Hey! For an interesting change of pace, it’s not about climate change. I’m just plain ol’ whining about my weather.
I had to wear my winter coat yesterday on the 31st of May, while y’all were posting about your heat waves and beach trips, and I was a little chilly in the blustery wind. I said to my husband last evening, “I could totally commit to being HERE, if it weren’t so damned COLD.” I love the views, and the river, and my developing sense of community and belonging. I have a feeling that we’re on the cusp of something really fabulous and consistent with the radical history of the place. But, here it is, June 1, and we can’t transplant for two more weeks because of the risk of frost. And it turns out that our house is too cold to start the plants inside. Our six-week tomato plants are still only about 3/4 inch tall because we stop regularly running the wood stove in April. I sigh here, because the last fire was only two days ago, and I can still smell wood smoke around a lot of our neighbour’s yards.
On the plus side, the cold is damping down the black flies a bit. And at least we can all sleep at night without benefit of central air. And… um… loons! We have loons. And eagles. And smelt. And… um… it was warm long enough for the bees to get a good start and the plums are probably pollinated. And… um… We have no ticks. Or malaria. Or dengue fever. Or poisonous snakes. Or hurricanes (most of the time). But it would sure be nice to have a longer growing/camping season.
The Practical Dilettante 
I believe you got the last whiff of cold air that just came out of Alberta – they had snow in Calgary several days ago!! But weather has been topsy turvy for sure. The mid-Atlantic in the U.S. got our winter snows and north of the 40th parallel we had the warmest winter on record. I also heard for us here it was the warmest April on record. Yet, we had snow on Mother’s Day.
Today we had some blessed rain as I just got my garden in yesterday and the ground was dry, dry, dry.
Cold frames and/or mini greenhouses may be the way to go. You’re not much farther north than us in VerMontreal and yet, longitudinally, we are on parallel with the south of France! We just don’t have the heat pump of N Africa and the Sahara like they do!
Oh… but did you get any of the smoke from the forest fires in Quebec? Mtl looked like Los Angeles on a smog alert day, and even the pics from Ottawa showed milky skies. Here, we had more haze than normal and could smell the wood smoke in the air.
Oh, yes. Season extension is the only way to go… but the greenhouse blew away a few weeks ago. We’re planning to attach the next one to the house.
Plain old row covers seem to help a lot. They also keep the pests off the plants. Mostly I’m just bitching about having to keep my winter coat out year-round. Oh, and mittens in August. That’s a fun one too.
I hear ya! is cold over here in the back yard too, and stirring cold glaze SUCKS, I am thinking fish tank heater for my throwing water!