Shobacres update

The summer has literally flown by, and we have been incredibly busy throughout. We have made great strides on the acreage, as we have done a lot more bush clearing, had new perimeter drains dug for the house and then had the yard "re-created" so we can re-seed it. We are now well on our way to getting our re-zoning and subdivision done, having had preliminary approval from both districts and our two public meetings proceed without incident. We are now working on the needed approval from the ministry of health re suitability for septic - this involved digging many holes for a "perc" test and doing lots of paperwork. And of course, fee after fee after fee!

Heather's organic garden has been fabulous, as have our fruit trees and my little herb garden. Right now we have harvested literally hundreds of tomatoes, from our 11 plants, with many more still on the vines. We have eaten raspberries, beets, cabbage, beans, zucchini and broccoli all summer, and are now harvesting cucumbers, peppers, corn, spaghetti squash and potatoes along with the tomatoes. Heather has several huge pumpkins awaiting harvest as well. We ate all of our cherries, although I did freeze one bag of them, and are now picking pears, apples and 2 kinds of grapes. I will be making apple and pear sauce to freeze. We also have picked lots of blackberries, as we have no lack of blackberry vines on the acreage! I have several bags of frozen herbs in the freezer, gathered from my two little herb boxes. Heather and I are already planning how to improve next year's garden so we can drastically reduce the weeding and the rabbit damage (they were the only ones who got to eat carrots!)

Of course, along with this come a few issues - rampant weeds, slugs, wood bugs, deer, rabbits and now bears! We have been trying to keep the fruit off the ground, so transported a bunch of rotten windfalls down to the edge of the stream. The idea is to keep the bears from coming up into the orchard, as they reportedly did each fall, and so far it is working. The other issue is disposing of all the brush - we are eagerly awaiting October, when we can start burning again.

Update from the Shocamper

Chuck and I spent a week away from technology – heaven! We spent 6 days in Edmonton (thanks to Mom and Dad for the hospitality and for dog-sitting while Chuck and I worked at the U of A ). We then took off on Aug 30 spending some time at Livingston Creek (Crows Nest pass area), and then heading to Christina Lake, and on to Kelowna for a night in a motel and some much needed laundry. Chuck has been overwhelmed with catching fish, although most are quite small! We spent one night at Roche Lake and another night at Lundborn Lake (both close to Merritt) where the good fishing continuted. I have read several books and done many crosswords (the old fashioned way, on paper!) Chester continues to lie down in the lake or stream and then roll in the dirtiest area he can find, as well as digging giant holes wherever we settle for an hour or two. We did see a bear a short distance away from us at Christina Lake, but he disappeared right away. The weather has been good, and there are very few people camping now, so it is great timing. We also discovered that we get half price camping at the prov parks in BC as Chuck is a geezer ( self-described :-) The only negative note was our boat motor being stolen in the Super 8 parking lot on our last night away from home!