Feb 03

Foothills Creamery Butter

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I have a few products that I use which are made here in Alberta that I would never change. Ever. One of those products is butter. Foothills Creamery has been in business since the year I was born. That’s right folks, when I entered the world right here in Alberta – so did Foothills Creamery. Although I was in Edmonton and they were in Calgary so I don’t think it is as related as I would like to think. In light of that fact I think they get an extra special shout out for being around as long as I have. And they simply have the best butter. Actually I think that’s their slogan “Simply…the best”. I use their old fashion because I like my butter salted, but the choices for those not into that are certainly there.

They also make ice cream. Since it’s February and cold treats are not high on my list right now I don’t have great photos of me stuffing a huge ball of ice cream in my gob. I know, you’re disappointed, but when I’m in need I go to My Favorite Ice Cream Shoppe in Calgary. (I won’t complain about the lack of Canadian spelling in their name. Nope. Promise.) If you’re looking for a place close to you there likely is one. Check out Foothills website for locations on their handy dandy little interactive map.  Trust me, it is worth searching out.

Stacey

 

 

 

Jan 05

Johnson Lake, Banff

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We decided to spend our weekly outing in the mountains. One of our favourite things to do is revisit a favourite spot in a different season. We make note of the change in the number of visitors (winter always being the quietest of course), the way the trees have changed and the animals we come across. We decided on Johnson Lake in the Lake Minnewanka area, where we had camped at Two Jack Lake in the summer with friends. This was strategicly picked so we could hop into Banff for lunch and a dip in the hot springs to warm our frozen toes. Luckily the roads were clear and blue skies were our backdrop. However blue skies in Alberta usually mean sub-zero temperatures. The mountains didn’t disappoint with -12 C for our little hike. There was a wee bit of complaining and a rather quick pace on my part but we got to the tip of the lake and then shuffled along the ice back to the parking lot. Decidedly something we can’t so in summer. I wasn’t keen on the idea but frequent tracks along the lake made it look pretty solid. We stayed close to the edge. I’m a nervous nellie.

The difference it so exciting even my 5-year-old noted things he remembered that were now clearly different. Like a frozen lake. But more subtle things such as snow-covered fallen trees, now clearly outlined and making interesting patterns in the distance was pointed out by my 7-year-old.

Or the “sparkly” snow crystals and how the sun reflects off them.

The beauty of a winter stream.

But their biggest moment was discovering the trail was now an excellent slide!

We marvelled at the moutains (Cascade to the West, Rundle to the South and the Fairholme Range to the East) in the sunshine and the long shadows a winter sun throws midday.

We spent some time talking about the trees which my youngest wanted his pictures in front of. This spot is in Banff’s smallest ecoregion, the montane, and Johnson Lake has some the oldest Douglas fir trees in Alberta. A montane ecoregion is a transitional ecoregion between submontane and subalpine and usually contains “indicator species” such as the Lodgepole pine. The boys tried to guess what that meant and came up with “animals that tell you if the forest is healthy or sick”. I thought that a good definition.

We were pretty cold by this point and chose the most direct route back to the van. Getting warm being the only focus, I thought perhaps it was all their brains could carry. But on our way into Banff as we spotted a HUGE elk sitting in the snow sunning himself, the boys commented they didn’t see that in the summer! Exactly.

In “Good, Wild, Sacred”, an article in CoEvolution Quarterly by Gary Snyder he notes that nature should be the teacher:

First, a child must experience that bonding to a place that has always touched many of us deeply: a small personal territory one can run to, a secret “fort”, a place of never-forgotten  smells and sounds, a refuge away from home. Second, one must continue to live in a place, to not move away, and to continue walking the paths and roads. A child’s walking the land is a veritable exercise in “expanding consciousness.” Third, one must have human teachers, who can name and explain the plants, who know the life cycle of an area. Fourth, one must draw some little part of one’s livelihood from the breadth of the landscape: spotting downed trees for next year’s firewood, gathering mushrooms or berries or herbs on time, fishing, hunting, scrounging. Fifth, one must learn to listen. Then the voice can be heard. The nature spirits are never dead, they are alive under our feet, over our heads, all around us, ready to speak when we are silent and centered. So what is this ”voice”? Just the cry of a flicker, or coyote, or jay, or wind in the tree, or acorn whack on a garage roof. Nothing mysterious, but now you’re home.

I can’t claim to be the best “human teacher”, but with every adventure I learn a little more. As I pass on the knowledge I’m acquiring I can answer “I’m not sure” a little less. So we get out and enjoy whatever season we are in. The changes are part of the experience.

