Every fall a number of families gather baskets, totes and knives and take to the woods to take part in a ritual as ancient as our species. It involves the venerable tradition of foraging for food, in this case mushrooms. Gathering mushrooms is a thriving tradition all over Europe and Asia, although little done in North America, with the exception of immigrants and amateur mycologists. When you think about it, it’s a pretty cool tradition – a lovely forest walk, the incomparable fresh air of the woods, and baskets of food that you didn’t have to grow or buy.

Of course the main reason for mushroom hunting is the wild mushroom taste that does not compare with anything else. Unlike cultivated button mushrooms, their wild cousins are much more complex, must be cooked fully, and deliver a taste and texture unlike any other. There are dozens of edible species, some prized world over, like boletus, others a reliable standby that seems to grow when every other type is scarce.

It takes time to learn to spot mushrooms. They like to hide, often in plain sight, and you have to get your ‘mushroom eyes’ on. For a long while I can’t see any, so I have to stand still, turn slowly in a circle and try and spot one. As soon as I do, somehow the eyes and brain adjust to picking out the patterns of the mushrooms and it becomes easier from there on in.

There are a couple of tricks to harvesting mushrooms, first you must cut the stem off at the base with a really sharp knife. A small paring knife works the best. Never rip out the mushroom with the base, as the spores become less likely to regenerate there next year. Secondly, ensure that there is no insect damage. Some species of insect that I don’t know the name of, lay eggs in mushrooms, which become larvae and eat the flesh until they hatch. Sadly larvae is really gross and damages the mushrooms leaving hollow tunnels that eventually collapse and rot the flesh. So – if you tip the sliced mushroom over, and see the tell tale hollow tunnels in the stem or cap – leave it for the larvae to finish off. The mushroom must be completely intact to harvest. This will be the minority of mushrooms that you’ll find, approx. fifty percent of mushrooms will be damaged, so it’s a numbers game to get a full basket.

On this trip there were plenty of wild strawberries, tiny and fragrant to snag too, and some sour relative of the raspberry that I don’t know the name of.

Once you get your haul home, it must be processed immediately. The mushrooms spoil in a matter of hours, so as soon as you get them home they must be washed, gently scrubbed clean and inspected for insect damage, and cooked right away. There are plenty of choices on this front -  they can be fried, made into soup, be marinated, preserved with salt, and if fried, frozen for future uses. All preparations will yield wildly different results, and all are amazing.

All clean

Since we were dealing with a pretty small yield we decided to pan fry all the mushrooms with potatoes – a dish as old as the hills and well known in all Slavic countries.

The dish begins with a huge frying pan, some oil and a chopped onion. All the washed mushrooms are sliced, and begin to gently cook on low-medium heat with the onions.

Like their supermarket cousins they will release a ton of liquid, which will be considerably more viscous than button mushrooms, and will resemble okra, which is okay since the liquid will eventually disappear.

All wild mushrooms must be cooked fully, none are safe to eat raw, because they contain compounds which will upset the stomach and make you violently ill (not poisoned), but still not fun. Full cooking takes a good twenty to thirty minutes, and when done, mushrooms should be firm but not at all crunchy. They don’t need seasoning beyond salt and a bit of garlic, but if you wanted, some thyme would not be amiss. About half way through the mushroom cooking the potatoes are added to simmer in the mushroom liquid.

The whole pan takes on an unappetizing brown color, but the taste, oh the taste. Served with sour cream, chopped dill or a bit of ketchup, in our case, this one pan dish is a veritable reminder of the forest bounty. Sadly, or not, my camera died right about now, or else you’d have a photo of the finished dish, but it’s very unphotogenic so perhaps it’s for the best.

Image by Pere Ubu

I’m the kind of writer that likes to write about things after they’ve happened. That way I get to process the information in the privacy of my own mind and change my mind a good deal in the process. Almost any significant experience I have has to take its time and percolate through my thoughts before I can articulate what I think.

I’ve always been like this, upon my return from a whirlwind week in London, it took me about six months before I could really talk about it. That’s at the extreme end of the scale of course, but it was also before I recognized how my mind deals with stimulation. A less severe example is the three weeks it took me to explain what I got out of the Body Worlds Exhibit I visited earlier this summer.  And the latest is the grim yet important book I finished that put me in a funk for about two weeks – the beautifully written, yet profoundly disturbing look at the sickness of our culture – The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen.

