Here there be dragons

Hi everyone, wow, what a month!  It's nothing short of amazing that we've come out the other end still standing and (relatively) sane!

It all started when our two kids and five of their friends, plus our daughter's dog, descended on us.  They had decided to make it a road trip, and drove all the way from southern Ontario to Cape Breton in two days!  I had been by myself for the previous three weeks (with Molly of course) and it was a bit of an adjustment to suddenly have the house full of excited, energetic twentysomethings, not to mention the extra dog.  By the time I met Paul at the airport I think I had a few more grey hairs.

And of course poor Paul, coming off a 3 week tour of work, the first thing he had to do when he got back was fix the well pump, and relocate the gravity feed line as the creek had gone dry!  Then, it was full speed ahead to get the wash cabin finished and operational in time for Avalon Gathering!  Oh, and did I mention we also had our volunteers arriving on the Friday from Utah!

So I went and picked up Hannah and Jacob from Baddeck on Friday morning.  They were a very sweet pair of newlyweds, and I warned them that they would be thrown in at the deep end.  Work continued on the wash cabin, parking signs, gravel walkways and a million other things pretty much until 9 am Saturday, when people started to arrive.

I don't think I've ever been as hot as I was on that Saturday.  I very rarely wear skirts or dresses, let alone a long skirt with a bustier!  I can't imagine how women in the medieval era got anything done, having to hike all that fabric around all the time!  Anyway somehow, everything got done, the vendors got set up, and people started to arrive.  As seems to be normal for Cape Breton, people arrived on their own schedule, and everything got started late, but the weather was glorious and everyone seemed to have a great time.  There were some wonderful costumes, too.  All the photos I took can be seen here:  http://www.facebook.com/avalongathering  but here are a few selected pics:



The archery was very popular.  This young lady certainly looks the part!



A display of medieval helmets, swords and a rather nice looking drinking horn!



It's always fun to play with swords ... even when they're made of wood!





A work of art by one of our vendors, Liam Tromans of Woodswork Art.  All done with a chainsaw!





A gypsy with a painted tummy.



Reinhard and Cathy, who ran the archery range.  It was great to see so many wonderful costumes.




Of course, Molly has to get in the picture!  Here she is with Paul.



Another beautifully costumed lady.




The dragon that Liam carved for us.




It was great fun making banners for the Gathering.  This one represents Glastonbury Tor.



Another banner, this time representing Stonehenge.




A lovely young lady in a costume she made herself.



Liam Tromans carving our dragon.




Fin MacDonald, blacksmith, brought his portable forge and gave a demonstration of his trade. Here he is showing a guest (Brian Dean) how to work the iron.



It was not only the ladies who had great costumes!



If you get put in the stocks, you just have to man up and take the punishment - in water balloons.



A very pretty fairy by the name of Morgaine.

As you can see, a good time was had by all.  We'll be doing it again next year, and this time it will be bigger and better!  We learned a lot, and of course there are a number of things we'll do differently, but in general I think it was a great success.  A very big Thank You to everyone who attended, and we look forward to making Avalon Gathering a regular annual event here in the Cape Breton Highlands.

I'll update again soon!

Hot Hot Heat

Hi everyone!  Wow, it's hot!  34 degrees C on the deck today at 7 pm!  As we're off-grid, water is one of the basic needs for which we had to implement a backup plan last year.  Remember the well we had drilled?  We might need it soon!  I took Molly up the hill the other day to check out the creek that supplies our water, and this is what we found:



As you can see, the creek bed is bone dry.  We walked further up to the source of our household water, and luckily the pool that Paul moved it to last year is quite deep, but still, the intake is only just covered.  The forecast says 10-15 mms of rain tomorrow, so here's hoping they're right.

The garden seems to be surviving, despite the lack of rainfall.  I've had the sprinkler on sporadically, but as our own water supply is dwindling, I don't want to lavish too much on the veggie patch!  Here's an interim crop report, in pictures of course!



Pole beans, with zucchini in the background.



Proof that we can grow our own food!  A baby zucchini making an appearance. :)



My little field of corn, basking in the sun.



I planted 3 different kinds of onions: white, yellow and red ... I know I have some white and red coming up, but what happened to the yellow?!



Tomatoes, and in the back, carrots and peas.  You can see how dry the soil is in this picture ... and this was after a watering!



Of course, we have potatoes.  These are Chieftains, and we have Russetts in the other bed.



This is a spinach plant that has been allowed to go to seed.  Cut down the whole plant, dry it, then store the dry seeds in a cool, dry place.  Because this plant was grown from non-GMO seed, it produces viable seeds that can be planted next year.  We got these seeds from Mountain Valley Seeds in Utah, but Halifax Seed sells non-GMO and organic seeds, right here in Nova Scotia!

I bet you're bored with all these vegetable pics!  How about some flowers?



Roses are doing very well this year.



As usual, we have thousands of bees!  This one is having a good time on the borage flower.



