Kicking it up a notch...

 August 22, 2026

 Compost making, that is. 

The 'Bush Buggy' got pressed into service for mixing freshly cut grass and dry leaves saved from last fall. The mixture got forked into the compost bin, watered, and now is cooking like crazy.

I am upping my compost making, as I'd like to try an experiment and convert a couple of the raised beds to 'no dig' next summer, and that requires a good layer of compost to get started. 

The buckwheat planted where the garlic was removed, is doing very well.

Cucumbers are still going strong, tomatoes are ripening and the last planting of beans is being picked and processed for storage.

I did a little foraging for choke cherries this week, 

and found that bears had beaten me to most of them, evidenced by pushed down vegetation and broken branches on the shrubs. I did manage to pick enough to make about 4 cups of jelly, and froze the juice for future processing.

There are a few ripening blackberries here and there,

but to seriously go after them, one must don heavy duty pants, long sleeved shirts, and wear at least one leather glove on the non-picking hand! 

Our apple trees are loaded with fruit, and the apples' cheeks are getting rosy. 

After the rain events we've had this summer, the bush is riddled with fungi. 

Big ones...

Small ones....

Colourful ones...

 Just very cute ones...

 Differently shaped ones...

and deadly ones...

Busy and beautiful August days....

 August 16, 2026

Enough with the cucumbers! I'm calling 'Uncle' on the pickling, although I am saving a couple of big, ripe cucs to make Hubby's favourite relish. I marked them earlier with some flagging tape so I wouldn't pick them by accident.

The first harvesting of green peppers, other than the random ones we've been eating.

They got blanched, sliced and dehydrated, their tops and tails cubed and frozen. There are lots more, as well as the red guys that are maybe starting to colour...

You have to look really, really closely! There are lots and lots of peppers, a really good pepper year. They love to be planted together. I have 16 plants in a 4' X 4' grid.

The paste tomatoes are colouring...

and they seem to be out-pacing the ripening of the beefsteaks.

Pumpkins are out-growing their slings on the fence, popping right out of them. I think they are sturdy enough to hold on without the slings.

Other squash are growing, 

some winter squash and acorns, 
 

and always later to the party, the butternuts. 

I'd been saving a good swathe of more or less weed-free lawn, cut and raked it up on Friday, then layered it into one of my compost bins with the dry, mulched leaves I've been saving in the barn from last fall. 

Making the layers here, and the result, this morning! 

Compost making is magic!

I've been blanching and squirrelling the celery away in the freezer. Bags and bags for winter soup making...what a luxury! I will be totally self-sufficient in celery this winter. 

There have been several afternoons of late, when there have been big rolling white clouds in the sky, giving us light, intermittent showers. One could get totally lost gazing at these beauties. 

The next picture was taken in the evening, and the white edges on the clouds in the picture, were glittering gold, as the sun was in the western sky behind them. It didn't come through in the photo, but interesting none the less.

Bald-faced hornets decided to build a nest on the solar array, sorry guys, not a good place,

and one of the pictures on the trail cameras was kinda' cute. Mama and young 'un having a snack.

Finally, my glads are starting to open.

Pretty nasturtiums, one with a Bumble bee's bum.....

 

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!

Critters big and little, furred and feathered....

June 20, 2026

 Happy Solstice tomorrow!

So, to recap a bit, here is Hubby up the tree mounting the owl nest box. 

It was a bit of a struggle getting the long ladder in to the chosen tree, and then extending it up. I was under the ladder holding it against the tree for dear life as firmly as I could, so he could go up the first time and ratchet strap the top of the ladder to the tree for the stability needed to affix the box. Meanwhile, it was a hot, humid day, and we were both being eaten by swarms of biting insects. With a pulley ratchet strapped to the tree, and a long rope, we got the hefty box up, positioned and affixed. It is mounted on a large branchy hemlock beyond this ridge from which we have a vantage point to see it. 

Meanwhile, in the bush, the lady slipper orchids are fading, but they were beautiful, and I am always amazed at how well those bright pink ladies hide amongst the greenery.

The glossy leaves of Goldthread is carpeting the ground in more moist areas of the bush.

I pulled up a bit to show the reason for it's name. The roots have medicinal properties, and from childhood, I remember folks who harvested and used it. 

Robins are the first birds to herald the dawn, and here is a picture off of Bird Cam, capturing the moment!

We know the catbird has been hanging out around here, proven by many pictures of it on Bird Cam.

Furred, as well as feathered critters are using the net-ball of roving in front of the camera. Regular visitors are chipmunks, (perhaps it is lining it's burrow?), flying squirrels, and mice.

This picture was captured on a trail camera last week. 

Last evening, a doe and fawn wandered in the driveway and the doe browsed her way along the south edge of the clearing, the little one keeping close to her. 

This morning's trail camera surprise was this...

Darn, just missed you!