Why I love small towns :-)

So Kev usually leaves at 4:30ish in the morning. This morning, he had to get up obscenely early because there was a worldwide conference call -- generally the eastern hemisphere is the one put out by middle of the night phone calls, but this week they had it in the middle of our night. So he's driving through the county middle of the night ... and here's his story ...

Left home at 2:45 this morning. Got pulled over by a police officer. Officer: "is everything OK, sir" Me: "yes, why?" Officer: "we have our regulars, and we don't normally see your car until quarter to 5" haha!

This is why we love living here ... even the police officers are watching over us, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! :-)

And yes, I've been blog post deficient. I suspect no one will read this since I haven't posted anything for months and my readership is down to zero lol. I might have to get back to posting. It's been hard though .. so much of what is going on in our family since February involves two lovely little girls who are staying with our family -- however posting photos/info in a public place is not allowed. I will say that there is a court date in June, and whether they stay with us (and their future BEYOND us) is currently resting on that court date. I would covet prayers from those of you that do :-).

Any may I add, just briefly, that I love fostering. Those of you who know that I'm not a "kid" person will laugh at this ... but I am a "parenting" person and these little ones need LOVE and parenting. We're all over that ;-). This can be really, really hard, and I've had moments of frustration (and I suspect June will be the real test) but I'm so glad we're in this place doing this thing.

This is getting almost funny ... poor Kev ...

So there was an earthquake in Tokyo this morning at 5ish o'clock (acted as an alarm clock). It was 5.9 on the richter scale but luckily the epicentre wasn't right in Tokyo but a couple of hundred clicks away so it was just a rattler.

And now, they've changed his flights and he is heading to Los Angeles rather than Vancouver. Oh my. He is VERY tired of the trip at this point, and will be getting home even later than he was. Poor guy.

And here, of course ... it continues to snow. I spoke with one of my farmer neighbours today and heard one more time of winters past, and how this winter reminds them of winter 50 years ago. This is a perfect winter, for the right transportation. Our over-dependence on cars is what makes it challenging. All the old-timers get a faraway look in their eyes, and tell you about their favourite team, and hitching up the sleigh to go in to town, and how snow in their days wasn't something to be feared but made transportation easier. As we drove home tonight from helping our pastor and family settle in to their new house, it was more "magic" snow ... glittery diamond dust snow covering everything. Magical and beautiful. Mmmmmm.

Stuart McLean, CBC's Vinyl Cafe, recorded at the Regent Theatre in Picton, Ontario

Stuart McLean of the Vinyl Cafe (CBC), speaking at the Regent Theatre in Picton on "Downtown Picton"

This is a delightful listen. Listen and learn about our town :-). Story surrounding this; my sister-in-law Kim was down to see Claire in Annie, and she prior to Annie we drove over to the bookstore (mentioned in the audio) ... Vinyl Cafe started and Kim was able to sit in Picton, listening to Stuart McLean ON Picton. Fun!

By the way, the ginger tabby cat's name is Miss Lily, and she is the mascot at Miss Lily's cafe, an awesome new cafe with lots of outlets for laptop computers, plus fair trade coffee and even (hurray) gluten-free desserts!

I love our community.

Prince Edward County

The Toronto Star is publishing a series on spectacular places in Ontario to view the fall colours. Prince Edward County is in the top five. The location cited: from Lake-on-the-Mountain, at the observation point, looking down to the ferry and Adolphus Long Reach, and over to the mainland at Adolphustown. We'll have to get over there with the camera today (haha, our schedule has been crazy; not likely going to happen!).

And continuing the emphasis on the County, rumour has it that we will be infiltrated by two more chains ... those "in the know" are predicting the arrival of a Wendy's as well as a Shopper's Drug Mart (perhaps this is why Pharmaplus is being completely renovated as we speak). A huge new Home Hardware is being built out at the corner of Loyalist Parkway and Scoharie Road. No Frills got approval for their big expansion. That will make four pharmacies and two fast-food burger joints in the County. I think there is room for all :-).

The view from our front porch last night at around 10:00

We had no rain whatsoever, but I suspect Napanee and Kingston were dumped on. We had electrical activity in the east (the above videos) but also a huge electrical storm over the lake to the south. I'm glad they didn't collide overhead!

