[GLAMPING] Wanderlust

Look what we bought last night...on a total whim. We were on our way to sushi and decided to stop and take a peak at a little homemade camper that was advertised on our local Buy Sell + Trade Facebook site. I had my doubts, as the picture in the ad did not do it justice at all...and it was $150.00. Was it really worth dragging the hungry, grumpy kids to - YES!

The camper was handmade by a local carpenter to fit on the back of his truck when out on site. It's a bit boxy looking, but that just means it will be that much easier for me to paint!

The interior is in perfect condition. No signs of leaking, no rips, tears or even scuffs on the linoleum and countertop. It has a little icebox, which we'll replace with an electric unit and a little double stainless steel sink. All the light fixtures are clean and free of rust and it's even wired for a stereo system. The interior is finished in plywood which I think looks great.

It has a sleeping loft that will fit two people and we'll need to modify the table so it can slide down, and we can add a piece of plywood and an additional cushion to make another bed for two. It shouldn't be too hard...or so I've been told.

Is it weird that I LOVE these cushions?? So vintage and in perfect shape. The seat cushions are also pretty good, but I think I may recover them with a denim or canvas. Window coverings are a must, so pretty little curtains will soon be on the way.

We do not have a truck, however, we do have a trailer that will fit this perfectly that we can tow all over this beautiful province. Yee haw...'Glamping' Pinterest Board here I come!!

[FIELDNOTE] West Side Beaches

As soon as the sun makes an appearance, our lives seem to rev up and the days are full to capacity. All the beach visits, walks and go go go has caught up to me however, and I now find myself fighting a chest infection (yuck and ouch). But perhaps it's a blessing in disguise as I have no choice but to rest and get caught up on this lovely space.

Where to begin....perhaps a little compilation of our beach visits, as we have been exploring our intertidal shores non stop the past couple weeks on the west side of our rock.

Bowen Bay Beach has been spoiling us with beautiful starfish, sea slugs, chiton, blennies, sea worms, shore crabs and tidepool sculpins. We are learning so much and having a ton of fun in the process.

We have also been exploring King Edward Bay and finding lots of Frilled Dogwinkle shells to take home and clean. I never tire of these beauties - I love the hidden colours that come through after having a good scrub, soak and oiling.

Cape Roger Curtis is another favourite spot. It seems that each little sheltered cove along the shores of the Cape, has it's own beachcombers delight. Last week, we visited a little beach mid way along the 'Sea Walk' and found quite a few dried sea stars, interesting seaweed and small, deep tide pools in the rocks, filled with limpets, barnacles, hermit crabs, shore crabs and sculpins. We used clear plastic cups that I had left over from one event or another, and caught crabs and sculpins to study a little closer.

Tunstall Bay Beach is a beautiful, long and pebbly beach on the west side of our island. It has lots of tidepools and big rocks to turn over and explore. On one evening visit, we found a very feisty crab hiding under a rock. Upon further investigation, we discovered she had a large cluster of eggs on the underside of her belly that she was protecting. No wonder she was in such a hurry to get away!

Now that's just a few of the beach visits...there has been other fun things happening here as well. Let me take another puff of my puffer, have a nap and write more later...

[FIELDNOTE] Nature Table

We are collectors - me, my kids...even my husband has been known to slip a pretty seashell or pebble into his pocket to take home and admire. Although it's nice to bring these bits and pieces home with us, they tend to get out of hand pretty fast. I decided to take the time this year, and set up a proper nature table. I love it...

The far left box is a bamboo extendable cutlery organizer that I picked up at Canadian Tire, along with the long narrow container. The basket is from the dollar store and the vintage cigar box and muffin tin is from my own collection. I pulled out our favourite nature books for reference and have started a journal with the kids to keep track of our outings and living lab.

Back in September, our family went on a mini vacation to Ucluelet and Tofino on the outermost coast of Vancouver Island (nothing between us and Japan!). We beachcombed, hiked, whale watched and dined on fresh crab. It was incredible!

I carted home a bag of shells from that trip that has been sitting on our balcony ever since. I dug them out, gave them a good scrub, soak and oiled the ones that needed the colour to shine, and displayed them in the muffin tin. Our next job will be to identify them (with my new shell identification book I asked for, for Mother's Day...nerd alert!!).

There is still lots of room left for our summer finds, and I like that this set up forces us to be a bit more selective with the goods we bring home. It takes up little room, and creates endless opportunities to learn and marvel at nature's one of a kind treasures.

Here's some ideas to create your own.

Storage:

Egg Carton

Muffin Tins

Mason Jars

Baskets and Boxes

Ice Cube Trays

Cutlery Organizers

Create your display on a windowsill, shelf or sidetable - ENJOY!!

[CHICKENS] Graduation Day

Well, it's been an exciting week for the chicks and chickens - the little girlies are on day two of life outdoors - they love it! The big girls (and boy) are very curious of this new addition and quite peeved that the've been kicked out of the front coop and now have to pile into the wyandottes home (it's definitely VERY cozy).

We hooked the heat lamp up inside the coop for the evening and added wood chips to every surface to make it dry and cozy. They look so teensy in their new home, and are getting acquainted with their big sisters on the other side of the pen.

Our entire coop and chicken run is covered in wire to keep our feathered friends safe from overhead predators, as well, we have added a large covered area between the coops to house the food and water. The entire area is expanding and changing all the time with our ever growing flock.

[FAMILY] Woodland Fairy Garden Party

I LOVE party planning - LOVE IT!! I put weeks and weeks of pinning, planning and dreaming up my littles big day - it's my gift to them. This years theme for Chloe was Woodland Fairy Garden (not sure what happened to mermaids...). We had fairy houses and wands to decorate, potted flower treat bags, toadstool sandwiches, chipmunk snacks and whimsical metal frogs on real moss covered logs standing guard at the entrance to the magical fairy princess' home.

