Mushroom walk

Its been raining the past few days. Warm, humid and rainy. So, early this morning, when there was a break in the weather, I went strait to the forest to look for mushrooms. I was not disappointed. It seems like every possible mushroom was out, enjoying the warm rain. It was just passed dawn, and everything was still. The damp, spongy ground muffled my footsteps. The forest was completely silent as I crept threw the undergrowth taking pictures. The mushroom diversity is amazing. So many shapes, so many colours.They remind me of delicate flowers that smell of rich, damp earth, and appear as if by magic, with no leaves, or swelling buds to give them away. I wish I knew more about mushrooms, there are only a select few that I can identify beyond doubt. And Mushrooms are not something I'm willing to take a chance on, so for now, its only pictures. I dream of the day that I know enough to go pick us wild mushrooms for dinner. I've been actively searching for someone to teach me, but so far, no luck. Here are some of the beauties I saw:

Apple time.

My favourite time of year is upon us.  The morning air is crisp and you need a sweater to do the morning chores. The leaves are starting to change colours, The crops are ready for harvest and the apple trees are heavy with fruit. Its time for the abundance of pies, preserves, and people to share them with. In the warm farmhouse kitchen with a fire crackling in the woodstove and a hot beverage in hand.
I've talk about our orchard before. As the season wears on, more and more of the ancient trees are coming into fruit. Our property was a functioning farm for many generations. Paul's grandmother says she can remember some of the trees being old and covered in fruit when she was a child, and she's now in her 90s. New trees were being added, and the old trees tended until the farm was abandoned in the 70s. The original house is now long gone, and the surrounding forest has claimed many of the fruit trees. But many survive. Some are so choked by the advancing tamarack and spruce that all you can see of them is a gnarled old trunk and a few leaves. Others have faired quit well.  We're working to liberate and rejuvenate the old orchard. Clear out the area, plant new trees (old verities only) where none remain, and care for the once that survive. Its a huge undertaking that will take many years, but its so rewarding to see these trees start to recover, and harvest their long forgotten bounty. So far, all we've found is apples but we were told there used to be plums, pears and cherries in abundance as well. It must have been beautiful in its heyday. It still is in a haunting forgotten place kinda way.

Building project

We've been working hard this past week. We had to build a home for the 2 newest members of our farm family. 2 sweet little Berkshire pigs. We did all the work ourselves, starting with cutting down some trees and carting them to the build site We hand dug all the fence post holes and put in our posts and put togeter a round wood building frame We then covered the frame with recycled tin The smaller tree limbs became fence rails and a piece of pallet became the gate Then, this evening, Paul picked up the pigs from a near by farm. The kids have named them Lucy and Brownie

Talking Chickens

I have a flock of approximately 24 chickens, who freerange around our farm. They peck around for worms, dust bathe in our fire pit, eat every scrap I put in our compost bin, and give me a constant supply of eggs. I can't imagine not waking up to crowing in the morning, or watching they're funny antics for hours on end. So, in light of this, I thought I'd introduce some of my flock. This is Brutus, part Ameraucanna rooster. most of his chicks lay eggs in shades of blue and green The red rooster is Iron Man, he's top dog around the coop, and one of the friendlies roos I've ever had. He likes to rub up against my legs like a cat My helper feeding them apples The chicks we hatched a while back, getting used to the yard, and getting to know the other chickens from the safety of a caged area. (they are part silkie, part gamehen) This part Brahma hen named snow just hatched 6 beautiful chicks
and someone was extra thrilled


I Hope you enjoyed meeting my chickens

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