First Frost, September 21st

And I thought this garden year would be a bit of a bust, what with the slow, cold start. But then came the hot summer days and the remarkably frost free end to the season - no frost until today, September 21st. Wow! I’ve gardened here for over 40 years and have never experience such a late 1st frost. My 8 full sized tomato plants outdid themselves and I confess that I did not treat them kindly. I didn’t prune them, my cages fell over, they were planted too close together and were sprawled all over - but indifference didn’t seem to make a difference! Now to deal with them all as they ripen!

Bumble Bug

Almost stepped on this bumble bee look alike as he slowly wandered through the grass. I guided him to this leaf whereupon he played dead until I snapped a pic of him, took him back outside and turned him loose. Then he reactivated and crawled off. Never saw a caterpillar quite like this one before.

2022, An Oddball Gardening Year

I planted my garden just after the May long weekend, then it turned cold & rainy - a miserable June. Transplants just sat there shivering, staying alive but not growing. In July summer finally arrived and here we are now, at the end of August, no frost as yet, weather predicted to be in the mid 30’s next week!  I’ve never seen a year like this in the more than 40 years I’ve been gardening in the middle of Alberta. I have green tomatoes, beans are coming along, critters ate the top half of all my beets, all my peas, and most of the beans down low. The cucumbers are producing lovely flowers but cucumbers are just getting started. Potatoes are good, carrots are small so far but plentiful. Most surprising of all is the beautiful crop of basil I started from seed. The wee plants were no taller than 1/2 inch till mid July, then boom, they took off. 

It was a fabulous year for raspberries!  I picked 85 lbs before they finally stopped producing. I picked enough for 3 batches of wine (14 lbs each), 10 quarts of juice concentrate, 15 pints of jam/jelly, & 14 (2 cup) bags for our family’s favorite breakfast- crepes stuffed with cottage cheese & topped with raspberries & whipped cream.

I have 2 well established rhubarb plants and am always happy to find a new use for rhubarb. This year I discovered (and slightly adapted) a recipe for rhubarb chutney after trying and liking a rhubarb relish produced for a local market using “grandmother’s secret recipe”. Ahhh, grandma might be surprised what you can find on the internet - so much information and it’s not all that hard to find. This chutney is yummy with most meats, especially bratwurst sausage.

I also picked enough black currants for 2 or 3 batches of delicious jam and managed to steal a few pounds of honeyberries from the birds.

Our final honey crop was 44 lbs, not bad considering we had to re-establish one hive and introduce a new queen to the other. 

My garden presents me with new challenges every year. I’m already planning changes for next year - better spacing, more watering, fewer potted plants. A garden is a living annual project, full of surprises and sometimes disappointments. I love watching its progress and enjoy putting produce away for winter, either in jars. the freezer or the root cellar. Stocking up with organic foods I grew myself gives me a feeling of accomplishment, and, as my husband always says, the queen of England couldn’t sit down to a better meals than ours.

mltipton.blogspot.com, 

https://www.facebook.com/Northof543/, 

August 31, 2022

“The Summer of ‘82”

I’ve always been in awe of people with a super good ability to remember times past. Farmers especially seem to remember the exact year of every unusual weather event. Many a time I find myself listening to some old timer saying something like, “I remember that terrible storm in the summer of ‘82. It caused the river to overflow it’s banks by the bridge. A hell of a bad storm, that one!” 

Was I around that year? Yep. Did it really happen? Probably. In ‘82? Darned if I know.

As is typical in the spring and summer, the talk now is all about gardens, and comparing one to the next. When did you plant? Why are so many planted seeds failing to germinate? What kind of critter is eating your seedlings? Weren’t the gardens further along this time last year? Have we ever had a June like this?

Every year is different. I usually manage to remember some portion of last year’s garden (usually the failures). But that’s as far as it goes. 10 years ago? Well I’m sure I had a garden but details are lost to my memory. I usually make a drawing of where stuff is planted so I can rotate the crops to different spots the next year, but I can never find where I put my garden map when the next year comes along. Ah well, this year I know I planted my sticks and strings on the May long weekend, and slowly got all the seeds into the ground by June 1st. Bedding plants came later, after the 7th. But today, July 1st, after many cool cloudy rainy days in June, I look at it and wonder. Will it manage to produce anything in the time left? Everything that’s going to come up has done so, but it seems slow, just barely getting going. If only I could remember what’s normal!

