Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Poultry related things
The tour of backyard chicken flocks is being postponed to the fall. Malcolm is very busy and no one jumped to get it all organized, so he put it off to the fall. Anyone that is interested in seeing backyard chickens can always contact me bernard at shama.ca or call 744-0866. You come see my six birds and their enclosure.
Meanwhile over on Saltspring this weekend:
Christopher Roy - http://www.thinkhive.com/about
Meanwhile over on Saltspring this weekend:
Poultry Swap
Sunday, May 31 at 12 noon til 2:00 pm at the Farmer's Institute.
Bring Poultry and related items for sale. Bring cages to
take home your new birds. There will be chicks, hens,
quail, ducks, eggs, roosters and more.
Everyone Welcome to buy, sell or trade.
No dogs off leash.
Questions? Call Pat 250-931-5179 (local #)
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Monday, May 25, 2009
How my garden is doing
It is time to update where the garden is at at to add some pictures. I am back to growing garlic, though still not as much as I would like to. I would like to grow about 150 heads of garlic, the stuff is so easy to grow though the financial return is not so good.This year also sees an increase in our herbs, we are good in most types now that we regularly use but could do more if we knew what else we could use. The highest use is chives and this mainly because Daniel loves using them in every sandwich and every omlette he makes.
I will be growing a lot more fruit and veg this year than last. I have already moved the tomatoes and peppers to elsewhere in the yard, they are all now on the Maddock street side of the house. I think they will get more heat and sun there.
Ultimately I would like to see a large percentage of the yard we have be out of lawn and into something we can eat. We really do not have a large enough yard for playing in - I miss that from the house in Lillooet and the house on Balfour street. Entertaining makes the most sense in our yard that is closest to the back deck and kitchen door, though this is the yard that needs the most work, it really needs a major overhaul.
I have planted six blueberry bushes, I expect to see a handful of fruit this year. I have also added the apricot and yesterday I bought an apple tree. I plan on buying at least one more, maybe two or three more.
The apricot tree is doing very well, I am impressed with the growth on the tree, I hold out hopes for a few handfuls of fruit next year.
As to berries, I planted 60 Strawberry plants, I do not expect to see a large crop this year. The thornless blackberry is bigger than last year but I will need to work with it a bit in the fall to get it growing how and where it want it.
I am going to grow all the big plants on the space between my fence on the sidewalk on Maddock. I planted the zucchini and some of the melons yesterday. I would like to get the pumpkins and cucumbers into that space this week. My goal is to get rid of the grass in the area and make a veggie garden bed.
I had more success with growing from seedlings this year, in the past I have either missed the watering schedule and had them die, or not had a bright enough location and they became all leggy. The only problem this year is that I used containers that were a bit too small. I also got had an issue with waterlogging with the peat pots.
We will be eating our first spinach today and had a bunch of radish greens last night for dinner. By moving the zucchini and cucumber from where it was last year, I have a much larger area for successive plantings of salad crops. If I keep on top of this, we should have salad greens from now until sometime in November, possibly longer if I use cloches. My one concern is running out of seed. I bought a bunch more today at Borden Merchantile.
The chickens continue to do their thing, they are averaging close to one egg each a day. We are also getting a lot of material for compost. The chickens eat almost all of our kitchen scraps. They really like all of the bread, consequently we are actually short of bread crumbs.
My hopes for the year:
- 150 lbs of tomatoes
- 20 good size pumpkins
- 200 lbs of scarlet runner beans
- 400 salad servings
- 60 lbs of strawberries
- 3 lbs of blackberries
- 150 lbs of cucumbers
- 150 dozen eggs
- 15 lbs of kohlrabi
- 150 lbs of zucchini
- 30 lbs of bell peppers
- 30 habanero peppers
- 90 jalapeno peppers
- 60 head of garlic
- 60 red onions
- All our herb needs
We will not be self sufficient, but we will produce a lot of our food needs from now till November.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Seedlings for sale at the Victoria Compost Education Centre
I will likely go buy some to augment what I have grown myself. The money you spend there will help them with their work in educating people about backyard composting, not sexy and earth shattering, but something all of us could be doing.
***********Seedling for Sale!****************
Miss the Organic Plant Sale? Have a few holes in your garden patch? Worry not...the GVCEC will be selling seedlings throughout the spring!
We just received our shipments from our local organic growers and have many varieties of:
- cherry tomatoes
- regular tomatoes
- broccoli
- kale
- brussel sprouts
- summer squash
- cayenne peppers
- tomatillos
- raspberries
Many of the varieties are rare or heirloom and all seedlings are $3.00 each (incl. tax) except for the raspberries which are $5.00 each.
Come and get 'em before we sell out like last year!Contact Info
Email: Website: Office: Location:
2009 Victoria Backyard Chicken Tour
My friend Malcolm has been organized a tour in the late spring of backyard chicken flocks in the greater Victoria area. This year he has asked if I would be willing to take on the organizing of the tour for the day.
