We Love Salmonberries!

Picnic Fun

Friends Dan, Melissa and their kids Isabella and Josh joined us for a picnic at a nearby park tonight.
 
Sedona and Isabella are a great match- Sedona has renamed this park "Sedona and Isabella's Park" because she loves going there with her.
 
A favourite pasttime: looking for bugs!

Summer Vacation

Summer vacation has officially begun now that Chris and I are both off work. Having the whole summer off as a family is definitely one of the bonuses of both being teachers. We spent a few hours at the beach today and the water felt great on this 33 degree day.

 
 

You Did It!

Aja is learning to walk. For the past week, she's been taking 4 steps, but tonight she took about ten right into Sedona's arms! I'll put a picture up of her walking soon.

Giddy Up

 
You gotta love the toy resource centre- a place where we can sign toys out for a month, rather than buying them and return then when the novelty's worn off. It's such a clever idea!

Tis the Season for Eating Closer to Home

We love the spring and summer when things are in bloom and we can eat foods that are grown closer to home. Our blueberries ran out a month ago, our homemade pesto was gone a few weeks ago and we've got one jar of peaches left. We've had to start buying jam from someone else and we've eaten up all our Halibut and prawns. We have a few bags of blackberries, strawberries and plums in the freezer, but besides that, all the fruits of our labour from last summer have diminished. But that's okay because our garden is providing us with strawberries, radishes, spinach, lettuce (which we had all winter), and herbs right now with many other veggies growing. The Salmonberries are ripe and we head out twice a day with the girls to pick them. The local Farmer's Market has been going on since mid April and it's a wonderful Saturday morning ritual for our family. It's so nice to go and buy locally and get to know the people you're buying from. Sedona gets a handpicked hothouse tomoatoe from one lady every week, a treat from another lady and "gems" (glass rocks) from another lady, all which she looks forward to every week. Currently, we are able to buy organic eggs, bread, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers,jam, greens, herbs,rhubarb, honey and homemade rainforest crackers (made by an old colleague of mine and so delicious)! There's something so special about this ritural of growing our own food and buying from others at the Farmer's Market. Last weekend we came across a new item: Sea Asparagus.

What is Sea Asparagus ?



Sea Asparagus (Salicornia virginica) is found along the coast of British Columbia. Harvested seasonally on Vancouver Island (and here on the Sunshine Coast by a local)this marine plant is primarily known for it's vivid color and salty flavor. Served in fine dining establishments around the world it is used as a substitute for green vegetables. This succulent sea vegetable is usually served with seafood.

So tonight we cooked it up with Salmon and fresh garlic scapes from our garden (the green curly tops) and it was great! We also bought our first 10 pounds of local prawns last weekend which will go well with this newfound vegetable. Happy eating!I'm off to pick some more strawberries.

Happy Father's Day!

 
 
After the stetch of cooler weather we've been having, Father's Day turned out to be a perfect day! The girls (okay, Sedona really) enjoyed spoiling Dad and we went for a nice hike together, followed by a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's farm. Sedona's favorite part of the day was decorating the cake, actually make that, eating the cake! And what a great Dad Chris is, the best in our eyes!

Spring (????) Boquet

 
Sedona and I cut the flowers for this birthday boquet for a friend this morning as we were bundled up in jackets- it is cooooold out there!!!! We're amazed all the veggies and flowers are growing so well in this weather.