We had house guests until the end of August (Hannah and Jacob, our volunteers from Utah) and they were a big help. They also gave us an excuse to be tourists for a couple of days! We visited the Gaelic College, where we browsed tartans and toured the weaving room. Then we took them to the Lobster Galley in St. Ann's for dinner, where Hannah sampled her first lobster: she loved it. Here is a picture of the newlyweds on the beach at Margaree Harbour:
As well, we drove up the coast to Gampo Abbey, which is a working Tibetan Buddhist Monastery just north of the National Park. It was really interesting, and we were lucky enough to be able to take meditation instruction with one of the monks. As Hannah and Jacob are Mormons, I wondered how they would react, but they were very open-minded and joined in the meditation session with everyone else.
Of course, eventually we had to get some work done! So Jacob went with Paul to learn how to use a chainsaw, and how to split firewood (important skills for a young husband), and Hannah went with me to do some long-overdue weeding of the vegetable garden, to pick raspberries and blackcurrants, pick herbs for drying, and to learn how to plant out tomato seedlings. She also helped me split and transplant a couple of old, under-achieving rhubarb plants. Here is Hannah with the baby tomatoes:
I'm pleased to report that they are now two feet tall and giving us baskets full of lovely big tomatoes!
Hannah after a long, exhausting day. Never let it be said that we don't work our volunteers hard here at Willow Retreat!
The guys also got along really well with Molly, who was pleased as punch to make two new friends. Who wouldn't love this kind of attention?
It was great to have some help around the place, and especially from two young people who were so willing and cheerful. We even broke open the marshmallows around the evening fire!
After Hannah and Jacob left for home, it was time for me to get busy preserving all the lovely ripe fruit that Hannah had helped me pick. I made raspberry jam, blackcurrant jam, blackberry jam, oregano jelly and lemon balm jelly. Later, I tried my hand at making marmalade, but it turned out runny, so I have to re-make it. The herb jellies came out well though. Next year I'll have to beg, borrow or otherwise acquire some mint, as it's one thing I'm missing in the herb garden.
Herbs hanging to dry. From left to right, basil, two bunches of winter savory, St. John's Wort, and oregano.
A mystery herb, which I still haven't been able to identify. It has oval-shaped, wavy-edged leaves, purple flowers, and smells like apples. It is not apple mint though. Anyone?
Here is some oregano after being dried. Just crumble the leaves from the plant and discard any flowers and stems. It's now ready to go into an air-tight jar for storage.
Speaking of which, I repurposed an empty cable spool to make a herbs & spices carousel. Here is what I started with:
I then painted it with white primer:
When that was dry, I used green paint from a spray-can (it gives a much better finish on cardboard than a brush could) and left it overnight to dry, then painted the lettering using acrylic paint and a small brush:
Et voila! :)
Of course, Molly supervised the entire proceedings:
Okay, I think that's it for now. More to come!
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