The Baby Pheasants are "babies" no more

They've grown so big! I got unexpectedly awoken early this morning, but got a nice reward, seeing the babies sitting under our backyard maple, shaking out the dew from their feathers. What a cute bunch! You can definitely see the second one from the left is going to be a boy - he's getting his pretty red feathers in around his neck (and some on his chest too, which I've seen on earlier occasions).

It's funny when their bodies are all puffed out like that, it makes their heads look ridiculously scrawny and small! (Like, check out the one on the far right - she's looking like a Skesis or something!) Okay, cuter than that, but you get my drift. :)

I really can't get over how fast they've grown. I guess they have to, with the cooler weather coming on. :) What sweet little dears...

BeanDreams: the previous generation

I mean seriously - anyone can grow cucumber - but it takes a special kind of gardener to grow cukes like this! My mother's plants are as tall as we are!

It's actually kinda scary standing next to them, it's like a jungle, pressing in on you...thank goodness it's behind a fence! ;)

So, as far as gardening: like father, like daughter.

(Of course, my Dad helps with the garden too! :D)

Busy Bees

Caught this sweet little bee, working hard in my parent's garden earlier this lovely summer (but feeling fall-ish) evening...

From Blossom to Fruit

Remember these?

Well, they've turned into these:


The turning of the seasons is a beautiful thing. :) Lovely apples just after a rainfall...

Baby Junco

Awwww....what a little cutie.


You can hear his shrill trills in the backyard, since he hasn't learned his species call yet - but he's finally making the trip to the feeder with mama. He's come along quite well, I see him pecking on the ground and getting some of his own seeds - of course, he prefers if mama feeds him the seeds still... :)

Molly Has A Problem

Heard a noise amongst our collection of empty boxes (kept around in prep for our eventual move). Peeked inside a box tucked inside another box, and found Molly cat.



As has been sadly seen many, many times on CuteOverload.com, Molly definitely needs boxhab.

She's addicted to boxes.

Oh, she thinks she's okay - note the defiant look on her face...but we all can see she has a problem.

Poor Molly...

Garden Gnome Globetrotter

Garden Gnomes. Some people love 'em, some hate 'em. Some people hate them enough to steal them from other people's gardens, just so they don't have to look at them. I'm sure that Eve Stuart-Kelso thought that's what had happened to her gnome when he went missing. But a few months later, he re-appeared on her doorstep, complete with a photo album detailing his world tour! Seriously! BBC did a great report on it, check it out here.

Hilarious!

Moments Ago, the Pheasants Return

Momma and babies checking out the front lawn. So exciting!

Mom Pheasant lies down flat quickly when she senses I'm at the door taking pictures. Other birds were in the yard, too, including a couple of grackles (one shown here) and blue jays.


Two babies peckin' around...so cute! They're about the size of pigeons now, maybe a touch bigger.


Mom and kids. So happy to see them out and about! Hope they all grow big and strong. I wonder how many are boys and how many are girls? Only time will tell!

So wrong... (BeanDreams)

No. Don't do that.



My kohlrabi doesn't even have a bulb, and now you're eating the leaves??!!

*sigh*

Note: after looking around for a while, I believe that (once again, found on that awesome pest-identification page from Pest-Control Canada, photo #395) it is the caterpillar of the White-Marked Tussock Moth (a big name for a rather plain-looking moth, if you ask me). :)

Beloved Bachelor's Buttons

I just love these flowers...can't get enough! So happy to be growing them again.

BeanDreams

Meant to post this last week, but I've been quite under the weather lately. Here's a little update on how all that BeanDreaming is going...

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Ah, time to let nature take its course...after eating and enjoying a crop, you've got to let some of it go to seed, so you can plant again next year. Here, you can see the daikon radish setting a seed blossom. My radish, this year as last, grew very slow and not very big. Still, a nice addition to stir fries.


And my bok choi is all finished too, and has started to set some lovely yellow flowers. Although I planted several, now that I've grown it for a couple years, I think that the variety I chose (Joi Choi) is just too petite for the way I want to use it. I love those thick white stalks, but these plants are very small - at least the way I'm growing them. :) I think if I grow bok choi again, I would pick a larger variety.


I'm not the only one enjoying the flowers:


The catnip and oregano are growing like gangbusters, truly a resounding success! I'm really, really pleased with how this crop turned out, I'll have lots to dry and use throughout the winter.


