So, we went fishing...and garden stuff!

 July 25, 2025

Early this week, we had a bit of a respite from the heat and humidity, and for a couple of nights, actually had to put a light blanket on the bed. It is back off now!                                            

Monday morning dawned clear and cool, so we hitched up the boat trailer and headed off to do some fishing. The warmth of the sun was really appreciated, especially when the wind came up later. We accessed below the Tramore Bridge, and went down the beautiful Bonnechere River.

Water levels are still high for July, and there is a good current riffling the water as it comes under the bridge. We have carefully navigated the boat up river from there, under lower water conditions, but it is more a canoe or kayak habitat from the bridge upriver to the dam below Round Lake. Below the bridge, the river pools out into big, deep, lake-like openings, which are linked together by narrower, shallower sections. The river flows between farm fields, where my Merlin app picks up the songs of Bobolinks and Meadow Larks. Closer, along the shores, are Kingbirds and Kingfishers. Cottages and homes dot the shores around the lake-like sections, but from the Tramore bridge down to Golden Lake, the river is easily navigable.    As the morning progressed, the wind came up, gusting enough to make white caps on the water, and give the electric trolling motor difficulty, so we packed it in around noon.                                      

 We were totally skunked..except for my huge catch of the day...

As the week progressed, the temperatures increased back up to hot July levels with the high humidity that goes with them...and the deer flies that love it...so working outside becomes an endurance test, once the sun cracks the horizon.

In the garden, all is going well. Vine crops are climbing/crawling and blooming. Broccoli is giving a regular harvest of side shoots off of 8 plants. My 4 cabbages are looking beautiful, and thanks to the row cover, no bug holes!

Perhaps it is time to cut and sample this fellow?

There are four early planted rutabagas in the end of the brassica bed, doing well,

and another 8 over in the Field Garden, later planted, and now putting out secondary leaves. The garlic will be next on the agenda, as it is time to dig them and get them curing. I dug up some volunteer spuds out of the end of the gladiola patch, and yes, they really were that red...and absolutely delicious.

This is the final thinning of the first carrot crop, they are spaced nicely now, and we'll be pulling them as needed from now on, from the 'in-ground' larder.

All the pepper plants have fruit growing. I put the plastic lids under any fruit that might touch the ground. It keeps it clean, and up away from bugs, slugs and moisture. 

Look! Almost there!

I got the last of the finished compost sieved this morning, a good three big pails full, plus enough to side dress the second carrot planting, and put a good layer in the end of the caged bed for my soon to be planted fall garden. 

I have hardware cloth covered lids for the caged bed, because...deer. They have not been an issue this summer...fingers crossed. We have a device mounted that broadcasts ultrasonic sound out over the raised beds, and perhaps it is helping? It is left over from my town garden where it did little to deter squirrels and cats, but did annoy a young neighbour, so it went into storage. The deer are certainly around, as there are night captures on the yard trail cameras, but so far, so good. Hubby has pounded in posts to surround the perimeter of the raised beds and the Field Garden, preparatory for mounting an electric fence. Spring and fall, when food is more scarce, are the times when we might have issues with deer. Moose, on the other hand.... they would walk right through and take the fence with them... so I am hesitant about actually getting the fence up and running. 

Some random pictures...

A water lily from our fishing excursion. 

Trumpets opening on the Trumpet vine.

A bee on the Swamp Milkweed.

An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly on a Zinnia.

A PowWow Wild Berry Echinacea that I grew from seed, the only plant that survived from the packet. It's a fighter!

Summertime is growing time.......

July 20, 2025

Some very warm and humid days earlier in the week were flushed away by a cold front that came through Thursday, bringing just under an inch of lovely rain. That put us back into more pleasant weather conditions, with less humidity and more moderate temperatures. The discomfort endured by us humans, was loved by the garden plants, and their growth exploded.

The squash are crawling and blooming, and the beans down the right side, as well as on the teepee, are blooming. There are some volunteer potatoes in the foreground among the gladiola spikes. So far, no bugs, here or in the other potato bed.

