Friday sketches and thoughts

I showed my client my antler collection!
We compared them, admired their structure.

When my kids were small manufacturers began to design and produce various tools, games and write books that would teach you:

• how to potty train your child in 3 days
• how to teach your child to read at age 3.

These days they are creating all sorts of Brain Gym exercises for seniors. It is very healthy to pursue various hobbies. Retired, there is much pressure these days to purchase these brain builders, brain boosters, which are purportedly designed to prevent dementia. As if! 

The important thing is to eat balanced meals, mostly plants; exercise body, mind and spirit; get outdoors; play in nature; have some hobbies (blogging, photographing lifers, daycations); volunteer. 

I usually have a daily routine. I find it really helps. First, I post a blog article (usually with a cat beside me!), read on-line news, visit other bloggers who have posted a comment on my blog, exercise, shovel snow/cut grass (as required!), feed the birds, go for a forest walk, brush and play with the cats. It's been so cold (-20 C.), and I think I'm experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder, as I haven't been outside in the sunshine as much. It's a tough time of year for many.

She's painted, and sold,
 hundreds of canes!

I always try to do a sketch at my client's house. He always inspects it, too! His wife was a wonderful folk artist, painting and selling more than 500 canes. No more, as dementia has taken that skill away. He is unconditionally supportive for my silly drawings. He is a thoughtful man.

Our Lanark County fences!

My blog buddy, EGCameraGirl, posted a photo of a scene. I found it inspiring. Her recent photos have been as stark and white as my part of southern Ontario. She has a keen eye. 

Incorporating the veggie garden, and some (feeble) deer and a snowman, it was a peaceful moment of meditation. (Yes, I failed to master meditation! Those mind worms, and that devil on my shoulder, telling me I am making a mistake!)

I used to have to teach art to my elementary students. It was much fun, as most of them were as amateur as I am. There was always a brilliant artist in my classroom. We used them as our inspiration. I think that's what I miss most about my classroom community. 

EGCameraGirl

We were stuck together for a school year, some hell or high water, and we learned together. The gifted, the bullied, the learning disabled, the 'average', and those living in dysfunctional families; all of us were there to make it through the school cycle of the year. We were a team.

EGCameraGirl, for fine photos of southern Ontario.

Visit Paint Party Friday for inspiration.

Good Fences, with Theresa.

Line Fences Act – Tibetan Yaks in Lanark County

Lanark County fence

This highlights an interesting issue, as explained by our former Reeve, Gordon Patterson, when city dwellers move to rural properties. I remember our former North Gower neighbours, we lived on two acres in the country beside their 10-acre hobby farm. Not only did their dogs run loose, once one grabbed an ice cream cone out of my youngest's hand and ate it, on our driveway. But their two horses got loose one night, one was hit by a car, with a horrible wound requiring treatment by the vet.

Friday Fences #21

Good fences

This woman, with a large property, and large Yaks, they've been getting loose. The issues has gotten out of control, and neighbours are taking her to court. As with every issue there are two sides, unlike fences, which have a 'this side' and a 'that side!'

Kralik's Yaks seem to have the same knack for finding holes in our Lanark fences. You see, in Lanark County, with its very shallow soil, you cannot sink deep fence posts. They are evident in the middle photo, below. The clever pioneer Scots came up with various designs, and fencing strategies for various domesticated animals. With all of the big storms, fences fall apart with a big tree falling, and the animals do get loose.

Sheep fence

Patterson tells us that cows have a knack for finding holes in the fence, I bet Yaks are the same. Wouldn't you?! Good rural neighbours would phone the owner in days gone by, or corral them and bring them back. These days, city folks want cottage properties to look like Hollywood mansions, and have to put up fences keeping out deer and the normal flora and fauna that visited the area for years. Mind you, the Yaks are pretty large!

We had to put up a gate, to keep the citiots outs. We didn't mind neighbours popping in, but strangers would drive up our drive, take a gander, and leave. It was creepy for this former Toronto citizen!

