The Long Road

I find it absolutely super cool that I can throw all my kitchen scraps into a bucket, add some dried leaves from the yard and… with a little stirring now and then, it turns into this!!

Every year around this time I’m able to harvest this black gold. We (ok, mostly Mich) dig it into the veggie garden and where ever new plants go in. This year with the doubling of the veggie garden and the growth of some of the other flower gardens we used the wheelbarrow load of compost up pretty fast. I think we got the best stuff so far this year too as I made a little compost sifter to separate the good, finished compost from any larger, not-quite-done pieces (like corn cobs). I added the stuff I sifted out to the new batch of decaying material already started in our second compost bin.

Anyway, both the flower and vegetable gardens are looking great this year, and this compost certainly plays a part. Not only that, but it helps cut down on our need for curbside solid waste (garbage) disposal quite significantly. Of course we are not totally satisfied so we have also started a worm composing bin. Those little red wigglers should produce buckets of nice worm castings (organic fertilizer!) in no time. The best part of all of this? Higher yield from the veggie patch! Yum!

Got back last night after a few days away at the Sasquatch festival. I’m off to work now, but I’ll try to write more soon. All in all we had a great time - great bands, great weather and great friends (Glenn and Jacqui) adds up to great fun.

You know, I never thought I’d be happy to do yard work on a long weekend. Never. Not ever.

But today that is just what we did. And I’m pumped about it. We rented a sod cutter and took out a ton of grass. And for the second time since moving into our house we doubled the size of our vegetable garden. TWICE as much harvest of tomato, peppers, eggplant, lettuce, beans, herbs, onions, asparagus and peas this year. AND enough room left over to put in 4 or 5 blueberry bushes.

Man, my life really does revolve around food.

Anyway, we are going to do some other fun stuff this weekend too - including bike rides and perhaps paddling too.

Hope you are enjoying yours too!

Click here if you are a Canucks fan.

My yearly prediction rings true. Let the abuse begin…

Today was a near perfect day. We got up, packed up and paddled the South Thompson from Chase to Pritchard with my co-workers Gillian and Lindsey. The weather was amazing, the water great and fun was had by all. We relaxed afterward on our deck with a few cold ones. Then Mich and I capped the whole day off with a great meal. Awesome.

Gillian

Lindsey

A little over a year ago when we were in Laos during Spring Break, we discovered a great little open air bbq place overlooking the river in Luang Prabang. And though it was hotter than hell out, we sweated away as we enjoyed this SE Asian style bbq over red hot coals. It was so good that we went back for more another day.

And while I was able to find one of the bbq contraptions in the market, I ended up not buying one as I didn’t really want to pack it around for the rest of the trip. It was a bit bulky for the backpack and I was also worried it would get all bent up. I’ve regretted that decision ever since.

Good thing my bro-in-law Jamie is a world traveler. He picked up not one, but TWO of ‘em in Thailand. Nice.

So Sunday night we tried it out. Jamie was in town for a couple of nights, and the weather was grand so really conditions were perfect. Jamie hit the hardware stores earlier in the day so we could make up a base for the thing and that was it.

Mmmmmmm, BBQ

In Luang Prabang, Jamie tries to feed Mich raw meat.

In the back yard, Jamie tries to feed Mich raw meat.

Here’s a track by Bon Iver that I just can’t get enough of. It’s a wonderfully haunting track with fascinating sonic qualities.

We’re gonna be lucky enough to see this band in a few weeks at the Sasquatch Festival. Great looking line-up this year. Very pumped.

My buddy Brook is a darn good guy. Among other things, he raises money for cancer research annually via the Relay for Life. As cancer is likely to touch pretty much all of us in some way during our lives, this is a particularly worthy cause. Brook is super cool on this one, ‘cause he (and all the others involved of course) not only talks the talk by fund raising, but walks the walk (literally) by participating in the relay. Brook you rule.

Last year he was able to raise $750 for the cause. This year his goal is $1000.

If you are able to support him, go on over to his website and donate! It’s quick and easy to do online.

Click HERE to visit Brook’s site and help him with his cause.

If Brook has inspired you beyond simply opening your pocketbook, head on over to the Relay for Life site and start your own team as there is likely a relay in your town too!