Amazing speed stacker!

The peeing tree

After I saw this, I dropped the chainsaw and ran for the camera...

Wood-stock

With the many loads of firewood we got, we ran out of storage space and had to come up with some extra room. So we built this hopefully weatherproof, tent-like cube and stacked it all in there. By the way, did I thell you the story of the flat tire...
It happened in the middle of the forest. I already cut all the logs and was ready to load. It's just that the truck was so far away and the logs were rather on the heavy side. So I decided to bring the vehicle as close as possible and started backing up towards the logging area when I heard this Pffffffffffffffffffff!
With no spare tire on board I had no choice but to walk back home. I called my landlord and had to report the incident so he could recover his truck again. The flat tire story is no novelty, since it happened to me last winter during plowing the snow. And this was not my fault either, had he put on proper tires with the right amount of air.

The figureskating chicken

A fairly unusual event for our chickens, since they never saw snow or ice before. At first they felt somewhat uncomfortable with the white stuff underneath their claws. But they are getting used to novelties fairly quick and enjoy the slide on the ice.

The craziest Birthday card ever!

I think we have a new artist on our hands. We might save this card for the future, just in case he becomes famous. Thank you Sean and Josianne!

Our Wedding...

...we attended in September of Sara and Ken outside Kelowna, was held at the Gallagher's Canyon Golf & Country Club. The ceremony was held on a little platform next to the Canyon with a stunning view, surrounded by flying golfballs. It was our first Canadian wedding ever and we really enjoyed the shortness of the ceremony, since there were no washrooms on site....aaahhh! I think we would have kicked out of the golf course, if we tried to pee behind some tree.

The first dozen

The wait is finally paying off. Last week we got our first dozen of eggs. Every couple days, more hens start laying and soon we will have up to 31 eggs per day. Of course the landlord will get his share as well. They are tasting soooo yummy and the yolks have this rich yellow colour - just amazing!

The silence is back

We had a great summer with lots of visitors. First up were Nicole's parents for an extended stay at the lodge. We are pretty sure, Adrian brought home some unforgettable memories of Nickel Plate lake and the mosquito attacks. My cousin Kevin was here for a wedding in Vancouver and came up for dinner one night. Thank's again for the booze! Of course we overbooked, like professional hoteliers and convinced Daniela and Paul to stay an additional day in Penticton. However, their visit was still toooo brief, but Daniela was soooo eager to get back to work... we just had to let them go. For the last 10 days I shared accomodation with TWO Nicole's. We took her to Vancouver for an extended weekend and did lots of shopping, as we always do. She helped us process all the fruits we got from Ruth & Walter. Now we stocked up on jam and compote for the colder months.
Nicole made sure, she gets up to the house the coming winter and bought a 2006 IMPREZA with a hatchback. In the meantime we are still trying to sell her Äntli for a better price then the trade-in would have been. No pressure....

Orofino's 1.6 Mile Dinner - when 100 Miles is just too far!

With all the talk of the 100 mile diet, Orofino winery owners John and Virginia Webber decided to take it to a whole other level last year with their first 1.6 Mile Dinner held at their vineyard in the picturesque Similkameen Valley. The event was such a huge success that for the past two nights they have offered the same experience again with Chef Darin Paterson who is the chef/owner of the iconic Bogner’s (previously Granny Bogner’s) in Penticton.

With guests from Vancouver, the Okanagan as well as many neighbors from the surrounding farms of the Similkameen Valley, Chef Paterson put on an outstanding meal with only ingredients (sans salt and pepper) found in a 1.6 mile radius of the winery.

The menu included delectable dishes such as:

Double Hung Jersey Milk Farm Fresh Cheese - Rhubarb Confit with Plucked Greens, Honeycomb and Fresh Shucked Peas
Orofino 2004 Chardonnay

Chicken Leg Confit & Butter Poached Breast - Shaved “Cull” Slaw, Sun Dried Cherries
Orofino Pinot Noir 2006

Spit Roasted Rosemary Merlot Cab Lamb - Warm Siegle Potato Salad, Ugly Sous-Vide Swiss Chard, 02 Foot Stomped Riesling Zabaglione
Orofino Merlot Cabernet 2005

Grilled Peaches - Apricot Sorbetto & Roasted Cracked Almonds
Orofino Late Harvest Muscat 2007

Some of the highlights in the ingredients included homemade butter made using the Jersey milk to poach the chicken, the dressing for the potatoes was made using the chicken fat and the roasted almonds came from the trees on the Orofino property (some of the only almond trees in the province). Chef Paterson was also very passionate and shared the stories of each dish included why he chose to use “cull” vegetables, and where he sourced all the ingredients for each dish.

The weather was threatening last night so the dinner was held in Orofino’s famous straw bale winery building which was very cozy and full of dozens of very happy people.