I’ve never read anything else by the author, so didn’t know what to expect, and what I got was a very clear dissection of the culture of hatred that we live in. We see the results of this hatred everywhere, from the smog in the streets, to the disappearing wildlife, to the landfill of the third world where we ship our trash, and those are the mildest examples. A large section of the book deals with the cognitive dissonance that is created when we actively participate in this culture and the coping mechanisms we develop n order to continue to participate in it. It takes a hard look at the fairy tale of our daily life and exposes it for the fraud that it is.

It’s not an easy book to read. Many of the horror stories of humanity are so disturbing and insane, really, that it’s easy to begin distancing yourself from the book as you read it – well, that would never happen here, not in Canada, not in our current culture, oh we don’t do things like that anymore. That is until the book comes to very modern current examples of the way we externalize the costs to keep things the way they are. Until we realize that nothing costs what we truly pay for it. And until we realize that we, you and me, have also developed some deep coping mechanisms to avoid looking at reality for what it is. 

After I processed the book I went on Amazon to see what other people thought of it, and was gratified to see that any review that I write will not hold a candle to the great reviews others have written. The book seems to beg a long intelligent review, and many have obliged. I’d have to recommend it to anyone who has ever felt out of step with the values of current society, especially our insistence on productivity, time management and progress.  To anyone who thinks our society is slightly insane in many ways, and to anyone who is typically too busy to reflect much on it.

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In other news – my bush peas were doing great – they were bushy. Until a momentous hail storm last Monday came and flattened the lot, just like last year. Now I have a great foot-thick rug of peas growing sideways, with the peas underneath yellowing from lack of sun. Sigh. I’m already jury-rigging a solution for next year – perhaps that will be my ticket to an early retirement? But otherwise the peas are doing wonderful – they are producing a large bowl per day which we gleefully shell and eat each night. All my friends’ peas are puny in comparison, so all hail the pea whisperer!

The tomatoes are also doing well, with the exception of one wee plant that simply refuses to grow. Otherwise they are all producing – before AUGUST which is very momentous in my neck of the woods. And the raspberries have settled in just fine and are already rewarding me with a few berries, something that they’re not supposed to do until next year.

I did plant a few cucumbers, but some enterprising bunny came and ate the lot. Oh well – if he needed them that much, who am I to argue?

I also have a new job, which I start next Monday. That came about in an oblique way, but has also occupied my time, and is a welcome change. The thing with jobs is that you cannot talk about the job, until the offer is signed, kind of like the first rule of fight club. Otherwise for some mysterious reason they are apt not to materialize.  Now I’m off to catch up with all of you!

I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite vendors at the Millarville Market, the great outdoor extravaganza that is 20 minutes from my house.  I wrote about them last summer, and it remains one of my favorite markets to visit, although a new one just opened up close to us too, and it’s wonderful so far. But visiting Millarville allows for a lovely drive into the country in the morning, and it’s great to simply walk around outside in the sunshine, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I shop here so often, that I have a game plan that begins with mini donuts (when the truck is around), and winds its way from the back to the front with ever heavier purchases picked up close to the exit. Which is lovely since I overspend every single time, but since summers are so short it feels like a necessary indulgence.

I always begin with fruit and veggies located at the far right of the market. Local farmers set up their stalls with many greenhouse ‘exotics’ of bell peppers, eggplants, cukes and tomatoes coaxed out of season but tasting great. Our outdoor climate is so dire that June often brings snow, while every u-pick farm has posted that nothing will be ready until early August due to a very late season. So greenhouses are a bit of a necessity for local veggies. The outdoor only farms have rhubarb, spinach and some lettuce going, but that’s about it.

This year a new tent is up: Worms at Work which sells worm castings. I have little experience with them, but they have some trial flower baskets grown with and without worm castings and the difference is dramatic. They can also mix up some compost tea for the enterprising gardener.

