We're back from a restful week up North. Now comes the busy time of unpacking everything, doing the laundry, catching up on the garden, the bills, and our friends' lives.
A couple of momentous things happened. Thing 2 caught his first fish! He reeled it in, landed it on the dock, screaming the whole time "I caught a fish!" I was hustling down to the dock, but by the time I got there, the little 6 inch trout wriggled off the hook and jumped back into the lake. Thing 2 was so excited, he was shaking all over. My little boy is Type I diabetic, and he thought his blood sugar was low. I didn't think he was, but had him go test anyway. Welcome to an adrenaline rush, dear. Needless to say, he's now "hooked" on fishing. Every moment he could from then on, he was out on the dock, fishing, for two days after that.
The other momentous thing, was that Thing 2, my cautious son, after his first trail ride of the year, actually wanted to go again. Unfortunately, the second ride was much longer, and apparently the first ride had no galloping for the kids, so he freaked out when they galloped. He stayed on the horse, though, and finished the ride, but he wasn't happy about it. Hopefully he'll remember the good ride.... Thing 1 is doing much better, and if he rides a lot next year, will probably be able to move up with the adults.
I managed to make buttermilk fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy on the cook stove. Yum! I also made pancakes and sausages, and bacon and eggs. I love hot breakfast. I wonder if I should start making it more for breakfast here at home? Thing 2 loves it, I know, but Thing 1 doesn't eat much breakfast, like his father. The crowning glory, though, was making cornbread in the oven. It took 1-1/2 hours to get the stove up to 350F, but it cooked the bread nicely. One of the families cooks a turkey in the oven every (Canadian) Thanksgiving. I'm not that brave. Besides, the stove heats up the cabin so much, I was literally "sweating over a hot stove," and had the door and all the windows open on the cabin by 9:00.
It's very sad to see the state of the forests up there. The pine bark beetle has turned once green forests into swaths of rust-colored death. Global warming has taken away natures checks and balances for the bug. Four consecutive days of -40 temperatures are needed to kill it, and that hasn't happened since 1996. Many places, including where we stayed, have logged off all the pine, since the lumber is marketable for only two years. Thing 1 was very upset, since most of the forest where he liked to play was gone, to be replaced by a huge pile of brush.
The loss of the trees was showing itself in other ways, as well. Every year, a little squirrel runs back and forth behind our cabin, storing pine cones for the winter. It'd be so busy, starting before I got up, making maybe 100 trips each morning. I'd feel guiltily lazy compared to this little creature, storing up winter supplies to get through the long, cold winter. This year there was no squirrel, its food source gone.
Our weather has been very strange for summer. Our usual dry July and August have been cool and rainy. My new clothesline hasn't been used much, and I had to put a plastic tent over the tomatoes, for fear of late blight. I actually started the wood-burning stove yesterday, it was so cold in the house. Mr. E's favorite apple tree is dropping apples three weeks early, and some of the trees in the neighborhood have started turning red. I've heard of tomato summers and cabbage summers. This was definitely a cabbage summer. I'm wondering what this winter will bring. Will the cold weather continue into the winter? Or will temperatures remain mild? Should I store my nuts (sow more veggies) for the winter?
Today I'm doing laundry, and making more bread. I need to find the kitchen after everything got dumped there on Sunday, and I had a disastrous pizza night (what was the deal with the dough? It acted really weird.) I have peaches I need to deal with, as well, and decide if I'm going to can them, make cobbler, or what.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
A Low-Tech Week
I am frantically making lists and starting to pack for our yearly trip to BC. We rent a cabin at a dude ranch on a lake "up in the Cariboo." It seems like we need to bring a million things (food, kitchen supplies, sleeping bags, hot dog forks), but I am glad of what we are not bringing. No computers, no cell phones, no videos....
The cabin has electricity and a fridge, but no running water - you have to bring it in buckets from a well. There is no tv, no phone, no radio. There is an old-fashioned wood cookstove, which I absolutely love, and it makes the cabin very cozy in the morning.
Early in the morning (I'm usually up by 6:30) I get up and light the pile of paper and kindling that I've laid out in the woodstove the night before. I make a quick dash to the outhouse (45 steps away) in the just-barely-over-freezing temperatures. By the time I'm back, the stove is crackling away. I fill a HUGE kettle with water, and set it on the stove, and add more wood. I wash my face in the 45-50 degree water - if that doesn't wake you up, I don't know what will - and get dressed. I then open up the curtains to the large picture window that looks at the lake, watch the mist rise and listen to the loons call. By now the water is warm enough for a cup of tea, and the cabin is getting warm. When I'm done with my tea, I'll start breakfast, if I'm planning on cooking it on the stove. Bacon and eggs, or pancakes are the family favorites. And one day I even make corn bread in the oven.
After that, it's horseback riding for those that want to, or fishing, or just hanging out, reading a book, knitting. Mr. E will go golfing once with his dad (the in-laws are coming, too, and will be in their own cabin), I'll have an afternoon shopping in town, the boys will catch bugs and build forts in the woods. But mostly it's a time to totally relax, catch up on reading we've been meaning to do, spend some time with each other, and totally de-tech our lives.
We've developed other little traditions. We bring a book on tape to listen to in the car. This year it's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We won't finish the book, even if we listen to it all the way up and back. So when we come back, we all gather around in the living room with candles burning, and listen to it on the stereo. Hopefully our not-catching-any-fish tradition will end soon. There's a great pub nearby that serves - believe it or not- escargot. And it's really good, too. We'll eat one meal out there. We have to eat at an A&W as well (we call it an "A and W, eh?" but only to ourselves.)
