In Praise of Oil etc.

Remember that big pile of wood that we had delivered? We finally got through it and piled up all the split wood. The big lesson that I learned from this exercise was the amazing power of oil. When you think about how much it can improve work and annual chores like blocking and splitting wood it's amazing. How much more energy would I have had to expend to do the same job as a chainsaw? Or the log splitter that we were lent? Watching both easily slice through wood, you can only be amazed.

The problem is that we don't use oil to improve on the everyday jobs. We don't make plans when it comes to oil, setting out priorities like home heating, public transit and delivering local food to markets. So in the end we spend this energy legacy on trinkets that are shipped in from China and break the day after they arrive in our homes. Not much thoughtful planning going on here.

If I was allocated a portion of all the remaining oil on earth, I would gladly save it for my annual wood splitting and cutting. But unfortunately that's not how it works.

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In fermentation news, mum just made a gallon of dandelion wine. It will actually take a whole year before it is ready to drink but when it comes, I'll toast planning for the future.

And in a nod to an amazing Korean food, I made some dandelion kimchi. Are you noticing a trend? If there's one thing we've got a lot of, it's dandelions. And they taste great and really are going to be our spring green of choice for I think the rest of our lives here. We're not wasting our money on mixed greens from California every few days and are eating just as healthily and locally. Even in the city, dandelions would make a great compliment to your healthy diet.

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And the hummingbirds have arrived. We had this feeder up for a while but it felt a little like we were dealing hummingbird crack so we took it down. But the junkies keep coming back, even though there is great food just a few metres away in the gardens.

Mushroom Mania

So I haven't been feeling much like writing lately. When I write it never feels right or something so I just sign out. It might also be asking myself: why the hell am I maintaining this blog? But maybe I'll just take lots of pictures until I decide that I have something worth saying. So here are some pictures to share.

Lots of spring mushrooms (many that we can actually use to make tea) and a pile of wood to keep us warm next year. It's good to plan ahead but that's a lot of chopping.


I found this one on the other side of the brook in a punky stump. It wasn't that red, that's the camera compensating. It was more purple but very pretty.


Dan found this one, which weighs quite a bit down the road and up an old logging road. He lugged it all the way home. I think he said it's an artists conch and he plans to dry it out and use it to make tea. Mushroom tea is a good preventative medicine in fighting cancer.


I tried to identify these and I think they are turkey tail. Also good in fighting cancer. You can just chew them like tobacco (not so good for cancer).


We had seven cords of wood delivered. Nice hardwoods, mostly maple, beech and birch. So we'll be nice and toasty next year. We're hoping that seven cords is way too many and we'll have some saved for the following year. Still trying to figure out how much firewood we are going to need. I guess it depends on the winter.

Oh yeah, the dog is our friend Molly who lives on the other side of the valley. She's visiting while her housemates are off on the mainland. Buddy is very angry about having a dog in the house. But they have yet to drop the gloves, to use a playoff saying. We're enjoying the playoffs as well. Life is pretty nice right now.

Before the black flies.