Almost had to build an ark.....

August 3, 2026 

A weekend of pretty near continuous rain, at times practically a monsoon....170mm in the gauge. The grey overcast skies slowly cleared this morning, and now the sun is out in a blue, blue sky, with big fluffy white clouds.  

The 'monsoon' was too much for one of our old apple trees, and a big, apple laden branch broke, so sad. I had been thinning apples as far up as I could reach with a step ladder, but it is an impossible job. Here is the trailer load of fruit that fell with the branch.

In other news.... the igniter in my stove called it quits, and to replace it would cost more than half the price of a new stove, so new stove it is! This one has electric ignition, (vs battery ignition in the old stove), plus it has a glass door!! and a light!! Small luxuries, like fresh, sun-dried sheets on the bed, some of life's best things.

Someone has been getting naked in my garden...

A garter snake has left his old garment in the garlic patch, found when I cleared out the rocks holding the mulch down, and dug the bulbs. 

 

 Peter Piper could easily pick more than a peck of peppers in my pepper patch. Green bell, 

 and sweet red.

 The celery is a beautiful green forest.

Pumpkins are growing on the fencing with some Scarlet Runner beans, and I've been slinging the fruit up in pieces of old T-shirts for support, although they seem sturdy enough without. They are small sugar pumpkins, so they won't get too big. 

Cucumbers are really starting to take off, and despite rigorous pruning, I am beginning to be inundated. Note to self: plant fewer vines next summer! 

In the tomato department, the cherries are ripening slowly, 

and there are lots of beefsteak and paste guys growing.

This year I have tried to refrain from taking off the suckers, just pruning out some of the lower leaves for air flow, to see what, if any difference it makes for fruit production. The jury is out. 

 

 

The rewards......

 July 26, 2026

There is a big up-tick in the amount of produce coming in from the garden now that we are near the end of July. The beans are from the first sowing in June, zucchini, greens, cherry tomatoes, broccoli side shoots, young root vegetables, and soon cucumbers big enough to pick. Let the pickling begin! 

Cabbages are harvested, and a couple have gone from this,

to sauerkraut.

In their place, the soil has been loosened and a couple of pails of sieved compost added. This is hopefully where the winter supply of carrots will grow, and hopefully they will be the perfect size for root cellar storage much later in the fall when things cool down.

The white strips are a gel of corn starch and water, into which I mix the seeds, then put it into a piping bag. After sitting overnight, the mixture gets piped into rows, then more sieved compost nestles them in. The gel holds moisture and gives the seeds a boost. 

There are more Monarch butterflies around now, although I haven't succeeded in finding any eggs or larvae. They are loving the swamp milkweed I've established around the edge of the pond. Six or more Hummingbirds are visiting the feeders, and the flowers. They absolutely love the red Bee Balm. So does the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

The bird chorus in the bush is much diminished now. The Song Sparrows from the nest in the cedar tree have fledged, as have the Cat birds in the lilac bush. The young Catbirds hung around in the lilacs for quite a while, but have since dispersed. Here is one trying out the branch in front of Bird Cam. The young ones are much less sleek than the adult birds, looking kind of scruffy and unfinished. They also do a lot more "mewing".

The Frog Orchid blooms are opening up quite a bit. They are tiny, but so obviously an orchid. 

There is another orchid coming into bloom now. It occurs quite commonly along our trails wherever more sunlight penetrates, and even comes up in the gravel along the sides of the road. Research has shown that it is a Broadleaf Helleborine, an introduced plant from Europe.

I managed to get a not too bad close-up of a bloom.

The weather gods have blessed us with sufficient moisture so far this season, but if the rain in the forecast does not materialize, I'll be getting out the hoses to give everything a good soak, as it has been about a week since the last good rainfall. Temperatures have moderated to quite pleasant summer days, after the suffocating heat and humidity earlier in July. One can very comfortably leave all the doors and windows open, perfect timing for beginning to process produce for storage. 

A mystery no longer....

July 19, 2026

 The mystery plant from two posts ago.... 

has been identified as Dactylorhiza viridis, Long Bracted Green Orchid, or The Frog Orchid!!!

