Sunday!

Beautiful Sunday!

Weather is perfect.  Just warm enough to work outside

without dying of heat.

Yes, Covid still is here. We are still under lockdown.

But there is no fear of being bored here.  

Always something to do.

Today I cleaned out my two large flower beds in the 

backyard.  There wasn't too many weeds but

there was still some.  My goodness buttercups

have long root systems. Phew.

I think I dug  to China a few times.

My tool of choice for the last 4 years is

the Mark's Choice Backhoe and Mini Backhoe.

I have both but I prefer the mini one. 

As you can see mine is well worn and not even close

to kicking the bucket.

I endorse these products 100%

They can only be found  at Home Hardware.

Large Back Hoe

mini back hoe

There is a medium but I've never used it so I can't honestly say

how it is.  But if it's anything like these two it's worth the money.

I discovered a few plants that I thought were dead were actually  doing well.

That is always a nice surprise. This poppy is one of them.

It was my fault. Last year while it was still in the pot I forgot to

water it.  It was dead,  dead, and more  dead.

Well I guess it was like Lazarus and up from the grave it

arose! Hallelujah! I'm  so happy

because I love poppies, but never had  any.

This was going to be my first. 

The chickens are still having fun roaming outside.

At night I still have to go and chase  a few back in.

But it's worth it because they're eating all those

lovely woodticks and earwigs!

Muffin time!

Sundays now I try and make a large meal for supper

since Jamie is home. So today I made blueberry/raspberry

muffins and I'm going to make a

roasted chicken with all the fixings!

 Plus it makes leftovers

to bring to work for a few days after.

Yes, I'm still working since we are an essential

service.  Where we are it's pretty safe since

there isn't alot of traffic. 

Have a Blessed  Day

Lisa

I'm a lumberjack!

The piece of land that we tap the trees on was also

overgrown with other trees.

So Dave and Jamie had been going a while

back to cut down some trees.

We had it sawed into boards

and it's ready.

Ok, we have a lot of boards.

Enough to make me a cold room in  the basement

to keep our veggies fresh AND

a she shed for me!

I'm so excited!!! I've been collecting furniture

for a small she shed for a long time now.

I've been looking for one online but 

things are so expensive.  This way

it's going to be half the price and it'll be

from wood from our land which is kinda

cool.

This is the slab wood that was left from the boards.

This will be our wood to burn for next years sap season.

This is the wood that will be used for the she shed and my cold room.

I've finally decided to let the chickens loose.

They are happy to be running outside of their pens.

I find that is makes better eggs when they free range.

Happy hens make better eggs!

Have a blessed day.

Lisa

Spring is here!

It's been such a beautiful weekend.

A bit chilly still, but the sun is out.

It was time to do some more hardcore

gardening!

This is the before and after of my herb garden.

I was overrun by chives. 

I gave a lot away.

I kept a tiny patch and also

put some in my flower beds

in the back yard. The flowers are

great for the bees.

Strange how everything I do

in the garden now is for the bees.

I also leave all the dead stems and flower

heads for  the winter to help the bugs and

birds overwinter.

Jamie helped us  pick up the twigs, weeds and branches and brought

them in the tractor to our compost pile.

There was  alot of branches. Phew!

Some shrubs might have been over trimmed.

Oh well. 

I  also invested in golden raspberry canes and

blackberry canes.

Since we are still waiting for the wood

to get here I planted them in pots for now.

Today was a nice day also.  But I actually sat down and watched

last night's episode of Call the Midwife and the

last 4 episodes of Outlander.

My knees can't handle two days in a row of gardening.

And that's with a foam kneeling pad.

Have a Blessed Day!|
Lisa

Tea time!

It's tea time!

I love herbal teas.

I also love to mix my own concoctions.

My latest kick is 

-lavender

-chamomile

-lemon grass

-lungwort or mountain tea

With a bit of elderberry syrup I bought

a few months ago at the market.

The lavender and chamomile are for relaxing

the lemon grass is because it tastes good

and the lungwort is to help with

you guessed it...

your lungs.

