Garden Update: Early August

Is this the tiniest watermelon you've ever seen? Sooo cute! As cute as watermelons can be I guess. We have a few starting, but this is the first one! I'll take pics of it as it grows and highlight them here. We have never grown watermelons before. Can't wait to taste it! I think at this rate, the watermelon is going to keep us in suspense for a while-hopefully it will be ready for harvest before the frost!

Our First Zucchini!!!

SPLASH!

It's HOT! We are going through a major heat wave here this week and using every trick in the book. Cold showers, jumping in the pond, popsicles, doing chores early, doing chores late, doing chores s-l-o-w-l-y, skipping chores altogether! Lots of ice, fans going, sprinklers AND water balloons!!!!

I think I may have to breakdown on Thursday and fire up the A/C in the trailer... It will be 46 degrees celcius with the humidity! Wow!

Stay Cool!

The Garden in July

Our garden has been quite an experiment for us. We are learning a lot by trial and error and observation. Recently, we have discovered that when you let radishes and bok choi go to flower and seed; that both are very tasty AND pretty for that matter. We have learned about which flowers and leaves are edible from our garden...which are sweet and which are spicy! We can see the effects of too much or too little water as well as the huge differences due to location. Location can make or break a plant's growth!

It's been a joy to watch the garden change... to never know what you are going to find when you go out in the morning. Josh and I are always excited when we see new flowers, leaves or when some fruit ripens and is ready to eat!

One of the biggest lessons for me though, is discovering that there are multiple ways that plants are beneficial. Plants that I used to think of as weeds are actually herbs and can have many wonderful qualities. After growing our own food, we also realize how much hard work goes into the food we buy from our local farmers. Therefore, I have a lot more respect for the plant world, our food and those who grow it!

Old Friends, An Anniversary and Canada's Birthday!

We were so pleased that Anna, Juli and Aidan came to visit us this week.

We had a tonne of fun at home and at Rockwood Conservation Area.

Anna had her first ride in our canoe whereby she gave it her experienced- paddler- stamp -of -approval...apparently, it tracks well and turns on a dime...smooth. :)

The kids ran, climbed, balanced, found salamanders and saw a beaver swimming! They wanted to do it all over again the next day, but the line up to Rockwood was out to the road-being Canada Day. That's okay, another time.

At home, we had a chance to talk, read, Jeff worked on his canoe-cradle, the kids played nerf, Juli made tarts with me.... I loved picking mint leaves with her in the sunshine! They also drew pics, played computer games, swam, jumped on the trampoline, slept in the trailer, enjoyed marshmallows, sparklers and firecrackers.

We had lots of time with Oliver... who really loves Anna.... licks, cuddles, happy puppy dances...

Jeff and I celebrated our anniversary amongst all of this...a bbq with my dad too...

We found moments...

~he brought me flowers from the field...
he played a song we love.
we danced when nobody knew.
watched the stars and fireflies when everybody else was in bed by the fire.

we put up a Canadian flag...because we love Canada, being Canadian... and it reminds us of our wedding day, 16 years ago...
on every home we have lived in, we have had a flag...it's just what we do.

and at the end of the day, when all is said and done, we whisper that no matter what comes our way, we always have each other and our family and that's what matters.

i'd say a pretty wonderful day!

Happy Canada Day! Happy Lifelong Friendships! Happy Anniversary!