The Elderberries are in full bloom at home now, I have asked DH to dry me at least nine trays worth of flowers and then put them in glass jar in the dark for later use, these are amazing fresh in gooseberry/elderflower pie. The flowers are also excellent dried in homemade tea’s.
Toad update, looks like there are at least three different aged tadpoles in there for sure, the oldest have grown legs and are climbing the sides of the trough and also up the wood post, and leaving for the big wide world of the farm yard, others are just starting to get their changes and others still are very young.. The little turtle is currently nicknamed Bright Eye’s and was stopped sunning itself on the log, as it turned out, moving them was a very worth while effort, as the high heat dried the mini-pond and anything not moved, died from the heat/lack of water.. but this way, several hundred (300 to 500) or so more little toads have a chance of developing to age and spending their summer/fall eating lots and lots of bugs in my garden/food forest area’s..
I have been told that the garden grows by leaps and bounds, my Dh has spent the last two days, weeding, mulching, mowing and getting the last of the seeds for june planted, in before they say that the farm will be getting four to five days of rain.. I have been told that our corn came up with about a 90% rate, that we have tons of blooms on the pepper plants and lots of tomato’s and blooms on the plants, that everything is doing well..
I on the other hand, got out to dad’s farm, (that big hill and that flat land with the outbuildings is his place :), where there was a little time on the quad, a bit of work with bare wire, some gate building, and I got to check out a few of his new toys!
What a sweet Machine!
But of course, I also checked out what was growing and what stage it was at, here are his saskatoons by the edge of his lawn.. Then on the way home, stopped and got a as always to short visit in with Kodi and family, still it was great to see them..
Just another Day on the Farm 
That’s a wompin’ big Elderberry bush and really nice to see it loaded with bloom (‘specially if apples are a washout this year): Really glad to hear about the toads and Bright Eyes.
What a view at your Dad’s place, eh? Awesome!! And you got to use his welder? Cool!! (Definately on my “bucket list”: )
I’m envious. I still haven’t found anyone with an elderberry plant.
If you go out for a drive right now (and take FarmGal’s photo with you; ) you’ll see them growing all over the place on the sideroads with flower clusters the size of your hand!
I agree with deb, check the ditch lines as you drive, they are everywhere where I live on the roads, you just need to spot them and now is the time, because once they go to fruit, they fade into the green..
It must be a good year for Elderberries……and one of my apple trees is overloaded with cherry-size apples.
I’m glad you’re having a great time out west…
Good for you on the apple tree, I am sad to say that despite what I thought was a good start, Dh tells me that on my one picking tree, I only have two apples, thankfully, I have a number of tree’s to pick at, here is hoping they do better LOL
Elderberries are on my to-learn-about list, so it’s interesting to see you mention them. One thing I’ve been wondering about though, you keep an on going tally of year to year harvest… How do you figure out how many pounds you’ve harvested or put up?
I weigh them on a scale before processing or depending after some minor processing, Example, corn after its been shucked and cut off the cob, but with potato’s its just into the tub (weight the tub first) and then straight math. Its a huge pain and I can’t see myself doing it in as much detail as I have been forever but its good to do for a few years to get a overall feel for what each row of x or y tends to produce at our farm, in our garden, I don’t want to rely on charts, based on number from god knows where, some things my garden outproduces hugely, other things are close and other things yet are still far under-producing according to the “books” and goverment “stats”
Put up is in a way easier, because you know how many cups of what takes per pint or quart jar, but I want to include fresh eating and how much I grow and use for animal feed as well, so need to do the weigh outs..
Just looking at your Dad’s vista again… Was that (or is it still?) a river valley long time ago; and, I’m guessing where you (or the photographer) were standing is on the opposite “bank”?
Yes, dad’s place is in a southern alberta coulee, there is still a winding creak flowing though, and the whole area is filled with coal seams..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulee