Ann's Weblog

I took a few pictures around the yard for you. You can click on any thumbnail to enlarge photos.

We cut back in the vegetable garden this year; there just aren't enough hours in the day for even what we have. Gary does most of the work, and I take produce to the market and pocket the cash. Well, okay... the money does really go into general revenue.

The flowers are mainly my department and I so enjoy sharing bouquets and seeing what's new on a daily basis. It will seem very sudden that some blooms are dead and gone (or hanging around waiting to be trimmed off), but others burst forth to take their places. Summers are so short, but just when I think it's not worth the bother to have so many perennial beds and shrubs and trees, some new precious flower shows itself, sometimes right from under weeds or an unruly neighbouring plant. I refer to the flowers as "precious", but really I don't have anything that is rare or expensive or delicate; I don't like to fuss over things or have to coddle them in preparation for winter. I have enough trouble keeping plants from being choked out by thistle, chickweed or stupid quackgrass.

I've had a "good" couple of days since I last wrote in this blog. At the Dunster Farmer's Market I had SUCH a good time. Not one single person teased me about selling food; I sold most of a cheesecake and a couple of dozen jars of jam, and four trees. I had many chats with friends including some who had grown up around here and moved away, and were just visiting again.

I hurried home from the market with a quick side trip to Dunster General Store where I bought a case of frozen mangos (and in the store someone DID make a joke that I should only be making jam from LOCAL fruit). A potential customer wanting to look at fruit trees thought they'd meet me at my home by 1:30 or 2 pm. They phoned me to tell me that they were delayed but "on their way"... then I waited most of the afternoon, later finding out that they went to the garage sales that I was missing while I WAITED!! Grrrrr. Oh, but they DID show up and buy three trees, so that mitigated the situation.

Actually, I must have a bit of a reputation for not missing garage sales in my small town. I got a phone call that evening from one of the folks who'd had a yard sale, offering all that they had left of "gardening stuff" free, if I'd just pick it up. So that's what I did, for one thing, today: I went and loaded the items, mostly plant pots which were certainly worth having. During her sale, my friend had remarked to her mother, "I'm surprised that Ann hasn't shown up by now; she must have got held up somehow.". Too funny. It's not a bad reputation to have, I guess. Could be worse. HAS BEEN worse.

You might gather from the photo of the raspberry rows that I picked berries today. I got four gallons of raspberries, and I just froze them all this time. I was nearly out of white sugar again, and I was determined to make more plum jam because they were rapidly deteriorating in the box: I made the jam and then froze about 10 pounds, all cut up and pitted. I also had 10 pounds of peaches that were very ripe, so I canned all of those in a dozen pint jars.

On Friday, I ordered 20 dozen of my "signature" jam jar... a nine ounce hexagon, so I'm seriously committed now to selling more preserves at the Markets. I had remarked to Gary only 2 weeks ago that I was just going to make jam UNTIL I ran out of jars, and not buy more either, but I got caught up in the marketing and the positive feedback. *Sigh*

It has been very hot here again. It keeps Gary and I busy just watering enough to keep plants alive, and we haul water from town when the well is low. My poor nursery stock just fries in their black pots; I need to get more organized so that I can cover the pots with sawdust to keep them cooler: have to haul the sawdust in the truck and find more space to have this wannabe "nursery" thing happening.

We've had three days of the extremely hot weather after two weeks of almost steady rain. Why can't we have a happy medium? Before that we had roasting heat for a month straight. All in all, it has been a beautiful summer with not many mosquitos, and the most excellent haying weather that the farmers have had in a few years. Shouldn't complain.

Well I've gone on and on. Writing here is like sending a letter to many friends and my family at once; I appreciate the audience and any feedback I get. Naturally, there are things that happen in my week that I can't discuss in a public blog, but those closest to me know that HERE is shared just the synopsis (and occasionally some raw emotion).

I hope everyone is well. Feel free to comment or to send email... I know you all have interesting things to say!

Love, Ann

Fridays are almost TOO busy. Although the Community Market was fairly "slow", I still made a little money. Some of it was fun, like Gary coming to visit with me for a little while, and seeing a few other friends.

One of the problems with our Market lately is that the Ministry of Health has appointed a Food Inspector for this area and he is doing his job too zealously. The same Ministry actually succeeded in preventing a whole community function, an ethnic potluck dinner for Canada Day, in the town of Fort Saint James, for no other reason than that is WAS a potluck. The government is trying to regulate which food we share and how it is prepared. The event had been held for 15 years.

