Starting string with a very cool introduction to permaculture course.
It is free as of today you can still as of today. We are on week one.
https://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/permaculture/
Just wanted to share what I found. See you in there if you register. I'm student Yolybear ... Yolande Conran if you want to learn through it together.

My summer in a nutshell

Hi everyone... sorry I have been away so long
I noticed I dropped out of sight about June so let me tell you all that has happened.
Oh what a wonderful ride the summer of  2018 was.
I think I said somewhere in these posts that I got obsessed with bees.
I took a beekeeping year long course and got more intrigued. Then got bees in July while taking the course. Yea alittle late but I am a procrastinators and I wasn't about to let myself talk myself out of this one. It turned out to be a great learning experience and having the support from school showing me what to do... doing it on their hives then going "home" and doing it on mine was very valuable. I cant even begin to describe the difference bewteen being in the beeyard at school with ypur teacher holding your hand every step of the qay feeling nice and safe.... then going home same exact procedure but now its just you and your bees and your self doubt. Especially as it came down to fall with winter coming and the winter preparations. Wow!
And then the realization that after you done your inspections a few times on your own how much you have grown from the first time you opened your box of your bees ...and got over the okay now what! Realising that the bees heard you say it and now they are like oh great we got a newbie. And they were not afraid when to tell me they had enough of me get out our house now please ! Guards!
Then the winter wait.....and it's still not over cause it's still cold now and still snowing a bit.
But I kept busy during winter I got an oppertunity to join as a member a potters studio. So I have been learning pottery and taking workshops to be the best potter I can be. And got to go to an Encaustic Workshop to try out painting with beeswax and that was so much fun. I was missing my bees too so almost all the ceramic pieces I  made had bees and flowers on it. Instagram@ yolybearz has most of the things I made so far.
Kept busy by also making a website that was more me ... literally..... Yolybear.com a blog where I journal what I been up to.

Summer was real amazing fun too I got into paddle boarding a natural progression from Dragon boat ... and wanting to be back on the water and exploring the lakes nearby... this is Canada after all they are everywhere might as well jump in ..fall in...whatever....lol Tried fishing too but the fish just laughed at me.... especially when I casted my rod into the lake..... bye bye rod! ..... anyone else done that? Just me? ....

Oh man great fun!
Other wise still in the city day to day ... still on the grind.... still paying off debt....still only have a shed .... still but a lot happier now knowing I'm working towards something.

Now I'm looking at the weather like Oh come on get warm already!

Thanks for checking in on my guys... how is everyone? How was your winter?

Hi Craig
Thanks for joining the conversation. It has been a very interesting one and continues to be. I spent a few days in Maine a few years ago..... oh gee it's beautiful ..... we were right by the beach and it reminded me so much of home in Jamaica .... only the beach was covered with snow so that took a few minutes to process and I found it a little amusing. I live in Canada now so I really should not be that surprised but it still gets me somehow.

Speaking of finances and practicalities this year will not be a year for building projects. I just don't have the funds for it. And so even though I really want to get started I have to calm my enthusiasm and sit this season out to save and get the debt under control. I can however pass the time by doing some manual labour like cleaning up or planting and other cheap free things like skills building. It also means less trips to visit. But I'll make due with what I can do.

I got the basic mason jar soil test done but I'm not sure what to make of it. The soil is so bark that the layers are not obvious. But here it is. While planting my baby apple and pear tree experiments I grabbed two hand fills of dirt and put it in this bottle, filled it with water and shuck.
I have lots of earthworms everywhere and sorry but I think I got one in my sample ... poor thing you can see his little tail.

Hi all happy Summer

So glad it warmed up I can finally plan some trips.
Checking in with you guys hope you had an amazing winter and spring. Winter was slow and spent mostly on the city with family and eating and just working away and doing some volunteer stuff at the ceramic museum for fun.

For spring I decided to explore my new found fascination with bees by taking a bee keeping course. That was fantastic learned a lot and still obsessed ....  Lol

Also took a Cabin Building class that just finished up. Hoping to practice my improved skills on the shed me and my dad tried to build ... that is more art than a shed *wink*  but it did survive winter intact and all my stuff safe so we did some things right. :)

The greenhouse plants did good. I planted the apple trees i gre from seed . As a newbie in the green house for my first winter season I lost quite a few plants but I feel I learned a lot from the experience. Now to see how far the ones that made it through will get. I planted them out on my property for my first visit. I'll go check on them in a few weeks yo see how they are doing.

Talk soon... thanks for checking up on me :)

Hi all :)

Not much going on this past 2 weeks. We had our first snowfall. The days have been dark and gloomy. Growth rates of the plants have slowed to a crawl.
So visibly not much has changed at the greenhouse.

There are a few note worthy changes. The willows roots looked amazing so i pkanted them in small individual pots. I have new leaves bursting from the buds and one looks like it's trying to flower.... I think it's a bit confused. Poor thing.

