Farm Touring Kind of Day

For supper last night, we drove into Lennoxville and ate outside at a Lebanese restaurant. On the way home, Ted had the urge to take a self-conducted tour of Agriculture Canada's Sherbrooke Research Centre. For a while we watched a team of tractor drivers desperately trying to harvest hayledge before last night's predicted rain. As we drove around the grounds we came across something we'd never seen in person: fistulated cows. We'd both heard of them, but never seen them.

This morning, on our way to Compton and Coaticook, we went back with the camera and, lucky for me, there were still 2 fistulated cows laying about. Fistulated or Cannulated cows have had a portal installed in their side which can be opened to obtain the contents of their stomachs.

Our second destination, after the fistulated cows, was a butcher shop in Compton. Boucherie Blouin's butchers make all of their processed meats. Some memories of Compton were loaded into our cooler.

Very near the boucherie is our 12th prime minister's museum, the Louis S. St. Laurent National Historic Site. His family lived in Compton for a few generations and ran a general store there. It has been restored to what it would look like in the late 1800's. The store's storage room has been turned into a cool multimedia presentation of his life's work. We sat on swiveling stools as his story unfolded around us.

Louis St. Laurent's home is open to the public as well. I wonder if anyone really knew what they looked like back in the day? Looking in a mirror could be pretty depressing.

This was not your everyday family's house.

It was lovely and well-preserved.

Not only is there a boucherie in tiny Compton, there is a bakery called Pause Gourmande. The baker, a young lady, spoke no English so my horrible grade 12 French needed to be dredged up.

Any guesses what became our lunch?

I want to digress and express a pet peeve. I don't have too many pet peeves. Here goes: why is it that we can't have beautiful 6-plexes like these in Ontario? We've seen them all throughout the Eastern Townships. They are usually mixed in with single family dwellings. I would move into one of those apartments in a heartbeat.

Lunch! A delicate ham & cheese filled, crunchy croissant. Did you guess the right item?

The first time we were in this area, we ate a pie made by Verger La Pommelbonne. At that time, they were selling their baking and apples at the North Hatley Farmers' Market. I can still remember where I was standing when I took my first bite of that pie. So good. The apples seem to be pre-cooked in apple juice & cinnamon which is thickened with tapioca.

Their orchard is a destination. People come from far and wide to walk up the stairs of their lookout tower and view the countryside. They have a petting zoo and you can take wagon rides through their orchard.

Below is their orchard.

From Compton, we headed south towards Coaticook.

I love how the mountains in the distance seem like they were painted with watercolours.

And, the colour of the hay fields. This is a big dairying region.

The odd cow was out and about, enjoying a late summer afternoon.

The last stop on our tour today was a drive-by of Sanders Organic Farm. They provide a lot of fresh vegetables for this part of the province and into the US. 60 acres of vegetables!

Tomorrow is our last day here. 😩