Busy, busy ... (edited to add lamb capture photos July 9)

Our family will be camping from July 3-9, so blogging will definitely disappear during that time. We have had an eventful day today getting ready to go, PLUS after trashing the house with camping gear, then realizing we still have to ready it for the lovely woman who is staying here to look after the animals.

We had a small wrinkle this morning; an emergency call from a fellow 4H members dad who had picked up his son's (single?????) sheep yesterday, and lambie had managed to escape. Somewhere in 120 acres. I was headed to West Lake this morning anyway, so we made a deal. Paul would pick up the livestock panels I was supposed to be picking up, and deliver them this afternoon, and we instead would bring a couple of lambs over to lure back this panicky lamb. It worked like a charm, but I missed the best photo! Alison is an awesome sheep catcher ... sheep are very sensitive, and she has the gift of seeming completely calm, then exploding into action in a millisecond. She got good and close to the escapee, tempting with soy meal (a.k.a sheep candy), then BOOM, she grabbed her.

But ...

This lamb was quite big (75+ pounds), and in order to keep her, Alison grabbed her right round the body, then pulled her down in the finest wrestling hold (with the lamb on top, winning). But Alison did not let go, and we were able to get her back to the barn with the assistance of our two lambs Peppercorn and Rosemary.

It made for an ... interesting .... morning ... but I seriously regret not getting a shot of Alison and the lamb rolling in the hedgerow! The family was supposed to take home TWO lambs, in which case there wouldn't have been a problem, but a lone sheep is a nervous sheep, so they will be making arrangements to pick up another one in the next couple of days. In the meantime, "Trouble" a.k. Mira, is locked up in a calf hutch :-).

Photos of the morning ... Peppercorn and Rosemary, all loaded up in Dickens' crate, and ready for their first road trip ...


En route ... "okay, okay ... we'll relax and enjoy the ride ..."


Bringing little lost Mira back in (Alison on right, with Matthew Cairns on left).


You'll notice some difference between the lambs. Mira is a katahdin sheep (a variety of hair sheep). They don't need to be sheared ... but they shed like crazy and Kev is quite allergic to them. Mira also towered over our girls. She was lambed in February, so is 6-8 weeks older than our little Shetland crosses.


Home again, home again ... back to solitary confinement until another lamb is brought home to keep her company. You cannot keep a single lamb; I'm not sure why the lamb provider sent home only one to the Cairns' place, as originally she promised a pair. Likely just lack of communication; we're thankful she was caught safely.


Bye for now ... more to do before we head out tomorrow to pick up Claire, who has been at her nan and papa's house near Cambridge, then head up to the Bruce!!!

What Alison ALMOST spent her award money on :-)

The day after grad, Alison was home from school so we headed over to Arnold's to spend some time with this chestnut filly. I finally got a great shot of our friend Arnold.


Arnold is fascinating. He escaped with his family as a refugee from Holland in the 40's, after having been living in a chicken house for a year. His family arrived in Canada after a brief stay in Mexico. He is fluent in several language, but has a hard time writing in any of them. He has dairy farmed, and been a part-time horse dealer, all his grown life in Prince Edward County. He is a colourful character, rough in some ways ... then you hear the strains of Dutch choral music emanating from his cozy farmhouse (yes, the one we tried to buy :-) ...). He is a gifted storyteller, and embellishes those stories shamelessly and with ease. He's 77 this year, and although occasionally talks of retiring (mostly motivated by his "girlfriends") he knows, truly, that he would rot in town or in a senior's home. His desire is to go while out on his tractor, or working with his horses. As brusque as he is sometimes with people (although mellowing with age), he loves his horses profoundly. Check out the look in his eyes for his "pups" (his nickname for the young horses he has). More recently, he has started volunteering for the local food bank.

Here is Alison grooming the chestnut filly. She's probably a quarter horse, and "somehow" came home with Arnold from the last sale. She's quite lovely, and rock-solid calm for a young horse.



And just for the record, Arnold didn't accept Alison's offer of $150 :-).

Beautiful blog entry by my friend Janna ...

who is currently packing up to leave our fair County ... *sniff*.

The entry is "Helping".

