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Germinating Seeds:

A few weeks back I bought some seeds from Gardens North, about 20 minutes drive from Ottawa. Nice folks, and very knowledge as well. I’ve tried several times now to grow trees and plants from seed, mostly with a lack of success. Eddy at Gardens North guided my seed selection to some easier ones. On Sunday, I finally got around to trying to germinate them.

Mixed Rhododendrons:

I filled a big shallow plastic container with about 2” of peat, vermiculite and perlite, which I moistened, and spread the very tiny seeds on top. I put cling wrap over the container, leaving about 2” of air space over top of the mix. The fact that I’m using a ‘soil-less’ mix will hopefully keep fungus and other problems at bay for a while. I situated the container such that it should get a bit of sun through a southwest window. The hot and humid environment should hopefully stimulate germination.

Cercis Canadensis (Eastern Redbud):

This is a very cool tree, but it’s debatable whether or not it will accept the climate in the Ottawa Area. Apparently the seeds came from a tree that has been growing here for some time, so that is very encouraging.

I scarified the seeds slightly using sandpaper, as per Gardens North’s recommendation. I roughed up the long side, just enough to reveal the layer beneath the external coating. I did four seeds, roughing them up in slightly different amounts.

I put the four seeds into small pots, in a mixture of moistened vermiculite, perlite and peat. I put some cling wrap over the top of the pots. I put two outside, and two in the window. The two outside are sitting in a shallow dish of water.

posted by foran  # 10:41 AM 1 comments

Thursday July 24, 2006: Visit to the Calgary Zoo

Saw a guy wearing this “Never Trust A Hippy” shirt.

posted by foran  # 11:17 AM 2 comments

Tuesday July 18, 2006: Driving the tractor and listening to Grandpa tell stories about blowing things up with dynamite

All night I’m hot and can’t sleep. In the morning Jen is hyper again; not as bad as yesterday, but I just need more sleep….

The lady’s all go into town. I sleep in and then read, hiding out in the bedroom that has become my sanctuary.

While Grandpa is out collecting hay bails with the newly fixed machine, Mr. C. gives me tractor driving 101. The thing had 5 pedals and about 12 levers, but wasn’t too hard to drive. Mr. C. did play a trick on me though. He didn’t tell me how to turn it off. He said, “Go drive it around the field.”, and then he went in the house. I had to get him to come back out and show me the tiny little engine kill button.

In the evening, Grandpa told stories of blowing up rocks, granaries, and in fact, entire hills, with dynamite.

posted by foran  # 11:16 AM 0 comments

Monday July 17, 2006: Work on hay bail machine, and visit to Corner Gas

Jen was awake and fidgety at the crack of dawn, annoyingly disrupting my unusually light sleep. Fortunately, everyone is up early, and she joins them in the kitchen, leaving me to sleep comfortably. As I get older, sleeping somewhere outside of my home becomes more and more of a discomfort.

After breakfast, I go outside to help Jen, Mr. C, and Grandpa working on the bail wagon. It feels good to actually be doing something, rather than sitting around chatting. We change out a tire and a hydraulic hose. Unfortunately I broke one of Grandpa’s sockets. I pointed out that the shiny socket isn’t designed to be used with an impact wrench, but we use it anyway, and sure enough, it first cracks, then later breaks, probably not helped by my inexperience with the big air-compressor driven wrench.

Lunch--sorry “dinner”, as I’m not used to calling my midday meal--is of giant proportions. Nice food, but bland. Roast beef, potatoes, and some vegetables.

This afternoon, Jen’s cousin Adam takes us to the Rolleau, Saskatchewan, aka Dog River, site of the show Corner Gas. I had found the show to be mediocre, until I watched several episodes while feeling lonely and homesick in some country and I can’t remember. The show gave my some much needed comfort. Rolleau, isn’t far from the farm, but again, basically in the middle of nowhere. We’re not allowed into the set. The gas station and the Ruby, appear obviously fake—actually seeing them in person. We catch a glimpse of the character Hank. He gives a brief wave. The rest of the cast in currently in the bar, filming. We go into the police station, which is actually a coffee/souvenir shop. I can’t believe how many other tourists are here. Who wants to drive all this way just to see Corner Gas? The number of people in the town is probably double or triple due to the cast and crew, and our fellow tourists. I buy a “Brent’s shirt” and copy of the 2^nd season DVD set. Normally wouldn’t, but I’m caught up in this strange small town Hollywood place, and the shirt is damn cool.

In the evening, Mrs. C, takes Jen and I out into the pasture in the what she calls, “Blackie”, an old Chevy pickup truck. Our goal is to reunite a sickly starving calf with her bloated mother, who needs to be rid of the excess milk that is causing her swollen “bag” to hang nearly to the ground. If you’re picture the pasture as flat, you are wrong. I’m surprised at the 2-wheel drive pickup’s ability to make it up and down the rocky rolling hills. Although on one occasion, we fail to make it up a hill, and need to back down and try a different route. We never do find the calf. Mrs. C says both calf and mother may die. I worry about their fate while my stomach is full of the roast beef we had at dinner.

posted by foran  # 11:09 AM 1 comments

Sunday July 16, 2006: Drive from out(in)laws residence in Calgary to wife's grandparent's farm in southern Saskatchewan

In rural Saskatchewan, the sign on the grain elevator is what makes the town. They blew up the local grain elevator in the 80’s Jen says. At that point I guess it stopped being a town, now just simply southern Saskatchewan.

As we drove through the Saskatchewan prairies, the scenery a change of pace from the Ontario farmlands where we live, I couldn't help wonder why there were no tress growing anywhere? Jen says the farmers cut them all down. This makes me mad and frustrated. The climate here is not overly conducive to growing trees; almost the exact opposite to where the beautiful California coast redwoods grow. Every tree growing here, fighting honorably against the elements should be considered sacred.

The sunlight falls in an interesting pattern over the undulating hills. The clouds casting their shadows like a camouflage fabric. Upon coming here for the first time, many people are surprised, as I was, to find that much of Saskatchewan is far from flat.

Listening to Miles, on my work laptop: the ‘Brew, Silent Way, on the Corner, and Pangaea. Perfect music for such a trip. Reading: Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland. The author that coined the term ‘generation X’ never fails to provide an interesting book, even if not altogether exciting. Again, the perfect book for being confined to the car on such a road-trip.

The experience of finally reaching the farm is difficult to describe, a mixture of, fear, curiosity and tiredness. There are in fact, not one, but two guns. Although they sit, not in, but propped against the wall, just outside the bathroom. I could see how one could be standing to take a leak, and see some small animal running around the farmyard. Shell casings litter the farmyard, together with the carcasses of several small animals. Also, there are clusters of bullet holes through various things: truck, platic containers, …

I was sternly warned about Grandpa. That he curses a lot, and that his politics were nearly exact opposite from my long-haired neo-hippy attitude. Turns out we got along fine. Over the coming days I told him about my use of chainsaw and other equipment in our forest, as well as my work on cars, and even my experiences welding. I think all of this garnered me some respect.

While I certainly miss the trees, I cannot deny the power of the sunset here as it plays across the breadth of the fields.

Advice from Grandpa, “Don’t shoot a deer that’s runnin’ away from ya. It’s all jelly in the back, you’ll ruin the meat.”

posted by foran  # 9:25 AM 1 comments