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Cowichan Valley times...

Of course, there was another member of the family on the farm... Piglet, the Boston Terrier, who was always up for a game of fetch, when he wasn't basking on the deck!

The hot sunny days seemed to fly by.... the droning of the bees in the orchards, the constant shadows of eagles, turkey vultures and ravens on the landscape as they glided on the warm air, even when the clouds rolled in for a couple of days!

It was very rewarding to see the corn growing taller and the apples appearing on the branches of the young trees that I watered daily by hand.

My main tasks during the second week were building a brick wall, between the garden and the main driveway to the garages., and deadheading the wonderfully vibrant rose bushes that surrounded the farmhouse.

There were some other avian visitors to the farm, like this cute Californian Quail, perched outside my bunkie one morning!

The wide-open skies, whether cloudy or clear, produced some stunning sunsets and the lack of light pollution also gave me the chance to capture the waxing moon!

But of course, the night of the full moon was cloudy and I only managed glimpses of la Luna in all her glory!

To follow... The towns of Duncan and Cowichan Bay!

Off on another adventure.... setting off from Vancouver by bus to Horseshoe Bay and then a ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

My final destination was Duncan, the town known for it’s totem poles!

I was kindly picked up from here by one of my hosts, Darren, to be taken to West Wind Farm in the Cowichan Valley.

A beautiful fifteen acre property with 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside.

Like everywhere in BC this year, the farm had suffered through a very wet spring, but with hard work Darren and Wendy had planted a hardy crop of corn, which they are renowned for in the local area, as well as tomatoes, cabbages, kale to name but a few veggies.

They also had two orchards and a fruit garden, with fresh raspberries and strawberries, already ripe for the picking, and apple, pear and cherry trees.

One of my first jobs was to mulch around the corn plants using the cut grass mowed from around the farm. This helps to keep down the weeds as they don’t use any form of chemical process to kill the abundance of unwanted plants that thrive in the rich soil.

Another job of course, was weeding, pulling out the invasive thistles and dock plants all over the place!

Mulch amongst the corn stalks.

My accommodation for my two week visit was a cute little bunkie at the side of the barn, where the two bulls and two cows took shelter in at night.

There was a mother and her calf, Maggie, along with the bull that sired her and another long-horned bull called Seamus.

Big Bully

Seamus

Maggie and mum

There were also five hens and a rooster, plus a duck and a drake, appropriately named Sir Francis!

The eggs produced by the duck were delicious and so large you only needed one for a hearty breakfast!

Much more to follow....

Roberts Creek return - part two

For those of you thinking that my house and cat-sitting are an easy gig, there were some chores that also needed attending to...

Sorting and splitting a fair amount of firewood from a recently cut Cottonwood tree, which then had to be moved and stacked into the winter woodshed.

On top of this, there was also the herb garden that was in desperate need of some attention, with weeding and cutting back dead growth....

to look like this... and the deck garden had to be cleared of invasive blackberries, not an easy task at any time of year!

Bit it was all achieved by the time the sun had set on another stay at the magic cottage and the little hamlet of Roberts Creek.

Return to Roberts Creek! part one

After all the excitement of Jay’s solo show and my birthday we actually had a few days of sun and warmth, that heralded well for my annual trip to house and cat-sit on the Sunshine Coast for ten days.

Freddie was waiting patiently for me after a smooth bus-ferry-bus trip got me once more to the Magic Cottage!

I was certainly blessed as the weather definitely took a turn for the better after a cold, wet early Summer, and I was able to enjoy alfresco dining and some lovely beach time with Freddie and some friendly crows.

Chilli prawns with pasta and salad, accompanied by a cheeky red!

Freddie loves to cuddle up in the evening as well as getting comfy wherever he is!

As well as Freddies’s antics we had to deal with an invasion of slugs one evening...

... what a whopper!

After another beautiful day on the beach when even the sea felt a little warmer

and the starfish were out and about...

the evening light show was amazing, with vapour trails crisscrossing as the sun faded into the west.

All in a good cause..

