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We just spent another few days at the cottage and we are on the home stretch of our eat local project but it feels like Fall has already arrived. Although my kids would say summer ends when school starts in a little over a week, and there are still over 3 weeks until the season officially changes, the nights have been quite cold, and there is a certain smell in the air, so it feels like it's already happened. The weather man says the hot weather isn't gone for good, but when you go to bed every night worried that a frost might show up that night, summer is a good as gone!


We've decided that if we are going to maintain this way of life, taking a holiday at the end of August is not in our best interest. I usually enjoy a week of doing next nothing, but the past four days have been torturous . As I was trying to sit still doing crossword puzzles, reading magazines, or watching the kids play on the beach, all I could think about was the veggies back home I could be putting up. Notice how I didn't say "should" but "could"? I know a lot of people's reaction to that would be "And THAT is why I buy my pickles, relish, and canned fruit at the grocery store!", but I don't find it a chore at all. For me, it's a hobby. It's fun. Something I get to do once a year. There is a time for kicking back and relaxing, and that's in July when the young veggies are holding their own (as long as you have a 10 year old boy in the neighbourhood who will come water your plants for $20 a week!), not in August when the bounty is showing up by the bucket load every week! 


So, we are back home and I can spend the weekend trying to get caught up. We took a detour on our way home last night to go pick up our CSA bin from Dalew's since we were away for pickup night. I noticed there wasn't any pickling cucumbers in it. I hope that doesn't mean the season is already over for those! They usually put them on the side for those that want them on pickup night, but I didn't think of asking Farmer Dave if he could include some in my box. I may have to go on a scavenger hunt at the Farmer's Market tomorrow to get some more. Keith hasn't made his hot pickle mix yet!!


As far as our Eat Local dinners went this week...well, let's just say I wasn't in charge of the menu. I tried to supplement our meals with the green beans, corn, tomatoes, zucchini and cheese that I brought with us, but for the most part, we ate from the grocery store and we had some serious offenders (coconut milk, jasmine rice, jarred pasta sauce, pre-seasoned packaged with a cedar plank shrink sealed pacific salmon, etc). There really wasn't anything I could do or say without offending, so we ate. Sigh. 


On a more enthusiastic note, I hope Shannon D. updates soon. I think she may have gone to the pot luck dinner Eat Local Sudbury was hosting last night to celebrate the end of the Eat Local Thursday Challenge they hosted this summer!


That's all for today. Off to finish our back to school shopping! Woohoo!
Shannon A.