Meats and the variety of sausage from Helmuts Kitchen can't leave meat lovers indifferent.
They have beef, bison, turkey meats raw and seasoned. Variety of cheeses is sold here as well, if you need to assemble a charcuterie board.
Sausage ranges from smokies of all sorts to apple whiskey salami with black forest ham in between.  This is a must visit place in Kelowna for a protein treat.
What is different about Helmuts Sausage and Kitchen is that they are transparent: you can trace where meats are coming from. They offer custom meat processing to hunters as well.

Bilga farm is well-known for their juicy strawberries. The taste of strawberries you remember since childhood, before big-box stores started pumping out tasteless, crunchy strawberries with a texture of an onion year-around.
​
 The strawberries at Bilga farm are hand-picked fresh daily and sold the same day. This is a cash only operation: 1 lb. box costs $5, 2 lb. box $10, 3 lb. box $15, 4 lb. box $20, 5 lb. box $25, large flat $35. The customer gets to pick which box they like, so I am pretty happy with what I got! The strawberry season is expected to last for another five weeks this year, so help yourself to fresh strawberries!

​Their address is Rutland Road North, which is behind MacDonald's.

After 2.5 month of lock down, we are using every opportunity to go for a hike. There are so many beautiful provincial parks in the Okanagan area.

1. Bear Creek Provincial Park
2. Fintry Provincial Park
3. Myra- Bellevue Provincial Park
4. Trepanier Provincial Park
5. Okanagan Lake Provincial Park

You can choose closer your location and get rolling towards adventure. These pictures are from Trepanier Provincial Park.

It is important to wear hiking shoes, pants (it is a tick season), sun hat, have a water bottle with you. I tried to take a picture of a tick hiding in the grass next to trail, just waiting for a new home with a meal!

Trepanier Creek Greenway Regional Park is a natural, forested park that borders the canyon of Trepanier Creek. The trail links to a linear trail in the District of Peachland and creates a five-kilometre Greenway recreational corridor from the Okanagan Lake waterfront to the Okanagan Connector Highway 97-C.
From 1909 to 1947 there was a small hydroelectric power plant on the creek that supplied the District of Peachland.  Remnants of the Trepanier Creek Dam are still visible.

I wanted to share an inspirational video by Duiwaigh Studios. Angi Sullins and Silas Toball are talented artists that have their own Duiwaigh Gallery, inspiring each one of us to love our inner child.
" Between the worlds of right and wrong
   Inside the Duirwaigh wood,
   We beckon weary passers-by:
   "Forsake the world of 'should'!"
    Rekindle long lost hopes and dreams
    Refuse the ordinary
    Engage your heart in matters light
    Entice Extraordinary
    Remember how to love unleashed
    Remember why you are here!"        

It is time to take a long breath in after the first wave and enjoy what life has to offer in the Okanagan. Specifically all it's unique beauty: the lake full of fresh water, blooming orchards, beautiful beaches and wineries.
This time we are going to cover Sleeping Giant winery in Summerland. It is a short drive off the HWY 97, just past the Summerland entrance if you are coming from West Kelowna. 
The Sleeping Giant winery is located in between the orchards and along Bottleneck drive together with other wineries. Sleeping giant winery produces fruit wines only, but a huge variety: apricot, gala apple, cherry, pear, peach, Saskatoon wine, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry-rhubarb, cranberry, pumpkin, black-currant wines. This is for people that complain they don't enough fruit and vegetables. Definitely a pleasant solution: 
"What did you have for dinner last night? "
- "I had a bottle of fruit salad"
- "How did you manage to get fruit salad into the bottle?"
- "It was apricot fruit wine".

Summerland Sweets is the parent company of Sleeping Giant and it produces a variety of jams and waffle syrups. The variety is unlimited: from traditional peach jam to apricot and brandy. Anything you wanted, but were afraid to ask for.

We expect the second wave the middle of June 2020 and into July 2020, so now is a good time to take a breather, get outside. It is a time to enjoy life!

