I will admit it.  I get focused on the things that I care deeply about and then I allow my world to revolve round those things.  The movies and documentaries I watch, the books, both fiction and non that I read, the articles I peruse in magazines and on line, are already filtered through the “everything about Kath” screen.  This is not a bad thing necessarily, just life.  In the mean time I allow the media (and often the more extreme American media) to shape my impressions about certain aspects of today’s world and I create stereo-types about people and things that I do not really know about.  Does this happen to you as well?

Case in point: Before my weekend away with the Manitoba Canola Growers at “Be Well Camp”, I had a very different impression of a Manitoba cattle raising family.  But now I have had the pleasure of meeting Carman and Donna Jackson of the High Bluff Stock Farm.

This was my first visit to the area surrounding Inglis, MB.  The setting is rolling and lush.  We passed the scenic Assiniboine River Valley and the Shell River Valley which join at the Shellmouth Dam to form the Lake of the Prairies, en route to the farm that morning.

Mom Donna and Tomina, the youngest of the five Jackson daughters are absolutely gorgeous! Tall, lean, healthy and glowing (but also stylish and well-coiffed)-they are a testament to country living.  I wonder if I could transform myself if I spent some time on their farm…..

Carman and Donna were perfectly articulate about their farm and the Canadian beef industry.  You can discern in a moment that they are well educated and on top of their business.  When you learn that the rest of the girls are off at various high profile universities and careers, you see the commitment that the family has made to making the most intelligent decisions for their animals and the environment.

Their beautiful, white coated Charolais herd are obviously well loved and not shy around humans. One of them really wanted to get into a family photo.

And so the Jackson family created a 360 impression of a cattle farm family for me.  Thank you Carman and Donna. And to all of the other families who I previously regarded with my high fluting/urbanite glasses on-please forgive me.  I was misinformed but now I have been enlightened!

Does anyone know why I instantaneously fell in love with their horse?

Kath’s quote: “Farmers are the only indispensable people on the face of the earth.”-Li Zhaoxing

Love-that is all.

I would consider my family hospitable people.  By this I mean we take our turn hosting Christmas and dinners at the lake and enjoy going to an extra bit of trouble when we entertain.  We are very intentional and organized when we host.  We divvy up responsibilities and tasks so that the evening will go off without a hitch.

I cannot imagine welcoming a busload of absolute strangers (let alone food writers).

I cannot imagine pulling this off and celebrating my grandson’s birthday in the same evening.

I cannot imagine hosting anything at all after devastating winds have threatened my community and our livelihood.

I cannot imagine doing this without my husband who gets called away at the last minute to answer an alarm as a volunteer fire fighter.

I cannot imagine pulling together any kind of composure and grace under these circumstances.

There is “hospitality” and there is what I call “radical hospitality”.

And yet that is just what Carol Dalgarno did this past Friday evening when Pen-Dale Farms in Newdale, MB was the first stop on Manitoba Canola Grower’s “Be Well” Weekend.

Since Bruce had been called away to fight a field fire in the area, we never actually had the chance to meet him but had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with his family and friends who shared their story. Pen-Dale is a fourth generation farm and they operate a 3000 acre mix of canola, cereals, oilseeds, grasses and pedigree seeds.  All this seems daunting enough but they do so at an elevation approaching 2000 feet which means that the area has one of the shortest growing seasons for agricultural land in Manitoba.

I know that I would have immediately taken to Bruce as my sweet Dad was also a grain farmer who left his land in southern Saskatchewan only because there was a war to be fought but returned every year to help out at harvest time and then sent his eldest sons to do the same, until his parents were too elderly to sustain the land.  “Farming allows Bruce to feel the earth, to smell and watch crops grow.”

We were treated to my first “Supper in the Field”- a term known to most farm families.  During harvest time meals are taken to the field so as to be time efficient for the workers.  Often friends who have other occupations assist at harvest time and so there are many to provide a hearty meal for.  A friend of Carol’s had been recruited to feed us and I will have to get one of my fellow travelers to remind me of her name.

Salads had been prepared from the abundance of freshly picked tomatoes and cucumbers, baby potatoes boiled and mashed,

and beef was sliced to our liking along with hearty baked beans.

A gorgeous pumpkin trifle was our dessert, and even though I shy away from desserts in the city, I enjoyed the first of many sweet tastes of the weekend.

The sun was just setting as we boarded our bus to head to our next destination but I will not ever forget the Dalgarnos and their radical hospitality.

Kath’s quote: “Beans are highly nutritious and satisfying, they can also be delicious if and when properly prepared, and they posses over all vegetables the great advantage of being just as good, if not better, when kept waiting, an advantage in the case of people whose disposition or occupation makes it difficult for them to be punctual at mealtime.”-Andre Simon

Love-that is all.

