Serendipitous Gifts

Sometimes it takes only one tiny interaction to set your life on a new trajectory. On July 17, 2019, we were camping in The Last Duel campground in Perth. On that day, Ted helped some volunteers and staff shovel sheep manure. ('Cause that is what ya do when you are camping.) He found out that they were from The Table, an organization that grows food, shares that food in different ways including hosting 3 dinners/week for anyone who wishes to attend.

Our plan this morning was to get breakfast at the farmer's market and pop over to the community garden to see how it was doing 7 years later.

This may be our favourite farmers' market in Ontario.

Perth's farmers' market is in the Crystal Palace, that, believe it or not, used to be a bus shelter in Ottawa.

There's always some new marketing idea.....

... and this one comes from a vendor who intentionally dresses to match her booth. Her bread was very tasty. We had some for lunch.

There are still many vegetable and fruit growers at this market.

For breakfast, we took our scones and decaf coffees and looked for a sunny seat. Even though there were quite a few empty tables, something told me to ask this dapper gentleman if we could join him? I think he needs to be cloned. A judge with not only a law degree, but preceeded by a psycology degree. He refreshingly acknowledged his privilege in life and had the wisdom to empathize with his less fortunate neighbours. After spending a lovely half hour with him, he thanked us for stopping by.

There must be ever-bearing raspberries in these parts.

Prices for beef seem to be a lot higher than at home.

The outside of the Crystal Palace is simply beautiful. So well constructed too

And, sitting on a bench under the extended roof and next to the Tay Canal was memorable.

Time for our next stop: the community garden.

It is no surprise to me that they are still gardening here. I follow The Table on social media. It was their example that led us to turn our gardens into ones that shared bounty with our local food bank.

Aren't Mexican Sunflowers BEAUTIFUL?????

In this midst of this abundant garden, we had our second serendipitous connection. This gentleman is on county council. He told us that Lanark County has an "agressive" Homelessness Response Team. The first thing they do when meeting with someone who has lost their housing is to find them housing.

Last year, Perth obtained a 12.3 million $ housing grant from the federal government (Co-operative Housing Development Program). According to our new acquaintance, the county councillor, Perth was the first smaller town to obtain one of those grants. They are going to be building 38 units.

This couple mentioned one project where two tiny homes were erected on a vacant lot. Just so happened that we drove right by them on our way home.

As we drove through town on our way back to our church home, we did not see one person who looked like they might be unhoused. Impressive.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if one day, everyone who needed a home would be able to be welcomed into their own space?