Month: September 2024

Our 2024 Garden: sleepy bees, afternoon harvest, and our mighty Crespo squash!

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Today was another one of those days where I just quickly fed the outside cats early, and left the rest of my morning routine for later. As I write this, we are at 16C/61F, with a “real feel” of 13C/55F.

I’m quite enjoying this, but it’s a bit cool for the garden.

And the critters.

Like these snoozy bumble bees!

Yes, there are three bees in that squash blossom!

Before I did what would normally be my morning rounds in the afternoon, I headed out to the town north of us to pick up more cat kibble at the livestock supply place. The inside cats’ kibble was out completely. With my mother’s upcoming eye appointment in the city on the day we would normally do our first stock up shop in the city, I decided to get two 40 pounds bags this time, for both the outside and inside cats. While I was in town, I hit the grocery store for a few items as well. Normally, I wouldn’t, as groceries are quite a bit more expensive, but not as expensive as the extra gas it would take to drive to the town nearer to home, where we usually do our smaller trips.

Once back home and everything put away, I gave both the inside and outside cats a light feeding. The outside cats were practically fighting each other to get at the bowls.

The inside cats, not so much! 😄

After feeding the outside cats, I could finally walk without having them try and trip me, meowing for food, and I was finally able to do the rest of my rounds. There was even things to harvest!

The two larger melons you can see in the photo fell off their vines as soon as I lifted them.

That little Cream of Saskatchewan watermelon is so tiny! With the stem completely shriveled up, though, there was no point in leaving it. I’m curious as to what it will look like, inside!

With the cooler weather, I wasn’t actually expecting to harvest tomatoes, but some of them looked ready enough. We have so many other tomatoes inside right now, these can stay in the bin in the cat free zone to ripe more before we use them. These are the Forme de Couer tomatoes – including one green one that broke off its vine as I was harvesting the red one next to it – and Black Cherry tomatoes. No San Marzano or Chocolate Cherries to harvest this time around.

Last night, my older daughter made a large pot of tomato soup using fresh tomatoes that was quite delicious. After I finished what I was doing outside, I got the Crockpot set up to make more tomato sauce/base. I used some of the small onions that were harvested yesterday, as well as 8 or 10 cloves of our garlic – the strings of garlic have been brought in from the garage and can now go into the root cellar, making room for the onions that can be braided. Then I just used up what vegetables we had on hand. This time, that included a Little Finger eggplant, one Dragonfly pepper (any more than that, and I probably couldn’t eat it), the one little green zucchini we had, and all the beans that were left over. It got whatever seasonings I felt like using (basil, thyme, paprika and turmeric, this time), plus salt and pepper, along with some olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Then as many tomatoes as could be fit into the Crockpot were added. This time, I seeded them, only to reduce the amount of liquid, so it won’t take so long to cook it down to the thickness we want.

This will be left to cook on high for a few hours, while there are people up and about to tend to it, then on low into the night, for maybe 6 hours. When the time runs out, the Crockpot automatically switches to the warm setting, which is still hot enough to keep cooking it. In the morning, it will be blitzed with the immersion blender, then go back on high, with the lid propped open to release moisture, until it’s cooked down to the thickness we want.

After that, we leave it to cool down completely, generally using some of it as a pasta sauce while it’s still hot. Once cooled, it’ll go into freezer bags and into the freezer. We can then use it later as a sauce, as the base for a tomato soup, or included in any “use watcha got” soup we make.

But I’m getting ahead of myself!

When I first headed out to check on the garden beds, I just had to get some photos of the Crespo squash. Our mighty, mighty Crespo squash! It is absolutely thriving!

I actually found two new squash developing, including the first one you see in the slideshow below.

Yup. That’s in the cherry trees! That one looks like it will be a survivor. It’s even bigger than the one in the second image that I’ve been watching. I wasn’t sure if that one got well pollinated or not. It’s starting to look like it has, but the first one that started growing in the trees died off when it was bigger than this, so it’s hard to say at this point.

The next photo shows one on a vine that’s stretching into the spruce grove. I’m pretty sure that one was successfully pollinated, and has a good chance of survival.

The next photo is of another surprise find. It was buried in the tall grass, so I weeded around it and set it on a brick to keep it off the wet ground.

I didn’t try to get photos of the two larger ones growing inside the bean trellis, but I just had to get a photo of the largest one, with my foot for perspective. THAT is more like they are supposed to look like. Though this one is still small for the variety, it’s the largest we’ve ever managed to grow, and I’ve been trying to grow these for something like four years now!

This new bed and location is definitely ideal for this squash. Even the deer are leaving it alone! Which is surprising, since they go through the path right next to the squash, to get in and out of the spruce grove, and I know they were eating the sugar snap peas in the bed not far away. The first year we grew these, the deer and groundhogs got to them several times before we could get enough barriers around them.

Now, we just need the frost to hold off longer, to give them a chance to mature more!

It would be great if we had another mild winter like last year, but that was a strong El Nino year, and this year we’re getting a strong La Nina – which typically means a colder, harsher winter, in our region. Which seems to be what the Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting, too.

We shall see.

Until then, I’m going to appreciate the upcoming warm weather that’s in the forecast for the next week.

I know the garden sure will, too!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2024 Garden: harvesting onions, and prepping half a bed

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Well, I harvested the onions this evening, and there turned out to be more than I expected! At least, more than I expected to have survived! 😄

The variety of yellow onion we tried this year is called Frontier, from Veseys. I’m actually impressed with how big they got, even though they were flattened and had their necks broken so early on!

The first photo in the above slideshow is all the onions from the bed shared with the summer squash, and all the onions I could find under and around the San Marzano tomatoes. I know for sure I’ve missed some in that bed! The tomatoes are quite dense, making it hard to see, but I still found quite a few.

I also harvested a few shallots. There are others I left, as they had not been flattened and are still growing.

In the second photo, you can see what I used to lay them out to cure this year. That’s a home made bed frame, and they’re laid out on metal mesh window screens we salvaged from the barn, years ago.

Some of them have enough stems on them that they can be braided, so those ones will get braided and hung up in the garage to finish curing. The ones that can’t be braided will be brought into the house to be used first.

That done, I had a mess to clean up.

In the first photo of the slideshow above, you can see that, even with a mulch, the weeds are taking over. The main concern being the Creeping Charlie at one end.

The first thing to do was remove the mulch. We won’t be able to use the grass clippings as mulch again, since so many roots and rhizomes are mixed in with it now.

In the next photo, the soil had been broken up – our soil tends to get very compacted – to be able to remover as many weeds, roots and rhizomes as I could.

