The Truth About Papa

Greetings Earthings:

Hee hee!  I am in a funny mood today.  I think the extreme cold finally snapped my brain!  Thank goodness for the reprieve this week!  Mr Wilbur and I have managed several brain clearing, sanity making walks this week.  We even had the Little's out for a couple of days, which is always a lovely distraction for us two.  Nothing brings your house alive like 2 tweens ramping up the energy levels!

As a couple of sustainable living aficionados, one needs to have the desire to do as much as you can for yourself.  So, aside from canning, gardening, preserving, etc., one must pursue other means of self support to make you more of a producer and less a consumer.  

Papa has always had a love of gardening.  We began collecting seeds several years ago.  Every year he starts about 1000-1200 bedding plants - this is for our personal use only.  He loves to try new vegetables and instead of buying me flowers, he plants 100's and 100's of bulbs and seed starts, to bring our property alive during our growing season.  His love of gardening spills out throughout the entire property.  It is fabulous out here in the summer.  From brimming pots to flower beds, to his two vegetable gardens and greenhouse, his orchards and pond, it is like living in an oasis.

A picking from Papa's Garden.

One of the many pots and barrels he makes every year, all from his own started seeds and bulbs.

A glimpse of one of Papa's Gardens, about July 2018.

He also also loves making wine.  Like many wine makers, he started with the kits.  This was about 20 years ago.  The kits were OK, but he was unhappy with not being able to tweak them to make them more palatable for his own tastes.  So, several years ago, he began to pursue quite earnestly, his own home brews from the fruits grown on our property and fruit purchased in season.  Our orchard is still young, so his ability to produce entirely from our own produce is still a ways off yet.

One wine he really is interested in trying is true grape wines.  But grape vines are expensive to buy and take a long time to produce.  With this, he decided to try to propagate his own grape vines from his own stock already growing and producing on our property.  Earlier this winter, he did some research as to just how to do this.  After many days of searching YouTube videos, reading articles, and exploring search engines, he came upon a couple of methods he was interesting in trying.  Well, low and behold, we have Valiant Grape Vines growing in our house, ready to be transplanted out this Spring.  Yippee! 

Valiant Grape Vine propagated and doing well.

Papa's wine from the 2018 season:  Raspberry, Blueberry and a newly started Grapefruit in the small carboy.

Blueberries purchased at a market and our very own Raspberries in the Raspberry Wine.  Look at how clear they are!

Papa is also a very accomplished carpenter.  He has built many things over the years, from barns, to decks, to furniture, and even much of our home and all of the other construction on our property.  His most recent projects include a bridge for his pond in the lower garden and a set of wooden spoons for me.  He loves to make Seasonal yard decorations and is working on a spring series for this year.  Every year he adds more to his collection.  They add a touch of whimsy and are great conversation starters.

Christmas yard decorations.

Christmas train for our front gate.

Don's Bridge for his pond during the designing and construction stage.

Wooden spoons ready to try out.

He has no problem finding something to keep himself occupied.  Like me, he enjoys the Alberta Winters as a quiet time to pursue other interests.  Our yard and garden do take up our three seasons that are not winter, so it is nice to have some down time to do the things we both love doing.  And this includes enjoying a nice pot of coffee and some fresh baking, while we plot and scheme another gardening season.  

Freshly perked Coffee and . . .

baking while we contemplate future projects.

And that, is the Truth About Papa.

Enjoy your day and keep warm.

Until next time,

Gremlynn