I was thinking about my sweet potatoes.  I have 2 slips growing on separate parts now. I have also been craving my Jamaican yellow yam. It's soup season now and it's great in soup. I went to the supermarket and found some.... and bought 2 small  pieces. Cost me $10 :( ... wow mixed feelings. I made my soup had some more for breakfast and saved a piece to see if I could get it to grow and get some enjoyment of watching the process. Get my full $10 worth of entertainment....lol

So now that my plants don't need me as much as they are mostly all asleep. I figured I would keep my mind occupied with my first love. Pottery. .... Yup more playing in the dirt. Gonna make some tiny pots for some cactus I propagated. Gotta work on the size .... that pot is way too big for that little tiny cactus ... lol

Yolande Brown-Conran wrote:On Seed works today


Mr Blackberry is doing well. I am going to be  watching him for a couple of days in my apartment to see what he does. I will also try and sand down my other blackberry seeds very carefully. I had some that i had sanded and were trying to sprout but still could not get out the seed shell and when i tried to pry them out I broke them :(

Update....got 2 now

Is it just me or does anyone else wanna just skip winter and go right to spring? ...lol

Thanks Mike .... yea you are so right :) ....I have thought about this several different ways. And came up with I would have to be very very lucky if I get the apple tasted at the farmers market from the seeds.

From what i learned so far nature and genetics  is all about variability. All would have to work in my favour I made a little drawing.

If all the trees were the same genetic make up. They may be since most farm trees are from genetic stock which are exactly the same in all rows. They don't want variability in their apples either....all of them have to be exactly the same to sell to Wal-Mart....lol
But the farmer these came from has maybe 6 varieties of apple trees. But if my apple came from a tree surrounded by its come trees then I win ....sorta

Then a really lazy bee with the beehive really close to my trees just going to the tree next door to get pollen for my tree. Then i win again! But like i learned recently about need is they will travel 3km to forage.

Then the genetic make up of the seed .... Can the seed made up from clone parents produce the same tree. Then i win! ....Or would it produce some mutant tree that doesn't even produce apples.... my mutant tree may be sterile. Will they even grow passed seedling stage?..... scientist can be mean an engineer the seeds like that so that you have to buy seeds and not propagate your own apples :( .... or am i paranoid.

SOooooo clearly I have been thinking about this too long......lol but it could work out ...they are alive and hopefully next year my greenhouse bench neighbor who started doing the same thing I did 3 years ago has some results he can share on his first mut trees he grew as a novice.

But I got real root stock seeds and pear seeds  from my greenhouse bench neighbour that the supplier said is 98% true. So i will play with those till spring. I guess they have a very controlled tree laboratory. ...lol

Then I'll find myself a few ligit trees. By then I should know lots more about caring for trees.

I'll keep you guys posted if you can stay the course with me for a few years ....lol

Hi all ....it was a slow week.

In the mornings I would do seedworks. So I have found that If I strip the apple and pear seeds of the brown covering they all seem to germinate and faster.
I have been working on stripping all the apple and pear seeds I got from the farmers market that were in the fridge. Just a little each morning till they are all done. Still have a bunch left to go.
The ones that germinated I packed them up to take them to the green house.

Also from the fridge. Remember that squirrel planting the acorns...and how i took a few acorn home and put them in the fridge to see if I could get them to grow. I had wrapped them up in toilet paper individually wet them and put them in a ziplock bag and put them in the fridge. I looked at them this week and to my joy the acorn have split. Yay. I cant wait to see what happen after that. That is the first picture below.

So nothing else new the whole week till I got to the greenhouse on Sunday.
One of the plants i was most interested in this week was the Sweet Potato. The second pic on the bottom half: that is the before ...and the top half is how much that little leaf has grown.

Ok so exciting stuff!!! Remeber my greenhouse bench neighbour who I was talking to about the apples he planted from seeds. He is keeping his lemon trees at the greenhouse. I watered his lemon trees for him cause I don't think he can make the trip in that often. I look at my bench at see a package of seeds and a note in a ziplock bag. The note says thanks for watering the plants and the seeds are in the pic below. Wow! proper root stock. Kindness rewarded is a huge way!. I popped them in the fridge as soon as I got home.

In other news...I expanded the little egg tray seedlings.....all 24 spots with plants now trying to grow.... getting their first starts.

The willows! OMG roots! and already...it has only been one week. I will pot them up next week. The ones at home are rooting too but slower.
I have to remeber the ones at the greenhouse are from the greenhouse willow tree by the river. And the ones i have at home are from the willow tree in the park by museum station.
I will mark them when I pot them (but putting this here just in-case my brain pulls a yoly)

I have 2 update videos for you....sorry about the one above disappearing I didn't set it to not delete the video. These two should be there a while
A video is worth a billion words:---here is what went on on Sunday
https://www.periscope.tv/yolybearz/1ypKdNyOypqJW
https://www.periscope.tv/yolybearz/1dRKZbvLEEDKB


Today is the BeeKeeping association meeting. So excited! I learn so much last time. I;ll let you know what they teach us tonight.
See ya soon ...Thanks for reading
Or you can catch them on twitter: @yolybearz

Thanks Travis .... loved this post. Thanks for sharing. I like the love in the moment and enjoy the project as it goes. Thanks for the reminder that work... life... relationship balance is important.
I also have to remind myself that not everyone is as excited about the things I am excited about and vice versa. So I engage in what gets my husband excited and then surprise he shows up to help me with the plants. Give and take you know... sometimes we need reminding cause it's so easy to have those blinders on.

