June is flying past!

Sometimes things don't work out as planned.

My 'quiet' country life has been anything BUT quiet these days!

I'm back to work full time, Little Country Girl has just finished a session of Spring Skate and is now playing soccer. I am busy at the soccer field 2-4 days a week.

Country Boy is working lots of shifts at a local fast food restaurant, as well as getting ready for a summer job with the Pan Am Games coming soon. He is saving for a car and that will surely help loosen the load on Big Country Girl and I, who have been driving him around.

Father has started a new job, and so this means more time away from home.

There has been so much to do around the yard!

The grass hasn't stopped growing, nor have the weeds.

The veggie garden is now planted, and the pool opened.

2 more weeks and Little Country Girl will be on summer holidays.

It might almost be time to slow down a bit!

We had a very wet week, and so yesterday was spent cutting grass, weeding, and planting.

Today was another rainy day and so the housework was done, and I even had a chance to sit down!

I have been snapping photos for weeks, and finally I can post a few of what is going on in my yard.

I finally got the veggie tomatoes, peppers and zucchini's planted, and Little Country Girl talked me into trying watermelon one more time. Now the hard part ... keeping ahead of the weeds!

Our Asparagus patch was bountiful this year and I think we can all say that we had our fill.

Planted a whole lot of spinach and salad greens that should be ready to eat any time now.

I thought this Red Romaine looked good, but so far it just tastes bitter.

The first big weeding out there took almost all day, and filled the wheelbarrow!

Have you ever seen such a HUGE Rhubarb plant?

 I found a new recipe for Rhubarb Cinnamon muffins that everyone seems to like, and we have had stewed rhubarb and rhubarb strawberry crisp. I have also frozen some and given lots to friends. I think this plant really likes the yearly topdressing of manure!

I've been trying to get the back flower beds cleaned and planted up too.

Thank goodness for the perennials, or there would be no color out there. I just haven't had the time to get all the annuals in yet! There are some pretties out there...

Snow in Summer

 

Garden Loosestrife

 Maiden Pinks

 Allium

 Flag Iris

 Iris

 Spiderwort

The Hosta beds are coming to life, some are getting split 

 The Peony's are starting to bloom 

This week things should slow down for me a little.

Hopefully the weeds don't get away from me before then.

Beautiful Autumn colors

My Mother once told me "the older you get the faster the time passes".

I am realizing this is very true!

October is here, and I can hardly believe it.

Seems like just last month I was planting my veggie garden and putting in annuals.

Autumn is such a busy season ... time to put away all the patio furniture, take down the pool, clean up the gardens, harvest the last of the veggies, get firewood, move compost, clean the eavestroughs, bring in the goldfish, get heating fuel ... the list goes on and on and on.

But I always try to take some time to enjoy the gorgeous fall colors.

Last weekend was picture perfect and I was in awe of the beauty in my neighborhood.

 

And a few from my yard

Enjoy the beauty of Autumn while you can ... it won't be long until winter is upon us.

Playing catch up!

It's been a busy few weeks. 

I've been meaning to post here, but somehow I just never got a chance.

Lots has happened since my last post on August 23rd!

Country Boy had his 18th birthday and moved away to college the very next day!

Not sure if I should still be calling him 'Country Boy' anymore?  After all, he is 18 now, which is legally an adult! Regardless, we got him all settled in at Residence.

It's oddly quiet around here. I miss him a lot and look forward to next weekend when he will be home for the weekend.

Little Country Girl started grade 6 the very next day. Gosh, they are growing so fast!

With the beginning of school comes the beginning of all the extra curricular activities ... aka

skating. Little Country Girl will be skating 3 days a week again this year beginning October 1st. With this comes a commitment of 10 volunteer hours for ME. Because I am not busy enough this time of year!  (eye roll here :) )

Our town had its annual fall fair a few weekends ago. We had many things entered again this year and won a few ribbons each. And made a few $$ to pay for our day at the fair. I somehow forgot to take photos of our entries, but did get a few of my 'Stunt Girl' on some rides. 

