I flipped through our photos lately and I’m surprised to see how busy we’ve been. Busy as a bee! Between writing poetry, playing the piano, reading and organizing my unread books, walking and learning a new craft, we’ve been quite busy for never leaving our small island.
Marc has begun fertilizing the blueberries. This involves pulling back the straw mulch, weeding them and then fertilizing with sulphur and an organic fertilizer. The sulphur acidifies the soil because the blueberries prefer more “vinegar” with their dirt-meal than… chalk. (or alkaline… Or maybe this is where my analogy of fish and chips for the blueberries falls apart. *sigh*)
Marc also purchased a scythe last year because we have a lot of areas on the farm with tall tall grass. He has been carving out his technique. I did not know that it was so complicated to swing a blade but he had this tool measured up specifically for him. He watched videos on youtube to learn the swing and the balance of the scythe. And he had to be very careful about how and when to sharpen the blade, as it has to be very sharp to work properly.
As you can see, we have some daffodils blooming in our front garden and our rosemary is really taking off. And we have a little black cat-shadow pretending to be a lion as she descends the high cliff to hunt.
We’ve been keeping up with our near-weekly tradition of pizza from all the left overs in the fridge. This is a great way to use up veggie bits from the fridge, and though we haven’t tried adding parsnips or beet greens to the pizza yet, I’m sure that will come.
Dear reader, do you have a favourite pizza crust recipe that you’d care to share? I keep it really simple. I was doing a crust that involved cornmeal and a few more ingredients. But now I keep it to a cup of warm water, 2 tsp of yeast, 1-2 tsp of salt and enough flour to make it the right texture to roll out. Usually 2-3 cups. It’s pretty straightforward, and we do not allow any time for a rise. I’ve found with this crust, I can roll it out really thin and it’ll get crispy or I can keep it quite thick and it puffs up a bit. But I’m always open for something new if you care to share.
Yesterday we got to go on a beach walk because the low tide was just right. Often if the tide is low early in the morning or later in the evening, this walk disappears under the water. It’s a beautiful walk that leads you along the shoulder of Pender, facing Mayne Island, where you can see snow-capped mountains in the far distance, and you can watch the currents rip through Navy Channel.
Hm, I love beach art.
Anyway, I’ve been saving the best for the last. I had another pottery class and this time I got to use the wheel. Oh yes, The Wheel! I was very excited about this because I’ve wanted to do this for so long. I don’t know if you’ve ever used a wheel to “throw pots” but I was told it was harder than it looked. I was told that rarely anyone really gets it the first time. Yeah, I am not one of the rare ones. But with lots of guidance and help, armed with my enthusiasm, I got to throw a couple bowls.
This is a kick-wheel. Meaning, you have to kick it to get it to spin. My teacher has a small motor he got at the Nu-To-U (our local thrift store) so he’s looking at hooking it up to the wheel but for now, I learn to kick and mold at the same time.
Behold, my first attempts!
Have you tried anything new lately?
