July Wedding

The snow is here to stay (or so it seems) so it is now time to get into the winter slowdown and start relaxing for a month or two.  We have been busy putting together our plant wish list and we are super excited to see all the new blooms we will have this summer, along with the tried and true workhorses that never disappoint. The seed catalogues seem to take take forever to arrive and we have only received a couple so far.  Hope there will be lots of new varieties of cut flowers available.

We had a great day at the Collectively Green Holiday Sale on Saturday.  Thanks to everyone whom came out and supported everyone participating.  Enjoy the bird houses and bird feeders Pat created for the sale.  Hope they bring you countless hours of enjoyment observing the birds.

The following pictures are of Keltie and Joshua`s wedding.  The flowers traveled to Yorkton at the end of July.  Photos were all taken by Tracy Keretesh, unless otherwise noted.  Thanks again Keltie and Joshua for supporting local and your positive comments.  Glad you enjoyed the flowers.  We had fun creating them for you.

Photo taken by Mandy Maier

This is my favourite.

Beautiful ladies.

Bouts and corsages.

Photo taken by Mistik Acres.

Photo taken by Misitk Acres

All the flowers ready for delivery.

Photo taken by Mistik Acres.

Holiday Sale

We are participating in our first ever Holiday Sale, The Collectively Green Holiday Sale.  We participated in the first ever Collectively Green Sale in Spring of 2013, and the organizers decided to coordinate a Holiday Sale, so we really could not resist in supporting and participating in this fantastic concept.  All items for sale are one of a kind which have been recycled, upcycled, ethically produced, earth friendly and in our case naturally grown.  The sale takes place on 

Saturday Nov 16th from 10:00-6:00 at the Grace Westminster Church 505 10th St. East.

Pat has been busy building birdhouses and birdfeeders from recycled wood that once were used for corrals.  The birds are an important part of our environment at the farm as they play a vital role in keeping the insect populations in check.  Another very important creature for insect control are bats and Pat will have his cedar bat houses on display for purchase.  We are making bird seed feeders in various shapes that you hang in your trees to attract the birds to your yard this winter.  We really enjoy observing the birds.

Dried flowers, packaged dried culinary herbs grown by us, Mistik Acres home grown salsa, pine door swags and red willow for holiday decorating, will be available for purchase.

There is a Silent Auction taking place with fabulous items up for grabs with all proceeds going to the Saskatoon Food Bank.

Dried flower bunches

Advertising our naturally grown fresh flowers for weddings.

Please join us this weekend and support local.

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.

Memories of Spring.

Wanted to share a few photos we took of our adventures in the Springtime with our favourite people, which did not include working in the gardens.

Splashing in the puddles.

Looking for water bugs in the sloughs in the pasture.

Each one of the children filled their boots with water throughout 

the day.  Part of the adventure!

All that hunting works up an appetite, so we had a picnic in 

the pasture.  It was a beautiful day.  There was still snow around but it was very warm.

Climbing on the straw bales.

Kristan absolutely loved the baby chicks.

She spent as much time with them as she possibly could.

Having a swing.

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.

Walk through the gardens.

A walk through the gardens in no particular order at the beginning of August.

Variety of plants and sunflowers in the background.

Corn and cucumbers and Pygmy Amaranthus.

Love Grass

Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate

Bottom to top of the Valley Garden.

Zinnias

One of the Dahlia Patches

Jomando Dahlia

The Lily Patch

Field Garden

Cosmos Patch

Catch up!

July has just vanished, poof, into thin air.  Not sure how that happened, but we are into August already and that means the growing season has about a month left.  The annual flowers are behind in their blooming.  The Sweet Peas are just starting to produce with a bit of vigor and the Dahlias are beginning to show us multiple blooms.  The peony season was a huge success and I am planning on adding some new varieties to my inventory, including a few more of the Itoh Bartzella pictured below.

The pictures below are of a couple of weddings we provided flowers for, at the end of July.

Below is our display at the Saskatoon Farmers Market.  Vibrant colour and lots of selection. 

Other happenings at the farm include a successful chicken raising venture.  All the birds did well and the butchering process went well, but not without a few hiccups. The chicken plucker machine broke down just as we were starting a full day of butchering, so we plucked them all by hand.