For pictures of the event visit: OROFINO 1.6 MILE DINNER

Fire in the Okanagan

The pieces are coming together

Day by day, we work hard to finish all the projects. Today we put up the new fridge / freezer. It was boiling hot and the metallic surfaces heated up pretty good. It reminded me of Magda from the movie "something about Mary" getting the right sunteint with the tinfoil around her face. The new tent also made it thanks to DHL, so we are getting ready to shake up the weekly farmers market with home-made pasta, icecream, vegetables from the Bogner's farm and other delicious products from the restaurant.

Chicken Little in Penticton

The little Chickens arrived and are doing well. It is probably the heat of the lamp, that makes them behave so weird...

Congratulations to the Bucher Family

March 26th 2009, shortly after 2p.m. at the Beaulieu hospital in Geneva, little Pierre could not wait to see the light of the world. And here he is, 49cm (19,29in) tall and 3,28kg (7,23lb) strong.

All the best to Gilles, Siata and Lyna, who now has a little baby brother.

I wett I wär en Teddybär

Last night we had an unexpected visitor. He was going for the tinfoil where we wrapped our shrimp and salmon to barbeque last week. We don't keep our regular garbage outside, just the clean plastic and aluminum. A big mistake, as we found out. The bear took off with one of the bags (of course, the one with the tinfoil in it). In the meantime we collected all the waste he left behind and took it inside. A couple of minutes later, he came back for dessert. But no luck this time. He sneaked around the house and finally gave up the hunt and dissapeared into the darkness. With all the excitement happening, we had a hard time to go to bed and calm down this night.

Digg'n and smok'n

Last week we prepared Darin's property to plant 90kg of potatoes. Getting the rows in a line, putt'n compost on top an till the whole mix into the ground. Then digg'n the wholes and throw in the potatoes with a cup of organic fertilizer and more compost. Finally closing the wholes and worry about irrigation... Darin had to rent a machine to dig the trenches, where we put in the pipes. Michael, my co-worker and sommelier was building the smoke-house, which we placed out in the field where we will be smok'n our meats and vegetables in the near future. At the restaurant we started our planting beds with the so called square foot gardening. This is a method out of the States, where a different plant grows in every square foot. It is much more compact and efficient then conventional row-gardening, easy to maintain and uses less water. All this hard work makes hungry and ends in our traditional sandwich-lunches.

Dance Artistico

Last week, the Mission Dance Centre had it's annual spring show with Dance Artistico. The first half was all about Alice in Wonderland. A performance were all the students of the school played a role, even the little ones. The second half was a potpurri of different choreographies with a piece out of the Giselle ballet, Swing, Contemporary and of course Flamenco performances.

My first hit

Living in a rural area might be nice, but has also certain disadvantages. On my way to the Restaurant, I hit a deer that jumped right in front of my car. Luckily for the deer, it was killed instantly. What surprised me was that the police did not investigate any further. They only wanted to know the location of the deer so they could phone the conservation officer to take care of it. My next call went to the insurance company. That only took me five minutes to get my claim number which I need for the auto-body shop. Now I have a so called "curtesy car" until mine is fixed again. Too bad it has got these stickers on it!

Surprising return

After a long day of aircrafts, terminals and packaged meals, we are glad to be home again. The snow has melted and the chicken coop is half way done - what a nice surprise! Our landlord was quite busy during our absence. The driveway is also fixed in certain areas and one part is even being rerouted for easyer access.

When the mountain calls

Mt. Baldy is one of the smaller ski areas in the Okanagan. It is located 37km outside Oliver and has 2 chairlifts and a magic carpet. If only they had a little more snow. When I was up there, only one of the lifts was running and the downhill options were somehow limited. The terrain is excellent for beginners. I rather found it a little boring...
But see for yourself...

Disaster cleanup

It always happens, when you expect it the least. Last tuesday a waterpipe broke at the restaurant and set the whole kitchen under water. The door was frozen shot, so the force of a sledgehammer was needed, in order to get into the house. The water must have been flowing for several hours. The kitchen lights hit a fridge when they fell off the ceiling. The water even got down to the cellar. Everything had to be packed and transported out of the kitchen and the whole cellar had to be emptied by a disaster clean-up company. The restaurant will be closed for another month for reconstruction. We will use the time to figure out a game plan for our catering and our on site gardening as well as the growth of the company. At least no one got hurt, exept the insurance company.

Can't do it better, but longer...

Thanks to some very nice people, we still get the good stuff from Switzerland once in a while. And we really enjoy every bite of it!
We get really lucky these days, because the fog stays beneath us and so we actually have a view. But for the people, living in the mountains, this is no news. But someone from Zurich might get a little jealous...

winterwonderland

Take a walk through our backyard with Nicole...