Cool Tulip Tour

This morning I went on a great greenhouse tour. Basically on the Dunville/ Wainfleet border, is a cool greenhouse. Nothing like I have ever seen before. In our area, that is hard to come by. I've been in all sorts of greenhouses, either working or touring, and this was definitely new to me.

In Holland over the past years, they have been working on hydroponically growing bulb plants. Apparently, there are only three or four hydroponic tulip growers in Canada. I received a phone call the other night by one of the few operations. We set up an appointment so I could have a tour of the operation. The least I can do is walk away with more knowledge as well as really cool pictures.

The owner walked me through the whole process, from importing the
bulbs, to final shipped product. He has a lot of automation as well, mainly for bunching and packing the final product.

Bulbs come in from Holland, and are stored at a cool enough temp to
keep the bulbs dormant. When they are ready for planting, the bulbs are brought out of the cooler and put on a hopper. The hopper is raised, and the bulbs are gravity fed onto a short conveyor belt. Staff then take the bulbs and set them in crates that are lined with pins. There is a water reservoir built into the tray, so when the bulbs start to push
out roots, they have an ample supply of food.

After the bulbs are planted, they are put back into another cooler until they are ready for forcing in the greenhouse. They are warmed up slightly, to ensure good rooting in cold storage. The rooted plants are now ready to grow. Since they are such a short crop, and not grown during insect season (summer) pesticides are rarely if ever used. This makes for an even more enjoyable atmosphere. And clean throughout.


All the floors are concrete, so disinfecting over the summer is a cinch. Concrete floors also let all excess water out through holes drilled at 1 foot spacings into under drainage. Irrigations in the greenhouse are done by boom sprayer in the growing area, until the plants are moved into the harvesting area. Then it is done by hand. The grower will try to top up the plants before moving over to reduce the amount of hand- watering.

Harvesting is also fast paced. A few criteria must be followed: bloom maturity and stem length are the two key factors. I had the opportunity to talk to some staff for a couple of seconds, then realized I was being a hindrance. He needed another cart to pick into. After harvesting, the tulips, bulbs and all are brought over to the packing line. Two people place the tulips onto a conveyor. They are swept down the line through different stations as they go.

1. placed on the line by 2 people
2. bulbs are cut off by machine, waste is augured into a bin (minimal clean-up)
3. four people pick up the prepped stems and align 10 blooms to the same height
4. bunches are set back onto the next belt, where they are tied together by machine, and bottoms are trimmed to ensure uniform length within each bunch
5. two people sleeve the bunches, and are tied once more to help keep the stems together, as well as to hold the sleeve in place
6. ten bunches of tulips are set into a pail, and off they go. 100 stems per pail.
7. pails may or may not be boxed, dependant on where they are going
   

Space is always maxed out, there isn't any money in empty square footage! I am hoping that the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" will help fill in any blanks, but feel free to ask questions. I'll reply to comments ASAP.

Cut Tulips

Last night I received an odd phone call.

Hold on, lets back it up a little bit.

A couple of weeks ago, we were on a three week layoff at the nursery. I helped my one brother with his truck in the evenings, but most of my time was in the greenhouse.

While I was doing assorted greenhouse jobs, (painting pipes, installing benches, etc.) I ran into another tradesman. Case. He is a professional shading installer straight out of Holland. We got to talking, and we got along great. I told him of my various experience in the flora culture industry, and he told me of his experience in the shady side of it.

Last night I found out that his wife works about 20 minutes away from here, in a greenhouse that produces cut tulips. It turns out, Case told his wife about me, and she in turn talked with her boss. He is looking for a grower. He called me. Tomorrow I have an interview with him just to see what is all involved. I told him right off the bat that I am happy where I currently am, but if the money and incentives are right...

That is all I can really say for now, but be assured, I will post about the results tomorrow. I also plan on taking some pictures. I have never seen a hydroponic tulip farm before! C has her own take on this story. I guess it really does matter what you know, not only who.