Thanks again Travis :)

On Seed works today

My pear seeds sprouted.  Pears where from the local farmers market. They were sweet too. Here is hoping these muts will give me something good :)
Cation! Pear seeds look just like apple seeds (with the slight exception that these seeds were flat on one side... not sure if that goes for all pear seeds). I have to make sure to label these well.

Mr Blackberry is doing well. I am going to be  watching him for a couple of days in my apartment to see what he does. I will also try and sand down my other blackberry seeds very carefully. I had some that i had sanded and were trying to sprout but still could not get out the seed shell and when i tried to pry them out I broke them :(

I read an inspiring post by Travis Johnson ....something to keep in mind on how to avoid burn out with your homestead projects and appriciate the journey more. I will read this again when I get tired.
https://permies.com/t/68731/Enjoy-Permaculture-Farming

This weekend's greenhouse visit went well :)

Highlights were
Sweet potatoes. I did some research on sweet potatoes last week and I feel I am all caught up. These were randomly given to me from someone at the greenhouse ...like "here you want some sweet potatoes"  so i dont know if the are the runnning all over dropping sweet potatoes everywhere kind or is the all sweet potatoes grow in one place but the vines can go anywhere kind. Bush vs running. Not sure. But first let's see if i will be successful in growing the slips and observe what that's like.

Blueberries: Extracted the seeds (I used a blender)... popped  them in the fridge for about 6 weeks then put some in a paper towel and see what germinates. They take a while to sprout but I am slowly but surely adding to my blueberry collection. I made some improvements to the egg tray sprouting station. Used a clear plastic egg tray this time. I put the tiny blueberry sprouts in the eggshells about 3 in each shell and I have 5 shells. Let's see how many make it by the end of the week.

Also in the egg tray sprouting station is golden rods (picked up these seeds from a walk) and one single blackberry seedling. .... omg finally. I have been trying so hard to get one of these blackberries to sprout. Good news...I think I may be getting a cane from someone in the greenhouse. Fingers crossed :)

Ambrosia muts :)  they are doing well. I potted them out in tiny cups and put the. In the terrarium.

Milkweed and purple flowers for the pollinators doing well too.

The growth rate has slowed a bit....i think the plants know is cold outside.....lol.  Its probably too that they are not getting as much sun it's been overcast all week I think.

I did a short update on periscope I will figure out how to link it better when I get home but here is the link from Twitter
Check out @yolybearz’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/yolybearz/status/924730501817966592?s=01

I'm new too. Nice to meet you. I have not made the move yet, I just go camping on the weekends.  But if you already have the van set up pretty decent to be able to sleep, keep warm, cook in and store water. I personally would carry some basic gardening tools and land clearing tools like a few saws.

When I went camping on my land after I got the tent set up and the fire going I would go off to clear a spot and plant things. I have taken down shrubs with a pruning saw and baby trees with a saw. I dont know how to use an axe yet..... I'm alittle scared to try but ill get over it ...lol

The other thing i found myself doing I would do is small building projects. Bird house and a small storage shed. For that I use the saw again. Hammer , a level , nails ....And other tools and materials the project may need. I really have been buying tools on a project basis.

A dog is a good thing to have for security as well as a companion.

Goid luck on your adventure and keep is posted. I'd love to see how you are setting up your van. See you soon :)

Love the thread :) the bunnies are so cute! Can't wait to see the pics of the babies. Stay warm.

Hi Jami
I read somewhere that wasps are territorial and if you put up a fake wasp nest (or was it an empty wasp nest) they would not come around or nest near. It's worth a try. Has anyone out there tried it and saw results?

This week I have family in town but squeezed in a green house visit or two. They plants are doing fine without me. And I have you d that I don't need to water them as much so I could go only twice a week.

I went yesterday and met my neigbour on the bench behind mine. Most exciting conversation ever. He is overwibtering lemon trees. (Its nice to know you are not the only one invthe world that thinks the way you do) .... i showed him my  baby clemintine and avocado and we had a good laugh. I also showed him my baby apples.  Turns out he has 60 acres "fairly" close by mine and he has also planted his apple trees from seed 4 years ago. Growthwise he said they are doing ok but he has not gotten any fruit yet but they flowered for the first time this year. I told him please tell me when he gets fruit how they taste. We spoke about grafting known yummy varieties on the bad ones.

Good thing I watched the grafting videos so I knew what he was talking about. He has a 4 year head start on Mr so it would be neat to hear his results next year. *excited*

Cat Melvin wrote:.........check out Kuffel Creek's YouTube channel--I especially like their videos, Growing Apple Rootstocks from Seed and Propagating Clonal Rootstocks. You can then graft whatever varieties you'd like onto your own rootstock.

Watched all the grafting ones and loved the instructions. I will see if I can find anything to practice on.

On seed works this week..... it was quite exciting.
I got the small sample of  6 Abrosia seeds I got from the farmers market to sprout. YES! 100% all 6 sprouted. So now I put out the rest of them to sprout.

