Denise and Loren 2012

Another year has brought us plenty of laughs and a few adventures.  Those of you who were here in the summer will be glad to know that the garden was a big success, the little cabin is demolished and the woofer or helper apartment is complete but a few minor finishing touches. Loren has been working hard on Al’s Cabin, he now has a generator there and the lights are working. Still to do are the stairs and windows downstairs. But the stove is in and Loren has a warm place to visit over the holidays.

My parents are here for Christmas as well as our first Woofer Carla, along with her two children and husband. In just an hour we will harness the horses and the sleigh will be driven with the first children of the year; Hanz and Friedi Carla’s boys.

Instead of a Christmas letter I am sending out this moving that I made. It was a lot of fun.  Anne a fine woofer from a few years back said ‘Have a good life’ when she left us. It is something I will always remember as we don’t hear from everyone again. I do hope everyone is having a good life. And thanks for the letters and updates that are sent our way. J

 

 

WW_76 Caro

Caro,WW_76, from Lille, France, came to us via recommendations from Clement, Manu and Ben (WW’s 69 to 72).They had met while woofing at Fanny Bay. The recommendations were spot on, Caro had an excellent attitude, and we enjoyed her company.  Generally Caro was upbeat and self-motivated and a real trooper when it came to feeding mosquitos. Caro was with us for 5 weeks, next to our first woofer Carla, she was second for staying with us for a long stretch.  Considering that the lodge was fairly busy, and Loren and I were at the woodlot most days, Caro couldn’t have arrived at a better time and been of more help to us. 
Of course Caro was with us long enough that the list of accomplishments is too many to mention them all, but the ones that stand out include; painting the doors in the woofer house and the back deck at the lodge and sanding, priming and painting the groomer, keeping the lodge spotless, helping with breakfast at the lodge, cleaning the barn, including the loft, haying (great photos), organizing the Woofer House, picking raspberries, peas and beans, and weeding the garden.

 

On the second night Caro arrived, Caro and I went to a dinner party at a friend’s house. Here Caro met Anders.  Anders and Caro became friends. It was great for Caro to have a good friend. Anders and Caro did some hiking, (including Gorman Lake) and went huckleberry picking and fishing at a couple of mountain lakes. Caro also went with the local hiking group to Yoho Park and the Iceline Trail, as well as to Emerald Lake with a friend she met in Jasper.

As with most helpers, we were sorry to have Caro leave. Over the 5 weeks that she helped us around our place, she grew on us and fit easily into our lifestyle. But ‘time to move on’ is what it is, especially when one is a young traveller, and Caro said good-bye to us, and off she went on her adventure J.

 

Felix and Laura Help_77 and 78




Felix and Laura, from München, (Munich) Germany were travelling in between their veterinary practicum in Ontario and returning to Germany to complete their final exams. They were scheduled to arrive a week earlier than they did, but I stalled them because the annoying mosquitos made outdoor work very difficult. They arrived almost a week later (July 22) and the mosquitos were still crazy. Despite this they were real troopers and help out a lot. Felix took care of the noxious weeds around the place and laid more stones on the path in the garden. Laura cleaned the barn and helped in the kitchen. Both prepared the groomer for painting, and braved mosquitos to pick raspberries and peas and weed the garden. Together with Caro and Loren, they cleared trees from the sides of the driveway.

Felix and Laura were avid hikers and were taking advantage of their location to hike a many National Park trails as possible. They had already hiked several trails in Banff and Yoho, including the Iceline Trail. On their days off they hiked in Glacier Park, including Balu Pass as they travelled to Revelstoke. After leaving Golden they were headed towards Clearwater and Wells Gray Park.

Our best memory of Felix and Laura is one that makes us laugh. One evening on route to the Wwoofer House, they heard a commotion in the chicken coup. ‘Something was after the mother hen and her 5 chicks!' The predator had got one of the chick and was after another, but once Felix and Laura arrived it sauntered off under the coup.  After rounding up the chicks, Felix and Laura returned to the house to explain what had happen. Felix not knowing what could have transpired, said, ‘it didn’t seem too frightened of us, and it was black with a white stripe down its back.’  Now studying veterinarian medicine, they had obviously heard of skunks, but not until I said ‘you are very lucky, had that skunk been threatened, you wouldn’t have been allowed in any house until you’d been bathed in a special solution.’

Needless to say the chicken coup has since been fortified, and we still have 4 chicks.  The skunk has been back as we smelled it in the neighbourhood, but he hasn’t been able to dig into the coup.

