I've got sunshine....

It was a beautiful day today.

Birds are chirping away

I was able to go outside in just a light

spring jacket.  

And....

It's time to plant the seeds in my basement

grow-op.

Ya ya...don't worry the only thing I 

grow in there are tomatoes, peppers, 

pumpkins, flowers and squash.

This year I decided to try my hand at Echinacea.

A few years ago I saved seeds from my

flowers outside.  I knew they needed

stratification so I stuck them in the fridge

and promptly forgot about them till

last week.

Baby echinacea!

I planted the seeds and read in my seed book 

The complete guide to saving seeds which I 

recommend highly, if I did the correct thing.

Well I guess I didn't.  For echinacea I guess

you have to stratify the seeds, like I did,

but also plant them at a certain temperature for

two weeks, then another temperature

for another few weeks, howl at a waxing moon

while Haley's comet is in it's third orbit in the middle of

a snow  storm.  

Needless to say it's a snowball's chance in hell these are

going to germinate!

Well low  and behold!!  4  are popping out! I'm beyond

ecstatic and over that waxing moon I was supposed

to wait for.  

There's nothing better than whipping out a brand new pair 

of garden gloves. I recommend these ones

highly.  They are tough as nails.

The weather is so nice that the fan is going in the greenhouse.

So I figured that I'd give the greenhouse

a cleaning also.  We tried to get the water going

but it sprung a leak. There was probably a spot that

didn't drain and froze last winter. Dang.

One thing I did discover in the greenhouse

is if you plant marigolds, please take the seed heads

off the plants before the winter.

I don't think I'll  have to plant marigolds

this year...whoops.

Going to need some dirt in them thar beds.

Today was the  last sapping day.  We had a good run

but it's time to stop so we pulled all the splines out of the trees.

It was so nice today that I did a walkabout in our

backyard. My Hellebores is gorgeous, I'm so proud of them.

The goldfish all survived the winter except for one.

And I think Mr. and Mrs Duckworth are back!

Every year we have a mated pair of mallard

ducks that stay in our back yard  for a few  months

I chose to believe that it's the same 

pair  year after year, but since

they never show us their passports I can't be certain.

I tried taking a picture, but they were a bit camera shy.

If you look closely you can see Mr. Duckworth.

The bees are just a buzzing around and a bit cranky. 

So we're not bugging them too much these

days.  We need to give them some

pollen patties for a few weeks. 

The silver you see on the hive is insulation.

That will be coming off in a few weeks.

 Garlic is growing well. I hope we don't have the same problem as last year.

We had some type of bug chew little holes in most of it.

Didn't hurt it any,but it was unsightly

and we sell it. So we don't sell

products unless they're perfect

so we had a lot of left over garlic.

Well it's been a pretty productive day.

Tomorrow is chicken coop cleaning day

if the weather holds.

Have a Blessed evening

Lisa

Summertime! Summertime!!

Summertime is almost over. 

Yup. 

It's gone before it even begun.

It's been a pretty good one so far.

We haven't climbed Mount Everest or anything spectacular like that

but we've done lots of things as a family and just as a couple.

Jamie is 16 now. Yup. 

How did that happen.

So he's got a part time job and his motorcycle licence.

And yes I constantly worry. I'm a mother, that's my job.

But because he has his motorcycle licence he's free to roam where he wants as long

as he's off the road before dark.

So that leaves Dave and I with more couple time.

That's the perks and downfalls of having kids.

You hope that they'll grow up healthy,happy and independent and 

when they do, you're like "What the heck!? Where'd you go?"

But I'm happy for him.

As long as he stays safe.

He's already learned that other drivers are crazy.

I wont go into that.

The gardens are growing well. I feared for the tomatoes since only tiny little green things were growing. But after Saturday night's rain, they seem to have gotten bigger. Which is strange since I know that tomatoes are picky when it comes to watering, so I water them regularly.

They must prefer the rainwater.

It's been a strange spring and summer. It was a cold spring and a hot summer for a few weeks and now it's a cold summer. Some mornings it's only 8 degrees Celcius. Brrrrr

I've had to plant my yellow beans THREE TIMES!!!! Finally they're growing okay.

Rain has not been plentiful, but it's better than last year.

The garlic is doing well. As you can see. I picked some more tonight. It's a smaller, different kind.

Sadly both of Dave's parents passed away this spring. So we had some family business to attend to in Ontario. We also turned it into a family vacation. We stayed with his cousin and did a few touristy things. But mostly it was to relax after the stress of everything that had gone on.

The day before we left to come home we spent it in Toronto. I've always wanted to go to Kensington Market. It's a real hip, funky place. And they had a car on the side of the street planted with trees, grass and flowers. How cool is that!

We also went to the Warsaw Caves in Peterborough. We didn't go to the caves, but took a nice walk in a cedar forest that had kettles and strange rock formations. That's Jamie at the bottom of the kettle.

We also got stuck in a thunder, lightning and downpour on our walk. Memories!

I've also been doing lots of jams and jellies. Here's part of my strawberry freezer jam stash!

The Acadian Festival was on last week. This is my table at the bazaar.

I also visited a quilt expo. Mind boggling! Just mind boggling.

We were actually thinking of selling the camper because by the end of July we hadn't gone once!

But one night there, and we changed our mind. We're staying. 

We camp what's called seasonal. We just park the camper at one campground and leave it there for the entire summer. We prefer it that way. I guess it's like having a cottage.

The girls are happy about the decision since they love camping.

Then a few weeks ago I had heard about low tide kite flying. 

So I decided to go and get pictures and information to talk about it on 

CTV Morning Live.

Here's the short (very short segment) I had on CTV Morning Live

Well by the time I left there, I was hooked!

Not only do I love it, I bought a kite!

Think about it....kite flying while you're standing on the ocean floor. It's just wow.

That's Nova Scotia living! 

That's me, Dave took my picture while I was flying the kite yesterday.

I turned 50 this summer also.

And I have so many things to be grateful for, one of them being my health. I've noticed that, except for my heal spurs, I'm in excellent health. I'm on no medication, no health issues whatsoever.

So I want to keep it that way.

So I'm going to go in le grand fondo

I'm not totally crazy, I'm just doing the little one. 35km.

That's enough.

Tonight I started training. I almost did 10km in 40 minutes and didn't need resuscitating. 

So I think I'll be ready by the end of September!

Well I think that's enough news for today. 

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

Vampires need not apply.

Ok, we like garlic, well really we love garlic.

I started with 3 bulbs a friend gave me 4 years ago.

This fall I decided I was going to expand.

I just used to plant a 5 X 5 bed.

This fall I planted a 5 X 12 bed!

Then I planted the 5 X 5 bed.

I have a problem...

By the time I was done I had planted 

over 140 cloves of garlic.

So that means if they all grow I'll be getting over 140 bulbs of garlic!!

Ack.

Oh well, we'll be safe from vampires.

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa

Sigh.....

Spring has sprung.

Finally.

The garlic is growing, and the reason for the tomato cages is because...

The chickens are free range again. And they'll eat every little green thing they see.

Daisy is "over the moon!" about being outside again.  

It doesn't look like it, but take my word for it...she's happy.

And Peeper is singing the praises of no snow, well not much snow anyway,  longer days and warmer temps. Hallelujah!!!!! Everyone is in a better mood.

Only in Nova Scotia....two weeks ago it was -2 degrees Celcius at 7am and +26 at 5pm.

Gotta love Nova Scotia.

Have a Blessed Night!

Lisa