadows of this COVID-19 pandemic, the crack against people of colour and racial minorities has split open, triggered by the unjust killing of a black man, George Floyd, who was held down by the neck, under the knee of a white police officer for eight minutes, until he died. In the wake of that murder, another black man, Rayshard Brooks, was shot in the back and killed, while running away from another white police officer.

These deaths come after centuries of systemic violence against racially discriminated black people. In the current climate, where the world has stopped spinning, due to this global pandemic, our eyes are fully opened and if we weren’t aware of what was occurring before, we are now heightened to it. There is no going back.

The crack has been opened.

Never again has to be our chant.

And it’s not just illuminating the plight of black people. Here in Canada, it’s our Indigenous peoples who are the minority and have faced discrimination, ever since Europeans started settling on their land three hundred years ago.

As a white person, I can no longer stand by and do nothing. If we don’t tug on the weeds of hatred and eradicate them, what occurred during the Second World War to the Jewish people, will happen again to the black people, to our First Nations people, or to any racial minority.

What action can I take? On the weekend, I finally decided that I would start writing and a story unfolded. Here is that fictional story inspired by the light my Grandma brought to the world…and to me:

My maternal grandmother, Hulda, loved to pull weeds. She had a large vegetable garden behind her white house, on Mt. Lehman Road, in Abbotsford. While visiting her one summer day, with a twinkle in her eye she asked, “Debbie, do you want to come and see the butterflies?” Excited for an adventure, I stopped cutting families, from the Sears Catalogue, and grabbed her outstretched hand. Once down the back stairs, she picked up a rusty old garden hoe, which had been leaning against the house and as we walked swinging our arms, she pointed out interesting things on our path;

the brilliant, iridescent wings of a dragonfly, the peaceful dance of a swallow tail butterfly and the bright, chirping of a cricket, in the tall meadow grass, bordering the garden.

She looked down at me and said, “each creature has its own beauty and purpose on the earth.”

Once at the garden, she pulled a little teaspoon from her magic apron pocket and directed me to the row of carrots, where she invited me to dig and enjoy. While I sat cross legged, munching on a freshly dug carrot, she stood surveying the garden with a gentle smile on her lips. Perhaps she was taking a moment to appreciate the garden’s abundance, or maybe she was deciding where to start weeding.

Finally, she started rhythmically hoeing between rows in the garden; loosening the soil and exposing the roots of weeds. As she moved along the row and her wake of weeds grew bigger, her smile got softer and she started to hum. The haunting strains of “Amazing Grace,” rode on the breeze and was carried out beyond the garden, on the wings of butterflies.

I was crunching a crisp bean pod, when she asked if I was ready to go in for tea. Always hungry, I jumped up and followed her. She had her arms full of weeds with dirt still clinging to them. Before we went in the house, she dropped the weeds onto a large compost pile at the edge of the garden. “Why are you throwing the weeds in that pile and not in the garbage?” I asked. She smiled at me and said, “Everything has a purpose Debbie, and weeds turn into great soil, which will make my garden even better next year.”

Afternoon tea time was my favourite time of day at Grandma’s. Whoever was visiting would congregate around Grandma’s large kitchen table. The adults would drink coffee or tea and grandma would pour some fizzy orange pop for me. She would lay out cheese, butter, bread and always a big plate of baked goods. There was a place for everyone at Grandma’s table. She would then settle in her rocking chair and as it creaked back and forth, our family would drift into a gentle conversation, filling the kitchen with a peaceful comfort.

It’s a funny thing about writing, but often as the words pour out of me, answers to my questions appear. (I think Grandma visited me in my dreams on the weekend) I now know what I can do in light of all the racial unrest in the world right now.

I can tend my garden. I can dig up my own weeds. I can provide a place for everyone at my table and teach my children to appreciate the purpose and beauty in all things .

Even the weeds.

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Before I say goodbye, I thought I would include a great video that I watched on June 21st, which was National Indigenous Day. As a white person, I can hold a light for the voices of Black people, Indigenous people and other racial minorities. It’s not a lot, but if we all start with ourselves, providing a peaceful place for them to be heard, a listening heart, to let their words find a home, then that is a start. Come join me and listen to, “One World, (we are one)” produced by IllumiNative and Mag 7:

This blog post is dedicated to my grandmother, Hulda Adeline, Snickars/Herrling ~ Born September 24, 1892 in Vaasa, Finland~

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Havesting Food and Harvesting Memories

/ Lee Reynolds

 

Don’t you just love fall?

I know I was reluctant to greet this season, since I felt I hadn’t experience enough summer….

But like any good friend who you haven’t seen for a long time, you connect immediately and pick up where you left off.

Hello fall.

I’m so happy to see you again!

So much of the season makes me smile but lately the bounty of the harvest from our garden brings me the most JOY! I feel abundantly blessed when basket after basket of food comes into my kitchen, ready to be processed and stored away for the upcoming long, cold winter.

Even though I’ve had a garden for years now, I feel abundantly blessed every time I go outside. There is something so deeply fulfilling about growing your own food and feeding your family

I remember when I was just a small child, before my Dad died, living in our little, white clapboard house in Hope, my parents would drive up to Orchard country in early September and bring home boxes of peaches, pears, plums, and apples. Our small kitchen, always the heart of our home, with mom presiding in front of the sink, would be bustling with food preparation and canning. As the shelves of our pantry slowly filled, one jar after another with delicious peaches, pears, plums and applesauce to name a few, I felt safely wrapped in an envelope of abundance and gratitude.

We really didn’t have much and were far from well off but having those shelves full of food and living in a loving family was EVERYTHING I needed.

In the old days, if you wanted to eat vegetables or have fruit in the winter, you had to put them up. Canning was the number one choice, since no power was needed to maintain the food’s freshness…just a good ‘ole pantry like we had or even better; a cold room. Nowadays we have the choice of canning, drying, freezing, storing or buying in a grocery store as needed.

Even if you aren’t able to grow your own food, you can buy large quantities at low prices and either store them or process them. When I was at my local Super Store yesterday they were selling 10 pounds of beets, carrots and 20 pounds of potatoes for around $3.50 dollars each and if you had a cold storage area, you could easily store them and save some serious cash.

Victoria loves to collect our eggs, today we have a whopper of a basket considering we just have four hens

At a recent SENS (Sustainable Environment Network Systems) group meeting in my area, several experts on harvesting, processing and storing food gave mini talks. I was quite interested in the mini root cellar. Even those who have a tiny bit of yard can use this method. Simply find a large bin with a good fitting lid (an old camping cooler works great) and then dig a hole and put the bin in the hole. Cover it with leaves and voila, a modern day root cellar, which will store potatoes, carrots, beets, onions, squash, etc. If you are like me though, you may need to dig a few holes and have several boxes because our squash crop alone would fill up a box. (and I recently gave a bunch away to family who don’t have gardens)

 

No root cellar….no problem, just dig and hole, find a container that seals well and put some leaves on top
Here’s Kate, harvesting a spaghetti squash to take for show and tell. She said many children in her class had never seen one so her teacher roasted it in the kitchen and they all got to taste it. In our day and age, many children don’t know how food is grown or even what it tastes like fresh YUM!

We planted fruit trees in our backyard eight years ago this fall and this was the first year we had what I call a BUMPER crop of apples on our two trees; a honey crisp and a spartan. If I had thinned them a bit more, I would have grown even more usable apples…ah a note to self for next year.

Still, it was enough to keep me busy most nights making apple sauce, apple crisp, apple pies, and recently, I tried drying the apples. Soaking them in water with a bit of lemon juice helped to keep them from going brown. The kids love them!

Victoria and Kathryn digging up potatoes, we planted them near the lavender this year with lots of bees and we had a great crop of nice size potatoes, of course last fall I dug in a lot of dried leaves and grass clippings into this area and that seems to have lightened the soil so big ones could grow.
Will was so proud of the corn he grew. Although he only had a 4×4 foot box to grow it in, we had at least 5 good feeds from that crop of corn. Next year will even be better since this was the first year we did it in the box and of course there is cardboard at the bottom which will have decomposed next season. We will also rotate it to the far box.

 

Even Harrison brought food in from the garden this summer…I had to laugh when I took this picture since the purple cabbage he just picked for coleslaw one night is the size of a basketball and he’s wearing one of his team basketball shirts in this picture. I’m going to miss watching him play this winter…but to each season in life there is a gift.

“to every season there is a gift”

I put the dried apples in a large canning jar in our pantry and the kids help themselves when they want a snack. When I see them sitting at our kitchen island, with the pantry door open and the jar of dried apples in their lap, it takes me right back to my childhood, when I felt safe and comforted with our full pantry.

 

The kids coming in from the garden for some hummus on bagels and a large bowl of veggies…behind Victoria is our pantry cupboard where I keep jars of dried apples, nuts, and baking supplies. Maybe it will be part of their childhood memory one day.

What are your happiest childhood memories? Do they have anything to do with food?

We have had so many apples this fall that one day, we came home to find a large brown, paper bag at our front door that said, “Chinese” food on the outside. The kids got so excited, after all, who doesn’t like take out? But then they all groaned when they saw it was just a big bag of apples. (If they only knew in most parts of the world this would be a real treat but not so much here in apple country) Thanks Auntie J….it was nice to have another variety of apples to try and even if the kids weren’t thrilled with more of the fresh stuff, I was and I knew exactly what to do with that bag of apples.

Our eight year old Honey Crisp apple tree

 

Next year I have to thin them so I get more usable apples, still they are great for apple sauce and drying
Soaking the cut and peeled apples for 5 minutes in water and a bit of lemon juice keeps them from going brown
Dried apples are my new kid’s favourite snack, sweet and chewy!

So while harvesting is in full swing around here. We are also mindful of the memories we are creating for ourselves and our children. One thing we have started back up again is Friday family fun night. (Sorry Harry but you used to win all the time anyway!) It’s one night of the week where we actually don’t have anything going on. I thought it would be the perfect night to get the kids involved making a meal together. After dinner we can play a few board games or card games. Maybe work on a puzzle together. It’s been a big hit so far and the kids start talking about what we will make for dinner and what game we will play early in the week so I know it’s something they look forward to.

Grace helping to make pizza on family fun night
Grace taught me how to make stuffed crust pizza..it’s easy, just mozzarella cheese, oregano, basil and garlic!

If you are one of those families still ordering pizza…get on board; homemade pizza RULES! Check out a post where I share our easy pizza recipe and pile your favourites on top.

Our new fall schedule, busy with everything that interests us and something for everyone

And while making memories with our children are a highlight for David and I, as we know how fast little ones grow, we also know that partners can lose each other while raising a family. This fall, we have made a point of having a dedicated, Saturday Date night.

So far we have only managed a few evenings staying home with popcorn, licorice and Netflix, except for one night we went to our new Starbuck’s coffee shop in town and chatted, while sipping on a pumpkin spice latte! It was absolutely yummy. Also, did you know that if you bring your OWN CUP, they will fill it to the top with your beverage of choice and it’s actually, 10 cents cheaper than if you use one of their paper cups. I love it!

(If you want to make your own pumpkin spice lattes this fall, check out my blog post; Simple Pleasures)

This weekend is Thanksgiving in my part of the world. I have so much to be thankful for this year.

Let me list a few of them off, although they aren’t in any particular order….I’m thankful for…..

1. Peace: I live in Canada….living in a country that is peaceful is not something I take for granted.

2. Health: Being healthy and having a healthy family but knowing our health care is excellent if we need it is huge

3. Education: From our youngest who are in elementary school to our oldest who are in University or beyond, we feel fortunate to have access to wonderful education in our country

4. Clean water and food: Abundance of both….we are so blessed.

5. A Home: Seeing others less fortunate reminds me of simply having somewhere safe to put my head is everything…..let’s help others less fortunate!

6. Warm Clothes and Shoes.…at this time of year when the days are colder, I’m so grateful and I’m happy to declutter and share what we aren’t using with others. Makes me smile when I can share

7. Hope: Having hope and moving in the direction of creating a world where EVERYONE can have the things I have listed above, keeps me saying, “thank you!”

 

My husband David will be out of town on work for much of the weekend (thankful for his job) but he will return in time for us to celebrate his birthday on Monday. And so I will end this blog, saying,                                                       “Happy Birthday David!”

David in September…little picnic in the park

 

And this following song, “Harvest Moon,” by Neil Young, is dedicated to you. On our next date night, let’s dance under the light of the moon. “I’m still in love with you on this harvest moon.”

Thank you for coming to visit today. I hope you are harvesting food and memories in your home too.

But MOST of all, let HOPE be harvested from your heart. Let’s gather together and be grateful for what we have and share our bounty with others. I’m holding my vision of a brighter world for all.

Until we connect again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Cheese Enchiladas and Reflections from Summer

/ Lee Reynolds

“Whoever hath a seed time of grace pass over his soul, shall have his harvest also of joy.”
~William Gurnall~

I won’t lie, the first day of fall was not a joyful one for me. It’s not that I don’t love the autumn season, for I do. Ah, the cooler days with the fresh smell of apples ripening in the air, the crunch of leaves under my feet and the scarlet reds, brilliant yellow and oranges, are normally a welcoming delight for me.
 It’s just that this year, I didn’t feel like I’d had enough summer.
Forest fires burned relentlessly, throughout our province, without any sign of abatement due to the hot and dry weather we experienced. For most of July and August I would wake early to the acrid smell of smoke, drifting through my slightly opened bedroom doors. I knew before even rising, from the dim light filtering through the curtains, that instead of crystal blue skies, I would find a grey and white blanket heavy above me, choking me from the beauty of summer, making me feel like I was swimming under water, unable to catch my breath.
Grace sitting on a picnic table during our camping trip…you can see the haze of smoke hovering over the lake
And what made it even worse was being imprisoned with our young children, in fear of damaging their lungs due to the poor air –quality, we spent our days pent up inside our often blistering house. The air conditioner, which we had installed after the staggering hot summer of 1998, the summer I had been pregnant with our now 18 year old son, decided to work intermittently this summer.

Usually on the hottest of days it would decide to freeze up and we would be left sweltering, like hostages in the worst of prisons. Purchasing a new one was out of the question, since we were about to send that same 18 year old off to University and like some rich parents (we’re not!) of entitled kids, (he’s not) we had agreed to pay for his school expenses.

One night in summer I woke to the smell of burning wood and when I glanced outside, the moon was full and almost orange from all the smoke in the air
So on those days when the fine particles in the smoke were most toxic,  the kids and I spent hours inside playing every board game in the house, reading countless books until our eyes were red and sore and figuring out which puzzles had the most missing pieces. Occasionally, feeling trapped and isolated, I would turn on the television and catch a bit of National news, and that’s when a heavier oppression hit me; our interior region was making National headlines.
News stories, showing forest fires ablaze and people fleeing their homes for safer ground, not knowing  if they would have a home to return to drifted into our family room, like the smoke in the air around us. Compounding my depression over the conditions we were living under, a thick layer of guilt grimly covered me.
We were having a good summer compared to them.
Then if I clicked the remote just five channels over to capture images rolling from CNN, real fear encompassed me. Concerns that, “Rocket Man,” whom the United States President, Donald Trump, called the dictator, Kim Jong-un, of North Korea, would catapult one of his intercontinental ballistic missiles, this one armed with nuclear weapons, and our world would erupt into war, ending life as we know it.
 Well, let’s just say life period.
So yeah, summer wasn’t great and I’m not greeting fall with higher expectations, since fall leads to
winter, when our valley is immersed in inversion type weather systems, where we are permanently

 trapped under dark cloud and experience bitterly cold days.

I’m not ready for that yet! I didn’t get enough sun yet to keep me going through our darkest months.

 Wait though, our eight year old son William, and his six year old twin sisters, Kathryn and Victoria,
 have all come running into the house now and are excitedly calling my name. “Mommy, Mommy,
 you won’t guess what we found in the raspberry patch?” Pardon me as I put down the lid of my
 laptop and see what they want.
 Sliding my reading glasses down my nose, I peer at their animated faces and see that my curly,
 blonde headed Will is holding something cupped in his hands. The little girls, are glued next to him,
 as if they are all one unit, holding this single item up for perusal. “Remember how you thought there
 was a squash growing under the raspberries?” Will said, and I answered “yeah?” “Well,” they all
 chimed in together, “it wasn’t a squash.” And then they extended a perfectly round, luminous, orb,
 circled with tiny rivers of green towards me.
Suddenly, looking at our children’s shining, exuberant faces, and then down at the round and glowing

cantaloupe they were holding, I was reminded of the goodness of earth and the abundant lessons
always springing forth; from the ground and from the innocent joy of our children.

Behind the children and to the right, you can see the cantaloupe plant..which I thought was a squash, growing out under the newly planted raspberries….the seed must have been in the compost mixture I used to top up the raised bed….unexpected gifts from the earth and answers to a prayer to bring hope to dim season

Maybe this fall is going to be better than expected

 

Please join me in saying goodbye to summer, as we sip the last of the ice tea and make some cheese
enchiladas. If you want an easy meal, this is it! At this time of year, I’m really busy roasting and
freezing tomatoes, making apple sauce, blanching and freezing the last of the beans so this quick and
easy type dinner, fits the bill perfectly. Also, as you may know from reading my blog, our
son Harrison recently left for University. While I’ve been sad to see him go, since he was a meat lover
and would often groan when I would make a veggie dish, it’s nice to be able to make something
more of us love without the negative vibes. Sorry Harry….but something good comes from every
season in life. (we miss you in every other way!)
Our vegetable loving Victoria next to her garden…the bees love her zinnias!
I hope you too are looking forward to fall and the goodness that comes from each season.
Now let’s make some enchiladas…….
(Years ago, I was an accredited La Leche League leader and this recipe was found in one of their books, “Whole Foods for the Whole Family.”)
Cheese Enchiladas
 
Ingredients
Sauce:
3 tbsp of oil
1 to 2 tbsp of chili powder 
2 tbsp of flour
2 cups water
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp sea salt
Bean Filling:
2 cups cooked pinto beans
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup chopped black olives
Tortillas
8 flour (see recipe below to make from scratch)
2 tbsp oil
Toppings
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp chopped onion
Directions:
If you really want to stretch your budget, use dried beans. To make 2 cups of cooked pinto beans you need 3/4 of a cup of dried beans. This little bag for $2.00 has enough dried beans for MANY meals!
Combine sauce ingredients in saucepan; mix well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes
Combine filling ingredients in bowl, mashing beans and mixing well. Fry tortillas briefly in oil in 
skillet. spoon filling onto tortillas; roll to enclose filling. Place seam side down in shallow baking
 dish. Pour sauce over enchiladas; top with 1 cup shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 
minutes, spooning sauce over top occasionally. Serve with topping of yogurt and onion. May
 substitute shredded sharp cheese for cottage cheese, sunflower seeds fro almonds or green olives for 
black olives. Or if you wish omit olives, wheat germ, yogurt, or onion.
 
This is a quick, nutritious, and EASY meal, not to mention inexpensive for a crowd. Make the sauce
 and filling ahead of time and you can make it easily when your family gathers. Put some rice on, 
add some tortillas chips and you have a delicious meal for those you love.
The last watermelon of summer, and a smattering of summer corn, all adds to this change of season meal…well this is a meal for all season but boy did it taste good sitting outside on the last of summer

 

Will and his corn. While this crop would probably do better directly in the ground, we still harvested many ears of corn from this little 4×4 crop space…plus we now have seeds to try it again next year

 

 
 
If you want to take it to another level of being sustainable, make your own flour tortillas. (also from the recipe book above)
 
Flour Tortillas or Chapathis
Ingredients
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder (opt)
1/4 to 1/2 cup butter or oil
1 cup warm water
Directions:
Combine dry ingredients in bowl. Work in butter or oil…this is optional as well. Add enough water
soft, pliable dough. Knead lightly on floured surface.Divide into 6 balls, let rest, covered for 15- 20 
minutes. Roll into thin circles, between sheets of floured, waxed paper. Bake in ungreased, heavy 
skillet, or griddle, until brown specks appear on cooking side. Cook over and cook on the other side. 

These store well in fridge or freezer. Makes 16 servings.

Sadie and I… aka Sweet Girl at the end of summer

“You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your
environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the
earth, which is the highest form of prayer.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh~

Thank you for coming to visit me today.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

The Walls We Build

/ Lee Reynolds


My husband David and I are building a wall. It’s in our back yard, behind the house we built twenty five years ago.  Our house sits on a third of an acre, on a sloping hillside property above Kalamalka Lake, which National Geographic has claimed to be one of the ten most beautiful lakes in the world. Over a hundred years ago, this land was the spring and summer home for the Salish Peoples of the British Columbia Interior. They hunted, fished and gathered berries and grew crops on this hillside.

When our rural community of Coldstream was settled, mostly by British ruling immigrants one hundred years ago, our land was heavily planted with fruit orchards. Then as the area grew, and the demand for housing with it, the trees were systematically taken down and our subdivision was developed.  Our home used to be on the highest road on the hillside and our cul- de- sac was the coveted place to live. Since then, the whole mountain has been consumed with construction and we now rest smack in the middle of a hoard of large homes. 

 

A view of Kalamalka Lake from our upper deck

 

 

 We have many walls on our property. We built most of them using large river bed rocks. The first spring we were in our house we had a dump truck load of river bed rocks delivered to our front yard. Later that same day, our builder called to say they wanted to come and form our drive-way the next day. Isn’t it funny that we had lived with a dirt drive way for 4 months and the day we have a ton of rocks delivered, our builder suddenly wants to form and pave our drive way? Some would call it, Murphy’s law but I just call it life and another lesson in letting go.

