first trout and first lobster of the year - woooohoooo! and a bunch of other stuff!

jambaloney went to get the mail yesterday, and as this is big garbage pick-up month in our area (you can only throw out certain garbage at certain times of the year), he found this beautiful harvesting basket for me. in perfect condition!

kids - this year i purchased a package of sacred water lotus.



we have our pond out front of our yard and i have been wanting to do something special with it but we just haven't gotten around to it yet. every year the spring peepers lay their egg sacs in our pond, but sometimes the water level gets low and we have to refill it with water from the hose. jambaloney doesn't want to have to bother with that this year and so is moving the egg sacs down to the swampy area of our river. and then maybe this fall we can make the pond into a constantly running, moving water feature.

but i wanted a water feature of some sort for this year ( i know - i have a pond, a river, an ocean, a kiddie pool and a hottub. you'd think i'd be satisfied!) but i want something watery to look at and enjoy. so i got the water lotuses.

there are 2 mind sets on how to get water lotuses to sprout - one set thinks you have to scarify them, the other group says that you do not need to do that as in nature, the seeds just fall from the plant and do fine without any scarification.

i am doing a test. the below seeds have not been scarified - just put in a bowl of warm water.

jambaloney got out his wicked-awesome dremel tool and scarified 2 seeds. they went in a separate bowl. you have to put the seeds in warm water. i'll keep you posted. (fun fact: once the leaves are floating on the water, if you play music they will dance and intertwine. once you turn the music off, they will disentangle from each other. i can't wait to try this and i'll keep you posted on that, too!)

a delicious dinner that i can eat all of - lebanese herbed rice with our own parsley - woohoo! our parsley is coming up gangbusters as are a bunch of our herbs.

served with a slice of lemon, hearts of palm, pickled artichokes and olives - yummeh!

kids - it wasn't exactly a river day. in fact - it was windy as oh heck! but we decided to go down anyway.

it's a quarter mile to the river and then back - so a half mile walk all around. not bad exercise! the man always has his fishing bag packed and so off we went. (he's lookin' pretty stylin' no?)

my canning lid that i nailed to our towel-hanging tree in memorium of my friend SciFiChick has rusted and the words that i wrote to her are long faded.

i considered getting a new canning lid and re-writing to her but then i thought "Sci knows what that lid means". and she also knows that we say HI to her everytime we pass that tree.

here's a pic looking across the river that i always take for my friend C.

and here is looking down the river.

the river was extremely low - normally that big rock you see is buried underwater.

my favourite thing in the world to see.

when i look back from my sitting rock, i look at all of these trees, both dead and alive, and i feel a sense of peace that they belong to us. we are stewards of those trees. and we just leave them be.

a windy day - but beautiful none the less. you can see my sitting rock in this pic as i was wandering around looking at different things.

and although jambaloney had no plans for catching any trout - he caught these 2 beauties in about 15 mins!!!! he caught the first one and i said "babe - go get us another for breakfast!". he went back out and got us another!!! woohoo!!! first trout of the season - the big one is for Sweet Sandy and the smaller one is for PioneerPreppy.

next time he is out fishing, the big one will got to PP. but have a good look at those trout - these are sea run trout, meaning that they spend some of the year in the ocean and some of the year in the river. they always come back to the river to spawn but sometimes they come back to the river for food. you can tell that they are sea-run because of how silver they are.  regular river trout who never go to the ocean have very brightly-mixed colouring.

here we are heading back home and of course, i try to always be as stylin' as jambaloney.

look at these beautiful trout all gutted and cleaned. jambaloney puts all of the innards in the compost - we have some nutrient-rich compost!

check out the colour of these trout - there isn't a salmon on the planet that can touch these for colour and/or freshness!

these babies were caught, cleaned and cooked in less than an hour - you can't get fresher than that unless you eat them cooked over a fire at the river which is another great way to enjoy your fish!



a totally free meal kids! trout from the river, sorrel and beet greens from the greenhouse and our own peppers that we somehow grew over the winter. check out the colour of the cooked flesh and look how flaky it is!



jambaloney went to work yesterday and got us some of the freshest lobster known to man. the lobster guys started going out on april 20, and all of that lobster was sold commercially. only this week has the lobster been available for personal sale - jambaloney got us 4, cooked to perfection by the lobster cooking guy at work - woohoo! more on that later.

as you all know tuesday is THE FISH GUY DAY! when jambaloney finished work and went over to the fish truck, THE FISH GUY, who had a buddy with him said "that's THE TUNA GUY!" pointing at jambaloney - bahahahah! that's because jambaloney buys him out of fresh tuna every tuesday. and we vaccuum-seal and freeze that tuna to have all year round - woohoo! he also got a ton of newfoundland scallops - oh be still my beating heart!

jambaloney called me when he left our nearest small town and i got everything ready for a lobster feast.

kids there are a variety of tools and utensils required for proper lobster enjoyment. and i know i have said this before - but make sure to eat lobster naked! it makes for quick and easy cleanup and you don't have any stinky clothes.

what more can i say than this -



i only showed you my lobster - jambaloney's was bigger and i didn't want to break any hearts!

