Human artists and Nature's art....

 October 4, 2026

The fall edition of the Madawaska Valley Studio Tour is on this weekend. https://madawaskastudiotour.com/ 

Seeing as a friend and I had done the summer edition back in July, we wanted to continue our explorations, as there were more artists listed on the fall tour than there had been on the summer one. We chose yesterday, and we chose well, as today it is dreary and raining. Saturday was a sublime, sunny fall day with temperatures in the high teens...perfect.

We visited a copper and silver jewellery maker,

an ink drawer and print maker, potters, a leather worker, artists with beautiful paintings of all things Renfrew county, a glass sculptor, a loom weaver, and a blacksmith. Most of the studios were indoor, and even though I brought my camera, I usually forgot it while exploring the beautiful creations. At the blacksmith's, who had his work displayed outdoors,  I finally clued in and took some pictures! 

 https://mikedesrochers.com/

 His drive entrance...

His coal fired forge in a beautifully restored old log building....

and one of his metal sculptures.

At all the venues, talking to the artist and learning their story was the best part. 

This morning on our trail walk,

I came across a very visible patch of Indian Cucumber root, (Medeola virginiana) which has stopped photosynthesizing for the season. 

It is a pretty whorled forest plant with two tiers of leaves, the lower one bigger than the upper, separated by a good length of stem. In the spring, I took pictures of one of the plants when it was blooming,

then later, when the blooms were changing into green berries.

 The berries then turn burgundy, as does the top whorl of leaves. 

The blooms curl downward, but as the seeds set, they curl up and then are on top of the top whorl of leaves. 
It has been on my list of wild edible plants to try, and finally, this fall, I dug up a root and we sampled it.

The root/tuber is small but very crisp, juicy, and yes! it tastes like slightly sweetened cucumbers. 
Who knew that Mother Nature does 'splatter painting'?

Here and there in the bush, one sees these pale apparitions. Striped maple or 'moosewood', (Acer pensylvanicum) have lost the chlorophyll in their large leaves, and stand ghost-like among the still mostly green understory. 

 

Who likes apples??

 September 27, 2026

 A number of apple lovers showed up when we took a trailer load of dead fall apples and dumped it in front of a camera along the trails.

Lots and lots of deer.

 

The camera had close to 2000 pictures. As you click through them, the deer heads appear to be on swivels, constantly looking around, alert to any sound or movement. The same individuals came back over and over.

A family of raccoons appeared often.

They are sure fat and healthy looking.

A Fisher showed up and checked out the pile,

and then it's small relative, an American Martin.

He's hard to spot, the dark lump in the lower left quadrant.

Foxy checked out the pile a couple of times. We have watched him eating apples under the trees in the yard.

We were expecting to see a bear, but so far, no luck. As of yesterday, that pile of apples is pretty much decimated, and someone not knowing the spot could well walk through without noticing any residuals              

The leaves on the trees around the clearing are really starting to show their true colours. Most of September here has been without rain, and things are very dry. The nights are cool, but days are sunny and warm. In the garden, I'm keeping up the watering on the fall greens and the carrot patch. The broccoli patch has been producing side shoots almost constantly until just recently, when they are getting  small and scarce, so the chore of pulling/digging those monster stems out is nearing the top of the list before the deer discover them, as the plants have been un-caged for a while.  
The large rutabaga harvested a week or so ago, 

was perfectly sound throughout when cut open.

Onions and garlic are cleaned and stored, a few potatoes dug, but most will safely stay in the ground until the root cellar cools down. The processing and canning is slowing, the shelves are as full as we need them to be. I have a couple of boxes of tomatoes ripening, and when they are ready, that will probably be the last filling of the canner this fall. 

The chimney was cleaned yesterday, the wood boxes are full, and we are very thankful for our good fortune.  

 

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. 

 

 

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. 

 

It's Apple Blossom Time...

 May 31, 2026

The crab-apple tree just west of the house has pretty much lost all of it's petals in the ferocious winds we endured Friday afternoon and evening. She was a thing of beauty, her aroma permeating the air all around, full of buzzing life, and an amazing bird magnet...

A flock of at least of 10 Cedar Waxwings made daily visits to the tree, to eat the blossom petals, and I got occasional glimpses of a warbler busily flitting about, harvesting bugs. I think it was a Nashville warbler, but it never held still long enough to give me a good view. We will be inundated with fruit late this summer, if things go well.

The wind on Friday afternoon was scary, 55 to 70 Km/hour wind gusts, lasting into late evening. Doubly concerning, was the appearance and smell of fresh smoke. What a burst of adrenaline that causes, living as we do, surrounded by bush that could use a good rainfall. How does one report a fire when one doesn't know where it is?? On contacting the fire chief, we found out there were 3 fires to the north of us, caused by arcing where the wind had downed trees onto power lines. The bush is tinder-dry, as we haven't had rain for a while. We are so thankful for the folk who dealt with the fires.

Saturday morning Hubby scouted the road with a chainsaw before we headed out, and did have to remove some obstructions. Our destination was a tour of St. Francis Herb farm in Barry's Bay. 

It is early in the season, so the fields were being prepped and the greenhouse was full. 

https://stfrancisherbfarm.com/

 Off to the side of the fields, their pollinating partners...

On Thursday, we built something I've wanted for a while....

An owl nesting box. We made it out of spruce boards from trees harvested and milled on the property, but had to do a little 'board and battening', as the boards were not quite wide enough. We may need a chain hoist to mount it when we find the perfect place! It is too late for occupation this year, but putting it out now will allow the critters and birds to become accustomed to it, and hopefully it's garish new wood look will weather a bit.

On the subject of owls....These pictures came off of Bird Cam today.

Our resident Barred owl really likes to sit up on the branch in front of the camera. A good solid place to preen his/her toes...(click on the pics to get a better look at those amazing talons.)

The Gray catbird who has been hanging out and serenading us from the crab-apple tree and the lilac bush for quite a while, took a break in front of Bird Cam, and in one shot appeared to be pulling wool roving out of the ball of nesting material.

In the woods, things are blooming. 

Fringed Polygala,
 

Star flowers....

and Lady Slipper orchids. 

In the garden....hopefully tomorrow, the tomato and pepper plants will get planted out, and seeds for warm weather crops put into the ground. The forecast for the next two weeks shows gradually warming temperatures, particularly the overnights, which have been very inconsistent about reaching the 10C (50F) mark so far.