Something is eating my peas; they’re half gone. I planted 2 different section of carrots - one with new commercial seed, one with my own seed. One section came up sparse, the other thick as hair on a dogs back. But guess what? I can’t remember which is which. Then there’s the fact that one end of the garden in general seems to be less hardy. But I’m nearly 80 and it’s all hard work, so I’m not replanting anything that didn’t germinate. Maybe I’ll stick some marigold seeds in the empty spots. They’re beautiful, bees like them, and they make their own seed. Que sera, sera.

So, happy Canada Day! Here’s a pic of my garden struggling to get it together. At least next year I can look back in my photo gallery and compare it with the garden of ‘22. This pic will make many gardeners feel good about their plots. It’s not yet been tilled, just weeded between plants. The chickweed is thriving everywhere. I’ll post an update if it gets to growing, just so gardeners like myself, who are not perfect, can see it’s possible to grow food when you don’t pluck every weed in sight.

.

The RoadSide Cafe

It was one of those days. We needed some machinery parts and headed to town. The dogs and I went along with my husband for the ride - the dogs because they love being with their people, and me, well I had the promise of a lunch out! We went to every parts place in our market town but they didn’t carry what we needed. Feeling rather deflated we motored on to the next town to try our luck, with partial success. We were getting pretty hungry by then so we decided to try out the RoadSide Cafe on the west end. We could barely find a parking place in the tiny lot so we figured it must have the locals’ stamp of approval.

“Take a seat over there,” said the proprietor (a young man anywhere from 30 to 50 - everyone looks young when you’re over 70). “I’ll get to you in about 10 minutes if that’s okay.” We sat in the middle and on the side wall, each of us having a different view, me north, husband south. Folks around us were chatting away, some eating, some finished, some waiting for their meal. We filled our wait time with people watching.

The place was humming and the waiter/cook/owner was all on his own. I had a good view of the kitchen and he was practically flying! An elderly woman began wandering around, gathering a plate here, a spoon there. I was quite sure she was the “Mom”, or the owner, helping her son out, but it turned out she was a helpful customer who rightly figured Mr. RoadSide could use some assistance (no pun intended), though she accomplished very little. Across the way sat a slender, fitter version of Colonel Sanders. Ever since we sat down I’d been watching this fellow carry on lively conversation accented with expansive gestures. He must have been telling a good story!

Mr. RoadSide began to bring out meals. “Here you go, Maggie. Fred, that’s right isn’t it? Fries with gravy on the side? Flo, for you, sorry for the wait!” Back and fourth he went, cooking, serving, taking our order, chatting with a fencing crew seated near the entry (they looked like a biker gang - bald heads, matching jackets with a raptor on the back, a gal with blue hair).

The elderly self appointed bus-girl finished her rounds then carried a carton containing a burger and fries to her husband out in their car, explaining as she passed by us that she had to take his food out because he was unable to come in. On her return she was shivering and hugging her sweater close. “God awful windy and cold out there,” she said. I agreed.

The large group behind me got up to leave, all carrying on about their plans for the remainder of the day, saying they’d be back for breakfast. “I’m feeling a bit scattered today,” the cook told them. “Most of the time I have no problem but it’s been hard to concentrate the last few days. A friend of mine got Covid and he also has COPD so I’ve been really worried, but he’s doing okay now. I hope you enjoyed your meals?” Assurances were passed around, bills paid, things got quieter.

The man-of-all-tasks brought our order then grabbed an arm full of empty plates and bussed them to the back. We dug into our senior menu specials and he stopped by our table. “How’s your meals, I hope the wait wasn’t too long,” he said. “I usually have just a few couples in here and it’s not hard to manage, but that big group showed up just before you and I had to get their order out.” 

We were the last customers to leave and the restaurant closed. Apparently it is only open for breakfast and lunch. Butterscotch pudding was a nice topper to our hearty and  much enjoyed meal. I headed for the rest room and Mr. RoadSide was wandering around the now empty restaurant with a cell phone recording what needed to be done and how the day had gone. He looked at me and said, “The meals are only the beginning, now it’s all the cleaning and preparation for tomorrow. Guess you gotta make a dollar though! It was a good day today.”

