All Dried Up!

It's been a trying summer as long as gardening goes.

But one thing that does well in hot and humid temperatures 

are herbs!

So I planned on drying all the herbs I could...and I did!

I usually say that every year and it ends up that I forget or 

get too busy and winter shows up.

So I was on the ball this season.

The only thing I missed was the dill.

I might still get to it yet.

But I'm proud of my pickins!

We even dried Biquinho peppers.

I dried blueberries

Coriander, since I planted my cilantro too early.

Paprika peppers. The one on the left is regular and the one on 

the right is smoked.

This is the Biquinho peppers all dried up

And this is the Biquinho all ground up!

Thyme

Chamomile for tea this winter!

And Parsley and Sage

I also dried french tarragon, lemon grass and lavender.

Hopefully I can  get to the dill before it's too late.

Most of the time I use a dehydrator to dry up the herbs.

I goes a lot quicker. But I have used just regular hanging up the 

herbs to dry stuff. Like the coriander.

What did you guys dry this year?

Have a Blessed day!

oh and it's Thanksgiving here in Canada today.

So have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Lisa

Jeepers Creepers!

This summer I promised that we'd visit small, hidden places in Nova Scotia.

So a few weeks ago Dave and I, along with our friends Rosemary and Paul,

set out to see the elusive "Drowned Forest".

Dave and I had been there before....at high tide.

We didn't realize you could only see it at low tide.

So I said to Dave that this year we were going again....

at low tide.

The Drowned Forest or Petrified Forest is located at

The Hawk. 

Ya and even the name sounds cool.

I guess it's been there for 1500 years. I took pictures and pictures and more pictures.

Kinda creepy

Then today I read an article. Something even stranger than the Drowned Forest.

Is it the forest?

I took these pictures thinking they were part of the forest

but are they.....

From the article it seems that these are not part of the forest.

After our visit to the forest we headed to something even creepier...

The Shag Harbour UFO museum.

Can you see the resemblance?

This all happened on October 4, 1967.

A few months after I was born.

Were they coming to get me? Am I one of them?

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Next to Roswell this is one of the best documented UFO case.

It was a great day. 

Great friends, great weather. We stopped at the Dennis Point Cafe 

for super seafood chowder.

The point of this post is that you should always check

out what's around you. 

There's plenty of cool places right next door.

No need for exotic locales. There's plenty just around the bend.

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

Coffee Shop Musings

Here I sit in a coffee shop writing this post.

I never thought I'd see the day.

But I'm on vacation and Dave had an appointment in Yarmouth.

So I thought I'd try writing the blog in a different place.

Might make things more exciting.

Maybe people will think I'm important 

sitting here with my tiny laptop, my iced coffee

(which incidentally I've just discovered I hate ice coffee. blah!)

pounding away at the keyboard.

Yup, I'm so important.
So far it's been a hot and muggy summer.
We've even had heat warnings.
Like today....that's why I'm in Yarmouth and not at home.
Yes I have air conditioned, but it's going to be hot as Hades outside.
So when I get home, I'm packing up the dogs and we're going to the beach!

It's also been a very dry summer. In the last 17 days we've had less than
2 mm of rain. Not good for the plants or the wells.
We are getting less and less precipitation every year it seems.
Even in the winter, less snow and rain.
We need the snow for the wells and the plants. Because snow is also water
and I know a lot of people complain about the snow, but it's good to have it.
Especially when the rain is almost non existent in the summer.

Aw man!!! Someone is smoking right outside the coffee shop and the smoke is coming inside.
ugh. gross and it's only going to get worse in October.....

Anyway I digress....
Despite the dry summer, the garden is doing very well.
Oh yes, I do have a few, what the heck did I plant that for moments.
But in all, it's doing really well.

This is one of those WHY!?!? plants.
Black Nebula carrots.

The greenhouse has officially turned into a jungle.
It's churning out cucumbers, basil and green onions faster than they can be used.
The tomato plants are massive, but not many tomatoes on them. I've been chopping off leaves
so I'm hoping that'll help and put more energy into tomato making and not leaf making.
The peppers are really doing well. So well that we're going to have to stake the plants. I've never had that problem....
I have 3 different kinds of peppers in the greenhouse, Kalocsai, Biquinho, chocolate and sweet banana. Ok that's 4 not 3. the Kalocsai is also known as paprika plant, and they grow upright.Weird.

Strawberries.......

Peppermint chard. Sadly doesn't taste like peppermint.

Rainbow carrots are actually very good! We now prefer them to regular ones.

In the raised beds I've been harvesting, Swiss Chard and Swiss chard and more Swiss Chard.
Note to self, only plant one kind of chard. Strangely enough, even in this heat it hasn't bolted.
Our strawberry plants have produced enough to feed us for 3 weeks
 and make 6 quarts of freezer jam.

Found this clothes dryer and re-purposed it into a herb dryer.

