Birds Hate Us

Sleepy Doormouse

2012-01-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

Making a Chic-a-dee Quilt

2012-01-29T21:13:00.001-08:00

I call this the lost weekend quilt. Well, it isn't really a quilt, more appliqué than quilting. I have to master the machine before I can try my hand at quilting.

It Begins Again

2012-01-27T23:12:00.000-08:00

Come to historic Ladner Sat. Jan 28/12 from 10 to 2 pm. Seedy Saturday will be located at the Ladner Baptist Church Hall at 5624 Ladner Trunk Road. The venue is wheelchair friendly with plenty of free parking, located on bus route # 601 and admission is by donation.''''

http://www.richmondfoodsecurity.org/ai1ec_event/ladner-seedy-saturday/?instance_id=

Christmas at the Farm

2011-12-29T12:30:00.000-08:00

It has been a very wet winter. Wet and too warm. Yesterday, we spotted a frog hopping around the dykes. Last night the rain sounded like a monsoon coming down. This morning, a noticed a newly hatched round of flies in the kitchen.

Even in this unseasonable weather, we had an enjoyable Christmas.

Birds Around the Farm

2011-12-16T19:18:00.001-08:00

The bird feeder is up and the fall birds have settled in. I always like when the fall visitors arrive. It helps to relieve the monotony of the grey weather. We have seen all sorts of ducks and geese coming through. During the cranberry harvest we saw an American Kestrel haunting the fields. This year there have been many raptors of all descriptions. There are harriers, grey and red hawks and the little sparrow hawks. We have heard an owl at night but we haven't seen it yet.

Scot took this great picture of the now resident king fishers. They are fishing along the canals right now and will hopefully stay here for a while longer. I love to hear their little chittering call.

Cranberry Harvest Time

2011-10-22T13:43:00.001-07:00

Suddenly it is winter. I have missed the gloomy grey of the west coast fall. It is when I get the most writing done, and when I remember my dreams the most.

At the farm, they have begun to harvest the cranberries, It is like living in the middle of an island (of course we are on an island), but now it is a much smaller one with all the fields flooded.

The flooded fields have attracted all sorts of ducks. It is lovely to see them. There have been so few of them coming through this year. I am not sure why they have been so scarce. The eagles have killed many of the ducks around the farm, but it seems to me there are fewer in general.

In fact, I think the eagles were pretty desperate for food, because they hunted all the herons this year.

Drying Apples in the New Dehydrator

2011-10-22T13:29:00.001-07:00

We had an unexpected windfall, so we decided to use the proceeds to buy a dehydrator. We probably should have bought a new fridge, but we decided to be whimsical instead. I am not sure if the dehydrator will pay for itself. It does have a ten year warranty, so maybe it will. Anyway, it sits where our fridge used to and it does use much less energy.

I love apple chips, so we went to the UBC Botanical Gardens Apple festival and bought around 12 pounds of apples for drying. We have Czech, a King, and a long keeper apple. I read somewhere that if you planted all the seeds of an apple, each seed would produce a different variety. I am not sure if this is true or why this would be the case.

As you can see the apples turned out really well. I used a mandolin cutter to speed up the task and to get even portions for consistent drying. After cutting, I put them in a citric acid water bath, rinsed and then dried them at 135 degrees F for 8 to 15 hours. I made various thicknesses, so the drying time varies. The dehydrator costs between 4 to 8 cents an hour to run, and it heats up the kitchen and makes it smell nice. It also attracted wasps, but they have now gone to ground for the winter.

The Fall

2011-10-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

Making Dolmas: What to do with too Much Chard

2011-08-25T13:19:00.001-07:00

If you plant kale or chard, you know you will always produce more than you need, your friends need and your family needs. But if you have to buy wither in a grocery store, they ask for a princely sum. Something is wrong the the supply and demand side of this formula.

Anyway, the following gives a general recipe for how to make dolmas. If you don't grow your own chard or kale, find a local grower/seller or make friends with a gardener.

Pictured below is my very large colander full of kale, chard, herbs, onions and celery straight from the garden.

To make the dolmas, I cut celery, onion, mint, oregano and dill very finely and then mix it with a pound or two of ground meat.

Finer than this even...
Then I blanche the chard or kale in boiling water and then cool it in ice water. The ice always melts half way through and it doesn't change the the success of the recipe so don't worry about it. Once the leaves have cooled, add a tablespoon of the meat mixture and roll it in the centre of the leaf like the picture below...
Pack the dolmas in a casserole and add broth and cook for about an hour. I freeze them after and then eat them as a treat throughout the fall and winter.I do this about two or three times a year and I always run out sometime near Christmas.

Garlic Harvest

2011-08-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

It was time to dig up the garlic this weekend. The garden is looking so lush and lovely, but the garlic has been getting browner. This is when you know it is time to harvest, when all the green dies back.

I planted most of the garlic in October, but we lost almost all of our crop in November because the weather as so wet and cold. I replanted with some Russian red garlic I bought at a winter market in December. Although it was late in the season, I decided to plant it.

I had to drill into the frozen soil in order to plant the cloves, and I was afraid it wouldn't work, but it did! It was a good thing too, because I wouldn't have any garlic this year. Maybe I will plant all my garlic in December from now on.

Blueberry Time

2011-08-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Everybody should have a secret berry picking spot. I know I do. I have several, depending on the berries I am seeking at the time. I have included photos of my top secret blueberry picking spot. (All identifying markings have been removed in order to ensure secrecy. )

I remember going berry picking with my family. I kind of hated it as I recall. It seemed like a lot of work with very little reward. Now I look back fondly on those times I spent with my family. My parents are dead now, but I like to think they are there in the bog with me, as I fill my stomach and my bucket with blueberries.

The Garden July 15th

2011-07-16T12:47:00.001-07:00

It has been a cold spring and summer, which means all the plants are a growing a little slower, but so are the aphids and cabbage moths, so the garden is looking really beautiful right now. I am especially proud of my cabbages, which look like display cabbages they are so beautiful.

Learning to Fly

2011-07-04T14:59:00.001-07:00

Polish Rose Petal Jam

2011-07-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Every year, we make a mint rose petal jelly. To do this, we combine wild rose petals and mint to make a tea, and then use the tea to make jelly.

