Well, it's been a weekend of exciting ruralite adventures! On Friday we packed up the family, dropped the dog off at Grandma's and drove down to Moose Meadows Farm in Quesnel, BC (www.moosemeadowsfarm.ca) for a tour of their birch syrup sugar shack. One of our goals of rural living is to attempt to utilize and create as many unique and edible products as we can from nature right in our backyard (and, of course, have as much fun as we can doing it) and this spring we are going to try our hand at tapping birch trees -- that's right -- birch trees. "It's the UN-maple!"

As crazy as it sounds, tapping birch trees is not entirely new. In fact , it is practically a full blown industry in Alaska, with over 4000L produced there every year ! As for Canada, ten commercial producers are currently in operation (3 of those 10 being in British Columbia) and interest in the potential pancake alternative is growing. Ted and Heloise-Dixon Warren of Moose Meadows Farm are one of those producers, and we feel priveleged to be in such close proximity to them, as they represent one of the country's premiere authorities on birch tapping. Heloise has actually JUST PUBLISHED Canada's first Birch Syrup Production Manual and was more than eager to share her wisdom in person on her farm, as well as give us multiple taste tests!

It was a great learning experience for us and we left with renewed excitement to gather appropriate equipment and supplies throughout the upcoming weeks. If all goes according to plan, we hope to successfully tap 10-15 trees this year to produce approximately 8L of syrup. We will definitely keep you posted with details on the whole process!

YES YOU CAN!

Have you ever returned from a camping weekend road trip feeling extra alive from the natural high of being outdoors? Remember the carefree days of fun and freedom the last time you spent a week at the cottage? Imagine if you could live in your cottage all the time. Well, you can. We do, and we hope you will join us. We are starting a new ruralite movement and our goal is to make it possible to realize that you absolutely are able to choose to live this dream.

We have been living in our cottage for almost 1 year now and we are so excited to be here. Don't get us wrong, we understand the attraction of being in an urban center. We too thrive on being connected with people. The great thing about living in this day and age, though, is that more than ever before in the history of the planet it is possible to move to the middle of nowhere and remain connected. The internet is the ultimate cure for random periods of isolation and is available virtually anywhere in this huge country! Speaking of this huge country, the other great thing about living in this day and age in Canada, is the massive amount of unpopulated space that exists not that far removed from civilization. We are absolutely experiencing frontier living only one hour outside of a city. It is not a difficult challenge to get to the countryside if you live in urban Canada, that's for sure. This makes the transition from urban to rural living that much smoother. With relative ease we took a 180 with our lifestyle. We went from living in the city full-time and escaping to the cottage on the odd weekend or holiday to living in the cottage full-time, yet still having the ability to commute to the city if ever we need.

Our goal by being ruralites of course, is to be able to more fully live out the core values in which we already believe: living sustainably, growing and eating healthy food, eliminating the use of chemicals in our daily lives, being more active in the great outdoors, respecting the animal world around us, eliminating stress, increasing joy and giving back. With every day that goes by we are brainstorming new ways and researching seriously old ways to utilize the awesome earth we were given to fuel our livelihood. So with every new post we plan to share our adventures. Please come visit again!

Peace

Danny and Christine