Along the way my eye was drawn to beautiful prairie bouquets of dried rye, wheat, grasses and poppy pods. I’d so love to have some for my huge vase, but life with three cats predicts disaster, so I refrained.

A totally odd but neat addition to the market is the folks who developed Beef Bacon. They had samples frying up on the griddle, and people, it was awesome. I could not tell any difference between bacon and beef bacon. Why develop beef bacon when we have perfectly good bacon in the first place? No idea, but I assume that people who don’t eat pork for religious or cultural reasons would be glad to try it out. I grabbed a package because it was truly delicious.

The Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch has many fantastic products, but I can’t wean myself off their Buffalo Pepper Salami and amazing Elk Hot Dogs. I love hot dogs for what they are – salty, juicy, slightly smoky meat processed beyond recognition, and these taste great, never mind that they’re healthier for you. CRMR is a local success, and they’ve recently opened up a store on 17 Ave, which is wonderful in the winter time.

Ridgeview Farms yielded some great llama pepperoni sticks and jerky. I’ve been taking their jerky to work as a protein rich snack or as a salty side to a bowl of cherries. Yes, I have weird tastes, but I love it.

I’ve been in love with Dietz Meatz’s garlic sausage forever and ever. It was one of the first things I tried at Millarville and it’s been a staple in my freezer since. It’s the only sausage that comes close to the amazing farmers sausage my girlfriend brings in bulk quantities from Saskatoon several times a year. It’s smoky, garlicky, a bit spicy and utterly delicious. And the little guy will probably be a fan for life.

Spragg’s Meat Shop provided awesome free range, home processed bacon, a few ribs to toss on the bbq, and a lovely roast to be had when the weather is cool.  I absolutely love these guys for their total dedication to customers and growing awesome guilt free food.

Bowden Farms chicken has also been a staple in our house for years. When we first googled free range, organic chicken they were the first on the list. This family owned farm is also a local marketing success story with their meat popping up on menu’s with increasing frequency, which is great as their chicken is great. They have some baked goods on their table, and oddly enough make the best double chocolate zucchini loaf I’ve ever had.

Towards the front, just near the exit are some wonderful crafts, as unique as the people who make them.  Like this metalwork – such interesting pieces. His fire grills seemed very popular with the public as well.

And these daisies just made me laugh… given my weeds this year perhaps I should just stick to these:

And I’ve left out quite a bit too, like the lady with the Polish food stand, that makes the best poppy seed rogaliki. They always sell out fast, so get there early to grab them. They are buttery, flaky and addictive. Or the lady with fresh ground Indian spice mixes. No more figuring out what goes into a garam masala, just grab a small baggy and cook. But I guess that’s why visiting the market to discover your own treasures is so much fun. What are your local gems?

Welcome back dear readers, and I hope you had a fabulous long weekend! I sure did, and although I didn’t do anything especially exciting, I enjoyed every lazy, sunny minute of it.

This is another case where I’m blogging about a dinner quite some time after it happened. Why? Absolutely no reason short of being too lazy to write it up. I went to Alloy with friends and found it quite good, but just shy of fabulous.  Sadly the lighting in the restaurant was pleasantly dim – great for ambience but crappy for photos, so I apologize in advance for the lack of quality here.

Alloy opened up to all sorts of fanfare sometime last year, and got great reviews right out of the gate. After giving them a chance to settle in, two friends and I visited them sometime in the winter.

The décor was quite stylish without being overly cold or pretentious, and they are geniuses with the lighting. Brighter toward the hostess area, dimmer in the restaurant, the golden ambience of indirect light is still memorable.

The service was excellent throughout, which is not surprising since we knew our waitress. Nevertheless she was very knowledgeable and assuredly steered us through the menu.

Here we come to the downer part of the night – the cocktails. Apparently on the night we were there, the regular bartender was not. Whoever was filling in did not have the same expertise with the cocktails, a fact that we found out after we gently questioned the quality of our libations. I’m not sure if Alloy now has redundancies in place to replace the bartender if he can’t make it, but that night our cocktails ranged from bearable to awful. And since we heard amazing things about the drinks we were understandably disappointed. And that lost the restaurant money since we stopped at one. The Moscow Mule cocktail was made with ginger yes, but assuredly too much of it, to the point where the bitter notes in ginger were in the forefront, and the Pinku cocktail tasted like cough syrup. It was truly awful.

