Harvest Days

 Harvest Days

I can hardly believe it, but we've managed to get most of our fruit safely into the house this season with very little damage from all the animals who share our space.  We have had a small black bear turn up a couple of times and he/she took a considerable number of grapes.  We had purchased these grapes as "seedless" and they didn't turn out to be, so we don't really mind losing some grapes.  

The apple harvest is featured in the photo above.  It was small this year, compared with last year, but there are plenty of trees around that want picking and we have been able to obtain more "eating" apples from a friend or two.  Thanks to Tammy who got us started with the "transparents" which are now frozen,  awaiting a pie plate!  Our peach crop was extremely plentiful and we gave away quite a few and made lots of frozen and canned peaches.  The Damson plum produced well, as it normally does, and we have lots of it canned or made into other things.  I gave a considerable amount of them away to a woman who is promising me some fruit leather in the future.  Mmmm.  

This is always my very favourite time of year.  I love harvesting....oops, there goes the timer on the stove - time to get the salsa into the jars for the upcoming water bath!

Meeting A Great Horned Owl

 Three weeks ago while spending a weekend in Trail we had an unusual experience with an owl.  I had gone for a morning walk around our neighbourhood and was walking through one of our two parks in Sunningdale.  I noticed an object close to a fenced yard and as I got closer, thought that it was a pretty good statue of an owl.  The closer I got, the better it looked.  Then it blinked at me and made a hissing sound by opening its beak.  It stared at me with considerable venom.  I gave the owl a fairly good space and it watched me as I moved away.  I told Dave about the experience and he took his bike up to take a look.  Sure enough, the owl was still "on location".   We figured that the owl must be hurt because it was allowing us to get so close.  Dave googled a bird rescue facility and spoke with someone in Delta, BC.  Within 5 minutes of that call, we had a call from Amanda who works with animal rescue facilities and she was prepared to come out to help us capture the owl.  Amanda had a cage for the bird and we were told to bring a blanket or sheet so we could cover the bird.  We returned to "the location" and then I wandered out to the road to wave at Amanda (we had never met) so she would know where to leave her car and meet the owl.  That worked very well and within seconds Amanda and I were walking towards Dave who had been near to the owl.  Then Amanda said, "Isn't that an owl over there on the hillside?"  Sure enough, it was "our" owl.  It had flown there.  What we did discover is that the owl had caught a skunk and had devoured its head.  We figure that the skunk had the opportunity to spray the owl before its death and the owl was probably in recovery, somewhat stunned by the skunks' actions.  We attempted to get close to the owl 4 times as we walked through the park but it would not let us get too near.  There were several crows enjoying the owl's predicament and they were making plenty of noise.  The owl did a good job of ignoring them.   It would fly very low over the ground or it would walk.  It was obviously not injured in a serious way.  Amanda called Delta and she was told to let it go and we did.  Hopefully, it recovered completely.  

I wandered over to the park later that day and saw no sign of the owl or the skunk.  I wonder if the owl came back to get that meal??  I can't imagine something so distasteful, but apparently skunks are often a preferred food of owls.   Who knew?  

Return to Summer

 I believe Kaslo had the wettest August since we moved here - maybe not the coolest, but the wettest.  There were 3 major storms this past month that did a fair bit of wind damage and we lost power twice for 7 hours and 22 hours from two of the storms.  It was lovely to have a couple of full, day-long steady rains.  It doesn't make up for the years of drought, but it's been nice.  

The weather this summer did delay hiking.  We simply didn't go in July because it was HOT.  We hiked with Atley and Miro at Cornice Ridge near Stagleap Provincial Park on August 19th and had pretty much clear weather.  The fires have been plentiful but not as long-lasting as several summers.  This past Friday, Dave and I hiked up to Milford Ridge and found the biggest, most plentiful huckleberries we've ever found in BC.  That was a treat, as was the hike and the views!  This first month of September is looking like fabulous summer weather with lots of sunshine and heat.  We may get out a few times more!

The tomatoes are finally beginning to ripen and yesterday I simply tore out those nutrient-poor cucumbers from their pot.  I put them out of their misery.  The corn is looking great but still not developing - planted too close together???  I've had 3 ears from that patch so far and they've all been good.  We had a good crop of peaches (although they were small) and the Damson plums are nearly ready.  I intend to pick another box today after picking one full fruit box yesterday.  It's always so joyful to enjoy the bounty of the garden!  

 

Going For Coffee!

