100 Mile to Prince George

I was happy with how well my spinach and feta pie/quiche turned out, even though the recipe told me it would take way less time to cook than it actually did. I know this is supposed to be more of a travel blog than a food blog but somehow the two just seem to go so well together:)

My last full day at the ranch - Thursday - was really nice. We had our usual huge breakfast of oatmeal with apples and cooked rhubarb, and then watered the greenhouse and did some weeding, as usual. Carolyn and I also gathered a bunch of small aspen trees to make a trellis over one of the garden boxes. I think they're eventually going to plant rose bushes to climb up over the aspen wreaths that we weaved together, which should look pretty nice. We also drove around the farm in one of the un-licensed farm vehicles to check out a field of fir trees and find an owl's nest.

One of highlights of the last day was somewhat learning to drive a tractor. They are standards, but it's much easier than a car because you use a clutch to start and then it just stays in one gear and you use the throttle to make it go faster. That night Christiana made us German pasta called spaetzle and we played rummy.

Friday I packed up my van and we went to the farmer's market. It's always hard to resist buying all the baked goods in sight, but I only got some fudge, and then headed off for my 4-5ish hour drive to Prince George. I made it safely up here to Caitlin's, where I am staying until Tuesday. Today we went to the farmer's market in town, which had delicious sweet bannock and then had coffee with some of Caitlin's friends.

Hungry Valley Ranch

 

Earl Lake Path

I thought it was kind of strange that a male pig was named Carol, but turns out his name is Carroll, named after a British soccer player. I found this out Sunday afternoon when we watched the Euro 2012 games between England and Italy. The game had to go to shoot-outs, same as the game between Spain and Portugal today. After the game Konrad, a wwoofer from Germany, and I drove out to the lake and took the boat out to try some fishing. I followed him in the quad out there. So fun to drive! We didn't catch anything but we did spend a good amount of the time moving this wooden raft that John built further out into the lake and away from the muddy, lack of shore that the "lake" has. It even has a diving board built on top of it, which was a little precarious, but we tested it out with Carolyn when we went swimming Monday afternoon and it worked fine.  

Sunday evening Carolyn, Conrad and I decided to take our left-over dinner out to the cabin right by the lake and cook it over a fire. We played rummy (the card version) and then spent the night there. It reminded me of my little cottage in Victoria...

Workwise I have been planting and weeding in the greenhouse. Monday we got the place looking nice for Christiana's return from Germany (she owns Hungry Valley as well and is married to John). The farm is run very much like a family. We work together, cook (Monday I made a coconut chickpea curry with rice and tonight I'm trying a spinach feta pie, will all homegrown veggies and eggs of course) and clean up together, etc. It's really nice, though it's a bit of a change for me to be around people all the time! Tuesday we found that moisture or something had gotten into a big bag of cob (corn, oats and barley I think) so I spent a bunch of yesterday and today sorting out the moldy stuff for Carrol and Rosie, the much bigger and fatter female, to eat.

Yesterday Carolyn, Christiana and I also went on a wild mushroom hunt and found a bunch of what I think are edible mushrooms. Christiana has been collecting them for years and has a book all about them. The spruce tip jam comes from a book called "The Boreal Herbal - Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North." I'll definitely have to acquire it at some point, as long as we have the same plants as up here... should be similar. We also collected more spruce tips, some rose petals and some other flower that can't be eaten but can be made into a salve. It was really fun, especially because I missed a mushroom trip last year because I worked during the weekends, except that the mosquitos were having a field day.

Mama and her babies

Today we also moved a mama duck and her babies from their fenced in area alone to a place they'll share with some unhappy geese, chickens, and The Drake. I thought The Drake was the male duck's name, but turns out a male duck is called a drake. When we were down at the lake Carolyn and Konrad told me to see if the other drakes were also there and I thought it was weird they all had the same name. When the mama and her babies joined the others, the house drake was over-joyed with their appearance and gave her a very warm welcome:P When I came by later to feed the chickens and gather their eggs, the baby ducks were sitting by themselves, which I thought was strange since the mama was always so protectively close to them in their other pen, but then I found her and the drake alone in the chicken house!

The drake staring at his reflection

I think that's all the exciting stuff I have to say for now. The only other interesting thing I can think of right now is my somewhat stand-off with one of the peacocks. I thought only Victoria had them roaming in the park, but there's two that wander around the farm as well. They seem to do little except fluff up their tails and walk around, but while I was sorting cob, I was possibly a little too close to one's decided area and it kept honking and even jumped up above where I was working to look down on me menacingly. Christiana said they are wimps, so I would've been fine, but  I don't know about that pretty bird... Oh, by the way, the mushrooms are edible and delicious!

Canada Roadtrip - BC

Me and Black Beauty (Sombrio, BC)

British Columbia

So I have officially begun my trek across Canada, and was kind of surprised and really impressed that me and Black Beauty made it through the Canyon and all the way to 100 mile house and the Hungry Valley Ranch where I`ll be spending the next week. I decided to do a travel blog mostly out of laziness, so that everyone else can see what I`m up to without me having to send out numerous group emails. I do have my phone but there isn`t much reception at this farm...

Capstone Chocolate Fondue, Vancouver

So after a nice night in Vancouver eating some delicious fondue, I drove for 7 hours from Van to 100 mile. Google maps says it takes less time but my van decides for itself when it gets somewhere. I only had to stop for gas once, and walked around Cache Creek to stretch my legs. When I got to 100 mile I drove down a gravel stretch to the ranch at the end of the road (which didn`t have a sign saying the name of the ranch but did have a no trespassing sign) and wasn`t sure if I was at the right place. Luckily I was, though at first the owner, John, didn`t know who I was and forgot I was showing up Friday. I was just in time for a party up the street at a neighbouring farm, and was exhausted, but some soup and rum helped with that:)

I was going to sleep in my van, but they have an extra room in the house for me, which is good because it`s mosquito central here. Saturday was my first official day on the farm and I spent it weeding the garden, watering tomatoes and squash in the greenhouse, and sorting through carrots. Sounds easy, but I can see that doing this every day would be tiring, especially with making and clearning up after meals. Carrots can be kept through the winter if you put them in sawdust and store them in a cool place. The ones I was sorting through had been in the well house (where the well is) since October - 8 months! Also spruce tree tips can be dried and made into jam.

After lunch we went to town and got some fresh cherries and made a pie (mostly Carolyn, another wwoofer, but Konrad pitted the cherries and I cut them). We ran out of butter and John went to the neighbours to borrow some. One thing I love about smaller towns is that people know each other so well that they go over to their house to borrow butter (whether the owner is home or not!) and all the cars are left unlocked with the key in.

Today is our day off so I slept in (until 8:30, where we normally wake up for breakfast at 7:30!) and might wander to the lake or go for a ride on the quad if it doesn`t pour and see if I can get some cell reception... 

Feeding carrots to Carol the pig