Johannes WW_75

Johannes from Wuerzburg, Germany, sent us an email on June 7^th, saying he was already in Golden at the Backpacker Hostel. It had been raining so much over the past week, so Loren and I were not working at the woodlot and as a result Loren was working on the WW Bunkhouse. When I received Johannes’ email on the morning of June 8^th I immediately told Loren about Johannes’ impressive offer for help. Johannes is an experienced Electrical Engineer who had ww experience and claimed to be very handy (this of course was very true). I then phoned the hostel and invited Johannes out so he could decide if he wanted to spend some time at our place.  Johannes had his own vehicle (a little white pick-up he had been given while staying at the hostel in Vancouver), so within an hour he was at our house. Lucky for us, he decided to stay and that afternoon he started helping Loren.

 

Johannes fit right in.  He is very patient and sage, for a man of his age and very handy with Loren’s new cordless power tools.  Johannes pretty well spent most of his time working with Loren on the bunkhouse, paneling the ceilings, putting down the floors, hanging doors and putting up trim, as well he helping with the mowing of the lawn and working on the rock path in the garden.  Needless to say by the time I had returned from a week away the bunkhouse was close to liveable and the yard was tidy. And shortly after that Johannes moved into one of the bunkhouse rooms.

 

Because the snow was so late staying in the mountains, there wasn’t much opportunity for Johannes to go hiking, but despite this, he made the best of it.  Barbara from Goldenwood Lodge had arranged for a ww gathering. And this is how Johannes, Therese and Isabell  met Julia.  One day Johannes and Julie rode the bikes all the way to the washout below Mummery Glacier, almost 80 km return, and while we were at Susan Lake Johannes, Julie, Isabell and Therese hiked up to the remainso f the Susan Lake fire watch tower.  Of course Johannes was following the German Football (Soccer) Games, and on two occasions took Isabell and Therese into town to watch the games. 

Late in the afternoon on the last day of his stay, Johannes installed a bed platform in the box on his truck and fixed up the potential leaks on the door of the truck canopy.  Then the following morning shortly after Isabell and Therese left, Johannes departed, driving off in the little white pick-up to meet a friend and seriously hike the mountains and explore towards the north. Three good-byes a morning is always a bit much, however because Loren and Johannes got on so well, I imagine that we will visit with Johannes before he leaves Canada.

Since Johannes left I have had two emails, one said that he had done plenty of hiking, and made good use of the ‘scrambling’ book Loren had loaned to him.



 

WW 73 and 74 Isabell and Therese from Göβnitz, Germany

Isabell and Therese arrived early 6:15 am, the first Tuesday of June and left early on the 22 of June. Isabell and Therese arrived in Canada early 2012 and since that time explored the west coast and worked in Vancouver. Therese worked in a Sushi Kitchen and Isabell in a Greek Grocery. We were their first woofing experience, and as usual with first time wws it took a bit of time to meld into the routine. And to add to the confusion I was away for a week during the middle of their stay.

These best friends chose to stay in the bus, and on arrival quickly tidied up the bus and even washed the curtains.

There was plenty to do around here, as the garden was starting to flourish and the weeds were taking off, so they spent time weeding, hilling potatoes and mulching. Isabell helped with the redoing of a flower bed at the lodge while Therese did even more weeding. Both cleaned the barn, washed planting pots, cleaned up after a group at the lodge, including windows, laundry and beds, baked cookies and cooked pasta and cheese.

It was interesting that these budding vegetarians ate more carbohydrates and dairy than vegetables. Needless to say they were referred to a copy of ‘Diet for a Small Plant,’ to learn about complete protein combinations other than dairy or egg.  And Loren teased both of them about ‘carrots screaming,’ while I encouraged them to research carbonated water.

For fun they went to Radium on the Medi Bus, into Golden with Johannes to watch  Germany play soccer, worked on their travel blog, Skyped with their boyfriends back home, went fishing at Susan Lake, road the bikes to the Northern Lights Wolf Centre  and attended the first Summer Kick of the season featuring Golden’s Band Will Horse.

Isabell and Therese left Golden to woof at a farm near Edmonton. The hosts are musicians, and both Isabell and Therese were looking forward to the music festival they would be attending this summer.  Then they would travel across Canada and eventually meet their boyfriends in Ottawa.

The evening before they left everyone had a turn on the hula hoop, now that was worth watching and each new attempt brought out plenty of laughter.  However the next evening, the evening after their departure, seemed like a completely new reality with ‘no Therese’ who’s presence is always big, and ‘no Isabell’ who is so quiet you don’t know she is around.

4 French NFP Managers_WW 69, 70, 71 and 72

At the end of March we received a request for woofing from Clément, Ben and Manu, who wanted  to ‘go to countryside or mountains in the view to helping local people, being in contact with nature, improving our english, meeting new people and working outside.’ We arranged for the 3 wws to arrive on May 2 and stay until May 19^th. Shortly after this Clément emailed us asking if their friend Philip could stay for a week as well. This then was extended to the entire time that the other 3 , Ben and Manu would be with us.

