rabbits everywhere

The mascara kits

Mama rabbit - looks like she's turning into an angora rabbit as her fur comes back (of course- the one that needs the most work!) She has blue eyes - very pretty.

Black and white (I love the right ear) and white and black ...

Everybunny lounging on Mom

Hoping for some colour help

Mom's coat when I blow in it ... more grey than brown in real colour

The "brown" popples

Brown isn't a rabbit colour ...



This pair looks brown and white to me

Thanks for any feedback

the view from my seat

Well the view when I hitch a ride on the ATV anyhow- Sally is ALWAYS in front. Sampson nicely tucks himself in behind the trailer and trots along. Sp typical of them. We (and by we I really mean Big T today) wooded and went for a lovely walk to the back of the property. We really do have lake view property it seems.

t

Slip sliding away ...

both literally and figuratively..

I blink and another day of holidays is gone

We walk at the farm and all of us *- even staid Brody- enjoy charging across the pond's ice surface!

* well nearly all of us ~Thea and Kizmet don't slide - they curl up by the fire and wait for meals and cuddles

Holiday Happiness

We've been on holidays last week and this week.

Lovely lovely treat to be down here together for this long.

It's been pretty peaceful generally speaking

Dad and his wife came for Christmas Eve, Big T's mom arrived Sunday for 3 nights. All easy guests relatively.

We have a number of rabbits here - Puff needed grooming desperately (he still needs to be finished) and a new Angora has joined us from a shelter with 8 little ones -too small to leave with a pet sitter for 2 weeks. The dog contingent has been supplemented with one small spaniel puppy we are fostering as well. Busy times. As usual I wonder how I manage when I have a day job too!

the season of wood

is upon us again ...
the wood pile dimenishes is restocked and dimenishes again

The big dogs love wooding - they explore the woods and race back whenever the saw stops.
Brody isn't as big a fan - he tends to sit in the vehicle while the saw buzzes. He enjoys the walking elements and riding on the atv though.

If it's below 5 degrees out Thea stays home to watch the fire!!

Unrelated note - the green onions continue to flourish in the garden despite snow and frost!!

sweet day ...

• gardened - veggie beds are in amazing shape
• all garlic is planted (93 cloves in total)
• fertilized the asparagus and mulched it
• played agility with the dogs
• went to town
• had a lovely fire
  

so far a perfect day! and a yummy dinner planned with my favourite radio show ahead so it isn't getting any worse

(if you don't count Brody waking up at 7 am like a little alarm clock)

flowers

in November - found on one of our walks last weekend - how cool is that?




'nuff said!!

85 cloves of garlic

85 cloves of garlic actually take way less time to plant in a nice friable fluffy bed then you'd think!

I picked only the biggest best large cloves this year so am excited to see next year's results all ready - this is garlic that has been grown here since before 2006. The first year it was tiny - each year the bulbs have gotten successively bigger and healthier with bigger cloves too. Next year I'm trying my first brought in garlic - I'm planting a head of Korean garlic from a local organic gardener.

The asparagus is looking pretty amazing ... I'll try to grab a picture tomorrow if the sun comes out.
Bunny hutches are tucked up for winter.

On a sad note little darling Daisy died last week. She was the oldest of the does and had a happy year with us so I can't be too sad but I will miss her bossy funny ways.
My home computer is blown up which is a drag except it might force me to get a new one sooner rather than later!

Happy Late Hallowe'en

one of our pumpkins - carved by Thea's godmother ... of Thea ~ amazing!!

House Guests .. wooding.. walking.. planting

We have two house guests short term ... 2 African Pygmy Hedgehogs have moved on to the front porch - they are fascinating creatures - make the neatest noise when they want you to leave them alone .. but they have settled in fairly happily and are eating and drinking fine.

Big T and I worked outside for the morning - got all my little useless wood pile cut - and moved in to the house for this autumnal burning. Big T moved all his fence post wood so there will be a place to park the trailer for the winter that means we can get it out easily for our March driving adventure.

Then we headed up to the highway to our meeting spot for the hedgehogs - and hooked up with a generous donor who wanted the rescue I volunteer for to have a NICE crate too .. visited Chapters too. Got an interesting looking book called The Daily Coyote. Will report more when it's read.

