Canada Day at Spiritwood

Relaxing at home after picking strawberries at Rob Wallbridge’s organic Songberry Farm was the order of the day.

The National Capital Region is finally getting the rain it so desperately needed. Lovely to be outdoors as the thunderheads boil overhead, then, as the claps of thunder sound, Whiskey and Crescent – our horses – pretend to be alarmed and gallop about. All very picturesque…

Spent several hours in the garden, with Eric, transplanting seedlings, weeding, spreading mulch. This year we’re trying cedar chips as mulch: the vegetable garden paths as well as raised beds look tidy and growth appears unaffected by the cedar (I have wondered whether the plants would like the cedar). We’ll see, over time, whether the cedar chips are nitrogen stealers; that’s our concern.

As we work, the catbirds, brown thrashers, meadowlarks, bobolinks, ovenbirds and hermit thrushes, as well as ravens, kingfishers, and common snipe are making their songs, and – in the latter’s case – whirrings as the snipe performs its aerial displays.

Happy birthday, Canada! A great way to celebrate, picking berries, nurturing our gardens, here at Spiritwood.