Little Bones

It was like a scene from a horror movie.

I was standing in a dark, damp, dirt floor cellar, with barely enough light to see by. The cold dirt floor, shadowy corners and musty smell, though reminiscent of childhood fears involving axe murderers and bogeymen, were not what dismayed me.

No, what really bothered me was the nightmarish scene before me: countless cobwebs hanging thick and low from the ceiling, filled with sawdust and the mummified skeletons of hundreds of large, dead spiders.

And even more terrifying: I was about to perform the task of removing them.

Cellars are wonderful things, but I recently discovered just how wonderful a habitat a cellar can be for those lovely creatures that prefer to dwell in dark basements. Luckily, as disgusting as the above description sounds, it wasn't really as bad as it seemed at first. I just grabbed a stick of firewood and rolled up those cobwebs like cotton candy, spiders and all. Once the spiderwebs were gone, a little broom work and I was ready to store my crops for the winter. Sort of.

First I had to clear a space for them.

I wouldn't really consider my parents pack rats. They are usually pretty good at clearing out the old junk. But basements are funny places. They tend to collect junk. And it seems like the darker and more musty they are, the more weird old crap just accumulates there. In my cleaning, I encountered empty canning jars with rusty lids, plant pots, maple syrup bottles of varying shapes, sizes, and ages from young to ancient, interesting looking pieces of firewood, a rat trap (ew), empty wine bottles, an old garden hose, various rusty cans of something unrecognizable, a bunch of little jam jars full of black ooze, etc. Okay, so maybe that list isn't all that weird, but that thick layer of dust and cobwebs  that blanket everything sure makes it seem like this stuff has been here for eons.

And apparently some of it has. At least, long enough for the rust to eat a hole in the lid of this jar. Hmm... do you think it is still edible?

Seriously. I actually have no idea what the contents of these jars are. Maybe we should do a smell test? It could be fun! Right?  . . . Right?

And yes, in the background you are observing a bag of lamb starter, a stack of egg cartons, and an empty can of Guinness, among other things.

Side note: There is something beautiful, or at least entertaining, about the kinds of odds and ends that collect in basements. You can learn a lot about a person from the things they hide away in the cellar, but don't throw out for some crazy reason. Maybe it will be useful someday, or maybe it has nostalgic meaning, or maybe it's just been there so long you were no longer aware of its existence. Regardless of why it's there, what you keep and what you throw away tells a story. But, I digress. This is supposed to be about food, isn't it?


Well, here it is. Not really that impressive in photos, but it was satisfying to store away some of the crop. The remainder was shared with family or came with me to Ottawa, where it will become the subject of future blogs!

The basement is pretty cold, so the gourds (squash and pumpkins) will keep for a few months there. The rutabagas should too, but if they don't I won't be heartbroken. One can only eat so much rutabaga, you know! I intended to cover them in paraffin, but lacked the time or energy to carry out that experiment. It will be interesting to see how long they last.

Since the carrots were so mangled by chipmunks that there wasn't enough left to store for winter, the only other storage vegetable I had to worry about was parsnips. They got the same treatment that the carrots would have, had they survived.

They don't look all too appetizing like that, do they? Kind of like little bones, or tiny skeletons, buried in the sand.

Oh god. I gotta get out of here.

Giving Thanks

Okay, so my Thanksgiving post is a few days late.

I think the act of giving thanks is partly to blame for that. It was such a wonderful weekend, it reminded me of how important it is to seize the day.  So, I've been doing just that-- carpe diem!

Turns out, that makes for a busy life.

Tonight, I am reflecting. Having a little post-Thanksgiving thanks giving time. And among my blessings, I count an abundance of home grown food in my cupboard, fridge and freezer, a beautiful farm I get to spend tons of time on, and a family that I wouldn't trade for anything. So, in no particular order, I'm going to share a few of the things I got to be thankful for this year.

1) Winter vegetables.

No, I am not getting ahead of myself! That's just how all the cookbooks and gardeners refer to those long-lasting veggies. That's because they will keeping feeding us well into the winter. In addition to the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, we had home grown baked squash with butter, and a lightly spiced mix of turnip, parsnips and carrots (purple and orange) for our family dinner.