Got back from driving and dragged Mum and Wilkie out for a walk. Good sports both of them! Wilkie had a tick on her - BLECH! Then back to the school house where I planted 20 daffodil and tulip bulbs. Hope the squirrels leave them alone! Twice as many left to be planted - a birthday present from Dad and Jean. Lucky us - we'll have them to enjoy for a LONG time - and should get more every year!

Spaghetti with OUR own sauce. Delish! Totally delish. Makes all the work and worry so worth it.

Big T made a fabulous loaf of his bread too. How lucky can I be?

sunday morning and all is well

The fire is roaring already

No doubt about it - fall is here

We took down the tent trailer yesterday as another dry beautiful day may not happen til after snow hits.

We walked, we had Dad and Jean for lunch and a lovely visit. We walkd some more, then we wooded a bit. We should have gardened but hey you can't always fit it all in.

Carrots are still growing. Sunflowers are drying away. I can see why people who love fall love fall. I would love fall if it didn't mean winter was around the corner.

Giving Thanks

The fall colours are perfect this weekend and the weather is glorious - frost last night but hot yesterday. Amazing. Grass is greener and more lush than it's been in two months.

We went for a lovely walk at the farm, Big T, Mum, her dog Wilkie, Sampson, Sally, Thea, Brody and me.. it was lovely. I cut a bunch of my pile of wood. I like chainsawing - so constructive! I played agility in the afternoon which always puts a smile on my face.

Mum arranged for the grass to be cut while we were away. What a nice treat. So thoughtful given our busted borrowed mower.

For dinner we had chicken legs baked with roasted root veggies - garlic, onion, potato, carrot - DELISH! Added corn to the meal and it was perfect!

Tonight dinner at Mum's with my cousin Jackie.

It's been a tragic year (2 years? 3 years?) Losing so many we have loved so much. But ... still lots to be thankful for. Lucky us to even know how much we have lost.

breezy blowy transition to fall

What a weather year! Wet spring, perfect July, dry August (all three seasons with bouts of HEAT waves) and a September that just can't make up her mind. Hot, cold, sunny cloudy, humid, dry - we are getting it all.

We keep puttering away at weeding, wooding and getting things ship shape.
Will plant garlic in 2 weeks. Only one bed of potatoes left to dig up. Hopefully a few carrots too but they are TRULY tiny this year. Some herbs to dry for the bunnies - and hopefully a little more hay to make for them too. But there is a real sense of things winding down, down, down. Picked our last pumpkin on the vine last night.

Cleaned out the cars, scrubbed the bathroom. Big T made bread. It really must be fall.

Wanted to do a last trim of the grass but our new to us borrowed to perhaps purchase mower won't start. Not a good sign but I have never been able to start it so I had concerns about buying it anyhow.


Open Farms was last weekend - really interesting and informative. We went to a honey place (they might put a hive on the farm next year- cross your fingers for us), a huge organic veggie farm (more money than sense but BEAUTIFUL), and a local meat and maple syrup producer - all were helpful and genuinely pleased to answer questions. What a great idea.

fair day ...

Our local town has it's fall fair this weekend ... hoping it's fun but not too crowded as I seem to have picked up a back to school cold this week - just stuffed up and itchy throat but still fighting through reams of people sounds like NO fun to me today :)

Picked a nice bunch of tomatoes last night but one of the dogs ~cough~ sampson ~cough~ who shall remain nameless jumped UP on the kitchen island and ate them all ...

Saves me from some processing I guess - but what a BRAT!

camping at the farm ...

Sally quite enjoyed the tent trailer luxury - a bed with a direct view of the field and a nice breeze too!

it was windy

it was rainy (for the first time in five weeks! so there were no complaints)

the coyotes sang for us most of the night

the stars were AMAZING

it was LOVELY

we are so very lucky ...

garden daze .. and woody ways

I was chatting to some coworkers last week and they were amazed at what we grow in our garden.