What made this party so sweet, was certainly all the little details - vintage plastic doilies, mason glass cups with daisy lids and birch bark printed paper straws, silk flowers tied with twine, tulle butterflies, oversized tissue flowers and wood inspired plastic plates.

The food was simple and fun. Sandwiches cut with toadstool and heart cookie cutters, skewers of fruit (fairy wands), caramel popcorn (fairy clouds), hickory stick chips (fairy twigs), cheddar sunchips (tree bark), Babybell cheese half opened (ladybugs), banana chips (chipmunk snacks) and pink lemonade (nectar). For desert, there was pretty cupcakes, poppyseed lemon cake and chocolate pudding topped with oreo crumbs and a pretty silk flower popsicle stick (fairy garden).

In lieu of treat bags, every little fairy went home with a pretty potted flower, complete with a silk butterfly and a vintage inspired white eyelet pot.

Now onto planning my boys party....zombies. Time to switch gears...!

[LIVING LAB] Pond Exploration

The days are warming up, the songbirds are singing, the garden floor is erupting with life and my sluggish, hum drum winter mood is lifting. This can only mean one thing...SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!

Spring...oh wonderful, wonderful spring. My FAVOURITE season of the year - dewey mornings, longer days, promise and anticipation of summer. PURE BLISS.

With spring comes (drum role please) TADPOLES!! Our little local ponds are filled with those beautiful, gelatanous globs of eggs clinging to the reeds and dead branches. We had so much fun last spring raising tadpoles, that we decided to try it again this year. We collected two small clusters of eggs - one cluster has the typical black speckled frog eggs, and the other is a much denser egg cluster of light brown eggs, which we found a bit deeper in the water. We think they may be salamander. Wouldn't that be exciting!

We collected our eggs in a small cooler and were amazed when we transferred it to our container at home. That small sampling produced a magnitude of life. We counted at least twenty caddisfly larvae, a damselfly nymph and possibly dragonfly larvae (which we'll need to remove, as they'll both eat the tadpoles). We also have a funny creature swimming around just below the surface. We think it's a water boatman but are not quite sure...will try to get a photo of it.

[CHICKENS] New Fluffy Bums

Our new little crew of fluffy bums made their way into our living room yesterday afternoon. They are so-frickin'-cute, I can't stand it!

We made the long trek (and I mean LONG) to Beau Peep Farms to collect our little gals and 'accidentally' came home with one extra. We added a Mottled Houdan to our flock - she is such a beautiful and unique looking chick, that I just couldn't help myself. Oops.

Juniper is enjoying his new 'television' and heat lamp (because you know, the entire world revolves around him), and the kids are in love with their new pets. Oh and Maple, she has sniffed each one, given them a little lick and is now pretending they don't exist. Poor Maple...too many cute little critters in the house to steal her spotlight. Don't worry girl, you're still number one in our books.

[EXPLORE] The Meadow: Winter

The Meadow is an endless source of exploring all year round. Snake hunting in the summer, caterpillars in the fall, cocoons to explore in the spring, and abandoned nests to admire in the winter...and that's just skimming the surface!

We entered the meadow via the trail across from the Catholic Church. Within minutes, we had our first discovery - a beautiful nest. It's such a treat to study up close the intricate weavings of a birds nest, nestled in it's original branch. To see the way it's been connected to the tree, and the use of twigs, moss, mud is amazing. True little carpenters.

The view from the bridge that crosses the creek changes with each season. In the winter, the tall grasses are flattened, the skunk cabbage is hibernating and the berry bushes are baren. The water is crystal clear allowing for beautiful reflections of the flooded forest. We found several more nests perched on the bare branches of the salmon berry bushes along this section of the trail before entering the meadow.

I find the meadow appears even more massive in the winter. Perhaps it's the lack of tall grasses that shape the trail and fields. This is a great time of year to study the meadow floor in search of owl pellets and rodent holes. The bank along the trail ditch is filled with garter snake burrows, that will be filled with snakes this summer.

We are so lucky to have this beautiful property so easily accessible all year round.

[FAMILY] No-Nah-La

We have a new, somewhat peculiar, friend of the family. She has blue hair, purple skin and a pink tail...and only Chloe can see her. Meet No-Nah-La the Mermaid. Chloe has been chatting about (and to) her all day and wanted to see if No-Nah-La had left her any treasures at the beach. So off we went in search of mermaid gifts.

We found many beautiful pieces of sea glass from No-Nah-La's stash that she left us and lots of pretty clam shells from her supper.

We also had a nice view of 'Mermaid Island' where No-Nah-La and her family live. Their favourite beach on their island is called 'Blue Water'.

I really hope she makes the trek over to our island again soon, and perhaps gives me a hand with Chloe's Mermaid Birthday Party coming up!!

[FAMILY] Walking On Water

Living on our coast is a lesson in extremes. We love to brag that you can bask in the sun on the beach, then travel to the mountains for an evening ski. The same goes for our winters - it's either freezing, or mild with terrential rain. Last week was no exception. As I type this, it's pouring on our skylights, our path to our home is a mudpit and new life is springing up everywhere I look.

A stark contrast to last weekend - day after day of dry, freezing weather resulted in hours of play on Josephine Lake. The local watershed was a beautiful spot to spend our morning, with Mount Gardner in the background. The ice was crystal clear in areas - it was like walking on glass.

We noticed on our drive later that same afternoon, that every little pond or lake we passed, had evidence of ice skate blades. We have very few of these days on our coast, so you need to make use of it quick before everything melts and spring rushes in.