it was another fantastically, beautiful, awesome day at the Manor...everything is starting to green up nicely! today i planted out artichokes, cauliflower, celery, broccoli, mint and parsley. i also re-potted all 40 of the tomatoes and started another 16 - woohoo!
jambaloney is making quick work out of our hugelkultur...and this is a job he works on when he's not doing the 9 million other jobs that he does in a day!
he is digging the hugelkultur, hk from here on in, 4ft wide and about 15ft long...have a peek:
here's how it looked by noonish:
another view:
and here is the first load of old, dead trees that he drags out of the forest:
he plans to fill the hk with logs until they reach the height of the surface ground. then he will take one our old doors, lay it across the hk and jump up and down on it. i'll help too! this will help pack the rotting wood in even tighter. then we'll add another layer of rotting wood to reach the surface ground. from there it will be a layer of beach sand, seaweed and then the dug up dirt from the hole. on top of that will be the grass sod that he dug up - it goes on upside down - and then we will add about 2 inches of our good dirt and a layer of compost. then i will transplant our asparagus to it, some squash and some odds and sods seeds that are left. we plan to do another hk for our 3 sisters planting and one more for our strawberries and rhubarb.
supper today was cheeseburgers - yummeh!
and here is our guard dog, he's a mix of a great pyrenees, a st. bernard and a polar bear. he goes by the name of barly-mow, barrel, moe and moebin. he's a fine guard dog!
here's some pretty pink flowers popping up all over the place - they are so pretty and tiny!
and last but not least - the Framboise Manor wicked-awesome chives. these guys seeded themselves here and as you can see they are growing beautifully in packed dirt filled with rocks. can you believe that they are already flowering?
you can be darn tootins that i am letting these babies go to seed.
anyway, here in Canada it is May-two-four weekend. a long weekend that celebrates May 24. i know - it's only May 18. i don't decide these kinds of things! the weather for the next 3 days is going to be beautiful...we expect many a tourist to come up here for a drive around or to go to the beach. and lastly, tomorrow lobster season officially starts in Fourchu Harbour (our nearest community). if you have never heard of Fourchu Lobster - look it up! it is some of the finest lobster being served in 5 star restaurants all over the world!Q
Well if you are expecting tourists one word of advice...Clothes! Hahaha.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though how did you get your artichokes to start? We started a apple guild this year which has just the existing apple trees in it so far. One of the things they recommend is artichokes.
Save those chive flowers! Infuse them in vinegar. Just chuck the bottle full of flowers, pour vinegar over them and let steep for a week. Strain and wah-la chive vinegar for potatoes and such!
Beth - we keep the chain up on the driveway and it's a long steep walk up so very few have ever bothered! and what i mean when i say tourists is we hear their cars going up the road - it drives us nuts! last eve for example - 4 cars!!! and you can always tell its a tourist because everyone who lives here toots their horn if they drive by and we do the same when we drive by their house. it's a secret way for us to know if someone who doesn't live here is in the area.
Deletei did the artichokes in the small cardboard pots as everything i read said that they didn't like to be transplanted. then i put 3 pots each in a big freezer baggy and put them under the growlights. from what i had read, they often don't germinate. i planted 12 seeds and 10 came up. they have been living in the greenhouse for about 2 weeks and i planted them out yesterday!
i am letting those chive flowers go to seed to have seeds for next year. i have a whole other bed of chives for eating. and i will definitely make the chive vinegar! xox
Jambe dig all those rocks out of your huggie culture??? Most likely! Better get the whip out and get him to start a rock wall, LMHO.
ReplyDeleteMany's the trip into Halifax I mailed my clothes home and all my luggage went home with newspaper wrapped lobster from the minus 40 walk in. Yeppers, when you gonna mail some this way?
Now I'm drooling again. You're naughty!
Winston
Winston - he broke one of our tools digging up those rocks! our ground is full of them! and bahahahahahaha about mailing your clothes home in order to bring lobster home but they are so yummeh! i'll need your mailing address, monsieur and then see what we can do! sorry about the drooling buddy - bahahahah!
DeleteI have indeed heard of Fourchu lobster. It is reputed to be even better than Barrington Bay lobster. In September when we were last in NS, I was just shocked to see McLobster in the McDonalds there. It was ok, but the only time I entered McDonalds on the entire trip. Of course, that was before I had heard of the Framboise Manor and all their delectable delights !
ReplyDeleteJane - Fourchu lobster is really taking off the past few years. and what?!?!?!? McLobsters? oh that could ONLY happen on the mainland. that would be considered blasphemous here! i have never heard of such a thing! you need to come back to NS soon, doll! xoxo
Deleteoh Jane - jambaloney just confirmed my worst fears...apparently the craziness has spread from the mainland to the island!!! there are McLobsters here in our two cities on the island - arghghghghghgh!