One of the Easter symbols is decorated eggs, which represent the life continuity.
This year, save some cash and ditch the fake stuff by dyeing your brown or white eggs the old-fashioned way: with food you already have in your fridge or pantry.If you're into the rustic, farmhouse look or prefer to keep your household more natural, follow this how-to guide to color your holiday decorations with natural Easter egg dyes. 
​
 Make Natural Easter Egg Dye

1. Combine 1 quart water and 2 tablespoons white vinegar in a medium pot.
2. Bring it to a boil, add your dye ingredients for yellow, blue, pink, and orange eggs (ingredients specified below!), and lower the heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool.
3. Strain the dye before adding the eggs. Once strained, add eggs and let soak for at least 30 minutes. For a more vibrant egg, let it soak longer. When it reaches the desired color, remove with tongs and pat dry with paper towels.

Pink Eggs
Soak four cups of chopped beets in mixture for 30 minutes. Strain, then allow eggs to sit in liquid for 30 minutes or more, depending on how deep you want the color to be.
​
Orange Eggs
Add 4 cups of yellow onion skins to mixture. Simmer for 30 minutes, strain, and allow eggs to sit in liquid for 30 minutes. For a brighter orange, leave the eggs to sit in the dye overnight in the fridge.

Yellow Eggs
Add 3 tablespoons of turmeric to the boiling water. Simmer for 30 minutes, let cool, and soak eggs in mixture until they reach the desired shade. (FYI, since turmeric is notorious for staining your skin, you'll want to wear rubber gloves when handling yellow eggs.)

Light Blue Eggs
Add 3 cups of chopped red or purple cabbage to mixture. Simmer for 30 minutes, strain, and allow eggs to soak overnight for brightest shade.
Dark Blue Eggs
​Add 4 cups of blueberries to mixture. Simmer for 30 minutes, strain, and let eggs sit in liquid for 30 minutes or more for deeper tones.

​I have chosen onion skins and deep terracotta hue.

Ingredients for Cake:
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest, plus 1/2 cup orange juice (it took 2 oranges)
1 cup dried apricots, finely chopped (only if all your family members love apricots-the cake will be tasty without them as well)
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup canola (any oil you have will do)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 large carrots peeled and grated
1 cup chopped pecans

 Frosting:
2 packages of cream cheese
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp orange zest
1. Heat oven to 350 F and grease 13x18 inch baking sheet
2. In a small saucepan bring orange juice, zest, apricots and ginger to a boil. Remove from the heat immediately.
3. In large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt. In another big bowl combine eggs, honey, oil and applesauce -whisk well. Fold in flour mixture. Add apricot mixture, carrots and pecans and fold until just combined.
4. Transfer mixture to prepared baking sheet. Bake until wooden stick inserted comes out clean, 20-30 min. Let cool.
5. Meanwhile, make frosting: using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, honey and orange zest until smooth. Spread on cake and enjoy!

This is fast meal to prepare and it is affordable too!
Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
3 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp white vinegar
3 tbsp sodium-reduced soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
salt and pepper
4 tsp canola oil
500 g ground beef
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup diced pineapple (frozen from the bag works just fine)
2 green onion chopped

Preparation: In a small bowl, whisk together pineapple juice, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and cornstarch. Season with salt and pepper, set aside.
In a large skillet brown beef for about 7 min, add onion, garlic and cook until softened 4 min. Add red pepper, pineapple and reserved sauce. Cook stirring, until beef is cooked and sauce thickened, 2-4 min. Spoon over rice and garnish with green onions.

I just remembered about an unique essential oils blend that works very well. I have heard about it from a friend who worked in a reception area during the flu season and was swearing that Thieves oil blend helped her stay healthy. I bought it and kept for future needs.
The opportunity to try Thieves Oil Spray presented itself during a spring season, when I just started working for a family business. At first, older family members came to work with flu -like symptoms, sneezing and coughing. The next day I brought my Thieves oil spray and sprayed around myself at least three times a day. Within a week, maybe a week and a half,  younger family members contracted the same symptoms. I continued to spray around myself and remained in good health.

You will need:
10 drops Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil
20 drops Clove Essential Oil
8 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil
18 drops Lemon Essential Oil
5 drops Rosemary Essential Oil
and an empty dark glass bottle (sold at any health stores like Nature's Fare)
I bought all ingredients online at Natural nutrition website, but you also can get ingredients from any health store. Prepared Thieves Oil is also sold - I bought one bottle for immediate use and waiting for components to arrive to make more of my own.