Including elm tree roots. Yes, even after clearing those out in the spring, they are once again reaching that far away from the trees!

I had considered skipping the weeding, but I’m glad I didn’t. I shooed away a remarkable number of frogs that were hiding in there!

In the next photo, you can see the pile of stuff I cleared out. That will be for burning, not composting. The bed itself was tidied up and levelled.

Of course, while working on this, I found onions that got missed! You can see those in the next photo. They are now on the screens to cure.

The last photo shows the finished bed. Boards that had been used to frame the bed space while it was being shifted over in the spring are now holding down plastic for solarization. We’ve got some hot days coming up, and that should be enough to start cooking the soil and killing off any weeds, seeds and roots.

But no frogs. I made sure they all got a chance to hop away!

Unless the wind manages to blow the plastic away, boards and all, this will stay until spring. When the summer squash and shallots in the rest of the bed are cleaned up for the winter, I should be able to cover the rest of the bed, too.

I think I might pick up more of those dollar store dining table protectors. They’re not a particularly heavy duty vinyl, but they are stronger than the clear plastic garbage bags I’d used in the spring. They are also completely clear and transparent, rather than slightly opaque, like the plastic I used today, or the bags I used in the spring. I think the vinyl might help the soil become hotter and do a better job of cooking the weeds. If nothing else, we can see through it and can tell if actually doing the job, or if it’s acting like a greenhouse for the weeds, instead! 😁

Tonight, we’re expected to have an overnight low of 11C/52F. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer than today, but the overnight low is supposed to drop to 9C/48F. After that, we’re supposed to get hot again. We’re now looking at a couple of days at 25C/77F, and lows of 15C/59F.

As for those temperatures cold enough for frost that the long range forecast was saying might happen within the first two weeks of October, that has changed again. The possible frost has been pushed back another week or so, though we are still expecting to get chilly nights.

I’m actually seeing possible snow on the last day of October – just in time for Halloween!

Who knows, though. The forecast will change again, soon enough! I just would like it to keep changing towards warmer nights for awhile. Since moving out here, we’ve had years when the first frost didn’t hit until November. I could do with a repeat of that!

It’s going to be interesting when I do my end of year analysis of how things went this year, as part of our planning out next year’s garden. This year has turned out completely different than how we originally planned! Having so many winter squash and melons to transplant made one huge difference. Shifting the beds to their permanent positions rather than building new ones was another big change. Then there was having to work around all that rain we had!

All things considered, I’m just happy to have as much as we do, this year!

The Re-Farmer

Chilly kitties – plus first contact!

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With last night’s chill, the yard cats were most definitely feeling it! A whole lot of kittens are hanging out in the sun room, curled up on various beds and blankets, in piles.

It’s getting time to open up the cat house to clean it up, as well as setting up one side of the sun room, for the winter.

They are also seem extra enthusiastic at feeding time, with this new kibble!

I had a bit of a surprise among the cats swirling around my feet as I tried to get out of the old kitchen, closing the inner door behind me to keep cats from running into the old kitchen, and not step on any cats while stepping down from the doorway.

An adorable little face I don’t usually see this close to me!

Baby Hypotenose was in the crowd. I got this picture of her, later.

That is Baby Hypotenose – or perhaps we could call her Lady Hypotenose.

This is one of those times when who the daddy is, is not in doubt!

The irony is, I’m less sure of who the mother is! I’m about 95% sure it’s Sprout, as I saw her with Hypotenose Jr and an orange kitten. Then the orange kitten disappeared.

Sprout quite a bit more feral, and is one of the mamas that isn’t very motherly.

As for Baby Hypotenose, as I was setting kibble out in the sun room, she was right in there with the other cats, milling around under my feet.

So I tried to pet her.

She let me!!!

She started to run off, but stopped and let me rub her neck and shoulders. I’m so happy! We’ve been able to identify her as female, only because she’s a bit of a show off when she runs around with her tail up. We have one female kitten that’s a lot more socialized. If we can get Baby Hypotenose socialized, too, that’ll make at least 2 female kittens we’ll be able to get to a vet over the winter!

Here’s hoping!

There was another rare visitor in the sun room, though not one I was able to touch. I got this photo later on, too.

I’m pretty sure this tuxedo is one of ours from last year, but I’m not 100% sure. It’s not a regular.

It was also very, very hungry, which would be the only reason I was able to get close to it while putting the kibble out.

I think it’s adorable that it is cuddling with the kitten in the shelf shelter! That kitten is one of the more socialized ones.

This one, however, is not…

They’re going to miss this tree when we finally have it cut down. The cats love to climb all over it.

I’m thinking we leave a fair bit of the trunk standing. My usual thought is that we could use the stump to support a table or a bench. Actually, it’s thick enough it could probably support both.

If we leave more of the trunk, though, we could also add cat shelves or small shelters onto it.

That’s not going to happen for a while, though. We need to get it done, though. It’s roots are cracking the basement all, and the branches are overhanging the roof. My daughters were able to trim some away, but the bulk of it will need a professional tree company to remove, without risking damage to the roof.

Unless my brother decides to do it himself. Which I wouldn’t want, as it would be a pretty dangerous job. It’s just too close to the house.

For now, though, the cats love it. They also use it to get onto the roof, where they can then go to the second floor windows and check out what my daughters are doing! 😁

Like this little one was checking me out from the branch above me.

They are so sweet.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2024 Garden: a morning of peppers

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Things definitely not chilly last night, though not – thankfully – frost chilly. We dropped to 6C/43F. Our expected high today is only 17C/63F, with tomorrow about the same. Then we’re supposed to warm up again over the next week, and even reach temperatures as high as 25C/77F before they start to drop again. Even the long range forecast into October has changed to warmer predictions, though we are still looking at potential frost. What gets me are the days we’re supposed to hit 25C/77F again, but have overnight lows of 3C/37F! Talk about temperature whiplash!

The garden seems to be okay with this, for the most part. The tomatoes, of course, aren’t ripening very quickly. The beans seem to be loving it, though. The Crespo squash is a surprise. While all the other squash and pumpkins are dying off, the Crespo squash is just thriving, growing and blooming. I’m not seeing any end of season die off at all!

This is what I was able to harvest this morning.

There are a few San Marzano tomatoes, all from the main garden area, none from the retaining wall blocks in the old kitchen garden. Hidden on the bottom of the colander is a single green zucchini. It’s small, but I picked it anyway, as it’s not going to get any bigger. There’s a whole three Chocolate Cherry tomatoes under there, too.

