Dear Ev. . .

Dear Ev,

Remember while we were planting our bulbs today I told you I was moving to the country no matter what?

How I told you that I didn't know how, or when, but that I would do what it took to get out of the city?

Remember how you said that SPIN was probably a great way to go if I wanted to have more space to garden in if I lived in the city and I said (or more accurately, whined) "But I don't want to do it that way! I want out! I'm moving to the country!"

I went online later this afternoon and found out just how much it would cost to live within 45 minutes of any part of the city.

I always forget that that has been what has held me back. I've never been willing to pay what it takes to make the move!

My city house will be payed off before Henry turns 65. If we move to the country he may never be able to retire. I may never be able to retire!

So I'm cured. For now. Should this madness pop up again (and it will) just show me the real estate listings and their astronomical prices and the madness will pass quickly.

It looks like I will be your pesky neighbour and trusty chicken sitter for years to come!

Rosa

A Peaceful Day

I had a peaceful day today.

It was only-15C this morning which made the first day back on the bus fairly easy.

I got home, started my bread dough and took Jada for a walk through the park.

I also spent a rather long time on the phone with a woman offering space to grow as large a garden as I wanted at no charge and for as long as I would like. She and her family are moving to a large (110 acres) acreage and want to offer garden space to anyone who hasn't got enough space of their own. Unfortunately she's about an hour out of town making it rather difficult for that to work.

A good garden needs plenty of attention.

I'll have to keep searching for a solution to my lack of space. . .

I spent part of the afternoon making a wheat bag for Holly who wasn't feeling well today and found the warmth of it comforting.

I had made one for mom at Christmas, although her bag was longer and sewn down the middle as she likes it to warm her feet.

While making hers, I spilt a whole lot of wheat on the ground so I spent a fair bit time today sifting out dog hair, crumbs and bits candy from it so I could use it in Holly's bag.

I like how this one turned out although if I had had more wheat I would have filled it fuller.

I peeled potatoes to make potato soup for supper to go along with my brown bread, read a good book while drinking a cup of tea and headed back to school.

All in all, a lovely winter day. . .

Happy New Year!

As you can see I have given my blog a face lift.

I felt it only fitting that the blog have a new look as we head into a new year.

I am really looking forward to the new year because Ev and I have many new things we hope to learn this year. Some together and others on our own.

Ev tried homemade mozzarella a few weeks back and I came over just in time to help knead the hot cheese curds.

After a lot of kneading, the cheese somewhat resembled mozzarella and although it was not as creamy as store bought, I liked the taste better. Jesse tried some after it had been in the fridge for a while and he didn't like the texture at all! He does however want to help out the next time we try.

The next project is to make a variety of sausages using the scraps from the deer left over after Butchering Day. Well in truth, Butchering Day was more like two and a half days. It takes a lot longer if your are teaching new butchers as you work!

We are left with about 45 pounds to which we will need to add another 30% pork fat.

Henry's dad has both a meat grinder as well as a smoker so we hope to give jerky a whirl as well.

Seed catalogues have arrived and I've been drooling, I mean, studying them intently trying to decide how I might squeeze in more strawberries as well as some asparagus. ( for those of you who don't know, after you have harvested the asparagus the plant puts out feathery thin 'branches' that grow up to five feet high!)

Then of course there are the hardy green grapes I've just discovered as well as two apple trees I would love to grow.( They are dwarfs so I'm sure there must be someway to cram them in too!)

More crocheting and knitting are on the list and I'm looking forward to learning how to double crochet, as right now I only know one stitch! (That's all you need to make a scarf though and I've just finished my third one.) While Ev and her family were visiting her parents over the holiday her mom taught her how to knit cables! I'm rather jealous as I'm still knitting and pearling!

Working with raw wool (fleece straight of the sheep) is another possibility this year.

My primary focus for this year however will be food.

I would like to learn how to feed our family with food that hasn't been processed within an inch of it's life or traveled around the world to get to my plate . (And don't get me started on packaging, pesticides and GMO'S!)

This will involve growing what I can at home (and maybe some of the sprawly stuff at J and R's cabin), buying at farmer's markets as well as straight from the farmers.

Last year we were able to buy grass fed beef and 80 pounds of potatoes this way. (The potatoes were only $10!)