David with baby Clark and Alyssa looking at the hill in our front yard that we have to retain

 

 

The day of the rock delivery and our builder’s announcement, David came home from work and grimly started moving rock. We had waited four months to have our drive way put in and there was no way we were going to ask for an extension, since our builder was now side tracked building other homes, and we didn’t know when he would put some of his crew back to come and finish our home. I joined David in the yard, after tucking our two children into bed. It felt like they would never settle. Our three year old daughter Alyssa kept asking me to read, “just one more book,” and it took forever for our four month old son, Clark to finally drift to sleep at the breast. I had moved him from side to side to side until at last, with warm milk trickling from the side of his mouth, he pulled away from the breast with a contented smile and heavy lids. I put him down gently into his crib and grabbed my work gloves. David asked, “is he all tanked up?” and I replied, “yes, I’m all yours for at least four more hours.”

 David had already moved a sizeable chunk of rocks and I knew he was getting punchy as he started to sing the “working on the chain gang,” song over and over. The sky grew dark and I turned on all the lights at the front of our house so we could see what we were doing. I started to sing the chain gang song with David and we laughed with exhaustion as the stars twinkled over head. The larger rocks we rolled to the new location in our front yard but for most of them, we picked them up and carried them over to the growing pile, then dropped them. This made a huge crack sound as they hit the rocks below and I’m sure, to our new neighbours, it must have sounded like a gun going off every few minutes. Finally, just before midnight we moved our last rock and baby Clark was waking to ask for a fill up.

“Lakelin Reach” before the drive way or side walk was formed….you can see the pool steps in the garage so the pool wasn’t even put in at this stage…oh the trim on the windows was not painted yet….the house has changed a lot in the last 25 years..see updated picture below

 As it turned out, our builder decided that they couldn’t form the drive way the next day and if memory serves, they didn’t come for several more weeks. Another lesson in surrender and for some, it would have created the belief that contractors are unreliable. For me it created the belief that David and I working together can do anything. 

David, Alyssa and Clark in front of the rock walls we built in our front yard
Sorry, picture crooked but yep, that’s me with the kids in the front yard….wow the plants have really grown since then….see below for a recent picture

 

 

Those rocks were the first of  several deliveries that arrived, allowing us the material to build walls and terraces throughout our yard, in the effort to create flatter living areas in our outside spaces. David got very good at looking at a pile of rocks and remembering the size and quality of each and like a jig saw puzzle, he put each piece exactly where it belonged. 

I was never so happy to see the last rock placed on that final wall 19 years ago and Baby Clark was over 6 years old and two little brothers had joined our family. I often wonder if our rock wall building obsession, in his formative years created a love for rocks in him. For years, I had to ruthlessly check his jean pockets for rocks before putting them in the wash. Last year, he graduated with a Science degree in Earth and Environmental studies; basically it’s the undergrad to becoming a geologist. Isn’t it true that we often come back to what we were raised with and what we learned to know well?

 

 The walls we are building now, are to replace two landscape tie walls, each 50 feet wide and 3 feet high, that have rotted over the last 25 years. They were built above our pool to retain two terraced beds. At the time of construction, we just wanted to create two useful walls and in my wildest dreams I never thought we would live in our house long enough to have to replace them. Life is endlessly interesting and I never fail to be surprised with how things unfold! This time though, we are taking it slow, as we know this will be the last walls we build. David and I are getting older and we realize this is not just a wall, but a piece of the legacy we leave on our property.

In this picture you can see our pool to the left and the landscape retaining walls above…Alyssa playing with her plastic farm animals while David builds a rock wall to the right of the pool area

 

Three years later, our second son Mitchell was born in 1996 and in the rear of this picture you can see the landscape retaining wall and one of the rock walls built with rocks found from our own property as we were landscaping it….we are in fact on a mountain side so there were lots of rocks

 

We haven’t had a shipment of rocks delivered this time since there really isn’t a place to dump them and besides, we want to carefully select the rocks for our new walls. This summer we have been methodically taking down the landscape tie wall, section by section and moving the rotting remains to the dump in our family van. Then several times a week, when we have a spare evening, we take a drive  into the nearby mountains to search for rocks. 

The river bed rocks are just on the side of logging roads up in the mountains. Picking them ourselves gives us exactly the size and shape of rocks we want. If we were to have a ton delivered, even if we had somewhere to put them, we would receive round rocks, really large rocks and then some too small to work with as well. Picking them ourselves is hard work but we get what we want…and the price is right!

 

Thankfully, we have found a large mother lode of them off an old logging road where it looks like there once was a creek running through the area. As we lift our carefully selected rocks that have been settled into the ground for  eons, it almost feels like a sacred ritual. David and I compete to see who lifts the biggest rock, or finds the nicest looking one. We smile at each other as we pass, hefting large boulders  into the back of our van.

These rocks silent but heavy, with memory of days long past, are 

relics reminding us of our impermanence on this earth.

Our van holds just enough rocks to build a 3 to 6 foot wide wall, 3 feet high…here are just a few we found one evening

 

As this is the type of work that is physically intense, but one in which the mind is free, I’ve been reflecting on our building material and on other types of walls; the walls we build inside ourselves. The walls that are built by our belief system, many formed when we are children, others through life experiences as we grow. Walls laden heavy with what we believe to be true, walls weighted with judgement regarding how we should maneuver through our life. 

Years ago, I took a three part course called, “The Pursuit of Excellence.” The second part of the course was called, “The Wall,” and it took place on Orcas Island, near Seattle Washington. It was there, during some very effective self discovery exercises and out of my comfort zone experiences, that I discovered I had built many walls in my short 29 years of living. In fact, many were preventing me from experiencing a life rich and full. Those walls dictated what I felt I could or could not do in my life. During that pivotal long weekend course, I kicked down walls built on fear and shifted instead into a landscape full of endless possibilities.

 

So similar to the foundations we provided for our son Clark to learn to love rocks, I learned as a young adult while on Orcas Island to break down my walls and let go of my belief systems that were preventing me from living my best life. If I couldn’t knock those walls down, at least I could jump over them and see the possibilities on the other side. I also connected deeply with other strangers whom I met at that long weekend training session and realized we basically all want the same things on this planet; to be happy, to be loved, to live in peace, to make connections with others and to live a meaningful life.

 

As I lift these boulders and drop them at the base of what will be our new wall, I think about the family who may live in our house in a hundred years from now. Will they wonder about the Reynolds family who built this house, the family who raised eight children on this property? Perhaps they will find little plastic farm animals that our children often play with as we are building our rock walls.

The world is changing but not fast enough for me.

The beginning of our new walls…we are almost half way across. We plan to put a set of steps up the middle so you can easily go up to the hot tub from the pool

 

The wall from another angle….I can’t wait to have herbs, perennials, and maybe some watermelon growing in the beds above the pool…this area gets all day sun so is perfect for growing flowers of all kinds…bringing the bees and butterflies to our yard is important for our edible garden

 

Twenty five years ago we built this house….you can hardly see it from the road any longer with all the plants that have grown in our rock wall terraced beds

 

Seriously I need to get the pruning shears out soon but here is the last rock wall we built 19 years ago…in the corner is a little pond with fountain spray…this is the bottom of our drive way

 

This is the same area, 25 years later, of the picture of the hillside I showed you above…these two terraced rock wall beds give us lovely privacy in our front yard and the bonus of having a drive way that goes down…the kid’s balls don’t go out onto the road…they are safe…that is unless they don’s sled down our drive way in the winter time….although it’s been done!

There are more walls that need to be taken down……

Last Friday, there was a protest by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, a quiet college town. They were carrying torches and chanting horrific racist remarks and at the end of it all, a young woman was dead and many more injured. 

 

And for what I keep asking myself? It’s the same old wall that holds up the belief that if you don’t look like me, if you don’t believe what I believe, then you must be eradicated from this earth. When is this fear and hatred going to end on this planet? I often think it’s strange that we don’t see the Indigenous people’s marching against the invasion of immigrants to North America. They certainly have more right to do so than these white nationalist, who seem to think they were the first ones to come to this land.
 Anyway,  here I am, trying to remain impartial and only observe and yet, judgement creeps into my consciousness at every turn. 
WHAT HOPE DOES THIS WORLD HAVE?

 

I lift my quiet watchers of the world and place them on our land, hoping that in a hundred years from now things will be different. Hoping, some of the barriers that are preventing this earth from being a place of peace will have been broken down. People will finally realize that we are all connected on this planet and when hatred and violence occurs, like a pebble being thrown into a pond, the ripples reverberate out to the farthest shore and touch us all. 

With that same knowledge I believe peaceful thoughts do the same and so, with that in mind I head out to our backyard and recite my prayer,

“May all beings be well, happy and peaceful.”

 

 

The rocks are watching.

As I say goodbye to you today, I’m singing, “What’s Going On,” with Marvin Gaye. Please join me, and let’s keep taking down walls of racism and hatred and build a world full of peace and love.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Have I told you that, “I love you!”

/ Lee Reynolds

 

“Love is the bridge to you and everything.” ~ Rumi~

We are off on our summer camping holiday tomorrow but before I go, I wanted to write a quick post to share something with my blogging friends and family.

Tomorrow will be David and my 35th wedding anniversary.

Yes,  on July 31, 1982 we started our life together.

Crazy young kids at age 23 (him) and me (22)

 

 

I can remember feeling so excited by what life would have to offer us

 

We fit from the beginning and I just knew we were meant to be life partners

I can hardly believe it.

I know this sounds silly, but I don’t even feel 35 years old and certainly don’t feel as if I have been married that long. But oh, time is an interesting thing and it marches on, even though we feel timeless.

Ever since I attended my 30th grad reunion recently, I’ve been very conscious of THIS moment in time. It’s precious. I awake feeling joyous, so happy I want to cry. Have you ever had that experience? I luxuriate with David next to me. He’s been working  really hard lately and is getting up so early to go to work that we never even have 15 minutes to be awake, lying still next to each other. It’s always, go, go, go, around here. This morning, surprisingly no little people could be heard, so I curled up against David, who was still moving in and out of sleep, and realized we still fit together perfectly after all these years. Laying my head against his chest, I could hear, the “thump, thump,”of his heart.

That beat and his breath moving in and out of his body are fragile and reminds me that life in our human form is not infinite. We only have a short time in reality to live our life and make our memories. But what are memories, but an opportunity for us to linger back to another time and often, isn’t it odd, when we look back they appear even more golden? This thought occurred to me recently and became more profound when I had some insights into my past after leaving my hometown for my high school reunion.

David at Goat River in Creston, at my recent Grad reunion

It’s too bad that we often look back with rose coloured glasses at our past and aren’t able to wear them in the moment. I want NOW, to be tinted with roses. I guess that is one of the reasons that I’ve taken the time to get back into my yoga practice and my meditation this summer; because I want to be excruciatingly conscious of this moment being perfect and light filled. But it’s not always rosy. I get frustrated and angry and sometimes the smallest thing can really irk me.

But that’s okay. That’s part of life too and recently at the end of one of my yoga classes, the teacher reminded me of a lovely affirmation, “I am perfect, just as I am!”

Thinking about it now makes me smile and bow my head.

Right now, as I type this post, David is off buying groceries and whatever camping supplies we need for our trip. I’ve been rallying the troops to gather up tents, sleeping bags, foam mattresses, etc. When I went to feed the chickens

 

though I got side tracked in the garden and realized in shock that my beans REALLY needed to be picked.Like now! And although I had a million things to do inside the house, I knew if I didn’t take the time now to pick the beans, they would be too woody when we returned and thereby useless to process.

One of my blue lake bush bean patches…thank heavens I had the knowledge to do some successive planting

So using the large bucket I had taken full of water/apple cider vinegar for the chickens, I started to pick beans. At first I was pulling them off aggressively, trying to get the chore done quickly and get back to my list, but then I brushed next to one of my lavender plants and a whiff of the fresh, woodsy scent filled my nostrils and took me back in time.

My grandma Clark was picking beans next to me. She was wearing one of her pastel, floral cotton dresses, which was covered by a light weight apron with deep side pockets, which I knew often had a stick of Wriggly’s peppermint gum inside. She was bent over with a stainless steel colander next to her and was picking beans with a light, easy rhythm.

She smiled over at me, her nose crinkling.

Up until I’d stepped into the garden, it had been a bit of a hectic morning. So much for the precious moment lying next to David listening to his heart beat. David had left and I was in charge of gathering everything for our trip….plus making some zucchini bread, some cookies, feeding the cat, the chickens, watering the gardens, my potted flower plants, plus I wanted to whip through the house and leave it nice and clean. The children were trying to help but it was a bit like herding chickens getting them to stay focused on whatever task was in front of them. Then they started hauling way too much out of their bedrooms and I had to reinforce that this was a MINIMALIST camping trip. Food, Tents, Swim suits and PJ’s, a deck of playing cards, a few books,(we love to read when camping) and yes, I said, “you can bring ONE stuffed lovie.”

So when I headed into the garden patch I was feeling a bit frazzled. Oh, so much to do and I really wanted to have everything pulled together before David returned. My to do list was rolling in my head like a whirling dervish. Breathing the lavender slowed me down and yes, it’s so true that it is a calming herb.

I need it EVERYWHERE!

 

Then Grandma said in her perfectly enunciated English, “Was it not just a few hours ago that you were feeling very happy and at peace? What happened?” as she continued her slow methodical picking of beans.

I looked over to where she had been picking and she had vanished but her question remained. I thought of her and how she had lived her life?. What were her stressful, hectic moments like and how did she react to them as she lived with my grandfather and they raised my Dad and his 3 siblings? I think I understood why she filled satchels with lavender for the linen closet and enjoyed chewing peppermint gum.

In those days there were no modern conveniences and certainly no technology to make life easier. Maybe moving at a slower pace had allowed them to be more aware of the simple things in life being very precious. Like lying next to your husband on a Sunday morning or guiding a bunch of children through some tasks. I would have loved to have had more time with her but she died when I was only seven and I will never have a first hand experience of asking her about her life.  She has been gone for 50 years now but she lives on in my memory, and in my love of gardening. She left a legacy, hopefully I can pass that on to our children.

And then it all circled back to David and our time together. I’m living golden moments now and don’t need time to make them shinier. I know this is it and when he comes back from all the gathering supplies, I’m going to give him and hug, a kiss and tell him how much I love him.

And after gathering all the beans, (and thank heavens for successive planting as they aren’t all ready at the same time, whew!)

 

A bucket full of beans and eggs….looks like we are having beans for dinner AND I’m blanching beans for the freezer…so thankful for the food in our garden!

I got the kids to stop all their chores and come out to the garden to enjoy a bit of this glorious summer morning. They skipped around their gardens and admired their zinnias starting to bloom, and Will realized that the corn is finally taller than him. Grandma was back with me and together we watched the kids dance around the yard, smiling, breathing. The moment was brilliant as I was extremely conscious that we are planting seeds for the future and some day, our children will pull them out of their pocket, (maybe with a stick of peppermint gum) and scatter them around the next generation of people on earth.

Wow, Will’s corn is taller than him, when did that happen?
Kate and I are happy to see that her beans are NOT ready to pick yet…still lots of flowers
Victoria’s zinnia’s are starting to flower and are so beautiful….but the quail are into her lettuce, oh no! despite the hardware cloth barrier…what to do?

 

The girls smell their flowers

Oh, David is back and here I am typing….I must go but before I do, I want to say in writing,

In June, the day of our son Harrison’s graduation, David and I…married almost 35 years!

“Happy Anniversary David! I’m so grateful to have lived a lifetime with you and I pray to have many more golden moments with you. Thank you for all our shining memories and our beautiful children. This lifetime reflection with you, and raising our children has given me a mirror unto my soul.

  I LOVE YOU!”

Before you close, I just wanted to dedicate this song to my husband David. “Have I Told you Lately that I love you,” by Van Morrison

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful. (and I hope you too take a moment to say, “I love you,” to your special people in your life. We never know when our time together will end.

Blessings from Hope

Broccoli and Three Cheese Quiche, New Chicken Run and a Family update

/ Lee Reynolds

 

Welcome to my homestead! Gates are a big things around here lately. They keep things in and they allow others to move through them with ease. I hope your summer’s gate is opening gently.

Gates allow us to enter an new experience…sometimes that experience is AHHHH! the chickens got out!

I don’t know about you, but summer is flying by in my part of the world. Before August arrives though, I thought I would give you an update on what’s been going on around here and also share what may be around the corner. If you dropped in for a piece of my Broccoli and Three Cheese Quiche, scroll down to the bottom of the page, but I hope you come back for a longer visit next time.

If you can stay….

Come, let me pour you some sun ice tea and join me for a visit.

 

After this picture was taken, David secured our wobbly front yard chairs, finally ’cause we have been eating outside a lot this summer and these are my fav chairs to sit in, the arm rest holds a glass of ice tea perfectly!

Well, back to the visit,

I have to ask you,

do you like chickens?

We love our chickens!

Sadie, (always in the middle of all the pictures) and Clara and Annie check out some lavender which I put in their nest boxes

“Sadie, (aka, Sweet Girl), Cocoa, Clara and Annie,” are a huge part of our family, much to the dismay of our Siamese Cat, “Ryukki.” Ever since they moved into our back forty last year, he doesn’t meander as often into the back garden. No, now he seems to prefers sitting on the deck, perusing their activities from above, like a king on his cushion. When he does venture passed their coop,  he haughtily holds up his head, his tail flicking, as he ignores their existence.

But, just like us, I think he finds them intriguing.

And while we love our chickens, the challenge with chickens is that they don’t co-habit well with a garden. At least in an orderly fashion.

Oh no!

Their favourite activities are digging holes and having dirt baths, scratching up worms but in the process preventing seeds from germinating, and then there is the bathroom issue, ahem, they go WHEREVER they want.

Our girls digging along our cedar hedge. In the summer time they love sleeping under these bushes

No chickens are not ideal if you are wanting a well groomed garden and certainly not a good idea if for instance you enjoy walking barefoot in your yard.

The other thing about chickens are once you get them, it’s a bit like that book I read to my kids, “If you give a mouse a cookie, he will want milk to go with it,” etc.

Once we finally decided to get chickens, we had to have a brooder box, a little water font, a small feeder, then a coop, then a larger run, a bigger feeder, then a water font, and then it’s winter and they need a heated water font, and a heat lamp, well, you get the idea.

Who would have thought that they are high maintenance critters.

ALSO,

If you have chickens, and a garden, you may need a fence, or a larger run for them.

All through winter as I kept my chickens alive in our back forty, despite our very cold, often 20 and 30 below weather, I thought about the challenges they pose as I trudged through the snow with their fresh water and food. What to do about my love of chickens and my love for a garden?

So this spring before we planted the veggie garden, I knew we had to do something to keep everyone happy. Especially after reading the book below last winter I knew we had to set things up differently.

(The book above, “Free -Range Chicken Gardens,” by Jesse Bloom, is an informative book with beautiful photos. Reading it last winter made me think chickens and gardens go together harmoniously, but setting both up takes some planning.)

You see, I wanted to let them have some freedom and exercise but knew they would mostly need to be “cooped” up so I finally came up with a plan to add an extension to their current roomy coopy cottage.

The only other big problem was that I started working at my gardening gig the day after Earth day (April 23rd) and our family was extremely busy with various family commitments and activities. Then the kids got sick, which I wrote about a few posts back, “layering faith.” Add to that, I also wanted to build additional raised beds and get my little kids involved in gardening this year.

After David and the boys ripped up the plants above the pool this spring, since the retaining wall is falling apart and has to be rebuilt, he got working on building new raised garden beds. While he did this, I prepared the garden spaces I did have, I moved my strawberries to two of the new raised garden beds and then I planted my garden.

 

DAvid putting his new chainsaw to good use

 

Some of the stumps weighed several hundred pounds

 

And this project is NEXT now that the chickens have their new run

 

The little kids and their garden beds

 

Sadie likes to get into every photo…it’s uncanny how she creeps into pictures!

 

Early July, the raised beds are just starting to grow

The whole time we were out doing projects in the yard our girls/chicks were looking out through their hardware cloth walls and saying, “Bok, Bok, Bok.” I would let them out for short stints to run around the yard, nibble grass and dig where they were allowed. I always had the garden hose, with a dynamite spray head on hand if they got into my newly planted garden.

I let my green onions return for the 2nd year and as you can see  in the foreground they are turning to seed….I love collecting seeds. This is a picture of the garden next to the pool in early July…things are just coming up

Did you know chickens are smart! They knew exactly where they were allowed to roam and quickly caught on that mom’s garden beds were OFF LIMITS. And yet, they could be found glancing at me to see if the rules had changed as they tried to casually wander, “pluck, pluck, pluck,” into garden territory, only to be shocked and offended when a spray of water hit them. I would be standing there, garden hose in hand, yelling in my mom voice, “No chickens in the garden!” They are just like my kids, I don’t know how many times I’ve told them to close the gate after themselves so the chickens don’t get out! and they always act like they never heard this request before as we are madly chasing the chickens around our side and front yard.

Finally, most of the projects were completed and David bought some framing lumber, some hardware cloth and got down to framing. But it was slow going. (THE cool thing is that Harrison, our 18 year old has been working at Home Depot so we are there a lot dropping him off and picking him up)

 

The plan was to build another 6′ by 6′ run at the end of their current coop and you would think, no big deal.

I didn’t think it would take long but it took forever to find a few free days to get the framing done.

This spring….

We had birthday parties.

On May 20th the twins turned 6 years old

And we had concerts….

Victoria and Kathryn playing at their year end concert
The theme for the Country Fair was Fiesta so Will wore a Canadian flag and a Sombrero…since we are celebrating Canada’s 150 year old birthday this year…and well a Sombrero says…party like nothing else…the little girls had Mardi Gras beads and fancy glasses for their Fiesta costume…Grace went as a teenager…enough said

And then there was the Country Fair at our cool historic music school. Will played cello, the little girls played piano and Grace sang beautifully with her choir.

Then there were…..

Visits from family. Auntie B and Uncle J…and puppy, Dugan. Wish you were closer~

Soccer games, this is Harrison’s last year playing with the North Okanagan soccer group

And more soccer….

