With many areas of North America suffering or having suffered various levels of wildfires this summer, and with discussions above and below the 49th Parallel centering around whether or not governments are doing enough to mitigate forest fire potential and better fight forest fires, fire mitigation and forest fuel management are popping up more and more frequently. One method of protecting property . . . is the use of vegetation that doesn't easily catch fire or stay aflame. As foragers, we can do our bit for forest management, by harvesting the peeling/shedding bark of the Ponderosa Pine tree, taking it home, grinding it up, and using it in place of cinnamon in our cooking, baking, drinks, etc. When we see downed branches with green pine, spruce or fir needles, we can snap off needle bunches and take them home as well. We can gather unopened green or brown cones of pine, spruce and fir, and make mugolio from them. Sap and resin that has hardened on the outside of conifer trunks can be broken off and taken home for use in salves and oils. Its easiest to harvest in winter Brown pine needles can be gathered and used to weave baskets and mats. Opened cones laying on the ground can be gathered for use in fall and winter crafts such as table center-pieces, votive candle accents, wreaths, garlands, in decorative jars, etc. Gathering windfall or deadfall is an ethical way of stocking up your pantry and craft cupboard while doing your part in forest fuel management. https://naturalhealthgodsway.ca/2026/08/26/forest-fuel-management-foraging-style/

Sunny Ways, Declining Days! A Decade of Trudeau and the Collapse of Canadian Happiness by Marco Navarro-Génie 🇨🇦 #MarkCarneyCantBeTrusted 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #SayingTheQuietPartOutLoud 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #JustSayNoMore 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #CarneyLies 🇨🇦 https://mnghaultain.substack.com/p/sunny-ways-declining-days

In the vein of yet another go big or go home event, today was supposed to be kitchen day in our house! The catch however, occurred in a new addition to my cheese sauce that began late winter 2026, just before spring. Ashley suggested looking into making hummus from chickpea flour. I counted out how many cups of carrot I rough-pureed, and had 13.5 cups, or roughly 27 times the recipe I'd used last time! Out of curiousity, I weighed the various containers, and discovered I've made over 8kg of spicy carrot chickpea hummus! Ashley got curious, and came up with a slightly rewilded herbed chickpea hummus, throwing in catnip. Mint is a common cooking herb in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean region as well. It's flavour blended very nicely with the besan in finger dipped taste tests. I've written down her recipe for future use! We had a great time at Creative Chaos this past weekend! We look forward to establishing a presence at the Kelowna Farmer's Market this summer. We might need rope tied to our ankles to make sure our trajectory doesn't leave orbit! Monday's foraging run had a fun discovery!  Purple/magenta baby cones looking for all the world like little spiky flowers, are appearing at the tips of ponderosa pines in our region!  Ashley stopped to take several photos. We also began our sage harvesting early again this year.  Here's hoping we get enough to last through to next spring. For the full adventure and a few photos, click here: https://naturalhealthgodsway.ca/2026/06/10/of-carrots-hummus-fairs-and-markets-i-hear-the-engines-revving/

I printed off my first proof to read and finalize. Laser Master Game Secrets Book B Primarily designed for experienced players, grades 4 to high school. This book is bigger and includes mathematical concepts and fractions. Developer/Publisher Peter William #ChessPH #ManilaChess #PhilippineChess @Chesturtle @AbanteNews @MelitoOcsan

Laser Master Game Secrets Book A final proof printed, 66 pages and 37 puzzles Designed primarily for beginners. Book B designed primarily for experienced players Developer Peter William, BC Canada #ChessPH #ManilaChess #PhilippineChess @Chesturtle @AbanteNews @MelitoOcsan

If you've ever made cinnamon rolls, now there's Pine Rolls!!! In the vein of go big or go home, I took the eggless giant cinnamon roll recipe from last year, and made a few adjustments to it. To find out what those adjustments were, and to get the full recipe, click here: https://naturalhealthgodsway.ca/2026/04/09/giant-pine-roll-recipe/

