I am thrilled to see how Val and Garry have been thriving at Monkey Valley, along with their lovely little dog, Rue! I am grateful to have formed an ongoing friendship with these wonderful folks, and to be allowed to witness their blossoming and the way that the land is blossoming under their care. It really gladdens my heart to see how right this lifestyle choice has been for them!
I’d like to share a few of their stories and pictures, so you all can see the brilliant things they’ve been up to!
I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but Val and Garry were in the hedging business in Vancouver. Not hedge funds and green money, but hedging herbaceous woody green living things. They brought this talent to Monkey Valley, and set to work right away! Well, actually, their first order of business was to get a dog, and they found the mischievious little Rue dog, and brought him home.
From Val: “Here he is….. His name is now “Rue”…… And, he’s going to be a big boy….. We cannot monitor the stuff he may find around the property and as you have likely heard, along with premium puppy food he eats rabbit, mouse, bat, mushrooms, bark and charcoal. His temperament is beyond reproach… Rue is ‘home’.”
Then they set to work cleaning up the deadfall all around the house and barn. My brother-in-law had been worried that these city folks would be trapped in the wilderness in the cold and freeze to death. Not these folks! Check out the woodshed! Which they filled themselves–clearing, bucking, and splitting all this firewood. Wow!! Beautiful work!
The other worry was that they would be trapped with no way out once the snow started to fly. Again, not these folks! Garry’s second order of business was to get the Gator, a rugged and versatile machine that has performed all manner of tasks and transportation, including plowing the Starshine and Dillard Road all the way from the house to Loon Lake Road! Check out this masterful road-clearing work! And the beauty of it.
From Garry: “This was Dillard road coming home from Vancouver in the van with summer tires and chains on. I just scratched up a couple of the hills but was in awe at the beauty of the road and cursing myself for coming in after dark. In hindsight it was fantastic. I guess I’ll have to plow all the way to Loon Lake road to get Val out and back in.” He certainly did a great job!
And here he is afterward, enjoying some well-earned rest with the dog also resting after a day’s labour!
