Another walk with the wolves

As you can see I love going on a walk with the Wolves of the Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre....and it seems the joy is mutual...;-)

At the beginning of June, Monika and I visited the Wolves and went on a walk with them together with other wolf enthusiasts.

No matter if you are a photographer or not, if you are interested in wolves, a walk with them will be a highlight you will always remember. I lost count of how many times I have done the walk and I'm already looking for an excuse to go again!

It was a rather bright and contrasty day. Tough for photography....instead of fighting the contrast I decided this time to work with it, to intensify it...

The wolves seem to enjoy the outing as much as we do and take their time to smell the roses

or take a plunge into the water to cool off

a good opportunity for reflections...if they happen to stand still that is...

If you are in the area, they are located in Golden, B.C., make sure to pay them a visit. The wolf centre is open year round and offers tours within the centre daily: 

"Your tour starts when you get here, no reservations required, our wolf pack is ready when you are! We offer a 25 minute interpretive talk about wolves and their role in the environment."

For a "photo" walk though you have to make reservations ahead of time. I usually call a few weeks in advance. More information on their website:

Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre

June Conservation Tip

You are what you eat!

Since my friends know that I'm rather food conscious, I frequently get asked what one can do to eat healthier. Looking for ways to easily incorporate a more healthy eating habit without too much change or effort? You work all day and just don't have the time to garden or keep chickens?

Here five easy ideas:

1. Buy and eat as unprocessed as possible.
I think this is my #1 rule. If you can stay away from convenience food and ready-made meals, you are almost there. A good way to start is to read the labels of the products you are about to buy. If it is longer than let's say 5 - 10 ingredients and/or if it has ingredients you can't even pronounce let alone you know what they are, don't buy them. In the next step try to avoid anything with high fructose corn syrup.
Every October a growing number of food conscious people join "October Unprocessed". Check it out and give it a try.

2. Inform yourself
We all know that commercials are not necessarily telling us the whole truth. A very good example of how we are manipulated is shown by this short video:



The internet is a good resource if used with caution.
I can also recommend the following books:

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
From the Ground up by Jeanne Nolan
Omnivores Dilema by Michael Pollan
Food Rules, an Easters Manual by Michael Pollan

Do you know about the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen?
I think it is a good idea to be informed about the pesticide content of organic vs. conventional produce, published by the Environmental Working Group.

3. Buy local, know your farmer, rancher, dairy and poultry farmer.
I know, that is easier said than done.
Farmers markets are an excellent opportunity to meet up with the people who produce your food.
And if you live in the Kootenays, here are some locations to check out:
Winderberry Nursery and Cafe in Windermere
Kootenay Meadows Milk and Cheese in Creston
Fort Steele Farms in Fort Steele
Creston also offers a Tour de Farm. The yearly event was scheduled for this coming Wednesday, July 1st, but got postponed to early fall due to the hot temperatures. So plenty of time to make plans to attend...;-)

4. Meatless Monday
Sometimes I day-dream that everybody would be a vegetarian....but I know this is rather unrealistic. But how about just one day a week without meat?
Last October I wrote a blog about the health and environmental issues that come with eating meat and I would like to encourage you to have a look: October 2014 Conservation Tips
Here just a quick excerpt in regards to the environment:
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) published a very informative statistic:
 Over a one year period,
-if you eat one less burger a week, it’s like taking your car off the road for 320 miles or line-drying your clothes half the time.
-if your four-person family skips meat and cheese one day a week, it’s like taking your car off the road for five weeks – or reducing everyone’s daily showers by 3 minutes.
-if your four-person family skips steak once a week, it’s like taking your car off the road for nearly three months.


For an in depth insight into our modern meat culture and it's history I can highly recommend the book Beyond Beef by Jeremy Rifkin

5. DIY and utilize your freezer
Our boys love their waffles in the morning and for years I bought the frozen waffles because it was so easy to just pop them in the toaster in the morning. After reading the list of ingredients on the waffle box I decided: no more of that!
But do I have the time to bake fresh waffles every morning....not really.
The solution? I triple my waffle recipe, bake a whole bunch at once every couple of weeks and freeze them...now we have the same convenience of just popping the waffles in the toaster but this time it's a homemade, organic waffle that is even cheaper than the factory made ones you buy in the store. The same idea works for toast, bread, buns, pizza dough etc.
Fruit and vegetable taste much better and are more affordable when in season. Stock up on whatever is in season and freeze it for the off season time.
Preserving summers bounty by the Rodale Food Center and Susan McClure is a wonderful guide if you need advice in storing produce for the winter.

