Category Archives: Uncategorized

This is the absolute high point of summer: a cloudless sunny Sunday afternoon spent under the shade of my apple tree. The fava beans and the poppies have finished and the apples are just starting to ripen. Rhododendrons are long … Continue reading →

The UBC farm is an under-appreciated green oasis on an increasingly congested campus. Last Saturday they held their first market of the season. Not only were they selling their own vegetables and eggs, but they had invited a number of … Continue reading →

Most years I pay one of my sons to dig out the compost bin, sieve out the rocks and sticks, and deposit the finished product in plastic bins so that we can spread it around the garden. He’s done this every … Continue reading →

Over the last several summers we’ve hosted honeybee hives in our backyard. Having the hives was beneficial for everyone: the bees had a safe (pesticide free) place to propagate during the summer, we had an ample supply of pollinators for … Continue reading →

Spring is almost here and within a week the first cherry trees will start to blossom. I can’t wait. Because of our long cold winter, everything is behind. However, I was glad to notice that the peas are now starting to … Continue reading →

Yesterday was mushroom manure delivery day: 60 – 40 pound bags of manure stacked in neat piles on my driveway, 2000 pounds in total. I asked one of my sons if he would be interested in helping me move the … Continue reading →

The weather has been bipolar: a month of snow and ice, followed by unseasonably warm weather, more snow and ice, and now more sunshine. In late January, I took advantage of the dry sunny weather to spray dormant oil on all of my fruit … Continue reading →