Thanksgiving

It's been the most beautiful Thanksgiving weekend here in Ontario. 

Saturday morning was 25C and sunny.  I had a booth at the last Saturday farmer's market in North Bay.  I was looking forward to the nice weather for my outside booth, instead of huddling against a wet, cold, wind like usual.  Usually, my warm woolie goods don't sell as much in the warm, sunny weather, but for some reason, I had a super sales day.

Having a booth at the market is often a hit and miss for sales.  Some friends wonder why I would bother lugging my car full of goods, tent and tables, along with my sleepy teenager to the market for 4 hours of promotion in all kinds of interesting weather on a Saturday morning.  Sometimes I've wondered myself.  However, I always feel great after the market.  I talk to wonderful people, some are local, some are tourists from all over.  Many have an interest in the animals that I raise and the process of making fleece into yarn.   Most are appreciative of quality handcrafted goods.  Some are die-hard fibre art addicts like myself.  I always have great conversations there.  I've been involved on an occasional basis for 3 years now, and I've come to know many of the other vendors.  We are a committed group that know that our offerings of locally grown food,  quality handcrafted products and a great shopping experience bring value to our community.

 I have saved my seeds from my squash, lettuce, beans and tomatoes this year.  Packaged and labelled, they will go into the drawer for next year.  You may notice in the farm shot above that the middle small pasture has been tilled.  Part of that pasture will become a vegetable garden next year.  We will take the lessons learned from our little garden and expand next spring.

Saturday afternoon we went to the lake, cooked steaks on the open fire, then watched the stars over the lake into evening.  We slept with the windows open to a warm breeze.  In the morning, I took my coffee to the lake to watch the sun come over the hill and take the mist from the lake.  The lake was like glass reflecting the forest of autumn colours.  (Yes, you guessed it, I forgot to bring my camera.)  It was an incredibly beautiful scene, made even more special knowing how unusual weather this was for mid-October in Northern Ontario.

Somebody got massacred on the picnic table yesterday at home.

I spent part of today dyeing some beautiful colours while the turkey cooked.

I have much to be thankful for.

North Bay Farmer's Market

The North Bay Farmer's Market opened on Saturday under a beautiful, sunny sky.  I was there bright and early as a customer.

I made a haul. 

I bought some handwoven teatowels from Joe-Ann Ribout of Mountainview Weaving.  Joe-Ann was apologetic that the price had gone up to reflect the price of cotton this year.  As a weaver myself, I know the amount of time and skill that goes into these teatowels.  I've bought Joe-Ann's before, and they seem to be indestructible.  The cotton washes up nice, time and time again.  These ones are for a gift.

I really went to the market in search of fresh asparagus and rhubarb.  There was a number of vendors that had asparagus, but I bought mine from Ron Warman of Powassan.

I was pleased to find a local meat farmer at the market, selling meat that was raised the traditional way, without hormones or antibiotics.  I bought some frozen T-bones from the Holden family from Eau Claire. (I found out that they farm on the same road that my grandparent's farm was on.)

There were a lot of vegetable plants for sale.  I saw Schlosser Farms had some of those mushroom-growing logs for sale.

I chatted with a couple vendors that I knew and then took my loot home. (Okay, Heather, if you are reading this and wondering why I didn't stop at your booth, you were very busy with customers!)

Some of the asparagus got eaten for supper, the rest frozen for a couple other meals.
The rhubarb is chopped up and waiting to be made into crisp for tonights supper (if the house cools down enough to bear having the oven on.)

I wouldn't have been prepared to have a booth on Saturday.  But I hope that I get a spot soon.  Despite the lugging of wares, tent and tables in the early morning frenzy and the unpredictability of the weather on an outdoor market, the market is a good day out.