Hot Hot Hot!

I wrote this on July 19th but forgot to hit post...

Summer here on Vancouver Island is usually warm.  We normally have a week or two of (what I feel to be) super-duper hot temperatures followed by a few days of cool and rain.  2015 has given us another summer with a long dry hot spell… Last summer we had an entire month with no rain – this year we were almost up to two months by the time the high pressure system finally broke and we got a little bit of rain… and though we have now, finally, had some rain, things still are pretty dicey – people have actually prepared “go bags” so that if they have to evacuate their homes due to imminent risk of forest fire, they can grab their bag and, well, go.  We have had two major forest fires as well as a number of smaller ones on the island this year – all of which can be attributed to humans.

Today I took advantage of a cooler morning and mowed my back yard.  First time in two weeks, and though it hasn’t been watered at all this summer, it is still pretty lush and green. I seeded most of it with drought resistant seed and that has paid off in some nice green grass, even without the watering! I have been watering my veggies, though, and also some flower pots out front.

Today has been spent in some industry. Once the lawn was mowed, I hung out some laundry on the line and then proceeded to dig out my garlic bed.  I stopped watering it about three weeks ago with the intention of digging it out last weekend – last weekend we got rain – lots and lots of rain – and so the garlic stayed in until this morning.  All dug out, it is now hanging in my shed and starting its curing process. Once cured, I’ll cut off the tops and then store the bulbs until time to use them. Once the sun is down a little (and there is some shade in my back yard) I will get back out there and pull out the snow peas and then turn the soil in both of those beds.  The bed that has the snow peas in it will be the home for next year’s garlic planting and the bed that had this year’s garlic will be the home for next year’s tomato plants… that bed, therefore, will be planted with fall rye so that I can give the soil a really good head start on adding nutrients.

My tomato plants are looking like they will  be producing another bumper crop this year – I finally picked my first three cherry tomatoes this morning (I’ll toss them in with some pasta sauce) and the Health Kick are going to be starting to ripen soon as well.  Having now pulled the last of the lettuce, I now have the space to get into the tomato bed and I can do some more reinforcement stake work.  They will need it!

I also dug out all of my onions (that was a disappointing crop!) and they are also curing in the sun right now.  The Multiplier Onions did well (and I will do them again) but the Walla Walla that I seeded gave a pretty poor crop – I will try again next year, but think I may need to do more research into soil amendments and growing conditions!

I am in the process of completing my fist canning of the year right now. The water bath canner is on the stove heating up and what I will be doing is some fresh rhubarb mixed with the last of last year’s frozen apple pieces and a small bag of last year’s left-over blueberries that I also located in the freezer.  A little bit of sugar to round out the bite of the rhubarb and the fruit compote is in a pot waiting for the jars to sterilize. It is a little warm to be canning, but the fruit is there and ready, and I need to use it or lose it!  I am shocked by this, but my rhubarb plant is still glorious and live – hasn’t gone to seed – and therefore the fruit on it is still viable for saving.  The rest will go onto cookie sheet batches and into the freezer for fall pies and crisps.  I LOVE rhubarb crisp, but more so in fall than spring!

I am thinking that, if my bean plants cooperate, I may try my hand at making dill pickled green beans – once my bean plants start to produce for me. The Scarlet Runner has blossoms now – and even a few little tiny beans have started to grow.  The Italian heritage is still not flowering, but I understand that it may still be some time before I see any produce on that one.

With love across the waters…

Rainy Days in Spring

I have a theory: Gardeners NEED rainy spring days. 

I know we need them to water our plants, lift the water table and keep things lush and green... but in the earliest days of spring (and yes, it really is only the 15th of March here, so not actually officially spring) I think the rainy days are meant to actually help the gardeners themselves.

This weekend is a perfect example.  Had I had sunshine (or even, lets face it, just overcast but no rain) all weekend long, I would accomplish nothing in the house.  No laundry, no cleaning, no income tax preparation, no paperwork... nothing except making my kitchen floor dirtier.

So I am trying to be grateful for today's rain because it means I can get some other things done this weekend. Rain today means laundry is in the washer, that I will deal with some paperwork (when I stop procrastinating) and that I will clean inside the house - maybe I will even wash the kitchen floor instead of just tracking more mud all over it!

With love across the waters...

A Rainy Day at the Cabin is Still Better…

… Than a sunny day at work. 

That was my Facebook status update yesterday.  It has been truth before, it will be truth again, I am certain.

The thing is, down here when it rains there’s this sound.  It is so very hard to describe and I’m certain that only a few of you will understand it, or perhaps have a place, or maybe just the memory of a place, that the rain sound fills you – the way it does for me here. 

The roof isn’t insulated – so when it rains you hear each drop hitting the shakes and each drop combined with all of the others falling makes this sweet natural music that reminds me of being “stuck in the cabin” with Grandma and Grandpa and my brother Rob (back when we called him Robbie) on a gray and rainy day… playing cards.  Grandma drinking instant coffee as black as night and Grandpa with his little Brown Betty tea pot beside him. Eating fried up scones that Grandma made…

Playing Rummy. 

Playing Crazy Eights. 

Playing Crib.

Honest to God.  A rainy day here may be filled with comforting ghosts and sound and scent memories, but it will always be better than a sunny day at work.

With love across the waters,