A week ago I attended the Funeral Mass for a great man on the Winnipeg restaurant scene.  He had silver hair and was dashingly handsome with a witty sense of humour and an unforgettable laugh.  He drove a truck and no, he was not a delivery person for a food-service company.  He was one of those astonishing men who kept the home fires burning while his wife was a successful restaurant owner and hands on manager.  His wife Joan was one of the first restaurant owner/operators on the Winnipeg scene and in the Keg Restaurant system.  I started at the Garry St. Keg just a short time before her.  I watched her rise through the ranks with her amazing attention to detail, hard work and perseverance.  She could not have done this without a special man at home.

Back in the old Keg days it was like we were family and many of us were-five families in particular: the Chapdelaines, the Furlans, the Reschs, the Grisims and my own.  Many of us worked side by side with our siblings and even our Moms (or in my case my future mother-in-law).  We didn’t all end up in the restaurant business but we learned many fundamentals for business success like loving the hard work, enjoying the celebrations and time to play, all the while keeping an eye on the bottom line.

Last Friday there were three generations of Grisims to mourn alongside three generations of Chapdelaines.  D and I have ignited the hospitality fire in our kids and now J1 is a stellar dining room server at The Keg working for one of Joan and Laurent’s children.  You see two of their five children are the General Managers of the Winnipeg Kegs.  Did I forget to mention this? While Joan was spending all those hours in the hospitality business, she and Laurent raised five children!  At one time or another, all the kids and even one of their grandchildren, all worked in the restaurants.

I am quite sure that you love food and restaurants, otherwise why would you be reading these musings?  So next time you are toasting a restaurant or Chef’s success, remember that behind every Joan there is a Laurent.  Perhaps not so big a person as this man was, with such a booming laugh and such a keen wit but someone to keep it all together at home, none the less.

Kath’s quote: “A married couple who enjoy the pleasures of the table have, at least once a day, a pleasant opportunity to be together.”-Jean-Antheleme Brillat-Savarin

Love-that is all.

As I write this I am surrounded by the sounds of the forest and sleeping dogs.  But don’t be fooled, if I were to rise from my cozy couch, they too would spring up in anticipation of their next forest or beach walk.  This is how my day began today.  With a mug of coffee in my hand, I allowed myself to be pulled to whatever clump of trees or grasses they were eager to sniff out.  Just a simple thing but a real illustration of how my life (and attitude) is different here than 1 1/2 hours away, in the city.  When I am home, getting the dog out is another item on my checklist for the day.  I am relieved when I can get out the poop bag because that means I am also free to head home.  I wish that I could capture my lake state of mind when I head back to the city.

Today is going to be a hot one and even though we have a fairly efficient AC here, I have planned our meals around not having to turn on the stove.  Daughter #1 and I will head to Grand Beach for supper with my beloved bro-in-law, niece and the “Australian”.  The ocaission is their all-you-can-eat pickerel dinner that we have enjoyed in the past.

I do love to cook out here though, last night I slow roasted three 1/2 chickens on the barbie smothered with tomatoes, zuchini and ginger/curry sauce and topped with mixed nuts, raisins and coconut.

The night before it was pickerel cheeks with smashed baby potatoes and Greek salad.

Daughter #1 and I made a peach/blueberry crumble earlier in the week that has sustained us for our dessert fix after the pooches are walked for the evening and we are settled in for our Alias viewing. We retire early so that we can cozy up and read in bed when there is not a sound except for the odd rustling in the bushes.

But soon this lazy routine will be done for another year.  I love the change of seasons but hope that this amazing summer can sustain itself just a while longer.

Kath’s quote: “Summer cooking implies a sense of immediacy, a capacity to capture the essence of the fleeting moment.- Elizabeth David

Love-that is all.

I am on my summer vacation.  We are at our beach house and there are various configuration of family that come and go to the 4 cottages that we enjoy here.  The fact that my extended family is here too, means that there are often extra people at our table, sometimes invited and other times a meal just appears on the table on the deck, where some have accumulated to recount the latest fishing trip or time at the beach.

Life is different here-intentionally so. Now that the analog signal expired, we cannot catch the National!  I was kind of liking this. But this summer everything changed.  I was entitled to a remote access upgrade from my internet rocket stick and for less money, we acquired a wi fi hotspot at the cabin. One morning, as I tidied, there were  4 laptops, 1 mac tablet and three i phones recharging.  Nothing is constant except change, they say.

Thankfully, there are some traditions that are still accomplished in a slower manner.  This week I saw a corn sign on the highway and so we swung in to make our purchase.  When the gentleman who was working on a project in his home came out, I asked him if he had had a chance to pick any corn that day.  He said no-he picks to order.  So he hopped on his little tractor and 4 minutes later, we were driving away with 2 dozen freshly picked ears!  We ate a platter full that night for dinner.  It was so firm and sweet that butter was not required.  I had mine with a squeeze of lime and some freshly ground sea salt-oh yum…

Today will be spent walking the dogs in the forest, riding my ancient bike to the beach or reading in the hammock-perhaps a little of everything.  Life is good.

Kath’s quote:  “For the millions of us who live glued to computer keyboards at work and TV monitors at home, food may be more than entertainment. It may be the only sensual experience left.”-Barbara Ehrenreich

Love-that is all.