An Early July Look at the Square Foot Garden Beds

In an effort to make my garden update videos shorter I have decided to do them at various times in three separate categories today's is a look at what is happening in the Square Foot Garden Beds. The other two categories are the non pruned Tomatoes in the garden and greenhouse with a look at the things that are growing with them and the last category is The first nations style permaculture three sisters garden. So each future update will cover one of these topics.

La Voie Du Puy

This is a copy of a DVD, in two parts, that I made in 2010 for presentation to the Maritime Chapter of the Friends of the Camino at their annual fall meeting. It is a compilation of video clips that I took with my Flip Camcorder as I walked the Voie Du Puy Camino Pilgrimage route in southern France from Conques to Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port in the spring of 2010. It was too long to upload to YouTube at the time and I just remembered that the file size limit has been increased so I though I would post it to my Channel. This is my second Camino walk I walked the Camino Francais across the top of Spain from Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port to Santiago de Compostella in 2008. There is a copy of my slide presentation of that walk on my YouTube Channel. I hope you enjoy this little presentation and that it encourages some of you to try one of these long distance walks, they truly are the experience of a lifetime.

At the conclusion of my presentation I gave each person attending the conference a copy of the DVD and this handout:

Friends For Zambia


Thank you for listening to my presentation and watching my little home movie from La Voie Du Puy I hope you enjoyed it. I'm making this copy of my DVD available to you free of charge,(Who in their right mind would buy one anyway), but I would like to encourage you to visit the website of the Friends For Zambia an NGO founded by two of our membership Patricia Ellsworth and Mary McKean,who along with their friend Sally Moore are walking the Voie Du Puy right now (September 2010) ,and make a small donation to help build the school in Lilayi Zambia

http://www.friendsforzambia.org/

The Mission of Friends For Zambia is to support basic education for the children of Lilayi, Zambia. We believe that education is the key to a better future for these children and their families. We put particular emphasis on encouraging the education of girls.

Any donation will be greatly appreciated and if you should decide to be a regular monthly contributor for only $25.00 a month you could sponsor a child's annual tuition fee.

Thank you

Dale Calder

PS:

The official opening of the School is scheduled for July 2012 and if all goes well I plan to attend. I would like to encourage you to support this most worthwhile charity any donation no matter how small will be put to good use.

A look at what's happening in the Gardens and Greenhouse June 14, 2011

Things are looking good in the gardens and greenhouse in spite of our cold wet spring. I would also like to thank everyone who exchanged seeds with me and show you how the varieties you gave me are doing. Hopefully I didn't leave anyone out, if so it wasn't intentional.

Fresh Plain Bagels - Nevaeh has to have her bagel and cream cheese every morning for breakfast.

Fresh Plain Bagels - Nevaeh has to have her babel and cream cheese every morning for breakfast., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Had to make a second batch of bagels this morning Nevaeh has one with cream cheese for breakfast and now she is having them with cheeses slice sandwiches for for lunch.

Easy to make

Ingredients

2 Cups warm water
1 tbs instant yeast
1 tbs salt
Flour enough to make a firm dough

Add yeast and salt to warm water then add flour about 2 cups and mix until you have a soft but wet dough turn out on a work surface and knead for 10 minutes by the clock adding flour as needed until you have a firm dough that no longer sticks to your hands. Put a few tablespoons of oil in the bowl return dough to bowl turn to cover with oil. Set to rest covered with a clean tea towel for one hour. Deflate the dough and divide into 12 equal portions. I use kitchen scales and they average 100 grams each. There are two methods to shape into bagels I use the first:

1. Roll each portion into a log shape 6 to 7 inches long. Wrap around your hand place the two ends together in your palm and roll back and forth on the work surface to join the ends.
2. Simpler method, shape into a ball poke a hole in the middle and expand it with your fingers.

Cover the shaped bagels with a tea towel to rest for 15 minutes. I put mine on a parchment covered cookie sheet.

While the bagels are resting preheat the over to 450 degrees f. and boil a large kettle or stockpot half full of water with 3 or 4 tablespoons of honey added.

Once he bagels have rested and risen a bit you kettle them, place 2 or 3 bagels at a time in the boiling water and boil 30 seconds on each side. Remove with a slotted spoon are return to the baking sheet.. Once they have all been kettled bake in the 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. Cool on a rack and enjoy.

Spring 2011 Planting in the Square Foot Garden

Getting the Square Foot Garden ready for another season. Transplanting the onion seedlings that I started in the house on February 6th., planting Peas, Beets and Spinach. A look at some of the seedlings that I have grown in the light garden and are now out in the unheated greenhouse to harden off before they are transplanted later in the month.

Building A Chicken Coop

I have ordered day old chicks to arrive in late May so I have been busy building a chicken coop. First time I've ever built anything so it has been quite a learning experience but I'm satisfied with the job and I think the Chickens will be comfortable. I have been making video clips as I go along and now I'm putting them together into a small series of short videos.

