Spring is coming...slowly!

Over at my parents house with Casey today - the crocuses are in bloom! Bees are out pollinating, the sun is shining - it's a nice day!

Clearcutting affecting Broadfork Farm

Having just read that farmers should leave patches of land for natural habitat so local bees can stay healthy with a varied diet, it was heartbreaking to read of what's happened to these poor farmers in River Hebert, NS.  Broadfork farm sounds like they've been really trying to keep stewardship of the land foremost in their minds as they grow their crops.

And then this happens next door.

A New Brunswick company apparently was given permission to clearcut the nearby property to this farm; and the results, as you can see, are devastating. I won't go into more detail here, the letter the farmers wrote eloquently puts all of the facts down in a succinct way that I'm sure I couldn't if I were in the same shoes.  How they can contain their rage and devastation over this is beyond me - they're better folk than I.

So, read the link below, and see what they have observed, and their fears for the ecological future of the area.

Clearcuts Affect Farms!

Thanks to John van Gurp (of Halifax Chickens - someday, John!) for posting the link on Facebook.

Photo Diary: Eastern Passage

As promised, here's some more photos from my lovely trip to Eastern Passage the other day!

Here's a wildflower that had a small stand, but wasn't really widespread. Don't know what it was called, but it was lovely.

As I've mentioned before, these gorgeous roses grow wild all over the province, right up to the water's edge! The smell of the roses mixed with the sea air was heavenly!

There's a little shore bird in this pic, can you make him out? His camouflage is remarkable!

Here's a close up so you can find him better:

I believe he's a Spotted Sandpiper, but the beak is dark...don't know what to make of that, perhaps he's a juvenile? He was so cute, he flew down next to me, and we walked the shore together for a distance.

There were some sort of predatory birds in the area as well; I couldn't get a good look at their markings to identify them, but there is a nest of ospreys (our provincial bird) nearby, so that's likely what they are.

There are lots of signs of old wharfs in the area, but I have no idea how long ago they were abandoned. Posts here and there are all that's left. Nearby this one, is a high current area where land narrows and the ocean speeds up towards the harbour. No swimming is allowed, but people fish there all the time - and that day was the first day I saw someone actually catch something! When this gentleman reeled in another fish, one of his companions, a young boy, said disappointedly "...Again?". I don't think the little guy had the good spot that day.

This is a backwards looking shot towards downtown Halifax; so close and yet worlds away!

There was a very calm bit of water between the ocean and the shore, divided by a stand of sea grasses - and there was a HUGE school of tiny fish there! You can see where they broke the surface of the water looking for nibblies here and there. Every time I even took a single step close to them, they'd move farther out en masse, so it was hard to get a close shot of them! Safety first, little guys!

All in all, such a lovely day, so glad I was able to get out and enjoy one of our few sunny days this summer!

Eastern Passage....always beautiful

Went to have lunch and a walk for the first time this summer out Eastern Passage way. Lovely day for it, just a few clouds in the sky, and the warmth of the sun offset perfectly by the refreshing ocean breezes. I really love that whole area, several local restaurants are right next to this delightful park, so you can walk off some of those extra calories. :) More pictures to come...

Summertime Wildlife Roundup

This summer, with the majority of days being rainy or darkly cloudy, we had a different mix of wildlife in the backyard than we have had previous years. Bees, as I have mentioned several times, were non-existent the first half of the summer, and even now, I have not seen more than two bees in the lawn at any given time (the lack of bees and the bad weather is why I believe our backlawn has a mass of thistles and not clover as it has in previous years. Not that the thistles aren't lovely and purple too, but you really miss the lovely scent of the clover on the wind).

Our dragonfly population came out very early this year (in June), in time to take care of the blackflies and the early beginnings of the mosquito population, but were missing for much of the latter half of July, when mosquitoes were at their peak. Fortunately, they have returned now in the latter half of August, so I'm getting much needed relief out there. They are amazing bug predators - I love to see them flitting about the yard on 'guard duty', occasionally getting into aerial battles over bugs with fellow 'sentries'.

Its been said that a healthy frog population is a sign the local environment is healthy, and if that is the case (check out why under morphology on Wiki), then our local area is doing REALLY well! From about the end of June till last week, we had a minimum of one frog a day outside in our back lawn. We saw maybe 3 the whole year last year, but this year was crazy! At one point I had a frog in each hand, trying to move them to the cool of the forest (and in the direction of a lake), and out of the path of my dogs playing. All different sizes, too, it was quite extraordinary!