There’s all three types of beans in there. With the Crespo squash growing so enthusiastically, it’s hard to see the green Seychelle beans that are sharing the bed. Like the squash, the bean plants are thriving and blooming, as if it were the start of the season for them, instead of well past. There were more of the Royal Burgundy and Carminat beans than I expected, and they are still blooming, too. Even the one surviving Seychelle plant with the Carminat has a few beans on it, and is blooming.

I had a bit of a surprise while digging around to find the beans. I spotted a Carminat vine that didn’t make it onto the trellis netting, and was instead going under some winter squash vines. I gently pulled it out to see if I could get it on the trellis – and found a several huge pods! So we have more pods that might give us seeds, if the weather holds long enough for them to dry out.

With the peppers, I decided to go ahead and pick most of the Dragonfly peppers, as well as quite a few Purple Beauties. There’s a couple of Sweet Chocolates in there, too, though one of them turned out to be mostly green on the side I couldn’t see very well.

There were several peppers that are getting very yellow, but still not quite ready to pick. As for the variety that is supposed to be more or an orangey-yellow, they are all completely green, still.

Later today, when things are warmer and drier, I will head back to the garden and harvest yellow onions. Almost all of them had their necks bent down quite a while ago – most by cats, but some by the weight of the tomato vines they were planted around. No sense in leaving them to get mushy in the ground. I’m not entirely sure where I will lay them out to cure in the sun, though, since our picnic table is no longer useable, and the old market tent’s frame is broken.

I think I’m going to have to pick up another Walmart cheapie canopy tent. We’ll just have to make sure not to set it up where any trees can fall on it!

With the chill of the night, there were no Forme de Couer or Black Cherry tomatoes to pick today. I’m really hoping the upcoming warm weather stays for a while. We don’t have a lot of cat free space we can use to lay out green tomatoes to ripen! Another reason why getting another canopy tent would be useful.

And another picnic table. Probably a basic kit we can assemble ourselves, then paint.

When we get to building the outdoor kitchen we’re planning, that would be a good place to include areas where we can set out or hang produce to cure before they go to the root cellar. With the cooking surfaces we have in mind, we could even do large batch canning if we wanted.

All in good time!

For now, I’m just happy with a colander full of peppers and a handful of beans!

The Re-Farmer

[addendum: you know, if I followed the feedback suggestions on WP’s AI Assistant, my blog posts would be insanely long and even more verbose than I normally am! 😂😂]

First day of Autumn, afternoon kitties, and a little harvest

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I completely forgot today was the first day of autumn!

It certainly felt like it, this morning.

We got rather chilly night. A light rain started during the night and continued through the morning. At about 7:30am (sunrise was at 7:14am today), I quickly went to feed the cats outside, and could hear thunder in the distance as I did it. I wanted to make sure they got fed before any potential storms hit us.

We were at about 12C/54F at the time, but the humidex made it feel like only 7C/45F, which I think was our overnight low. Our long range forecast has changed and changed again. We went from not expecting frost until the end of October to now expecting overnight temperatures below freezing about 10 days in, with colder nights and potential frost before then.

I’m really hoping that holds off longer!

The thunderstorms didn’t hit us, but since we were getting some rain, I didn’t do my morning rounds until the afternoon. The fluctuating temperatures and humidity was really messing with my body. Lots of pain and stiffness. Add in the overcast skies and rainy weather, which always makes me feel sleepy, my morning was completely unproductive.

The fluctuating conditions have been very hard on my husband. He describes himself as “crunchy” these days. Every time he moves, he can feel things crunching in his lower spine, where the damage is worse.

By the afternoon, though, the sun came out and it warmed up a bit. We’re at 15C/59F as I write this, and are supposed to reach 16C/61F eventually. Tonight’s low is supposed to be 7C/45F. We’re still supposed to warm up again for the rest of September, particularly with the overnight temperatures, but even one colder night like last night will slow down ripening in the garden.

I am quite happy we got the vinyl wrapped around the eggplant and hot pepper bed. It’s held up so far, and I think it is making a difference in keeping the plants warmer during the night.

When I headed out to do my morning rounds in the afternoon, I spotted this big guy, enjoying the catio.

He’s got that permanently sad expression on his face!!

I’m happy to say that horrible wound he had on his face seems to be healing really well. He never let us get a good look at it, but it seemed like the skin of his entire cheek was torn open, with a flap of skin hanging down. Over the weeks, we could see it was healing, and the skin flap dried up. It hung on for a very long time, though, so we’d see him walking around with this black, dried up thing hanging off his face, and could do nothing about it. While I did sometimes manage to touch him while he was eating, he would not let me see that side of his face. We just got glances of it from a distance.

As it healed, though, he got less skittish again and, recently, he actually let me briefly see the injured side of his face. There’s a bald spot of fresh, pink skin. No sign of infection. What a survivor!

If he’s getting comfortable in the catio, I wonder if we’ll finally be able to get him into a carrier and get him fixed? I hope so.

After sneaking a picture of Sad Face (aka: Shop Towel), I was going to continue my rounds, but was followed by a herd of cats and kittens, getting under my feet! I had intended to feed them when I was done, but they convinced me otherwise.

They really, really like the new kibble!

I managed to get a photo of the most adorable tongue blep on Hypotenose!

The feeding done, I could continue my rounds without tripping over cats, every step of the way!

We had a triple harvest yesterday, so I wasn’t expecting to find much in the garden today. There was still a bit, though.

One more melon was ready to pick, plus a couple of tomatoes, and I found a couple of G Star squash – including a mutant one! It’s two stuck together, but there’s only one stem.

I made sure to check on the winter squash I harvested yesterday. Mostly to make sure no cats knocked them off their makeshift shelf in the garage. All was fine! They are drying up nicely. I grabbed a smaller one with a bit of moisture damaged skin, where it had contact with the board or brick it was on. I figure we can try it with supper tonight.

Today, I finally remembered to change a headlight bulb on the truck. I bought the replacement bulb more than a month ago!

With our van, changing a bulb required removing the entire headlight fixture. They were designed to be easily popped off and on. The truck is very different.

I checked the User’s Manual, which wasn’t as helpful as I expected. It’s generic, and not for specific models like the one we have. It said you can just reach the bulb through the engine compartment to remove it, except on the passenger side, which had something in front that would need to be removed first.

I took a closer look under the hood – not particularly easy for me, as the truck is taller than our van was, and I’m short! I could see where the low beam bulb that needed replacing was, but couldn’t see how to reach it. The neck of the washer fluid reservoir was in the way, as was a wire and part of the frame.