Today I had my second time going for coffee inside of one week.  I have really enjoyed both episodes!  The place I've "coffeed" is at Kane's Corner in Kaslo which is directly across from the community garden where I spend a considerable amount of time.  I notice that my garden colleagues have coffee on our Monday morning work parties and of course I have been invited but I generally decline.  

Last Thursday, my friend David bought me coffee at Kane's Corner after we did our Thursday hike over the Wardner/No Brakes loop.  It's been super hot here and I was introduced to iced latte which I did really enjoy.  I felt pretty wasted after this fairly benign hike (the heat got to me and I drank lots of water) and that latte really picked me up. I've been timid about taking on iced lattes because I hear that they are "strong" and I get a racing heart from coffee with punch.  Our barista (MJ) is giving me a single shot and I have found it to be pretty much perfect.  

Today, I was out for a river hike with my regular women's walk/run group and we decided to go for coffee (well, 3/6 did).  It was great. The 3 of us had some good conversation and then I had the opportunity to greet my new neighbours who showed up with their child and after that I talked to a woman I haven't really spoken with in 5 years - and I used to sub for her "back in the day".  Going for coffee is a great way for people who live in a small town to connect.  I'm all for it.  Too bad my husband will never convert.

The next goal might be to encourage MJ to give up her supposedly recyclable plastic.  I was smart enough to remember to tuck my "go mug" in my bag before leaving home.  I'd like to see everyone be required to use their own mugs at these coffee places.  

Back to Work!

It's the first day of school today and that always reminds me of those days of yesteryear - nearly 20 of them now.  I haven't missed it a bit.  This year, it sounds as if there is a complete shortage of teachers and lots of places are looking for any "responsible adult" to manage the classes.  I heard this morning that Sooke SD has 800 more students this year than last.  I can't believe people would want to live on Vancouver Island with all of its ferry disruptions, particularly on long weekends!  So glad that I don't have to deal with that issue.  

I fully expected to be "locked out" of this blog post.  It's been more than 3 years since my last entry.  I'd like to get back at it on a regular basis.  I haven't done the writing in my diary, and I don't get up early to do writing pages, so perhaps blogspot will keep me motivated. If it does, I'll try to get a readership!

I've entitled this post "back to work" because it's the first day of the return to the regular season of life in Kaslo.  I've got a list started of the different organizations I need to contact to meet once again.  My choir practices begin tomorrow night.  It always seems as if I accomplish much more work when I am part of a "schedule" than when I am not, so I welcome this return to routine.  This morning I even went out with my running group for an hour, came home to make supper and prepare a few pears for the drying racks and then rode back to town to have my mammogram and pick up my first "Lucke" eggs from my friend, Jenn.  This afternoon, we canned some Damson plums - pretty hard to get them apart so probably a day or two early from when we "should" have done them.  Tonight, I hope to prepare some apples for the freezer!

 

Harvest Time

I think this is my first post in August - on the last day.  And I've been home most of the month but just busy in the garden.  It's been a good year for doing projects because I'm not doing much other volunteer work.  Off to the Food Hub this pm to donate the potatoes we grew at the Community Garden.   I need to bring in the rest of the onions and beets from my plot because our fence project is scheduled to begin in mid-September.  This year, the peaches have been the item that has done well in our garden and we've canned 14 quarts and I've frozen 3 large bags full.  We'll see how well we like the frozen peaches (first attempt) but we've really enjoyed the peaches baked and I think that will work well with frozen peaches.   We don't peel our peaches when canning any longer and they really do turn out quite well.  I wish I'd known that 30 years ago!  

Camping at Champion Lakes

One of my favourite BC provincial parks is Champion Lakes, near Fruitvale.  It's far enough away from the highway to get away from traffic noise, there's always wildlife to view and the lake is refreshingly cool, but not so frigid that is painful to go swimming.  Last week I spent a couple of days there with Andrea and boys.  We discovered there is a big rock out in Third Lake which acts like a barrier reef and is home and space to some rather plain looking fish.  But it's fish and our boys like fish right now.   We'd heard that there was a mother moose with 2 young in the Second Lake area; alas we did not see them.  But we had a loon calling and calling during our entire time there.  Swimming, biking, hiking and eating marshmallows were favourite activities.  The boys are also enjoying some of the Hardy Boy mysteries; the picture below shows them listening with attention.

I really lucked into the campsites.  It had the FULL sign at the highway but I went up anyway and someone had left early so I got the site - it had a lovely lookout over Second Lake where we could really hear the loon well.  The next day we had to move sites but lucked in again to one site which could not be reserved because of some internet glitch.  And even the mosquitoes weren't too bothersome!   I'm happy to see our parks being used.  It may get people a little more in touch with nature.