Finished Planting, Started Cooking

Well my planting career is now officially over! (Although, everyone says that…multiple times it seems…). Monday I was on the van crew, and we headed out to a block with clay soil. The planting wasn’t great, but wasn’t terrible either. It was a hot day, but during my last bag-up a storm rolled in and it just POURED! It was awesome--that was the kind of rain I like to plant in!

Tuesday was another good day at the same block. The three rookie girls and I had to walk in to the back of the block, and since it had stormed the night before, it was a muddy walk! My boots are a lot harder to walk in when there’s 10 lbs of mud on each foot! So we took our time getting in our land after that….which I didn’t mind! The little things made me happy on Tuesday. I think I thanked God for each cloud that covered the sun, lol. I was also pretty stoked that Erica had an ipod I could borrow all day to drown out the sound of the bugs. And when the tree checker left wild flowers at my cache, I planted with a smile for the next half hour. (On the bus he said, “Yeah, chicks totally dig flowers”—he’s got me pegged). The end of the day was the best though—instead of having to walk back out to the bus, Jon picked up the 4 of us girls on the quad, with two hanging off the back, and two of us on the front. Then the bus stopped at the river beside the road so that we could jump in and cool off. Seriously—very few things make me happier than jumping in cold water after sweating buckets!

Wednesday I stayed at camp to do groceries, some baking, and to start cleaning the cook shack. It feels great to be back in the kitchen, and since I haven’t done a ton of cooking this past year (thanks to my wonderful husband who does it for me!) it’s been a real treat to cook for the planters. Since I start at 4 am, and the planters are working longs days, I have quite a bit of time during the day, so it’s a leisurely pace. I’ve gotten good reviews so far, and I’m excited for the stuff I’m making in the next few days too. I’ve had a couple requests, so I’m gonna attempt to re-create my “6k Surprise” dessert invention ...although I may have to rename it 4k Surprise this time. It’s also been chill because there’s a lot less planters, since it’s mid-July and people need to get home. Sometimes it looks like this contract will never end as the crew keeps getting smaller and smaller. I’ve decided not to book a ticket home until I know for sure that there are only one day’s trees left. Hopefully that’ll be Monday, and Tuesday I’ll fly home. We’ll see I guess!

Well, I should go check on the lasagna—here’s hoping it’s a hit!

PB Saturday

Saturday was a great day! At one point, I was actually smiling in my piece. That is rare. In the morning the crew was split into two groups--one in the van, one on the bus. (Sidenote--why do you say IN a van, but ON a bus? You get INto both and sit ON seats in both...). Anyways, I was on the bus with all rookies, except Brandon, one vet. We were pretty worried we were being sent out to some shitty land, but we ended up pulling up to a block of beautiful, creamy soil with fresh furrows!


The weather was great. It was a hot day, but there was a bit of a breeze, so the bugs weren't unbearable. And I had my ipod cranked so I couldn't hear them anyways. That's the worst--just hearing them buzzing all over you. At one point our supervisor, Jon, came walking through my piece, wielding a shovel and an axe. We chatted a bit about the land and then he casually added, "Oh, yeah, and there's a bear." Great! He went on and explained, "I saw something moving in a tree so I looked up a thought, 'Oh look a koala!' and then I realized, 'Bleep! There's no koala's here!' and when I turned around there was a huge mother bear standing on her hind legs 20 feet away!" Even better--a mother bear! So I asked what to do and Jon says, "Well, mother's get kinda aggressive if you get aggressive so...just pull your headphones out and listen for screaming." Aw man! I don't wanna get eaten by a bear today! So I did take my headphones out, and I listened to the symphony of black flies, deer flies, horse flies, and noseeums for the rest of the day. My routine changed a bit too--plant a tree, look around, plant a tree, look around... But, no bears in sight!


We planted a long day, and I planted hard, so I ended up hitting 3k! Last year my PB was 2400, so I was pretty psyched to beat that by a bag-up and a half. I found out later that Jon promised ice cream to anyone who hit 3k, so we stopped in Kek on the way home. That was the best way to end the day for sure!


Sunday was nothing special, but it was relaxing. As a nomad I've had to rely on the good graces of others to get around, and the planters didn't fail. I got a ride into Thunder Bay with Dave, had a place to sleep at Leif's, got picked up to do laundry by Ian, and then spent a few hours climbing Mt. McKay with some of the guys. That was a tough climb, but the view was worth it!


I spent a little while today planning what to cook for the end of the contract. Before I left Jordan bet me $10 that I'd be asked to finish the contract cooking, and sure enough, since it's going so long, the cook has made other plans, and Green Mantle needs a cook. So I'm filling in for the last 3 or 4 days, and I'm pretty excited to whip out some of those great recipes from last year! More fun to come yet this week!


