Summer 2020

What a ride! I will say that the best thing to come from the Covid 19 "Great Pause" is that Forest and Tin lived with us for 3 plus months. They are now set up in their apartment in Vancouver and every day I miss them, but am grateful for their time they gave us. 

Now, we are pruning back our chore list so that Kevin and I can handle most of it on our own. Not an easy task, when we designed all of this for a big family with many visitors.  Resilience is our strength though and the cows and goats at least got the message and are happily feeding their babies without needing us to take any extra milk these days. Well unless we really neeeed it of course. They are truly generous!

We trimmed back the classes as well and are only offering a once a week Friday class; outside all day, chores in morning and a wonderful variety of guest presenters for each of the afternoons. I am truly blessed to know so may talented people willing to share their skills. Just Mushrooms, Cheese, Compost and Cattail baskets left. But the Wilderness skills, Metis culture, Mason Bee, soap making and wool felting have been great so far!

I continue to share the garden produce, asking for weeding help in exchange for Garlic, Rhubarb, Asparagus and Raspberries.  There have been some wonderful folks come through and I know they received less than they gave.  Even the excessive amounts of Comfrey were appreciated by one enterprising couple, starting their own large market garden and wanting to make compost tea.  Thank you Kiera and Tibo!

I have one weekly outdoor Violin student, Kieran, and he makes a gorgeous bouquet every Tuesday with grasses, hay field flowers and special knots and either presents it to me so genuinely, or places it in the teeth of our moose skull, decorating the front deck (since we haven't wanted to go out to through mosquito land to mount it on the tiny house just yet!).
 
We are slowly working away at the garage loft apartment and hope that there will be heat in there by October.  Perhaps our first tenant can finish the interior while they live there. I love this slow building process!