Rock, Paper, Scissors...

 August 24, 2025

No; rock, water, wood.

This live, leaning tree, is growing out of a crack in the rock. Water and frost created the crack, enough detritus settled in it for the tree seed to sprout, and the rest is history. There is now also a baby tree taking advantage of that pocket of soil.

We did a wander around the bush trails yesterday morning, and picked up the SD cards out of the trail cameras. It is wonderful to go wandering now, without the need for bug jackets and gloves. Along another trail, under an oak, green acorns were scattered across the path.

They may have had help to fall, from squirrels, or maybe the oaks are stressed from the drought, and are dropping their nuts early.

 There are a few more critters out and about than there has been for a while. This bear wandered across in front of a camera in a clearing. 

I'm sure it is searching for food. With the dry conditions, there are very few blackberries, and the apple trees, under drought stress, are dropping their still green apples now. I may have to go further afield to get apples to process into my usual quota of apple sauce this fall. 

A big branch on an old apple tree behind the barn, was too heavily loaded with little apples, and crashed down. Hubby cleared up the branchy mess, but left the apples and put a camera on them. This little one showed up, in daylight, still spotted, and it's mom was there as well.

We had a bit of rain Sunday and Monday, adding up to 3/8th of an inch. It was a nice break to spend some time indoors, creating in my sewing room. The hanging kitchen towels are looking threadbare and stained, so I whacked a couple of thrifted hand towels in half and made two sets of new towels.

The toppers are made from random scraps of quilting cotton from the stash, and with a buttonhole and funky button, they loop handily through the drawer handles beside the sink.

Last night there was a thunder storm and the lovely sound of rain on the roof to go to sleep by. The half inch that fell, does appear to have perked things up, and there is a greener tinge appearing on the previously brown grass. The seedlings in the fall garden visibly jumped as well. No amount of rain now though, will save all the brown-leaf covered trees we saw today along the highway on a little excursion to the east. We can hope that they have just gone into early dormancy, and will re-leaf come spring. 

It's a busy time of year. Processing garden produce continues. Every day, a little bit more gets canned, frozen or stashed in the root cellar. The pickle supply is almost where it needs to be. A picking of peppers is going to be blanched, sliced and dehydrated for winter pizzas, the tops and tails chopped and frozen.

The tomatoes just aren't what they should be. The fruit is large and unblemished, but are refusing to turn red. Now there is the sign of blight encroaching on the leaves.

The beautiful, long tresses of Rapunzel are ripening with no issue. They are a good sized cherry, and have such a sweet, juicy pop of flavour.

The vertically supported zucchini is giving a steady, controlled supply. I tie it to the stake as it grows, making the fruit easily visible, and the plant takes up only about 3-4 cubic feet of garden space. 

In the bird department, there appears to be an influx of young Eastern Phoebes hanging around now, and the activity around the Hummingbird feeder has increased with the addition of this year's young. On our bush walk, the only birds heard were an American Redstart, Black and White warbler, a Black-throated Blue warbler, an Eastern Wood Peewee, and our resident Blue Jays and Chickadees. The bush orchestra is going on hiatus for this year.

 



 

The old, the new, and the growing...

 August 19, 2025

This is the old picnic table outside the back door, near the well top, my go-to spot for cleaning vegetables, re-potting plants etc. It is a firm, flat surface at working height, for any outside chore that needs doing.

It is pretty weathered and rickety, with rotten spots here and there. So...

Hubby has built a new one to replace it out of lumber he milled from a cedar tree from our property. It is in the process of being stained and weather-proofed. I think I'll have to cover it whenever I have a chore to do on it. It would be a shame to mess up that beauty!

Some corn got processed for the freezer, and I plan on picking up a few more dozen. Setting up my cutting boards as a splatter screen worked beautifully, and kept the mess contained. 

These fellows were hiding. There is always one or two that get away.

Thinnings from my fall greens patch. 

They are coming along nicely, are secure in their screened enclosure and are loving the cooler temperatures we are having at present.

 A cool front moved in Sunday, pushing out the heat and humidity, and brought a dribble of rain with it, but the rain didn't do much more than temporarily lay the dust. The overnight temperature dropped to 7C (45F) Monday night, the coolest overnight for quite a while. Although nights are now cool, it is a treat to have warm, sunny days with no humidity. 

The on-going drought is causing trees to colour prematurely, and drop their leaves, especially noticeable in areas where the soil is thin over bedrock.

A Buttercup squash.

Finally, I am seeing some Butternut squash growing. They always seem to be the last to show themselves.

