September Wedding

I hope you will enjoy these summery pictures of Amanda & Deanna's wedding that took place September 2013.  We thoroughly enjoyed creating the bright colourful arrangements for them.  

Amanda and Deanna drove out to the farm a week before their wedding and we took a tour of all the gardens, checking out the different flowers and colours.  It really is a unique experience to walk through gardens and choose the flowers to be used on your wedding day.  They were both drawn to the bold bright colours of late summer, orange, burgundy, and deep pink.

Beautiful!

They chose Dahlias as their focal flowers and we used Scabiosa, Black Knight Queen Annes Lace, Zinnias and Ageratum as the secondary and fillers. 

The Bridesmaids bouquets included Rudbeckia, Dianthus, Celosia, Zinnia, couple of Dahlias, Ageratum, Black Knight, and Bachelor buttons.

 Amanda fell in love with the blue Bachelor Buttons so we used several stems of those in her bouquet and included at least one or two in Deanna's.

The photographer, Amanda Smith, captured the fun everyone was having. 

Congratulations Deanna and Amanda.  Thank you for choosing us to be a part of your fabulous day.

All photo credits, Amanda Smith.

Photo updates of early summer.

The fall cleanup is progressing very nicely with the warm days we have had over the last month.  Today we dug the carrots and parsnips, and the leeks and beets were harvested a few days ago, so now everything is out of the gardens. All the plant material has been shredded and incorporated back into the soil.  We wanted to save some of the dahlias tubers this year, so we dug out about 50 tubers and they are packed in peat moss in boxes and will be stored in our cold room for the winter. Will check the tubers monthly for signs of decay and dryness and will remove any rotting tubers and add moisture to the peat moss if the tubers start shriveling and drying out.  

Blue Wild Indigo

Baptisia australis

This Fall we added more plants to our inventory.  Great greenery cuts all summer and wonderful cut flowers in late Spring, early Summer.

 

Angelica, tall stately biennial.

This plant attracts beneficial insects, which balances out the not so beneficial insects.

Saskatoon Farmers Market display in late Spring.

Bouquet includes Rudbeckia, Sage, Asiatic lily, Sea Holly, Ribbon Grass, Buplerum and Heliopsis.

Bouquet includes Flax, Ranunculus, Dahlia, Veronica, Black Ammi, Foxglove and Orlaya.

Bouquet includes Black Out Asiatic Lily, Rudbeckia, Delphinium, Sage, and Echinops.

Bouquet includes Dahlias, Ranunculus, Poppy pods, Yarrow, Calendula and Asiatic Lily.

Fall already????

October already....we have been really behind in posts this summer.  It was an incredibly busy summer for us, but I did take photos throughout the summer of the blooms and wedding flowers etc., so will do a recap for next few months of what went on at the farm.
But as of now we are cleaning up the gardens.  Everything froze, or most everything, so we can start the cleanup, seed saving and bulb and tuber saving.  We are also processing the tomato crop into salsa, sauce, tomato jam and canned tomatoes.  The horseradish digging has also started and as I write Pat is at the sink peeling the horseradish root so he can grind it to pack in jars.

Ranunculus

Had a great crop this year.  Will try again next year

and hope the weather will cooperate again.

                                      

Assorted bouquets for the market

More flowers for the market

Elk near the yard.  This is a rare sighting as we hardly ever see

them up close.

Love this photo!  The Delphinium harvest.

Along with Max the resident dog.

The birds have pretty much all left the farm now.  We have Northern Flickers, Robins, Doves, Hawks, and the birds that stay around all winter.  We have been taking daily bike rides to the slough about a mile from here with Max.  There is a pair of beavers that have taken up residence and we take a daily run to checkout what they are doing.  

We are at the Saskatoon Farmers Market this weekend and the tables will be overflowing once again.  There will be Horseradish, Salsa, made with ingredients grown on our soil, dried herbs, pumpkins, squash, hot peppers, dried flowers, a few succulents and thirteen different colours of Asiatic Lily bulbs that are ready for planting.  Fall is the best time of year for bulb planting. 