I've been diligently collecting herbs this year and drying them. I'm usually slack on that part
and they go to seed. This year I'm on the ball. So far I've collected an entire 1 litre
jar full of chamomile, also some lavender and sage. I had planted cilantro to make salsa
but it's gone to seed before the rest of the stuff is ready. So I'll save the seeds to make coriander.

funky looking pea pods. And tasty also.

Patty pan squash. Haven't tried them yet. Next week they'll be large enough.

It was our 25th anniversary last week so we bought 2 rhododendrons
to commemorate the occasion. A red and a white one. They're going to be so pretty.

Well that's it for this time.
Have a Blessed Day!
Lisa

To Bee or not to Bee part deux

A few years ago I posted that I was going to begin beekeeping.

Well that didn't pan out.

For several reasons

Dave wasn't really into it.

Jamie was NOT into it.

Time

Money

and the biggest reason was

I was chicken.

yup there it is in 

black and white.

I was chicken.

I had read and researched and read some more

and I still can't wrap my head around beekeeping.

And the word Swarm is enough to scare the crap

out of any non beekeeper out of their wits.

I kept saying that if I could find someone to show me their bees.

Let me be around them while they're working on them..

you know, up close and personal.

Well one day I was having a meeting with our regional garden club head honcho

 and mentioned that one day I'd like to give it a go. But told her about working with 

a beekeeper. She had just the person. Angela Goodwin.

She sent our email to Angela and here I am....

I got up close and personal with the bees!!!

Dave came with me also and he was pretty good with it. 

Neither one of us freaked. Everything was calm, as it should be when you're working with bees.

We loved it!

We learned the difference between Langstroth and Top bar beehives.

Initially we wanted topbar. But we're going Langs.

They had bee jackets for us to use and it was all very calming 

and almost hypnotic.

It's true...the bees ignore you. They have a job to do and you're not it!

Just don't get in their way.

I get more freaked out when I have a bug jacket on and the blackflies

are dive bombing you than I did with hundreds of bees flying around your body. 

We learned so much that I don't remember half of what she said! 

But after reading for 3 years now...I'm ready.

I've stalled long enough.

Time to jump in with both feet.

Of course it's too late for this year but

I'll be putting in my bee order this fall for the spring.

And I can't wait to be a new-bee!!!

gently smoking the bees

opening the hive

when bees are left to do what comes naturally like make a comb, they'll actually create channels, shortcuts,
so they won't have to go all the way around!

Just a wee bit more smoke

getting beezy (sorry couldn't help myself)
really learning the difference between worker and drone

Solar wax extractor

So there you have it.
Our bee day.

Also a big thank you to Angela and her partner for sharing her bees and her time with us.

Have a Beelessed Day!
Lisa

Happy Birthday Jamie!

Our little boy is 17!

Yikes where did the time go.

He's growing into a handsome young man

that is making all the girls hearts aflutter.

I posted on Facebook that I wouldn't post any baby pictures

but I never said anything about the blog

heh heh heh

We went to eat out for his birthday

just the two of us.

Like we used to have mommy and Jamie days.

But life moves on and he's into friends, girls and hobbies.

That's ok. That's how it goes.

You just hope you've raised then right

so they become productive members of society

and happy, healthy good people!

That's really all you can do.

They're going to make mistakes along the way

and hopefully learn from them.

My favourite Bible verse is 

                             Train up a child in the way he should go,
                          And when he is old he will not depart from it.

                                                          Proverbs 22:6

One can only hope and pray.

Happy birthday sweetie!

Love you to the moon and back

Mame et Dad

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa

Good ole hockey game!

Dave and Jamie have been going to Mariner hockey games fairly often this winter.

The Mariners are a hockey team from Yarmouth.

Junior As if that means anything to you.

It's the division that they're in.

And they are very popular. 

They almost sell out every game.

So Friday I decided I'd see what all the hoopla was about.

I tagged along.

I guess I picked the right time to go

because it was touted on the radio

as being the best game of the season

ANDDDDDD...

the longest one!

The Mariners were winning 1-0 up until 30 seconds left in the last period 

when the Truro Bearcats scored!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Like really!?

It went into triple overtime.

I was so pooped. It was only done at 11pm!

By that time my toes were frozen.

But as you can see, we had good seats.

Up close and personal.

But the Mariners prevailed and they won!

But even frozen I actually liked it...

I'm going back Tuesday night.

This time with a blanket.

But I remembered why I don't go to sporting events

especially hockey.

I get too much into the game. 

I almost had a stroke. Holy crap man!

Oh well I guess

I AM CANADIAN!

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa

Planning ahead

Someday, yes someday spring will show up.

We've had a very mild winter...so that means a frikken cold spring!!!

Holy shoot.

My Hellebores is growing well despite the snow and freezing temps.

But we're planning ahead. The picture below you might recognize.

 It's where the goats used to graze.

We've brought fill in and soon we will be putting up a greenhouse.

Maybe even two. Not sure yet.

It's a perfect spot for growing plants. 