We had one little green grass snake this year, and that was the first one I've seen since we moved here three years ago.

So, aside from the lack of bees, we've been doing quite well in the backyard wildlife department! Its been fun observing them!

Summer....

The weather was not what we were promised. They said it was going to be uncharacteristically hot this summer, but instead we were hit with one cloud bank after another after another. Aside from a brief period of sun in July, it's just been a sad continuation of the awful weather we had all spring.

Today, mercifully, was a beautifully sunny break from all that rain. Got some bedsheets out on the line, enjoyed the sun with my girls, and took a few snaps to boot.

We have seen a few more bees this last month, but it's been nothing like the amount we had last year. At least *some* flowers and plants are getting pollinated!

I'm still so deeply impressed/interested with the true Queen Anne's Lace, the wild carrot, daucus carota. They're just so lovely, and their seedheads provide even more interest come fall and winter! (More on that another time!) :)

Here's hoping for more sunshine, soon!

Bees? Any bees?

It has been a terrible spring weather-wise here in Nova Scotia. From March - June, we had maybe 5 days of sun per month (and frankly, I think I'm being generous). Other than that, its' been cloud, rain, fog, or a combo of all. My tomatoes were hardened off for 3 weeks because nights were still getting so cold.

I noticed that even after the clover started blooming, I can count on one hand the number of bees I've seen so far this summer. I'd hoped it wasn't colony collapse or anything like that; it turns out that bees hate the bad weather more than we do! The constant rain means bees stay in their hives, getting cranky and eating stored honey instead of producing new.

The CBC has an article on the lack of honey this year so far:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/07/02/ns-honey-bee-production-down.html

I'm just hoping I get enough bees to pollinate my tomatoes! I might have to do it myself... :)

Gorgeous Day

Amazing weather, a perfect fall day.  So many leaves were damaged and twisted around during Hurricane Earl, I thought autumn might not turn out so well this year. But, so far, so good!  The colours usually peak around the 18th of October, but it still looks like there's a lot of green out there, so it might last a little longer this year.

Surprise!

Went out with the girls for their playtime a few minutes ago, and saw this in my Miracle-Gro bag garden (well, what's left of it...the peas are all finished for the year, so they're gone. I put an extra potato I had from my crop that needed a few more weeks, in, and there's my two pepper plants, which didn't do so well in the "generic soil", so I moved them over to see if Miracle Gro would help). ;)

So....where did these guys come from??  Mushrooms are strange critters....I flipped up the edge of one of them to see what the gills were like, now I gotta go figure out what kind of mushrooms they are.... :)

New Photo Cards at the Gift Shop!

New photographic greeting cards at my gift shop (Ann's Photography) featuring the best photos from this blog!

Moments Ago....

Exciting developments in our clover-covered backyard!! We usually get small white butterflies (the little white butterflies that frequent fields), and when I was growing up near here, we would get the occasional sighting of an Admiral. But this is the first time I've seen a swallowtail butterfly in the city proper, ever! And as I was heading in, I saw we had TWO! So the clover has already been a great feeding ground for local bees, but now we've started to attract bonus wildlife! Huzzah! Very exciting! I didn't get too close to him, I didn't want to bug him and discourage him from his clover feast.








And, our backyard bush, after watching the buds get bigger and bigger, finally burst forth in bloom today! It's covered in these dainty flowers - not a great scent though, but they're lovely to look at. :)

Oh yeah, it's summer...

Well, almost! :) It's going to be a gorgeous day here, the sun is already really hot. Earlier this morning, I caught a bee doing his bee-business while the weather was a little cooler...



This'll be good growing weather for my little garden...

heh heh heh...sorry, distracted by Kuroi (Pretty Kitty)...he's trying out the new water bowl that was outside (the girls just don't drink that much outside, but they're going through lots indoors, so now we have two indoors), and his ears are revolving in a most peculiar way - not twitching, but actually revolving slowly, as he pauses after his first drink - you can see the wheels turning in his mind "is this water good?". He's gone back for more, so I think he's approving...he's a dear little man.

Anyway...the sun will be good for my garden, and all the plants out there - it's been rainy or cloudy for a long time now, and they need the S-U-N! And for the record, if you can at all manage it, having a backyard with a ton of clover in it is AWESOME. I can't tell you how amazing the scent is out there...nothing overpowering, but a lovely delicate perfume on the air. Just magnificent. And good for the bees. :)

BeanDreams: the Peas Continue!

Even though we're going through a bit of a cloudy/rainy spell, weather-wise, the peas are really enjoying the cold temperatures!

