August at Ginty Creek

12-pounding-rainIn a word: wet.  It has been the wettest summer anyone can remember.  The subsequent posts seem to show that we had a lot of sunshine, but that is because we watched the forecast and went on expeditions on the few fine days.  Now, nearly in mid September, we are still waiting for summer at Ginty Creek.

I have published the next four posts in reverse so that they can be read in the correct order.  Firstly thanks to all of you who wrote wondering if I was OK.  I didn’t have time to post as I was simply too busy.  Here follows an account of life at Ginty Creek in August.

Even at the end of July, the leaves were showing a yellowish tinge.  This cannot have been because of drought so who knows why they are turning early.1-yellowish-leavesThe roadsides went brown early, too, but this is mainly because of the copiously flowering grasses.1b-brown-roadsideOne benefit of this extremely wet summer, is that I have hardly needed to water the garden.  All the leafy greens grew huge.  I wanted to dry kale, but I had to wait for a long time before we got enough sun to do it.4-sanjey-spreading-kale-to-dryVolunteer Sanjey is spreading out the kale after it has been blanched.  He also helped me pick the huge crop of soopolallie berries we had this year.  They are now in my freezer.5-soopolallies

6-bowlful-soopolaliesThe driveway flowers peaked.7-driveway-flowersAnd Gentianella amarella bloomed among the grasses.8-gentianella-amarellaI picked the first carrots and salad turnips.
9-first-carrotsThe purple kohl rabi looked gorgeous.10-pink-kohl-rabiA few days before Sanjey was due to leave, I made a quick (rainy) trip to Williams Lake to pick up Tom, a volunteer from England.  On his first day, he and Sanjey shovelled gravel into the truck,14-shovelling-graveland, in the pouring rain, filled some of the potholes in the road.15-filling-potholesWe had another deluge.  Huge washouts appeared in the road.13a-driveway-washoutAnd my house appeared at the end of the rainbow.13-house-at-end-of-rainbowWe had a number of rainbow days.  Here is my neighbour Jade’s picture of one.jades-rainbowSanjey got a ride to town with Jade.  He was going to bus to Vancouver then fly to Whitehorse.  Tom and I snatched a fine afternoon to get my chimney swept.19-sweeping-chimneyTom decided the best way to keep his shirt clean was to take it off.20-removing-shirt

21-sweeping-chimney-3

22-black-handsI made another “quick” trip to Williams Lake, 23-another-trip-to-ws-lkand picked up Alexa from Australia. We processed another batch of kale. I now have enough dried for the winter.24-alexa-picking-kaleAll the peas ripened at once, so now most of them are in the freezer.25-picking-peasThe rain dogged everything we did. The farmer’s market was wet.tatla-farmers-marketA musical evening at Tatlayoko was wet. tatlayokoOne event, at Tatla, was briefly graced by a stunning light display.26a-tatla-eveningAnd now, on the rare occasions that the clouds clear off the mountains, fresh snow dusts the peaks.27-fresh-snowThe following posts show what we managed to fit in between the rain storms.  It was amazing that we were able to find enough good weather.

One thought on “August at Ginty Creek”

  1. You seem to get such wonderful helpers. I’m lucky here on the south coast to let my kale stay on the plants and pick it fresh all winter long. It also gets me started in the spring when the other plants are just starting to grow. The chard is the same way. I dig my potatoes, but can leave the beets and carrots in the ground mounded with extra soil. – Margy
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