The legend says that if the wasps build a large nest very high up in a tree then we are in for a bad winter with lots of snow. If that is true this is going to be a horrible winter. I think this was the largest wasp nest that I have ever seen and it was at the very top of a Mountain Ash Tree.
First hard frost this morning but it warmed up nicely as the day went on and the forecast is for Indian Summer for the next week wonderful warm above seasonal temperatures and no risk of frost. Beautiful day for a walk today to enjoy some of the beautiful Autumn colours before it all disappears.
Seen at Southern Head today. We have had a visit from the Fantastic Freaks of Farmington, who ever they are LOL.
Took this time lapse video of Buckbee's New Heirloom Tomato ripening in the hoop house over the past couple of weeks with my Plant Cam.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
Still having fun with the new HDR software and my camera. It was a beautiful day for photography yesterday.
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.
