September 2013 review

It's been a month.  The summer is passing so quickly--but it's not quite over yet.  Today, the weather is very hot, sunny, and I'm indoors as usual.  The garden is looking very neglected, as well it should as I haven't been near it in about a month.
I have been writing, but not as much as I should.  Not if I'm really a writer, as I claim to be.  Still, I haven't quit yet. 
So what have I been doing?  Aside from watching TV and playing Scrabble on facebook? 
Hubby & I have been studying Welsh, and singing with the Cambrian Circle Singers.  We've joined the Richard III Society (more on that later, probably). And we've sponsored a 14-year-old girl in Ecuador.  Her name is Ivonne, and she likes foreign languages and playing soccer.  More about her later, too, I hope.  I've sent her an email, but it has to go through the office in Ecuador to be translated and taken to her.  I hope we can correspond better than I have done with previously sponsored children.  This one is through World Vision, my favourite charity.

Garden in August 2013

Well, I've been trying, but my brown thumb is back.  Here's my vegetable plot in the community garden as proof: Poor wee thing.  Not really neglected, but still not producing much.  What have we eaten out of this plot?  Well, we had three radishes out of three rows of radishes (delicious, but just 3); we had one small beet and a couple of little carrots.  Oh, yes, and one leaf of spinach.  I did cook the beet leaves, and they were very good.  No sign of the cucumbers I planted, nor beans on the bean bushes.  Being in the shade of the tree all day (the tree at the foot of the garden here, is at the south end of the plot), probably doesn't do a lot for it, however in the very hot dry weather we've had this year, the ground hasn't been dry. Neglecting it isn't an option, really, as this picture was taken from the computer room window in our house.  Oh well, maybe next year will be better.

to do lists

To do lists just don't work for me.  My husband makes a list for himself every few days and seems to be able to keep to it, crossing items off regularly.  Me?  I make the list, and then sit back as though that were all I had to do.  Or, I lose the list, and find it a week later with all those items still waiting to be done. 
One of the items on my most recent lists has been to write a blog entry.  I intended to write about my garden, as I had promised.  I got as far as taking a photo of the vegetable garden plot.  Maybe I can upload the picture and get it posted.  Then I can make a new list and "blog entry" won't have to appear for a while.

garden progress

I had hoped to finish sowing all the seeds in my vegetable plot, but the weather has been uncooperative.  It's still quite chilly and drizzly, so I'll wait a week or two before I finish that task.  Meanwhile, I slip over to the plot once in a while to pull a few weeds and inspect the growth of the beets, radishes, spinach & carrots.  I haven't seen any sign of the cucumbers I planted.  Hmm.  Maybe need a few more seeds in that area.
The flower beds are okay, except the "south" one which is really overgrown with weeds.  Haven't done anything with that except plant one clematis in the corner.  Have to rescue it soon from the weeds, and the morning glory has attached itself to the rose bush.  Just a tiny garden, but I still can't keep up with it.

gardening in April part 2

This week my daughter came to visit for a couple of days, and continued work on the flower gardens in the front yard--started a couple of months ago.  She went to the garden shop and brought home 3 azaleas, 1 japonica, 1 lilac tree, and some marigolds and allysum (spelling??  aka "snow-on-the-mountain")--and a clematis. She also got lots of topsoil.  So the two of us spent a very pleasant afternoon digging and planting.  Actually, she did most of that (consulting with me about where I wanted things, but even then I think she made most of the final decisions), and I weeded another section of the garden that we'll plant in a month or two when she comes back to Vancouver.

gardening in April part 1

I've actually done some gardening!  That little plot in the community garden now has some cucumbers, spinach & carrots planted.  Still lots of room for more stuff.  It's raining today, so I don't feel the need to get out there and plant more just yet.  Still don't have a photo to post.  Maybe when there's actually something to see.

Community Garden Day 1

Today I spent about an hour in my garden plot next door.  I've been looking out the window at it for few weeks now, wondering what I should do with it, and when I should start.  I see that some people have tidied theirs of winter debris, so that's what I did.  I weeded and raked, and now it looks quite tidy. 
I've bought the seeds.  I know there will be some topsoil coming one of these days.  So, the question is: should I plant something now or wait a while.  I see that some people have already got lettuce growing.  I could do that. We'll see what tomorrow brings. 
St. Francis was once complimented on a garden that grew around the place where he was staying.  He said that it was the result of prayer.  The visitor was surprised and asked if God had just placed the garden there as an answer to the saint's prayers.  Francis replied, "Yes." Then he explained,  "I pray with my hoe." 
So, I'll be praying with my hoe, along with my saint.
I'll try to remember to take pictures and post them here.