Also got the milkweed seeds to sprout. My next year or 2 years from now butterflies will be happy about that. I just got an idea to check out the High Park Nature center seed library to see if they have any swamp milkweed seeds for my swamp bits

Thanks so much Jim
You made me laugh this morning as I thought of the Jerry Springer show and me not knowing who the father for my baby apples ware. I had a good laugh. But point received. Thank you for explaining the details and giving me a sobering time-frame. I started to look at my little babies a bit differently and felt kind of sorry for them that they may not fit into my long term plan as i gain more knowledge and try new things. It blew my mind today to know that if I bought a tree from a nursery I could get fruit from it in 2 to 3 years and will still be waiting on my current babies to give me fruit so I can see what they finally taste like.  *sigh*  I will play with them an enjoy them as long as I can. They are teaching me a lot about plants, building my confidence and I appreciate that.  My Mut Apples......my Apple Test Dummies lol

Today I took your, and Donna and a few others who mentioned it ....advice today and took some more time to look for nurseries in Ontario. I had found one in Quebec a few weeks ago and was going to order some seeds from them as it was cheaper than buying the plants but now I am thinking that i would probably be in the same boat I am now ......I looked into three more Nurseries that I found on the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs website. I learned a little bit today about Root stock (i need to read more on this sooo confused)  and Bare root planting care when the plant arrives. All nurseries deliver in May so I have a good amount of time to do some company research and save up some money. One company really stood out to me it was Whiffle Tree Farm and Nursery. Their catalog had a lot of information I would like to really read and some book suggestions that I will check my local library for. I will take this winter to do my due diligence :)

Thanks again Jim for all the alternatives. I will consider all of them carefully.


Hi Donna,  Thanks for reaching out, I will be sure to send you a message when i need some help digesting all this knowledge and maybe bounce around some ideas.
I will read up Canadian Geography about the Canadian shield. I mentioned it to mom and she got excited saying they taught her about that in school. The land i have is in Central Frontenac North of Kingston. so i may be on the shield too. a quick Wiki search says Northern Frontenac is sitting on the shield (not sure id Central is....but its really rocky so maybe) . The area is very pretty and next summer i plan to check out the thousand islands activities. I`m still learning about everything ... its quite exciting :)      

Hi Cat,
Thanks for the YouTube channel recommendation. I will check out these videos now before bed.....i will also see if I can get my hands on those apples you have and try them maybe I'll have some new favourites.

Jami wow such an encouraging story thanks for sharing. Yes.....All is attainable with patience and focus and action. Congrats on your journey too you made it so far already and more adventures to come. I am a city girl no doubt but I also grew up kinda wild too with mom having friends in the country and going to visit. The country has this way of getting in your veins and the people are warmer and more welcoming and friendly.  Bees bees bees... loving them more and more I lean about them. Beekeeping is challenging so don't get discouraged. I just joined a Beekeeping association to learn more and some of the mature beekeepers lost colonies this year. They are having a tough go at it with the mites and pesticides and other diseases and predators. The wasps were really bad here this year. Get another colony and try again :)

Dee ... Thanks for the suggestion I will look them up tomorrow for sure :)  fun fact.... I touched an alpaca for the first time at the EX last year ....or was it the year before.......it was so soft...i wanted to just hug it..... but there was a fence in the way and maybe the alpaca wouldnt have appreciated it as much as I would..... so soft. Good times :)

Thanks All ...Great to meet you :)

Sorry I duplicated this message ....and i cant figure out how to delete it...
So I guess I will just talk some more...

Here are how the kiwis are looking so far

Yolande Brown-Conran wrote:

This morning seed works....looking at my first batch of farmers market seeds.
pic on the left is day 2 after I stripped the seed coating off.... and the other on the right is day 4. Still in the fridge.

.

I took half of them them out the fridge as i was leaving for work and put them on the window sill

No one was happier than me this morning to see split seeds and green tips on them.
I will take the other 3 out the fridge and put them on the window sill today for them to do the same * happy dance*

Thanks for the DIY ...  Great idea and easy too. Thanks for sharing. Will deffinately be trying this for my first sign.

Thanks Jeremy... you are doing an awesome job as well. Great videos :) thanks for teaching me how to make a sign.

This morning seed works....looking at my first batch of farmers market seeds.
pic on the left is day 2 after I stripped the seed coating off.... and the other on the right is day 4. Still in the fridge.

My crazy eyes see a difference .... right ...right ....lol *insert crazy smile here*
I feel like they are sticking their tongues out at me .... I know those are roots....lol

Anyway ... gonna put half back in the fridge and half on the window sill to germinate and see what happens.

It's about lunch time now and I just remember to add something.
I walked home from work today to relax a bit and witnessed an interesting thing. Squirrel vs hawk. I have walked by there very often to see the squirrels gathering nuts.  I have seen the hawk around town a few times and seen him catch things and fly off but never this close up. I now like squirrels too as they are tree planters like myself. Yesterday I witnessed the hawk swoop down right in front of me and grab a squirrel holding it down on the ground struggling with it alittle maybe trying to kill it first or get a good grip on it before it flew off. In this struggle and adjusting  time..... another squirrel runs down from another tree and brutally attacks the hawk. The hawk let's go of the captured squirrel  and shakes off the other squirrel and flies to the electric pole very close to the scene so he could keep an eye out for another opportunity. The attacking squirrel checks the victim thoroughly....... is now yelling at the hawk as they both go to a hole in the tree. And after the victim squirrel was safe in the hole he continued to yell at the hawk who continued to watch.