This year's list is pretty impressive: peas, beans, garlic, onions, spring onions, a honey dew melon, zucchini, sunflowers, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, raspberries, blackberries, dill, sage, parsley, thyme, lavender, oregano, rosemary, chives, the wild grapes actually did very well this year too

not as happy with but also grew/growing or tried to grow : carrots, potatoes, watermelon, fennel, lettuce, chard, strawberries, corn (we ended up getting enough corn for one feast - 8 small but very tasty ears) and a couple of strange things I'm still not sure of what they are ...

and of course feed for the rabbits too - clover, plantain, dandelions etc

Big T is working hard to get ahead with the wood this year - when I go collecting for hay for the rabbits winter supply he grabs his chain saw and tackles the woods ... I miss helping him but I can hear the saw running and taking breaks as I snip my way around Judy's field (which is where I'm considering creating a bunny hay field)

Tomato Time

Tomatoes
Oh the acid dip for fingers
Making sauce
Aching hands and back
Tasty January
Oh the joy!

oh what a summer

Ms. Chook looking to see what her sisters are eating - a tomato? a grape? a bug? of course she rushed right over to see

Notice if you will Mrs M's tongue. She was chewing a piece of clover as I started to snap the photo, by the time it clicked the clover was gone!

summer winding on ...

and a lovely summer it's been too

Balance in a garden seems so hard to attain .. last year the tomatoes were pretty much a write off but the potatoes were great - this year the pendulum has swung - more tomatoes than I can cope with and I fear for the potatoes. Zuchinni are doing their thing taking over the world. Peppers are doing better than before and I've finally managed to grow some sunflowers for Big T. I think I have a pumpkin and a watermelon but the honey dew melon hasn't produced any fruit. I have two squash type vines that I don't even know what they should be let alone are.
The beans were good- pretty much done now. Basil fine; fennel got overwhelmed between zuchini and sunflowers. Garlic was as great as ever and onions did better than they ever have - I could plant 60 next year though!

Working the dogs (well we think it's playing but it is all training) is amazing. Rabbits need more grooming (and half need homes) but are looking good. Cats and parrots seem content.

The Buckeye chickens are thriving but not laying well. Frustrating as they are NICE chooks. We get 2-3 eggs a week which is enough for french toast and the odd boiled egg in salad but not enough to give anybody. I wish they could stay longer I'd like to know if they'll start laying better as I'm enchanted with their temperments.

Wooding, our never ending fall job, has been happening all summer - Big T took down a big old dead maple which has put us ahead of ourselves I hope. If we could get a full year ahead I'd be delighted!

how does your garden grow?

my weeds are doing just fine thank you very much

so are the zucchini - I let a couple get away and they are the size of my thigh now ..AMAZING

watermelon looks good
having trouble finding the cukes .. planted a LOVELY round variety this year - so sweet and tasty but have only found one so far ;)

beans are nearly done

peppers are looking good - have a nice red one on the plant and some nice small green ones that might be most excellent to stuff

potatoes look awful - think they needed water a critical times .. but we'll see

carrots are STARTING to plump up - heavens they are slow

beets are puny and tiny

corn has some small ears starting ... yum yum yum

and that's how our garden grows

a couple of hours of paradise

We saw the coolest dead tree on our way to (and from) paradise today. Full (well 10 full) of Turkey Vultures. No camera to hand so had to use the camera in the phone. Apologies. But worth posting anyhow.

onto paradise - aka Point Petre ...

At the end of the county there is a little spot known as Point Petre.


Point Petre is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in the world. And I've been lucky enough to be on some beautiful beaches in my life - in Australia, all around the Chesapeake Bay, Southern France, Dover, Hawaii, California, Florida ... Point Petre can match them all.



We took Sally, Sampson and Brody to the point today. A little piece of heaven right here. Except the camera batteries died. So the picture is from a previous trip when the lake was quiet. Today was lovely- moderate waves crashing around; nice and warm. dogs swam and ran and splashed. We did the same thing. Nice not to be weeding, cleaning rabbits and otherwise trying to work in this heat.

be careful what you wish for

The tomatoes are getting yellow, orange and even red.

I see a lot of sauce making in my future. There are MILLIONS of them. Millions.

And does anybody want a zuchinni (or two or three?) bigger than my thigh?

Big T is off this week. Lovely. Hot. Busy.

why oh why won't you turn yellow, orange or red ....

why oh why why won't you ripen?
I have a very important guest coming this weekend.
She like tomatoes.

Bad tomatoes. BAD!

green acres is the place to be?

farm living is the life for me?

well yes yes it is but there are days ...

and days ....