Cascading tomatoes. Looking forward to that first ripe one!

The cucumber vines are climbing and blooming on my makeshift fence. (We use whatever we have!) This year, I am being more strategic with the cuc vines, and am doing more pruning and guiding. 

 Carrots have been thinned a couple of times. They are getting to the delectable size.

Eggies in a pot.

Swamp milkweed blooming among the Goldenrod and Joe-Pye weeds along the pond edge. We are seeing a few more Monarchs lately, and they love this milkweed. I have more seedlings in a nursery bed, and will plant them out along the pond edge once they are big enough to compete.

Pearly Everlasting, a nursery plant for Painted Lady Butterflies.

 The beautiful blue of borage.

 I've counted at least 16 bud clumps on the Trumpet Vine. The Hummers will love them.

Back in the bush, a visitor on one of our trails. (see his growing antlers?)

Barred owl on the branch in front of Bird Cam. It seems to be one of his favourite perches.

There were a lot of pictures of a flying squirrel running up and down the branch, most of them blurred, as he just keeps moving!

 

Just a gardening fool.....

 July 11, 2025

We had quite the dumping of rain over Sunday night past. (July 6). This was the rain gauge Monday morning, and it continued to rain off and on for most of the day, so by the time the sun re-emerged on Tuesday, there was a solid 4 inches in the gauge.

The pond came back up to spring levels and a big puddle formed in the 'lawn' out front. Later on Monday, a pair of Sandpipers showed up at that puddle, and were enjoying wading and probing for whatever it was they were eating. I believe they were young or non-breeding Spotted Sandpipers, as they are the most common ones in Ontario. They were quite active and flighty, and it was hard to get a good look with the binoculars.

A drone shot of the garden beds taken first week of July.

Garden shed and compost bins are bottom right, pond is top right.
The Field Garden, at the bottom, is 35' X12' , the raised beds, all except two are 4' X 16', one is 4' X 14' and one is 3' X 16'. They all look so tiny, but that is pretty much 844 square feet of growing space. We leave wild areas all around the edges of the clearing un-mown, where there are milkweeds and goldenrod, and numerous other meadowy plants.

When we moved here in June of 2017, there were no gardens, so each one has been dug out by hand, or covered thickly with cardboard, left to fallow, then dug up the following summer. The Field Garden had to be dug over several times to get the Dogbane roots out. By the end of 2017, I had two raised beds and a small Field Garden. Each year I increased my growing area by a bed, or a square footage. There is another 4' X 12' bed down by the barn, which has my year's supply of storage onions growing, and the 5' x 25' perennial bed out front. Oh, and the asparagus patch, and the rhubarb patch, and the horseradish patch....Am I done diggin' yet??

The two round things in the Field Garden have a hill each of cantaloupes and watermelons respectively. The idea is that the enclosure will provide more reflected warmth to the heat loving melons. There are 6 more hills of pumpkin and squash, an early bush bean planting down the left side, and a just emerging, second planting covered by tented hardware cloth in the left foreground. The 'bean Teepee', with Scarlet Runner beans, is on the right. Beside it is a space where I just threw a lot of older flower seeds and we'll see what emerges. Below the shavings covered path at the bottom, and not pictured, is another full width hill with later planted rutabagas, just starting out. Because of the slight slope, and the amounts of rain we have experienced over the past few summers, this garden is a series of hills, and the paths are going to become permanent.

First two raised beds are the brassicas and potatoes.

In the foreground bed are the first and second, (just emerging under hardware cloth), planting of carrots, some beets, green onions here and there, herbs, a couple of zucchini plants, some chard and kale, and volunteer dill. Interspersed everywhere are marigolds, zinnias, sweet stocks, sweet alyssum, and some borage plants. (Plant dill and borage once, and you have it forever!)