A visitor to the zinnias.

Still here, still hot, still no rain......

August 12, 2025

Garden produce is roaring in, requiring attention. This heat makes it more cumbersome to process produce, seeing as it has to be done outside in the 'verandah kitchen' to keep the heat out of the house. Seems I'm constantly going in and out with needed paraphernalia, but it's getting done...so say the growing ranks of jars in the storage room. 

We were up and out by 4:30 this morning, to get some stuff done before the sun and the heat. We are getting a little tired of this endless string of hot, humid, full sun days. A little variety would be nice, Mother Nature.

I was doing my weekly soaking of the gardens this morning, watering by the light of Venus and the waning full moon, feeling around under the herbage for the bases of the plants in the dark, to place the hose. As I was uncoiling the hose from the water barrel down to the raised beds, a little moving shadow came trotting over to about 6 feet away.... one of the resident fox's kits, so curious about what was going on. Later, as the daylight grew stronger, a deer was happily snacking on the lower branches of one of our old apple trees, reaching up and pulling off mouthfuls, oblivious to me manning the hose over by the garden beds. 

I've emptied the big water tote by the Field Garden, and Hubby hooked up the pump and hoses and refilled it yesterday.

Last year we hardly had to use it at all. The hose and water intake to the pump has been laying up on the muddy bank of the pond since the initial filling this spring, becoming exposed as the water level receded. Hubby lashed the intake onto the end of a long board and put it out as far as he could, to reach deeper water.

Onions have been pulled, 

and hung in bunches to cure up in the end of the barn.

I pulled the four rutabagas out of the end of the brassica patch.,

They cleaned up real good!
 

First leek pulled and some random veg picked one morning.

A growing watermelon.

Beans, beans and more beans, 9+ pounds in the freezer, plus what we ate fresh, and the second crop is loaded with blooms and bees.

Peppers. 

Tomatoes, coming in in dribs and drabs, but soon we'll be inundated.

All are thriving and loving this heat.

Happily, we are seeing a few more of these now, 

and some of these here and there, if you look hard.

And now we are off to a Mennonite farm for some corn and peaches, as I really need more to do! 

Busy times, reaping what I've sown......

 August 3, 2025

The smokey sun cresting the treetops to the east this morning. 

In the latter part of last week, we had a cool down, with overnight temperatures just barely above single C digits, and day temperatures just cresting 20C (68F), and an easterly flow of air that cleared the skies to a beautiful blue. We are now back into air from the west, bringing with it, smokey, dull, dirty, off-white coloured skies, and an air quality warning. The cool down was a shock after the extreme heat and humidity. Temperatures that would have been 'coffee on the porch' temperatures in spring, were 'throw on a sweater and put the blanket back on the bed' temperatures. The booming growth in the garden has slowed a bit, noticeable in the cucumber patch, but the heat is on its way back.

 Harvesting:

 First cabbage.

Garlic. 64 fat cloves.

 

  

Wild raspberries growing around the edges of the pond and our clearing were enough for several desserts, but now they are drying out from the ongoing dearth of rainfall. We haven't had rain since the July 18th inch. It is turning into a dry summer. The big water cube is down to half. Over the past two growing seasons, it was barely used, and had to be drained in the fall. If the forecast holds as is for the next two weeks, we'll be doing a refill from the diminishing pond.

The new pump handle Hubby made is getting a workout this year, and the 'water wagon' is back in service for places the hoses don't reach. The water barrels by the well get emptied and immediately re-filled, so the cold water can warm in the sun ready for the next watering session.

 

Cucs are taking off. Slicers are being eaten, picklers are being collected and soon there will be enough for the first batch of pickles.

Several pounds of beans have been picked and processed from the still producing first planting, and the second planting is budding up.  

Soon:

Big, beautiful onion bulbs for winter storage.

 

 

Eggies are getting bigger! There are 4 about this size so far.

 

 Lots of pumpkins and squash are growing in the jungle.

 

There is no shortage of peppers, particularly in the red department.

 

 

Both the slicers and paste tomatoes are loaded. Only a couple of slicers have reddened so far. They have been picked and are in a paper bag on the counter, as I don't want to share them with the  raccoons. 

 

Preparing:

 

16'X1'X2"

 

Chainsaw milled cedar planks to replace rotting out raised bed frames.

  Observing: 

Finally there are a few Monarchs around and they are enjoying the Swamp Milkweed.
 

 An Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar. Found on an Heliopsis.

 

 

 

 These beauties are up to my chin in height.

The only truly red Zinnia. 

 

Aliens wandering the bush!!