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 ...