I was busy picking gross pre- maggoty things off an oak tree (as well as a couple of the larval things too) when a car slowed right down - I looked up to see why and Sally was in the road .. our dogs don't leave the property anymore - we have it pretty well fenced and well gated and even a horse walking slowly by doesn't entice them to leave so I suspected it was something "special" that had called Sally out

I was right - something had gotten hit by a car .. and was in literally pieces across the road - by the time I got to the road Sally had consumed any identifying pieces - leaving me to suspect a rabbit - as I don't see ground hogs around here much. GAG.

I had to pick up the remaining bits and fling them away into the bushes as I really don't think Sally's allergies need much raw rabbit nor do I want any of the dogs on the road.

YECK

Produce THAT

some of the onion braids drying the shed

Pulled garlic today - much earlier than usual for me but the test pull was beautiful so decided to go ahead .. glad I did. It's just lovely. And there is tons! That's a BIG picnic table it's laid out to dry on.

As usual I will put a few cloves from the biggest bulbs aside to plant in the late fall.

Didn't take pictures of the green beans or zucchinni today. They are growing well too!

and so the garden grows ..

and the chooks start laying eggs ..

and the rabbits escape and are captured

and dogs play




and weeds grow



and the summer winds on

more from the tour

a garden tour

I don't know what this flower is called - but she sure is pretty.

bee balm - far from invasive here

a bank of black eyed susans - one of my favourites

I know you'd never think there were any flowers here from reading this blog but there are - lots of beautiful flowers that have to fend for themselves pretty much! I walked around the gaarden yesterday and snapped a photo of everything in bloom.

500 + kms

3 chickens, 1 agility trial and it's been a long long day

Over 3 days it's probably been 800 km or so - CRAZEEEEEEEE

HOT DOG

Hot dawgs, rabbits, cats, and people too. The only ones not hot are the parrots - but I guess this is how they'd prefer life year round.

It's hot outside - really hot - this morning actually feels a little better but it could just be that we are used to it.

We putter slowly - I collect greens for the rabbits first thing in the am, let puff daddy out then switch bunny run time through the day. Collect again around 7 0r 8 and tuck everybunny in for the night.

Franklin is free ranging on the lawn when we can watch him (heard a horror story this morning about a bear grabbing a handicapped rabbit off a lawn - in a wheelchair no less). He seems to appreciate it.

The dogs and I work agility in tiny chunks. Big T works harder than I can even bear to watch. He's sorted his wood pile, cut wood, cut grass, fixed screens and more. I'm just not that motivated.

I weed - of course! Three weeds at a time are plenty.

Our riding lawn mower has broken fatally. Our friend loaned us a lawn mower which has decided not to start. Our lawn looks like we've been away months.

It's too hot to care much.

and so another summer starts ...

Noah's ark - aka the Ranger and Me - headed east last night loaded to the gills with dogs, cats, rabbits and parrots.

Chickens hopefully arrive next week or the week after.

It was a nice peaceful ride, both loading and unloading went smoothly. I did (OF COURSE) forget some stuff - exta litter pans, food dishes etc but nothing too major.

It's a lovely summer day - cool but not cold and nice and sunny.

It is very strange to be here on July 1 without a passle of Big T's family here ..most of them have come sometime this week to celebrate his mom's birthday for the last 3 years and his parents have joined us this week for the last 6 ...

I will probably head back to the city one night a week or so likely 57 nights here of a possible 63 or so ... YAY

weeding, walking, eating home grown veggies, reading, blogging and playing agility, beach walking - it's going to be a tough summer I can tell already ;)

not nearly as lovely day

but wonderful again as our first cut hay is off the fields (luckily as it's RAINING today - hard)

We had a long walk to see what was up and pretty much the same hay as last year is up ...and now we have a mower to take more off ..hopefully they can pull more off with the second cut :)

Sampson ran and ran and ran some more until I thought he might fall right over - there was cut grass and BIRDS ... including momma birds who did a great job distracting him from nests and kept him moving and moving

Sally ran and enjoyed too but not with the same obsessive air as Sammo

Thea bombed around a bit but I don't let her go too far when the grass is short - we ALWAYS have hawks around

Brody was wet so he mostly trotted along at our heels ...

