CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing in August 2018

Well, Canadians and other wonderful friends, I think I have the headline right this month and managed to get the right century as well. As I said before, I am a child of the 20th Century.

So the heat continues with little rain except accompanied by lightning that can lead to more fires. The forecast is 70% chance of rain so I am keeping my fingers crossed except when I am weeding.

Now that I no longer have to walk down the road and water my friend's plants, I am devoting my time to looking after my own place.  So far, two mornings of an hour at a time is working wonders. I set my timer for one hour and focus on clearing the weeds that have overtaken the side of the driveway.  It is making me feel so much better.

Also, now that I am no longer walking my neighbour's dog Guthrie. I am devoting half an hour when the sun goes down to add to what I am already doing.  Working this way means I am not overworking and making myself useless for the following day.

I am going out into my garden now  to do some more clearing and looking forward to  enjoying the 15C heat until it kicks up to 27C this afternoon which is a great  improvement on the previous week. It does include a forecast of thunderstorms etc. and 40% chance if showers, 

Everything is bone dry, so I will begin watering one of my 4x4s that I have cleared of weeds ready to plant some lettuce and radish etc.

Today it has reached the bearable temperature of 28C and a 30% chance of rain which, so far, has not materialised.   It will be like this tomorrow as well, with some cloud cover and also some smoke from the forest fires. We are lucky in our part B.C. as the smoke is coming over from the Okanagon which is the over the next rage of mountains and it needs the wind to be in the wrong direction for us whether the smoke reaches us.  Very hard on people with breathing problems. 

Next to The Rocky Mountains are three smaller parallel ranges and if you can visualise a three-fingered hand reaching  down from the north, I live between the two fingers of the Selkirks and the Purcell mountains.  The one where the Okanagon is situated is the only desert in Canada and is very, very dry and gets most of the fires. 

Naturally we are on water restrictions but so many people are watering their gardens daily and that includes the roads that in the morning are running like small streams past the corner where I live and then continue on down the road that is lower until it drains into the drain-hole positioned there. This will be the first year that we all have to start paying for the water we use, so I am hoping that it will curb some of the waste.  I have my doubts as so many people can afford to pay.

Have the water bills started? Some people may be surprised!

sanderson wrote:Have the water bills started?  Some people may be surprised!

Yes, we received the first quarterly bill recently.  My usage was about a quarter of the average single family.  Nowhere near that amount used, so I know I can still use as much as I need without going over the minimum allowed.

I should imagine a six member family will use a lot more water than I ever will, so I can use mine on the garden when needed.  At least, that is the way I think it works.

Not too bad today, so far, but ny Friday we are threatened with 41C heat.  So far no rain that had been forecast, so keep up with the watering of tomatoes etc. 

I get up EARLY. about 6:00am and it is  quite pleasant.  Work for about an hour then retire to the car port to finish off chopping up the long branches from my flowering shrubs.  eventually they will be returned to that area so that they can feed off the cut up pieces and then grow some more to be cut up next year etc. etc.

There is an awful lot of dry twigs and grass that I cleared out. I am sure that a passerby who smoked and then tossed his/her cigarette could have ignited the bone dry debris.  On a Sunday morning if I venture out down town, there are quite a number of beer cans tossed aside by people who are too lazy to deposit their beer  cans in the garbage cans the are all well placed in the city centre. 

Now on to processing the apples that I picked yesterday to deter the bears.  Next week it will be the turn of the golden plums, and then my favourite, peaches.

Meanwhlle I am clearing some beds for fall planting and trying to keep them watered.  Just put some blood on my compost heap and watered it, hoping to get it moving.

Then I will crash out until ecening.

I just cleared a few squares for Fall, too!  I have some lettuces ready to go out soon.  Will direct seed radishes, and probably dig my Yukon Golds this weekend.  Time does fly!

KJ, How do you process the apples?

sanderson wrote:KJ,  How do you process the apples?

In a saucepan on top of the stove.  Add just a little water and cook them until just tender then bag and freeze.

Can they be thawed and used for apple pie or apple butter?

sanderson wrote:Can they be thawed and used for apple pie or apple butter?  

They sure can, Sanderson.  I do not over cook them and only add a little sugar.

Thank you!

One of those periods when great satisfaction is derived from doing the humblest of tasks in the garden. I.E. Refurbishing the compost container.

I had some beginning to rot SFG wood that I put together to make two layers of 4' x 4' x 8" that were my original beds.  I started with a layer of partially rotted wood chips, followed by green cuttings, cut into small pieces, from my flowering shrubs that had badly need downsizing. Much better than taking them to the City Compost place, especially as I have done all the work in chopping them.

