Pumpkin Pie and mushrooms....

 September 23, 2024

That would be an odd combination!

Finally, the September drought has broken with a lovely rainy day. The broccoli side shoots were getting ahead of us, so this morning I blanched and froze a good picking, two and a half pounds more are now stashed in the freezer. Seeing as the steamer was hot, in went a quartered pumpkin, and it cooked while I made a batch of pastry. 

Voila! Pumpkin pie!

The new hot frame is doing very well...except for some vermin that was having a random dig in it, so Hubby made an hardware cloth frame to cover it, and today put an handle on it so it can be easily lifted and propped up while accessing the interior. We are enjoying some beautiful crispy greens. 

On the trail cameras, apparently this young buck (see his spikes?) was getting a little too personal with this doe....who put him in his place.

Blue jays are showing up noisily, in their new winter finery, after being scarce all summer...

In the bush, lots of different and interesting fungi are appearing. This one, a 'Bear's head tooth' fungi,

and this one...

the 'late fall, or resinous polypore'. So many interesting shapes, colours and textures.

Asters are giving us a lovely bit of colour in the gardens, but although there are flashes of yellow here and there, fall leaf colours are still to come.

It's Shaggy time!

 September 18, 2024

Just did a little foraging for breakfast this morning...Shaggy Manes are coming up all along the side of the garage in the gravel which is now growing up in clover, so they are very much cleaner as they emerge.

The frost scare earlier in the month had us covering the tomatoes, peppers and melons for three nights. Now the temperatures have swivelled in the opposite direction...the days are sweltering with a humidex closing on 30C. (86F) It is just not what one expects in September! It has been quite a stretch of these hot days, which the weather forecast says will continue on into early next week. Not ideal temperatures for working outside!! The nights are only getting down to the mid teens, (60F), so the windows are wide open. The Whip-poor-wills are still here and calling evening and morning, and the Barred owls are a little more vocal of late.

We are getting a number of different bears showing up on the trail camera placed by a pile of apples we put back in the bush, raked up from under the two trees closest to the house. Bird Cam. in the oak tree gave us a surprise...

This is our resident Broad-winged hawk. After this shot, he returned at a different time and proceeded to preen, fanning his feathers out at odd angles, but the lens was fogged up, so not shots good enough to post. 

Another visitor to the oak limb is this little guy...

There are many shots of him running up and down the limb, as well as more of the flying squirrel who seems to spend a lot of time doing the same. The limb must be a good 'jumping off' spot for him. 

The squash and pumpkin harvest is in...cleaned and lined up in the storage room.

I like growing things like this that don't require immediate processing! They will keep while I tend to stuff that won't keep.

In the front porch kitchen is a roaster oven of pasta sauce simmering down, covered by cheesecloth. It is a new to me recipe that I'm giving a try. It seems a better way than standing over the hot stove stirring. The dehydrator has been busy drying apples, and I think just one more load will complete our winter supply. They are delicious just eaten as is, but re-hydrated are good in baked goods and one favourite way of eating them is cooking them in a winter morning's pot of oatmeal.

The garden is being slowly dismantled. All the tomato plants are out except the cherries which are drooping with clusters of fruit. 

Asters, planted here and there in the gardens, are now blooming and adding colour to the predominant yellows and oranges of the tall marigolds.

I still have the bulk of the pepper patch to process, broccoli is keeping us in side shoots, and there are lovely turnips rutabagas and cabbages still to come. Potatoes are waiting patiently in the ground for the root cellar temperature to cool down into keeping territory.

Bears, bears...more bears

 September 6, 2024

Last week I posted pictures of a sow bear and a pair of cubs. This week's camera chips have shown us this...

See the eye glint of the third one coming behind? (Click the pic for a better look.) So...do we have a sow with triplets, or two sows with two and three cubs respectively????
We do know we have this fellow,

walking between the end of the garden beds and the camera mounted on the back porch on Monday night. The ghostly apparition behind him is a caged tomato plant with a cover over it...because a frost warning was out for Monday night!! Thankfully it didn't freeze, although it definitely got a little nippy, but temps have now gone back to a more normal range for this time of year. Last night, on driving home after dark, I rounded a corner on our road to find a cow and calf moose in front of me. Boy, are those critters big when they are up close!

Bird Cam has yielded more pictures of the flying squirrel and this one of a Yellow Shafted Flicker.

Garden harvesting continues.

Peppers this year are amazing. I blanched, sliced and dried these few for winter pizzas, and am contemplating what to do with the rest. All my squash vines have come down with powdery mildew, so as soon as it dries up after today's drizzle, the plan is to harvest all the squash and dispose of those vines somewhere other than the compost. 

A recent "Hubby-build", is this Broadfork to use in the raised beds. It loosens and aerates the soil without disturbing the soil structure. Looking forward to using it, instead of digging the beds over.

We still have at least three Hummingbirds entertaining us while harassing each other in and out of the flower bed, but expect them to head south very soon. This Monarch was looking fresh and colourful, and will probably be going south soon as well.

It is that time of year.

Another random bear...

and some beautiful cream puff clouds from earlier in the week.