After much fiddling around, and even trying to see if the fixture could be removed (it couldn’t), I finally just fought with it. Maybe if I had smaller hands, it would have been easier, but not by much! I could just barely reach it with my fingertips. Certainly not enough to grip it and turn it so it could be pulled out. I ended up having to use a pair of pliers to turn it. To top it off, there were so many things in the way, it was hard to see what I was doing. I also had to bring out the stool we keep in the truck, so I could reach and see better.

Once it was out, getting the old bulb off was a pain, partly because of reach, partly because it just wouldn’t unclip the way it’s supposed to, and I really didn’t want to risk snapping something. I got it off, though, and putting the new bulb in was not at all an issue.

It did, however, have to get put back at just the right angle, or it wouldn’t go in. I had to resort to using the pliers again, trying to get it positioned just right while having to move my head back and forth so I could see around part of the frame, a wire an the neck of the washer fluid container.

What a pain in the butt!

But, it’s done and tested. With the days getting so much shorter, this was not something to keep forgetting about!

That done, I decided to see what I could do with that clear plastic I hope to use on the cat isolation shelter. The frame around it came off easily, which was nice. I was afraid it might have been glued in place, but it was held in place by just friction.

I made sure to find a place to store the pieces, as they are quite reusable.

I laid the sheet over a couple of large wooden crates my brother gave me, then took some measurements of the areas on the isolation shelter it needs to cover. The front will be the biggest piece, at 2′ x 46″ The side pieces need to be about 16″ wide, and at least 21.5″ long.

After measuring and marking the sheet for the large piece, there rest of the length will just need to be cut in half, and I’ll have pieces large enough to fit over the side openings.

I still haven’t figure out the best way to hinge them as doors.

Or maybe I can still find a way to turn them into sliding panels, which is still my preference.

Either way, I’ll be able to get the three pieces I need, and still have a small strip left over.

The question now it, how to cut it. I was thinking to use the jigsaw, like I did with the roof panels, but it’s flexible like the roof panels, too, and that means lots of vibration. I don’t want to do that again!

We don’t have the right kind of blade to use the circular saw.

We might be able to set up the table saw in the sun room and use that, though.

I’ll need a daughter to help out with that, though.

So for now, it will wait. I’d rather delay getting it done, then risk damaging it by using the wrong tools.

At this point, though, I think we can start putting on the wire around the rest of the bottom half, and install the door/ramp. There is nothing else inside that needs to be done. We could probably even attach the hinged roof support pieces. The roof panels will wait until the upper level is enclosed, though, as any overhang would get in the way.

Little by little, it’s getting done!

The Re-Farmer

Cat isolation shelter progress, and a productive day

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I must say, I’m pretty happy with how today went! It was a lot more productive than expected.

Aside from the triple harvest I wrote about in my previous post, I was scheduled to go to my mother’s to help her with errands.

I left earlier, as I wanted to stop at a store to find something I needed, then hit a bank machine before picking up some Chinese food for our lunch. My mother told me she’d had their steamed rice and vegetables for lunch after church and really liked it, so that’s what she wanted me to order.

I am not sure what she ordered, though, as that is not a typical menu item. At least, not as a combination meal for one. She also said it was “brown rice”.

They don’t serve brown rice.

They did have the steamed rice and mixed vegetables as separate items, so that’s what I ordered for her. Another reason I am not sure what she actually ordered that she liked so much; the mixed vegetables alone were more expensive than any of their combination meals. It, and the steamed rice, is meant to be shared by several people!

She’ll have enough to last her for a couple of days, at least!

I ordered a meal combo for myself.

When my mother saw the food, she was surprised by the rice being white rice. It was supposed to be brown! Sure enough, she had eaten stir fried rice, and somehow thought it was plain, steamed brown rice.

The vegetables were what she wanted, though.

They did, however, include small amounts of meat, which had my mother hesitating. She even asked me at one point, do you think it’s okay? before eating it.

She is still completely convinced that the Chinese restaurant serves cat meat. She’s given me several different stories as to why she thinks this. The first time, she told me one of her neighbours had told her this. Then she said she saw it in the news (though that turned out to be about a restaurant in the city, who know how many years ago). Then it was because she saw more stray cats around, so that must mean they’re serving cat. Talking about what she wanted me to order last night, she said that their prices are so much lower than the restaurant the specialized in deep fried chicken, so in her mind that must be proof they’re serving cat. *sigh*

She likes their food, their prices and their generous portions a lot, though, so she just can’t resist going back.

We had an excellent lunch.

My mother had her first home care visits to help with her medications last night. She would have had two visits last night, and one in this morning, by the time I saw her, so I asked how it went. That set her off into talking about how she couldn’t sleep last night, and it had be because of “all the pills” they gave her.

They’re the exact same pills, from her bubble packs.

Then she said she’d gotten up in the morning and had a bit to each, then went back to bed. Just as she was finally falling asleep, there was a knock at the door. Home care was there for her morning meds.

I asked my mother if she had taken her pills at 5am, like she usually does (she’s already been instructed not to, but to wait for home care).

I didn’t quite get a straight answer out of her, but I think she did.

Which has me wondering; did she take a second full set of pills when the home care person arrived, or just the new supplement for her eyes, which is the only one that’s still separate?

The whole point of getting home care to help her with her medications is because, even with the bubble packs, she is getting confused about them.

Hopefully, she will remember to NOT take her morning pills at 5am (there has never been any reason for her to take them that early), but to take all her morning pills, including the new supplement, with breakfast, when the home care person arrives.

After lunch, we went over her list and added a few things she had forgotten. She needed to go to the bank for cash, though – the one thing I can’t do for her. She really didn’t want to go out at all, with how she was feeling, but she had to. I told her that, after going to the bank, I could take her home again and do the rest of her shopping. She liked that idea.

For someone who wasn’t feeling well, my mother was pretty darn spry!

Getting in and out of the truck was hard for her, as usual, but once she was at her walker, she just took off like a shot! I actually had a hard time keeping up with her! I honestly don’t know how she does it, at times!

After she was done at the bank, she decided to come along to the pharmacy, but to stay in the truck. Her bubble pack refills were set to be delivered today but, since I was there on her behalf, anyhow, I could pick them up, then pick up some other stuff she needed from the pharmacy.

That was her limit, though, so I took her home from there.

Talk about timing.

She was unlocking her door when her phone started to ring. It was the eye doctor, following up on her. They’re already tried calling me and left messages, and were trying my mother’s next.

My mother now has an appointment to see the eye specialist in the city.

The clinic is in the opposite side of the city from us. The drive will be well over an hour, plus the appointment is expected to take about 2 hours in total for all the tests they need to do.

