Norfolk County, Ontario

"Why do potatoes make good detectives? Because they keep their eyes peeled." Ha!

Ha ha ha! 'Eyes peeled!!' Oh gosh, my Dad was right, I spent way too much time in the sun yesterday!

Well followers, as you can probably tell by my pictures, I was up at the land with my parents again. It's been a while and oh man, what a difference! Everything has sprung up! Some of the snow peas are ready for picking and the green arrow peas growing like mad. The horseradish, asparagus, corn, potatoes, tomatoes and Brussels sprouts are certainly on their way. Our peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and fennel all show new growth as well. The onions (3 varieties), and beans (also 3 varieties), my parents put in last week have already sprouted and my Mum's herb garden is loving the sun! Even our organic sweet potatoes are sprouting! We really weren't sure about those guys... My Dad heard that if you bought organic sweet potatoes, let them form eyes, then plunk em' in the ground, they'll grow. Well, it looks like they're growing, alright! Their leaves are purple! Who knew?! Yesterday we planted a few more veggies. We know it's a bit late to be getting things in the ground, but it's tough for us to get up to the land for a few days to plant out in one foul swoop! In went summer squash (3 varieties), carrots (2 varieties), beets (2 varieties), radishes (2 varieties) lettuce (3 varieties), and Swiss chard (my Grandma's favourite!). Not bad, eh? We're just gonna keep our green thumbs crossed and hope for the best!  The real test will be when my parents build a house at the land and we can dedicate the proper time needed to get our garden growing. The only thing that isn't doing so well is the orchard. We have two apple trees and two pear trees. Since they went in three years ago, we have had minimal fruit due to our battle with bugs and deers. We find hoof marks around the trees in the spring and buds nibbled off. Gosh darn deers! This year we thought they ate em' all, but sure enough my Dad found one apple yesterday! Yippy! So happy to find it, I just had to take it's picture! We are planning to go back up on Sunday to weed and my Mum is going to plant some flowers. I'm also planning to snip off a bunch of garlic scapes and fry them up in a little butter and salt to eat. Yum!! I often tell my Dad that buying that 10 acres is the best investment he has ever made and every time we go up there, we appreciate it more and more. We love our little farm and our little country experiment! Who knows, maybe us city folk will figure it out one day and become real farmers! Yee haa!!