Weedless #WordlessWednesday

Finally! There were moments were it did feel hopefulness but we hung on. Determination wins again. Teamwork makes the job better.

Nearly Weedless #WordlessWednesday

As weedless as it ever gets. Mulch this evening. #isitworthit? #somuchwork #itbettergrowandtastegood

Nearly wordless weedless Wednesday. Not at all like nearly headless Nick.

A package of seeds gifted to me. And they are blooming!! #directsowflowers #crappyphotobutwhatever

Bernie

What’s on Friday’s plate?

Covid played havoc with our family Friday night pizza time.  Then once the worst of Covid was over my other half started golfing on Friday afternoons.  The grandchildren, who’ve been spending every Friday night with us, eat early and he gets home late so pizza hasn’t been on the menu much. But we do still eat on Friday nights…

It’s a Love Hate Thing

Happens every single summer. I love summer. I love being outside, whether I am sitting enjoying the sunset, weeding, painting (and yes after all these years I might still again be up a ladder) or going for a walk.

Go Big

Go Big

And so it begins…

And so it begins but I am hopeful that with some planning it will have a better outcome. Not a passive hope but one I have put some thought into.

Thoughtful Thursday meets #What’s on your plate

My earliest memory, the winter I was 3, involves a cold winters night. I was bundled up and went to the barn to “help” dad milk cows. In reality I was probably driving my mother crazy and so she sent me outside which was standard practise. Single ligjt bulb from the middle of the barn. My dad hunched against a cow and the sound of the milk hitting the pail. The steam rising from fresh cow poop. And a cow calving. My response to dad was “I wondered how dat was going to get out of dere”.

Fast forward a few decades and many many farm visits with our children. They were lucky enough to see a few new calves being born. Three more decades later and we are repeating the process again.

The calf in front of Annabelle (lying down) was about an hour old.

The opening paragraphs and accompanying photo might seem like a weird sequel into a what’s on your plate blog challenge and a thoughtful Thursday post but hang in there and keep reading.

Because I want to talk about the correlation between eating and food. As a farm kid you know that most animals become supper in the fall. We spent time ensuring that our children knew where the food came from and now the grandchildren. Besides the animals each generation has/have been vegetable gardeners and so every child grows up knowing that carrots taste the best straight from the garden.

Raspberry picker in training. At this stage she eats more than hit the container but that’s ok

But back to the what’s on the plate, which this time is just rhetorical rather than physical. Which is how it meets thoughtful Thursday. I just want to encourage readers to think about eating local. I totally recognize that this can, up front, cost more than grocery shopping at Walmart. But, and it’s a huge but, the cost to the climate is smaller. Local fruit, veggies and meat in season taste better, support local agriculture and have a smaller environmental impact. Challenge yourself to look at your food footprint.

A really great book on this subject is by a local Saskatoon food writer. It’s called Prairie Feast: A Writer’s Journey Home for Dinner by Amy Jo Ehman. For an entire year they ate local like her grandparents would have. Kind of like how I decided to make “Cacciatore” because only 2 generations ago food was scarce, the dirty thirties were having a huge impact and most food did not come from a store.

A totally “outside the box” #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge. I often climb on a soap box and I’ve done it once again. I definitely have strong opinions about eating local and as anyone who has read this blog for a while or who knows me in person knows that I actually walk this talk.

What’s your favourite local food? Hands down for me it’s saskatoons. Fingers crossed that there is no frost and no crazy wind to blow off the blossoms like last year.

A certain little someone also loves them!

Bernie

No Floral Scent

#SundayStills challenge is a real challenge here where not much is blooming at this time of year. So I decided to do a bit of a retrospective floral show with a bit of a surprise twist at the end.

Good things will happen

I check the calendar regularly. Below it sits the “to do” list, which even in semi retirement, I can’t seem to let go of. Today, for some reason, my eyes strayed to the words beside the pictures on the calendar.

The Mercury

As the mercury (well ok so we don’t use mercury any more but it sounds good) rises the thoughts swirl and toss around in the hot air.