Being Canadian means LOVING Spring and Summer, having snow and cold from November to March you really come to appreciate when the world is green, regardless of
blackflies and
mosquito's. However with everything in hyper-growth the amount of work on a semi-rural property is staggering. Grass grows at a phenomenal rate, to look really neat bi-weekly mowing would be necessary, needless to say we get by with weekly.
My garden blasted off in April, we are enjoying a daily supply of salad greens, it has been so hot the last two weeks that my
Arugula has bolted and I have just finished pulling all my radishes. This is the first year I have been able to make use of the bolted greens, the rabbits LOVE them. I am seeding more radishes, not that I am
particularly crazy about them, but the rabbits adore the greens and a pack of seeds is pretty cheap bunny food.
Trinny's owner sent a dozen heirloom tomato plants with
Trinny when she came to deliver her pups and although I cannot figure out which ones they are, they are big and madly blooming, my mouth waters when I think of all the wonderful super delicious delights to come.
I planted twice as many peas this year, I love everything about peas, one of my favorite appetizers is to steam them and mash with garlic, mixing with ricotta cheese and slathering on crispy garlic toast and a drizzle of olive oil...have I mentioned how much I love peas??
The other veg I went a little wild with this year is beans, I have
Scarlett runner beans, just because they are beautiful, Italian broad beans that I adore steamed and covered in melted butter and garlic. Loads of Kentucky Runner beans, last year I had a bean salad for lunch almost every day, quickly blanched then marinated with rice vinegar and olive oil, tossed with pecans, feta cheese and thyme, oh my goodness.
I am smack in the middle of major puppy raising.
Trinny's pups are 6 weeks old and demanding my attention, they have discovered their voices and they insist that they are not ignored. Thankfully
Hexe's pups are only a week and a half and most of the work is
Hexe's at the moment.
Hexe is a first time mom and she sure had me worried the first week, she just couldn't settle with the pups. She insisted on attempting to hide them by burying them in the blankets, she became flustered by their squeaks of protest and it wasn't unusual for me to run upstairs to sort out all the noise and find
Hexe attempting to relocate a shrieking pup to her crate,
argh!! You can see
Hexe's pups here
These are my only two litters this year, I decided that summer pups would be nice and so far the weather is cooperating.
And finally we 'hopefully' have our first litter of bunnies coming in a couple of weeks. Mick was busy today making me these nesting boxes. Fingers crossed all goes well, I am reading so much negative info on first litters that I am apprehensive about this event. I will keep you posted.
Trinny's pups are 8 weeks old and the first two headed off yesterday to their new owners in Winnipeg. The rest are leaving us over the next couple of days. Soon new owners will all be familiar with a variation of the above photo. The I want attention NOW howl, or the...let me out of this crate NOW howl, or, where are my siblings howl, or perhaps the...why are you not playing/feeding/walking me NOW howl. Puppy fun for sure.
This little girl will remain here, for the time. Not sure if that time will be days, weeks, months or forever. The jury is out until I catch my breath and make a decision, should she stay or should she go?