Stacey

 

Jan 01

A Natural Ending

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It has been a fabulous year to be an Albertan. We have experienced so many firsts this year I have lost count. For us personally we have grown so much as a family and come to appreciate what Alberta has to offer. We are looking forward to the new year and plan to spend an incredible amount of it in the mountains: skiing a new hill, camping a new spot, visiting a new historic site – it will be an exciting year! So there is no better way to say good-bye to 2012 than in nature.

Going ‘out’ with nature to end our year. The chickadees liked our idea too.

Happy New Year everyone!

Stacey

 

Dec 11

Y2Y Conservation Initiative

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I was recently forwarded a link from the Alberta Hiking Association to consider participating in a letter campaign. The leading sentence states, “The South Saskatchewan Regional Land Use Plan (SSLUP) will determine the future of your Alberta. And you have until December 21, 2012 to have your say.”

Well. I had to first read the plan. Ah. The plan is being determined and this is our opportunity to have our voices heard on the matter. Sadly I missed the Calgary public hearing in November, but I liked the letter. So I signed it. What’s even better was discovering the Y2Y or Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. The letter, if your are interested, is posted here.

Photo courtesy of the Conservation Alliance

I’m having a lot of fun poking around their site. I strongly encourage a peek if you have a moment. I loved one of their pictures on the homepage so I’m reposting.

Stacey

 

Dec 08

Bioregionalism and its Place in Education

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It is my intention to weave a bioregional theme into everything I teach my children. This has become the focal point to our learning and our daily interests as we meander through the seasons. Our school year is not a school year at all. We do not start in September and finish in June. In fact the time from the Vernal Equinox to the Autumnal Equinox is when we really get into high gear. As a result, this blog was started. Therefore I will begin posting what I have learned, and continue to learn, in order to bring some understanding to the idea of bioregional education and how important it is. At least to us.

I have plenty of books and websites that have helped me understand what Life Place is and how to integrate it into an education for young children; my young children specifically. However this journey is highlighting a largely lacking part of any schooling – homeschooling or otherwise – in Alberta. That is not to say the current Alberta curriculum lacks lessons about Alberta, far from it. I find it lacking depth. A bioregional approach is interwoven into every subject. I have attempted to write this post before only to abandon it for lack of the right way to describe bioregional education without it being too abstract. Thankfully my ineptitude has paid off with the recent discovery of bioregional content in a university archive. I came across a paper from Trent University graduate, Maggie Julian. Her introduction sites the key thinkers in the area of bioregionalism and explains beautifully why it is important to include it as the foundation for any education.

People are an integral part of a bioregion. The people who live in a bioregion are best able to describe its boundaries (Berg, 1991). McTaggart (1993) defined bioregionalism as “an action-oriented movement based on ecological principles”. Bioregionalism is interdisciplinary (Wadland and Gibson, 1996). To truly understand a bioregion, the relationship between the geology, history, ecology, economics and culture need to be examined. These concepts relate back to the land where bioregionalism begins, and continues to grow.

An integral component of bioregionalism is this connection to place, and from here comes the strength of the community. A relationship to one’s place could develop in different ways. It could come from living in an area for a long time, from talking and listening to stories of others. It could come from knowing the landscape like the back of your hand, and from working on the land for forty years. It could come from knowing that all your family and friends are close by.

She finishes noting that with changes in society, and I’ll add technology, people are not taking the time to listen to these narratives and find how they fit into a place. We are so busy connecting with others who are external to our community – extending our community with technology – that our “group” is no longer rooted where we physically live.

So here you will find walks, talks, pictures, thoughts, family history, food that feeds us, music that lifts us up, art that shows us our beauty; all by people I know. People I have lived with, shared a meal with, learned from and cried on. The experiences in this blog are part of my life place. I live here. And it is becoming part of my children’s story as well.

But it is an opportunity to share. Please feel free.

Stacey

Dec 04

Big Hill Springs

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With small children it can be a challenge to get outside and explore during the winter months. However it offers a great opportunity to see a different side to our favourite haunts. The added bonus is there’s hardly anyone out there! Come on people! Winter is a great chance to be all alone. In the woods. With no bears. Yes that is my favourite part of hiking in the winter.

So we went to our quick-we-need-to-get-outside favourite spot just west of Calgary on the road to Cochrane – Big Hill Springs Provincial Park

Careful though, the walk is lovely but any established stairs or bridges are slippery and snow packed.

 If you have small children, keep a look out at the top of the small circle route hike – there is usually a hiker made tee-pee just off the trail. We have found it knocked down, but it finds it way back into existence eventually. It is a fun stop for our family.