Mint jelly is one of our most popular jellies, so we do a few batches, when the roses are finished. we use lavender as well.

There are lots of strands of wild roses, so we were looking for ways to make just a wild rose jelly. We had tried doing this with the Certo recipe but the roses' flavour is too delicate and the heat destroys it.

This year, scot found a recipe that doesn't use heat. It essentially involves grinding the roses with sugar. The sugar preserves the roses and the roses liquifies the sugar.

When the roses and sugar are completely ground (this is hard work). We put the jelly in sterile jars, turned them upside down to create a vacuum, and stored them in the fridge for good measure.

How to Build a Paper Maciche Owl

2011-07-04T14:33:00.001-07:00

The starlings, cedar wax wings, robins and crows are fighting over the rainier cherries. We would like to have some too, so we decided to build some paper maiche owls to scare away the birds.

Supplies:
flour
water
salt
newspaper
balloons
notion of what an owl looks like

Step 1.
Use a one part flour to two parts water, but then you need to improvise to find the thickness you like. I found a batter consistency worked well. Add a little salt--the theory is that salt will prevent mold.

Step 2.
Cut up lots of strips of newspaper. You can use a ruler if you want straightish edges. Start ripping. You should rip more than you think you need--try the business section of a daily newspaper-- as it is hard to rip once your hands are covered in batter. You may want to wear gloves as the ink in newspapers are generally unhealthy.

Step 3.
Make a form for the owl. A balloon is easiest and almost owl shaped.

Step 4.
Dip, smear, paste the newspaper to the form.

We painted eyes on the owls. There are a couple of species of birds that have markings on the back of their head that look like eyes, so we painted eyes on both the front and back.

Always something to do Around a Garden

2011-07-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

The garden is already producing. Yesterday, I picked quite a lot of chard and kale. Normally, both the chard and kale over winter here, but last year they were nipped off by an early frost. We had to go without last winter, so I decided to freeze some this year, just in case.

I was surprised that the cabbage butterflies haven't found the kale yet. Soon they will get into the crop and it will get pretty wormy until the early fall. Then it will be beautiful again. In the meantime, the chicken have learned to love kale.

I plant all the different coloured varieties of chard, although in the end, I prefer the the white stemmed variety. I find the orange and red, get a little tough.

I quickly blanched the chard and kale in boiling water, and then put it in a cold bath. I always start with ice water, but it ends up lukewarm.

Once they were cooled down, I gently squeezed the kale and chard into balls and placed them on a cookie sheet and put them in a freezer. After about 12 hours, I put them in a freezer bag.

The theory is that I can just take a bundle as I need them.

The garden as of June 19

2011-06-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Tomato Greenhouse

2011-06-20T11:15:00.001-07:00

We had to wait for a day that wasn't windy in order to set-up the plastic on the greenhouse. Once we found a calm day, the rest was relatively painless.

I had started twenty-five plants, and I managed to plant thirteen and we give away the rest.

There will probably be too many tomatoes but I don't mind. We will can as many as possible and give away the rest.

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

2011-06-15T08:51:00.001-07:00

We found a killdeer nest just by the roadway earlier in the spring. It was so well camouflaged that Scot had to point it out to me every time we went by it. There were four eggs and a very upset mother never too far away.

A killdeer's defenses are pretty vulnerable--as I see it. They use camouflage and then they rely mostly on their acting ability. Some animals play dead but the killdeer pretends to have a broken wing to try and draw predators away from their nests or their young.

In the spring, when the killdeers return, the dogs invariably try and chase after the tiny hams (with one little wing sticking up in an odd angle), but eventually the dogs just leave them alone.

Anyway, we watched the nest, and eventually two of the four eggs hatched. We kept an eye on the nest for a few weeks after, but two eggs never hatched and the mother was nowhere to be found. We assumed that once the two eggs hatched out, the mother had to abandon the remaining eggs in order to watch over her two new offspring.
We decided to preserve the eggs. Anyway, they are almost dried up.

What is amazing is that no two eggs are alike. Each eggs has a different spot coloration/formation unique to that egg. Like a fingerprint. Amazing.

Why I haven't Been Posting

2011-06-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Everything Grows in a Circle

2011-05-21T17:53:00.001-07:00

What I Like About Spring

2011-05-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Strawberries--One More Time

2011-05-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

I have tried growing strawberries for several years, but it never really paid off. Usually, the birds and the slugs ate my strawberries before I did. I tried growing them in straw, I pampered them, but I never managed to fill one tiny bowl.

Finally, I let the strawberry patch get over-run with oregano, which is much more satisfying to grow. It grows much like mint. Try not growing it!

Yesterday, I went to a local fund-raising plant sale. The weather was lousy and the turnout was even lousier. I kept looking around for plants to buy, and found a bunch of potted strawberries. Anyway, I bought about 18 plants for 6 dollars.

This morning, we decided t build a raised bed to grow the berries. We used a ground cover, sawdust, compost and some fine soil. I planted out all the berries. At least the birds and the slugs will have something to munch on.

Aparagus!

2011-05-08T19:16:00.001-07:00

Finally, the asparagus are coming-up. We have been eating it morning, noon and night. We had poached eggs on asparagus, asparagus soup with homemade whole wheat bread and grilled asparagus.

Soon we will get sick of eating asparagus but right now, it is tasting pretty good.

The Robin and Miscellany

2011-05-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

This was the first time, since I got back, that we have had three sunny days in a row. It is raining again, but the weekend was nice. Digging in the garden seems to be getting harder. We are getting to the tougher sections, where the crab grass has colonized. We will probably only dig-out the sites where we want to plant, instead of trying to dig it all. In which case, we really are very close to completion.

A few days ago, I noticed a robin had built a nest in the gazebo. I had read that nesting birds will take the shells of the hatched eggs and fly some distance away from the nest, and let the shells fall there. The theory is that the inside of the egg is very visible, so the birds dispose of it so it won't attract predators.

I do love robin eggs. They are very remarkable. I am not sure what camouflage the bright blue eggs provide, or that they are less noticeable then the white inside of the eggs, but whatever the purpose, the blue shells are beautiful.