I just want to say a big thank you for allowing me to use this venue to make a log.
And having such great picture quality. I find myself looking here first to review my plants progress. And with the seeds looking to see if it's just me or did they change alittle? A heart felt thanks :)

So I have been working on seed works (I call it).
I feel deep down that maybe what I go to the seeds doesn't matter .... that if they are going to germinate they will and if they won't then they just won't. But I just can't help fussing with them or over them like a nurse bee or a mommy hen looking after the brood or eggs. It's pretty time consuming but I can't seem to stop myself.

Clean then up really well and ensure there is no fruit residue on them or the paper towel. Rinse them every few days to ensure no mildew. Change the paper towels and give them fresh water. Keep them in the fridge. Then take them out s few at a time and see if that batch will germinate. So I an currently working on a few ambrosia apples... these were my favourite from the farmers market.  I forgot to take the current picture.... I'll edit it later today ...sorry .....actually check my next post below please

So anyway. Mom had a lot of seeds that she planned to start at the greenhouse and she took them back home as she wanted to watch them closely everyday to see what was happening and she wasn't going to travel to the greenhouse everyday so she took them home. Disadvantage for me cause I can't see :( ... but anyway I asked her for an update on her seeds and she said sadly she got none of them to sprout. She also confessed that she had them for years so maybe that's why. Oh well I was looking forward to it abd she was pretty down about it too , but maybe I can find her some seeds somewhere to buy for her even though it's not the season for it.

I went to the greenhouse yesterday. Say hi to mom in the pic ...lol
I changed a few things replaced the bags with now using the broken fish tank in the same way to maintain humidity. Left a few more plants out as the ones I felt out didn't dry out. The mulching worked like a charm.  And got a few more rescues which included a pretty flowing plant ... no idea....  sweet potato...and Joseph coat (Alternanthera). Also bought some dirt from the greenhouse... that huge box tagline thing in the foreground. I was buying small dirt bags at the dollar store with was $2 ... that big bag was $20 and will last me till next year and then some ....lol

Can't wait to see what happens the rest of this week :)

Thanks Jeremy good luck to you and your family too :)

Good morning all

This weekend was tiring and none stop... It  seems I was driving for the entire weekend. Well the plan was to spend the weekend on the land but the weather was to storm and other unfortunate events lead to things not working out. The plan was to get there do project one which was to winterize the storage shed. Then go to a hotel and the next morning go back to the land and do clean up and do a proper Check on the plants and do a soil test.

We got done with the shed project and I did a few things just in case then left for our favourite hotel. But. Yup but. When we got there there was an event and all the hotels in the area where booked out or gloriously expensive.  So we eat dinner and drove back to Toronto. Sadly. So that was the last trip for the season. Sunday I did my cousin a favour that had me driving the entire day again.

How were the plants? Strawberries, blueberries and grapes and the small cherry tree looks like they were eaten by the deer. Or could have lost their  leaves naturally....u dont know. The apple tree looked great.
The Herb garden I started still had the aloe and garlic and the mint going good. Dug up the garlic (I think i planted it in July?) Had no garlic bulb so I guess I will plant them earlier next year. The Clementine plant I planted just for fun is doing well. I put a cut plastic bottle over it and covered it to the top of the bottle with dropped maple leaves so that light could shine through the top of the bottle and wished it good luck.

So tired but ....This morning I worked on seed works.
Cleaned up my strawberry seeds
Extracted my Orange raspberries seeds
Peeled off the Brown exterior of the ambrosia apple seeds.
Over the weekend I stopped by my uncle's house running an errand for my cousin. He has a cherry tree in his back yard and I asked him to remember to save the seeds for me next time it fruits. I also raided the cones from his cider tree in the front yard. I figure I got the ever green hedge down the street to germinate I could try to get this tree to germinate as the cones looked the same. Let's try.

Then rushed off for work

Now on my way to Toronto  bonsai society meeting to see what's going on this month :) I love my miniatures:)

It was an awesome day.

Came across this post from a fellow Canadian and said hi.  https://permies.com/t/71400/military-starting-homestead#597463
I love all the sharing and encouragement and seeing others close by on the same path is very uplifting. So give him some love too :)

I got to work to find a nicely potted plant under my desk. My work neighbours are awesome ...lol. I'm used to it ... people get busy at work so its not strange for someone to drop treats at your desk if you are not there and then come back later to tell you about it when they have some time... so you just happily wait. But I'm used to it being candy or food so it was a pleasant surprise...... I guess I have been talking a lot about planting things....lol.  The lady who put it there came around about an hour later and told me it was an avocado plant that she thought a squirrel planted. It's funny cause i have been bee thinking about natures natural tree planters a few weeks ago and actually caught one in action...LOL        

Farmers market day today ...I'm sad cause its their last day till next year. I told my favorite farmer see you next year and he happily said you bet! I don't know if I said it already but when i visited his stall last week and i was just standing there trying to make up my mind kinda off to the side. He came over and gave me an apple. Its the red on in the picture above (ambrosia). Which then brought me out of my shell to talk to him a bit. I was more focused on the huge green apples (mutsu) and bought those instead. But later found out that farmer knows best! and the red ambrosia was the best apple i tasted so far. Soooo sweet! Its now my favourite. I bought a bag of those along with some strawberries.

