Tag Archives: outside

Strawberries for dinner… and breakfast

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It turns out that one thing that can cause a traffic jam on a country road faster than a slow-moving tractor or a run-away cow is the start of strawberry season.

Strawberries

Ruby red strawberries just waiting to be picked.

Friday afternoon, a farm near us opened for business.

A lot of people had the same reaction that I did. “That sign said strawberries!” Hard brake, sharp turn, park the car immediately. “I have to pick my own? No problem. No, don’t worry about my pretty office shoes. Shall I just pick them into my purse, or can you sell me a basket?”

Mmmm… strawberries for dinner.

Yesterday morning, I decided to stop in before work. This time I was a little more prepared. I wore my rubber boots and brought my own baskets.

Basket of strawberries

What a nice way to start the morning

The scent in the air is amazing–pure strawberry sweetness.

In no time at all I had a full basket to share with people at the office. Yum!

Have you ever gone strawberry picking? What’s your favourite way to enjoy strawberries? Any good recipes to share?

Field of green

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Hay growing in a field

Hay is getting high in the fields

Matt and I walked out the other night across the fields checking the hay. We have six fields on the property: the corner field, the front field, the back field, the far front field, the field behind the driveshed and the big field. Really original names, eh?

These shots are from the big field. To my untrained eye, it’s also our best field. The soil seems to be good quality, the terrain itself is nicely graded, the hay grows with minimal weeds.

Walking in the hayfield

For scale, I’m not yet halfway across the field. It’s huge!

This field represents about 12 of our 129 acres. It’s a bit of an unreal experience to walk across this much land and know that we own it. Or to stand in the middle of the hay and see how productive our land can be.

We don’t farm the property ourselves. We’ve rented the fields to a local farmer who is responsible for caring for them, tending the crops and harvesting the hay.

Hayfield

In case you want a shot without me spoiling the view

From the height of the grass, I’m thinking the first harvest will likely be soon. The sight of hay bales in our fields will be another fun first for us.

Farm flora

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I’ve been having fun watching all of the flowers coming up around the farm this spring. It’s been a process of discovery as I figure out what that green shoot is and what’s planted over there.

Snowdrops

I believe this is Solomon’s Seal

Orange lilies

Orange lilies behind the house

Snow on the mountain

Snow on the mountain. This plant grows like crazy at my in-laws’ place, but I couldn’t get it to take at our old house. It turns out that the farm is home to a very robust crop.

Red Japanese maple and green ferns

Red Japanese maple and bright green ferns at the corner of the house

Lily of the valley

Beautiful lily of the valley. Another plant that I couldn’t get to grow at the old house.

Forget me nots

Forget me nots (and maybe a some strawberry blossoms at the top)

Purple iris

Purple iris at the south side of the house

Dandelions

Our most common flower at the farm: the dandelion

What’s your favourite spring flower? Anyone else have a successful dandelion plantation?

An afternoon hike

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Crossing a stream by balancing on a log

Bring your boots (and your balance)

Honeysuckle buds

Buds on a pink wild honeysuckle bush at the edge of the back field

A turtle covered in moss

A turtle covered in moss

Grassy grove

A grassy grove at the entrance to the trail

Frog

The only frog that would hold still for a picture

Old stone wall

An old stone wall back in the woods

Pine cone

A pinecone stuck to its branch

Deer tracks

Deer tracks in the mud

Marsh

A deep spot in the marsh where the stream flows through

It’s pretty cool to go for an hour and a half walk, all on my own property. There were a few moments where I wasn’t entirely sure how to get back to the house.

What did you do with your weekend? Any wildlife sightings in your neighbourhood?

Apple blossom time

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Apple blossoms

This beautiful big old apple tree sits in the middle of the west meadow, just between the house and the pond.

Old apple tree

I’ve been watching and waiting all spring for it to blossom. And it finally has.

Tree branch with apple blossoms

As I was taking the pictures, I realized that the air was full of the sound of bees as they buzzed from blossom to blossom, pollinating the blooms.

Bee on an apple blossomOne was kind enough to oblige me by pausing long enough for a photo, although I could not convince him to pose nicely.

My grandparents owned an apple orchard and farmed it for many years. My grandmother would often talk about driving the loads of apples to the market, and Dad still tells stories of working in the orchard with my grandfather.

