The magic that is Fall
Colours in the marsh are turning first
Those colours, and the reflections in the calm water, priceless. The combination of a warm day with an occaisonal light breeze, fabulous. When things come together, that is what Fall seems to be, the last harvests, the last leaves, the last warm days. A time to celebrate what was, and what will be.
These days don’t come as often as we’d like but when they do, you want to soak it up. Three hours paddling around Otty Lake, exploring Mud Lake, a small shallow area that joins Otty with the much smaller McClaren Lake and back again, heavenly! A painted turtle lazed on a log soaking up the sun as we paddled past, usually they plunge into the lake but not today, he eyed us up and down with his long neck and decided we didn’t look threatening enough to lose his spot in the sun. Cottages are already closed up, docks pulled for the winter, boats stored and a sense of quiet has come over the lake, ah Mondays, hardly a soul to be seen:)
In town the Farmer’s Market was quieter as well. The amazing variety and the colours were a sight for the mind and mouth! The squash are all ready and the last of the tomatoes are here, some of the farms have already had frosts, others not, we have one more market Saturday to go and then they close up after the Thanksgiving weekend until Spring.
Tay View Mill and Farm is a beautiful piece of heaven on the Tay River and the old mill used to supply power to the town of Perth. The dam was first erected in 1823 for milling wood. Wilson Bowes and his wife Jane have a wonderful dairy farm here and Wilson’s grandfather collected an amazing assortment of well, everything from eggs to rocks to farm implements, washing machines, you name it, an astounding collection of what once was, which we really need to hang onto. The next few generations need to know how their parents were raised and how their grand and great grandparents lived, often with little, at great risk:) Mike has known Wilson since they were children and we stopped by to visit between milkings. The milk truck driver was there, about to leave, looked at Mike and said “You look familiar! Wirths! I drew cream and milk for your mother and father in the late 60’s!” this man has a memory, over 50 years ago:) he’s 72 now, still driving the milk truck, about 10 times larger than it used to be but shiny and clean as always! Small towns, you have to love them! Wilson gave us a tour of the museum and a visit with the cows and barn cats and kittens sleeping in the sun. The wonderful smell of farms, it just delights me! Here is where so much of what we eat comes from, from the chickens down the 2nd line at Marcy’s to the curious heifers in the beautiful old stone barns here at Tay View Farm, our milk, our cheese, doesn’t come from stores, it’s soul is here with the people who do this hard work day in and day out. They are my heroes:)
As Thanksgiving approaches this weekend we need to stand and give a huge round of applause to these people who grow our food, take care of the animals that provide us with milk and meat and dig into the ground and pick from the trees what we eat. We picked up our turkey today at Coutts Country Flavours, as well as fresh carrots and raspberries. Diana always has time for a word and a laugh at their lovely store. Something is always coming out of the oven and you feel hungry the moment you walk in, with good reason:) Her storefront is beautiful, celebrating Fall and all its bounty.
Local bounty, not shipped thousands of miles, apples from Oregon, in Ontario? Not a chance. Celebrate your local food this weekend and stop for a moment and think where it all comes from. The biggest and shiniest is often not the best, but something genetically made to last longer for those 3000 mile road trips across the country. Do yourself a favour and find an apple from a local orchard, a turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner that ran around, ate bugs and sat in the sun, not under the glare of a fluorescent lamp, these things matter, so very very much.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving amigos! Talk to you soon:)
Ah, even from Arizona, I could feel the fall in the air and taste those crisp, sweet apples. Thanks for sharing your little piece of heaven, Pamela.
Makes me want to hug a farmer! Thanks for sharing, very thought provoking 🙂
🙂 I’m sure a farmer would like that;)