For spices I just used some cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, plus salt and pepper. The veggies were simply cut into chunks and tossed in cooking oil and the above seasonings. Sometimes I like to keep it traditional.



Oh, and speaking of tradition, here's another one: home made pumpkin pie. And when I say home made, I mean really home made. When Dad and I were off flying and bringing in firewood, Mom was working very hard to turn those lovely orange gourds into a delicious dessert!

(As a side note: isn't pie that is not a garishly fake orange colour just so much more appetizing?)

The how-to guide for home made pumpkin or squash pie will follow. This is just a visual taste:

2) Human flight.

The fact that we can fly, period, is incredible. The fact that I somehow got to go flying with my Dad on the most beautiful October Saturday morning in all of history is indescribable (and the crepes that I whipped up for brekky afterwards were pretty damn tasty as well!).

Okay, so maybe this isn't all that relevant to the focus of this blog, but the pictures sort of are.

Quin Mo Lac Road

Moira Lake. And, uh, a forest. I like the way the light falls in this shot.

If you can tell what this is a picture of, I will be impressed (in other words, I have no idea). 

Either this person is taking advantage of the extra long haying season, or they got lazy. Them cows ain't gonna like that moldy hay too much!

Yeah, that's right. Them cows!!

Isn't it beautiful?

Hey, I think I can see my house from here! (Can you spot the air strip?)

3) Children (and babies!) (and music!!)

When I arrived home this weekend, my mother was busy preparing a Sunday school lesson for Thanksgiving Sunday. She was trying to think of appropriate songs for the occasion. I was busy doing something that was probably super-duper important on my computer, but I suddenly came out of my technology-induced comatose state to the sound of music-- in my head! Mom's efforts had thrown me back in time, to my days as a camp counselor. I grabbed my guitar and played Johnny Appleseed for her. Mom was thrilled. Consequently, I was recruited as entertainment for the children at church on Sunday. No weekend sleep-in for me!

But this section is supposed to be about kids, right? Well, hang on, I'm getting to it! You see, kids are great, but they can be chaotic. When you try to get kids of various ages to concentrate long enough to make a turkey centrepiece out of construction paper, you run into trouble. But music is amazing, and so are kids. When I finally got my guitar tuned again after having the tuning key savagely tweaked by an adorable 3 year old (who was instantly forgiven), I began playing the song. It was magical. They all came out from their respective corners, and the chaos calmed just long enough for everyone to sing (or hum) along to the song. Johnny Appleseed is right-- I do have all the things I need!

Like this guy. My new nephew. He's kind of a big deal, because he and his generation are yet another thing to be thankful for. Also, he's adorable. But seriously. I'm making a point here. I swear. And that point is: thank goodness for babies!

And although that seems like an appropriate conclusion to this post, I have one more story to tell. Hold tight. It's a good one.

4) Laughter

This was originally intended to fall under the kids section, but it has occurred to me that the act of laughing is almost as great as the cause of the laughter. Almost.

The cause has a name: Madison (uh, hopefully her parents are cool with her name being published on the internet? Hm...).

Madison is imaginative. She also has a good memory. For example, she remembers exactly where the dolls and toys are stored in the basement of my parents' house. And she knows that she can't carry them up the stairs by herself. So one day, she asked my Dad (whom she refers to as Farmer Fred), for assistance. She advised him that it was important to hang on to the railing on the stairs, or " I might fall down, hit my head, and bleed all over the place." Needless to say, Farmer Fred had a laugh over that one.

This past weekend, Madison wanted a toy for her baby doll to play with. Farmer Fred thought he would have a little fun.  He told her he wasn't sure about going downstairs. “I don’t know," he said.  "I might fall down, hit my head, and bleed all over the place!”

“No,” she responded matter-of-factly, “You just hold on to the railing! At least, that’s what I’m going to do.” So smart. So freakin' smart.

Farmer Fred took the advice very seriously, but unfortunately he had an accident. From the living room we heard a ruckus. Someone had evidently fallen down the stairs. When the pair returned to the living room, he announced “I fell down the stairs, hit my head, and nearly bled all over the place!”

But, he tells us, Madison was not sympathetic. She simply told him, “You’re not bleeding. Get up.” 

I guess even a child's imagination has its limits!