Uses: add 30-50 drops into spray bottle (100ml) with distilled water and sanitize your hands, air around you, any surfaces. It can be used in a scent burner, aroma diffuser.
It also smells divine!

Eating healthy, nutritional meals is super important to keep immune system balanced and working well.
I strongly encourage everyone to absolutely eliminate alcohol or cigarettes from your life not to overburden the immune system.

This potato soup is our family favorite, vegan friendly and contains only 8 ingredients!
You will need:

1. Yellow flesh potatoes cut in chunks (5-6 large)
2. Carrots, peeled and cut in chunks (2-3 large carrots)
3. Onion, cubed (1 large red or white onion); 2 garlic cloves smashed
4. Celery sticks cut in chunks (2-3 sticks)
5. Vegetable Broth ( 3 cups)
6. Full fat coconut milk-one can
7. Salt 1/2 tsp and black pepper 1/2 tsp, 1/2 tsp dried dill, 1/2 tsp celery salt
8. Fresh kale for nutrition 
9. Bacon for serving-several crisp links, or fried pancetta

Instructions: add first seven ingredients into pot, close the lid and cook for 25-30 min. After that open the lid, add washed kale leaves and let them wilt for about a minute. Using immersion blender puree the soup.
​Serve with bacon crisp or pancetta bits.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of frozen cranberries, thawed;
• 1l water or cranberry juice (use 500 ml water and 500 ml juice). Apple/Orange juice will work too;
• 1 orange cut in wedges;
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• Cinnamon stick and star anise (one each) if desired, but not necessary

Add thawed cranberries into the pot and smash them, releasing jelly-like substance. Place smashed cranberries into the sieve over a clean bowl and squeeze juice from smashed cranberries. Reserve the juice ( we preserve vitamins in raw juice).
Add smashed cranberries into a pot, add water, apple/orange juice if using, sugar, spices and bring to boil. Turn of heat and let it cool. Add reserved cranberry juice. Pour into mugs and decorate with orange slices.

As of today, March 15, 2020 officially there are 73 COVID-19 virus cases in British Columbia, with two being identified in Interior BC region.
If in the beginning of March 2020 health officials were concerned about people coming back from China, lately virus cases were reported globally for total 156,400 confirmed cases. The virus spreads in geometrical progression domestically as well. 
There are 5,833 reported deaths from COVID-19 globally, with only one being in British Columbia. Top 5 countries with the most reported cases-China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain.
Canada ranks 20 on that list with 252 confirmed cases. Those numbers are probably skewed (my guess by 1.5), as not everyone reports their sickness.
I got my information from Center for Systems Science and Engineering
gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/

Media created a panic response from the masses: toilet paper disappeared from each supermarket. I actually don't have a logical explanation why exactly toilet paper? 
I have seen the video of people in Costco erratically running towards toilet paper isle and loading up. That created a response "Monkey see, monkey do".
As of yesterday shelves with non-perishable food, such as canned vegetables, fish, meat got emptied. Despite the announcement from the government officials that there is no shortage of food is foreseen. Well, Corona virus spread in Canada was not foreseen either, right?
Below is the picture from WalMart Center showcasing empty shelves, where canned food used to be.  Pictures above are from SuperStore.

Empty boxes where tuna once was.
It is probably wise to stock up on food items, planning for self isolation if you or any of your family member will be diagnosed with a virus.
Here is the shopping list that might be useful for stocking up:
1. Cold and flu symptoms reliving medication (such as Tylenol, NeoCitran), cough suppressing medication, nasal congestion sprays.
2. Water- you could get a water filter, bottled water.
3. Hot liquids: green tea, chicken broth.
4. Food. When you are sick, it is best to eat light and easy digestible foods like vegetable soups, rice with vegetables. With all the madness surrounding shopping, still buy two weeks worth of supply: bag of rice, bag of oats, frozen vegetables and meat, eggs, etc.
5. Cleaning supplies. It is a fact that virus is capable of living for several hours outside of a carrier. That means we have to be prepared to clean surfaces with disinfectants: Lysol, Bleach, Windex.
Last, but not least: stay away from crowded places like shopping malls, crowded stores. Remember to dress according to the weather- it is cold outside, so the jacket is mandatory.
There is no need to panic, historically there are ups and downs. It will turn up eventually!