Home garden

 I planted my garden at home about a week and a half ago and I noticed this week that I have radishes coming up and today there are beans and carrots up!!  I have changed the orientation of the walk to allow my tomatoes to have more sun.  I planted beans on the left hand side. I will be able to put some string up between the uprights to keep them standing upright.  I have several rows of carrots - one of purple for making salads and several storage ones. Paula gave me the seeds last year and they were very good in the cold room this winter.  I have put cucumbers on that side as well.  On the right of the path is another double row of carrots and then there is the room for my tomatoes which will be going in maybe next week.  They are getting stronger with the "wind" I have provided for them.  On this end I have put two short rows of zinnia - Thumbelina and on the right hand side there is another double row of carrots.  The radishes are on the other end near the water barrels.  They are already up and I have beans and carrots up as well.  We had lots of rain this week and we had the heat before that so I expect the gardens will be coming up very quickly now.    Therese

Community garden has been planted

 There is a new coordinator for the community garden.  I went on Friday afternoon to help spread the mulch onto the large walkways.  The plotting had been done in the morning by a different group of volunteers.  We have a second community garden this year up the road a bit.  It has 28 plots and they have all been claimed so that is a great response for this year.  There may be even a few who are on waiting lists.  I am sharing my plot with a friend.  She took a plot in the other garden as it is closer to her house.  I have planted potatoes again this year.  I had enough potatoes left to plant into my plot.  I also bought several other varieties from Hanna's - Bintje and Sangre and several Yukon Gold.  I am sharing with Suzanne and her friend Karen.  I did get a recommendation from another friend for a very good yellow potato - Sigelinde or Prince of Orange.  I will have to check for them at Hanna's in the spring for next year.  It rained most of Sunday and Monday so I did not have to go back to water my rows.  We had a really good crop last year and the soil was much softer (no hard pack) again this year so the potatoes will be able to grow into the soil.    Therese

Tree quilt ready for hand stitching

I added a polyester batting to my little tree quilt over the weekend.  I had been trying to figure out when to add some quilting which would be an indication of the forest behind the trees.  I finally decided that I needed to remove the leaves, add some batting and do some quilting.  It worked very well and I will likely add a few more after I add the backing to integrate it into the quilt.  I will be hand stitching the leaves in place with embroidery thread and then be adding the backing.  I am glad to be having a hand stitching project on the go.  

Therese

Small nanking is blooming

When I checked this little guy earlier it had leaves coming through and so I presumed that it was not going to flower this year but yesterday I checked it and there were blooms coming after the leaves had emerged.  The other nanking was covered with flowers and is just now having the leaves emerge.  We shall see how it goes. The bees are not as active this week with the cold as they were last week with the very warm summer weather we were having.

Our canoe has been sold to a couple who were so excited to have a new canoe.  So it is off to a good home and there is now more room in the garage for the kayaks. 

Therese

 

CareBear quilt

I had a bit of a garage sale on the weekend because our neighbour was having one and there were lots of people out.  I managed to make a few bucks and there are less things in the house.  I bought a couple of boxes of miscellaneous fabric pieces from my neighbour and this little quilt (35.5" x 46.5") was created from some CareBear fabric from that stash.  It was originally curtains and so I have enough to make another two small quilts.  It went together very easily  - fabric, cotton fabric for batting and the blue backer which I used to make the binding as well.    It is a nice lightweight quilt.    Therese

 

Tomatoes need wind to grow strong

After doing a bit of research on who to have strong tomato stems I discovered that they need wind or brushing from the time they are two inches tall.  When they are little simply brushing your hand back and forth just touching their tops several times a day begins the process and as they get older being outside in the wind is very helpful.  Mine needed intervention so I have put the fan in the room with them so that when they are inside they still get some "wind".  They are doing very well and I think it is helping strengthen their stalks.   I will start early next year and they will be stronger from the get go!!!  They do dry out much faster so I have been having to water more often.  

Therese

 

Asphalt is coming up and out!!

This is what the back yard looked like at 7am on Monday and very shortly afterwards the guys from DB Bobcat showed up and began the process of removing the asphalt.  Brian had removed a portion of the fence in order for them to get the Bobcat into the yard.  The asphalt is recyclable so they simply removed it and delivered it to the local business that does it.  What these guys can do with a little machine it so wonderful to watch.  And of course the job always goes better with horse power and hydraulics.  