How appropriate, that a frog lover now has Frog Orchids growing in the front yard! 

Being a bit of a plant nerd, and being familiar with the seasonal stages of most of the plants around here, I knew this was one I'd not seen before.

Apparently it is not uncommon at all, and is found in Europe, and across North America. Here is the best close-up I was able to get of one of the blooms. 

When one hears the word 'orchid', one thinks of something absolutely beautiful and exotic, but there are many that are much less showy than the ones that get all the attention. Ontario is home to about 60 species of orchids, this being one of them.

The wildfire smoke plumes that have been making life horrible for lots of people, have waxed and waned over us, some days were really bad, and others have been clear, like today. Yesterday was a somewhat smokey one, and the afternoon brought thunderstorms and rain amounting to 22mm. Overnight the wind changed direction, so the smokey air has vanished. All the growing things are thriving and beautiful.  

This weekend is the annual Summer Madawaska Valley Studio Tour, so yesterday I picked up a friend and we went visiting local artisans in their home studios. The most interesting and enjoyable visit we made, was to Northern Viking Farm, where we spent some time watching demonstrations of carding and spinning, and visiting with the family and the Icelandic sheep.

In Wilno, we had our picnic lunch at the Polish Kashub Heritage Museum, https://www.wilno.org/museum.html timing it just right before the skies opened with the second deluge of the day.  

There is an absolutely astounding amount of information to digest here, and it would take hours and possibly days to absorb all of it. 

 

 

 

Enduring the heat, and preparing for winter...

July 14,  2026

This morning...  

The weird ball in the sky, a smoke obscured sun in a smoke hazed sky. The camera didn't capture how red the sun was.

We are under a heat and smoke warning. 

Every one of these hot mornings, we are up just as the grey dawn breaks, and off to check out the garden, me; and Hubby is off to the bush with chainsaw and trailer in tow. After splitting and piling all the wood we harvested in the winter, there was still a gap in the woodshed. After nine heating seasons of having sufficient stores of wood; last winter, with it's long cool spring, used up more wood than any other year since we've been here. There are some dying beech trees Hubby has scouted out, and this is the latest instalment to the wood yard, the gap they are to fill, once split, is on the right end of the woodshed. 

Giving all my garden plants a good deep soak once a week and a good layer of leaf, grass or straw mulch, has been the recipe for keeping things hydrated and growing in my gardens, even through these hot and humid days. 

Here is the last full head of broccoli from my eleven plants, and the first harvested Caraflex cabbage. The broccoli will continue to supply us with lots of side shoots.

The first cluster of cherry tomatoes are showing some colour!

Zucchinis are producing lovely little fruit. One of my favourite ways to cook them is sauteed just to 'tender-crisp', with garlic butter and a little salt.

The celery bed is doing well, sandwiched between carrots, beets and the pepper patch at the far end. Determinate tomatoes are in the next bed over. 

In the field garden, everyone is happy, squash and pumpkin are starting to crawl and climb, Glads are growing, indeterminate tomatoes are blooming, and so far....no potato bugs!

An early morning look over the 7 raised beds closest to the house. The dill in the foreground are volunteers in the onion bed, I thinned them drastically when they were small, but apparently not enough! They are co-existing with a full 4' X 8' bed of onions, my winter supply of cooking onions, plus some big sweet guys and some green onions.

I am hoping the dill will help to confuse the leek moths, which seem to be a new pest up here on the hill. Some of my garlic got hit, so plans are in the works for how to deal with that new threat next season. 

Presently the Grey catbird is serenading us with his eclectic repertoire from the lilac bush. The heat is increasing, although it has been quite delightful to spend some time out here on the verandah, with a nice morning breeze from the west keeping things bearable. 

 

Gardening, fishing and observing....

July 7, 2026

The last day of June gave us a good 5cm of rain, then the heat and humidity moved in for the first few days of July. Everything in the gardens grew like crazy. Just when the heat and humidity got almost unbearable, there was a bit of a cool down to comfortable temperatures and no humidity. We had a few days when the windows and doors could stay open, but today, things are heating up again. 

