Raspberries coming!!

Just checked the raspberries this morning and found one red and one yellow one almost ripe!!!  I am very happy that we will have a few to eat this year considering that the canes were put in just this spring!!

Therese

 

Nankings are picked

I picked my nankings this morning!!  They were nice and red and ready for picking.  I got about 2/3 of an ice cream pail which is better than the half pail I got last year.  I will be making juice with these ones.  I have a few other trees that I can pick so the berries went into the freezer until they are all ready to go and I will make juice when they are all picked.  Makes the best summer drink with a little club soda.  We have had it several times this year when the weather was really warm!!

Therese
 

Fissures in the clay excavation

Brian finished digging the clay from the lower patio area this week and has hauled over 13,000 lbs of clay to the landfill since he started!!  That little trailer has paid for itself many times over.  Unfortunately, we had two storms come through over night and it has created some fissures along the edge of his clay layer which have run more clay into his excavation.  Not good!!  The clay will have to be releveled but until then he has added a row of gravel to the top edge to prevent the rain water from dissolving any more of the clay edge.  We are grateful for the rain and the gardens and flower beds will be happy for another week!!  Therese

 

Daylilies and sunflowers

 The daylilies are blooming along with a different colour of sunflower!!  The top one is called Always Afternoon (orange) which Richard bought me a few years back for Mother's Day and it is now quite established and blooming on quite a few stems.  The second one is the Cherokee Star which Brian bought me one of the first years we were here for my birthday.  It is very well established and is definitely a candidate for dividing.  When I moved it this spring I gained an extra that had grown up next to it.  Bonus!!  Blooming on multiple stems and has gorgeous large red flowers.  The yellow daylily is callled El Desperado which Sylvia bought me four years ago for my birthday.  As you can see it also has multiple stems this year.  The sunflowers are all volunteers from the compost and this one is a nice rust colour in comparison to the clear yellow ones.  

Therese

Kayaking at Lacombe Lake

We went to Lacombe Lake with the kayaks on Sunday just before lunch.  It was spitting rain earlier in the morning so we had put it off.  Eventually, the rain stopped and the sky lightened up so we load the kayaks and headed out.  The lake was CALM!!!!!!!!!!!  It was gorgeous being out there!  There were quite a few kayakers ahead of us and several showed up after us - the lake is big enough for everyone!!  We saw some lilies and another aquatic flower.  The reflections at the edge of the lake were wonderful.

There are a few cottages on the lake though they are very well concealed for the most part we did see the float plane near one of them.  Pretty cool to be able to land your plane at the cottage!!  

Therese

 

Rhubarb - second full picking

 I picked another bunch of rhubarb yesterday!!  It made another two bags (8 cups each) for the freezre which will be incorported into compote this fall.  I did make rhubarb dessert as well which Brian loves and Sylvia liked it as well when she was here.  I expect I will have one more picking at the end of August and that will be rhubarb for another year.  Therese

Our first tomatoes

 We enjoyed our first tomatoes this week - a couple of cherry tomatoes off of the Red Ample plant!!

They were good!!!!!  Therese

Blueberries

Buy Low had a sale on Blueberries this week - the same week they had them on sale last year.  Five pounds for $10 - a pretty good deal.  Sylvia wanted a box and so I went and picked up some for us as well.  I have two boxes for adding to compote this fall, a box for Sylvia which I washed and froze and will bring to her next week and some to eat fresh.  I usually get all busy with putting them in the freezer and forget to save some out for eating.  We will enjoy them over the next few days!!!!!!!!!  Therese
 

First cucumbers

My first cucumbers from the garden!!  I am very happy with how these have grown and there are quite a few more on the way!!

Therese
 

Clay shaping is working to improve drainage

 Brian was very pleased with the water management that was provided with his clay excavation.  All the rain collected to the left side and was ready to be drained on the fair side of the workshop.  Exactly the way he had envisioned it would as he developed his plan.  The edge along the workshop wall was completely out of the water the whole length of the shop including in front of the door which confirmed his efforts in shaping the clay to effect better drainage to avoid getting water in the shop in the future.  He is very happy with how that worked out.  Theres

Sylvia's visit

Sylvia's visit went well!!  We picked saskatoons, she did not sleep in her car on Wednesday night because it was in the garage - taking no chance with the late evening storm and getting hail damage.  We talked quilting, Mom's quilt, sorted through some decorative paper which I will be passing on to Loraine.  Her hair has taken on a lot of curl lately and looks wonderful!!!  Glad to be back to visiting with family!!!!!!!

