It isn’t as hot as it was last week, but it isn’t pleasant out there nonetheless. Rain is predicted here for today, and quite a bit for tonight. One 1000 litre rain tank is full, the overflow rain barrels are full, and the second 1000 litre tank has about 250 litres of water, it might also be full by tomorrow, it he predicted 20-25 ml of rain falls.
Everything looks good in the garden, with a few exceptions. The Peas are beginning to die off, but they aren’t big producers to start with. The Cabbages are being attacked by cabbage worms and flea beetles. We have been spraying with insecticidal soap, it is helping, but the Cabbage doesn’t like it. The Walking Onions got mildew again and are on the ground, we need to find another variety that is not vulnerable to mildew.
This morning Attila brought in Swiss Chard, a Carrot, and a Zucchini for my lunch. The Zucchini are starting to get bigger now, and there are a lot of them, so soon I’ll be looking for ways to preserve Zucchini. I recently came across a mention of Zucchini “candy”, boiling in a Koolaid (I would use fruit juice) and sugar syrup, then dehydrate it. Since the last batch of raisins we bought were so awful, I am going to give this a try, so that I will have dried “fruit” for my sweet breads. There is also a recipe that uses Zucchini to make a fake “Pineapple”, again for use in baking. Since we cannot access enough fresh fruit to preserve it, we are going to have to get innovative about baking ingredients.
Another issue I am pondering, is how to access wheat berries without putting either Attila or I at risk. The only place that sells product we can afford is in Toronto, the hot spot for Covid-19 in Ontario.
Not only is it quite a drive for us, but it also requires that I enter the building to make the purchase. I hate the idea of going into a retail outlet, really, really hate it. But there doesn’t seem to be any alternative. The company will not ship to us, regardless of shipping costs, they just will not. We cannot pre-order, pre-pay, then pickup, they don’t do that either. One must travel to their outlet, go into the building, interact face-to-face to place the order, pay by debit, then pick up at the loading bay. I am very distressed that they have zero flexibility about this for people, during this pandemic. But what can I do, they are basically our only option for affordable wheat kernels, and other dry goods.
Yes, lots of local people sell wheat kernels, but at prices that we simply cannot pay. It isn’t that we would not pay, we would if we could but we can’t. The price of local wheat kernals is somewhere around 10 times the price of that from the Toronto outlet. The difference is staggering.
If local producers can’t produce food that average working people can afford, then average working people won’t be purchasing local food, it is simple. The market system has not evolved in a way, here in Ontario, Canada, to allow some segments of local production to produce affordable items. Wheat kernels are one of those items.
I think at some point Attila will take an unpaid day off work so that we can travel to the city, and take the risks involved to access our supplies. This is a point of stress in my life, not much knocks me off balance, but this situation “gets my goat”. There is only one option, and I don’t like it. This too shall pass.
The hot and humid weather is predicted for the rest of the month of July, and perhaps beyond. The Humidex has been 30C or above every single day of July that has passed thus far, for a few days it was up to 44C Humidex during the day. The garden loves it. I am glad something around here finds it advantageous. I guess if the garden likes it, and I like what a happy garden produces to feed us, then indirectly I like hot humid weather as well. My body however, isn’t convinced by this line of logic.
Worldly
Weather
25°C
Date: 11:00 AM EDT Thursday 16 July 2020
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.0 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 24.9°C
Dew point: 20.2°C
Humidity: 75%
Wind: SSE 31 gust 41 km/h
Humidex: 33
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.”
Thomas Jefferson
1743 – 1826
Oh I like (not!) that quote by Thomas Jefferson, the slave-owner! Never trouble another for what you can do yourself!!! Ha!
Lovely zinnia! I broke our twice a month grocery shopping only rule to venture into Michaels (a craft supply store), as soon as it opened. Hardly anyone there, the few we saw were masked. They had a shield between the clerk and the customer, which made me feel safer. (I’m sure she did, as well.) I’d been ordering directly from the DMC factory store, but they were out of a lot of colors and the threads I’d ordered a LONG time ago still haven’t arrived. The post office is adding to the delays. I hope your Toronto trip is as safe and hassle free as possible.
Bex, good point! I think the statement in the quote is valid, just not coming from the individual who in significant ways did trouble another for what he could have done himself.
Thanks Joan! An interesting trip to Michaels, it sounds like they are taking precautions seriously. Glad you got your thread! Online ordering has changed since the pandemic started, I got caught on the change when I realized I hadn’t ordered a birthday present on time to be delivered, had to abandon that option. Now I know. Thanks for the good wishes for the Toronto trip, I am building my courage to make a go for it, planning carefully.