Crafts

Good news on the Buma front. His owners came to collect him on the Tuesday. They were all pleased to be reunited. We have had him visit a couple of time since which is always a pleasant surprise.

Today I have spent the morning painting my signposts with chalkboard paint for our up and coming wedding, which is getting closer and closer every day. Ian parents arrive in 23 days so this weekend we plan on tidying up the house. washing the carpets and wiping down all the walls etc. Luckily Walmart have a sale on some household items so tomorrow will be spent buying new pillows etc. I have had my eye on a nice glass cake stand which I can't wait to pick up. It will look awesome as a center piece on my dining room table.

The garden is producing lovely flowers however the grass is beginning to take over, so a few hours in the garden is a must.

My mind has also got me thinking about making crafts that I could sell. I am leaning towards making my body scrubs and some felted soap which I could make over the winter and sell next year at the farmers market.

It's a dogs life

Two days ago we had a visitor, a young border collie unfortunately with no name. He made himself comfortable sitting on the patio looking all content and to be honest has not really moved since ... well a quick run round the garden every so often.

It is quite unusual for a dog to turn up as we do not live in a populated area so we have no idea how he arrived here. He is definitely an outside dog and he is very well behaved.  We have put a shout out on the radio and have also contacted the SPCA so hopefully this lovely dog can be reunited with his family who must be missing him so much.

I hope he does find his family... Our home is beginning to feel like a rescue center. We have two dogs, one which we adopted, a cat that we took in and a sheep that came with the purchase of our home. We have temporarily called our new visitor Bumar. We hope he enjoys his little visit.

Spring is here

What a lovely long weekend. The sun has been out all weekend with temperatures reaching 28 degrees. We have spent most of the weekend outside gardening and spending time with friends. Saturday was spent nurturing my vegetables. The lettuces are coming on well as are my peas. Even the potatoes are beginning to show progress.

Sunday was spent enjoying times with our friends. Lunch at the Cariboo followed by an afternoon of drinking and roasting wieners in the garden.

Yesterday was a day of hard work but fun non the less. We cleared out the meadow and made a new sign for our house The evening was spent relaxing in the garden sipping on coolers and watching the humming birds enjoy the homemade pancake syrup.

Maybe today I'll cut the lawn and transplant some more seedlings. Life is good!!!

Odds and Sods

I love making things from scratch. I am beginning to get two nicknames 'Susie homemaker' and 'Martha'. I love the fact that homemade thing are much cheaper and taste way much better than the processed grocery and mass produced items. I would love to open a little craft stall selling all my wares.

Here is a list of items I would sell,

Body Polish
Facial Scrub
Foot Scrub

Hemp Scourers
Dish clothes

Dog Biscuits
Dog Toys

Lemonade
Cookies in a jar

Eggs

Maybe one day it might come off. My store would be odds and sods :)

Pot Luck

Every so often at work we have a pot luck night. I decided that I would make breakfast for everyone as I am inundated with fresh eggs.  Wholemeal pancakes with molasses and cinnamon syrup are on the menu alongside scrambled eggs. Lets hope the guys like it. I'm looking forward to it.

Long May weekend

This morning was just perfect. The morning sun shone down showing how green and lush the garden was. Ducks were flying over head. The cockerels were crowing. The sheep was grazing on the long green shoots of fresh grass. The dogs were playing with their toys and I was pottering around make my pallet garden. Thats right a garden made from a pallet.

I shoveled some topsoil into the lined pallet before transplanting my broccoli and lettuce seeds. Im not sure if this is going to work but it is fun trying. Yesterday afternoon I transplanted my peas and radishes into our planter and left a nice wide space for my carrots which I think are to immature to transplant just yet. I do hope my vegetable gardens do well. It is the first real time that I have started to garden. My tomato plants have failed this year so I will be cheating and buying some from the local nursery which I can then grow in pots. I think next year I will start my seedlings in a make shift greenhouse. They have taken a long time to start sprouting and are still very small. The joys of living up North.

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a fresh bounty of vegetables at your door. Lets hope I have grown enough!!!!

Homemade Lemonade

The sun is out and the BBQ season begins. Wahoooo!. I can not wait for dinner tonight, Japanese marinated pork kebabs, Corn on the cob, potato salad and homemade bread with homemade ricotta (Deeeeelish!!!)

At the moment I am into making everything from scratch ranging from mayonnaise to bread to cheese. Today when I was browsing through the garage sales I saw two glass jars which would be perfect for homemade lemonade. On returning home I went straight into action making the best lemonade ever. The recipe follows.....

Homemade Lemonade

1 cup water
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 quarters of a cup of sugar

4-5 cups of plain or carbonated water (depending if you want a fizzy lemonade or a still lemonade)

In a small pan add the 1 cup of water with the sugar. Heat the the water until the sugar has dissolved. Take the pan off the heat and add the lemon juice. (I also added the lemon peals and let them infuse until the sugar syrup cooled.) Once cooled, remove the lemon peals and add the the remaining cups of water until you are happy with the concentration. Decant into bottles and refrigerate. Serve over ice.

A little hasty

Unfortunately my wedding dress could not be taken in as I had hoped. My friend was worried that she would have to cut the material and did not want to ruin the dress. I was gutted at first but luckily I have found a seamstress in town that can do the work for me. Phew!!!!

I am looking forward to visit the first farmers market this weekend and support my friend in selling her traditional perogies. She wants to save up enough money so that she can take her mum and dad to Europe.

Roll on Saturday for the market and Monday for the dress fitting

Wedding Plans

Everything is coming together nicely, My dress has been altered and my petticoat has been made. I have my eye on some lovely shoes which hopefully I can get very soon. The table decor is pretty much sorted too, white table cloths, brown craft paper runners with mason jars as vases for fresh flowers. I am still in 2 minds about flowers. I don`t know whether to have fresh flowers or potted plants. (We`ll see nearer the time). My friend is making a two tiered wedding cake and Ian has arranged a photographer.

The wedding aisle has been planned, a semi-circle of hay bales with the aisle running down the middle lit up with bamboo hurricane lanterns. The alter (per say) will be a table covered in a white table cloth where Ian and I will sign the register. Either side to the front of the table will be two logs with a large flower arrangement donned on top.

Our disco which will be in our barn will be decorated in white lights with ivory and green ribbons draping from the ceiling. The garden is to is be adorned with lots of fun games, horseshoes, moose knuckles, boche, mini golf and a coconut shy. I just pray that it does not rain. Only two months to go.......