The FIrst Year on... the Little Homestead on the Prairies, Part 3

Summer, Summer....Where Art Thou, Summer???
First off, my sincere apologies for the formatting. It's doing it's own thing, not mine.


Well, the weather guys were right; they all said that by the time summer was over, we would be wondering when it would start.  That's pretty much the way it was.

As Mudtime left and Springtime slowly advanced, we rejoiced to have everything finally start to dry out enough to get some real work done. The farmer we bought the place from had burned garbage on the land in a variety of places, leaving much cleanup of rusted metal, broken nails, plastic bits and glass to be done, even from the pastures!  Rusty barbed wire was strewn everywhere. Dead trees and rotting limbs had been revealed by the melting snow. Fences were falling down everywhere. 



One of the old wooden granaries half-rotted with time, was listing to one side like a drunken homesteader....

Bryan drove the truck into it and helped it fall the rest of the way down. He had fun doing that! Darryl would have appreciated it. Look very carefully at the picture on the right. See that collapsed building? Uh-huh. You can see it to the left in the picture with the horse and the pasture, too.

The injury I got from being run over by Wildfire (see last post) really put us behind schedule here on the homestead. Things were finally starting to dry out and be Spring - time to get some work done! - we thought, but no. The silly horse ran over me two days before we were supposed to plant the largest garden of our lives. The idea was to try and see if we could grow enough food to feed ourselves with the understanding that anything we gained was a bonus, since none of us were experienced gardeners. I had gardened years ago, but...that was surely done by someone else? It was an ambitious start, I admit, but we wanted a baseline, a good learning experience for what it would take (It ended up taking a lot, but more on that later) if our lives suddenly depended on the food we could grow.

I ended up in bed with my foot elevated and the rest of me in recovery mode from being trampled on while Bryan and Cheri prepared and planted the garden. His hooves nailed me in several places....I was blessed to live to tell the tale, they tell me.  Eventually, I did get crutches, but meanwhile, my foot went from very bad to much worse; you don't want the details, trust me.
The garden was the biggest job we had undertaken so far, and I was no physical help whatsoever!

It was starting to be so pretty around the Homestead - bushes and apple trees were all in bloom - the colours were so wonderful. You would not believe all the birds we have had here! So many species came to visit and many stayed for at least a week or more before moving on.

This is just one of our apple trees. Unfortunately, the fruit are all so small, you can't do anything much with them.

I think we shall have to learn about grafting, and maybe graft a larger breed of apple onto the trees here. We have crab-apples as well, but again, they are quite tiny, but Bryan loves the flavour. 

This apple tree is beside the trailer but there are several other apple trees behind the trailer and over by the garden. 

It's June now and we should be looking at summer sneaking up on us, but we are still in a long, extended Spring - as per the forecast. Everything was so delayed because of the cold weather this spring! We are still in a solar minimum - hence the cooler temps with a lower energy output from the sun. We even planted the garden really late because it was so rainy and so cold for so long. Everyone was quick to assure us things were not going as usual as far as the weather went. 

We move here from BC and the weather goes to pot.

Figures!

We have a huge, lovely lilac in the front yard, near the road and I had been eagerly watching and waiting for it to bloom - I just love lilacs!! They are one of my favourite flowers... The lilacs were close to opening up their wonderful blossoms when Mike and I had to pack up and fly to Kelowna in mid-June so he could write his final exams for the year. By that time, I was still barely able to get around on my crutches, but imagining the huge kerfuffle they would cause at Security in the Airport, I left them behind with the lilacs that were almost ready to bloom. Argggh! I missed the lilacs entirely!

However, there were sweet joys awaiting for us in Kelowna...I got to see my dear son Darryl and His wonderful Bekah...and meet their first child, my newest Granddaughter!

Here she is, all sweet and precious as can be...

This is Sadie Anne.... isn't she adorable??  The Lord has blessed me with three beautiful Granddaughters - my quiver is filling up with them! Thank you, Lord! 

I spent most of my time in Kelowna still laid up with my lame foot, which really limited what I was able to do. I helped Bekah as much as I was able - I remember what it was like to be a new Mom, and be so tired all the time.  I spent most of my time up on the mountain on Darryl and Bekah's farm and didn't see all the friends I had wanted to, as my foot kept me from walking much of anywhere. I felt so blessed to see those I did, especially my best friend in Vernon! 

It was chilly up on the mountain for the first two weeks and I nearly froze, but after that, summer began in earnest. It even got hot enough - and my foot was healed enough - to swim in Carol and Trevor's pool one day. Sheer heaven! If the Lord should ever grant me the chance to live near a nice lake, I shall swim every day! Come summer, I want to live in the water. Seriously!! Always have. Every year, I wait all through the long, cold months for swimming season to arrive once more! It's hard when I can't swim much.

