❤️❤️Pantry Love ❤️❤️

I've been canning so just wanted to share the results.

First up, HP sauce, with added dates cos I like it fruity style !

Next up Salsa, with pineapple ..... Hmmm more fruityness

And last but not least Tomato sauce.

And one last shot with all the jars together !

If there is ever any kind of catastrophic event we are SET with the condiments 

..... we'll just need some food to go with them.

Shake-Down-Camp-Out at Saltery Bay

We've really been looking forward to trying out our new little Combi-Camp trailer whose name is Mighty Mouse. We tow it with our 2013 Nissan Leaf. 

We decided not to go far from home, first trip, so Saltery Bay was the perfect choice, only 19km to the campground. We are so lucky in Powell River to have so many great places to camp. 

We're just arriving (after the rigorous 19km haha !)

And .... Ta da ! Only minutes later we're all set up.

No campfires allowed at the moment, so we brought along our propane "campfire" and we got an electric cooler which works great and that we could plug in if there were hookups. 

It's pretty rustic here, so not this weekend !

But beautiful ...

At sundown, with Fleur barking at the buoy that marks the sunken mermaid statue for scuba divers, not sure why she does it, but she always does.

And again in the morning .... And still barking

Another shot.

We left quite early in the morning in time to let the sheep out ! 

It was a very easy trip to make for the Leaf. No range anxiety at all. Towing the trailer took 18% of the capacity as compared to 15% without. Simon installed LEDs instead of the stock lights on the trailer, hope that will cut down on energy use. We're really looking forward to going further afield next time.

Another in the That, ..... to This series ... Experimenting with Red Perilla

Before and after,

 the plant, Red Perilla that I grew from seed this year. I had no idea if it would give colour but the name intrigued me so I thought I would try it.

I grow it in my "purple bed" which looks like this. 

Also have Purple Basil and Burgundy Amaranth in there.

"

I wasn't very scientific I'm afraid. I cut a generous portion of the Perilla tops and heated them in a pan with some rainwater. I was trying for some pigment to paint with and got a good purple stock. 

I took some and boiled it down to get a more intense colour. That didn't work very well as I think too much heat changed the colour. This was what it looked like. (The large patch in the middle).

I put some alum mordanted wool into the remainder and got this blueish, purples colour. That was a bit of a surprise ! Not sure yet how lightfast or colourfast it is but it was fun to try it out !

An EVenture

On Saturday Holly (the Leaf) and I headed to the Lower Mainland on a jaunt to Ikea to pickup the items we needed for a bathroom reno we are going to start soon.

I was a bit worried how the day would pan out with the 2 ferries and charging as well. 

As it turned out, it went flawlessly.

Here we are charging at the level 3 quick charger in Sechelt.

It is very conveniently located and I used the Greenlots fob to start the charger. It only took about 30 minutes, time for a coffee at the mall, and off we went to the next ferry.

We had plenty of range to get to Ikea in Coquitlam where they have complementary charging.

Here we are, a pair of black Leafs charging up. 

Thanks Ikea !

I got all the stuff we needed, topped up and back to Horseshoe Bay for the return trip. I stopped again in Sechelt to make sure I had plenty of juice for the rest of the journey. Only 20 minutes this time and still made it in time for the 7.40 ferry. 

The journey up and down the coast was really fun in the car. It handles so well and you can really use the regenerative braking to its full advantage on that twisty up-and-down road. Air conditioning on and the Bluetooth tunes blasting, I had a great trip. 283 kilometres altogether. The fast charging capability is a real game changer for electric cars travelling on the coast and contending with the ferries. Good to know you can do the lower mainland trip in a day with ease. I will be a lot more confident next time.

One last shot of Holly the delivery truck. As always, totally up for the task. 

Nissan Leaf for the win :)

Of This Place

After an embarrassingly long absence, I'm baaaack !

I've been wanting to write a post about my entry into the 2016 eCouture Wearable Art Fashion Show since April, so here goes, better late than never.

This was the hat that I made, based on a beautiful design from one of the First Nations baskets that I love at the Powell River Historical Museum.  I wanted to pay tribute to and honour the long tradition of making the baskets, as well as the women whose hands skilfully wove them.The original basket was woven by Mary Peters, a renowned cedar weaver from Tla'amin.

I have explained more about the process here, (and here is a link)

Continuing here, (and here is a link to the second page)

And last page here, 

What I didn't explain here was that two days before the event I didn't have a model for the hat and wrap. It was getting a little desperate I must say, but, sometimes, things just happen as though they were meant to be. My friend Brandon contacted me, who is the original weaver's grandson. He said that his niece Mala would model Of This Place at the show for me. I can't tell you how special this was and how grateful and  honoured I am to Mala and the Peters Family for making this happen. When she bravely stepped out onto the catwalk I had a few tears, I must confess.

And this is how beautiful she looked.

We only got these few pictures of her, for which I will forever be sad, but it was a fabulous event which will remain with me as a very special memory.  Thank you Mala !

An Experiment With Ink

This is one of the things I did today.

I have wanted to try making ink or paint for a little while now and today was the day to make a start !

I used beets that I cooked and strained. I added vinegar to try and prevent  mould. I would use white vinegar next time and cook the beets in it rather than adding it later..... Oh well, trial and error !

 I'm planning on trying black walnuts next.

Bunnies Beating The Heat ......

.... With fruity frozen Popsicles 

 Banana, strawberries and pineapple zipped up in the blender and frozen. The boys love them. 

(Eric apologizes for his grubby nose, not enough spit and polish from Ernie this morning, obviously !)