But the parsley??!! What's going wrong with them? I have no idea. I looked around online and it says that parsley doesn't like the mid-summer heat. Maybe I should move it into the shade for a while. It's funny too, because one of them is growing nicely, but the others just stopped after putting out one true leaf. Pretty disappointing, I wanted to use some fresh in cooking...


My bachelor's buttons are just starting to open - I love them so! I'm very excited. But the kohlrabi??? Some of the leaves were looking a little "blighty" - I though there might be a lack of airflow, so I made some spaces between the plants to get more air in there, it seems to have helped. But no bulb!! What's going on?


I looked around and found a site that said the long roots of kohlrabi don't lend themselves well to container planting. WHAAA??? NOW you tell me! Crap. I looked all over the place to try and find what might be causing the lack of bulb. I finally found one mention of it on the FarmGirl Fare auxiliary site. She had the same problem I did, and was also unable to find any info online about exactly "why" this lack of bulb occurs. I think perhaps the planter is too small, and they don't like the crowding? I dunno. All I know is, I have a nice crop of leaves, but no bulb. Oh well, the leaves will be nice in a stir fry. :) At least they're edible, otherwise I'd have nothing to show for it! Bleargh.

Oh well, that's just part of the job when it comes to home gardening. You have to learn by trial and error - sometimes you get fantastic results, and other times...well, it's all a growing experience! (Ouch, just realized what a bad pun that was)... :)

Baby Pheasants

Finally saw them crossing our lawn, very cautiously, a few minutes ago!




And now...getting ready to cross the dangerously-lacking-in-cover driveway...



Wait for me!!!


Phew! We all made it!


Sorry the pictures aren't clearer, but they were the best I could do under the circumstances (poor weather, fast moving birds at a distance, etc. etc. etc.) :D I'm just so thrilled to have seen them finally, AND to have gotten some pics to share these babies with you!

Today's "Stew" - Good-Bye Cakes

I read the Stew last night, and by the time I was done, my eyes were tearing I was laughing so hard. Jeff Houck did a great piece on memorable Good-Bye cakes - memorable for all the wrong reasons. If you need a laugh, head over there now. OMG.

Eat Your Borscht!

New tees, totes and gifts available with my brand new design - dedicated to borscht fans, of course! ;) Warn others that they'd better eat their borscht, or you'll be forced to step in!



Ukrainian humor and borscht fans alike will love this design! Check it out!

Orange: the color of summer

Tiger lilies really say "summer's here" to me. The neighbours had a gorgeous display of them when I was growing up, and we have a lot growing on the property here now, so these flowers have been around me virtually my entire life.

The colors of these flowers are perfect for the mid-summer's heat too - various bright shades of orange, each one more vibrant than the last. Just beautiful!

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What Dave's Mom Saw This Morning

I'll be keeping my camera at the ready, for when they come around again.

Six, count 'em, SIX baby pheasants!!! She saw them, their mom, and two males walking together, taking a circuitous route around the neighbourhood. Last year we waited, but it didn't seem as if they had managed to have any babies (even though there were several females in the group), so to see that this year they had six is just wonderful! So heartwarming! I can't wait to see them myself, it's really great news.

I'll post pics when I get 'em!

BeanDreams: Summer Sage

The sage that I planted a few years ago has set flowers:


Lovely, aren't they? I understand that sage plants get a little hard and woody after a couple of years, so it's advisable to tear up your old plants and start some fresh. The leaves on these plants still seem to be of good quality, though, so I'll keep mine going for a while. And now I'll have some seeds to replant if I need to!

Caught this busy guy on our princess bush out front - as I've mentioned before, there haven't been as many bees around these parts as is usual, so every bee is extra special.

Urban Farming

The BBC has a really interesting article on an urban farming project in Detroit.

A wonderful program, and something that is sorely needed in today's world. Not only does this provide fresh vegetables for poor inner-city folks who can't afford them otherwise (contributing greatly to their overall health and well-being), but it's great for cities to become more self-sufficient. Growing food to feed their people, instead of having it shipped to them over great distances from far-off places (which often means less-than-fresh produce, and a lot of gas used in its transportation) is really the way to go.

They have a website promoting the program at www.urbanfarming.org. Check it out!

New Farmer's Market at Musquodoboit Harbour!

They've opened up a Farmer's Market in Musquodoboit Harbour, at the Railway Museum (which, as I mentioned before, had one of my ancestors as a Station Master there, back when the trains were still running). Here's a shot of the Museum as we were driving back from Martinique last summer.

