Bakery in the Bush

It’s been so long since I wrote on here, so I hope you devoted three readers haven’t given up on me yet!

At I type this, I am sitting on the edge on a little grassy bank at the edge of a river. With all the rain and melting snow, the river has risen a lot this year, and right in front of me is a poor little who has been half way drown since we moved our camp here nine days ago. I’m not sure what date it was, the tree planting calendar consists of five days: day one, day two, day three, day four, and day off. I can tell you we have been here for two days off, and that we are now on day three.

For those of you reading who may not know, I am presently living in a tree planting camp near Smithers working as the camp baker. It’s a bit of a family affair, as my mom is working as the camp cook, and my two youngest siblings, Alley and Zac, are here as well. It’s been really very fun working with my mom in the kitchen all day, and by “all day” I really do mean ALL day. Our days start at 5ish, as mom is supposed to be in at 5am and I am supposed to be in at 5:15am. I have to admit I have slept in til’ closer to 5:30 am the last few days… time to get my own alarm I think. Between about 3 and 5:30 pm we manage to get a break in, at least now that we are cooking for 45 rather than 80 like at the first camp. Those days were nearly 17 hours straight.

Dinner is at 7pm, and then we are usually doing clean up until around 9:30. Then there’s a bit of snuggle time with my fiancé, Daniel, and off to sleep. It’s repetitive in so many ways, but there is always the excitement of baking new things every day. I try my best to bake at least one exciting thing per day. Something I am looking forward to making, or something I haven’t tried before. Today it was some yummy granola bars (my first attempt), and a variation of the Morning Glory Muffin (a big hit around here) with apple and butterscotch chips and rum flavoring… I call them Candy Apple Muffins J. Every day I am expected to make a type of muffin, a type of cookie, a type of square, and the dessert for after supper. I also make the granola for the morning breakfasts and the fruit salad as well.

The routine for the planters is to have breakfast between 5:45am (actually usually the people who are in the kitchen that time are just getting their morning coffee to accompany their morning smoke) and 7. We have all of the stuff out for them in the mornings to make their lunches, that’s where all my baking goes. Then they are gone from 7am to 6:30 pm; long days for them too.

Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures up soon!

Love to all,

Jordan