Un petit goût de l'Acadie

Un petit goût de l'Acadie, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I'm leading the Pathfinders Sunday walk today and the walk leader usually brings a snack and juice to share for after the walk so I decided to make Un petit goût de l'Acadie - A little taste of Acadia. It is a traditional Acadian Flat Bread called Ployes, very popular with the Acadians of Northern New Brunswick and Maine . A very healthy item made with Buckwheat Flour no fat no eggs no milk and grilled on a hot cast iron griddle without any oil or fat. Very healthy that is until I made my desert version spread with your choice of Cassis, Raspberry Jam or Nutella.

Tigger Melon

Tigger Melon, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Tigger Melons eventually ripen to have yellow & orange* stripes, averaging about a pound in weight, and growing to about the size of a baseball.

The name "Tigger" is in honor of the cartoon character of the same name, who bears the orange coloration that the mature melons have.

They are a very fragrant melon with a white, seedy flesh, but bland in taste, somewhat similar to cucumbers. They are quite seedy as well, and can be rather bitter-tasting, given certain conditions. They're a fun melon to grow, and make a great decoration, but if you're looking for food produce, you might want to keep looking.

Growing info
90 days. Heirloom variety. Does well in dry conditions. Plant in the spring after the soil has warmed up, directly in the ground, in hills 12" apart with rows spaced 36". [External Reference]
Some say that they produce much more abundantly when grown on a trellis. Quoted from GardenWiki.org

The Mill Pond

The Mill Pond, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Yesterday was a cloudy but mild first full day of Autumn and a great day for a hike and some photography. I love the light and the reflections that occur on cloudy days, the very best for picture taking. I took a three hour hike and passed by Mill Cove at about the half way point and took these two HDR photos on the Mill Pond. If you don't know what an HDR photo is let me explain a bit about these two pictures of the Mill Pond. Each of these photos is actually three pictures of the same shot each taken at a different exposure and later spliced together using Photomarix software package. If you want to try this for yourself there is a free version of the software available for you to try just google Photomatix and download it, with the free software there will be a watermark on each of the photos that you process using the program.

End of the first month in the hoop house. Video # 200 !!

It's been am month since I transplanted tiny seedlings int the raised bed in the hoop house and I've been harvesting food from there for almost two weeks now. I'm starting a free seed exchange of open pollinate seed and will do a video soon to launch the website but if you would like to have a look at it while it is under construction this is the link:

http://freeopenpollinatedseed.blogspot.com

Nest Eggs

Nest Eggs, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Don't get all excited they're ceramic. They serve two purposes first they let the hens know that the nest boxes are a good place to put their eggs when the time comes and secondly they are very hard so when they peck at them they learn that eggs are hard nasty things and it hurts if you peck them, so when they lay their own they won't even think of pecking one, hopefully. If all goes well the first eggs should be arriving in the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Progress in the Hoop House

Progress in the Hoop House, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Same raised bed in the Hoop House. The lower photo was taken on August 22nd and the top photo was taken today September 16th. What a difference 25 days made.

Fishing can be very colourful

Fishing can be very colourful, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Still having fun with the new HDR software and my camera. It was a beautiful day for photography yesterday.

Mont Saint Michel

Mont Saint Michel, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Got my new MacBook Pro today and the first thing I did was buy the HDR program so I could finish the photos that I took last spring. Love the MacBook.

Propagating a Capsicum Chilli Pepper from cuttings.

Back in the hoop house this time I'm concerned that I might loose one of my large Capsicum Hot Chilli Peppers this fall. The plant as it is potted in a smart-pot and very large can't be brought into the house for the winter so I'm trying to propagate it from cuttings, If this fails I will transplant part of it into a pot and cut it back. I finish the video with another short look at the vegetables in the hoop house.

Rainy Day in the Hoop House correcting some problems

Some of the Chinese Cabbage had grown so fast they were covering the beets so I removed a row and had they for dinner, they were great. Also a look at some of the insect problems in the hoop house and a look at the tomatoes.

