Strawberry Festivals & Rain!!l

Its been a while since we have posted to this blog and thats because we have been swamped!! In more ways than one. The weeds are trying to take over, the strawberries season kicked in and demanded picking, we became shorthanded for help, the rain kept coming and to top it all we had to prepare for the Strawberry festival! Today is another new day and the sun is out and things are looking brighter indeed! We have new help, the weeds are getting under control, its does'nt seem to be raining and the G8, G20 and the Berry Festival are behind us!! Saturday of the festival was rained out and we had to postpone the main event to Sunday. Lots of folks came out and picked all day. The festival was great...lots of pie, cream, hamburgers and fun. Now the Raspberries need picking!! The summer this year is moving very fast indeed!!

Saving turtle eggs, the zoo and a heap of knowledge!

So,we had the privilege of hosting the TO Zoo's "Adopt a Pond" team on the farm today. We all learnt a lot. Here are a few pictures that say it all! It started by a walk-a-bout with Ken to rece the farm for the actual workshop, looked at some turtle nesting sites and deciding that the Big Mama nest needed to be moved because it was in the driveway! Then Erin & Bob from the zoo made a terrific presentation in the barn about habitat, turtles, frogs and such, with visual and actual modles of these wonderful creatures. This was followed by the delicate task of relocating Big Mama's nest to a safer place. All in all an awesome day! Feel
really sorry for you folks that could'nt make it!!!

Painted Turtles, the Zoo and Strawberries

So we have been frantic and busy and trying to catch up to the way spring is progressing! Sooo fast!! All the summer flowers are almost out in bloom (I mean the ones that usually blossom in early July)and the turtles have come come and gone...meaning have crawled out of the swamp, dug their nests, laid their eggs and returned to where they came from....almost 3 weeks earlier than usual. Or so we thought! Tonight we spent time cleaning up around the farm, mowing the lawns etc, as tomorrow is our first big day of the season....the strawberry patch will be open to pick-your-owners and the most importantly the Toronto Zoo is coming to the farm!!! To educate us about wetlands, ponds and the creatures that live in them. So here I was motoring along on the lawn mower and there on the edge of the road in the short grass I spotted a painted turtle laying her eggs. The lawn mower disturbed her and I think she abandoned the nest..which by the way had eggs in it. So we put a bucket, a cage and a stone over it, to protect it from the skunks, coons and even our dogs overnight and hope the folks from the zoo will know what to do. Will keep you posted.