Someday, I’d like to have a small orchard, just for ourselves. I’d grow apples, of course, and also peaches, pears, cherries, plums and maybe even some grapes.

For now, this tree will do just fine.

Pond paddler indentified?

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We’ve not seen our furry pond paddler since the last sighting, but we now have more evidence as to what species he might be.

Trees that have been cut by a beaver

Felled trees by the pond

The consensus from the comments on the last post was ‘beaver,’ and the signs seem to say commenters are right.

Trees that have been felled by a beaver

Bite mark analysis, anyone?

Given the size of some of these trees, he’s ambitious. So far, there’s no sign of a dam or a lodge, but about half the property is wetland, so it could be anywhere really.

The farmer who’s rented our fields has started to clear out some of the horse paddocks, as we’re not going to be using them. Perhaps we should put this busy beaver (sorry) to work on our fence posts.

Putting down roots

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We inherited many, many things from previous owners when we took possession of the farm (I haven’t shown you pictures of our personal Hoarders episode yet, but I may some day).

A number of those things were plants. Sometime last year, the people we bought the farm from went out and got many, many plants, but they never planted them! Bushes, flowers, trees, shrubs, all of them were still in their plastic pots sitting on the ground in and around the areas where the front flower gardens would be if they weren’t completely overgrown with weeds.

The stockpile included 5 trees.

Our inherited trees

Our inherited trees

I have no idea how long they’d been there, but when we saw the property for the first time at the beginning of January, they were all laying on their sides, frozen into a kiddie pool (I guess an attempt to keep them alive?), and they were still there, just like that, when we took possession in March.

When the ice in the pool melted enough, Matt and I stood them upright, but they were so curvy and bent from laying down that they easily tipped over again. We propped them up with concrete blocks and checked them frequently searching for any signs of life.

A few weeks ago, we noticed buds. Finally on Sunday (fittingly, Earth Day), we made some time to plant them.

I love a tree-lined driveway, and we’re already in pretty good shape, but there are a few blank spots, so that’s where we focused our plantings.

One of our new trees

One of our new trees. He's a little spindly right now, but the inspiration of what he can become is right behind him.

According to the tags that were tied to the trees, we have an Autumn Radiance Maple, two Unique Littleleaf Lindens, and an Autumn Blaze Maple. The fifth tree wasn’t labelled, but it looks like some kind of maple.

Close up of buds on our new maple tree

It's alive!

The trees make a nice addition to the farm, and planting was a very nice way to acknowledge Earth Day.

What about you? Did you do anything for Earth Day?

Evening at the pond

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The other night after work, I walked down to the pond. The sun was low in the sky, the shadows were long.

I saw a mallard, a fish (an honest to goodness fish, 6-8 inches long) and a red winged blackbird.

And then I saw this, and I was so excited I nearly fell into the pond.

Maybe a muskrat

Do you see what I see?

I managed to recover my balance and only ended up with a wet boot, which was fortunate because 1) I’m pretty sure me falling into the pond would have spooked this guy and caused him to move to another watershed, and 2) the camera would have gotten wet and then I wouldn’t have been able to take the dozen other pictures I shot.

Maybe a muskrat

Hello there!

My new friend was a little suspicious of the statue (once I found my stability, I wasn’t moving!) that had turned up on the shore of his pond, and he swam big ‘S’ patterns across the water as he eyed me. Eventually he decided I wasn’t that interesting and he went back to paddling and diving. I was able to track him swimming under the water by following his bubbles. At one point he climbed out of the water onto the opposite shore and I got a better look at him.

He’s a big guy! Almost 3 feet long, nice and round and very, very sleek.

I’m not sure exactly what species he is. My best guess is some kind of muskrat, although I guess beaver or otter could be a possibility. I never saw his tail clearly, so that doesn’t give me a clue.

Over the course of our farm search, the pond came on and off the must-have list. I really, really wanted a pond, but at times I was ready to sacrifice it in order to just get a farm. Now, I’m so glad we have the pond. It’s one of my favourite spots on the property. I love walking down to the water and just watching the sun glisten over the ripples, the reeds waft in the breeze and the bugs dance across the surface. Seeing this guy enjoying the pond was a complete bonus–a really special moment for me.

For the weekend, I leave you with this video of our new pond paddler.

All of you naturalists out there let me know in the comments what you think he is.