The tentative date for the tour is Saturday June 13th. We will be likely touring ten to fifteen backyard flocks from Metchosin through to town.
Odds are that lunch will be at Malcolm's house again in the heart of the Tillicum Gorge neighbourhood.
Out in Metchosin and in rural Saanich you get to see people with small scale farms. In town you get to see people that have coops in all manner of neighbourhoods. Most of us in town people have between four and eight chickens in smallish backyard chicken enclosures.
I went on the tour for a couple of years before I got my own chicken flock. Seeing what other people were doing and how they look after their birds gave me the confidence to have chickens. You would be amazed at how many people have chickens in their backyards. I find meeting with other chicken people and seeing all of the flocks is a very uplifting and hopeful experience.
If you are interested in taking part in the chicken tour, please contact me via email at bernard at shama dot ca - note that is shama and not shaw.
Having had the chickens for a 13 months now, I can see where I went wrong with my pen for the chickens. The wet winter pointed out some flaws in my design. I would like to rebuild it, but I have so much to do around here that I do not think I will get to it any time soon. If things work out well I would like to get to it in the mid fall.
The tentative date for the tour is Saturday June 13th. We will be likely touring ten to fifteen backyard flocks from Metchosin through to town.
Odds are that lunch will be at Malcolm's house again in the heart of the Tillicum Gorge neighbourhood.
Out in Metchosin and in rural Saanich you get to see people with small scale farms. In town you get to see people that have coops in all manner of neighbourhoods. Most of us in town people have between four and eight chickens in smallish backyard chicken enclosures.
I went on the tour for a couple of years before I got my own chicken flock. Seeing what other people were doing and how they look after their birds gave me the confidence to have chickens. You would be amazed at how many people have chickens in their backyards. I find meeting with other chicken people and seeing all of the flocks is a very uplifting and hopeful experience.
If you are interested in taking part in the chicken tour, please contact me via email at bernard at shama dot ca - note that is shama and not shaw.
Having had the chickens for a 13 months now, I can see where I went wrong with my pen for the chickens. The wet winter pointed out some flaws in my design. I would like to rebuild it, but I have so much to do around here that I do not think I will get to it any time soon. If things work out well I would like to get to it in the mid fall.
The Garden
This weekend I will be transplanting a bunch of seedlings, specifically zuchini, pumpkins and cucumbers. I will be buying some tomato seedlings, I never seem to have any decent success growing them from seed.
I will be putting all the plants that take up space on the grass verge between my fence and Maddock Street. I will need to dig a decent size hole for each seedling and fill it with compost to improve the soil along that side of the property.
This weekend we will be able to have the first spinach and lettuce from our garden. Enough to make several salads, but still not a lot, but I expect that to dramatically change in the next few weeks.
The 60 strawberry plants I planted in April are thriving, but it is still a long time before I expect them to produce a lot of fruit for us. My hope is that we will have about a half pound of fruit per day from the end of June to the middle of August. My goal for 2010 is to be able to grow 200 pounds of strawberries.
The thornless blackberry is becoming tamed and trained along the fence, I am hoping to be able to see a small crop of a few pounds this year. I hope to have a lot more canes to work with next year.
The one apple tree I have had no blossoms on it for the third year. It does not look very healthy. I am planning on buying several apple trees this weekend which I will be planting in the front yard this weekend.
The apricot is thriving! I will post some pics later today or over the weekend.
I will be putting all the plants that take up space on the grass verge between my fence and Maddock Street. I will need to dig a decent size hole for each seedling and fill it with compost to improve the soil along that side of the property.
This weekend we will be able to have the first spinach and lettuce from our garden. Enough to make several salads, but still not a lot, but I expect that to dramatically change in the next few weeks.
The 60 strawberry plants I planted in April are thriving, but it is still a long time before I expect them to produce a lot of fruit for us. My hope is that we will have about a half pound of fruit per day from the end of June to the middle of August. My goal for 2010 is to be able to grow 200 pounds of strawberries.
The thornless blackberry is becoming tamed and trained along the fence, I am hoping to be able to see a small crop of a few pounds this year. I hope to have a lot more canes to work with next year.
The one apple tree I have had no blossoms on it for the third year. It does not look very healthy. I am planning on buying several apple trees this weekend which I will be planting in the front yard this weekend.
The apricot is thriving! I will post some pics later today or over the weekend.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Urbanspoon
I am enjoying using Urbanspoon on the iPhone and on the internet to find out about restaurants. In the Victoria are there are not enough users with enough reviews to be as useful as I would like as a local, but I am finding it very useful when out of town.
The iPhone app uses the phone's location to find the local restaurants, you can then either browse them or you can use the random fuction to choose one for you. You can select by food style, location and price.
Frankly it is one of the single best apps I have come across for my phone and I am not the only that thinks so.
The iPhone app uses the phone's location to find the local restaurants, you can then either browse them or you can use the random fuction to choose one for you. You can select by food style, location and price.
Frankly it is one of the single best apps I have come across for my phone and I am not the only that thinks so.
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