Anyways, time for bed. Peace, friends!





Mt. McKay











My fingers after Day 4. And that's after a shower! I guess you don't need a band-aid when you have a dirt scab!

Adventuring Again

While this is a rather self-indulgent blog since I'm only gone for two weeks, I figured I'd let y'all know what I'm up to now that I'm out of school for the summer.

School finished on Friday. Well, technically Monday, but I go out of it to go planting. Jordan had heard from Brad Geleynse that the crew we planted for last year was going late, and they needed more planters. So Saturday night I booked a flight to Thunder Bay. Very last minute, very unplanned, very adventurous. And very unlike me.

I arrived early Monday morning, and after a few hours, one of the tree runners who was in town for the weekend picked me up at the airport. Barnes was our tree runner last year too, but I didn't know him very well. He had nicknamed me "The Nazi" because of my strict kitchen rules, and quite frankly, I thought he was a bit of scary dude. But we chatted for all four hours of the drive into the bush, and I think he was just glad to have another planter to help finish off the trees.

When I got to camp it was great to see some of the planters from last year...although everyone kept asking "So you're crazy enough to come back, eh?" Everyone was pretty low on morale, since the land had been shitty, the plant was going long, and they'd been far from civilization for a month and a half.

I got set up in a tent from Dave, and while he warned me that it leaked, I brushed it off--I wasn't here to stay warm and dry! I didn't have a mattress, so I slept on the ground, and when it stormed the first night, I found out Dave was right about the leaking. I woke up next to a small lake. I ad enough dry clothes to plant, and heaped all my stuff on the dry side of the tent before heading out for the day. Apparently I'd showed up for one of the crappiest days of planting this season--it rained all day long, and not the nice kind, but the cold kind that gets in your bones and makes you shiver and shake if you stop and stand still. And the land was a little wild--basically were were planting a forest within another forest.And I tweaked my knee within the first three hours. We planted late, and I was soaked to my underwear, but I survived just fine; there was no way I was gonna start complaining after having been there only a day! I got back to camp to find out that my tent had blown over during the day, and that the lake on the floor had been poured onto my sleeping bag and clothes in the process. I'd shown up with one sweater and one pair of pants and after one day I was out of dry clothes. The planters took care of me real well though--Dave fixed me up with a dry sleeping bag, Eric with a sweater and pants, and Brad lent me a dry pair of shoes. After a drink and a smoke on the porch with the boys, it was all better!

That night it was freezing, and although I slept with a t-shirt tied around my head to keep the heat in, I woke up every half hour, wishing it was morning so I could get up and get moving. It finally came, with sun shining, and we headed out to finish off the terrible block. Instead of cold rain, it was really hot, so the bugs were out in full force. I'd forgotten about the bugs... After another late day of planting we got back, and I fell into bed, exhausted. The t-shirt had fallen off last night, so this time I bobby-pinned a pair of underwear on my head like a toque. It worked like a charm! When I woke up in the morning, everything was a bit fuzzy. When I rubbed my eyes I started to see a bit better, but I could only half open my left eye. I felt my cheek, and it was hot and swollen. Turns out I'd been bitten quite a bit by deer flies the day before, and now my face was puffy and swollen. Time to get out the sunglasses!

Thursday's plant was supposed to be our last long day. It was a hotter day, but we ended up finishing quickly, since the land was a lot better(although I got to plant a forest in a forest again). We got back to camp around 4, packed up, jumped in the lake to cool down / shower, and loaded up on the bus. I think swimming in a cold lake after sweating buckets all day ranks on my list of "Top 10 Favourite Things To Do"--such an incredible feeling! The bus ride was long, loud, and bumpy, but we finally rolled back into the shop at midnight. It seems almost everyone had a place to go, but apparently I'm on a kick where I don't plan anything, so I just found a bunk house at the shop that was unlocked, moved around some of the equipment, and had a decent bed for the night. This morning I snuck into the shop to shower, and here I am, sitting in the office waiting to see if I can get a ride into Thunder Bay for food.

Planting is incredibly frustrating, and after some of the stories I heard, I'm glad I wasn't here for the whole contract. But I'm glad I'm here. There's forests and fields everywhere. There's different people. There's very little stress. There's very little planning. I'm sore, but in a good way. I don't care what I wear. I dont' care how I look (although the fact that my face is lopsided bothers me a little bit). I don't care how I smell. I love being covered in dirt! I like the ridiculousness of riding to work on bus that's about to break down. I like working with people who are young and full of enthusiasm. I like the shared misery. I like the laid-back attitude. I like sleeping in a tent.

I don't like planting, but I like being here.

Back at it!

The land

Despite duct-taping my fingers, they took quite a beating on Day 1