Holiday Greetings and Thank YOU

As I settle in, to do Holiday Greetings, the snow is falling and we already have about 30 cm of snow on the ground. It is definitely feeling like it’s time to slow down, brush the snow off of the sleigh and harness the horses for sleigh rides. What’s new here is Golden? Last night I attended the first orchestra concert ever performed in Golden. Golden is growing up.
Linnaéa is nursing here in Golden and also taking some shifts in Invermere. This summer she worked in Kelowna while taking a course she needs to be a registered nurse. But she isn’t ready to go back to school full time yet. And we are enjoying having her close by.
Andrew is at the Vancouver Pacific Institute of Technology in the Audio Engineering Program. He’s in school full time evening and works a regular schedule as a carpenter. Dani has found a serving job, and they seem to have settled into a routine. We are looking forward to having them around for Christmas.
Last year both Linnaéa and Dani volunteered to teach youth hula and poi for the winter festival. They had so much fun that Linnaéa is continuing again this season.
I have managed to keep busy with forestry when we’re not busy with the lodge. The lodge was even busier this summer than 2007, but the fall and bookings for this winter reflect the economy. The newest thing for me this year is I that I’m learning to play bridge and as a result I have made some new friends.
Loren is learning to play the accordion. Last April, I bid on an older accordion at a silent action, and to my surprise I won the bid. Loren was so excited, he started lessons and joined an accordion group. He even played for WWOOFERS For never playing an instrument before, he is playing incredibly well. I am looking forward to him playing all the Christmas songs he knows.
This summer with the help of our willing workers, Loren started to build a two-story machine shed by the barn. The upper story will be a bunkhouse for our Woofers. Spring to fall this year we hosted 8 WWOOFERS from 4 different countries. It was great to have the help and learn about these travellers’ experiences. And it seemed that the help was all at the right time. Just when the garden needed planting and weeding, and when Loren needed help with haying and the machine shed.
We also had our friends daughter, Kim stay with us for over two weeks in the summer. And although she wasn’t a woofer, Kim was fun to have around and especially helpful with the horse.
In early October, my friend Dorothy and I travelled to Austria to visit our first WWOOFER Carla. It was a great holiday. We spent a couple of days in Vienna, then met Carla and her family in a tourist area in the Bavarian Mountains. Then we travelled to their home in St Martin’s near Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (South Austria in the mountains), where we stayed at the ‘Wankers’ Guest House not far from Carla’s place.
As I settle in, to do Christmas cards, the snow is falling and we already have about 30 cm of snow on the ground. It is definitely feeling like it’s time to slow down, brush the snow off of the sleigh and harness the horses for sleigh rides. What’s new here is Golden? Last night I attended the first orchestra concert ever performed in Golden. Golden is growing up.
Linnaéa is nursing here in Golden and also taking some shifts in Invermere. This summer she worked in Kelowna while taking a course she needs to be a registered nurse. But she isn’t ready to go back to school full time yet. And we are enjoying having her close by.
Andrew is at the Vancouver Pacific Institute of Technology in the Audio Engineering Program. He’s in school full time evening and works a regular schedule as a carpenter. Dani has found a serving job, and they seem to have settled into a routine. We are looking forward to having them around for Christmas.
Last year both Linnaéa and Dani volunteered to teach youth hula and poi for the winter festival. They had so much fun that Linnaéa is continuing again this season.
I have managed to keep busy with forestry when we’re not busy with the lodge. The lodge was even busier this summer than 2007, but the fall and bookings for this winter reflect the economy. The newest thing for me this year is I that I’m learning to play bridge and as a result I have made some new friends.
Loren is learning to play the accordion. Last April, I bid on an older accordion at a silent action, and to my surprise I won the bid. Loren was so excited, he started lessons and joined an accordion group. For never playing an instrument before, he is playing incredibly well. I am looking forward to him playing all the Christmas songs he knows.
This summer with the help of our willing workers, Loren started to build a two-story machine shed by the barn. The upper story will be a bunkhouse for our Woofers. Spring to fall this year we hosted 8 WWOOFERS from 4 different countries. It was great to have the help and learn about these travellers’ experiences. And it seemed that the help was all at the right time. Just when the garden needed planting and weeding, and when Loren needed help with haying and the machine shed.
We also had our friends daughter, Kim stay with us for over two weeks in the summer. And although she wasn’t a woofer, Kim was fun to have around and especially helpful with the horse.
In early October, my friend Dorothy and I travelled to Austria to visit our first WWOOFER Carla. It was a great holiday. We spent a couple of days in Vienna, then met Carla and her family in a tourist area in the Bavarian Mountains. Then we travelled to their home in St Martin’s near Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (South Austria in the mountains), where we stayed at the ‘Wankers’ Guest House not far from Carla’s place.