First Colour From The Dye Garden - Coreopsis Tinctoria

I haven't posted for ages, very remiss of me I know ! 

I was so excited to get these great colours today I just had to tell you about it.

Here's a little montage to show how cute the coreopsis flowers are in the garden and what beautiful hues they gave me in my small scale experiment. 

Looking forward to MORE colour on a bigger scale soon.

Boat Trip To Haywire Bay, Remembrance Day

It was such a beautiful afternoon we made the most of it and took the boat up to Powell Lake.

We launched it at Mowatt Bay and didn't go too far, just over to Haywire Bay.

We stopped at this beach and went for a little hike. I even found some Cortinarius mushrooms, good for colour so YAY !

I think even Fleur had a good time although I have to admit it was a ewe bit chilly !! 

Weaving .... With Rags, Sticks and Cedar Strips

I recently finished some weaving.

I made a couple of placemats with the turquoise rags, then decided to use some sticks to make a couple of mats.

Here they are, off the loom.

I must say this is my favourite. I used some beautiful cedar, given to me by my friend Ivan, (to test for colour with mushroom dyes, but I couldn't resist !)

And last pic. The obligitary-cat-sitting-on-finished-weaving-shot !

Food Preserving Factory

That's how it's been around here lately.

This was the last couple of days results !

At the top is the beautiful apple sauce I made using our amazing Kitchenaid attachment. These apples came from our friends, Chuck and Valerie's orchard. In the middle on the right, it's in the jars. With the leftover skins, cores etc I made a big jar of pectin to use in jam making. That's the bottom right picture. I had to try the pectin out so I made a couple of jars of blackberry jelly with left over blackberries from the Christmas Blackberry Brandy we made this week. 

(A Periwinkle tradition !) and the jelly set up great so I'd definitely be calling that a success. Also in that pic is some yummy fruit leather with MORE of the berry juice and the awesome apple sauce.

Lastly are the hop yeast cakes. These still need a bit of work I must admit ! I first found some recipes for hop yeasts in an old book at the museum. I think it must have been this one https://archive.org/details/younghousekeeper00corn

It's still in the experimental stage. These cakes are made with the hop yeast and cornmeal. They are dried, ( I dried them in my dehydrator, which is not really how it happened in 1859, but still), and then can be stored in an airtight jar.I

 also watched a youtube vid from a prepper lady, 

https://m.youtube.com/user/BexarPrepper. 

She also makes the cakes to keep in the larder.

Feeling very productive !

Wash Day

After all the rain we have had the last couple of days I thought our well would be somewhat replenished so .....

Time to wash up some fleece,

This is just half of the lovely Romney fleece I got earlier in the year from our friends, Austen and Lisa.

And the other half soaking in the wash tub. It is a big fleece !

And one last shot of some of the little appliqué patches I've been making lately, just because I thought they looked cute !

Canada Day Cruise

We went for a lovely trip out today in the boat. Saltery Bay round to Scotch Fir Point.

Visited a little island along the way.

A photo Collage For The Day

Lambs, basil, the garden and homemade raspberry ice cream !

Two Interesting Things

.... Happened on my walk today.

First off I found the first patch of Cortinarius semisanguineus this year. These are one of the shrooms that dyers always look for. I think they must bloom later in the year,  (if that is what mushrooms do ?), anyhow I was happy to see them.

As we walked back down the trail I spotted one of my handmade hats hanging on a branch ! 

To be honest I had not noticed it was lost, but was very pleased to see it !

Unfortunately I think it must have had a tangle with a forest denizen. 

It will never be quite the same again !!

If hats could talk .....

Adventures With Mushroom Dyeing

A couple of weekends ago the weavers and spinners contingent of the Powell River Fine Arts were lucky enough to have Ann Harmer come up from Pender Harbour and lead us in a 2 day mushroom dyeing workshop.
You can check out Ann's fantastic blog of her own mushroom adventures here.

The first day the group headed out into the forest around Powell River eager to find mushrooms that would give us colour.

After tramping about in the woods lots of mushrooms were found. 

Headed back to the Fine Arts facility Ann's wealth of knowledge correctly identified the shrooms that would hopefully give up some of their colourful pigments.

The next day we prepared the mushrooms for the dye baths.

We had 4 main types of mushrooms that we were going to be working with.

These are Hypomyces Lactifluorum, (Lobster mushrooms)

They need to be peeled and this is the result of the brightly coloured parings.

This next picture is Hydnellum Aurantiacum, a toothed fungus,cut up into small pieces and in the pot !

Next up is Phaeolus schwinitzii, or Dyer's Polypore often found on old fir stumps.

I don't have a pic of the "schnitzel" as I call it but here,  Lois, Lis and Amy, (our guest from Campbell River) are working hard on the preparations.

Last up is the beautiful, (well I think so anyway !) Tapinella atrotomentosa or Velvet pax.

Look at this lovely specimen. 

We also had some other varieties that we experimented with 

but these four were the ones that we worked with and produced samples for the whole group.

We had already premordanted our wool with

 a)alum/cream of tartar

 b) iron

c) copper

Here we are, hard at work, 

(in other words having loads of fun and getting messy).

And here are the end results.

We got some great colours !

Here are my sample sheets that we all made up.

What a great experience and we learned SO much, thank you Ann for a wonderful workshop, Marty for organizing it. Thank you also to Doreen for being the official photographer and sharing these photos with us.

There is the 2013 Sunshine Coast Mushroom Festival coming up next weekend,

 if you wanted to learn more about mushrooms I encourage you to check the link.