As the warm summer sun casts its golden glow over our resort, the property awakens from its winter slumber, ready to don its finest attire. July’s guests are like the first flurry of fireflies, sparking excitement that dances on the evening breeze. Each corner of our sprawling paradise becomes a lively stage, where the lawns, freshly mowed and crisp, extend an open invitation for chickens to prance about, indulging in a buffet of bugs and grubs disturbed from their cozy hideaways. The seating areas, charming and inviting, are akin to welcoming the best of friends with a frosty drink in hand, whispering tales of relaxation and laughter. It's a magical…

Maybe I have to get sassy and sarcastic with an I double-dog dare you type of attitude? I've been going at it all wrong, I mean - I need to tap into the current societal wavelength of thinking and stop using my old-fashioned traditional angles.  I need catchy taglines like - “Whispering Pines: where your soul gets a hug and your phone gets zero bars.” How about a new write-up about the folks who host the wilderness resort? Normal Wilderness Hosts Meet the Off-Grid Gourmet & Frontiersman Hosts Extraordinaire Out where GPS signals go to die and the only traffic jams involve moose & bears lives true modern pioneers —…

We’re still riding the high from Dave's delightful fly-in bounty a couple of weeks ago. Each night brings a new adventure for our taste buds, like a page from Bon appétit magazine! Whipping up dishes by simply elevating the humble garden scalloped potatoes with a smoky Gouda twist. With such a diverse selection at our fingertips, each meal is a delicious experiment, and we’re happily savoring the surprises waiting to be discovered. It’s almost as if our taste buds are tiny time machines, unlocking memories with each flavor we experience. The anatomy of a taste bud resembles a miniature concert hall, hosting an orchestra of 50 to 150 taste cells,…

The Greenhouse is finally having a growth spurt. A few weeks' work. The new roof was completed just in time for Dave’s much-anticipated arrival. Mountain Man wanted to complete the roof portion so he could take a few days off and spend them with Dave while he was here. He’s a long-time friend from the Kelowna chapter of our lives, back when his wife, Orlanda, would stop by to scoop up hatching eggs from our little chicken utopia. Over the years at Eliguk, they would ship up boxes of what started out as off-grid survival packages Orlanda created in her new freeze dryer that transformed over time into boxes of…

As dawn broke, painting the horizon in soft shades of lavender and gold, the morning songbirds filled the air with their cheerful chorus, while a rooster proudly announced the arrival of another ordinary day with its crow, much like a herald of old. I was the first to rise, slipping out from the cocoon of blankets like a toddler trying to walk for the first time. Each step felt like a clumsy gamble, my feet creaking and cracking like a vintage loaf of bread, not yet awake enough to distinguish between the noises of the creaking floor and my own bones. I adjusted my gait, only to bump my knee…

Full May Moon Rising As children, we tremble at the thought of the dark, our imaginations conjuring phantoms and shadows that lurk in the crevices of our tender imaginations. Yet, fast forward a half-century, and what was once a specter of dread has transformed into an elusive muse that beckons me deeper into the heart of the wilderness, where the human footprint is a rarity, and the whispers of nature reign supreme. The long-awaited migration, having endured an extended period of frozen lakefront silence, is finally here. The loons I speak of so often are the final piece to the massive puzzle that eases tension in my soul. Stoking the…

A trip into town for supplies is always a bit of an adventure, but this time it also meant visiting the specialist at the Obstetrics and Gynecology office, who promised to unveil their medical miracles. I don't often reveal a “personal medical issue” during conversation. I tend to take a back seat and find it mostly irrelevant in a blog depicting life with Mountain Man – almost like discussing the weather in a deep-sea diving class. But it turns out that living this remote lifestyle makes these health hurdles loom larger than a Sasquatch sighting in the forest. It’s crucial to share that there are indeed difficulties when you’re as…

  Tundra & Turkey Tails on a rotting Aspen stump Spring has officially sprung at our resort, along with the songbirds—there’s also a small army of robins working the grounds, plucking worms from between the mud and patches of green grass like they were at an all-you-can-eat pasta buffet. I'm surprised the swallows aren't here yet, but relieved because once they arrive, the mosquitoes will also. The ice has finally decided to recede from its icy reign along the shoreline, allowing our dogs to frolic like deranged otters in the shallows whenever the temperature ventures above a balmy 12°C (54°F). Before the ice was deemed unsafe, we embarked on our…

Reflection - Part Three: The Mysterious Dance of Fate Fate is like an enchanting dance, a rhythmic interplay of events that beautifully converge at the right moment. The essence of this mysterious dance lies in the belief that certain people are meant to cross paths for a reason. These encounters can invoke a feeling of familiarity, understanding, and an inexplicable connection that hints at a shared past or a deeper bond. Divine timing is the concept that everything happens in its own time, often in ways we cannot foresee. In the realm of soulmate connections, divine timing suggests that the universe has a plan for when and how these encounters…

Reflection - Part Two: The Lee Valley Settlers Long before he earned the nickname 'Mountain Man' (the last decade here at Eliguk), Aron Toland was shaped by the untamed beauty of a 300-acre farm deep in the backcountry of Northern Ontario. Born in 1963, growing up the youngest of three older sisters, the farming burdens fell upon him. He was the last child at home with much older parents, and his father was fifty years old when Aron was born. The eldest daughter had already moved out of the farmhouse and was married before Aron was born - needless to say, it was an unexpected pregnancy for his mother, who…