Anyway, I guess the eggs have hatched, as I spotted the robin, darting in and out, with a mouthful of worms. It must be a good worm season for the birds. There has been so much rain, that the worms have to come to the surface in order to avoid being drowned. But when they get to the surface of the soil, the robins nab them. It is a wonder that there are any worms left in my garden.

What's Up

2011-04-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

It has been another cold wet spring and we are even further behind this year than last year. The first crop of peas are up. They are about an inch or so high. One advantage of being so cold is that the slugs are still sleeping.

The asparagus is finally surfacing. It looks like we might have a nice asparagus and egg breakfast next weekend. Fingers crossed.

We also have ten new laying hens. But they are still very young. They look like tiny dinosaurs at the moment. They haven't quite grown all their feathers.

In the greenhouse, my first round of tomatoes are up. I planted them two weeks ago.
This morning I added another three varieties.

The list is:
Legend
Beefsteak (Ukrainian)
Czech
Brown plum
And a mixed package of heirloom seeds that I accidentally bought at the seed sale.

A New Gardening Season

2011-04-27T20:42:00.001-07:00

It is hard to imagine that there is still snow on the ground in Banff. It is cold, but it is still spring on the west coast. Ever since I returned from Banff, we have digging a small section of the garden at a time. We are now almost three quarters of the way through.

We lost most of our raspberry crop last year. I spent all day yesterday digging out the old bed, trying to take the first four inches of soil away. I ended up digging out fifteen wheelbarrows full of very wet sod topped clay soil. We will replace this soil with a sandy mixture to improve drainage. We will then transplant some raspberry canes from a very old bed that was unaffected by the blight.

It might have been better to just relocate the canes, but we really didn’t have a place for them to go this year. If they fail again, we will move them next year. Also, from what I read replacing the soil should suffice.

We lost all but two of our Tulameen raspberries which is a real shame. They are such a nice berry. Big and sweet and no prickles. I don’t know why they are not more well known. Nobody seems to grow them around here. Maybe they are prone to blight? Which would explain why we lost so many, although we lost almost as many of the hardy regular plants.

Spring Comes to Banff: It is Time to go.

2011-04-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

The Banff Snail

2011-04-07T09:26:00.001-07:00

Shortly after the Japan earthquake, and while NATO was debating on whether to enforce a no fly zone over Libya, the Calgary Herald had a front page story on the Banff Snail.

The Banff Snail, for those of you who do not read the Herald, is an endangered mollusk who inhabits the streams around Banff’s Hot Springs. The unusually hot water, supports this rare little creature. A few years ago, the Park officials noticed that the snail was dying out in some parts of the area. This led them to close down the heritage bath house at the Cave and Basin and move the baths up to Sulphur Mountain. Or so the story goes.

The new spa is nice, but very small, and it feels, on busy days, a little like being at a mall. Hot springs can be very disappointing. The managed and finessed ones that is. They stink of chemicals and attract unhealthy people along with unruly parents with equally unruly children.

Besides attracting the unhealthy and unruly, hot springs create fragile ecosystems, creating or attracting species that grow nowhere else than in this unique confluence of events. I have heard of an orchid that only grows near one particular hot spring that attracts a hummingbird that has uniquely evolved to feed on this particular flower. Although it is not as attractive as an orchid or a hummingbird, the Banff snail is a rare and endangered species that lives in a incredibly fragile environment,

There are a few biologists in Banff who have made it their lives work to study this snail. They report that the hot springs are cooling down, and as a result, the snails are dying out. I also discovered that as I sat in this hot spring pool—when it was minus thirty degrees out—the pool had been heated with tap water. Tap water? I could have gone home and had a bath, without putting up the unwashed hordes and wasted fewer resources, and wouldn’t have got some weird fungal infection on my feet.

So the story about the snail, was as much about the hot springs cooling off as it was about the snail dying out. Anyway, as I walked into the staff kitchen, a co-worker sees the article on the front page and she says, “With the earthquake in Japan, and civil war throughout the Middle East, who cares about a snail?”

Spring comes to Banff in Small Increments

2011-03-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Although there has been signs that spring will come, it still hasn’t made its presence known. Snow continues to fall and it lays in piles all over the place, but if you look carefully, there are a few small signs of spring.

There is one stretch along Bear Avenue where a large pine nestles against the white faux Tudor façade of a hotel. A tiny ecosystem has been formed by the southern exposure of the hotel, the shelter of the pine, and the white paint that reflects the sun back onto the pine. It is a small space, and I wouldn't have noticed it if it were not for the calls of the birds that live in the pine.

Normally, the only birds you see in Banff in the winter are ravens and magpies. But in this tiny ecosystem there are lively little sparrows cavorting and celebrating spring. This one tree is a very busy hub of activity. Plans are obviously being made, mates are being chosen, and directions are being given. You can hear this tiny little community from quite a distance. Some days, in my hurry, I forget about this spot, but the noise of the sparrows whistling and squawking, always makes me stop and stare at the tree.

The other day, I was watching all of the usual activity when I noticed tiny little flies and insects flying around the tree. This is the first insect life I have seen since I arrived. I was amazed that here, in town, mostly made by man, but accidentally made by man, rests this tiny ecosystem. So fragile and, yet, so alive.

Second to Last...

2011-03-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

I am getting into the second to last phase of my time in Banff. Tomorrow will be my second to last Saturday, and then Sunday will be… well you get the picture.

I was thinking about how impressive Banff can be in the winter—actually any time of the year, really. But if you spend enough time in one place, even Banff, you stop seeing it. You stop being present.

I imagine this is why I like the idea of travel, not that I always get to actually do it. But it is very attractive to go someplace, for a short time, to be present without struggling. You can see everything for the first time.

Going home too, enables you to feel present, but for a shorter time.

Dispatch from Banff IV

2011-03-12T12:12:00.001-08:00

Soon I will be leaving Banff and returning to Vancouver. It is nice to know that my time here is ending. I have enjoyed being here, I have skied (both Nordic and alpine), hiked-up a mountain, ridden a gondola, and steeped in the hot springs. I have taken advantage of the pool, free yoga, and mountain fitness activities. I have even curled, and tomorrow I will add a snow shoeing adventure to my list.