My Stupeflix Videos of Canterbury Cathedral and the RHS Garden Wisley

Playing around with some of the new YouTube toys these are photos that I took of Canterbury Cathedral and the RHS Garden Wisley last spring made these little clips in a minute using the Stupeflix YouTube App

September in the garden, greenhouse and new hoop house.

A little look at the chickens early this morning as they were coming out of the coop then a bit of a tour of the gardens and a look at the progress in the new Hoop House. I continue to be amazed at how well things are growing in there. Still no idea of course as to how late in the fall I will be able to use it, but it is a fun experiment and I'm sure I'm going to get some crops out of it. The lettuce, Chinese Cabbage and Swiss Chard are doing very well and should be ready to eat in a couple of weeks.

New Nest Boxes - Pin-up posters provided by my friend Pat

New Nest Boxes - Pin-up posters provided by my friend Pat, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

The new nest boxes that have been sitting in my living-room for three weeks have at last been installed in the Coop. I don't expect any eggs for a couple of months yet so the girls have lots of time to pick a nest. They were checked out almost as soon as I left the coop and I think they met with approval. The pin-up posters were provided by my friend Pat we share a similar sense of humour.

Seed drying for the seed exchange.

Seed drying for the seed exchange., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

What used to be my dinning room has turned into the seed drying and preparation area for a new Blog and Hobby Project that I will be launching later this fall. For a sneak peak at the Blog which is still under construction click this link:
freeopenpollinatedseed.blogspot.com/

If you are a seed saver and have extra that you would like to add to the exchange check back a little later and I will have added the addresses where you can send them or request seed.

Bay of Fundy Tidal Surge after Hurricane Irene

The day after the Hurricane on Herring Cove Beach, Campobello Island NB Canada.

Cabbages Harvested in advance of Irene

Cabbages Harvested in advance of Irene, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Right now we are not forecast to have a lot of damaging wind but we are in for a tropical rain storm that will dump several inches of rain on us and a sudden glut of rain at this time of year will cause cabbages to swell up and burst open. You can still eat the cabbage but it has to be used immediately or it will spoil. Mine will be stored in the basement for a few weeks until cooler weather arrives then turned into sauerkraut.

End of week one in the New Hoop House

I'm amazed at how much growth has occurred in just one week. Most of the seedlings that I transplanted in the raised bed a week ago have doubled in size and beets that I planted from seed were up and growing in three days, I wish I had done this years ago. The humidistat that I had ordered arrived after I made this video and the reading is 72% which is high but not as high as I thought it would be. I must do some research to see what a good reading is for a greenhouse I suspect the reading should be higher than you would have it in your home anyway.

New Brunswick Native River Grape (Vitis riparia) Hardy to Zone 2b collected and propogated by Bob Osborn at Cornhill Nursery

New Brunswick Native River Grape (Vitis riparia) Hardy to Zone 2b collected and propogated by Bob Osborn at Cornhill Nursery, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I had this grape for many years growing on an arbour over my front door but eventually it winter killed one year. About 3 or 4 years ago I found it growing up a large pine tree on my property , the birds must have spread the seed. I've been watching it ever since and this is the first year it has had fruit and it is loaded.

Chick Flick

A little video of my chicken flock taken during our daily "Quality Time". I sit on a stool in the yard and they graze on greens and visit with me. Several of them have started jumping up in my lap for brief visits and they all take turns at pecking my fingers or pulling on my shoelaces

Making lactic acid fermented dill pickles in the picklemeister

Making lactic acid fermented dill pickles in the picklemeister, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I made these pickles last year for the first time and now I can't imagine ever making any other kind, they are fantastic and very easy to do. So crunchy and full of flavour. This is a link to a video that I made last year on the process: youtu.be/i6fNfpNA9tI . This year I added a few baby carrots to the mixture just for the colour. I would have preferred to use smaller cucumbers but mine got a bit large in the garden while I was waiting for my dill to mature. Lots more dill in the garden so hopefully there will be more cucumbers to make another batch or two before the season is over. I'm going to order a second picklemeister and these can be transferred to litre jars once they have fermented. Very pleased to say that all of the ingredients , this year, came fresh from my own garden picked an hour before I took this photo.