Gabriola Island Lifestyle Blog
Archive for the ‘Flora and Fauna’ Category
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
There are quite a number of plants that can be foraged for food on Gabriola. The spring and summer months offer a multitude of berries, oregon grape, young stinging nettle, and tender greens; in the fall find rose hips and mushrooms. It is very satisfying to walk along mossy forest trails and spy a chanterelle mushroom, and where there is one there are u
sually more. Our favorite are the golden chanterelle but the white ones are good as well. Take them home, clean off the forest debris, leave them to dry for a couple of days, then fry them up with onions and olive oil – delicious!
Posted in Cooking, Flora and Fauna, Food, Healthy Living | No Comments »
Friday, July 29th, 2011
We were able to spend 4 days and 3 nights camping at Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island and the trip was spectacular! The weather cooperated and it felt like summer the entire time which for anybody who has been on the west coast this summer knows those days have been few and far between. We had one of the nicest if not the nicest campsite we have ever found with a beautiful waterfront to spend our afternoons sitting in the sun gazing out across the lake. Just moments away was a wonderful swimming beach complete with raft for diving off of. The kids adored this place and were quite sad that we had to pack up and come home. So lucky that this is only a short trip from home, about 2 hours from Gabriola.
Posted in Camping on Vancouver Island, Daytripping on Vancouver Island, family life, Flora and Fauna, Gabriola Island, Gabriola Living, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Healthy Living, Kids, west coast, West Coast Living | No Comments »
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
I was delighted when my grand daughter handed me this beautiful little Indian Pipe, also known as Ghost Plant. We were having afternoon tea in the garden and the children were playing in the forest when they found three little patches of M. Uniflora, a parasitic plant that bears a single flower on a stem. I hadn’t seen one for a long time so it was a real treat to find so many!
Posted in family life, Flora and Fauna | No Comments »
Monday, July 11th, 2011
There were two curious little girls who were able to spend an afternoon exploring within a fairytale land. There were dragon’s, castles, lush greenery, faeries and so much more!
This past Saturday the girls went and explored the wonderful Once Upon a Time art market/tea house here at a private residence on Gabriola. There were 16 artists, a tea house, faeries and more located in beautiful lush gardens making it a very magical experience for all.
This beautiful dragon and its rider is made from foam found on the beach then carved and felted, absolutely stunning!
Posted in family life, Flora and Fauna, Gabriola Island, Gabriola Living, Gardening on Gabriola, greener living, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Holidays and Special Events, Kids, People, Shopping on Gabriola, The Arts, West Coast Living | No Comments »
Sunday, April 17th, 2011
Sitting at my breakfast table this morning I watched a robin in the bird bath splashing merrily as another flew in to perch on the pot beside the bath waiting patiently for his turn. There was much splashing and fluffing of feathers and after he finished the female came back for a second turn scrubbing herself even more vigorously! When they were finished they sat on the telephone wire preening themselves then flew away.
Posted in Flora and Fauna | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
What a delight it is to find a few chanterelle mushrooms along your path. When you are walking in the mossy forest in the fall it is not unusual to find mushrooms of all types, but the chanterelles are particularly tasty and very easy to recognize. Both white and golden ones can be found on Gabriola. The golden ones seem to grow a bit higher off the ground while the whites snuggle under the moss and are usually more covered in forest debris. On our last forest expedition we found a large grouping of the whites and were able to pick enough for the whole family to enjoy!
Posted in Flora and Fauna, Food, Healthy Eating, West Coast Living | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
August is blackberry time, and Gabriola has lots of thickets of these luscious treats at the south end of the island. We try to go out a few times each season to pick berries. This time we took the kids and they helped, mind you they ate as many as they picked. We brought
home enough to make jelly, a pie and blackberry ice cream. Yum!
Posted in Cooking, family life, Flora and Fauna, Food, Gabriola Living, Healthy Living, Kids | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
This past weekend my husband and I had a couple of days off and met up with some friends from Vancouver and camped at the Living Forest campground in Nanaimo. We spent one of the days with them and our girls heading up to Coombs and continuing on to Cathedral Grove (MacMillan Provincial Park). The girls loved Cathedral Grove, the big trees, “fairy holes”, streams and flowers. It was a wonderful and magical day topped off with ice cream cones
for all at the Old Country Market while watching the goats gambol on the roof.
Posted in Camping on Vancouver Island, Daytripping on Vancouver Island, family life, Flora and Fauna, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Holidays and Special Events, Kids, West Coast Living | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Tomorrow the girls will be heading off to the farm…Gabriola’s Belvedere Farm to be exact. A wonderful old homestead farm located at the South end of Gabriola, Belvedere farm is a beautiful piece of farmland in an amazing setting. The Hope Center preschool with it’s fabulous teachers, amazing kids, and helpful parents are in for an afternoon full of sheep, lambs, gardens, barns and countless other exciting surprises. Both the girls are looking forward to seeing the animals and I am sure I will hear all about it amongst the plea’s for a lamb of their very own. This island has so much to offer that the field trips are rich and educational without ever having to hop on the ferry, we are very grateful for being here!
Posted in family life, Flora and Fauna, Gabriola Island, Gabriola Living, greener living, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Kids, West Coast Living | No Comments »
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sually more. Our favorite are the golden chanterelle but the white ones are good as well. Take them home, clean off the forest debris, leave them to dry for a couple of days, then fry them up with onions and olive oil – delicious!
Robyn & Carly McMahon and unlicensed assistant Lesley McMahon, your Gabriola Island Real Estate Sales Team