I feel better that I am correcting my mistakes. The fruit seeds from the apples, pears, raspberries and strawberries I got from the farmers market when they spout will replace the ones from the supermarket that were form the warmer places in the USA.

Then my mom called me at work and told me she think she knows why i am obsessed with bees. She said my great great grandfather was a beekeeper in the 1890s. That was a nice to hear even if it was alot of greats I will take it and let it inspire me to push forward. :)

PayDay! - Focused in on debt reduction and savings.  No more minimum payments for me I threw all I could at my credit card this month. Sorry daily Starbucks and Tim Hortons. You will be replaced by home made meals and supermarket coffee. *crys alittle* On the bright side: Its for a great cause and I will increase my cooking skills. Gonna try and make this fun. Did I mention I turned down all you can eat sushi after work get together :( that was hard. My 5 years from now self will thank me.

I am gearing up for a land visit this weekend to put it to bed so to speak till next spring. Its getting cold so I have my thermals ... Plan B hotel for the night if it gets too cold and rainy (I'm a tropical girl still getting used to the cold)

Off to the grind ...see you later

Welcome Jeremy,

I'm new here too. I'm also have land in eastern Ontario.... North of Kingston. It is 10 acres. Not sure how far that is from you. But for right now I live and work in Toronto. Trying my best to save to start a new chapter of life. I'm doing a log over here  ....> https://permies.com/t/70991/Newbie-Pre-Homesteader-Log#597447

Love the videos you have a nice family and you guys have made a lot of progress in such a short time. Congrats! Mapleberry is a very cool name and the moneyball concept is good. I know little about baseball so thanks for explaining that in the video :) I also really liked what you said about 10% is the things that happen to you and 90% is how you react and deal with it. Good luck with your maple trees next year I will try and tap mine for the first time too. I have two old trees I am going to try.

Thanks for sharing your journey.

Hi James :)

7 months later, how did it go with the first batch of strawberries?
I hope they did ok.

Hi Anne,

Thanks...Read his strawberry and rhubarb posts....gonna reply on the strawberry post to see how things went with that.
Then I found him on my post here...I'm so blind sometimes. Sorry James >.< . I will check in on him to see how his soil works is doing.
I am going for a visit to my land this weekend and I will do a simple soil test. The one where you put soil, water and a little salt in a bottle and shake it, then let it settle to see what the layers are.
I will then take another sample home with me and try and find an agency here to do a more detailed test like the one he spoke about to see what the chemical make up is.
*goes to pack the bottles so i don't forget*

I visited the Greenhouse to see how the plants were doing. Three days alone I went there Saturday spent the whole day getting them comfortable for the days they would spend without me.
Sunday passed Thanksgiving dinner with family took me out of town for a feast! I have a big family and everyone brought something good.
Monday Holiday greenhouse closed.
Tuesday hubby wanted to see a movie after work ... $5 Tuesdays we saw Flatliners ... I must admit i was a bit worried at this point but I knew I had don't enough that they should be fine.
Wednesday literally ran out of work like a train to see how they were.

I had not needed to worry so much they were fine. In fact they probably could have gone the whole week without me all snug in their bags.
I gave all a good inspection. Mulched the kiwis (the apples were already mulched). Then made a note in the notebook to mulch the strawberries on Friday.
I put the 3 strongest mulched apples and about 5 mulched kiwis outside the bags, on the bench in the fresh air until Friday. Then check the dryness of the soil.

I spent some time reading up on Milkweed plants.
How to germinate the seeds (stratify them first for 3 weeks) so I threw some in the fridge and saved the rest in my seed container,
When to plant them in the ground (after fear of frost)
How to get them through winter (mulch around them)
Once that first batch is established they should be able to reproduce by themselves after that. Lets see.
I went back to the place i got my first batch of seeds to see if any more seedpods were bursting. It was rainy so I was not sure if I would have any luck. I thought maybe the plant wouldn't want to open seedpods in the rain but I went anyway and i found two seedpods open packed with seeds just waiting for a wind.....(or some idiot wanting seeds to shake them). Score! I got more seeds :) Happy me!
I will try to find some Common Milkweed around and try to find some swamp milkweed for the swampy bit of the property.

Focusing on seeds this week and next week.
I have a few in my fridge that i will set out to germinate. Wish me luck!

Two awesome finds Yesterday!

I decided to take a walk at lunchtime to clear my head from work. I was listening to the barefoot beekeeper podcast so my mind was on the cute buzzy ones and as I walked back to work I started looking at flowers. Uuuuhhh a monarch butterfly...it flew off in the distance and I turned my head to see where it was coming from and I see another on the flower beside me... And then another on the flower beside it and another landed on the one beside it..... This must be a butterfly meeting. Oh wait are these the milkweed? ....*quick Google search* ... Mexican Milkweed .....silent scream! ....I examine the plants ....omg dried seed pods .... I got too excited and watched my first attempt at getting seeds float away in the wind   >.<  .....wind dispersal wonderful...lol  I got in touch with my delicate side and with the paper towel I had from lunch and scored some seeds.

