LOOKING FOR ELDERBERRY BUSHES

There are no elderberry bushes on the properties on which I walk. I have finally learned to identify them -- easy to do right now because they are in conspicuous bloom -- they are common along roadsides. They seem to like damp, sunny spots and it is a puzzle why I can't find any in fields. There are several a short distance up my road. I look forward to following their progress and to the fall harvest.

The elderberry, or sambuchus, is renowned for its curative properties and makes an excellent 'wine'.

photo: Walking back from today's outing, I was struck by the elecampane just starting to bloom against a cluster of thistles.

STRAWBERRIES

I expected my strawberry crop to be a good one this summer, but expectations have been far exceeded. Normally squirrels, robins, and my Border Collie clean up after the first day or so, leaving me with a mere handful. The netting must have saved the crop -- it has a close weave that does not injure birds and so I felt free to use it.

I have never had such an abundant crop. Not only are they plentiful, but they are uniformly large and flavourful.

Manure followed by manure tea might have had something to do with it.

The last years have seen such poor yields that I had foolishly begun to think of the strawberries as a ground cover to be replaced by more productive plants.

THE NESTING ROBINS

The robins are now well into their second nesting after what was hopefully a successful first earlier in the season. The hen is reusing the very sturdy nest that she so carefully built this spring and she must surely be ready for the eggs to soon hatch. Tip and I protect her from various threats to her nest and its contents -- squirrels and blue jays visibly alarm her. The climbing hydrangea did not leaf out properly this year and consequently she is highly visible.

When I see her in the nest on her eggs, all is well with the world.

MOVING THE BEE HIVES

The bee hives have recently been moved from their previous location to a spot quite close to my property. No agri-chemicals in this area, so the bee-man thought they would do better relocated. He  lost most of his hives last winter -- of about six, I remember seeing early spring activity from only one or two hives.

He must have great confidence in the new location because now there are sixteen hives. They are directly on my path where Tip and I walk. I like bees and am not afraid of them but am reluctant to march through a dense crowd of bees flying to and from their hives. Consequently we detour around them. A slight inconvenience but I think that the array of hives beautifies the landscape and the perfume of the bee's wax when walking past makes it OK.

Another consequence is that the honey bee activity on my property has radically increased. Certain of my flowering plants have always attracted bumblebees, honey bees, and other pollinators. The bumble bees, which a few weeks ago were the main bee species in my garden, appear to have been displaced by the non-native honey bee.

2014 SPRING GARDEN

We have finally been getting rain after an extended dry period. I can stop worrying about the most critical things in the garden; these being recent transplants, fruiting strawberries, and garlic. I've grown garlic for many years but I have never seen as good a potential crop as this year.-- some of the greens are as thick as leeks. Am even dreaming about entering a few of the better bulbs in the Cookstown agricultural fair in the fall. The strawberry crop also promises to be a fine one. I have to battle squirrels, robins, and my Border Collie for that, however.

Robins and cardinals have done my property the high honour of nesting within it. The robins are in plain view on a ledge on my house and I can easily watch their progress. Of the two nestlings one was clearly more mature and it left the nest this afternoon -- flew away into the spruce forest. I am deeply worried about its smaller sibling still in the nest. The cardinal nest is insubstantial compared to that of the robins, but is so well hidden that I've yet to see what the nestlings look like. I was surprised to hear the female singing as she sat on her eggs.

The photo shows the tarp that I have as a boundary for the garden -- it not only keeps weeds away but also clears new garden space with little trouble. I was making compost tea in the barrel, but had to give that up when it began to generate far too many mosquitoes.

MORELS

 Engaging in a purely spring activity is a pure delight after our seemingly endless winter and morel hunting must surely be one of the most delightful. Finding the morels is good, but getting out into the back country to look for them is even better.

I began finding them last week and have been going out every few days. Yesterday was very productive... a new 'hot spot' where I'd never found them before. I am glad of that because areas where in previous years I could expect them, I found nothing. Another trip today -- on my bicycle and in a drizzling rain -- also produced nothing. Not to be regretted -- the outing was great.

Yesterday's mushrooms (I took only three of the perhaps twelve) were sauteed in butter, then cooked with eggs (from a neighbour's hens) and then eaten with wild leeks, or ramps.