This is going to be a very long day for her!!

She’s going to have her eyes dilated, and they wanted to make sure she had sunglasses. I have extra sunglasses that fit over regular glasses in the truck, so that’s taken care of.

The appointment is on the day I was planning to go into the city for our first stock up shopping trip for next month, but that’s okay. My mother’s appointment is more urgent!

We were very happy about the timing with all this!

The call done, I headed out to get my mother’s groceries, then put everything away for her. There wasn’t anything else she needed for me to do, and she was more than ready for a nap, so I left soon after. Gas and a stop at the post office was in order. The items that were supposed to arrive yesterday, but then tracking said they would arrive on the 26th, were all in.

After I got home, I was soon back outside. After harvesting the winter squash, I started working on the cat isolation shelter.

I was able to finish tacking down the mesh covering the pallet floor with pieces of wood lath. There was just the back that still needed to be done but, with the wire mesh already in place on the back, it was the more difficult one to do. There is now nowhere any tiny kittens could squeeze through the pallet floor and get out.

Then it was time to start enclosing the top level. The not-door sections needed to have insulation cut to fit, then covered.

Here is a slideshow of how things went.

The first section I worked on had the shelf across the back to work around. I had cut it to fit snuggly, but it was a bit too snug, and the insulation snapped at the shelf cut. A bit of trimming, and the pieces were fit in.

Yes, there’s a gap at the angled corner support. It was large enough that I could cut a strip from the corner that had been removed and fill it in.

I don’t have enough paint to pre-paint the pieces anymore, so that will have to be done later. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a colour match.

I had a number of wood lath pieces left from my last bundle that weren’t all the same length, or had damage in areas. I cut 14 pieces to 16″ lengths, which left me with a 15th piece that was just a touch short. I wasn’t sure if I’d needed it, though.

This first side has floor boards that are ever so slightly too long. I hadn’t bothered to trim them. I made use of the excess length to hold the first piece of wood lath in place. Then each piece was lined up with that first one and nailed into place.

If you look at the second picture of the slideshow, you can see I had to use that slightly short 15th piece! That corner has the brace in it, so there was extra material to hammer the nails into, to secure it. Plus, it overlapped the top frame piece that it could be nailed into.

The other side was easier to do. The insulation for there just needed a 45° cut in one corner.

If you click through to the third photo, you’ll see I didn’t quite get the angle cut right! 😄 That shouldn’t be a problem, though.

I had to start a new bundle of wood lath to cover this side. They are supposed to be all 4′ long, but a few were just a little bit short. After finding 5 pieces that were all the same 4′ length, I was able to cut the stack into 16″ lengths, then nail them over the insulation.

In the last two photos, you can see how it looks on the inside.

It can be assumed the cats will try to use the insulation as a scratching post. There’s something about this insulation that they just love for that! In fact, in the photos of the insulation pieces before they were covered, you can see all the cat scratches!

I didn’t want them to pull the insulation right out if they did scratch at it. I had some nails just barely long enough to go through the insulation, so I used some of those to tack it to the wood lath from the inside. You can’t really see the nails in the photos.

The problem is, these probably won’t hold against cat scratching. Using any longer nails would just go right through the wood lath. I’ll have to think of some other way to keep them in place. I even tried nailing a piece of wood lath vertically on the inside, but I’m left with the same problem. Any nails long enough to secure it in place would go right through the wood lath on the outside. Any nails short enough to not do that can be easily pulled out.

I am more than open to suggestions in the comments!

After this, it’s time to cut that clear plastic I brought up from the basement. I found out from my brother that these were used to cover windows in the house, on the inside, to stop drafts. All but one of the windows were replaced before we moved in here. He thought these were from what is now my bedroom/office/craft room, but that window still has a covers over each half, as it was the one window not replaced. The frames on them are quite different from the frame of what I brought to the garage, so I still don’t know where these came from. It does tell me, though, that it is probably Lexan, which is good, since it can handle UV light and weathering better.

I’m going to have to be careful cutting it, though. My brother tells me there’s a possibility of shattering!

The first piece to cut will be to cover the front of the shelter’s upper level. That should leave enough material to use as clear doors on the sections that did not get covered today.

Hopefully, that will be a job I can work on tomorrow.

Little by little, it’s getting done!

Aside from all that, we got some good news today.

The electric company is currently doing a lot of work in the area, replacing power poles, doing over due maintenance and repairs, etc. – and clearing trees away from the power lines.

We got a call from them today.

They would like to come onto the property some time in the next while, to clear any trees or branches near their power lines.

We had to pay a tree company to do that, about 5 or 6 years ago. Things are starting to grow back and getting too close to the lines again.

The power company will be doing it, and there will be no charge.

They will only clear around their own lines; not the lines to the house, garage, barn or pump shack. Which is fine. The lines to the garage and barn don’t have trees near them. The one to the pump shack is something we can keep clear ourselves. The one to the house is almost directly under the main line to the pole the meter is on, so it’ll be cleared by default.

The guy I spoke to couldn’t tell me when they’ll be doing this, but it doesn’t really matter, except for the gate. I asked if they could call ahead, so we can unlock it for them. We’ll see how that works out.

So… yeah. It’s been a pretty productive day today! We’ve got all sorts of things falling into place. 😊

May things continue to go as smoothly and productively!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2024 Garden: triple harvest!

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Harvest was split between morning and evening today!

I did a double harvest as part of my morning rounds today. Here is what was ready to be picked.

Three Summer of Melons blend melons were ready to pick this morning, as were some Dragonfly and Sweet Chocolate peppers, a handful of beans, a few Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, a G Star patty pan squash and a Goldy zucchini.

After brining those in, I grabbed another bin before checking on the tomatoes in the Old Kitchen Garden. If you click to the second photo in the slideshow, you’ll see a few San Marzano tomatoes, some Black Cherry tomatoes, and mostly Forme de Couer tomatoes – including a branch I found that had broken off.

I’ll admit, part of the reason I wanted to pick eggplant this morning was to see how the new set up worked, with the vinyl wrapped around the box frame. You can see that in the last photo of the slide show. It seems to be holding up, though we haven’t had a severe wind to test it out yet. More importantly, having the overlap in the middle of the long sides made reaching into the bed to harvest easier than having the overlap on the short ends. So far, I’m happy with how it’s working.

Soon after I finished my morning rounds, I grabbed a melon and a couple of bell peppers for my mother, then headed out to her place for lunch, then helping her with her errands. That took a while, so it was very late in the afternoon by the time I got home.

