Happy Mothers' Day

Mothers' Day seems the perfect day to proclaim the Victoria Day weekend gatherette, May 19 - 22. All faeries and faerie friendly folke are invited to the land for work and party, play and fellowship, spirit and ritual. It's the weekend named for her, so here's to the big Mom: Queen Victoria herself!

The 24th of May is the Queen’s Birthday
If we don’t get a holiday, we’ll all run away!
- Newfoundland Verse -

Take a holiday!
Come to Amber Fox!
Dress like a queen!
(or just live like one)

On such a weekend, anything is possible.

Undercover Mission Exposed!

Gossip Starr, Diva of the Dirt

I dish all that's swish, so tune in for the scoop, the poop, the dope and the doop. Put all faeries on alert. I play no games. If you do the deed, then expect the read!
*************
Breaking News! Amber Fox's very own favorite lumber jack and chain saw guru has gone deep undercover as a super-dooper top secret secret agent to lure faeries to Amber Fox for the upcoming Victoria Day weekend gatherette. Be on the alert, especially in B.C. DivaCam paparazzi--we are everywhere, darlings--snapped the stealthy one at an Edmonton Oilers party, location Kelowna.
According to undisclosed sources at Mission: Impossible headquarters, Agent 002, aka "Ricky," has been assigned the task of luring Oilers Sergei Samsonovgoes and Dwayne Roloson to the gatherette by any means available. If the mission is successful, hunky hockey faeries will be on the land this coming weekend; if not, everyone is invited to wear jock straps and play with their own pucks and sticks.

Remember that Agent 002 is a master of disguise. Be ever vigilant! He could be anywhere!

As a Swish Dish public service, Gossip Starr provides these images of the stealthy one, but keep in mind that he can assume any appearance and may be difficult to spot. If you should see this super-dooper top secret secret agent, report your findings in Comments below.

Dandelion Wine, Anyone?

The laneway at Amber Fox is wild with dandelions.

Botanical: Taraxacum officinale (WEBER)
Family: N.O. Compositae

There must be thousands. They say you can tell if someone likes butter by holding a dandelion under his chin and seeing how much pollen sticks. The more yellow, the more you like butter. Right now Amber Fox is dairy heaven. (Don't worry, cholesterol watchers, all recipes come from The Slenderella Cookbook.)

Dandelions are amazingly useful, and there's a great site called botanical.com, A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve, that tells you many ways to prepare them, both for medicine and food. On the menu at Amber Fox today is dandelion salad and flower fritters. We'll let you know how it turns out.

Some at Amber Fox are interested in wine of all kinds, and there's loads of information on The Winemaking Home Page. I like their slogan, "Dandelion wine is fermented sunshine."

It seems there are as many recipes for dandelion wine as there are winemakers. Here's one from the site that we may try.

* 3 qts dandelion flowers
* 1 lb white raisins
* 1 gallon water
* 3 lbs granulated sugar
* 2 lemons
* 1 orange
* yeast and nutrient

Pick the flowers just before starting, so they're fresh. You do not need to pick the petals off the flower heads, but the heads should be trimmed of any stalk. Put the flowers in a large bowl. Set aside 1 pint of water and bring the remainder to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the dandelion flowers and cover tightly with cloth or plastic wrap. Leave for two days, stirring twice daily. Do not exceed this time. Pour flowers and water in large pot and bring to a low boil. Add the sugar and the peels (peel thinly and avoid any of the white pith) of the lemons and orange. Boil for one hour, then pour into a crock or plastic pail. Add the juice and pulp of the lemons and orange. Allow to stand until cool (70-75 degrees F.). Add yeast and yeast nutrient, cover, and put in a warm place for three days. Strain and pour into a secondary fermentation vessel (bottle or jug). Add the raisins and fit a fermentation trap to the vessel. Leave until fermentation ceases completely, then rack and add the reserved pint of water and whatever else is required to top up. Refit the airlock and set aside until clear. Rack and bottle. This wine must age six months in the bottle before tasting, but will improve remarkably if allowed a year. [Adapted recipe from C.J.J. Berry's First Steps in Winemaking]

Hail the Conquering Hero!

Who would fall first...the tree, or Ricky?!

The picture tells the end of the tale, but this old elm was a hard one to take down. At first the plan was just to pull out a giant broken limb from a crook in the tree. It was late in the day, and the black flies were getting fierce.

Rope attached to truck and branch, we pulled...the rope growing slowly taut, then impossibly stretched, then the rear wheels of the truck digging ruts in the road, spinning gravel. Well, no go there, and so Ricky, trusty chain saw in hand, proceeds to attack the main trunk. He sawed a deep wedge on one side, then climbed over the fence to do the same on the other. That makes it sound easy, but elm is a hard wood.

Well, that tree stood there, held up by only two inches of wood at its center. The whole tree waved with a tiny push from Ricky, who beat a quick retreat on his escape path down the laneway. But still the tree stood. The truck sprang into action...the rope growing taut, the wheels spinning. Then the rope snapped. It sounded like a gun shot.

Ricky retied the rope. Then more saw. More pull with the truck. More saw. More pull with the truck. What was holding the damn thing up? And then on the last try--it's always the last try--it was falling in the rear view mirror, and Ricky was shouting, "Go! Go! Go!" Down it came with a crash, across the laneway at the gate. That part done, it was time to buck up the wood, to get it ready for splitting and for burning in the stove.

The only question is, Where are we going to put the "No Hunting" sign now that we've lost our post?

Apricots, of course

Oh thank the great faerie spirits, it wasn't a giant ground hog or even a mutant gopher digging all those holes.


It was Chip.

Seems Chip has been wanting a bit of fruit. He dug these holes and planted four trees.

Apricots! Now hold your breath, they maybe be ready for spring ...

next year!

The land did have an orchard at one time, at least some of those fruit trees remain today. The new trees will hopefully be joined by others, in perfect alignment, joining a new orchard at Amber Fox.

Mystery holes appear

What's going on, a giant ground hog, a mutant gopher on the loose?

A Bridge Not Too Far

One new place to think... the crossing near the erection serves both as “A Bridge Too Relief” and “A Bridge Too Contemplations.”

It is in fact, “A Bridge Not Too Far,” a place to sit, to take in the sweet smells, aromas, accepting contemplations sent forth, to wipe away the leftover that’s within.

or

it's just a good place to sit!

Thinking spots

Time out to think, here are a few places to do that here on The Land, aka Amber Fox.

These are but a few of them, plus many more you may have found and still more to be discovered.