Royal Ontario Museum

Annie and I went to the ROM with my sister and her kids yesterday. I haven't been there for years and it's been remodelled since. Annie and I are going with Chris and Kate in the fall so we can spend a little more time and include things like the Warriors Terra Cotta Army exhibit and maybe get to China town or Kensington market as well. Annie in a tomb....Egypt.

We passed by a LuLulemon and saw these really cool crocheted fruits and veggies in their window display...I think they are probably easy to make and I love the way they are packaged in paper bags. A good idea for Zee don't you think?

Lee

Veggies and Eggs

Its me, Lee, again...it's sunday and my family is away for the day. I had wanted a lazy day but it's turned into a very productive one..getting lots of little things done that have been on my list for a while. I put CBC radio on the computer and have been busy busy. Kathee gave Annie and I these plants a few years ago.....they were little cuttings that she had rooted for us and now they are huge and have had many cuttings of their own. Today I finally made a little support for the vines to grow on instead of trailing to the floor for the cats to play with. I stuck some willow sticks into the soil and tied them together at the top and then wove the vines up them. On top of the numerous chores I've done, I drove down the road to a neighbours organic farm and bought some yummy, fresh, healthy food. Things I dont grow such as cabbage, beets and potatoes. I have been meaning to buy eggs from them for a long time but always pass by knowing I only have my debit card, would have to go home for cash and then end up forgetting about it until I pass by again. So now I am committing to purchasing eggs from them and their free range hens, instead of the store. Except for the eggs which are in their house, the veggies are fresh picked and sitting under a shelter with a price list and a covered container for you to pay. The potatoes were picked just as I was pulling in. You can't get any more fresh than that! I am really happy to buy from them.

Treehouse

It's finally underway!! The treehouse is against this tree with supports on the ground but is being designed so she can have a platform higher in the tree as well. Annie and Chris and with Kate's help too, have been working on it almost every day. The floor is almost done so Annie can actually get up into it and hang out....before the house part is built. Not quite as big as what we had initially thought but I've decided to step back and not criticize, but let Annie and her dad figure it out...be creative and enjoy the process too.

My expression of creativity..a new little arrangement for the bathroom shelf. I really enjoy having fresh flowers around.

Lee

Hey Kathee and Lee!!

Khai wanted me to show you gals the garden!  These were taken a few weeks ago so things are much larger and taking over any available space.

Hosta, Rhubarb, and a grape vine!

Lillies surrounding the bird bath.

Khai holding my Mother's Day Gnome, he thought he would be smart and have the wee fella pointing at him, the source of his laughter..lol

STRAWBERRIES!
Did I ever say I really like raised beds!!!!

These beds are full now, I've been negligent in my trellising of the beans :(

Khai, being Khai :)

Thanks to Sue and Jeff my garden paths are covered in glorious straw.  You should see the picture of Jeff in the EMC "Local farmer goes to jail for Prison Farms at the G20 summit"
That would be Jeff being tackled by 3 police officers.  http://tinyurl.com/25ov57z


 



Perennials Lee gave me that still need to be rooted in soil.









Ok all done now, I could post like a bazillion more, still have eggplant, tomatoes, OKRA and kale.. cucumbers and so much more!!!  OH yeah and the funky composter :)






Follow the yellow brick road...la la la

The Girls Have Arrived!

I've been meaning to post these pics for a while now, a month to be exact.  Time seems to escape me more these days!

We have settled in 8 Chantecler chickens, hoping one is a rooster.  The gals were picked up on father's day and brought to their new digs.  If all goes well in the fall we can bring another eight home.

DH, the kids and I have been renovating the old coup.  We used old skids to side the house, and make a front porch.  I've used more recycled wood inside and hope to use mostly recycled wood to make the stairs and a cute li'll flower box for their window.

DH picked up these nifty slider windows at the Habitat Re-Store! Lots of natural light now, I'll be adding a solar light later.

I haven't covered this side yet, because I'm thinking of adding a little addition, a rooster condo maybe?  I still need to extend their outdoor run.  If all goes well we will expand the coup next spring, and bring them up closer to the garden.

Cobourg Eco Garden

Lee here...The Cobourg Eco Garden is one of my favorite places to visit...I'm pretty sure I've posted about it before. Cobourg is such a nice town with a fabulous beach on Lake Ontario.
The main entryway...hollyhocks in the corner with the split rail fence.