Rather than a typical bread basket, was hummus with naan and olives was brought to the table, and the hummus itself was strangely bland. It sorely needed a hint of lemon juice, a breath of garlic or even some sea salt on top. Perfectly smooth, with good olive oil on top, it was creamy and bland. The olives however, were fantastic.  Firm, slightly spicy, perfectly fresh they were everything mushy bland overly salty olives are not. The naan was very good also, soft and flavorful.

For our entrees we went with the beef short rib for myself, and I really need to wean myself off this dish, since if it’s on the menu I’ll inevitably order it. The short rib was excellent to the point of ridiculous. Out of our three entrees it was declared the table favorite. Melt-in-your-mouth tender, savoury, rich and wonderful it was a perfect winter evening dish. I also realized why people like polenta for the first time in my life, so kudos for that.

Another friend had the double cut pork chop. Since I only had one bite, I can declare it very good but not as good as my short rib.

My other friend went with a fish special, which was a gorgeous plating of halibut. While dramatic, the whole dish was a bit bland, with none of the flavors standing out or really offsetting the fish. That was the table consensus, not just me, so it was likely really on the unstimulating side.

I personally declined dessert, but my dining partners ordered two, a trio of panna cotta, and a trio of sorbet. Both were delightful, with the edge going to the trio of sorbet. I frequently underestimate sorbet, thinking it will be a lovely palate cleanser but nothing to write home about, but this trio of sorbet was spectacular. Slowly melting over a pile of diced fruit the dish was a perfect mix of refreshing, sweet and unexpected, making it a lovely ending to a great meal.

 

4.2/5
Alloy
220  42 Ave SE
(403) 287-9255

I was thrilled to come across this book written by a fellow Calgarian that received some high praise from critics. The premise of the book is simple - spurred by the birth of his daughter Chris Turner looked around and saw a world careening out of control. Global warming, pollution, destruction of natural resources, excessive consumption and faulty economics drive our consumerist engine, and there is no shortage of problems to look at and wonder when this train ride will come to a wreck. But dozens of books have been written about the staggering problems facing our world and future as a species, but quite few offer real suggestions as to what we can do about it. Chris Turner went on a whirlwind tour around the globe looking for existing, often very local solutions to a truly sustainable future that work splendidly and point the way to a more hopeful future.

Off the bat I’ve got to say that I am not a proponent of anthropogenic climate change. i.e. I do not feel that man-made global warming is our biggest problem, nor do I condemn CO2 as the largest pollutant in our atmosphere. This book is largely structured around this very premise, and the undertone wonders how is it that any rational human can continue to deny the movement largely started by Al Gore et al. Now that several years have passed, and Al Gore’s faulty research and blatantly incorrect hockey-stick graph has been soundly denounced even by the most ardent global warming proponents, not to mention his energy hogging lifestyle, it is clear that he himself, is probably not a good advocate for the cause.

I personally tend to think that plants breathe CO2, that any volcano eruption as well as our oceans dwarf our CO2 output, that the largest drivers of climate are the sun and the oceans and our orbit, things so vast that we cannot even understand their effects, never mind control them, that the planet is typically a much more tropical place and in fact we are geologically speaking in the middle of a short warm pocket that happens to be in the middle of an ice age, and most important of all – that carbon sequestering is a huge money making scam that will make some people very rich, while doing very little to impact our climate. I also fear that the debate whether pro or con is stealing all the spotlight while ignoring the ridiculous pollution issues plaguing our planet.  But what I do understand is that whether we agree on global warming specifically or not, we can both be appalled at the damage to our planet wrought by our species, and overwhelmed with the negative press and dialogue that seems to lead us no closer to real solutions.

The book itself is a manic romp around the world skipping from Denmark to Thailand and even yes, Okotoks. His writing style is a unique mix reminiscent of Gladwell and Pollan, both of whom are referenced, except for on speed. Interspersed with commentary on popular culture, pop psychology and history lessons the book is best digested in small increments lest it simply overwhelm your brain. Since he is local, some of his stories revolve not too far from home, a wind farm nearby, a green community in a small town only a twenty minute drive from my house, even our very own downtown Calgary. To me this was obviously exceptionally interesting since I can add my own observations to the mix.

