Hey Dads!
May 6, 2024 – Hey Dads! What do we start thinking about this time of year? Summer, warmth, BBQ out on the porch…and gardens. Over the years we’ve had some wins and losses out in the garden. I think the wins have out-done the losses. Since we moved to Saskatchewan last fall I’ve been asking some of the locals about growing gardens around here. There’s two key differences between southern Saskatchewan and Central Ontario. Wind and ticks.
One of the main differences is wind. I’ve learned that there is basically no wind in Ontario. None. In the prairies there is wind. All the wind lives in the prairies. People have even warned me that our garden could blow away. If nothing holds the soil in place it takes to the skies. I saw evidence of that this weekend when the kids were helping me in the garden.
In the fall we plowed up a big chunk of our yard for our garden. As a result of that there’s lots of grass clumps in the garden. I had a crew of three kids raking out there this weekend. We took a big pile of rakes out to the garden and the conflict began. Who gets to use which rake? I just bought a couple brand new rakes so they were very popular with the young’uns. Eventually we sorted it out and raking began. Every time they raked up some of the grass, some of the soil would blow away. It wasn’t long before there was soil in their eyes, ears, and all the places. Our 3-year-old daughter, Mabel, thought it was a good idea to wear a dress and white tights out to the garden. I didn’t pay much attention to her attire until I noticed her previously-white tights a little while later. Playing in dirt while it blows in the wind turned them a nice shade of browny-black.
The second thing we’ve discovered in the Saskatchewan spring is blood-sucking ticks. I think we’ve counted around 10 ticks on people in our house in the first few weeks of spring. A friend of ours said she’s counted 14 so we’re not doing too bad. Most ticks have just been walking on people but a couple were actually biting. No bueno. My patient wife is not very happy about this at all. We’ve learned a lot about ticks. There’s an online tick reporting service where you can submit pictures and they’ll tell you if you’re going to die or not. So far none of the ticks we’ve hosted have been of the dangerous variety. I haven’t decided which is worse – Springwater mosquitoes or Saskatchewan ticks. What do you think?
But even with the wind and the ticks we’re looking forward to getting seeds in the ground. We will find out what kind of deer and rabbit prevention we’ll have to take soon enough. The kids are playing in the dirt. The ticks are playing on the kids. Life doesn’t get much better, does it? Time flies, dad. Make every moment count. Even the windy, ticky ones.
Jason Weening will soon be planting seeds to feed his 10 kids and one patient wife. Check out his podcast at Heydads.ca.
