Square Inches Farm

09/16/2024

So, the "girls" and I were doing some garden clean up this weekend. They were a great help! Check the comments for a video.

06/06/2024

The singing season is here! I love this time of year. The early spring work is done, the garden is (mostly) planted, and the weeds haven't gotten too bad yet. So there's a bit of time to enjoy the yard without working in it. And the birds are very busy singing! These were the friends providing the soundtrack to my morning tea on the patio this morning!

04/12/2024

Spring is in the air. And the living room windowsill is once again full of seedlings! Tomatoes, basil, cilantro, cucumber, pumpkins, and lots of flowers. Hurray!
🌱🌿🪴🌼🥕🥒🍅

02/08/2023

Did you know that the government will give you money to make your home more energy efficient? It just makes sense – for the environment and your wallet! St. Mary’s Anglican Church (780 McEvoy Street in Fredericton) is hosting an information session on Monday, February 13 from 7-8 pm. Come learn from St. Mary’s parishioner Andrew Mathis who will explain the funding options, eligibility, what can be covered, and how to access the grants and the $40,000 interest-free loan. Questions about the event? Email [email protected]

10/15/2022

This is why I'm growing as many gardens as possible on our Square Inches Farm!

10/02/2022

Tomatoes galore!! What to do with all that bounty!? Make pie!

Keeping up with the bounty! We have been blessed with an abundance of tomatoes this year! Fencing the chickens in on the raised beds last winter gave us the gift of very fertile soil this year and everything we planted in those beds has grown wonderfully! We planted about seven different types of to...

09/30/2022

Ahhhhhhhhh lovely autumn evening. Nice fire Wolfgang B Westner. ♥️

09/30/2022

Adventures in herb drying on our little urban farm.

Has anyone other than me been shocked at the price of herbs and spices in the grocery store lately? We have had a great crop of fresh herbs in the yard this summer... basil, chives, oregano, thyme, lemon balm, lovage, cilantro, rosemary, and summer savory. Oh, and did I mention basil? As fall is upo...

09/28/2022

It's harvest time on our little urban farm. Lots of things are ripening at the same time. It's a little hectic keeping up with the harvest while juggling a full time job! Sometimes you just can't put off the demands of the harvest.

We have two grapevines growing on our border fence. Often we have let them get very overgrown, but this year I did a degree in grape pruning (at YouTube University) which helped me keep the extra leafy growth under control, and we had a great crop of grapes! It was a big eye opener to realize how many times I had to prune those vigorous vines throughout the summer! But it resulted in a great crop, so I'll be doing that again in the future.

We've been watching the grapes closely, tasting them, and waiting... Finally, two days ago I thought they were getting really ripe, and I would have to harvest them "soon." But the definition of "soon" in the natural world is not the same as in government! Turns out soon means "now." One day at lunch we noticed that all the grapes on one of the vines were gone!!!

"Raccoons!" my husband and I surmised, and he quickly got out the clippers to harvest the grapes on the other vine.

We had family arrive from Ontario that afternoon, so after finishing my workday the early evening was taken up with putting supper together and catching up with family. It was a lovely gathering. Until...

As we were winding down our meal, I happened to glance out the patio door and saw a very fat raccoon lumbering along the top of the fence towards the second grapevine! I was so thankful we had harvested those grapes when we did!

My husband had left a few bunches of grapes behind, so we were all able to observe Mr. (Ms?) Raccoon enjoy the somewhat diminished evening snack. He / she / they did not seem perturbed by having an audience only 10 feed away!

So, we ended up processing grape juice at 10pm last night! It was a long day but it's a good feeling to have all that juice going in the freezer. Next time I'll have to pay more attention when I get that feeling something needs to happen "soon!"