{"id":1122,"date":"2008-07-20T21:48:08","date_gmt":"2008-07-21T01:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2018-08-13T03:23:10","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T07:23:10","slug":"saturday-july-19-2008-blueberries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1122","title":{"rendered":"Saturday, July 20, 2008 \u2014 Blueberries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"http<\/a>For the next three weeks, I\u2019ll be at my friends, Steve and Ruta Muhlberg\u00ader, mind\u00ading their farm while they\u2019re away. A pleas\u00adant atmos\u00adphere, and not much work involved, as there are only three hors\u00ades, two dogs and some cats to care for, nowa\u00addays. And the fields are so lush from rain that the hors\u00ades can pret\u00adty much fend for them\u00adselves. There is also an infi\u00adnite sup\u00adply of blue\u00adber\u00adries and rasp\u00adber\u00adries, unless the bears vac\u00adu\u00adum them up before I can pick them. Fresh berries, fresh eggs, milk straight from the cow. Sun\u00adlight, star\u00adry skies, crisp clean air. Boy, do I ever need a dose of this stuff. I have a small amount of con\u00adtrac\u00adtu\u00adal work to do, while I\u2019m here, but for the most part I\u2019ll be work\u00ading on my own stuff \u2015 a rare and blessed luxury. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not strict\u00adly speak\u00ading in North\u00adern Ontario (where farms are rare), but in sight of the indi\u00adgo ridge that marks its south\u00adern mar\u00adgin. I\u2019m in the nar\u00adrow cor\u00adri\u00addor of the Mat\u00adtawa Riv\u00ader, still most\u00adly for\u00adest, but with a scat\u00adter\u00ading of farms and vil\u00adlages, sand\u00adwiched in between two blocks of unin\u00adhab\u00adit\u00aded shield coun\u00adtry to the north and south. On the north side of the val\u00adley, the Mat\u00adtawa riv\u00ader hugs the ridge, past which the for\u00adest grows dark\u00ader, the cli\u00admate cold\u00ader, and the peo\u00adple scarcer. But to the south it\u2019s almost as unspoiled. If you fol\u00adlowed a straight line from the property\u2019s south\u00adern fence, you will not cross anoth\u00ader cul\u00adti\u00advat\u00aded or pas\u00adtured acre for 200 kilo\u00adme\u00adtres. Coy\u00adotes, wolves and bears wan\u00adder onto the prop\u00ader\u00adty, but they sel\u00addom cause much harm (It was a bit dif\u00adfer\u00adent when the Muhlberg\u00aders kept sheep). Tame stuff by North\u00adern Ontario stan\u00addards, but not bad for South\u00adern Ontario. There\u2019s even a water\u00adfall just on the edge of the lot. At this time of year, I can expect hot days, but cool nights, and spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar thun\u00adder storms march\u00ading down a reg\u00adu\u00adlar track from the north\u00adwest. Maybe some nice auro\u00adra if the sun is itchy this year. And it\u2019s a short walk to swim in Lake Nosbonsing.<\/span><\/p>\n

I noticed that the farms and hous\u00ades seem more pros\u00adper\u00adous-look\u00ading than they did a decade ago, and Steve and Ruta agreed that they are. And a bit more social\u00adly sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded. We stopped to pick up fresh cow milk at a farm that proud\u00adly flew the Rain\u00adbow Flag, where we were greet\u00aded at the gate by two huge pigs of the Viet\u00adnamese breed, and then chat\u00adted ami\u00adably with Bren\u00adda, one of the own\u00aders, whom I was told is a good per\u00adson for advice if a farm emer\u00adgency occurs. We picked up eggs at anoth\u00ader farm, this one with a huge house, hand-built by the own\u00aders. Its inte\u00adri\u00ador was floored, trimmed, and fur\u00adnished with gor\u00adgeous moun\u00adtain ash that they had cut and milled them\u00adselves. The fid\u00addle\u00adback grain, which requires more dif\u00adfi\u00adcult mill\u00adwork, gave the floors an enchant\u00adi\u00adng shim\u00admer in the sun\u00adlight. Else\u00adwhere, Ruta point\u00aded out a gleam\u00ading, spic-and-span farm, oper\u00adat\u00aded by anoth\u00ader gay cou\u00adple. Is Canada\u2019s new social trend the the infu\u00adsion of the coun\u00adtry\u00adside with a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of salt-of-the-earth Les\u00adbian and Gay farm\u00aders? If so, there\u2019s hope for our coun\u00adtry, for this place reeks of hard-core, hock\u00adey-and-donuts Cana\u00addi\u00adaness, and they man\u00adage to fit in well enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