What I have found, is that no matter where you are, no matter how beautiful it all is, you eventually become used to it. I remember my first few weeks here, I was always stopping and looking up. My frequent stops would have been quite a hazard if the locals weren’t used to it. They just walk around you. Like they walk around the deer and the elk that line the streets some days.

A couple of weeks ago, I stooped taking photos, started walking around tourists and elk and deer. I had taken every photo that can be taken by a tourist. I had bought all the tolerable post cards. Even the night stars began to fade for me. That is sad. That is when it stopped being fun to be here.

Today, I booked my ticket home. Knowing that I am leaving has helped make the stars pop (as they say) and the mountains are once again, amazing.

Dispatch from Banff III

2011-03-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

Last night the temperate increased by several degrees after days and weeks of temperatures sitting closer to minus twenty. I think I nearly suffocated in my bed last night, as the thermostat was set rather high, and when the outside temperatures went up, the heater started working.

The weather in this part of the world can change quite radically, especially if the Chinook winds come. I have heard that in Pincher Creek, Alberta, the temperature can go from minus-thirty to plus-ten degrees in under an hour. I can’t imagine what that would be like.

I read that the Chinook winds come from the warm ocean air from the Pacific Northwest. I find it almost poetic to think of how the winds traverse the mountains, to bring warm reminders of home.

I miss home. In my garden, spring has begun. The snowdrops are finished and the crocuses are nearly done too. The daffodils are getting ready to bloom. The garden needs manure, and the raspberry canes need to be pruned. Last year, I ate my first asparagus from the garden on April 5th.

It is hard to imagine spring will come to Banff. There are huge piles of snow everywhere and no sign that winter will ever end.

Corn

2011-03-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

I have been reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which has made me think about how corn has, according to Pollan, colonized us. It is an interesting premise that a plant has used us in order to perpetuate its species.

Corn is everywhere and it is in everything we eat; it is in the feed of the dairy and beef cattle, it is in the chicken feed, and it is used in almost every processed food preparation. For a period of time, I developed food sensitivities and one of the chief suspects was corn. I tried to avoid corn, which I soon realized was absolutely impossible. Corn was even in my cosmetics and my toothpaste.

Pollan explains that corn is almost incapable of surviving without us. That the same reason corn is so attractive to us, its rich, large kernels, also means that it can’t easily reseed itself. When corn is left unharvested on a field, the thick outer husk prevents the seeds from scattering. If the husk lies on the ground and manages to sprout, the volume of seeds means that each sprouting kernel would suffocate the other. A neighbour grows corn in the back fields of the farm, each harvest a few husks are left on the ground, even though they have been planting corn there for several years, I have never seen one corn volunteer. Pollan estimates that if we stopped planting corn, it would only last one or two seasons before it died out.

An interesting question is, “How did corn become corn?

Dispach from Banff II

2011-03-05T18:16:00.001-08:00

Mid-Point of my Banff Trip

2011-02-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

It seems that I am almost halfway through my time at Banff. I wonder if, at the end of March when I am to go, there will still be snow on the ground? I hope not, I would like to see new life beginning before I go.

I would like to see more wildlife. So far, I have only seen mule deer, a mountain goat magpies and ravens. I have heard of elk sightings, but I haven’t seen any. I would really like to see a marmot and a mountain bluebird. I would like to see all the hibernating animals come awake, although I would like to see them from a safe distance.

Sometimes at night I can hear the coyotes, and people tell me about seeing wolves. I wish to see all these creatures before I leave.

Banff Wildlife

2011-02-06T11:32:00.001-08:00

Magpies

2011-01-23T12:57:00.000-08:00

Dispatch from Banff

2011-01-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

Right outside my window, they tell me, is a swamp. I cannot see it for myself, because the swamp is covered in snow. But I can imagine there is a swamp because the trees are a little undersized and many are in the long, slow process falling over. Each year, the trees slowly fall over. Too slow to be visible, but I assure you, they are still falling.

There is too, the conifer trees that are not evergreens. They look like evergreens but they are actually larch trees in the needle-like drag of the conifer. A deciduous tree. A liar.

Last night, I saw a deer. It stood outlined by the light of the street. I stopped and stared at it for some time. It did not look at me once. This morning, I went on a hike, and I found large chunks of fur on the path. At first, I thought it was grass as it was short and the colour of dry grass. The texture also suggested dry grass, but when I touched it, I realized it was fur.

Short Ears

2011-01-11T11:36:00.001-08:00

For the last three or so years, we have spotted a short eared owl prowling along the banks of the canals. The owl seems to appear in late fall and stay around until early spring. Unlike most owls, the short eared owl often hunts in the daytime. Sometimes, when we are walking along the bank, the owl will suddenly rise-up, right in front of us, and fly right over our heads.

For the last

Garlic: Phase 2

2011-01-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

I just received some organic Russian red garlic. It has such beautiful cloves. large and tasty! I decided to plant most of the cloves in the garden, even though the ground is a little frozen. I am not sure how they will turn out--if they will turn out! Anyway, fingers crossed.

The Sky is Falling

2011-01-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

I have been reading Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes, and Other Papers (N.D.) by John Burroughs. Burroughs (1837 to 1921) was a naturalist and essayist much influenced by Emmerson and Whitman. Birds and Bees …is courtesy Project Gutenberg, and I am reading it on my iPod. It seems odd to read a book on nature on such an unnatural device but this is the modern world after all.

Burroughs has a lovely, sometimes purple way of describing nature. I think his tendency to the descriptive is both a strength and a weakness of his writing. His work is detailed, employs a lot of metaphor and simile, and sometimes ventures down the purple path, but it is also very fitting for this style of writing. Reading Burroughs is like taking a walk with him as he describes the natural world. You experience nature as he does. Walking through his orchards, his dog ambling along at your side, and the ever present shot gun in case one encounters a red squirrel which he seems to have roundly hated.

Anthropomorphism is the cornerstone of his writing, something a modern naturalist is trained to avoid, although I do not think that they ever achieve the impartial observations they claim. Burroughs is definitely not of the Skinnerian school of animal study. I like Burroughs way of endowing his subjects with human qualities, because it reveals much about the writer and even helps the animal to become alive on the page. A media theorist I recently read, refers to animals as technology, and I much prefer the naïve humanist quality appropriated by Burroughs to describe his world, than the careless theoretic use employed by modernist theorists. But Burroughs does not have the transcendental quality of Emmerson or Thureau, nor the inspirational quality of the art of Whitman, rather his work is transportational (perhaps escapist).