It was a privilege to share my birthday this year with the opening reception of The Great Refusal, https://www.senetchko.ca/The-Great-Refusal/Paintings

at the Pendulum gallery in Vancouver.

This impressive body of work by my friend Jay Senetchko, for whom I have worked as a model for almost 18 years, was originally scheduled to be shown in 2020 yet has become even more meaningful and poignant due to the current situation in the Ukraine, where Jay’s ancestors are from.

Fifty per cent of all profits from the show are being donated to UkraineAid, and they have currently raised over $15,000

Jay starts with a preliminary painted sketch of each model that he then develops into the figure for the finished paintings.

Some of the poses are quite easy as can be seen above, but some are more demanding. In the painting below I posed for all three of the oil workers, but not at once!

Another sketch of me below as the model for this particular painting above, which was also included in Jay’s Industry and the Sleepwatchers show, which is worth taking a look at through the link below.

https://www.senetchko.ca/Industry-and-the-Sleepwatchers/Installation

It’s always a great pleasure to work with such an amazing artist, who is also a great friend and companion to share a joke with over a beer or two!

Return to Mount Lehman

Amazing how the year seems to be flying by, with it being the end of May already!

This time last year I was basking in sunshine while working on Len and Jim’s hobby farm in Mount Lehman. This year was unfortunately a lot wetter, with rain nearly every day of my stay there.

However, Jim and I did mange to get some outdoor work done on the grounds, renovating some of the flower beds and the keeping the now famous Loxley Lane clear and free of brambles and other invasive plants.

The pond was probably the highest I have seen it with all the spring rain!

Beautiful ferns line the Loxley Lane pathway.

One of the few sunny spells we had this May.

The now famous Loxley Lane, just needing a little maintenance this time around.

As the weather was not always conducive to working outside, I did my share of the cooking for Jim, with a couple of mega-stir frys among my most successful dishes!!

Pepper was his usual enigmatic self... a little angel at times, followed by becomming a manic little zoomer of a Schipperke!

We did do some other indoor jobs, the most important being the bottling of the wine that Jim had ordered, 30 bottles of Super Tuscan Italian red that will stay in the cellar for probably a year, and 30 bottles of a lovely smooth Macabeo Sauvignon Blanc, from Manchuela, Spain.

First we sterilised and dried the bottles, reusing last year’s empties!

Then, while Jim bottled and corked the wine, I labelled and sealed the bottles.

Thankfully on my last couple of days there we did have some much welcome dry weather, with blue skies and the opportunity to make some rustic steps in the middle of Loxley Lane, using recycled bricks and local rocks, to enable a much easier ascent and descent alongside the little waterfall in the creek.

Hopefully my next trip back to the farm will be a lot warmer and drier, but always a pleasure to spend time with Jim, Len and Pepper, whatever the weather!

Now it’s back to Vancouver to celebrate another trip around the sun and the opening night of my friend and colleague Jay Senetchko’s solo show The Great Refusal!

Canadian travels

After the final sunset on my stay in the UK I made it back to Vancouver on February 22nd 2022.

I needed a little time to recover from jetlag and to spend some alone time for a few days, so I travelled by bus and ferry up to the Sunshine Coast to stay at a small AirBnB in the town of Gibsons, a short bus ride from the ferry terminal at Langdale.

Thankfully I was blessed with a couple of sunny but chilly days, but warm enough to have lunch on the beach...

and explore the picturesque little town and it’s marina.

The hot tub on the deck of my airbnb helped in the late afternoon and evenings, despite the rain and snow on the mountains!

After my few days of rest and relaxation it was back to the city and back to work in the schools again, with everything opening up again after our two years of masks, vaccines and lockdowns!

Visiting in the time of Covid

By now, we all know the difficulties we have been facing over the past two years, and the impact this has had on how we’ve lived our lives and interacted with family and friends.

This trip has not been the easiest one to plan, but thankfully I have finally been able to travel around a little to see some of my old friends back in the UK.

A short trip to Ipswich to catch up with a whole family of friends that I have know for nearly 30 years was a lot of fun, and brought me into contact with more stunning oak trees while walking the dogs!