Wish me luck!!!!

First Aid Training

This morning I started my 2 day training of First Aid.
The nursery that I work for sent myself and a coworker to maintain enough trained staff in the nursery in case of emergency. (I like to think it's in our best interest, however, I am not sure I would want some {any} of my co-workers to apply CPR on me!!)

Our class started at 8:30 and ran until 4:00. We had a 15 minute break at 9:45.
Lunch time from 11:45 until 12:45.
Break at 2:45.
From 3:00 on, a written test (multiple choice) on what we have learned so far.
If memory serves me right, we left at 3:25.

There were a total of 16 people in my class, and of course some catch on quicker than others. It makes for a longish day. Our instructor is great, though, and has lots of personal experience stories. These people really do save lives.


Today we covered the basics.

• Emergency Scene Management
• Shock
• Choking (Adult)
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Severe Bleeding
• Medical Conditions and
• Wound Care

There is a lot to learn, and I know I won't be a doctor, but I feel better about knowing the first steps. I was even commenting to C a few weeks ago that I would like a refresher course. At least this one was paid for!

Quiet Town?

Last night, at around 1:23am, C heard a "metal crunch, followed by revving engines". I am a sound sleeper so I didn't hear a thing.

This morning I let C sleep in a bit. The kids and I went downstairs so we could play quietly for Mom. About an hour later I came upstairs to start breakfast. I noticed some Hydro
trucks with lights flashing, and our street just west of us closed off. By this time C was up to take over making pancakes. I went outside for some fresh air.

I noticed some tire tracks on our neighbours front lawn.
Being very inquisitive (nosey) I thought I would check out
the whole scene. At this point my next door neighbour came
outside. He wanted a "daytime" view of what he saw last
night.

Pictures from top to bottom:

1. looking east at the intersection the truck came from
2. the truck nicked a phone box, drove up onto the neighbours yard
3. looking at the trajectory, the truck COULD have hit our house and or cars.
   
4. he got hung up on the guide wire on the telephone post after grazing it with his truck. This is when C heard the revving engine. The guy just forced his truck to break through the guide wire.
5. When he broke free, the vehicle was no where near under control. He launched onto the street and fish-tailed a while.
6. his next stop was about six houses west of us. I mean seven posts west of us. He severed this post. By the time I got here, the post had been replaced.
7. the trucks final resting place was on the front lawn of my friends neighbour.

There are a whole lot of things about this incident that rub me the wrong way.
First of all the driver was very intoxicated. Double the limit.
Secondly, according to my neighbour, his wife/girlfriend said "I should have drove". Chances are she wasn't in any better condition.
Thirdly, there were two little kids in the truck. What are they doing out at 1:00 am? Why would the parents not have a babysitter or stay overnight?
This could have been a devastation. They were fortunate enough to have been in a big truck. They were also lucky they didn't hit the big 'ol maple tree in our front yard.

I believe it wasn't the parents guardian angels, but the childrens.

Happy 1st Birthday Booka-Booka

I know I am late to post, but on January 15 2006 at 5:33 am, our baby-doll was born.

H2 weighed in at 7 pounds even, measuring 22.75" long. She was the "easiest" baby of our two for C to deliver.

This past Monday, we had my parents over for dinner in celebration of H2's 1st birthday. Her older brother was all excited for his little sister, and sang Happy Birthday beautifully to her. He knows almost all the words. He just wasn't sure how many times to say "Happy Birthday to you" until it switches to "Dear ........". He would usually add a few for good measure!


Today we had a birthday cake for her.
Black Forest cake.
Another new favorite for H1.

What we like to do with the kids and their birthday cakes is to let them eat it.

Themselves.

No adult accompaniment.

No wiping off chocolate until they have had their fill.

H2 started out eating very daintily. After a couple of minutes, the
chocolate was flying! Unfortunately, I haven't off-loaded my camera, but the pictures will be posted ASAP. Immediately after dinner was bath time for both kids. H1 had the pleasure of playing with his dessert as well, but seeing as he is 2 1/2, he wasn't as messy.