Brian inquired of the Bobcat operator if it might be possible for him to lift the the two pieces of regular cement remaining in the sidewalk.  He said he would give a go so Brian took the time to cut the pieces so they would break away where he wanted them to.  There was a large pier under one of the pieces which would have made the job for Brian much more difficult.  So in the end up they came and with very little damage considering the weight of the pieces.  Brian is a happy camper to have them gone.  

Five and half hours later they were all done!!  The asphalt inside the fence is gone, the gravel on the right hand side was piled up in the middle and the black dirt from the left had been spread on the right.  Everything was leveled and put to rights.  The yard looks neat!!  

We now begin to put the landscape plan into place.  We commissioned a plan for the backyard last fall and the landscape designer worked on it over the winter and delivered her plan just over a month ago.  It is extensive and involves two large steps between the house and the workshop, lots of flower beds, perennials, shrubs and trees.  It will be several years in the making but it will be beautiful in the end and we will have a backyard we can enjoy.  The steps on the deck will be changed up to be on the corner instead of only the side which will make the backyard inviting from the house.  There will be a small upper patio and larger lower patio.  We were happy with all her choice of plants and materials though we may plant a few less than she suggested because we are willing to let it mature in place.  We will keep you posted as we make progress.  Probably not too much else this year so the gravel can settle and we can ascertain that the drainage Brian has put in place around the workshop can handle the removal of the water from the yard.    Therese

 

Nanking in full bloom

 The nanking is in full bloom and the bees are a buzzing.  It is looking really beautiful and it was so heartening to hear the bees buzzing in it today.  

Therese

Trip up north

 We took a trip up north to visit with Mom and Dad last week.  They are doing well.  Dad went for a couple walks outside  - the weather was great!!  I ran errands with Mom.  She bought herself some flowers for the pots outside the doors and a perennial for the flower bed.  Many of the residents were out and about cleaning up the raised bed and checking out the flower beds.  We picked up Chinese food for lunch the next day and it had been a year since they had their favorite dishes from there.  

Mom is finding meal planning challenging with having to remove sugar and as much gluten as she can.  We checked out the gluten free pasta at the grocery stores when we were there.  She has received several varieties from several of us and has found a few she likes and was able to get some at the store. She is doing her best to adapt her usual recipes and in some cases finding new ones for those that cannot be modified.  She has made some corn flour crackers which were very good.  Thanks to Madeleine and Carmen she has good corn to grind to make her own corn flour.  What is commercially available generally is made with modified corn which is not ideal.  I got the recipe because there are quite a few in the family looking to limit their intake of gluten.  Here is her modified recipe for the crackers she used to make for Dad a few years ago.  They are yummy!!

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Gluten Free Corn Flour Crackers

1 cup of corn flour

1/2 cup of 1 to 1 Gluten Free Red Mill flour (blue bag)

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OPTIONAL - 1/4 cup of stone ground buckwheat flour NOT store bought

Add a bit more liquid if you add buckwheat flour 

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1/2 tsp of salt 

any seasonings you like - garlic powder, onion powder, etc

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/3 cup of butter or oil

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. 

1/2 cup of warm water.

Add to the dry ingredients - stir until a dough forms.

Roll out the dough to the thickness you want for your crackers.  Lay on a cookie sheet.

Bake in a 325F oven. 

You will have to watch them carefully.  Remove them as they turn brown.  

The thinner they are the more quickly they will be ready.  

Enjoy with your favorite dip for a snack!!  

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She has also modified her pancake recipe to have less gluten.  The recipe makes about

six pancakes.  They often eat any leftovers with fruit & cream as a dessert.  

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Pancakes

3 eggs - separated

Beat egg whites separately to be added later.

Beat egg yolks.  Add and mix well the following - 

 1/2 cup of 1 to 1 Gluten Free Red Mill flour (blue bag)

1/2 cup of corn flour

1/4 cup of white flour or rice flour (gluten free)

1/2 tsp of salt

Mix the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter 

and cook as usual.  

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We also managed an outside visit with Madeleine and Robert and Carmen and Allan.

I brought them each a bag of fire starters from my stash. I simply added decorative

paper to banana bags to make a carrier for them and the bag can also be used

as fire starter so there is nothing left to be disposed of.  

It was a really good trip. Great driving weather on both days and good visits all the way around.  

Therese

Breaking up cement walk

Brian broke up this piece of  cement the other day!!!!!!!! It was very hard work and required some cuts in the top and then some extensive pressure applied before it broke into pieces.  He has called for a quote for getting someone else to come in and break up the 2.5 pieces left but so far no answer back on that little project.  
 

