Sunday, June 27, 2010

Summer time:)

Lee here...it's pool season! We are so blessed to have such wonderful neighbours that let us use their pool, sometimes twice daily! We have known them for about 4 years...I just call them up and they say come on over. It takes about 3 or 4 minutes by car or a longish walk over big hills. I really enjoy chatting with Shirley..she is the most popular 79 year old I know! We met Shirley and her husband Bill through another friend/neighbour and I wish I had of met them years ago! It is a beautiful pool...its inground and about 9 feet deep at the deep end and it's huge...and the best part is that it is in a greenhouse type buidling so we can swim in the rain and the swim season is extended a bit because it seems to stay warm longer. We help out a bit by vacuuming around the pool and tidying up the tables etc that they use for entertaining. I also try to do little things for them as well since we are so appreciative.
Stef is in the photo since she was visiting for a couple of days..I think she is really going to miss the pool this year.
Kate got new glasses the other day...they are "nerd" glasses apparently and are very cute.


Tree House fund

Lee here...Annie has been saving some of her allowance and her pay from getting her grandparents groceries and we have put in some of our spare change....she has over $200. So, its been put off for far too long....must get started on her treehouse. The problem is, we are not at all handy and I have no idea where to start...I'm completely overwhelmed. Something that should be fun is one of those things I've been putting off and Annie is worried we will never do it. I don't blame her for being concerned! I want it to be what she wants and safe and it needs to be started and finished within a reasonable amount of time. Wish me luck!

Friday, June 18, 2010

My Garden Girl


How do you like this year's outfit on my Garden Girl? The dress was actually mine and was a favourite, but I'm past wearing it, and the colours seemed perfect for the garden. I think the hat is a perfect match (for the garden...) and was alucky find at our church's yard sale! (The mask was made by Jen when she was 9) There is a Garden Boy as well, but he doesn't have a new outfit yet, so I will post a photo when he does.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Stuff:)

Lee here:) This photo was taken at the Relay for Life in Kingston..it was fun as usual! A great time for us to hang out together.
Katy made me eggplant parmesan...oh my goodness!! I had a small portion but the next day (after weigh in) I had more!
Zee came for a visit and I made this for us for lunch..so much healthier than the above food!! Its a black bean, tomato, red onion, lime and cilantro salsa/salad...I forgot to add the hot and red peppers!! I picked some young romaine lettuce leaves from the garden for us to make little wraps.
Yummy!!

Me and Zee...we've been friends since grade 10!

It was so great to have Zee and kids come for a visit! Too bad it wasn't longer!




Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Potato Wars........

Although it may seem that I, like Napoleon, have "met my Waterloo", I am NOT admitting defeat just yet. Here's the scenario...I totally love the 'lasagna' method of gardening, (see Patricia Lanza's book, "Lasagna Gardening" for details), and have successfully turned two huge areas of my veggie garden into lasanga beds. This not only cuts back on all the tilling that needs to be done evey year, but the beds are always ready to go. It just requires me pulling back some of the hay, adding a bit of soil or compost and planting! I have started a beautiful new flower bed this way, right in a patch of grass, without having to lift the sod, or dig at all. I have another flower bed started and am seriously thinking of laying out a wide border garden down near our creek.
Anyway, back to the Potato Wars story....So I read in my book how this woman grows potatoes with this method. She lays the potatoes right on top of the bed and then covers it with hay. The plants are supposed to grow right up though the hay and voila! no continous hilling with soil, no digging the potatoes out, you just lift the hay and there they will be......Unfortunately, NOTHING in my potato beds has come up through the hay. In the meantime the 'boys' in my household took out the tiller, tilled a bed up, made a furrow,planted the rest of the potatoes, then hilled them up. Needless to say, a little 'competition' emerged and so the "potato wars" were on. Things are not looking good on my front.......the boys' potatoes are 10 inches tall and thick with lovely green leaves...mine is a big wide bed of hay....So I decided that maybe in my zeal to cover them enough so the potatoes would not turn green and be inedible, I put too much hay on. Maybe the shoots couldn't make it through the hay. So I removed all the hay, found the poatatoes, (which did have roots and shoots on them) and recovered them with, this time with a lot less hay. As they grow (I say, optmistically) I will continue to cover them and hopefuly I will be harvesting a lovely batch of clean, soil-free,easy to pick, tubers! I'll keep you posted, and in the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me.....

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

lazy afternoons

Lee here...
Its been hot and sunny, but breezy and cool under the maple tree. For the past couple of days, Annie and I have gone outside mid afternoon, with a book and a stuffed animal or two, and we've even fallen asleep!
I appreciate the freedom to be able to have a siesta! How cozy does this look?


I'm back....

It has been quite some time since I have blogged and I want to thank you Lisa, for keeping the blog going....and hope to hear more from Zee too...
Most of my vegetable garden is planted and that feels so good! I have a few pickling cukes to get in and a couple of rows of bush beans, but last week I was able to get the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zuchinni, squash, melons, carrots and beets in. I also finished my little bean arbour and planted two kinds of pole beans. The second block of greens has already popped through the soil and we've been eating our way through the first batch. SO TASTY! The lettuce seedlings survived the 32+ temperatures last week (barely) and the new lettuce seeds that I started are also up. I am anxious to be able to eat more out of the garden...especially the sugar snaps! The lovely rain we are having today is badly needed and will give the plants a good deep soak.
I really enjoyed our annual Plant swap last weekend and was so happy to see people that I don;t get to see often enough. It was a wonderful day of family, friends, plants, food and chatting. What more could you want! Next year is our tenth year of hosting the Blue Mountain Plant swap....we will have to think of a special way to commemorate it!
In my next blog I hope to share the story of the ongoing "Potato Wars"....