Tis the season to plan and dream.

Until we have a place to stay other than a tent, there is not much we can do over the Fall and Winter months to further our dream Republic. However, 'tis the ideal season for planning and design, so we thought a quick overnight trip to Cortes Island on a relatively good weather weekend would be a good thing (see previous blog re site measurements/plan) so that I can begin on our (currently favoured) design for the main house (sketches above - no comments on how on earth I'm going to deal with snowload on this roof, pse).

Unfortunately, we have guests in the B&B for 3 nights this weekend coming (think of the money, Penny) and the weekend thereafter, looks like Nev and the work crowd are finally going fishing (hard to begrudge this). Weekend after is Thanksgiving, a vague possibility for a trip except we accepted a booking on the Monday evening (lady coming back from Cortes!), so it will have to be a quick trip indeed.

In the interim, I have switched from presenting Green Building at Lighthouse to manning the resource centre once a week, which is an amazingly timeous opportunity, because that's where their library of sustainable materials are kept, along with lists of suppliers and other interesting contacts. And at least I will feel like I'm contributing while learning more, even though I am nuts about materials and finishes, so am pretty clued up, even if I say so myself.

This also ties in very fortuitously with my decision (at last) to start a small "green" design business. It is after all why I went back to school, and presents the same opportunity to change old, unsustainable design and renovation practices one homeowner at a time. Wish me luck and watch this space!

More learning.

I started my Construction 1A Course on Wednesday and I am stoked. It is really basic, and fortunately I do know some of the terminology and techniques involved already, so I think I will be OK. Put it this way, I was way more worried about passing the Built Green exam and that turned out OK.

What's exciting is knowing that in a few weeks' time I will be able to put together a set of drawings for a house. That's the thing with BCIT courses - you start out wondering how you will ever learn everything on the course schedule, but by around week 9 you think "wow, look how much we've learned!".

We saw a house on the Extreme Homes TV show today. It's in Phoenix, AZ so obviously a whole other weather area, however, it was exactly how I would build the main cabin if budget permits. It's built into the rock of a mountain, and it would work fantastically on our gully site. The trick, they said, was to cut a laser line into the rock to the depth of around 3" and then scribe the glazing into it using lots of silicone. The end result is a rock wall inside the house, which merges seamlessly into the rock. Wish I had a pic of it to stick in my design sketch book.

The latest Dwell mag features a house in California with stunning bare concrete floors. That's it at the top of this posting. It also has the front door I dream of having. Sooo... how do we make THIS happen? It would help to have accurate site measurements on the main building site. We haven't done this yet. We actually started doing a site map for the teeny cabin site: we did it on the visit earlier this year when Delia gave us a ride. It's a standing joke between us now. I took ONE measurement to avoid having to cut down a scrawny young arbutus tree and the joke is that even though I only took one measurement, I drew the dimension incorrectly... the 10' is to the FRONT of the rock, not the back. That's it.

Norpine Cabins

I decided to follow up on those prefab cabins they are selling through Home Depot, my most UNfavourite bog-box store. You know the joke - HD employs 3,000 people (or whatever) and they're all at the same store somewhere else... hate going in there.

Anyway, worth a quick price check for the bunky. The Norpine website is http://www.norpineproducts.com/. I checked on the Fraser, Mackenzie and Palliser because we really want something with a small footprint. I think the Palliser might even be too big.

Called 2 HD stores: at Campbell River everyone was "helping other customers" (yeah, yeah, all other customers are more important than me), but I managed to establish all HDs charge the same for the cabins.

I then called the Abbotsford branch, because having bought the composting toilet there, I know they have a number of older, experienced, English-speaking employees who are very helpful. However, they had no prices and no phone number on record, but the kind chap I spoke to told me to look them up under Winton Global, which is how I arrived at Tammy. Who was FULL of info and advice and gave me all the prices and then some.

Since we will be building on a pier and beam foundation, it looks like the cheapest we can go is the Fraser (16' X 20') at $20,749. We can do our own siding if we don't want the log-look - subtract $4,080 and buy your own siding plus Tyvek instead. I do like the metal roof and it comes in BLUE! Ha! Of course, there are other colours as well.

But when I look at it, I could probably buy enough lumber for my own design for less. If I design it right, I can have minimal waste on materials too. Interesting though.

For the record, the Mackenzie came in at around $27,887.

Root cellars again, and propane refrigerators.

OK, I see what they're doing: it's an underground or bermed "room". Of course the temp is lower in winter and higher in summer, but still cooler than ambient. It needs to be ventilated and drained properly and the reason it's called a root cellar is because it appears to be a storage area for produce. But one chap says he can keep milk in his till the sell by date, so I think it'll be good for many things except potentially meat and keeping beer and wine chilled. Kinda knew that though.

