driveway...and early morning striped bass from the beach!

jambaloney here !

so as you all know we have a tractor now ( i like to call it "traktor" - it is the socialist in me ;-)

tibor's traktor


anyway - our driveway needs work - i normally do it by hand but at 160 feet down and 60 feet by the house - this has been harder and harder work ... so let's say hellooooo to the back blade!!!

first off i had to remove the backhoe - it was fairly easy - the bx23s comes with an advances coupling system - one person can remove the backhoe...

and install a 3 point hitch and a blade!!

i made sure to get a heavy duty model with various pitch and offset capabilities...

i started with the top part of the driveway... it is rutted and runoff goes all over the place..

i have never done this before but the idea is to grade it so the runoff goes down either side only...

after a bit of practice - i got the hang of it...

continuing around to the big part..

overgrown and rutted big time - the rain does a number!!

back to the top - i want the runoff to go around the corner here...

several passes and building up the middle

and a bit of practice on the downhill..

and quite a few passes required!!!

work at the bottom...

flatter and wider..

a LOT wider!!!

the round about took some work to get right...

back towards the house...

but finally results - rain on one side goes around this corner..

and on the other side this shallow trench...

here you can see both..

and final passes at the top made mini ditches

byproduct...

lots...

of...

ROCKS!!!!

the pics are a month old - the driveway is holding up great - it needs a bit more work to be ready for winter - but it will be MUCH easier to clear - plus we have a traktor now - saved a pile of $$ too so the traktor is paying itself off!!

i have been trying to get the right time for striped bass nailed - this morning was high tide and overcast at sunrise.. supoosed to be good - pretty ominous looking when i got to the beach

but it started clearing up..

when it is high tide the ocean actually  flows into the mouth of the framboise river - this is called the "gut" around here..

the sun is really coming up now...

and for sweet sandy... a nice striped bass !!!!

Hope you are all having a great October - cheers!

(kymber interrupts and says traktor is really named "drunk tractor-dura"!)

Thanksgiving 2017!

Thanksgiving is our favourite holiday! or as jambaloney likes to call it "9 hours of cooking, dirtying every pan and pot in the house, so 2 people can sit and enjoy 15 different things on their plate" - bahahahah! he's a barrel of sunshine, that guy!!!

but i looooove a full spread of thanksgiving turkey dinner and jambaloney can attest to the fact that i can eat platefulls of turkey and gravy and stuffing and mashed and carrot and turnip for several days in a row - then i bust out the jams and start eating hot turkey sandwiches, cold turkey sandwiches, turkey poutine (it's at this point that i have to make more gravy from scratch as i like all of my servings of turkey to come in a soup bowl...as soup!). i can eat turkey everyday from canadian thanksgiving, to american thanksgiving (which we celebrate in november) and right up to xmas dinner. for 3 entire months of the year i can live off turkey and fixings!

it was an incredibly beautiful day......very warm.

cats were checked regularly for signs of being alive. and fed.

this one is just passing out,

we did a morning harvest:



and turned it into this:



the day called for a traditional thanksgiving dinner (lunch):

 thai spicy noodles with peanut butter, coconut milk, a bunch of hot spices - regular thanksgiving fare.

ahh! but the beach called,too.

and we decided to have a thanksgiving menu that we either grew, foraged or fished.

the beach was amazing as usual.

i know i will cry for turkey and fixins' tomorrow, but for tonight this was our thanksgiving dinner.

the last 2 beautiful trout that jambaloney caught at the end of the season, and we froze, for this very reason!

a tomatoe and cucumber salad from our garden (minus the lemon and oil) and mussels that jambaloney picked for me today.

one of the best things about harvesting is saving seeds...we love saving our own seeds year after year.

and then there is this experience keeping us interested - collecting nasturtium seeds. some to be saved as seed and some to be turned into "poor man's capers".

i'll let you know how they turn out!

happy canadian thanksgiving day to all!

october 5th?!?!?!?!? where in the heck did september go?!?!?!?

it's been a while since we posted....and thank goodness we take tons of pictures...otherwise we wouldn't know where september went!!!! september was an awesome month - thank you septemeber!!!

we had beach days.

and beautiful sunsets.

and hazy days.

and sunny days.

we had some beautiful days!

and sunsets!

misty mornings...

mulch to amend our garden beds was made.

and beautiful sunsets.

some days were cloudy.

some days were bright.

and some days were cloudy and bright!

or a little bit of cloud but mostly bright!

we harvested....

and harvested...

and harvested...

daily harvests started looking like this:

i had to start up freezer bags for all of the tomatoes and peppers...i will make sauces out of them when we are done harvesting...

which with 2 greenhouses going full-tilt-boogy - we'll still be harvesting in novemeber - woohoo!

we dried some herbs:

we'll dry more...

we grew corn!!!!

they said it couldn't be done! have a look at these little babies - deelish!

our own potatoes and rosemary!

we've been eating really well. lettuce cups of homemade salsa:

saw the fish guy and got a ton of fish. halibut and corn and scallops - i looooooove scallops!!!

a variety of miso-based veg soups :

scallops!!!!!

many stir-fries and homemade kimchi!

that kimchi is to die for! of course there was much sushi!

and jambaloney had his steak with fried veg and raw tomatoes weekly!

yuuuuum. tempura. with real kimchi and a deadly soy sauce. tempuuuuuura!!!

more stir-fries.

and......TEMPURRAH!!!

another daily harvest of good stuff that we grow ourselves and eat!

river days and boat trips!

river lunches!

zuchinni fritters and our own blackberries.

of course - there have been many homegrown potatoe fries and poutine!

harvesting garlic bulbils.

more miso-inspired soup with radish and carrot kimchi...i lov emaking kimchi!

more harvests.

jambaloney's never-ending jar of pickled peppers - i add to it every 2nd or 3rd day!!!

today it is a little overcast. no worries we made and canned chicken soup. i'll show you all of the stuff we have canned during september.

a little gray and cloudy means jambaloney busts out the sunshine machine and makes us a cocktail:

he's been busy working on his contract, working on the driveway, working in the yard, making mulch, getting 3 of our raised beds amended and ready for fall planting (garlic is done and onions go out tomorrow) - plus all of the other stuff around here that he does - he's a busy guy!

me? i've been petting cats, giving them their daily mcsauges, chasing the man around the yard with a glass of water, feeding cats, making food and generally just loving life.

stay tuned as the next post will contain all of the stuff we have already canned and stuff we plan to can. knowing that you have food to get you through the upcoming winter and knowing EXACTLY what is in that food - ugh. the feeling is of tremendous relief!

jambaloney will have a post coming soon about the work he has done in the driveway - it's pretty impressive!

sending love to you all.