Most of the 160 tomatoes grown in our greenhouse have gone to their new homes. I wish them well.

To be honest it was more fun for me before I charged for them (5$ for a one gallon pot). I feel such responsibility for them. What if they die? What if they don’t produce? It’s better for me to give them away, then, if they die, they die. But the money my friends give me pays for the potting soil and other expenses and I do appreciate their support of my winter seed starting habit.

With our first experience, last month, hosting Workaways, such a success, we are currently hosting for a second time. Visiting for 3 weeks is a fellow from the south of France. He said his English was beginner level but it is really very good and we do try to assist with the French vocabulary we learned from twelve years practicing dictees at the kitchen table with our French immersion children. All in all communication is not an issue.

His work ethic and physical energy is something from a distant memory of E’s youth. Oh, to have a healthy strong back again. He has been here one week and has made quick work of the pile of wood we needed to be split and he is now filling all the wood sheds. After the cord of Arbutus, which the first workaways finished, and the two cords he has finished, we should be easily set for whatever the coming winters have in store for us.

With the arrival of a May rainstorm today, E was able to test out his new carport work area. He and our Frenchman, (as I like to call him), planed all of the wood our brother in law milled and gifted us for the baseboards in our house. Yes, after seven years, the baseboards still aren’t finished in the bedroom and “foyer”. Calling the area by the front door of an off grid cabin a foyer might be a stretch but, you knew where I was talking about didn’t you.

Completing the baseboard project is exactly what we were hoping from the Workaway program. A job that needed to be done but has never been urgent so was never completed, is finally off the list. Theoretically, with the wood planed, sanded, stained and stored in the rafters of the new carport E will be able to complete house baseboards in the winter on his own.

It should be mentioned that our neighbours have really welcomed our travelling guests and, in return, our European guests are quite taken with the community. Again, E and I are reminded about how lucky we are to live here.

So the baby veg are almost all gone and I can now turn the greenhouse into a pepper growing hot house for the summer. It does warm my heart that the veggies, which I began in my living room during the winter, will end up on the dining tables of my neighbours and friends. And to think, and I quote my friend Kathryn, all of it from

a small seed