but we all had fun and Franklin most appreciated the fresh collection we did for him - alfalfa, timothy, plantain, dandelion, maple, clover - what a way to a bunny's heart!

mow wow

The newest work horse (toy?) joined our family today ...


we spent quite awhile getting it then getting it set up and hooked up to the john deere atv - and yes it was hazy, drizzly day off and on - ended up BEAUTIFUL but we had moments ;)

then off to the farm to cut the pond path and the agility field ..

it is AMAZING - did in an hour what it took us at least 3 to do last year with the lawn tractot

we ran the dogs into the ground (well actually they did that themselves)

also planted, weeded and enjoyed veggies from the garden

great day!

rotten rabbit

Franklin, the handicapped satin angora rabbit, loves getting his outside time
it is good for him mentally and he thrives on the fresh self selected food

HOWEVER ... rabbits are prone to fly strike - where flies lay eggs on the skin and the larvae hatch and burrow into the damp folds of the skin ...

so poor Franklin ended up with little larva on him, down in his "nether" region, today - GROSS

I picked them off, killed them and will be checking him with great paranoia for the rest of the summer ... I'm not sure how to balance his out time with the flies ...

the things we do sometimes ...

wow - jungle land ...

and the garden LIKED the rain last week

Everything is looking great - beans, and all the squash type plants are up, peas have pods on the vine, peppers have little peppers on them, tomatoes look strong and healthy, scapies are starting on the garlic plants, onions are looking good. No carrots showing yet nor beets but it will come I'm sure.

We ate wild strawberries yesterday - tiny but oh SO GOOD!!


It is pouring rain with a driving wind so I hope you'll forgive me no pictures ...
yesterday was Dad's birthday so we had Dad and Jean for lunch - lovely, and we put them to work ;) (never ending weeding and inflating tire on atv)

another lovely weekend

planted potatoes, more corn, another pepper plant, more peas, cucumbers, zucchini herbs...
watered, weeded, and rock picked too (of course)

was lovely

mum's flower garden is inspirational right now - just lovely

pictures whenever my computer decides to cooperate :)

I ant to post pictures but the computer is NOT cooperating

picking rocks

planting
weeding
playing with dogs
eating
sleeping

repeat (+ add in entertaining some of the parental units for a bit around lunch today)

looks like the way this break is going and you'll hear NO complaints from me


another glorious full day and then a half day + too

WOW

four days in a row

to plant, weed, walk, do agility, eat well, read, catch up on blogs, groom bunnies


what a lucky lucky duck I am :)

what a wet weekend that was ...

Tom's mom came for the weekend for the first time since her husband died. We had a lovely visit but were all a little more quiet and reflective than usual. It was really cold and really wet - not a great weekend to be outside but I weeded and planted and cute up some wood anyhow.

Of course the dogs wanted their walkies - so we did that too - though not for too long at any one time.

We ate our first asparagus of the season - yum!

beautiful day ..

Mum and Wilkie swung by for bbqed hot dogs for lunch - and Mum earned her keep by weeding and rock picking in the garden too - very motivating to have help
then Colleen swung by (our FABULOUS real estate agent turned friend) and she offered some help too so she weeded the raspberries and the pea bed ..
so I got three times the work done I could have on my own and had a nice chance to catch up with people I care about too - a perfect blend
Collen's life is pretty tragic right now ..hopefully things will settle for her and she can find new routines ...

planted more onions (done now) and am soaking peas for tomorrow .. some peas are up, some onions are up, chives, garlic, strawberries all look amazing ...you can see the potential in the garden right now - it's very exciting!

another weekend

got more beds prepared - planted more peas, more onions, lettuce and some beets

:)

walked a little, played a lot

had Frankllin out in the sunshine - so good for him :) he chewed a raspberry cane down with GREAT pleasure - I'll add the pictures later :)

a lovely lovely day ...

up early, off to check out a garage sale



into town - library, drug store, grocery store, county store, canadian tire ...



back - into the garden: the garlic looks FABULOUS already; tidied up some old growth and started thinking about what would go where- found some wild strawberries in one bed - going to take that as a major hint and plant some strawberries right there ;)



put together mantis tiller (christmas gift from dad and jean- thanks pops!)
Big T took the atv to get gas for the tiller and I went to meet him so we could walk the gang at the farm



