It’s been a few weeks since I posted an update, and while nothing specifically has been going on, it’s been a beautiful start to spring. So I have garden updates, lots of flower pics and some great shots of a pair of mating owls that are here in the city, not too far away!

It’s spring in Vancouver and the wisteria is in full bloom!

Barred Owls in the City

One of Justine’s work colleagues lives about 13-14 blocks south of us, and discovered through their neighbourhood FaceBook group that there is a pair of barred owls mating in a huge willow tree in the local park. So, one evening last week, we decided to head over to see if they were there and if I could get some good shots. We got really lucky!

I think this is my favourite of the photos that I took. The male spent his time between a big cherry tree and the willow, mainly being harassed by a bunch (murder) of crows that was trying to make him go away. But he stayed pretty close to the nesting female.

We suspect that the female is already sitting on eggs, as she is deep in this huge knot hole in the massive willow tree. You can just see her inside the nesting hole.

Close up of the male.

The male started out quite close to ground level, in a cherry tree right along the road. There was a pretty good crowd of people, but he didn’t see too perturbed by the paparazzi.

The crows eventually chased him up into the willow.

I of course took way too many photos, and I honestly tried to keep it down to just a few of the better ones. But here’s a little gallery of some of the better owl pictures.

Galiano Garden Update

We headed over to Galiano as we knew we were not going to be able to get back for a few weeks. Which is a shame, because this is the best time of the year! Everything is in bloom, the garden is starting to sprout and the birds are strating to show up as they migrate. But I do have some updates to share.

I am very excited this year, after three years of waiting, to finally be able to harvest asparagus! It got a bit too big in our absence, but still, this is the year.

Not a huge harvest, but it was really tasty.

The radishes are coming in well.

Justine’s flowers are also starting to really come in.

The other exciting part of spring is the orchard. We planted fairly small fruit trees about 5 years ago, and for various reasons we’ve never really had a harvest. Between deer browsing the trees, drought, late cold snaps, caterpillars, and just the young age, it’s been a bust. But we knew this was an investment for the long term. We’re keeping our fingers crossed this year, as the trees are covered in blossoms! The cherries are already don, but they look great. Here are some pics of the apples and the pears.

On the way to Galiano we were early enough to stop by the nursery near the ferry terminal. The last time we had missed them (they close at 5 pm for some strange reason…). They laways have a great selection of plants, and we needed a couple for the new deck box. But of course, we could not stop with the things we needed - we found some things we wanted as well.