Yup, that's her in the first car, hanging upside down. I would be wearing my lunch if I went on that ride! Little Country Girl loved it and went on many times with her friends.

Earlier this month we had a nasty storm blow through. Thankfully we were all home when the storm hit, because we had all just come home a few minutes before.

It was a scary one! It hit all at once with strong winds, heavy rain, hail and lots of thunder and lightening. We were all scrambling to close windows and the wind was blowing things all around. Even had tomatoes blow off the window sills! The storm lasted about 20 minutes and when it was all done there were hundreds of branches to pick up, patio furniture to gather up, our picnic table was destroyed, and our tv tower was bent. Still looking for someone that can remove the top before we get our internet 'dish' re adjusted.

It's been a great year in the veggie garden for tomatoes. Not sure if it was the secret new formula I added to the soil at planting time or the compost added this spring. I picked more tomatoes than ever!

Look at this giant 'Sicilian Saucer' Tomato!

I grew this type for canning, but soon discovered that they made an excellent slicing tomato too. They were very meaty with few seeds and a wonderful taste. I'll definitely be growing these again!

Tried making salsa for the first time and it turned out excellent. I entered some in the fair and it won 3rd place. Not bad for a first timer :)

Used more tomatoes than ever ... have some canned, frozen, stewed, salsa. Ate lots too and even gave a bunch to friends. Haven't counted, but the pantry is full of jars of home grown, canned pickles, mixed vegetables, salsa. The freezer is full of peas, beans, tomatoes too. Carrots and onions yet to harvest when I have a bit of time as well as cabbage and kale. I would say this years garden was a success!  I also learned a lot about canning this year, and look forward to doing more next year.

The flower gardens are winding down now. Fall is in the air and we had our first frost on Friday.

I haven't had time to assess the damage yet. I was able to get out and snap a picture the night before.

Fall officially begins tomorrow, which brings along a whole new job list.

I just hope I have time to do it all :)

Chomping at the bit!

Spring sure is taking it's time this year!

We had yet another snowfall this week. It wasn't a lot of snow, but it was snow. Little Country Girl made this little snowman while waiting for the school bus that morning.

The temperatures have been cold too and the garden really doesn't have anything growing.

I was able to get all the gardens raked out and edged on a warm day and now I have to wait patiently until things start growing.  I did take advantage of a free compost giveaway this weekend. The town offers free compost once a year as a thanks to residents for using their greenbox's.

I will be adding a mix of my compost and this compost to my veggie garden once it dries up. In the meantime, I am gathering things I will need so that when it is dry enough I can get right to work. I even have the fencing now, and just need to get 4 more posts and a gate. Fencing in the veggie patch has been something I have wanted to do since I made it.

The rain barrels were put out last weekend and are already full. While putting them out, I was reminded of a problem that I have been having around the front garden. VOLES!

 They leave holes in the garden, and I hold them responsible for the loss of 2 of my Hosta's in the past 2 seasons. The holes are multiplying too, so it's time to do something about it.

I didn't want to put poison out, and I wasn't sure how to trap them without the chance of catching birds. I had heard that little wind decorations scare moles away by making vibrations they don't like. I thought that might work with voles too, so I added this little duck spinner.

It's been spinning very quickly in the winds this week, and still new holes are appearing.

I watched a few videos on YouTube and thought I would try something I saw there.

I bought 2 snap traps and set them up by one of the holes.

Then I covered them up with a container and put a brick on top to hold it in place

This morning when I checked the traps, I discovered I had caught 2 voles!

I reset them and will move them to another hole when I think the hole is empty.

I will leave the little duck spinning out there too.

When a garden center finally opens, I will have to go and buy 2 new Hosta's to replace the ones the voles ate. The shopping is my favorite part!

I did find something exciting happening in my garden this morning ... The Fritillaria Imperialis bulb I planted last year is coming up!

They say these bulbs repel rodents. Maybe I should plant some by the Hosta's to keep the voles away!
This gardener is chomping at the bit! Lets hope the weather improves and things start to grow.