Summer Crafts – DIY Canada Day Magnets

Ah, Canada Day.
I love this country and give it a solid go every year when it comes to busting out the patriotic gear. But, getting the tiny person plugged in to something more than the candy from the Canada parade is, well, challenging.
She’s at the age of dis-interest – too young for a bigger history [...]

Bobs and Lolo Rock Comox

My pal Ange is ground zero for all things kids and cool. She’s proven it over and over again as I can officially say that I’ve never been steered wrong by her kid sensibility. So, it’s no surprise that – when she heard years ago that the tiny person was seriously ocean-minded, she introduced us [...]

Challenge Yourself – Get Your Yummy On

Happy Sunday! While you are all out enjoying this gorgeous Sunday on a sort of-kind of holiday weekend, I wanted to tempt you inside a bit (starting this Thursday) with some details on the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge Featured Restaurants.
Taking a weekend away is nearly impossible for Ken and me. But, we [...]

Maddy Erickson Reviews Fern Verdant

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Summer break kicks off this week and, for lots of parents, that means finding some perfect Summer reads for their families. Now, you can get some tips on THE tween Summer book list, and not from crazy, old parents.
Today, I’m excited to introduce Maddy Erickson as the newest addition to the [...]

Green-e-ology – Thrifting is the New Pink

Some say junk collecting. Some say thrifting. Whatever it may be, I say bring it on. Bring on the super finds and the price tags that leave you feeling like a thief. Bring on the history and the uniqueness. Bring on the craftsmanship and the savings. Bring on the eco-goodness.
The whole wide world of thrift [...]

Kids In The Arts – Rainbow Youth Theatre

I went into theatre to be a part of a family.  Not the kind of family with the “tantruming toddler  at the dinner table”, but a group of like minded theatre folks who get together to play and tell all sorts of magical stories.
I don’t join for the limelight and I certainly don’t take accolades [...]

Family Local Food, NeighbourWood Eats

Good morning. Registration for the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge is in full swing and we are excited to see people gearing up for the next month of learning how to eat local. If you’ve picked your challenge passport up from Brambles Market, be sure to register online here at OBE in order [...]

Foodie Crafts – Macaroni Necklaces & Musical Beans

It’s no shock that I am knee deep in the foodie universe right now. Between the garden, the food challenge and the general joy of eating when all of the goodness that is Vancouver Island food is in season, I can’t help myself.
The same seems to apply in the kid-style creative universe too. Seems like [...]

Register – Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge

Good morning and welcome to everyone who is joining us here on Our Big Earth for the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge.
We’re getting right to the point today:
Need the scoop on the challenge? Go HERE
Want to check out the calendar of events? Click HERE
Having trouble finding the registration form? Go HERE to get [...]

Mommy Talk – On Fatherhood

I am the first to admit that I totally take my husband for granted.
It’s an embarrassing reveal. There’s a part of myself that takes a bit of pride in owning the burden of primary parenthood. If there’s laundry to do, meals to cook, noses to wipe, temper tantrums to navigate – I’m the it girl [...]

Challenge Yourself ~ Chew On This Film Series

Good Morning.
The launch of registration for the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge is so close we can just about taste it (Get your Food Challenge Passport at Brambles starting this Monday).
There are lots of questions about how this whole fun community event works – and we are confident that, when you pick [...]

Using Anti-Depression Meds in Pregnancy

I know the last few cool days of rain in the Valley are lovely, but the continuous sunshine just seems to be infecting us all with joy.  It is the start of the season of moist plums, laughter at the water park, sandy toes, breezy fragrant endless evenings, and picking out corn kernels from your [...]

Parent Wellness – Facing Fear

I had no choice.
I had to write this article about the fears that accompany motherhood. I apologize in advance for the heaviness of the topic. I realize it is a contrast from the usual sweet spirit of most Our Big Earth posts, but like I said, I had no choice.
Let me explain.
It [...]

Family Eats – Hot Summer-Time Treats to Keep Cool

It has been hectic around here with the winding down of school, sports and all this incredible weather. In the chaos and heat my ladies, like most kids I suspect, have been having trouble wanting to eat.
I don’t blame them really.
But I know that when my kids play outside all day, melting away in this [...]

Eat Real. Eat Local. Take the 30-Day Challenge

It’s a big day here at Our Big Earth as we have long been waiting to announce what we think is one of the most exciting community events in the Comox Valley this Summer.
Our Big Earth, Brambles Market and EatRealEatLocal.ca are excited to announce that – from July 2-31 – we’ll be hosting the EatRealEatLocal [...]

