The Canadian Shield

I don't know about you but I remember learning about the Canadian Shield in Social Studies. In my mind's eye I could visualize the rocks jutting out and I also remembering thinking I'd like it.
Back in 1999, David spent 4 months in Haliburton, Ontario and when I visited him, I finally got to see the Canadian Shield. Now we are in the NWT and we are living on the rocks of the shield. And what a wondrous sight it is. We have taken so many pictures and so this blog post is my opportunity to share some of them with you.




A view from the top!




I don't know if you can see it bit David is huddled by a fire circle.


Walking is easy up here because the trees are so sparse.


Lots of rock!


And MORE ROCK!!

The Harvest

I know that when some of you see that title you are thinking... Harvest? In the NWT? I know some of you are thinking this because I have been asked too many times if it is dark all the time yet!). It is light at 8am and dark by 7:30pm. Pretty much just like home.
When we were in Yellowknife at the end of August I was really impressed with the flowers. Remember, there is lots of sunlight in the summer! Here is an example of some the annual flowers we saw.


Our friend, Edwouard, has a vegetable garden here in LK. His garden is about 15 feet by 40 feet and he had an amazing harvest of turnips, potatoes, lettuce, beets, and carrots. He has enough to use all winter and lots to share!

But really this blog post is about my harvest. I was not sure how hard it would be to get salad greens and fresh vegetables. I came prepared to grow sprouts and shoots to supplement our salads. Interestingly, so far, there is always romaine lettuce available. (It is expensive but it is always in the coop store.)

So here is my harvest:

These are pea shoots, ready to harvest. (After 7 days)


Here they are harvested. You just cut them close to the seeds.


This is what they looked like after two days. (I know, these pictures are not in a good order, this one should have been first.)


These are my sunflower shoots.





These shoots are delicious and really healthy too. I have also been growing an assortment of sprouts. I use the Mumm seeds and I am growing both the shoots and the sprouts in sprouting trays, also available at Mumms. You can check out their site at
http://sprouting.com
That's my harvest. Happy Thanksgiving.

Flora of LK

David and I have been tramping all over the ridges of Lutsel K'e. We have seen some fantastic scenery and interesting plants. The rose hips are so numerous that I can't wait to see all the roses in the spring. The countryside must covered with them. Here are some pictures of the plants that we have seen in the last month.

Prairie crocus


The last rose of the season, maybe....


Rose hips


I have no idea what this plant is.


Fireweed


Tiny ferns, some of these are only as tall as your baby finger.


Reindeer lichen


Some kind of mushroom, maybe?


Some strange looking stuff


Labrador tea


It is easy walking up on the rocks. The woods are fairly sparse with birch as the only hardwood. There is mostly white and black spruce and tamarack so the woods have splashes of yellow but the under bush has lots of reds. It's beautiful and quite different from NB. I have to say I miss the maples!!


Until next time...