From Klagenfurt we were close enough to visit Italy one day and Slovinea another. We had such a great relaxing visit that it was hard for me to leave.
In late October Loren and I went to Las Vegas, with our group of friends from my highschool, to surprise the youngest friend on her 50th Birthday. Yes she was surprised to see us all there to help her celebrate. This time in Vegas we were a bit frivolous; doing all the things we hadn’t done when we had previously travelled south. We stayed at a fancy hotel, ate in restaurants, basked in the sun by the pool and Loren learnt how to lose money playing Black Jack. It was fun and a good transition into winter.
We look forward to hearing from everyone. We are only 2 km off the Trans-Canada Hwy. If you are ever passing this way, please stop in for a visit. We hope you all have a WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON & ALL THE BEST IN THE NEW YEAR
Thank you to all of our Willing Workers. You know you are always welcome here.

Poco: September 11th to 19th, 2008, 40th Wwoofer

Hyun’Gu or Poco as he preferred to be called was from Sol, Korea. Poco called first from Vancouver to say he would be arriving by bike in one week. The following Monday he phoned from Hope to say that he was on his way. Two days later he called from Golden. He had caught a bus from Hope. Poco who we continually called Paul (our first Korean Wwoofer) had been in Vancouver studying English. He had some time in between studies and decided to bike from Vancouver to here and then through the Okanogan to Osoyoos. Even though Poco was here for a short time while he was here he helped Loren put the metal siding on the Wwoofing bunkhouse, painted the inside of the new root cellar and put gravel on the floor in the root cellar. He even helped our neighbour clean her house one Sunday when both Loren and I were busy. Poco and Loren road the bikes back from Thompson Falls and while he was here he had his first Marshmellow. Poco left at 8 am Thursday morning, on Saturday my parents were headed home for the Coast and caught up with him on his second day just past Three Valley Gap. He said that he had made it to Revelstoke by 5:30 pm on the first day, now that is some bike riding. Poco had promised to come back when his English has improved. We look forward to this.

Rebecca-July 18th-25th, 2008 39th Wwoofer

Rebecca an English speaking Quebecois arrived on a Friday and left a week later on a Friday, in the same Semi Truck she arrived in. Rebecca had met the truck driver on route here and had made arrangements to travel with him to Revelstoke a week later. Luckily for Stephanie that same ride was headed for the Okanogan, so she was also able to catch a ride to Vernon. While Rebecca was here, Kim (in photo with Stephanie and Loren) a friend from Manitoba was also here. Kim and Rebecca played a lot of cards. Also Rebecca went horseback riding with Kim and on the weekend we took Kim, Rebecca and Kim’s boyfriend to Susan Lake. Rebecca helped with stacking firewood, raking around the woodshed and Wwoofer bunkhouse and I am sure the highlight of the chores; haying. Rebecca had taken the summer away from her studies to travel across Canada by Wwoofing. Her next destination after here was Nelson, and ultimately Victoria to rendezvous with her Father.

Stephanie: July 5th-25th, 2008 37th WWoofer

Stephanie from France arrived here after travelling from Quebec in a Tractor Truck (known also as a Semi Truck). Stephanie had met the driver of the truck while Wwoofing in Quebec. It wasn’t to long before Stephanie fit right into our routine. She was a lot of help at a time when the weeds were going crazy, and by the time she left her English was getting much better. Some of the chores she helped with included, firewood stacking, helping in lodge kitchen, weeding almost endlessly in the garden, driving the truck for haying and painting the trim on our new greenhouse. While Stephanie was here we hosted two other Wwoofers, Jana from Germany and Rebecca from Quebec. Stephanie was great at using the vegetables from the garden and there wasn’t a meal she participated in that didn’t have a fresh salad with her famous salad dressing (oil, bragg, maple syrup, garlic and any herbs). It was a nice surprise for Stephanie to meet a friend from France in our local grocery store, who invited her hiking on the Iceline Trail in Yoho Park.

Stephanie left with Rebecca, again in a Semi Truck, headed for Vernon, where she hoped to pick cherries. A week after Stephanie left we had a note from her saying that cherry picking wasn’t working out and that she was headed for Victoria.

