Derek Thille

Awesome.  The first time I read "gate plate", I didn't quite understand where that fit in.  Seeing it in the video unconfuddled me.  In essence, it is a lintel.  Egyptian doorways had heiroglyphs on the lintel, so having the Bark Park sign up there makes perfect sense.

Well done Boots!

A rope over a post would be a simple latch, but it's certainly not idiot-proof.  It may be more challenging to find appropriate material to do that with and being exposed to the elements could be prone to break down.  

Regardless, I look forward to seeing what y'all come up with.  It looks quite a bit different than September.  It will be a source of pride once it's complete to say we contributed to the Bark Park.

Interesting diversity of topics....

I like the fish diversity, but am saddened that we have relatively few here...mind you there are quite a number and some pretty impressive sport fishing, to say nothing of commercial fishery on the lakes (supported by stocking).

I've been on more portions of the Pan-American Highway than I expected and in at least 4 countries.  A couple fellows from South America visited with the local car club when they came through (the eastern unofficial portion) in a '60s Ford - it was a model that wasn't available in North America.  They were working on driving the entire route.  Road trip indeed.

I find it amusing that whoever created the Columbian exchange graphic noted a bunch of "bad stuff" coming to the Americas.

I think I'd be happier about finding the grubs rather than importing them to the tent and not knowing they are there.  

Since you love having a smartphone, there is an app called Seek from iNaturalist.  It can help to identify organisms of various types.  As I understand, it's a citizen science project and on the web site discussions around identification of submissions can occur seeing as the app can't always identify everything.

I wonder if finishing them with oil would be a signal to the grubs to go away.  Of course, charring could also work for that, but it may make the shelving units a bit more challenging to use without staining everything that touches them.

I'm with Inge - well done on the sign.

I'm slowly working my way through a new edition of the book "Edible & Medicinal Plants of Canada" from Lone Pine Press - Canadian distribution site - out of stock as I type this.

For each plant listed, they note historic uses, not just as food and medicine, so a number of them are listed as sources for dying.  For example, Sumac (Rhus sp.) are listed as leaves, bark, and roots yielding yellow-tan, grey, or black depending on which part and mordant used.  Smooth sumac is native in this neck of the woods.  We had started some, but I don't recall if it was smooth or staghorn (native farther east) sumac.

While it isn't a dedicated resource, I think this book could be a useful ally if one wants to utilize more plants for dye.

No Roy's were harmed in the felling of this tree - could be a disclaimer for your videos

What did you season the grape vine with?  (I'll show myself out....)

That reminds me...grape leaves are edible and are used for wrapping food...Greek dolmades (I've seen other similar spellings if one is attempting to search) are a stuffed grape leaf dish.

Seedlings from hardy apricots - pits were planted in the "nursery" bed late last summer / early fall.

Some more characters came out today.  Aside from the mallard ducks on the dugout, brown-headed cowbirds are back.  I also saw a brown thrasher, two grey partridge, and the usual red-winged blackbirds to round out the colours.  

Aside from the wildlife, the Saskatoon berries and tart cherries are blooming (hopefully frost predictions are in error).  I planted a bit more stuff today, including Nanking cherry seedlings gleaned from a neighbour's property and some excess (is there such a thing?) horseradish from the city.  I need to figure out where to move some of the rhubarb that's in a bad spot.

Planting is underway, although one can't tell from the video.



On Saturday I was out in the wind and planted some potatoes (leaning heavily on the Ruth Stout method of thick mulch) and onion sets.  The potato seed is leftover from the 2024 harvest on the property...it is interesting how different varieties have such different storage characteristics.  Today I put in some bean seeds (Red Peanut variety) which we grew last season.  I intent to put a few more in once things get going.

I fought with seed again today...at least beet seed is large enough to handle.  Once again, we had gusting winds which made dealing with lighter seeds a challenge.  I'm also learning that the lack of stability of soil on a new hugelkultur makes seeding an interesting challenge.  Had I understood that ahead of time, I may have planned a bit differently as to what is going into the bed.

Yesterday it was 36 C (98 F) and overnight Friday / Saturday morning the prediction is for -1 C (30 F).  We are predicted to start getting some rain showers overnight lasting into the weekend, so I wanted to get some stuff done while I didn't have to deal with muck.  

I did start some seeds in the house here.  As part of that process, I found "EcoGrow" pots, which are made in Canada from recycled paper.  It is nice to be able to repurpose waste like that and it means I didn't need to resort to peat pots.  Since I have some cucurbits among the starts and they don't like root disturbance, I didn't want to use a communal space for them.  These pots can be planted and will effectively decompose in ground.  I also have some cabbage starts that are going to make their way to this bed, but I simply used soil blocks for them.

We shall see how things work out.