#oak trees

After a few days back in Bromley I was able to take the coach down to Devizes, to spend some time with more old friends and visit a few of the English pubs that I miss so much as well as the historic towns and ancient sites of Wiltshire.

The village of Stert in Wiltshire.... not even a pub!

Along the canal walk and back to Devizes and the pubs! After a swift pint of IPA in the Lamb...

it was off to the British Lion for a couple more..

..passing by the Old Town Jail on the way!

Tuesday was another ten mile hike, this time to Beckhampton, passing by Oldbury Castle, an Iron Age Hill Fort with one of several white horses carved into the chalk hillside at Cherhill Down...

...windswept under blue skies and scudding clouds...

and a wonderful view of Silbury Hill in the distance....

before curry night in the White Bear, one of the oldest pubs in town.

Home-made Veggie Curry, poppadoms and onion bhajis, washed down with a coule of pints of Elk Bitter!

Tomorrow it’s onto the mysterious and majestic stones at Avebury!

Travels in West Sussex, England

I have travelled home to England for a few months to connect with family and friends after a couple of years enforced absence due to the pandemic.

Wonderful to be back in my homeland and take some time to visit the old town of Steyning and the Ancient Iron Age Hill Fort of Cissbury Ring.

The ancient oak trees on the top of Cissbury Ring standing out against a clear blue Winter sky, with magical light playing all around.

#ironage #cissburyring #hillfort #oaktrees

Autumn on the farm

One more trip out to the farm in Abbotsford this year before I head off on my travels to the UK.

After a year of record-breaking temperatures, more forest fires, a tornado and then a deluge of over 200 millimetres of rain in a three day period, BC has had it’s fair share of extreme weather conditions to contend with.

Thankfully Jim and Len’s place in Mount Lehman escaped the worst of the flooding, although the pond is at it’s maximum level and the creek is fast flowing, with salmon now spawning on the gravel bed.

Most of the leaves have fallen, except for the Weeping Willow, standing proudly by the pond.

The orchard is bare, the branches catching raindrops, while the freshly raked leaves serve as mulch around the base of the trees.

My first day back we were treated to some much needed sun that allowed us to clear the orchard of leaves while creating a spectacular natural light show as the afternoon turned into evening.

A beautiful sunset followed, with the prospect of more sun the next morning.

The creek that was dry on my last visit is once again running freely, large salmon swimming against the tide, all the way from the mouth of the Fraser River, can be clearly seen spawning on the gravel beds.

Frog Blog!

Well since our first drop of rain, we’ve gone back into another heat dome which has seen some of our resident frogs in the small pond outside my front door, decide to take evasive action from the heat.

They have chosen the top of my front door, between the door and the lintel, to sit and chill out. Unfortunately, every time I open the door one of them usually ends up on my hand, making both of us jump!

So strange, but I relocated them back to the pond after I decided that I had had enough of jumping just like them!

Thankfully the temperatures dropped to more comfortable levels after a few days, so that working was easier, especially as I have been collecting rocks from the currently dried-up creek bed and digging a drainage ditch for the ornamental gardens for when the weather really turns wet!

Clearing the bank of invasive salmonberry bushes and their incredible root system!

A small rock wall with rocks from the creek bed to keep the freshly dug soil away from the track into the back pasture.

Twenty five foot long drainage trench in the lower gardens, before the rains really get here in the Autumn! We’re going to line in with small pebbles and rocks so that the standing water runs off into the creek, where the salmon come to spawn each year.

Rain at last!

I never thought I would be so glad to see the rain, but this week after over 50 days without rain we finally had a couple of cloudy showery days.

Probably not really enough in the great scheme of things but at least we didn’t have to water the fruit trees and the vegatable gardens this weekend!

It was very pleasant to have some cooler temperatures as well, making working outdoor much easier.

Of course the rain brought out some of the smaller wildlife around the farm...

.... some not as welcome as others!

The rain certainly seemed to help swell the vegetables and the fruit, hanging low on the trees.

We had already harvested the delicious golden plums, some of which Jim made into a jam, the rest distributing among their friends and neighbours.