Big Hill Springs is a popular dog walk area and is noted to be on-leash only. There is plenty of space to explore and can take over two hours with stops along the waterfall. However the hike start to finish is only about 45-60 minutes. Its closeness to our house makes it a frequent visiting spot and we all agree winter is our favourite – especially once the water freezes completely and sliding can be included in the activities.

There is a great website that I go to get ideas for hiking in Alberta – www.hikealberta.com – and they note some interesting details about the rock formations and glacial markings at Big Hill Springs.

Tell me your favourite close-to-home hike you can do in the winter. If you live in Alberta and have a favourite you’d like us to know about – leave it in the comments and we’ll be sure to check it out.

Happy Hiking,

Stacey

 

Nov 28

CBe-Learn Career and Technology Centre

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We had the opportunity to tour the new Career and Technology Centre (CTC) last week during their most recent open house. We use the Calgary Board of Education as our homeschooling board and found out about the open house through our Vice Principal Monti Tanner. Interestingly that morning Superintendent Cathy Faber was at our school (the CBe-learn homeschooling and online programs have a dedicated school where students can take classes part-time and meet face to face with their online instructors) discussing the state of education in Alberta. She was looking for our ideas around how to continue to support our program and give us some insight into current issues and trends. She sighted an alarming statistic: only 46% of Alberta high school students complete high school in the 3 years allotted – grades 10 to 12. We all made a noise at that number (most of us gasped) and she asked “what are we doing wrong?”. Not surprising others in the province are looking at homeschooling and part time education as a option. With the new school act passed last Wednesday extending funding for education to 21 years of age, places like the new CTC are looking like a viable option for those not wanting the traditional exit strategy for completing their high school years.

So now I was really curious, despite my children not being remotely close to the age to take advantage of this program. Impressed doesn’t quite cover what we discovered there. WOW!!! comes a little closer.

By the time we finished the tour with Principal Karen Bird (construction is only 2/3rds complete), my husband and I mourned the loss of what could have been our high school years – we want to go there!

Here is a preview – but I highly recommend if you live anywhere in Alberta you make a trip for their next open house January 12, 2014. Visit their site for details: http://projects.cbe.ab.ca/sss/ct-strategy/centre.asp

This is Zach – a student in the Environment Studies program. I love his air quotes. He did a great job of showing us around. I like the green wall too. The space is just newly completed and a little sparse as they get their program underway. The green wall helps. Check it out.

The Auto Body program was empty at the time, but we were told industry employees are also trained here because of the state of the art facility. They have examples of completed work in the learning commons explaining the process. Very nice work!

The Cosmetology and Spa program has a gorgeous facility! I refrained from taking pictures of all those ladies having their hair done. Cause that would be rude. In fact thinking back on that moment I’m sure seeing my camera wiped the smiles off their faces. A potential student on the tour with us asked what credits she’d get at the local salon school (name escapes me) and Principal Bird noted that college’s program is somewhere around $17,000. The CTC’s program offers identical training. For free. Did you catch that? FREE! And their Salon Service prices for public use are really, really, really good. Really.

This program has me so excited. Because I can come buy what they make!! And it is so conveniently located right off the end of Crowchild Trail by Glenmore – zip – food on my way home. Oh yay baby. This is the pastry oven? Fridge? Sorry I wasn’t listening. Something about “you can drop by after period two and buy tomato basil bisque” and my brain shut down. Pastry, blah, blah, blah, moisture control, blah, blah, blah. Nope. Can’t remember. Soooo….check out the Culinary Program. Yum.

This is a weird shot of a pneumatic device designed by the Pre-Engineering program. Cool. The boys liked it (ooo’s and ah’s). I chose this photo to post because my husband had a similar experience to my culinary brain fart. See that beige box with the tinted window in the back corner? That my friends, is a 3D printer. In a high school engineering classroom. This is where he walked out complaining about his mediocre high school experience. I hear ya brother.

This department however was the bee’s knees. The cat’s meow. The Pièce de résistance! For my 5, 7 and 9 year old boys at least. The Welding and Fabrication program was actually the second room we toured. And the first thing my 7 year old asked (that would be the one with huge grin on his face) was “can we weld something?”. We all chuckled and said no, but the instructor invited them back at the end of the tour. “Come back and I’ll have something for you”, was all he said.  The instructor (who’s name I cannot remember for the life of me) was waiting with three little men all set up at three different welding stations. He had us all put on the required safety equipment and took them one by one at his side to create their own little guy out of bits of metal. Each one tried their hand at welding a bit of the “toy” and then it was dipped in water and smoothed of its sharp bits. He had so much patience and was so kind. Then we find out he was pulled out of retirement to teach this program. I can see why. What an incredible asset to this school.