DeleteOdd when I Googled Fourchu lobster it showed some wonderful looking lobster, and on the bottom it said clink here, so I did it showed me two Framboise Manor lobsters. I zoomed in and it was you two naked and sunburned. Oh my.
ReplyDeletethanks for the update, but that has got to be so much work for a garden bed. Am I missing something??
rolflmfao!!!!!!!!
DeleteOMG, Rob beat me to it!!!!! The two naked lobsters
Deletebahahahaha.....Joking here!!!!
bahahahahahahaha! oh Rob, buddy - you always got to get a smart-*ss remark in and you always find one that is appropriate. i gotta admit that was pretty funny!
DeleteMM, Sandy - it was pretty funny eh?
That looks like a lot of work!!! You all really need my Columbus to come for a visit, but my Dad is stealing him away from us for part of the summer!! What WILL I do without my Columbus around!?!? My Man has him digging holes before he leaves...lol. He works cheap though, feed him a good meal and he is happy. Next year you two need to put in an early bid on him...lol. Tell J he is doing wonderful job digging that big ole hole!
ReplyDeleteI want to come visit for the Lobster, secondary to seeing the two of you, of course. But I do LOVE my seafood!! I'm starting to drool right now (no kidding) just thinking about it. I like a nice beer with my seafood - how's the beer up there?
MM - we started with digging a hole first because we needed the sod and dirt. most people just make a pile of logs on the ground and put dirt on it but we are running out of "good dirt" so we will use this dirt and sod.
Deletei'm calling dibs on Columbus for next year! tell him i'll feed him as much as he wants whenever he wants! and jam will take him fishing!
i'd love to send you some lobster - it would just cost an arm and a leg - bahahahah! beer up here is awesome! jam says especially after digging all day it goes down real smooth. i hate beer so can't add to that! xoxo
Mmmm, lobster, one of my favorites. Jealous!! And jealous of Jambaloney's hard work. I can't wait to see how the hugecl, hugakul, hugecal, HK's work out!
ReplyDeletep.s. we have three "dogs" just like yours. Love to hear that we aren't the only ones that have 4 or 5 other names for our pets, other than their "given" name, ha.
1st Man - me and you both buddy! i can eat 6 2lbers in one sitting!!! i'll keep you updated on the hks - no worries! teehee - glad to hear that you have some guard dogs too. and glad to hear that you do the crazy naming thing as well - bahahaha!
DeleteKymber and Jambaloney,
ReplyDeleteYou've both been extremely busy. If I would have known you were repotting your tomatoes, I would of had you do mine too. Don't you love the smell of the tomato when working with them? Jambaloney, your digging to darn hard there man!!! I love the idea of the hugelkultur, but wow....that sure seems to be alot of digging. Do you and Kymber take your frustrations out when jumping up and down on the door to get the old wood trees level?
I'll take one of those burgers, they look homemade and the beer too, lol.
Now....now, love the cat, aka: the dog.
You need to stop teasing about lobster, you know we all love lobster. Rob beat me to the lobster comment. You need to be careful now. With all of those tourists coming up, you will have to put some curtains on those wind breaks, Bahahahaha
hey Sandy - yep its been busy-busy but expected at this time of year. and we are always happy to be working on our little homestead. i do love the smell of tomatoes when working with them - so fragrant and fresh! it is a lot of digging but i think i will explain in another post on why we are digging so much. Sandy - there's always a burger here for you - and a beer - bahahahah! i'll tell Jam that he's got to get out there and put some curtains on the windbreak - bahahahahahah! xox
DeleteHey Kymber - Holy Crap - that's a lot of digging for Jambaloney ! Hope he ate at least seven of those cheeseburgers ! They look delish by the way . Hugelkultur sounds German to me. Hugel maybe meaning a hill and kultur meaning culture. There you go - culturing crops on a hill. Who'd have guessed, eh ?!?! bahahah !
ReplyDeleteLobster season - I'm coming !
Have a great week- end guys ! Love You - xoxox
How could I have forgotten to mention that blue, blue sky in the first pic ! Kymber - my dear little sis - you get to have all the fun ! Just look at that color ! Makes me want to dance in circles for hours with that handsome barly - mow !
DeleteLove Forever ... xoxox
Hey Helga, hon - it sure is a lot of digging! and hugelkultur is German and it is translated exactly that way! you build up a hill/mound/berm and then for the next several years, depending on how high you build it and how fast the wood rots - you don't ever have to till it! it's brilliant! oh ya - lobster, baby - and the best in the world!!! and thanks sis, that barly-mow is one handsome dog! love back forever...email coming today. xoxoxo
DeleteReckon perhaps you should get Jam a mini digger for this birthday...
ReplyDeleteGonna try our 1st HK as soon as we make our move.
Dani - he IS our mini digger - bahahahahah! i can't wait to hear how your move and 1st hk go! good luck with both!
DeleteNice progress on the hugelkultur! Everything looks to be turning very spring like there! Love your guard dog, too. lol
ReplyDelete