May 2026 - On The Mountain

Spring Water Fixes, Solar-Powered Gardening & a Very Strange Rooster

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I lay awake last night watching lightning illuminate the sky all around, followed closely by thunder rattling the cups on the shelf. Electrical storms are both thrilling and nerve-racking up here. Being at a higher elevation feels like my odds of being struck could be greater, though I don’t know if that’s true. Eventually, I fell asleep as the sky still flickered and rumbled in the distance.

I guess he’s a pet now

Screech the Strange Rooster

Screech might be a bit off, but I had to keep him; he’s the friendliest rooster I’ve ever known. Like Heihei from the Disney movie Moana, he walks around in an oblivious sort of way, sometimes standing in my path. I’ve even tripped over him. When people come over, I pick him up, hold him straight up to their faces and ask,
“Is there something strange about my rooster?”
They look surprised - He doesn’t fight or flail, but lets me hold him while they assess his strange demeanour.

When Chick chick’s eggs didn’t hatch, I wasn’t overly surprised. I suspect the failure is on Screech’s side, and by rights, I should consider getting rid of him. But I like him too much, so- he stays. Chick chick spent a few days getting over the disappointment of not hatching her own brood and has befriended the new auction chickies.

The water will be crystal clear once it’s settled.

Water Win

For a moment, we were entirely out of water. The springbox we built to harness the natural spring stopped working due to the natural flow being significantly less this year. We decided to change things up, dig a new trough and lower where the water totes sit to improve the flow. After a week of digging, adjusting, moving rocks and laying some pipe, we have water again and finally got to have a shower.

Quiet Chaos

Solar Tiller

The modest 1kW solar-powered system is creating enough surplus to use an electric coffeemaker, so I asked myself, what comes next with the solar surplus? When I began digging the garden, I found my answer - the electric garden tiller we bought at auction years ago for $5. Surprisingly, it works great!

Growing up on a farm in Ontario, we had a scary, loud, gas-powered tiller for mum’s garden. Plugging an electric tiller into the solar power feels very different. Still somewhat chaotic, yet less noisy and a bit more peaceful.

The garden is coming together

Sturdy Soil

The second summer here, I tried planting seeds in the wild mountain dirt and learned how unsuitable it is for growing garden-variety plants. Most grew but were dwarfed by the cold nights and hard clay/silt. Creating soil for a garden here has been a long, patient process, and now is the time to see it finally come to fruition. I’ve combined aged goat, pig, and chicken manure with rabbit fertilizer and some rich natural dirt from near the spring. It looks amazing in the garden and I’m excited to see how it does.

My clothes forever smell a bit like woodsmoke.

Dirty Laundry

I heard a strange noise coming from my little washer/spinner machine as I started a load of delicates. I watched it, wondering what it might be and hoping it was nothing. Smoke began rolling out of it, with the distinct smell of a cooked motor. I unplugged the machine quickly and muttered some choice words.

Washing clothes by hand was something I got used to in the beginning of living here. Socks and undies aren’t so difficult, but bedding and bigger items can be a real chore. I’ll have to go back to hand-washing until I decide to either replace the motor or get a new machine altogether. The spinner side still works, making getting rid of the whole machine a bit of a challenge (for me).
What might the spinner side be good for?

Don’t be fooled, my ducks are never in a row.

Idyllic Moments and Big Challenges

Screech may not be able to make chicks, but at least he’s a nice rooster, and Chickchick has made friends with the newbies. We got the spring to work, and my garden is ready to be planted. The addition of a solar-powered tiller has been a happy change that makes work here much easier.

Though May was challenging, the beauty far outweighed the bad. The world is suddenly full of colour (predominantly green) with wild sprinkles of purple (wild clematis), yellow (dandelion and arnica) and even blue (two lobe larkspur). The bees are buzzing, chasing the sweet scent of pollen, which fills the air. The ducks happily waddle across the yard in search of bugs and tasty new greens. I’m feasting on duck eggs and fresh nettles daily.

Excitedly back on the backroads after a busy trip to town.

The forest is vibrant and lively, and though I’m washing my laundry by hand, it beats sitting in traffic.