Hello my name is Amanda and I am a compulsive book-buyer.

I think I have a problem. See, every year there is this delicious book sale that I look forward to. I pine for it, I yearn for it to be here. And then it comes. I wake up at an unreasonably early hour, tromp off to stand in line for the biggest book sale ever!

The Times Colonist hosts a book sale where over 300,000 books are donated. The book-scoundrels of Victoria and beyond crawl out of their holes, pale-faced from staying inside to read, and they form orderly lines that begin at 3:30 in the morning! We’re talking serious book buyers, people. I am not that serious. But I am serious enough that I’ve been known to take days off work to ensure my attendance.

Then we pour into whatever venue manages to host such a multitude of books. And we began snatching, scratching and greedily grabbing what we can find. Actually, I’m exaggerating. Everyone was quite well-behaved this year. There were lots of “Excuse me, are you going to take that book or can I add it to my already-over-flowing bookshelves?” And “Is this your box of chosen books or can I peruse through because I see one that looks delicious?!”

Yes, our haul was quite substantial. Every year I feel a little guilty that I go over board. But c’mon folks, I do not buy new clothes. (As everyone can tell, and I write this lack of fashion off to living on a gulf island.) We do not eat out very often at all. We are thrifty people who prefer to scour the Nu-To-U for appliances instead of the Bay. And, these books are so cheap!! $1-3 max a book!

So the highlights of my finds this year include the only copy of “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts” by Gabel Mate. An amazing book about addictions written by a doctor who treats the folks of East side Vancouver. Also got “A Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius” which I’d been looking for. A few books by Louis de Bernières. I also found a first edition 1909 copy of “Girl of the Limberlost.” I found a box set of Chronicles of Narnia for $8. Among the 2 other boxes of books I got, those are some of my highlights. Marc got some great sailing books too. Marc got a box set including “The Complete Book of Camping” & “The Complete book of Outdoor Lore” which he has been pouring through. They were published in 1964 and outline many “crucial” talents such as fashioning a beech bark kettle, identifying animal tracks and how to make snowshoes for those occasional times you’re stuck in the wild with no way to get around.

It’s been very quiet at the house since we got home. Just the sound of pages turning as we explore our new purchases. Ramona quite enjoys this sitting around and reading because it means she gets extra petting time.

Well I have to run. I have a lot to get done today. I mean, I have to sort all my new books, now do I do it in genre or by author…?

Happy Sunday to you!

Today we ventured off our tiny island onto the big island for some big purchases. It is time to expand the beekeeping operation. Can I now say with confidence, I’m a beekeeper?

I took a little less than half of this equipment. It fit into a Dodge Caravan and a Ford F150. Someone was getting out of beekeeping and so I got a screaming deal on some used and inspected equipment. If you are going to buy used equipment, you take a chance as you are inheriting whatever diseases they had. Beeswax acts like a sponge for pathogens so it’s very important to have the equipment inspected by the Bee inspector prior to mingling it with your hives at home.

There are three sizes of supers (boxes) that are available to the average beekeeper. There are the Deeps which are usually used for brood boxes. There are Dadants or Mediums which are often used for honey supers, and there are shallows which are often used for comb honey production. I have chosen to stick strictly with Dadants or Mediums for my super size. I’ve done this for a couple reasons. When the Deeps are full, whether it be bee brood or honey, they weigh between 50-100 lbs. I weigh 95 lbs (I am tiny) and I could not lift a Deep super that is full. I’ve also chosen to have all my supers Dadant size because then they are interchangeable. I can use them for brood or honey supers and I don’t have to worry about bringing the right size super with me when I go out to look at bees that I don’t keep in my backyard. I need to “keep it simple.”

This photo is taken of us on the ferry with my book of leisure. “Natural Beekeeping” has alternative and *essential* ways of keeping bees in a sustainable organic fashion. I’ve learned so much by diving into this book and making notes in the margin. What a great Christmas gift!

Alright, so here’s the hard part for me. Sharing my heart to your heart where the blog is concerned. It’s scary for me because I don’t know who’s reading out there in the virtual void, but I wanted to share my concerns about beekeeping.