Then followed a layer of dried grass that had been taking up space in my shed. I emptied the contents of my current black bin that I thought was too dry but to my surprise had many pockets of compost worms happily living in their little communities. I dredged them out and mixed them up and each layer I threw the mixed up stuff evenly across the 16 square foot surface. Then placed a plastic tarp over it and underneath that was my sprinkler turned on low and gave each layer a good soaking.


Today I did some more work with another layer of grass, breaking down wood chips, coffee grounds, powdered egg shells, shredded paper etc.  All this was down in two early morning season before the weather really heated up again.  Then a break to watch hit little white ball into holes and make a lot of money, even the one that is last. After waking I checked the weather forecast in in a bright yellow background was about due so stay indoors.  Naturally I thought I must get some more stuff on before it hammers down with wild winds and falling hailstones the size of golf balls.
Worked for another half-hour and did what I wanted to do, packed up, then felt the wind rising a little and some large spots of rain came down.  I stood there in the rain with my hat  off and just soaking it up.  Five minutes later it stopped, the clouds passed by and in a few minutes the road was as dry as a bone once more.

My revived compost pile looks lovely, so now I will watch some more guys trying to hit little white balls into small holes. Or perhaps either doze, or work on my paper piles.

Tomorrow I will add the contents of my tumbler, and I know there a hundreds of compost worms there that are getting dizzy with me turning it every couple of days, and will appreciate a much bigger world where they will have more freedom to roam.

Kelejan wrote:One of those periods when great satisfaction is derived from doing the humblest of tasks in the garden. I.E. Refurbishing the compost container.

I had some beginning to rot SFG wood that I put together to make two layers of 4' x 4' x 8" that were my original beds.  I started with a layer of partially rotted wood chips, followed by green cuttings, cut into small pieces, from my flowering shrubs that had badly need downsizing. Much better than taking them to the City Compost place, especially as I have done all the work in chopping them.

Then followed a layer of dried grass that had been taking up space in my shed. I emptied the contents of my current black bin that I thought was too dry but to my surprise had many pockets of compost worms happily living in their little communities. I dredged them out and mixed them up and each layer I threw the mixed up stuff evenly across the 16 square foot surface. Then placed a plastic tarp over it and underneath that was my sprinkler turned on low and gave each layer a good soaking.


Today I did some more work with another layer of grass, breaking down wood chips, coffee grounds, powdered egg shells, shredded paper etc.  All this was down in two early morning season before the weather really heated up again.  Then a break to watch hit little white ball into holes and make a lot of money, even the one that is last. After waking I checked the weather forecast in in a bright yellow background was about due so stay indoors.  Naturally I thought I must get some more stuff on before it hammers down with wild winds and falling hailstones the size of golf balls.
Worked for another half-hour and did what I wanted to do, packed up, then felt the wind rising a little and some large spots of rain came down.  I stood there in the rain with my hat  off and just soaking it up.  Five minutes later it stopped, the clouds passed by and in a few minutes the road was as dry as a bone once more.

My revived compost pile looks lovely, so now I will watch some more guys trying to hit little white balls into small holes. Or perhaps either doze, or work on my paper piles.

Tomorrow I will add the contents of my tumbler, and I know there a hundreds of compost worms there that are getting dizzy with me turning it every couple of days, and will appreciate a much bigger world where they will have more freedom to roam.

Love reading about your activities KJ.

KJ, you have inspired me to give my compost pile a little attention!

TD; A little help would be appreciated.  

Scorpio, I am happy to be an inspiration.  

I have finished watering the pile tonight, and tomorrow I will top it up with wood chips to keep all the moisture in while we have this heatwave.

Tomorrow I will take a break and  and carry on sorting my paper clutter and processing some plums.

My 4x4 compost pule is finished for now. Well watered.  Now I am putting my veggie and fruit waste into my tumbler which is as bear proof as anything I have found. I add shredded paper if the waste is too moist, or I can add rainwater if too dry.

In the fall after I have sifted the 4x4 for the fall mulch, I will add the contents of the tumbler plus the grass I have collected during the summer and the leaves I will have collected in the fall, then mix them all up and let them be for the winter. Leaving the tumbler to collect the food waste that mostly will be frozen.

In the spring I will once again sift the contents and start the cycle again.  Meanwhile the bears will have to go elsewhere.

As the wood decays for the 4x4 I want to convert it to 3x3 as that is much more manageable for me, and easier to fill and turn a cube 27sq.ft. instead of a cube 64 sq.ft.  I should have done it this year but I am not much good at sawing wood as I usually buy my wood pre-cut.