*UPDATE*

H2's Birthday pictures.
Enjoy!
(We all did)

A little late for Christmas

But I still would have preferred snow over ice! Yes, ice encrusted trees and plants are beautiful to look at, but snow would be better. It would have been nice to have seen the Christmas lights glowing through the frozen prisms, but everyone around took down their lights during our "warm" spell we just came through.
There were a few power outages in our area due
to cracking limbs over hydro lines. I felt a few pictures
of the beauty instead of the damage was best.

....and she's off!!!

Tonight is another night with me at the wheel. C left for work at 4:15, and the kids and I were playing downstairs. H2 was starting to get hungry, so I brought her upstairs for dinner.
H1 followed a few minutes later.

"Daddy, I'm thirsty."
"Where is your cup, Bud?"
"Downstairs."
"Can you go downstairs and get it for me, so I can re-fill it for you?"
"No. You go get it Daddy."

I smirked.

He ended up going downstairs for it, though. He is starting to realize things, like the alternative to not getting his cup. You can't re-fill a cup that's not there.
Shortly after I fed H2, there was a dire need for a diaper change. It always seems to happen when C is not around. (that's probably just my own biased opinion) ;)

Time to scrub my hands, and start worrying about what to make for supper for H1 and I. Fried egg sandwiches it is. We finished dinner by 5:15. I thought taking the kids out for a special treat was in order. I made a quick phone call to friends of mine in Fonthill, and met up for coffees. One adult to 2 kids ratio is quite a challenge, but manageable. After the kids sampled a few Timbits, and H1 polished off his chocolate milk, we were ready to go.

Time-check......6:45.

Home..........7:00
H2 in bed....7:10
H1 in bed....7:30
Me.....soon after I post.

Wreckin Machine

It seems every time I try to build something out of the Lego Duplo that we (Santa) gave our kids this year, I can't!! That is to say, H2 won't let me. She won't even let her big brother or mom build anything. Try as we may, the only time any special buildings or towers are fully finished is when she is sleeping! H1 loves to play with his Duplo. H2 loves to take it apart.

"Wreckin Machine" got this name first when H1 was playing with his Thomas the Train set. Along came his sister, and in short order had the tracks all apart. I guess building is not her strong point, but demolition sure is!

Back At It

Today is my first day back at work (at the nursery), after three weeks off for the Christmas holidays.

Photo "Weeping Pussy Willow" (Salix Caprea Pendula)

I had just learned how to do a "side veneer" graft before our break. Today I checked out the progress. We had started with grafting a few different Salix (willow) varieties. I was astounded to see that both the scion wood (the new variety grafted to the top) and understock (the stem we want to support the new scion wood) have budded and started to leaf out. This is great because now we can start to see if the graft has taken. If not, the scion wood is starting to collapse. If it has collapsed, we have the choice to re-graft or throw out the understock.

Salix is a wonderful variety to learn on, as it is very easy to graft. Salix is also considered a "weed" plant, as it is simple to grow. This morning we removed the lower shoots off of the understock to draw the energy to the scion wood. We left 4-5 "suckers" (side shoots) nearest to the top to help drive the plant in the right direction. When all is said and done, we will have a nice assortment of, but not only, Salix standards.

Happy New Year!

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a co
-worker. He instructed that when the date of your birthday, and the age you turn are the same number, this is your "Champagne" birthday. Happy bubbly birthday to me, New Years Eve 1975-2006! I guess I could have had 31 beer, glasses, shots, or what-have-you, but this bottle was great! I hope the holidays and festivities found everyone safe for another year. And no, I didn't drink this all to myself. We had friends over with their daughter who is 11 days younger than ours. Happy birthday to you too Aren, 5 years my junior!

"To the new year, the old year, and future years to come, health and happiness to everyone"