Bon appetit!

May Conservation Tip

Bear aware

The bears are out and I had already two peaceful encounters with them.
Moving from a highly populated environment as the San Francisco Bay Area to bear country made me a bit uncomfortable at first. It didn't help to hear all the horror stories of mauled hikers, killed joggers and campers that got eaten by a bear overnight.
And sure enough in our first fall here a young black bear showed up one morning and shook the chicken coop like a he wanted to shake out the chickens feather by feather. For one I realized that this chicken coop would not survive here and started to build what now is called "Fort Chicks" but what really surprised me was how easily the bear was chased away.
There is a lot of information out there and there also are a lot of "stories" out there. I stumbled over the same kind of unfounded fear towards a wild animal I encounter often in people when talking about wolves. As the wolves, bears seem to have an unjustified bad reputation.
After doing some research and talking to people I just got more and more confused, I just didn't want to believe a close bear encounter would most always have to end deadly either for you or for the bear.
Luckily right then I found a bright yellow book...

seriously, at the very first it was the color that got my attention...called Bears Without Fear. Ha, I thought, here we go, it is possible. Then I recognized that it was written by Kevin van Tighem, an award-winning author that I highly respect after I read his book "The Homeward Wolf", and bought it right away. In Bears Without Fear Kevin van Tighem accomplished to take away my fear and replace it with a deeper understanding of the nature of bears. For me it boils down to three simple but important factors: Respect the bear, respect bear habitat and be prepared. 

For this months conservation tip I want to bring some essential tools together as a reminder for those of us who live here and as a guide for friends and others who might travel to bear country.

Household garbage is the single biggest killer of bears (2). If bears get used to "easy" food they eventually will become problem bears and will have to be destroyed! That sounds very straight forward, but you won't believe how many people here still leave their garbage out. Makes me want to pull out my hair sometimes.
If you travel, make sure you use the bear safe garbage containers and don't just put your bag next to it. And please, pretty please, don't feed the bears...a fed bear is a dead bear...
Who would feed bears you ask? Well have a look at this facebook post.(4)

Living in bear country needs a bit more care. Make sure livestock food is out of reach and don't feed your pets outside, or at least take the pet food inside after feeding. Have sturdy enclosures for your small animals. After that bear shake I mentioned above I built a really sturdy coop. Meanwhile though I put the smaller chicken coop within the electric fence of the horse pasture. To make sure the little black bear would respect the fence I put tinfoil, lathered with peanut butter on the wire. An electric fence might have no effect through the bears thick fur but will for sure get its attention when sniffing with its delicate nose on the peanut butter tinfoil. This also works well for fruit trees, which nevertheless should be picked as soon as the fruit ripens to avoid attracting bears.
Keep your BBQ clean and consider storing it inside.

When hiking in the back country, consider the advice on this sign and

inform yourself about the local bears, where do they hang out, where to take extra care. Although I have a bear bell on my camera backpack I recently learned it's high tone might not carry far enough, so talk, laugh and sing while hiking where visibility is poor...any bear that hears me singing will be running for it's life...;-). Carry a capsicum-pepper bear spray with you, know how to use it and have it easily accessible. Check the expiration day on your spray and always have a current one. Try to keep the wind at your back, so that the bear can smell you. Be aware of your surroundings, is there bear scat on the path? Can you smell a rotten carcass or see birds circling? Take a detour or retreat and never approach a dead animal.
Should you encounter a bear, get your bear spray ready, hold your ground, talk to him in a loud low voice, avoiding eye contact. Once the bear realizes you are no threat he will loose interest at which time you should slowly back away, carefully watching the bear. In case the bear charges at you, make yourself bigger by waving your arms and should the bear come closer than 5-10 meters, deploy your bear spray, aiming from the ground up to create a wall between you and the bear. (3)

Enjoy the great outdoors and if you need some vacation literature, I can recommend a good book, bright yellow.....

