Support Ontario Strawberries

Wake Up on the Bright Side View this email in your browser I found these giant strawberries at Hildreth's yesterday, with the backdrop of Thanks for supporting Ontario farmers.  It seemed like a fitting tribute for Niagara's autumn Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Chasing in Niagara

This is Pumpkin Patch weekend for Canadians:   all things pumpkin for Thanksgiving. Yesterday, I went on the pumpkin trail - to places where Thanksgiving is in full swing. I started at Hildreth's,  This farm has a large farm market stand close to my home.   It is much bigger than just a 'stand'  - it is a large parking area in front of the house with large canopies covering tables and shelves of local fruit and vegetables.  In fact, it is a mini-store with all kinds of local produce besides their own. One of the biggest attractions is the home-made pies - home-made by Hildreth's.  The fruit is typically is from their orchards or fields, and the pies taste like a home-made pie because they are. I wanted to catch the pumpkin display before it got bought out.  People were parked everywhere and it wasn't 10:00 on a Saturday morning.  I drove past later in the day on my way back home and there were more cars. I expect there were a lot fewer pumpkins. This year I bought a bushel of squash.  A bushel seemed too large last year, but this year, I bet that when it is available easily, the squash are used up quickly.  I started yesterday - one down. After a visit to the St. Catharines market and Lakeland Meats where Dezi and I checked out the chickens in their chicken run, I drove along St. Paul Street and made a stop at Calamus Winery in Vineland.  At the winery, I found a piece of the Rusty Shed on the ground, and they let me take it home.  They are close to Balls Falls and the Vineland Art Festival - such a large festival that there is $5.00 parking in the middle of orchards. Next I dropped into Beamsville's bakery 'The Post' and saw the pumpkin pies moving quickly.  I wondered if there is a busier day of the year, but didn't want to hold up the line to ask. Finally, I checked out my favourite garden centre, Cole's.  Harry, the owner, celebrated 30 years of ownership this past week. He showed me the slide show of the garden centre - including pictures when it was owned by the Cole's 125 years ago.  Lex sent this link of Benchscape - which is for sale.  This is the residence where I garden the raised beds of herbs and edible flowers, along with the decorative pots.  You can see them right at the beginning.

Local Food

Summer's hot colours match the temperatures in August.  This is known as Red Hot Poker. I was at Cole's the local garden centre, taking pictures.  I did drop into the grocery store and I was a bit shocked to see the mushrooms on the shelf from Korea - we grow these mushrooms here, so it seemed unusual.  It was more unusual that the broccoli and beans were from the U.S., given they are in season now here. I found this introduction to the environmental cost of shipping groceries around the world: "Cod caught off Norway is shipped to China to be turned into filets, then shipped back to Norway for sale. Argentine lemons fill supermarket shelves on the Citrus Coast of Spain, as local lemons rot on the ground. Half of Europe’s peas are grown and packaged in Kenya." I've just started the investigation stage for a new garden presentation on the Ethical Gardener. 'Local' is a significant topic now in relation to food and plants - and we're returning to the notion of the gardener growing vegetables for their own table.  It isn't just because they taste better or cost less, it is more friendly to the environment and reduces the carbon footprint.  I wonder what my own gardening carbon footprint is, and will start to figure some way of assessing this. As for the beautiful Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia), it is native to Africa - discovered in the 18th century when plant exploration around the world was the rage and local was considered boring. And finally, a little pastoral scenery yesterday at Martin Road, looking west.