Second score of the day .... lemongrass oil.
I read and been hearing that lemongrass oil can be used as a bee attractant and so it can attract a swarm of honeybees. When the time comes to try I will be equipped with some bee attractant. Has anyone here actually tried this?
It was the last bottle on the self so I am feeling pretty lucky.

I have been also reading Evan's log. I am at day 77 very interesting stuff!  I love how he takes the time to get distracted by the wildlife especially the bugs.

Hi TJ,
Thanks for the business side. I will keep thinking about this as I increase my gardening skills.
without looking too hard I have come across models like Growing Power in Toronto but on a smaller scale I will see what else is out there.
I watched a few videos and subscribed to Urban farmer curtis stone I will see what
I can learn from him. I started with his vlog. I love Logs :).  I have been watching Justin Rhodes  [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOSGEokQQcdAVFuL_Aq8dlg[/youtube]
as he and his family visit other farms.  <----oh cool his name is underlined :) .. yea his chicken videos are cool)

I wasnt able to find "James Freyr's doings" I like the idea of having a canary to keep me motivated. I only found  a book a million little pieces and Oprah being mad at him for it being fake.

I dont know if I have ever seen a canary but when i was camping I was awoken one morning very early by a woodpecker
(my first woodpecker experience) tapping on a tree we had the tent under.
I woke up ninja style "what was that!".... "what's attacking the tree?"   .... yea...I'm clearly not from here.....lol

This morning I put together a video on my greenhouse progress.
Farmers market adventures trying to find local fruit and a better view of the greenhouse and what I am up to. I skipped a few things like the apples strawberries and kiwis and all the things sprouting ...sorry my mom popped in and it was such a pleasant surprise i forgot about filming...LOL ..she brought so many seeds.

I'll get more next time :) Maybe tomorrow.



here is the address just in case the link above doesn't work you can copy and paste https://youtu.be/vCGNk2hJkW0
Enjoy.

Thank you so much Nicole :)

Yea ....about the kiwis ...LOL They are from the supermarket and this batch came from Chile. I don't know what variety they are. But they were yummy.

Sorry .... at the time 3 months ago I didn't know any better .....

All the things I have sprouted so far that are in the greenhouse are seeds from fruit at the supermarket. At the time i didn't know any better I am super new at this gardening thing.
Now I know that's a big no no if I want them to survive Canadian weather. I am a beginner and when i read up on it and realized that maybe it makes sense the strawberries from California won't do so well in minus 15 degree Celsius weather.

I had already gotten them to sprout so I decided to take a chance and just go with it and learn with these until I can replace them with local varieties.

Now I pay attention to where the fruit I eat comes from and started buying local for the seeds. But I am late in the season it being fall and local fruit is now hard to find.

I have no doubt that the hardy Kiwis will be harder to sprout as you are right they would need more time in the cold to get the seeds out of dormancy ....just learned that ;)
I am having a similar problem with the blue berries and the black berries. I think those were local as I bought them at the fruit store down the street but who knows the lady at the counter couldn't tell me for sure.
The blue berries took so long to sprout and when they spouted they are remaining tiny for so long its scary. The black berries have not sprouted at all. I am still trying with them.

I have started my local seed gathering. I started going to the local farmers market to buy fruit to get the seeds. I have local peer and apples seeds now so this week i will try to get those to germinate. They will replace the apples I have growing now that are from....i don't know where. I have also been learning my apple varieties which I hadn't paid much attention to before. Just bought the cheapest one before now.

I don't think you are a terrible at kiwis...Just continue giving them love and time to do what they are going to do. I have only been at this for a couple of months and had soooo many what am I doing wrong moments I really wish they could talk.  I try and read I all I can about that plant and observe what they are doing and try and help as much as i can. Good luck with the kiwis and congrats on getting them to sprout. :) I would love to see a picture of yours :)

In other news I gave my Uncle the mango seedling I got to sprout. He was so happy ... lol I told him good luck with this new houseplant :)
He is from Jamaica too and we both miss our mango trees. He has the space to grow it indoors but I don't so I know its going to a good home. It will be fun to visit him and see how he gets it to grow.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! - I am thankful for this community

Greenhouse update:
Met another two people taking care of their plants on their benches. The first man had 3 benches and was just starting to put his pants out... wow. The other loves Bonsai  and hand a number of little trees in pots...Just fabulous. And I have a neighbor on the bench behind me with a bench full of citrus! This is amazing.

Ok so what did i get done other than ooohhing and aaaahhing over other people's plants? ....LOL. Well when i first stepped in I found a box with plants with a note "This is an orchid" but the box was filled with succulents and other plants that looked like the throw aways of pruning and they were drying out. I'm calling this the rescue box. I rescued 2 tiny orchids and 2 succulents. Lets see if I can get these to not die on me.

Then I checked on my plants. Took them all out of the bags and gave them a good inspection. For the Apples I brought with me a ruler and took all their measurements and marked them so I could see their growth progress. They all look healthy. Checked on the Cherries they are doing ok ...but they have some yellowing on the leaves but not much I will have to read and see what i can do about that. I have two seeds that sprouted and I am taking care of in the egg tray which I think is now going to be where I grow up and take care of the ones that just sprouted.

