I have arrived safely in Revelstoke. The weather was mild and the highways relatively clear on my drive up from Vanouver this past weekend, which put my mind at ease for not having any winter tires or chains in my possession should the alipine passes get a little hairy. However, when I pulled into Revelstoke, there was a man on the highway stopping everyone to inform us that the highway between Revelstoke and Golden was closed due to avalanche and slide hazards. Luckily I did not need to go further that day. However, when I leave Revelstoke to drive to Calgary, I will need to surmount Roger's Pass, which was apparently the last hurtle that had to be overcome to connect eastern and western Canada and is still considered one of the most dangerous parts of highway in Canada. Great. I'll deall with that obstacle when I get to it, but first, life in Revelstoke.
I have been here less than a day and already I feel home again. Home being a lifestyle, a way of living and a way of seeing your daily existence. I live in the basement (on a single foam mattress) of a cabin style home with my friend Nadja and her two roomates that are here right now, Eric and Connie. Nadja will be starting her organic farm here, and Eric and Connie run the dog sledding business.
The home is in the middle of the property. In the back are twenty or so dogs in a paddock that each have their own snoopy-style home that they live in. It was pooring rain yesterday (which hopefully means dumping snow in the alpine) so the dogs were all hiding in their little homes. Today when I got the farm tour, I got to meet the dogs. There are 22 in total. Most are rescued dogs from other operations and all come with their own emotional baggage and quircks. Five of the animals though were bred at the farm and are less spastic than the others. The dogs are: Emily, Chevy, Oreo, Hawk, Pam, Orange, Sapphire, Lily, Jasper, Jake, Chaos, Flip, Nibbs, Tiny, Penny, Keeno, Griz, Spock and the pups, Bandid, Pepper and Gary. I can recognize most of them, but mainly when they are sitting in order at their dog houses. That'll change soon.
Today I worked with Nadja raking leaves and fall debris to pile onto sheet mulch (namely cardboard) which we then sprinkled with lime and manure. She is hoping that this mix will decompose into great soil to grown food in the next five months, and I will be interested to see the success rate of the various permaculture methods she is employing. Though she has access to a lot of organic matter on the property, she still had to buy her manure and straw. For a dumptruck of manure it cost Nadja $200.00 - it came from one of the local horse stables. When raking, we also raked up a few bones as the dogs survive on donated meet and bones from the local game butchers.
I am really eager to be learning again, to be living with positive young people that are making their dreams come true. I have a feeling I am going to know a lot more about dogs, dog sledding, dog sled guiding, cutting dog food, permaculture, herbal tea blends, skiing, touring and Revelstoke! What fun :)
Pictures to come soon.
This is Eric with Orange, a ten year old sled dog that is very shy and you can only pet when he stand at your eye level on his dog house. Eric has made identical dog houses for all his dogs.
This is Chaos giving me a big kiss. He's the most 'disney' looking of all the sled dogs.
Sled dogs are really mutts. They are part Husky so that they have large paws and thick fur for the winter conditions, and often part Greyhound or other fast dog in order to be as fast as they are. You can see Jasper here even has an eye that is half brown and half blue.
This is my new home until mid-late December. The two-story house is a typical country cabin with a wood stove in the basement to help keep us warm (and luckily it is right near my room too). In the fron you can see the truck that allthe dogs are transported in to go sledding.
Making tea. On the first day Connie was working on putting some Christmas gifts together for her family, so she and Nadja assembled a collection of herbs and flowers that Nadja has dried from the summer harvest to make some warming, natural and healing tea blends.