Endeavour

Endeavour , originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

My friend Pru's brother in law works at NASA in Florida and sent her this beautiful photo. Part of his job is stocking the shuttle and space station with supplies that the Astronauts will need.

Grow Bag Garden

Grow Bag Garden, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Very please with my grow bag gardens. Everything seems to be doing very well. Tomatoes in the Greenhouse and the small Grow Bag Greenhouse are in bloom. I've already had several meals from the Joi Choi, Swiss Chard, Kale and Lettuce. The Greenhouse Cucumbers, F1 Hybrid Carmen, are growing fast with blossom buds but no flowers yet and the Purple Star Peppers in shopping bag are almost in bloom, one more sunny day should do it. So good to have my own fresh produce this early in the season.

East Quoddy - Head Harbour Light

East Quoddy - Head Harbour Light, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Beautiful sunny cool spring day and I decided to take a walk to the Light House and back. Early training for next years Camino walk from Le Puy to Santiago. My time wasn't half bad 3 hours 45 minutes and it is something like 18 KM. I am however exhausted tonight.

Camino de Santiago

Camion de Santiago, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Plans are under way for the fall meeting of the Maritime Friends of the Camino and Peter Coffman has agreed to attend and give a presentation of his Camino Photographs. Peter gave his presentation in Halifax last fall but most of us from New Brunswick didn't do the long drive so it will be great to see his exhibit and presentation at our fall meeting. Peter walked the Camino with the late Oliver Schroer, the Canadian musician who composed and recorded the music for his CD “Camino” as they walk in May and June of 2004. I used Oliver's music as background for my DVD slide show and shorter YouTube video of my 2008 Camino.

Joi Choi Chinese Cabbage - Italian Parsley

Joi Choi Chinese Cabbage & Italian Parsley, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Not sure if you are supposed to wait and harvest this when it is a whole head or cut it a leaf at at a time. A whole head would be too much for me so I've started using it a few leaves at a time and it is very good. A lovely dark green must be full of antioxidants and other good things.

First National Goat Study Launched by USDA - Hobby Farms

First National Goat Study Launched by USDA - Hobby Farms

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The last of the grow bag garden areas, June 2, 2009.

The last of the grow bag garden areas, June 2, 2009., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

A short walk out the path to the hidden garden. This area has been many things over the years, it started out as a large vegetable garden and right now it is a perennial garden and lawn. Earlier this spring I dug up a 12 foot square area and covered it with black plastic mulch so I could garden on top of the mulch this year with grow bags. My plan right now is to divide it next year with a two foot wide cross shaped path creating four 5 foot square raised beds to grow vegetables in.

Continuing the tour of grow bag gardens June 1, 2009

Continuing the tour of grow bag gardens June 1, 2009, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Continuing the tour of my grow bag gardens starting at the greenhouse where the last video clip left off and visiting the former herb garden that I turned over and covered with black plastic mulch for this year. I have grow bags on top of the mulch and this fall I will remove the plastic and add the soil from the grow bags to the bed and prepare it for it's new life as some sort of garden next year. Right now my thoughts are an Alberta Spruce in the center surrounded by a circle of English Lavender with the rest of the bed covered with a dark mulch. Hard to say how many times I will change my mind before next year though. There is one more short video clip to do leaving this garden and walking out a path through the trees to the hidden where I have another area of grow bags to show you. Hopefully I will get that done in the next few days.

The start of canning season.

The start of canning season., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

The official start of canning season and first up to the plate is Rhubarb. I use my trusted and well worn copy of Stocking Up , my 1977 edition when ever canning or preserving I find all of their instructions easy to follow and tried and true.

Quoting from the book, the Rhubarb method that I used:

Rhubarb (hot pack method)

For hot pack the water in your canner should be boiling and you should add boiling water enough to bring the level 1 to 2 inches over the top of the jars.

Wash and cut the Rhubarb into ½ inch pieces. Add ¼ cup of honey to each quart of Rhubarb and let stand for several hours to draw out juice. Bring to a boil then ladle into sterile jars filling to within ½ inch of the top. Add sterile lids and tighten. Place in canner as instructed above and process for 10 minutes . Timing from the moment that the water returns to a rolling boil. Putting the cover on the canner will speed up this process.

To sterilize the jars I wash and rinse and place in a 300 degree F over for 10 minutes. I boil the lids in water for ten minutes.

The resulting product from this method is not sweet enough to eat right out of the jar, you will need to add additional sweetener before you serve it or use it in a pie etc.