It was so peaceful up among the trees on their mountain farm, far above the madhouse down below. I don't miss Kelowna one bit. Great place to visit, and I do like K-Town, but......no thanks.

I'll take a quiet grove of trees with filtered sunshine over shopping malls and mega-highways any day!

I must be a country girl at heart....

I got a real kick out of watching Darryl and Bekah's chickens every day. They had lots of entertainment value! I especially enjoyed their cheeky rooster, Roger....who had...issues, shall we say. This is Roger here. See his beautiful, colourful tail feathers, the pride of every self-respecting Rooster?

Me neither.

Like I said...he has issues.

He always wanted to chase me and challenge me. That was interesting! I always won those little contests, though! 

 I have to say, the very best eggs I ever had in my life were the eggs I ate while I was here.

If you live near them, buy their eggs! You'll thank me for this advice, trust me! These eggs are even better than ours, although ours are good, too.

We have all really come to enjoy real food from a farm - not factory produced! - and oh, such a difference that makes in flavour! Modern Canadians just don't know what real food is supposed to taste like any longer. Most of the food we get in supermarkets has been modified for ease of picking, or durability in transport...not flavour. And of course, everything is picked before it is ripe, when most of the nutrients are added to the plant's makeup...oh - don't get me started! At least, not today!

Mike was able to see his best friend a couple of times while we were there. It was so good to see him enjoying himself with his buddy once more.

Early July found us back on a plane and headed for the homestead once more, leaving our dear family and friends - and summer - behind. It still felt like mid-June here. Normally in July it gets up to 38C or 40C, rather like Nelson in the Kootenays.

We weren't back on the Homestead for many days before a major forest fire erupted near Darryl and Bekah's farm, causing them to do an emergency bug-out. 

While the fire came close, their place was untouched, praise the Lord. You can read about their experiences on  RafterMRamblings - a very good read, I must say.

Here is a photo from that time. Very aggressive fire behavior was evident from the start. I wasn't sorry to miss this! Also, a second major fire started on the same side of the lake and burned towards West Kelowna. 

While we were gone, Cheri and Bryan had bought a small, very much needed yard-sized tractor to help with farm jobs on the homestead. It came with all sorts of great attachments; a mower, a snowplow blade, a tiller - all things we desperately needed to get things done on the farm. However, by the time I got home, it was barely working and died altogether soon after. Such a great disappointment that was! We had to go back to doing everything by hand. And back. (groan...)

Summer had finally arrived here as well, but it wasn't a very warm one. Most days were cool to warmish - but perfect for working outside! Bryan gave up looking for work as there was none to be had, and worked around the farm. He built new fencing for more pasture, finished clearing away junk, built nesting boxes for our chickens...from dawn to dusk, there were jobs to do. 

Nearby fields were blossoming now and I so enjoyed the colours! There were blue fields (flax), yellow fields (canola), purple fields (alfalfa?) and green fields (wheat and oats).

This is Kami in front of a field of flax.

 Tiny flax flowers

Bryan and Cheri took their holidays next and went west to visit family. Mike and I managed the farm while they were gone, weeding the garden and caring for the animals. I was certainly busy, trying to keep the garden going on my own. The weeds had tried a forced takeover while I was gone. It looked to me like they were winning.

Kaira had to say goodbye to the big guys before she left.

My sore foot and I were glad to see everyone when they returned. There was still so much to do. The weather remained stuck in mid-June, season-wise, with the odd couple of summery days thrown in here or there. 

We had a terrible invasion of potato bugs and spent hours every day picking off bugs, larvae and eggs from our potatoes. We spent hours weeding every day, too: well, Cheri did. I was only good for two or two and a half hours a day, while Cheri worked for three or four. I concentrated on some of the carrots and the potatoes.  I fought for those spuds! Some of our produce was ready to enjoy - we had great lettuce - the best we have ever eaten!! - and huge French Breakfast Radishes (see photo at left); an old and wonderful heritage variety: we ate lots of it! Everything tasted SO good! 

The rest of the summer was taken up with gardening, animal related chores, small building projects and of course, fencing took a very long time, as Bryan did most of the work on his own. Still no jobs to be had in the area...

At the end of the summer, Kami turned 6.... Mike turned 18. Kami started school in grade 1...Mike is working on his Grade 12 with the Christian Online School in Kelowna. 

We still had lots to do and fall was coming. August was nearly over and summer had not even begun... that's what happens when you have been in very deep and long solar minimum. I remember thinking that winter would be tough again this year for09/10.... but it's to soon to think about that...at the end of August!

Stay tuned for the final part of Homestead Happenings, part 4, in the next few days.