remember the other day i did my first small harvest of oregano? it has been drying in a basket in the sun for the past several days. here it is now and ready to be processed.

as we are still using our dried oregano from last year...this oregano goes into food stores.

it isn't full and it isn't pressed down...i will be getting at least 5 more cuttings for drying over the season and then it will all be vaccum-sealed and stored for when we run out of our current oregano. growing and drying your own herbs is not only healthier...it makes you happy!

and last but not least - get ready for it - the dishwasher is back on the porch!

not a big deal for some but it's a great big deal to us!!! poor jambaloney having to lug big bins of dirty dishes down to the basement during winter months, sucks! just ask him. it took him a little under an hour to move it from the basement and set it up on the porch. he came in with a very-well deserved grin on his face, we high-fived and got in the hottub! i put the new harvesting basket on top of the dishwasher but i didn't put anything in it. once Frankie Blue-Eyes wakes up and sees it - it will become HIS basket!!!

jambaloney is working now and i am doing this post. he'll be working for a while so i will hit up your blogs. then it's off to make a lobster sandwich....and supper tonight? you guessed it - SCALLOPS!!!! yuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeh! bahahahahah!

oh what a day....for a mermaid!! (Edited to explain the mermaid suit and tail)

oh kids - what a beautiful day!



clear blue sky, everything is finally starting to turn green....rest my beating heart! many different kinds of jobs were done today! jambaloney started up the generator and it ran tip-top.



he moved all of the junk on the left hand side and made a cool space for our new chipper/mulcher! woohoo! we're going to be making our own mulch for all of our beds this year! it will make for waaaay less weeding! woohoo again!

the potatoe tires are ready for planting in the next few days - we have 40 sets of tires ready to go to plant 4 kinds of potatoes - i am soooooo happy!



our bird feeder cracked so we put a plastic bowl in it to let the birds drink and bathe. the rock is so that smaller flying creatures like BEES can land on the rock and drink. i love it when i see 3 or 4 bees of whatever kind out there getting a drink!



we weeded our strawberry hugelkulture. i can't believe they are already coming back at this time of year! they are alpine strawberries and we planted them late last year and were told we would not get any strawberries the first year. well we got a bowl full last year - so we are really looking forward to this year!



here is a beautiful pic looking down to the road to the river:



lunch was grilled chicken wraps with home-made blitzkreiged salsa and really mashed guacamole. i ate mine with a fork and knife in little bits and because jambaloney grilled my chicken so well...i was able to gum it - it was delicious!



it really was a gorgeous day! we brought all of the peppers that we overwintered in the house outside to check for aphids and to give them a good spray down. can you believe that our overwintered peppers are already producing peppers????



check out these beauties:



and these:



this is our may 1st harvest of peppers that we overwintered...can you even believe that???



bad picture but i transplanted my scottish/bitter vetch.



i plan to make an actual garden of scottish/bitter vetch...and here's why:

"This plant was formerly an ingredient of the Highland diet when food was scarce until the 18th century, when the potato became an important crop in the region. The small tubers were removed from the roots and dried. Once eaten, they prevented thirst and hunger pangs. Certain medieval herbals claimed that this effect could last for days or even weeks. It is surmised that this effect derives from the presence in them of transethanol.[dubious – discuss]

The plant may be the one eaten by Roman soldiers in the battle of Dyrrhacium in 48 BCE."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathyrus_linifolius
-------

if S hits the fan - i want to know about everything that i can grow to feed my family!

OK - NOW ON TO THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD THAT I PROMISED I WOULD SHOW IN MY LAST POST....

GET READY FOR IT...



i got a mermaid tail - bahahahahahhah! yes - a mermaid tail! as ridiculous as it sounds - i have always loved water - i have swam in many oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, ditches, mudpuddles ( and once took a dare and dove into the fountain at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa fully-clothed!) - but i have always known i was a mermaid.

jambaloney found it on an internet site and asked me if i wanted it? ARE YOU FREAKIN CRAZY? OF COURSE I WANT IT!!!

it's too cold to wear it in the river or the ocean yet - so i wore it in the hottub!



and realized just how much of a mermaid i am flipping my tail up and down!



i can't wait to take this thing down to the river and ocean - i am going to have soooooo much fun!



ahhhhh....the life of a mermaid!

 EDIT STARTS HERE: a few of you have asked how the thing works, so i decided to do an update with pics. the mermaid skirt is made of really stretchy material that stretches and then once on, clings to the body. kinda' spandex-y.

here is a pic of the fin:

the outside of the fin is water proof rubber stuff, and inside the fin is a hard plastic inlay. you put the fin on by putting your feet into the "socks":

once your feet are in, you slide the mermaid skirt around the bottom of the in, up the fin and then up your body. you can hop in the fin but you can't walk - that's why they recommend that you put your mermaid suit on near the pool, or any water that you will be getting into. no probs for me - i'll sit at the edge of the river and put it on and hop into the water, and will do the same down at the ocean. hope this helps clear up any questions you might have had. EDIT STOPS HERE.