Dried flower bouquet

Cardoon bloom.  First year they have ever produced a bud and they have not succumbed to the frost.

Collectively Green Sale and Celebration

The planting season is well underway.  We have received all of our plant, tuber and bulb orders and all are planted.  Everything is starting to peek out of the soil and reaching for the light.  We moved a few plants out to the greenhouse, but not quite comfortable in moving all the plants out to the greenhouses yet, for a few reasons.  The first one being is that there is still three feet of snow we have to walk through to get to the greenhouse, the night time temperatures are still very cold, and one of the greenhouse's is not accessible due to the snow accumulation surrounding it.  

I have decided to ignore the situation with the snow still being here.  Focusing on seeding and caring for the plants.  It is what it is and we will work through any issues that arise because of it.  The snow will melt and we will have Spring and the perennials will show up....I hope.

Asiatic Lily bulbs planted in crates.

We will have fresh cut lilies in June.

Shelves of Dahlia tubers planted a week ago.

As of today the shelves are 75% empty, which means they have germinated and are now under the grow lights.  All of our dahlia tuber stock looked fantastic this year.  Can't wait to see the new colours we are trialing this year.

Dianthus Amazon Neon Series, my favourite new flower.  Grew it for the first time last year.  Started by seed, germination rate is almost 100%, not bothered by pests, long stems, and the colours of the flowers are deep, rich pinks and purples.  Mid season bloomer.

2012 garden photo

We are gearing up for a busy Spring.  It all kicks off this weekend with a celebration of Earth Week.  We were invited to join a sale and celebration called Collectively Green.  It takes place April 27th from 10:00am to 5:00pm at the Grace-Westminister United Church 505 10th St Saskatoon.  It is being described as a market where all products are planet friendly, organic, natural, reclaimed, recycled, upcycled, fair trade or used; along with great food, fabulous musicians and free admisssion.  Children's entertainers take the stage at 11:00 am and the entertainment continues all afternoon.   Really looking forward to this celebration and we feel honored to be asked to participate in this event.  Stop by and check out all the unique items, listen to some local talent and enjoy some great snacks.  Check out the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=238817839590936&set=a.226300750842645.1073741828.226277060845014&type=1 

Byproduct of my Floral Design class.

Spring.......

This is Spring right now at the farm.  The last storm we had was basically high winds, and it created these wonderful snow sculptures in the open fields and bluffs.  I tried to capture the beauty but the pictures really don't do it justice.

My snow shoe tracks.  

Not many animal tracks anywhere.

Snow accumulated in our shelterbelt.

Snow sculpture.

Won't be accessing this greenhouse anytime soon.

I started a Floral Design class last week, Floral Design II at the Saskatoon Horticulture School.

This is my creation from the class.

Pussy Willow we harvested for sales at the Saskatoon Farmers Market Easter Saturday.

We are in full Spring mode, planting seeds, bulbs, tubers and transplanting perennials into larger containers, we started in January and February.  We will continually seed till a couple of weeks prior to June 1st.  We usually wait till the first week in June before we transplant any frost tender annuals and perennials.

We received our first shipment of dahila tubers yesterday.  They came from Ferncliff Gardens in Mission, BC and they all look great.  I ordered from a couple of new suppliers this year.  The other supplier is Sid's Dahlias from Nova Scotia.  Really looking forward to trying new colours that I am not able to access through the wholesalers.  Will try propagating the dahlias to increase my volume.

We have been fielding a lot of Wedding Flower inquiries and have several weekends completely booked this Summer.  If you or anyone you know is looking for local, sustainable wedding flowers please contact us.  We may grow just what you are looking for.

We have a lot of new and exciting things we are growing, raising and participating in this year.  Stay tuned for future updates.

Happy Spring and enjoy the sunshine.

