Wednesday, June 17, 2015

beautiful day after the rain...

friends - it rained all night. it was beautiful and i love hearing the rain bouncing off of the plastic-roofed porch. but my man had to be up early today as he was going into LobstersRUs for a full day of work. i made sure last night that his lunch was made, and his clothes were ready...and then i slept fitfully as i always do when i know he has to go in to work. you must understand that i brought him here to retire him and the fact that he now has a part-time job is wonderful...but i worry.so i was up 45 mins before he had set the alarm to be sure that he was up on time. it rained all night and this is what it looked like at 5:45 am....soooo beautiful.



for his morning breakfast i fed him some scrambled eggs with his homemade hot sauce, some coffee and water. when he isn't going to work and we wake up whenever we wake up - we eat decadent things like poached eggs, a lobster tail and claw and some grapes - bahahahahha!


we planted 200 potatoes in our 40 tires - it's something both of us never get tired of talking about. i'm sorry if it's boring for you all.


but every year we have tons of seed potatoes left over. below is easily another 200 seed potatoes.


we discuss urban guerrilla gardening often except that we live in the middle of nowhere. but we do have a ton of islands in our river, and being that we have our quiet canoe, and jambaloney is a true courier des bois - we have access to many places to guerrilla garden even if we live in the middle of nowhere. a post about that coming soon.

comfrey salve. the salve to make itching bug bites go away.


it's homemade and made with beeswax and coconut oil. which we have many years worth of both in our preps.

comfrey slips. to send to our friend W. though he be many thousands of miles away, his friendship has meant the world to us. he has taught us so much because his knowledge is limitless.


fresh trouts off the grill. nothing else needs to be said.


and it is now 8:45. my manz be at workz. i watered the greenhouse and opened the windows.


the rain has watered all of the beds and i am feeling tired from a fitful sleep. i always have a fitful sleep when i know that he has to be up for work. the day is going to be gorgeous and long...as i await my sweet man to return - with fresh lobster and crab. yes, i know that we live a very difficult life - bahahahah! but just know in your hearts that we are grateful and happy for every single day - and we never pass up the opportunity to express our gratitude. i need to go out and look at my beautiful strawberries and make sure that my lettuces were properly watered. then wash 10 million cat plates. and pet fat, healthy cats in between all of that. cats who have been fed about 2,000 times since we woke up. oh...and we are getting a puppy in about 8 weeks. they were just born. we asked for the runt.

life is amazingly wonderful. i miss my man. i can't wait till he gets home. i am so proud of the work he is doing. uh-oh - a cat just woke up and is screaming for food. jeesh eh?

(EDITED TO ADD: i can't stress how much of a courier des bois he is! he really is!)

22 comments:

  1. Snap. I also woke up during the night to the sounds of rain, glorious rain :)

    Oh - that poached egg looks wonderful. Never tried it with grapes before though.

    I didn't have much luck with potatoes in tyres - do you add tyres to the top as they grow?

    We (or I) watch a lot of Canadian (Alaskan) TV programmes here (Build Alaska, Alaskan Bush People, Alaska: The Last Frontier) and I always see the insects - must be due to your 3 000 000 lakes? I thought our "miggies" were bad, but boy - there are loads of nasty insects in those TV programmes)

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    1. oh Dani - i am so glad that you got some rain - woohoo! (i am thinking of your picture as i am writing this and it is making me happy!)! as for the grapes, i try to always have a fruit or veg with each meal - we have 3 main meals a day and 3 snacks - sometimes more snacks but i always try to get a veg or fruit in and i use what we have on hand.

      as for the potatoe tires - yes, after the potatoe plants get about 6 inches high, we put another tire on and add more dirt or a combination of grass clippings and dirt. we add 4 tires to each tire using this method. some people do 5 and 6 tires high but we find that 4 works for us.

      and yes - the bugs up here in canada are pretty bad. each region has it's own set of bugs and we deal with blackflies from end-may to end-august, deerflies from june to end-august and horseflies from end-june to end-august. the best month up here is september where we still have gorgeous weather but no flies. thank the dear sweet lord for september!

      sending much love your way! xoxox

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  2. Kymber-

    I think I enjoy your blog most of any I read (although the Rat holds a place of high esteem for other reasons). I could probably sit here all day and read your years' worth of writings- your talents, skills and love for your land and each other- so refreshing. Thanks for all you do to educate and bring a smile to our faces!

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    1. LadyQuig - what an awfully-nice thing to say and we really appreciate it - both jam and i. i'd say that you made our day - but i think you have just made the rest of our week!!! i hope to see you around this little Manor often! thank you for bringing a smile to our faces! xox

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  3. You are so sweet and it really comes across how much you care for your man x

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    1. thank you so much Kirsty! i think yer pretty sweet too and i know how much you love your family! xoxo

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  4. A puppy!! what kind of dog? I have three Aussies, and love them, they learn so easily.
    I got your card thank you! I will send your out this friday,, with the forget me nots, and a few surprise plants!
    Tell Jamby not to work too hard!
    love to you both~

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    1. ltw - can't give away any secrets yet about the puppy. we have to go over and pick one but i want to wait to give other people a chance to pick their favourite and then we will take the one that no one wanted. the puppy is not an aussie - i love aussies too! jam has never had a dog although he is incredibly good with them and i can't wait for these 3 fat cats to meet their new brother/sister. it's going to be a lot of fun! your welcome for the card and i look forward to whatever you are sending! sending much love! xoxo

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  5. I think I need to come to your house for breakfast. and the trout! OMG yum.