This morning, on the way to church, we will be stopping in to see Janna and the children for the last official time on county soil. They have been monumental in our life here since they arrived ... they have been our pastors at PECFMC, part of worship team together, Kev's cohorts-in-crime watching "West Wing" and other shows, purveyors of many seasons of "Gilmore Girls" (spawning a family addiction :-) ...); they have been our neighbours, only a mile away (how many people can you call up in a rural farming community to borrow cumin or turmeric, or REALLY good coffee???); Janna has provided her home as a sanctuary to knitters and other crafters once a month for quite some time. They served us big time when Kevin was hospitalized; our kids got off the bus for over a week on Fry Road, their other home. Janna has been our emergency contact for all things educational since the kids started school. They have supported and encouraged our children, providing references and baseball gloves and adult conversation and input that is not parental (SO important!) and chances to babysit and just help out occasionally. They have been, and are, our friends. 2/3 or their children have been born here, and we adore them all, and watching them grow up has been a delight. Alison has been a lunch buddy for Ben at school this year, and was able to assist his bus buddy many times because Alison knew Ben and what made him tick. Mary has just started to walk, and is talking up a storm, and it's so hard knowing that we won't be able to see that continue. And Eli ... well ... let's just say this is hard. It's hard enough as an adult to say "good-bye" but we've done this before; God moves people on to new things and projects, and it is all good in the end. But my kids are just at the beginning of their journeys, and this won't be easy for them. How do we encourage them that when God moves folks away, it is big-picture good, when little-picture it is so painful.

Here are Janna and I and all the kids on our last County morning ...


We are grateful that Janna blogs, so we will still be privy to Cylka goings-on. And we are thankful for the time that they lived in our community. We are also thrilled that their new home is a mere hop-skip-and-jump from the 401 going through Toronto, and that we already have plans to stop in later this month :-). And of course, as Kev pursues his Free Methodist ordination, he will have many occasions to hang with Steve at events, or in their spare room. So it IS good.

*Sigh*. Bye, Cylka family! We love you all, every single one of us. *Sniff*

A-Fishing We Will Go!

It's hard to believe that we have lived in the County for five years and have never been boating or fishing here. That changed this past weekend! Our friends Scott and Sophie Walcott own a seasonal trailer park, "West Lake Willows", on West Lake in the County. It is a lovely spot, and they treated four families to 2 overnights this past weekend in celebration of their oldest son's birthday!

Here are the kids in front of Scott's "old" boat; he's waiting for a new upgraded one to arrive any day. This boat still has GPS and a fish/depth finder so it was fun for us. Kevin and the kids were able to fish; I don't have an Ontario fishing liscense for 2008 and the expense wasn't worth it for one outing, so I drove the boat while everyone else trolled/jigged for fish. Quite a lot of work to keep the boat going alongside the shoal off Wesley Acres Point, given the wind, waves and the fact that I've never driven a boat before ;-).



Alison, Claire and Iain on the dock with the famous Sandbanks "Dunes" in the background.



"No problemo ... it's fine out here in the front, mom!"



"Ack! But we didn't know you'd speed up!"



I'm hoping that some time between now and when he is 16, Iain learns to drive a little less ... uh ... intensely. No intermediate speeds here ... either putt-putt or 35 mph. Wild man! And yes, he's driving on his own.



Our host himself, Scott Walcott, helping to release one of our "catch". We caught eight fish today, however one was too small, two were Northern Pike (good and BIG but very bony), and the bass (large mouth? small mouth? not sure) was not in season. We kept four walleye (pickerel).



Alison with her catch.



Kevin caught the biggest walleye.



Scott removing the hook from a Northern Pike. Some teeth!




Iain's catch:



And one for Claire!



Alison taking us home ..



And a brief video of a glorious boat ride :-).






Scott taught Alison and I how to PROPERLY fillet a fish, and we each did one.



Voila! Dinner ... although we haven't eaten it since our meals had been planned in advance.



The view from our cabin ... lovely. Notice Iain up in the tree ;-).


Thank you SO MUCH, Walcott family, for this gift!

Look what visited our bird feeder this morning!

I've only seen a rose-breasted grosbeak once before, in May of 2006 (yes, I date sightings in my trusty National Geographic "Field Guide to the Birds of North America", purchased in Cape Breton in 1987). I'm truly amazed that this little guy stayed long enough for me to run downstairs and grab my camera, and didn't startle as I tried various shots through the french doors.