Therese
 

Storms and hail

We had a close call with a severe storm on Wednesday night. Sylvia had prepped her car for sleeping earlier but it was decided that the cars needed to be put in the garage so the PT was extracted as it already has hail damage and the KIA soul and the Jeep were brought inside.  Sylvia decided to leave the car in the garage and slept in the spare room instead.   A storm with hail developed on Thursday afternoon   It came on quite sudden so the Jeep had the trailer attached so we left the door open until the storm passed which took no more than a half hour.   We had pea sized hail and about a half inch of rain.  The beans and cucs have some damage to their leaves but other than that the garden faired pretty well.  I picked a hand full of nankings off the ground and there were only a few black currants knocked off the bushes. The best we can except for late July!!!Therese

 

More clay to the landfill - 9000 lbs so far

 Brian continues to work on his excavation project.  He has extracted about 9000 lbs of clay from the back yard where the patio will be and it getting really close to the end of this part of the project!!

Therese

Saskatoon picking at Saskatoon Orchard

Picked saskatoons this week with Sylvia at the Saskatoon Orchard up by Gull Lake.  It was only their third day of picking, the weather was overcast, had rained the night before so everything was wet but we had a good time and picked our berries in about three hours - an hour per pail.  We picked 6 pails ($15/pail)  in total - 2 for sylvia and 4 for me though I am giving one pail to Mom and the other to Madeleine in hopes of getting some ataca back later this fall in trade. I was able to pick quite clean so washing and freezing went very well once we got home.  We had our lunch in the car in the berry patch and got home about 2pm.  The berries were very nice.  We had to pick around the red and green ones which was not too much of a problem.  It was a great day and really nice to share the experience with Sylvia.  Therese

 

Clay removal

 Brian continues with preparations for the new patio called for in our new landscape plan.  He is currently remediating the clay base in order to direct water around the workshop.  He has so far brought four loads to the landfill - over 4000 lbs - and has quite a few more trailer loads to go!!  The damp clay is very conducive to being moulded which makes the process reasonable.  When it dries out too much to be workable the sprinkler comes out and entices it to cooperate.  This area is where the patio will be. 

Therese

Moving and the new house

 We were in Calgary to help Suzanne and Sal move their belongings to their new house!!  They had movers do the heavy lifting meanwhile the Jeep and trailer, along with the Rav and Camry made many trips back and forth ferrying belongings from the old house to the new.  Karen came and made a few loads as well and is currently hosting some belongings until there it room at the new house for them.  

The old house is ready for their new family with all the conditions satisfied at the last minute thanks to the cooperation of the city in getting a guy out to replace their leaky valve which had delayed the repair on the inside.  

It was a very busy few days with so much going on at both houses but we did manage a meal to celebrate the move in their new backyard which was very pleasant at supper time!!!!

Therese

Garden is producing!!

The garden is coming along.  I have beans to pick and several cucumbers are coming along with quite a few small ones as well.  I dug up a few carrots to find that they were a decent size and I can start culling the larger ones to make room for the others to grow.  

The tomatoes have loved the heat and I have kept them watered to they are HUGE!!!  I hope that will translate into tomatoes later in the season.  I have one small red tomato on my RED AMPLE which is a prolific cherry tomato.  It is so nice to see tomatoes already turning red.  Some years I have not even harvested any red ones before it was threatening frost.    Therese

 

Black currants and nankings

The black currants are beginning to ripen and so are the nankings.  They are looking so good!  I will leave them for a bit because I tend to pick too early because I am so happy they are getting red.  I will be making juice with the nankings this year.  We have had quite a few refreshing drinks this year by combining it with club soda on those hot days!!

Therese

 

Flowers in the yard

 

Orange lilies are doing well and much less lily beetles than past years.  

The whole flower bed.

The pink and single petal red poppies are growin and it will be good to collect more seeds

Vollunteer red poppies, a delicate purple flower which is also a volunteer, my rudebekia which is blooming and the other one was pruned by a hare and will take a little longer to bloom and some of the volunteer sunflowers which I left when I weeded.  

Therese