I'm looking forward to it, even though it means a lot of stress now. I need to carry my lists in my pocket so when I remember something like spray oil, I can write it down. No, I don't really need it. Cross it off. Low tech....
See you in a week!
The cabin has electricity and a fridge, but no running water - you have to bring it in buckets from a well. There is no tv, no phone, no radio. There is an old-fashioned wood cookstove, which I absolutely love, and it makes the cabin very cozy in the morning.
Early in the morning (I'm usually up by 6:30) I get up and light the pile of paper and kindling that I've laid out in the woodstove the night before. I make a quick dash to the outhouse (45 steps away) in the just-barely-over-freezing temperatures. By the time I'm back, the stove is crackling away. I fill a HUGE kettle with water, and set it on the stove, and add more wood. I wash my face in the 45-50 degree water - if that doesn't wake you up, I don't know what will - and get dressed. I then open up the curtains to the large picture window that looks at the lake, watch the mist rise and listen to the loons call. By now the water is warm enough for a cup of tea, and the cabin is getting warm. When I'm done with my tea, I'll start breakfast, if I'm planning on cooking it on the stove. Bacon and eggs, or pancakes are the family favorites. And one day I even make corn bread in the oven.
After that, it's horseback riding for those that want to, or fishing, or just hanging out, reading a book, knitting. Mr. E will go golfing once with his dad (the in-laws are coming, too, and will be in their own cabin), I'll have an afternoon shopping in town, the boys will catch bugs and build forts in the woods. But mostly it's a time to totally relax, catch up on reading we've been meaning to do, spend some time with each other, and totally de-tech our lives.
We've developed other little traditions. We bring a book on tape to listen to in the car. This year it's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We won't finish the book, even if we listen to it all the way up and back. So when we come back, we all gather around in the living room with candles burning, and listen to it on the stereo. Hopefully our not-catching-any-fish tradition will end soon. There's a great pub nearby that serves - believe it or not- escargot. And it's really good, too. We'll eat one meal out there. We have to eat at an A&W as well (we call it an "A and W, eh?" but only to ourselves.)
I'm looking forward to it, even though it means a lot of stress now. I need to carry my lists in my pocket so when I remember something like spray oil, I can write it down. No, I don't really need it. Cross it off. Low tech....
See you in a week!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Bread
I made three loaves of sandwich bread yesterday afternoon. I found this recipe on A Year in Bread. It's become our family favorite, and I haven't bought sandwich bread in over a month.
There's something satisfying in creating staples like bread, which I've always depended on someone else to make for me. It's so simple, too (not to mention you're able to take out your aggressions while kneading). I think that's why I enjoy knitting, and growing vegetables, fruit, and herbs. One more thing I can do for myself so I'm not so dependent on stores, and their prices that seem to be going up like crazy right now.
Sunday night I stopped by the grocery store for a couple of things. In the doorway were bags of hot dog buns that you can usually buy for $1 when they're on sale. Their sale tag said $2! Then I went to get sour cream, usually $1.50 on sale, normally $1.75. $2 on sale! I thought it might have been that particular store, but when I went to my local warehouse store on Monday, milk had gone from $4.65 for two gallons, to $6! Yikes! I'm sure that it's been creeping up and I've never noticed, but still....
Someone once complained about the amount of time it takes to make bread. I don't think it takes up that much of my time. Of the 3 hours it takes to make, most of the time it is rising or baking, and I'm doing something else then. The recipe makes three loaves, and it lasts us a week and a half to two weeks, so I'm not doing it daily. One gets eaten (last night half of a loaf was gone before it was cool) and two go into the freezer.
Now that I have sandwich bread down, I'm ready to start trying my hand at some of the "artisan" breads that the stores sell at a premium. Pugliese, french bread, sourdough boules.... Or maybe I should start with lowly hamburger and hot dog buns?
There's something satisfying in creating staples like bread, which I've always depended on someone else to make for me. It's so simple, too (not to mention you're able to take out your aggressions while kneading). I think that's why I enjoy knitting, and growing vegetables, fruit, and herbs. One more thing I can do for myself so I'm not so dependent on stores, and their prices that seem to be going up like crazy right now.
Sunday night I stopped by the grocery store for a couple of things. In the doorway were bags of hot dog buns that you can usually buy for $1 when they're on sale. Their sale tag said $2! Then I went to get sour cream, usually $1.50 on sale, normally $1.75. $2 on sale! I thought it might have been that particular store, but when I went to my local warehouse store on Monday, milk had gone from $4.65 for two gallons, to $6! Yikes! I'm sure that it's been creeping up and I've never noticed, but still....
Someone once complained about the amount of time it takes to make bread. I don't think it takes up that much of my time. Of the 3 hours it takes to make, most of the time it is rising or baking, and I'm doing something else then. The recipe makes three loaves, and it lasts us a week and a half to two weeks, so I'm not doing it daily. One gets eaten (last night half of a loaf was gone before it was cool) and two go into the freezer.
Now that I have sandwich bread down, I'm ready to start trying my hand at some of the "artisan" breads that the stores sell at a premium. Pugliese, french bread, sourdough boules.... Or maybe I should start with lowly hamburger and hot dog buns?
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