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. 

 

Take time to.....

 August 10, 2026

...smell the roses phlox. Hey Foxy, glad you enjoy them! It really does look like he/she is having a sniff, but I doubt it.

Up here on the hill, it is not unusual to have a fly-over by the military. One hears the unmistakable, rapidly increasing volume of sound of approaching aircraft practising low level flight. You have very little time, but seeing as the doors are open, a quick dash through the screen doors and out onto the grass, to witness the low flying plane. There are usually at least two, one after the other. I rushed out and could look up at the belly of the big plane, seeming to just skim the ridge line of the roof and brush across the tips of the trees on the edge of the clearing, while it's roar is all-encompassing for a brief moment. It is always a thrill to hear and see them. (forgot to grab a camera)

On Friday past, I had a summer get together of my crafting group. We take a break from the end of June to the first of September, but in the summer, one or the other of us hosts a craft circle at our homes. We had a lovely day, the Hummers, butterflies and pollinators in the flower bed in front of the verandah kept us entertained while we chatted and knit/spun. 

On Saturday, Hubby and I braved the crowds and explored the 'Taste of the Valley',  https://www.totv.ca/ which made a stop in Barry's Bay. There are always so many interesting vendors to explore, and I came home with a fat bag of combed fleece to spin. 

 Back on the home front, the large amount of precipitation we received a week ago, has soaked down to the water table, and the water level in the pond has risen. Every growing thing is appreciating the moisture.

Today I began digging up the celery plants to process for the freezer. 

Cherry tomatoes are ripening just fast enough to keep us in daily snacks. 

The 2 vertically supported zucchini plants are getting a little ahead of me with their fruit production. 

I've picked two blushing beefsteak tomatoes, but the paste guys have not shown any colour as of yet. There are certainly a lot of them, but that's OK, because I have plans for all of them! 

The onions were harvested yesterday, their spot smoothed, compost added, and few fall things planted; lettuce, bok choy, radishes, green onions and two cabbages. We'll see how far we get with those. You never know unless you try! Protective screening is in place to thwart curious skunks, raccoons and foxes. The onions in the foreground are big, sweet guys, which will get much bigger as summer progresses.

We got a nice surprise on Bird Cam when we checked the chips over the weekend. Here is a Black and White Warbler posing in front of the camera. 

There were also many pictures of the flying squirrel going back and forth to the ball of nesting material. I'll bet there is a nearby nest box for birds being retrofitted for his winter quarters!

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. 

 

 

 

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.