Lanark County fence styles

Our 2012 gate - strangers kept driving in!
Scott Dobson create old-style fences!

Patterson has a good attitude, he's been farming in Lanark County for 50 years. The animals get out, you round 'em up. That's what neighbours do. The Line Fences Act requires that rural neighbours maintain fences jointly. If they cannot agree, the government gets involved and tells them what they are going to do.

It has hit the news. Nothing like being infamous!

Yak farmer from Lanark County in court over trespassing herd

Rosemary Kralik's neighbours have been calling police, not her, about loose animals

Rosemary Kralik said when some of her two dozen yaks got loose from her nearly 300 hectares (about ~740 acres) of property in the past, she'd just get a call from her neighbours telling her where she could come pick them up.

• A Guide to the Line Fences Act (July 2014)
• Line Fences ActLink to Ontario's e-laws website

Garden pests or are they just friendly visitors?

cutworm

Voracious appetites

Yummy bluberries

I read an excellent article on-line. Lee Valley Tools publishes a newsletter. They wrote all about gardening better (smarter not harder!), how to avoid pesticides, encouraging beneficial
critters, plants choices, managing environmental conditions, and taking preventative measures.

"Creating a chemical-free garden that's full of biodiversity and in balance with nature is the ultimate goal in my garden. In my opinion, we all stand to gain from gardeners making sound, pesticide-free choices that lead to healthier soil, air and water."

Then there is Butch, who figured out how to
get the lids off off the garbage cans!

Edythe Falconer has been a volunteer with the Master Gardeners of Ontario Inc. since 1999 and with the Friends of the Central Experimental Farm also in Ottawa, Ontario, since 2004. She regularly writes for local newspapers and gardening newsletters and presents for various gardening groups.
Marnie Wright (gardenwright@muskoka.com) is a lifelong gardener, writer and passionate garden photographer. Her Rocksborough Garden, developed over 30 years, is located in Bracebridge, Ontario.

Chipmunks everywhere!

Chicken wire - not just for chickens!
Hopefully these will be pumpkins!

Now, my faithful readers know that it is a battle with the deer, rabbits, lily bugs, who adore hostas, new sumac shoots, as well as my new wee trees. The woman who wants to get rid of the deer around her property (which abuts Murphys Point Park) as they are dangerous to drivers, well, maybe she should just go back to the city! Like those who buy property beside farms and complain about the smell...citiots!

I've learned to love our critters, and while I put out bird seed for birds, I see my plants as food, too. I'm happy to watch the deer. I've learned to protect vulnerable plants, and encourage toads, snakes, and other predators of the mice who chew everything.

This is brilliant stuff!
I ordered it on-line

Lily Bugs

Lily Bug larvae poo and aphids

Lily Bugs

This is a simple solution: Neem Tree Oil. It is sold as 'leaf shine', but it is wonderful for keeping the Lily Bugs off. You mix a capful with warm water and spray it on! It works well, as long as you remember to apply it every five days or so!

You mix it, and spray it on. Otherwise, you can pick the little suckers off and then crush them, but I prefer prevention to that!

Deer in the garden
Truly, you have to learn to live with them. There are 'deer resistant' plants, but come February, saplings are fair game!

Yes, you, Bambi!

For heaven's sake, though, don't put cayenne pepper on gardens. This is a horribly inhumane thing to do. I heard Ed Lawrence, former NCC gardener, make this suggestion on air, a CBC hone-in. I was shocked. Critters get it in their eyes, take it home to babies, and sometimes you just have to let the raccoons rid you of those lawn grubs!

 In a gardening magazine, I read of bullfrogs eating small goldfish in an outdoor pond. They suggested you collect the frogs, kill them, and gather all the eggs they may have laid and destroy those, too. Really. We know that critters like this have compensatory reproduction. They will enter the territory, again, and reproduce. You've landed on their territory, and you'll have to deal with it!

In town, they put flying tape around a new veggie garden.

I did the same thing.
Now, Bambi can leap this, so we'll see what happens!