KJ I've almost given up on my 3x3 compost bin, in fact it is empty right now. I only have my smaller SoilSaver plastic bin in use at present.  I can't imagine trying to turn the contents of a 4x4 compost bin.

This afternoon while walking past a neighbour's home, I noticed a truck piled with stuff that appeared that it might be going to the dump.  So I knocked on the door, and yes, it was stuff being taken to the dump.

So I asked  him if I could have the wood that was on it, and he said, sure, I will drop it off at your place.  An hour later I was the happy owner of what is a well made three x three x 2 1/2  ft box.  In excellent condition, only needs a few screws tightened.  Also a shallow four x four that, if it is the right size, can be placed on top of my current compost pile that is only 16" high, or used a a square-foot bed on its own. He also said that if he had any more spare wood, he would cut it into three foot lengths so as to make it usable by me. All my future beds will be three foot, suits my short reach.

Yesterday I bought 20 pounds of peaches so will start canning tomorrow.

Peaches, my favourite fruit to can.

The weather has cooled somewhat but the smoke is at its worst with little end in sight. Local paper headlines; More then 20 fires buring in West Kootenay.

There are currently about 600 fires in British Columbia and the whole Province is covered with smoke and the mountain that I see out of my kitchen window has completely disappeared, not even a grey shadow to be seen.

Nice score, KJ!

600 fires??!! Did NOT realize.....

AtlantaMarie wrote:Nice score, KJ!

600 fires??!!  Did NOT realize.....

Me neither, Marie.

Our local newspaper was delivered Thursday evening and the headline reads "More than 20 fires burning in West Kootenay".

So I went on to their online version to find out where they were.  The nearest one is about half an hour's drive away, Syringa Creek Park where there about 100 camping sites -the site is now empty, plus dwellings along that stretch of the Columbia River: all on alert notice.

The wind is blowing the smoke in our direction and sometimes the wind kicks up quite hard. The worst smoke I have ever seen here and I am not going out in it at all today, only to water some pot plants. There are many spot fires, and some the  firemen cannot reach at all so have to leave burning.

I notice that many of the trees leaves are looking unhealthy so that means even their deep roots are not collecting enough moisture and I am quite sure some will die if no rain comes soon.  The reminds me of 1976 in England when we had dry weather for eight weeks and millions of trees died, but at least they did not catch fire.

Wow. Last week the news was talking about us in the SE getting smoke from our western fires. And I remember when the Okefenokee swamp was on fire about 11 years ago - set off an asthma attack for me... (smh...) There was enough smoke that many people were calling 911 because they were afraid their neighborhoods were in danger.

So, yes, please stay inside!

The scope of the fires in B.C. is far and wide. We have family in Calgary who posted pics on social media of the haze from the fires on the other side of the Rockies!  

And a friend in Washington who has brown sky.  

Please Be Safe Kelejan!

Our Global TV Service that includea a B.C. version tells us that on a scale of 1 - 10 air quality we are on 10 Plus, it is off the scale.  The whole Province of B.C. is now on Emergency state which means we can get help from the Federals.

The TV keeps urging us to stay indoors.  If you need to use a mask it must be a 95? version that block all but the smallest particles,  Keep windows closed.  do not exert yourself.  Many sports contests have been cancelled, but to me, one of the worst things is that fire-fighters are putting themselves at risk of long-term damage so as to make it easier for the rest of us and that includes all the fire-fighters from across the country and some for the States as well.

There seems to be no end in sight, but of course it will end eventually and I am hoping that it will not be with downpours of rain that will not be able to be absorbed immediately by the bone dry earth. We need days of gentle rain.

Meanwhile our friends down in California are having similar problems so we have not forgotten you.

So I stayed in all day yesterday doing some much needed de-cluttering, and today and I make a start in canning my peaches.

One good thing I managed to complete recently was re-building my compost heap so that my worms are now happily living in ideal conditions as I have given them several of sessions of watering so that they have the right amount of moisture and can get out of the way if the pile heats up too much.

P.S. Just checked the compost and it is beginning to get a little warm.  After all, I have been drenching it with cold water.

I just looked at a map of BC fires. Wow, there are a lot! KJ, use a N95 mask for outdoors. It will filter out 95% of the larger particulates from the fires. The down side is that they are hard to breath through.

It looks like the West Coast fires, including the BC fires, are impacting some of the East Coast.

Blue sky looks so beautiful after the smoke is gone.