July on the Mountain

The Month That Flies

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Suddenly it’s August - where did the time go? The month started out with a visit from my friends Rachel and Jake. We showed them around the property, checked out the Toyotas and explored some old mining stuff.

I don’t know what I love more, the delicious chocolate banana bread Rachel made, or her beautiful job wrapping it!

Hot days made way for cool comfortable nights. I did lots of foraging for greens and berries, preserving them as I picked. I also harvested some of the many rabbits, which we froze and pressure canned. I feel that we’re well on our way to being ready for winter.

Mable and Millie

New Goats

I’ve been interested in alpine dairy goats for years, so when I saw that someone local was selling does in milk I had to buy them. Not only do they look cool, but they also give lots of milk and are excellent pack animals. I’m planning to build them backpacks so that we can go camping and they’ll carry the gear. I can’t imagine anything better than waking up in the woods, and making a coffee with fresh milk thanks to the pack goats.

Ricotta on the left, and mozzarella in salted water on the right

Cheese!

Mable and Millie make a TON of milk, nearly a gallon a day. Time to experiment with making real cheese. I picked up a package of rennet tablets and got to it. Somehow on my first attempt I managed to make stretchy, melty, delicious mozzarella. Using the leftover whey I made ricotta. With the two cheeses, I made a sort of baked creamy spaghetti - so good! I forsee some weight gain in my future with so much delicious cheese begging to be eaten.

Swimming in the Falls

Somehow Curt and I haven’t checked out the local waterfall so when friends asked if we’d want to come, we were eager to go check it out! After a short hike down, we swam in the pools and soaked up the day. If sitting in the mist from the falls wasn’t invigorating enough, the smell of wild mint growing at the water’s edge made it that much more fresh. What a nice way to cool off on a hot summer day.

Gandalf Greypaws and Sugar

Oops, More Kitties

I didn’t mean to take them home, I really didn’t. When my friend said ‘take them, I have too many’ and the two black kittens looked up at me with their cute little faces - I couldn’t say no. A conversation I had with someone last summer came to mind, about how it’s better for a cat to have other cats around as ‘backup’. In the moment I convinced myself that not only did I want to take them, but that Luci needed them. So far she seems to strongly disagree.

Ready to Ride

My 1977 Honda got a flat last season and I haven’t ridden it since. I took off the back tire and Curt put in a new tube. Since we didn’t have the right tools on hand, it needed his extra muscle. After that was done, it was being surly with me so I drained the old gas, checked for spark, ensured fresh fuel was getting to the carburetor .. and just like that- back in action! Man, I love old Hondas.

Yarrow and St John’s Wort Tinctures

Filling the Shelves

In preparation for winter, I’ve been foraging and harvesting like crazy. So far we’ve pressure-canned rabbit meat, dried mushrooms and greens, canned and frozen berries, and made tinctures for flavourings and herbal remedies. Herbal tinctures are new to me, and something that I’ve been excited to try. I have an exciting one started which should result in a nice wild vanilla extract.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out my series on wild edibles;

Wild Edibles Part 1

Moving into August

Even though the days are hot I can tell that they’re getting shorter. We’re succeeding in getting things done while having fun, and I’m loving every minute of it. However in the back of my mind, I know that winter will soon be upon us. The first summer here was a lot like this one, which might mean that I’ll be seeing snow in only 6 weeks. I’d better get out on my dirtbike before it’s time to get the snowmobiles going again!