The market runs every Sunday, starting July 13th, and running through until October - 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. There'll be food, flowers, produce, crafts and preserves! Sounds like something for everyone!

Contact Dee at 220-9114 or email mhfarmersmarket@gmail.com for more information.

BeanDreams: Warm Weather Helps!

The catnip and the oregano, thanks to the arrival of warm weather and sunshine, have been growing gangbusters!


Okay, well, maybe the catnip is growing a little too much like gangbusters. I had to uproot some of them to give the oregano some room to breathe and grow. :) Fortunately, I won't need too many catnip plants, they really grow quite large.



I took what I uprooted inside for drying, and I've given some to Baby Boy and Molly, who respond the most to the catnip. It's made for a fun morning - they totally freaked out, rolling around, clawing at the couch. Now, they're exhausted and have passed out. :)

The parsley looked like it was going to really explode with the warm weather - but after their initial burst of growth, they've slowed down again.


And the kohlrabi and bachelor's buttons need SERIOUS thinning out. This is getting crazy! :) I've been peeking down in the pot, but I haven't seen any signs of a "bulb" growing yet. I understand you can eat the leaves, so I think I will! :)

Backyard Strawberries

Mmmmm...sweet backyard strawberries. They grow wild all over the place, and if you're not too set on having a grass-only lawn, these teeny tiny wild strawberries are a great plant to share the lawn with! So tasty! They'd make a lovely decoration on the top of a cake, or cupcakes, too.

Hmmm...may have to make some cupcakes later... :)

Check out our great new Homesteading Tees!

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Sunny Clover

Clover has a beautiful, beautiful perfume. Favored by bees, hummingbirds, and bunnies alike, we've been really blessed with a HUGE proliferation of clover growing in our background. You just have to step on the back deck and you can catch the lovely scent on the breeze - it's just delicious!

Baby Boy as a ... well, baby!

I've been sorting through my old photo CDs, trying to purge out the pics that are out of focus or duplicates, and reburn them on a couple DVDs. WAY easier to keep track of stuff that way, instead of the huge pile of CDs I currently have. It's hard though, trying to come up with a good organizational structure for the files - I'll just have to pick one and go with it, and not change half-way. :)

While going through all these pics, I found this great one from 2003, when Baby Boy had only been with us about 5 months or so. He had been SUCH a hard case when we first captured him - a VERY feral kitten, he scratched and bit us a lot till he finally gave himself over to the domestic life he was destined for. Once he gave himself over, he REALLY gave himself over. Totally and completely. Aside from occasionally getting startled, he is still the more relaxed cat I have ever seen. And here, you can really see that. He tucked himself in to Dave's side, and ended up under Dave's arm. And then he passed right out. What a goofy kitten!

Prom Night Time Again

I LOVE prom night - you can spot the kids here and there, usually around the Superstore, collecting their corsages or last minute snacks. The girls look so elegant in their gowns, and the boys so handsome in their tuxes - crossing the threshold into post-high school life, and adulthood. I just want to pinch their little cheeks! :)

Last night, teens were meeting in the Superstore parking lot, but there seemed to be more of them than usual. And then more. And more! And THEN, a huge red double-decker bus, the sort that are common in Britain, drove up. Now, it all made sense! All the kids got on, pictures were taken, and off they went to the prom - very cool! Great idea!

So congrats to the Class of '08 - have a ton of fun!

Porters Lake Fire Update: One Week On

Well, it looks like our big fire will have cost about $750,000. Eep. (CBC) And that's just the cost of fighting the fire. No word on how much it cost in business (having that main highway closed for several days, businesses without power, people not going to work, etc. etc.) The latest news is that a forestry worker said on Friday afternoon he saw a woman on an ATV trail (that's All Terrain Vehicle, for those who live in non-ATV places) in Lake Echo (right next to Porters Lake), trying desperately with a small bucket, to put out a fire that had already spread far beyond her tiny bucket's ability to cope. He called 911 and left, just as a dude on an ATV showed up with some hamburger buns on the back of his vehicle.

(Don't get me started on ATVs. Just don't.)

