Gratitude Sunday

Today I'm joining Taryn of Wooly Moss Roots in her Sunday tradition.

This week, I've been grateful for...

-Stepping outside at dawn to see that the clouds had cleared off to reveal a slender crescent moon, with Venus shining just below.

-P being able to take Tuesday (my 29th birthday!) off of work. We spent the day at home doing a bit of clean-up in the yard, but mostly relaxing and playing with the babe.

-Going out for a delicious dinner Tuesday night, of wild salmon and roasted local farm veggies.

-Someone giving us a box full of moose meat. I am so, so glad we'll be able to eat some wild meat through the winter!

-Someone else giving us cabbage, spaghetti squash and fingerling potatoes from their garden. I'm making moose-meat cabbage rolls for dinner tonight, with a side of roasted spaghetti squash!

-Aedan taking longer and longer naps, without me having to be in the bed with him. It gives me some much needed time to myself! And I'm also so grateful that we allowed him to reach this milestone at his own pace, instead of sleep-training him.

-Forest walks with golden leaves falling all around.

-Waking up to the sound of rain on the roof this morning.

-Good conversation with like-minded friends.

-All of the love I feel every day from friends and family.

-Being given such a wonderful, unexpected opportunity to embark on a homesteading journey. More and more I realize that's where we're headed...we've got the space to do it. It just feels so overwhelming at times, and although I've always had vague notions of "making a living simply living", I've never put much thought or research into what that entails. I look forward to a winter of doing lots and lots of reading and research!

-Walks to the spring to have a drink.

Out for a Stroll

I just love that Aedan is on his own two feet these days. That means he can explore the world at his own level and his own pace! This afternoon we took a little stroll in the woods around our house.

Here we go!


I just love this action shot of Cilla running up to Aedan!


Stopping to pick a berry!






We found an old boot! There is lots of decaying bits in the woods from when they were building the Dempster highway back in the 70's.


Hi, Mama!


Hi, doggies!




Beautiful fall grasses.


Fireweed all gone to seed.

Birthday Baby

It's hard to believe that one year ago, I gave birth in the backseat of our car, in front of the Whitehorse General Hospital. That one year ago, I held my new baby boy to my breast for the first time, while P looked on from the bedside, both of us in total awe that we created this tiny human being.

And now, a year later, we're both still in awe, as he changes every day. How did the time go by so quickly?

At one year old, Aedan is walking all over the place; he hardly ever crawls now.

He loves to play "put": we find he puts things in the oddest places. Today I found a container of bay leaves in the wood box. We find his blocks in our water jugs and pot lids in the grey water bucket beneath the sink.

He babbles almost constantly, from the moment he wakes to the moment he sleeps. He tries to say "dog", and he repeats "guck" when I tell him something is yucky. He can make the sign for milk, and he does an approximation of the sign for "more".

He takes a real interest in his books now. He loves to pull them all off the shelf, and will crawl into my lap to have one read to him. He turns the pages himself, carefully studying each picture, and will sign for more when we finish.

Aedan eats almost anything. For his birthday supper I made curried lentils with sweet potato and cauliflower, what I judge to be one of his favourites. He also loves oatmeal, broccoli, bananas, kiwi, wild berries, and tofu.

He makes the silliest faces these days, for no apparent reason other than to get a laugh. He loves to play peek-a-boo, either with a blanket or scarf over his face, or crouching down beside the couch and popping back up again. He points at everything, waiting for us to bring the world alive with names.

He's my favourite person to hang out with. He makes me laugh, he drives me crazy sometimes, he reminds me to slow down and take each moment as it comes.

Happy 1st birthday, my sweet boy!

Yarn Along

I'd been planning to do a post about knitting, and thought I might as well Yarn Along with Ginny of Small Things.

My nana taught me to knit when I was younger. It's something I've done off and on throughout my life: I've never been terribly passionate about it. Maybe it's my tendency to never finish something I start. I could fill a closet with all the projects I've cast-on and never completed!

Or maybe it's that I get careless, and rush to complete something, never doing a gauge swatch, making mistakes and knitting on, then never wear it.

Lately, though, I've been knitting again and really enjoying it. I've been taking time to follow patterns carefully and finish them so that I'll actually get use out of what I knit. Right now, I'm knitting the Iced cardigan, from an old edition of Knitty. I'm using some yarn I purchased months ago to knit a different cardigan, that I never actually started. See? Told you I'm terrible at this! But so far it's knitting up rather quickly, and I enjoy having something to relax my mind and my focus in the evenings, after Aedan has gone to bed.