Useful, but we'll still need a small propane refrigerator. We will need around $1,000 for a small one, I think. The solar power models are even more expensive... oh well. The bunky is not supposed to be kitted out though - we put real budget into the building of the main house for appliances, but not the bunky. Dreams don't come cheap. That's what research is for.

It's a process, not an overnight thing.

My friend Barb and I had lunch on Friday. It was truly wonderful to see her again, as always. Lo and behold, she too is contemplating an alternative place to live, and a more suitable way of life. I hesitate to say alternative, because I think it's a choice, not an opt-out, as some city dwellers seem to think.

When I called Barb today, she was in front of her PC, looking at properties. This is something Nev and I spent literally hundreds of hours doing before buying The Seagull Republic. In fact, it was an obsession all of its own. We had The Tree House on the market at one point in order to be able to move forward with our plans, but truthfully, we weren't ready to sell. Or were we? You see, none of this happens overnight; it's more like a process one goes through, from the dream, through the thinking, the research, the planning and then the hardcore business of it all: the financing, negotiating, building, moving and more.

Those central stages involved a lot of math: running the numbers on umpteen spreadsheets, such as what do we actually need to live? What will it cost? What will cost less and what will cost more? For instance, one has to have a boat, a dock, and insurance, to name a few items that would cost more, but food and heating may cost less, depending. Some items didn't figure much in our planning, for example, we don't often buy take out, mainly because there isn't any in Lions Bay (!) but also because truthfully it's tastier, healthier and CHEAPER to eat at home. But I guess for others, this could be a huge saving outside the city.

A vital part of our research was definitely visiting numerous little places around Vancouver Island and particular properties. We spent a small fortune on ferries, B&B's and, most expensive of all, water taxis. Those guys are usually fishing guides (or similar) using their boats as taxis only when they are not taking tourists out fishing. So typically they were as much as $100 an hour. This is something one should take into account when thinking about a recreational/rural property... even the looking ain't cheap if you're looking at an island or boat access only spot.

It helped that we spent many hours online narrowing our search down according to our pre-determined criteria: Must be 1. on the ocean 2. boat access only 3. must have a great view with mountains. FYI we got 2 1/2 out of 3 in The Republic, but you can't help yourself when you fall in love... and that's what this is all about, falling in love with a spot. You don't SETTLE when it's the dream. You ask yourself, "is this the dream?" - and Nev was good at asking this - and if the answer is no, you keep looking.

We invested in courses, as mentioned somewhere else on this blog, books, trade shows, phone calls and countless hours of research. I still wonder what we'll find to talk about once we've actually built a place and moved in, although I'm certain the learning will continue.

Life in Lions Bay has been ideal training for moving to a more remote spot. Living on half an acre of forested land close to the San Andreas fault means we always have to be prepared to take care of ourselves for a few days (technically 3, 7 is better). It's kind of eased us into the rural lifestyle. We have the odd power outage, such as the storm in November 2006 that left us without power for 5 days, but usually it's a day or a few hours. Nevertheless, one has to be able to keep warm because the house gets cold very quickly when it's around zero outside.

In 2006, I had to buy a generator to keep the fridge cold and cook dinner. We could have BBQ'ed except Nev was up north at Snap Lake having lobster dinners and warm showers (long story) and I'm not great on the gas BBQ (gas terrifies me to be honest). Luckily it wasn't too cold, and the woodpile meant we had heat (thanks to Nev's diligent wood curing and chopping regime). But you get the idea... our beloved Tree House has been great training for The Seagull Republic.

Even now, we are probably not quite at the point of selling The Tree House, buying a small city home and moving permanently to Cortes. Will we ever be? We want to be on the North Shore during the ski season and for Christmas with Lee (which fortunately coincides with the bulk of the hockey season). In short, we want it all. Having said that, when I left Cortes last week, I was very sad to be leaving.

This is exactly my point: it's a process. No-one decides to do what we're doing overnight. In my case, it's taken all my life thus far. I moved from the dreaming stage to making it real because it gets to the point where you think, "OK, if this is what we really want, how do we make it happen?". Even then, one has to work through the complexities of everyday life, the reality of that new life, and the most important thing... finances.

That's what's so amazing about Canada: one can have a wonderful life almost anywhere and it needn't cost too much. Once one figures out exactly how much money one needs to live on and how one wants to make that money, you can make it happen.

But it's a process.

Root cellars

So I'm reading about root cellars in the latest Cottage Magazine. Basically, an underground refrigerator that stays cool no matter what. Some seem to have sod roofs. Anyway, they of course need no hydro. Reminds me of when we used to keep our drinks cool in the cold Atlantic waters, which makes me wonder how we can submerge perishables in the cool waters around the Republic.

