Looking through new eyes

August 22, 2010 Posted by jennifer in Nature

Looking through new eyes

Some of the gardens about to explode.

It has been REALLY busy here over the last little while. It always seems that the gardens go without a lot of change for a few weeks then...WHAMMO, everything is ready all at once. Which of course means doing something with the bounty of the garden. Along with the bounty ay issues also come up. Alas, we have a return of the dreaded late blight. It has hit our tomatoes, potatoes, but thankfully not the peppers so far. Last year was a real lesson about tomatoes. We planted a ton of tomatoes and lost almost all of them. We didn't repeat it again this year, but losing anything to such a nasty problem is disappointing. Despite this it has been a great year for squash, Our cucumbers are going mad and I can't imagine how we are going to eat all the squash we will have this winter.

Emily from SONSI and one of the chickens checking each other out.

A couple of tours have happened here as well. Living here it is easy to take a lot of what we do for granted. Having people come by and visit is great because they always help us see things through new eyes.

Most recently we had Heather, a masters student at York University come and talk to us about vermicomposting. Although we only have two vermicomposting bins they are doing quite well. It was great to talk to her and research on apartment agriculture and worm bins. Heather may soon be know as the worm whisperer as she has done a lot of work with her bins.We are eagerly awaiting her final thesis.

The other weekend we had S.O.N.S.I. (Southern Ontario Nature and Science Illustrators)come by for a tour. Of course I (jennifer) am a member so it was low key and a lot of fun to have good friends round. It ended up being a really delicious pot-luck, and SONSI member Emily, makes an amazing zucchini crumble.