Crocus March 14, 2011

Crocus March 14, 2011, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Spring is in the air. It is amazing how fast things can change. A week ago we had several feet of snow everywhere and today my next door neighbours crocus are in bloom. Mine are still under the snow but a few more days of good weather and they will be out too. As you can see from this picture of Pussy Willows that I took in my front garden today I still have some snow yet to melt.

Campobello Island, New Brunswick Bay of Fundy Travel Show Episode 12

A very nice new promotional video about Campobello.

Diamonds in the snow.

Diamonds in the snow., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I've been trying to capture the sparkle in the snow and so far this is the best I've come up with, still not satisfied maybe I will get it before the winter is over.

Nature's Velcro

Nature's Velcro, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Nature's Velcro - I think I read somewhere that the inventor of Velcro got the idea from looking at a Burdock. Well if you look closely you can see where he got the idea each little barb has a hook at the end, one of natures clever designs.

Snow Dune

Snow Dune, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I think I should make up a story about the big blizzard that went on for days and days. However the truth is we only have a few inches of snow. I was on a walk today and went into a gravel pit and saw these piles of sand and gravel covered in snow.

This is a photo of the same place without the snow.

Mill Cove II

Mill Cove II, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Back out to Mill Cove in the cold this afternoon to try to get three photos that I could stitch together into a panorama of the cove. I did one yesterday but didn't think it went together very well. My friend Carole suggested that it might work better if I used a tripod instead of doing the pictures hand held and this worked the result was a much smoother transition.

While I was there I noticed some very interesting ice formations in the Mill Pond. There is a tidal stream which runs through the pond so even though the pond freezes the ice is lifted and lowered twice each day on the rising and falling tide. It was high tide when I took this picture but I think what is happening is at low tide there is a large bolder that is pushed up through the ice.

Machias River

Machias River, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Playing around with HDR (High dynamic range imaging) Using Photomatix free software, thus the watermarks. The picture is made by combining three bracketed photos of the same scene. To get the watermarks removed you need to buy a pro copy of the program which is around 100$ it's a lot of fun and I will buy it but not until I get a new computer hopefully in the new year it runs so slowly on my old desktop that it is painful to use. The black and white and the colour photo were made from the same set of photos.

A walk in the Snow.

Rose Hips in the Snow, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Seems to be getting colder everyday now, but today was a great day for a walk. I walked the Glennsevern Road which isn't plowed in winter but so far there isn't enough snow down to make it impassable and the lake still hasn't frozen over.

Snow !!!

Our first real snow storm of winter 2010 - 2011. A short video to show my Auzzie friend what it looks like around here when it snows. As snow storms go this one is pretty tame mild temperature right around zero, no wind to mention and not a lot of snow.

My First Submissions to Getty Images Artist Picks group

My First Submissions to Getty Images Artist Picks group, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

My First Submissions to Getty Images Artist Picks group

Members can submit 25 photos per month these are my November submissions.

Clicking on the photo will take you to my flickr account and links to each of the individual photos in the collage.

Herring Cove Park the yellow trail

Herring Cove Park the yellow trail , originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I'm leading the Pathfinders walk this weekend so I went out today to check the trail that I plan to use.

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker , originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Lots of birds at the feeder today but this Downy Woodpecker was doing the strangest things. He went to two different windows in the living room and looked in at me and screamed then he hung on the screen on the Garden Door and did the same thing. In between these performances he would go to the feeder and pick out some pieces of corn to eat. The feeder has two cages for suet but I don't buy any until the Raccoons have hibernated and I sure it is cold enough that it won't spoil in the sun. I think perhaps he is one of the woodpeckers that feed at the feeder every winter and he is upset that there isn't any suet.

Herring Cove

Herring Cove, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Still having fun with the camera after dark. This time I went out on Herring Cove Beach and stood in the cold for and hour or so just after sunset. There is a new moon in the sky so the sky isn't dark enough to see very many stars. I will do it again some dark moonless night.

The Big Dipper

Last of the fall colour - Acer palmatum ( Bloodgood Japanese Maple )

Last of the fall colour - Acer palmatum ( Bloodgood Japanese Maple ), originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

What a miserable week weather wise it snowed last Sunday and has rained every day since, lots of wind too. Most of the fall colour is on the ground and the trees are bare until next spring. My Japanese Maple Bloodgood is always appreciated at this time of year it keeps it's leaves for a week or two after all the native trees have shed theirs. According to the forecast we might see a bit of sun this Wednesday and Thursday should be a clear sunny day. Adding to all this fun we set the clocks back an hour today so it is dark by late afternoon, I don't understand why we let them do this to us I don't Know anyone who is in favour of it.