I'm not a radical birder, who would traipse across the countryside looking for elusive birds, but I enjoy being observant where I am. Some of my favourite sightings around our house and the pond since we've moved here have been ... a snowy owl (truly awesome!), a green heron (stunning), American bittern (we practically stepped on it thinking it was a plant), kingfishers, snipes (very odd looking; chicken legs with a sandpiper body), bobolink (their call sounds like a chuckle; very funny birds) and wood thrush (very shy; always a victory to glimpse one). This year we have numerous Eastern Meadowlark, one of my very favourite birds. I have heard that their numbers are dropping Ontario-wide; perhaps they are all moving to the county because they are regulars in our field this spring! :-) And down at Point Traverse we were thrilled to see a migrating sandhill crane on it's way to the north for the summer.

Ahhh, spring ...

The sheep profiled against neighbour's 1800's bank barn. During a phone call to mom, I was trying to express to her the feeling I get when I look out and watch the sheep peacefully grazing. She came up with "bucolic", and I agree. It is lovely.


M.J. enjoying the smells and sounds of spring ... never mind ... M.J. wondering if she can pounce on the birds clustered around the feeder on the top deck. Our two house cats are never outside; this is the closest they get.


Jasmine's two, Peppercorn and Basil:


Latifah, with one of hers (but not sure who!):



All five babies, now into grazing themselves in a big way:



Our lilacs are almost there. These shrubs were wee little things when we moved in, and three property owners later we will finally be blessed with significantly sized bushes! I can hardly wait until they are open. Prince Edward County has a "Lilac Tour" coming up; the whole county is covered with wild bushes as well as planted ones. You can drive published "Lilac routes" and it's an olfactory experience, not to mention a visual one. Later in the year, it's the holly hocks and lilies that take over ditches county-wide.



One of our cherry trees, hinting at things to come!


I'm praying for a long spring; we have a tendency in this neck of the woods to move quickly from winter to summer weather. But spring is my favourite and I hope it's not too fleeting this year!

Ugh. We could have lost a lamb today :-(.

Little Peppercorn got her head stuck between two slats of the run-in shed. I have no idea how long she was there, in the heat, with no ability to nurse. She was scary still when we found her, but seems to be up and happy now, and has nursed six times and pigged out on creep feed since. I imagine that she is fine. However, I'd appreciate prayer, from those of you who do that sort of thing, that she hasn't been harmed in any way by the experience.

Tarragon has definite horns starting; I'm going to try and get a close-up and add it here later ... it's very cool to see the horns first emerging from the leather patches.

A stunningly beautiful weekend here ... gorgeous sun, beautiful temperatures, light breezes. The best the County has to offer. Coupled with the fact that our previous pastor's house has finally sold (hurray, Steve and Janna!), an awesome church service, and the fact that Kev and I were able to squeeze in a date in town Saturday morning while kids were at their various venues ... it's been awesome. The only bad thing? On the way over to pick up Alison from work on Saturday afternoon, I noticed some smoke coming from the vicinity of Foster Road. Foster Road is one of those roads that is long, with one house, and no hydro, that is home to deer, turkeys, grouse etc. I thought perhaps the one homeowner was burning brush. I drove up behind a guy walking along the road ... and came upon a car COMPLETELY in flames. The flames were shooting 20 and 30 feet in the air; it looked like a massive torch. The poor guy. He had stopped when he noticed some smoke, turned off the engine and went back to the other road to call a tow truck. He was just coming back to check on it ... oops! I gave him a ride back to call the Fire Department! An hour later, the Fire Department was long gone, and all that was left was a little grey shell of metal. I have learned that I would make a lousy journalist, for I sat watching with this poor guy as his brother's car goes up in a torrent of flames, and it never occurred to me once to grab the camera out of my backpack and take photographs. It could have been front page news around here :-). Ah, well!

Yup, spring is here ...

local roads are COVERED with racoons. Some dead, other scuttling off as you drive by. Three nights ago one knocked over our chicken feed. I balanced a bucket on the lid. Last night at 1:30 I heard the bucket fall, and raced downstairs and out the door yelling. I scared him off. Unfortunately I didn't hear he bucket fall later in the evening. The really odd thing? There is still chicken feed left in the bottom of the Rubbermaid garbage can (not a lot, but some); however, there are good chunks of the garbage can missing!

