October Chores

Late October is the time to get ready for winter. In 2008, winter arrived with a blizzard leaving behind a heavy snowfall on Nov. 1st, and never left. So there's a long list of things to be done to be ready.

We usually visit one of the apple orchards while the tastiest varieties of apples are still available (honey crisps), and also get at least one pumpkin to sit on the porch for Hallowe'en.

The garage needs to be tidied so we can get the outdoor furniture, various pots and garden tools, and perhaps even a car inside for the winter. Snowtires have to be installed. The lawn needs to be mowed one last time, leaves raked and mulched, and this year we have wood chips to spread. Then the lawnmower goes off to have the snowblower attached and serviced, and the mowing deck removed.

The garden gets put to bed, but inevitably we stop at nurseries when travelling, and pick up a few bargains in the late fall sales - 75% off yesterday! But of course those plants need to be planted or at least sunk to protect them over the winter.

The first chickadee at the feeder.

Bird feeders need to be put up, and a new place to buy birdseed found. Tree guards get placed on small saplings the deer might find tasty. And if you're lucky you have a few sunny warm days before October ends to get all this done.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has passed in a blurr, with guests, walks in the woods, art tours, and turkey dinner! This year we were blessed with amazing weather - sunny and warm all Thanksgiving weekend, and it made for great times outdoors. We hiked Old Baldy on Saturday, with hundreds of others, and the view from the cliffs was amazing.

There are also two nearby art tours. On Saturday we headed for Clarksburg and the art galleries, part of the 'tour of the arts'. The Loft Galley in particular had spectacular large canvasses, paintings of the Niagara Escarpment in all seasons. On the way home we stopped at one of the apple farms to check out the pies and pumpkins.

Sunday we headed west to the village of Walter's Falls and visited several studios or workshops on the 'Escarpment Studio Tour'. We enjoy seeing the studios and homes of the artists as much as the art itself, and on this tour there are two woodcarving workshops with amazing inlaid bowls, bird decoys and wooden toys.

Then Thanksgiving is over, and it's on to the late October chores.

It's Garlic Time

Early October, and it's time to plant the garlic.


For 20 years we've been growing several varieties of garlic, just enough to give us a garlic supply, and provide seed for next year's crop. Garlic is usually planted in September/October, and harvested in July or early August, so garlic planting is another event in the fall season.

This year we stopped in the general store in Kimberly and found 14 varieties of garlic for sale! Nothing would do but we bought one of each for seed, and now of course, the undergardener needs to prepare a big new bed in the garden for the expanded garlic patch.

This meant double-digging, adding compost and manure, and building up the bed with a healthy layer of new topsoil - all in all a couple of hard day's work! But it's ready now for the head gardener to plant and label all her 21 varieties. And beautiful sunny warm days to do it in.

Seasons in the Valley

A forest of incredible fall colours, slopes falling away to the sparkling river below the cliffs, vultures soaring in the thermals overhead, the Beaver Valley is a beautiful place. A long narrow geological notch in the Niagara Escarpment south of Georgian Bay, the valley starts in the south with waterfalls dropping over the dolomite, and extends to the north widening out into apple orchard country.

For 20 years I've explored the valley, bringing students on field courses, walking the forests, canoeing the river, and enjoying the trails. This is a beautiful, tall straight butternut in one of the many woodlots I know. There is nothing like getting students out to do field projects to introduce you to the landscape.
At the moment it is fall, and the leaves are well into turning colour, though probably not at their peak yet. The ashes turn a range of yellow, deep reds, purples and almost brown, but it's the maples that turn bright red and orange. The valley slopes are carpeted with colour, here and there the dark green of spruce, pine and cedar providing contrast with the deciduous colours. As in this picture though, you see the colours better up close. It's amazing that this most beautiful time of year in the valley is such a brief, ephemeral time.

Winter brings it's own special beauty. Here winters are real winters, with deep snow that lasts for several months, making snowshoes actually useful. And of course both downhill and cross-country skiing are popular. The snowbelt winds bring moisture off Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, dumping heavy fluffy snowfalls that turn the world white. Every branch and twig on the trees is decorated with white icing; the air is crisp and the sounds are muffled except for the moan of the wind. If you're prepared for it, winter is great.
The passing of the seasons provides an endless tableau of change around you. This blog will provide a tiny window on to the 'seasons in the valley'.