Summer 2014

It's a beautiful garden nonetheless!

It is. And that last picture is so pretty!

A beautiful garden, one I could easily meander round whatever the weather.
I just love how it says `peaceful`.

What a fabulous garden Lori, and how wonderful to have your own little stream - something I always longed for. its good to hear you had a go at veggie growing - was it successful? the beans look very healthy anyway. Ours were disappointing because the weather was so hot and dry.

Thanks so much Bathgate, Karen an d Stroller... this was the first year that it actually looked the way I had envisioned it...I have a number of garden spots within it and I'm too old to get things done "over nite" any more. ...sigh... thanks for the positive reinforcement!
It sounds so strange to hear that from Wales, Stera! I picture it ever moist and temperate. Wicked weather just about everywhere this year. My parents were veggie gardeners and I learned what I know from them...most of my adult life I've lived where it was too cold ..and at one time..to polluted, to grow much for the table. With two seasons accomplished I figured I'd give it a try. The results weren't stellar but they were encouraging! Next year a big Tattie patch!

I hope the summer lasts a bit longer for you. Sep seems early for frost.
Nice summer photos :)

I love your stream.

Thanks Diane...it comes and goes depending on what the farmer up the hill is doing!? It's been fun learning the ways of water... steeper the grade the faster the run; rock obstacles make pools; lots of rock makes it noisy...etc. etc. etc. .... :-)
I've moved to a part of the province which has it's first frost very early every year, Hywel. It's arrived in the same week for the last 2 out of 3 years we've been here. This year it was 2 weeks later and I still lost my tomatoes before I got around to covering them. My poppies are blooming again...and the pumpkins are ripening... our summers are so short!

What beautiful pictures of your garden. Those poppies are gorgeous. Agree with others about the stream.

Lovely to see your garden looking so good, Lori, and the stream is delightful - "just what I've always wanted"! Did you build it yourselves??

Thanks Tuesday!
We live in an upland area, Sheila. Lots of hills and rock, very rugged. Our house is situated in a small bowl valley with forest all around it. The stream comes from a small pocket lake which is above us and feeds the little stream. The people who owned our place before us bulldozed fill into the valley where the house was built and the stream literally cut through the fill they placed. I've cut back the banks and widened the stream in a few places terracing with rocks which are abundant here, and tried to open a small pond at the base of the hill.(for ducks or geese) After all the gruelling shovel work the first spring carried a lot of silt and soil and has filled up my excavation. More work required. Like most things I do ...it's a work in progress. (there's always next year!)

Sounds wonderful Lori. I hope you work on making a pond are successful

Hi Lori,
Not been here in a long time and I'm took back by how your new place has come into its own, its true my beautiful and the stream area is flourishing, what a difference from when you first moved there.
Iv enjoyed seeing it so much xx

Hello Sandra! How is everything with your family and garden? Thanks very much for the encouraging words, I feel a little overwhelmed sometimes. So much I could be doing and I just don't have the drive anymore. (getting ancient) Learning lessons all over again... baby steps, little bites, etc. :-)

Not much on GOY this last year, so missed this blog and many others, slowly trying to catch up now.
Your "plot" isnt anylonger, it is now a real living breathing garden with a character of its own. So lovely to see how far you got lori. Your beans look mega healthy, hope they tasted as gd. Love your stream getting the "natural" look..and all those stones in there! Gorgeous dragon fly, did you put the sunflower in to make me feel nostalgic? Lol.
I like your "learning the ways of water" phrase , completely understand that one.
I hope you managed to get to eat or preserve most of ur veggies with such a terribly short season, but well done. I hope to follow your example with some veggie experimentation here come spring.
Looking at what you achieved i can still feel the sweat n tears n frustration plus exaltation n satisfaction that was involved. (rather more than a mere 13mile hike even with blisters!) Good on you girl!!

How nice, thanks for the encouragement. I'm glad you liked the sunflower, M. On the way to town there was a field full of sunflowers this year. The farmer alternates between sunflowers and corn (maize). They are my favourite summer flowers, bright and sturdy and I took lots of pictures, remembering your French fields. It's a joy to watch them lift their faces and follow the sun across the sky!
The past two summers the farmers in the area have been planting GMO corn and using neonicotinoid insecticides... between the glyphosate and the neonics our bees and birds and animals which eat the corn as feed have been taking a drubbing. I've spent an angry, frustrated year. How I wish our agriculture wasn't Agri-business first and foremost. I had planned to include some beehives on the property but an apiarist nearby (within about 60 kms) lost millions of bees to neonic poisoning this past summer. That made me think twice. There's a large movement afoot to have the neonics banned so lets hope next season will be more amenable to the production of honey.

:-((