I found it rather worrying that all the examples of a new way of living that he profiles  – a fully self sustaining home in Thailand built using local renewable resources, that costs about as much as a ‘conventional’ style dwelling, a small Danish island where the villagers fully bought into wind farms and barely have any need for oil, a community of Earthship dwellers proudly living in a rather hostile climate with all the creature comforts of the average urban home but with almost none of the energy requirements, E+Co which pioneer a genius partnership to turn waste ponds into energy, and amazing real estate developments which allow people to live and thrive in their communities, not simply exist, – are so few and far between taken in the larger context. They are small pockets of wonderful enterprise, human ingenuity and revolutionary principles on display, but they are quite rare when looked at globally.  And frankly we’ve always had great people doing amazing things. All the pioneers above use existing technology in innovative ways, they are not inventing anything as such, but until they reach a ‘tipping point’ a la Gladwell, they will always remain an oasis of sanity with hardly an impact on the global scene.

Calgary is a prime example. The book ends with the author looking over the city and noting how things could be different. How the large empty concrete tracts can be re-imagined as green spaces and truly livable mixed use neighborhoods, how flat sloping roofs seem made for solar panels (in a city with over 300 days of sunshine per year), how urban sprawl can be curbed once and for all and many other wonderful ideas. But since this book was written I can’t say any of those changes have materialized. I’ve yet to see a solar panel on any roof whatsoever, our neighborhood that was once on the edge of the city has been surpassed by further development, mixed use neighborhoods are still things that are developed by far more progressive planners than ours, urban agriculture has not exploded, we do have recycling but strictly as downcycling, and sadly, Seaside Florida, one of the communities lauded in the book is currently drowning in oil from a terrible man made disaster.

I also haven’t seen any of those flexible solar panels that were going to drastically decrease prices in the markets, and in fact I haven’t heard any follow up on that story since it was hyped a few years ago. A shamefully quick google search turns up flexible panels that cost several times more per watt that a generic one does. Okotoks’ award winning Drake Landing community has not been followed by any more, despite its cachet.

Chris travels the world looking for examples of a new sustainable economy. Places where the change is people driven, whether it’s machete wielding villagers peeling bamboo for their micro-hydroelectric dam, or a community investing in wind farms without government mandates, oversight or involvement really. In contrast there seem to be pitifully few solutions to be found around our very own urban yards. Since we don’t have to choose whether to spend money on kerosene or purchase a small solar panel, we don’t have the immediacy of looking for a solution as we continue to live in our urban houses constructed with toxic materials and heat them with coal and gas.

Speaking with a local solar installer generates an estimate that to convert a typical house to be entirely off-grid would cost in the realm of $25,000 – a figure hardly affordable and yes, it would take a very long time to pay for itself. Unless you built a passive solar heated home which costs about the same as a conventional house, but you would likely never get the permits to build one. Sure we recycle, but we all know that at best it’s postponing the trip to the landfill by a reuse or two, and at worst – well, how much does it cost (literally and carbon-wise)  to ship our recyclables to Asia where they can be processed/landfilled as prices dictate?

Perhaps it’s my propensity for cynicism and gloom that leads me to read this book, and ask what’s changed since it was published? Or the recent environmental catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf is too vivid and underscores the plight of the planet too much. But where many reviewers see hope in this book, I still see a planet heading for disaster simply because I, the reader, still feel powerless to help stop the train. Unless the residents of this fine city start getting together and implementing our own solutions we will continue to have small pockets of hope around a very sick planet.

Not only that, but as he cleverly points out change has to be FUN and beneficial – no one wants to do things out of desperation out of coming doom and gloom. A great example is cell phone technology and internet – the technology is so convenient and so seemingly necessary that hundreds of homemade solutions sprung up to bypass entirely the slow governmental machine that would have taken decades to deliver the service. What we need is someone to bring a sense of fun, cachet, unbelievable convenience and necessity at an affordable price point to renewable technologies. When that happens, consumers will drive the engine of change faster than you can blink.  So to me it’s a brilliantly written book that offers the possibility of hope, but note hope as such.