I’ve been eyeballing the winter squash and pumpkins for a while now, and decided it was time to harvest the ones I was sure were fully mature. After picking, they will need time to cure. Normally, I would have set them up on the picnic table under a canopy tent, but the picnic table is finally giving out and can no longer hold much weight, and the frame on the canopy tent was finally broken beyond our ability to jerry rig it. In the end, I decided to set them in the garage, in front of my mother’s car. The back door and one of the front doors are kept open to allow for a cross breeze, which I hope will be enough for them. We moved the swing bench into the space in front of my mother’s car, now that all the bags of cans are outside, so I put a couple of boards across the arm rests to set the squash on.

After brushing off a whole lot of dust and old spider webs!

Then I grabbed the wagon and a utility knife and headed for the garden!

These are the ones that I felt were ready for harvest.

It’s a good thing this wagon is rated to 300 pounds, because all those squash together were pretty heavy!

In the next photo, you can see them laid out on the boards. I tried to put the smaller ones in the middle, and the heaviest over the arm rests.

In the middle front is a small, dark green squash. That is the first Crespo squash that formed. It got to this size and just didn’t get any bigger over the weeks, so I figured I may as well pick it.

There are four pumpkins from the free seeds I got from my mother’s town. Their pumpkin festival is this weekend. While with my mother, she told me one of her neighbours had some beautiful pumpkins in her section of the garden area. My mother offered to buy one, but she said not; they are for her grandchildren. So I offered my mother one of ours. She said yes – but just the smallest one.

She doesn’t want to actually do anything with it. She just wants to have a pumpkin for a few days. Just to make her happy! Then we can take it back and do whatever we planned to do with it. 😄😄

The rest are from the Wild Bunch mix of seeds we go, so we don’t know the names of them. I thought the two green, flattish ones were a Turban squash, but those get very bright and colourful. They might be a Buttercup squash, but from the images I can find, those are smoother. Still, that’s the closest I can find to what these might be.

There are two of those green ones that might be Buttercup squash. Then there are two of the slightly elongated orange ones with a point at the blossom end that looks a bit like a second them. Finally, there are two large orange ones that are round and slightly flattened.

Some of these have some damage to the skin. I tried to put them on boards or bricks to protect them from damp soil, but these still got too wet on the bottoms.

We’ll just have to eat those ones, first.

These will stay in the garage for a week or two before being moved into the root cellar, or eaten.

Except the pumpkin that will be going to my mother, of course!

I’m pretty happy with this haul. There are still more winter squash in the garden, and I hope the frost holds off long enough for at least some of them to finish ripening. The long range forecast has changed again, of course, and right now it looks like we won’t get cold enough for frost until we get into the second week of October. If this is at all accurate, we’ve got at least 2 – 2 1/2 frost free weeks ahead of us.

A lot can happen in two weeks!

The Re-Farmer

It’s a good thing I’m flexible!

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Today started off as an open day. No appointments, no running around planned… It was a day to catch up on things around home.

Which is mostly what happened!

My day started off sluggishly. With thunderstorms on the forecast, I got up and fed the outside cats before any potential storms, then went back to bed.

Well. I tried to. I finally gave up.

There was one errand that did have to be done, though. We were running out of kibble for the outside cats. I was considering where to go to get enough to last a week that would be in budget, and was thinking a trip to the feed store in my mother’s town might be in order. It was either that, or Walmart, but it’s not worth the cost of gas to get just a bag or two of kibble.

While I was checking Facebook while having breakfast, I caught a share from livestock supply store I follow, even though I’ve never been to that store. They are just outside the town to the North of us, and I’ve simply never had cause to find them. From the photos shared, they just got new pet inventory.

Including 40 pound bags of cat food.

In two different brands we haven’t seen before.

I decided to give them a try, heading out in the early afternoon. After finding the place, I asked about the kibble and got prices, then checked the rest of the store out.

I will most definitely be going back there for other things in the future!

Of the two brands of cat food, I chose the less expensive one, though even the more premium brand was a slightly lower price that the 40 pound bags I was getting at the feed store in my mother’s town. While looking around I noticed they have live traps of various sizes. They had the size for cats that I was looking at in Canadian Tire – at a better price, too! The rescue was going to lend us a trap, but I think the last person they lent it to is still ghosting them.

On the way back, I stopped at the post office, expecting some packages for my husband. Nothing was there, though. I just looked up the orders and they changed from arriving by 8pm today, to “now expected by September 26”.

Ah… I see why now. They’re being sent by Purolator, not the mail. They’re apparently in the city, but delayed “due to external factors”, whatever that means!

After I got home, I made a point of giving the outside cats a light feeding with the new brand of cat food, to see how they like it.

They all but inhaled it!

I guess this will be a brand we’ll get more often! The only down side is that this town is in the opposite direction of anywhere we normally go. So we’ll still be getting kibble at the feed store in my mother’s town, but special trips to this place for kibble will also happen.

While considering my issues with the cat isolation shelter and the materials I wanted, in contrast to the materials I have, I remembered something.

I do have clear plastic.

We found two of what looked like some sort of sliding door to me, in the barn. We’d brought them to the house, cleaned off years of dust, then put them in the basement. When we were still letting the cats down there, we kept the “bar” area closed off for the breakable stuff, and used one of these as a door to the entry.

I decided to bring one of them over to the cat isolation shelter and see.

I don’t know if it’s Plexiglass or Lexan or what. What I do know is, it’s big enough to cover the top front of the isolation shelter – and there should be enough left over that I might be able to cover a section on each side, too. Perhaps not as a sliding door, as I had been considering, but at least as a window on each side.

I’m really loathe to cut take the frame off and cut it up, though. It’s really well constructed.

I decided to think on it while working on the catio hammock.

I brought out a black plastic mesh, measured and cut it to size, then used steel strapping to secure it in place.

Syndol approves!

Once that was done, I had a nice piece of left over mesh.

The Crespo squash that’s hanging inside the bean trellis and breaking the cross piece with its weight needs a hammock.

So I threaded some ties along two sides of the leftover piece, and set it up.

The ties are attached to the metal supports on the A frame trellis. I tried to lift the squash up at least a bit, in the process, so get some of the stress off the broken cross piece. I used Mason’s line as ties, as it was thin enough to thread through the mesh. It’s strong, but that squash is going to get heavier. I may need to supplement them.

We’ve got some cool nights coming, so it was time to get the eggplant and hot pepper bed set up. I picked up clear table vinyl table protectors for the job. I got two for the garden and two for our dining table.

It’s a good thing I had four, because I needed them all.