STAYING WARM

It has been bitterly cold this winter. We are so close to spring yet the weather continues to be very cold. I was happy to get my final load of firewood delivered and stacked a few weeks ago. Andy and his sons cut and split logs from their hardwood forest during the summer for burning during the winter. They choose trees that are already dead and dry -- it cleans up the forest, no living trees are cut, and it greatly speeds (but does not eliminate curing time). Their wood is reliably of good quality and is better than what I could get elsewhere.

My vintage Vermont Casting Resolute woodstove is designed to be a downdraft stove. I find this very finickity to get right -- the necessary bed of coals seems to need a lot of logs. Some experiments with shutting down the flue control within the stove have suddenly resulted in a much more efficient burn without using the downdraft option. No smoke from the chimney -- I keep a close eye on what comes out to ensure that I am getting a clean burn. I bought a chimney probe thermometer yesterday -- it will be fascinating to see just what is going on in there after years of just guessing.

LIFE OFF-GRID AND WILD TURKEYS

We were off the hydro grid this morning -- woke up to no electricity. Andy and I have been plotting ways of permanently being off-grid and of being self-sustaining but we forget just how dependent we are. My woodstove took care of heat and breakfast, but until the electricity returned, I could not properly begin my day's work. I always have fully charged battery packs but plugging my IMac into one of them was, I felt, perhaps risky. Power was expected to be back on by ten AM.

So Tip and I went for a walk. I left the snowshoes behind -- the tracks I had made on previous walks should have been sufficiently solid. Snowshoes would have made the walk easier but it was enjoyable nonetheless. We have a small flock of turkeys in our area-- the neighbours feed wild birds in the winter and the turkeys visit the feeding stations. At night they appear to congregate under a spruce tree close to where I walk. Their trails criss-cross and the sweep of their wing tips in the snow all make striking patterns. Coyote tracks would be expected also, but I don't see any this year. Rather puzzling -- could be that the new snow covers them.

When back on our property I knew that the hydro was back on by the silence-- the neighbours' diesel generators had been turned off.

NEW SNOWSHOES

The rawhide snowshoes are beautiful, work well, and are made in Canada -- all good reasons to remain faithful to them. However, I've been hankering for a pair of the new metal snowshoes for years. Once I almost gave in to buying a new pair, but the better ones can be expensive. How very delighted I was to find last week at the local hock shop, at a fraction of the original price, exactly the snowshoes that I had wanted but could not afford.

The bindings are easier to deal with than the leather bindings on the rawhide shoes and offer better control when walking. I have been getting out most days for a walk on my neighbour's property. The milder weather of February is ideal for getting out. I gather hardwood twigs and small branches to start the next morning's fire in the wood stove and try to read the tracks left by wildlife. I spotted a large hawk, probably a Redtail, on my walk. Lots of rabbits this year, so it has found no need to migrate.

STAYING ACTIVE

An early and severe winter has meant that my collie and I have been walking on the concession road  --  plowed and free of ice, it was a better alternative to slipping and plunging on the back fields. It just was not enough today  -- the morning was cold, but I did not want to go inside after the walk. My snowshoes seemed just the thing for the back country and the mocassin-like boots (Ugs -- a lucky thrift store find) would be perfect for the bindings.

The creek behind my property had not been visited in months so that was where I went. Tip was left behind inside the house -- any deer and she would be gone.

It was a fine walk... maybe it is time to lay down a trail for cross-country skiing. The base is perfect at this time of winter.

note: Cold and windy the next day, but I laid the trail in the late afternoon. Seem to be totally acclimatised to the weather. 

WHOLE GRAIN SPELT BREAD

Whole-grain spelt bread without any refined flour can work out very well, somewhat to my surprise. The spelt flour is freshly ground just before baking -- my old Champion juicer with its milling attachment does a quick job without excessively overheating the flour.

Whole-grain spelt bread tastes better than bread made with whole-grain wheat. The loaves have been lighter in texture than anything I could ever get with wheat. I recently bought twenty pounds of organic milled spelt flour from K2 milling where I was told that there was no more until the next harvest. Nice to see that demand for it is high.
 The terracotta pot just behind the loaf has become my preferred bread pan. Having the oven truly hot at 450F./232C. also makes a great difference. The pot heats up to oven temperature before the risen dough is dropped into it. 

The weekend is the ideal time for baking because hydro rates are half that of week days. Needing bread by mid-week does mean another baking session, but it does help heat my little house in this cold January weather.