Harvest Days

 Harvest Days

I can hardly believe it, but we've managed to get most of our fruit safely into the house this season with very little damage from all the animals who share our space.  We have had a small black bear turn up a couple of times and he/she took a considerable number of grapes.  We had purchased these grapes as "seedless" and they didn't turn out to be, so we don't really mind losing some grapes.  

The apple harvest is featured in the photo above.  It was small this year, compared with last year, but there are plenty of trees around that want picking and we have been able to obtain more "eating" apples from a friend or two.  Thanks to Tammy who got us started with the "transparents" which are now frozen,  awaiting a pie plate!  Our peach crop was extremely plentiful and we gave away quite a few and made lots of frozen and canned peaches.  The Damson plum produced well, as it normally does, and we have lots of it canned or made into other things.  I gave a considerable amount of them away to a woman who is promising me some fruit leather in the future.  Mmmm.  

This is always my very favourite time of year.  I love harvesting....oops, there goes the timer on the stove - time to get the salsa into the jars for the upcoming water bath!

Meeting A Great Horned Owl

 Three weeks ago while spending a weekend in Trail we had an unusual experience with an owl.  I had gone for a morning walk around our neighbourhood and was walking through one of our two parks in Sunningdale.  I noticed an object close to a fenced yard and as I got closer, thought that it was a pretty good statue of an owl.  The closer I got, the better it looked.  Then it blinked at me and made a hissing sound by opening its beak.  It stared at me with considerable venom.  I gave the owl a fairly good space and it watched me as I moved away.  I told Dave about the experience and he took his bike up to take a look.  Sure enough, the owl was still "on location".   We figured that the owl must be hurt because it was allowing us to get so close.  Dave googled a bird rescue facility and spoke with someone in Delta, BC.  Within 5 minutes of that call, we had a call from Amanda who works with animal rescue facilities and she was prepared to come out to help us capture the owl.  Amanda had a cage for the bird and we were told to bring a blanket or sheet so we could cover the bird.  We returned to "the location" and then I wandered out to the road to wave at Amanda (we had never met) so she would know where to leave her car and meet the owl.  That worked very well and within seconds Amanda and I were walking towards Dave who had been near to the owl.  Then Amanda said, "Isn't that an owl over there on the hillside?"  Sure enough, it was "our" owl.  It had flown there.  What we did discover is that the owl had caught a skunk and had devoured its head.  We figure that the skunk had the opportunity to spray the owl before its death and the owl was probably in recovery, somewhat stunned by the skunks' actions.  We attempted to get close to the owl 4 times as we walked through the park but it would not let us get too near.  There were several crows enjoying the owl's predicament and they were making plenty of noise.  The owl did a good job of ignoring them.   It would fly very low over the ground or it would walk.  It was obviously not injured in a serious way.  Amanda called Delta and she was told to let it go and we did.  Hopefully, it recovered completely.  

I wandered over to the park later that day and saw no sign of the owl or the skunk.  I wonder if the owl came back to get that meal??  I can't imagine something so distasteful, but apparently skunks are often a preferred food of owls.   Who knew?  

Return to Summer

 I believe Kaslo had the wettest August since we moved here - maybe not the coolest, but the wettest.  There were 3 major storms this past month that did a fair bit of wind damage and we lost power twice for 7 hours and 22 hours from two of the storms.  It was lovely to have a couple of full, day-long steady rains.  It doesn't make up for the years of drought, but it's been nice.  

The weather this summer did delay hiking.  We simply didn't go in July because it was HOT.  We hiked with Atley and Miro at Cornice Ridge near Stagleap Provincial Park on August 19th and had pretty much clear weather.  The fires have been plentiful but not as long-lasting as several summers.  This past Friday, Dave and I hiked up to Milford Ridge and found the biggest, most plentiful huckleberries we've ever found in BC.  That was a treat, as was the hike and the views!  This first month of September is looking like fabulous summer weather with lots of sunshine and heat.  We may get out a few times more!

The tomatoes are finally beginning to ripen and yesterday I simply tore out those nutrient-poor cucumbers from their pot.  I put them out of their misery.  The corn is looking great but still not developing - planted too close together???  I've had 3 ears from that patch so far and they've all been good.  We had a good crop of peaches (although they were small) and the Damson plums are nearly ready.  I intend to pick another box today after picking one full fruit box yesterday.  It's always so joyful to enjoy the bounty of the garden!