This Week's Wildlife & Plant News

A few days ago we saw a moose had walked right under our bedroom window. We didn't see it... again. We consistantly see moose and deer tracks on the property, but very rarely see them.

Today we saw a grizzly bear in one of the neighbour's fields. It's a little disconcerting as we are used to having black bears around here, but to see a grizzly is unusual. We have told the children to be very careful and keep on the look out when they are outside.

The chicks are doing well and have lots of feathers already. The are beginning to do little low flights in the brooder box and they are beginning to scuffle for dominance. Obviously we have a few roosters in the crowd (Americana chicken that could not be sexed).

The weather continues to be hot; up to 28c. We have now had 3 weeks of glorious weather and no rain. It has rained a few evenings in town, be we didn't get any here, other than the occasion drop. The plants are doing well though - the mountain ash tree is full of flowers and the snowball bush which Kaiser chewed up in the fall has sprung back and is about to flower. The gladiola are up about 15cm (6inches). The North Star Cherries have dried up - we have given the tree lots of water during this hot spell, but I think the stress of moving the tree is the main culprit.

I just realized... this is our 100th post!

Greenhouse and Garden - A Slow Process

The road restrictions are still on so we can't bring in any soil and compost material into the garden yet. Hopefully the restrictions will be removed next week. Here is Husband tilling up the clay to get the garden area ready.

The small greenhouse is full of tomato, pepper, cucumbers and watermelon plants. Last night Husband and Son finished covering the large greenhouse with plastic. Now we have lots of room for plants!

Oh My! We still have so much to do.

The chicks are a week old and have developed their wing feathers and are trying them out. I'll have to cover the box with wire soon so they don't fly out.

Ducklings are still scheduled to arrive the end of June. "Barry the duck man" as he introduces himself on the phone called to confirm that he has our order. He also wants to know if we want any geese. I do, but will have to wait until next year.

The weather has been glorious with most days at 25c+. It appears to want to storm this afternoon - some rain will be good.

Mosquitos, Chicken and Ducks - Oh My

The mosquitos have come out in full force as of Sunday. They don't nomally bother us too much but, the constant buzzing around ones ears does become tedious after a while. The bugs follow us into the house and the dog is constantly snapping at them. We thought that will so many frogs in the lagoon this year the mosquito numbers would be down, but it didn't happen. Hopefully in two weeks most of them will have disappeared.

My birthday was in May and Husband surprised me with trees! Isn't that what every girl wants? I now own:

2 - Battleford Apples - Tasty, crisp apples that are excellent for eating fresh or for cooking. Flowers on this hardy tree bloom in the early spring and are white with a pinkish tinge. The apples mature in late August.

1 - Goodland Apple - A very hardy 2.5-3" green apple with a reddish blush, high quality, great for cooking and eating fresh, stores well, late season harvest;apples, need a second pollinator, needs well-drained soil and full sun

1 - North Star Cherry - A medium sized bright red to mahogany skinned cherry, with yellow, juicy tender flesh. This attractive small tree, naturally, only grows 8 to 10 feet. The North Star is a highly productive sour cherry that is extremely cold hardy and disease resistant. North Star has a prolonged ripening period from late June to late July.

Our chicks arrived last night! We were fortunate that we didn't lose any during the shipping, nor overnight. I forgot how cute they are!

The dark chicks are the Black Sex Link (which I finally found out are also called Black Rock -this made Husband very happy as that is the breed/strain he wanted - I think 'Black Rock' is perhaps what the British call them as I couldn't find this name in North America poultry circles). The lighter chicks are the Americauna.

Next on the agenda.... DUCKS! We ordered 6 Khaki Campbell ducks which will be arriving sometime at the end of this month. Hopefully once older (next year) they will help keep down the mosquito population. Apparently the Khaki Campbell are prolific layers... we'll see if they outlay the chicken.

Spring, Have you forsaken us?

It was a beautiful long weekend. Warm and sunny. The family did lots of work in the front yard. We purchased and planted Peonies, Hostas, Golden Rod and Coral Bells. We planted bulbs of Iris, Lilies, Anemones, and Gladiola. We transplanted cucumbers and into the greenhouse. We put up the hummingbird feeder on the front deck and watched many Rufous hummingbirds flitting about between the tulips and the feeder.

