Battles, Balls, Boating, Biking, Botanicals, Babies and a Snake

 Yahoooo!  We've been busy playing and playing.  The pool is getting good use and there are lots of water battles going on.

 Squirty water fights

 And BATTLES on the Battle logs.

 Seriously, the challenge is getting on the log, staying on the log and moving anywhere without falling off the log.  Loads of laughs!

 

Acrobatics and swimming, swimming and swimming

Next we have balls....

I was gifted a lovely fleece from a local famer.  AMAZING wool!  I skirted, washed and carded just under 9 ounces to make her this set of dryer balls as a thank you.  I am now on the look out for more local wool.  I don't mind doing the "dirty" work!  I love the fact I am supporting local farmers.

Boating!  We took Deliverance (the canoe) out for its annual paddle. 

This year we are working on exploring our own neighbourhood.  We paddled up the Castor river from the new boat launch just off Notre-Dame.  It was HOT but so worth it.  There are few things as peaceful as canoeing.

 

BIKING as a family.  Yay.  Another new area to explore is the old railbed path running from Embrun to Russell.  About 8 km in total we did about 6 km each way then stopped at Euphoria for ice  cream. 

 Sid has really grasped the joy of having gears on her bike.  She can keep up with us but we can't always keep up with her!

 Botanicals in MacNeill's gardens are just bursting with colour and insect life. 

 Pinks and purples accent the green foliage as mom forages new botanicals every day.  My new motto is:  Eat The Weeds!!!!

 This is the first year I have noticed these beautiful Red Clovers in our yard.  We have always had lots of white but these ones are the good ones.

 My morning basket of foraged treats.  Ox-Eye daisy, of the chamomile family, have the same effect as chamomile and are excellent added to a tea to help calm and sooth.  Red clover has incredible medicinal benefits, health benefits and a slight sweet taste, again excellent added to tea.  Finally the wild rose petal is good in tea but I plan on making an elixir for burns and trauma.  Mixed with alcohol and honey, these petal create a calming elixir like rescue remedy and externally it can be used on burns and skin irritations.   Wild Rose Elixir

 Here are SOME of my goodies.  Left to Right> Raspberry leaf, red clover, rose petals, ox-eye daisy and nettles.  I have found a blend of one scoop raspberry, one scoop nettle, 1/2 scoop clover with a scoop of mint makes a wonderful tea.  I don't know what I am going to call it but it is so tasty and the health benefits are great.  So chalk full of vitamins and minerals and pesticide / chemical free!

This harvest is daylily , clover and bee balm.  Daylily can by eaten raw in salad but this is harvested to dry and make tea with.  EXCELLENT for headache, fever, and menstrual symptoms.  Bee balm is a member of the mint family and as a tea tastes like a combo of peppermint and spearmint.  Very good for you and hopefully I will be able to mix it with my mint tea.  Won't know for a week or so, must wait for it to dry.

 And now for the babies.  Here is our Baby Jagger.  OMG the cutest cat ever.  Cuddly and super affectionate but also independent.  Wants to be with his family but also likes a good nap.  Best part of this guy is when he is super relaxed his tongue sticks out.  He also loves to give kisses!

More babies!  Baby toads.  Super cute tiny guys hanging out in the woods eating a mosquito banquet!

  Sid showed her friends how to catch them and gently hold them.

And lastly the snake.  This is a weird story.  Ken went to turn the hose on and found this guy in the basement window INSIDE our house.  Ken is often my hero, mice, dead things, scary things, he is on hand to save me.  Snakes are all mine.  I love them and had brothers that taught me to handle them from a young age.   I donned my gloves and caught me a grand daddy snake.  He was super long an had very cloudy eyes.  I released him at the back of our property.  How did he get in?  We aren't sure.  I suspect he swam up the sump pipe and got out of the sump well.  The window he was in was above the sump.  Ken has a friend who is terrified of snakes and is redoing her bathroom right now so he posted some freaky story about it coming in the house through our bathroom vent and landing in the shower.  This is funny but not true ;)   In any case I am thankful he spotted it during the day and we were able to save him.

 I Love our country life!

Special Days

A week ago we celebrated!  Birthday's, Fathers' day and summer days!

Here Lilly celebrates her independence by walking the kid.  Nice roll reversal!

The youngest celebrate Mom's special day with pie, hats and a not so festive cat.  I had the best best best birthday.  Hockey, Kajukenbo celebration, concert by Sid and special time with the fam.

On my birthday I was treated to an hour of ice time with my girlfriends.  So good to play net again and then a special fundraising concert by the Sparrows.  They were singing with Chris MacLean to raise money for an orphanage in South Africa.

Back home for more birthday fun.  WATER FIGHT!  Photography girl was immune thanks to the camera.

Next was more weekend fun with a new fathers day gifty for dad.  A huge remote control helicopter.