Victoria hamming it up for the camera

All the little kids played soccer this year.

Oh, then there was a graduation. Our son Harrison completed grade 12 and is off to University in September.

Alyssa and Mitchell (our older kids on the Island) sent their best wishes and our oldest son Clark was working on this day but the rest of the gang was here, David and I with Harrison,Grace, Will, Kate and Tori

Congratulations Harrison!

And as if this weren’t enough, we had more birthday parties….William turned eight!

And wanted to go and climb some walls for his birthday experience

Oh and then there was the year end ballet recital….

Victoria and Kathryn danced to the song, “It’s a Small World.” (Year two of dance)

Then there were the final year end school activities….

At the beach…I relented and bought them a ice drink with vanilla ice cream in it

 

Bittersweet…the year end wrap up for the kindergarten class. Welcome Summer! When they return to school they will be big grade one kids

And around this time was also Grace’s grade 8, RCM piano exam, my gardening gig wrap up, somewhere in all there was Mother’s day and Father’s day and at the beginning of July, my grad reunion back in my hometown of Creston and FINALLY, a BIG 150 birthday celebration for Canada.

Happy 150th Birthday Canada….our flag on our deck

.

It was a activity rich spring and early summer, hence my lack of blogging. I find it hard to live life fully, and blog about it. I would REALLY like to meet real life bloggers who are actively writing. I would ask, “Where in the heck do you find time to write?”…and then live the life you are blogging about?”

Did I mention that during this entire time I was also writing with a group of lovely women at the historic old Caetani house…which is a mecca for the arts?

Yep! but hold your breath for my memoir or first novel.

FIRST…..

We need to build a chicken run.

Throughout all the activities and projects we had on the go, our beautiful chickens were patient.

Of course they ARE spoiled chickens, even if they are mostly cooped up. I bring them treats from the garden; kale, lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, lemon balm, and now that we are into berry season they are eating luscious strawberries and raspberries.  Then every night they get a bedtime snack which varies but their fav is sunflower, pumpkin seeds, and Cocoa LOVES raisins.

When David and I returned from Creston, and my grad reunion, he finally got down to business. Once he starts rolling with a project, he puts every waking hour into it and recently he was able to attach their addition, which he mostly built and painted in the garage.

It would have been easier had our property been level but everything is on a slope and he had to build up the area with landscape ties before securing the addition.

Okay, drum roll please…..

And here is how it turned out….

Here is their new addition…the roof is a lovely lattice work top which allows the sun to shine on our chickens….and offers a bit of shade too (the wood parts are white washed so they are protected and the top was a sage green stain)

Now they have extra space and  yes I wish I had pictures of their expression when they checked out the expanded real estate. Did you know chickens can smile? “Bok, Bok, Bok.” In the mornings I find them enjoying the first rays of the sun and digging their beloved holes in the dirt.

One of my raspberry bushes hedges is beside them and then I’m also growing some pumpkins next to their run.
Here’s a peek through the plum trees at the new run. In time the trees with give them more shade which will be lovely on a hot day

Well, now that the run is built, our next project is to take down the old landscape tie walls above the pool. Since we have chosen to build a river bed rock retaining walls, like many of the other walls throughout our yard, it’s going to be a big project. When it’s done, I can see herbs, perennials, and vegetables all growing lushly. I even have a day dream of watermelon and cantaloupe growing in this bed, since it gets full sun and there is good irrigation. Wouldn’t it be cool to be down at the pool and have guests over and ask them if they wanted some watermelon and then just going and picking one off the vine?

I will keep you in the loop on our progress. It’s going to take the rest of the season to accomplish this wall and probably well into fall too.

But getting back to summer and chickens. We have been really lucky to have such great layers and what to do with all those nutritious eggs? Well, vegetable quiche of course.

 

Every day we usually get 3 or 4 eggs which is not tons…but keeps us in eggs for baking and the occasional quiche

I have made several quiche over the last few months and they are delicious. The texture is beautiful and I find the combination of broccoli and cheese perfect. Who doesn’t like cheese with broccoli? Also, they are such an easy thing to make the night before and you can easily warm them up for dinner the next day. Perfect for summer. Just add a salad, some fruit and you have a wonderful meal. But here is my warning. Don’t expect……

ANY

leftovers!

Wahhhhhhh!

But it’s all good, since everyone is smiling before dinner and it’s a light meal when it’s boiling hot outside, like today and you want something but nothing too heavy.

The only thing a bit time consuming is making homemade pie crust but I have found a no fail, always flaky recipe for pie crust.

Come on….

Want to join me in the kitchen and we will make some pastry? I use the Tenderflake lard and the recipe is on the box.

It’s perfect every time!

Pastry for two pies (You can always freeze one of the quiche if you want to as well)

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 pound of Tenderflake lard
1 egg, stirred slightly
1/2 tbsp of vinegar
A bit under 1/2 cup of cold water

Directions

1.  Mix the flour and salt
2.  Cut the lard in with a pastry blender until the shortening is pea size pieces
3. Crack an egg in a measuring cup, stir, add the vinegar
4. Add cold water to make 1/2 cup
5. Stir the liquid into the flour mixture, but mix until the dough is forming a ball, don’t over mix
6. Take ball and break into 2 portions. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour
7  Pull it out and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, being mindful not to use too much
flour, sprinkle it on a flat surface and roll the dough evenly. When rolled out transfer to your pie
pie plates

 

Broccoli and Three Cheese Quiche

Ingredients (double for 2 pies)

2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped onion
3 – 4 cups of broccoli
4 eggs
1 cup of half and half or whole milk
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp of dried dill
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Saute garlic and onions in oil in a frying pan. Add broccoli, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes

While broccoli is cooking, stir eggs and half and half together in a bowl

Once broccoli is lightly tender, place it in the bottom of your prepared unbaked pie crust.

Add the egg and half and half mixture to the broccoli, then sprinkle with the cheese. I put the cheddar down first, then the mozzarella, and finally the Parmesan on the very top….add then sprinkle the dill and you are ready to bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.

Ta Da!

That was easy hey? And it’s a good thing as it gets eaten in a blink of an eye around here.

Dig in!

Well that wraps up my update. Before you go, want to hear an old song that I remember being played on the radio when I was a child? Warning, it may linger with you…. It reminds me of long days, warm sun and lemonade. I hope you enjoy listening to “A Theme from a Summer’s Place by Percy Faith.” Click the hyper-link if you can click below.

Until we meet again, may you be well, peaceful and happy.

Happy Summer!

Blessings from Hope

 

 

 

Lasagna Gardening and Layering Faith

/ Lee Reynolds

 

Welcome! So nice to see you….

Thanks for coming to visit today. I’m sorry I’ve been in ex-communicado. In the last month, A LOT of stuff has been going on at the homestead.

Of course, Easter came and went. The kids above, William, Victoria and Kathryn with their eggs they decorated and my classic bunny cake in the fore ground….this was coconut though so it was even yummier than usual. (I will do a blog post about my coconut cake baking of late)

Then,

A month ago, on Earth day, I started working at my gardening gig.

I love it!

I love being around the plants, the people and the staff who work there.

It’s a perfect fit for me since I’m a green ambivert. I get a real high being and talking with people, especially about growing plants and helping them select flowers and veggies for their garden. It takes me into a BLISSFUL state.

You know you have found your calling when time flies and you are in BLISS.

But I also love when we have time at the garden centre to meditatively maintain the plants and the crowds have slowed down. Making the garden centre look great is also a blissful process.

These cute planters are made by one of my co-workers…she’s very creative and they were perfect for Mother’s Day!

Yes, all was well at first but ya know, when you are running the ship all year round and you take a bit of a leave, the balance shifts and the ship starts to list. When at I’m at work, the house work isn’t kept up, groceries aren’t purchased, healthy meals aren’t produced AND eaten. Then we are scrambling to take kids to school or pick them up at the end of the day and take them to their activities or in our older kids cases; THEIR jobs.

Yes JOBS.

Now it feels like our whole family is working outside the house. So grateful for the work!

Of course, like Murphy’s law the week that I start working, our oldest son Clark, who has been working part time at his Science centre job since finishing his degree last June, also gets another job. And this landscaping gig is full time and GREAT. Also, it will provide the financial boost he needs to start law school, which hopefully he will start in the fall. Fingers crossed, still waiting to hear if the ONLY law school he applied at will accept him. A whole other story! But hey, I’m holding the vision and having faith… that everything will work out there.

Anyway we are happy and excited to see more money roll in but of course my number 1 helper for driving little kids around and pitching in around the house and yard is GONE now 7 days a week. Yep, he’s been working now over 21 days straight since he has kept his weekend job going as well.

Clark helping dispose of all the stumps and roots from the plants we dug up in our beds….some were 200 hundred pounds….here are only a few

Oh, and yes, then there is also our 18 year old son, Harrison, who will graduate from high school soon and decided  he needed to start looking for a job a bit before summer and beat the hordes of kids who will all be looking for summer employment. Thankfully, the first place he applied at hired him but interestingly enough his job started just a bit before I started working too. OF course! His dad is thrilled though since his part time job is at Home Depot. This massive store has to be my husband David’s favourite place to shop.There is something about being around tools, lumber and all that hardware that puts a smile on his face.

So we were happy for Harrison, even though now that he is working, it adds another twist tp our already busy schedule. But since he will be off to University soon, and can use the money from his job to offset school expenses we will be thankful. With the gain there is a loss and in this case my lawn mower, and number two cook and bottle washer in the kitchen has left the building to carry lumber and plant material to people’s cars. BOO!

So with everyone working, and our usual busy list of  kid activities and school affairs, the ship was listing badly and although we weren’t drowning, I had my eyes on the lifeboats.

                              Then the storm came.

It was three weeks ago when I woke up out of the dead of night to hear a seal barking. Odd. Was that in my dream? As I came more fully awake, I realized it was coming from the twins room. I grabbed my robe and went to investigate. I found our tiny Kate,one of our 5 year old twins sitting up in bed barking with a terrible croupy cough.

Oh, I have heard that before. Funny none of our older children ever had it but when our 6th little one was a toddler he had several very scary croupy sessions. One night we flew him to the emergency room extremely worried we would lose him as he was turning blue trying to catch his breath. I kept thinking that I had worked so hard to finally bring him to earth and then we lose him at 18 months….. but in all the in and out of the car and the cold night air flowing, by the time we got to the hospital, while he was still coughing his colour was better.

Kate turned to me with panic in her eyes and I knew it was critical. I swooped her out of her upper loft bed, wrapped a big comforter around her  and flew out our master bedroom door to our back deck and into the cold night air. Please let her breathe, was what I was thinking.  As I held her close, her little body wracked with a loud barking cough. I could hear tiny gasps of breath wheezing through so I told her to take little breaths. “Little breaths Katie, little breaths.” The night air hit me like a freight train and I shivered as I held her close, pulling the comforter around her shoulders and neck. I was praying and praying that the coughing would ease and she would be able to breathe easier.

If you have ever experienced such a moment with your child, you know you pray with all your being. In my case, I was just thinking, let her live and I will be a better mom. It’s scary out there in the dark night air and not knowing if this will be enough to open up her airways. Thankfully, after what felt like hours and was really only about 1/2 hour her coughing eased but I kept her out for another 1/2 hour more until the coughing was just intermittent. Finally, I stood up with her bundled in my arms and took her to my bed. My husband hadn’t woken up at all but he has been known to sleep through all of our 8 babies crying, even the twins, so I wasn’t surprised.

I got the vaporizer set up beside my side of the bed and putting Kate on the outside of our bed, I  had her face in the flow of cool air. I crawled in beside her and held her close. Somehow we drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, while she was extremely tired, the worst was over.

Or I thought!

Although she recovered, a few days later William came home coughing from school and for about a week he was under the weather but he pushed through school for a few days and then seemed to recover over the weekend. Then he returned to school but while at his first day of swimming lessons with his class, he crashed and that day his fever spiked. When I picked him up after school at the end of the day he was laying in the school office’s sick room, burning up with a fever. He kept saying to me, “I had to push through” I felt so bad because he was one sick little boy.

For two days I nursed him with Tylenol and fluids but when he didn’t improve we took him to the Dr. It was then that we discovered that his virus had turned into a bacterial infection and he was promptly put on antibiotics. Also, they wanted a chest X-ray. The next morning, I got my sick little boy dressed and I took him down to the X-ray clinic only to find out their power was out and we would have to come back.

Do you ever feel like the world is against you? Well, this was one of those times. Everything felt like it was ready to collapse. Later that day I roused him again and finally we got his x-ray done but you know your child who has TONS of energy normally, is really sick when he is quiet and listless.

Of course William wasn’t the only one sick at this point. Grace, our 14 year old was battling what we discovered was the same virus which by the weekend had worsened and when we took her to the Dr. we found out she had a throat infection and was also put on antibiotics….and William’s x-rays confirmed our worst fear; pneumonia!

I still find it interesting that Will’s infection manifested in his lungs and Grace’s in her throat. Sadly, she had been chosen to sing for a voice scholarship at our music school and she could hardly talk, let alone sing so she missed that opportunity. Why do things like this always happen?

The other kids also had varying ills; sore throats, runny noses, tired, and over all we were all falling apart.

Oh, on top of all that, did I mention that my husband David had to go out of to work for a few days AND our washing machine decided to stop working. Yes! Don’t you love it when things really fall apart?

Because that is when your faith is really TESTED!

Thankfully, my employers were so understanding and even though it’s their busy season my boss kept saying to me, “babies come first.” I was able to focus on nursing my children, making sure they took their medication, they were hydrated and once they turned the corner which was days, I was able to ease them back into eating food. Mostly smoothies at first and I made a chicken and noodle soup with ginger and on another day a minestrone.

I must have traveled from the kitchen to their rooms about 50 times a day but by the end of the week they were able to get out of bed and lay on the couch in the family room.

When I wasn’t nursing sick kids, I was sterilizing our house. I went around and washed down door handles and bathrooms and I scrubbed our house with sudsy soapy water with vinegar…everywhere. When the kids finally were feeling better, I was exhausted but I went to work for the weekend as David was able to take over. Our washing machine was still broken though, so we had to take loads of wash to the laundry mat….oh that weekend was fun.

Minestrone recipe coming soon….it was sooooo good!!!

Although I felt like I was fighting something, there is power in having a purpose, and also being out in the fresh air, albeit mostly cold as it’s been such a rainy and wet spring, (I think this has been part of the problem as we need to all dry up!!!) that kept me going.

So while I did have to put my family in their life jackets and we got in the life boats for awhile, we
never drowned.

 

William starting to mend and was very hungry….check out the quote on his shirt…empowering our children with their own mantras and building layers of faith is an important way to give them life long tools

There was even a day at the end of the week when the kids were watching movies in the family room that I was finally able to get out and fill my two, newly made raised beds with the LASAGNA gardening method. David had built one and then another 4×8 raised garden beds and it was my job to fill them.

It’s really a fun way of creating lovely garden soil for your plants and instead of just bringing in a truck load of top soil, it’s a lot easier and more in line with how Mother Nature makes rich hummus.

I started by laying a thick layer of newspaper in the bottom of the bed to cover the grass and then I laid large pieces of heavy cardboard on top of that. I made sure to water each layer as I went. On top of the cardboard I put about 6 inches of chicken bedding. The last time I had cleaned out the chicken house was at the end of November. All winter we used the deep litter method; where you just keep laying down a fresh bed of pine shavings and the chickens dig that in with their manure.

After laying down the newspaper and cardboard I watered it really well…note nearby hose…

 

Time to really clean out the chicken run and coop…here is Sadie in the run, she loves to get underfoot and get a pet

I thought I would be cleaning out their chicken house long before May but it had been so cold that I kept putting it off, plus the bedding helps to keep the chicken’s warm. Cleaning the run and coop was perfectly timed with building the raised bed as this dirt/ pine shavings/ chicken manure, although not composted, was good fill for next to the cardboard.

After that layer, I mowed our lawn which was really long with all the rain and I added the lawn clippings on top of the chicken run material. Then I added the dry leaves I had kept from last fall and after the leaves, I added another layer of newspaper, just ’cause I had it and I wanted to bring the worms to the surface…..since they love wet newspaper. To top off the bed I had some aged compost and finally I added a few bags of organic dirt since I would be planting right in this bed.

You can see some of the layers in this picture

Although the ideal time to make a lasagna bed is in the fall, you can do it any time as long as you make sure you are planting in aged compost or soil as I did this spring.

Here’s a great video from the “Garden Fork,” showing Lasagna Gardening in action

Once my beds were ready, it was time to dig up my old strawberry bed that was getting old and needed to be refurbished. Plus, with my cedars growing tall beside the old strawberry beds, they really needed more sunshine so moving them to an all day sun location will allow the strawberries to produce sweeter and more abundantly. So I dug up the newer plants in the bed, (which were created from the runners from the mother plant) and moved them all over to the raised garden beds.

I was able to get 32 plants in each bed so with two raised beds we now have 64 strawberry plants. Although we will be taking off the blossoms this year to allow the energy to go into the plant, next year we should be able to get .5 to 1 lb of strawberries from every foot of garden…which means 32 to 64 pounds of strawberries next year. So worth the effort to make these beds!

(Note; strawberries like the soil a bit more acidic so adding some peat moss and digging it into the final compost is ideal) Also, if you have some hay or wood chips you can mulch around the strawberries….this will keep the weeds down, keep the bed evenly moist and prevent the strawberries from getting wet and going moldy.

As I was layering in all the garden waste, and planting the beautiful strawberry plants on top, I was thinking about life. Being out in  the garden always gets me reflecting on my life and how I walk my path.

I was thinking about the last few weeks and how I have had to draw on my layers of faith that I have been laying down my whole life.

From my childhood, I learned many Bible stories and how to love God. I learned how Jesus came to earth to be able to experience this human condition (really tough at times even in 1st World countries) and how God so loved us that he was willing to let Jesus die on the cross for us. (If you are turned off by words of God or Jesus, hang in there ’cause I’m making my point…this for my daughter Alyssa and others who may feel the same)

On the days when I think I can’t go on, what keeps me going is a bible verse  I found as a child on a bookmark in my mom’s Bible. It read,

“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13 of the New King James Version

Surely, as a young widow of 40 with 4 daughters to watch over, my mom had to use that verse daily to get her through the first few years after my dad died and I have found great comfort and inspiration in using it as well. On my darkest days, I recite it with each breath. Just as my little Katie was gasping for air when she had croup, I breathe it into my soul and it sustains me.

But for me, my faith is multi layered and I often think of my Buddhist teachings as well; reciting more wise words;

“What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.”

Knowing that my mind is powerful, when I stay present and focus in on what I’m thinking, what I’m experiencing, what I believe and what I want to achieve, it moves me forward with intent.  I am grateful that I learned early in my life that I am not alone, that God always walks with me, and I have been given powerful tools to create  a rich and meaningful life.

But the inspiration does not end there.

Oh no!

I think of Mother Teresa and her endless compassion when I parent my children and her loving words come to mind,

 “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”

When I recite those words, I think of the peace that emanated from Mother Teresa and how her kind, love and compassion still vibrates on this earth. Those vibrations touch me and fill me up.

Then there is my admiration for Mahatma Gandhi and his humanitarian heart. He was the one who said,  

“Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal …”

Throughout history and even now there are wars being fought against people’s varying religions and beliefs. Each person thinking that their way of looking at the world is right and just. I think this is one reason I have layered my faith because there isn’t just one right faith. (in my humble opinion anyway)

I think this is also the reason a few of my older children have chosen to turn away from religion as they see so much contradiction in the world. How can people who claim they are religious, hurt others, or make judgement calls. They just don’t get it…and I see their point of view but it’s sad ’cause having faith is a powerful tool in life but we don’t have to use it against each other. We need it to lift us up.

Why can’t we all just come together and make one big lasagna, full of delicious ingredients, creating a diverse and fertile soil for everyone to thrive in. Anything to get us through our days and to keep us connected with each other. Anything to bring peace to this earth. Let peace,  hope, faith, and love be the layers we need to build humanity’s soil.

In the last month, with sick kids, a broken washing machine, and everything else, it all adds weight to our boat, somehow I was able to get through it all and I can only say that it was my faith that pulled me through.

Somehow I’m able to reach down to my gut and my heart grows immensely, like the Grinch’s heart once he realized the true meaning of Christmas, it expands and I become a super person with endless power, knowing ANYTHING is possible.

 In the end, AND IN THE END,…...all shall be well.

And while we are all still feeling like we are fighting a virus, I hope the worst is over. I hope the sun shines soon, that we all warm up, that the floods that are plaguing many parts of our country abate. That the people in power leading our countries wake up and realize that we aren’t playing a game, the only people who win in the end are the ones who, like the Grinch realize it’s all about sharing and being loving.

I have to hope and pray, and hold the vision that I have the power to change the world. At least in my little part of it anyway.  For now in my homestead the kids are healing, the washer has been repaired (albeit is leaking…another issue for another day) summer is only around the corner. To keep me going though, something I have dreamed of for several years has come into my life.

I worked late on Mother’s Day, so when I came home the kids had already eaten their dinner and were in their jammies. When they heard my car drive up they yelled, “mommy!!!!” I settled in the living room and while I ate my dinner, Grace played a mini concert for me on the piano and then the kids brought me in a huge big gift wrapped box in paper they had decorated with flowers and hearts. Each child had taken a side and were thrilled to show me their creations. It was too pretty to rip through but they really wanted me to open the gift so finally I tore through the paper and found……drum roll please…..

A VITAMIX!!!!!!!

Finally, one of my long held dreams has come true. Oh, I know, it’s a material thing but if you put me in a tiny house tomorrow with only a few items, this would be one of the only things I would want in my kitchen.