And that folks concludes our tour. We didn’t see anything else, as we ran out of time and some programs are still under construction. This is how education should look. This program is built by industry, for industry. It is used and benefits the community as part of the program design. Theory and practice; usable, viable, employable practice side by side. The pre-engineering student told us by year three he will have completed a majority of the first two years of university engineering credits. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Check out their super amazing blog hosted by the Learning Commons Specialist Karena Munroe. I’m on there constantly checking out the additions and amazing creations from the current students.

They are located, as I mentioned in my food love coma, just off Crowchild Trail (the opposite direction of MRU off 50th) at:

2336 – 53rd Avenue S.W.
Calgary, Alberta  T3E 1L2

t | 403-243-4500 ext. 0
f | 403-777-6299


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Nov 27

Saskatoon Berry Pie, A Prairie Tradition

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When it comes to local food and Alberta one thinks “meat”. Yes we have every kind of meat producer you can imagine, but nothing says Canadian prairie food like the Saskatoon Berry. We have been getting our berries from a local berry farm South of Calgary, appropriately named The Saskatoon Farm.

This year we picked our own from the farm, but in previous years we have simply bought them straight from the farm’s small market. If you have a chance to try their restaurant, I highly recommend it. We have also bought Saskatoon bushes from them, as well as a couple if Chokecherry trees. I’m looking forward to more fruit than my boys can pick, and eat,  in 15 minutes while bored in the backyard.

Having frozen a few buckets…”I don’t wanna be a pie!”

The Saskatoon’s were waiting for a winter day to be made into pie. I use a pretty simple recipe:

  1. Homemade or store bought pasty
  2. Sugar (or honey which I prefer but was out! Gasp!)
  3. Flour or cornstarch.
  4. Butter – critical.

Which gives you absolutely no direction at all, I know, but I’m not food blogger. I’m a food eater. I am a lover of great food blogs however and there are two Alberta ladies I LOVE! Love, love, love:

Please let me introduce you to Valerie Lugonja, A Canadian Foodie and her Saskatoon Berry Pie recipe. Not surprisingly where I got my recipe from.

Plus The Kitchen Magpie – a fantastic blogger and cook. Her recipes make me smile almost as much as her posts. But the blog takes the cake. This post is about Saskatoons and her experience growing up picking them wild.

And pie is where it went, plus a dozen or so tarts. It doesn’t last long in a house with 4 males and no end to their appetites.

We came, we baked, we consumed. Two hours of picking gone in 60 seconds. Just kidding, it took a little longer than that. But not much.

Stacey

Nov 27

Rothney Astrophysical Observatory

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We recently ventured out to ‘Family Night’ at the Rothney Observatory. We have not been before and having three small children, night sky viewing that requires an hour drive to get to hasn’t been on the radar. So we were excited to finally be in a place to take advantage of such an amazing resource right here in Alberta.

I wouldn’t say it was family night as there were a lot more couples than families, but that might have more to do with the late hour or the cold. It was however worth the time standing in lines to look through every telescope. There were five set-up outside, 3 or 4 looking at Jupiter and its 4 visible moons, and one or maybe two (I can’t remember) looking at the moon which was very quicking moving out of sight. Despite cloud cover we were able to see everything. Plus a visit to the two larger telescopes in the larger observatory. The boys were facinated and waited quite patiently for their turn.

I don’t have any photos, because it was very dark and it felt like that was a bad (read: really rude when people are looking through a telescope) idea with a flash. And I only had my phone which I can’t control the flash on.

However Astronomy Calgary has a great Flickr site with photos of other open houses in the past. If they were there November 17th, then I’m sure they’ll post photos of that night as well. http://www.flickr.com/photos/iyacalgary/sets/72157620441777809/

Roam around the Rothney site as it has a lot of other information about their role and purpose. The information about light pollution on their Dark Skies page is really interesting.

If nothing else, it has sparked a new interest in looking at the night sky from here in Alberta. We even unpacked the dust collecting telescope from under the stairs. Again – not possible in previous “small child” family phase, but tonight’s viewing of the moon was a highlight in an already awesome day.

Stacey

 

Nov 26

Alberta Honey

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Oh how sweet it is! We get our honey from a groovy little family run beekeeping operation, The Greidanus Honey Mill,  south of Calgary in High River. It is unpasteurized and comes in HUGE bins. We use a lot of honey. It is the perfect replacement for almost anything we use refined sugar for. Which, in case the thought escaped you, doesn’t grow here.

We are headed down there for candles in the next week.

Stacey