First Day of the Season at Stewart Farm

On Saturday I headed down to Historic Stewart Farm to do a bit of gardening. I started volunteering there in late Spring last year so I didn't get to see the whole season. This year I'll get to see the plants from the very beginning of the season to the end. I went down early on Saturday because our lead gardener had noted that the season was started pretty early this year and it was time to get the leaves off of the plants or they wouldn't have as good a chance to get started. I think I'm the youngest person on the team by about 20 years so I don't mind doing some of the heavier lifting tasks.

I started at around 7:30a and by 10a I had about 80% of the beds cleared. It was quiet fun to slowly rake the leaves back and see all the new perennials showing through. I can recognize many of the plants when they are in full bloom but it's harder to recognize them when they are just coming up. This will give me a chance to see the whole life cycle. The leaves kept the weeds down nicely so with a few exceptions, it was mostly just perennials popping their heads up. Last year they had planted several of them from seed and placed the base for annual trays over them to keep the bunnies out. I will have to try that since my last seeds got eaten.

I kept the leaves on the vegetable garden beds. It's warm out but I think we need to wait a few weeks before doing any major planting there.
The farm was home to the Stewarts in the late 1800's and has been a historic site for a few decades. There are only a few gardeners left from the original group of volunteers so hopefully we can get some younger volunteers to pass on the knowledge. It's a lot more than just planting seeds and watching things grow. Each of the perennials is an heirloom variety and we try to save the seeds each year to sell them in April. Lots of knowledge to gain and lot's of fun.

Family Day at Pitt Lake

The weather for Family day this year turned out to be absolutely amazing. It was predicted to be sunny and warm so we made plans to do a bit of Geocaching. I wasn't sure where we wanted to go but we have the most fun when we can find a bunch of cache's in a row and when I looked on the map an ideal place for that looked like it would be Pitt Lake on the North Shore. 5 years ago this would have been a very long trip for us but when the Golden Ears bridge was put in it shortened the trip to less then 30 minutes so we packed a lunch and headed out.

We had never been to Pitt lake so we didn't quite know what to expect. As it turns out the parking log is at the end of the lake where the Pitt River starts and there is a Native Reserve that covers this end of the lake. They have rights to the access road on the dike and charge fees for the boat launch as well as canoe rentals. You can see why their ancestors settled there. The area is very beautiful and remains pristine. There were just a few houses at the end of the dike and great walking trails everywhere.

We walked from the parking lot to the end of the main dike that separates Pitt Lake from Pitt-Addington Marsh. A total of 6k though we walked more since we had to stop to look for geocaches. We found a total of 7. We almost missed one but Kerry wanted to check again on our way back and finally found it. The area has a few hundred more spread across many kilometres of walking trails so we will definitely back to this location. No beach that we could see but it would still be a fun place to come do some canoeing as well.

The Chilly Chase

Last year the kids entered their first 5k run. It was the Donut Dash at the PNE. A lot of the local runs include a 5k option now which is the perfect distance for kids because even if they walk it they can still finish it in a reasonable amount of time. It starts at the same times the 10k, 15k and Half Marathon so even if you take your time it doesn't feel like you are last since the longer race racers will still be behind you. It's only January so there wasn't a lot of training to be had but Callie and Carter were still very excited about the race.

Leading up to the race Carter always seems a bit more excited that Callie. This is definitely one of the key personality differences between the two. Callie does a lot of worrying before new things while Carter goes with the flow. Come race time however the roles were definitely switched. The race started out great with both kids running but after about 200m, the rain and cold caught up with Carter and he was not impressed. Callie on the other hand wanted to run ahead but had to wait for Kerry and Carter. Near the end Kerry let her sprint ahead and she looked like a natural.

Despite the cold and wet conditions everyone finished and running memory appears to be short. Carter seemed to have a miserable time but he's already looking forward to the Hot Chocolate run in March. We'll try to do a bit better job training him with some runs around the park this time.

Christmas

With all of the time we spent on house renovations from September to early December Christmas came on very quickly and we really didn't feel prepared. I managed to get the guest bathroom done just in time for guests to start arriving. My goal was to get as much done as possible and everything cleaned up so that we could put decorations up without having to work around them as I finished bits and pieces up. We did get 99% done but we still have the backsplash and a bit of floor moulding that we decided to leave to the new year.

For a few weeks I was quite happy with the way the outdoor Christmas lights looked. I buy one or two strings each year at Rona when they go to 50% or 60% off and after 10 years we've amassed a nice little collection. We are now definitely the most decorated house on the block. Someone must have been jealous though because our beloved Snoopy was stolen. I had him screwed to the top of the Little Free Library and he lasted all last year and a few weeks this year but he was just too tempting. They sell him each year at Rona so I will watch for him next year and this time I'll put him on the roof so he doesn't go missing.