Not far from water and nice and sunny.

Simonne and Grenouille are doing well. I had to take a picture of them 

to send away for a contest. Hopefully we win!

Simonne is growing older and we think she's also going deaf. 

We do know that she's got cataracts but the last month or so we've noticed that she's

getting hard of hearing.  Oh well I guess it comes with the territory when you get older.

We love her anyway.

Since we're planning ahead that means Jamie is growing older also.

Yet, I seem to stay the same age...how is that? Hmmmmm

He's going to be 17 this month!!!

Ack! He's got a part time job and a car. He's living the teenage dream.

He's also planning on becoming a firefighter after he graduates next year.

He's become a volunteer fire fighter at the local fire hall. We're super proud of him.

Since the paid departments are few and far between, that means he'll have to go 

away to get training and move away to find work.

I'm hoping he won't go further than Halifax.  I could handle that....but Ontario?

Too far!

Since competition is pretty stiff to get into firefighter school, 

he said if he doesn't get into it the first year, he'll either work for a year and reapply or go to plan B 

RCMP!

EGAD!

We'd be really proud but worry a lot.

Oh well that's why we raise our kids, to hopefully 

be happy, healthy productive members of society.

Right? Right?

Have a Blessed Day!

Lisa

Wordless Wednesday

Belated Merry Christmas 2017 and Happy New Year!!!

Wow it's been quite the year. 

It's been busy, busy, busy!!! 

I just read my last post and the next day was going to be the kite festival. 

Well here are a few pictures! 

We are addicted  to kite flying!

It's hard to take pictures of all the kites at once, but there was a ton of them.

The next day we were off to what Nova Scotians call the South Shore.

They were having a whirly gig festival and I love whirly gigs!

It was in Shelburne. 

Shelburne is also known to be the set for the movie

Scarlet Letter starring Demi Moore.

That was a long time ago. I think it was in the '90s

We then went to the Birchtown Museum. 

Birchtown is known for where the black loyalists settled.

If you've never read The Book of Negros....

well you need to.

CBC made a mini series last year on it. 

Of course it's not as good as the book, but it was still pretty good.

So I wanted to visit the museum and to see the area mentioned in the book and the TV show.

It still boggles my mind on how humans can treat one another.

What gives us the right to enslave people, treat them lower than dirt...

I have to stop talking about this because I get so upset when I start.

Some places in the museum you almost wanted to cry.....

But then we were off to Carter's Beach.

In the summer on nice days, the water is like the Carribean, 

turquoise and beautiful.

It was cloudy the day we went, but nice all the same.

There's also sand dollars!!

I didn't even know they existed in Nova Scotia, but they do.

So cool....and seals and seals, and more seals.

Jamie and a sand dollar.

Well I talked about the Grand Fondo and we participated!

And I didn't come in last!!!

I can't believe that I finished.

We plan on doing it again this year.

We only did the piccolo which is 34km.

This year they had the super gran which was 160km!!

Can you imagine!?

Coming through the finish line!

My medal and jersey

We had a beautiful fall. And I had a bumper crop of tomatoes!!

So much so that I had to make salsa again.

I hadn't made salsa in years. I mean at least 10 years.

We will be making some again next year. We forgot how good it was.

I bottled over 50 jars and I think half is already gone.

The reason for all the different colour tomatoes is because we plant heirloom

varieties. They taste a lot better than the hybrid ones.

We got rid of the side by side because it wasn't what we needed. It was too big for our needs. 

Sooooo we got a golf cart! It's red and when my friend saw it, she said you should make

it into a ladybug!

She didn't have to say it twice!

I love, love, love it!!!!

I zip around the property on that thing like nobody's business.

And we live close to the golf course, so I just drive it there when I play the occasional 

round of golf.

Jamie now refuses to drive it on the golf course. tee hee ;)

I think it's cute.

We also brought my cousin and his wife to see New France

There's also a place called Balancing Rock....as you can see by the picture.

This fall I started a new part time job. 

No I don't have enough to do with my full time job, my gardening job, my studies etc...

I decided to apply to be a radio host at our local station. I do the radio bingo every second Friday night and I have morning show every second Saturday morning from 7-12!!! 

Isn't that soooo cool!

I love it!!!

I actually have fans.

That's such a weird feeling. Jamie and I were talking while waiting to go see a movie 

and a woman recognized my voice.

I'm still doing the CTV Morning Live gig every few weeks. That's fun also.

I wish I could do these things full time.

Now that would be a blast!!

Well Christmas came upon us and it was nice.

We had new additions to the family. 

Like I've mentioned before, my cousin and his wife moved down from 

Ontario. So we spent time with them. My uncle, (my cousin's father), is in

the process of moving down here also.

Soon all my father's family will be down here!

That would be cool.

Dave had a local artist carve Simonne our Dachshund.

 She carves with a chainsaw.

I love it! 

Well that's about it for 2017.

Have a Blessed Day!

Lisa