    Aw how cute are you getting up to make sure he is ok.

    Picture of the puppy please.

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    1. Sol - you'd be welcome for breakfast or any meal any time! and we'd even let you stay a while - bahahahah! i always try to get up before him so that i can be sure that he gets his breakfast, has his lunch and clothes ready and can just have a smooth morning. a pic of the puppy will be coming soon! sending much love and hoping you are dancing your butt off! xoxox

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  6. Guerrilla gardening is a new term for me. I can't wait to hear about it.

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    1. Ed - check out my latest post. guerrilla gardening info contained in it! xoxo

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  7. Poached egg and lobsters. Ye saints and martyrs - sounds delightful!

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    1. TB - i gotta admit that dipping lobster tail and crab in poached yolk is pretty awesome! maybe someday i can make some for you! sending much love to you and all of your girls! xoxo

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  8. Hey Sweet Kymber,
    When it's raining, it makes for a good time to sleep. The rain is just so relaxing.......
    I so understand your fitfull sleep, I get up with my husband real early everyday for work. Even with the clock set, I get up before BD Man and get the coffee on. He's not a big breakfast eater in the morning, I do make him a nice big lunch to go.
    Your waiting for Jam to come home with some delicious lobster, and crab....sounds good. Will you be preparing it as usual or making a new recipe?

    I'm not bored about hearing about your tires and potato planting at all. More potatoes will be going in the ground here soon too.
    Those fish look delish, they make for a great meal anytime of the day.
    Sending hugs and love to you and Jam.
    Your Friend,
    Sandy
    Time for me to hit the bed, it's pouring outside.....maybe I'll sleep well tonight :-)

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    1. hey Angel #3 - Sweetest Sandy - i love sleeping and listening to the rain. if it rains during the day we just love to go out to your greenhouse and lay on the beach rocks and listen to the rain bounce off all the windows. that BullDog Man is sure lucky to have you - as you are to have him! i am hoping he is having a very speedy recovery and make sure to tell him that we send our very best wishes.

      when it comes to lobster and crab - i just like it plain! no butter or any kind of spices, just slurping the juice out of the lobster and crab and just eating it as is. yummeh!

      i am so glad that you will be getting some more potatoes planted - i love potatoes and can eat them at every meal! git yer butt up here - jam wants to take you and BDMan fishing and then we can all stuff our faces on trout together!

      sending much love as always to all of you! and i am happy that it was raining when you wrote this - i hope you got a beautiful and restful sleep - you deserve it! xoxoxo

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  9. For islands it would be interesting to see if permaculture might be a way to go. If they are relatively low lying islands, you would have to get something that could deal with wet roots from the high water table.

    To answer your question from elsewhere, if the email regarded my lack of skills with blogger controls- yes. I have been doing a fair amount of work stuff, and also reading more non-fiction which I don't usually post on.

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    1. Russell! Russell! Russell! i have sooooo been missing you buddy! and yes - you understand that the islands would do well with permaculture and hugelkulture! as for the wetness from a high water table, we plan to take the already fallen down trees, build them up in the middle of the islands, dig up some river dirt to pile on top and then plant whatever there. it should work but i'll keep you posted.

      and yes, i understand that you have been busy with work! but miss your posts and i would enjoy your reviews on non-fiction if/when you had the time. but just seeing you comment here does my heart some good! missed you buddy! xoxo

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  10. Looks a good breakfast! I like the idea of guerilla gardening and sometimes just plant some raspberries in a random hedge hoping someone will be glad of them one day. I like the look of the comfrey salve, I just use mine for plant food but it's brilliant stuff.
    Di you change the soil for your potatoes each year?

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    1. oh Kev - that's awesome that you just chuck some raspberries around - wicked cool! the comfrey salve is good for just about anything - if you want the recipe just yell!

      as for potatoe tires - we fill the first tire with a combination of comfrey leaves, seaweed and composted dirt (that has horse manure in it). then we stack another tire when the potatoe plant is about 6 inches high and fill it with more composted dirt, grass clippings, seaweed. we do this until each tire is stacked 4 high. then when we start harvesting potatoes for meals, we dig around in the top tire and get what we need. when we are sure that we have harvested all the potatoes from the top tire, jam shovels the dirt out of the tire and into our compost pile. he does that for every tire. so the dirt goes into the compost heap and we add compost and grass clippings and seaweed and comfrey to this pile of dirt throughout the season and into autumn. jam is constantly turning this dirt/compost. then in the next spring, he sets up the tires and fills them from the compost/dirtpile.

      long story short - yes we re-use the same dirt but it is heavily supplemented. hope this makes sense. sending much love to you and yours! xoxo

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  11. Sounds better than the cereal and toast I had!!

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    1. John - you should have had beets for your breakfast! i'd kill for a decent beet! bahahahaha!

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