A Barrel Full of Potatoes

I've been growing potatoes in barrels for four years now. It's such an easy way to get a good crop of spuds. Last year, I grew two kinds, Norland Reds and Yukon Gold. I really like eating the red potatoes fresh, but for lasting, the Yukon Gold are better. We're still eating the last of last year's crop now.

My remaining red potatoes have all started to sprout. But that's not a total loss. I had to buy new Yukon Gold seed potatoes, but for my Norland Reds, I had plenty of my own sprouted ones to plant.

I planted two barrels of Yukon Gold potatoes. They are both on the deck of our transition float to shore. That will make it easy for Wayne to water after the spring rains stop. Last year I saved the soil from my potato barrels in plastic bags. As the potatoes grow foliage, Wayne can just dump a bag of soil on top. That will continue until the entire barrel if filled with soil. The increased depth will encourage the plants to produce more potatoes.

The Norland Red potatoes went up in my hillside potato patch. I have been building up a small section of soil up on the top of our granite cliff with my compost, decomposed leaves from the forest, and bags of peat. In addition to the potatoes, I am trying garlic. The land-based critters have left my potatoes alone. Hopefully the garlic won't be to their liking either.

Do you grow garlic? I'd be interested in your experiences. -- Margy

Wings Over Westvew

Last week when I went home to Powell River BC, I took Pacific Coastal Airlines as usual. It was a beautiful sunny spring day.

Our base turn highlights Harwood Island and cloud covered Vancouver Island in the distance. Lining up on final approach the Catalyst paper mills slips by and a tiny glimpse up Powell Lake means I'm almost home.

Air travel is very important for Powell River. Even though the city and region are on the mainland of Coastal BC, the area can only be reached by air or sea. Powell River Airport serves as a commercial and private hub. In addition to the regular Pacific Coastal Airline flights, you will see helicopters supporting the logging industry and a multitude of private aircraft.

Last summer Tourism Powell River commissioned local authors to write stories about the beauties and activities in our region. I chose "Wings Over Westview" as on of my stories. I invite you to click on the link to give it a read in pdf format. You can also go to the Discover Powell River website to read all of the other great stories. -- Margy

Spring Cleaning

Getting ready for spring gardening meant I needed to do some clean up first. I let my strawberry plant foliage die around the roots for mulch to protect them through the cold winter. But it makes spring cleaning quite a chore. After clearing away the dead leaves, I surrounded the surviving roots with broken egg shells to thwart a slug invasion. Unfortunately, only one of my strawberry beds survived. Grubs got to the roots of the other one.

I have two perennial asparagus beds in my garden. I usually wait until the picking season is over and the ferns are tall to build a support system. This year I wanted to have it ready for Wayne so he could easily take care of it in my absence. Some stakes (provided by the lake) and string and it was quickly done.

In addition to my perennial asparagus and strawberries, I have ongoing herbs and flowers. And I didn't have the heart to pull the remaining carrots and chard from last fall. But in the remaining space, I planted onion sets and seeds for chard, spinach, kale, lettuce and carrots. Hopefully, they will hardy enough to produce with less care and watering over the summer months. If not, at least I had the fun of trying.


I love the floating garden that our good friend John made for me. It's a unique way to keep my thumb green and my hands dirty. Gardening is good for the soul as well as the tummy. -- Margy

Cabin Cooking: Sourdough Sopapillas

When I got home one of the first things I did was feed my sourdough starter. It’s about three years old and I want to keep it thriving. In the morning, I had too much to put back in the jar so I looked in my Sourdough Cookery book and found a recipe for Sopapillas. They sounded like a good breakfast for one.

Sourdough Sopapillas

1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons shortening
cooking oil for frying

Measure starter into a bowl. Mix dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until it resembles cornmeal. Add starter to dry mixture and stir to moisten. Put on a lightly floured board and knead until smooth, add flour if necessary. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll out to ¼ inch thick and cut into small squares. Drop a few at a time in hot oil (400 degrees) and fry until golden brown on each side. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar, or serve hot with honey.

Hope you didn’t count the sopapillas in my final picture. Several had to be “tasted” to make sure they were coming out OK! Then I sat down for my breakfast treats with a cup of woodstove-perked coffee.

I really liked this recipe because I didn’t have to wait for the dough to rise. Also, I cut it in half. After all, sopapillas are best warm right out of the frypan!

Do you have any favourite sourdough recipes? -- Margy

Tiny Treasure

One of the first things I do when I get home to Powell River is go to the Economy Shop, a thrift store where the proceeds go to the Powell River Hospital Auxiliary. The helpers are volunteers and all of the items are donated, making the prices very economical. Look at the treasure I got on Tuesday!

It's now up at the cabin organizing my hand painted jars for my home grown herbs. How could it be more perfect? Well, it cost only 25 cents. Now doesn't that top it all off nicely? Plus, I'm helping to reuse and donate to the hospital at the same time. Quite a package of tiny treasures if you ask me. -- Margy

Tulip Jam

Take 1 cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons of ...., no not that kind of jam! Easter weekend Wayne and I took Mom out for a day trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. It's an annual event that lasts the entire month of April. We picked it for Mom because she could enjoy the beautiful blooms from the comfort of the front seat of her Buick Park Avenue.

Where tulip fields met the two lane country roads, cars slowed down and pulled off on the shoulders, jamming everything up. Kids and adults alike scampered out to see the beautiful fields of colour. And we couldn't have picked a better day for it.

There are still a few days left. Head out to the Skagit Valley before the blooms are cut. You see, these are bulb not flower producing fields. -- Margy

Atchison, Topeka and Chuckanut Bay

Now what do trains and boats have in common? If you anchor overnight in Chuckanut Bay you'll know. When we went there in the afternoon, it peaked our curiosity. So for our final night on our shakedown cruise, Wayne and I picked the trestle in Chuckanut to drop our anchor.

Before going, Wayne looked up the Amtrac passenger train schedule. You may like to know, both trains were right on time. In addition, there were several freight trains. It was so much fun to wave at the engineers and have they toot the horn as they passed by.

But the 1:30 a.m. freight train gave me quite a start. It woke me as it exited the tunnel to the north. It's bright light made me briefly think we'd dragged anchor and were on the tracks. A quick look proved we were in place, but in the dark, the rattling cars seemed so much closer.

Brightly covered with graffiti, the many cars were heading north to Canada to get another load of natural resources and products, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is action.

The shakedown cruise and good weather came to an end the following morning, waking up to pelting rain and increased winds. We pulled anchor at dawn and returned to nearby Squalicum Harbor. We had lots of fun and hope you did too.

Are you a Pacific Northwest boater? Where are some of your favourite destinations? -- Margy