This morning we awoke to snow. But not just a little snow - oh no! By the time I left for work at 8:30am there was 10cm (4 inches) on my car. One of our trees had fallen from the weight of the wet snow and several other were leaning; their roots being pulled from the ground. It snowed all day. By one in the afternoon there was 20cm (8 inches) on the ground. Luckily Husband had the day off and could brush the snow off the plants. The hummingbirds continue to visit the feeder - obviously the only place that they will find any nourishment within the blanket of white.

I haven't gone into the greenhouse to check on the cukes.... I'm scared. We have already lost almost all of the tomatoes we started. I managed to bring some of the better looking ones into the kitchen window - hopefully we can nurse them back to health.

Busy, busy, busy

You can tell when I am busy with work because the blogging stops. My business is either slow or super busy, and lately I have been run off my feet. Needless to say not only has the blog been neglected, but so has my home.

We did manage to hold a party for husband's co-workers as everyone worked hard over the winter. He barbequed baron of beef roasts while I made salads. We had a ton of food, drinks, and really good company! Luckily the weather was warm and sunny and everyone sat outside on the bit of lawn we have in the front of the house. We even got to see some wildlife in the form of a little mouse who has been living under our driveway over the winter. He came out and begged food off our guests - totally unafraid of the 30 or so people milling around.

Our plants are still growing in the garage and the cucumbers and pumpkins are beginning to blossom. Husband has built a large greenhouse frame 12x30 ft and we need to move it to the back of the yard. Unfortunately, the snow has just disappeared last week, so the ground is very muddy. I imagine we will try to move it this weekend, and then I can start to harden off the plants.

I made homemade pasta for the first time a few weeks ago. I have wanted to do this for quite some time and saw pasta machines everywhere. Of course when it came to actually wanting to purchase one, I couldn't find a single machine! I finally found one at the last store I tried - I really should have gone to that hardware store first as they are known to "have everything".
It surprised me how easy it is to make noodles! Just some flour and eggs made into a dough and then slipped through the pasta machine several times. The kids loved them! Of course being homemade the taste is far superior to prepackaged. I want to make some more, but just have not found the time yet.

Watch Hockey: It's Good for the Environment

Well the NHL Hockey play offs for the Stanley Cup have begun.

Now, I'm not a hockey watcher and can easily do without it, but Husband likes to watch. I'm a lucky woman as he only watches when the Vancouver Canucks play (Go Team Go), so thankfully I only have to endure a portion of the season's games.

Strange but True... watching hockey reduces energy consumption! According to BC Hydro during the time a hockey game airs, compared to the same time the day before and the day after, there is a notable reduction in the amount of power used. It was the news tonight, but I can't remember the amount of savings. The belief is that during hockey games people gather around the television and don't turn on any additional lights.

Hockey can also lead one to be socially responsible. Who knew??? A few Canuck fans decided to purchase a goat for developing countries every time the Canucks won a game in this year's Stanley Cup play offs. From a couple of guys who set up a face book group it has grown (as of this writing) to 269 supporters. Check out Goat Canucks Goat on facebook or their new website http://www.goatcanucksgoat.com/. You don't have to be a Vancouver Canucks fan, or even a hockey fan for that matter, to help purchase goats.

Get Your Goat On!

Environmental/Green/Food Books

The latest books in the pile are all by Canadian authors...

"Food Security for the Faint of Heart" By Robin Wheeler. I received this book for Christmas and have finally finished it (not that its a difficult read, but it took some time trying to read it in amongst other activities such as work)

It has lots of practical information for growing and storing food and really hits the spot about having to be prepared for emergencies. She uses many recent provincial emergency situations as examples, and as she is from the West Coast she cites 'the big one' (eventual major earthquake) as a very good reason to get prepared.

I am currently reading 'The End of Food: How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Food Supply - and What You Can Do About It." by Thomas F. Pawlick. I happened to see it at the public library and I quickly added it to my book stack.

If you like Michael Pollan's books or "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, you will like this book too. It really delves into the food industry, farming practices, and can be quite graphic especially the part about the life of battery hens.

I'm about half way through this book and I am finding it extremely informative, as it has been very well researched.

"Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs?" by Robin Harding. I just received this book from my sister as an early birthday present (same one who gifted my the Food Security book above - I guess she knows what I like to read). I quickly read the first few pages and it is HILARIOUS! I can't wait to dive into it.