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The Breakroom / Re: Thoughts
« Last post by billthedog082 on July 30, 2022, 09:03:22 PM »
This is a story of how I haven't been spending my summer so far. I have been posting contests on this site since, well, for a long time. My particular favourite, PA Dailies, has had 4,182 separate posts. I started posting on February 1, 2011, and never looked back. The contest survived two hip replacement surgeries, various family events, other hobbies, and a bazillion other things. For the first time, this summer, I took July off. Took a break. Didn't even think of it. And for no good reason. I didn't get any busier than usual, mostly because that would be physiologically and logistically impossible. I just did some different things:
1. I live on almost five acres of meadows and woodlands. There has been no chemical activity on the property since greenhouse and regular farming came to a distinct and final halt with my father's death, in 1988. Everything has run wild since then, and it's quite impressive how very wild it has become. There is even a little stream that has found its way through. There was no stream when the farm was active. Gotta love Mother Nature. There are now deer roaming free, as subdivisions spring up around us and drive them our way. We have always had raccoons, skunks, possum, rabbits, and squirrels. We now also have hawks and owls. If one ever needs a small-set sample of the Carolinian forest, come to my place, we are IT. So, I rented two hives of honey bees. It seemed like the right thing to do. My bee-guy, George, came down and took a look around, and said it would be an ideal location. I live in hope.
Now we have all heard that honey bees are on their way out. And those reports are no lie. But, all pollinators are on their way out, including the very many different kinds of "wild" bees, who are solitary and whose sole job it is to pollinate. If you have time, check out this clickable link to find out about the 20,000 types of bees. (I had no idea, and I have been fascinated by bees since grade 3).
2. In the fifties, while I was still a mere slip of a wee girl, my parents purchased the farm, and proceeded to eke out a living to keep us all fed and sheltered. My dad and godfather built, with their own two hands, two large greenhouses on the property, which along with the rest of the farm, kept us alive, barely. Don't let anyone ever tell you that working a small farm will guarantee early retirement. The early retirement for most small-farm owners is provided by the full-time job they take on the side. But I digress. Those buildings are still there. One is 100 feet long, the second is 75. They are lacking all the mod-cons they used to have, including electricity and running water, never mind all the glass that has come down.
It was into the second building that I thought I would put start a bit of an agricultural adventure. If you ask anyone at all that knows any little thing about me, it would be that I have always hated to garden. It's backbreaking and thankless, and as my mom says, a constant war against Mother Nature. Nevertheless, I thought I should do this, this summer. It was egged on by George (remember? the bee-guy). He has augmented his bee business by also donating to the bee receivers (like me) a few native-to-Ontario seedlings to plant to help Mother Nature along her way to getting healthier and happier. I ended up with 12 dozen plants, of 20 varieties, to help me on my agricultural adventure. On the whole, the plants are doing quite well, and by next year, there will be an impressive display of pollinator plants. And not only will they be native-to-Ontario, but native-to-Niagara, so I can give seeds to my neighbours and friends to keep George's project alive.
I also have an edible agricultural experiment going, with 4 varieties of tomatoes with their companion marigolds, an eggplant, some potatoes, and a zucchini. Exciting news on the zucchini front: after 9 male blossoms, the plant finally had a female blossom which somehow got pollinated, and now has a zucchini coming. I'm going to be a zucchini grandma!!
3. to be continued.....
1. I live on almost five acres of meadows and woodlands. There has been no chemical activity on the property since greenhouse and regular farming came to a distinct and final halt with my father's death, in 1988. Everything has run wild since then, and it's quite impressive how very wild it has become. There is even a little stream that has found its way through. There was no stream when the farm was active. Gotta love Mother Nature. There are now deer roaming free, as subdivisions spring up around us and drive them our way. We have always had raccoons, skunks, possum, rabbits, and squirrels. We now also have hawks and owls. If one ever needs a small-set sample of the Carolinian forest, come to my place, we are IT. So, I rented two hives of honey bees. It seemed like the right thing to do. My bee-guy, George, came down and took a look around, and said it would be an ideal location. I live in hope.
Now we have all heard that honey bees are on their way out. And those reports are no lie. But, all pollinators are on their way out, including the very many different kinds of "wild" bees, who are solitary and whose sole job it is to pollinate. If you have time, check out this clickable link to find out about the 20,000 types of bees. (I had no idea, and I have been fascinated by bees since grade 3).
2. In the fifties, while I was still a mere slip of a wee girl, my parents purchased the farm, and proceeded to eke out a living to keep us all fed and sheltered. My dad and godfather built, with their own two hands, two large greenhouses on the property, which along with the rest of the farm, kept us alive, barely. Don't let anyone ever tell you that working a small farm will guarantee early retirement. The early retirement for most small-farm owners is provided by the full-time job they take on the side. But I digress. Those buildings are still there. One is 100 feet long, the second is 75. They are lacking all the mod-cons they used to have, including electricity and running water, never mind all the glass that has come down.
It was into the second building that I thought I would put start a bit of an agricultural adventure. If you ask anyone at all that knows any little thing about me, it would be that I have always hated to garden. It's backbreaking and thankless, and as my mom says, a constant war against Mother Nature. Nevertheless, I thought I should do this, this summer. It was egged on by George (remember? the bee-guy). He has augmented his bee business by also donating to the bee receivers (like me) a few native-to-Ontario seedlings to plant to help Mother Nature along her way to getting healthier and happier. I ended up with 12 dozen plants, of 20 varieties, to help me on my agricultural adventure. On the whole, the plants are doing quite well, and by next year, there will be an impressive display of pollinator plants. And not only will they be native-to-Ontario, but native-to-Niagara, so I can give seeds to my neighbours and friends to keep George's project alive.
I also have an edible agricultural experiment going, with 4 varieties of tomatoes with their companion marigolds, an eggplant, some potatoes, and a zucchini. Exciting news on the zucchini front: after 9 male blossoms, the plant finally had a female blossom which somehow got pollinated, and now has a zucchini coming. I'm going to be a zucchini grandma!!
3. to be continued.....