This and That.. More That

After working in the garden most of the day, digging and planting potatoes,onions,lettuce, spinach, I decided to do a bit of a walk about in the lower pasture.

This anthill was not there last year. 

 The bumble bees were busy

 This little butterfly plus a whole bunch more just like him were flitting around.

 A few Tiger Swallowtails were flying around.

 Then there were these guys, zillions of them all over the place. It must be the year of the worm.

 More of the horrible little critters! I don't know what eats them. The only time I saw anything chewing on them was a hunter spider. (See last year's blog)

There are a few things to do in the main garden, but they can wait for another day.

Update

I sort of took the better part of the week off from blogging, mainly to enjoy a visit from our son, up from Houston, Texas. It was great to see him again.

 In the meantime, things have happened on the Acreage! Apple trees have blossomed, with lots of flowers and hopefully, plenty of apples. We still have the chance of frosts, but hopefully, not this year.

 The lower field is greening up.

The horses are still mainly on hay with about an hour and a half per day in the corral eating green grass.The upper field ( in the background is greening up nicely. It will be the second week in June before they are allowed in there. Can you spot Boots?

 The orchard is doing well and showing lots of promise. Cheap labour was offered and accepted this last week and the gardens were dug and prepared.

 Raspberry bushes were cleaned out and the dead canes removed and the live canes tied up.

 We are even eating fresh tomatoes from the green house. These plants (three) were bought from the nursery and will supply fresh tomatoes until fall.

 The rhubarb patch is almost ready for pies and crumbles.

 Strawberries have been planted and are flowering.

All in all, lots of changes on the acreage!

PS Thanks for not mentioning that the grass needs cutting!

A Busy Wednesday

I went over to the youngest son's place early this morning to get the youngest grand son off to school. This was followed by coffee time with the boys and gals at A&W. 

After that, it was home to do some horse refreshing. Alpine did not want to be caught, but I kept after her until she quit. To make a point, I lunged her for about 20 minutes then proceeded to groom her well. The majority of the winter coat is gone and she is now shiny and looking like a horse. I put the saddle on her and spent about 15 minutes in the corral. She was very well behaved so we proceeded out onto the roadway.Other than not wanting to leave her herd, she was good. Up and down the road for half an hour was enough for the day. She got a 45 minute treat of being alone in the paddock with fresh grass. Can that gal nibble!

After the play time I went and loaded 26 wheelbarrows of pre- compost from the horse wintering area. Man, that was a time I could have used a tractor! There is still a little bit to do, but tomorrow is another day. I will save you from the view of the pile. It ain't pretty!

After that, it was off to the raspberry bushes to get rid of all of last year's dead canes. I got 50% done before my back said "Enough"!  By the way, I am still waiting for a call from a Neurologist. If the pattern matches, I still have 5 months to go.

On the positive side, riding did not affect my back at all. I wish I could say that about shoveling and pruning canes. Maybe there is a lesson here. Ride more, work less?

I suspect that I will repeat the scenario tomorrow, but with Biz as the unwilling victim.

In the meantime, the bees are busy in the honey berry bushes. 

A Little Gardening History

1957: BBC fools the nation
The BBC has received a mixed reaction to a spoof documentary broadcast this evening about spaghetti crops in Switzerland.
The hoax Panorama programme, narrated by distinguished broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, featured a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest.

It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.

But some viewers failed to see the funny side of the broadcast and criticized the BBC for airing the item on what is supposed to be a serious factual programme.

Others, however, were so intrigued they wanted to find out where they could purchase their very own spaghetti bush.

Exotic delicacy

Spaghetti is not a widely-eaten food in the UK and is considered by many as an exotic delicacy.

Mr Dimbleby explained how each year the end of March is a very anxious time for Spaghetti harvesters all over Europe as severe frost can impair the flavour of the spaghetti.

He also explained how each strand of spaghetti always grows to the same length thanks to years of hard work by generations of growers.

This is believed to be one of the first times the medium of television has been used to stage an April Fools Day hoax.

How can so many people be so foolish  as to believe this?

Everybody knows that spaghetti does not grow on bushes.
Lasagna does! :-}

Wikipedia

One thing about a good snowstorm is that things are so nice and clean afterwards

 The trees that did not lose their leaves are very heavy and nasty to brush against. I had to shake our Mayberry,  apple and other trees because the branches were right at the break point. The raspberry bushes were flattened.

 It's tough going through the denser part of the Acreage.

 This gives you an idea of how sticky the snow was.