New in the Egg tray Sprouting Station:
Seeds from a few cones that spouted from an evergreen hedge down the street from me. So happy about that one!
More Kiwis >.<
More Purple wild flowers for the bees and butterflies
Checked on the 3 Blueberries...growing real slowly
Cherries doing their best to give me some roots :)

I made a little herb pot that now has rosemary, thyme and mint. I have one garlic clove growing separately. I mulched them with fallen leaves as best i could to conserve the moisture.

Then went on to the Germination station: That have all my seeds that I am trying to germinate.
New in the germination station are Blackberry seeds I scratched with sand paper after being in and out of the fridge and not germinating.
One more cherry trying its best
More kiwis >.<

I checked on the Kiwis and strawberries in cups and gave them some water then put everyone back in their bags for the Thanksgiving holiday.

This week I will work on germinating some of the seeds I have in my fridge.
the apple and pear seeds I got from the farmers market last week
The raspberries that have been in the fridge for about a month.

Oh wow RedHawk that was super lucky to uncover all that treasure under 7 years of regrowth. It makes me wonder if I have any treasure. Though I doubt it cause the realtor said it was never developed but now I'm curious cause the prior owner only had it 2 years. So next time I visit I will explore and keep my eyes peeled more closely.

Find out at the permit office maybe if the land has a history maybe is a good place to look too.

Ontario has something similar...ontario land tax sales I think it's called. I did look into it but it seemed very scary at the time and needed a lot more research and travel and time than my current job would allow me time for. But there where deffinately some interesting finds there. Now that I am a little wiser and a lot braver I would deffinately try that if I am looking for land again.  

Short log this morning .... woke up late so rushing to work.
I went to the metro hall farmers market yesterday it was the best one yet. Apples thd size of my hand ... lets see if i can get that to germinate...lol and Orange raspberries...i never seen that before. Yay seed gathering.

I am a little late to this party but.

I purchased my piece of land mortgage free.  But that resulted from chain of events.

I was saving for a down payment for a house here in Canada. This year when i thought I was ready to make my purchase I went to the bank with the list of places i was interested in to get pre-approved so that it would make it easy to put in an offer. I was basically told my salary was too low to afford my choices myself I need a co-signer,  and i would have to close all my credit cards. So not only would they take all my money I would have no credit to fall back on just in case while I paid them basically the majority of my salary. .......OOOOKKKK That rubbed me the wrong way so I changed my plan. Back story: As I kid I watched my dad build our house gradually by adding rooms gradually. Different country as I grew up in Jamaica but I would find a way do the same. So I started looking for land found one i liked went back to the bank they gave me a speel about land being risky and not financing it.....OOOKKKK. That didn't sit well with me.

So I changed my land needs around and made some compromises and my down payment became the cost price lawyer fees ect.
I closed in May this year and although I don't know what the future quite holds I feel i made the best decision for me.
Even though nothing changed and I still pay rent, I just swapped paper money for land I feel so much better.

And although it seems that i am mad at the bank I am really not.... the terms just doesn't suit me and my situation..... It's just how the system is right now.
I did what was comfortable to me and made me able to sleep at night i think is what I am getting at.

I don't know what the future holds but I feel I made the right decision at the time and now and I will enjoy the journey I am now.

Which one did you choose?

Congrats!!! When life gives you apples make apple pie :)

I went to check on my plants yesterday to see if they were happy in their new home. They are doing fine...probably better than me worrying about them
all the time. One of the bags had beflated so i git to use the ballon hand pump I bought yesterday. I am happy with it and dont miss the light headdedness
from blowing up the bags by mouth. I got more air in them too :) The look like they could just float away.....

Hi Joylynn,

Thanks for the website. I am going to be very happy reading through. So funny the fist one I clicked on was Home Brewing.
To redeem myself I went to Beekeeping 101 and gave that a little read. Totally love the sugestion. Thank you

I hear you. Mites werea big topic at the bee association meeting. It seems that they treat for mites chemically
and just accept the fact that they may loose some bees but the colony may survive. Its a tricky puzzle I agree.

Thanks for the suggestion of a top bar hive. I was thinking as one of my winter projects to try and plan a design for a hive.
An easy one. Put it out there and see if anyone moves in. Kinda like what i did for the bird house in the picture above.
I figured it wouldnt hurt.

Hi Hilary,

Fruit canes and bushes i am trying :) but i am having some trouble with getting them to sprout
The strawberries love me they sprout so easy even though the seeds are so tiny.
Kiwis also love me....in fact too much cause all my seeds sprouted and i have like 30 kiwi seedlings all sprouting at the same time ....I had no idea
Blueberries I have less luck with....much less luck....I only have 3 seedlings struggling to grow....i mean one wrong move and they are gone.
Blackberries and raspberries...nothing.....no love...at all....but I am determined to figure it out.

Congrats with your raspberry bush. You gave me an idea I will bring fruit with me and feed the birds ;)
they maybe know how better than i do ....lol

Thanks for the Cranberry look out idea. We have Thanksgiving this weekend maybe if i look hard enough I will beable to find some fresh cranberries.
If i could get those to grow that would be a treat!

now I see them I will post an update this weekend to see how much they grew in a week