Just Call Me Doctor

Dr. Chokecherry, that is.  Today I played doctor to our favourite chokecherry tree.  The birds love the berries produced by this tree and they make delicious jam.

While waiting with Liam for the school bus, I noticed some black fungus spots had appeared on two of the tree's branches.

Black Knot, caused by the fungus Apiosporina morbosa, is a common disease affecting chokecherry and other trees in the genus Prunus.  These include:

Amur Cherry	Mayday Tree
Apricot	Mongolian Cherry
Black Cherry	Nanking Cherry
Chokecherry	Pin Cherry
Dropmore Cherry	Cultivated Plum
Flowering Almond	Wild Plum
Flowering Plum	Prunus Hybrids
Japanese Plum	Sand Cherry
Korean Cherry	Sour Cherry

We have plum and cherry trees planted nearby so I want to try to keep the Black Knot under control. The most distinguishing symptom of Black Knot is the characteristic black, tar-like swellings that develop on branches of the infected plant. 

To control Black Knot it is recommended to prune out all knot-bearing branches during late fall, winter or very early spring when plants are dormant and knots are easy to see. I cut the infected branches back to the tree trunk and put them into a compost bag. I will put them out for the friendly neighbourhood compost man next week.

Well done, Dr. Chokecherry. 

Reference:

Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.  (2003). Management of Black Knot.  Retrieved from: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq7622?opendocument

What?!  Did you think I had actually finished my doctorate?

You Looking for Eggs? How About Some Poop Instead?

Charlie may be uncertain about how she feels about the impending cold weather.  The chickens are not.  They have gone on strike.  No eggs yesterday.  Not a single one.  Instead, when I stuck my (thankfully gloved) hand inside the nest I found - you guessed it - a big pile of poop.  In every nest! What a way to protest their living conditions.

Does this look like eggs or poop to you? 
Poop.  Definitely poop.

 I think someone needs to remind them that we live in Canada.  It is not my fault that it is freezing out!

We Have a Logo!

It is a very exciting day on the farm.  Thanks to Charlie P.'s trademark ears and the creative genius of Mr. Steve Little (logo maker extraordinaire), we finally have a farm logo.  Watch out - now I am going to brand everything in sight.  Woohoo!

Boozy Cake you say?

Guest post by Ian today....

Signs the holidays are here:

- Parades

- Snow

- Poinsettias & Panettone in the grocery stores

- Krystal complaining about fruitcakes

- Ian eating fruitcakes (and Panettone).

In the spirit, I read something about making fruitcake, and dug up a few recipes.  Found one I kinda liked, but then decided it was terrible and went with another (more specific) recipe.

Surprised when I saw the candied fruit ingredients cost 40 bucks, but the realized I had weighed in KG, and so I had a double recipe.  Perfect!  More for me!

Bulk Barn was next to the LCBO, how convenient, so I could pick up some bourbon for the cakes.  Bought a bottle of Bulleit as I've heard it's good value for money -- little did I know, i wouldn't really have any left for drinking!  That's another 40 bucks into these cakes.  A little christmas cheer is priceless right?

Well, fruit needed soaking in bourbon, and then creaming butter, sugar, eggs, dry ingredients together, mix in some espresso and molasses and you've got yourself some cakes!  Finally, wrap in cheesecloth soaked in the good stuff and let it sit.  and sit.  and sit.  Longer is better.

I even had some help!  Liam was measuring out the Bourbon and giving it good sniffs to know if it was "good enough".

Bring on the holidays!

For the recipe, click HERE

A Beautiful Snowy Afternoon

As predicted, we got our first snowfall overnight.  Upon seeing the snow, Seamus screamed, "LOOK!  LOOK!  Winter is here!"  Liam responded with, "Great.  Can we get our Christmas tree today?"  He accepted the answer of "No, not yet." more gracefully than I expected.

It is a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon on the farm.

Charlie is undecided about her feelings on the change in weather. 
On one hand, there are no more annoying flies or mosquitoes. 
On the other, it is COLD out!  

Deer Sandy, Will You Be My Slipper?

We named our deer Sandy.

After receiving the call from Don's Meat Market in Almonte this week, Ian and Seamus headed down to bring her home.

I was prepared for a freezer full of deer meat.

What I did not expect was to bump into Sandy's hide drying out in our garage.

Ian is planning to tan it himself.  Maybe he will make me a new pair of slippers for Christmas?  My lambies are falling apart.

Christmas is On the Way!

With the Christmas season right around the corner, we began our festive preparations by attending the Ottawa Help Santa Toy Parade.  This is a family tradition and a great way to kick start the holiday cheer. We even got a few snow flakes just before Santa arrived.

The boys enjoyed the parade more this year than ever before.  Seamus gave every big truck a standing ovation.  He also loved the Ontario PC Party float.  Given his left-leaning parents, this was a bit of a surprise but I suppose being politically active of any stripe is better than being apathetic. haha

The boys cleaned up on candy canes.  They were just so cute - no one could resist.  What a haul!

After the parade, we headed to Bulk Barn to ferret out supplies for Ian to make homemade fruitcake. 

We then made a quick stop at Laura Secord to pick up our Advent calendars - a holiday necessity!  Last year they sold out quickly so I made sure not to miss out this year.

Tonight we are scheduled to get our first significant snowfall as well. What a great beginning to the holiday season.