Now this is NOT medical advice.

I just like the taste of all of them 

together.  The lungwort is actually

very sweet tasting.

I got my latest Oatbox in the mail yesterday.

I love this service.  No I don't get paid

to promote this. I only promote it

because I love the product.

Tasty, made in Canada and shipped to

your door. 

Check them out 

Oatbox

We've been keeping busy.  I had bought some

water colour paints a long time ago and never

cracked them open. Well now's the time.

It's fun and relaxing.

Whether you're good at it or not it's fun.

Another thing that has been keeping us busy is 

building bee hives.

Bees wait for no man or Covid-19 virus.

So later on in the spring we are going to have to split the hives

so that means we need to build hives now.

Also hives shouldn't be painted red or black but

at the moment we don't have anything other than fuchsia.

Some people say it's just a myth, 

so we  will have to wait and see.  

The great thing about a greenhouse is that 

you can go work in it even

if it's crappy out.

Last evening it was windy and spitting rain. 

But we were able to replenish the beds with 

some much needed soil.

I even planted a few lettuce seeds.

It was a freebee I got from 

Hope seeds

Called Kweik lettuce.

My hens have been getting a lot of attention this last week.

I'm not sure if they appreciate it.

I'm always in there talking to 

them and gathering their eggs.

This gal is wondering if she should be broody or not.

She's not sure yet.  Her name is Bernadette.

I give them mealworms as a treat and they love them!

I know my mailman must think I'm nuts

with all the weird things I order

online.  I get these on 

Amazon.  

I have a love / hate relationship

with Amazon.  I'm a buy it local kinda 

gal...but....sometimes it can't be found

locally.  Like these things.  I used to buy 

them at my local Home Hardware but

they stopped selling it.

Chubby Mealworms

So I buy it online instead.  

Once again, I'm not paid to promote this

product.  I'm just doing it because I 

love the product.

Well I guess that's it for today.

Keep safe everyone and stay home!

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa

Blueberries

A few years ago I brought the

garden club to a local blueberry grower so

he could teach us the art of trimming

blueberry bushes.

That year even though it was late in the season to trim I

gave mine a go.  My main older bushes had never been trimmed.

EVER!

And they were over 25 years old.

I remember he told us, if

you're not crying while you're trimming

you're not doing it properly.

Well I did cry, but it needed it

and the plants were better for it the next year.

Tonight I was a bit bored and I know, 

it's late in the season to trim the bushes but

I decided to give the larger bushes a haircut.

I took a picture of the before, but I didn't

take one of the after since you really wouldn't be 

able to tell the difference.

I really only trim the dead branches, branches that

are crossing and will rub and diseased branches.

And also these nasty appendages.

Witches brooms!

What a pain in the butt they are.

And you need to take them out. Pronto!

They suck the life out of your 

plants. 

We have about 15 high bush blueberries 

here on our property. 

We love blueberries.

Our soil and temperature in this area is

perfect for blueberries or anything that

needs acidic soil.

As I'm trimming, my shadow is following me and keeping

the rodents at bay.

Duke is my garden buddy.

When we're outside he's not far.

We also have a new couple that moved in with

Mr. and Mrs. Duckworth.

Canada Geese.

It's cool to watch them.

Mr. Goose makes sure his

lady is well protected when she eats.

He stands guard so she can dine in peace.

I hope they stay and raise a family by our lake.

I just hope they don't bring all their friends.

Because geese poop is HUGE!

Holy moly, it's bigger than our dogs' 

poop! Dave tells me I'll have

to start pooper scooping the geese poop

while I scoop the dogs' poop.

Ya, I don't think so. 

I found a place that sells Hellebores online!

So I ordered two, a black one and a white/pink one.

We are also going to start blackberries and raspberries

this year. We have the wood ordered for the beds.

I can't wait.  

We have also decided to raise meat kings again this year.

We haven't raised some in a long time but we're going

to raise some this year.  

The meat is so much better.  It's not necessarily

cheaper than the store but it's tastier.

That's about it for today. 

Have a Blessed evening.

Lisa