This March, I avoided planting my garden seeds until this past weekend. Though I knew I was blowing the schedule for many seeds, I hadn’t done any additional homework about them until last week. I’ve not even completed the list, but the image above shows you the crops that I should have started earlier, based on our May 3rd frost-free date. See, last year, I thought frost-free was three weeks later; no wonder I had such a paltry garden.
Even starting late, it’s still worthwhile planting your own seeds. I found out last week that a lot of greenhouse seedlings are treated with neonicotinoid pesticides at the seed/seedling stage, and I don’t want anything that will harm native pollinators in my garden. So I used seeds I’ve saved, and some I bought.
I went to the Eastern Townships for Labour Day weekend to get a good hike in at Mont Mégantic (I also visited Lac Mégantic for one of their evening benefit shows at Musi-Café, the bar that was blown up during the train derailment in August). This was the view, in the distance, of the nearby village Nôtre-Dame-des-Bois from a lookout point on the way up Mont St. Joseph. The road seen is the access road to the park.
In La Patrie, where I was staying, the bunnies decided the most familiar and comfortable place to hang out was under my car.
Look at that relaxed rabbit. Just look at her. Punk.
In a Sherbrooke parking lot, this lovely plant was blooming and a bumble bee was fertilizing all of its flowers. I would love to know what the name of it is, and I’d like to get some seeds (I later was given the plant. The bees loved it, and it took over my backyard, but I was able to remove it all ).
This, I later came to learn, is Himilayan Balsam, and though it’s very pretty, it’s very invasive.
Back in Stanstead, cows doing what hippos do, in an over-fertilized pond. Don’t drink that water, girls!
After taking the Vermont route through Derby Line and Newport up to the Quebec border at Mansonville, I finally got to the big Brome Fair at Knowlton.
I took many pictures of the home canning, gardens, baking and crafts section, but here is one category I would like to enter in next year: the mixed garden basket.
Two harvest baskets in competition at the fair
I would also like to enter the category for best Jamiroquai chicken, but chickens are not allowed in Montreal (except Rosemont) and I’ve already got my hands full with the aforementioned punks. Here are a few pics I took, but I have to say, the photo quality is terrible, and you really ought to see them in person.
Some more birds I’d like to be in possession of, especially with my miniscule woods-and-pond:
I’d like to enter the punks in next year in the general “Rabbits and guinea pigs” category, just because I can, but I don’t think they’d like it very much. I found a very very large and sleepy Holland Lop. Now I know what breed Elizabeth is at least half of!
When I was a girl on the farm, we once got some fertilized eggs for our pet goose. She hatched three white geese and three African geese, like these:
The sheep section was interesting to see — some in full wool, some recently shorn. Some so recently shorn, they had to wear little suits to be comfortable and protected. Here’s a sheep with a very relaxed demeanor:
And two more, a different breed, who look quite curious (or hungry and waiting. Please keep your hands out of their pen. Management not responsible for nom-nom injuries.)
Here’s a cow and calf from a Charolais beef farm:
And finally, an Ayrshire from a dairy farm. I find it interesting that the cartography of her spots seem to depict the limits of the sovereign seas!
This post was updated in 2024 by consolidating an unpublished 2011 trip report into it. I really didn't know how to blog back then! I also added my 2013 Big Day birding list, so it should actually be an interesting read, if you're a birder.
I’m not that much of a birder, but I do like to take on a birding challenge once in a while. I used to recognize fewer than 20 species of birds, but now it’s somewhere between 50–80.
Two years ago, in 2011, I took my first trip to Point Pelee National Park, where thousands of humans flock to see millions of migrants come in at this time of year (between April and June for the northward journey, and again around September for the southward).
Point Pelee is the southernmost part of Canada. It is the heart of Carolinian Canada, representative of an endangered ecotone — a region of similar ecology, with populations of hallmark species that interact in an ecological community. Much of the Carolinian and Mixed broadleaf forest in Canada has been needlessly destroyed by agriculture and urban development. The swath of land between Windsor and Toronto — with pockets all the way to Montreal — is heavily populated and what remains of this ecotone are only small patches and vestiges.
Canada’s 42nd parallel (42º N on the map), the furthest south we go!
I submitted a trip report for a newsletter, and I’m free to share it with you:
This is a long-running “lifestyle” blog about the pleasures of living like a farm kid in an urban context. There’s a big focus on ecology and wildlife because this has brought me joy – and this is also the greatest potential we have of restoring some balance to nature where we live.
I write practical content for people to do little projects that basically make things beautiful, but also support climate readiness (energy efficiency, heat reduction, drought tolerance, flood prevention, and more). I’m a relentlless promoter of having a live-and-let-live attitude towards biodiversity.
Comments and questions are welcome! And if you’re anywhere near the Montreal region, you can also use my “Rewilding” service to landscape your property using native plants, convert to a green driveway, and prevent your windows from killing birds.