Anyway, if anyone stumbles across this blog and has advice for me, please let me know! Will post more info as I research this topic further.

10 Things we learned this time.

Every time we have to get up and catch the 6.30am ferry from Horseshoe Bay, we wonder why we didn't book on the 8.30am sailing. However, we didn't, so Friday we heaved ourselves out of bed at 4am, packed the cooler boxes, left home at 5.30am and headed off to The Republic. Not so easy hitching the boat to the truck in the dark (lesson #1). Thus far it's been light when we've left. Note to self: get Nev to put in light on lower parking spot. B&B will need it duing 2010 Olympics anyway.

This time we did a tailgate breakfast with the usual B&B leftover buttermilk biscuits (signature item at The Tree House) and as usual with the new ferries we were stuck among all the overheight/overlengths ie 18 wheelers, buses and RVs. The whole Lions Bay Climate Action Task Force volunteer experience has had me quite frustrated lately (see my post title Green Volunteer Grouch) so I have to say I wasn't quite in vacation mode at that point. I was also pretty sleep-deprived, what with a sleepless night during the thunder storm, a late night packing the night before, and two very early starts. I can be quite miserable when I'm that tired (no comments, Nev).

In fact, I don't think I started unwinding until about 2 days later: unusual, for sure. But we'll get there.

We got to Gorge Harbour Marina on Cortes Island in the early afternoon as planned and managed to set up camp before the rain started. For the record, it didn't stop except for a couple of watery sunny patches, and it's still raining if it's anything like the weather here in Lions Bay today. We got The First in the water at high tide - perfect timing for us, around 6pm. They only charged us $5 to launch when it should be $8 and we told them so. Lesson #2: it's not worth trying to pay more when someone wants you to pay less. Just pay the $5 even though you are not in a kayak.

We went back to our little campsite, which looked more like a squatter camp by now, what with tarp for outdoor BBQ area etc strung up. We were the only tent there.

I had prepacked and frozen chicken pieces in various marinades, and we chose to BBQ my tandoori chicken, with rice and curried chickpeas I'd made a few days before the trip. Yum. (Recipes at end of this posting specially for Julie.) Those prepacked meat packs worked really well (lesson #3 - do it again).

Got to bed early and slept late because we had a so much rain and even a bit of wind. The sun came out and so did the deer that wander around the camp site eating the little green apples that fall from trees that were probably part of the original orchard.

Decided to go check on The First, but it didn't seem likely we'd be going anywhere given the weather at Gorge Harbour, which is on the west of the island. However, Squirrel Cove was a whole other story: we just had to go over to The Republic. Lesson #4: when camping, always apply sunscreen, because you never know when you're going to be spending time outdoors! Although I didn't get burnt badly; no sting even, just a little heat.

It was so amazing to be back on our piece of paradise. I do so love the ocean when it's battleship grey, everything's a little desolate, and the cries of the eagles and the gulls sound completely forlorn...

We unloaded the siding to above the highwater mark, but then it started raining again, so we headed back to the government dock. One thing about an aluminum hull is that it's a rough ride when there's a swell of any kind. Kinda fun though; every 7th wave is a big drop like a funfair ride.

That night it thundered and lightninged like crazy, which Yukon did not enjoy one bit, although he was as always very well behaved. I got him to lie next to me, which happened to be where we had a few minor drips in the tent, mainly because the fly sheet doesn't cover the 2 sides where the "windows" are. All in all, the tent held out really well. Every now and then a little waterfall would fall off the "portico", as we jokingly call it: the little entryway where we store the cooler boxes. It's not water proof, and unfortunately that's where Nev left his hiking boots so they got completely waterlogged (lesson #5 - keep boots inside tent).

After all the rain and storm we'd had, it was amazing to arrive at Squirrel Cove on Sunday to see the sea as smooth and silvery as as taffeta, hardly a breeze to be found (lesson #6: the weather differs from spot to spot on the island). But we could see the weather moving in from the southeast, so we knew the trip to The Republic would a quick one. All we did was carry the packs of siding to the site of the shed and make sure the tarp was still firmly in place for the winter. I have to admit, the site we've picked for the bunky is truly sheltered from the worst winter winds, because it's on the northwest side of the lot. We will definitely have to take the dock around there for winter storage.

Yukon seems to have taken to the boat in a big way. He climbed onto the bow and sniffed the wind like a wolf. It was hard to believe this was the dog who wouldn't get in a car when we got him. Lesson #7: it can be done!

Sunday night we BBQ'ed again under our tarp. In the rush to leave The Tree House, I ran out of time to cut herbs from the garden and take them with us. I usually put them in our veggie packs. Although I have to say, lemon juice with our "French condiments" (see pic) is always a pretty good combination.

