Work Party

This past month we had some wonderful friends come over to the Island for the day to help get some projects done.  Things are evolving on the property, and we're taking some buildings down and re-thinking our use of the land.  The rabbits needed to be moved, wood was waiting to be cut, and the fence around the kitchen garden had already proved that it wouldn't keep out the deer.

Our solutions aren't pretty, but they are practical, and they'll serve the purpose! Adrian has taken to heart Joel Salatin's words "good enough is perfect."

The fence around the garden was probably 40 years old, and was sagging severely in spots - the deer had beaten me to my spring kale harvest, and I was determined to keep them out of my vegetable patch this year.  Before the plants could go in, we pieced together salvaged pieces from assorted fencing we'd taken down around the property as well as rolls of old wire fence we'd found in the brush, grown through with weeds.  Several pairs of hands, some work with zip ties and a staple gun, and we're happy to have 2-3 more feet worth of height around the perimeter.  Hopefully it will do until we can afford to replace it.  Over the past 2 weeks there's been no evidence of damage to the garden, so the deer may be happy browsing on native plants.

After all the trees had come down on the property, there was a lot of salvageable firewood left on the ground.  We made a landing zone for chopped wood with some salvaged pallets.  We made ends and dividers with more pallets, hammering salvaged rusty t-posts (found in one of the piles of discards uncovered when the big trees came down) to hold things in place.  It's functional and will keep the firewood neatly piled to dry out for use in the winter months.

A couple of hours' work, with barely a dent in the piles still to be cut!  We'll be working to build our supply over the weeks ahead.

Monday Update

We went into the hive yesterday, to see how the colony was doing with their new queen, and to forewarn us if there were any swarm cells starting to receive attention.  Adrian and I saw the queen at the same time, and he was just as excited as I had been, to finally have visual confirmation.  The brood pattern is a bit spotty, but there is new comb being drawn, and pollen and nectar gathering are in full swing now, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that this queen will have a good influence on the hive - the hum has seemed fairly content there over the past week.

The bunnies are furred out, and there have been a couple of nesting box escapes, where bunnies have decided to go exploring in the night, and realized that they couldn't quite get back in yet.  We give them a boost back into the warmth of the fur and straw and siblings, but soon they will be in and out of the boxes, harassing their mothers full-time.

Jodie is continuing to feather out, going through her gawky adolescence. She and her mother are still mostly confined while they are unsupervised, but soon they should be running with the girls outside full time.

The garden is producing herbs, salad greens, cucumbers, chard, kale, pea shoots, and handfuls of tomatoes every day.  The pole beans have been slow to get started, but the dry beans (kidney, borlotti and cranberry) are filling their pods and looking good.  The Alisa Craig sweet onions are drying on the picnic table, and coriander and parsley seed will soon be ready for harvest as well.  The hoophouse tomatoes all seem to be waiting for some sign to ripen, and though last year we had weeks of fresh tomato harvest, I'm worried that everything is going to ripen in a much shorter period this time around.  But then, I don't mind a load of fresh cherry tomatoes, and can dehydrate the overrun.

Hive And Garden Update

We went into the hive for a quick inspection on Saturday, to find out what was going on after the swarms had flown off, and a new queen was in residence.  We disturbed the colony as little as possible, but got a look at several frames in the brood nest. I was unable to locate the queen or visually verify the presence of any eggs (they're very small). Many cells contained 'liquid,' but is was impossible to tell if that was nectar being stored for making honey, or jelly and/or nectar being fed to new offspring.  We'll have to wait a few more days (and for a break in the rain), to see if there is evidence of developing larvae.  The colony seems to be working away, and they are flying - more so in the sunny breaks - so that leads me to believe that there is a queen in the hive and they sense that all is as it should be.

The rain has been making everything in the garden seem that much greener, and the perennial beds are starting to sport the flowers of our orange Asiatic lilies.

 

View from near the back fence, top bar hive and rabbitry. Those are 'potato buckets' on the right, with a blue water bucket for the bees tucked in front, and our bed of heritage wheat on the left..

 

 

The main perennial bed. The honeysuckle is still smelling lovely.

 

The newly-filled out perennial bed along the side of our property. This fence is also shared with a gardening neighbour, who doesn't mind the somewhat chaotic 'mix.' Foxglove, lupin, roses, climbing hydrangea, clematis, purple coneflower, hostas, herbs, and Black-Eyed Susans are there,  among other plants - netted off, of course, to discourage digging by the chickens! They get the spot under our big rhododendron bush, and along the other side of the property.

Another view from the back of the property towards the house. The close bed is Jerusalem Artichoke, which I am nipping back every few days to feed to the rabbits. In front of that, two beds of garlic are almost ready for harvest. Flats of greens were started weeks ago to quickly  replace the harvested crop. I need to plant Cranberry Pole Beans on the trellises as the peas are finishing up their period of productivity.  This small hoop house was made from material salvaged from the larger hoop house project last year, and contains more tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos and some very happy greens.

As for edibles, herbs, garlic scapes, peas, oriental greens, turnips, chard and strawberries are still the main offerings at this time of the year.  I'm reluctant to disturb the potato plants in the hope of new potatoes, since I'd rather have full-size tubers at harvest time for the same amount of effort.

 

 

Scapes and peas for lunch!



The grapevines planted by the previous owner, which produce poor grapes but plenty of leaves and vines, are taking over an ever-larger portion of the fence.  Last year we made a nice Greek dolmades-inspired casserole with fresh grape leaves and fresh mint from the garden, and this year I have been dehydrating some of the leaves to have available for later use.  The vines also make wonderful wreaths.