Raspberries

The raspberry patch is in full colour right now with berries at all different stages of ripening.  We really enjoy fresh raspberries, but our most enjoyable is chocolate and raspberries.  I want to share a recipe with you that we make every year at raspberry harvest.  I tore it out of a magazine more than ten years ago and still have the tattered page.
Chocolate-Raspberry Streusel Bars
Base:
1/2 cup butter softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 ounces of semi sweet/bittersweet chocolate melted
1 & 3/4 cups all purpose flour
With electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar (I use less sugar).  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Add melted chocolate (I use fair trade chocolate) and mix until well blended.  Stir in flour.  Pat evenly into an ungreased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.  Bake at 325F for 15 minutes.

Topping:
1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup raspberry jam or fresh/frozen raspberries
Mix together flour and sugar (I use less sugar).  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Spread jam over base.  (I use 1-2 cups of fresh or frozen raspberries with a little sugar, that have been cooked with cornstarch to thicken.)  Sprinkle with topping.  Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
I prefer using fresh or frozen raspberries instead of jam in this recipe.  Enjoy!

This year's growing conditions have been unlike anything we have ever experienced.  The hot humid conditions have challenged a lot of plants and yet some plants are thriving.  Our tomatoes are not producing much fruit at all.  We have had a few cherry tomatoes ripen but usually those particular plants are loaded with fruit, but not this year.  The pepper plants are not producing and in some cases the blossoms are rotting off.  Everything seems to be later in maturity.  The Dahlias are usually full of blooms by the end of July, but their production has probably been cut in half.  The sweet peas are not as productive and some of my Godetia plants are dying along with a few other things.  Have been noticing a few annual flowering plants infected with Asters Yellow disease already, where in past years it showed up later in August.  The Yarrow is spectacular and the Monkshoods are striking.  The delphiniums were fabulous with huge flower spikes and the Globe Thistles are a beautiful shimmering blue.  The colours of all the flowers are very vibrant, but in most cases the bloom count is down.

Pink corn

Today we will be harvesting onions, potatoes, beets, and raspberries for the market.  The flowers available this week will be lilies, gladiolas, globe thistle, delphinium, sweet peas, rudbeckia, and lots more.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Wow what a fabulous week it has been.  We are just amazed at the low wind speeds accompanying the hot weather this week.  I do not recall having this many days in a row with no wind and yes, wouldn't it be nice if we had wind with these temperatures.  Yes, yes I know, I will stop this nonsense blubber and enjoy the warm weather.  Just think of winter, when it's hot and humid and we may appreciate it a lot more, I keep telling myself.  This week we are busy weeding and then laying the mulch in the gardens.  We have one more garden to do and it is the biggest, so a lot of work ahead.  Due to the warm temperatures we have been rising early and working till noon and then staying out of the heat till after supper.
Some of the plants are growing so much this week.  There is a lot of moisture in the soil, so in combination with the mulch the soil stays cool and their is no evaporation of the moisture.
There are so many flowers that are starting to bloom.  We will have lots of different things this weekend at the Saskatoon Farmers Market.  There will be Dahlias, Echinops, Rudbckia, Heliopsis, Lilies, Sweet Peas, Sweet William, Cosmos, Love Grass, Delphinium and many more.  We will have ready made bouquets but we will also have an assortment of flowers for people to create their own bouquets.  We have a lot of customers whom really enjoy putting together various flowers for their vases at home.  Vegetables will include new potatoes, green onions, beet leaves and fresh herbs, dill, mint and cilantro.

Hens & Chicks blooming

The rock garden is so beautiful this year with lots and lots of the Hens and Chicks blooming.

The week of wild weather.

We had another storm roll through here this week which brought lots of wind, about an inch of rain, and left us without power for about 40 hours.  No tornado activity in our area, which we are thankful for.  We pulled out the generator and kept our fridge, freezer and cooler running.  The gardens all fared very well and everything looks very green.

Angelica

The flowers of this biennial attract parasitic wasps which help us control thrips and aphids.

The Monarch butterfly eggs have hatched already and they are busy munching the milkweed plants.  I do not have too many plants and they show growth later in the spring, so there are not a lot of leaves for these little fellas to eat.  Hopefully the plants will start growing with the moisture and warm weather ahead. 