Sampson is discovering his inner water dog - even if it means wallowing in muck!


lovely lovely walk - past pond, through woods, up and around - just beautiful out - the wind is cool but the sun is glorious!!



we went way deep into our woods and found TONS of wood waiting to be cut - it's beautiful hardwood, fallen so it's up off the ground and drying while it waits for us to cut it ...

temptation ...

it is so tempting to get into the garden right now
the weather is heavenly - over 20 degrees and you can watch the weeds growing

just amazing

but April is historically pretty cold and wet so investing time in fine work or planting now could back fire very badly

the garlic is loving it though :)

Heidi's box of

awesome is back

such a neat give away - check it out ...http://decourseyproject.blogspot.com/2010/03/give-away-nifty-gifties.html .. and enter if you want - I love my snugli :)

I love the idea of a BOX of awesome - living with, working with and loving awesome people the idea of putting together a box of awesome just makes me smile - giving them away makes the reciepent smile - I had a lot of fun last spring giving away boxes of awesome - time to start collecting again I think ;)

Finally

made it to Vareharri proper for an overnighter .. snow covers everything here ...

and you'll be shocked to know we used the time to walk and get wood

and curl up by the fire and read a book

lovely to be in a peaceful head space even for a minute

see SEE SEEDS...

Yup it's true - we got a bunch of our seeds yesterday! Spring might be around the corner! I was laid up with the stupid ankle and Big T was bored so we jumped in the car to go check out Richters ...

http://www.richters.com/

They had seeds out - so rather than doing my normal ordering - pouring over the catalogue thing I grabbed a box and browsed the racks of seeds ... a little of this, some of that, mostly working from the list in my head.

I missed a couple of things, I'm sure, but got parsley, corn, beans, peas, watermelon, pumpkin, herbs, bunny plantings and more ...

it was a neat way to do it.

I didn't get tomatoes or ground cherries or leeks or onions as I wasn't thrilled with how any of those seeds grew so instead I'll spend a little more on plants when the time comes ..

must not forget to order potatoes though!!

wow time flies

when you are having fun.. HA

when you get older.. tick

when you are so busy you don't know which way is up.. tick

in the city again for the weekend - Big T couldn't drive on Friday night and I had wrecked my ankle so really didn't think I should ... it meant I got to go see George today which was good thought tragic - Alzheimer's is a brutal disease .. and his pneumonia adds layers of complications- if I were a betting gal I'd be putting money I'll be back on hospital duty by the end of this week :(

another city weekend ...

another lovely walk

the crazy is not over ...

but slowly, oh so slowly, it feels like sanity might be restored to our house ...

Dustbunny leaves us too ...

Dear darling laid back Dustbunny is in his forever home too - I hope ;)

it's hard to say good bye to babies you raise yourself and work hard to make loving happy souls ...

but it's best for them and for us :)

and 2 darling kittens moved in for a bit along with 2 darling guinea pigs ...

cross your fingers...

Mom cat and kittens are at shelter - hopefully being adopted :)

Devil Spawn found his forever home today - YAY!

Darling lady who wants a special pet to keep her and her papillon company - Jasper is a doll too so I'm hoping Devil Spawn will be very happy there :)

Paddy is in a foster home - and didn't even come here for ONE minute - YAY!

Scooby and Buddy also went to foster homes without spending a second here ...

double YAY!

one hamster found a home - triple YAY!

TJH

My husband's father died on Friday. He had cancer - a disease that has decimated my family but had, until now, left his family untouched pretty much.
Bo fought hard - there were things to do; parties to celebrate; people to talk to. Bo was an extrovert in every sense of the term - a gifted public speaker, a generous man, you could watch him soak up energy when he was surrounded by people. Volunteer of the Year for his community he was active until the brain tumour affected his balance and curling wasn't safe. In many ways he and I were complete opposites but we got along beautifully. I could always talk to Bo. He loved to cook, was interested in what was going on in my animal/natural world and could sit and just be when that was what I needed to do. He adored his wife and went out of his way to do what he could for her. He could be pretty cranky at times - and he could drive me mad fussing about things we couldn't control but his abiding love for his family earned him an awful lot of "cred" in my book.

He will be sorely missed by many, me included.