Even if you’ve been cooking for a long time cuts can still happen. Kyle was on no sleep from his sous chef job and then he was helping me prep for a huge catering and he stabbed his own hand. We were going to wrap it in duck tape but when he took off the paper towel there was too much white tissue showing. We called our friend who is a doctor and asked her to stitch it but she didn’t have the stuff, so Kyle went to the hospital while I kept prepping. He didn’t want freezing because he didn’t want his hand to be numb so he couldn’t prep anymore. They let him do it without the freezing and he said that it hurt more than he thought it would. He came back and helped me prep and we made it to the job on time.

I always thought melons didn’t grow well in Saskatchewan, because the growing season wasn’t long enough. This summer was a good growing season here and at the horticulture club our melons grew really well.

It’s pretty sweet, we started the seeds in the greenhouse and then transplanted outside, and some we just planted in the ground. Everything grew really well. People coming together to grow their own food is one of the most powerful things in life. I am so glad to be a part of it, and it is also great for meeting like minded people. People growing their own food and knowing where their food comes from can change the world.

The prairies are beautiful. Lots of space, beautiful sky and lots of wild, forgeable plants. In late summer there are lots of thistles and wild sage. I made a breakfast sausage with the wild sage that was growing on the land where the pig came from.

Still very busy with catering. The restaurant we are leasing was an old chinese restaurant for like 70 years, so needless to say it is a little greezy. Kyle and some friends scrubbed out the walkin so that we could store some stuff in there for the catering jobs, but I haven’t had time to get in there to clean the rest of the kitchen. It is slow going because the landlords are still getting some of the equipment serviced. Every spare hour I have I’m going to go and do some cleaning, before I can do anything it will have to be spotless. I can’t wait to get in there.

I found some little berries in the woods, that was earlier in the summer. I’m trying to catch up and get back into blogging. I’m in the midst of catering many events, and working on opening our own restaurant. I need to quit my real job but I don’t dare because I still want the money security. We will see.

Kyle and I drove up north in our new catering van for the night to pick mushrooms. We had fun catching up with each other over wine, mushrooms and music. It was magical. In the morning we got out of the back of the van and found chanterelles and fragrant pine mushrooms. The ground was covered by silvery grey lichen and the chanterelles were peaking out. The forest out here is seriously beautiful. There were also lots of wild blueberries, rose hips and labrador tea. By the end of the day my bag was full.

We did a catering this weekend and none of the pictures turned out (sorry other mom) except for the ones of the spring vegetables we got from greenhouses and the farmers market. It is hard to scout out these vegetables this time of year but I was persistent and gathered them from many different local sources. The radishes are from my friend Jon’s efficient little garden. I also gathered some wild roses with my mom to put in the spring greens salad. I’m still so confused about the seasons here, spring greens are ready and not much else unless from a greenhouse but it is summer! In Vancouver we would be into summer vegetables by now. I’ll have it figured by next year.

We drove north for a few hours to get out of the city. We brought a jar of duck rillette a few slices of proscuitto, some cheese, a baguette and various pickles. I thought we would maybe find some mushrooms but there was virtually no fungus. There was lots of lichen, moss and wild strawberry plants. At one point we came across an area that had been recently burned. Maybe we should look there next year for morels.