Equinox!

Happy Equinox!

We celebrated the first day of autumn in style - running dogs in beautiful fall weather with cool breeze, sunshine and awesome colors.

Magpie and Skittles - today´s great leaders

Pretty, smart and hard working gal - my sweet Magpie

At the road crossing, joining the main road

Trotting alongside the main road, only some 2 miles left

Nugget (right) and Iceman - father and son

Two Loops, Great Leaders And New Talents

The third week of September is closing on us and it is visible not only in the form of many gorgeous autumn colors showing up every single day, but the Lillsjön swamp displays more of it´s mud, the creek is getting deeper and the trail through that area is getting worn out, as dozens of canine feet stomp it tirelessly day by day.

The kids never stop to amaze me. They are in far better shape in the beginning of the season, after only three weeks of training, than they ever were seasons before and with more miles in their feet.

We strongly believe it is due to last year´s long season full of tough training and racing experiences, but also summer full of lots of activities and running loose every day for hours in the yard. They just simply never lost their great shape and kept good muscles throughout the summer. Lots of stretching, massages, and the pre-season session aided as well.

On these pictures, the kids are marching out of the tiny village of Vedjeön, which we call home (population 60 + 7. Read: 60 dogs and seven humans. Although including our handlers it´s 9 so our household makes 50% of Vedjeön´s total human population).

Just in case you didn´t know. And needed to know. So now you do :)

What I was originally going to say by the picture above is that the kids are marching out of the village in great speed and mood and it is actualy their second time out of the yard. We made our almost 10 mile run, then stopped for 10 minutes to snack the team with their popular herring ice cream (read frozen herring) and I headed out with them one more time, for a 2 mile loop. They were crazy once they heard "are you guys ready to roll?" and bolted out the yard like cannonballs :)

This is such a great building of attitude and training for leaving checkpoints after even short stop. I learned this from my friend, Iditarod musher Karen Ramstead a while back and use it regularly in my training.

I wish we had more trails like this one. Unfortunately it is a very short stretch, only a bit over a mile long.

This year, the kids really do impress me. They are strong and fast and ask for more after every single run. They recover so fast and we were able to move very quickly forward with their training, only in three weeks time.

 And here is the infamous Lillsjön swamp. We all get our roughing in here.

The kids have no issues with water and mud and the Lillsjön creek, although getting deeper and deeper at the crossing, is a piece of cake for them.

 Look how they boogie up the hill out of the muddy, heavy swamp trail.

Almost up the first and steepest step. No help from me. The gear is on 5 here and that´s all the help they get. With some incouraging and motivating words :)

 The top of the last hill home.

And down to the forrest, sprinting the last 500m.

They can already see and hear the kennel and their buddies. And smell the soup waiting for them :)

Into the yard through the new gate. Any ideas for decorating it? Let me know!

While they are waiting to get their feet checked and fed with their favorite soup, let me tell you a bit about this year´s newest talents among the young kids that joined the main string.

The main string welcomed Iceman, Inuk and their sister Modra, as well as Joey, Chasey, Bolt, the three siblings Lucky, Chisana and Chip, Dasher the lion husky and another three siblings Bravo, Alpha and Charlie. I love the way they all work VERY much! They are all amazing, all in their own ways.

Iceman and Inuk are quiet, dependable dogs, Dasher trots as if he was just a feather in the wind, Chasey and Modra are small little speed balls pumped with more energy than many dogs double the size and both are very talented for the leader job. Alpha and Charlie swept me off my feet the very first time they ran in the main string and continue to impress me with their power and general approach to all the business. Their mom Chisana and her siblings Lucky and Chip have already quite a lot of experience from last year and they are more mature and stable dogs. You could never tell that Joey hasn´t been on the race team ever before! He is absolutely fabulous and has one of the cleanest and most sufficient gaits of all our dogs. And finally Bolt. He´s definitely the "rebel without a cause" but his work ethic is great. He is driven, fast and strong. He just needs to "grow" in his head :) Kind of a long, late puberty :)

My super dog Galena is pleased with her run, her performance and her job of mentoring young Modra. Who is by the way a super smart, fast little girl. She learns with such a speed and gusto that she already makes a lot of maneuvers such as turning the team around by herself.

And that is all for this long, but hopefully interesting report.

P.S. In case you were wondering if I got a plastic surgery and lost 60 or more kilos, then the answer is no. I lost some significant amount of weight since last year, but the gal on the ATV is not me. It is Lucka, one of our this year´s super handlers :)

Into the fall we head and hope you too will enjoy the awesome colorful scenery, evenings by the fireplace and cups of hot chocolate. We for sure will!

