Birkeland on Denman

Mini-adventures on Denman Island; one of the northern gulf islands on the west coast of British Columbia, situated between Hornby Island and Baynes Sound. This site is intended for relatives, friends, and voyeurs who are interested in monitoring our alternate lifestyle. Updates are now done on a weekly basis. Visit regularly.

Remember that any of the small "thumbnail" pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them. And thumbnail pictures are retained for one month in the Diary section of this site.

Week ending March 14, 2010.

The snow tried very hard to make a comeback and almost succeeded on Friday. Within a couple hours though the wet white stuff had given up and melted away. I've had to temporarily abandon the efforts to develop more garden beds. The soil is just too wet. While I wait for the dirt to drain and dry, my second raised garden bed (below, left) looks more like an archeological excavation. Discouraging! But as I gathered up and stored my tools I found one astonishing surprise; some of the lettuce seeds I had planted a couple of weeks ago have actually sprouted. They're tiny but still alive (last time I looked). I wonder if they'll survive.

But there are other issues that keep island life interesting. One of them is the dock controversy. We must be the only island in this part of the world that doesn't have a wharf; no place to moor a boat. The chairman of our Dock Committee has, in my opinion, performed heroic efforts to gain approval and find funding opportunities to build a public wharf. The matter was brought to the community for approval last Monday evening.

Not everyone on Denman is in favour of public marina and some serious controversy ensued. "Consider building a permanent helicopter pad instead. Its much better for medical emergencies." And, "Consider building a bridge; its much more effective in case of mass evacuation." Despite these significant and relevant facts the community voted by a narrow margin of 94% to proceed with the dock development.

Fortunately our regular ferry still runs 16 hours every day and my daughter was able to drive over and visit for a few days. Lise knows our winters and brought along some rain gear and some reading material. She also knows where our Scrabble board and Monopoly game is hidden. (I triumphed last night after acquiring Boardwalk and Park Place).

We're still eating from the garden; a little bit anyway. Yesterday I harvested purple broccoli. Gathering these small broccoli sprouts is much like picking grapes. They're about the same size and a lot are required to provide a meal. Fortunately we have a number of bushes and each plant continues to produce more sprouts for several weeks.

Egg production continues to be poor. Our hens are now two years old; almost old ladies. And we're down to seven chickens. One hen was being severely pecked by the others, to the point where it was becoming cannibalism. I decided that euthanasia was the most humane action. The survivors have all been severely lectured and warned that their retirement plan was not pleasant; that it was in their interest to behave and produce as long as possible. We'll see if they really are "bird-brained"

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