Rethinking Lifestyle

The year is more than half over. The longest day has come and gone. For a time even here in southern Manitoba we do not technically have night, only astronomical twilight from June 2 to July 11. My sleep pattern has me up at least once every night, so I go outside and look at the sky. I have certainly noticed that it did not get very dark in the early summer. Some of that is due to light pollution from Winnipeg and Steinbach. I remember a time when I could see the milky way clearly. Today it is a rare night with no moon that allows me to see the milky way. On June 21 I confirmed that the markers in my garden were in the correct spot, marking the most northern extent of the sun’s rise (June 21) and the most southern (December 21). Maybe one day I will be able to place large stones there to mark the spots and start my own Stonehenge.

Even though the longest day, marking the half way point on the calendar has come and gone, the fields and the gardens are still mostly in the vegetative stage. As I have mentioned previously, it takes a lot of patience to wait for harvest. There are a few plants that produce an early harvest, plants like rhubarb, sorrel, lettuce, spinach and radishes. We have been enjoying haskap, saskatoons and red currants as well. I found a few pea pods that I immediately consumed on the spot. What delicious textures and flavors. You can buy fresh vegetables like corn on the cob, new potatoes and tomatoes at the grocery store, but I like to deny myself those pleasures until my own produce comes in.

We invested in a marvelous technology that makes butchering chickens almost a pleasure (but not quite): a chicken plucker. The chicken plucker allowed us to butcher six chickens after dinner one night without it seeming too much of a burden. We bought two batches of chicks this spring. The first batch is nice and big, so we decided they were ready. We butcher a small bunch each week, so we have beautiful fresh chicken to barbeque with “Kleefeld” spice. I discovered this spice because it was used for many years at the Kleefeld Honey festival. I buy it in a one-pound paper bag labelled Empire’s Best Chicken Seasoning “barbeque style” (manufactured and packaged in Winnipeg at Empire Spice) at Brothers Grocery store in Kleefeld.

We are still looking forward to a diverse harvest. I am anticipating the next feasts will include fresh peas, beans, cucumbers, carrots, onions and raspberries in sweet cream. I eagerly await the first pot of vegetable soup which will contain chicken broth with onions, a few new potatoes snuck from a continuing plant, peas, beans, tiny carrots, all generously spiced with summer savory and parsley which are about two inches high just outside my front door.