Quote of the Day

"A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."


- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Faust & W.H. Murray, The Scottish Himalaya Expedition

Winter Wool

Farm Dreaming

I read somewhere recently that when you’re searching for a new path you should go back to what you wanted to do when you were 6. Ask any kid that age what they want to do when they grow up and they’ll probably have an answer. From what I remember, mine was ved-erin-arian (veterinarian), small zoo keeper and ranch owner. At 10 I BEGGED my parents for a pony; at 12 I made a list of 100 horse names with my best friend Stephanie; at 14 I was learning to jump horses in a ring. And then all that stuff just sort of stopped. And here I am in my 30s wondering if I what I should really be doing is farming.  

What if I just tried it? On a small scale. What's the worst thing that could happen?

Really, really easy bread

Impress your friends, feel like a homesteader, eat real bread!

I’m a big fan of Michael Pollen’s approach to eating in Food Rules:

“Eat real food

Mostly plants

Not too much.”

I think this bread recipe fits the bill (adapted from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day). It has four “real” ingredients:

3 cups warm water

1.5 tbsp yeast

1.5 tbsp salt

6 cups flour

In a large bowl, combine water, yeast and salt. Don’t worry about making sure all the yeast dissolves. Then add your flour – all at once! I usually do 5 cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat. Play around with it to get the mix you want. You can get fancy and add some extra grains like oats, or flax seed.

Mix. When you can’t mix anymore with a spoon, use wet hands to pack the rest of the flour into the dough. DO NOT KNEAD. Just press it together. Then cover your bowl (I use a plate) and let it rise until it has doubled, about 2 hours.

Now you are ready to use your dough to make bread, or you can put it in the fridge (with a lid on it, but not an airtight seal) and use it at some point over the next 2 weeks. It makes three small loaves, or two larger ones. Need more? You can easily double this recipe.

Baking Day

OK, you’re ready to bake. Take the dough out of the fridge and tear off a chunk of dough. Grapefruit-sized will make a small loaf that you and I other person could probably devour at dinner. Dust the chunk liberally with flour so you can manipulate the dough without it sticking to your hands. At this point you will shape it, but again DO NOT KNEAD. What you are about to do is create a gluten cloak. Check out this video to see how.

After shaping, leave the bread to rest for 20 minutes on a cutting board that has been dusted with cornmeal. This will help it slide off the board and into the oven if you are using a pizza stone. Otherwise you can let it rest on your baking sheet (no cornmeal required).  After 20 minutes, start pre-heating your oven to 450°. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven for pre-heating. Also, place an old baking dish in the oven – something you don’t mind getting a bit rusty if it’s metal. 

After another 20 minutes, slide your loaf into the oven and quickly pour 1 cup of hot water into the baking dish. The water creates a bit of steam in the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes and voila – artisan bread! Best enjoyed with butter and eaten all at once on the spot! OK, that’s not really part of Michael Pollen’s approach, but it is really hard to stop.

- Thanks Verena for passing on the recipe.

October reading list

Cooler days and steady rain has turned my attention inward, and back to reading. In fact, I have six books on the go right now! Which is probably a few too many to really pay attention to any one of them fully. 

Luke said to me the other day, “Wow, you really like books ”. Yes, but I think what I really like is ideas, more than books themselves. Each book I am reading right now has a powerful idea behind them – and I take inspiration from each one in a different way.

There is a strange tension in this list, but perhaps it is somewhat illuminating of where my head is these days. There’s the “make lots of money by complicating life by buying up real estate and starting tons of different businesses” side of me. And the “simplify, grow our own food, pay off the mortgage on a tiny house so we can pursue strange small tangents and re-design a life that is out of the ordinary” side. Which side will win today?

The List:

Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner

This one has been sitting beside my bed since April. I bought on my birthday in a great bookstore in Moab. While the ideas are interesting, I haven’t really committed to the whole book so far. Water politics in the American west – heavy!

The Dirty Life by Kristen Kimball

Buy this book! Fantastic, romantic, but real look at an incredibly interesting farm. Kristen and her partner have created a CSA that provides “whole diets” to about 150 families. A step beyond the familiar CSA that just provides veggies, their farm provides meats, grains, fat, fruit AND veggies. This book has me dreaming of creating my own mini farm to provide my own whole diet.

What, Where, When and How to Buy Real Estate in Canada by Ozzie Jurock

The Canadian Real Estate Action Plan by Peter Kinch

My fascination with real estate never seems to wear off… these two offer strategies for investing in the Canadian real estate market. Buy low, sell high – there, now you don’t need to read them.