Since John’s passing, I’ve been trying to refocus my life to centre around relationships. Connections with people are where I see true meaning in my life. Someone at the funeral succintly said “John was a poor investor- if you looked at his money. He didn’t invest in schemes that made money. He invested in people. And this investment came to a greater fulfillment than he would have ever guessed.” There were over 600 people in attendance at his funeral. It was a small measure of what his life translated to.  It instilled in me a need to nourish the relationships I have, to cultivate new ones. Because People is where I’ve seen that it *matters,* my concern with beekeeping is that, although I’m focusing on something that is important environmentally, my main focus needs to be on people.

After coming to this conclusion, I wondered if beekeeping was something I really should be financially investing in. I had doubts. I had deeply ingrained doubts that maybe I wasn’t on the right track. Then I bumped into a couple people who seemed to have a great interest in bees, people who I was hoping for a while that I could reach out to and befriend. I think now, perhaps, that beekeeping may be just the right tool for this. After all, when is “working with your hands” such a bad thing to inspire connections.

And there’s something about stinging insects that tends to humble even the biggest of us.

And I am not the biggest…

I know that after New Years I’m always trying to figure out how to properly use our Champagne splurg left-overs. I know this is probably a common problem in the whole of the modern world. So common that a cookbook addressed it with a recipe.

And I know another common problem for my readers is what to do with the acorn squash that you picked at least a month ago that has sat atop the washing machine since then, turning from green to yellow.

We cut said acorn squash open and I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t rotten. Marc reminded me that the settlers counted on the Winter squash not to rot so that they could enjoy it all season when nothing else was growing. I reminded him that they usually have a cold storage in the side of a hill. They usually didn’t store their Winter squash in the laundry room in room temperature. How far removed are we from settlers!

This recipe is good enough that it deserves to be tried. Even if it means buying a bottle of champagne. The best part about this recipe is that it only uses 1/4 cup of the bubbly. That leaves a lot for tasting!

It is also important to have a sentry stand guard over the squash in case it means to escape from the oven. I have found myself a particularly stoic yet slightly fickle sentry in Ramona cat. She held still for this photo, then forgot the wood stove was hot, stretched and burned her little paw on the side. Silly cat.

My knitting needles have also been busy. My friend is due with twins any day so I found this very cute booty pattern here, (for free yippee!) and I sent off a package of handknits. I’m pleased at how quickly they came together. And I feel like a regular little craftster sending off knitting!

I’ve finally gathered enough courage to try a sock pattern that I first layed eyes on a couple years ago. My nana sent it to me in the mail and I’ve completed my first sock, though it needs some perfecting. Special mention to James for the fabulous wool!

One sock down and I’m easily distracted by a toque pattern with ear flaps! I’ll get to the other sock a little later.

It was balmy today, 9-10C. January 2nd and the bees were flying! I remember last year at this time I was in three feet of snow! Marc and I even got out in the garden. We have big plans at reclaiming this patch of land. It’s been 20 years out of use and the grass is tenacious. Drawing a plan of the garden and pinning it to the wall has been inspiration to me. We put cardboard down, and cedar wood chips for the paths. The weeds have already invaded some of the beds Marc worked so tirelessly to turn over in the Summer. But now even with the paths down, it looks more like a real garden. I am encouraged!

Our little greenhouse was so warm today that if the weather looks like it’ll keep up for a while, I may try planting winter kale. My spinach at the house is still alive so you never know what will germinate. Last year we got the bulk of our seeds from Salt Spring Seeds. It was close and we knew the seeds to have good viability because it is the same climate. We had great success with our tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes before most of our other gardening friends and it was not the skill we employed. We gave the seeds most of the credit, and the good weather the other bit of credit. This year we’d like to try growing black tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and perhaps green zebra striped ones to compliment our romas and scarlet heirlooms which will definitely be making an encore.

We’re also arranging to pick up 15 hives worth of equipment for bees. I am very excited about this. I have 12 locations on island that are interesting in hosting my bees so I can compare the forage. I still have equipment that I purchased last year that needs to be built so I think we’ll be drowning in all things “bee” soon enough.

Now if all this is not enough, I have begun running again. Yes it’s time for little miss farm wife-hibernating she-bear to get off her butt and pound the pavement. Did you know that Pender is filled with hills?! And big ones! We used to give each other small smirks when we saw ambitious cyclists disembark from the ferry with grand goals of biking the entire island in a day. Inevitably we would find them at the bakery about an hour later, looking very red in the face. Well now who is red in the face! Me! But, as one of my New Year’s resolutions, I am determined to be gentle with myself. Run a little, walk a little until I build up my strength.