Dad is a great pilot, and the chopper is providing lots of fun around here.

Birthday kitty dares you to give him a little pet.  C'mon, just one pet, just try it!

Gorgeous sunset to close out the weekend. Thank you friends and family for so much fun. 

Sid's team Canada shots in her fighting uni.  We are already getting ready for all the fundraisers this summer.

Great kicks kiddo!  Alright more to post but I will save that for another night!  Summertime is calling!

June is Upon Us!

 We had one incredibly beautiful day last week.  It was time to put the ladder in and go for a QUICK swim.  66 Fahrenheit is no joke.

 Luckily the 33 degree Celsius weather warmed us up while we had a picnic lunch and bathed in the warmth and promise of summer.

Sid's Herbal Apprenticeship program has been awesome.  They are planting a garden and foraging in every green space they enter.  This week I pulled up a couple of cool recipes for some delicacies pulled right from our yard.  First was an amazing recipe for Spruce tips.  One more week and these brightly green tips off our spruce trees will be too bitter.  When they are young they taste yeasty almost like lemon.

Spruce ShortbreadMakes 16 1”x 3” cookiesThe trick to making shortbread is processing the dough just long enough so that it can be rolled out but still appears a little crumbly in the bowl. If you process the dough until it forms a ball or sticks together in the processor, the cookies will spread out on the baking sheet and their texture will suffer.
1/4 cup fresh spruce tips
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Process the spruce tips and sugar until the spruce tips are finely chopped. Add the flour and process in bursts to mix well, being sure to scrape out any sugar or spruce tips trapped in the corners of the food processor bowl. Cut the butter into 1/2” chunks, add to the processor bowl, and process until the butter is evenly distributed and the dough holds together when pinched.

Dump the dough onto parchment paper and form into an evenly thick rectangle. Roll out with a lightly floured rolling pin until the rectangle is 6”x 8”. Using a straight edge as a guide, cut the rectangle into 1” crosswise strips and then in half lengthwise to form 16 1”x 3” cookies. Prick each cookie 5 times with the tines of a fork. Carefully place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 23 – 26 minutes, or until the cookies are set and just starting to turn golden (not browned). Let cookies cool before serving. Store in an airtight container.

 

 SO AMAZINGLY GOOD!!!  Try them, if the tips are still young, they will not be bitter.

 Next we planted some Black Locust Tree's.  They have edible flowers so we are hoping they grow up big and strong!

 Lilacs are my fav.  I grew up with a beautiful lilac tree in our backyard and the smell reminds me of summer!  We only have about a week left of the blooms so we decided to preserve them in an amazing Lilac Syrup.

Ingredients                 

1                    

cup water                                            

1

cup sugar                                          

1

cup lilac flower buds

Directions

• 1 Heat 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar until sugar is dissolved.
• 2 Add 1 cup of lilac flowers and allow to simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. If desired, add a few blueberries for color or use food coloring.
• 3 Drain syrup into a sealable glass jar - through a filter in order to remove the flowers. Let it cool, and then put in the fridge.
• 4 Add syrup to tea, cocktails, or use as a syrup.

It was so amazing we made three more batches.  We've been eating it on pancakes instead of maple syrup and it our new fav.  Next year we plan on making small jars for all our friends. This, shortbread, and amazing greens like nettles, lambs quarter, dandelion all from our own yard.  Organic, filled with vitamins and free. 

 This pic shows how big our little is getting.

 Still not quite tall enough for lilly though! lol

 Lots of swinging and climbing and moving around so the mosquitos don't carry us away.  We have now confirmed that we live in a swamp land.  We saw the conservation maps and there is a HUGE swampy area in the woods behind us.  We can't get to it due to the train tracks but the mosquitos can get to us night and day.  It is hard to get used to, we open the van to get in and we bring 30 moquitos with us.  They bomb us all night, they swarm the dogs.  Sid started her own mosquito exterminating business and charges us a penny a bug.  She is saving up for college ;)

Here Sid shows off her new riding gear.  Breeches, paddock boots and half chaps.  She is ready for her pony camp, July cannot come fast enough.

 

Sid is finally enjoying reading.  It used to be a chore but after finding a few really funny books, she has caught the reading bug.  While she was out this week we surprised her with a wonderful room redesign compliments of our friend Aunty Erin!  Sid loves her new reading chair and antique shelf.  More room for trophies now.  Thank you once again Erin!!! 

 

Business for me is booming, Ark orders going out every month, (see catalogue here....ark catalogue spring summer 2014)

Needle felting is keeping me jabbing, Two bee mobiles, a sheep mobile and this awesome cupcake business card holder over the last 7 days!  I am so grateful people like my work.  It is busy but I stop and appreciate how fortunate I am to be able to do this while staying home with Sid.

 

Sid just built a bow and arrow so off we go to test it out!  See you soon.