Life Entrepreneurs by Christopher Gergen and Greg Vanourek

I’m just getting started on this one, so I’ll get back to you later. So far my favourite idea is that you don’t need to live the same life as everyone else, design your own!

Housing Reclaimed by Jessica Kellner

This one appeals to the other side of my real estate passion – recycled, small, unique.

Bigbend Skis brings hand built skis to the Kootenays

Photo from bigbendskis.com

The Big, Small Idea

My coffee is local, fair trade and organic. So is my fav chocolate. Pom pom toque bought at the farmer’s market - check. But can I buy my skis the same way? Actually, yes. “Organic” might be pushing the definition, but there’s a movement out there of small, handmade ski builders creating performance skis using an open source manufacturing process pioneered by 333 Skis in Mammoth Lakes, CA. 333 even manufactures in an off-grid trailer built from recycled trash.

Photo from 333skis.com

Every pair is custom – designed to the buyer’s specs. The aim is to create custom skis at a “working person’s wage”. And teach other “ski smiths” their methods, taking a democratic approach and demystifying the ski making craft.

The Local Connection

Daryl Ross of Bigbend Skis is diving in – tips up. From a studio in Revelstoke’s Visual Arts Centre, Ross is bringing open source manufacturing to the Kootenays – a perfect fit for this powder-focused community. Ross apprenticed in McCall, ID with Ullr Skis owner/ski smith Matt Neuman, who learned the process from 333.

The Mission

Bigbend was born from Ross’ passion for… well, skiing of course. But the most important thing to him is that the business model fits – it’s local, custom and affordable.

Revelstoke is the perfect place to make that happen. “Revelstoke has this mystique about it, with Rogers Pass, huge snowfalls and an epic ski hill,” Ross notes. “This town really nurtures local efforts and hand-crafted, quality goods."

The Process

The process starts with a questionnaire, where you fill out your weight, turning radius and ski style: back country or slope style? Powder pig or parabolic? He’ll work with you to develop the perfect fit. Graphics? They’re wide open. Design your own or work with a local graphic designer to fit your personna to your boards. Ross plans to build 50 pairs this fall, offering screaming deals to family and friends to get the skis out in the marketplace. They’ll be on display at a December art show event at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre.

What’s in a name?

Bigbend has a history. The Columbia River “big bend” cradles the Selkirk Mountains, providing a protective geographical barrier that guards the stash. Revelstoke itself has a long history of skiing, with the longest running ski club in Canada.

D.I.Y. Skis? Check out skibuilders.com

Saving the world, one beer at a time

 

 

Photo by The Squirrel Farm

Eating and drinking local is a noble pursuit, but it’s especially easy when you live near Canada's first Certified Organic farmhouse microbrewery, Crannóg Ales, located in Sorrento, BC. (The pronunciation of Crannóg is a bit of a debate, in case you are interested – emphasis seems to shift between the first and second syllable depending on who you ask). 

On a trip down to the coast for a Thanksgiving Wedding we stopped by the brewery to pick up a few party pigs (cutest beer receptacle ever) – our contribution to a very “locavore” wedding feast. The bride and groom get extra points for personally slaughtering the turkeys that were served for dinner. 

But back to the beer! From Crannóg’s website: “The brewery is the marriage of two dreams: to farm organically, and to have our own brewery.” The farm and brewery work collectively to reduce waste – spent grains provide food for the livestock and the farm provides organic hops. A quick tour around the farm revealed fields of hops, composting piles of spent grain, fruit trees and happy sheep in the fields – pretty ideal! 

A crannog - the brewery's namesake. Google it! Photo by The Squirrel Farm

We quizzed the brewer who toured us through the farm and brewery: Where does your malt come from? Where does it go when you’re done? How many litres of beer do you make? How long does it take?

Inside the brewery. Photo by The Squirrel Farm

 The best answers are the ones that come with stories. We tested the Pooka Cherry Ale – lucky for us as they only had a few drops left. This delicious fruity ale is only made with cherries from the farm and sells out in about two weeks. They won’t make more though, because they’d have to source cherries from off the farm. Dedication to their principles!

Photo by The Squirrel Farm

They’ve even been known to “recycle” extra foam from the tasting room. No, not in your beer! The pigs on the farm love it. Yes, a few young pigs have been known to have one too many… but 250 pound grown pigs can apparently take down quite a bit.

Where to find their beer.