Lockwood Farm - Week Two

Monday 16th, day 68

This was the day I was ill, and stayed in bed for most of it. I first began to feel not quite right when cleaning eggs so thought it was just the smell, but went to sit outside when I started feeling shaky and lightheaded. It soon passed, though, and I rejoined them. Lunch, however, was lasagne, and I don't know why I had even the single mouthful I did manage before being forced to hurriedly excuse myself. Needless to say I didn't join them for dinner, but did for a game of Monopoly and kept down a slice of watermelon. 

Tuesday 17th, day 69

I'd been fine overnight so, after having just some plain porridge for breakfast, started harvesting rhubarb. Washing and bunching that was followed by doing the same for kale, bagging runner beans - which reminded me of Grandad - and harvesting/washing rocket and mizuna to go in the salad mix. After cheese on toast and a fried egg for lunch, I finished off said mix by picking edible flowers and then bagging it all up with Maxi. I made dinner, pasta with chicken in spiced tomato sauce, and rhubarb crumble and popcorn were made before we watched "Now You See Me", which is a great film!

Wednesday 18th, day 70

I went into Victoria with James and helped set up the market stall, but then had four hours to do what I liked before returning when the market finished at 3pm. I spent an hour and a half in a bookshop, and bought a thick Lonely Planet comprehensive guide to Canada, before finding my way to and having lunch at the pizza place I'd been to on the Moose trip. We stopped at a viewpoint on the way back, and I helped unload the trailer back at the farm before having Thai green curry for dinner.

Thursday 19th, day 71

After cleaning tubs, the remainder of the day was spent weeding carrots. We finished early, though, when Cammy came back with Ryoko and James decided we'd go to the old quarry while the weather was still nice. The old quarry is now a lake and, despite the fact that it's apparently private property, has been a very popular swimming spot with the locals for years. The weather was cooler and cloudier than the previous week, but not so much that we didn't go swimming.

Friday 20th, day 72

With five people at it, most of the harvesting and market prep was done in a few hours; so Maxi and I weeded leeks for a while before lunch (Ryoko continued with James and Barry) and resumed afterwards for an hour or so. We finished just as it was beginning to rain and joined Barry cleaning eggs. Dinner was barbecued lamb-and-aubergine kebabs with potatoes, salad and Maxi's homemade mayo. She made dessert, too: a kind of bread and butter pudding without the butter, with apples and the custard on the side... we curdled the custard, but it tasted good.

Saturday 21st, day 73

James and his brother-in-law had fixed the internet connection the previous evening so, when he and Cammy left for the Duncan market in the morning, I took the opportunity to catch up with friends and family. Maxi did the same but Ryoko took a bike and explored despite the rain. Said precipitation stopped around 4pm so we went for a walk and found the Cobble Hill Mountain hiking trails, but didn't follow them. Returning about 5:30/6pm we joined Ryoko talking to James' nine-year-old nephew, who was up a tree sawing off a branch to make slingshots. He ended up making one for each of us. Dinner was eggy bread and I fried apple slices to go with mine: yum :) James had arranged to go and play video games with his brother-in-law for the evening so Maxi, Ryoko and I watched "I Capture the Castle" (a British period drama which I thoroughly enjoyed), then helped Cammy finish making another batch of plum jam and cleared up before bed.

Sunday 22nd, day 74

The morning was lazy, I worked on the blog and looked at Cammy's recipe books. Ryoko and I went with her for the short drive to the pretty little village of Cowichan Bay to trade for shrimp, then spent two hours shelling 10lbs of them. Haha. A new skill, much easier than cutting up a chicken. Of course we used some for dinner in a shrimp korma, which was followed by bread and butter pudding with apple.