I never thought I would end up living and creating a farm for my husband and myself when I met him, some 15 years ago. At the time, I was completing my studies on Holistic Nutrition and Community Counselling, and I was living in downtown Vancouver, working in the very busy and hectic corporate world. My how life delivers different opportunities if we are receptive to the cues.  Here I am in 2020, having left all of the above behind to move to Powell River in early 2019 with my husband and elderly mother-inlaw - living on a rambling, green, wild and beautiful 2.4 acres of land - all in the midst of a pandemic. Who knew?

But now a whole year and a half later, since our arrival to Powell River and two houses built (mostly by my husband) summer is here (I think) and our next adventure has us firmly in its grasp. The great outdoors beckons. We have this rolling green canvas in front of us to create vegetable and flower gardens, install a greenhouse and a water collection system. Sounds like another adventure to me. What better opportunity for me, a self-proclaimed foodie, cook and nutritionist then to learn how to grow my own food!

It all started out a few months back (about the time the Pandemic did) when my brilliant husband starting stalking local businesses (kidding) to help them with their excess wooden pallets. Always willing to give a hand, he has transported many wooden pallets home where he has reconfigured them in to wooden raised beds and the foundation for a greenhouse for our next project - growing vegetables!​

Here's a few shots of our burgeoning crops - looking pretty green and luscious right now... stay posted for new recipes as we eat our way through this adventure. 

​And, by the way, the fawn in the picture above was born on our property a few weeks ago. A special treat to come across it nestled in the green grass by our pond. Kind of like a sign - new life for all of us. 

​This is a delicious and easy recipe - perfect for a hot summer evening's meal -- or just as tasty at any other time of the year when perhaps one might wish you were in Hawaii enjoying this dish! Hawaiian Lime Chicken Thighs is a must try recipe!

I don't know about you, but I have been conditioned to think of chocolate and red roses when February 14th - the day of the heart(s) -draws near. Good or bad, that is the where my little psyche goes. It doesn't mean that I feel better or worse if I have these things or not, but I'm just saying that those are what come to mind around this celebrated 'heart' day. 

But today I am thinking about actually celebrating the heart in a literal sense. Did you know that this magnificent organ is the first one to be created in the womb and continues as the most important influencing mechanism in the body throughout our lifetime until its last heartbeat?