Links to more info and the bright yellow book:

(1) Kevin van Tighem, Bears Without Fear
(2) BC Ministry of Environment, Get Bear Aware
(3) WildSafeBC, Black Bears
(4) facebook post from Jeff Bingham via Alex Preston, May 19th, 2015

April Conservation Tip

Yummy Lemon Curd

I just recently made a batch of lemon curd. Fascinated by it's golden color, I could not resist to photograph my result and "boast" it on facebook. To my very surprise it got a lot of likes...and the request for sharing the recipe. The idea for the April Conservation Tip was born.

In a recent discussion I was asked why I share recipes for homemade goods in my conservation tips, shouldn't we rather save the rain forest instead of preparing food at home.
Well, I think I'm doing just that...
By preparing homemade food, I'm saving food miles, I can avoid GMO, I know exactly what is in the pot and I can support local and/or organic farmers. Just as example, by offering my family homemade "Nutella" and lemon curd as spreads we have an alternative to products containing palm oil. This very directly saves the rainforest!

This 11 year old student also makes a very clear why we should pay more attention to what we eat in his short presentation:




Ok, enough lecturing, let's make the lemon curd!

You will need:

4 (large) to 6 ((small) lemons, (organic) Meyer lemons are especially tasty for this recipe
zest of two lemons
1/2 cup / 125 g butter, try homemade butter 
1 1/2 cup / 375 g sugar, how about organic fair-trade?
4 eggs, well beaten, nothing will beat my girls' eggs, but organic, free range should do, too...;-)

The Meyer lemon is a citrus fruit originally coming from China and is thought to be a cross between a true lemon and either a mandarin or common orange. It is not quite as sour as a normal lemon and will give the lemon curd a wonderful aroma.

In addition to normal household items, a double boiler and a zester or microplane come in handy. If you don't have a double boiler, a smaller pot put into a bigger pot with simmering water will do, too. Just be careful to not spill water in the curd or on your hands.

Zest the lemons, although you only need the zest of two lemons for this recipe, I always zest all the lemons and freeze the left-over zest to use it later for baking or cooking.
Squeeze the lemons.
In the double boiler melt the butter, slowly add the lemon juice and the zest. Once mixed, add the sugar. When the sugar has dissolved add the very well beaten eggs slowly under constant stirring into the mixture.
Now "cook" the curd for 15 to 30 minutes over barely simmering water. Stir occasionally. The curd will slowly but surely thicken. In the end it should be smooth and creamy. Fill in sterilized jars and seal immediately.

Once completely cooled down I store the curd in the refrigerator. The lemon curd will be good for a couple of weeks. Since lemon curd also freezes very well, I usually double the recipe and then freeze what I think we won't eat within the next weeks.
Depending on the size of your lemons and eggs this recipe will result in about 3 to 4 cups of curd.
The curd is delicious on toast, bagels and all other kinds of baked goods, goes well over fruit sorbets and gives a smoothie a nice tang.

Enjoy!

Thanks to From the Ground Up for going that extra mile and ordering the Meyer lemons for me!

Recipe adapted from: Art of Preserving by Jan Berry

To find out how to make homemade Nutella, butter and toast, just click on the underlined links in the text.

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Harbinger of Spring

The Pulsatilla 

After we moved here in the middle of winter some years ago, this little beauty was the first flower to greet me after those long cold months. Ever since then the Pulsatilla has a special place in my heart. Spring has arrived, at least for me, once I spot the first ones.
This spring they seem to be especially abundant and I decided to dedicate a blog just to them and put together of my favorite images and some interesting facts about the Pulsatilla for you to enjoy!

 Frost resistant, but not an early riser...

The Pulsatilla has many names, pasque flower, prairie crocus, wind flower and meadow anemone to name a few. It officially belongs to the family of Ranununculaceae and the genus Pulsatilla, which is by some considered a subgenus of the Anemone....

All of the 33 species of Pulsatilla are herbaceous but highly toxic perennials, some of them are used in herbal remedies and homeopathic applications. Due to the effect on the reproductive system they should absolutely not be consumed during pregnancy! Native Americans used Pulsatilla to induce termination of a pregnancy and childbirth.

