Wow ...and before you know it ,it is May

I/we must apologise for not posting much this month. I/we have been swamped preparing for spring and summer. In addition I am incoming President of the London North Rotary Club so have been very busy learning all of  my duties.
Unfortunately I did miss speaking at FIPT this year to tell you how our year has gone so far. I had to attend a Rotary meeting instead that weekend. I hope Ken was able to answer all of your questions.
The weather has been kind to us indeed and we have much coming up in the gardens already. We have peas, garlic,lettuce, spinach,onions,potatoes,leeks,turnip, the cantelope and tomatoes ,cauliflower,and other veggies are growing happily in the greenhouse.. We have also planted carrots,watermelon and squashes that have not appeared yet
So we have a really good start so far. We are hoping this years gardens actually sustain us through the next winter . So we will be working diligently in our garden beds this summer.
 We are also concentrating on water preservation in a big way this summer, according to many in the know, there may be drought this summer. Now we will know this  for sure in the fall , but to be on the safe side we are not taking any chances. So we have added many new rain barrels. Water or lack of water will be what makes or breaks your food production capabilities.So it is most important . We are not taking any chances this year.
We had a great loss last week. I arrived home from a meeting to find 8 of our beautiful chickens had been killed in the yard. As you know we allow our birds to run free range.Makes for happier chickens and much nicer eggs. We have never had a problem before especially in the daytime. So to arrive home to find such a horror was awful. My beautiful white leghorn rooster who was a favourite or mine died in my arms . I can only assume this was the work of a dog ,because this appeared to be a thrill kill. A thrill kill is when something (generally a small dog)chases the birds until they literally drop dead. They do not eat the kill , they just move on to the next bird to chase.
So we lost our beautiful birds and the guilt was overwhelming.
We have a wonderful friend who has a farm near Orangeville Ontario.She is an expert on chickens . We were fortunate enough that she had extra newly hatched chickens ,so we travelled to her home and picked up more chickens to add to our flock. They are absolutely lovely and Ken finally has his Chanticlairs(sp)
We hope to pick up some ducks and other birds from her in the next couple of weeks. If you either want to learn about chickens or want to buy please ask and I will pass your information on.I have rarely met anyone who knows more about chickens and the breeds ,or is more passionate.Wow .
We found a lovely multi candle mold at an antique shop in our travels . It will make 12 taper candles . Our candle wax pot stays on the wood cook stove all the time so we have wax at the ready to make candles any time .Well I will write more some time this afternoon.I would like to tell you my summary of how this year has gone and what I would like to accomplish this next year. Until then thank you for reading and supporting our little project
Margaret