remember seeing a yellow thing a few pics back in one of the mermaid pics? well that's my hunk of a man putting together our new chipper/mulcher. we can make our own chips and mulch for our garden beds and for our walkways and for our compost - woohoo!

we had an incredible day! and chili for supper!

i cheated because even though we are off dairy and all i am eating is mush - i broke down and got jambaloney to get me some goat's cheese (less caesin in goat's milk than cows). it was delicious with the goat's cheese! jambaloney had half of our own winter grown red and green monet pepper (jalapenos) with his and at his first bite he was all - "oh these peppers are divine!".  so i asked him to bite me off a tiny piece to try. i sucked on it for only a second, spit it out and ran screaming around the yard! i made it half-way around the house before he passed me screaming like a girl - bahahahaha! those peppers are deadly and if any of you want some - let me know! these peppers come from plants that are 2yrs old and we saved seed from them last year. if you like hot peppers - these are some of the finest!

we ate our chili, ran around the house screaming for half an hour, have put on clothes because we expect that the cops will be arriving soon - we were screaming and crying so loudly one of our neighbours must surely have called the police, no?

the day is still gorgeous but jambaloney has work to do.

we will go out in a few and take a walk, look at our beautiful land, have many hottub dips, jam will do more work on his contract, i will catch up on your blogs, we'll find a good documentary to watch and then bed. we've had a wonderful, busy day and i got a mermaid tail - bahahahahahah!

almost end of april and really feeling like spring!

today was such a beautiful, clear and blue day!

here is my beautiful oregano plant that i trimmed back and am in the purpose of drying for use as our own spice over the winter. we will get several cuttings from this one plant over the season to dry to make our spice. this oregano plant is 5 yrs old and they come back on their own - year after year.

we have a ton of store-bought spices in our long-term food storage...but we won't use any of it if we can grow and dry our own. it's always great to have a ton of store-bought spices in your food stores but it is so much better if you can grow and dry your own. healthier too!

surprise!

the tulips are popping up and showing green. the tulips i planted were a mixed bag so i don't even know what colour each tulip will be until the flowers appear! that's the surprise!

here's a prepper-related item that i am growing for the first time - hops!

can you say home-made beer???? we have a beer-making kit and can't wait to try and grow our own hops! again - you can buy beer, you can store beer - but isn't it better if you have the knowledge and equipment to make your own? from your own hops? again - healthier, too!

some stuff that i planted today - some of which is prepper-related, and one that is simply for my enjoyment:

american ginseng, irish moss, F1 hybrid cabbage and sugar beets! the ginseng, cabbage and sugar beets are all prepper-related - the ginseng root can be used just like ginger and turmeric root - and we all know the health benefits of ginseng! i got the cabbage because it is a super-size cabbage that does well in northern climes and stores well. the sugar beets can be used as regular beets, or you can make sugar out of them. the process is not difficult to do at all! and, even though we already have a ton of organic sugar (cane) in our stores, if we can make our own - that will be brilliant! we are not big sugar consumers to begin with but the ability and knowledge to make our own sugar is also brilliant!

the irish moss is simply for my pure enjoyment. jambaloney said "we have 10 million kinds of mosses all over our land! why do you need to buy moss seeds!". i explained that irish moss is a particular-looking moss that i want to use in my faery gardens. he just shook his head. and now that i come to think about it - the moss IS prepper-related - imagine this scenario: S has hit the fan, zombies are everywhere, no one has any food - what is the one thing that will become one of the biggest barter items??? yep - you guessed it! FAERY GARDENS!!! bahahaha!

anyway, while i was doing my planting, jambaloney transplanted the kale from the greenhouse into a bed. yes - he needs a tiny bit of help with making straight rows!

here are some daffodils popping up!

and some more!

kids - we had a long, wonderful day! and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer - woohoo - RIVER DAY! after we do some chores and whatnot. maybe even our first canoe or boat ride tomorrow.

after such an awesome day, we of course had to celebrate with some sushi!

tuna and avocado sushi with dipping sauce, warm tamago and pickled ginger. not an exciting sushi plate but i can gum the tuna, avocado and tamago. i can't gum the strawberry due to the seeds.

anyway, in good old kirsty udall style who never seems to get her deliveries on time - we have been waiting for our 2 new loungers (our 10yr old ones finally crapped out!) allllllll day! and this is the third time we waited. the first time they left a note on the door - i must have been asleep and jambaloney at work. then they sent us an email for another delivery day - then changed that day to today! they deliver anywhere between 7am and 7pm which means you can't go anywhere (like walk to the river). we were outside all day and so left a note on the front door telling the guy that if he knocked and got no answer, to come around back. it's now 6:40pm and that guy better get here soon! i don't like being mean but we planned to spend all this evening in the hottub!!! arghgghghg!

oh well - tomorrow it's supposed to be gorgeous out....can't wait! and if everything goes as planned - i'll show you the GREATEST THING ON THE PLANET! it's hot pink, is sparkly and completely useless to most people. and certainly there is no 45yr old woman would ever WANT - let alone go out and GET!!! but she's a real beauty and i cannot wait to share it with you all - bahahahahah! if you don't already think i'm loopy - you definitely will when you see this! bahahahahah!