I find that I'm nearly too exhausted to actually WRITE about this. The bottom line is that they are spoiling our fun, and some foods such as my Spanakopita are now "banned" from being offered in a Farmer's Market. Even if my kitchen were to be "certified", I would not be permitted to sell it because it is supposed to be kept hot. I've looked at most of the regulations from many angles.

I've still been taking cheesecake to the Markets for six years , and when I talked to the Food Inspector, he asked that I submit a "food handling plan" which includes where I buy the ingredients and how they are handled, my recipe, and how the finished product is kept safe for the public. I can do this... and it will be a work of creative writing, all the truth, of course.

This Friday, because the lad who usually sells hot dogs and hamburgers was away, I took it upon myself to bake large buns and then make "bunwiches" to sell. Cognizant of the food guidelines, I did not include meat or even butter, so they were CHEESE bunwiches with two kinds of cheese, tomato , swiss chard and margarine. I kept them on ice packs. They were popular; I got great feedback. However, there seemed to be a large number of people who wanted to "joke" about the whole scene regarding food  safety... asking how I could "get away with" the food that I DID offer. Next time I might pin up a poster which gives the Food Inspector's office phone number, and ask people to direct their concerns to HIM. Have you ever found that people who step on your last nerve are invariably "only joking"? I wanted to ask some folks if they had ANY idea how many times I'd already heard that crap; they wonder why I act defensive.

I've got another week to think about it, but maybe I should just take my jams and jellies. Trouble is, the whole thing works so well together: our neighbours and friends love to come to the market to eat! 

Okay, a little voice in my head is saying, "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah..." so maybe that's what you're thinking too. I'll come back when I'm more rested and positive. I love you for reading my weblog.

~Ann 

I haven't got a picture for you YET today, but I'll see what I can do.

Though I realize that I have said this over and over before, in my blog and elsewhere: I cannot BELIEVE  how fast the weeks go by! Goodness.

Gary's eye which got stung by the wasp is apparently A-OK. What a "close call" that was! I tried to find a picture on Google Images of a sting to the eyeball, and there wasn't one... was going to fake you guys out with a borrowed Internet picture. Just kidding... I would've qualified the photo.

My friend, who gave me "Kelly" the cat, has died. I don't know anything yet about a memorial or funeral, but I hope that there is one; I will go and take bouquets that I should have taken to my friend in the hospital. I didn't make time to visit her as often as I should have. She has a loving daughter living in our small town, and there is a first grandchild due in November, my poor friend had aimed to live at least long enough to see the baby. I've known few braver souls.

I've been quite busy making preserves for the Farmer's Markets. Last Thursday , I made several different kinds: I kept pulling frozen fruit out of the freezer and also had visited the health food store for more. Last night I made some preserves again. So far I've made Blackberry, Blackberry with Papaya, Mango Almond Conserve, Strawberry Lavender Jam, Raspberry Jam, Pomegranate Jelly, Blueberry Jam, Crabapple Jelly, Apple Rosemary Jelly, Apricot Jam.

Yesterday (Sunday) I found a fruit vendor set up on the Highway corner, and bought a case of apricots, case of yellow plums, and a half case of peaches. Last night I attempted to make apricot jam "the old fashioned" way... the long boil method. No sooner had I thought, "Isn't it marvelous how this jam can be at a rolling boil and not stick to the bottom", when it STUCK to the bottom! So then I had brown bits getting stirred up into the pristine, silky looking orange-coloured jam. UGH. It was a fairly large batch, and I ended up straining the damned jam through a sieve in an attempt to remove the carmelized bits (they were NOT scorched), and of course it was gelling as I did this. What a mess. So now I have a very reduced quantity of sellable apricot jam, and a bunch of what I'd call "family style" jam. Between that and a batch of blackberry jam, and a cheesecake for the coffee shop, I had quite the production goin' on, and I was cleaning up the resulting mess until 2 a.m..

Sorry, I don't ship preserves. Thought you might need to know.

Must get dogs and cats fed and watered and comfortable. We have boarding at the moment: one beautiful white persian with one blue eye and one amber eye. Also, a three-legged  cat, a yellow Lab, chocolate Lab, and a Great Dane who is in the middle of a custody battle. (We keep the Dane indoors at night for warmth and protection, and his gate is padlocked). There are some going home today and different ones coming. It's all good!

Talk to you later!

~Ann 

I can't believe how the days/weeks/months go by so fast. Every day is busy and I can't remember the last time I felt bored. This is good. Last night, however, I went to have a power nap after supper, and ended up sleeping almost 'round the clock!