We left the RoadSide Cafe feeling relaxed with a decent meal in our bellies. It was like we had just had dinner with a big happy family, well worth our decision to pass on a fast food outlet.

mltipton.blogspot.com, 

https://www.facebook.com/Northof543/, 

abcentre54

May 4, 2022

Beets

I’m sooo excited, never thought they were mature enough but look, my own beet seeds!!!

Can We Afford to Eat Anymore?

Can We Afford to Eat Anymore?

I went shopping for a few groceries yesterday. What a demoralizing experience! 

I’m curious, how does the government calculate its inflation rate? Food prices have increased, it seems to me, at a much higher rate than the current figure I found on the web. Most basic food products seem to be up one-two dollars or more per item. Many are 50% to 100 % higher than they were just a few months ago.

According to Statistics Canada,  “Canada’s annual inflation rate quickened to 5.7% in February of 2022, the highest since August of 1991…. Prices rose faster in six of the eight major components, notably for shelter (6.6% vs 6.2% in January), which rose at the steepest pace since August 1983. Sharp price increases were also seen in transportation (8.7% vs 8.3%), bolstered by a 32.3% surge in gasoline charges at the pump; costs of food (6.7% vs 5.7%), as prices of food in grocery stores rose at the fastest rate in 13 years.

I have no understanding of how the monetary system, the global market, or trade agreements work, or why shortages elsewhere raise prices where there is no shortage. I’ve found that prices vary, sometimes by a lot, from grocery store to grocery store. I’m sure grocers would be able to state many reasons why products are priced higher in their establishment than in another. I know volume buying and sourcing plays a big part in pricing - so does paying for fancy buildings, convenient location, better employee wages, good customer service, top quality products, more brand variety, expanded product choice, delis, eye-catching displays and reward programs - all of which are attractants for consumers and extra costs for proprietors. But I’ve never understood how a can of beans, a chicken, New Zealand lamb, any food stuff from anywhere overseas could cost less in a grocery store here than a similar item produced locally. Input costs may be less overseas - lower wages, subsidized fuel, substandard working conditions, longer growing seasons - but you would think transportation cost would eliminate the price advantage, especially if the environment is considered.

I sometimes feel robbed when I compare prices from one place to the next. I can’t help but think that there are some people & corporations out there getting much richer just because they can. For shopping I have a choice between two market towns, Amazon and other on-line retailers, and the city. The larger town has 2 big box chain grocery stores and the other has a Co-op and an independent grocer. When I need a lot of groceries I go where my dollar spreads the furthest. This usually leads me to the big box stores or Amazon where I have found price differentials as high as $5 on some items. If I need only a few items I pick them up wherever I happen to be. The cost of transportation does have to be considered.

I am lucky to live on a small farm. I can produce my own meat and grow a garden, keep bees. I get eggs from a neighbour. I cook from scratch. The woods around us are filled with wild meat and berries. And I don’t have a job outside my home taking up a huge chunk of my time. So, because we live where we do and are willing to do the work required, my family can still afford to eat well. But how will lower income families, seniors and others on fixed incomes who don’t have such advantages manage to cope? Even if they would prefer to support local, consumers with limited means in an inflationary marketplace have little choice but to seek out the best price for the products needed. And with big rises in gas, heating fuel, electricity, rents etc, people may be forced to make some hard choices. 

 I have a feeling the food banks are going to be very busy. 

There’s lots of ways to minimize costs. 

These are some kitchen savers I’ve made habitual… I suspect nearly everyone could add tips to this list.

• Cook from scratch including bread, cakes, cookies
• Select-a-size paper towels, substitute microfibre cloths
• Buy non-perishable items and cleaners in larger quantities or sizes
• Stock up on sale items
• Don't waste food, eat leftovers as is or incorporate into the next meal
• Know what’s in your fridge and use it before it’s too late
• Know what’s in your freezer and use within a reasonable time
• Keep a running grocery list, shop less frequently, avoid impulse buying 
• Know your prices, know your stores, check out flyers
• Can or freeze fruits, vegetables, meats when they are abundant and lower priced.
• Slow cook less expensive cuts of meat 
• Make stews, soups, and casseroles
• Best before, not rotten after

mltipton.blogspot.com

April 10, 2022