Hoop House in Early Summer

Just a few photos that I took in the Hoop House today.

Pond Life

No narration and no cameo appearance in this video, just the sounds of nature at the pond. This pond isn't on my property but it is adjacent to my land only about a five minute walk away. The pond has been there for many years in a disused gravel pit. It used to be very shallow and would go dry in summer, but in the past year beavers have moved in and built a lodge in the centre of the pond. The beaver is a master at hydraulic engineering, they have damed up the areas where the pond was loosing water and almost doubled the size of the pond and it is much deeper than it used to be. If you notice dead trees around the edge of the pond that is an indication that there are beavers at work, when they raise the water level trees at the edge of the pond suddenly find there roots under water and that kills the tree. Toward the end of the video I show you the very well camouflaged Beaver Lodge but unfortunately I have't been able to video the beavers yet. Since the beavers moved in there is a lot more wildlife than there used to be. Not sure how many turtles there are but as you can see I have seen three at one time and I have seen a number of smaller ones off in the water. not sure of the breed but they might be Painted Turtles if anyone knows for sure please leave a comment  There is a nice close-up of a frog and two different kinds of tadpoles. Frogs, toads and salamanders all lay there eggs in ponds and they hatch into tadpoles. There is also a close-up of one tadpole in it's second year stage starting to grow legs. I know that there are at least two families of Black Ducks but I have't been able to get video of them so far either, so maybe there will be a Pond Life II later on this summer.

Harvesting and Veggie Progress

A look around at how things are progressing in the hoop house. The first Artichoke has started to come up, cucumbers are starting to grow,the peas have lots of pods on them, I thinned the beets and got enough greens for a couple of meals. I'm trying a new way of feeding the grape vines something that I remembered from a visit to Hampton Court Palace many years ago and the video concludes with the time lapse of the peas growing from April 4th to May 7th.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara
37. Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant
38. Rutabaga -- York
39. Cucumber -- Calypso
40. Pole Beans -- Blue Lake
41. Lima Beans- Fordhook
42. Common Comfrey

Garden, Hoop House and Harvesting

A look around the gardens and hoop house. The summer and winter squash have been transplanted into the garden. It looks like all of the potatoes and most of the beans survived the week of rain. I transplanted the last of my New Brunswick wild river grape cuttings two on the house and the other four at the base of trees. Things in the hoop house have really improved since I started using Epson Salts. Harvesting some of the mustard greens and a couple of the daikon and a quick little clip about making some pickled daikon. To finish off with a look at some blooms around the property and a couple of clips of some of the local wildlife.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara
37. Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant
38. Rutabaga -- York
39. Cucumber -- Calypso
40. Pole Beans -- Blue Lake
41. Lima Beans- Fordhook
42. Common Comfrey

At last the rain has stopped

Unboxing a small shipment of herbs intended for use are a green manure tea for the garden. A look at how I measured the amount of rain we received over the weekend. Transplanting some seedlings into the garden and a look at a few things that are in bloom right now.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara
37. Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant
38. Rutabaga -- York
39. Cucumber -- Calypso
40. Pole Beans -- Blue Lake
41. Lima Beans- Fordhook
42. Common Comfrey

The Hummers

Put up a humming bird feeder yesterday and within a couple of hours the first humming bird arrived.

Irish Bean Tee-Pee and Hoop House update

Cabin and Garden Work

Justin Trudeau -- What would you ask Mr. Harper?

Grapes and other things

The Beta grape vine has blossom buds lots of them so I hope to have my first grapes this summer. A look around at the things I recently transplanted in the hoop house and the other crops that are growing in there.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara
37. Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant
38. Rutabaga -- York
39. Cucumber -- Calypso
40. Pole Beans -- Blue Lake
41. Lima Beans- Fordhook

Justin Trudeau -- We've raised over a million

Cabin, Hoop House and Garden

A look at how things are developing in the gardens and hoop house and I just finished painting the cabin so I wanted you to see that too.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
31. Beets Merlin
32. Summer Squash -- Elegance
33. Winter Squash -- Sweet Mama
34. Calendula -- Fiesta Gitana Mix
35. Garlic Susan Delafield
36. Potatoes Yukon Gold & Cara

Canary and Hoop House update

A look at my canary in the coal mine experiment and the grapes, artichoke, daikon,onion and peas that are growing in the Hoop House. To finish the video a few short clips of some of the spring flowers.

Justin Trudeau -- Channel Change

I tweeted, google+ and blogged these ads and I would like to encourage others to do the same.

J'ai tweeté, Google+ et blogué ces annonces et je tiens à encourager les autres à faire de même.

Canary in the coal mine

Testing the hoop house to see if it is safe to bring my seedlings out. Planting my onion seedlings and a look at how things are growing in the early season hoop house.

The latest version of the ever growing seedling list:

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
11. Tomatillo (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage
28. White Wonder Cucumber (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
29. Buttercrunch Lettuce (Free seed from Praxxus55712)
30. Heshiko Green Onion (Free seed from Praxxus55712)

Frank Gardner's Return to Saudi Arabia BBC full documentary 2013 Inside ...

(There are a couple of ads in the middle of this video but you can click to stop them.)

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner returns for the first time to Riyadh, the city in Saudi Arabia where he was shot by Al Qaeda in 2004 and left dependent upon a wheelchair. Travelling in this important and mysterious country, he explores how it has so far avoided an Arab Spring revolution.
Frank Gardner's Return to Saudi Arabia BBC full documentary 2013 Inside the saudi kingdom

Aerogarden, Hydroponics, Light Garden and Hoop House update

A look at the progress and growth in the Aerogarden, Hydroponics, Seedlings in the light garden and Hoop House. The plant list below corresponds to the numbers on the plant tags.

2013 Plant List

1. Onion Red Zeppelin
2. Okra Jambalaya
3. Pepper Hot Hungarian Wax
4. Pepper King Arthur
5. Geranium Bullseye Mix Pelargonium hortorum
6. Pepper Aji Dulce
7. Pepper Shi Shito
8. Tomato Mountain Merit
9. Tomato Roma VF
10. Tomato Yellow Multiflora
11. Tomatillo
12. Mustard Southern Giant Curled
13. Mustard Dragons Tongue
14. Mustard Red Giant
15. Lettuce New Red Fire
16. Broccoli Gypsy
17. Collards Flash
18. Cabbage Bronco
19. Cauliflower Fremont
20. Kohlrabi Kossak
21. Peas Dwarf Sabre
22. Daikon Radish April Cross
23. Sweet Peas Old Spice
24. Summer Savory
25. Cucumber Rocky
26. Parsley Forest Green
27. Sage

I hope he's moving in

Something a bit rare in this area a male Cardinal and he is singing for a mate. I sure hope he finds one I would like to see them move into the area.

Cantonese Egg Tarts

Cantonese Egg Tarts, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Link to the recipe : en.christinesrecipes.com/2009/03/cantonese-egg-tarts-reci...

Crocus and Chickens

Out enjoying some spring flowers and supervising the chickens free ranging time. It looks like we could be in for another spring snow storm. We were lucky one got a cm or two of snow then it changed to rain.