If you’ve made it this far, through the very long book review, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this interesting and vital topic: what do you think of climate change, our path as a species, what we can do to actually change rather than greenwash our lives? Do we have hope?

This, my friends, is the sunburn I got after six hours of weeding.

James:  We live at altitude honey.

Me: We had snow on the ground two weeks ago!

June 10, 2010

 

Never underestimate the power of the sun.

Photo by www.davidkrohn.net

Today’s post is brought to you by Dan Grifen,  a reader who got in touch with me to discuss biodiversity. To take a complex issue and reduce it to the basics, he is concerned about the loss of many species of food that we used to consume, an issue which can put our food resources in peril.

In order to maximize qualities important to distributors who treat food as commodity, thousands of varieties of grains, vegetables and even animal breeds have been discarded as less-than-desirable for their variability. We’ve bred tomatoes that ship well and look uniform at the expense of flavor and nutrition, bred super-chickens that put on breast meat at the expense of walking, and there is hardly anything in the supermarket that is not subject to the same loss of overall quality. When people lament the taste of food from their grandparents’ garden, they are often lamenting a variety that is no longer around at all.  But thanks to a reader that cares, there is a message of hope for the future.

Sustainability Through the Consumption of Things Conserved

“In other environmental issues we tell people to stop something, reduce their impact, reduce their damage,” – US Ecologist Gary Nabham
 

Since the beginning of the green movement, there has been a rise in the number of organizations and businesses that are doing their part in the promotion of sustainability through conservation. As human beings, we’re told to reduce our carbon footprint, consume less unhealthy foods, and spend less time in the shower! But let’s take a minute to step back and look at this from a different perspective; one that Gary Nabham strongly suggests.

Gary Paul Nabham, phD., is a Arab-American writer/conservationist who’s extensive farming work in the U.S./Mexico borderlands region has made him world renown. Specifically speaking, Nabham is known for his work in biodiversity as an ethnobotanist. His uplifting messages and attitude towards life and culture has granted us access to multiple beneficial theories including his latest of eat what you conserve.

Agriculturist Marco Contiero mentioned that “biodiversity is an essential characteristic of any sustainable agricultural system, especially in the context of climate change.”[1] With sustainable crop efforts being lead by the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) and the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) the duo plans to provide a more sustainable crop, untouched by natural disasters, much like the ones experience in Haiti and neighboring areas. Contiero goes on to state “We need to ensure this is the basis for the future…” – This is exactly what Doug Band, the CGI, and the IRRI are doing by engaging in sustainability efforts.

The house that my awesome in-laws live in is a simple bungalow on a cliffy edge of the lake.  

Perched comfortably close to the shore it has just enough yard to maintain a small and very productive vegetable garden. And some years they get to start planting in MARCH!!! While I’m lucky if I get my tomatoes outside by June something… ahem, pardon the tangent.

I love this butterfly, made by a local artisan of whom there are several in the area.

The house is simple and stylish, with a wood stove, lake water, and framed with my mother-in-laws awesome quilts, that *I* think she should sell on ebay, but she says take too long to make.

Psychedelic

The rear of the house is pretty much all glass to take advantage of the view which often takes my breath away. The lake never stays the same going from a glassy smoothness to an angry chop, accompanied by incredible sky panoramas. Imagine drinking your coffee on this deck and watching the lake and the eagles gliding lazily overhead. No words can explain the tranquility and something in me is flat out awed at the beauty.

View from the window

Wooden steps lead down to the water which is best enjoyed from a boat since the deep lake never gets warm enough for me to even consider swimming in. A cool splash on a sweltering day? Sure. A dip, no thank you. We used to take a canoe down to the water, but now we have a kayak to enjoy, and let me tell you, kayaking on a gorgeous lake is one of the best ways to spend time in the whole world.