The val\u00adley was, for cen\u00adturies, the prin\u00adci\u00adpal canoe route for the coureurs-des-bois<\/em>, head\u00ading out west, but it had no set\u00adtlers until the 1880s. My pater\u00adnal grand\u00admoth\u00ader was one of the ear\u00adli\u00adest set\u00adtlers. French-Irish lum\u00adber\u00adjacks moved up the Ottawa Val\u00adley, and when they were injured or retired from the riv\u00ader, they start\u00aded farms, sup\u00adply\u00ading pro\u00adduce for the key rail\u00adway junc\u00adtion at North Bay. Until recent\u00adly, French was the over\u00adwhelm\u00ading\u00adly pre\u00addom\u00adi\u00adnant lan\u00adguage. Access remained by rail. No road was pushed through the val\u00adley to the Ottawa Riv\u00ader until 1957. Farm\u00ading is tricky work here. Fer\u00adtile soil comes only in small patch\u00ades, and 95% of the val\u00adley remains for\u00adest, lake, and swamp. The Muhlberg\u00aders grow no crops, and use the un-forest\u00aded half of the prop\u00ader\u00adty only for graz\u00ading. A wet year has made it green\u00ader than I\u2019ve ever seen it, and the pas\u00adtures are speck\u00adled with daisies, but\u00adter\u00adcups, and blue\u00adbells, the tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal motifs of Ojib\u00adway art.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trapped in apart\u00adment in Toron\u00adto, reduced to scrap\u00ading a liv\u00ading by crouch\u00ading at a com\u00adput\u00ader, crank\u00ading out dull reports and fill\u00ading excel tables, my body is far from what it was and far from what it should be. This sojourn will act as a need\u00aded restorative.<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing that dis\u00adturbs me pro\u00adfound\u00adly is the fact that an entire gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion in North Amer\u00adi\u00adca knows noth\u00ading of the sub\u00adlime beau\u00adty to be expe\u00adri\u00adenced on this plan\u00adet. I don\u2019t only mean Iguacu Falls and the Moon\u00adhill of Yang\u00adshuo and the great Cari\u00adbou herds thun\u00adder\u00ading across the bar\u00adrens. I mean the hun\u00addreds of thou\u00adsands of places where a bend in the road is just right, where a white steeple pokes out of the maples trees, where kids dive from rock in the mid\u00addle of a lazy riv\u00ader, or an ancient and mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous mound lies unno\u00adticed in a field. We have a plan\u00adet of intri\u00adcate, nev\u00ader-end\u00ading won\u00adder and spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal depth. But, instead of being able to drink it in and savour it, we are forced to spend most of our time lis\u00adten\u00ading to the com\u00admands of rich and pow\u00ader\u00adful ass\u00adholes, the blath\u00ader\u00adings of emp\u00adty-head\u00aded celebri\u00adties, and the inane rant\u00adi\u00adngs of con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive morons. It would be true and sweet free\u00addom indeed to be free of that wast\u00aded time, and fab\u00adu\u00adlous wealth indeed if we could delight in, unmo\u00adlest\u00aded, the trea\u00adsures of our inheritance.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the next three weeks, I\u2019ll be at my friends, Steve and Ruta Muhlberg\u00ader, mind\u00ading their farm while they\u2019re away. A pleas\u00adant atmos\u00adphere, and not much work involved, as there are only three hors\u00ades, two dogs and some cats to \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-as-blog-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1122"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8436,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions\/8436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}