This was May 29:



And this was today, June 4:



I think I'm gonna need MUCH taller stakes for them to hang on to than the short little border ones I have there now... :D

My scallions have sprouted, but aren't doing much so far, not really photo worthy yet. And the poor tomatoes all but died when I transplanted them. The outdoors was too harsh for them after a cosy-ish winter indoors. They might still make a comeback...maybe? Only time will tell!

I'm still waiting to plant the peppers, it's just been so rainy it's hard to get a chance to get out there. But the weather should warm up and sunny-up soon, and I'll have a chance to transplant them and they can spread their roots and thrive.

Rainy Day Clover

My goodness, the clover smells divine...even on a rainy day like this. :)

BeanDreams: Sprouting Success! And Evolving Spring

The peas have sprouted! We are officially on our way! :D





The maple trees have burst forth, and only a few weeks after popping their buds, they've set their seeds.



And the purple varieties of clover have started blooming here, with lovely shades of magenta and dark pink...



It's late spring, and definitely on the way to a lovely summer!

BeanDreams 2010: The Return

Regular readers will have noted that I didn't have a BeanDreams last year. That was due to a few factors, the least of which was that we thought we might have to move during the summer. However, summer came and went, and so did winter, and we are still here (although our house is up for sale by our landlord, so we will have to move at some point). But I'm not going to let that stop me this year. I've got a portable garden plan, one that can come with us should we have to leave in the middle of the growing season.

Check out previous year's BeanDreams in the sidebar nav, and watch for updates soon, when I'll share my scaled-down plans with you all!

Spring is here....I think

Well, here's hoping, anyway. Mother Nature seems to think it is, plant-wise, so fingers crossed the weather will follow suit.

The bluets are out, one of the earliest wildflowers to bloom here in Nova Scotia (after the coltsfoot and dandelions, of course. The bluets are just as big as a pinky fingernail, delicate little flowers, but so pretty.



And, a herald of things to come, the wild strawberries have started blooming! After winter, it's so nice to be reminded of the good things to come...

Eastern Passage Get-Away

My parents, Dave and I, decided to beat the heat out Eastern Passage way (its been hitting over 30 deg. C the last several days). Nothing like a stroll down by the Passage to Halifax Harbour with the beautiful wind coming off the water to cool you down nicely. Ah, the sea air!

A lovely little fishing community, a LOT of fishing boats, lobster traps, fresh lobster for sale...

What's beautiful about Nova Scotia is that the roses that grow wild here even grow up to the edge of the ocean! A hearty plant indeed, and so lovely.

From one part of the boardwalk, you can look down the Passage and see downtown Halifax, with the Purdy's Wharf office towers to the left of the picture, and the Angus L. MacDonald bridge in the center.


The BEST fish and chips I've had in a very long time, super fresh haddock, beer battered with crispy chunky batter, just amazing! A great little place to go if you're in the area, called Wharf Wraps (funnily enough, the dish that Dave and I ordered is on the poster I've linked too). So fresh!!! So tasty! Dave's so used to the crappy minced super-processed fillets that you get in the grocery store frozen food section, he was shocked that fish could taste this good!

There are a LOT of people out walking with their dogs, and I thought it was very considerate of Wharf Wraps to put out a dish for passing puppies.


As we were walking back to the car, we saw a large, obviously young seagull attempt to get fed from a passing adult. He was making loud baby-ish cries too. Pretty funny. The adult was having none of it! :)

All in all, we had a fun time, it was a great way to cool down on a hot summer day...

Sunny "Picnic"

Well, sort of a picnic, without the food. :) We spread out a blanket and enjoyed the shade and strong breeze on the top of our hill, during one of the only sunny days we've had here this summer. (Its really been a miserable summer here, nothing but cloud and rain for weeks at a time).

Lila had a nice time...



Casey, not so much. She always hides in bushes when she's overheated, but I think it would have been cooler for her if she had just sat in the open with us...



Dave read a book, and I worked on some artwork. A ladybug landed on Dave's knee, Lila rolled around in the grass. Flowers were blowing in the wind...



It was really peaceful and lovely, so nice to do something different and fun. I spend too much time on the computer when I'm home... :)

Biomass my a$$

This is the most disgraceful thing I've heard regarding the environment in quite some time. They claim to do it in the name of reducing carbon emissions and eliminating their use of oil and fossil fuels. Sounds good, right? Except that to do this, they use debris "left over" from cutting down trees. What they mean by that is using machines to scrape up the entire forest floor and leave nothing but a wasteland behind - literally.

