Two Festivals and a Wedding

What a glorious summer it has been! We kicked off our summer holidays around here with Arts on the Fly at the beginning of July.
What a blast and in our very own town! The Horsefly school grounds were transformed, with a beautiful outdoor stage, an artisan market, the Inspiration Station for children and over at the Community Hall, a wonderful fibre arts show. I think the highlight of my family's weekend, was a last-minute request to host some artists for the week-end. Linda McRae and her hubby James (Sr.) and Steven Nikleva and James Lillico all bunked down with us Friday and Saturday night. They were good sports, especially since Steven and James had to sleep in my daughters tiny twin beds! They enjoyed the trampoline with my girls and even went with Erich to feed the chickens and move the chicken tractors. Then, they put on an amazing show on Saturday evening!
What an awesome group of musicians, between them they played the stand-up bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin and banjo. What a treat for us! Especially since we are huge Spirit of the West fans, and have seen Linda (one of the original band members) play with them several times.
It was a great week-end but also very tiring...as you can see Mimi passed out in the middle of the show...

**All photos taken by Florian Krumsiek

Check out this youtube video of them performing one of my favourites...

Last week-end we had the pleasure of seeing Linda play again at Arts Wells, another music festival in the North Cariboo town of Wells (close to Barkerville). Another great time, we camped out in Wells for two nights with some friends and family. Arts Wells is a huge festival, with over 70 musical acts of folk, jazz, country, funk, hip hop, electronic, world, pop, roots & more. Click on the poster for more info...
Phew...and in between all of that we squeezed in a fabulous family wedding out at the ranch in beautiful Beaver Valley. Remember those pictures of the hayfield well that was the backdrop for the reception and barn dance that went on til about 4am (apparently...I only stayed standing til just after midnight :) It was a beautiful wedding, with girls arriving in horse-drawn covered wagon...groomsmen on horseback (really something to behold) and seating for the crowd provided by some comfy square bales. It was a really hot day, but the breeze off of the lake felt good, and we were able to cool off with a quick dip after the ceremony.

This week-end looks like another road trip to pick up our little ram lamb...his name is Hvítkárr. More about that later...

Happy Mother's Day!

Horsefly Goes Country III

Just a little plug for a Country Dance, Arts on the Fly is hosting May 16th...doors open at 8:30pm. If you're in the area...come on down! Music provided by Clancy Wright and the Silverados..come and enjoy the music or dance the night away for just $12.50! Horsefly Lake Provincial Park is a nice spot to camp and is just down the road!

Celebrate Earth Day

"We've been acting like a rock star, trashing a hotel room and now it's the morning after."

-Kenny Ausubel's Keynote at Bioneers by the Bay 2008, to see more click here.

I thought we would celebrate Earth Day today by sharing with our readers, one of many of our sources of inspiration for trying to live a more natural, sustainable life...Chelsea Green. They are the publisher of many of our favourite authors...from their incredibly content dense website...

For 25 years, Chelsea Green has been the publishing leader for books on the politics and practice of sustainable living. We are a founding member of the Green Press Initiative and have been printing books on recycled paper since 1985, when our first list of books appeared. We lead the industry both in terms of content—foundational books on renewable energy, green building, organic agriculture, eco-cuisine, and ethical business—and in terms of environmental practice, printing 95 percent of our books on recycled paper with a minimum 30 percent post-consumer waste and aiming for 100 percent whenever possible. This approach is a perfect example of what is called a ”triple bottom line“ practice, one that benefits people, planet, and profit, and the emerging new model for sustainable business in the 21st century.

The company has well over 400 titles in print covering topics like straw bale construction, gardening and agriculture, food and health, green building and simple living. They have also taken full advantage of an active online commmunity presence, sharing news and current events on Twitter, Facebook and to subscribers to their site and various blogs.

Recently, I've become slightly addicted to Chelsea Green TV ... they have video clips on a wide variety of topics, usually presentations or interviews with the authors of their books. They make their material easy to share...this is an entertaining interview with Joel Salatin, a local food advocate and farmer and author of "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front. (2007)"

To subscribe to their "feed" (provides you with daily updates of news/events etc in the world of sustainability)...click here.

This from their site today...I do enjoy their irreverent sense of humour...

So, in the interest of helping you reconnect with the Earth, I’ve put together this quick list of recommendations for how to celebrate Earth Day. Do them in order. Optional where noted.

1. Look out your window.
2. Stand up. Leave your desk.
3. Run out of your office, screaming, “I’m going to my garden! You drones can’t stop me!”
4. Flip off your boss. (Mooning optional.)
5. Stop running. Apologize. Continue running.
6. Drive to your garden (if you have one) or the nearest park (if there is one) or to West Virginia (if you live in New Jersey).
7. Find a rock. Threaten your cellphone with it. (So it REALLY knows you hate it.)
8. Find a spot in the sunshine and lie down in the grass. Away from the highways. Away from the city.
9. Breathe. Slowly.
10. Dig your hands in the dirt.
11. Contemplate your food. Your shelter. Your family. Your time left on Earth.
12. Contemplate your job.
13. Take cell phone picture of your middle finger. Send it to your boss.
14. Sleep in the sunshine.

From all of us ne’er-do-wells at Chelsea Green: Enjoy your Earth Day!

Happy Easter!