It's been a while since I blogged for several reasons. The wedding season was upon me and through the fall I have been photographing beautiful weddings and spending 40 hours per week with edits. I have also been backed up on my Fleecy Feetsie orders. If you didn't know, I make needle felted sculptures of all animals but mostly dogs and out of their own hair mixed with wool. They are extremely time consuming but I love making them. When I am making a deceased dog, It is almost spiritual. I know that I am holding what is probably the last little part of him or her and I feel very honored. Besides my full time jobs, we were away in Nova Scotia celebrating our first wedding anniversary at the same place where we honeymooned. We stayed at the Trout Point Lodge in East Kemptville, NS. You have probably never heard of it because it is an Eco resort that is so remote, so untouched, so away from everything else in the world. I will start with the Trout Point Lodge because it is actually pertinent to this blog and the entire concept of eating clean and naturally from the earth. The lodge basically consists of a main log building which is cozy and beautiful and on the premises there are other cabins and homes with bedrooms and shared common space. They light a beautiful fire at night on the Tusket River where you can enjoy a drink or a dip in the cedar wood fired hot tub. Seriously, you are in the middle of deep wilderness and the only place that mainland NS moose call home. All meals at the Trout Point Lodge are made there by their Chef who forages many of the ingredients or grows them in their own garden. All meat is sourced or fished locally and smoked trout is a staple there. The staff is wonderful and allow use of their bikes, kayaks etc for your own exploration. There are many hikes you can take and the lodge is considered a geographical dark sky area so stargazing is perfect here. The meals are always fabulous. We know we are eating clean there except for dessert of course which we did have plenty of. Oh and did I mention that we drank a ton of wine? Oh well, it's a vacation. You can always walk or kayak off whatever you eat anyway as there is very little Internet access and absolutely no cell signal. The staff is always ultra accommodating and although the place and space is very organic, we feel luxurious when we are there. We had in room massages and since there were no other guests sharing our gorgeous home in the woods, we had the place to ourselves for the second year in a row.
We knew that once we left the lodge and headed to our family home in Port Lorne, Nova Scotia we would have to find a way to source the best food possible for the week. Luckily this was not a problem. We decided to visit a friend of mine, Jill, who was the previous owner of our home. She lives just down the road and has always been a farm girl like myself. I wasn't sure what she was raising now but we stopped in just to say hello. She and her husband naturally raise cattle, chickens and sheep. We left their house with a beautiful 7 lb chicken, ground beef and 2 dozen eggs. Oh yeah, as we were leaving the " fish guy" was spotted across the road at a neighbor's house and we called him over. From him we bought a bunch of fresh Haddock fillets and smoked Kippers which we found out are Herring. We were all set for the week but what good is a banquet of food without sharing it with those around you? So Jill and her husband Elgie joined us for the very large roasted chicken and we had a great time washing it down with lots of good wine and yes! The wine was organic!
Joe and I have tried several organic wines and frankly they have all sucked. We are wine people. We love good wine and admittedly some expensive ones. So any ol' organic wine that tastes like vinegar just does not work for us. But we found one that was different! At the Trout Point Lodge we were poured some red wine with our lunch and we LOVED it. To our surprise it was organic and from California. It's Bonterra and we particularly loved the Cab Savignon 2011. We found it and brought home many bottles. It was $22 in Nova Scotia but we found it in the duty free New Hampshire liquor store for $14. Good deal! We stocked up and have plenty to share. Coming for dinner? I'll get into wines in another blog post, but for now, I can tell you that we liked this one.
Because the farmer's market season was over in Nova Scotia, we had to shop at the grocery store. They had a very small section of organic produce and so I had to limit us to the few vegetables they had. We were able to get mushrooms, limes, lemons, broccoli, peppers, celery, carrots and potatoes. I figured I could make lots of meals with the various veggies we had, plus we still had to get our lobster from our own fisherman at the wharf behind our house. Between the chicken, beef, lobster, Haddock, Herring, veggies, starches, 2 dozen eggs, black rice and quinoa pasta we purchased we were all set for a week of meals. Our alternative would have been to eat out every night and enjoy the delicious fried scallops and Haddie bits that are ubiquitious here in the Annapolis Valley. It would have been really yummy, but we would have come back 10 lbs heavier. Here is a photo of our backyard and the wharf where the lobster fisherman come in everyday with the most amazing and sweetest tasting Bay of Fundy treasure. No lobster can ever compare.
I came back 2 lbs heavier than when I left. I also didn't move much while we were there. I really did just curl up and read most of the week. So for the feasting that was done, not bad. It was mostly water retention and the day after we were back I realized that I actually lost weight. Eating clean and chemical free keeps your metabolism working properly and so I enjoyed stuffing my face with real food.
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