Harvesting

Harvesting- ahhh, it's that time of year again!

In our neighborhood it's very common to have fruit trees and gardens. We're no different- actually we are a little different. Many of our neighbors are older Italians who use their entire yard as a garden. We, on the other hand, only use a small section for a garden.

We do however have a fig tree in one corner, grape vines lining the fence and a small plot used for tomato plants.

Here are some images of the today's harvesting.

First, the tomatoes:

 We love cherry tomatoes and plant a variety of different colors. They make for such colorful salads.

Now for a very special little tomato. The pizzo tomato, also known as the vesuvio tomato, is our very favorite. They are little balls of sweetness. You can recognize this little fella by it's little point, it's almost heart shaped. Perfect to eat as snacks and my husband loves to make tomato sauce with them because there's no bitterness- just sweetness!

Second, the grapes:

 Not much to say about these- just that they're delicious! Next year I'd like to plant a dark grape vine.


Third, the figs:
Check out our fig tree:

You can see that some have ripened but many have not. Hopefully the weather will cooperate so they can continue to ripen.

 From what I hear, figs have a lot of sugar. But they are just so darn good!! I can't resist!

For those of you scratching your head and thinking "figs... in Montreal, Canada?" All I can say is "Oh, ya baby- we've got figs!" Fig trees aren't suppose to resist cold Montreal winters but there is a way to work around that. Come mid-October my husband and I dig a massive hole in the yard and tip the tree into the hole. We then cover it with dirt and bags of leaves to protect it from freezing. Come spring with dig it up and stand it up. Don't kid yourself, this is a lot of work! I'll blog about this and show pics in late October.

 Lucky for me I had a little helper to eat up all the falling fruit. He keeps the yard so tidy:)

And after some harvesting comes some re-lax-ation!

Hope you're enjoying some late summer fruit!

Smiles:)
Nancy

Linking to Between Naps on the Porch and other parties on the Link Party Page

Summer finds: chest of drawers and mirror

I'd been searching for a chest of drawers for my living room for some time and finally found one I liked on Kijiji. The chest was being sold by a dealer at the Faubourg Des Antiquités - 15739 de la Caserne, Sainte-Genvieve. The Faubourg is an indoor flea market with a good number of interesting furniture pieces- I do recommend it.

Here's the chest:

and a close up:

Check out the tiger-y wood... grrrrr! 

 I love the way it looks in the room. It has such presence. Much better than before when I only had a tiny end table that was barely visible between the two couches as in the image below.

I hesitated to buy it because under the bright florescent lights at the market it looked really damaged and scratched. But once I cleaned it with some Orange Glow and got it into my living room it looked so rich and the scratches are barely noticeable. Don't underestimate the power of Orange Glow!

 

Some things to keep in mind when buying old furniture:

1. Make sure the piece is solid, meaning the legs are strong.

2. Open and close the drawers to make sure they open and close properly.

3. Check that the wood hasn't been eaten away by bugs- you don't want to bring extra friends into your home. The best way to look for this is by taking out the drawers and examining the interior of both the drawers and the furniture piece itself.

In my case, the chest passed the test so it came home with me.

 

Initially I wanted a painted chest and looked into getting a really damaged piece that I could paint. The inspiration for a painted piece came after I saw this chest by Miss Mustard Seed. I was obsessed with it all summer- love it! There is also this huge trend in blog land with chalk paint furniture and so many of them are just beautiful. But I must admit that as much as I want to be a painted furniture girl, I kept being drawn back to wood.  

Source: google.ca via Dream it..build it..style it! on Pinterest

 

 

Also, the chest came with a mirror that I didn't want (tried to negotiate the chest without the mirror- didn't work) but then discovered that it looks great on my fireplace mantel. I like the curved top part against all the straight lines of the fireplace. So it all worked out in the end.

I paid $200 for both pieces. Not a steal but not too bad either.

Have a restful Labor Day,

Nancy 

 

linking to Between naps on the porch and other link parties on my link party page