Friday Favourites: Gardens, Bees, and Jam

 

A Rose from Government House - no names were provided

I love summer at home. Every day I wander through my garden to see what's blooming, where buds are forming, and how much everything is growing. I pull a few weeds, clip dead flowers, and encourage the vegetables to grow well. A few blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries find their way into my mouth. 

For me, the sensation of standing barefoot in the grass, bathed in warm sunlight while savouring the sweetness of a fresh-picked berry is the height of summer luxury. 

We've had some really lovely warm summer days, but today the clouds moved in. The temperature is 10 degrees cooler today than yesterday, not quite 20 degrees. A bit of rain has fallen and the ground welcomes it. I am glad for a sweater and socks.  

Yesterday I met with a cousin visiting from afar and we strolled through the gardens at Government House, home to our Lieutenant Governor, the King's representative here in British Columbia. The gardens are open to the public. There are ponds, vistas across the Strait, two formal rose gardens, and several areas with more casual plantings. 

Tim has taken up beekeeping and the bees arrived a few weeks ago. He's taken courses and belongs to the local beekeeping association, while I absorb tidbits here and there. The bees will live on our daughter's property and her two little ones have named the hives - if you look closely at the photo you'll see one is Dandy and the other is Lion. Clever girls. 

Tim set them up in one spot, but has since decided that they need more sun, so he will move them. I didn't realize that moving bee hives is a big deal. The bees adapt better if they are moved a greater distance than just 20 or 50 feet, unless he moves them just a foot or two over time. So he brought the bees to our garden this week. He sealed the hive at night and set them on the grass, then unsealed the hives early in the morning so the bees could orient themselves. When they first come out in a new location, they orient themselves by flying in loops and circles not too far from the hives before they zoom off looking for food. In a week or so, he'll do the reverse and take them back to the farm where they will re-orient themselves there.

We're replacing our raspberry canes this year, so we don't have many berries of our own. I bought a few to make raspberry jam. Oh, the sweet fruity fragrance of jam cooking! I don't remove the seeds as I prefer them on my toast, but my mother likes to make jelly and removes them all. 

Granddaughter Sadie turned 14 a few weeks ago and she had requested watercolour paints, which we gave to her. Now that school is done, she came over this morning and we played with paints, learning how to mix colours, and use the correct amount of water. We had fun together and the above projects are hers.

Last week was very busy with the book launch and company. Preparing food ahead is something I like to do, and I made this tart/sweet Frozen Lemon Dessert that we all enjoyed. You can find the recipe by clicking on the link.