The caged bed has the garlic in one end, some leeks, more onions, and lettuce under the shade cloth. Second last bed is tomatoes and the last one has the pea/cucumber fence with 22 assorted pepper plants in the far end. That is the narrow space where the deer 'scootch' by the end of the pond....hot peppers around the edge. Try a mouthful of that, my lovelies!
 

Most of the raised beds are mulched with grass clippings, or leaves saved from last fall. Yesterday, the vine hills in the Field Garden got a good layering of leaves as well. The mulch inhibits weeds and helps to retain all the lovely moisture in our sandy loam. 

If you made it to the end...congratulations! 

 

Whitewater....

 July 6, 2025

As a family, we have decided that experiences are more important than 'stuff', so Thursday past, we celebrated a belated family birthday with a thrilling whitewater rafting trip on the Madawaska River.

We arrived with time to spare before our trip, so walked down and looked at the river where it flows by the headquarters.

There were a couple of playboats in the rapids there.

We were togged up in helmets and life vests, individually checked for correct fit, then loaded onto the buses, and driven to the put-in.

The bigger rafts, the bottom one on the tier of three, (and the solo one to the right) were for folk who just sat inside them and rode along, one river guide steering with big oars from the back of the raft. 

Once at the put-in, those who wished could jump into the river from this un-used bridge. 

The recent rains had increased the water flow rate, and Thursday was the first day it was deemed safe to do this, as the river had started to recede slightly. The leaders were standing by with throw ropes, and the big raft was stationed in the lee of the bridge abutment. We watched the lone oars-woman battle the big raft across the current to station it there. What amazing muscles that girl will have by summer's end!

Us 'Adventure rafters', were each given a paddle and loaded into the smaller rafts, instructed how to sit up on the side of the raft and wedge our feet inside along the middle bolsters.

 Just under the highway bridge, which is quite close downstream from the one pictured, we eddied out of the current, and were given paddling instructions, which would be yelled from the stern by our guide, as we proceeded. Instructions were included about how to ride the rapids if we were thrown from the raft. We practiced the strokes as instructed, then headed out onto the river. The river is quite swift with 4 sets of vigorous rapids along the stretch used for this endeavour. We bucked through the rough water and got liberally soused many times, eddying out several times along the way. It was a hot, sunny day, and just before the take-out, we all rolled off of the rafts into the river for a swim.   

It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, despite the original trepidation when we all had to sign waivers! 

 

Busy days on the Hill....

July 2, 2025 

'Tis a busy time up here on the hill. The garden is starting to really take off with the heat and humidity of late. Every day, the garden walk-about shows more growth than the previous one. Some broccoli heads have been harvested and processed, with more to come. A second planting of beans has gone in, as well as more rutabaga, and we'll soon be harvesting peas. We've also been working on getting last winter's tree harvest split and piled in the woodshed to cure. 

Hubby built an hardware cloth covered protection box for the turtle nest, and nailed it down in place with long spikes.

It will be a slight obstruction in the driveway for a while, and in August we'll start checking it regularly for hatchlings. 

The Barn Swallows completed their nest, were there last Friday evening, then never re-appeared. We've waited and watched, but there is no sign of them. I am very, very disappointed and can't help wondering what happened to them. It seems strange to abandon the nest after spending all the time and energy to build it.  

Last week's Trail Camera chips yielded this picture of a Whip-poor-will sitting up on the oak tree branch. He's showing his marvelous camo feathers.

On another trail camera, a couple of doe and fawn captures.

How fast the little ones grow! (clicking on the pics make them bigger)

In the woods, Partridgeberry is blooming,

They have pretty little fragrant, furry blossoms. 

Later in the year, one bright red berry grows where the twin blooms were. 

Another, almost in bloom woodland plant, is this Shinleaf, a variety of Pyrola.

It's little, waxy, bell-like blooms are also aromatic.
 

Both plant's leaves remain green under the snow throughout the winter.

Along the highway, I spotted orange....

The Wood lilies are blooming!

Some things are harder to spot, like this American Toad, blending in so well with the leaf litter.

As far as the garden goes, that will be another post!