Here it is nearly the middle of June.  Almost a month since my last writing.  We have been busy with the garden mainly.  Dennis finished the 6 garden boxes plus the herb bed.  I planted them all, plus the flower beds around the house.  So here are a few pictures of the changes made around here:

Above you can see the garden beds.  Around the outside I planted approximately 100 potato plants. The boards are rough 2 x 12 - 20 feet long.  We preserved them with an organic compound called "LifeTime Wood Treatment, made in Canada by Valhalla Wood Preservatives Ltd.  They are located in New Denver, BC.  The sprinkler covers the beds completely in one sweep.

 I gathered up a bunch of stray sunflower seedlings that the birds planted over winter.  I transplanted them to the end of the garden.  If they grow, they will be beautiful to look at from the kitchen window.

This is a picture looking from the east end of the garden towards the house.  

I planted the cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower in cardboard tubes, made from inside toilet paper rolls.  This prevents the cut worms from severing the plant at ground level.  The rolls will disintegrate from the watering eventually.  By then, the plant will have a large stem, too big for cut worms to get through.

Above two photos show the herb bed under construction.  Dennis pulled out the old rotten boards and rescued the remaining mint, sorrel and chives.  They were all pretty scraggly due to the dogs running over them and digging in the bed.  He then tilled the soil prior to building the bed.  Here is the finished product:

 Here is the mint he rescued.  I make mint jelly from this.  It takes a lot of mint so about half the bed is dedicated to mint.

 Sage (above)

 Borage (above)

 Sorrel - very tart and lemony (above)  Good in salads.

 The final product.

 The above two photos show the flower beds on the east side of the house, south east, actually.  Mostly perennials but some annuals thrown in for colour, since this is where the front steps are.

This poor bed needs some work.  I planted a saskatoon bush there last year.  It took really well.  Unfortunately so did a lot of weeds.  Part of this bed needs to be dug up in order to deal with some drainage issues.  Unfortunately, the melting snow runs off the bed towards the house, thus into the basement.  It shouldn't take much to correct it, but it does mean digging up part of the bed.

 Greenhouse - belongs to daughter Susan, and will go back to her this fall.  We're already making plans for a new greenhouse for this spot!  Bigger but not as deluxe!

 Tomatoes, different varieties.

 Cucumbers.

Basil - I love fresh basil.  We eat it all through the summer until freeze up.

Now a few pictures of a few wild flowers growing around the house.  The farm is full of different flowers which I hope to catalogue one day.

 The above two photos show wild arnica growing in our old turkey pen.  We have not raised turkeys for a couple of years now.  Prior to raising turkeys, there was a bit of arnica growing here.  Beautiful, eh?

 A saskatoon that survived the turkeys.  They would try to jump to get the berries.  I would go in and pick them to give to the turkeys.

 More saskatoons on the front lawn, between the house and the lake.  That's Nikko posing for his picture.

 This poor saskatoon bush has survived winter snow plowing, two truck loads of dirt and other equipment abuses!  It is a beautiful bush.

 Here is some false solomon's seal growing around a stump just outside the garden.  This plant smells like Lily of the Valley, only better!  It grows all over the farm.  Just a few stalks of this flower in a vase will fill the whole house with a beautiful perfume.

 More saskatoons between the garden and the lake.

 A close-up of the saskatoon flower.

 This is another survivor!  It was plowed last winter, then drove over with Grant's dump truck when he left the top soil.  Here it is, blooming away, looking great and smelling divine!  Nature is definitely determined to win!

 Another saskatoon and wild rose bush growing around another stump in front of the house.

The above 5 photos are a small pathway I keep mowed between the garden and the lake.  I keep trying to mow more brush down with the lawn mower.  It helps to keep the bugs to a minimum and gives the dogs more areas to explore.  There are saskatoons and arnica growing along here.

 Here is my rhubarb patch.  The rhubarb is not doing that well here.  I don't know why.  We will be building another bed in the garden for the rhubarb and some asparagus.  Dennis will build the bed in the fall when the summer work slows down.

 Here is our red currant and white currant bush.  I got a lot of currants off these bushes last year.  I made jelly but it did not set so I now have a case of currant syrup.  I blended the two varieties as there wasn't enough of either to make a batch.  It tastes great, a bit tart, but did not set.

 Here is our "guest cabin."  It looks a bit hill-billy-ish but it is actually quite comfortable.  It has a queen size bed, and all the comforts of home.  It faces the lake and has its own private beach.  The picture below shows the beach area, taken from the deck of the 5th wheel.  Those are Rhaq's ears lower left.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our yard.  We work a bit each year and things just keep getting better.  We've had a lot of rain this spring so things are lush and green.  A very pleasant time of year.  No bugs yet, to speak of.

Bye for now.