The Pulsatilla is the provincial flower of Manitoba and the state flower of South Dakota.

As to how I photograph these little gems: Since the Pulsatilla is rather close to the ground, I'm close to the ground, too. Mostly lying on my belly or at least kneeling down. If not using a tripod I most often utilize a rock or my elbows to steady the camera. Most of these images are shot with the Canon Macro 100 mm, 2.8, USM on my 5D Mark III. Key is to avoid or at least minimize the wind. Most often I carry a reflector with me, not necessarily for the light as more as a wind stopper.

As focus stacking experiences a revival lately I have been asked why I'm not using it on my macros. Well, for one, as I just discussed with a photographer friend of mine, although I think focus stacking has its place, it is not my style. I like the fact that I can put the focus where I want it and use the "out of focus" areas to emphasize the focal point. Also, for focus stacking to be successful in conjunction with macro, I would have to take the flower to the studio. Which might be an idea for the future, but for now, I'm much rather enjoying it outside.

Abraham Lake

In the search of bubbles

A photographer friend pointed out to me that not too far away, in the Kootenay Plains, a photographic winter juwel would lie and if I already had been there: Abraham Lake. I had not heard of the lake, but after a bit of research and seeing some amazing photos I was hooked and wanted to check it out. What makes Abraham Lake so special in winter?
Bubbles, frozen bubbles...

An amazing and very photogenic phenomenon. Why does Abraham lake feature so many of them and what are they?
Well, these bubbles are not air bubbles, they are frozen methane bubbles. Methane bubbles form on the bottom of the lake as dead organic matter, such as leaves and animals that have fallen into the lake, decays with the help of bacteria. That happens to any lake though, in very small amounts. Abraham Lake as well as Lake Minnewanka and Vermillion Lake are artificial lakes, created by damming.
Hence there is much more vegetation and other organic matter from the former ecosystems to decompose.
The methane bubbles then come up from the bottom of the lake and if the temperatures are cold enough, freeze on their way up, forming these interesting column shaped bubble formations.

Strong winds coming through the valley and a dry climate provide an often clear swept surface that makes it easy to spot the bubbles.

Since January/February is the best time to see the bubbles, usually..., we booked a room in the cozy Aurum Lodge for the long Valentines weekend. The Aurum Lodge is a small eco-lodge located right at the lake and the hosts are very photographer friendly with flexible meal times (i.e. breakfast long after sunrise and dinner after sunset).
Armed with Darwin Wiggetts eBook : Kootenay Plains & Abraham Lake Winter Edition I felt prepared for the bubble hunt.

Only that winter this year had already left...;-) Alan, the lodge host, explained, that bubble formations were visible only for a very short period at the end of December. Then the weather warmed up as it did here and the water melted in most parts.
Bummer, but contrary to the weather forecast, we had clear skies and quite nice sunrises

In the night from Friday to Saturday it had snowed a bit and everything was covered with a thin layer of fresh snow, add the warm morning light and you have a happy photographer!

Despite the fact, that I didn't get the chance to photograph the real bubbles, we had a relaxing weekend, exploring the surroundings and enjoying the outdoors.
And now we have a good reason to go back!

February Conservation Tip

Be my Valentine...

This coming Saturday is Valentine's day. Granted, it degraded more and more to another "consume" event, but on the other side it's nice to celebrate love and fondness, or?
Given the fact that it falls on a weekend this year is enough to celebrate anyway!
Thinking chocolate and roses this infogram from terrapass stopped me in my tracks....:

Click on the image for a more readable view

Ok, so no roses, no meat but fair trade organic chocolate....that got me thinking....
How about a vegetarian Valentine's feast instead, that shows your love, reduces the Valentine's day carbon footprint significantly, doesn't support factory farming and...lowers your cholesterol...;-)

I test ran it by my rather carnivore love and it got wholeheartedly approved!

