Fall Colours

Today was a much better day for viewing the fall colours, which are changing very fast.  But we started out by sorting out my old camera equipment, which hasn't seen much action for 8 months now.  I'm back to my favourite Nikon, and it has definite advantages compared to my iphone.

The trees in our own backyard have barely begun changing colour, just a tinge of yellow and a bit of orange.

But right out behind us in the golf course are two old Sugar Maples that are showing lots of bright red.

So we headed down Co. Rd.12 toward the valley.  Roads were lined with many yellow and orange Sugar Maples,

Along the way we passed several quilt barns, this quilt representing a chicken!

Soon we were headed down into the Beaver Valley.  Colourful trees extended up the slopes.

We took Lanktree Drive that extends up the slope beside Talisman, and found the best group of bright maples that we had seen.  This is what fall colour is all about.

Then we headed home, but grey clouds and rain dulled the colour a little.  Glad we got out for the drive;  it's such a short time period every fall it's all too easy to miss it.  I have to say that it's nice to be back to my big camera too!

Fall has a jump on us

We drove south to Markdale for thanksgiving dinner tonight (delicious!) and hoped to get some pictures of the emerging fall colour.  It appears that the fall colour is well ahead of us, with miles of red and orange Sugar Maple along the roads and up the valleysides.  However very few pictures tonight because fog and smirr kept invading.

The long foggy hill out of Meaford.

Colour up the valleysides, but fog on the ridge.

Old Baldy

The iphone camera isn't good enough to capture images from a moving car.

Turkey Vultures overhead.

On the first sunny day we'll be out driving some of the same roads.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is about more than turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing, though I hope I'll get a generous helping of those tomorrow.  Thanksgiving is about being thankful for so many things, from the crops that feed us to the friendship of the communities where we live, from flowers in the garden to the woods and water of the natural world around us.

Over the next days we'll see the peak of fall colour here, though it's just beginning now.  One of the nicest two weeks of the year, and a very appropriate time to be celebrating Thanksgiving.

In our case we're just thankful that I'm here, given all that's gone on the last 8 months.  We saw my GP yesterday, and he expressed his own astonishment that I was still alive alive and kicking.  Every day that you're alive is a gift.

I remember big Thanksgiving dinners at my grandparents, and only slightly smaller dinners at my own parents.  Thanksgiving is inevitably in part about family, even if you can't all get together at the time.  But don't ever take for granted that things will continue unchanged.  Take time to be consciously thankful before you devour that turkey!

More on Apples

The more I dig into the production of apples around here, the more interesting the topic gets.  I started by asking myself why is Grey County (almost entirely the area around Meaford and Thornbury) the top apple producing area in Ontario, by a considerable margin?

 The only apple farm in the area that has a pick-your-own operation.

This region is tops for apples for two main reasons, soil and climate.  Apples like a sandy or gravelly soil, and don't like getting their feet wet.  They are most susceptible in spring if there is a late frost after the apples have flowered (as happened in 2012).  Here the soils are old glacial beach ridges, and the water of Georgian Bay has a moderating influence that delays blooming until the risk of frost is low.  A good combination for apples.

One of the new high density apple orchards, trees grown close together in espaliered style.

It's also important to understand that the apple market is actually divided into different sections.  Most Grey County apples go for juice (as do a majority of Ontario apples).  Among both juice and eating apples, only five varieties provide 75% of Ontario's production, and grocery stores tend to reflect this limited choice (Macs, Spies, Red and Yellow Delicious).  In fact there are at least 20 other varieties available, but they are grown in smaller numbers and in local areas.  To enjoy these you need to shop at farms and farmers markets.  We now always look for our favourite local varieties and enjoy the unique flavours.  As new varieties come on to the market, there are new possibilities.

Red Prince, one of the new varieties grown only here in the valley.

So next time you're looking for apples, check out your local farms or farm markets.

Apple Season

We stopped by Grandma Lambe's the other day to check out the apples.  The area around Meaford and Thornbury is the top apple growing area in Ontario, and therefore has the greatest variety of apples available for us to buy.

 'Grandma Lambe's' is just one of several farm outlets where you buy apples (and pies and other fruit) near Meaford.

The bushels and half-bushels were under a tent outside, being unloaded from a truck directly from the orchard.

On the left 'Sweet 16s', a recent popular variety only available for a short season.  On the right, the very successful Honey Crisp, my favourite apple for the taste.  But look at the price!  $70.00 a bushel!  With only a few trees bearing fruit yet, it's very pricey.

These are the bags the typical consumer will buy, in half peck and one peck sizes.  (When was the last time you heard the term 'peck' as a unit of measurement?  Apples are about the last crop sold in pccs; four pecks = 1 bushel.)

That's not me in the headless scarecrow outfit, but that is Mrs. Furry Gnome pretending to be Grandma Lambe.

Wheelchair Wheelies

There's been an outdoor rink in Harrison Park for decades.  And a few years ago the Scenic city Order of Good Cheer funded an artificial ice surface.  All summer it serves as an impromptu basketball court.  But as we crossed it on our way back to the car, no-one else was there.  I couldn't resist the chance to try out my wheelchair.  Hope the video works for you.

Emancipation Day Memorial

One of the most interesting historical features in Harrison Park is the cairn built to celebrate the local black community.  For 156 years an Emancipation Day Picnic has been held here, every year since 1862.  This makes it the longest running Emancipation Day celebration in North America.

Sitting next to the river, the memorial is in the form of two stone walls and a tiled floor.  The 'windows' represent the small churches that meant so much to black pioneers.

The story is the story of the Underground Railway, a network of routes and safe houses that American slaves could follow to reach freedom in Canada.  Several different states and Ontario towns provided boulders for the walls.

There are several interpretive panels that tell the story of the cairn.  Owen Sound was considered the northern terminus of the Underground Railway.  The underlying politics reflects the fact that the British (including Canada) abolished slavery in 1834, but freedom for slaves in the United States did not arrive until President Lincoln's proclamation of 1862.

A lot of the interpretive information here relates to the quilting symbols that are associated with the Underground Railway.  Quilts were used as symbols for safe houses for example.

A number of quilting symbols are shown in the ceramic tiles on the ground.  Several have some words added.  This one says it all!