Plus the side benefit is that we get to make smoothies and rather than juicing and losing all the good pulp fibre…we can eat it.

The next morning after I returned from driving the kids to school, I speedily ready through the quick start instructions and figured out how to make a green smoothie…. which I promptly did.

Yum, yum, yum!

When the kids came home I had a berry/banana/yogurt smoothie ready for them…….with a ton of spinach too and they didn’t even notice it!

So in the end, some valuable lessons were learned this spring. That anything is possible if you hold onto your faith. That dreams come true, and that sometimes you have to ask for some help. Not an easy thing for me. The circle of people outside of my immediate family were there for me; .my employers, my co-workers, the kid’s teachers, our family Doctor, my sisters.

All shall be well!

And before I close my blog I wanted to share a song by George Harrison, “Give me love, give me peace on earth.” The lyrics from this song lift me up, “give me hope, help me cope, with this heavy load, trying to touch and reach you with heart and soul.”

I’m grateful for faith!

 And if you watch that video…hang in there and watch the subsequent one that follows, another fav of mine, I cry when I hear George singing, “My Sweet Lord.”

I hope your life is good right now. That your days are easy, that the sun is shining and you are well, but if you feeling like you are drowning, you are not alone. Be gentle on yourself, eat well, get rest when you can, count what blessings you have in your life, connect with others and layer a little faith into your days.

 All shall be well!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope 

 

Raspberry Crumble ~Winter Chicken Care

/ Lee Reynolds

“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!”                                                                                      ~Thomas Wentworth Higginsons~

That quote was written by a man who was a minister, author, abolitionist and soldier. He lived from December 22, 1823 until May 9, 1911 and spent much of his life, devoted to fighting for the rights of freed slaves, women and other disfranchised people in America. (My kind of guy!!!)

Since he was almost 88 years old when he died, he experienced many winters struggling for the freedom and liberation of what were then, second class citizens of his era. He understood and recognized, without the hardships in our life, we are unable to experience the beauty of this world. What a profound metaphor winter is and don’t you agree that our seasons shine clarity on our life?

Living in our valley, in the interior of B.C., I have been blessed to experience the distinct variety of Mother Nature’s four seasons. On the hottest summer day, when I’m sweltering and limp with sweat, all I have to do is reflect that in a few short months, I will be curled up under a blanket, with a hot cup of tea, trying to keep warm as the temperature plummet and snow lays deep around me. I think this is the lesson of faith and is also what Thomas Wentworth Higginsons was talking about above.

When we draw on the changing seasons,

faith grows,

we grow.

We learn to be grateful for each chapter in our life.

This morning we woke up yet again to another frigid morning. As I snuggled deeper under the comforter, keeping my eyes shut tight, willing the night to extend, my husband David, always first to get up, went around like a quiet alarm clock, gently knocking on bedroom doors saying, “wake up kids and dress as warm as you can today. It’s 19 below F degrees this morning.”

Brrrrr!

I had the little ones skip their baths, wanting to keep heads as warm as possible and we were ready in record time, despite all the layers they loaded on before heading out the door.

I’m now home from doing my morning school drop offs and sitting with a cup of steaming chai tea in my hand, looking down at my snow covered chicken coop. I wonder how my hens are doing this morning. I’ve been promising to talk about winter chicken care for a while now, so I think today is the day.

Our chicken coop is in the far right corner of our yard

As you probably know this is my first winter caring for chickens (a long held dream come true) and before the first snow fell or the temperature dropped below 10 degrees Celsius, I had a plan; to keep my four beautiful girls dry and warm this winter and ensure they were comfortable, well fed and healthy.

To accomplish that goal, last fall  I asked my handyman husband to close in their 4 x 12 foot run with plywood, outside of the hardware cloth walls. This way they would be out of the wind and have a warmer place to hang out during the day. Their smaller coop was already all closed in but the only time they are in this cozy spot, is when they are laying their daily eggs. They also have another small run area,  3 x 4 feet that is under their coop but is open to the elements but on a sunny day they can get their Vitamin C.

To keep the bigger run warm, I took the stainless steel heat lamp we had used for their brooder box and I placed a 100 watt, red light bulb, the kind that you may see in a reptile cage. (chickens ancestors were dinosaurs after all)

In this picture you can see their heat lamp and also their electric water font….and a strong of lights outside their run/coop

I also found a large water font that had a heated bottom that would ensure their water didn’t freeze throughout the winter. (I purchased this at Buckerfields) Finally, at our local livestock feed store, I found a large feed container that I was able to hang so their food can stay clean and dry. I was set. Two of our four hens are Rhode Island Reds and two are Easter Eggers. Both varieties have a small comb on their head and are known to be able to handle cold winters. Now I just needed to see how they endured their first winter.

It’s been a breeze, (a cold one) caring for them all winter and they have done really well despite the really frosty weather we have had. While they have their chicken pellets (Hi pro form, natural harvest, 16% golden layer pellets) always on tap in their large feed container, which I only have to top up once a week, each day I visit them, make sure they have fresh water and I take down a tray of food.

I have two trays I use for their daily feed and each day I bring down a new, clean tray and bring up the other one to clean it…this way they always are eating from a sterilized tray…above is their white tupperware tray

They love pasta and salad and appreciate any of our left overs from the night before. Some days, I don’t have any leftovers in the fridge, hey which happens in a house  full of kids, so I whip up some special grub for them mid morning. My kids will often come in as I’m cutting up vegetables, making rice or pasta, and ask if I’m making soup for them, or is the food for the CHICKENS? They really don’t get it when I boil an egg for them….but hey…chickens needs protein too.  I know they are spoiled! If I top the tray with sunflowers and raisins they are ecstatic.

I visit them for about 10 minutes each day and give them their special tray of food. Every other day I take down a bucket of fresh water, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in it (for their digestion) and check on their grit (needed to help grind their food since chickens don’t have teeth) and I also give them oyster shells (which provides the calcium they need to make nice hard egg shells) and then I collect their eggs.

About once a week, when I’m topping up their big food container with chicken layer pellets, I will also spread another layer of pine shavings. This is called the deep litter method of chicken coop care. In the spring, I will rake out all their winter bedding and drop it in the compost bin and in short order I will have rich compost for my garden. This was the reason I really wanted chickens.  Have you bought good compost lately? It costs a fortune, plus it comes in plastic bags that you can’t recycle so knowing my chickens will produce gorgeous compost for my garden was the big draw.

The eggs are an incredible bonus and I never really thought I would find chickens to be like pets, but you know, I was wrong. They like to be picked up and have the softest feathers. Each has her own unique personality and likes and dislikes. All of them are beyond thrilled to see me coming with their red tray full of goodies each day and having such gratitude is heart warming.

This is the last part of the path to my chickens, you can see them waiting for me under under their coop

Delightful is a good word to describe being a chicken mom. (Remember 2 of my hens came when they were just days old, so I feel very connected to them)

 

Although it;s cold, the sunshine is glorious…for chickens and kids….(you can see the coop run to the right)
I never thought chickens would be so soft and sweet…but they are great pets WITH benefits

There have only been a few days this winter when the weather was unbearably cold and it was hard to do what needed to be done On those days, unplugging their water heater, to fill up their heated water font was difficult as my fingers froze in the process, and just opening the metal bolt latch to their various runs was difficult.

Then I thought of those prairie homesteaders, who had a rope tied to their house and one tied to the livestock barn and they would follow it along during a blizzard so they wouldn’t get lost in a snow drift and freeze to death. That shift in perspective made me appreciate the short 40 foot path I had to take to get down to our chicken coop each day. Perspective is everything!

It teaches me yet again to enjoy each season, for there is always something good in it and it reminds me to have faith that tomorrow will be a new day. If you have been thinking of opening up your home to chickens, I’d say what’s stopping you? It’s February and the perfect time to line up your order for a few sweet chicks this spring. (Just make sure they are female…or get 6 month pullets)

While I was caring for the chickens this morning, our cat sat observed from the hot tub….I think he likes them too but doesn’t get too close to them…..their feathers are as soft as our cat Ryuuki’s furry coat
Before going in to the house, I snapped a picture of the lake from our lower level…beautiful but COLD!

That’s my winter experience caring for chickens….pretty easy.

And as I often do, I was thinking it would be great to share making a raspberry crumble dessert for dinner tonight with you. I’m making a lentil loaf, with mashed pototoes, cooked veggies and fresh salad for dinner. I know a few of my kids are not thrilled with lentil loaf. After all, it’s the vegetarian version of the old meatloaf and my kids never liked that either when we were big meat eaters, so I thought raspberry crumble will be a good incentive for my little ones to EAT UP…..and

Also raspberries are good for everyone’s gut bacteria and don’t we need that in the winter time. So I’m off to head into our freezing garage to dig out some raspberries from the freezer.

Whoa….it’s cold out there!

Did you know the health benefits of raspberries are abundant? They are loaded with antioxidants and their high polyphenol content reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by preventing platelet buildup and reducing blood pressure via anti-inflammatory mechanisms.There are numerous studies on other benefits as well since the powerful antioxidants and high potassium levels work against free radicals that cause cancer, and reduce inflammation.

One really hot day last July, my sister J, called to ask if I wanted any raspberries. She and her husband B, were caring for their neighbour’s new German Shepherd puppies while they were away and their  neighbours encouraged them to pick from the raspberries patch which were ripening each day.

We have a tiny raspberry patch down by the compost bin and it’s only enough to put fresh berries on our cereal in the morning and really nothing much to freeze. Although it was hot that day and I didn’t really feel like picking, I did want to visit my sister and brother in law, so I called my two best workers still at home, my daughter Grace and son Harrison, grabbed some buckets and we went for a visit.

I’m so glad we did as we had a lovely visit and picked a TON of raspberries for our freezer. All winter we have been enjoying berries; in our smoothies, on top of ice cream and of course when I make a family favourite, this raspberry crumble recipe. If you don’t have any on hand, you can use any berries; blueberries, strawberries, blackberries….a combination would be really nice, but you know there is something so tart and deliciously simple about raspberries in this dessert.

(My chickens love raspberries in the summer time…. they know what is healthy!)

You can adjust this recipe to your size of family…but if you make less…you will wish for more!


Hope’s Raspberry Crumble

5 cups of raspberries
(1/2 cup water with 1 tbsp of lemon juice….if using frozen raspberries)
2-3 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch
1 cup of sugar (I like my raspberries tart…if you want them sweeter, add more sugar)
Dash of salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of flour
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1 cup of quick oats
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of butter
optional: walnuts or pecans 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F


1. If using frozen raspberries, as I was doing today, pour frozen raspberries into large saucepan. Add sugar, corn starch, salt, water and dash of lemon juice. Cook raspberries until hot, and mixture thickens. Bring off heat and mix in vanilla. Set aside

In a large separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, oatmeal, salt and nuts, if using. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter (or pulse everything in food processor) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add berry mixture to a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Sprinkle the flour mixture on top and bake for 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Serve hot with a dollop of ice cream or whipping cream…..even REALLY good with greek vanilla yogurt! 

 

Oh, baby it’s cold outside! But it’s warm in our house…especially if we appreciate the beauty of each season of our life.

If you are trying this delicious dessert, maybe play this youtube video while you are cooking up your rapsberries….”Bing Crosby with Doris Day….Baby, it’s Cold Outside”

Thanks for coming to visit….stay warm.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Homemade Salsa and Mental Health

/ Lee Reynolds

 

Okay, so you’re probably wondering what homemade salsa has to do with mental health. Well, if you hang in there, I hope I can make the connection by the end of my blog post but first, I want to tell you what’s been going on around here. Did you know that October 2 – 8th is Mental Health Awareness week? Tomorrow is the last day for the heightened focus of this issue, but for me personally, it’s going to be a permanent fixture inside of my brain.

I’m a pretty typical person, in that yes, I’ve had  bouts of anxiety and some depression in my life but it’s never been anything that is so dark, or debilitating  that a certain amount of time and learned coping mechanisms didn’t solve. I really haven’t thought too much about mental health in the past, until this last year that is, because like cancer for instance, where there is only a 6 degrees separation from anyone affected, mental illness is the same.  In fact, in my own family we have several members who are affected and suffer in varying degrees, and for each, it manifests differently. When I started thinking of it, are any of us truly immune from mental issues to some degree or another?

So when I heard about a Mental Health talk being given at one of our local high schools (Seaton) on Tuesday night, I was motivated to attend. Any further light that could be shed on this topic was only an asset in my opinion.Thankfully, a few of our older children were home and agreed to help with their younger siblings, so my husband David and I were both able to attend.

As it turned out, it was an inspiring evening but not in the way I had expected. I walked into the high school theater feeling still at arms length from mental illness and was stunned to realize I was walking out, not only better informed but realizing it was closer to home than I had thought. If I truly believe we are ALL connected, then this is right on my back door and knocking to be heard.

The main speaker, Sam Fiorella, was the father to Lucas Fiorella, who killed himself after suffering from depression in secret for a number of years.. Lucas was just 19 years old when he died. His passing was a great shock to his family and all who knew him, because Lucas was the most unlikely person to end his own life. He had three passions in his life: being a friend to those in need, snowboarding, and robotics. At the time of his death he was studying Robotics at one of Canada’s Ivy League Universities, Carleton in Ottawa. You would think that he would be in his glory studying at such a prestigious University doing what he loved, but the fact was, he had been silently suffering from depression for years.

 

After he died however, several high school and University students came forward to share with his family, how he had taken the time to recognize that they were suffering with mental illness and helped them in the process. In one instance, a high school classmate was contemplating how she was going to commit suicide. She decided she couldn’t do it at home since she had a stay at home mom, instead, she went to school and was just sitting in silence, trying to sort out what she was going to do when Lucas approached. He offered a simple hello and sat down to talk, but mostly listened to her. After she poured out her feelings and how she was planning to kill herself he said, “how about we go and tell your mom.?” Which was the beginning of saving that girls life. It started with “hello.”

 

“One’s life is not measured in years but by the positive contribution made to the lives of others.” ~Sam Fiorella~

The organization that was inspired by Lucas’s loss is called, The Lucas Fiorella Friendship Bench. 

Here is what the organization is trying to achieve:

“1: The Friendship Bench

Our efforts are built around this iconic yellow friendship bench, which is installed at secondary and post-secondary schools. It serves as a permanent, physical, and year-round reminder to students to take a moment out of their day to sit, breathe, and talk (or think) about their mental health and that of their friends. It’s intended to inspire peer-to-peer conversations about mental health in order to reduce the stigma and encourage more students seek help.”

The Seaton high school had arranged for Sam Fiorella to come and speak, in conjunction with this  Mental Health Awareness week but he was also there to present the school with a bright yellow bench that the 1996 Alumni group had fund raised for, in memory of their classmate, who also had committed suicide after struggling with mental illness.

The realization that this story could be mine, (Grace of God and all that) since we have a son who is also a top student, a high achiever in all areas of his life. Everything always seemed to be easy and natural for our well liked, straight A son, but little did we know  he was experiencing episodes of anxiety, even as a young child. I always thought when he would wake up in the middle of the night, hyper-ventilating and unable to catch his breath that it was his allergies. We even took him to the Doctor to discuss allergies, because mental illness wasn’t even on my radar.

Over the years, he has learned to cope and he deals with his episodes of feeling disoriented and anxious by taking deep breaths and meditating, which helps to calm him. There have been times though where he’s told me he’s isn’t happy and he is just going through the motions of doing what he must do. Oh, my heart just breaks when I hear this, as I’m just like any mom, and my biggest wish is for my children to be happy. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? I’m glad he has been able to talk to us but it scares me at the same time. Even though he says he’s okay, when does it stop being okay and will we be there for him when it’s not?

Thankfully, the stigma against mental illness is breaking down, opening up and coming to light since mental issues does affect a lot of people and we are starting to talk about it. To break the down the wall further, we need to teach our children from a young age to recognize their feelings and share them. Thankfully, in our children’s kindergarten classes, they are teaching the Zones of Regulation, which is a huge step in self awareness and communication.

Our son has been telling us for awhile now that he’s not always doing great and after Sam Fiorella’s talk, we finally really took it seriously. (Although I have to say, we did encourage him to talk to someone, which he did. On his own, he went to speak with one of the  school counselors but it wasn’t a very effective meeting) Why it took so long for us to actually take the reins and get directly involved, I can’t tell you. If our son had been suffering from a physical ailment, we would have made sure he saw a medical physician, so why is his mental state of health any different. The day after the talk we contacted our son’s University, and booked an appointment for him to talk to a clinical psychologist. Hopefully that will be the first step to help him deal with his mental issues.

If you can’t see the above YouTube, click on this hyper-link, Mental Illness: What you see/what you don’t see

All this week, I have been talking to people, via Facebook, friends, family, teachers, and now I’m blogging about it. I hope like a pebble in the pond, I’m doing a small part in changing society’s ideas about mental illness now, for I believe there is still a stigma. Why else didn’t I see it before now? I’m really sad that Lucas had to suffer in silence, and others like him who finally felt they had no option but to take their own life. I’m going to do something about it now….because you know what Maya Angelou says?

And now you are wondering what Salsa has to do with mental health….well……along with talking about mental health all this week, I’ve been making salsa. And while chopping tomatoes I’ve been thinking about my own mental health and the things I do personally to try to stay healthy. I was thinking how fortunate I am to be able to quit my career as an Insurance/Employment Officer with the Federal government and now be able to do what I love; raise children, care for our home and garden. It’s not always easy and we have had to make a lot of financial trade offs but I swear, digging in my garden, working in my compost pile and creating beauty in my yard, has saved me a number of times over the years. Those and the great hugs I get from my kids.

The most difficult thing about living in today’s society, in my humble opinion, is many people are not able to do what they love. We have set the world up for our children to have a certain expectation of what’s considered a successful life. Accumulations of wealth and property, is still the benchmark considered, for the measure of success. As parents, we try to give our children the best education and we expose them to all sorts of after school enriched activities, so they can compete to get into the best Universities, obtain the best jobs,  and all the while, we have forgotten to look at them as individuals.  Hey, I’m guilty of it ALL!!! But I’m hoping, with some conscious awareness, like Maya says, I will do better now.

Thankfully, our new school curriculum is moving in that direction. Recently, in our Province teachers have been trained to move in the direction of “inquiry based learning,” which allows children to follow their interests and the teachers act as facilitators in guiding them. There isn’t any score card or level of attainment. The children are the judge on what is individually successful. Yes, we all have a long ways to go, but with any journey, it takes a vision and the goal to create a healthier, happier society.

And back to my gardening, growing tomatoes, and making salsa…well, gardening has been my therapy.

A cute quote…but seriously, if you need a mental health check up…GET professional help!

Digging deep into the dirt, allowing some of my daily problems and concerns to be dug in and turned over, so I can contemplate my life and put my issues into perspective has been crucial for me, along with knowing the tiniest seeds I’m planting are growing into beautiful plants.

This is a heritage Brandywine tomato plant I put in the ground last May (plant your tomatoes deep is my advice)

 

In this picture you can see my tomato plants next to the pool fence which works great as a stake. I have just added grass mulch which improves the soil as it decomposes, keeps the weeds down and keeps the soil moist

Observing how graceful the changing seasons flow, also teaches me to look at the bigger picture in my life and know that this too shall pass when problems that may overwhelm me take hold.

Even when I’m stressed with house stuff, kid stuff, financial stuff, world stuff,… when I come back to the simple tomato harvest, picking, cleaning, chopping and cooking, it allows me to let go and realize how great a few jars of salsa feels to create. In the process of growing my tomatoes and peppers, my body received some exercise, some Vitamin D, and now will benefit from the Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium and lycopene that my spicy salsa provides.

If you have an abundance of tomatoes right now or want to buy some from your local farmer (I noticed in our local paper, farmers have U pick fields and the prices are great) and want to join me in contemplating mental health, while providing your families with a spicy salsa, check out how easy it is and yes, while it’s cheap to buy salsa….does anything compare to homemade?

Homemade Salsa for Canning

Ingredients

20-30 med to large tomatoes…if you can use the Italian Roma variety, they have less seeds
3 onions (I used my homegrown yellow onions…..but you can use 1 yellow, 1 red, 1 white)
3 sweet peppers and again, if you use one of each green, red and yellow, that is a nice variety
3 to 4 hot peppers
1/2 cup of lemon juice
3-4 minced garlic cloves
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp of chopped cilantro or if you don’t like the taste of cilantro..some people, like my oldest son think cilantro is soapy…you can use parsley

Directions

1. Sterilize your canning jars, lids and rings. I put my jars in the dishwasher and time the cycle to end when I’m ready to fill the jars so they are still hot. The lids and rings I put in a saucepan, cover completely with water and boil for several minutes and then set aside to dry

Modern canning advice says you don’t have to sterilize the lids and rings if you are using a water canner for over 10 minutes…but I’m old fashion and still like the idea of sterilized everything. Here’s a link to Modern Canning advice.

2. Clean tomatoes and place them whole into a large pot of boiling water for a couple of minutes. The time really depends on how ripe they are. The riper your tomatoes, the quicker the skins will start to split. Remove and place them in a colander, when drained well, place into a large bowl. I found I had to do this process about three times before I was able to boil and loosen the skin of all my tomatoes.


3.Now the big job of removing the skin on all the tomatoes and cutting and chopping them into chunk size pieces. Place all chopped tomatoes into the same large pot you used to boil them in.

4. Cut the onions and sweet and hot peppers into a large bowl. (Just typing about it now makes my eyes water and I start to cough. Something I find helpful is putting my onions in the fridge...there is something about them getting cold that helps to reduce the watering of eyes.) Add the chopped cilantro. (Some people use a food processor but I like to therapy of cutting up everything with a knife.

5. Add the lemon juice, the garlic and the salt and pepper.

6. Now add the onions, peppers, lemon juice and spices in the large pot with the tomatoes and heat them up. Bring to a boil and then simmer until ready to put them into jars. Stir really well. At this point, I do a taste test to check the spice level. If you want it hotter, add more pepper, or garlic but keep in mind that the processing of canning will increase the heat and intensify the spice.  