Last year we had a robin nest right on the railing of our back deck. Mama taught them to fly from the deck when they got older. This morning, I noticed a robin sitting on the railing, looking fat, cheeky and extraordinarily calm. I wonder ... I've put out bird seed, and placed the nest back into position. Just in case :-).

I spent two hours gardening yesterday. I was able to dig up all the side garden (rhubarb, tomato bushes and sunflowers planned) and almost all of the front foundation beds. I also dug up a new garden over the septic tank. There was a garden here when we arrived, but it dried out too quickly so I let it grow over. However, grass doesn't grow there either. This year I've added vermiculite and I'll mulch it really well and try again with just annuals, and perhaps a couple of peony bushes. It is much to early to garden; BUT so easy right now because even the weeds are still dead. Eventually I would love to move the chickens away from the house and put in a shade garden; I loved shade gardening in New Jersey and I'd love to give it a try here. In the middle of this windswept patch of clay soil, this one location on the north-east end of the house is my only possibility.

Kevin is into the last month of practices for "Anything Goes". Four members of this house sing the songs constantly; the kids run through his lines with him. I love that they all love the theatre; but my introverted self tends to hide at the computer during the noisiest times!

Hurray!!! Look closely ...

A robin in each cherry tree :-). Mourning doves on the back railing of the house. Patches of earth. Three ewes acting in very matronly ways (our oldest has that "I'm nine months pregnant of course I waddle!" movement).

Finally!

Spring!

(Despite the sub-zero temperatures we're having, but I digress :-) ...)

Update on Kevin ... and county "stuff"

He has had his first physio appointment, and it was a great help. He has a number of exercises he is carrying out, and he is able to bear a little more weight on his left leg every day. He has also been able to straighten his leg a little bit more without crutches (for instance, he can totter about our kitchen now and make a meal without using crutches!). This is good, because he's feeling somewhat on the useless side (although he isn't). For some reason his incisions were hurting last night; I think it's just a "two steps forward-one step back" process.

One of our good neighbours came by and blew out the driveway yesterday in the early afternoon; however we've had much snow, and some wind since, so I will be bundling up shortly and hopefully Kevin can coach me on using the snowblower. Right now both cars have snow banked up in front, and Alison is due to leave for her job at the stable at 9:30. We have to leave earlier than usual because our normal 15 minute route is one of "those" county roads ... named for the family that live at the end, no services, no hydro, inhabited by 700 wild turkeys and as many deer, but unlike most roads here it is very hilly. It is plowed "eventually". So I have to drive out to the highway, out to the Skyway Bridge, then back in Northport Road.

Just so you get an idea ...


Wow ... hard to draw that. Just for interest's sake (tee hee, not sure if anyone actually IS interested, but ...) , I've also drawn on the four access routes to the county (from left to right, blue lines):

1. The swing bridge at Carrying Place
2. The Bay Bridge at Belleville
3. The Skyway Bridge at the Mohawk Reservation/Marysville
4. The ferry at Glenora (pretty cool; this ferry is the only ferry that is part of the Ontario highway system!)

I've added this because last Thursday, we had a flash freeze/high wind warning for the county. A tractor trailer BLEW over on the Bay Bridge (stayed on the bridge, thank God). All the other bridges ended up closed for about eight hours. The only way off may have been the ferry but I'm not sure if it was running either. The cool thing is, when Kev first moved to the County back in the 80's, he actually met seniors who had never been as "far" as Belleville; had never been off their beloved isle. We are actually very self-sufficient here; it's a neat community.

You'll also notice that I've used a winery map here ... and that we are well removed from winery activity in the county. When we arrived in the County, realtors were already selling properties based on their close proximity to the bourgeoning wine industry. As an ex-research chemist who worked with fungicides, that was my cue to look as far in the opposite direction as possible. Now, the County has an ideal climate for grapes ... long, hot, dry summers, which does minimize use of fungicides. But not completely, and I knew that if we were drinking from a well, I wanted bush and pastureland in my backyard, not vineyards :-).

Hoping for some snow photos soon!

This made me laugh this morning! An e-mail from our local Freecyle group ...