 The horses have been using the old road quite a bit looking for food. Alas, there is none, and winter feeding has started.

 Boots doesn't seem to mind the snow, except that Brooklyn appears to have taken over his dog house. Hopefull, they will learn to share, or I will have to add an addition.

It was fortunate that the onions were drying in the garage out of the snow and -7C (19.4F) temperature. Half are now safely stored in the pantry. The other half will likely be given away.

All in all, not a bad day!

The Start of Fall

Looking around the Acreage today, the signs that it is now officially fall are every where. The leaves are all turning. A lot have fallen already

 The flower beds are looking pretty barren and bleak. The grass, however, will not need to be cut again! Yeah!

 Our catnip plant flowered for the first time since we got it. Pretty, but what do you use catnip for, anyway? We have no cats.

 If you look hard, there is the odd Icelandic poppy still blooming, but not many. They are a cold hardy plant!

 So, summer is gone! All that is left to say is "so long, Summer"

The End!

What Did I Do Today?

The aquarium was getting to be a mess. With Sushi gone, I decided to do a clean up. After only 24 hours, the water clarity improved dramatically. Rubber Lips even came out of hiding and posed at the front of the tank.

 He is getting to be a fair size considering that he used to lay cross wise in the arch in the back ground.

The other thing that came up was the fact that the beans had matured. Three gallons were ended, cut up and frozen This supplied us with 9 large bags of beans (more on the way, if the frost doesn't nail them).

The peas were good, but did not produce enough to freeze. Instead we cooked a few, and ate 2 gallons worth, raw. The almost last cucumbers were picked and the remaining vines are turning yellow.

Next will be the task of peeling, coring and cutting up the apple crop prior to making applesauce  and crumbles. Work never seems to stop. I have to get it done as hunting season is fast approaching!

Around the Acreage

 I have no idea what these flowers are. They were here when we bought the place, and keep coming up each year. My favourite type of flower, no maintenance! Now, to be perfect they need to be edible.

 Not much happening around the place. The horses are back in the lower field. Boots has a shady spot to keep an eye on them. Life is good!

 Now what was that over there? It's destroying the concentration required to be a good horse dog.

Yep, all is peaceful! However, the leaves on the poplar trees are getting a brown hue and are starting to curl. The temperature is starting to get down to the +5C (41F) and the nights are getting shorter. Time to check out the snow blower.

Good to be Back!

The raspberry bushes are now almost 7 feet tall. The spring was cold so it appears the growth went into next year's canes rather than into the berries. Last year we got 100+pounds of berries. This year we will be lucky to get 40. When the bushes are this tall and you hear slurping noises, you immediately think " Bear"!

 She is big enough to be classified as a bear, but is the wrong colour. Brooklyn taught herself to pick raspberries. She just lips them off the branches. There is no way that she ate 50+ pounds! Bad dog!

The five rows of peas will be ready for freezing this week. The carrots will stay in the ground until first frost. They seem to grow best in October.

 More shots of the very tasty peas. Brooklyn hasn't figured peas out yet.

The potato patch is producing already. Elaine likes baby spuds and I like the heaviest that can be grown.

We had quite a wind yesterday, The powers to be are looking at perhaps a little tornado. It was at the minimum, a severe down burst. Several cars were squished by trees, a couple of roofs went missing and a few roads were blocked by fallen trees. The worst missed us by half a mile, and we suffered no damage on the Acreage. The power was off for 20 hours due to trees on the power lines. All the chickens in the Kenmore Hilton were OK after that time so I guess the claim that a freezer is good for 24 hours holds, as long as the freezer isn't opened. The storm came right out of the blue with virtually no warning. Ah, well, Life in Alberta has it's moments!

Firewood available. U-Pick.

Environment Canada is forecasting more of the same tonight with the possibility of large hail. The large crop of apples is getting close to harvesting, but is not there yet. I would hate to lose another bunch!

We have 6 baby magpies hanging around. They are almost full grown and have definitely found their vocal chords!

 This is either mom, or dad. It's hard to tell them apart.

 The potatoes are hilled and growing well, in spite of not having any rain.

 The rest of the garden is also doing great.

The neighbours have grass. The lawn mowers have eaten ours down. This whitetail knows which is the better side!

No, that's not dirt on the lens. It's smoke from three forest fires about 200 km north of us. Visibility is down to about 3 miles. We are not in any danger, although the fire hazard has jumped back up to extreme again. Thunderstorms  are forecast. Hopefully, no new fires will happen.

Have a great weekend!