Backyard Craft – Butterfly Feeders

Editor’s Note: Good morning. We’ve got a fun craft for you this morning. But, it’s this afternoon that brings big news here at Our Big Earth.
It’s a deliciously detailed dish comes with a month’s worth of community goodness, family fun of the foodie kind and the chance to win nearly $3,000 in tasty treats.
So [...]

Greening the Places that Children Play

Where Do The Children Play?
O.K. I’m dating myself but I’m sure you’ve heard of the peace lovin singer/song writer Cat Stevens. And who hasn’t heard of Dr. Seuss? One of my favorites books of his is The Lorax, while published 38 years ago the environmental message still rings true today.
What do the two have in [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Diane Kyle, Nearly New Books

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Getaways – Comox Valley Shellfish Festival

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my head thinking up places and spaces where we can escape to for a couple of weeks this Summer.
We are – very seriously – in dire need of some unplugged family time of the leaving-town kind. But, while it may be a bit before we can [...]

Dr. Amy Wells – Overcoming Male Infertility

Good morning, OBE readers.  I thought I’d begin my column today by addressing some of the comments regarding my last article on female fertility.  I must admit I’m (pleasantly) surprised with all the attention Natural Fertility Management received.  I agree – it is a shame that we aren’t taught more about this in school, as [...]

Connect Kids to Grandparents-Living Legacy

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

As my great-Aunt Adelaide would say, “My cup runneth over”.   It was an honour and a privilege to read your comments and stories about your own grandparents last month.  Thank you for [...]

Farm to Family – ASHBerry Farm

Don and Louisa McClellan once saw themselves as the unlikeliest of farmers.
Globe hopping with the Canadian Armed Forces, they lived in corners of the Earth most North Americans rarely see. But, it was that time away, and the start of a family, that brought a military pilot and his self-professed “B.C. hippie” bride back to [...]

Eco Crafts – Egg Carton Shadow Boxes & Rock Gardens

So, I have to say that it’s a good thing that the only people who have been subjected to the condition of our house lately are my sweet friend Kathy and her family. While she might think “Oh my God, don’t touch anything!” and her lovely little girl did actually ask if she could help [...]

Nurture Your Inner Diva at Flawless Beauty Bar

Good morning. I’d been ready for the last week or so to do a Monday Morning Mom’s poll about lipstick this morning. Then, lovely OBE mama Kindle left me a little bath-related surprise at the new Flawless Beauty Bar in downtown Courtenay.

Not knowing what to expect, I wandered in with the scent-loving 3.75-year-old and both [...]

NeighbourWoodie Watch – Black-Tailed Deer

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Today, we are excited to connect you with wildlife educator Sandy Fairfield and her new NeighbourWoodie Watch column here on Our Big Earth.
Sandy is the educator for an organization that is near and dear to my heart, Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society – a Merville organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured [...]

Books Review – Fairy Folk & Spring Day Dreams

Long hot days this time of year make me want to find a big, giant maple tree to spread a blanket out under, unpack a lunch full of cool veggies and fruit and lay back to begin a few hours of uninterrupted day dreaming.
Since the likelihood of that happening is less than the odds of [...]

SPROUTS – Get the Low Down on Good Garden Bugs

Editor’s Note: I am loving all of this time in the garden this time of year. My mother-in-law might wonder “What time in the garden is she talking about? I never see her in the backyard.” It’s true. It seems that most of my time is spent out at the Comox Valley Regional District Compost [...]

I’m Supposed to Be Having A Baby

It’s all I have left of him – a pair of footprints locked away, never to be seen again, and a single heart filled with petals that hangs in the kitchen window.
I had convinced myself, for a long time, that this week would come, I would acknowledge it and we would continue on.
Life, it doesn’t [...]

Restaurant Review – April Point Resort

I have this general theory these days that, once a month, we need to get the heck off of the island.
With the ferry to Vancouver forcing us to take a personal loan out to go to the aquarium, we’ve decided that means island hopping of the more local kind.
The Discovery Islands are awesome, and I’m [...]

Choices & Good Books About Homeschooling

Since our daughter was about 18 months old and I started looking into the whole idea of homeschooling, I was pretty much sold on doing the learning at home thing.
We are a hands-on bunch to begin with, spending lots of our time looking for bugs in the forest, trying to figure out what bird we [...]

Shower Curtains Go Hemp

Happy June!
With the onset of the hot weather, I thought it was a solid time to talk about something near and dear to all of our hearts – mold.
Oh how I hate the red and black goo – especially when it shows up on my shower curtain and I can think of a million ways [...]