ALF our 36th Willing Worker, June 7 -12th

Anne-Laure or Alf as we came to know her was from France. Alf had been attending school in Quebec last winter and decided to spend some time in the Rockies wwoofing. We were Alf's 1st Wwoofing Hosts. Alf has travelled across Canada with some friends she met through a ride board. The shared ride sounded like an adventure in itself. Alf arrived on a Saturday evening and left for Vancouver on a Friday morning and arrived safe and sound. Even though Alf was here for a short time, we did manage to get out some. In this photo Alf is sitting on a bench that has grown in between two trees at the Bluewater Creek campsite. We also visited Thompson Falls, and the water was quite high.
Alf helped a lot in the garden, at a time when we were just starting to enjoy the salad plants. The last couple of days Alf helped Loren with the new Wwoofer House. Where she claimed the kitchen in her name. This was appropriate, as while Alf was here she did more than her fair share of cooking dinner, and they were great. Alf's Blogspot http://montrealtrippes.blogspot.com

Jana; July 7th to 12th. 38th Wwoofer

Jana, from Germany, was our 38th Wwoofer. Our 37th willing worker Stephanie is still here at the time I update this. Jana is quite the world traveller, and the Rockies are only one stop on her many visits. Jana was only here four and half days. But her and Stephanie quickly became friends, especially since Jana's English language skills were so good, and she could help Stephanie build on here English skills. Jana had been travelling around BC for the last couple of months, and was on her way to travel with her brother who was arriving in Calgary. We were a short wwoofing stop on the way. While Jana was here we did a good chunk of weeding the jungle in the potato patch. It still isn't done! Jana also helped with breakfasts in the lodge, as we had clients most of the days she was here. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't that great while Jana was here, as a matter of fact we had a 'rain day', the day when we had hoped to go hiking. Instead of hiking there was cleaning, baking (banana bread and rhubarb cake)and lots of visiting. That evening we watched a movie with some friends from Edmonton, Rick and another Jana. Friday evening the same friends had us over for a barbacue. The following morning Jana caught a ride with Rick and Jana as far as Canmore, where she planned to catch the bus to Calgary to rent a car and pick up her brother.

Anthony and Karine 'Amazing Couple"

Anthony and Karine, May 2nd to 23rd, 2008. Thirty fourth and fifth, Woofers
Anthony and Karine also from France arrived one day after Natasha. Originally, Loren and I had planned a holiday for the first three weeks of May, and had asked Anthony and Karine if they would house sit during this time. But since the spring was so late we cancelled and instead we kept three French travellers busy around the farm. Karine and Anthony were such a great team and Natacha fit right in. We felt so comfortable with them being here, that when they left we shed tears.
Anthony played the guitar, and was the first person Loren ever accompanied with his accordion. Karine spent her quiet times knitting fingerless gloves with recycled wool. She even knit Roxy a pair of ankle warmers. Anthony also liked to cook and we were never without cookies made by wwoofers.

Everyone helped with the weeding of the garden, but Karine and Natacha prepared the raised beds and planted much of the seeds. Karine also planted the potato patch. Both Karine and Natasha helped me plant trees on our woodlot, Natacha for one day, Karine for two. Karine said it wasn’t a job she would apply for.
The first big tasks Natacha, Karine and Anthony helped us with was landscaping in front of the lodge. The second task Tony started on with Loren and then Karine joined in. This was getting a good start on our new machine shed and bunk house near the barn. We put the footing posts in the ground the first part of May and by the 2nd week, Anthony had helped Loren at the sawmill, to mill all the 2 bys’ for floor joist, trusses, rafters and framing and 1 by for floor decking and roof strapping. Then they started building, framing the floor, blocking and decking the floor. Karine then joined the team and they framed the walls and put up roof rafters. If they would have stayed another week I am sure the metal would be on the roof. We have promised to name the South room after Karine and the North room after Tony (as known to Loren).
Karine and Tony liked to keep busy, and twice when they were not helping they hiked, first up Willowbank and the second time down to the Blaeberry River. Karine and Natacha even managed to get out on Duke and Duchess. Together we enjoyed evenings of music by the firepit, while Karine knit, icefishing at Susan Lake, Thompson Falls, a visit to a friends place on the Columbia River near Cedar Creek, walking along the Blaeberry River, hiking into Wapta Falls, watching crazy tv and bear watching drives in the neighbourhood.
As well, both of our neighbouring Wwoofer Hosts, had Woofers while Natacha, Anthony and Karine were here, so we arranged a Wwoofer gathering one evening, three from France, two from Germany and a lodge helper from Switzerland. They had such a good time, that a week later, they organized another gathering at Goldenwood where there was again three French Woofers, two German Woofers and two Swiss lodge helpers. All having a good time in the Rockies.
Loren drove Tony and Karine to the jct. of the Hwy. to Jasper at Lake Louis. There Karine and Anthony hitched a ride to Jasper and then they were headed to Valemont the next day to start their Wwoofing experience again. We hope we see these two again, before they head back to Quebec for the fall apple harvest.

