Evening Rounds

Evening rounds are so peaceful in the summer - it's one of my favourite times of day, giving me the chance to reflect on what we have accomplished in the peace and quiet after a long and busy day.  The birds provide the background music with their late evening chatter and the cats usually follow me around to keep me company, hopeful for one last mouse to finish off the day.  Can you see the moon?  The pink and orange glow of the sunset on the double gate is an invitation to walk out back tonight to see the sunset. We'll see that in a minute, but first we have rounds to do.  Care to join me?

Let's check on the blueberry plants.  I was afraid that they didn't survive the winter, but after some TLC yesterday, I think they'll make it.  We'll have to provide better winter protection this year because a lot of branches died off.  These bushes haven't done very well in the 2 years they've been planted, so I need to do some reading about what to do to help them out.  I know that they like acid soil but that's about the extend of my knowledge.

Ian worked the chain saw yesterday to help me do some much needed tree pruning out front.  We've still got some more branches to deal with and I sure wish I had a chipper! 

A peek at the seeded perennials looks promising.  I'm planning a large perennial bed at the front of our house which currently has NO FLOWERS of any kind.  The previous owners were not gardeners, so we're starting from bare grass.   Our other goal this year is to naturalize some of our land with wildflowers in order to attract more pollinating insects to the property.  Now that my food garden is finally all seeded, I can get to work preparing areas to plant both these perennials and the wildflower seeds.  Let's carry on...

Our evening rounds reveal an exciting glimpse into July.  It looks like this will be the year that our raspberry canes will finally offer up a red, juicy bounty.  The 3 year wait will be so worth it!

The apple trees are still flowering, still fragrant, and still buzzing with bees although it's fast coming to an end with leafing out now happening in full force.

Let's make a quick stop in the greenhouse to check on the tomatoes and the melon seedlings.  All is good, so let's close it up for the night.  The large number of flies in there remind me (again) to buy some screening from the hardware store so I can staple it up to keep them out of the open windows!

Lincoln gets a brush most days and we leave the hair for the birds.   They use it to line their nests :) 

On to the chickens.  Let's try and get the "teenagers" in for the night.  It's not so easy when it's still light out at this late hour!  These Marans and the Olive Egger in the background are 3 months old and FULL of mischief!  The Maran breed seems very flighty as compared to the other heritage breed poultry, but that rooster is sure handsome isn't he?  Every day, he gets more colour and his "crow" is starting to develop.  He tries to look all "important" but when he crows, but his voice breaks and it sounds terrible!  He gets all embarrassed looking and he runs off to hide from the other chickens.  Silly rooster.  We finally shoo them all in and they're safely locked in to the chicken tractor for the night.  The same is done for the older hens, although they are all nicely on their roosts in the coop at a much more civil hour than these rowdy teenagers!

Thought you like to see the "hang out" place for the older hens...  an old snag found in the ditch and a crude scrap lumber build have created a place for the girls to hang out and watch the goings on with the kids.  They can see the pool and the trampoline from here and they are VERY keen on following the kids around to see what they're doing.  Our hens are just like dogs :)

Let's collect the last of the eggs but as I've forgotten the basket (again), I use my shirt to carry them (again).

Before we go inside, let's go out back to see the sunset and check on the farmer's field behind us.  I'm curious to see if his crop is coming up yet.  Remember this picture from Winter?

Here's the same spot now in early Summer :)  

We walk through and look

to the left to see acres of green shoots peeking out...  I can't tell what the crop is just yet, though...

and to the right - the sun is quickly setting in the distance.   Another busy day ends with a burst of colour.

  Thanks for joining me on my evening rounds.  Let's do it again soon!