This year we were lucky enough to see the ultimate Christmas Light show at Stanley Park. Corey, Carmen and the kids had planned on going with some family members but several of them came down sick so they gave us four tickets. We arrived just in time for a train ride through Stanley park looking at some very amazing light displays. My favourite was the one across the pond where the reflection duplicated all the lights. The other great one was the tree lit with tens of thousands of lights. It must have taken a week just to decorate it.

We also headed down to the German Christmas Market. It's a closed market downtown with nice wooden huts and lot's of food. It alway seems very cramped with so many people in such a small space but I suppose that's part of the charm. We went down right when it opened to avoid the biggest crowds and we used our tickets to get a savings at 'Fly Over Canada'. It's a 4D movie experience where they fly you over the screen. During most of the year it's just regular views of Canada but at Christmas they add a few minutes of Santa's workshop. The kids really enjoy it.

Santa was very good to us and the kids got their annual present of Christmas pyjamas. This was the first year that Callie had to get big kid pyjamas and he couldn't get everyone the same kind.

We only had one Christmas this year. Ordinarily we have one with Barb and Reg and a second with my parents but this year my dad and brother were in Finland at the World Junior Hockey tournament and my mom decided she would visit later in the year.

Gingerbread House Making

This year we had Carter's friend Luca and Callie's friend Anya over to make gingerbread houses. Although it is easier to just buy a kit, I bought a mould from Lee Valley several years ago and I much prefer to use it. The best thing about it is that there is no wasteful packaging. The kits come with all sorts of plastic and cardboard bits that really aren't necessary. The other good thing is that we get to pick our toppings. It only takes one evening to make all of the parts and set everything up and the houses are the perfect size.

I made four sets of parts this year. One for each builder. This way the kids visiting get to take their house home when they are done. Luca seemed very proud of his when his Dad came to pick him up. Callie did an excellent job on her house. (The one on the left.) The only trouble with it and unfortunately all the houses was that we got very heavy candy this year. The trick to gingerbread house making is to decorate before you build so once the parts are loaded with candy it can be tricky to assemble. I had about a half dozen soup cans with each house as support while the icing dried.

Christmas Tree Hunting

The title of this post could also be "Christmas Tree Hunting But Not Finding". Last year was the first year we got a real Christmas tree and although it was a bit difficult for Callie to take the tree down when we were done, she did enjoy having a real tree and agreed to a real one this year as well. There are several tree farms relatively near us so we picked the one at Aldor Acres and went on our hunt. It was the last weekend in November and although the farm was open it only had the trees it had grown itself. It's a relatively small farm so it trucks additional trees in to meet demand.

We did our best to find a tree and there were several hundred to choose from. Each family member managed to find at least one tree they liked but the difficulty was finding one everyone liked. Carter wanted big, I wanted a fir, Callie wanted a friendly looking tree she could name. After about an hour of searching we decided we weren't going to find one. We still took some time out for cooking marshmallows, playing in the hay stack, petting the bunnies. We decided we would try out the nursery near us once they had their Christmas Tree lot set up.

The Christmas Tree lot didn't disappoint. I think those lots get their trees from professional farms rather than the local farmers that just plant some trees. They are pruned much more consistently and the price is very reasonable. In the end we chose a Norman Fir and Callie named it Norman. He was a great looking tree however he didn't seem to have a scent. I think we'll try out a Noble Fir again next year.

Now I just have to figure out what kind of woodworking project I will make out of him now that Christmas is done.

A Trip to Britannia Mines

In December Callie had a field trip to Britannia Mines. Kerry has taken her class many times however I had only ever seen the outside of it as it is on the way to Whistler and is a prominent set of buildings on the side of the highway. Callie really enjoys it when I get to go on her field trips so when she brought the permission slip home I knew I didn't have any choice but to volunteer to chaperone. This was a bus trip since it's such a long drive so I didn't have to take our car.

The mine was a copper mine up until the mid 70's and was handed over to the province mostly intact. The province acted quickly to preserve what the could and a more recent renovation has brought it up to a caliber that rivals any other historic site we have in BC. The province doesn't have a long history and much of it was built with wood so very few things have survived. This location however has much of the original equipment and buildings. They've also added some mining equipment from other areas such as the giant mine truck at the entrance.

The highlight for me was getting to take the mine train into one of the mine shafts. If you are claustrophobic this would not be the field trip for you. It's all very safe and they only take you a few hundred feet in but you can't help but think of the millions of pounds of rock sitting over your head. The tour inside was great with a short train ride to a spot where the guide shows you the different mining techniques that existed throughout the history of the mine. He even turns on the air hammer drill which was deafening in such as small space.

Callie's favourite part was panning for gold and other gems. The mine itself was principally a copper mine but they have included a few gold panning troughs as a fun activity. The best part was that even though it was December and we were outside, the water is heated so you don't get cold at all. The trough is mostly sand but they've seeded it with gold, pyrite and various minerals. Callie and I had a bag of minerals and about 7 flecks of gold. Not enough to get rich but still fun.

The trip had to fit into a day trip from school so we only got to stay for a few hours. I think I would like to come back in the summer and explore more of the buildings. This was an excellent attraction.