Harvesting Garlic!

This afternoon. It's done! My first time growing garlic.

It smells wonderful and I have about 15 or so. I should have read up on it before I harvested. I only did that tonight, after the fact, so I think I left them in the ground a little longer than I should have, but no worries, they are now drying and will be ready to eat very soon.

Floating Homes

Today was another scorcher so it was nice to get out on the water again and find a bit of a breeze. No plans in mind, just puttering about looking at boats in the marina and homes on the shoreline. This old retired bait shop sits at the end of the dock where we keep our boat. I often wonder if there is someone living in it.

I treasure the folks who live on their boats or in boat-houses which have no means of locomotion, like this one in the marina:

Or this one:

The live-aboard boats are always intriguing as well:

With this lifestyle, guys don’t wear ties, and women don’t wear skirts or high-heels. I like the marinas and the environment for probably the same reasons their owners do: it is quiet and peaceful. It is a place to chill out and to simply avoid the rat race. If I ever get the opportunity - I may live in a boat or house-boat.

Red Tide

What we’ve been seeing for the last several weeks or so is a harmless, non-toxic plankton bloom, and it usually happens right around now, when everything starts to heat up from the sunshine and rising temperatures. It's just that right now it is unbelievably red and everywhere - even in the Vancouver harbour! I took this shot from the boat last week just off of Millers Landing.

The ocean is full of plankton and yet folks still swim in it. Most of the time it’s barely visible but when the conditions are just right, it all gets forced up to the surface, where we can see it and get the creeps. Truly, this year it is like a blood bath. I might add it is not good for bi-valves, so you can't harvest and eat oysters, muscles or clams during a red tide,

Boating Gone to Pots! (Crab Pots!)

Last year wasn't exactly a stellar boating year for us. If I recall correctly, we didn't go out in the boat at all, and this was the reason I posted it "for sale" on craigslist Funnily enough, Chris put it in the water this year, shortly after I put the for sale ad out. He was able to use a friends spot at Dallas Marina, and he couldn't have picked a more opportune time to get the boat in the water - it was right at the beginning of the July heatwave.

Chris misses his Campbell River fishing and Bowen just doesn't have the same opportunities or potential. It is hit and miss because the salmon are just traveling through, they don't hang around, so not in the same place on a regular basis. Ok sure, we can travel to West Van for Coho very soon as they will be gathering and waiting to go up the Capilano River, or we can wait a month till the Fraser Sockeye run arrives - but year round it is basically so spotty it's not much fun. Oh, don't get me wrong; it's always nice to be on the water, but it's also nice to catch a fish!!!! So this year we decided to simply do more crabbing. We can drop a crab pot everyday if we want. There are good ocean-floor spots quite close to the marina. We just head out and drop it.

Haven't been too successful so far - most of the ones we get are slightly undersize so they get thrown back, like this little fellow - just 1/4 inch too small.

Frog Odyssey Continues

Odyssey: "a series of experiences that give knowledge or understanding to someone". This is what the last 5 months have been for sure! What fun! Did you know that only a tiny percentage (between 1% and 5%) of the eggs laid in the wild will ever make it to adulthood. Frog spawn, tadpoles, froglets and adult frogs are all preyed upon by other creatures so only a very small number ever reach maturity. Perhaps my efforts will allow for just a few more of these special little amphibians to survive.

We are releasing about 4 a day now, and hopefully they will have a chance to grow and thrive. Tomorrow we will release ones that still have their full tails, but that have front and back legs. Rather than waiting for the tail to be absorbed, we think it is safe to let them go once all 4 legs are functioning. At this point they are no longer feeding on plant life and only absorbing the tail so they will be able to become more familiar with the pond while they continue to mature.

Summer Blooms

Some of this year's garden favourites that are doing well this hot dry summer. Stargazer Lily - ever so fragrant!

Sea Holly - always a funky addition to the garden!

Milk Thistle - dainty and the bees love it!

Interesting Visitor To The Garden

A wonderful white crab spider spent the afternoon on the sea holly.

These spiders are so cool and they don't make webs; instead they catch their prey using their front legs. The crab spider can stay in the same place—a flower or a leaf, for days, or even weeks, waiting for dinner to arrive. This fellow was first seen around 1:30pm and was still on the same flower when I last looked at around 5:30pm. He is so pretty.

Releasing The First Froglet

This is so exciting! Felix is the first to go back to his original birth place - the pond! I wonder if he knows that he beat the others and I wonder what made him be first? Did he eat more?

He is almost a 1/2 inch, and ever so cute. We released him last night on land and he took two hops and was immediately in the pond swimming for cover under a lily pad. We then released 4 more who still had little tails remaining. They all did the same thing except for one that turned around to come back to land - but then even he turned and swam off again. The ones with the little tails will get a chance to get familiar with the new surroundings as the tail continues to be absorbed as nutrient over the next day or two. Once the tail is totally absorbed, they will wait another 2 days before learning to hunt for insect food.  
Photo taken by Wendy S-B. Thanks Wendy!

Felix

Meet Felix the Froglet. He is the fist of my 200+ tadpoles to get his arms, legs and lungs. Now we wait for his tail to be absorbed and then off he goes back to the pond!!