Steps to the water

And of course there is the time to hang out with their huge and wonderful Australian shepherd dog Mysqua, who adopted them over a vigorous campaign one year. See she used to belong to a couple living nearby, and did not really receive the attention and training she deserved. Blessed with size and heft – she’s over 100 lbs easy, she quickly became too unruly for the owners to bother with, and she did as she pleased. What she pleased to do is go over to my in-laws house and hang out with their departed dog Kelsey. To accomplish this she would vigilante out of her yard and come over to hang out with her friend. They had two older animals at the time, and had less than no desire to take on a new boisterous dog, one that was very smart, but also untrained and full of energy. But the universe and Mysqua worked their magic and one day the owners came over to see if they’d consider adopting her. And eventually they did. They trained her and walked her and shed a ton of attention on her, and she is a wonderful addition to the family. No fool she, she knew how to pick ‘em.

Mysqua

Her buddy Kelsey

But the overarching point of these two posts is not just to showcase an amazing place to live for those lucky enough to do so, but also to lament to the fact that our cities can be such ugly and soul sucking places. And they don’t have to be. The world teems with examples of cities and towns that do very well with urban planning and create beautiful places to live and work, and intermix nature into the desing instead of paving her over with concrete. There is something in us that yearns for natural places, the beauty of the wild, and something in us gets restored when we commune with it.  Even most vacations are centered around nature – tropical beaches, green golf grounds, rugged ski hills. We head out to the parks and campgrounds. When we go there we come back recharged and refreshed. It’s a shame not to be able to live in such a way that a gorgeous view greets you in the morning.  My garden as fun as it is simply does not compare, or it is not enough to fulfill that urge. So I drive to places like the Kootenay Lake and get sad when I have to say goodbye. Do you have a special spot that restores your soul? Are you lucky enough to live in one?

Going back

 PS I also wanted to mention a blog by an area photographer which showcases the incredible beauty of the area, and whose wildlife, unlike myself, he consistently manages to capture.

http://kootenay-lake.ca/

One of my favorite places in the world is my in-laws house. Nestled on a quiet rocky shoreline of the majestic Kootenay lake it is a strong visual reminder that nature heals. The incredible beauty of the area and laid back lifestyle of the citizens is such a contrast to our daily life that the six hour drive often feels like an intergalactic trip to a different planet. Calgary suffers badly from urban sprawl, with a foot print larger than New York and cookie-cutter neighborhoods popping up like mushrooms on the edges of the city. There are huge chunks of land set aside for parks, but the neighborhoods are still plagued with the sameness of new urban construction. We are close to the mountains, but the city itself firmly sits on the windswept prairie at a high altitude. Our summers are short, our vegetation is often dry and shriveled and the city is cloaked in shades of gray and brown and concrete as far as the eye can see.  So it makes sense that I am drawn to lush, green spaces, with colors and life and water and gardening seasons that begin before June.

For me the magic begins at Creston. A small mountain town just 11 km from the US border, it consists of a main street flanked by an old grain elevator, an ever changing plethora of shops and restaurants and many organic farms. The highway curves through town and dips down to edge the hill that overlooks the farming valley below, with the mountain range on your right. The road to the house is a drivers delight – tight turns with banked corners, hardly any traffic, and amazing scenery. Steep russet cliff walls and wild raspberries lining the edges. Here and there the trees lining the road drop off revealing amazing views of the deep glacier fed lake.

There is also the local oddity called the Glass House. Built entirely from embalming fluid bottles by an eccentric David Brown, it’s a full small house with a castle feel to it, and surrounded by flowers.  He drove around the country collecting the bottles and you can visit the house during summer hours to reflect on that endeavor.

Every few kilometers there is a spot to pullover, take a break and enjoy the scenery, or dip down to the water. The views are simply amazing, tranquil and quite often you’ll see deer, foxes or bears ambling along to get a drink at the water’s edge. But never when you have a camera, that’s a rule they have. There is even a lovely wooden bridge you get to cross, although as we speak they are tearing it down and replacing it with concrete. I personally feel that all wooden bridges should be preserved, but it’s likely the maintenance is steep. After about fifty kilometers you arrive at the sharp turnoff, so small and steep you’ll likely miss it, and reach the green fence which you have to get out of the car to open. The air is amazing here, piney and fresh and intensely sweet with greenery.

Driftwood beach

Sand beach

Farewell wooden bridge!

Part 2 – tomorrow.