Therese

Drainage around the workshop

In an effort to not have water in his workshop Brian has dug up a foot on each side of his workshop to allow any water that accumulates to drain into the gravel and eventually drain way into the soil.  The water has mostly been getting in on the right hand side under the large door and the man door that faces the house.  This year was not typical in that we had very little snow and it all melted away slowly and we had not accumulation like in years past.  He is hoping that this will be enough of a solution to solve the problem but I expect we will have to leave it for a year to really find out.  Any severe rainstorms may also indicate the effectiveness of this solution.  We shall see!   Therese 

Utility room counter with a sink

 Brian put the finishing touches on the utility room counter.  After not being able to find a better counter at Restore he decided to reuse the one that came with it.  It had finished pieces on both sides so that had to be remediated.  On the left hand side the piece had to be built up because it had previously been installed against a wall, so Brian added a piece of wood and finished it all very nicely.  We are looking for a towel bar to put there for the towel.  On the right hand side there was a gap between the counter and the wall so that had to be remediated as well.  He added a sliver of wood and painted it the same colour as the wall and it pretty much disappears.  The taps had to be repaired as well with new rings and cartridges.  The sink is in very good condition as is the counter so it is a very good addition to the house being as there is no laundry sink and therefore no utility sink.  This will do the job wonderfully!!!!

Therese

Running wires in the trailer

Brian is working on running wires for his new batter monitor and it has been a bit of an experience.  Most obstacles have been overcome but not without new tools and some dismantling of several areas.  

Therese
 

Kayaks out on the lake

We took our new kayaks out on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day and so we headed to Lacombe Lake.  

We loaded our kayaks the best we could with our carrier but they are technically backwards.  They whistled quite a bit on the way out.  

They were comfortable and we enjoyed our outing on the water.  We saw these really red plants on the bottom in a fairly shallow area.  Not sure what they are but the roots/rhizomes are huge!!!!  

We saw quite a few different water birds but with my camera it is very  hard to get good photos.  Here is a pair of mallards.  

As time went by the wind started picking up and we finally decided to get back to shore.  Thankfully, it was a warm day so getting wet was not too bad.  We managed to get the kayaks loaded. They are not very heavy but because of their short length I cannot help put them up so it is up to Brian to manhandle them up there.  They did not whistle on the way home and they wind was much stronger so facing out is how they need to go up.  There were others there with their kayak too. Their carriers were very different so we are considering a different set for ours as well where they come closer to the edge of the vehicle so should be easier to put the kayaks on.  We shall see.  Always a learning curve when you change things up.    Therese

 

Perennial flower bed has been rearranged

I worked in the perennial flower bed on the weekend.  Managed to get the remaining irises moved to the other side of the sidewalk and have rearranged the remaining plants to give them more space and hopefully will help them be more productive this year.  

All the daylilies are co located for the time being.  I moved my Cherokee star out from under the nanking which will allow us to see it much better this year.  It had an extra so I planted it on its own.  The yellow day lilies are out in the front behind the irises and the three peach ones are in between.  I discovered many more Siberian irises than I expected so they are planted to the right.  The lilies still live in behind them and will get moved in the fall as they are already all coming up.  

You can see the lilies better in this photo.  The tigerlilies from Grandma Malak have been moved ahead a bit along with the variety of others that have arrived with donated plants.  I will mark them this summer when they bloom and move them in the fall.  The two daylilies I got for Mothers Day are to the right of the yellow ones.  There are chives coming up everywhere and I have moved the container of them to the far right.  I had the large purple iris there last year and it did not bloom though it did grow leaves.   Some tubers were soft and mushy so maybe that spot is too wet being as the overflow from the water barrels drains along the garage wall.  I moved what was still viable (I hope) to the other side of the side walk.  It was a long day with lots of digging but I am happy to have everything better organized before it rains.          Therese
 

Compost bins have been moved

 We have removed the yellow potentillas - they have a new home with a new family thanks to Kijiji - and we have moved the cart to where they were and the compost bins have moved to their new home as well.

They needed to move up a bit so that they would not be in the way when the asphalt gets removed later this month.  I did not glean any ready to go compost this spring so I have one bin full which I hope will be ready later this summer so it can be applied to the flower beds and garden.  

Therese

Spring in the yard

The yard is starting to show some signs of spring.  I have two raspberries growing leaves.  I expect the others will follow along fairly shortly.  The large nanking is full of buds and has a few blooms already open.  The smaller one will be a bit farther behind because it gets less sun.  

 Haskaps are sprouting leaves and I expect the flowers will not be far behind.  I have been saving water from inside the house in the kitchen and watering them a bit.  It has not rained and the snow has been long gone.   

Therese