Burroughs writing reveals a very active, sometimes combative naturalist. He is often irritable, especially when defending a bird. He rightfully hates the human plunderers of nests and birds, and, sadly, he shoots the non-human plunderers. Sometimes I wish that he would have reversed his policy. Burroughs reports his repeated and failed attempts to intervene with nature. Shooing cow birds away from nests, only to discover them back the next day. Finding grounded fledglings and putting them back into the wrong nest, where the fledgling then terrorizes and kills the residents. Something all students of nature have encountered, and have repeatedly tried to beat the odds, always failing.

What is surprising is the number of species that Burroughs documents. He lists a number and variety of species that we could not hope to encounter eighty years after he has written about them. Burroughs orchard is chock-full of birds, although he reports very low survival rates, estimating only one in ten fledgling survives.

I consider these terrible odds of bird species from only eighty years ago and then reflect on the birds that are now killed en mass. Most recently, thousands of birds have fallen from the sky in North and South America. Consider too, that every year thousands of migratory birds are killed by the tailing ponds of the tar sands, high rises, wind turbines, poor farming practices and other industries.

When British naturalists came to Canada, they reported that the sky was covered by a thick canopy of birds. Now we can look up and see a sky, empty of its former inhabitants.

Going Away

2011-01-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

I have been back from the farm for four days and I am already looking forward to going back in three days. This is typical. I always wish I was at the farm instead of in my inner city apartment.

This next visit will be different, because it will be the last weekend I go to the farm for quite some time. I am moving to Banff for a while. I am not sure how long. It may be I am gone for three months or maybe longer. I keep ticking the time off in my head in terms of gardening. I will miss the garlic as it starts to reach its green tips into the sky. I will miss pruning the raspberries, and liming the patch to prevent cane rot. I will miss turning over the next year's compost, nor will I be able to manure the garden. Fortunately, I am not the only gardener.

I will miss looking for the first snow drops and crocuses. Sugaring the first violets, and then never using them. I will miss seedy Saturday and they may miss the money I spend on oddly coloured varieties of vegetables.

But mostly, I will miss my family and friends.

One Cup

2010-12-28T10:31:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I was given a book, Canning, Freezing, Storing Garden Produce (1977) published by the US Department of Agriculture. It is an excellent guide. I highly recommend it. It isn’t over cautious like many of the books of this kind, and it explains some of the reasons why you should heat process pickles (something I haven’t done but I will consider doing now).

Like all books of this kind, it talks a lot about botulism. Botulism occurs when non-acidic fruits and vegetables are not processed correctly. In this guide they say that one cup of botulism is enough to kill the entire world. It reminds me of a home economics class. The instructor said that one cup of licorice extract was enough to colour the great lakes.

Just one cup and the world ends and the lakes turn a waxy black shade.

A Gardener's Lament

2010-12-07T16:02:00.000-08:00

It is a sad time of year for a gardener. All around you is death. Sure, the optimistic people will take this opportunity to point out that spring will come, and a new season of gardening will arrive, and all that is dead will be born again. But right now, all I can see is death all around me.

When I look at my garden I see the skeletal remains of the bean house looming over me. All my dahlias are dead, they are blackened and leaning over some are lying prone on the ground.

I am pursued by regret. I should have picked their last flowers. Now, there are no more flowers left in the garden. What about my frozen kale, leeks and broccoli. Will they survive? Should I have covered them? Why did I fail them so?

I don’t deserve to be called a gardener.

My larder is empty. All the potatoes are gone. There is no more fresh fruit or vegetables to pick from the garden. I must now shop for my greens, and even in the stores, the only good choices are the cole crops and girl cannot live on cole alone. I know this because I have tried.

And the sky is grey.

The Return of the Kingfisher

2010-11-30T11:41:00.001-08:00

The kingfisher is back! For years the kingfisher was a permanent resident of the farm, and then he disappeared about five years ago. I missed seeing him perched on the wire over top of the canal. Last year, we thought we heard him, but we couldn't spot him. Then this weekend, we kept hearing him, and then we finally spotted him. What a delight it was to see his bright blue body flying across the green canals.

The Winter Garden

2010-11-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

Snow Goose

2010-11-09T17:22:00.000-08:00

The snow geese came through in large flocks in the late fall. The would stay in the back fields, eating the corn leftover from the harvest. When I walked too near them they would all take flight. Then I would be surrounded by these large white birds, winging around me.

Snipe!

2010-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

This fall we have encountered several snipes at the farm. They have a very distinctive call, hence their name. Even if you don't hear their call, you can identify a snipe by its weird zig-zag flight pattern.
People still hunt snipe although they are very tricky to shoot. I try not to think about that too much.

Let me presnt the Pelicans

2010-11-09T17:19:00.001-08:00

I was so impressed by the pelicans summering at Floating Stone lake in northern Alberta that I had to make them. They are amazing birds. Huge. Beautiful. I have never seen anything quite like them.

When I look at these birds, I remember floating on the warm lake water, as a flock of pelicans flew so close overhead, I could almost touch them.

Garlic Season

2010-11-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to digging-up the garlic patch, and today, I planted three rows of garlic. I used last year's garlic, although I was sorry I didn't get any new stock this year. Last year's crop was a little weedy looking. The cloves are a little on the small and thin side. It is still good, but I worry that the small cloves will yield an even weedier crop next year.

Hops

2010-11-07T12:35:00.000-08:00

We just harvested the hops. We have a patch of golden hops growing against the back fence line. It takes some doing to cut a path through the blackberries to get to the hops, but well worth the effort. I usually incorporate hops into my French bread recipe. I like to make a hops tea and then use the warm hop infused water to proof the yeast. I ran out of hops in the spring so I have been experimenting with other teas but so far, hops are the best!

There used to be lots of hops fields in this area. They would grow hops on tall trellises that stood 12 feet high (so I am told). It became too expensive to keep up the trellises and farming hops is not as common around here. But I still like to imagine fields of giant trellises stretching up to the sky.

