Orange Shirt Day

Today we remember the thousands of Indigenous children who were often forcibly removed from their homes to attend residential schools.  Many died, many of those lying in unmarked graves.

In 1960 6-year old Phyllis Webstad, who lived with her grandmother on a reserve in the middle of B.C., was looking forward to going off to school.. Her grandmother had found enough pennies to buy her a bright orange shirt for her first day.  She went off to school happily - until she arrived.  All her clothes were stripped off and taken away to be burned; all the students were scrubbed  and de-liced.  She never saw her orange shirt again.

It's hard to believe this happened in 1960.  I was already 12 years old and in grade 7!  What a long time it has taken us to abandon colonialism; many remnants hang on today.  For Phyllis there was a complete disconnect from her culture, from the love of her family, and a feeling of worthlessness.  This was indoctrination, not education!

The official design for 2024.

With credit to the Orange Shirt Society.

Phyllis finally found the strength to tell her story in 1981, and the image caught on.  Officially this is National Day for Truth and reconciliation, recognized federally in Canada.  There are only three Canadian holidays that have more meaning to me - Christmas, East and Thanksgiving.

Garden Close-ups

 Last weekend we began a major garden project, changing the raised beds Mrs. F.G. has been using for veggie production.  I'm not going to reveal it yet, but I did end up spending a lot of time out there watching our gardener work!  So I had time to try and get some interesting shots of plants.

This clump of pink Cosmos bloomed late in the season, right in front of our living room window.

A dried stalk of Bear's Breeches.

Leaves of a Japanese Maple

A Lavender that decided to bloom twice.

 And a pink Echinacea that's blooming afresh.

Blooms of pink cosmos

A yellowy-orange Nasturtium flower.

The seed heads of one of our Clematis.

Spider Webs in the Rain

We started out this week with some rainy days.  Mrs. F.G. came and borrowed my camera before I was even up, and out into the wet garden she went.  There were spider webs everywhere!  She caught them with the raindrops still on them.  I won't add comments, just enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed those!

Goldsmiths Part 2

Goldsmiths attracts shoppers off the passing highway with these colourful displays of 'Mums'.   It's just a rich small market, with veggies, fruit, flowers, meat and a bit of baking, all wrapped up in a busy little store.  I never did go inside; the things that are in bulk are all outside.

 

They must have someone pick out plants that are most completely in bloom!  This shot contains parts of three different plants!

Then we finally found what we came for - tomatoes in bulk.  Mrs. F.G. is trying her hand at making tomato juice.  The kitchen was like a production facility for a week!

We could have picked up some sweet corn, but it's the end of the season and this was pretty expensive.

We've bought sunflowers here before, but not today.  Today it was just tomatoes.

We left Goldsmiths and drove south then west out of Clarksburg, past the extensive Red Prince apple orchards, all protected by tall deer fencing.

These are high density orchards, only planted a few years ago,  It's amazing how many apples they bear already!

Goldsmiths Farm Market

Just on the outskirts of Thornbury is the most popular local farm market here.  I know it's too expensive at times, and it's far too busy, but it has the best local produce around.  The family has its own orchards and a large vegetable farm right here in the valley.  And of course at apple harvest time (right now), the variety is amazing.

There were six different apple varieties listed as available, and these will change over the season.

I think these two are Paula Red and Jersey Mac.

These are Ginger Gold.

And these are MacIntosh.  Once you've tried different varieties and know which ones you like, you'll shop at a place like this and get your favourite one.  For me it's Ambrosia, but that's a little later in the season.

.There were several varieties of pumpkins, including these 'UFO' pumpkins,

these very small ornamental pumpkins.

and these nice big round ones, perfect for Hallowe'en.

Around Town

I've found an interesting variety of photo-worthy things around town recently, and we are headed into the Scarecrow Festival, so there will be more coming.  I need to get downtown and get some photographs for you.  Here are a few things to keep you amused in the meantime.

In the spirit of the Scarecrow Festival, a woman on our street likes to put out a display, so here is a chef making an apple pie.  Meaford is the apple capital of Ontario, after all.

And here is the harvest side of the picture.  Apples are one thing that is still harvested by hand; most of the apple pickers come from Jamaica or Mexico, and have been coming for years.

I love the sight of Brown-eyed Susans, and a friend around a few blocks has a patch.

Downtown the decorative flower planters grown by the town are magnificent.  Someone deserves a lot of credit.

Nearby is this group of very small scarecrows that someone has stuck in near the Trowbridge Street bridge.  You'll see a lot more larger size scarecrows soon.

More From the Garden

I should share a few more pictures of the garden before it goes into hibernation.  It's still a very interesting place.  And the harvest, of tomatoes, peppers and beans, continues.

Hot Peppers come in a wide variety of hotness, shape and taste, but they all require a long growing season, with lots of sun, to mature.  Our summer, especially the extended sunny warm September we've been enjoying, is ideal.

This is the big patch of Fall Anemones we have.  They've grown into a large pink tangle now.

Just a random patch of white Cosmos, but these ones hit me in the shoulder every time I go down the ramp off the deck to the patio.

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Our yellow rose has expanded to nearly a dozen blooms.

Another random patch of Cosmos, these one entirely pink.

And I was very glad to find a single out-of-season Dandelion in our front lawn.  A statement of defiance if you will.

Sorry about the spacing; Blogger has been very cranky today and I eventually just gave up!

The Garden in Fall

 Fall in the garden seems to start in early August sometimes, but by mid-September it's well underway.  There are fewer new blooms, less new growth, and some plants are beginning to look bedraggled.  In a garden full of tomato and pepper plants like ours, there are a lot of plants that can be removed once the veggies are harvested.  And we have had a very good harvest!

The biggest difference I notice every morning is the shade outside my window.  Looking straight ahead on a sunny morning, you can see that all the foreground is shaded; the sunshine is way back out there on the patio as the sun sinks lower in the sky behind us.

Among the plants still in bloom, the red rose stands out.

We also have a big clump of Helenium.  I love the bright colours.

The purple Verbena has spread like mad through the garden this year.

Over by our wooden heron we have a clump of Leopard Plant.  This one has very large leaves, and I've sometimes colloquially referred to it as 'Elephants Ears'.

The last of our Clematis has also bloomed.  This one has small yellow flowers, and the shot was takewn from all across the garden, but I thought that captured the best view - they all look like little yellow lanterns.

The harvest of hot peppers has been remarkable!

And the harvest of tomatoes even more remarkable!  As you can tell by the number of varieties here, Mrs. F.G.'s goal this year was to test all the interesting varieties she thought would grow well here.  Most of them did grow well, but the larger ones tended to grow into twisted shapes.  I think she would say that the smaller tomatoes were more successful.