I made bread yesterday using some of the wheat that R had ground from local wheat. Very nice although Henry found the finished loaf too fluffy, so I'll have to play around with that a bit.

I have to admit I'm nervous about cooking everything from scratch as it means learning how to cook in a whole new way.

Tam, do you think you could lend me Chef Gary every so often???

If any of you have good recipes that might work I'd sure appreciate it if you'd share!

I'll leave you with a few holiday memories. . .

Bus drivers get spoiled sometimes!

It's possible that I may have taken the 'how low can you go' thing with the thermostant a bit too far!

I'm afraid I've had to add word verification in the comment area for now as I'm getting a lot of spam comments all of a sudden. Hopefully I won't have to do this for too long. . .

We Interrupt This Program. . .

Some of you might be thinking that you would see a post about the anniversary party.

It's a logical assumption, after all, 25Th anniversaries and having both sisters visit with their husbands at the same time are not things that happen around here every day!

Monday of course, Lisa was still here and I wanted to enjoy every minute of her visit, so that was out.

Tuesday I felt rather done in and spent the loveliest day reading Girl of the Limberlost which I had never read before. Is there anything better than curling up in a blanket on a very cold day with a good book?

I think not!

Wednesday, I was leaving school in the morning and got a phone call. . .

"Ah, mom? I missed the bus."

For crying out loud!

I got home as fast as I could, loaded Jada in the back of the Suburban and raced back to school.

Jesse went to class and I took Jada for a walk on the country road by the school.

She had a blast, running like a maniac down the road until I called her back (or when she thought she was getting too far ahead of me) and racing back to me at top speed just brushing my legs as she sped past me.

There was lots of leaping in the snow drifts and intense sniffing for deer.

All good things must come to an end however and as I was getting a trifle chilly, (-23C people!)

we headed for home.

Somehow that did me in and I spent the rest of the day resting before I had to go back to school.

Of course that meant I hadn't made any bread or dinner so this morning I promised myself that things were going to be better.

I would get home, walk Jada, start some bread, make some boterkoek, wash the dishes, (we were resorting to plastic cutlery again) and make a lovely dinner before heading back to school this afternoon.

All was going well.

I got home later than usual due to rather poor road conditions but I dropped my bag, got Jada ready and took her for a walk around the neighbourhood.

We got home and the phone rang. . .

"Hi Rosa, this is the school. We have Jesse here in the office with very sore ribs. He got kicked in gym. Can you come and get him?"

You're kidding me right?!

I had to pick him up two weeks ago and bring him to the doctor for concussion after he got hit in the head playing hockey!

When I got there it turned out he had jumped into another boy's knee in midair trying to keep him from scoring a basket in basketball.

The knee jammed into the same ribs that had been kicked in last years hockey game.

Off to the doctor (again!)

He thinks Jesse has cracked a few ribs.

Off to get x-rays.

Then to get some rather potent Tylenol 4.

No school for him tomorrow.

I had just enough time to make lunch and post this rant (ahem), I mean explanation as to why there is still no party post.

Now I'm off to school.

If you still want to complain about the lack of party pictures I invite you to give this guy a hard time. . .





It's all his fault!

I Am NOT Photogenic

While everyone was here over the weekend for our anniversary party, many pictures were taken.

Tamara complained about how hard it is to take a good picture of me.

Looks like she was right. . . .

To My Family And Friends. . . You Are Invited!

Our 25Th Anniversary party is coming up and it seems that not everyone got an invitation!

So I'm going to remedy that right now!

(Didn't Crystal and Mom do a great job on the invitations?)

Dress warmly as we hope to have a fire in the back yard fire pit as well as evergreen swag making in the greenhouse after dinner. (How many parties have you been to that allow you to be creative and take your creation home to decorate for Christmas?!)

I will of course have the heaters going in the greenhouse.

We do live in Alberta after all!

We'll all stay warm with hot chocolate(or wine) and fill ourselves up with delicious food.

I hear my cousin Leona is bringing cake and I can't wait to see what kind of fabulous flavour it might be.

Yum!

Stay tuned for the next little while as we keep you posted on party preparations. . .

A Little Bit Better

Now if I could just stop coughing!