The Fall Garden

2010-11-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

It was time to clean-up the garden. For most of the plants, the season has ended. The beans and the corn are done. All that's left is the kale, next spring's broccoli, and some spinach. As you can see in the picture above, I dug-up all of the plants.

Then we dismantled the greenhouse and harvested that last of the tomatoes. It is November after all, and we should have tomatoes ripening until the start of December. We take the greenhouse down, because we have lost a couple of greenhouses to the November winds. Scot built the greenhouse so that it comes apart fairly effortlessly. The most difficult part is getting the tomato plants out and making sure that there are no tomatoes left. Otherwise you can get all sort of pests and blight. Ideally we should move the greenhouse but it isn't that feasible.

The last of the tomatoes!

The Birds

2010-10-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

I am amazed by the number and variety of birds that have been flying around the farm these last few days. I guess it is the combination of the harvest attracting some birds, and the birds that are flying south are coming through now too. When I look up, the sky is filled with birds. They fly in silhouette against the sun, and it looks a little like black writing across the blue sky. The birds fly at different heights, and I try to read their flight. What kind of birds are they? Are they traveling alone or in a group? Are they migrants or local? So far, I have seen white geese, Canadian geese, crows, harriers, falcons, eagles, herons, snipes, and all sorts of ducks.

I imagine, this life-filled sky is a little bit like what it must have been like, before we settled here and displaced them.

Fall at the farm

2010-10-18T13:53:00.001-07:00

Cranberry season is happening. A sure sign that winter is not too far away. So far the weather has been very kind. Lots of sunny days and not too much wind. Best of all, there have been very few frosts. If you are knee deep in a flooded field, you can come to appreciate how depressing it is to break the ice on the water before you jump in.

The Eagles Have Returned

2010-10-18T13:47:00.001-07:00

The Eagles disappeared for most of the summer. They did not use their nest. I am pretty sure they did not have a brood this summer. Instead they disappeared for weeks at a time and then returned for short periods. They did have three eaglets last year, so perhaps they were taking some time off? Do eagles do that?

While the eagles were gone, all sorts of raptors came to fill in the void. We saw harriers, red-tails, and a falcon or two. When the eagles come back, the smaller raptors tend to move on. Anyway, it seems the eagles are back. Soon they will be fixing their nest for next year.

My Mother's Camera

2010-09-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

I inherited my mother's new digital camera. It took a few months for me to look at it, and when I did, I discovered the last pictures she had taken before she died. Most of the photos were experiments, as she tried to get the focus and figure out all of the tricks. Lots of photos of grandchildren and her dog.

I think she must have known she was going to die, because before she went into surgery, she flew to Manitoba to see her mother. She and my grandmother went to visit the town where my mother grew-up. When I looked at the camera's memory card, I found dozens of bird photos!

I realized then that we had more in common than I had thought.

More canning of Tomatoes

2010-09-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention in the Gorilla Canner recipe for tomatoes, when canning the tomatoes you need to pack them down, so that they will seal properly.

From the Garden

2010-09-21T13:37:00.001-07:00

The world' largest fennel! I discovered the secret to sizing up fennel bulbs this year, and it is all in the transplating of the seedlings. You must start the plants and then transplant them, otherwise the tend to grow up, not out.

The late corn is just about ready. Beside it, the remaining raspberries are all suffering from cane blight. I have been cutting out the blighted canes and it looks like they are all blighted. Worried about next year's crop.
The fall garden is slowly finishing. The summer squash are almost done. Everything is now grown. Already, a plan is forming for next year.

How to be a successful Canner: Gorilla Style

2010-09-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

1. You will need to skin and core the tomatoes before you can them. Just drop the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds and then place in a cold water. The skins should peel away very easily. Allow two tomatoes per jar (depending on size).

Once the tomatoes are prepped, you will need:
- large canning pot (big enough to hold four or five jars and tall enough to cover jars with water and allow it to boil).
-one sauce pan to heat lids
-four or more wide mouth or narrow mouth jars, sterilized (place in oven for 10 minutes at 225 degrees).
-lids and rings to match
-lemon juice and coarse salt

1. Place the tomatoes in jar. Squish the tomatoes down and run a knife along the insde of the jar to remove trapped air. Fill the jar to about 1/2 an inch head space.

2. Add a tbsp of lemon juice and a 1/4 tsp of salt to each jar. The salt is for flavour (optional) but the lemon juice is to bring-up the pH. So use prepared lemon juice in order to be sure you have the right pH.

3. Clean the top of jar. Place lids in simmering water. Do not overheat the lids. Just heat enough to make the rings soft. Place lids on jars and screw-on the rings. Screw rings until they are just tight and then back-up a quarter of an inch. The rings should not be too tight.

4. Place jars in the canner. Top-up with warm water, cover jars and then put cover on pot. Bring to a boil and let boil for 20 minutes.

Tomato Season

2010-09-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Canning Peaches

2010-08-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

I was just passing through the Okanagan on a week-long roadtrip, so I thought I would pick-up some fresh fruit along the way. It seems such an odd year for growing. Everything is ready all at once. I knew cherries were available as well as apricots but peaches and nectarines were ready too. I even found some freestone peaches, which is really early.

My peach canning recipe
I use a hot water bath for the peaches. And my canner fits four wide mouth jars at a time, so I will give a one batch recipe.

Equipment
4 wide mouth canning jars sterilized, rings and lids, and ready to go
(To sterilize the jars, you palce them in the oven at 250 degrees F for ten minutes.)

To peel peaches:
1 canner (fill half the canner) bring to a boil
1 bowl of ice cold water
1 small pot half filled with hot water for heating lids

Ingrediants:
6 or seven freestone peaches (1 1/2 per jar is the general rule although this changes with size)
2 cups of sugar
8 cups of water

1. Use a large pot and add the sugar and the water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir constantly. Allow syrup to bil and then turn off the heat.

2. Bring the canner to a boil. Place peaches in the boiling water for 30 seconds or so. Do not cook peaches. Once the peaches are ready place them in ice cold water. The skin should peel away very easily. If not then you need to leave them in the scalding water a little longer. Peel the peaches and cut them in half. Use the knife to pry the flesh away from the pit.

3. Place peaches in jar and cover with syrup immediately so that the peaches do not brown. You can add a little at a time. Do not overfill. Allow 1/4 of an inch head room at the top so that the lids will seal.

