Spring lemons are finally ready!

Finally, spring has come here, and the lemons have ripened.


What? Did I confuse you? But seriously, check out the 100 mile lemons I purchased from a friend at the market. Aren't they beautiful? They really were grown right here on the island, but in someone's greenhouse.

They tasted so wonderful (yes, they are now all gone), and sweet, more like oranges than lemons.

They went well with the cold that sprung on me earlier in the week. And Honey was out working far from home so I couldn't get any real sympathy. Poor me. It helped to use Best Bud's hot toddy recipe- rum and lemons, yum. That knocked me out one evening when my throat was sore.

In gardening news- there is a garden! Yesterday I got all sorts of lettuce, spinach, and radishes planted. Today I am going to plant peas, kale and maybe broccoli. In the flower garden the sweet peas shall be planted, which is exciting since I have not planted sweet peas in years, yet they are one of my favourites!

Easter dye and fibre

We have had 2 days of rain here on the island. In the interior of BC they have had record breaking warm temperatures, which they were long overdue, since last week the temperatures were mid-winter like. From winter to summer within a week! Above is a picture of spring flowers out a few weeks ago. The willows and currants and other shrubs are the first to bloom in the spring and put on quite a show. Right now the Easter lilies are out soon to be followed by purple camas fields- I will post a picture when that happens!

Anyway, because of the rain, the garden the Honey and I had hoped to have dug this weekend is only half complete (we had high hopes it would be all dug with new soil this weekend).


Instead I have been inside dyeing and spinning my new fibre from Saltspring bought last weekend, and catching up on dyeing some of Grandma's skeins. It is fun to experiment with the different fibre. The lincoln takes a very bright dye, while the new wool/alpaca blend dyes to a slightly more muted colour. I really like the ease of one pot hot pour dyeing so mostly have been doing that. The exception is the blue skein in the picture. This is for Best Bud's birthday, and I was using contrasting colours so I dyed the blue and brown seperately (not at the same time).

The yellow and reds really are bright and are the colour of tulips out right now! I felt like some spring colours and boy did I get it! I am currently spinning the lighter brown alpaca (on the wheek) to ply with a skein of wool for Mom. Originally I had given her a single ply skein, but she would like a thicker yarn to knit up a hat.

My next spinning will be a blend of this beautiful orange colour with the alpaca to make a heathery orange/copper lightweight yarn for myself. I want to modify this pattern from knitty to create a lightweight wrap sweater for summer. I know I have had my eye on this for awhile!

As for the socks, YES I have finished the first! I have even started the second, but I have been very distracted by all the wonderful roving in the house so have been spinning in the evenings rather than knitting :)

It's been far too long...

Hello! It has been way to many weeks without a post. Let's just say March 31 came and went with most consulting projects wrapped up. A few things linger, but I had a lovely lovely 3 day weekend last weekend (my birthday weekend) and ahead lies a 4 day weekend too so I am catching up on things non work related at last.

Last Saturday Grandma took the Honey, my parents and me out for lunch on Saltspring Island. We went to a local pub right on the water called Moby's and enjoyed some might fine pub grub. Mom and I both had the ploughman's lunch with Thai chicken soup, corn bread, smoked cheeses and salad.

While on Saltspring we visited the local spinning and fibre mill as well as Bullock Lake Farm where we could buy the fleece. What fun! Spring shearing is happening right now, so the fleece is getting low. Grandma bought the remaining wool/mohair mix and we both bought up most of his alpaca. As well, I got a beautiful cream wool/alpaca mix. Plenty to keep us both spinning for awhile.

After we spent our money we asked if there was somewhere to walk our dogs somewhere, and Jim (farm owner) directed us to his bottom field. What an amazing location right on Bullock Lake. So we took the opportunity for photos AND a dog run.


We all headed back into Ganges for ice cream and shopping at Mouats (looking only), finished off at the end of the day by a stop at Saltspring Island Winery. I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of their wines. We bought a pinot noir, and Dad bought a blend called Aramata (just bottled). Their blackberry port is nice because it is not as sweet as other ports made here locally.

Once home the Honey and I went to a hockey game- Cowichan is still in the semifinals and were playing Nanaimo. Although they lost that night to a sold out crowd they made a come back yesterday and are still playing.