Bondi Village free range chickens eat bugs!

Bondi Village Fencing
c'mere chickie!

Bondi Village fencing

Deer chopped off my sumac!

More deer damage

But there are blossoms as second growth

She only looks innocent.

Labbit eats everything!

All it takes is a guard cat, though!

The wise gardener uses Deerfly patches!
On the back of my hat, I trapped 5 just getting the newspaper!

Our blessed dragonflies who eat up those bugs.

Please fence me in!

I am preparing a post on the history of fencing in this area. I noticed a couple of distinct styles.
The style, left, is simple, straight and efficient. With a pond, the farm looks delightful.

People know. from our 2nd day here that the cars zip by. Some end up in the ditch. Some pass unsafely. Some have been drinking.

I began walking around our property.

 Over the years, with 4 owners, as far as I can tell, different styles were created. The one below has stones to anchor the fence. It is heavy, and does not go below the ground!

The picket fence at the bottom doesn't keep the deer out of the veggie garden. I have to work on that one! They step over the fence and nibble the bean greens.

Purely decorative!

To the left of the fence is a valley

This: a mishmash.

This pumpkin tried to get away.

I want to put some fence to punctuate the front of our property. I salvaged some from the lot. The rocks are merciless. They are everywhere.

Pretty wide open space

I'll let you know what we do! 

Seeing a man about a fence

Yesterday I posted about our fences. Today, I'm writing about our plans. 

The Perth area, in Lanark County, our new home town, has a very different geology than Muskoka.
[A Short Geological History of Lanark County] This means different gardening style and different foliage. Still a mixed forest, but a range of wetlands, shallow soil, lots of cedar, dead or dying elm trees (Dutch Elm disease, hitting E. Canada in the 40's) and limestone that rears up in protest to its burial. 

Scott Dobson explains his work

Many of the Scots who settled in this region began to farm. Which isn't a difficult thing to do once you claimed your land grant, cleared the land, built a shelter, built fences for livestock, and dug in, so-to-speak. Not so simple a task, of course.

garden elements

The issue with this region is the limestone layers of rock. There is a lot of underlying flat rock in many places. I miss the pinks and grey granite of the Precambrian rock in Central Ontario's Muskoka, but have learned to embrace the beautifully flat slabs that allowed the first homeowners to build, for example, a flagstone-type walk through our front garden.

Our lot #2 is undeveloped and as I walk it I realize how much work went into collecting all of the stones to create our open lawns. Also, how many different types of heritage fence we have.

During the recent Arts Tour, we met a man who builds and repairs split rail fences and creates lawn designs. They are as much art as a brilliant recycling.

Scott Dobson was explaining that there was some competition from these transplanted Scots, to invent a new style of fence to accommodate the shallow soil of this region. In fact, the fence style was patented, hence the term 'patent rail fence'. Farmers battled to profit from their ingenuity.  The fencing is strong and lasts a long time, as well there is no digging into the ground!

Different fence style models

Each domesticated animal needed a different height fence, of course.
 Rather like the publish or perish mindset, patent rail fences were guarded and men like Closs wanted the fame and glory of a 'patent' fence. You needed a permit to build his type of fence. Others, Patton, McUvan, Drafer, also created variations of the split rail classic patented rail fence.

The Eastern White Cedar fence lasts many years. It is resistant to bugs, rot and weather. The perfect medium after farmers cleared the soil and had cedar wood lying around.

If you want to build such a fence, there are directions on-line. Click on the photos and you will download a PDF file. Scott is an expert. We are hiring him, and his crew, to create something for us. We are looking for 150' of fence to finish off our front, and create a landscaping treatment that will fit into the community.

Scott is quite famous in these parts!

Old cedar fence parts valued as pieces of art

By Lynn Saxberg, Postmedia News August 21, 2010

These are heritage pieces all about this land, that reveal the nature of the Scots and Irish that settled here. It has character.

Sheep fencing

fencing allows for the undulating hills

Ye olde farm house

Split-rail fence with four supports