The weather is gorgeous and making up for the perfectly miserable spring we had. The drought conditions, which accompany these sunny days, are unusual and making me regret my August clean hair and reckless garden watering . Normally, if I can keep the plants in the garden alive until the end of August with the water we have saved, I am home free and it looked like we were, but then it never rained. This year, we are depending on the kindness of our neighbours who have generously shared some extra water with us to keep our hygiene up to minimum standards.

	2021	2022
May	10.42 mm	32.0 mm
June	36.81 mm	50.30 mm
July	177.80 mm	29.46 mm
August	3.81 mm	3.56 mm
September	254.50 mm	0
October	108.71 mm	0
Totals	592.05 mm = 23 inches and 15,000 gallons	115.32 mm = 4.6 inches and 3000 gallons

With all this continued sunshine the greenhouse tomatoes and sweet peppers continue to produce. Not a lot, but a few of each, every day, to keep us going. The greenhouse has been a great addition to the garden and I love having it. I have been dehydrating the peppers for winter soups and sauces with great success.

With any luck we will have vegies into November and seed starting in the spring will be much simpler.

When I harvested my garlic in July I saved twenty to divide and plant this fall. I neglected to store them in a cool dry place, and instead let them cook on a shelf in the 40 degree greenhouse. They melted. So this week I had to spend $40.00 on twenty more and was then able to plant 210 cloves in the garden to harvest and dehydrate next year.

With the garlic planted all that is left to get in the ground are the spring flower bulbs. I have some daffodils ready to go and there are 150 grape hyacinth sitting at the post office waiting to go in the ground. Winter projects have now come to the top of my to do list.

I finished, and I mean finally finished, my daughter’s quilt and was able to give it to them this weekend. It has been sitting beside my bed staring at me every morning, unfinished, for years. It mocked me and the fact that my hands can in no way quilt another king sized quilt. The one I did a couple of years ago just about killed me. I couldn’t hold a fork for months. My dearest friend in the whole wide world came to the rescue and arranged for it to be machine stitched in Victoria. (Love you, Hil) Now, I am guilt free to look at a new project for the winter. Something wine themed maybe???

To complete today’s update it should be mentioned that our eagles returned from their summer fishing trip today. These two have been with us since we moved here and daily entertain me and give us reasons to get the camera out. In the mornings we awake to their call outside our window. They are nothing if not consistent, last year they came back on October 9th.

Welcome

home my friends