7. When the jars are done in the dishwasher, fill them with the salsa mixture, leaving 1/2 inch space at the top of the jar. Wipe the top edges of the jars before putting the lids on, finally screwing the rings on tight…but not too tight.


8. Place filled jars into the boiling water of the water bath canner, making sure the water covers all of the jars by a few inches. Cover and boil for 15 minutes.

9. Remove the jars from water bath canner and cool them on the counter.

10. Before storing the jars tighten the rings and make sure the lids have sealed by pressing down on the middle of the lid…if they don’t move, it’s all good.

So that has been my week.

Whew! Big stuff!

Now the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is upon us and I can only think, “how grateful I am.” Grateful for my family, my friends, for a peaceful country to live in, but mostly for the freedom to express my thoughts and ideas. Also, I’m thankful for Canada’s health care system, as we can get help and all it takes is a visit to a physician for a referral to a mental health professional.

I hope you share with me in spreading Lucas’s story and ensure the loss of his life was not in vain.

I’m also thankful to you, my readers for coming to visit me here. Thank you!

And before I leave you, I wanted to share a song that the little kids like me to play when I pick them up from school….”Ain’t no Mountain High Enough,” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. 

I open up the sun roof on our van, and we crank the tunes….and we all sing really loud, “Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough baby…to keep me from getting to you.” I hope they are taking in the words really well…and we are singing loud enough that their big brother away at University hears them and knows, we are there for him.

 

Listen baby, ain’t no mountain high,
Ain’t no valley low, ain’t no river wide enough baby
If you need me call me no matter where you are,
No matter how far; don’t worry baby
Just call my name; I’ll be there in a hurry
You don’t have to worry,
Oh baby there ain’t no mountain high enough,
Ain’t no valley low enough,
Ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you babe
Remember the day I set you free
I told you you could always count on me darling
From that day on, I made a vow,
I’ll be there when you want me,
Some way, some how
Oh baby there ain’t no mountain high enough,
Ain’t no valley low enough,
Ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you babe
Oh no darling
No wind, no rain
Or winters cold can stop me baby, na na baby
‘Cause you are my goal
If you’re ever in trouble;
I’ll be there on the double
Just send for me, oh baby, ha
My love is alive
Way down in my heart
Although we are miles apart
If you ever need a helping hand,
I’ll be there on the double
Just as fast as I can……..
Let’s be there for one another and start talking and LISTENING….. That is my HOPE!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble~Hello New Chickens

/ Lee Reynolds

https://wordwaltzer.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/images-7.jpeg                                        ~There is always enough, when love is present~

The long, lazy days of summer are still with us but our roosters are not. It was a sad day when we had to say goodbye to our three roos. Knowing they were going to a good home in the country made us feel marginally better.

Our two remaining hens, Sadie, (aka, Sweet Girl) and Cocoa seemed to breathe an audible sigh of relief as the three rambunctious boys left the coop. I thought they would be sad to see their brothers go. I felt so bad, so on the following day of saying goodbye to the boys, I finally let them out of their coop/run to free range our yard for the first time. If they felt any sadness, it was soon forgotten as they explored the yard, nibbling on fresh kale and jumping at butterflies.

 

We happily watched them become brave adventurers. Each day they ventured farther afield, to the playground, under the trampoline, up the stairs to our kitchen garden where sweet herbs and a few lettuces were trying valiantly to grow despite the mass families of quail visiting our yard this year. I had to laugh one day when our sweet Sadie chased some quail out of our yard. As she ran with her wings straight back, she seemed to say, get out of MY yard. (There really is enough growing for all)

Sadie and Cocoa check out the playhouse

And that got me thinking about adding a few more hen friends. One of the reasons for adding to our flock was that chickens are social creatures and they do well in groups of at least three. In fact, I don’t think you can say you have a flock of chickens unless you have three. Also, even though the nights are balmy now, I know in the not too distant future, it’s going to get very cold in our part of the world and we are going to need several chickens huddling together in the coop to stay warm through the winter.

It took a week for us to find new sisters for our girls. I put the word out on Facebook with a chicken loving friend who is also into sustainable living. Also, we tried to contact a local hatchery but after several phone calls and even an email, our request for two hens must not have been enough to warrant a call back. Finally, I found a Kijiji ad offering 6 month old Rhode Island Red hens for sale.

Perfect!

I contacted the owner and he was happy to sell two hens to us. I gathered together my laundry basket and D secured some hardware cloth to the top and we headed out to the country. A lovely flock of 10 Rhode Island Hens were happily scratching and clucking in a shady run. How does one go about finding two hens from a group of constantly moving chickens?

I told the owner, we would like hens who are in the middle of the pecking order so we don’t bring home two bossy boots. Also, I was hoping to get the darkest red hens I could find as I LOVE this breed of chicken and I thought they would fit in nicely with our girls. Our beautiful girls are both a rusty dark red and although I’m not a chicken expert, since they both came from greeny blue eggs, they are what is called Easter Eggers. This is a mixed breed with one parent carrying the coloured egg gene.

I’d like to say we chose our two new girls, but really I think destiny chose them. We took the first one I picked up and the owner’s daughter, Haley chose the other one. I would have loved to have brought all 10 hens home, as I knew the owner was moving and needed to find homes for them all but two was a good number for us and our urban setting. It’s a good idea, if you are introducing new hens to bring at least 2 from the same flock so they have a friend as they adjust to their new surroundings and new coop mates.

David carrying our new hens into our backyard and the kids are beyond excited

So here is what I have learned about introducing new chickens to an existing flock. 

You can’t just let them run loose with your existing birds, due to potential health issues and also of course the whole pecking order has to be rearranged in a controlled situation. Thankfully, we have a hardware cloth door that can be closed to create two runs and we let the new girls have the larger run. There is a nice roost in this run and I put a pet carrier inside for their nesting box since the new chickens are laying eggs. (Yipee)

After three days we had 1/2 dozen eggs from our new hens

Our girls, who were free ranging when we brought their new sisters home came running over to see what we had in the laundry basket. They were very interested and excited but I’m glad we had them separated as the new girls were larger and I was worried about our 15 week babies/adolescent birds. After all, these new girls were used to being in a larger flock and dealing with the pecking order, and our girls had put up with 3 big brothers but no big bossy hens. Another tip, in introducing new chickens to the flock is to make sure they are all about the same size as the smaller ones will get picked on for sure.

 

Here are the new girls moving into the run for the first time.

 

In the first week, I made sure they had a lot of greens and lovely things to eat to make them feel welcome

After a week of keeping the new girls, who we finally named, Clara and Annie, in their run/coop, one beautiful afternoon, I let them out to join Sadie and Cocoa. Since there was lots of space to explore, there was no confrontation, although both sets were wary of each other. That night I separated them in the coop/run again but the next day I let them out and they have been free ranging and sleeping in the run/coop without any barrier. The new girls did stay on the run roost each night up to now but tonight when they were all starting to settle into their respective places, I picked the new girls up and moved them into the coop with our younger girls. There was some unrest but then they settled down obviously too tired to worry about who was sleeping where. I will get up nice and early and let them out to avoid any issues.

I have heard that there can be vicious attacks but so far, there has only been a move towards a peck, which has been avoided since there has been the space for all to roam. I think that is the key with adjusting new chickens into an existing flock; to give them space so they don’t feel stressed. If there is no stress for food, or roost space, or places to scratch and move, then there really is no issue. They can easily transition into a comfortable pecking order without any violence.

Reminds me a bit of bringing home a new baby  to join an older brother, sister, or more. If the existing child, or children feel that they are not losing anything, just gaining a sweet brother or sister, then the adjustment is easier. In fact, our children all felt we had given them something very special instead of  anything being taking away. That shocked me as I had never thought of it that way. I was worried they would feel as though they were losing a bit of their relationship with their mom and dad and then I realized, they were being given a new relationship that WE were not a part of in any way. I’ll never forget our oldest daughter oohing and ahhhing over her baby brother the first time she met him.”My baby brudder,” she said as she held him in her tiny arms.

Here’s  our daughter Grace feeding one of her twin baby sisters. She was so excited to finally have not just one baby sister but TWO
Here’s Clara, one of our new hens exploring her new yard..so far she is the BIG SISTER and realizes there is enough to go around for all the hens, food, room to explore, attention, and companionship
Victoria getting to know the new girls, Clara in front and Annie in the back
There is a lot of room for the hens to roam on our 1/3 acre urban lot, here you can see the two separate runs/coops we have set up. The one on the right is the one our older girls lived in as we adjusted our new hens to their surroundings. The new girls lived in the run on the left. There is a nice roost and a nest box in that run. Hopefully, after tonight they will all sleep together in the little coop space in the upper run

All of this has been going on at our homestead while we were also saying goodbye to our oldest son, who left for London mid July to spend the summer with his sister traveling around the U.K. The same sister who taught me there is always enough love to go, when we introduced HER baby brother to her. Now they are all grown up and are traveling partners in life.

Before Clark left though we harvested our strawberries and our rhubarb and made a delicious crumble. I’ve been  waiting to write a blog and share this recipe with you but it’s been a really busy summer. Are you finding it’s flying by too? Our second big crop of rhubarb is about ready to harvest again.

Btw, the crumble is the British term for the American crisp, which I thought was appropriate as our son headed off for Britain. Here’s my recipe for a Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble (adjust the sugar depending on how sweet you would want it)

Hope’s Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Ingredients

3/4 cup of whole wheat flour
2/3 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or toasted almonds
3 cups of cut up strawberries
2 cups of chopped rhubarb
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Directions

Combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix in with a pastry cutter. Add nuts and mix with a fork. Set aside this topping for the crumble.

Mix the strawberries, rhubarb, white sugar, and vanilla and place in the bottom of an 8×11 inch pan. 

Sprinkle the topping on top of fruit mixture. Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes 

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on top…delicious

Although this crumble went fast in our house…it’s easy to make so there is always enough!

 

Saying goodbye to our oldest as he heads off for his summer adventure to the U.K.

 

 
 
                           ~There is no lack. There is always enough~

I hope to see you again soon,

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope


P.S. The girls slept together well last night and seemed to be even closer this morning as they roamed around the yard together rather in two separate groups. Also, BIG News, there was the usual two eggs, one in the coop area they slept in last night and one in the old nesting box which is still in the run. The BIG news though is that I found two shelless eggs which means our younger girls, Sadie and Cocoa are revving to lay REAL eggs soon. Exciting day and a big step towards having a harmonious flock.

Lemon Squares~Raising Chicks

/ Lee Reynolds

       

Before you were born I carried you under my heart. From the moment you arrived in this world until the moment I leave it, I will always carry you in my heart. ~Mandy Harrison

What devoted blog readers you are to come and visit today.

Thank you!

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting much this spring and early summer. As you may know, if you are a follower, I was blessed again to be rehired back at my gardening gig for 8 weeks this spring. Between work and my mom/homestead duties, my days have been blissfully, abundantly full.

As much as I enjoyed every single moment of my time at the gardens, (I have amazing work buds, waving “Hi”if any of you are reading today) it’s nice to take a moment to contemplate life, my dreams and the summer ahead. Before another season flies by though, I wanted to take a moment and tell you about our baby chicks.

News Flash! Chickens grow up REALLY fast.

They are not sweet, fluffy ‘lil chicks any longer. Nope! But they are sweet big pullets and cockerels. Yes, that’s right, it looks like we have cockerels, as in roosters. I was pretty sure a few were turning boyish, as they were growing alarmingly fast and getting red combs and wattles. Also, having raised 8 kids myself, I know the chance of having boys is usually a 50/50 chance. In my case, for many years an 75/25 chance, until Grace and our twin daughters evened things out. Anyway, we took the risk that we may have a few roosters, as we did the “hatch a chick program” at my son’s grade 1 class. As far as I know there isn’t a way to determine the gender before the egg has hatched.

The inevitable happened this past Monday morning. I was half asleep, pouring breakfast cereal for my three little ones when, “Cock a doodle Doo” floated in loudly from our open kitchen window. Now, this wasn’t an adolescent learning to crow. Oh no, this was a full blown doodle. For a moment I smiled as this is what I would love to hear IF, I were living in the country but no, the reality is that I don’t live in the country. I live in an urban type yard and I needed to muzzle that sound or we would quickly be discovered as having chickens. Even hens are not a welcome backyard pet in our area….yet.

Ahhhh! I quickly, pulled together an enticing tray of yummy food for our chickens; rolled oats, raisins, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, some left over brown rice from our dinner the night before and then as I flew down to the coop wearing nothing but my nightie. I gathered a few strawberries along the way and some herbs; parsley, lemon balm, oregano, thyme and finally sweeping by my lower garden gathered up some of their fav grub; kale leaves. I was figuring a chicken eatin’, ain’t a chicken talking. When I arrived at the coop all in a flap, my 5 chickens were all gathered at the door, looking innocent. No one particular was fessing up over calling the alarm for breakfast. Every day since, our roos voices are growing stronger, thankfully never at the same time. Sadly, it looks like we are going to have to say goodbye to our three beautiful boys. I will not be able to keep them in our urban backyard much longer. (Thankfully, I may have a country gal willing to take them)

Bittersweet really.

I have wanted chickens for so long. I’ve read everything I could get my hands on regarding their care, that I thought I would enjoy the experience but I had no idea, I would LOVE just being close to them. They are meditative of sorts and funny to watch as they have big personalities in their little feathered bodies. It’s interesting as they go about their day eating, socializing, scratching, being curious about the world and what is going on around them.

The little dark one we called Coco Chanel and it looks like she is going to be one of our hens

 

Aren’t they the cutest! Here they are all 5 of them, spending some morning time with the kids in the family room…they are getting their little feathers

 

Will just loves holding them and it has been interesting to see how the various fluff balls matured over the last 3 months. They really do grow up FAST! Those aren’t droppings on the paper towels, just little pieces of parsley.

Our little fluffy feathered babies remind me why I love being a mom to little kids so much ’cause little ones are the same in so many ways. They love to experience eating new foods, socializing, making new friends, and are curious and interested in everything happening around them. Watching babies grow is like discovering the world for the first time through their eyes. Magical!

Here they are at last out of the house and into their new home. It’s been such a ride. They lived in our laundry room in the brooder box for about a month as it was cold outside when they came to us at the end of April. Then we moved their brooder box into the garage for another couple of weeks and finally at 6 weeks old we moved them out to the coop. They were fully feathered and getting really big at this point.

Here’s a picture of the two roosters enjoying their new coop with the cool birch branch roost my husband D made for them…the white one we called, “Pearl” but it looks like she is Captain Pearl now.
Here’s the new coop and run. Since our yard is sloped we had to build it in two sections. The first section holds their coop which is really cool and has some easy to clean features. This was put in place first and then D built the run to the left. For those of you who are interested, I am going to do a post soon ALL about the construction of the coop, as when I was in my quest for chickens, where to put them was a biggie You can see how big they are now

 

As our chicks turned a month old, our twin daughters, Kathryn Mira and Victoria Hope turned 5 years old on May 20th (The Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada). As I write this they are 5 years and 2 months old yesterday. I’ve been meaning to write this blog for 2 months! I can’t believe my babies are growing up and will be off to kindergarten in the fall. It just seems like the other day I was carrying them around in each arm.

Sadly, I’ve lost a lot of baby pictures of the girls (on a flash stick somewhere) but here is one sweet picture. Victoria is on the left and Kathryn is on the right…back then they were almost identical

 

Here’s Victoria still snuggling into her twin. Kate is on the left here and Tori on the right 5 years old

 

Kathryn and Victoria on their birthday….a kitty for Kate and a puppy for Tori are in their new bike baskets

So this blog is really about how fast our chicks grow up, enjoying the journey and celebrating the moments.

When my family celebrates an occasion we usually do so with a dessert and I thought this was the PERFECT time to share my lemon square recipe. I started making this years ago when our older kids were in our local Carriage house string Orchestra. The moms would take turns bringing snacks for their “break bread” and socialize aspect of their practice.  When it was my turn to feed the 20 something group of kids, I always brought healthy veggies, hummus, fruit, taco chips and various dips but the big hit was always when I brought my delish brownies (stay tuned as I don’t think I have posted this recipe) AND these lemon squares.

I’ve had so many people over the years ask for this recipe so I thought I would finally include it in this blog, even though it’s not the healthiest of desserts. Sometimes dessert is just SWEET. Summer time is also THE perfect time for lemon desserts don’t you think? Light and tart….goes great with Greek type food. If you are looking for an easy dessert square for a special occasion, check this recipe out.

Lemon Squares

(This recipe is from the Company’s Coming Cookbook by Jean Pare)



Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated Sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 eggs
3 tbsp of lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup coconut
1/4 tsp salt

First layer: Crumble first 3 ingredients until mealy. Press into un-greased 9×9 pan Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes

Second Layer: Beat eggs slightly. Stir in remaining 6 ingredients. Spread over first layer. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until set in the center and light brown in colour. Cool and frost.

Frosting:
1 1/2 cups of confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp butter
4 tsp lemon juice and if you like you can add some real lemon zest



Directions:
Combine all together in small bowl Beat well, adding more lemon juice a bit at a time as needed for easy spreading. Spread over cooled bars. Allow to set. Cut 36 small squares.







Thanks so much for coming by for a visit. Before I close though, I wanted to share a song/vid that I have loved for years now. 

WAY back before our daughter Grace was born, I wanted another baby. Hopefully another daughter. We had our oldest, a daughter and then were blessed with 3 beautiful boys. Our oldest daughter asked for a baby sister for every birthday and holiday. It was a LONG journey though, as I was over 40 at that point and my fertility had taken a nose dive. We lost a baby along that journey and after that loss, I realized ANY baby would be welcome, not just a daughter. So many people have preferences over gender and having a loss made me realize that boy or girl, it doesn’t matter. Our babies are precious gifts and teach us so much about life. (And I guess that is why I love my Roosters so much too) I just wanted to be pregnant again and hold another baby in my arms. When I heard this song by Leanne Womack before we finally got pregnant with Grace,  I cried and cried.  I was surrendering my dream of having anymore children and yet the Universe had other plans.

Now I am the blessed mom to 8 children. Four beautiful boys and four lovely girls and all I want for them is to live fully and experience all this world has to offer them. I want them to dance.

Our girls dancing together through life

 

 

The girls had their very first ballet performance in June. The theme was circus and they were dancing ponies

 

 I hope the experience I went through losing a baby, trying to conceive for years, also influences all of our children. They know they were wanted long before they ever came to earth. Hopefully, that energy flows from me and feel deeply loved and wanted.

So before you close my post, check out Leanne Womack’s video, “I hope you Dance.” If your dream is to have chickens, get chickens….best experience EVER. And if your dream is to have a child but you are facing infertility, hold your vision and move in the direction of your dream, staying positive and trusting the Universe to show you the way. WHATEVER your dream, “allow miracles to happen,” move in that direction and most of all, I hope you dance. That is what I wish for you today. (if you can’t see the video below, check out the hyper link above)

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Brooding Chicks~Happy Earth Day!

/ Lee Reynolds

Yes, I know, April 22th, the official earth day was several weeks ago but don’t you think everyday should be Earth Day?

A day to celebrate our home. It continues to give us clean water in many parts of the world and enough food to eat. The earth continues to amaze us with its’ beauty and reminds us to flow with ease, through the seasons of our life.

Spring came early in my part of the world; the North Okanagan valley. It’s just early May and people have had their tomato plants in the ground for several weeks now. Normally, the Victoria day long weekend, (3rd week in May) has been the time when we safely plant our gardens.

But this year, we are hitting record high temperatures. Global warming? My oldest son, who will be graduating from University this June, with a Science degree majoring in Environmental science, would say climate change is real. Some people don’t agree with that. I started working at the Garden center on earth day and while at the check out, several of us were chatting with our customers about the unusual warm weather and an older gentleman came by, over heard our conversation and scoffed at the idea of global warming; saying it’s not unusual to have an early, hot spring, quoting another similar season 100 years ago.

A co-worker of mine, is big on reusing items and reinventing them in the garden…see unique planters above
A view of the garden center from the veggie section

I know scientists, like David Suzuki, has been trying to educate the world for over 40 years on the damage we are creating using fossils fuels etc and although we are still driving around using gas powered vehicles, I hope that in growing more food in our backyard it is one step towards our independence from outside sources. ( Check out the David Suzuki Foundation’s 30×30 Nature Challenge for the month of May.) The more we become connected to the earth, the more we realize we can make a difference. We just need to get down and connect.

Victoria and Kathryn spend time observing a snail on our front walk….they wanted to feed it to the chicks!
Then decided, it too had a special place on the earth

Image result for earth day quotes

Guess what is happening, FINALLY at our homestead?

My dream to have chickens has finally come true and as I write this blog post, two sweet little balls of fluff are dozing in their brooder box in our laundry room. They are wrapping their little newly feathered wings around each of us and their peeps are endearing.

It all started when I heard about the Hatch a Chick program put on by our local “Teach and Learn,” store. They provide 7 eggs in an incubator and all the necessary equipment you need once chicks hatch. Our family decided to sponsor this program for our son Will’s grade 1 class. Once the chicks hatched the class kept them for a week. The whole school was excited over the hatching chicks. Even the BIG grade 7’s came in and lost their cool over the baby chicks. We were able to bring home the chicks that hatched. It was an exciting April around here and at Will’s school.

 

 

Will checking out the eggs….21 more days!

All good right?

Well not quite.