Progress in the garden.

Peonies

The peonies are now being cut so we will have lots of stems at the market on Saturday along with Sweet William, Bellflower, Yarrow and more.  We will also be offering green onions and fresh herbs.

Reflection of the past growing season.

As I write this blog post on the last day of September I find myself reflecting on another growing season that has come to an end, even though the weather feels like summer.  In terms of weather I think this past summer has been one of the best in the last seven years we have been tending to the gardens.  One thing I really noticed this year was the lack of wind.  Most years we usually have lots and lots of days with strong winds, whereby this year has been relatively calm most of the time.  The rains came at the right times and all in all it was a very productive year.  It was a year of a few firsts for us...first year we made large quantities of flower bouquets for sales at the Farmer's Market, which was a huge success.  We would set up Sat morning with a large number of bouquets already made and they would disappear very quickly, so I found myself making bouquets throughout the entire day, so there would be lots of selection for our customers to choose from.  It was the first time we had a picture published in the Western Producer, of our flower display at the Saskatoon Farmer's Market.  Thanks again Mickey.  The picture included in today's blog was also taken by Mickey.
This year was a record year for the amount of weddings we supplied flowers.  They all varied in the quantity and type etc, but we received great feedback from them all.  The following quote is from Krista, whom was married in Regina at the beginning of September.  We created thirty nine centrepieces for their wedding.

"I know I've already thanked you, but I wanted to let you know that the feedback we received on your flowers was out of this world. People couldnt say enough and were fighting to take them home at the end! I've had several friends post pictures on facebook labeling them the "prettiest flowers in the world".  They really added to our already perfect day! My aunt even brought some home to my Grandma in Nova Scotia who is quite sick...on Monday...and said they lasted beautifully and totally brightened her day!" Krista


Another first, we had a bumper crop of Saskatoon berries from a natural stand of berry bushes beside our house.  This year was also a record year for raspberry production, and we will be selling frozen raspberries this fall at the Saskatoon Farmer's Market.  

We are looking forward to next year.

Wedding flowers.

The pictures are bouquets that we created from the flowers we grow naturally here at Mistik Acres.  They are for a wedding in Regina and will be placed in mason jars and used as the table centrepieces.  

The hatchback loaded  and ready to head of to Regina.

Another milestone.

This is the 100th post for us and we wanted to thank everyone for checking in from time to time to read about what is happening at Mistik Acres.  Hope you will continue to visit our blog.
Can you believe this weather????  I am sure you are all thinking this same phrase.  What a fantastic week it has been.  The plants are quite enjoying the warm weather we have been having.  We are making sure they are well watered and they are rewarding us with blooms and vegetables.  We have already received a slight touch of frost in some areas of a couple of the gardens.  Nothing to kill the plants or prevent them from producing their blooms or vegetables.  Will keep our fingers crossed for warm nights for the next few weeks.

We had a celebration of harvest with many of our family members at the farm this past weekend.  Everyone had a tour of the gardens and then enjoyed a meal of harvested vegetables from the garden.  The rest of the week has been one of our busiest weeks, in regards to flower harvesting, so far this year.  We delivered flowers to the city florists twice this week and also supplied dahlias to a bride to be this week.  Today I harvested flowers and put together 39 bouquets for table centerpieces for another wedding in Regina.  Tomorrow we start all over again in preparation for the Farmer's Market on Saturday.  All the flowers are still going strong, responding to cutting and sending out new blooms for us to harvest.
With this warm weather the garlic and onions have dried quickly.  We have cleaned them up and they are ready for sales and winter storage.  We continue to harvest  lots of tomatoes, bumper crop this year.  We will have ripe tomatoes available at the Farmer's Market this Saturday along with horseradish root.  We will wait for cooler temperatures before we make prepared horseradish.

 
We will have a large assortment of ready made bouquets along with our vegetables this weekend at the Farmer's Market.  We are once again offering our succulents, buy one get one free.  We have been selling lots every week, but will continue to offer the sale till they are all gone.
Enjoy the wonderful weather.