Lone Wolf Forest

And now we need rain! What did we plant you say.....well this year we have

• black currents
• red currents
• goose berries
• 2 pear trees
• yellow raspberries
• yellow beans
• yellow zucchini 
• green zucchini
• butternut squash
• pie pumpkin
• cucumbers
• plum tomatoes
• celery
• garlic
• various lettuces
• swiss chard
• watermelon
• cantaloupe
• basil
• cilantro
• onions
• peas
• carrots

I overwintered a row of parsnips because they just did not have enough time to get very big so we will see how they do....they are really growing now, the same thing happened with my carrots.....and of course we are harvesting lots of asparagus from our 75 four year old plants. Our blueberry and raspberry bushes are loaded with flowers, it will be a bumper crop,
And last but not least we have one Atantic giant pumpkin. Let me tell you that story. Last year I planted some giant Atlantic pumpkins in hopes that someone would grow them with me but no one did. I ended up with a 80 lb pumpkin.
In the fall Dwight and Josh used it as a target in the sand pit and there it stayed for the winter turning into a pile of mush by spring. I built a sand box at the house that needed to be filled with sand so Dwight got a scoop of sand with the tractor into the trailer and in that scoop was some remnants of that pumpkin. I sifted through it and found 4 seeds that may be viable. You see I forgot to collect the seeds from it in the fall.

Anyway I took those four seeds and wrapped them in a damp paper towel and covered with saran....I wanted to see if any would sprout.  I forgot about it until about a week later and the paper towel was almost dried out. I carefully opened it and to my amazement one of them had germinated! 

I carefully brought it to the garden and prepared the bed for it and gently laid it in the ground along with the paper towel so as not to disturb the fragile roots. I am pleased to report that as of yesterday the green leaves are now pushing through the soil.
With all the work that I have been doing in the garden I now have a gardeners back. Usually my backside gets so dark but now I have a burn on top of it. Its a spot where I cant get the sunscreen on and its been too hot to cover up. I think a white cotton coverup is in order.

We had a dump truck load of horse manure dumped at the garden so we are all set. Every year the sandy soil gets better and better. 
Now I have to build me a garden shed. Dwight is busy cutting the lumber so I can build it and put all the garden stuff away.

I started a new flower garden at the house. At the back we had cedars growing that had to go because the septic system is behind that and was too shaded. Dwight cut down the trees and I made a fence at the back for the tall flowers...cant waste a thing:)

I will do the before and after pictures in a month or two. 

The weather is incredible....like the middle of summer. It kind of makes me wonder what the middle of summer will be like.

I have all of my garden planted, flowers as well. The lilacs are at their peak, lots of rhubarb, asparagus producing but would love to get more rain for them. Dwight busy cutting lumber for various projects....one of which is a garden shed. Not sure if I mentioned it yet but our timber frame course for June for cancelled due to lack of participants so we have lots of wood to cut up. Dwight is chipping all the scrap which goes nicely in my flower gardens, around all my hostas and berry bushes.

Arthur is really growing, what a cutie.

Dwight and I went to put the floating island in the lake at the house and I ended up putting my back out again, dang! That slows me up soooo much!

The bugs have really not been bad so far. Ohhh guess what, I was at the trail head and there in the fresh sand was a moose track as big as my hand.

It was a lovely day for mothers day, Dwights parents came over for dinner and a few games of cards. Dwight and his dad were out on the lake putting a new ladder on the float and I heard Winston barking on the dock, I looked down and it seemed like he was barking at his reflection. The dock is about 400' from the house and about 300' lower in elevation. Dwight thought he was barking at them. About 15 minutes after that a very wet puppy arrived on the deck, distressed and coughing. I realized it was Arthur who had fallen in over his head and probably could not figure how to get back out and that was why Winston was barking.
I rubbed him down with a towel and blow dried him as he was starting to shiver and wrapped him in a towel. 
Normally they both sleep outside but it is going down to 7 tonight and I am worried about Arthur getting pneumonia now so I put them both in the laundry room on their pillow to sleep for the night I will watch him closely. Thats twice he has fallen in and last week he got a tick which I promptly removed.

We had a nice feed of asparagus tonight from the garden. The humidity was down today and so were the blackflies, oh and I saw my first dragon fly. That usually means one more week of the darn things. Dwight got the blade sharpened on the lawn mower and by weeks end we will be cutting grass.
I have been using the brush cutter a lot and now its losing power so tomorrow I will check the spark plug and air filter and hope that helps.

Hot and humid today, warm spring rain in late afternoon, everything turning so green and growing! Planted, peas, chard, cilantro and squash at the cabin today.
Dwight finished the last bit of the roof and now we are finished....a beautiful new roof...tomorrow I will clean the two chimneys.
Puppy Arthur is growing fast, goes in for his second shots next week. Black flies were bad today, worse at the house, hardly any at the cabin.

Beautiful spring, the sound of the birds, everything is green and flowers are bursting forth!
Hillside is white with trilliums, the banks of the stream are green with wild garlic, caught my first pike with my son yesterday, we've been eating fiddleheads and asparagus from the garden.

I've also been very busy with the blade on the weed eater and cutting out and clearing the sides of trails with all the saplings threatening to invade. The black flies are out but not outrageously so and as always the cabin area remains relatively bug free for some unknown reason. I am betting it will be a short black fly season this year. The shortest I remember is 2 weeks and the longest being 6 weeks. I will let you know when I spot my first dragon fly. Usually when you see the dragon flies then a week after that the black flies are gone but to be replaced in the evening with mosquitoes and then with the humidity comes the deer flies.

Well things keep moving along. We found a wonderful home for Theo. Of course we were all missing the energy of Theo, the animals as well as Dwight and I so we picked up another puppy. An eight week old German shepherd we named Arthur. We like shepherds. Day 4 today and everything is going very well. Cats and Winston are slow to adjust but I can see it happening.