Jim also harvested some of the chard to provide us with a delicious Corsican Pie for dinner this week using chard as well as home grown onions, garlic, mint and parsley.

Hot summer days on the farm

After some time back in Vancouver I once again headed east for another house sitting job, this time back on the farm in Abbotsford where I had spent most of May.

Jim and Len were heading off to their cabin for a week and so I was drafted in earlier than expected to ensure that all the vegetable and flower beds, as well as the heavily laden fruit trees were kept watered during the hot summer days we have been experiencing here in BC.

As soon as I arrived I noticed the difference in the vegetable garden, with the sunflowers now standing between seven and nine feet tall, as well as the expanding squash beds, with several large zucchinis already in evidence.

The pond, that had been around eighteen feet deep in May, was considerably lower, and the creek was now dry.

The plum, pear and apple trees all had healthy crops, Jim having already harvested one plum tree, that he had made a delicious batch of jam with!

It was only fitting that I harvested these plums today, with it being Lammas or Lughnasadh, the first harvest in the Celtic/Pagan Wheel of the Year.

Jim has already harvested some of the early garlic and onions, now hanging in the barn.

Sadly the hot summer has brought a number of wildfires again to the Pacific NorthWest, with BC currently having over 200 wildfires burning throughout the province.

This was reflected in the smoky skies for the past couple of days which does result in rather dramatic untouched images of the early evening sun.

The flowers have bloomed and the berries are on the trees all around the house, a colourful addition to all the dense greenery and brown grass!

Back in the city to cat sit Sasha while my housemates were enjoying a short break away. Not quite as scenec but I managed to capture these images of a Pileated Woodpecker on my walk one afternoon. He was so engrossed in his work he let me stand almost right behind him! So cool 😎 (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRaQkzQDMohO1cfQd_RbEvzyueIwwEr3UTncjM0/?utm_medium=tumblr

Cat Sitting on the Coast

Well it’s been a busy few weeks and just managing to catch up with all that’s going on now that travelling is a little easier due to the lifting of some of the Covid restrictions.

My first trip was back up to the Sunshine Coast to cat sit Freddy again for twelve days, during which we experienced the Strawberry Full Moon and the heat dome, which saw record temperatures soaring up to 49.5 degrees in the interior of BC. Thankfully it was much cooler on the coast, only reaching a balmy 34 degrees!

Freddy didn’t enjoy the heat too much and was to be found lounging around in the cabin...

Due to the lunar schedule the tides were both at their lowest and highest, revealing the most sand I have ever seen up there as well as the amount of starfish on the rocks when the tide was out.

The evenings of the Strawberry Moon were incredible, watching the moon rising out of the sea in the east then lighting up the night sky.

As the heat increased there wasn’t much more to do than relax along with Freddy and watch the herons fishing as the tide came in on those hot afternoons.

As the sun set on another of my trips to Roberts Creek, I appreciated the opportunity to have spent some time out of the city and enjoy the life on the BC coast.

Sad to leave the farm life behind

Well it was a lot of fun and hard work, with great company, good food, home made wine and cider and some beautiful sunshine.

Sadly I have to return to the city for a full week of modelling work and it will be tough being back inside all the time after enjoying the space and beauty of the gardens.

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail.... beautifully poised on the lilacs

Promises of a rich harvest of golden plums

Cherries growing well too

The vegetable and herb garden is growing nicely after a week of mixed sun and showers

Sunflowers showing a lot of promise, with the fallen branches of a spruce tree strategically placed to keep the slugs at bay!

The majesty of Mount Baker, viewed from the highest point in the Fraser valley!

Hopefully I will be back later in the year to help with the harvesting and enjoy some of the fruits of our labours!

Blooming....

all over the farm. With some sunny days the first week and then on and off showers for the second, plus a storm that took down the top of one of the tall trees one night, the flowers have started to bloom all around and significant growth spurts in the vegetable garden and the banana trees I planted into the ground by the pond this week!

banana trees

The curious cows have been our constant companions while working in the back fields on the five acre farm, where we have been cutting back invasive species and clearing the dead wood from the winter storms.

Pepper the schipperke has also been a constant source of amusement in the house and the garden!

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