Appetizer:

Tomato soup with Avocado Basil balls
pairs well with my favorite Prosecco "Villa Teresa"

Entree:

Pasta with Tofu Bolognese
goes with any deep bodied red wine

Dessert:

Chocolate Brûlée
best enjoyed with a glass of "Old Koot", a fine red dessert wine from Skimmerhorn, a local winery

Recipes:

Soup:
1 1/2 to 2 lb tomatoes
2 onions
1 clove of garlic
1 1/2 cup of vegetable broth
juice of an orange
salt, pepper and olive oil

for the balls:
1 ripe avocado
3 1/2 oz cream cheese
1 bunch basil
1 table spoon lemon juice
salt, pepper

Chop the onions and the garlic and cut the tomatoes in cubes. Heat the olive oil and brown the onions with the garlic, add the tomatoes and let simmer for a few minutes. Add the vegetable broth and the orange juice and let simmer for another 15 min.
Puree in a heat resistant blender or strain through a food mill. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
I used the tomatoes from our garden, I still have plenty frozen, but canned whole organic tomatoes work also for this recipe. Depending on how juicy they are you may have to simmer them for a few minutes more.

While the soup is simmering prepare the balls: Mash the avocado with a fork and add lemon juice. Add basil and cream cheese and puree to a smooth cream, season to taste with salt and pepper. Use two small spoons to form balls of the cream and add to the soup.

The soup can easily be prepared ahead of time and then just reheated. The avocado balls should be made right before serving. The recipe is more than you will need for an appetizer, but it reheats and freezes easily.

Tip: Use the double amount of cream cheese and you have a yummy dip for chips and/or vegetables.


Pasta Bolognese for two:
9 oz firm tofu
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons tomato paste
2/3 cup dry red wine
approx. 10 oz pasta
6 oz tomato puree
1 bunch basil
1 teaspoon sugar
oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil

Parmesan or 1/2 cup pine nuts and 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

This recipe is adapted from Attila Hildmann, a German vegan chef, and the original recipe can be found here: Attila's Spagetthi

Crumble the tofu with a fork. Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry tofu for about 5 min, stirring quite frequently. Meanwhile chop the onion and the garlic, add them and saute for another 2 min. Add the tomato paste and stir for about 2 min, now add the red wine and let it cook in for 4-5 min. Follow this order, first tomato paste, then the wine as the tofu will absorb and turn the color of whatever is added first and you might end up with a purple sauce....
Now add the tomato puree and oregano to taste and let simmer for another 3 min or so. Meanwhile cook your pasta al dente and wash, dry and finely chop the basil. Right before serving fold the basil into the sauce.
If you want to go fully vegan on the entree, roast the pine nuts in a dry skillet for a few minutes and then give them together with the nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt into the food processor and blend to a crunchy powder. Serve this instead of the Parmesan. Although I love my Parmesan, I have to say that tasted really yummy!

Chocolate Brûlée:
2 3/4 cups or 650 ml whipping cream
1 vanilla bean
10 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
approx. 3 tablespoon granulated sugar for sprinkling

This recipe fills about 8 ramekins, much more than you might need, but somehow they always vanish rather quickly in our house.
Be aware that this dessert needs to be prepared the day before!

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit and prepare a bain-marie (fancy word for a roasting pan half filled with warm water)


In a heavy sauce pan heat the milk with the vanilla bean split in half to almost boiling. Turn off the stove and let infuse for 15 min. Then remove the vanilla bean, scrape out the mark and add it back to the milk, Add the chocolate, chopped to small pieces, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and once well mixed stir it into the warm chocolate cream. Blend together and fill into the ramekins.
Carefully sit the ramekins into the prepared bain-marie and bake in the preheated oven for 30 min.
Once baked, remove the ramekins from the bain-marie and let cool down. Cover and refrigerate over night or for up to 48 hrs. 

Shortly before serving sprinkle with sugar and give them a quick caramelizing treatment with the brûlée torch. If you don't have one, like me, put them under the hot broiler just until the sugar starts to caramelize.

For all recipes I used organic and as far as it was feasible local ingredients.

Enjoy and have a great Valentine's Day!

Sources:


terrapass, Thank you for letting me use your carbon footprint illustration!

Attila Hildmann

Chocolate Temptations by Linda Collister

Prosecco Villa Teresa

Skimmerhorn Winery




 

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