Remember back when the historic Farnam Block was demolished on Broadway Avenue? Here’s what I did with the salvaged Farnams blocks the demo guys were kind enough to load into my car. A little piece of Saskatoon pioneer spirit in a little nook in our yard.
Note to those threatening to move to Canada now that gay marriage has been legalized in all 50 states, we’ve been okay with it for some time now.
Don’t think Jim will be walking home from work downtown for the next few days until this clears out. Smoke from forest fires up north has arrived in the city. Some before and afters of the downtown Saskatoon skyline; befores were taken Sunday around noon. Afters today, Monday, about the same time, roughly the same location. We all smell like we’ve been sitting around a campfire. Can’t imagine how it must be north of La Ronge.
We love the Forestry Farm. Just renewed our membership for the year. A great place for a walk and a bit of a commune with the animals; note to self: don’t try to feed the turkey out of your hand. He bites. Hard. And if there was an image to give any responsible parent (who likes camping) the willies and heebie-jeebies, here’s one. Luckily, there’s that pane of glass. And security fence… This little guy was happily singing, “Hi, Teddy Bear!” and hoping his dad would let him give that grizzly a big ol’ hug.
My dear friend Lisa Bendall featured this on her 50 Good Deeds blog and it’s worth sharing far and wide. When a woman contacts her Down syndrome support organization to say her unborn child has Down syndrome, that she is scared, and wonders what his life will be like, they didn’t send a brochure about chromosomes. They did this instead. Brilliant. When I worked as the communications coordinator for the Saskatchewan Association for Community LIivng, I remember getting a call from a woman in a similar position. She had just given birth and learned her baby had Down syndrome. I congratulated her, asked what name she’d chosen. I asked about weight, length, oooed and awed. I said the same things as I would about any newborn. She started to cry, and said I was the first person to congratulate her on the birth of her little girl. I wish I had been able to send this video to that mom. I hope they make one for Future Dads, too!
As for our son, here he is volunteering with our local permaculture club, transforming a backyard into an eco-friendly sustainable fruit orchard. I don’t think that would have been in the brochure about chromosomes either.
Jim, the rocker mover.
Jim, the cardboard sorter.
The best part of the day? “Lunch.”
Last weekend, Rick, Jim and I threw our shoulders – and backs, arms and legs – into a permablitz. Never heard of one? Neither had we. All we know is that with some planning, a bunch of volunteers and good cheer, a big barren backyard can be transformed into a self-sustaining fruit orchard (or whatever you’d like) in only a few hours. And it’s fun!
From Permaculture Saskatchewan’s website:
A Permablitz is an organized gathering of community members with the intention of transforming space (usually an urban backyard) into a productive ecosystem through Permaculture design. The host and permaculture designer will have the design ready and now everyone pitches in to help make this vision a reality. Many hands make light work! Permablitzes are free to attend and organized on a voluntary basis. A little permablitz history: Dan Palmer and Adam Grub from the Melbourne Permaculture community group created the original permablitz network as a way of encouraging Melbourne to embrace edible landscaping while building community at the same time.
The beginning…
The plan.
That’s me!
That’s Jim organizing cardboard to put down as a weed barrier mulch. There’s Rick with the first of the fruit trees going in.
My fellow Saskatoon HOME writer Ashleigh Mattern, who wrote about permaculture in a recent issue (check out the story on page 79), is combing a hands-on workout with another freelance article.
In just a few sweaty hours, it’s a completely different eco-system.
My friend Lisa Bendall is a brilliant writer. When I feel my work is overwrought, bloatedy and icky, I go read something of hers just to calm down and do it properly. She just released a wonderful book with a delicious sampling of lessons learned about family, life, love, laughs, disability, parenting and making the world better one good deed at a time.
Get this book. You’re going to feel good all over.
Lisa Bendall, 2015, Toronto: Twelve Fingers Press, 55 pages, ISBN 1511752599
For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been watching with some sense of grandparental pride as four robin chicks are tended in the back yard pergola over our barbeque. A mishap of the feline variety took the dad last week and – we did not know this – but robins have “floater” dad standins who hover at the edge of an established territory in the event that something bad happens to the first husband. Like being lunch. Sure enough, after two days of single parenting, Mom had a new Dad to feed babies. They seem to be growing exponentinentially and the nest is looking pretty inadequate by the hour. There’s one chick with white fluffy hair who, I swear, looks like my old boss. It’s rather disconcerting….
Another juicy issue of Saskatoon HOME magazine is here! Get your copy and enjoy the cover story that photographer Heather Fritz and I teamed up on about this charming 8th Street home. Plenty of other good stuff, too! Racks are being filled around town this week with complimentary copies. Here is a link to the list if you wanted to snag a copy, enjoy!
Digital versions are now available online on our website and through our App on iTunes.
Happy summer!
My son-in-law is a police officer, but his shifts don’t usually involve this type of criminal. I wonder if he got to keep the decorative ball? This picture of the perp in the back of the cruiser made my day.
Karin Melberg Schwier 