We Heart Caves

We have a family tradition of gifting each school age boy with a "Day of Insert Name Here" before they head back to the classroom full time.  Each kid gets the full, undivided attention of one parent and gets to plan their entire day of activities and meals according to their preferences.  We have scheduled the Days of Liam (one with Mama and one with Daddy) and Days of Seamus into our August calendar.  Now the boys just need to settle on what they want to do for their special days.  Liam is leaning towards the science museum or the Brockville aquarium.  Seamus has asked to visit his cousins for a day of swimming and driving their kid-sized jeeps.  How different each person's "perfect" day is is so interesting.

All this talk about getting a perfect day led me to desire one of my own.  So today, I left Ian to man the farm while I headed off in search of perfection.  Liam decided to accompany me while Seamus and Alistair remained with Daddy.

Liam and I headed up into Gatineau Park to do the heart shaped hike around Lac Philippe and visit the Dusk Cave.  On my goodness.  It was amazing.

The trail was practically a mushroom museum.

We stumbled upon really excellent homestead ruins and walked across a dam!

View from the middle of the dam.

The caving was incredibly fun.  We threaded our way through the cave along the underground river.  Liam was so, so brave.  The final section was a dive with only about 3 inches of air between the roof of the cave and the waterline in the complete darkness and he did it!  I think I was more nervous for him than he was.  Liam was so excited that he was literally shaking with adrenaline upon our exit from the cave.  I cannot believe I did not know about this cave before today.  It was one of the best things I have done in the Ottawa area.  So, so exciting!

I did not bring my phone inside the cave since it cannot get wet.
These are photos from on top before we went through.
We hiked through the water in all that black space!

On the hike back we rested on top of an igneous thumb and took in the gorgeous view of Lac Dusk.  Despite the beaches being packed and a few other families at the cave, it seems that we were the only hikers.  We did not see anyone else on the trail loop all day and we were perfectly, completely alone at the Dusk Lake look out.  It was wonderful and oh, so peaceful.

After yesterday, I was impressed that my perfect day contained absolutely no ice cream - who needs it when you have so much adventure!  Day of Ian is Monday, lol.

Errands & Ice Cream

We ran errands around town today and ate a lot of ice cream.  And hot dogs and marshmallows.  Did I mention ice cream?  Yum!

Ali needs some work on his marshmallow roasting technique
but he gave it a few good tries.  So, so sticky!

Our back to school shopping is done!
Four more weeks to go (oops, am I not supposed to be counting?!).
I am.  Counting.  Four weeks.

I See Zucchini in my Future

It was a very quiet, very rainy day here on the farm.  The most exciting thing to happen was that my zucchini plant got its first flower.  It is a male blossom but hopefully that means that some fruit bearing female blossoms are on their way!

Her Heart Ran Out of Beats

We said goodbye to Callie today, our grey Indian Runner Duck.  We raised Callie from a day old duckling and she was the steadfast friend of our half-blind duck Kate.  Callie had been a bit slow to return to the coop a few days ago and yesterday I noticed that her eyes looked off.  When I saw her nested up inside the coop last evening instead of outside with the other ducks making the most of the last few seconds of sunlight, I had a feeling that her time was near - she was pretty old for a duck - almost six.  Sure enough, I found Callie this morning in the exact same place and exact same position as I left her last night; as Ian explained, "her heart simply ran out of beats".

RIP Callie.  You were an excellent forager and a special part of Kate, Emma and Abby's flock.  You will be missed as you move on to greener pastures and clearer ponds.  We are sad to see you go, old friend.

A Clean Kitchen Makes a Happy Canner

We took Mother Nature up on her offer to water our gardens and instead spent our day in the kitchen.  It was high time for a thorough de-clutter and clean before canning season starts in earnest.

With help from the boys, I cleaned out inside all the cupboards and wiped down all the cabinetry.  We still have to clean out the fridge and clean behind the stove but we are well on our way!

This is not a moment too soon, as Ian got right down to business this evening canning the beets Liam picked and prepared.

There is nothing nicer than working in a clean and organized space.  Here's to many more happy canning adventures in the days to come.

A Refreshing Dip

It was the perfect summer day for a swim.  While all the human members of our family headed over to our next door neighbours' backyard pool for an after dinner dip, Abby the duck was perfectly happy to take a swim in her algae-free duck pond.  It sure looks like she is enjoying the clean, cold water on this hot July day.

Truly Happy

Today I was truly happy.  It was an easy day: child care was split evenly, the farm chores got done, the gardens are well watered and weeded, the bees have been inspected, we ate healthily, Ali and I went walking, and Ian and I started a new tradition of monthly at-home date night dinners.  

We (well, mostly I) have decided that once a month we will feed the kids first, put them to bed, and then we will switch off making a special date night dinner just for us.  Ian took the first turn tonight, preparing me a lovely Tokyo-inspired dinner of fresh spring rolls, sushi and grilled prawns with homemade peanut satay sauce.  We had golden honeydew melon for dessert and polished off a bottle of wine.  It was perfect.  

Liam helping me scrub the algae out of the water buckets and duck ponds.

Ali and I went for a relaxing afternoon stroll.

A beautifully set table - beeswax candle and everything!

Here's to hoping that my future holds more days like today.  Now to figure out what I am going to serve on August 25th....

Bring on the Rain

It was a quiet, relaxing and perfectly lovely Saturday here on Gael Glen Farm.  We set our garlic and shallot harvest out to cure. 

We tilled the now empty garden plots and succession planted broccoli, cabbage, radishes and greens.

We did hive checks and treated for varroa to get the mite populations until control before the queens begin laying the hives’ winter bees.  We are back up to five healthy queen-right hive and everything looks great.

All this and we still had everyone tucked in safe and dry before tonight’s rain.  It is looking like we won’t have to water the gardens tomorrow!

From our Bonfire to the Full Moon

A roaring bonfire with friends, a bright full moon and an ice cream cake extravaganza; it was the perfect way to round out the week and ring in Ian's 40th.  Happy Birthday Sweetheart from all of us who love you from our bonfire to the full moon...(around the ISS and then back).

Neigh

Multi-tasking mamas do what we need to do to get the job done.  Sometimes that means calling in reinforcements.  Liam was my right hand man today helping with weeding, watering and the garlic harvest.

Two-thirds done.

It also means playing horsey while simultaneously weeding the kitchen garden.  Not the easiest thing I have ever done but whatever works, right? Neigh.

FYI: That is raspberry juice smeared all over his face, not blood.
This cowboy loves raspberries!