Today I groomed "Zoe" an impossibly tiny Yorkshire Terrier. I haven't organized myself to weigh her, but her owner reports that she is under two pounds. What surprises me is that she is absolutely trusting and patient with the grooming process. Just now, I sat her on the sofa so that I could type at the computer, and our dog Lady came over to inspect Zoe and to give her a little kiss. I didn't get a photo of that because as soon as I picked up the camera again, Lady moved away, suspicious.

Monday I groomed a large Springer Spaniel cross that was thick with undercoat and "hopelessly matted". Although "Fred" had probably NEVER had clippers whirring near him, he was gentle and quiet through the long haul. His owners were quite delighted with the result, and I considered it a job well and happily done. Yesterday I groomed two poodles who are females from the same litter in our town, but now belong to different owners. One little dog, "Star" comes here regularly, and the sister, named "Sun" had never been to a groomer and was in serious need of dematting. Both dogs were also patient and quite well-behaved despite their adolescent stage... they settled right down and were very little trouble.

Sunday I had "booked" to be a quiet day for myself and for hangin' out with Gary. I had no pet grooming scheduled, though we had seven dogs and two cats boarding. In the morning after I fed pets, hubby and I went for our regular Sunday brunch "out" in town, and when we returned home, set about some very ordinary tasks about the yard and gardens.

I'd been complaining about the numbers of yellow-jacket wasps in my greenhouse, suspecting there was a nest in one corner of it. I had been chasing the wasps away with the garden hose while I worked until I realized that there were a seemingly endless number of the agitated beasts. It's a wonder that I didn't get stung.

Gary, being the helpful guy that he is, decided to find the nest so that he could later "bomb" it with foam; he got a wasp sting RIGHT ON HIS EYE. I was at this time in the "nursery section" selling shrubs, when I saw Gary walking unsteadily in my direction, clutching his eye, stating "I need to go to the hospital". So I left our customer, telling her to help herself and we'd do the money later, and of course explained, and off to the town hospital we went.

In McBride, they had never seen a sting to the eyeball before; this was very painful and the lids were swelling. So the doctor in our town sent us hurrying into Prince George: two and a half hours' drive!

Anyway... the opthamologist at Emergency in the P.G. Hospital concluded that there was no stinger left in Gary's eye and that it would probably be okay. He asked us to schedule an appointment in his Prince George office later in the week (which Gary had no intention of doing unless the eye felt worse!). It's lucky that hubby doesn't actually have any allergy to insect stings.

We had a mediocre lunch at a restaurant in the city, and then headed back home; we were back in time to give dogs their suppers and (in some cases) evening medications! What a day! Most days seem pretty uneventful compared to that.

I guess that catches you up on our week so far. My sadness over Lindy's death has eased some although to hear her old mate howl every morning really tugs at my heart. Little Buddy looks at us and then past us, still looking for Lindy to appear.

~Ann

 If, as humans, we are to have the joy of a pet's company, we have to consider that the animal's lifespan is usually going to be a fraction of ours. Some of us have many pets and have to say goodbye often.

Lindy was 13 years old, and in the last few days had not seemed "herself". From my experience, it seemed likely that her old heart was giving out; I won't go into all the signs and symptoms. Tonight I took her to the local vet, and he indeed confirmed that she suffered from "cardiac insufficiency". He said that with diagnostic procedures, IV therapy, and ongoing medication for her heart, she might live, but only if there was nothing else "going on". I think I had already made my mind up that Lindy shouldn't suffer longer, and I had her put to sleep. She was such a dear girl all of her life. 

~Ann 

It's 2:30 and it's 32˚ C. (about 90˚F). The plants in the garden, the nursery stock, and the perennials in pots... and me: all wilted. No sense watering anything except myself until it cools off a bit, as that just stresses everything further.

I groomed this nice Belgian Tervuren today and he was as gentle as a lamb despite being held captive for HOURS of brushing, bathing, blow drying and more brushing. He never gave me so much as a dirty look, and acted like a puppy afterward, frolicking about the yard.

After I took a picture of "Copper", I snapped these delphiniums. Those are common perennials, but I love these robin's egg blue ones with the white "bee" (I think delphiniums with the black "bees" look like they actually DO have bugs in each bud). I particularly cherish the rosy lavender coloured ones that are just starting to blossum beside the blue ones; each bud on the stem is relatively large and showy.

Have been so busy that I haven't delivered bouquets around town, including to the hospital, for some weeks now. Even during our "heat wave" people need their dogs groomed, the weeds are still thriving in the flower and vegetable gardens, and sales of nursery stock continue. To have enough work (and enough garden!) is a blessing, but I regret not taking flowers to my friends. I must move that up on the priority list.

There's someone coming up the driveway now, so I must run. Thanks for stopping in.

~Ann