So on May 2, I picked up 4 very French, very willing young men, all prepared to work. Loren of course was very happy to have eager strong help. I on the other hand knew that feeding these 4 men would require a lot of groceries, meal planning and cooking. Needless to say in the end it was very worth while and as usual we found 4 great friends who I am sure we will follow through life.

All four Clément, Ben, Manu and Philip had recently graduated from a Masters in Not For Profit Management, and had already completed their practicum in other countries. Philip was already working in the field.  It was wonderful to know that they had met at school and become very close knit friends. 

All were from Frances, Philip from near Paris, while the other three were from smaller Towns. Ben played the guitar and they all joined in to sing their favorite French songs. While they were here the French elections were on and they were very excited and closely watched the results and change to a new French Prime Minister.

With so much snow in the mountains, their recreational activities were limited, but we did visit Thompson Falls, a truck tour with Loren up the Blaeberry and attended a couple of neighbourhood bon fires. We fixed up four bikes and they went for bike rides, and even developed a competition to see who was fastest to race the loop around past the sawmill and back to the fire pit. Ben was the winner at 3’19”, and Loren vows to beat this by September 30^th . We bought a soccer ball and they set up goal posts in the field and vigorously played soccor a couple of evenings, only to have the ball punctured on a nail. But mainly they communed around the firepit. I don’t think our fire pit has ever been fired so many days in a row, there was barely an evening when these friends didn’t sit around the fire.

As such it was a good thing that they were helping Loren to tear down a neighbour’s house, because we had plenty of scrap wood to burn. Yes, that was the biggest job they did for us, tearing down a neighbour’s house which was both frame and log construction (watch the video below).

They all helped in the Garden spreading compost. Philip and Manu planted potatoes, parsley and peas (all are up now),and Clément and Ben planted beets, rutabagas, lettuce and arugula (which were up before they left). They all cleaned up the brush around the cabin and stacked firewood at the cabin, Ben and Clem painted the cabin walls upstairs and Clem peeled the pine railings we hope to put in later this year.Other jobs included tidying around the stove, cleaning the chicken coup,pulling fence nails, insulating and putting up plastic in the to-be woofer bunk house.ere Ben and Clément painted the walls upstairs and Clément peeled the ne railings which will hopefully be installed this year.

On the second last day before they were to leave we went to a dinner ping pong party (Manu took home the prize) at a neighbours where two were offered a ride to Vancouver, the following night we had a neighbourhood bon fire where again the remaining two were offered a ride to Vancouver. So I watched Philip and Clément leave on May 19^th and Ben and Manu leave on May 20^th (in a Volvo hard top convertible with the top down, grinning ear to ear).

After these 4 left, it was quite quiet around here, and we missed their conversation and the friendly demeanor of the group.

We have already had several emails from them and they are doing fine. Philip has gone back to France, the rest will woof on Vancouver Island. Then Clément is travelling to the North, Ben will head East and Manu’s girlfriend will join him and they will travel around BC.

We know these four will continue to have a good life, it is evident in all that we observed.  

Tony and Karin (WW 34 and 35) return after 4 years.

It was great to receive a phone call in late March, from Karine and Anthony of France, asking if they could woof with us again in April.  It had been 4 years since their last woofing experience with us in 2008. What a great couple! Generally Karine and Tony are cheery and upbeat, they are both very handy with tools, like to keep busy and do not mind working independently. Needless to say they were a big help around here even though there was still a lot of snow and the garden was far from ready for anything.
The only work that did get done in the garden was the weeding of some large weeds that didn't get pulled last fall and the pruning of the raspberries. As you can see both Karine and Tony helped Loren with the cabin. They finished putting up the recycled insulation, and then helped put up the recycled panelling. The upstairs now looks very cabinish, and we hope someday that they will return to sleep in the loft.
Tony's capentry abilities have improved, and this time he was able to use Loren's new cordless powertools. Wow what a time saver they are.
Karine was very helpful with indoor chores and put the annual coating of beeswax on the lodge
 kitchen counters. It was really nice to have her help.

Tony helped Loren learn a British Lu-la-by on his accordian, it sounded good when they both played the song and Tony  and Karine sang along. As you can see Roxy helped with singing as well. After 2 weeks with us, they left for Sundre, Alberta on April 19th, to reconnect with other past Woofing Hosts.  When they left we said that next time we host them there will likely be a child in the picture. Karine just laughed and I know she was thinking, "you just never know."