Wet (and miserable) Wednesday

What an ugly day it turned out to be.  It was raining when I got up this morning, and 15 hours later it is still raining. This afternoon when we put on our rain gear and slogged around the block with the dogs, we realized the culvert under our driveway was plugged and water was running over the driveway.  Larry and David had been weedeating the ditch and I guess all the long loose grass had plugged the culvert.  I had a go with that stick you can see, but the water was too deep. 

 When we got back, Larry rounded up some weapons, and managed to push the grass plug enough that the water broke through.

It was really roaring at the other side

He hauled a lot of the grass cuttings out.

And then the ditch was back to normal.  Well except for a lot of topsoil washing out of our neighbour's field.

I'm just glad that we aren't dealing with the floods in the southern states or in Manitoba.

And we're all sick of this miserable cold wet Spring we are having.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day is no big deal around here.  In fact I'd be quite happy to just do what *I* felt like doing today.

When the kids were little, we used to quite often make a picnic dinner and take it and our two mothers to a park somewhere.

Now I'm happy not to do all that work.

David is not one known for making a fuss on any special day.  I'm lucky if I get a hug and a verbal happy birthday wish.

So I just about fell over this morning when he handed me this, wished me Happy Mother's Day, and gave me a hug.

It had the perfect, none sappy verse inside, and his own special touch:)

Is he turning over a new leaf, or were his friends all discussing what they were going to do for their mothers...and he felt a little guilty?

I'm not going to ask, I'm happy with what I got.

Meredith came with me to visit my mum, and we three went out for supper, and then watched the finale to The Amazing Race:)

Hope your Mother's Day was amazing!

Dandelions

The fields are full of them.

When we are not seeing much sun, they are a cheery sight.

Some people spray their lawns and fields to be rid of them.

Fools.

We should all be eating them.

http://www.squidoo.com/dandelion-benefits

The sheep know.

Pride loves them too.

The dandelion has a very long tap root that accesses minerals that many other plants can't.

The Garden Report

Disappointing!

There you go, that word says it all.

Everything seems to be a real battle this year.  The weather is the worst, cold and wet.  The orchard garden is still too wet to plant anything.  Things that I seeded a couple of months ago in the garden close to the house, came up, and then did nothing.  I just reseeded arugula, salad greens and spinach.  The chard needs reseeding too.  The broad beans, or at least the ones that haven't been eaten off yet, are doing great.  There's a big rabbit around that we see occasionally.  I think that must be what's dining on the broad beans and the peas.  I had long narrow pieces of gauzy fabric laid over them, but now they are too tall.  The broad beans are disappearing again.  I've already reseeded them once, and now I have more seeds to do it again.
At least the night temperatures now are closer to normal, but the daytime temperatures are more below normal than not.  It keeps raining.
6:30 this evening I dashed off to the Otter Co-op to buy a roll of chicken wire, and then spent an hour out in the rain getting some posts pounded in and the wire up around peas, beans and the stuff I just reseeded.
I asked David if he was into rabbit hunting.
He said they are too cute.
I have seedlings in the greenhouse.  The tomatoes are doing fine.  The broccoli seedlings that I was too scared to put out because of the rabbit, are now being decimated by mice, I guess, that are getting into the greenhouse.  They have also eaten some tiny lettuce seedlings off, and some of the zucchini seeds that were planted have been completely removed.  Tonight I have those three flats balanced on the tops of tall buckets and pots.  The only way the mice can get at them is to take a flying leap from the potting benches.
I wouldn't put it past them.
Mouse traps are in order I think.

The Abbotsford Farmers Market opens for the season tomorrow.  Rain is forecast.
Spring is a write-off.
Roll on Summer!

Getting Caught Up

Meredith that is, not me.  I never get caught up.  But yeah, Meredith is back from her wonderful trip to Europe, and is slowly picking away at her mass of photos and posting the best and a bit of a story to go along with them.  So if you want a cheap tour of Europe, check out www.ofrosesandrain.blogspot.com.

All Settled In

The new hens have settled in quite well.  Since they were older when they arrived than the bunch we got at the beginning of March, they were quite willing to step outside into a brave new world right away.  They are still penned in just a portion of their field, but it won't be long before I open it right up.

They are creating their own dust bath holes.  There's a whole line of them right under this gate.  Maybe they're plotting their escape into the garden, or maybe they just want us to twist our ankles when we got through there in the dark.

At least this one had picked a spot way off in the corner,  in a none ankle breaking spot.

After the first few days of dropping eggs all over the coop floor, they have now got with the program, and are laying them in the nest boxes.  They figured that one out all on their own.  Good thing, because I don't know how I would have actually taught them to do it, other than 'baiting' the boxes with a few well placed eggs.   They haven't figured out how to get into two of the top boxes yet, but they will.

Well all but one hen have figured it out.  Every day there is one egg laid in the top of the oyster shell feeder that is outside the coop.  Can't you just picture that hen crossing her legs, waiting for us to open the door in the morning to let her out.

They are eating lots of grass, but aren't too sure about other foreign things.  I threw some apple pieces in the field the other day, but mostly they are untouched. 

Luna wasn't going to let them go to waste.

50 eggs from 54 hens.  

Not too shabby

Waiting at the gate to head to the other coop.

And at the other coop we got 44 eggs from 46 hens.

Plus that tiny little mini egg.

Good thing the Abbotsford Market is starting on Saturday.

We are being swamped with eggs.

Just Because

The dark storm clouds to the northeast, and the light of the setting sun, made for some really nice colours at the back of our place this evening.