All posts by Derek

Garden Progress 2011 – Part 1

The season is warm enough now to plant some cool season vegetables. We just received dormant plants of asparagus and Everbearing strawberries. We also planted some seeds in the beginning of May. Let's see how we do so far:

 

Buck has grown pretty tall now. Soon I would till them down.

This is asparagus. It does not resemble what I see in the grocery store at all.
Carrot plants.
Sweet peas.
This is the white radish, also called Daikon.
This is the children's Square Foot Garden bed .
This is the strawberry plant. Look closely and you can see the flowers which would turn into yummy straberries.
Raspberry plants. We have 3 plants from last year.
Red salad bowl. Very dependable. Virtually no pest problems.
This is Eggplant. It is my first time growing this. I don't know if our short season would give good yield. But it is fun to try something new every year.

 

Start Seeds

Another season is approaching.  We have started the seedlings beginning April.  This year, we have started cucumber, tomato, various cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, marigold, calendula and nasturtium.

 

These are flower seeds.
These are the cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli.
All 3 seed trays under the light.
These are the cucumbers and tomato.

 

Sweet Potato Slip Part 2

Now a couple of weeks have passed and the slip is tall enough for me to snap it. I put the slips into a separate container and wait patiently again for the roots to grow. When the weather is warm enough, I will plant the slips directly into the garden. One thing I learn from a book is that it would be very helpful if we place a clear plastic film tight on the soil where the sweet potato is going. This would warm up the soil much quicker since we only have a short growing season here in Canada.

Sweet Potato Slip

For the past 2 years I was unable to grow any sweet potatoes from my garden. However, I am not discouraged. This year, not only did I order 12 sweet potato slips from a farm, but I am also trying to start slips myself. You see, growing sweet potato is different from growing potato. You can tak a small potato and plant that in the soil. But you would have to start slips, or small shoots from a sweet potato in water, and then plant these slips in the soil.

Cross Country Skiing

We had missed quite a few times this year to go on a cross country skiing, either it rained or it was too cold. We prayed to God to give us a good day in March and He answered our prayer. I took a day off on March 14 (which I had to request a month before) and the weather was perfect. 0°C and sunny. So we drove to Horseshoe Valley Resort near Barrie for our big day.
Kay and Shoshana and Melody went for snowshoeing (only Kay) while Derek and the older girls went for cross country skiing. We had a wonderful time in the morning. After lunch, we tried a different route which was 3.8Km, which turned out to be too long for the kids. For the final 30 mins, I had to literally pulled Viviana, Sonia and Odelia back to chalet. It was a week’s worth workout :).
We had a wonderful time there.
Cross Country Skiing

Burned Waterer!

The other day the lamp for keeping the waterer warm was blown and so I replaced it with another 100W bulb. In the evening I noticed the familiar smell of something melted as soon as I walked into the chicken coop. To my surprise, the new bulb burst and the waterer was partially melted by the heat. I cannot explain what happened but eveyrthing is gone. Thank God there was no fire and only the breaker and waterer had to be replaced.

Car Accident and Car Problem

This is a bad day for us. First off, the big van is not starting again. We just had it fixed because there was water in fuel. And it was fine for a couple of days and now it is giving problems. Kay had a midwife appointment so she took the Yaris. I got a call around 10:00 from Kay saying she slipped in a ditch on a country road. No other cars were involved, just her spinning 180 degrees on the road and with the back of the car falling down the ditch and crashing down a farm’s fence. When the car was towed to my mechanic, he said it is a write-off. After couple hours of checking, the damage is quite substantial that he said the insurance company would probably also think likewise. Worse, she got a ticket for not able to show our insurance card to the police, while it was actually in the car. But she was under shock and pressure.

Around all this, we have to thank God that she is OK. She feels tired and some dizziness but nothing major, so far. Please pray for her and the baby in her womb. Pray that our mechanics would be able to diagnose the problem with the big van. This is a difficult day for us while everything bad seems to happen all at once. I couldn’t help but think about the deductible and insurance premium we would have to pay. But money is like dirt, it comes and goes. As long as we stay as a family and in God’s grace, we would ride it through. I believe this is the same experience with other Christian families. No matter how hard the situation is, our faith and love in Christ will carry us through.

And the children are very helpful too. Although I still had to work from time to time, and on the phones with many people, they proceed as usual. Thank you Lord for wonderful children.

One thing I have complained against is the York Regional Police. They were not rude, but their attitude were very “businesslike”. They simply asked if she was OK. When my wife said she wanted to call me to contact CAA (because I am a member and Kay is not), they said they didn’t know how this work, and told Kay she couldn’t leave the car there (who doesn’t know this). Kay didn’t bring the cell phone, and they did not offer her the phone to call me. They just went back to their police car to call the tow truck and get warm while leaving my wife waiting in the cold for another half an hour on top of the first half an hour waiting for them to come. They didn’t even ask her to wait in the police car.

While the CAA guy came, at once he asked my wife to go into his truck and get warm. Then while he couldn’t lift the car out of the ditch, he had to “plea” the cop to help.

I wonder if anyone else has similar experience with the police. Don’t they project themselves as “servants to public”? My wife is not a criminal in this case and why can’t they at least offer her to sit at the back of the police car to get warm? What kind of training do they get? Every year they get a raise with nice benefits, but what kind of service do they provide? True, some officers put their lives on the line and I respect those. But can’t the others also treat a lady like a gentleman would in the old days? Or is this just a job for them?

I am very disappointed with the York Regional Police.

Winter scenic views

We have an early winter and lots of snow in Ontario this December. One quiet morning I decided to capture some country scenes with my point and shoot camera. I have to admit that Kay’s idea of getting a DSLR camera would be better in this situation. But then I think how wonderful God’s creation are and how marvelous our human body is. Our eyes are tiny, but they are more sophisticated than the most advanced camera (except the zooming part). Best of all, it doesn’t need to be recharged after so many hours of usage. Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Shoshana helping with eggs

There is much benefit to train a child to do chores while he/she is still young. Include them into your daily routine, according to their ages and abilities. Give them room to make mistakes (and they will) and be gracious to the result. Be prepared that you might have to redo whatever they were told to do. In a couple of years you will have a good helper. And in a couple more years you will have a capable, responsible and hardworking young man or lady. I am looking forward to that day.
Meanwhile, 3-year-old Shoshana is helping us to clean the eggs and place them in to a carton.

Click here to watch.