Ponies and grapes

It's the season of bounty and we are gathering, making and storing for the winter now.  My boys are at the stage where they are eating more then me and seem eternally hungry (ie asking what supper will be while they are eating lunch).  I don't buy all organic all the time (too expensive!), but am conscious of where my food comes from and how it was grown.  It's such a tricky balance where it seems like a luxury to afford what is good and wholesome for hungry boys.  And this fall I'm trying to think as creatively as we can to make healthy, relatively inexpensive meals for our family that both satisfy and nourish their growing bodies.  Part of this includes going directly to the farms or farmers to buy our food. 

 The grapes in the vineyard behind my parent's place aren't quite ready yet.  Last year was a bad year- mice had nibbled away at the roots of many of the vines and there hadn't been many grapes, so we felt like we missed eating these grapes.  This year it looks like a bumper crop, except that we need about a week of sun to ripen the rest of it.  We'll be making grape juice and then also grape jelly out of these grapes that lasts us for about a year.  It's so amazing to be able to make and bake out of what grows around us, isn't it? 

And the ponies were just an added bonus.  How cute are they. 

The Pumpkin Patch Economy

We had a great weekend in Vernon BC this past week visiting great friends and the highlight of our trip was going to the Davison Family Farm to pick pumpkins and buy fresh apples and pears. We picked the best day to go with the weather glorious and fall-like and, as you can see by the pictures, we even tried to squeek in some family photos- which got a little crazy after about the 3rd shot. We tasted their fresh squeezed apple juice, had a hot apple donut made on site and thought about how a farm like this one, owned and operated for almost a century by the Davison family, has re-invented themselves so they could stay alive and well all these years. The tractor ride with old apple crates as a train buggy drove everyone through the orchard to the pumpkin patch- for $3 a person, $6 if you picked a pumpkin too. With old grandpa Davison driving the tractor, and a line of 6 apple crates holding 4 people each, we figured they were probably making roughly over $100 a ride up to the pumpkin patch. Every 15 minutes from 10:15-5pm, well, you do the math, not too shabby for grandpa Davison.
Well, all I can say is that when you see a local place like that hopping full of people on a saturday, enjoying what the locals have to offer, all this global economy stuff feels a little far off in la-la land. I know it's going to affect the little guys- that being me as well. I've already had people reconsider their Christmas orders because they have more to consider economically. I can appreciate that. I believe in meaningful giving- not necessarily giving more, but giving well. Hand-made and local always means more to me- I appreciate the thought and care that goes into something made by hand as opposed to something mass produced. I can only hope others can appreciate that as much as I do.