4. Place lids in a small pan filled with hot water (almost boiling). Do not boil the lids.

5. Once the jars are filled, clean the rims with a clean cloth so that the lids will seal. Place a lid on the jar, put on the ring and screw it on but not too tight.

6. Add some cold water to canner so that the level rises to around 3/4 of the way and so that the liquid is not too hot. Add the jars. Make sure the water just covers the lid. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes.

7. Place hot jars on a dry cloth and allow to cool down. Keep away from open windows, as cold temperatures will cause the jars to crack. You should hear the lids "pop" as they cool down and seal. It is pretty easy to tell if the lids have sealed by tapping on them (when they have cooled). Remove the rings, clean the jars, label them, and place in a cool dry place for eating when peaches are out of season. Enjoy.

The Summer Garden

2010-07-12T14:40:00.001-07:00

Finally, the peas are ready, the cherry tomatoes are just starting, the strawberries are almost finished, and the raspberries were a bust. The beans in the bean house are now climbing their poles. The garden is looking very good.

I am disappointed by the champion of England pea seeds. They are vigorous but the peas themselves are tiny and not very tasty. The Mr Vans are amazing tall and big pods with tasty peas. Waiting on the Manitoba peas but I think they may be small but they are also very vigorous..

The soya beans took, with a catch of about 70% which is better than in past years. The sunflowers never germinated, so have to buy some seeds next year. I liked the West Coast seed variety pack (usually I don’t go for that kind of thing but these were pretty good and they kept you guessing).

The zuccinni are producing now and soon we will be buried under an avalanche of them.

Strawberry Season and Pesticides

2010-06-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

Strawberry season is now open and, in fact, will have reached its peak by the end of this week. I love strawberries and I usually freeze quite a few bags of them in order to get through the winter, but according to EWG, strawberries are now in the top twelve fruits and vegetables you should not eat unless they are organic.

From Mother Jones (http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/03/econundrum-12-most-contaminated-fruits-and-veggies)

In descending order, the EWG's 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables:

1. Peaches

2. Apples

3. Sweet bell peppers

4. Celery

5. Nectarines

6. Strawberries

7. Cherries

8. Kale

9. Lettuce

10. Grapes (imported)

11. Carrots

12. Pears

For the full list of all 47 fruits and veggies, go here.

Solstice

2010-06-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Almost at the summer solstice. It is hard to believe that summer will ever come. The weather has been unseasonably cold and wet. The garden is growing but the fruit will not set or if it does, it will be watery tasting. The fruit needs the sun to sweeten it. I feel, like I need the sun to chase away the grey.

Quail

2010-06-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days on Salt Spring Island. It was a little wet and cold but pretty manageable. Good weather for hiking but not so good for swimming. The island was swarming with quails, a most improbable looking bird.

Garden Update

2010-05-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

The garden is looking pretty good right now. It is that perfect time when you have prepared the ground and the plants are coming up, but the weeds haven't caught up yet. Next weekend, I bet that this situation will have changed and there will be plenty of weeds to occupy my time. I noticed tiny little dill plants starting to volunteer all over the place. I never have to seed it down, it just seeds itself. If only all gardening was this easy.

Bicycle Built for Two

2010-05-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

This happy couple took to perching on my bike. I only wish I had turned my helmet top side up.

Happy Hunting

2010-05-04T15:04:00.001-07:00

The soil turned up all sorts of worms and the occasional pupae. This opportunistic Robin followed the furrows.

New Life

2010-05-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

I found this robin shell remnant nestled in the grass. It made me smile, it is such a lovely blue and soon there will be a young robin hopping around.

Still Digging

2010-05-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a hard slog. There is lots of clay in the soil and it is wet and heavy. We finally turned over the whole garden but it is still too wet to rototill. Maybe next week. It has been a cold melancholy day. The sky is overcast which is ideal for digging but I cannot quite escape the Sunday blues.

Garden Preparation

2010-04-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

The garden is slowly taking shape. Since we put the oven in the garden, we cannot bring the tractor in to till the soil. So we have been hand digging the garden, not that it is acres and acres but the soil has lots of clay and it can be a hard dig.

We are over half-way finished digging the garden. Next week we will bring in the small rototiller and get the garden ready for planting another crop of peas. There are never enough fresh raw peas, especially since there are all sorts of tiny pea thieves running around the garden.

Woodpecker

2010-04-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

I was walking along the edge of Chinatown a couple of weeks ago, and I was trying to figure out where the woodpeckers I could hear calling were located. I heard at least two of them, calling back and forth. Just when I had given up looking for them, there was this very loud hammering sound, and just across the street from me, I saw this woodpecker pecking away at a metal light standard. He was making a lot of noise, enough I suppose to attract a mate and a fan.

Garden Work

2010-03-29T16:46:00.001-07:00

The work has begun. We started digging the garden. We moved the garden two years ago, so this is the first year we have dug the garden by hand (or shovel). There is tonnes of twitch grass and the soil has lots of clay, so it is a hard slog. I have to rest every foot or so, but I am getting tougher. I know this doesn't make any sense, but I think the soil looks like chocolate cake.

Some Inmates of the Reifel Bird Santuary

2010-03-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

Most wanted poster

Coot foot
Sandhill crane

Canada Goose

Reclusive wood duck

Pintail

Crow use us as Tools

2010-03-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

On a Wing and a

2010-03-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

Experts report that evolution happens much faster than we previously thought.

They came to this conclusion based on the wings of a chic-a-dee. A local variety of chi-a-dees' wings have evolved in order to better facilitate eating from a bird feeder.

I am not sure what it means realy. I just thought that it was interesting.

Sunday at the Farm

2010-03-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

It is a slow day. Yesterday was a day of activity: Bread baking and lamb shank roasting along with some long walks and garden finessing. I planted a row of peas last weekend and I hope to plant some potatoes today.

We have been eating chard and spinach from the cold frame as well as the kale that over wintered and some carrots I planted in the garden and then forgot about. The carrots are good although they are a little watery tasting. Not as good as when they are first planted. The chives are up, and I have been mixing them in with my French bread recipe, making a tasty bread loaf with lots of green bits. We have been eating young mint leaves for a couple of weeks, mostly putting it in our morning cup of coffee. I can't wait for more fresh garden produce.