And this guy is loving the mallow flower.

I'm glad to see, even in this crazy heat, there is no shortage of bees, birds and butterflies.

We're ridiculously busy here at Willow Retreat, preparing for our upcoming medieval faire, Avalon Gathering.  Signs are being painted, campsites are being cleared and costumes are being made.  I'm pretty sure I won't have time to blog until after it's done, but I'll be sure to take lots of pictures for a later post!

Until then, here's another pic of Molly (which I know is what most of you tune in for) enjoying the summer!

A Time to Sow

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted in a while, but we've been really busy lately. June started off cold and wet, but has now turned over sunny and warm. We had a couple of late frosts (one the morning after I'd planted out the cucumber seedlings!) which messed up my gardening plan somewhat, but I think that danger is past now. So I'm busy planting seed potatoes, with Molly's "help": I plant the potato, she digs it up and eats it. (:

We picked up a load of lumber for building projects, and Paul laid the gravel down for the base of the shower cabin.  We may find another use for this, but for now, that's the plan.  Watch this space!



We also had a load of firewood delivered, which is now stacked outside the back door where it will season in time for winter.

It's been a busy June so far!  I held my first Reiki class, which went very well, and we're getting enquiries for both sides of our business: the retreat/Reiki/meditation side and the survival school side.  Right now though, I'm trying to get the vegetable garden planted, and hoping for rain ... !

If May was yellow (with an occasional splash of red tulip), then June is shades of blue, purple and mauve. We've passed from the gentle haze of blue forget-me-knots and precocious indigo of johnny jumpups, to the exuberant lilac in full bloom, the deep purple lupins that line the roadside, and my favourite, the wild meadow columbine. Don't forget the blue starflower or borage, which is rampant all over the garden, and the secretive blushing ladyslipper hiding in the woods.

Before I wax too poetic, back to work! We've planted garlic, onions (red, white and yellow), spinach, swiss chard, sage, thyme and leeks in one bed. I'm trying companion planting, which basically means planting stuff which is friends with other stuff. So for example, garlic planted around the base of a peach tree will keep borers at bay.

Which reminds me! We went and picked up our fruit trees from the local nursery: 1 peach, 2 plum and a pear. We planted them, and they're doing great so far! And just today I noticed we have tiny little pear buds on our old pear tree, the one that lost a limb in a storm. So pear jelly come Fall ... :)

I'm nursing some seedlings in the potting room, much to the disgust of our cat, who lives in there. Tomatoes, peppers, sweet basil and thyme are all coming up well, plus I've planted another batch of cucumber seeds to replace those that were killed by the late frost. In the garden, I have pole beans coming up like crazy, and I just planted peas and carrots. Fingers crossed!

But enough talk from me! I know what you really want are pictures, so here are a few I took this week:




Columbine grows quite happily next to the tea rose.



Chives in bloom!



A crowd of buttercups, cheering on the sun.



Speckled trout, basking in the pond.



Misty blue forget-me-nots.



I walked out onto the deck and there was a garter snake!  Yikes!



And a tiny green frog was investigating the vegetable bed.  My fingers show the scale.



Irises are in bloom.  Love these.



In the woods, the Ladyslippers are a hidden treasure.



And of course, a post wouldn't be complete without Molly.  Here she is, taking a break under a shady tree.

Yellow Time

It's Yellow Time at Willow Retreat.  Yellow is the first colour that shows up to let you know Spring is really here to stay. 



The garden is currently lush with daffodils and narcissus, and the forsythia is in bloom.  As well, we have masses of pear blossoms!  Funny thing about pears: they need another pear tree close by in order to fertilize, and they bear fruit in alternate years.  The other pear tree was split in two by a storm, and we had to cut half of it down, but it's still alive and has leaf buds.  I'm hoping that its pair (pardon the pun) will give us lots of lovely fruit this year!



The pear tree, holding its own rather well against that precocious forsythia.



A carpet of daffodils.



A golden sundown at Willow Retreat.

I was lucky enough to get some free horse manure for the vegetable beds.  If you can, get your hands on some, it's absolutely the best for the garden.  Make sure you get well-rotted manure though - if you put fresh horse manure on your garden, you'll burn the veggies!  And for those of you holding your nose and going "Ewwww ...", well-rotted manure doesn't smell at all.  It's like lovely crumbly compost.  Just spread it as evenly as you can over the soil with a garden fork, and then dig it in.  All you need then is a bit of rain, and you've got a wonderful bed for your veggie seedlings.  This is what they mean when they say "enriched with organic matter."  Yum!



You can never get enough daffodils, really.



And of course, you can`t have a Yellow theme without a Golden Retriever.  :D

Next time I go to the stables for manure, I`ll remember to bring my camera, and take some pictures of the horses.  Until then, you`ll just have to make do with Molly.



That faaaaace.

My next set of pictures should show leaves on the trees ... there`s certainly been enough rain lately!

Enjoy your May, wherever you are.