Summer sure has sped by! I suppose that’s nothing new really. Everyone I talk to says the same thing really. Not one person has said “What a slow and boring summer.” Although one person did complain about the rain. El Niño has not affected us like it has other parts of the world unless all the rain is the result of the weather phenomenon. With the world experiencing higher than normal and record high temperatures, one must ask, what is going on? The wildfires are once again ravaging North America and Europe as well. So all that rain here is a good thing in that context.
Things have grown well this summer. Plenty of hay crops and even second cutting now for the past several weeks. Getting dry hay in has been a problem really. Our uncles got most of my Homestead farm cleared by baling round bales. One small meadow remains. My cousin and I had planned to help get square bales into our uncles barn but the weather did not cooperate while he was here for two weeks. Square bales may get done later this year if we get some dry weather.
Our gardens have exploded after what seemed like a slow start in early June. We are picking cucumbers now and dug a few potatoes as well. Up in the raised bed gardens of Santa Clara, there’s been beets,kale, Swiss chard, zucchini, and even a few tomatoes. Zane’s pumpkins are doing well at the Homestead after a bumpy start of being attacked by striped beetles. They nearly decimated our small squash,pumpkin, and cucumber plants. I nuked them with some toxic dust and it worked. But I can’t call our produce organic can I?
The open pollinated sweet corn got off to a slow start. Some seeds didn’t germinate so I planted more. With some hoeing and weeding they have grown super high. I have never seen such tall sweet corn! We hope to save some ears for a seed bank for next year. That’s the advantage of non hybrid corn varieties. We shall see. I’m worried that the raccoons will find it soon. They love corn!
Speaking of garden raiders, something was eating all the blossoms in the garden for quite a while. I named it the “Mystery Muncher” and I suspect it’s a deer. Well hunting season is coming in October so visiting the garden may turn around for our garden visitor.
All in all, the gardens are a big success and we expect a considerable yield from it as things mature. First frost should be weeks away but could arrive in September. Hoping that the winter squash make it to maturity. Hubbard squash take time to mature as they are so large. The squash patch is huge at the moment with giant leaves and runners. That barnyard dirt is potent stuff!
Early on in June we were forced to water the garden some but we have received plenty of rain in the past month plus. So no watering lately. All the rain really turned on the wild long blackberries recently. We have picked quite a few now and enjoyed a pie or two! Others found their way into the freezer to enjoy next winter. I hope to pick more before they disappear around the end of August or so.
Most of our berries are coming from the old fallow meadows in what we call the “75 Acre Lot”. I haven’t cut hay there since around 2011 when I still had cattle. It’s begun to revert back and is dominated by goldenrod, berry bushes, and the invasive wild honeysuckles. I decided to bush hog some of it recently to enhance the deer hunting opportunities. And to prevent losing it to nature. I had to use the tractor’s loader and bale forks to rip out the bigger wild honeysuckles. They are tough on the mower. The smaller ones I mowed right over. It was brutally hot and hard on the tractor. I haven’t finished my work there and hope to return before autumn. About half of the fields are done I estimate. And many other wild honeysuckles were destroyed near the meadows. I get a little obsessed with destroying them!
Speaking of destroying things, I recently discovered sawyer beetles had infested Mike The Mechanic’s pine logs we logged in late February. His new sawmill has not come on line yet unfortunately. So I took on the job of peeling a bunch of them during the rainy time my cousin was visiting. The sawyer beetles were gaining headway but we got the logs peeled in time to prevent the major damage that would have occurred by the end of the summer. I focused on the biggest and straightest logs. We destroyed hundreds of young sawyer beetle larvae while playing our role as “Barkeaters”.It became a little obsessive. But it was necessary and Mike didn’t know about Sawyer beetles. His crew peeled the remaining logs last week. Luckily the bark was quite loose and came off fairly easily. I spent a bunch of time on that but Mike has been working to get my tractor back into shape. So consider it a bartering situation. Old school rural practice that never goes out of style. We got almost all of his logs moved to his property and he piled them up. They will keep for a long time now. Hopefully getting sawed before winter.
Life has been busy but that’s normal. I cut some pine trees with my friend and his crew on the 4th of July. He’s building a garage and the pine needed to go. I still need to draw them home. The sawyer beetles will be after them before winter I expect. I will need to get them milled.
In mid July my friend and I plus two others, fished a new outfitter in Quebec. Quite close to our other outfitter really. So back into the Témiscaming region again for a fun week. I hope to write about it sometime soon. Look for a title with the word “Ogascanan” in it. Another recent adventure was assisting Zane and friend Patrick Bourcy on their Lake Placid 9 Ultra hiking challenge in the Adirondacks . They did all 9 mountains in less than 24 hours. Over 30 miles of hiking trails in rugged terrain. It was hot that day too! I drove them between mountains and even hiked some with them. I did a little over 10 miles. That’s my limit these days with my worn out left knee. It was brutal for them but they did the challenge in less than 20 hours! Very impressive!
So yeah. That gets things caught up. Life keeps us busy doesn’t it? There are constant demands and endless tasks. And I need to write about “Wave Baby” sometime. She’s a beater boat I bought for a project. She’s been launched once but my old boat motor quit. Wave Baby is destined for Lac Sairs, Quebec someday. It’s called Brennan Lake in English. I wrote about it after camping there last September. Wave Baby is a tool for an adventure I really want to bring to fruition with Zane. Maybe in 2027.
Things are pretty predictable really. The never ending craving for adventure and exploration. The battery charging power of the Canadian bush is good for the inner spirit. Life flows by in seasons of task and decisions. Not everything is possible. It’s about choices isn’t it? Each morning I gulp down my maple syrup infused coffee and face the new day. Some days are better than others. But that’s life. Always keep moving forward if possible. That’s a worthy goal I think. Personal growth is a lot like a garden. Gotta keep the insects and weeds away. And then you will enjoy a harvest! It’s something like that I like to think! ✍️