But, in any case, this was one of those "unofficial" trails (aren't most of them?) and it's way back in the woods, and someone decided to have a campfire. It was really, really stupid. This was one of the windiest days of the year. Like, it was creepy windy, getting up to huge gusts that were hard to walk against. NOT the time for a BBQ in an open pit in dry woods. I understand that fire can get out of control FAST, way faster than you might imagine, but C'MON! I feel bad for them, because the guilt must be horrible. (If it's true - which we don't know yet, they have to investigate further). It was just a really stupid mistake.

God grant that our stupid mistakes don't have such consequences. Amen.

A local DJ is hosting a party (and providing entertainment) for all the volunteers (firefighter and otherwise) who helped fight the blaze and care for the evacuees, at the Lake Echo Community Centre on June 27th. The note advertising this event says it's a potluck, so to call Dude (I forget his real name) and tell him what you're bringing. You're having a party on a Friday night (6pm - 1am) after a horribly stressful event that everyone needs to get rid of their excess nervous energy from, and you want everyone coming to CALL you? Last I heard, the rumour (there's that word again) is that over 6,000 people plan to attend. :D I think this is going to be a little bigger than Dude thought. Everyone wants to thank these people, and everyone wants to have a good time.

We'll see how it all goes! And I'll keep you posted on the cause of the fire, if it's true cause is ever discovered.

BeanDreams: Herbal Update

When they said parsley was a slow starter, they REALLY meant it! Even though I simulated winter and soaked the seeds before planting, it still took a couple weeks for them to sprout. They're here, finally, though!


And you can tell the oregano and catnip don't like the coolish weather we've been having. They sprouted, and pretty much stayed that way - not many true leaves showing up on these little seedlings yet.


Guess which plants were said to be cold-weather lovers, and could be planted early in spring? The kohlrabi and the bachelor's buttons - they're just growing like freakin' crazy! They love this weather!


Looks like some spiders have hatched nearby - little babies here are spinning webs in between the plant pots. It's amazing they're SO small, and still have enough brainpower to be able to create the beautiful webs spiders are known for. Amazing.


Hopefully with the coming of warmer weather, the herbs will grow more! :)

Lakes as Mine Dump Sites

WHAT?????!!!!! Big news on the CBC today, 16 lakes here in Canada are slated to be turned into places where mines dump their toxic tailings. It's being done quietly, getting around laws that protect fish-bearing lakes. How horrible!!!!

Read the whole story here.

Terribly disturbing news, hopefully now that the word's out, the outrage will prevent this from occurring. Considering this is CANADA, which is known internationally for our beautiful lakes, streams, and forests, we really can't be doing such things!!!

New Ruralish Life/Simple Living Merchandise!

I've created a new line of merchandise celebrating living the simple life! My designs reflect these values - from buying locally to support local farmers and reduce gas use, to minimizing consumerism and living more simply and self-sufficiently, I've got the perfect designs to help spread the word about the lifestyle you love!

More designs coming soon! I'll keep you posted here!

Rough Winds and Fire

Rough winds may shake the darling buds of May, but in June, they tear the crap out of new leaves! Our poor trees! The leaves are really torn up, and they just came out! Hopefully the trees will be able to get enough nutrients still...

At least the winds have finally died down, and the weather's turned dampish, if not outright wet, so they're allowing evacuated families to return to their homes. We had another power outage last night for a few hours, but otherwise nothing new happened for us (thank God!).

One thing that amazed me during this whole thing was the Rumor Mill. It was INSANE!! The rumors were flying fast, furious and out of control! Every hour, talking to people, you'd hear of some new street evacuation, or that the power was going to be shut off for safety reasons in a couple of hours, and on and on and on! It was really nuts! Especially considering none of it was true! At least the Chronicle-Herald was good about keeping people up to date (if they had Internet access) - so if you could get there, you could see a running list of current evacuation notices. And NO power shutdowns listed. :)

Hopefully soon they will be able to re-open the highway to the city - right now a normally 20 minute drive takes an hour or so. Glad I don't have to go to the city today! :)

Now that things are settling down, talk is starting to turn to what actually caused this fire in the first place. I assumed it was some careless homeowner doing a "controlled" burn of his yard on a WAY too windy day, but now there is a RUMOR (there it is again) that it started behind an elementary school, leading some to believe that it was started by some kids. But, ONLY TIME WILL TELL. It'll be interesting to see, for sure. There was a lot of inconvenienced people, money lost for stores and other businesses (shippers couldn't use the highway, power outages, etc.), and property damage and loss. Not to mention the stress!

Glad it's all (seemingly) coming to a close. :)