The downside is that in our rural sub-division the current by-law does NOT allow chickens. We have decided not to wait for the slow moving political system to grind it’s gears. We are moving ahead and if anyone protests, I’m going to write our local paper’s editor and start ruffling feathers. (Holding the vision that it won’t come to that) We do have a 1/3 of an acre and we will position our chicken coop on our property in such a way that it will not affect our neighbours. Our baby chicks have been in our house for 24 hours and even our cat hasn’t clued in. Hopefully, our neighbours will not hear a cluck once they are in the yard.

Our province’s capital city of Victoria (which is a beautiful city if you haven’t visited) allows chickens, our largest city in our province, Vancouver (which is becoming a role model for one of the greenest cities in the world) allows chickens, and even our nearby city, Vernon, of which we are closely connected allows chickens.

The motto as you drive into our area is “Rural Living at it’s Best.” I don’t know what this is suppose to mean but if our chickens become an issue, I’m ready to educate people on the benefits of having chickens.

As far as I’m concerned they are pets with benefits. They of course will provide my family with delicious, organic eggs but I get rather excited thinking about having some help in the garden. Turning over the soil and readying it for the garden season. Nature’s rototiller, ridding our yard of pests, weeds, etc without doing any harmful spraying. (which affect our bees…we are all connected) Also, I know this may sound funny, unless you are grooving in the garden too, but chicken droppings are excellent for amending  soil….and I LOVE improving my garden fertility. ALSO, did I mention we are thinking of dropping our cable T.V?  I’ve heard chicken T.V. is way more interesting.

This was Victoria today….she spent a long time sitting and watching the peeps

Then there is the whole locavore and being sustainable movement. (Which I’d like to think I support by my actions) Keeping chickens is the next natural step, after growing our own food. Several winters ago, the highway to the coast was shut down due to winter weather conditions and our grocery stores were pretty bare after 3 days. I know in my neighbourhood, which is affluent, there may not be the heightened concern over food security, but no matter how much money you have, if there is some sort of energy crisis, or weather emergency, we are on our own as far as feeding ourselves. I’d like to think that taking steps to grow some of our own food, along with keeping chickens may assist us to weather that kind of crisis and become a stronger community.

If you are thinking of keeping chickens too, here are a few great books I would recommend.

and

and finally,

In the last several years, I think I have read every book written about chicken keeping, and there are a lot of books out there. It’s been a bit of an addiction to keep growing my knowledge. So when we decided that we were going to move ahead with the hatch a chick program at my son’s grade one class, I started gathering stuff for brooding our babies.

Of course the number one item was a brooder box. Which can be a simple as a rubbermaid container but baby chicks grow really fast and they would quickly outgrow this so I thought we would start off with the right size brooder box. I gave my husband a sketch of what I wanted and here is what he came up with. (This box can also be used if you ever need to separate chickens short term, due to illness or if one is being picked on)

My husband D, making the brooder box
The kids got in the box and started peeping. The top lifts off and the front door opens too

Then, like gathering things for the arrival of the newborn, I visited Buckerfield’s, a farm store, and picked up a chick feeding dish, a water dish, a heat lamp and red bulb, some chick starter, some grit, (’cause chickens don’t have teeth and grit is needed in their crop to grind their food) and of course, some paper towels and some pine shavings for the bedding,

Out of the 7 eggs in the incubator at my son’s grade 1 class, only 2 hatched at 21 days. One came from a green egg, and one from a brown egg. One is yellow, and one is a beige. I’m hoping one is a Rhode Island hen.  We were sad that the success rate was so low but happy with our two little ones who are currently without names. They are still being called, “the peeps.”

The Teach and Learn Store says there may be some other chicks hatching at other schools and we may be able to add a few more to our flock. (Is two a flock?)

Here are our peeps,  the day they had hatched.April 27th, 2016

 

Since our garage is still quite cold, we put the brooder box in our laundry room
I thought this was a cute quote above our chicks….especially since they have wings
Here are the peeps, safe and sound in their new brooder box. 1 week old, they are getting their little feathers on their wings
Kathryn and Victoria LOVE their peeps

Well, that is the latest around here. It’s going to be a busy spring with me working full time and we have a lot going on, soccer, golf, music, swimming, ballet, and I’m trying to build a bigger garden area.

Expanding my veggie garden, digging up more grass and edging with stones

 

I hope you follow along on our chicken journey. It’s such a small thing but something as little as keeping chickens can help to heal our earth. We all play a symbiotic part on this planet.

I am the Earth
And the Earth is me,
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree,
Each bit of mud,
And stick and stone,
Is blood and muscle,
Skin and bone.
And just as I
Need every bit
Of me to make
My body fit,
So Earth needs,
Grass and stone and tree
And things that grow here
Naturally.
That’s why we
Celebrate this day.
That’s why across
The world we say;
As long as life,
Is dear, is free,
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
~Jane Yolen~

Image result for earth day quotes

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Raspberry Yogurt Pie~Grandma and the Faeries

/ Lee Reynolds

The light is changing in my part of the world. The days are getting longer, warmer and I am opening gently, like the first blossoming flowers in spring. I’ve watched the changing seasons for many years now, the lines on my face etched like a wrinkled road map, showing all the places I’ve traveled, but it never gets old. There is something magical about the in between times.

 

And as I dream and plan about my garden, and dream and plan about my life, I remember another time, when the smell of lavender evoked memories long buried. Memories now lifted, like the new earth in my compost bins and ready to be laid creating a rich and fertile life.


Summer mornings are my favourite time to be out in the garden, as the air is fresh and moist, after waking from slumbering under a blanket of cool darkness all night long. My flowers are heavenly scented, with a sweet romantic perfume, their heads a profusion of vibrant colours and drops of  glistening dew lay peacefully on their verdant leaves. As they see me, with watering can in hand, they joyfully nod in anticipation of receiving their first drink of the day. I brush against my blooming English lavender and the calming, woodsy scent fills the air, taking me back in time.

 

It was the summer after my dad died and I was 6 years old. I went to visit my Grandma Clark, for a few days. Grandma was my Dad’s mom. I felt very special, since I had never been alone with her before, as my 3 older sisters and hordes of cousins were always at her house when we visited.

 

Grandma came out from the porch when our car pulled up, her arms out stretched towards me, long before finally sweeping me into a warm embrace, smelling of clean linen and fresh lavender. After mom bid us goodbye, thanking grandma, making me feel even more special, since I was the object of all that gratitude, Grandma smiled at me, her blue eyes twinkling and asked, “Do you want to help  pick some raspberries for our dessert tonight?.”

 

 I nodded shyly, forgetting the correct response but I knew “you bet, ‘cause I love dessert,” wasn’t right. Grandmother had been a school teacher and I had heard mom say, she liked to hear the Queen’s English, whatever that was. Mom had reminded me before dropping me off, to remember my P’s and Q’s, so I felt stilted, the words, like fluff in my mouth, and my brain all fuzzy, searching for the most polite response.

 

Grandma and I walked quietly side by side, her carrying a small bucket and me trying hard to resist the urge to skip. My sister J, a real ballet dancer, had recently taught me this joy filled way of moving but I suppressed it and we continued to plod along.

 

I stopped dead still, forgetting all about dessert, engulfed by a floral potpourri aroma, lifting me into an euphoric state. Grandma’s perennial garden was a profusion of jewel toned colours and rich textures. The array of blooms was overwhelming, but the smell was transcendent, taking me delightfully back to another place and time, long forgotten. 
                                                  

 

“Debbie, would you like to meet a faerie?,” my grandma asked as she knelt next to the edge of the garden. Wide eyed, I dropped down to the ground and watched as she gently picked a happy looking, purple flower with a bright yellow center. “This is a pansy and is the home of garden faeries,” she said, as she slowly picked off the petals and put them into my hand. When the last petal had been lifted, she held the stem towards me and said, “Faerie, I’d like to introduce you to Debbie.” Mesmerized, I marveled over the tiniest little girl, wearing a crimson red bonnet and a soft yellow flowing dress. Tentatively I said, “Hello?”

 

Grandma, the faerie and I sat peacefully for a long time, rocked gently by the hum of the earth. Beneath the sweet scent of flowers, we were enveloped by wisps of freshly mowed grass and pungent, decomposing matter, giving birth to new dirt. Butterflies lightly danced on the stage of rose petals and birds swoops to join the performance, gleefully chirping their songs, while the insects clicked and buzzed to the beat. The whole world was filled with the rhythm of life.  A magic I had forgotten.

 

“Mom, can we pick some raspberries?” I turn from my reverie, to see my three youngest children, still dressed in their summer cotton jammies, holding bowls expectantly, looking like bright eyed faeries, and said, “ Sure I’ll race you to the patch.”   

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..


 That is a glimpse into my time capsule, which I recently unearthed of my grandmother, teaching me to love the world again after the death of my Dad. Reminding me that magic is everywhere and often unseen by those who don’t take the time to look. 

 

My Grandfather Robert and Grandmother, Florence Clark in their garden

The next time you are in the garden, gently pick the petals off a pansy, and if you are attune to magic, you too will meet a garden faerie. 
                                               

And no memory is complete without the sense of taste to accompany it. Raspberries also remind me of my Grandma Clark, and so I thought I would share my recipe for Raspberry Yogurt Pie. I found this recipe YEARS ago from the La Leche League’s, “Whole Foods for the Whole Family,” cookbook when I was involved with our local LLL chapter. I hope you like it and add it to your repertoire of desserts.

                      Image result for whole foods for the whold family cookbook by la leche league

Raspberry Yogurt Pie

Ingredients

1 cup cream cheese, softened
1 cup yogurt
1/4 cup dry milk powder
1/2 cup honey
1 recipe of graham cracker crust…recipe below

Directions

Blend cream cheese and yogurt in a bowl. Add dry milk powder and honey; mix well. Spoon into pie shell. freeze until firm. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before servicing. May top with 1 cup of raspberries. This is a very quick and easy dessert.

Yields: 8 servings
Note: Any berries can be substituted…or mix them up using a strawberry yogurt and top with blueberries.

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients

2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cups wheat germ
1/4 dry milk powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup of melted butter
1 tbsp of molasses

Directions

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl; mix well. Stir in melted butter. Add molasses, mix well. Press firmly over the bottom and sides of a greased 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes. cool before filling. May substitute honey for molasses. Yields 8 servings

Take a piece out into your garden and in joy!

                    

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope
                                     

Cherry Squares~Summer Delight

/ Lee Reynolds

A life without love is like a year without summer. ~Swedish Proverb

Spring literally flew by for me with hardly a moment to think, let alone time to reflect and write a blog post. I missed you all though.

I started working at my gardening gig on Earth’s day, April 22nd. An appropriate day to start working with plants and helping our customers plan their garden don’t you think? 

Here’s a shot of the north end of our garden centre

 

Inside our greenhouse

 

My favourite place….the veggie section

 

I was blessed to have some GREAT co-workers who made coming to work FUN!

 

Another amazing co-worker…making life in the veggie section even better
When you would pay your boss to work, you know you have found the right job….more beautiful co-workers
The garden is the perfect place to transform……here’s a butterfly on our marigolds

 

And marvel over endless beauty

 

So yeah Spring flew by immersed in Kale and Flowers….check out my glasses…more about that later

 When I wasn’t working at the garden centre, I was trying hard to be a good mom but gosh is it ever a balancing act. I think the kids kind of like me though, as they gave me some thoughtful Mother’s Day gifts in May; handprints, flowers, poems, a gift certificates good for chores like lawn mowing and more. Did I mention that I have great kids?


 The rest of May flew by in a blur, with a 4th birthday party for our twin daughters at the end of the month. The theme was “Bugs and Butterflies” which was a big hit with Kathryn and Victoria.

 

This butterfly cake was super easy to make…just ask me about it.
Victoria is trying to hit the ladybug pinata I made for the party…now that would have been a blog post unto itself!



After the girl’s 4th birthday on May 20th, it was a quick slide into June with a mad dash to plant my own veggie garden. It was quite a challenge keeping it weed free though….I did eventually spend an afternoon and weeded it and promptly put freshly mowed grass clippings around the plants to keep them moist but also weed free. Stay tuned for a more updated picture of the garden in posts to come.

I REALLY like the location of all the plants this year….I did LOTS of research into companion planting this year…note e basil next to the carrots and tomatoes….the onions and marigolds are all around the outside of the garden which hopefully will create a barrier for insects

I was blessed to have my oldest sister visit. I love it as she knows exactly how to help….she always heads straight to my laundry room when she arrives…AND since she is a master at organizing and decluttering, she always brings me hand-me downs.

Ta Da….new hoodie and shoes!!!….don’t you just love hand me downs?

 

My generous sister B with Victoria and Kathryn

  June arrived and flew by in a flurry of piano and voice concerts, a piano exam, soccer games, final school exams, year end parties and beach days and our traditional music school Country Fair. It ended with Will’s 6th birthday party at the Science Centre. I can’t believe our little guy is 6 years old!

Will’s rocket ship birthday cake that I made for him for his Science Centre party

 

Who knows what his future will be? When asked recently what he wanted to do when he grows up he said, “An engineer and a chef.” ….maybe he will be both


Will’s actual birthday, June 25th fell on the kid’s last day of school. We celebrated the beginning of summer with a slurpee. Yes, our family is healthy, we drink green drinks, eat lots of veggies and stay active, but we all enjoy a slurpee now and then too.

Welcome Summer!

Summer arrived and we headed to Okanagan lake for a week of camping. What a week! We experienced thunder showers, epic high temperatures (39 celsuis…and yes there are people in the world who think Canada is COLD!), in which Katie was sick with heat stroke, most of us came down with swimmer’s itch and finally there was a camp fire ban since the temperatures were extreme and our Province is so dry. Boo! as our one of our favourite things each day is to have a crackling fire in the evening in which we can toast our s’mores! So Yummy!

Here are a few pics of the highlights…

Oh Bliss….the water was the perfect temp

 

Will took part in a “learn to fish” program put on at our campground

 

Happy Campers

 

Mitchell came out for the first weekend and brought his guitar….he’s so talented

 

Hiking up the beach trail and taking a moment to snap a picture

 

Harrison went into town each day for a basketball camp so was only with for short amounts of time….but enough time to enjoy the experience of being in the great outdoors and appreciate a real bed.

 

Grace balancing on the paddle board. She took lessons and is a natural1

  

David and I behind our campsite….see the lake in the background. Gorgeous!

 

Now you know why I didn’t have much time to blog this spring and early summer.  Life has been full of work, milestones memories and wonderful experiences. 

Another highlight, was when the little kids and I picked our first big harvest of cherries from our two trees in our backyard. The trees (a Lapin and a Lambert) were loaded and we even had enough to share with others this year. That is always a nice feeling when you grow food.

I have so many memories when I pick cherries. My first is when I was a teenager living in the Creston Valley, known for its productive fruit trees. I made a nice sum of money picking cherries one summer and got a really good tan…back in the days when a tan was something to be coveted.

Another memory was when I was 25 and my step father had just passed away in April, leaving my mom with a large house and property to maintain. My sisters and brother in laws got together one weekend in June and picked cherries from her mini orchard. I thought I would never look at another cherry again but it was really nice to be able to hand mom a bit of money from the cherry sales at the local farmer’s market.

I hope my kids have a few nice cherry picking memories. For many years we picked the cherries hanging over the fence from our neighbour’s tree (they gave us permission and they never picked any cherries) We would get enough cherries from our side of the fence to be able to freeze a nice lot of cherries and we always made my mom’s cherry square dessert each year. Now that we have our own trees, I hope our little ones create their own memories.

I am trusting that summer will continue to unfold with grace and ease. Picking cherries and taking the time to make my mom’s Cherry Square recipe was a nice start. If you are looking for a lovely, easy cherry dessert this is it. Add a dollop of ice cream or whipping cream and you have something really special to serve your family. Here’s one of our family’s summer dessert recipes….

My Mom, Ethel’s Cherry Square Dessert

Filling Ingredients

5 cups of fresh pitted cherries (this is the only time consuming part of this recipe)
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Put the above ingredients into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes. Mash a bit and then add

a mixture of 1/4 cup cornstarch with a bit of water...enough until you have made a paste.
Add the cornstarch paste to the cherry mixture. Stir it in well.

Simmer a bit more until mixture is clear

Let cool

In a large bowl add:

1-3/4 cup rolled oats
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour…I use 3/4 cup of whole wheat and 3/4 of white flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup of brown sugar or sweetening ingredient of your choice
 Optional: 1 tsp cinnamon

Cut  into this mixture,
3/4 cup of cold butter or margarine

Lightly grease an 8×8 baking dish….I used a 9×13 but the squares were not as deep

Press 1/2 of the rolled oat/ flour/butter mixture into the baking dish

Spread cooled cherry filling over the first layer

Press the remainder of the oat/flour/butter mixture on top of the cherry filling

Place in pre-heated oven 375 degrees for 35 minutes

Serve warm with a dollop of whip cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Absolutely great cold too! This dessert doesn’t last long around here.

 

 

A piece of my mom’s cherry square dessert on her “Forget Me Not” china…..love you mom!

I hope this blog post brings you up to date on life around Lakelin Reach (our urban homestead) and your summer also unfolds beautifully.

Recently my sisters and I visited a lavender farm…more about that in future posts and this was a quote that was in the garden….if I were a tree, I think I would be a cherry tree. 

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope




Food for Thought….A Day at our Urban Farm Symposium

/ Lee Reynolds
This is a view of the lake outside of the cafeteria

A week ago today, D and I were listening attentively to all the speakers (there were 8 in total) at our local Urban Farm Symposium. The location could not have been better, as we were in the cafeteria at our local College, which is adjacent to Patchwork Farm. Patchwork Farm, is a community collective farm, where people of all ages and abilities join in meaningful activities that fosters personal growth, strengthens the local food system and enhances appreciation for land, food, health and community. The actual location for the College and the Farm is on the hillside above Kalamalka Lake, a tiny bit west of where our homestead is situated.

It was Patchwork Farm, along with all their supporters, that put on this Symposium. I thought it would have been better attended, however there were under 50 in attendance, which was disheartening when you think water and food are the basics of life and supporting both were discussed in detail throughout the day.

On the plus side, having a small gathering meant we had great seats and the group felt intimate enough where we were comfortable asking questions throughout the day.

Our first speaker, and host for the day, Keli Westgate is a Certified Permaculture Designer, a Director of the Sustainable Environment Network Systems, SENS, as well as a multi-media producer and marketing freelancer. She shared the many community and environment projects that the SENS group has on the go, including the Vernon in Transition Movement, Beesafe, a monthly speaker series, and my personal favourite topic, the vision for a Vernon Earthship Healing and Education Centre.

An earthship, is a unique type of passive solar house that is made of both natural and recycled materials, designed and marketed by Earthship Biotecture of Taos, New Mexico. The term is a registered trademark of Michael Reynolds.

Other than the fact that the original creator of this design shares my husband’s last name, D and I are intrigued by the idea of using recycled items, like tires and glass bottles, to create a totally sustainable housing plan. During our next short break we were bubbling with possibilities and our creative juices were flowing as we discussed  how we could create such a place for our family. When I came home from the symposium and did some research, I see a family in Alberta is doing just that, and here is a link to the CBC report on this Prairie Earthship home.  

Some earthship images,

Our next lecture was given by Jane Emlyn, who has a background in Soil Biology, is a co-founder in BeeSafe, is a master gardener and has a lifetime experience in self sufficient living. She brought her knowledge of natural farming practices and small lot design to the table. I loved how she started talking about her observations on how things grow when she was just a child. She shared her memories of living close to a richly forested area, where she was able to walk in nature, experience the changing seasons and notice how the trees and plants were growing without any help from man.

She also talked about her childhood being a time when everyone had a kitchen garden in their backyard and her neighbours, who came from diverse cultures with various gardening practices, all contributed to her learning and knowledge. She watched how in the fall, the hardest working gardeners cleaned their beds of all plant debris and placed it in a compost bin to be dug out again in the spring and spread around the garden. While these gardeners had beautiful productive gardens, she thought there had to be a more natural and efficient way that required less effort.\

Later in her life, she studied soil biology and learned how the earth is teeming with billions of organisms working in a symbiotic relationship to create the perfect environment for the continuing lifecycle of all things. The no dig philosophy was one she adopted and with great success. Her lecture was called, “Winterize Your Soil.”  The general premise of her talk was to encourage us to think about leaving gardening debris exactly where it grew. Whatever was left after you harvested your vegetables, etc, remained in place in the garden. Break it down into smaller, manageable pieces if you wish for quicker decomposition, but leave it in place.  She was also big on mulches, layering the garden with leaves, straw bales, whatever you have available and in the spring, she stressed that nothing be removed. You just plant right on top. She shared a few books that she highly recommended.

They were:

“Green Thumb” by Ruth Stout 

“The One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka

“The Zero Mile Diet” by Carolyn Herriot

The easy, relaxed way, Jane spoke about her gardening practices made me think about how hard I sometimes work in my garden, hauling debris to my compost and then working it back in every spring. I was going to really think about how, “I can let nature do most of the work to create the rich fertile soil I desire. The basis for growing all things.” (Stay tuned for my upcoming blog post on “Grounding, or another word, Earthing” which ties into this belief)

After a tea break, we were introduced to Cuyler Page who shared his expansive knowledge on growing wheat, particularly Red Fife Wheat. He had interesting history to share and stories to tell about growing Red Fife. All Red Fife grown for use today in artisan bakeries around our area can trace its ancestry to a half pound he and Sharon Rempel planted at the Grist Mill at Keremeos in 1989. He told stories about growing wheat and also gave us a demonstration on threshing and winnowing the wheat that had been harvested earlier from Patchwork Farm. It was all very interesting but to grow enough wheat to make one loaf of bread in my opinion, was too much for the urban farmer. I appreciated all the knowledge however and as I was eating my lunch of bun with veggies and hummus, I was appreciating what went in to make the bun. A lot of work!