Thirty-third Woofer: Natacha

Natacha from France, May 1st to May 15th, 2008; Second Wwoofer of 2008. Thirty third Wwoofer at Eh Canadian Farm Woodlot.

Natasha arrived by bus after a long trip across Canada. Natasha had been studying Geomorphology in Quebec and wanted to travel to the mountains before she headed back to France in June.
From the time I picked Natacha up from the bus until we dropped her in Revelstoke two weeks later, she wore a smile. Natacha’s first English to me was “I will like it here, there is so much nature, it is beautiful” and she said it while she smiled and laughed.
Natacha stayed in the guest room at our house because we had a Wwoofing couple, Anthony and Karine also from France, arriving the next day, and they would stay in the bus.
All three Wwoofers, worked hard together and apart. As a team they weeded the garden and stacked firewood. Together Karine and Natacha painted the facia on the greenhouse, helped with the brick floor in the new greenhouse, cleaned the barn and planted the garden and exercised the horses.
For fun we snowmachined into Susan Lake and went Ice-Fishing. And on top of it being a magnificent day, Loren and I caught our limit. One Saturday Karine, Anthony and Natasha hiked part ways up Willowbank Mtn. Unfortunately, hiking isn’t the best in our area, until late June, early July, the snow is just too low until then. Loren also took the crew to Thompson Falls.
Natacha left to woof at Quantum Leaps Lodge, where she walked on fire. The following week she returned here on a Friday, to catch a ride to Revelstoke to woof, and then she will come back to Golden to catch a ride to be a ww at Icefall Lodge, where there will certainly be snow. We look forward to hearing about Natacha’s time at Icefall, as it is a place we would like to visit ourselves.

April 1 to 8th, 2008

Melanie, a music teacher from Germany, arrived at a perfect time. We had a trip planned for the first part of April and again we're in need of a house sitter. Melanei called just in time. So much so that we had left before Melanie arrived, and our daughter picked Melanie up from the bus, and together they kept the animals fed and watered. We were only home for a day and then had to head back to Edmonton. Loren only stayed one night and headed back to Golden, but I stayed on in Edmonton, so I didn’t even get a chance to say good-bye to Melanie. Melanie left here to hook up with her sister in Banff, then they were off on a holiday together. I am sorry I didn’t get to spend more time with Melanie. She did a great job looking after the farm and especially looking after Roxy. I do know that she spent time with Rachelle at the Spotted Dog Rescue Retreat, helping with dog walks and going for a x-country skiing. I hope if Melanie travels in BC again that she contacts us.

November 3rd to 24th, 2007 Darren and Nathan

Darren and Nathan from England were our 30th and 31st wwoofers. They responded to an advert we put onto the WWOOF Canada website. We were looking for reliable wwoofers for a couple of weeks while we took a fall holiday for my birthday. Between the time they responded and we confirmed the wwoofing arrangements a friend of ours died in an accident. So instead of picking Darren and Nathan up in Calgary on a return shopping trip for winter supplies, we picked them up on return from a sad memorial in Edmonton. It was good to have company on the return trip as it took our minds off of the events of the week before. It was great to have them here the week before we left for our holiday, it was both a distraction form the week before and allowed us to get comfortable about leaving our place in good hands. During that first week Loren gave them instructions on operating the farm and in between they cleared trails and kept the barn clean.
The two weeks while we were away they cleaned the shop, cleared trails, fixed fences and did a stellar job of keeping the place functioning. We arrived home to a happy doga, and two very comfortable wwoofers. While we were gone they helped our neighbours dig out footings for a foundation and pour cement. Then they helped other neighbours put up straw for a bale house. They left here for Banff for a holiday and then they were on route to Bonniville Albert to wwoof on a Buffalo Ranch. We did have a message from Darren and Nathan saying they were passing through early 2008. I didn’t hear back from them after this. We were hoping to see these guys again.

The photo on the left is taken near Castle Junction on the way home from
Calgary. The photo on the right is of the trail builders Darren and Nathan.