Giving myself room to be imperfect is very gratifying. I encourage everyone to try it!

And… (I know I know, what happened to being gentle with myself?) I am enrolled in a university course aiming toward  finishing my degree I started um… *seven* years ago! I am utterly excited about this! My instructor is a prolifically published author and I’ve been reading her books for a few years now. And I get to write poetry in my online class. *sigh* I love poetry….

Is there anything better than the smell of roasting squash? Even sweeter is squash we grew ourselves.

Happy New Years folks! I hope you get lots of breathing time. Don’t worry, I’ll remember to breathe as I puff my way up these ginormous hills!

The community hall was playing this movie last night. It was excellent. It was about a guy who discovers he doesn’t have very long to live because of cancer, and he buys a motorcycle and rides from Toronto to Tofino. His bike breaks down (temporarily) at nearly the place that James and I broke down when we drove back from Winnipeg. It was a touching movie and gave a great view of Canada.

Since I did a movie review, I’ll do a book review as well. I just finished “Reading Lolita in Tehran.”

It was about an English Literary professor teaching in Iran during the revolution and the war with Iraq. It was very well written and gives a self-critical look at life in Iran during very tumultuous times. But it is from the perspective of a women, and it stresses the oppression that women face in Iran. The only downside to it for me was that it has long literary essays about Lolita, Pride & Prejudice and some of Henry James and Jane Austen’s other novels. Some of the theoretical stuff got a bit boring for me but I’m really glad I read it and finished it.

Before “Reading Lolita” I read “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” (placed in Afghanistan.) I was feeling trapped in the middle east, as I’m sure women who are there feel at times, so I have now begun a book called “Grub” which I borrowed from Cheryl.

I’m on chapter 4. The first 3 chapters are all about our food system in context of the industrial agriculture system. It talks about pesticides, corn syrup, organizations and studies that have shown different findings. It was rather depressing. But chapter 4 promises to take a closer look at small farms who are making a living at producing organic food. At least there is good news! The first 3 chapters are very scary in what pesticides do to our bodies.

What have you been reading or watching lately? Anything inspiring?

Behold, the garden has produced. What did not get chomped by wire-worms is starting to be ripe for the picking. Feast on the photos as we feast on the food!

This is new potatoes, rosemary and scapes (tops off the garlic.) It was sauteed to goodness in butter with a touch of salt. I’ve never tasted potatoes that have so much flavour. It was delightful.

This is, obviously, our first cabbage. I believe we have 3 or 4. It was quite a big head and made delicious coleslaw. Or perhaps I should say, Marc made terrific coleslaw and the cabbage contributed.

These are the mass amounts of blueberries that Marc and Cheryl took to the Farmer’s Market. This is the first major pick. There are probably triple that or more that are ripe on the bushes right now that need to be picked. The bumper crop overwhelmed even Cheryl who waited 4 years for this harvest. And they are delish!

These are they. The long-awaited tomatoes. We started these suckers (Romas and Scarlet Heirloom tomatoes) in seed trays on March 1st. They were in the greenhouse until the beginning of May and they are still in pots. We have 3 batches of tomato plants, this is mostly from the potted batch. Though the ones that were in the ground April 24th have produced a couple ripe tomatoes as well. The bushes are loaded with green tomatoes so I imagine you will get sick of seeing our harvest. Marc has tenaciously declared that we will save every possible seed for next year’s crop. I am not sure if I describe how tantalizing these tomatoes are. They hang green, then yellow, then orange and finally a luscious lusty red. They are plucked tenderly from their foliage and cut into slices, lightly salted and devoured. I baked challah yesterday and indulged in a slice of fresh steaming challah (breaded Jewish bread) with herb goat cheese from Iona Farm (on island) and sliced tomato on top. Talk about gourmet. And local. It was melt-on-the-tongue fantastic.

I have just begun flipping through the first few pages of a book I borrowed called Grub. It was talking about the amount of pesticides that are in our food and how sick they make us. It’s horrifying. It makes me all the more grateful for the copious chemical-free blueberries, my hand-picked tomatoes that I know exactly what has gone into their soil, my snippets of lettuce and head of cabbage free of toxicity. I’m very grateful I’ve had the opportunity to grow some veggies this year. It’s extremely rewarding. I recommend it. Now on the eating side of things, it is well worth it!

How about you? Have any good growing stories?