my lettuce plant

Check out my lettuce plant. Isn't this amazing?

Isn't it?

Here's how it started off.

April 15

Along with my celery and my green onions. We just took the end of the lettuce that we had bought at the grocery store and put it in water.

Just a few days later, it was already a deep green colour. I moved it into a pot with soil.

April 19

And then it just kept growing.

April 29

And growing. Into this, one month later.

May 29

And then, after that, it started to flower

June 5

This has been happening during the time of the year where the sun is up twenty-four hours a day, so clearly my little Arctic veggie garden has been enjoying the sun.  This reaction from my lettuce plant was not something that I had ever encountered before.  

For a while, I wondered if I'd somehow gotten my hands on a magical beanstalk that was going to keep growing into the sky, and lead me to a giant's castle where I could find a goose that lays golden eggs, or maybe even better, six packs of beer.

It didn't seem like normal lettuce plant behaviour to me though, so I thought I'd ask the advice of gardening experts.

My mom told me that this is what happens at the end of the growing season and when the plant is ready to flower.  Sure enough, it was definitely flowering.

Rob's mom said that it's called bolting and that it happens to an older plant or with dryness and too much heat.

CBC North radio show Trail's end has actually been doing a feature these days on Arctic gardening, with gardening experts on air and online answering our gardening questions, like how do we get soil in a place that has no soil. One day we heard an unusual story about a woman who leaves bits of caribou carcass lying about to attract flies to make compost. Another woman asked about whether bison droppings could be used for fertilizer.

I decided to ask about my magical beanstalk.  But not on the radio, because that's for old people. I asked on Twitter.

@ScaryBearSound @CBCNorth too much sun! Lettuce-spinach doesn't like long days! Eat it as it grows rather than letting this happen! #enjoy
— Shona Barbour (@arcticyogi) June 2, 2014

Basically, the sense that I've been getting is that the lettuce plant is not supposed to do that, and that I should be trimming it, or at least eating it quicker. But I don't actually like leafy greens. I know, that's kind of weird.  Also, I think it just looks pretty cool.

Arctic spring thaw

a retired snowmobile

Spring has sprung in the North! It doesn't necessarily mean that it's warm. But it does mean that the birds are out singing, and the sun is shining...all the time. All night long. And the snow is starting to melt!  The Arctic ocean is still frozen, but all of the snow banks have begun to melt, which is causing all sorts of havoc to our roads.

Cambridge Bay, the Venice of the North?

Basically, our roads have sort of turned into canals, and some of us have to swim to work.

suck, suck, suck, little truck

The municipal workers have been working around the clock to drain these new lakes that have appeared in the middle of the road, but it's hard to catch up.  And even once the roads are drained, there are all sorts of potholes in the unpaved roads causing all sorts of mischief to our trucks.

The melting of the snow has revealed all sorts of interesting garbage on the roads and yards that have been hidden all winter.

fish bones, everywhere you look

And then there's the mud. Now that we are full swing into spring (aka mud season), the mud streaks all over your clothes are as much of an inevitability of life as death and taxes.  We have learned to just accept it, and maybe hope that one day mud-streaked jeans will be all the rage in fashion, because are we ever rockin' that.

melt, baby, melt

melting ice sculpture

the most beautiful day of spring in the Arctic: West Arm

a perfect sun dog

Sometimes there are times when you just know that you'll remember that day as being special. Everyone still talks fondly about that beautiful day last summer when everyone went to Long Point Beach and enjoyed the rare warmth of the hot sun.  Those who missed it still regret it. Those who were there cling to that memory on the coldest of winter days.

I think we had that moment again this long weekend. Good Friday felt not only good, but gloriously warm after a long cold winter.  With the windchill, it had been close to -40 all week, but suddenly at the beginning of our four-day weekend we found ourselves shedding our fur parkas and Canada Goose jackets as the day warmed up to a sunny -10 degrees.  It was unheard of. We were practically sweating.

It seemed like the entire town decided to head out to West Arm that day to enjoy the day.

We brought along our "down south" winter jackets (the winter coats we would wear in Ottawa or Toronto or somewhere else equally tropical) and loaded into the truck to drive out on to the ice road.

The ice road was a lot clearer than the last time we had driven on it; there was no stunt driving this time, and a second lane actually opened up with a proper median separating the traffic and everything. It was probably the fanciest road in all of Nunavut!  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that one road was for going to West Arm and the other road was from coming from West Arm, and I ended up driving down the wrong way down a one-way road for the entire way there. With the ice wall medians, there was no way for me to get to the right lane once I realized my mistake. But, I mean, since when are there one-way roads in Nunavut? And to be honest, who was going to pull me over? The polar bears?

Once we got to West Arm, we realized that pretty much everyone in town had the same idea that day, and the area was full of people hanging out and kids sledding.

Of course, by "full" I'm talking Nunavut standards so there was still plenty of empty space in the Arctic wilderness to find your own hill to hang out on.

look at that sun dog!

Once we found our private hill, the boys stripped off their coats so they can suntan under the warm sun, which was giving off this beautiful rainbow sun dog that morning.  We girls tried out the snowboards.

F. tried his hand at snowboarding too.

...but eventually switched to the sled.

It was basically my ideal day.  Sunny warm weather, friends to hang out with, a bit of adventure, and tea.

smashed up igloo

(not photographed: the pee)

I can see myself in your eyes

ALSO. YOU GUYS. THANK YOU FOR VOTING US AS YOUR FAVOURITE NUNAVUT BAND FOR CBC MUSIC'S SEARCHLIGHT. What would we do without you? Please keep voting for us for the national rounds!

learning to kite ski

There's a pretty good kiting crowd here in Cambridge Bay - kite-surfing in the summer, and kite-skiing or kite-boarding in the winter. They're really friendly and they always seem open to letting newcomers try it out.  This weekend I joined them on the ice with the intention of just photographing them, but ended up trying my hand at the trainer kite.

on the ice

look at me!
photo courtesy of Chris Hummel

photo courtesy of Chris Hummel

photo courtesy of Chris Hummel

Controlling the kite seems like an easy concept in theory, but it's a lot harder in real life. The wind can change at any moment, and even on a day where it doesn't seem particularly windy, one gust of the wind and sudden turn of the kite could feel like your arms are being ripped off. You have to react quickly and watch what is going on at all times.

Having the quick reflexes of a snail on sleeping pills, I may or may not have accidentally dropped the kite down on trucks/people multiple times. It's good to try these things out in the middle of nowhere, safe and far away from obstacles/victims.  We were in the middle of the frozen Arctic ocean, but my kite still managed to find things to drop down on.

I started to view the kite as a living thing, an animal that you have to pay attention to, to predict its behaviour and attend to its needs.  M told us you never turn your back on the kite when you're out on your board, because one bad move, one gust of wind, and you're being dragged across the Arctic Ocean halfway to Bay Chimo...and not necessarily on your feet either. But you treat it right, and you could be having the thrill of your life, flying across the ice like you're riding on the back of a hippogriff.  Who knew that kite flying could be so fun?

Then M. strapped on his skis to show us how it's done.

And away he went!

I feel pretty lucky that activities like this are available to me pretty much on my front step. I just have to walk out my door and down towards the dock and there waits another Arctic adventure. With the sun setting close to 10PM these days and next month, not setting at all, we've got all the time in the world to go on adventures.