The garden is calling ... soon.

Violets and Spring

2010-03-01T12:38:00.000-08:00

It is spring in Vancouver and now that the Olympics are over it is not treason to say that spring has come. The sweet violets are almost finished producing flowers, and when I checked past garden records, I noticed that the violets are a month ahead of last year and the year before.

I picked a few violets and sugared them, by dipping them in egg white and berry sugar. I did not bother painting them with a paint brush so they are not quite as perfect as they could be. It is amazingly time consuming even just dipping the flowers, and it produces very few sugared violets. But violets are the most delightful flower and the sugar preserves them. Usually I decorate a summer birthday cake with them. They add a little crunch to the soft cake, and it is like reliving the first joy of spring all over again.

Magpies

2010-01-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

I spent most of December in Alberta. The ground was covered in snow and the magpies were darting around, their black wings against the white snow. People think they are a pest but I think they are grand birds.

Conversation II

2010-01-05T15:43:00.002-08:00

After my mom died, my older friend said to me: "I have friends who say they miss their parents every day. I think this must mean I am not a good person, because I don't think of my parents much at all." Which of course is not true. She is the kindest person I have ever met.

So many people have told me about losing a parent. It is same for grief, child birth and dental surgery, as soon as people hear about you undergoing any of these events, they want to tell you their experience. Unlike dental surgery or childbirth stories, you are actually glad to hear from those that have undergone grief. They parcel out tiny bits of hope with each retelling. And I think it helps the listener and the teller. It begins the process of healing in the former and helps continue the healing process in the latter. So thank you for your stories.

Flicker and Kildeer

2010-01-05T15:43:00.001-08:00

Flicker

2009-11-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

Saw a northern flicker flying across the back of the farm. They always seem to come through this time of year. I made a cross between a flicker and a red-bellied woodpecker.

Garden Experiment Number 2

2009-11-10T21:51:00.001-08:00

We built a cold frame to try and produce some fresh herbs and greens over the winter. We used four straw bales and an old patio door for the frame. We dug into the soil about four inches, and then lined the bottom with old newspaper. We added leaf mulch and manure, and then added soil (about one third of the compost volume).

It was pretty cold when we rescued the plants from the greenhouse. They look a little raggedy. We shall see if it works!

If the plants die, I am sure the slugs and rats will enjoy its spa-like atmosphere.

Snow Geese

2009-11-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

In the back field there is a very large flock of snow geese. Their cries sound like Christmas. It is almost like they have bells in their throats, if that makes any sense at all.

Sometimes, they get startled and they fly up into the air. Like a black tipped white cloud they circle the field and then come back to land.

Bird Making Time

2009-11-08T12:37:00.001-08:00

It is getting colder and wetter. It is harder to stay outside and work in the garden. This weekend we will try and build the cold frame and then after that, it will be time to go for short walks and stay inside and make birds. So far, I have made a golden finch, a kildeer, and one lost bird. I will post the picture soon.

Cranberry Harvest

2009-10-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

It is harvest time in the cranberry bogs. The sunsets are amazing reflected in the flooded fields.

New Oven

2009-10-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

We managed to find bricks in some road fill so we built a brick oven in our garden. We haven't mortared it yet. We are still experimenting with it.

All Good Things Must End

2009-08-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

Summer is in its final stages. It is hot in the sun, but in the shade the cold lurks. I see geese collecting in park and fields, getting ready for their long journey. People seem to hate geese, especially Canadian Geese. When checking my Google Analytics, I find people coming to my site with search terms like "Kill Canadian Geese" or "Get rid of Canadian Geese" or Hate Canadian Geese." Now, more people looking for the above terms will come to my site! So all I can say, if they read this is, WTF?

So geese are big and they tend to eat a lot and deficate. I can understand farmers concern over the geese, but there are many methods for scaring birds from crops. If the fields are fallow, then the geese will help keep the field fertilized as they gleam the last of the crop. And in parks, the geese dung is good for the grass.

We do all have to learn to live together. There are just under 10,000 species of birds in the world and 10% of them are endangered. I have been writing about bird and human interactions for orato.com under leannej. Check it out.

End of Days

2009-08-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

The air has that milky quality that can only mean that fall is on its way. The sun is hot, but the air has a coolness that takes the crispness out of the sun's bite. The tomatoes are ripening faster every day. We have had many salads. Soon we will have to begin canning the tomatoes and peaches.

Sunset

2009-07-31T09:45:00.000-07:00

We have been experiencing the most beautiful and frightening sunsets lately. Last week, the sun was setting, and there was a rainbow cutting through the pink sky. I felt like I was watching the sunset on mars.

Summer Garden

2009-07-31T09:35:00.001-07:00

Summer is full-on now. We have been experiencing the hottest days on record. The garden is about 3 weeks ahead of last year. The corn is ready and there is a large pumpkin growing in the middle of the garden. It just appeared out of nowhere.

The sweetpeas are growing tall and sweet smelling. They are my favourite scented flower. So lovely.

The corn will be ready, like the beans, all at once. I will eat as many as I can. But like every other year, I will tire of the corn before it has finished producing. Later, as soon as all the corn is gone, I will start craving it all over again.

The garden Circa July 15 Night

2009-07-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Rasberry Pickers

2009-07-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Fresh

2009-07-06T22:55:00.001-07:00

We picked the last of the Richmond strawberries. They were so juicy, they almost melted in my hands.
We cooked the first of the new potatoes. It makes me sad to think how soon they will be gone.
The peas are full on now. I miss them most of all. When February rolls around, I start craving something fresh and green.

Humingbird and Honeysuckles

2009-07-06T22:53:00.001-07:00

The honeysuckle bloomed and bloomed.
The wind carried its scent, like a warm caress.

The Garden Circa July 4

2009-07-06T22:49:00.000-07:00

The Cherry Harvest

2009-07-06T22:45:00.001-07:00

Another generation learns gram's pie recipe.
We managed to wrestle a few cherries away from the starlings. And now the cherries are gone.

Chic-a-dee with Bee

2009-07-06T22:44:00.001-07:00

The Garden Circa June 28

2009-07-06T22:42:00.000-07:00