The Homestone

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Critter Count

A picture we took tonight at about 8pm from the porch. Here is one of 83 swallows we just counted perched along the fence. And some notes from David tonight at 1:45 am . . . Wildlife count - About 10 oclock this morning the mated pair of redtailed hawks flew all the way across the meadow, the lead hawk burdened down by something almost larger than he/she could carry, followed by the excited mate all the way back to the nest high in the tree on the bench above our house. Next a great blue heron flew down the creek landing on the old bridge about a hundred yards from the kitchen window. In the late afternoon a doe quietly browsed her way down the creek that runs by the house, totally unconcerned about our presence or the presence of our dogs. All this amidst a constant flurry of swallows, hummingbirds and blackbirds punctuated with occasional giant circle of an eagle which called a temporary all quiet to the meadow several times today. The heron appeared twice more during the day floating lazily down the creek looking for lunch then dinner. And that's just what we noticed in our busy day.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

It's a good life.

Welcome to the Homestone. David and I (Nicola) live very remote in the Cariboo-Chicotin area of British Columbia. We live in a kind of surrealist paradise that a friend described as 'our solar powered idyll'. We live off the power grid and without telephone. We rely on satellite internet for all of our communications. David's handcrafted wood rings have connected us with folks all over the world - people we are proud to call friends and because of our remote lifestyle, we don't see our family as often as we would like. "The Homestone" seems a good way for us to stay in touch with friends and family.

We live a blessed and mostly uniteruppted life. It's just the two of us here and the things we do. Our nearest neighbour is 10 miles away down the old logging road that leads to town. Our nearest small town is an hour down that road.

Our life and our work is powered by the sun. We heat our home and our outbuildings with wood. We cook with wood and we work with wood. The wood we use in our home comes from the wind-fall and bug killed trees on our 50 acres.

The animals we caretake and those who wander wild through our lives are sometimes the only other creatures we see for months. Our sheep have names and distinct personalities; they give us the best fertilizer and create fire breaks around the property. And they give us their delightful lambs in the spring. The chickens (our baker's dozen of 13 hens) look after our kitchen scraps. They give us beautiful eggs in return. Our greenhouse and gardens produce a short but spectacular season of fresh organic vegetables.

We have each other and the work we do. We are blessed with wonderful families and friends. We thank God and all our angels. It's a good life.

Welcome to our world.