This was in the Chronicle-Herald this morning - it is a very disturbing read, but its important to know about these things, so we can hopefully do something about them.

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Green power at high cost
Clearcutting for biomass leaves nothing behind
By HEATHER AMOS

(hamos@herald.ca)
With Jeffrey Simpson, staff reporter
Sat. Jul 25 - 4:46 AM

Little forest debris is left on the ground in the Caribou Gold Mines area near Upper Musquodoboit. The debris is burned to produce electricity. (Photo by KATHY DIDKOWSKY)

Stumps and vegetation left after wood is harvested for lumber and pulp and paper only. (Photo by KATHY DIDKOWSKY)

Kathy Didkowsky grew up discovering streams, lakes and wildlife in the forest behind her house.

Now when she walks through the same wilderness in Upper Musquodoboit that she’s trying to save, Ms. Didkowsky sees more and more bare land.

The forest is being clearcut and for the first time Ms. Didkowsky noticed it’s not just the logs being taken.

"Now with biomass they take everything," said Ms. Didkowsky. "They work with a machine that literally just ripped at the trees, it didn’t cut."

When trees are harvested for pulp and paper, stumps, branches and leaves are left on the ground to decompose and give nutrients back to the soil. When wood is harvested for biomass, a renewable energy source, everything is taken.

"I cried…. It was devastating to me," said Ms. Didkowsky.

Northern Pulp manages about 280,000 hectares across the province, including land near where Ms. Didkowsky grew up.

Bob Bagdon, vice-president of human resources for Northern Pulp, says the company’s been collecting wood waste to use as fuel for years.

"We burn it in our power boiler, which generates electricity that we consume to run the mill," said Mr. Bagdon.

The debris produces enough electricity that the mill in Abercrombie Point near New Glasgow is self-sufficient and doesn’t need to use heavy oil for energy.

Biomass has been at the centre of a hot debate. The Utility and Review Board was asked to approve Nova Scotia Power’s plan to buy electricity generated through burning wood waste from NewPage Port Hawkesbury Ltd. and Strait Bio-Gen.

The untendered $60-million deal would have generated $1-billion worth of electricity over 25 years at the Port Hawkesbury paper mill.

On Wednesday, the Utility and Review Board said it lacked the authority to approve the plan in advance.

Nova Scotia Power doesn’t require board approval to purchase renewable power. It plans to review the board’s 40-page decision before deciding what to do next.

Under the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, the province is supposed to get 18.5 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2013.

"I have real issues. To turn the province into a moonscape to say that we’ve reduced our carbon emission doesn’t appeal to me," said Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell, who pointed out that in opposition the NDP had introduced legislation against clearcutting.

Raymond Plourde, wilderness co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre, said his organization supports renewable energy but would like more emphasis on sources like wind, solar and tidal.

"This province has overcut the forest already," said Mr. Plourde. "How can we add on top of that more hundreds of tonnes of the forest being cut and burned for energy production?"

On Thursday, Premier Darrell Dexter said he thought biomass would be part of a renewable energy solution. Mr. Plourde said his organization isn’t against using biomass and some wood for energy, but does not agree with Nova Scotia Power’s plan.

If it goes through, NewPage Port Hawkesbury will need 400,000 tonnes of biomass cut from the forest every year. Mr. Plourde explained that this would be like having an extra pulp and paper mill in the province, or doubling NewPage’s current wood consumption.

"This is a whole new level — and not a small level, but a massive level — of increased pressure on the forest to produce ever more amounts of fibre."

Mr. Plourde worries that this type of pressure would be devastating to wildlife, especially birds, which are already in steep decline.

"The vast majority of (endangered species) need healthy mature forests and we’re losing them."

Trees are considered renewable energy because they grow back, but Mr. Plourde said the soil has to have nutrients in it for this to happen.

"If you scrape off everything that’s left over after a clearcut, then there’s nothing left … to rot and to help nourish the soil and feed the next generation of trees," he said.

Ms. Didkowsky has seen the area she grew up in change before her eyes — there’s less wildlife, waterways are damaged, the ground has been disturbed by heavy machines, and the land where trees have been removed has been baked dry.

"I would like to see that there was a forest management plan in place and stricter legislation to say that there’s diversity in the species left in the forest, and there’s age diversity."

Mr. Plourde said he doesn’t know of any regulations about clearcutting for biomass. He thinks the government needs to do more for the province’s forests.

"So far, the province has done nothing to actually study the ecological implications of this kind of harvesting," said Mr. Plourde.

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