The bed is 9′ long and 3′ wide, so I needed a minimum of 24′, plus overlap. I thought I could get away with three of them, but that only gave me about 20′

In the end, I decided to use some clear Gorilla tape I picked up, and connect the sheets in pairs.

The kittens were very interested in what I was doing!

The wind made laying them out so the ends to be taped together were on the sidewalk, and all nice and even, quite a challenge! I got it done, though.

While I was working on this, I started getting messages from my SIL.

She and my brother were going to make a trip out to drop stuff off today! They had a small trailer to haul out, and were going to load up as much other stuff as they could in the process. I was surprised that they would make the trip out after my brother got off work, given how quickly things are starting to get dark, but they still have a lot they need to bring out here. She kept me up to date on their progress, as she was able, while I continued with the preparing the vinul.

Once the pairs were taped together, it was time to wrap the box frame over the eggplants and peppers.

When we had it wrapped before, we made a point of covering the length first, and having the overlap at the ends. I recall the wind really seemed to catch on those ends. This time, I decided to centre the vinyl sheets at the ends, and have the overlap in the middle of the long sides.

The box frame has a wire topped frame on top, and I was able to use that to hold the top of the vinyl in place, wrapping the excess over the top of the box frame and into the middle. The wire topped frame, however, isn’t secured in the center, and it starting to twist and bow out. We’ll need to set a line across and pull it in, but not today.

After the vinyl was in position, I used paracord to secure it to the box frame around the top. That one I made very tight, since it needs to not move at all. I added more paracord around the bottom and the middle, to keep the wind from blowing it around. Those are snug, but we will still be able to move the vinyl to reach into the bed, then tuck it back under the paracord again when we’re done.

The only problem is that the box frame has a cross piece in the middle. With the excess vinyl sitting on top of it, I could see the wind was going to be a problem. In the end, I ended up just using more clear Gorilla tape to secure the vinyl to itself on the inside. Hopefully, that will work!

With my brother and SIL on the way, when that was done, I went to open the gate for them. I think took advantage of the situation, grabbed a pair of loppers and the wagon, and headed to the end of the driveway.

If you click through to the second photo in the above slideshow, you can see my first wagon load. That’s all poplar saplings, spreading through roots. They were starting to obstruct visibility as we leave, making it hard to see if any vehicles are on the road, coming towards us.

I did three wagon loads like that!

While I was working on that, my SIL kept me updated. Then ended up driving into a storm with the rain coming down so hard, they had to pull over. When the could finally start driving again, they stopped at a gas station in town along the way to check on things before continuing on.

They still hadn’t arrived when I finished my third wagon load of saplings. At that point, it was getting hard to see the stems I was trying to cut!

My brother may have driven through torrential rain, but we got nothing all day, save a few spatters now and then.

After tossing the saplings on the burn pile and putting things away, I realized I hadn’t taken a picture of the wrapped garden. If you click through to the last image in the slideshow, you can see how that looks. Should we expect to get an actual frost, we can toss a cover on the wire frame on top. For now, the vinyl will act as a sort of greenhouse, keeping them warmer as our daytime temperatures start to drop. The open top should keep it from getting too hot. This bed has the only plants we have that like things quite a bit warmer, even during the day.

The real test will be how it holds up in high winds.

With my brother soon to arrive, and a smattering of rain starting, I headed into the garage to see what I could do on the isolation shelter.

I cut lengths of wood lath to use to secure the mesh on the bottom level, against the frame. I was just putting the last nail into the front section when they arrived.

It was pitch black out by then, and I ended up using the flashlight on my phone to help them see to open up the back of the trailer and unload the piece of equipment that was on it. That went into the barn, while the trailer itself got parked to the side.

Then they back the truck up to the barn and we unloaded it, assembly line style. That sure made things go very quickly!

They even had a couple of things they knew I could use in there, and I was very grateful for them! Those went into the garage.

We worked quickly to unload, and then they had to leave right away. They had a long drive home, and my brother still has to get up for work tomorrow. His job has him working with people in time zones around the world, so sometimes the hours get very unusual!

Before they got home, though, I got another message from them. They forgot their wooden ramp on the ground, that they were supposed to take home with them. My brother was concerned it would get rained on, so I went back out to put it in the garage.

It’s 16C/61F out there right now, and absolutely gorgeous. I’d be sleeping outside right now, if we had the set up for it!

Meanwhile, in the middle of all this, I got a voicemail message from home care about my mother. For some reason, they called my cell phone number. I was in the garage at the time, so my phone never rang. I started listening to the message as I went into the house, and promptly lost the signal. I had to go back outside to listen to the full message!

My mother was getting her first home care visit at suppertime, to help her with her medications. They will be coming in the morning and at supper, then one more time for her before-bed medications. The person calling me wanted to make sure to tell us that they wouldn’t have someone available for a supper and before bed visit this Sunday.

So I made sure to call my mother right away. It turns out they had called her, too, but didn’t mention to her about the day they wouldn’t be able to come. As we talked about her meds and the times, she started to get mixed up with things, and confused. I’m so glad we were able to get her to allow home care to come in to help with her meds!

The next thing will be the meal prep visits. Those are supposed to be every two weeks for bulk cooking. We’ll have to have some idea of what they can and can’t do for that, and plan my mother’s grocery shopping accordingly. Usually, I’ve been helping her with her groceries every week or so – sometimes, my sister is able to do it for her. With the bulk cooking every two weeks, that will change things, but I don’t know how, yet.

We’ll figure it out.

Meanwhile, I am now scheduled to go to her place tomorrow. She’s need to go to the bank this time – the one thing I can’t do for her – so she’s going to have to climb in and out of our truck.

I’m still amazed that she can do it. When we got the truck, I thought for sure, it wasn’t going to happen. With her car out of commission right now, we don’t have much choice. We do have a foot stool for her, and I have to give her a bit of a boost, and she manages it!

Still, it’s something we want to do as little as possible!

With that in mind, it’s time for me to finish this up and get to bed. It’s coming up on midnight right now!

Until next time, I hope you have a fabulous day! Or night. Whatever time it happens to be for you as you read this. 😁😁

The Re-Farmer

So many little friends, and an update

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Yesterday, I was able to connect with the scrap guy, and he was scheduled to come over this morning to see what there was to see. After opening the gate for him, I stayed out to give the garden a watering, while keeping an eye out to make sure our vandal didn’t suddenly show up. Given his recent threat of “retribution” in a phone message to my brother, we just never know what he’s going to do next.

As I was watering the winter squash interplanted with now-dry corn, I spotted a tiny green friend on a leaf.