Such a casual, cottage type garden....lots of pathways mostly lined with the smooth river rocks from the beach.

Annie likes the little berries..I wish I new what they were!

A butterfly landed on Chris.

Lake rocks as plant markers

Lots of mulch everywhere keep the weeds down for the volunteers and make a clear walkway for visitors.

I don't remember this garden being here....it's a simple veggie garden with stones in the pathway and everything in rows...so great!!

Check out this bird bath...looks like some sort of big leaf that was pressed into hypertufa....and of course surrounded by more beach rocks.

This garden is such an inspiration to me!

Garlic Harvest time

This is what I've been up to...I pulled these 350+ this morning and they are now washed, trimmed and hanging on the porch to dry. I have done about 1000 so far, but a lot of the first two varieties did not do so well.........between the leek moth infestation and the excess water that they were laying in a few weeks ago, it has not been our best year. This variety (Czechoslovakian Broadleaf) is my favourite though and it is really good! I've got another bed and a half to pull and then I'm done. This is my set up for the garlic wash station this year. We've set it up in the screen room, which is perfect because the mosquitoes have been brutal, and if it rains I can still work at them. I also have the radio out there and the portable phone.

A taste of summer...

Last night we had a delicious dinner with stuff from the garden. Yesterday I picked a 4 litre basket of basil leaves and made a couple of batches of pesto. So for dinner we had pasta with pesto sauce, with a squeeze of fresh lemon, chopped up tomatoes for on top of the pesto noodles (here we have a mix of red, orange and green tomatoes!) and some freshly picked sliced cucumbers. We also had beets that I bought from the Lansdowne farmer's market, since my beets got planted late and aren't quite ready yet. It was all SO tasty! especially after eating on the Fairgrounds most of the weekend....

more photos of the Fair....

This basket won Best Arrangement of the Fair...I knew that old picnic basket that I found at our church sale would come in handy...

This category was called "Green with Envy"...you were not allowed to use any flowers, just foliage This one was called "Tinkerbell". It had to be no wider than 5 inches and no taller than 10 and had to be silver and white....it's hard to see, but the container is a little silver swan

These two are: "Circus" (which is a dumb name) but it just has to be an arrangement that is viewed from all sides. The tall one in the jug is called "Scentimental Journey" and it had to be an arrangement of scented flowers and herbs.

This category is called "R's" and has to be made from a recycled object. I covered a can with moss and a piece of raffia to make the container.

Lansdowne Fair 2010

Just thought I would post some photos of my floral exhibits that I entered in the Fair. It's one of my favourite things to do...even thought it is a LOT of work.

Wool Felt

Lee here....not sure how to turn this photo:( I bought some beautiful wool felt this spring..online, since I can only find the acrylic stuff around here. This felt is so nice to work with...so soft and doesn't make me cringe to touch it! Annie made a little cat and has since made 2 more. She is reading a series of books, "Warriors", and the main characters are cats. I want to look up some little felt sewing projects...maybe a gnome, some toadstools, little books etc. It's always been so tempting to use expensive craft supplies carefully...and then things end up not getting used at all. The kids were always careful not to be wasteful and I gave Annie the go ahead to, well, just go ahead and dig in. She is so creative!

Peas Please!

Before.... After......ok they still have lots of flowers and some little peas but they are getting bigger everyday! I'm hoping to have lots of sugar snap peas really soon!!

Annie's hair is getting long enough to put into a high pony tail. She doesn't like when I say she looks cute or pretty or try to take a picture of a cute hair do..just as well that this one is more of a silhouette..I had to chase her around the house to get this pic!

Lee

Flowers

Lee here..It was so nice out this morning...hot but not crazy hot. We were getting ready to go for a swim and it looked like rain, so we wanted to pick some flowers before it did. We gathered up some perennials like baby's breath, daisies, armeria(?), tiger lilies, evening primrose and some verigated grass and bergamot...and some wild things like queen annies lace (I know its queen anne's lace but since Annie was little and would make road side bouquets, we called it queen annie's lace) wild daisies etc. Here, Annie is arranging them.
Voila! Pretty nice...it will look great on our table:)

A little one I made for the bathroom.....I always love how Kathy has fresh flowers throughout her house. I made it in a little vase I got from my grandparents..notice the little gnome pot/cup I also got from a box of their stuff!