Belleville Freecycle

Offer: BELLEVILLE fresh snow

125lbs of fresh, untouched snow - all you have to do is go to a my
house and pick it up off of the driveway...

_._,_.___
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And for those of you who have not discovered Freecyle, hop on over to this website and find a group near you! Wonderful way to declutter your home and bless someone else at the same time. We have received craft paints, scrapbooking supplies, and shingles for our chicken coop; and have decluttered birthday supplies (saved for a rainy day and lost for several years :-) ..), computer parts, and you name it. This movement started in Arizona and is a Really. Good. Thing.

When I was young, it was stray puppies and kittens, if we were lucky!

Here in rural Ontario, over the last almost-five years, we've now done our share of herding and capturing much bigger animals. Let's see, on the way to church one Sunday morning a couple of years ago there were three horses loose on Fry Road. Our pastor was expected to come by within a few minutes, so Kevin waited for him while the kids and I caught horses, (me in a skirt and heels!), located owners, then made our way to church.

Then last year, we were on our way to Belleville, and something (Someone :-) ..) directed us to go visited some friends. We arrived just as three of their horses escaped, and plans for Belleville were scrapped as we spent almost six hours chasing them through back-country. This was a tricky situation as the horses were from Manitoba, not yet tamed, and used to wide open spaces.

Stray cows? All the time. Mostly my next door neighbours. I've had none of his cows on our lawn this year so apparently he has fixed some fences. One cow that we tried to catch about three years ago turned out to be feral; she'd been loose for over a year, happily munching on farmer's fields and scrounging in the bush in the winter. She is a local legend.

Last night I was just preparing supper when three horses raced by our front window along Bethesda Road. They belong to a neighbour from the other direction, an Arabian, a registered Standardbred and an old blind grade mare. We grabbed lead ropes (don't leave home without 'em!), a bucket of oats and ran to attempt to catch them. They weren't willing at first; the wind in their ears and the scent of the alfalfa field across the road were too much for them. Eventually, though Alison was able to grab hold of the head horse's halter (very helpful if you know this information) and we walked them all home ... to a deserted farm. No owners in sight. So we put them back in the field, then walked the fence and found out where the fence was down. Did a quick fix, then trekked home for dinner which Kevin thankfully had prepared in my absence. He's much more willing to cook than chases horses, although has done so in the past!

Horses are big animals, and drivers don't recognize just how much damage will occur if they hit one. Several weeks ago a county dad was killed when he hit a horse on Jericho Road. Very, very sad. But livestock does get out, and I'm just paying it forward for those who helped us when animals escaped from Oxer Stables when I was growing up. This is what neighbours do.

More Rural Economy: Grapes and Apples

Apple picking in Prince Edward County, October 2007

Even I, a newcomer to the County, recall that days when locals could wake up after a windy night and race over to the nearest orchard for $4 per bushel windfall apples. How I miss those days! Many of the orchards are now "bigger business" than they used to be; and often associated with the rapidly expanding viticulture industry in the area.

For those who are not aware, Prince Edward County is "the new" Niagara region, after some entrepeneurial sort noticed two things; that the county has been blanketed with wild grapes for decades, and that the soil (in the Hillier region especially) is pretty much identical to the soil in high wine-producing areas of France. I highly recommend the book "A Fool and Forty Acres" by Geoff Heinricks for those who want insight into a small winery start up by a fellow from TO. It is warm, inviting, informative and replete with county gossip and lore. Here is the publisher's short for the book:

About this Book

---

foreword by Jamie Kennedy

A Fool and Forty Acres is Heinricks’ beautifully written account of leaving behind the rat race, slowing life down, and establishing an intimate relationship with one small parcel of land in a magical corner of Canada.

You won’t find Prince Edward County on any map of the world’s great wine regions. Yet it is to this dollop of rolling limestone in eastern Lake Ontario that Geoff Heinricks brought his young family in pursuit of a dream of creating a truly world class wine. The County, as the locals call it, is a long way from the Niagara Peninsula, and three thousand miles from Burgundy, yet Heinricks and a few hardy souls like him claim that their wines will one day rival those of the legendary French province.

