fair fun and horses

Its Old home week in Charlottetown. An annual event that dates back to 1888. Agricultural shows, cart races, and of course rides. We spent the day there yesterday. The kids had a blast. I was sad I missed the poultry show, but it was a fun filled day anyway.


Today, we had planed an early morning trail ride. However, due to one little monkey not feeling well, It became a father daughter activity. They had so much fun, and I look forward to joining them next time.

Apples, Apples everywhere

 Sorry for the radio silence these past few weeks. The kids were in Ontario visiting with their grand parents, and I took a vacation. Paul and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We spent time at the beach, went canoeing, made new trails threw our forest, went fishing, and lots more. It was wonderful to spend so much quality time just the two of us. I can't remember the last time we had that privilege. I missed the kids like crazy though and I'm so happy to have them home again and be back in the normal swing of things.

We have several very old apple trees on our property. I hope to be able to ID most of them in the next few months. Old apple varieties are so much more diverse and interesting than the new. The first of these is in full fruit right now. According to my research, and confirmed by Paul's grandmother, Its a White transparent. A dessert apple with white skin, white flesh, and a sweet, but sharp flavour. We picked buckets full yesterday and proceeded to preserve them. In syrup, as jam, as apple sauce, plus I made some pies and cobbler. All this, and we've barely scratched the surface. These apples are so soft, they all need to be preserved or eaten within a few days of harvest. I hope some of he other trees will yield good keepers, but ether way, we'll have more apples to preserve than we can possibly eat. So, if you come to visit, expect to be leaving with apples. Any one have suggestions or favourite recipes for preserving apples?


We weren’t the only ones enjoying the apples
eating while we pick

Lushness of the season

Apples in the old orchard look like they'll be abundant this year
A lady slipper orchid passed its prime, but still beautiful Our red brook the farm is named for. Believe it or not, the brook is crystal clear. the bottom is red sand, and that’s why it looks like that Wild strawberries are growing in abundance along the paths
Took the dogs for a long hike threw our property yesterday, While I hunted wild roses to make some rose jelly.  The forest is so incredible this time of year.  The berries are just starting, there's flowers every were, the birds are singing and the air smells sweet. I just had to share the beauty with all of you. I feel so blessed to live here.

wild rose getting ready to boil

The finished product

Making rose jelly must be the best smell in the world. Imagine the smell of an old fashioned rose, intensified, and drifting threw the kitchen with the steam. I can't wait till that snowy day when I open a bottle of this summer sunshine, and eat it for breakfast. I intend to experiment with this recipe, over the next few weeks, while the roses are blooming, and make several batches of rose jelly.

Today, its raining hard. After the heat wave, and weeks of sunshine, its a welcome site. I intend to make a trip to the farmers market this afternoon, to get some local peaches and strawberries and, well what ever else caches my eye. To then spend my evening again, canning.

Quiet Homestead

Well, Paul and the kids are off to Ontario in our new 04 GMC Envoy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anyone to watch the critters, so I had to stay behind and hold down the fort. Its strangely quiet with no one else home...I can't remember the last time everyone was gone. I miss the kids already.
I'm taking this time to catch up on the weeding,(this being a new garden, I'll never get them out completely, but the vegetables don't mind the remaining few, so nether do I). The garden is growing beautifully, The Zucchinis are in bloom,  the swiss chard is getting huge, Tomatoes have a ways to grow, but I'm dreaming about fresh tomato sandwiches. Its already almost time to plant the fall crops too. I'll be adding some winter greens, (mache and kale) and some turnips. Nothing is better for the soul than gardening. I've been doing some canning too. Made some jams, jellys, and vinegars. I love how it fills the cool evening air with the most wonderful smells. Its like condensing the summer, and putting it in a jar to enjoy when the cold weather comes.
In other news, I finally got a hatch out of my new incubator. It was my 3ird try. It seems the temperature gauge was slightly off. I think I finally have that set correctly, but there's still a problem. I got 5 chicks out of 35 eggs. At least I'm on the right track. Next, I'll try to adjust the turner, I'm not convinced that its turning them adequately.
With the homestead so quiet, I'll probably get lots of extra time to catch up on my writing too, so you all can expect to hear from me a lot in the next week.    

Lazy, hazy days of summer

We're in the middle of a heat  wave here, and enjoying the sun.  We had planed a  family vacation to Ontario this week, but  our car died,  leaving  us scrambling to find a new one, and delaying our departure.  No need to say, we've been sticking close to home. I think a few days of quiet relaxation did us all a lot of good, and we'll enjoy our trip  even more.

Summer's here!!

Its been one of those weekends to remember. So full of fun, and goodness, its perfection. It kicked off with the Solstice on Friday, and what a glorious first day of summer. We drove to the native plant nursery in Orwell and brought home a few treasures to add to our gardens. Some herbs, and witch hazel and a few others. On our way home, we drove down the coast and stopped to gather some wild oysters for our solstice supper. Paul, Wonderful cook that he is, baked them to perfection. We finished the evening roasting marshmallows. As the sun was setting, a big rainbow appeared in the sky.

We spent the whole day yesterday at the beach. The kids played, ad gathered shells for crafts, the perfect lazy Saturday. We brought home more Oysters to serve at a birthday party tonight, and some Quahogs to eat last night. On the way home we decided to stop and play some minigolf. Got home late and tiered, but it was well worth it.

Today will be spent preparing food, and getting the place ready for a birthday gathering this evening. It promises to be one more perfect day, to end this perfect weekend. Hope you're all having a great first weekend of summer as well.

geese

Paul went to Nova Scotia this past week, and he brought me back the most wonderful present, a breeding pair of Pilgrim geese. I've been looking for a good quality, unrelated pair for years! I'm over the moon.