Before Lunch was served, Bill Hickey, uncovered the secrets of growing cold hardy varieties of figs in the Okanagan Valley. Bill is a lifetime gardener with an adventurous streak. On hearing four years ago that a few people in Vernon had fig trees in the ground he decided to find the best suited fig cultivars for our climate. Over 20 varieties are candidates. Eight varieties are ripening in his yard currently. He went on to show us how to grow and prune figs for quick production but after the talk, although I admired his tenacity, I thought, that is something I don’t have time to entertain. I just want to feed my family and spend my time more efficiently. However, for those people, who want a hobby, growing figs would be lovely…and eating them even better.

Our lunch was rich with discussion and food. As D and I enjoyed a deliciously thick pumpkin soup and our choice of sandwiches or buns loaded with yummy veggies inside, we talked about the direction we saw our own homestead traveling and the dreams we had on the horizon. Before the afternoon lectures began, we took a walk outside to enjoy the day. I was thinking perhaps the real gardeners had stayed home to work in their yards on this Saturday, as although the day had begun cold and cloudy, by lunch the day had warmed and the sun was shining brightly. It was a perfect day to muck around in the yard. Here is a picture of the raised gardens at Patchwork farm and below is a picture of the view from the farm.

 

 
More pictures at Patchwork Farm…Kale still going crazy above

Before we went back inside, I snapped a picture of D…I was so happy he decided to join me and share in my passion. He has been so busy at his office and I think all these lectures opened his eyes to the endless opportunities available for our homestead.

All refreshed, we were ready to discuss some pretty serious issues on, “Food, Farming and Community.” Wendy Holm, is an award -winning resource Economist, Agrologist and Journalist. She has covered stories at the forefront of Canadian policy since the early 1990’s picking up eight national journalism awards since 2003. Wendy holds an honours B.Sc. in Business Administration, an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics and a Masters of Management, Cooperatives and Credit Unions. She talked about world food and farming practices and how important the small family farm is to the world. Also, in great detail, she discussed the necessity of protecting our agriculture lands from corporations who want to profit without any care or consequence for the environment.

Check out the following YouTube video called, A Vision Of Agriculture with Wendy Holm

As Wendy left to leave for the airport, I thanked her for coming and giving me, “Food for Thought!” It’s people like this who help to change the way we think about growing food in the world. I felt really empowered and while I don’t have any of her credentials, she left me feeling that I could make a difference in the world.

As my head was still spinning from such a meaty lecture, our next speaker, Heather Clay brought 30 years of experience working in the beekeeping industry and recently co-edited a book on Honey Bee Diseases and Pests. Her topic, “The Urban Beescape” was exactly what I had been looking for as I tried to think about how we could become small scale beekeepers. I was thinking how wonderful it would be for our children to watch how the bees pollinate our crops and how they all work together to make an elixir for life. Honey! Check out the site, www.capabees.org

Our second last speaker was Curtis Stone, who owns “Green City Acres” in Kelowna, B.C. He talked efficiently for one hour discussing how to practically turn 2000 square feet of lawn into a productive garden which can earn a substantial amount of money…..my notes say, $18,000 dollars however this is all dependent on your crop and who is purchasing your produce. He discussed the technical process of converting a lawn into a mini-farm and the economics of production. Of course this was interesting to see how quickly he moved into production and also introduced the idea that just because you live in an urban setting, doesn’t mean you can’t become a farmer.  A profitable farmer turning lawn into food….and money. Here’s a Youtube video, “Meet an urban farmer….Curtis from Green City Acres.”  Gets one thinking for sure!

And finally at the end of a wonderful day of stimulating ideas and thoughts came a lovely speaker, Gordon Hiebert, of Element Eco-design, who is a permaculture practitioner in the North Okanagan. He uses his knowledge of ecological systems to create sustainable building, regenerative agriculture, water harvesting and waste systems to create unique integrated designs. His easy going, relaxed approach made me feel peaceful, believing I was moving in the right direction and it was comforting to know there was this wealth of knowledge in my backyard. His topic also brought me back to the speaker of the day that really inspired both D and I; the Earthship home, which feels like the perfect direction for us to move towards. Perhaps, D and I won’t live in such a place in our lifetime but perhaps our grandchildren will be so fortunate. We told our son Clark about it when we came home and you never know when you plants seeds if they will grow, as Clark is in his 4th year studying Evironmental Sciences and he hopes to become an architect in the future.

We ended our day feeling really blessed to be on this earth with other people so passionate about growing food, conserving water and caring for our planet. For healing our earth and healing our souls is going to require a conscious connection in our communities. It was just what I needed as the season of Autumn throws a blanket of leaves on the ground. It lays a blanket of possibilities at my feet. Endless and exciting.

Now I’m off to winterize my garden…….I’m just cutting up my corn stalks, my tomato plants, raking up my leaves and laying them on the debris. Letting it be still. Then I’m going to sit and drink a hot cup of tea and give thanks.

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves. ~Mahatma Gandhi

 

Will picking the perfect pumpkin at the patch this week.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

Chicken Club Pizza and Urban Farming Symposium

/ Lee Reynolds

Rhode Island Red It’s TGIF day (thank God it’s Friday)! I feel like I have to spell out that acronym since my 15 year old didn’t have a clue when I said it this morning. He is always making fun of me for my lack of social media expertise and other computer tech skills but there are still a few things I can still teach him, like, silly end of the week acronyms and how to make a really good pizza.

Anyway, I’m so EXCITED that Friday is finally here. That means one more sleep and D and I are off to experience  our first Urban Farming Symposium.The symposium is being organized by Patchwork Farms, which is an organic community collective farm situated next to our local college. The purpose of this event, is to teach enthusiastic people like me, to learn more so we can integrate urban agriculture practices into our daily life. I’ve been putting this out into the Universe since last winter when I saw some cool workshops I wanted to attend in Vancouver, but of course the distance makes that difficult with a family in tow. But here it is, being taught in my own backyard. Well practically since I can see the farm from my back deck.

Some of the topics on the agenda are:

1. From lawn to mini-farm
2. The Urban Beescape
3. Grow your own bread
4. Winterize your soil
5. Sustainable Environment Network Society presentation
6. Figs in the Okanagan
7. Food Farming and Community…and more

I did not see the topic of raising chickens on the agenda but I’m going to network and see what I can find out with regards to changing our by-laws. I want to know what others are doing in our community to increase awareness on the benefits of backyard chickens.  Did you know that one chicken can eat a large amount of your kitchen waste which reduces landfill gases and the long term results are improved soil for the urban farmer?

The ironic part of all this, is our nearby city of Vernon allows their citizens to have 3 or 4 chickens per household. However, we rural residents, aren’t allowed the luxury of a few eggs every day, despite the fact our community motto is, “Rural Living at it’s BEST.” I guess they mean, the peace and quiet and quick boat access to the lake, but no chicken noise or smell.

Like anything else, I’m going to put my attention on what I want, “chickens” and know it’s just a matter of time before we have a few in our backyard. Bees too. Just like I attracted this symposium to occur. Don’t you just love the, “law of attraction!” I’m interested in learning more about keeping bees in our organic garden and of course honey would be a nice side benefit not to mention great pollination on our homestead. Our daughter Grace keeps asking for a bunny or two as well, which I understand produces excellent, immediate garden waste. A side benefit to this is she gets a pet she doesn’t have to walk. (Don’t get me going about my dream for a Golden Retriever, that wish comes with a country farm, lots of space and room for the dog to roam)

This picture reminds me of my sister C’s retriever Sunny….I’m holding the vision of a country farm and a new puppy

 

So tonight, I’m going to make enough pizza so the kids have lunch tomorrow since this is an all day event. Oh did I mention, lunch will be served at the symposium as well. For a mom who makes 21 meals for my family each week, PLUS snacks, well I can’t tell you how marvelous THAT IS! Our older kids agreed to care for the younger ones which is also another huge gift. They know how important growing my urban homestead is and also I’m sure they are planning to take turns watching the little ones so they can have some free time playing computer games, etc. without me nagging about getting outside, doing chores in the house or doing their homework. Hey, it’s a WIN/WIN.

Well, enough about what I’m doing this weekend, How would you like to join me in making an amazing pizza. I tell you, other than my pesto sauce pizza….this is a winner.

So if you want to grab your apron and join me in the kitchen, let’s get the flour out.

We started making these when my 15 year old son Harrison said he really liked my homemade pizzas but he missed the ‘ole chicken club pizza we used to get from Panago Pizza. So I started doing some experimenting and came up with, I think, even a better version of this particular pizza. (no offence Panago, IF I had to buy take out, it would be from you)

Okay, here is what you need to make this pizza. Of course a good pizza starts with an amazing crust. I can whip this up in my sleep now.

Hope’s Homemade Pizza Crust recipe

Ingredients

3 cups of flour
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
11/2 cups of warm water
1 tbsp yeast (I buy the quick rising kind from Costco’s…it’s in a large box for around $5.00 dollars.)
1 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Non stick spray for the pizza pan

Directions

Add 11/2 cups of warm water to a large bowl
Sprinkle 1 tbsp of yeast on the top of the water and let it sit for at least 5 minutes
Mix the flour (and I like to use unbleached white with some whole wheat…the combination can be your choice…We like 1/2 and 1/2 but if you aren’t use to whole wheat flour use less at first) then
the sugar and the salt together until well combined.
Then take a fork stir the water and yeast really well, making sure the yeast has dissolved really well into the warm water…it should be frothy. Then add your tbsp of olive oil and mix well again.
Finally, add the dry ingredients to the wet and combine. When a ball has formed I put it on a lightly floured counter and turn it over and over, kneading it like bread with my hands. I continue to mix until all the flour is worked in. This usually takes about 2 minutes. Sometimes it’s still sticky and if that is the case, then add a tiny bit of flour to the mixture so your hands don’t stick to the dough but not too much or your crust will be heavy.
Then I let the dough sit in a warm bowl with a damp cloth on top for at least 15 minutes. The longer you let it sit the more it will rise but I’m usually making mine right before dinner so I don’t have time to let it rise higher. If you want a thinner crust you can split the dough into two balls but we like our crust thick so this recipe is used for one large pizza. 

Now for the fun part.

Pizza topping for the Chicken Club

Spray the pan or lightly grease with olive oil
Take the dough and spread it evenly over the pan, working out from the middle.
I find it easiest to have a 1/2 cup of flour handy, I make sure my hands are well floured and if the dough is sticky, then I sprinkle a little flour to make it easier to spread.

Everything you need, crust, mozzarella, cooked chicken, onion, ham, ranch dressing and Parmesan cheese, opt bacon pieces

Chicken Club Ingredients

About 1/2 cup of Ranch dressing…I use Hidden Valley we buy at Costco
1 cup of thinly sliced black forest ham
1 cup of cut of cooked chicken pieces (I pre-cooked 6 boneless chicken thighs) 
1/2 of a red onion thinly sliced….if I were making it just for me…I’d use a whole red onion
Parmesan Cheese
2 cups of mozzarella cheese
(opt) bacon bits

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F

1. Spread the ranch dressing all over the pizza crust until it’s well covered

 

2.  Spread the thinly sliced black forest ham

3. Scatter red onion on top of the ham

 
4. Layer the cooked chicken on top of the ham and onion

5. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of the ham, onion and chicken (note if you want to use bacon bits as well this is a good time to sprinkle it on top of the ham, onions and chicken)

6. Spread the mozzarella over the entire pizza

 Now it’s time to put into a preheated oven @ 425 degrees F…middle rack for 15 to 20 minutes or until it’s cooked to your taste. We like our pizza crust soft and chewy so we don’t cook it as long as someone who would want the crust a bit crunchier. Just watch closely after 15 minutes.

Ready for the oven and as you can tell, the crust has  risen quite a bit since I first spread it on the pan. This is the pizza for dinner but I’m also making a cheese pizza so the kids have something for lunch tomorrow as well.

Here’s their cheese before going in the oven.

The little kids like three kinds of cheese; Parmesan, cheddar and mozzarella on a basil tomato sauce

Here it is….TGIF Chicken Club Pizza…enjoy!

Happy TGIF day! Add a Caesar salad and dinner is served.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and it becomes a family favourite in your house.

Oh and stay tuned as I will take notes and maybe some pictures too at the farm symposium tomorrow. It’s going to be enlightening and anything I learn, you will hear about it first.


If you can’t see this YouTube video, click here, Jack Johnston’s “Home” song at a Farm Aid 2012 concert .I like how genuine he is…and isn’t it true, home is wherever your heart is…nothing has to be fancy, In fact the simpler it is, the better in so many ways. Love out to Farmers!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Saving Seeds for Tomorrow

/ Lee Reynolds

Lately, most of my blog posts have been about things that inspire me and I could write from this place forever, BUT I don’t want to give you the wrong impression about my homestead. Behind every inspiring moment there is a ton of work going on. I don’t know about you but I’m a list maker. I make lists every morning of the things I want to accomplish inside the house, with our children, out in the community and  in our garden. Each night, I fall into bed exhausted after a day of trying to finish everything.

As a gardener, nature shows us how to live our life. After the fertile seasons of Spring and Summer, thankfully Fall comes as our season to reap our harvest. A season to be grateful. Then Winter arrives blanketing us with time to rest and reflect.

When I planted our garden last May, I did so half-heartedly (is that a word?) It describes a person who doesn’t put 100% of their effort into a project and that was certainly me last spring. I wanted to grow food, flowers, and herbs, but my heart was out in the country. Out at the Christmas tree farm I wanted to buy.

Last May, D and I were working like crazy people trying to get our house de-cluttered, repairs performed, and the everything cleaned really well so we could list the house. When it came to the garden, I took one weekend, cleaned up the beds, amended the soil and planted my seeds and plants. I didn’t put everything I wanted in, nor did I take the time to space things properly. Case in point, I planted the corn far too close and never got back to thinning it so I basically had nothing of any consequence to harvest. (Big disappointment for my daughter Alyssa who could eat corn every day)

Despite my lack of planning, most of our garden flourished. As you know from one of my blog posts, I even had unexpected cantaloupe growing, though I hadn’t knowingly planted any seeds. Surprises from the garden are lovely.

Another distraction from my garden was my focus on our oldest daughter, Alyssa, who graduated from University last Spring and then was consumed with upcoming plans to go overseas to begin her teaching career in the U.K. As if that weren’t enough, our third oldest child, Mitchell, graduated from high school and we were caught up in all that event entails. Oh, and I almost forgot, I was extremely fortunate to have an 8 week full time job at a local garden centre. I LOVED it but my own garden suffered.

During last Spring and Summer, I may not have consciously realized it at the time but I was preparing the ground and planting the seeds so our older children could take off and bloom. As fall arrives, I’m happy to see some of that harvest as well, since they  have been sharing stories of  their respective adventures, experiences and inevitable growth.
 Seeds are magical.                   

This last week, I have been busy harvesting the last of our vegetables, clipping and hanging my herbs to dry, and saving all sorts of seeds. Since this is a crucial job in becoming sustainable, I thought I would share a few tips on how to save tomato seeds which is a bit messy but very rewarding. It always amazes me that from one plant we can obtain ALL the seeds we need to grow enough plants to feed our family next year.

With frost on our doorstep, this is probably the last of my tomato harvest

Saving tomato seeds is a snap. Choose the tomatoes that you think are the nicest specimens.

Find jars and label them with the tomato seed variety you plan to put inside. Today, I chose my larger tomatoes, my Romas, perfect for sauces and my cherry tomatoes, which the little girls like to pop into their mouths. I have also saved seeds from my Ox Heart and Mortgage Lifters (heritage) from another harvest. This is an on going process as I pick our produce and stay on top of plants going to seed.

Next, cut the tomato or if it’s really ripe, you can squeeze it and let all the seeds drip into your jar.

 

Once you have the seeds inside the jar, add a 1/2- 1 cup of water to the contents and put a lid on the jar, or a piece of wax paper  or cotton with an elastic band around the rim. Note, as the tomato seeds ferment, it will really smell.
Then let it sit for a few days until you see some moldy residue forming on the top. You can usually tell from the smell when it’s time to remove the seeds. It will be really smelly.
 
Fill the jar with clean water and let all the moldy residue etc run off. The fertile seeds will drift down to the bottom of the jar. When you have removed the debris, grab a strainer and collect the seeds that moved to the bottom of the jar.
 
 Then tap all the seeds onto a plate. (I use paper plates…see above)
     or you can use a coffee filter.
Set the paper plate/coffee filter in a place that can sit undisturbed until the seeds are totally dry. Once dry, put the seeds into little envelopes with the tomato variety written on the outside.
Some people put the seeds in the freezer but I find keeping the seeds in a cool, dark place works great. I put them in a box and keep them in my laundry room.

I was reading an article in our paper today where our local library is starting a seed lending library. It’s very simple, you check out seeds, record what you have taken and then replace the seeds after harvest the following year. I LOVED that idea and will be checking out the seed lending library to find some more heritage varieties to grow and share what I have collected. Our library also has some great books, (see below)

on learning how to save seeds. This is a wonderful way to become more sustainable and I find it interesting and fun as well. When I’m out in the garden, I always feel like I’m in the midst of a  science experiment. From a social aspect, I feel like I’m contributing in some small way to feeding the world.

Well that’s it blogger friends. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a season of dreaming, a season of rest. Before I know it, I will be planting seeds for our next year’s crop.

But not quite yet.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

Sacred Circle Book Club

/ Lee Reynolds

Another year of reading has begun. Last night was my first book club meeting for the year. Our book club year starts in September and concludes in June. We take the summer off to read our own material. Most of my summer reading was on the subject of homesteading. I LOVED the book called, “Chickens in the Road,” by Suzanne McMinn.

This author was living my dream of building a homestead with chickens and many other animals, all while raising children. Apparently Suzanne had a successful blog while she was building her homestead which further endeared her to me as I know how much time writing consumes. She has moved to a new farm and I’ve been meaning to look her up to see if she still blogs. If so, she has a future follower. She writes from the heart and her journey touched me deeply.

e.

Another book I REALLY enjoyed this summer was, re-reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book called, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle…a year of food life.”

If you haven’t read this book and are madly interested in living sustainably by growing your own food and living healthier, this is THE BOOK to read. I liked listening to the audio version too as Barbara, her husband and her daughter narrate the story and bring the stories to life. They feel like family now.

And finally, I cried when I finished reading, “The Dirty Life,” by Kristin Kimball. Have you ever been so absorbed in a book, you felt you were one of the characters? I especially loved how they used horses to till the soil and prepare their fields. (I’ll mention here that I was  madly in love with horses when I was a teen and I spent many blissful days on the back of my horse, Blondie) I grieved as I read the last page of Kristin’s book and I hope someday to have a farm so full of life as they enjoyed on Essex Farm.

Well those are my summer reads and we haven’t even talked about my Sacred Circle book club yet. Are my blog posts mini novellas or WHAT!

In the fall of 2012, as I waited for the world to end on Dec 21, 2012, (Mayan Calendar prediction) I realized I wanted to start 2013 on the path of connecting deeply with my soul.

During the last 10 years from 2001 and 2011, when I was trying to conceive our last four children, I experienced profound moments of insight and felt touched by many miracles. Now that our Grace, Will, Kathryn and Victoria were safely on the earth, I knew that I wanted to delve into my authentic self and continue to grow as a soul. Not just for me, but for our children. All our children.

The older I get, it seems like the life lessons are on fast forward and I wanted to keep learning at a rapid rate, so I thought joining together with other like-minded women would create that environment of experience and enlightenment. At the end of 2012, I mentioned my desire to a few friends, who wouldn’t look at me like I was CRAZY and before I knew it, we were having our first Sacred Circle meeting.

My sisters and I take turns choosing selections, then once a month we meet in our hostess’s home and discuss the book choice for the month. These are a few of the books we have read in the past.

Proof of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander

The Field by Lynn Mctaggert

Living in the Light by Shakti Gawain

The Four Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz and son

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer

Well that gives you a glimpse into what we have read in the past. Do you think this genre interests you? Are you intrigued? Are you a student waiting for the teacher to appear? If so, I invite you to join us and read our future selections.

I’m sorry, I didn’t get my act together enough to get this out before now as I was busy blogging about making Borscht (hey, nourishing bodies is important too) etc. but if you want to join us here is a look into this year’s selections so far. This month, (Sept) we read the book called, “The Hidden Lamp, Stories from 25 centuries of awakened women” by Zenshin Florence Caplow

The consensus from those who read this book was, this is the type of book that one needs to read over the course of a year, instead of as a monthly book club selection. The stories evoked some strong reactions in some of our sisters, as women over the centuries have been suppressed and abused as  many of the stories were on this theme.

When we were discussing some of the stories, the thought that being born on this earth as a specific gender is part of our growth as a soul, …..but wouldn’t it be great if we could move beyond our gender? I like the following quote from a spiritual teacher:

“When a human being becomes so still that they begin to lose awareness of their gender, and they are simply looking into that abyss where there is no notion of self whatsoever, the world disappears. And that’s really the only place to go. It’s the only place to remain.”

 

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/andrewcohe271068.html#gXRsR9C2CDhwxmPe.99

Ideally, that is the direction we humans on earth are moving.
Anyway the conclusion with regards to this read was,  if you are interested in delving into these stories at a deeper level and are interested in Buddhism, this would be the book for you.

And now for our NEXT selection……………………………..drum roll please,

 

Next month, October 2014, we are reading the book called, “The Places that Scare You: A guide to fearlessness in difficult times” by Pema Chodron
Here’s a quote I relate to by Pema,
“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”
― Pema Chödrön
                                                  

I’m looking forward to reading this book by Pema Chodron. I’ve listened to a few of her audio books and her voice emanates peace and wisdom. Perhaps you too, will resonate with her words.

Will you join me and my other sisters in reading? I’m going to do a blog post after our next meeting and would love to hear your comments on the book….or maybe you have read a wonderful book that has touched your heart and impacted your life. Please share what you are learning. This was one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog, to connect with other like-minded people. All over the world.