So April 6th was our first spring foraging run. We came back with a bit of yarrow, but not without gathering a full cloth grocery bag of fallen, still-green, fir sprigs! Then we spotted a Ponderosa pine with very loose bark layers. These layers are what I've been experimenting with as a cinnamon-like spice. Looking around at the base of a few pine trees reveals that the trees shed this layer regardless. We can either let it go to waste and become forest fire fuel, or we can do our part in reducing fuel for forest fires while also reducing our need to buy imported goods from overseas. Discovering that Lamb's Quarters are a spinach substitute whether raw or cooked, is another ingredient that doesn't need to be trucked the last mile if it is found growing nearby, or only the price of the gas spent to go get it, which for us, is equal to the cost of gas running to the store. Of course, the fewer runs to the store, the less gas spent. Money saved all around. Maybe this week I'll get around to trying out powdered pine bark in place of cinnamon in a cinnamon roll recipe. If it works, I'll share the recipe and call them pine rolls instead. We will be at the Vernon Wellness Fair April 11th and 12th, with a sniff sample available of Wild Apple Spice. If you live in the Okanagan, hope to see you at the fair, and we look forward to more foraging runs, workshops, etc, as the year progresses. Don't forget that we are available for various bookings this year. See the booking card below: For the full foraging report with photos, click here: https://naturalhealthgodsway.ca/2026/04/06/first-spring-foraging-run/

Coming up for air as I continue efforts on my textbook before the foraging season kicks into high gear! I realized I haven't posted any new blog articles for literally an entire month! Oops??? This coming weekend, we are at Vernon Shoparama at the Vernon Rec Centre. We will be in the rec centre's gym. In April, we will be back at the rec centre for the Vernon Wellness Fair, and then at Maplefest downtown Kelowna the last saturday of the month. May's craft fair schedule has run off the rails, BUT. . . we end the month at our very first ever Ren Fair!!! As I type, Ashley is working on a leather corsette belt for me! Comparing apothecary outfits to 1850's bar tenders with the age if piracy, and in all three image searches, it was apparent that as an English rider, Ashley's outfit was prebuilt just riding her horse! She had made herself a waspy corsette a few years ago, and that completes her look. The Penticton Ren Fair is happening May 30th! Do keep tabs on our 2026 Where We'll Be card, and/or to the website calendar, clickable from the main menu bar across the top of my website. We've also discovered the wonders of turning pine bark into a spice similar to cinnamon, with a flavour profile similar to cinnamon as well. It lends the same flavour style to things like apple fritters, apple crumble, pumpkin spice blend, etc. We are changing up the tea packaging by the way! This is more cost effective for us, takes the same length of time to put together as the current packaging, but takes up less space, and is easier to use. Just keep the string for your own storage as you will need it to close the package. Wild Apple Spice is the first tea to use this packaging. With plants coming to life around the valley, now is the time to be planning for foraging workshops. It's going to be a knock-em-out year this year (on many levels)! Here's hoping if you live in the Okanagan, to see you around at various fairs we'll be at! https://naturalhealthgodsway.ca/2026/03/24/coming-up-for-air-update-on-book-efforts-spring-outlook-news/

This is what will happen next: Asia stops buying US Treasuries They won't pay for US defenses that get reassigned to the middle east leaving them open to takeover from China / Russia / NK The Fed has to increase interest rates to maintain sales of US Treasuries This makes interest payments untenable on the multi trillion Debt Following hyperinflation and USD devaluation causing oil to jump to $500-$800 USD Oil will be much cheaper if paid for in Rubles / Chinese Yuan Oil gets traded in local currencies, and only the USD paying countries have to pay exhorbitant prices. USD will try to change its currency to Digital Crypto US dollars, but no one will buy except for Americans who will be forced to convert their dollars to digital. (Palantir managed CBDC) Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Korea) sign peace agreements with China / Russia in order to buy oil at reasonable prices and an agreement to kick out US bases. China takes Taiwan and the US does nothing. US choices are: Declare Victory and Withdraw now to prevent total collapse. Continue War - and when domestic civil war begins due to hyperinflation, no food, no fuel... The US government begins a nuclear attack on Russia / China in order to "Save America" and bring about biblical Armageddon. Everyone gets a major population cull around the world.\ The Elite come out of their bunkers to rule again after people are too starved or dead to put up resistance The Elite Rule again with a 1 world government based on the Pyramid eye on the US dollar bill OR the 3rd Scenario that the Elite are desperate to avoid is US military rebellion with a refusal to continue fighting for Judeo Christian 3rd temple armageddon, and US military refusal to engage in nuclear strikes. https://danielnagase.substack.com/p/addendum-for-trump-but-most-important At the end of the day, our future is not in the hands of Trump, it is in the hands of the soldiers who do his bidding.

We are starting up another Laser Master Game Program in the Philippines through my late wife's family. I will visit there again this year to help them out. Mean while I will coach them by Zoom. https://www.instagram.com/p/DVqUje3lFVF/?igsh=MXFnMDFqejVheWNldQ==