A self-described 21st-century peasant, Heinricks follows the seasons in his vineyards with exquisite attention, from digging the earth, to grafting and planting the vines, to trellising and pruning, to tending the young grapes, to harvesting the fruits of his labours. Along the way, he sketches the human history of the area, the native peoples whose tools and clay shards are heaved up by the soil, and the United Empire Loyalists, whose tidy barns and farmhouses still dot the landscape today.

He also presents a cast of his colourful County neighbours: from old-school farmers to refugees like him from the city, convinced in the wisdom of producing and consuming locally the very best food and wine in harmony with the land.


Anyway, back to apple picking and things of family concern :). We joined our friends the Cylka family and the MacKay family the weekend before Thanksgiving for our traditional hike into the orchard. Here are some photographs:

Claire and her best friend Angie digging in!


"A-tisket, a-tasket, fresh apples in a basket ..." Alison and Brenna.



"He did it!" Iain and Ben.

Alison and our buddy "Eli"

Rural Economies

Although Prince Edward County does have a fairly steady tourist income, family incomes are substantially less than in more urban areas. People fall in love with the county, then do what they can to survive here. I've always said that I'd rather be broke here, than rich anywhere else :).

Yesterday was a typical day in our rural economy. A couple of days earlier, a Shetland sheep breeder friend, Bill Stearman, e-mailed me to let me know that while vaccinating his ram, he had an unfortunate meeting with something sharp that required 16 stitches. Ever the busy man, he continued on, until his leg puffed up with infection and his doctor threatened to hospitalize him with an IV antibiotic. However, Bill had urgent chores, so he called me to find out if I was up for a trade.

Alison, Iain and myself headed over yesterday. We stacked a cord and a half of wood, moved 15 bags of feed, and Alison moved his 30 meat birds a new area. In return, Bill will lend us a ram for six weeks this fall (no lease required!), will arrange to transport the ram and Billie Holiday back and forth to his place, AND he sent us on our way with a magnificent $27.00 organic chicken that he raised himself.

Bartering is alive and well in rural Ontario, and I am thankful :).

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you all!

Photo of "our" pond ...

This quarry pond lies between our home and and the neighbouring road. It was blasted out in the 40's or 50's, and the gravel was used to build the road bed. Over time, it has been transformed into a lovely pond. It is owned by the county, not us (they get the liability!). But the whole neighbourhood benefits from it's presence.

We are truly grateful for this pond. This pond is home to red-winged blackbirds, painted turtles, mud turtles and snappers, various kinds of fish and 8 species of frogs, American Bitterns, Green Herons and Great Blue herons; all have been spotted here since we arrived on Forty Foot Road.This pond also ensures that our home insurance rates stay low; it is the rural equivalent of a hydrant on our lawn. Were our house to catch fire, the pumper would draw from here. We sit and contemplate life here; we skate here in the winter; we sail homemade toy boats on it in the spring.

The County has been experiencing drought all summer. I don't remember the last time we had rain ... oh yes, the Sunday of the Fall Fair, although our neighbourhood experienced very little accumulation (less than 1 mm). Yesterday we were thrilled when a heavy fog rolled in. It doesn't take much precipitation to excite us. Great for a vacation spot; not so great for residents and local farmers.

The water haulage trucks have been traversing our neighbourhood for weeks. I am aware of families that have had an unbelievable 5 loads of water delivered already this summer. My friend Arnold, up on MacHill, has run out twice in the last month (only for brief periods); his house is situated on underground rivers and his well was built on a spring. The last time he ran out of water was 30 years ago.

Our well is a dug well, and is about 21 feet deep. Dug well is a bit of a misnomer, as our house is situated on bedrock. Dynamite was used to blast the well out, which also fractures the bedrock resulting in fissures that the water percolates through. Apparently the pond is also about 21 feet at it's deepest point (it was blasted out about six years ago to act as a reservoir for a local dairy farm). Right now at least a dozen farmers are drawing out of the pond to water their cattle and other livestock.

So we are thankful. Thankful for this pond, whether it is feeding our well, or whether it's just an indicator of the health of our well ... it seems as long as it has water, so do we. Thankful that we are learning to live wisely, and not waste this valuable resource like we might in the city. Thankful for the huge number of birds and wildlife we see due to our proximity to the local watering hole. Thankful ... so I thought I'd photograph "our pond" to commemorate it on this beautiful fall day.