Today was the day when we all headed out in our own directions. Four of us went golfing, two went to the beach in Morrisburg and Ted & I went on a crop tour. I'd heard of the Seven Willows Tolley Gardens just a little north and west of where we are camping. I contacted the owner to get permission for a tour yesterday. When we had not heard back from the owner of the gardens, we drove there to see if we could view them from the road. Later on in the day, the lady responded and she'd seen our truck, but we left too soon for her to reach us. I've made a mental note to plan ahead next time and see these private gardens. From the road they are just beautiful. She and her husband worked on these gardens since the early 1970's. There are 7.5 acres of gardens!!!!
I am always the navigator when we go on crop tours. Today, I decided to just turn left and then right heading northeast and continue until we reached the level of Cornwall. Then, I zig-zagged us back to the city and along the St. Lawrence back to our campground. This land north of the St. Lawrence is variable with many wetlands and marshes.
Early in the tour, we came across about 1,000 acres made up of crazy little 5 acre fields, some of which were just being planted!!!! What kind of farmers are these? In our area everything has been planted for over a month. We found a few fields where the crop had emerged and Ted had to get out and see what it was: buckwheat. Still don't understand why they would have 1,000 acres of that crop.
Here and there we drove through forests, like this Whipperwill Forest on .... wait for it.... Whipperwill Road! Don't you wonder what prompted certain road names? Like, today we drove on Willy Bill Road. Where did that come from?
Haying was in full swing today. They must have had one eye on the weather forecast - 15 cm of rain tomorrow. Sure hope that they got all of this hay baled today!
More farmland is being produced in this part of the province. Sadly, the forests are taking the hit. See those big piles of brush? We saw quite a number of new fields that had been taken back from the woods.
When you are in an unfamiliar part of the country and you need a meal, how do you know where to go? Our best clue is to look for the restaurant with the most farm trucks parked out front. Katrina's Corner Kitchen in Monkland had a good line of cars out front, so we headed inside. You never know what surprises you find when you venture out and today was no exception. After sharing a bowl of tortilla vegetable soup and egg salad sandwiches, we headed to the till. We were shocked when the server took us aside and said that the two men who just left had paid for our bill!
There was a mixture of old-time farms, abandoned ones (like the house below) and a few modern dairy farms on this tour.
When I stepped out to take a picture of the house above, this little ........ no-idea-what it-is.... but, isn't it beautiful??!!!..... caught my eye. Surprises everywhere.
So, here's a map showing the highlighted zig-zag crop tour of today..... and then back along the St. Lawrence to the campground. In the grand scheme of things, it is a small area, but the diversity is big.
I hope all the hay got baled. I can hear raindrops on the roof.
תגובות