Some bounty

Well last night was a perfect evening, we are finally getting some food from the garden. We harvested a large amount of strawberries and then we chopped up some Rhubarb...Heather made a fantastic pie last night. I am generally not a fan of anything sweet but it was a real taste of fresh and clean produce. Can't go wrong with that. I managed to get two cord of wood split yesterday so it was nice to sit down to a meal out in the gazebo by the pond. At this time of year we really only eat outside. We take full advantage of what we can get with the season. It is refreshing as well. Today it is such a wonderful day we must take a quick drive to the beach. As I have mentioned before we are fortunate with where we live that we are so close to the ocean. It takes less than 15 minutes to get there, why wouldn't you just want to go for a dip. Most people would be surprised to think of nice sandy beaches here in New Brunswick,Canada however we have what is considered to be the warmest beaches north of the Carolina's in the USA. With such large tidal movements over the hot sand it heats the water so rapidly. It is sometimes hard to believe that some people have never got the chance to see the oceans. I feel the water provides so much strength...rawness(if that even is a word).
I hope you all feel a day of joy

Return of the sunshine

Greetings of Love..
I have been away camping and hiking just a good way to kick off the summer. Sometimes it is really hard to get the urge to go to the computer when you only get such limited time out of the year with nice weather. Getting back at the work to be done has been rewarding as well. Everything has finally been planted in the garden. Seems quite late being July and all but with the rain and cold weather we had this is the best we could do. Now my big job is to get cracking with wood splitting.
We have had a new introduction to our garden this year. It has been quite detrimental. It is the striped cucumber beetle.

SCB

What a bug. Not only do they destroy squash, pumpkin, cucumbers,zucchini but there larvae will eat the roots of corn...I will not use anything against these bugs to kill them. I know there is "organic" pesticides that can be used. But seriously if it kills bugs how organic can it really be. Maybe I am just skeptical. What I read was to plant radishes in the same location as the plants it eats. Radishes grow fast and hopefully the SCB will destroy them before the squash and so forth. I have also been diligent in constantly removing them from the plants, Even obsessing over them maybe.I can get rid of there frustration with some wood chopping....Well I don't know what else to do, any good clean advice would be helpful...
Hoping you all a wonderful day

Beauty

Much love to all..
Just saying a quick hello and sending any positive Irations to anyone who may be reading today. I hope everyone is taking advantage of whatever is presented in front of you today. Laziness can lead to many destructive forces such as vanity. Vanity is something I would consider to be one of the true downfalls of the human race. Vanity leads to greed, power, oppression, control, corruption...and a low self worth, I would think.
"We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudices owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations, but to our fellow man within the human community" HIM
My personal theme is always "Uunconditional Love"
In reading about permaculture and design community is really the ship that will stay course in troubled times. We have to get closer as a society. Slow things down even. I hope this is still possible. Maybe I am naive and a dreamer. I hope I am just optimistic and forward thinking.
I think even the simplest things can be done to slow things down. I always tell people of what my mother used to do for my sister and I. We were discouraged to wear watches. My mother thought if we had a watch on we would be basing everything on the particular time. When I was younger I never really understood of course but now I see it in a complete other light. I think it is also a way to look at nature to tell us the time. Nature is really a built in clock. Migration of birds, sun patterns, moons, temperature. There is more signs in nature than your hour hand and minute hand can teach you.
So hopefully things can slow down and become more positive for everyone.
Go out and make a stranger smile even....

Around Square...

Greetings of love and consciousness...I actually see some sun in the forcast, Here is hoping because the gardens could use it. Photosynthesis is important and, well as we all know sunlight is a big part of it...haha. For a couple years before I started to have my own page I loved to check out Sara's page over at Farmama.
http://www.farmama.typepad.com/
I had been introduced to this page from the blog at RASFarms. http://www.rasfarms.com/
They have since started there own family farm independant from RasFarms and I am still hooked to the wonderful photos and stories to be had by her wonderful family. I suggest checking out both of these pages.
Recently Sara had started posting around the farm photos on Thursdays, looking for other people to do the same. It has been a great way to see her and other peoples unique farms, gardens, layouts etc. Today I will post a couple of my own as our season starts to get underway. Hopefully next week there will be much more to show. Happy Thursdays to everyone...



Supposed to be 3 Sisters but barely is 1 sister



Bush Beans

Lupins

The Red, Green and Gold

Ahh and the hammock to nap

250th day of Winter...

Well the longest day has now come and past, makes me wonder if summer will still get here. Our cold and wet spring has made many farmers nervous. It seems that the cold cloudy weather is the only thing we Maritimers have been talking about. Driving through the corn fields last year at this time was drastically different then this year. Corn has not even sprouted on most fields. Last year it would have been two feet high. The highest temperature reached yesterday was a whopping 12 C degrees. (54F) today they are calling for colder and winds are still primarily from the north. We are still having fires in the evening to get rid of the damp chills. Last year we burnt just over 4 cord of wood this year we have burnt almost 6. We have the wood but it really takes a toll on my surplus supply that I cut and chop. But since I am not spending time on the gardens I guess I have the time to get a chopping.
Heather will be done teaching for summer next week so luckily we will have our camera home full time again. And of course we need to go to the Island as much as possible to have a little time away. We are big fans of the beach and the power and beauty it brings.
Hope this finds ya'll happy and healthy

It is a Stormin'

The gardens are talking to me, no I am not crazy, well maybe a little, I think they are just wanting sunlight. Two days in a row would even be nice. Mama nature help my produce? I know us humans haven't treated you very well but I have tried to my whole life. Give us a little shine and I will feel that much better. But I guess I would have to understand if you are still not ready to reward us.
With rain comes slugs...I am really battling slugs around the yard and vegetable patch. I am hoping people could offer some form of advice in regards to keeping them away. I know the whole beer tray thing but I would need a kegs worth around the way. The slugs have been so intense in our area that flights have been delayed after storms to clean up rainways...yup that is gross. Everything works in its own cycle, this year is so far the year of the slugs, next year could very well be the year for something else. I hope it is bees...now I am really getting picky.
Much love to all...keep smiling

Kaya is always happy

Around the 'stead

Well I was away for a couple of days with a funeral, never a reason to have to go away but it also gives us a chance to celebrate life in its' whole. The gathering was a way for family and friends to hopefully seek a more fullfilling life and see how fragile and short our time can be. I was hoping to get to take part with my around the farm photos to follow suit with Sara on Thursdays over at http://farmama.typepad.com/farmama. However there is always next week. So today I shall keep it short and post a couple shots of some flowers comming out...
Much love to all