Let's Go to the Beach-each!

This week I made sure our stairs were a lot less slippery. It was 10C out so I got the no-slip tape solidly on the stairs before the rain and lower temps kicked in again.

Also did some canning this week. Baked beans in 3 different flavours. Hopefully we'll like one of them well enough and I'll have a solid recipe for the future.  I also started a "ginger bug" which is a fermented ginger syrup for cocktails and apparently makes a very nice drink all by itself if you add some sparkling water. I'll tell you how it is in a week or so when it's ready.

We have a new plant! One of the peach or plum pits has sprouted so I planted it in some soil I put in a icecream bucket with holes and I hope it doesn't take off too much before spring.

This week was also the lighting of the tree..... except the tree here is a pile of lobster traps. :-)

The lobster trap tree is not just for fun. 

It's also a memorial as the decorations have the names of folk who were lost at sea. 

Xmas events happen really early around here because a large portion of the population are lobster fishers and they'll be leaving on their boats to drop the first traps any day now. They'll be working into the spring. 

It was VERY windy today when Hugslut and I went to the beach. It was so windy that the tops of the waves were blown clean off to make rainbows. I want to make an effort to get out in nature every month or two so I can get a real feel for the seasons here. 

November has been VERY windy but otherwise not too cold.

Cake and Tea

Time has been flying past. At the same time I look around and see everything that's changed and I'm amazed we managed to do so much already.

I made a carrot cake Sunday and it was REALY good. Made way to much cream cheese icing for it and the carrot cake itself was HUGE. I could probably make half the recipe next time. :-)

Sunday night while we were on the phone with mum I went to the kitchen to start dinner and I looked out the window to find... 

Ouch. The rough winds seem to have not only shoved the whole thing across the lawn, but also completely mashed a corner that had dug into the ground, which wrenched a bunch of the connecting bars into different shapes.  

I sat down and cried for a bit, and then rallied the plan to fix it. 

Hugslut would only be able to help during her lunch break so I decided to be brave and... ask a neighbour who had flat out offered to help if I needed a hand with anything. 

She agreed to help the next day and I went to bed knowing I had a lot of work to do Monday. 

After straightening out the metal legs, tightening them the best I could, and bending the support beams back into almost the right shape, we got to work digging the holes for the legs. 

There's a LOT of rocks of various sizes fairly close to the surface. It seems the whole area was filled in with rocks to make it level, then random clumps of clay and sand to fill the gaps, and then covered with about 6" of topsoil. 

Good thing I don't plan on putting a rototiller through it..

With the greenhouse firmly planted and no longer in danger, we went inside for carrot cake and tea. We had a nice long chat and got to know each other better. When she had to leave to pick up the kids, I made sure she had a couple more slices of carrot cake and some jars of preserves.  

It's such a nice change to have friendly and helpful neighbours. 

Preparing for Winter

 

  

 It's been a busy week of canning, baking bread, trying out pasta recipes, growing sprouts, etc.

Details on the pantry blog. 

Autumn has kicked into full gear and there's a few nights it's dipped down to 1C instead of just 4C. Might even hit freezing soon. One day we got the frame of the greenhouse up but just as I was putting in the last bolt the rain started so I couldn't get the drill out to do the latches on the doors. I tied them open to reduce wind issues but the wind still kicked up hard enough to snap the twine. Next morning I clamped them. That should hold until I can get the latches on. 

Also did a few things around the house like replacing the weather guard strip on the bottom of the garage door. Since it's directly connected to over 1/2 the basement we wanted to be sure that was secure before winter. 

The bluejays have become frequent visitors. A handful of peanuts and we get to see the whole family. Last time the crows were paying close attention and even swooped by for a better view once or twice. Hopefully this means the crows will be joining in for snack time soon. 

Wind and the Willows

Friday I laid down some cardboard and covered it with soil. I do want another layer on there as it's not thick enough yet but there's only so much I can shovel in a day. We haven't finished the greenhouse yet due to bad timing around wind/rain and rest. Seems whenever the weather is co operating, our bodies aren't and vice versa. Hopefully we'll get to it soon.

Saturday I made a loaf of GF bread, and some sunshine in a jar, aka Lemon Curd. I love how bright and lovely lemon curd is and the day I make some with my own eggs, my own lemons, and my own butter...well that's the day I know I've succeeded in this whole homestead thing.

Saturday night Hugslut and I went to the legion hall to watch the local players group put on their annual xmas thing. It was a bunch of lipsynching and a couple of skits. Definitely glad we went but I was NOT expecting 3 whole hours on hard narrow chairs.

Sunday was just R&R.

Tonight we went out and picked up a couple buckets and a couple hay bales for future endeavours, but earlier today I grabbed my rubber boots, orange vest, and some willow shoots, and took a walk through the back planting potential willow trees as I went. I literally just poked them in the mud where ever I felt like it. If they don't take, no real effort wasted, but if they do take, awesome.

Potential

Momma Tree

Baby Tree

The places that were just ankle deep mud in September, are now clearly a creek with running water in many places. I think a bit of depth and bank support would help it flow. The rest of the area is still the slightly soft I noticed before and hasn't gained any squishiness even though the creek is filling. 

In the spot I was thinking of for a pond, there is currently a much smaller pond. It isn't well defined enough to really do anything with. I'd prefer if we could stand on the bank and fish, or even boat a bit. 

Halloween and Harvesting

Hugslut plus hearse full of goodies.

We had about 60 trick or treaters in the two hours we were in front of town hall. We had the lights on and the music playing for the whole two hours... so naturally the car wouldn't start when we were done. 

:")  oops

A fellow in an orange jumpsuit tried to give us a boost but the hearse is fancy and we couldn't find the neg. so he gave us a ride home instead. We did some googling and some snacking and then texted a neighbour. He drove us back to the hearse and gave us a boost. To make sure the battery got charged up we went for a nice long drive.

Wonder if anyone was spooked watching the hearse go by.

While we were driving there were a LOT of smashed pumpkins on the road and we had to swerve to miss a cinderblock just sitting there for no reason. We also spotted a fire in the middle of a road and managed to carefully creep around it and then call 911 so they could put it out. 
 

When we got home the leftover candy was waiting for us. :-)

Tuesday was catching up on housework that had been put off by greenhouse and halloween. Wednesday I decided to take some action on the cases of empty jars multiplying on my shelves.

 

A long walk through town provided me with over a kg of rosehips, about 500g of crab apples, and 5 rose cuttings to start my own bushes with.

Making use of that abundance I made some Rosehip Jelly..... well... I tried to. It's not setting up so I'm going to have to fiddle with it. Last night, I also made some GF Pasta from scratch. It's really tasty and if early testing of the leftovers are concerned, it's superior to the store bought because it doesn't seize up in the fridge. 

I've been trying to make friends with the crows... Seems instead I've just made beggars of the bluejays.

Today I've reinstalled Facebook messenger to be able to keep in touch with folks. I give up. You win. 

... For now. :-)