Tadpole Farming to the Extreme

Had I known what I know now, I am not sure i would have volunteered to give the frog spawn in the pond a chance to survive. I rescued the spawn in March and it is now July and OMG this is a full-time job! Helping to save an endangered species was my motivation, but this is now proving to be very educational. I am reading and learning so much. The taddies are all at various stages of growth and I really don't know why. They are in about 7 containers and there is nothing different about the location, water or food being fed.

They have feeding frenzies everyday when I bring the freshly boiled romaine lettuce to them, and some even take right from my hand.

I have been separating the larger taddies as they grow so that one container now holds all the ones with back legs.

Yesterday I came home from work to find the legged group of taddies completely in metamorphis stage. By this I mean they have stopped eating because their gills are being absorbed and the lungs forming. This happens at the same time their front legs are coming out. This part is amazing - the front legs pop out elbow first! I was lucky enough to see this occur on one of them. In the picture below you can see one with his right arm out, and the other arm just poking out at the elbow.

It doesn't stop there; at the same time as this is all happening, their digestive system is changing from plant based to insect based, and their tiny tadpole mouth is spreading to form a large frog mouth and tongue and the head and body are morphing into shape. Here is one taddie with a mouth starting to show.

At first I thought they were all dying but then realized what stage they were in. This is a very very stressful time for those little guys. You would think it would be painful to have all that going on at once. They can only float there letting their body do its thing. While waiting, their system is also absorbing their tail for nutrients. Absolutely amazing process. They look dreadful at the moment though. Many don't survive this stage in the wild as they are week and vulnerable to birds, fish, or water snakes. Some just die from exhaustion. I hope they all make it so I can release them back to their natural habitat.

Butterfly - Flutterby

One of the favorite things about summer is the return of the butterflies. These swallowtails are in abundance this year, feeding on the Budelia, Catmint and Valerian. I could spend all day watching them flutter about. Summer days - butterfly days!

Gardening Companions of the Furry Kind

I love how my cats follow me in the garden. Jake does too, but the cats are more subtle and you spot them in the most unusual places. Getting an iPhone has really helped capture special moments. It's handy and always in my pocket and in most instances the subject matter is willing to pose. Here below is Gypsy in one of her favorite poses on the picnic table by the pond, having a rest after watching me for an hour while I did some serious blackberry snipping.

And here she is again on the log behind the pond while I deadhead daisies.

Smoke and Gypsy both enjoy watching me putter with the potted plants on the patio.

And here they are again in a priime spot to watch me work on the wisteria along the back room and the fence garden.

One of Gypsy's favorite spots is on the grass by the catmint. You can usually find her curled up here in the sun. Today she is not happy because I am about to water the mint and she knows it.

Yes, Jake is always around as well, this time in the veggie garden with me by the rhubarb!

Renovations

This is not a reno nightmare store - it has a great ending. When we bought our home, there was cheap laminate wood flooring throughout, including the laundry room. Well, over time there has been water spillage and the laminate in the laundry room warped. Needless to say it drove me crazy so Chris agreed to replace the laminate with tiles. When he pulled the laminate up, he found good lino underneath. Who knew!! So while it is not tile, and its not the colour of lino I would have picked, it was there and it was free, so we kept it. Chris then built a storage cupboard beside the dryer using wood he already had on hand, and I painted the walls. I like the new room much better now!

Colours of the Pond

No words, just pictures. I love the colours:

Just Like the "LAWN" Ranger

Chris's birthday present was not only practical, but full of fun. John, as we call it, or "Deer" , is a great addition to the range of power tools we have. The grass takes up a fair bit of space on the property and since Chris is the primary mower, this new tractor (as I call it) reduces mowing time to under 40 minutes. It used to take him a couple of hours!!! He is a happy Lawn-Ranger now.

Here he is resting after a hard day in the "saddle"!

New Stuff

With every summer comes something new outside. 2014 is not unlike any other year. So far we have 2 adirondack chairs (finally) which I stained and then found them a home at the back near the veggie garden.

Then we have a new seating area out back as well. Just moved a few things around. A little room with a view, so to speak.

Something I got very excited about was a roll of thatch I found on e-bay. Thanks to my neighbour Sheila, it is now wrapped around the outdoor bar like a fancy skirt!

Foxgloves and Dog-Boy

Watching the beauty unfold in each spring flower is a gift. This early morning walk was punctuated with Foxgloves in every direction. I almost lost Jake in among them, but if you look closely you will see him!

Well Where Did Spring Go?

It came and went while I was busy playing "Tadpole" mom! It is amazing what can eat up your time. I have been taking photos regularly but have not had time to post to the blog. When I pause to think about the garden this spring, and even the garden now as summer unravels, I really think there is a private side to all gardens. We can truly reveal ourselves in ways that are often not apparent in our day to day lives and interactions. Something worth pondering for sure; but that will be another post. This one is about what's growing this year. As far as edibles go, its a poor season for peas and spinach and tomatoes, but a great season for squash, leeks, garlic, beets and raspberries. Best of all are the fruits though. All 4 of our apple trees are producing nicely, like this Liberty:

The fig tree has a fig this year!! only one but its a start, eh! Can you spot it?

And the prune plum tree is absolutey loaded this year!

The ever joyful flowers are in abundance:

LUPIN

Bachelor Buttons

Mr Tiki Man (photo-hog)

My first year growing hostas!