Gratitude Sunday

This week we are grateful for so many things!  Here are a few that come to mind.  What are you grateful for?

- local certified organic non-GMO sweet corn (first of the season for us!) from Organic Oasis Farm Store (it's so hard to find organic corn that this was such a treat, and we brought home dozens and dozens to put in the freezer)

- freshly harvested organic edamame (yummm) dropped off as a gift from our favourite farmer Angie at Fertile Ground CSA  (thank you Angie!)

-  fresh berries in our yard, containers filled every day, especially with loganberries (here is a link to local Whiffletree Nursery where there are numerous kinds of hardy berries, fruit and nut trees available perfect for our growing zone)

- a hummingbird that has visited our yard three nights in a row now (loving Maya's pink zinnias - she is thrilled!) - to attract hummingbirds try planting zinnias, salvia, morning glory, snapdragon, cleome, nasturtium, petunias, trumpet vine...

- bees, bees, bees on goldenrod (I have such a new appreciation for goldenrod and it's many benefits to us, and for fall forage for the pollinators)

- apples, apples, apples - we hope to press our own apple cider this year at Rolling Acres farm and cider mill (the old fashioned way)

Gratitude Sunday

We are grateful for so many things.  Here is what comes to mind from this past week:

~ tomatoes!  Finally, now in full force (reds, oranges, green striped, purple, cherries, pear shaped, pinks, yellows)...

~ freshly harvested and absolutely delicious honeycomb shared with us by our beekeeping friend, tasting of spicy summer blossoms (we did not want to waste a single drop of this knowing how much work of bees has gone into this treat) from a top bar hive

~ pollinators ALL over the property - we noticed 6 kinds of different kinds of bees on site just in one afternoon, not to mention the wasps, moths, butterflies and other insects offering pollination support here.  We usually think of bees when we consider pollination, and bees certainly are good at it due to the hairs on their bodies where pollen can stick and be carried to the next flower, but here are some categories of other important pollinators not to be forgotten:

• Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants)
• Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Diptera (flies)
• Coleoptera (beetles)

~ new friends we have met through hosting them in our bed & breakfast here at Little City Farm

~ momentum developing on our local chicken bylaw campaign - for those of you locally who want to get involved in working to create a pro-hen bylaw for our city please go to the yahoo group for the Kitchener Hen Association here

~ rain this week!  and extremely grateful that the two large trees that were knocked down on our property due to high winds did not fall on any buildings (those of you who know Maya's climbing tree and the cedar with the swings, will be sad to hear they are no longer standing)

~ however, there is firewood for us, and also a huge sunny area of the yard where we can now plant fruit trees, hopefully from our local Whiffletree Nursery which specializes in cold hardy fruit trees

What are you grateful for this week?

Gratitude Sunday

We are grateful for so many things.  Here is what comes to mind from this past week:

~ abundant berry harvest with friends - and delicious chokecherry juice they brought us as a sample of the harvest (upon their suggestion we're going to add the juice into our morning smoothies)
 ~ fresh flowers, flowers, flowers - all the beautiful bouquets that are being picked and placed in all rooms of our house and throughout our B&B

~ eating our first garden tomatoes and zucchinis, plus so many braising greens, and the delicious black seeded simpson lettuce that just keeps on producing (I could eat like this every day)

~ wool diaper covers made by our friend Amaryah at Sew Oiseau - I am totally sold on using wool diaper covers for the cloth diapering experience this time around (even in summer she swears by them as best breathable covers for babies on hot days, next to wearing nothing of course)

~ all the busy busy bees in the garden (more on this soon) - the variety of bees I see each day: mason bees, bumble bees, sweat bees, honey bees in the bergamot, oregano, echinacea, yarrow, rudbeckia, clover, calendula around our yard - wow - it's a busy time out there right now

Gratitude Sunday

We are grateful for so many things.  Here is what comes to mind from this past week:

~ berries and cherries galore!  and wild-harvesting the bounty with friends this week...

~ wood-fired pizza dinners on warm summer nights, made here in the cob oven

~ all the abundance of flowers in the garden at this time of summer

~ the first monarchs to arrive in our yard for this season

~ peach and cherry water kefir dropped off by our friend today, and a divine lavender kombucha, and strawberry-sage kombucha made by another friend, so perfectly refreshing on a hot day

~ bees buzzing in the garden (they are all over the comfrey, catnip and lavender blossoms)

What are you grateful for this week?

Gratitude Sunday

We are grateful for so many things.  Here is what comes to mind from this past week:

~ peas and more peas as we near the final harvest (and purple ones that we love to grow each year!)

~ a "cupcake and flower stand" in our front yard that our young entrepreneurial daughter decided to set up  with her friends on the weekend (and the friends and neighbours who dropped by to support our young entrepreneurs)

~ one dozen delicious Seed of Life bars that I was happy to barter in exchange for plants from our garden!  (if you have not tried these amazing high-quality handmade energy bars yet then by all means check them out!  They are now available at the Kitchener market, and various local health food stores - made locally by our friend Theresa)

~ a gifting of organic bokchoy and (my favourite) hakurai turnips from our friend Angie at Fertile Ground CSA - gorgeous produce that we just can't seem to grow here like she does on her farm!

~ a sweet baby in our house that now sleeps for more than two hours at a time!

~ the season of fresh local berries!  red currants, service berries, mulberries, raspberries and blackberries and soon to be ready cherries and blueberries

~ Tulsi (or Sacred/Holy Basil) that we grow in abundance in our herb garden, with it's many health benefits - for gifting to friends, drying for winter tea blends, and making into this refreshing Holy Basil Sipping Vinegar

What are you grateful for this week?

Gratitude Sunday

We are grateful for so many things.  Here is what comes to mind from this past week:

~ discovering several tiny toads in our garden (we think they are Tiny Eastern American Toads) - this one was about the size of a quarter - we are so happy to have toads in our yard as they are an indicator of a healthful environment, and of course to help with eating garden pests, and listen to them calling to each other at night

~ lovely friends who brought over delicious homemade drinks: homemade ginger beer and elderflower-lemon verbena water kefir for us!

~ simple nourishing meals that are still being spontaneously dropped off on our doorstep by friends since the arrival of our baby

~ lots of rain so we haven't needed to water the garden at all this week

~ first calendula blossoms (I love calendula and would plant it all over the garden if I could spare the space)

~ the arrival of summer!

~ peas, peas, peas and kale, kale, kale from the garden, and garlic that's almost ready to harvest

~ finding a Black Swallowtail caterpillar in the dill patch which our family is going to watch as it hatches into a gorgeous butterfly

~ a very inspiring topbar beekeeping workshop we hosted here on Saturday

What are you grateful for this week?