Fall Fair Sept 16th & 17th!!

Digs Fall Fun Fair and Barn Dance


Plans for the upcoming DIGS Fall Fair (Sept. 16, 17 at the Beacon House) are well underway.

Eight experienced judges have agreed to judge the various categories. All the ribbons have been designed and printed. It's time now to think about your entries.

1. Visual Arts: - best painting/sketch - best photograph
2. Horticulture:-3 vegetables of same size and type - biggest zucchini - 3 fruits
-most unusual vegetable - mixed vase of garden flowers
3. Baking/Preserves: - best pie - best bread - best sweet loaf - best pickle - best jam/jelly/chutney
4. Wines: -best homemade white wine - best homemade red wine
5. Junior Category: - best scarecrow
6. Giant Onions: – single heaviest onion

You may enter as many categories as you wish. Each entry must be accompanied by a $1.00 fee and must be presented at the Beacon House Friday night (Sept. 16) or Saturday (Sept. 17) before 10 am. Judging will take place Saturday morning between 10 am and noon by a panel of highly qualified local judges and ribbons awarded in all categories. The doors of the Beacon House will be open to the general public to view all the entries at 12:00 noon (after the judges have finished evaluating the entries).

The exhibits will remain open Saturday afternoon for viewing by the public. Other activities will take place outside. Also at 12:00 several island vendors will be selling their wares on the back lawn of the Beacon House. Jim H. will be pressing apples and making juice on the back lawn as well. Bring a container and you can take home some fresh apple juice.

On the lower field Veronica, Josephine and Guy will be organizing different races for the kids – sack race, egg and spoon race and three legged race. Outdoor events will start at 2:00pm. On Saturday evening (7 pm)the fall fair “wraps up” with a “barn dance” in the Beacon House featuring a live band complete with a fiddler and a square dance caller. Entry fee is a plate of appetizers for the food table.


Dates:
Friday, Sept. 16 for submission of entries and Saturday, Sept.17 for the public to view entries (from 12:00 noon on), fun and games outside, apple pressing, local crafters selling their wares and a "barn dance" in the evening - all taking place at the Beacon House

As a finale there will be a Barn Dance on Saturday evening starting at 7 pm. (Yee-Haw!)
Admission is a plate of appetizers.
Dress is somewhat farmer-like.
Now is the time to start planning your entry so that you can join in the fun.
Good Luck!

What's up at Digs this week?

Dear Garden Lovers,

Just a quick look at "What's Up?" in the garden.


If you click on the slideshow you can get it to play full screen.

What a lovely place, even in the (welcome) rain! Enjoy!
P.S. Is it just me, or have we got some really good looking veggies?!
Jen

Aug.14th beach minerals

Here is a slide show from August 2010:



What we did today:

This Sunday, Aug.14th at Digs:

Little Diggeroos - Anne M. led the Little Diggers on a geological tour of the beach looking for and identifying various minerals. Totally excellentay!

Weird item of day - Yes, some birds can pierce right through bird-netting with their jet-propelled sharp long beaks. Reports of more birds zooming through like misiles, breaking into the netting, in order to eat berries. Don't doubt it; there have been a number of sightings/witnesses. :>)

Gardener's meet - At this morning's meeting we discussed possible new signage we might need to try and communicate to visitors which beds are NOT TO BE PICKED, because they are family allotments, and belong to the families who work on them

(ie: Please please don't pick family's tomatoes or little digger's giant-onion-contest onions please please!)

Vegetables and fruits that are for people to take will always be put out on the table outside the fence.

New to the Garden? If you need a tour to know where "tasting is encouraged" and where not to pick by accident, come down any Sunday at 10 am or meet with Jane afer 4:30 on M-W-F, and someone will be happy to give you a garden tour.

Harvested some of these today - Bush beans (green/yellow), carrots, (some had split from too much delicious water!) kohlrabi, cucumber, leeks, small onions, dill, and misc. lettuces.

Planted today - Cauliflour and cabbage transplanted into bed no. 1, and winter rye was planted (keep moist) in the x-garlic beds, which are now fallow.
The option still exists to put remay white cloth over the sprouting rye to stop the birds from whooping it up and having a party.....it's the best kind of bird-party-pooper choice, mayhaps. :>)

Other chores - Brussel sprouts got new, doubly attractive stakes, and were tied up to them; tomatoes received some small pruning, and kale and winter lettuce plants were potted up a size.

A fine day for gardening. Thanks to all who come out and get diggy!

Best, Jen

garden maintenance and harvesting ..

for any who are interested .. i will be at the garden monday, wednesday, and friday afternoons, from about 4:30 to 5:30-6:00 .. (just in time for dinner) .. if you would like to join me in maintaining the garden, and checking what's to harvest, please do ..

jane

Drying Fruit & Braiding Garlic

Dear Garden Lovers,

Here are some photos from August 7th, the day that the garlic was braided and the fruit was dehydrated.



To enlarge for fullscreen slideshow, just double click on the pictures, and then choose Full-Screen when you arrive at the web albums.

Brussel sprouts and other cabbage-family members are being moved into their beds.
Note the veggies that are ready for harvest, especially if you love Swiss Chard!

Lots to see and taste in the garden!

Best, Jen

a bed in the park .. tomatoes growing beautifully ..

calendula

i've been slightly remiss in writing about our bed in the park on a 'regular' basis .. however, in spite of this, life goes on .. and tomatoes continue to grow .. i decided that for this post, i will take a more visual approach .. so, here are the tomatoes, and a few companions, as they have grown over the summer ..

from this .. 

to this .. 

to this .. 

and to this .. 

there are many tomatoes forming .. some huge .. some smaller .. and some with ridges .. i think those are the 'polish paste' .. there are even a few beginning to ripen .. mmmm .. can hardly wait to finally pick them .. frank and i shared a small 'early girl' the other day .. she was lovely .. juicy and full of the tomato flavour that only a fresh picked tomato has to offer ..

shiny green plumpness appearing .. 

every two weeks i've fed the tomato plants with a mixture of fish fertilizer and morbloom .. seems to be working .. 

not only that, but the companion marigolds are hearty, vigorous souls that continue to brighten the bed of greens with splashes of yellows, reds, oranges ..

won't be long, though, until these beauties are accompanied by the red hues of ripening globes ..

and, even with being remiss in babbling about the step by step growth of our bed in the park, it doesn't matter, really .. everything just keeps moving along its merry way, to fruition ..