UBC Farm 3

The main task of the morning was to select about twenty vegetables they wanted in their garden. It was important first of all, to establish where north was, so the tall plants would go there and not block out the sun that would come mainly from the south.  There was also the issue of the good and bad companions, and economy of space.  For the latter consideration, the children arranged the rows of roots to alternate with rows of leafy vegetables.  Plants that would not mature until late in the season were best at one end of the garden so as not to be in the way of weeding, harvesting and replanting throughout the spring. And those that tended to spread out, such as pumpkins or cucumbers should have corners to allow them to expand as they needed.  Using a large piece of white graph paper, and strips of coloured paper (1" width of paper= 4" width of garden row) the children mapped out their garden bed.  (The colours corresponded to the type of vegetable: red=roots; orange=squash; yellow=onion; green=leafy; blue=cabbage; black=legumes; white=herbs; pink=flowers.)  This is how their map turned out.

UBC Farm 2

At the school this morning, the farm friends had a reintroduction session, and a rundown of what the kids were to be able to do.  The kids showed up and were raring to go.  (Grade 5 & 6)  We had a scrabble-type game, first, as a warm up.  Each group had an envelope with little squares of coloured paper with letters on them.  The kids had to sort the letters into colour groups and arrange the letters to make words.  The words were, of course, vegetables.  The colours had meanings, too, though: red was for root vegetables, orange for cucurbitaceae (squash family), yellow for the allium (onion) family, green for leafy greens, blue for brassicaceae (cabbage family), black for peas and beans, white for herbs, and pink for flowers. 

UBC Farm 1

Today was the fourth farm visit for the 2010-11 school year.  It was at the elementary school, where the children hosted us (the "farm friends" who volunteer to work with them).  The previous visits were at the farm, harvesting what the summer school children had planted, then cleaning up the beds and preparing them for the winter.  That meant being sure all the weeds were out, and only the plants that would likely survive the winter were left in the bed.  Then lots of compost was added, cardboard sheets lain over top and held down with branches.  That was back in October. 
Today, a snowy January day, we met at the school and went over the list of vegetables the children wanted to plant in their gardens this year.  These particular children had done this before in previous years, so were old hands at it.  Also, their teacher had reviewed all the things they needed to know, such as which plants are good companions and which aren't.  (For example, don't plant cauliflower next to potato.  But beans would be good companions for either one, so beans could possibly be planted between potatoes and cauliflower.) 
...to be continued...

category #2 travel

In category 2, the topic is Family & Friends.  The subheadings are travel, kids' activities, and school visits/volunteering.  I'm tempted to repeat "kids' activities" today, as I did last time I wrote in this category, but I'll resist.  The reason I want to write about that is that I've just finished "publishing" a book review of Compost Stew, by Mary McKenna Siddals in suite 101.  Instead, though, I'll stick to the idea of not overdoing any one topic by moving on to "Travel". 
Maybe this is the time to return to my blogs about my trip to Israel.  In a couple of weeks, we'll be into Advent, the time to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  We aren't quite there yet, so I don't want to steal all the Advent material in this advent to Advent.  Anyway, I'll just point out that one of the first places we visited, right after Hebron, was Bethlehem.  It is a sad place, surrounded by big ugly walls, isolating the Palestinians from the rest of Israel.  We even had to show our passports to go from Israel to Palestine.  I'll post the pictures of the wall here, and save the religious pictures of Bethlehem for later.

UBC Farm Friends

The farm has started up again for those of us in the Intergenerational Landed Learning at the UBC Farm Project of Education.  (Verbosity isn't always a mark of clarity, unfortunately.)  Anyway, I'm now in the Thursday group because my Wednesday mornings are spent at St. Thomas Church for my midweek Eucharist.  So, we started a couple of weeks ago with an orientation.  The Thursday group differs from the Wednesday group in that these children have been at the farm before--it's their second or third year.  It's just my third year, so they're at least as familiar with the place as I am.  I'm sure they know a lot more than I do, so, I'll be learning from them.  Today was our first meeting with the children.  My adult partner is a young woman, 20 years old, from Taiwan.  The two of us are the "farm friends" of four children, 2 boys and 2 girls.  They are all in grade 5 except one girl who is in grade 6.  The boys are very exuberant and the girls are very quiet.  Different learning styles altogether.  Of course because today was the first day back, the boys may be more excitable than usual, however I've been warned that at least one of them likes to wander off but will always come back and do what is required of him.  This teacher uses the Montessori Method.  I am vaguely familiar with Montessori for preschoolers, but this is my first encounter with it for higher grades.  Fascinating!!!

UBC Farm Friends

This morning was my first day back at the farm.  I'm going on Thursdays now; last year and the year before I went on Wednesdays.  I was very happy to see that some of the Wednesday volunteers had also switched to Thursdays, so I already had friends there.  The school children will be at the farm at our next visit on Sept. 30th.  Their school uses the Montesorri method, which is a new idea for me.  I thought that was only for preschoolers.