Happy Trails and stay safe,

Vegetable Stew With Chicken And Sausage

VEGETABLE STEW WITH CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE

recipe by Katerina Paleckova

perfectly suitable for canning and slow cooker (Crock Pot)

2 large onions

2 large cloves of garlic

200g chicken breast

4 standard hot dog sausages

2 large carrots

1/2 of medium sized turnip

8 medium to large potatoes

200g herricots

2 medium sized red beets

2 table spoons flex seed

1,5 tea spoons psyllium husk

½ cup oat flakes

2-3 table spoons buckweed flour

1 cube vegetable stock

2 tea spoons salt (add more if you want)

½ tea spoon ground black peppar

2 table spoons ground sweet red peppers

½ cup cooking cream (I use 15% fat)

water as needed (at least 2 cups)

1,5 table spoons oil

Peel carots, potatoes, turnips and red beets.

Dice potatoes, turnips, red beets, onions and chicken into cubes (about 1 inch large)

Slice carrots lengthwise, then cut into half circles

Chop garlic into tiny pieces

Slice sausages into about half inch circles

In large pot, heat oil and add 2/3 of chopped onions. Stir once in a while and let onions soften. Add all the chicken, season with red peppers, black peppar, salt and vegetable stock.

Add rest of onions and red beets. Cook for about 5 minutes, stir occassionally. Add turnips and carots, flax seed and water and let boil for about 5-10 minutes. Then add potatoes and sliced hot dogs/sausages, psyllium husk and oat flakes. Let boil for another 5 minutes, stir occassionally. Take part of the formed sauce out and put it in a small bowl. Add flour, whisk properly and pour back into the pot. Stir well. After about 2 minutes, add cream, harricots, rest of onions and chopped garlic. Cook until all ingredients are soft. You can add more water, salt or spices if needed.

This is my new best friend. My Crock Pot. My life saver. The vegetable stew recipe was the very first one I tried to cook in it.

For Crock Pot version, use the same amount of ingredients, but layer them in the following order:

carrots first, then red beets, followed by turnips, onions, potatoes, harricots, chicken meat, sausages and garlic. Add salt and pepper, oat flakes, flex seed and psyllium, then pour water over it. Use half amount of the original recipe (above). Turn on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours. I don´t add the flour when I make this meal in the crockpot. You can add the cream during the last hour of cooking.

That´s it. Super dooper. Piece of cake.

This is how the final product looks like in a soup bowl. Very colorful.

And one more tip: If you are extremely busy and want to save even more time, cook the meal in the slow cooker, then put it in jars and can it. This way you can create make-ahead meals without actually cooking them yourself (the Crock Pot cooks for you while you work, sleep, jogg, or train dogs in my case :)), and then you just stick the final product in a jar and can it.

You can look for example here for some canning tips: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canning-Granny/136086363131231

I am one happy camper, my dog handlers are not hungry and there is always a great smell inside the house when I come tired from a training run, resembling mom´s Sunday lunch cooking when I came home from one of my many adventures. Oh, those memories! :)

Seriously, I have no idea how I could do so long without this brilliant invention! It belongs to every busy woman´s kitchen and to every household where dog mushing is a way of life.

I will never stop being grateful to my mother-in-law-to-be, Jachym´s mom Eva! Best gift EVER! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Off to look for more Crock Pot recipes :)

The Blacks And The Grays And A Big Circus On The Road

Tolly, Cora, Finn, their mom Lucky, Granite, three border collies and one Dutch shepherd on a walk.

Crazy? For us, just another day in the woods, actually :)

It was actually the puppies´ first time in harness and have a look for yourself on the video and pictures how they did. Pulling and leaning into their harnesses like pros :)

Lots of dogs - lots of crazy dogs :) We often divide them in two groups: "The Black Ones" and "The Grays" to be able to count them when they roam through the woods :)

We laughed pretty much all the way once we hit the road with this "commando" :-)
If anyone (and fortunately no cars drove by while we hiked) met us, they would for sure question our sanity. Or their sanity.

Circus on the road! :)

After a while, we did form into three groups of three dogs plus one human. This is my three (l to r: Lucky, Finn and Granite). Look how neatly they marched! :)

While They Last

These, folks, are our this year´s blueberry crops! :)

Not only are they monstrously huge, super sweet and simply awesome,

they are also extremely plentiful. I have never, in my entire life seen such large blueberries in such quantities!

 
Since August we´ve been having blueberry muffins, blueberry rized dough pie, blueberry dumplings, blueberry waffles, we put them in our oatmeal breakfasts, on pancakes, into morning muesli. I have canned over 40 jars of blueberry jam and froze about 12 liters of berries for the winter.

Not just us, but the bears and other animals are going to have a great winter stock for themselves!

We´ve been exceptionally busy this summer and fall in their picking and gotta continue while they last.
Because in a blink of an eye, they are going to give a way to their brother:

The red berry (aka lingon berry, aka low bush cranberry).

And so we keep ourselves busy once again! :)