The Mayans were right, the world as we know it has ended.  We are now flowing in the direction of living consciously and tapping into our sixth sense, living mindfully with love and compassion in our hearts. We  realize we are connected to all people, all things, to Mother earth and our vibrations are moving in the direction of creating harmony. I personally, believe that one of the reasons we are seeing such evil all over the world now are because there are pockets of fear in the world. Anger and hatred are always the result of great fear. It’s my belief that love will prevail. I trust we are rising to live from our highest self.

 I hope reading books, like Pema Chodron”s book above will guide  us in the direction we need to
travel.

   
 

                                        

If all this interests you but you want to hear more about it…check out Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Youtube video called, “The Shift.”  Dr. Dyer was one of the first teachers I sought and even D enjoys his thoughts and wisdom….. he knows how to reach people from a human level.

Here’s a link to Ambition to Meaning, “The Shift”

(If you are using an Apple product, you may not be able to view this video, if so check out the following link to watch, Dr. Wayne Dyer’s, “Ambition to Meaning, The Shift.”)

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope  
. 

Vegetable Borscht~Grateful Gardens

/ Lee Reynolds
Look what I have found in my garden this summer?

 

This was the first one I found in my garden. EVER!
And look where I found it.
I know hey, a jumble of pumpkin, raspberry bushes, somewhere under there are also potatoes growing in containers …but then cantaloupes have been discovered too.
This mysterious cantaloupe appeared in my pumpkin/raspberry/potatoes in container/ garden this summer, …next to one of my compost bins.
Yes, I know, it’s lucky I found anything in this mess but one day, when I was out hand watering this patch, I was counting pumpkins and boy was I SHOCKED to find a cantaloupe.
I didn’t plant ANY cantaloupe seeds. I’m actually surprised too that anything grew in this patch down by my compost bin.  My sister J says raspberries grow anywhere…thanks btw J, for the new raspberry plants. I’ll put them in as soon as I clear out this mess this fall.
After I planted my main garden, I still had a few plants left and I just randomly planted them in this bed, not thinking anything would come up at all. After all, it isn’t on our underground irrigation system and the dirt is terrible.
 For years we had a weeping birch planted in this space. Although I really like birch trees, that one was always needing pruning and well, it also absorbed a ton of water and wasn’t producing anything for us to eat. When I started thinking garden sustainability, one of the first things to go was that birch. Before I planted down there this year, I meant to remove the stump and improve the soil but I never got around to it/ Was I ever surprised ANYTHING grew down there. One of the reasons I had the compost put in this area was I was wanting to build up the soil in this location. Smart thinking on my part to place my compost bin, where I wanted the new, improved garden area.
So SURPRISE, surprise, surprise….I grew a cantaloupe.
And boy was I feeling like a real farmer when that happened.
But then, on another occasion, I found another one, again surprise! Did I mention this area gets little sunshine (no water, unless I get down there with the hose) and from what I have read melons love the hot sun.
And I wasn’t the only one surprised at our bounty. Harrison who is always happy to see food even posed with our new melon friend…to be eaten forthwith.
Then it happened two more times.

 

From a plant  I didn’t even “knowingly” plant, we received four glorious cantaloupes. YOU can bet  I saved the seeds for us to plant in this same spot next year. I know four melons isn’t a lot in the big scheme of things and even eating but hey…when you have bonus food that you weren’t expecting, and it’s fruit that your family loves to boot, well you are GRATEFUL!
Then there is the produce you did plant that turns out beautifully. I have never planted cabbage before as I was concerned about the notorious white cabbage butterfly infesting our garden but this summer our first cabbages turned out beautifully. I planted two varieties this year, a green and a red. They grew to enormous sizes and 6 plants of each fed our family all summer. Next year I’m doubling that as I want to put some away for winter. Cabbage keeps great I hear.
All summer we ate coleslaw and I added cabbage to my kale salad but I was hoping that there would be one cabbage left in September so we could have our first pot of Borscht of the season.
And look what was waiting for me in the garden the other day. Another reason to be grateful.
Isn’t this Red Dynasty Cabbage a sight for sore eyes…..something my grandmother would have said…but it’s beautiful.
And that wasn’t all. Down in that infamous pumpkin patch, I tipped over one of the containers I planted with Yukon Gold potatoes and I was happily surprised to find enough potatoes for several meals. We can go through 10 pounds of potatoes in no time if all the older boys are eating.
Potatoes grown in one of the containers down at our pumpkin patch
If you live on an urban homestead as I do, I would recommend growing your potatoes in a container. It was so easy and  as I was pouring my lawn clippings into the compost bin, I would top up my potatoes with a bit of mulch and throw a bit of dirt as well. By the end of summer the container was topped up and it was full of veggies. I was surprised by how many potatoes we received.
With  our newly dug potatoes and this beautiful cabbage, I’m going to make a vegetable borscht. Come and join me as I cook.
Pour a cup of tea and let’s get cooking. We can chat about being grateful as we go.

Let’s see, where is my recipe, oh here it is:

Hope’s Homemade Vegetable Borscht
 
Ingredients
  • 3 medium-size beets, peeled and grated
  • 2 large carrot, peeled and grated
  • 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 large tomatoes, diced
  • 2 tbsp of water
  • juice from ½ lemon
  • 2 L of water/vegetable broth
  • 1 tbsp of salt…or salt to your taste.
  • 6 medium-size potatoes, or the equivalent, diced
  • ½ cabbage….you can use green or red
  • 1  onion, diced
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  •  black pepper/pinch of salt
  • 2  bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp dried parsley or fresh finely chopped.
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped or minced as you desire
  • 1 tbsp of dried dill or a large bunch of fresh finely chopped
Directions
  1. Heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add grated beets, carrots and diced tomatoes.


2. Add 2 tbsp of  water and lemon juice to the vegetables and stir.
3. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, boil 2 L of water in a kettle and add to the shredded vegetables, that have been on simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Bring to a boil and add salt to your taste
6. Add diced potatoes and shredded cabbage to the soup and cook for another 10 minutes


7. While that is cooking, saute the onions and garlic over medium heat until golden


8. Add onions and garlic to the pot and combine well.
9. Add freshly ground black pepper, salt, bay leaves, parsley and dill to the soup. Cook for 15 minutes. 




10. Now the best part, pour into bowls, add a big dollop of sour cream and a sprig of parsley.


Serve with salad and dinner buns (recipe below) for a complete and delicious meal.

This recipe feeds 12-14 people. It fed us for 2 nights which I’m grateful for as the second night was after being at the dentist with the whole gang and we were hungry when we arrived home. If you don’t need a whole pot full, please know it freezes really well. Perfect for a cold fall night.

Let’s say Grace….

Don’t you think when you come from a place of gratitude, even more gifts are bestowed. Let’s say grace.

And before I close this post, I just wanted to jot down my dinner bun recipe. I used this also for my black bean burger recipe…but I make the buns a bit smaller for dinner.

Ingredients:

Serves: 12-15
  • 4 1/2cups flour
  • 4 1/2teaspoons dry yeast (2 8g packages)
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3/4cup water
  • 1/2cup margarine or 1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup of oil
  • 1/3-1/2cup  white sugar
  • 1/2teaspoon  salt

 

Directions:

 

    1. Mix 2 C flour& yeast in a large bowl.
    2. In a separate bowl, heat milk, water, oil, sugar& salt to lukewarm in microwave.
    3. Add all at once to flour mixture and beat till smooth. (Approx 2 mins in a Kitchenaid stand mixer).
    4. Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough (2 – 2 1/2 Cups).
    5. Mix well until dough is soft and slightly sticky, then turn out onto floured surface and let rest under a large greased bowl for about 15 minutes.
    6. Shape dough into 12-15 small balls and place on greased baking sheet to rise until doubled in size. (approx 45 Mins).
    7. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven 12-15 minutes.
      I add some ground flax seed and oatmeal to the tops of the dough as I’m making the buns

       

      For some reason, making bread and buns is such a nurturing experience

 

 

So there it is my blog friends. A home cooked meal, nothing extravagant but when the ingredients come from your garden, you are even more thankful. I have to tell you our kitchen smells heavenly between the borscht and the buns cooking.

Our cat, May Ling, a blue lynx point Siamese, has snoozed the whole afternoon away on the window seat in our kitchen. There is nothing like homemade soup, buns and a cat dosing in the kitchen in my books.

 

When she hears my camera click, she starts slightly but only just…in a second she is dreaming about mice and quail again

Thanks for coming today……..

Until we meet again, may you be well, peaceful and happy.

Blessings from Hope

 

 

 

 

 

Basil Pesto Recipe

/ Lee Reynolds

Yum! I love basil pesto.

 

One basil plant growing in my garden…I have lots!

I discovered my love for pesto when my new friend Susan, whom I met while working at D.S. Gardens this past spring, brought it to our employee luncheon party. Although the picnic table was loaded with delicious and healthy food, all I wanted to eat was her pesto.

After that, I believe I was solely responsible for selling out all of the basil plants we had in stock. If I saw anyone walking around with a tomato plant, I would bring over one of our beautiful 6 pack basil plants and say, “Did you know that basil is a companion plant for tomatoes?”…and then I would offer them a free sniff. As soon as the basil was under their nose I knew I had sold another 6 pack. My motives weren’t to just make money for the garden center but to ensure no one left without having what I think is THE BEST herb for their garden. Well, I do like oregano, dill, sage, parsley, ha….okay I like herbs, but Basil is at the top of the list. There were a few occasions where customers wavered  even after a whiff of the herb but all I had to say was, “do you like pesto?” and that would be it. They would smile and take my 6 pack, sometimes two packs.

Suffice it to say, I planted a lot of basil myself this spring, right in front of my tomatoes. And it wasn’t long before I was making pesto several times a week. We even started putting it on our pizza instead of our classic tomato sauce. Yeah, we love pesto around here…and did you know it freezes well too?

So on the heels of my post about what to do with all the tomatoes, I have to share my basil pesto recipe. I hope you grow to love it as much as I have this spring/summer. Next year, I’m going to plant even more because I want to freeze it….it never makes it into the freezer with our family. I’ve been eating so much this year I won’t have any to dry either. Oh, and don’t you think all that green is good for our bodies! You bet…up there with Kale!  Here is my recipe and some pictures.

Here are the main ingredients,,,thanks for the garlic dear brother in law Barrie!

Hope’s Basil Pesto Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups of basil
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup of pine nuts or walnuts
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
(not in the picture but additional items, kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, sprinkle of lemon juice)

Directions

Put basil, garlic cloves and nuts in a food processor and pulse it until they are ground really well.

Once well processed, add the oil, slowly to the consistency that you desire. I like my pesto a bit thicker but if you are making pesto to spread on a pizza or as a pasta sauce, you may want to add a bit more olive oil to make it thinner.Taste as you go.

Add the parmesan cheese and process really well.

Finally, add a pinch of salt, some freshly ground pepper and a
squeeze of fresh lemon, mix again then you are ready to dig in.

I like to eat my pesto with Triscuit crackers (Rosemary and Olive oil is my latest fav) but our oldest daughter Alyssa likes to eat it with a spoon, a big spoon, and if caught she has a guilty smile on her face. I wish you were here now Alyse to eat my latest pesto, ’cause it was delish, but interesting note, it did go farther than usual. It lasted all of an hour today.

I hope you like my recipe and plan to double your basil plants for next year too. Enjoy! In JOY!

This is a great afternoon snack for my family…but boy does it go fast!

Until, I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

Tomato Abundance

/ Lee Reynolds

Welcome to Lakelin Reach Urban Homestead. It’s late August and everything is over flowing and some things, like our tomatoes are requiring daily harvesting and processing.

 

Now I’m questioning whether 16 plants was too many for our family of 10, well actually, soon to be a family of 8 living in our home now that Alyssa, our oldest is in the U.K. and Mitchell is off to University on this weekend. Did you know that 8 is a prosperity number in Chinese culture? Well I’m certainly feeling prosperous….in TOMATOES!

So this summer I’m asking myself how is the best way to process them for our family’s needs in the quickest and freshest way possible.

 

Thank heavens the little ones love to pick them daily.

 

Kathryn and Victoria love to run and get their bowls when they know we are going to the garden. The tomatoes have done really well in this location as they receive ALL day sun…and although I did stake them (so I could write down the name of the tomato on the stake) I also have the pool fence behind them which allows for great circulation and I easily pick and prune them from both sides of the fence. They get eaten too by our tomato loving, pool going kids.
But after the little ones are tucked away for the night, I have a kitchen counter covered in tomatoes.

 

What to do?
Well last year I got into canning them and each evening I made tomato sauce and filled my jars and was so happy at the end of summer as my laundry room shelves (yes that is where I put my preserves….hey it’s close to the kitchen and looks old fashioned with my bead boarded walls etc) were full.
But you know what?….in the middle of winter when I was making my soups, stews, casseroles, spaghetti and pizza sauces, I wasn’t using my canned sauce as much as digging in my deep freeze and pulling out the many bags I had stowed away when I finally got too sick of canning. Hmmm.
So this summer, with all the family stuff going on, I decided to freeze my tomatoes…but with a twist. Have you tried this with your tomato harvest? It’s so easy, why isn’t it done more often?
All you do is cut up your tomatoes in the size that your family likes in soups, etc and you put them in a large baking pan. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes, add some garlic, basil, oregano. I was really smart this year and put a planter of my Greek type herbs, which I use the most on my front porch, it’s pretty and useful. It has saved me countless steps to our garden as well. I love to just go out and snip what I need and sprinkle them freshly on whatever I’m making in the kitchen.
Oh my, just thinking of that has firmed up what we are having for dinner. Greek Salad, Chicken and lemon with dill, baby size potatoes, fresh from the garden. My oldest daughter Alyssa put us onto Greek food after spending a month in Turkey and Greece 2 years ago and now I can’t get enough of that fare. I’m so glad that the weather in the Okanagan is perfect for growing peppers, cucumbers and of course lots of tomatoes!  Sorry, I got side tracked talking about herbs. Back to processing..
Okay, here is what the tomatoes looked like before I put them in the oven at 250 degrees for a hour.

 

 

 

And this is what they looked like after marinading in the oven…the smell in the house is divine!

 

Now normally I cool the tomatoes and then pop the whole baking tray into the freezer over night and in the morning I put the frozen tomatoes and herbs into freezer bags. For the sake of this blog, I just cooled them and put them directly into bags. I like freezing them first and then put them into bags as they separate easier when I open the bag in the middle of winter. I can just pull out what I want to use for my soups and stews. (note if you don’t like the skins on you will have to remove them before you stew them in the oven…but we don’t mind the skins)
The thing I love about this method is the tomatoes are already seasoned AND it’s quick. I’m going to can some as well but I was so happy with the results that I wanted to share another way of processing the tomato harvest. Peaches are on my door step and suddenly I’m realizing that I want it all but I want to put it away as quickly as possible. What is your favourite way to process your tomatoes?
 

I think in this picture to the right…even my little one Kate is wondering what we are going to do with all these tomatoes…and she and her twin sister, love to eat them whole. I have never had any of our children who cared for tomatoes as little people…unless they were on a cheese pizza. These are my veggie babies.

The picture below is a heritage tomato, called the Ox heart...I’m growing it for the first time this year. The tomato is heart shaped when you cut it and has few seeds making it a great BIG sauce tomato.

 

 

 

If you are new to living sustainably, growing tomatoes is the first thing I would recommend planting since you can do it in a small space, perfect for the urban farmer. And it’s so rewarding at the end of summer to slice into a juicy tomato and make a sandwich, or a delicious Greek salad, …or as my little veggie loving babies, eat it right off the vine. Nothing says summer better than a tomato. What kind do you like?

Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

The Soilful Life

/ Lee Reynolds

What do you think is the most important part of a homestead?

In my opinion it’s soil. In order to grow the most productive garden for our needs we need to produce it in fertile soil. So I thought one of my first posts would be on that topic.

Our home was built on land that was once an old orchard but it is also on the side of a small mountain so it contains a lot of rock. Shale type rock to be precise which makes great drainage but doesn’t hold a lot of nutrients. So after building our home we had some good top soil delivered and we landscaped our yard using that soil. When I decided to grow a veggie garden my husband built two raised beds for us and hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of top soil to fill the boxes. At the time we didn’t know any other way to build the soil.

Every spring, I would add compost, peat moss and some sand to our garden. I never tested the soil. I would smell it and hold it in my hands and when it looked and smelled rich and earthy, I felt that it would be the perfect medium. One year our small town was offering “Earth Machine” compost bins for a reasonable price and we brought one home and put in at the end of our garden area.

I never learned the true art of composting at the time. We would just throw in yard debris (notice, when you live in an urban/suburban type setting you call it yard debris and not farm debris as you would out in the country) and of course our kitchen scraps as well. It was amazing how it just kept taking everything we would throw in and it never seemed to fill up. This particular compost bin is a bit awkward in that there is only a small door and opening at the bottom to retrieve the finished compost.

Still, I started pulling out the small bit of compost it produced each Spring and add it to our small garden. The production of food was great. I figured out that when you have optimum soil you can intensive garden, which meant that we didn’t need as much space to produce more food.

I   L-O-N-G-E-D  to be able to grow more veggies so I convinced my husband and older sons to chainsaw some large mugho pine bushes and junipers in a bed that was approximately 5’x 50′. Not large but would allow my garden to be more diverse.

Once all the plants and their roots were finally removed (a long process…SO THINK carefully before you plant an area with plants you can’t eat) I started improving the soil. The first fall I brought purchased bags of compost in and spread them around. The following spring we  added bags of steer and mushoom manure, along with peat moss. We then double dug it in the garden.As I worked the earth, I removed rocks and broke up the soil to be a fine till. The first harvest was really great and we had so much garden debris (corn and squash produce tons of debris for the compost)…..so much debris that we needed to build another compost bin.

One day, I saw a pallet outside of the business where my oldest son works part time and it said, “Free!” I went home and made a case for re-purposing throwaway items. This was a tough sell because of another recently pleaded case that didn’t go well. Last fall I drove by a house with a gorgeous entertainment unit with the lovely sign saying, “Free” on it. I pleaded for my husband to bring it home. He said he was busy at work and suggested I ask our older sons to haul it home. After much discussion they agreed. They couldn’t fit it in our larger vehicle at the time so they decided to haul it home. Thankfully it was in our neighbourhood and thankfully they had been working out at our local gym because it was really heavy.

That unit sat in our living room for about 6 months. When people came to our house I shared the whole story and how inventive we were…or would be with the item. Some people thought this was ingenious and some looked at me like I had lost my mind but I was on my green path at this time so I ignored it. It grew a bit thin though over the time it was here as every time my daughter had to play the piano (almost every day) she moved it away from the bench so she had room to sit.

ANYWAY, the end of the story is that we tried to re-purpose it in several ways but it was always too big or inappropriate for what we were planning. We then tried to sell it on Craigslist thinking surely someone would want it and we did get some calls but no one ever showed up. We even tried to give it away in the end. Finally, FINALLY, my husband took it apart and sadly, oh me saddest of all, took it to the landfill where we had to pay to have them deal with it. I didn’t even get to save the hardware from the unit. So that is my story of re-purposing gone WAY wrong.

Back to my free pallet story, after much debate and going down memory lane regarding the pre- mentioned said unit, my husband and son retrieved it.  This time it worked out beautifully. Along with some wood scraps in our garage my husband made me another compost bin. You would think he had given me a diamond! I was dancing around and oh so thrilled when he finally set it in the corner of our garden. It has been tremendously useful. I like compost bins all over the place for ease when you are out on your homestead..

Now our own compost bins were really cooking and after doing some reading on creating the best compost I realized that there was an art. Yes, you can just add anything to your compost bin and it will turn into great soil but knowing how to layer the browns (carbon matter) along with the greens (nitrogen matter) was really effective on creating rich compost really fast. And this got me to thinking how we create good soil from all sorts of matter and how we grow as people. We can throw all sorts of life lessons on the path and we will surely grow but when we start living consciously, well that is when things seem to really speed up our soul’s growth. The art of living soulfully and the art of building our soilful homestead is closely connected.

Okay, enough spirit talk…my oldest daughter would say sappy talk.
my pallet inspired compost bin
Isn’t our pallet/compost bin lovely?

I know only people who loves to grow stuff can truly appreciate a compost bin. It’s how we contain beautiful rich potential soil….just as our body is the container for our spirit. I have grown so much……not just with my philosophy on becoming sustainable and appreciate mother earth, but in my faith. My garden has taught me much about looking inside my heart, trusting my gut and knowing how to grow as a soul and grow the food for my family. Don’t you think they are closely related.

Last fall, since both of our compost bins were full to the brim I decided to dig large holes all over my garden. As we cleaned up our yard and gathered leaves and debris as well as our kitchen scraps, we used those holes as our compost. I later learned that this is a type of trench compost. As I filled the holes, I would add a bit of dirt so it didn’t attract pests….although we don’t have many….last summer we did have a raccoon family in our area but I haven’t seen anything “wild” in a while. By the end of fall, I had filled holes all over our garden area and this spring the dirt was loose and rich, full of wonderful matter. It’s only July but our garden is producing wonderfully.

So whether you are using purchased compost, or growing your own in fancy purchased compost bins, homemade pallet bins like we now have or whether you do trench composting which is my favourite yet….(no turning, no moving, no digging in)….they will all improve your earth and give you the soil that you need for your homestead.

And that gets me back to the soul side of things….it doesn’t matter in life how you learn, how you layer the lessons, we all have our own stories and trials and tribulations. What matters is that we keep planting and watering our dreams. We keep putting down roots and pulling the weeds. No matter how we live our life, we grow as souls.

I’m blooming where I’m planted. How is the soil/soul in your part of the world?

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”
– Rachel Carson

Thanks for reading. Until I see you again, may you be well, peaceful and happy.

Blessings from Hope