Van Dusen Gardens

Yesterday I went to Vandusen Gardens to see Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall. Prince Charles was downtown doing something, so poor Camilla was given a wet and soggy walk in a garden. Not a good activity for November. She shook my hand twice. Once on her way to plant a tree, and once again on her way back from planting the tree. Then, she was taken to a tent and given a cup of tea--she didn't even get to sit down--just had to shake more hands while she drank her tea. (I could see her through the plastic wall of the tent.)
Went back today, and took out a membership in the VBGA. It seems to be a nice place to stroll, and I need the exercise. I love walking, but I hate walking without a destination or a goal. It's boring. Hopefully, now that I have this membership, I'll walk outside more often and not spend so much time just sitting in front of the computer or the television. Or reading, but that's a good thing to do.

pretty note

I keep forgetting to mention a nice little corner of my almost-non-existent garden. My partner at the UBC Farm last year gave me some plants in April. One was a little clump "michaelmas daisies". I've been watching it, because I didn't know what to expect. One nice surprise was that it burst into bloom ON St. Michael's Day, September 29th. I know they're called Michaelmas daisies, but I was surprised that they actually chose that day to bloom. Pretty little blue daisies. I'll look forward to seeing them every year on that day.

busy as usual

So what has happened in the past two weeks plus since my last blog entry? Well, Sandman in Penticton sent me a certificate for one night free there. Anyone want it? I don't. We plan to go to Penticton in a couple of weeks, and have already booked our reservation at Super 8. They have a very nice swimming pool and free breakfast. And beds in every room!!!
September always brings me back to my volunteer jobs. I've got my Sunday School teaching schedule and have had one session already. (Usually only once a month, so my next time will be October 11th, I think. Is that a Sunday?) And I'm back at UBC farm. We had our orientation day with a potluck lunch. My favourite meal is always potluck! Next Wednesday will be our first day with the children. My third volunteer job is with the kindergarten. It usually doesn't start until the new year. And something new: I've got a couple of tutoring jobs. One takes me to North Vancouver three times a week, and the other will start soon at King Edward Campus, I suppose.
This means that sleeping late in the morning will likely happen only on the Wednesdays I don't go to the farm. Maybe the occasional Saturday that escapes being filled up. Thursday mornings, my hubby & I lead Morning Prayer at St. James.
So there you are--just in case you were wondering why I hadn't been blogging lately. I'm busy preparing ESL & Sunday School lessons, and trying to get some writing done in between times. And, I have to read the last Harry Potter book!

keeping out of mischief

I don't know why I'm so busy. At least, why I can't get to the blog more often. I knew when I started this that it would certainly not be a daily thing. But twice a month is not quite good enough. Weekly would be all right, IMHO.
So what have I been doing this month. Well, the kindergarten teacher hasn't been well, so I haven't been to kindergarten for a couple of weeks. Hopefully, I'll be there tomorrow morning. I miss those little folk.
I did get to the UBC farm last Wednesday, though, and that's every two weeks now. We learned how to make compost tea. A most unappetizing brew, indeed. Then, watching the youtube video from the City Farm on how to start a compost, I learned a fourth way to make compost tea. I also learned that we haven't been composting exactly right. So, we may have to start over if this lot isn't cooking properly. I haven't put in enough paper. Didn't put in any sand at all. And maybe been adding too much in the way of food stuff and coffee grounds. Okay. If at first we don't succeed, we're like most other people--or at least we should read the directions.

earth day

April 22nd is my third son's birthday (happy birthday, Dave), but it is also earth day. Today I had an especially good earth day. To begin with, it was the Wednesday that I spend the morning with the grade 5 girls at the UBC farm. We weeded, planted, transplanted, seeded, watered, etc. What better way to start earth day? But it didn't end then. My farm friend partner, Charlotte, offered to give me some plants. So I drove her home, and we put together a few pots of this and that for me to take home. She gave me strawberry plants, winter jasmine, thyme, oregano, chives, lemon balm, and michaelmas daisies. She also gave me a yogurt tub full of red wiggler worms for me to start a compost box. I won the box several years ago, and used it for a few years, but eventually the worms died and nothing was happening. So, today, Frank found the box under the back porch and cleaned it out for me, and I put in a layer of strips of newsprint and potting soil and dumped in the worms. I moistened the soil a little, and now I just hope things will cook there as I add vegetable peels and eggs shells and coffee grounds. On the way home from Charlotte's, I stopped at David Hunter's Garden Centre and bought potting soil, garden gloves and a planter. By 5:30 pm, everything was planted, with Ken's help. Ken cleaned up the front garden and the "laundry tub" planters, and now the place is beginning to look like someone lives here, and cares about the place. Yup! That's what I call a good earth day.