I paused to take a photo, then continued watering – and spotted another one.

And another.

And another!

There were so many tree frogs, just chilling on the dried corn leaves!

There was one larger frog, sitting with its eyes closed. Most of the others were no bigger than my thumbnail! I was absolutely enchanted by the one that was just sort of peeking at me over the bend of the leaf it was on.

I so love our tree frogs! Especially when they’re in the garden.

Eat those slugs, my little friends! Feast away!

I had just finished watering and was putting the hose away when I heard the scrap guy driving in. Perfect timing!

The first thing to look at was right nearby – the years of aluminum cans that we’ve been collecting since moving out here. Then we went to look at the old threshing machine and the three cars. There is other metal around those cars that they can take, too, plus a stack of salvaged steel doors that have been sitting outside for so long, they are no longer useable. I almost forgot to show him the old truck (or half a truck) that’s almost completely buried in burdock and weeds. He took photos as we went around, and asked about the old vehicles and farm equipment beyond the outer yard that we could see. I need to get clearance from my brother on those, because I think he has plans for some of them. There are also the old appliances and even the old bikes my daughter and I took down from the hayloft in the barn, and other things laying about that I was able to say yes to having removed.

I took him through the barn – the old cow stall where the collection of batteries we found while cleaning up is partially blocked with my brother’s stuff – to the former hay yard. I need to clear it with my brother, but we should be able to get almost all those old vehicles, and the old, broken snowmobiles, removed. Having them there is dangerous for the renter’s cows. They will actually try and eat things like the vinyl seat covers on the snowmobiles.

In fact, we had a hard time getting into the old hay yard because of them. We haven’t had any reason to go through that door in the barn until today, so I was expecting it to be blocked by overgrown nettle and weeds, but something else was blocking the door. Thankfully, I was able to open it wide enough to reach and move it, though not without difficulty.

It was a radiator.

Small, but rather heavy for its size.

I remember seeing it leaning against the barn along with some other junk. How the cows managed to drag it in front of the door, I have no idea!

After our walkabout, he was honest with me. For just the threshing machine and 3 cars, plus the appliances, it isn’t worth it for them to come out. When they go to a site, they bring along an excavator and other heavy equipment, plus a scale to weigh on site, to be able to load things. If, however, we were able to include the vehicles in the old hay year, that would make it worth the trip for them. If we could add some of the other old vehicles and farm machinery beyond the outer yard, even better.

So I will have to talk to my brother about that.

We will also need to go through some of the vehicles to take things out, as some of them seem to have been used for storage. One of them looks like it has at least one heavy duty tarp in it. Until we take it out, there’s no way of knowing if it’s still useable, or if it’s been there so long, it’s become brittle.

As for the aluminum and batteries, I asked him if it would be better for us to just load it into the truck and take it in ourselves. He said yes.

So that is something we will need to plan on. We might have difficulty fitting it all into the box of the truck. If we remove our bags of hard sided grocery bags from the back of the cab, we should be able to fit the dozen + batteries in there.

That should give us a few bucks, at least. The aluminum would be by weight. I have no idea what the batteries would give us. There are some very different sizes and shapes in there, too!

He’s going to email me with some information later, and I’ll ask them what their procedure is for drop offs.

After that was done, I was talking to my younger daughter, and she asked what plans I had for the day. She was wondering if we could make a trip to the city. She has been saving up for a really good pair of boots – she’s after something all season and high quality, to last her for many years. There is a specific outlet in the city she wanted to go to.

The location of this store is near the Costco we normally go to, so I was familiar with the route. My older daughter transferred some funds so that we could also pick a few things up at a nearby Superstore. So shortly after the scrap guy had come and gone, my daughter and I were on the road to the city.

We drive right into the predicted storm.

I love the tires on our truck! It’s been almost a full year since we got it and, while the monthly payments make things tight, it’s worth every penny!

We stopped at my mother’s town to pick up gas and breakfast (at lunch time), then continued on our way. My daughters were messaging each other to keep us up to date, and we learned that the rain we’d left behind as we got closer to the city, did reach our place with a lovely downpour. I was so happy to hear that!

Once we reached the outlet my daughter wanted to go to, I dropped her off then went to the nearby Superstore. I had barely started shopping when I got a message from my younger daughter.

It was a bust. They recommended a different store on a street I’m not familiar with.

I quickly finished my shopping – we didn’t need much – then went to pick her up. We considered trying this other store, but my daughter was pretty upset – I still don’t know what went wrong, but I’m sure she’ll be able to tell me later – plus we had refrigerator items among the groceries, so we went home, instead. Courtesy of my older daughter, we took a different route to go to the town nearest us, first, and pick up some Dairy Queen using coupons we got in the mail recently. That was a lovely treat from her!

Once we were at home, I looked up the store on the street they recommended. It turns out that, while it’s on another part of the city, it’s in the north side, and pretty easy for us to get to.

It also turns out they have another location, under a different store name, that was just a couple of blocks up from the store I’d dropped my daughter off at! The only difference it that the recommended location includes “casual” shoes by this outlet, which is not what my daughter is after, so that doesn’t matter.

*sigh*

We really need to get this done before winter, so I will happily make an extra trip for it.

I know my daughter feels bad about dragging me out for a “wasted” trip, but it did allow me to pick up some stuff that’s not available locally, so it’s not wasted at all. I just wish she could have found what she was looking for!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2024 Garden: morning harvest, and peppers finally ripening!

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It was a lovely, cool and foggy morning today. Apparently, we did have some rain last night, but barely enough to wet the grass. Other areas of the province got flooding!

Though we had thunderstorms on the forecast, the amount of predicted rain was pretty low, and these systems often blow right past us. With that in mind, I decided to water the garden, though not as deeply as I would have if there was no rain at all in the forecast.

I also wanted to stay out longer, as I’d opened the gate for the scrap guy – more on that in another post. Before the watering, though, I managed to get a picture of one of our first yellow peppers turning colour. I can’t remember if this is an Early Sunsation or Early summer

If you click through to the next image, you’ll see this morning’s harvest – including some accidental harvests. I found a bell pepper branch that had broken off under the weight of its peppers. As I was tending to the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, I tried to lift a heavily laden branch to some support, only to have it fall off in my hands. The same thing happened later, when moving some of the Black Cherry tomatoes for better support. I’ve made fresh cuts on the broken ends, which were partially dried from having broken much earlier, then wrapped them in damp paper towel. They’re now hanging in the living room/cat free zone to continue ripening.

Also, it’s time to make another batch of tomato sauce!

The Re-Farmer