Wow. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted on here.
I don’t even know where to start with an update since 2018.
2019 is mostly a blur. Our last little foster dude was incredibly lovable but also an incredible handful. Between him and Liam (who was four at the time), I was exhausted and burnt out. Like so exhausted and burnt out, there was a constant feeling of heaviness in my chest, and I felt like vomiting most of the time. I used to hide in the bathroom and lock the door so that I could find a moment’s peace.
I acted with Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan in the summer of 2019, and that is the last time I have appeared on stage.
It is so SO hard to be an actor and a parent. It is even harder to be an actor, a parent, and take care of a farm full of animals. So for the sake of everyone’s sanity, I’ve chosen to take a hiatus until Liam is quite a bit older.
And then there’s the pandemic. I don’t even want to write about it, and I’m sure you don’t even want to read about it. I am so done with the pandemic. I will say that the day I was laid off from my job (since I work in an art gallery, and we had to shut down), was the same day that our foster son moved to his Auntie’s house (after living with us for almost two years) and it felt like everything in my life was collapsing into chaos.
Months later, it still feels like utter chaos, but I am back to work now at least. However, we are no longer foster parents (a rant for another post).
So here we are: summer of 2021.
Plantings we made five years ago are now starting to pay off. This is the first year we’ve had a decent haskap harvest.
Liam and I went to pick up our cornish cross chicks, and impulse bought a couple of ducks. I mean, look at those cute faces – could you say no to either of them?
During the first part of the pandemic, when the province was in lockdown, I was home with Liam all day, every day. We spent a lot of time outside, on the land. I learned to identify quite a few plants growing around our place. So far this year, I’ve harvested stinging nettle, yarrow, and wild mint. In the fall, I will harvest some dandelions as well.
I’ve lost count (control?) of how many chickens I have. I hatched out a bunch earlier this spring and the little ones are starting to lay now.
As is the case in many other places, we are struggling through a severe drought at the moment. It didn’t help that we had a heatwave at the end of June, which saw temperatures soar into +40C for four days in a row. The garden is surviving, but everything is ahead of schedule. To that end, I’ve already pulled the onions, garlic will also need to be harvested very soon, and the peas are done and gone. We had a hard frost at the beginning of June that damaged my beans, so I am not holding out hope for a large bean harvest this year. But there will be beets, potatoes, carrots and squash, so not too shabby. I’ve had worse years for sure.
My focus for next year’s garden: weed control. I’m done. I’m just done with the weeds out here. I never had weeds like this in my city garden. A bit of chickweed here and there, maybe some dandelions. Out here, I need a machete to get through these weeds. Thick, copious amounts of lambs’ quarters, common mallow, giant dandelions, and thistles of all varieties. And they grow tall. Taller than the sunflowers. Taller than me.
Next year, I’m going to try the Back to Eden method on half the garden and cover it in mulch (wood or straw – depends on what I can get my hands on). I’m also going to try intensively planted beds instead of rows, and add some more flowers. The flowers have nothing to do with weed control; I just want more flowers.
That’s what’s happening in my little corner of the world at the moment. I hope to write a bit more frequently now that I only have one child and one job. I’ve been pretty active on Instagram the whole time, but I am trying to spend less time on social media and would like to get back to blogging instead. I hope you are surviving these strange times wherever you are in the world.
Until next time,
Jamie
