Garden Spikes ...

June 10, 2017

Fresh garden greens from the garden ...

Love the garden spike watering system ... 

to start out my plants in the spring ...

 

 

Loading Logs ...

May 27, 2017

Another day of getting firewood ...

We decided to just cut cants and stack the logs in the field ...

to let them dry ... we would buck them up later ...

We were on a time frame to get the logs off the wood lot ... Mike cut the logs into 9 foot sections ...

Thank goodness we had the tractor to do the heavy work of loading and unloading ...

 

After we cut and stacked a couple loads of logs ...

I ventured down to the garden to start planting seeds ...

I love seeing the apples blosoms on the trees ... 

There was a few wasps loving the blossoms as well ...

It was time to get the seed potatoes planted ...

in the potatoe boxes ...

The growing season has begun ...!!!

 

 

Our Anniversary ...

May 3, 2017

We decided to do some yardwork a couple days before our anniversary ...

I spent a few hours cleaning up the beds ...

The strawberry plants were given fertilizer and a fresh layer of straw ...

 

Mike spent his time aerating the lawns and fertilizing ...

to get them ready for the season ...

 

May 5, 2017

We spent a lovely morning ... celebrating our anniversary ... 

and then in the afternoon ... I headed into town to pick up a few things for the garden ...

and we decided to bring home take-out Chinese food for our dinner ...

After our late lunch ... early dinner ... I went down to work in the garden ...

adding soil and tilling it in with my little rototiller ...

then planting a few seeds and greens ...

Love working in my garden ... !!!

 

I received a photo today of James ... sitting in his classroom ... 

He looks very focused ...!!!

 

 

Garden Cleanup ...

April 20, 2017

Today we were focusing on the garden ...

It was going to be a nice day ...

the perfect time to prune the fruit trees and raspberry bushes ...

James seemed quite interested in what Grandpa was doing ...

Perhaps he'll take over this job ...

sometime in the future ...

 

It took a few hours to get the pruning job done ...

It looks much better ... being cleaned up ...

The kidlets helped with gathering the branches ...

to be burned in the burn barrel ...

hmmmm ... looks like they are sitting down on the job ...

It was getting close to lunchtime ...

The coals were perfect to have a weiner roast ...

Ella helped to bring out all the items needed ...

to doctor up our hotdogs ...

We luv these kind of days ... hanging out by the fire ...!!!

 

After all our jobs were done outside ... and dinner was done ...

We nestled down on the couch to watch the hockey game ...

Ella and James were so excited ...

when Grandpas beer glass lit up ... when our team scored a goal ...

It was a great day ...

with what was accomplished in the garden today ...!!!

Finished With The Garden ...

November 12, 2016

One last visit to the garden for this year ...

All the beets were pulled out of the ground ...

cleaned ... cooked and peeled ...

The beets were ready to be cut up into pieces ...

and put into the jars to be processed ...

These are the last of the tomatoes to be preserved ...

Today the tomatoes were going to be diced ...

using my handy ... dandy ... dicer ...

The diced tomatoes were put into a pot and cooked for a few minutes ...

then ladled into hot jars ... and placed in a water bath this time ...

for processing ...

While working in the garden earlier ...

the green and purple Kale ... was also picked ...

brought in ... washed and torn into pieces ...

then placed on the trays for the dehydrator ...

It only took a few hours for the Kale to dry ...

Finished canned diced tomatoes ...

perfect for soups and sauces ...

The dried vegetables in the canning jars ... were also vacuumed sealed ...

using the FoodSaver attachment for canning jars ...

All these canned goods ...

were ready to be taken down to the cold room ...

and put on the pantry shelves ...

 

Well ... I do believe I am finished with processing the produce ...

from my garden ...

Just in time to start my ...

Christmas baking ... !!!

 

 

All The Carrots ...

November 4, 2016

Another beautiful fall day ...

heading down to the garden to finish pulling all the carrots ... out of the ground ...

and clean up the garden beds ...

With this bunch of carrots ... I decided to shred some ...

 and place them in a three of the dehydrator trays ...

The next bunch of carrots were sliced ... 

and once again filling up three dehydrator trays ...

 Processing these carrots ... to have on hand at all times ... 

dehydrated veggies are great for soups ... stews ... etc ... when you do not have any fresh ones ...

The dried carrots will be put jars ... and stored ...

Some of the jars will be put into the travel trailer next spring ... 

for our camping adventures ...

The last bunch of fresh carrots were put into bags and will be stored ... 

Garden ... Kitchen ... Firewood ...

November 1, 2016

It's hard to believe that I am still gardening in November ...

The spinach was picked ... brought in ... washed ... and vacuum sealed in to bags ...

to be used in our morning smoothies ...

 

More carrots were picked ... washed ... cut and put into jars ...

to be processed ...