My nana doesn't knit anymore, and her once sharp mind is gradually being decayed by dementia. That makes it even more important to me to carry on with this skill she taught me years ago. Maybe one day Aedan will want to learn, too--he certainly enjoys playing with my yarn!

I started reading "French Kids Eat Everything" last week, and I have to admit, I'm not loving it. It's about a woman who moves with her family to France for a year, and learns a vastly different food culture. There are many interesting points, and the French definitely go to great lengths to ensure their kids learn how to appreciate real, nutritious, beautiful food. There is just something about the rigidity of it all that doesn't sit right with me...kids staying up til midnight at their parents' dinner parties, or the idea that kids should be seen and not heard...there are some great tips to take away from it, though!

Yesterday I dove into "The Hunger Games" (on my e-reader, not a very exciting photo), and I can hardly put it down! The knitting might go on the back burner for a day or two...

Gratitude Sunday

Today I'm joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday.

Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.

This week I've felt grateful for... 

-4 days with P all to ourselves! Running his own business can be so liberating at times, but it's also very demanding. All summer long, he's had no one to do the office work in his stead, so he's been going in every day. It's so hard on us all. But he finally got some relief, and we took a trip down to Whitehorse. We took Aedan to the park, did a little shopping, ate some delicious food, but most importantly, spent a whole bunch of time together! 

 -Coming home. It's good to get away every once in awhile, but I'm always so happy to be home. 

 -Fires in the woodstove keeping the house nice and toasty. 

 -P building a gate around the woodstove and across the stairs to the loft. Now I can relax with Aedan toddling all over the place! 

 -Apples and grapes at the farmer's market this week! Amazing! I'm also so grateful to John and Sarah Lenart, who are taking chances and dedicating so much time and effort to growing experimental plants in the Klondike. 

 -Aedan making his first sign! I started signing with him not too long ago, and this week he began making the sign for "milk". It is so neat to see him really communicating with us. 

 -This funk I've been in the past few days finally lifting. I don't know where it came from, but it was not fun, and neither was I. It suddenly cleared today, though, and I feel calm and patience returning. 

 -Friends sharing moose meat with us...I've got a roast in the oven right now that smells delicious! 

Gathering rose hips

After a morning of grey skies and rain, the sun broke free of the clouds and cast its warm rays into our yard, illuminating the birch and poplar leaves, and making the damp grass glisten. The wild rose hips, a vibrant red and a little shriveled from the first hard frost, hung like precious jewels from the prickly rose bushes.

I left Aedan playing contentedly on the porch while I filled my little bucket with these juicy, vitamin C rich wild fruits. I could hear the Sandhill cranes winging far over head, their grr-oo call softened by the distance. The golden leaves were falling silently around me: such a peaceful autumn moment.

I was surprised to learn that 3 rose hips contain more vitamin C than an orange! It's so strange how we immediately think of oranges when we think of vitamin C...but there are many rich sources of this important vitamin! In her book "The Boreal Herbal", Beverley Grey writes that rose hips are antispasmodic, and can be used in a decoction to treat menstrual cramps.

The seeds inside the hips can be irritating to the digestive tract...traditionally, they were used to help expel parasites. People sometimes call rose hips "itchy bum" for this reason!

I'm drying my rose hips to use in tea over the winter, but they can also be used in jams and jellies, or made into a syrup. I might try that next year!

Gratitude Sunday

Today I'm joining Taryn of Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday:

Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.

This week, I've been grateful for...

-A wonderful visit from an old friend, Justine. It's amazing how we can just fall into things as though we'd never been apart. It was so great to see her getting to know Aedan, to share meals or a pot of tea, to go hiking...just to have her around!

-Finally getting one raised bed built, with Justine's help. It feels like there is so much work left to do before the snow flies, but I'm so happy to have been able to cross one thing off the list.

-Sunshine lighting up the changing leaves, making them glow golden.

-Delicious, fresh halibut that friends caught in Alaska, for dinner one night.

-Bonfires on dark nights.

-Refreshing afternoon naps with the babe.

-An abundance of rosehips in our yard!

-Getting out to Tombstone Territorial Park. I sometimes take for granted that I live only a half hour's drive from this absolutely stunning place. I was reminded this week that I need to get out there more frequently. It is so good for my soul!