We have finally said good bye to mosquitoes, and +30 temperatures, as well to our month of family visitors, we are saying good bye to our horrible old road and are embracing the harvest, new access and just a little quiet.
We have had a really busy August, our little home has been bursting at the seems with all of our family and friends… we put some of them to work and have managed to accomplish some fun stuff; new benches for the picnic table (thanks Dave), new deer antler door pulls for my garden gates (Dayna), another mountain of foam blocks moves (Kim) garden cleaning, harvesting, drying, and jamming (Chris, Helen, Gabby, Zoe …and everyone else)
Last week we had a giant excavator come and build us a whole new road… in two days so much has changed; the garden is swimming in new sunlight, a yurt deck is ready for a final level and deck construction, we can now see the view we will have from our future home, and it all seems way more plausible now, our firewood stack is unbelievable, and our non-4×4 friends now stand a chance at getting up our hill!
The new road sweeps around the lower property and up past the shop and outhouse (which now sits awfully close to the road) up through the woods, and comes out above the garden then finally loops down to connect with the existing road. The yurt will live at the end of the garden below the new road and now I am planning on growing the garden space to envelope the yurt entirely. The road is very silty and needs some good compaction and some moisture, but certainly it makes life more accessible that it has been.
There are a million foods ready for harvest in the garden and I am pretty overwhelmed with to do’s and the putting up’s, but managing to get through it all.
Dylan got the canoe finished and it is a real recycled beauty; the seats are made with old seat belts woven over a fir frame (see our private junk yard has come in handy yet again), it has a spanky orange paint job, and tracks like a dream on the lake. It is so nice to have an extra canoe now for visitors to enjoy our favourite past time.
While Dayna and Zoe spent an extended week here, Dyaln and I slipped away for an Anniversary celebration which got the new canoe on both Box and Arrow Lakes, and we enjoyed the steamy minreal soaks at both Helcyon and St. Leon a more private and undeveloped hot springs. Life is pretty good, I must say.
We also 4×4’d in the new toyota up to the top of Pedro Creek, which overlooks our valley with a vast expansive view, it was amazing to se as far as Nelson and Thrums as well as our lazy spot on the road from so high above.
The idea of winter just around the corner is a litttle daunting, but it looks like we are in for a sunny and long, warm fall, and I am soaking up every minute of it I can… wondering when we will have to stoke the fireplace for the first time?
Anyway there is a truck load of wild sokeye salmon calling me, yurt deck racking and beans to collect, so must dash.
A Permaculture Smallholding Story 