The Craftiest Workshop

When I started this blog, almost every post was about things I had made whether it was baking, wood burning or crafting. This year, my posts have been often about something my husband has been doing or creating. The blog was meant to evolve in this way or I would have called it “Her Craftiest Workshop”. I also had a different year as far as creativity is concerned and I realize now that I need to be centered in what I am doing with no distractions to find that creativity.

In January 2023 I spent most mornings watching moose. 8-10 moose had decided that this field across the road from us, between two lines of trees, would be their winter stomping grounds. As the sun rose each day, you could count them through our binoculars. They would split up in groups of 2 or 3 to explore for the day. Almost every day some would come toward our house and we would get to view them up close. They are magnificent creatures.

I also made my first board game insert in January. After that first one, I have made inserts for five games that really needed some organization.

After making a few game inserts, in February, I decided to use foam board to make a dice tower. Since then we have used it a few time to play games with a lot of dice rolling but often there is just not enough room on the table for it.

February was also the month that I had written about Chris and his new found stained glass hobby. I find it hard to believe that he only started doing it a year ago. He has come a long way and dives right in when there is a piece he wants to create. The idea of making window panels for the small windows at the top in our living room is already becoming a reality (future post).

March is a great month for bird watching. The birds that have stayed around all winter start to change their focus from storing food to finding a mate. I often saw them flying about in pairs. I created a few bird feeder stands for the deck which have been used a lot over the year.

March was the last time I sat down to do some creative wood burning making a bunch of animal and bird pieces.

None of my April blogs stand out as momentous or life altering. April is a funny month as spring is on the way but you have to wait the whole month before it shows itself. Even the thaw was fairly quick with no real flooding and the water receded within a week.

We did have an April visit from my nephew Henry. He was working in the area for a week. He graciously offered to cook us a fantastic dinner on his smoker.

May was a busy month and I didn’t see much of my husband as he works in emergency management.
May was the start of the crazy wildfire season in all of Alberta but the NW region was hit the worst. This was the smoke cloud that passed over us on May 5, 2023.

I wore a mask the next day, because of the smoke, when I added the soil to our wildflower garden. It flourished more than we ever expected.

Our son Thomas came to visit in May and spent some time chopping dead trees down, clearing brush and helped move soil for tree planting. He also spent hours playing board games with his mother on the really smoky days.

Over the long weekend, after a deluge of rain, we planted about 30 trees and shrubs. Most of them survived the very dry summer.

After all that water, we had to wait till the first week in June to plant some vegetables in a few different areas. We had garden boxes on the deck, two in our rock garden and then some above ground boxes in the area where we plan to create the garden.

We hosted about 30 people for a 50th birthday weekend for Chris’s brother in mid June. Lots of food, games and visiting.

We got over 100 free spruce trees from the county and planted them in late June. Every three days after that we walked around watering every tree because we had no rain all summer.

Chris hits his woodworking stride in the heat of the summer. He built three different pallet board creations in a short window of time.

The Saskatoons on our property ripened two weeks earlier than they had in 2022. Because I was out and about foraging for Saskatoons, I also stumbled upon different spots where there were wild raspberries. For about three weeks starting in early July, I went out in the early morning every day for an hour or two alternating between picking Saskatoons and raspberries. I picked 24 large ziplocks full (14-16cups in each) of Saskatoons and 5 large ziplocks of wild raspberries. I came up with creative ways to keep the bugs at bay.

We had a visit from my younger brother Doug, his wife Malisa and their daughter Anwyn for couple nights in mid July. They helped with some weeding and berry picking.

In July/August Chris started trying spray paint art. His focus at first was on planets but, with a little coaxing he has branched off into other subjects.

August was also the month that my brother Russell, his wife Heather and their two dogs came to stay with us for a week which turned into a month. For the dogs, that week turned into four months. We went for walks, played games, took apart a shed and Russell built some things for us. We all used the Merlin Bird ID app and would share daily if one of us had seen or heard a new bird. For me, being able to identify the individual bird calls has become a highlight on my walks.

We spent September adjusting to life with two dogs. Walking around our property with them at least once per day was essential.

I spent time juicing berries and tried making berry liqueur. We tried the liqueur in early December and it tastes like sweet vodka (which is what it was). Next year I will try white rum instead as I prefer it. The liqueur I tried using honey in instead of sugar, didn’t work..the honey sunk to the bottom.

Harvest around us was late this year with many of the farmers taking off their canola and flax in October, on Thanksgiving weekend. We finally had a bit of rain so maybe that was the deciding factor. We also had a wonderful arial display over us as a crop duster dusted the fields near our place.

For November our routine remained the same. Getting daily walks in with dogs and cleaning up brush as there was little or no snow on the ground. Chris made a few wooden Christmas trees and I managed to build a napkin holder.

In December, the dogs went back to Okotoks with Russell and Heather. I turned my focus to Christmas baking and tried a few new recipes.

I enjoyed doing a summary of the year. I had felt less productive but, looking back, I realize that my focus was more on outdoor projects than indoor ones and that is ok. Sometimes our creative avenues change and, as long as we are trying different things, we keep moving forward.

Happy New Year everyone!! I am not sure what new creative pursuits there are in store for us in 2024. I do know that we will be planting more trees (hopefully not in a downpour this time).