Tuesday 31 July 2012

Schnauzer free photo day

If you have come to view Schnauzer photos, my apologies, today I celebrate the chicken
Blanche a chicken with attitude, love her!

 I just love my four Barred Plymouth Rocks, they are the most entertaining, definitely they are at the top of the pecking order.  Blanche is the smallest but from watching them daily it is obvious she is the matriarch of the flock.  She follows me around, easiest to pick up and she is always the most indignant when I release her.








 I am a bit worried that the chicken above is a....gulp rooster.  At 3 months of age they are just starting to grow out their combs and wattles, this one seems to be an early developer.  Haven't heard any crowing yet, I hope it is just more advanced.  On the plus side, if one were to be a rooster the Buff Orpington breed is one of the more docile breeds and if he were not too noisy I would love to have a rooster in the hen house.  Any chicken experts out there with an opinion?


 The white and black hens are my Columbian Wyandotte, they are the most wary of the three breeds, they are always lurking in the background and the four usually stick together.  If a fox were to enter the hen house I am sure the Plymouth Rocks and the Orpingtons would be the first to go, they show the most ease and curiosity towards the dogs, the Wyandottes would be the ones to fly the coop and escape unharmed


Sunday 29 July 2012

Pretty Raven

Hexe's daughter, lovely little Raven
More photos of the pups taken today on Hexe's Nursery Blog here

Monday 23 July 2012

July Blooms


Don't let the dogs out


Saturday 21 July 2012

Organic Gardening-Pest Control

Tomato Horn Worm
ACK!  Our tomato crop is under invasion.  You don't see them at first, then you look closely and there they are!  This is the first year we have seen Tomato Horn Worm in our garden, truly frightening creatures.

Extreme close-up, they seriously freak me out

We don't use pesticides in the veggie garden, but I have another method of control.....


Pick'em and toss to the chickens

 The circle of life, chickens eat big disgusting tomato worms, which will in turn help the chickens to produce tasty eggs for us to enjoy with our tomatoes.
Go Blanche Go!

Tasty...well to Chickens

Chickens are not into sharing

Thursday 19 July 2012

Bumble Bea

A pretty photo of Fiddle & Beamish daughter Bea taken by friend Brooke whom I co-own Bea with. 

Busy days here with TWO new litters of pups in the house, born only 10 days apart. To see photos of the new pups check out Hexe's Blog and Hazel's Blog

Sunday 15 July 2012

Beauty and the Beast

So hot and dry, only a few of the garden flowers are flourishing, the nasturtium, in pots that are watered daily, are incredible.
Flowering next to a tomato

I zoomed in on these pretty flowers and look at the image below to see what was camouflaged within
Stunning! So easily missed if you are not looking closely

This is perfect weather for Sunflowers

Saturday 14 July 2012

No imagination necessary

To guess Hope's thoughts on chickens!  So much for the all purpose helpful farm dog that history tells us the Standard Schnauzer evolved from.  Seems Hope leans towards the ratting side of her background, no mistaking that these are feathered rodents in her little schnauzer brain.

Friday 13 July 2012

The Three Amigos

More photos of Hexe's pups on her blog here

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Thursday 5 July 2012

Salad Days

Salad Greens

My garden is off to the races!  There is a time, after the first planted seeds germinate, when the garden is almost in a suspended state...then....suddenly.....it leaps into production.  The last several weeks I have been harvesting and enjoying garden salads, however, the high temps of the last couple of weeks has caused all my Romain/Cos lettuce to bolt.  I pulled it all yesterday and it went to the rabbits, they don't seem to mind bitter greens.  I was on the ball enough to have planted this beautiful, buttery-soft leaf lettuce a couple weeks after the Cos, it is now making it's way to my table along with corn salad and arugula.  I think I will be pulling the arugula over the next days, noticed some bolting yesterday, again, the rabbit clean-up crew will reap the benefits.
Yesterday, though hot, had me cleaning up the finished beds, adding manure to the soil and starting seeds once again, more salad greens and some late summer crops of beets, Swiss chard and summer squash.

This summer we have had both garden hits and a couple of misses.  I planted both Red and Spanish onions, the Spanish are doing great
Spanish onions and Arugula
While the red...not so much.  They went to seed a few weeks ago and flopped.  Only bonus is the flower heads have given me amazing photos, this one taken this morning, wow!
Blossom, red onions
Egg Plant leaf
This was our first year of Egg Plants, started from seed they looked beautiful, until, placed in the garden and invisible hoards of insects feasted on them every night.  I thought they were done, then the hot weather hit, they rallied, sent up beautiful new leaves, the stalks shot up and I am optimistic about harvesting them.
Another first in the garden is Broad Beans and Fennel, both started by us from seed and doing fantastic.  Peas went wild this year, they relish bunny poo manure, I have never seen peas like this before.  I have been picking and enjoying them daily the last couple of weeks.
Kale too joined the garden bed this year, it looks amazing, though seems to be enticing to the cabbage butterfly that flutters around it.  I look for caterpillars daily and any I see are plucked off and fed to the chickens.
And last, but certainly not least, a photo of Hexe, who would normally be whining from the garden gate if I had left her there while taking photos in the veg garden.  Instead she is sat on the porch wanting to go back inside, today is the first day she has started to nest, fingers crossed this means the pups are finally on their way, wish us luck.  
For those that want to follow Hexe's Nursery Blog, here is a link to it.

Monday 2 July 2012

Wonderful Canada Day Weekend

Gorgeous, HOT weather in South Eastern Ontario this weekend.  Mick took a couple of photos today with our new Canon lens.  Above a one-eyed butterfly.  And below a bee on it's way to a Poppy.

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