Sophie and Rowan in Canada

Friday 1 December

Nan’s nephew Andrew was going back to Saturna this morning (he’d been staying in Victoria) so he collected us at 7.40am and we got the ferry to Saturna. The road from the Saturna ferry terminal was impassable because of the snow and broken power lines, so we were met in a boat and taken round to Saturna Beach. Jim, Jacques’ father, was at the beach to meet us in his tractor. One of their neighbours happened to be there too (with a 4x4 with snow chains on the tyres), so he gave us a lift to the farm while Jim took our bags on the tractor trailer.

We had tea in the farmhouse with Jacques, Jim, Lorraine (Jacques’ mother) and Tommy (Jacques’ brother, who lives in another house on the farm), then went to the log cabin we were to stay in. It’s one main room and two bedrooms, with an outside toilet. There’s running cold water but no hot water or electricity. For heat there’s a wood stove, for light there are kerosene lamps and candles, and for cooking there’s a propane cooker. There is a very beautiful view down to the sea, and we were pleased to find that the bed was piled high with blankets.

We went back to the farmhouse for lunch (the electricity was still off but they cook on their wood stove so can manage without it). There are three border collies here – Jock who is 11, Carrie who is 6 or 7, and Alice who is 4 months. They are all lovely dogs: playful, entertaining, friendly, intelligent and obedient which seems typical for the breed as far as we can tell.

After lunch we went up the track a little way to where a big tree had fallen across it. A lot of trees and branches came down in the snow. Tommy and Jim cut the logs with chainsaws (Jim is pretty handy with a chainsaw despite being 88) and Rowan tried his hand at splitting the rounds with a big axe. After a bit of coaching Rowan began to get the hang of it. It was incredibly tiring work. You have to look at the very centre of the log for small cracks, then start at the edge of the log making cuts that point inwards to the centre in the direction of the cracks, also avoiding any knots. Accuracy with the axe counts for a lot. We also built bonfires to burn the logs and smaller branches that couldn’t be used for lumber (they have a sawmill) or firewood on the stoves. One of the trees that Tommy started to cut was a juniper tree. The wood was purple/pink and very aromatic – it had a lovely spicy sweet smell. It’s a good moth repellent too.

When we got back to the cabin after dinner in the farmhouse (they have a generator on in the evenings), it was cold as our fire had gone out and it was below freezing outside (the water in the toilet was frozen solid).

Saturday 2 December

It was freezing cold in the cabin still when we got up, so we got the stove lit again. After breakfast we went with Jacques to feed the horses and one group of sheep which are due to be slaughtered soon. They live outdoors all year round but there’s not much grass growth in winter, and at the moment the grass is all under snow. Then we went back to the bonfires, relit them and carried on tidying the track and fields – picking up branches and dragging them to the fires. After lunch we raked up some of the smaller branches and put them on the bonfires. The trees falling had made an incredible mess – broken branches everywhere.

As it was a nice day (the sun came out in the afternoon and it got warmer) Jacques suggested we walk to Taylor Point (the east end of the property – about 2 miles from the farmhouse which is at the West end). We did, passing through a grove of huge Douglas Firs (there are firs all over the farm). Next to Taylor Point (which is owned by Parks Canada) there is a beautiful beach. The sun was setting as we got there, and we could see the mountains in Washington state over the water glowing pink. It was an incredible place – this certainly is our ideal spot to have a farm. It was dark by the time we got back and our boots and feet were wet through.


Sunday 3 December

Breakfast, because it was Sunday, was pancakes with bacon and maple syrup which was lovely. The power had come back on sometime in the morning or previous night, as we discovered at 10am when Jim threw the switch that changed between generator and mains. We fed the sheep and horses, then did some more branch raking and fire building.  After lunch, Jacques looked in the caravan which had been intended to be our home, and fixed a water leak. We couldn’t decide whether we wanted to go into the caravan (which had electricity and a shower) or stay in our rustic cabin and live the simple life. We decided to try and keep the stove alight all day and see if we were any warmer, as neither of us wanted to give up the view and the cosy lamplit atmosphere. Jacques found us both some wellies, which was nice as our boots hadn’t dried out properly since we got here.

We did a little more work on the bonfires after that, and Sophie went back to try and relight the stove (it only kept burning for about 1-2 hours) but couldn’t, as we didn’t have any dry kindling. Jacques came and lit the stove, gave us some of their kindling and showed us the best way to light it (scrunch newspaper, use dry kindling, wait for the kindling to get going before adding a small log of heartwood) and keep it going (open it up for a couple of minutes, then add bark – the bark burns slowly and forms lots of coals). We walked to one of Jacques’ neighbours’ houses to check whether she had left anything electrical on. The house had a stunning view over the water.

When we got back we walked back to our cabin, and Alice followed us and came in which was nice, as she usually hangs around the house with the other dogs. The stove was burning very well – so well that we managed to partially melt the LED lamp we’d borrowed.

We went back to the farmhouse to have a shower before dinner. Tommy was there, as was Bob (a weekend neighbour who is moving in to one of the adjacent lots). Over the delicious dinner we had a conversation about the internet and blogs, which we promised to record in our blog in a self-referential way.

When we got back at 9:30 the stove had gone out (but not too long before). Rowan lit it successfully with our new supply of dry kindling and we went to bed quite a lot warmer than before.