Everything garden-wise is doing well. Yesterday I harvested and processed over 4 pounds of broccoli, and in a couple of days, a few more heads will be ready to be cut. 

Peas are starting to fill out. We had a first taste last night, and soon we'll be inundated. 

Wild strawberries are fat and juicy this year. These were picked in just a few minutes. Absolutely delicious.

There is not much happening on the trail cameras. The usual deer, this doe and fawn at a salt block...

and Turkey vultures squabbling over the fish entrails put out after our fishing expedition. The Raven in the background is patiently waiting.

The Phoebes in the nest on the verandah have just fledged, so we no longer get scolded for using the verandah. The Catbirds are still ferrying food to their nest in the lilac bushes, and there is a Song Sparrow nesting in the east side cedar tree out front.

We are only now, beginning to see the odd Monarch butterfly around. Over the last few years, they have been arriving later and later.  

There are five mystery plants growing in the front yard, over along the bush edge. Their alternate leaves are longitudinally veined, and sure look 'orchid-like' to me. The bud spike on the most advanced one, has gone from drooped over, to vertical, and there are little buds all along it. 

Meanwhile, another outing on the beautiful Bonnechere, the clouds drifting along with us, and a couple of nice Pike, a Bass and a big Crappie in the cooler.... 

  

Garden stuff...mostly....

 June 30, 2026

Just back from a quick perusal of the gardens, as thunder is rumbling and rain is starting to fall...yeah. Mother Nature has been good with the moisture, but more is now due, and she seems to have gotten the message. 

Just some random pics of garden stuff...

This is the rhubarb...one could use the leaves as an umbrella. That is a meter stick in the middle, and some of the stalks are almost as big as my wrist. Thankfully I harvested and froze enough for winter treats while the stems were young and tender.

Lemon lilies have been delightful, but there are only a few still blooming now, time to dead head.

On the subject of flowers, we went searching for Wood lilies, and found them...

 

Close by, I found these guys... 

What a thrill!  Showy Lady Slipper orchids! Getting to them would require hip waders and walking sticks, so this was taken from a distance with a shaky zoom. That stem is close to a meter high! Bonus, I could see several clumps beyond these! (click on the picture to see how beautiful they are.) 

My 24 celery plants are doing well. One is supposed to hill each plant up with soil once they get around 8 inches high. I pushed bottomless pots into the soil around each plant, and filled them with vermiculite. When the girth of the plants gets bigger, the pots will come off. 

There are 4 beautiful Caraflex cabbages in the end of the brassica bed. I bought one at the Farmer's market last year, and made a trip back to ask the vendor the name of the cabbage. It was amazing.

The broccoli are forming heads,

and all are living happily, well mulched, under the row cover.

Peas are blooming and making pods along the pea fence which will transition to the cucumber fence, as the vines along the front grow. This arrangement worked well last summer, so I'm doing a repeat.

Determinate tomatoes are looking good, stakes at the ready for support as they grow. 

The beefsteaks are in the field garden, mulched with straw and with much sturdier stakes. I've tried cages, but prefer stakes, as the plants are more accessible.

Down the side of the field garden, are the glads, another bed of spuds beyond the tomatoes, one of more beans, a random bed on which I threw all my old seeds, (they are surprising me), pumpkins and squash on the far side and end along with some climbing beans on another piece of fencing there. 

A bigger bed of potatoes is planted down near the barn. Deer are not supposed to like nibbling on plants in the Solanaceae family, but apparently I neglected to inform them, and they all have to try a leaf or two to figure it out for themselves. The plants on each corner have been sampled, particularly the right foreground.  

Our peace was a little shattered for a couple of weeks, but seems to have returned now. A nearby property had it's large Red pine plantation thinned, and the sound of saws and skidders was cringe-worthy to this tree and bird lover. Here is maybe the last load, awaiting the truck.

On a happier note, we did get out for the opening of Bass fishing season. It was a cool day, but the clouds were beautiful, and we caught our limit plus a few nice Perch.