Day: April 14, 2026

Really toyed with the idea of not walking at the farm today, but just as I arrived for school drop off the downpour ended, and I thought “Oh what the hell!, why not go?”, and then shortly after the dog and I got out of the car and started our walk another pulse of heavy rains fell, and now my legs, feet, jacket, cuff are all soaked through. But! On a lighter note it is ten degrees out, and so not freezing cold. So I’ll take it. We are currently flirting with a major electrical storm, I can hear the booms, and a lot of rumbling, but I see no flashes overhead, or anywhere in the sky visible from our front room. The lights have flickered, but as of right this second… We still have power.

I do have the option to run my gas powered generator if I need to. It’s funny I ordered the solar generator because of how pricey gasoline has gotten, but we may have our first need of it before the thing arrives! How fun is that. Droll, very droll. Ain’t that always the way of things though?

It is now Tuesday April 14th, we are nearing the middle of month four, and the year is picking up considerable speed. Especially when you consider that the spring, and warmer weather bring with it new outdoor requirements. No snow shoveling, or breaking ice dams, now pulling weeds, cutting the grass, pruning trees, and cleaning the windows, and deck, and just tidying up the exterior of the house. Home ownership, it never ends. Cycle after cycle of cleaning, maintenance, repairs, and replacements, until you die.

With any luck we will get some dry patches in May to be able to plant our Dahlias, and Glad bulbs. I’d like to grow some sweet corn in the backyard this year. I think I’ll give that a whirl. Thought I did it last year, but those turned out to be Soya beans, and I didn’t care for that. No matter. If I had it my way I would plant several more fruit trees in our yard since neither the kids, nor the dog ever bother to play out there. I’d knock down the toddler play structure and add a tiny mixed orchard. Couple peach trees, one more apple, another cherry tree, maybe two pear trees. Give us a real fruit salads worth of home grown deliciousness. One step at a time. We have raspberries, grapes, and strawberries too. I planted Blueberries once, but they are fickle and weak and don’t take a late or early frost all that well. They just straight up die. So I won’t waste my money on those again.

A major reoccurring issue I see at the farm is drainage. The water pools, and flows in weird places because I don’t think the family has done enough to route the water away from the fields well enough. I think most, if not all of the culverts are clogged, and the water backs up and flows across the lanes, and over the grass instead of down the drains, and back toward the river/creek. If we were smart we’d figure out a way to unblock those culverts and the fields would dry out a little quicker because the water wouldn’t pool quite so bad if it had some place to easily go. But I’m no horticulturalist, so what do I know. I split wood, and walk the grounds every day, doesn’t make me a farmer, nor a land management guru.

Buds are on the trees, more so every day. Soon we will see them start to open, and the whole town will look a lot more colourful, and lovely. I may have mentioned this before, but I took some time the other day to cut the suckers off of our two oldest Lilac bushes. I’m hoping that forces the tree to support the old growth portions, and we get actual aromatic blooms that last for more than a single, yet intense, week of purple scented wonder.

If I could locate a Russian Olive I’d put one of those here too. A bit thorny though. But my god do they smell fantastic. I realize Magnolia’s look nice, and smell ok too, but a silvery, thorn & barb covered Russian Olive smells so much better. At least to me. Reminds me of cutting grass in Brampton back in the early 2000’s.

I noticed some pretty sizeable puddles in the street out front of my house this morning. So I uncovered three storm drains after I got home from our very wet walk. And wouldn’t you know, 5 minutes later, no more puddles. That’s what I call a job well done. Ha.