The Bumble Bee and the Crocus

 Good morning! A few weeks ago, we went to scout out some more swimming holes. We are hopeful that Rose(!) can come visit us this summer and... she is an absolute fish in the water... sooo... off we go!

But then... we saw this little clump of white in a sea of weeds and other native plants... hmmm...

It's a little clump of white crocuses!!! Awww... they must have been dumped here at some point but they are going strong. But...

Do you see what we see?? That little black thing in a crocus?? 

What could it be?

It looks kind of fluffy...

With some yellow fluff too....??

Can you see it!!??

It's a bumblebee!!!! Sleeping in the crocus!!! Maybe that crocus is a Bee Bed & Breakfast?? Also known as Triple B?

Last year we found a bumblebee napping in a salmonberry flower... but wait... do you see the flower to the right of our slumbering bee?

It's another bee!!! OK, this is a multi-plex Bee B&B....

Apparently this is quite common for bumblebees who don't have hives to go back to... especially male bumblebees... Sleeping in the flower is warmer than sleeping anywhere else. So cool!

Anyhow... back to our hike... we are almost at The Edge...

TO BE CONTINUED

Blanching Assembly Line

 You know what they say... a watched pot never boils!!

Oh, hello! We are waiting for the double boiler to reach boiling so we can blanche the stinging nettles...

While we wait, let us show you what else we did... we made a choco-zucchini-walnut loaf... yum!!!

It's got chocolate chips and walnuts in there... soooo yummy!

We don't think it's going to last long in this household... not with Cocoa Beanie here!

"Chocolate... I need chocolate!!!"

Alright... we are blanching... for about 2 minutes or so... and then...

.... toss them into cold water...

Then fish them out and squeeze excess moisture out and...

Then dice them up... and...

Put them in baggies for freezing... Rinse and Repeat!

At the end of about a dozen batches we are left with the blanching water which is more or less nettle broth now...

See... it's a super dark green/black colour and... we are going to save that (all 12+cups of it) and freeze it for use in soups and what-not later.

It'll come in very handy at some point.

Right then... time for some choco-zucchini loaf with... Cocoa?? Hellooooo??? Cocoooooaaa???

I heard a very faint...
"mrrffff!!!"

Is he already eating choco zucchini loaf??

Oh my goodness no!!! He's in a ziploc with stinging nettles??? 

Oh... whew... nope... just got buried in the assembly line of baggies!

We are both ready for some choco zucchini loaf, let me tell you!!

The Great Stinging Nettle Hunt

Hullo! We are still out at the colliery site from last time but... we aren't really here to look at coal structures. Nope, we are really here to find some stinging nettles!

We saw some here last fall and... spring is the time to pick them, blanch them and freeze them as greens!

Hmmm... 2000 lbs... I think we are safe...

We probably don't even weight 2 lbs together!

Oh... wow... the trilliums are out!! They are super pretty...

They are the provincial flower of Ontario...

And we also found this flower but... it has us completely stumped...

It's got several cute flowers... with almost a pink shading in them...

and strange long leaves...

And... here we go!!! Stinging nettles... careful... don't touch...

Mama brought some gloves and even through them she got some stinging!

So many nettles... when you blanche them, the sting goes away and then you can just use them like spinach in various dishes...

They also make a great tea...

And... the skunk cabbage is out too... so pretty... stinky, but pretty!

 

A Piece of Coal Mining History

Hullo!!! Today we are on another adventure... to the Morden Colliery. I was out this way last fall and... the old concrete pithead and tipple were covered in scaffolding for reconstructive work but... it's all done now...

Oooh... ahhh... apparently this is the last standing concrete pithead/tipple in North America. There is a wooden one in Alberta but out here, anything built of wood has long since decayed. Good thing they used reinforced concrete when they built this in 1913.

You can see the new bits of concrete where they reinforced they old stuff...

And here you can see some of the old rebar showing through the old concrete...

This is really cool that they got money to save this piece of history...

It would look even better with blue sky as a backdrop but... we have clouds today.

This tells a bit about the history of the mine... apparently it opened in 1913 and went bankrupt a few years later in 1921...

There's all sorts of old building foundations around here too... but the trees have done quite a number on them.

Oooh... ahhhhh.... where is that blue sky?

I'm going to guess these were not stuffie alcoves but places for floor joists...

We found some violets too! In Cocoa Beanie's colours...

Purple to match one side of his vest and...

Pink to match the other side of the vest! How's that for colour coordination...

We also found a stair case to nowhere...

And a monster crack in a foundation...

And... more violets! Even some white ones... nice. Although... I feel like something is poking my butt....

Yup... what does that look like to you?

Uh-huh... a shot gun casing... in a park. Hmph...

No shooting the wildlife in a public park!! Hmph....