Monday morning we had to admit we weren't getting any work done and sitting in the tent was making Nev antsy. I was quite happy reading my trashy novel, or as Kate calls it, "modern women's literature" (the industry calls it "chick lit"). I actually got through the entire 3" book in the trip, for the record.

Given that poor Yukon had been damp for days - and he doesn't like getting his hair wet! - we decided to use the morning's sunny spell, our 30% non-rain in a day Environment Canada said had a 70% chance of rain, to pack up and book into Cortes Island Motel (they take dogs) and move our ferry booking forward from Thursday evening to Tuesday evening. We had to phone the weather line because everything internet on the island got wiped out in the storms, first Telus then Twincom. Lesson #8: go for the satellite internet option on The Republic.

The motel option gave Yukon a chance to dry out, at least. BBQ'ed again though, best meal of the trip, and then Tuesday hopped in the ferry line-up at Whaletown. Yukon had a wonderful time with another large dog - everyone stood around smiling at the 2 of them charging up and down the road. Socialised with everyone as usual and I was sooo sad to be leaving... it would be so nice to be able to STAY. I didn't listen to a single newscast (couldn't anyway) or see a newspaper in all the time we were there and it didn't bug me at all. For the first time since being in SA in 2006, it didn't bother me at all. (I felt so isolated while in SA, when I came home I became news-obsessed, watching CBC, CNN, some BBC and both local channels almost all day long. I'm sure this is not good.)

Made it to Campbell River no problems - had a great chat with Gordon from Cranbrook in the CR lineup - and had a wicked lunch of fish and chips (the only time we don't call them fries). For the record, they let us take Yukon on the patio with us!

On the road to Nanaimo it became clear we'd be there way earlier than our 7pm sailing reservation, so we called to switch to the 5pm sailing. Lesson #9: you have to make the change at least 2 1/2 hours before your booking, which we missed by 30 minutes. But it was a charmed trip - they put on an extra sailing due to the volumes and we were put on the 4pm sailing, among the normal size cars, which means we were on an open parking deck WITH VIEWS!

Somewhere between the sound of the rain on the tent in the dark, the mindless storyline of abovementioned book and the gentle rhythm of Cortes, I came to the decision that life is too short to let things like the aggravations of getting involved in Lions Bay grind one down (lesson #10, and the biggest lesson learned this trip) and that I would resign from the LB CATF. However, I'll stick with Lighthouse for now and see how things progress.

I also found a focus for moving forward with something interior design-related and we'll have to see how that unfolds. It involves making some money, which is good. Truth be told, I'm quite excited about it. As a start I'm having lunch with my friend Barb from school. I think together we can hatch some plans, whatever they might be.

Tandoori Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

Skinless chicken thighs (choose how many you need)

About 1 C plain yoghurt (no-fat if you like, and you might need more if you're doing a lot of chicken)

2 T Curry paste or more (I found a great Tandoori one in the store, but I think curry powder would also work)

Some fresh chopped garlic (one or two cloves)

Method:

Mix everything and marinade chicken thighs overnight or longer. You can even freeze the chicken in the marinade (my fave trick) so it marinades while defrosting.

BBQ until cooked, basting as you go. We are going to try this on a piece of foil until cooked, then put on grill to char because the chicken dries out easily if you're not careful.

You can also cook in the oven at 400 degrees F on a rack on a baking tray, turning once, until cooked. Then raise the shelf so the chicken is closer to the grill and grill until slightly charred. I did this and next time I will not use a rack until I get to the grilling part.

Curried Chick Peas (can be served warm or at room temp)

You can use canned chick peas, but I soak dried chick peas overnight and cook in pressure cooker with salt till cooked but intact. You need to have enough water in the pot to cover the peas plus a little and I cook them with only one ring showing for about 22 minutes.

Drain chick peas and for around 2C of CP's, add 2t curry powder, about 1/4 of a largish onion, chopped very finely, plus about 1/4 of a large red bell pepper, also finely chopped. Check seasoning (salt and freshly ground black pepper) and mix. I have also used my own curry spice blend that I got years back from my friend Shads (top secret). You could also add finely chopped garlic if you're not dating :) and if you have fresh cilantro, one of my favourite herbs, add that, too.

You can serve immediately, but as with all curry dishes, keeping it in the refrigerator for a couple of days improves the flavour. It's a great dish to take to BBQs because you can prep it beforehand and it's not expensive, so you can scale it up to suit the number of guests you have.

Also good mixed with white basmati rice as a side dish to a curry.

NOTE: the formatting is bloody awful, I know, but I've been fiddling with it for a while and nothing is working so I'm publishing this now so I can start cooking dinner!