 

More jars of carrots for my pantry ...

Soon it will be full ... and well stocked for the season ...

 

November 2, 2016

Normally the garlic is usually planted in October ...

The ground was still warm in the raised beds ... there shouldn't be an issue ...

with planting them this day ...

It was a warm ... sunny day ... lovely day ... !!!

 

Mike and I decided to get another load of firewood ...

We were going to finish cutting the last of the pine wood ...

I won this pile of firewood four years ...

When we started to split some of the logs ...

the ones that had been laying on the ground for all those years ...

were infested with ants ...

Mike did spray the ants ... and then we hauled the logs down to the firebox ...

and burnt them right away ...

Ants are not what we want close to our log home ...

 

Love our new splitter and the log pick ...

the pick makes it easier to lift and maneuver the large pieces ...

to get them to the splitter ...

Oh my we are so close to getting done ...

it seems like we are just replacing the ones we are burning now to heat the house ...

If we had worked on it earlier in the year ...

it would have been full ...

 

 

In The Paper ...

October 11, 2016

What a difference from yesterday ... waking up to snow ...

it was a beautiful day here in the valley ...

Perfect day to dig up more potatoes ... and also sweet potatoes ...

 

 

October 12, 2016

Another beautiful day to get firewood ...

Our new splitter is wonderful to work with ...

If the logs are too large in diameter to lift up onto the splitter ...

we can unlock it and stand it up ...

so that the sledge will come down on the log ... in a vertical manner ...

 

 

Oma and her friends ...

made it in the local newspaper ...

from their Scooter Race event for the Alzheimer Fund Raiser ...

Oma and I were going to the theatre ...

to watch the live production of ...

"Les Ballets Jass Du Montreal"

It was a spectacular ... amazing show ... !!!

(I had acquired these tickets from the Silent Auction from the Alzheimer event)

 

 

Picking The Tomatoes ...

 

October 3, 2016

 

Thought with the cooler weather upon us ... I better gather in the tomatoes ...

even though they had been undercover ...

It would have been a shame too loose them now ...

There is plenty of room in the basement to lay them out to ripen ...

The sweet potatoe barrel was also checked ...

I was surprised that they had actually grown ...

Only a few were dug up ...

they would still be all right to be left out for another couple of weeks ...

 

My main focus for today ...

was gathering tomatoes and cleaning up the raised bed ...

 

 

 

Getting Chores Done ...

September 27, 2016

This morning was spent with ... "apples" ...

thought it would be the perfect day to make applesauce ...

I like to pre-freeze the sauce in individual containers ...

then pop them out and pack them into vacuum sealer bags ... there is always room in the freezer ...

for these small packages ...

When needed ... the discs serving is enough for our meals ...

 

 

September 28, 2016

Once again ... looking out the kitchen window ...

a flock of wild turkeys were out on the grass ...

My first thought was ... "where were you turkeys?" ...

when Nathan and his buddies were here hunting for these birds ...

I did send Nathan a picture ... and he had said the same thing ...

in wondering where they were ...

They are smart these birds ... thinking they must read the hunting regulations ... !!!

It was such a beautiful day ... to head down to the garden ...

and get some fresh potatoes ... for our dinner ...

These were the red skinned potatoes ... an early variety ...

I was also pleased to see a few worms ... working the soil ...

 

September 29, 2016

There was still a tray full of plums ... to be dealt with ...

Today two batches of plum jam were made ...

one batch of sugar-free jam for Mike ...

and a traditional one for others ...

These plums were so sweet and delicious ...

a few were consumed while preparing the jam ...

The weather was supposed to be nice in the afternoon ...

so it was decided to close up the swimming pool ...

It was also time for the hot tub to be emptied and fresh water put in ...

Once the hot tub was emptied and scrubbed clean ... and the pool vacuumed ...

we proceeded to empty the pool water into the hot tub ...

That's our way of recycling the water ...

When the hut tub was full ... we drained the pool ... to the level needed for winterization ...

All the pool accessories ... ladder ... solar panels etc. were cleaned and put away ...

The winter cover was placed ... the filter cleaned and all the lines blown out ...

Ready for the next season ...

 

 

September 30, 2016

The sun was shining ...

and it was time to get a few more loads of firewood ...

into the wood shed ...

We were excited to see how our new log splitter would perform ...

It was amazing ... while Mike was cutting the logs ...

I was splitting and loading it into the truck ...

When Mike was finished cutting ...

we worked together splitting and loading ...

 

 

It didn't take us long to get a couple loads of wood ...

The nights were getting cooler ... we needed to spend some time filling up the wood shed now ...

We both had mentioned that we miss our cousins Klaus and Resi ...

who were here visiting from Austria last year ...

and helped with getting firewood and filling the woodshed early ...

We're just a little behind ... because we're out enjoying life ... travelling and fishing ...