Yoga on the lake, s'mores and blueberry picking!

Just returned from an entire week at a cottage on the lake, without internet access OR cell phone service. Yep, there are places still that do not have cell phone reception. It was bliss.

Highlights included Yoga on the dock in the mornings while the mist was still drifting up and away from the lake, a campfire with yummy s'mores, a quiet canoe ride, the quiet and clean air surrounded by trees, water, mosquitoes and birds. The entire week we watched the trees quietly turn from green to red and welcomed Fall with acceptance and connection.

Sadly we forgot our camera (and I forgot to bring the runes to bless them near the lake- but no worries Roseanne and Aradia, they will be blessed by the Atlantic Ocean after tomorrow's Yoga in the Park!). So here are a few pictures taken by my mom of the cottage over the past two years:

 

 The living 'room' area. All the woodwork, including the actual structure, cedar walls, window coverings even that little coffee table, bedframes, vanity in the bathroom, kitchen cabinets... all made by my dad over the years. This space has been a labour of love for our family over 25 years. We may have all the conveniences now, but there was a time when we had to run outside to pee in the outhouse... lol. This picture was taken in the wintertime if you take a peek outside.

 The view of the cottage last autumn in October.

 The view from the front yard last Fall. This lake is fed by two rivers on both ends and is beautifully clean and home to fish, birds and a rare pink flower that only grows in this region.

A fun highlight was blueberry picking. Wild blueberries (lowbush) taste SO much better than highbush or cultivated blueberries. Usually my parents pick 10-20lbs of wild blueberries every year, and this year instead of mooching we decided to pick our own this year. Unfortunately, the wild blueberry fields aren't being cared for like they used to, with regular burnings every few years. As a result, no wild blueberries were to be found and we planned a trip to a high bush u-pick in Yarmouth.

Before this, Andrew and I discovered some actual true wild blueberries out in the woods on a wheeler (ATV) path behind our cottage. We barely picked a cup of blueberries, and I kept an eye out for black bears as we picked, but they were YUMMY. Totally worth the deer tick that hung a ride and was found commando crawling on the bathroom floor (ick!!).

 (cell phone photo of me holding Grand-mère's blueberry basket filled with berries. Amazingly, Grand-mère used that basket to pick berries and now my mom uses it. It was perfect, very sturdy and holds exactly 10lbs of berries. I felt so connected knowing that generations of 'd'Eon' women have used that basket, picking berries for jams and preserves)

The highbush berries kinda resembled a winery- rows of wiry bushes with plump blue berries hidden beneath green leaves. The owners of the u-pick were sketchy to say the least, an unhappy dusty farmer's couple straight out of an American-type movie. A sign claimed that the berries were 'organic' as in 'not sprayed' while you had to walk by a pile of garbage waiting to be burned on your way to the bushes.... lol. Classy!

Out of a quick 30min pick we got 15lbs of blueberries easy- and my parents were both quite disappointed with the limited berries available! I now have 10 lbs of frozen blueberries that we'll make blueberry jam (hopefully with champagne!) and that I can eat with my morning granola!

All in all, it is nice to be back in the city where I don't have to gas up my car 3x a week (typically it's a two week gas up for me!) and the farmer's market is around the corner. That said, when Andrew and I build our 'eco' forever home (someday!) we'll definitely be near the ocean and out of the city.

Happy Labour Day Weekend!


article and photograph copyright of ecoyogini.blogspot.com