local foods
Yesterday we made our second visit to Real Food Connections in Fredericton. Real Food Connections sells locally grown and produced food. On their wall is a huge map of New Brunswick and surroundings, showing all the growers and producers who supply foods to the store. https://www.realfoodconnections.ca/
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On our first trip we bought the most flavourful carrots! We also bought a beautiful head of garlic, alfalfa seeds for my sprouter, Gouda cheese, big red onions and a bottle of canola oil.
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This week we signed up online for Real Food Connections’ $25 produce box. In our box we had potatoes, white onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, garlic, a squash, a head of garlic, a beautiful leek, a bag of cranberries, a bag of apples and frozen cauliflower. I can hardly wait to plan this week’s meals around our items.
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Last night, for supper, we had a first-class Leek and Potato Soup. I used leeks, onions, garlic and potatoes from our box and added chicken stock, spices and 2% milk. It was quick to prepare and delicious!
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If you are lucky enough to have a store specializing in local foods, try it out! Buying food this way supports local producers and takes a step towards food security. I try to buy local products whenever possible by shopping at farmers’ markets and local food stands, and by choosing carefully at the grocery store. I am so happy to be able to go into Real Food Connections and see what a full range of foods are available to us!
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Do you have a store where you can buy local products in season?
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Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
in the shelter of the covered bridge – shelter?
‘shelter’
– n.
1. protection from danger, bad weather, etc.
2. place giving shelter or refuge.
-v.
1. act or serve as a shelter to; protect; conceal; defend.
2. find refuge, take cover.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
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As I refine the results of my poetry project, ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’, I am thinking about the idea of ‘shelter’ and how important it is to all living things.
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A covered bridge changes the landscape, alters the environment and encourages habitat diversity. It changes the availability of light, water and air. It provides cover from harsh environments.
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Some examples of finding shelter in a covered bridge:
Plants:
- seeds on the wind, waylaid, find a place to germinate
- grasses growing beneath the bridge get less light as shadows thicken – sometimes there is too little light to grow at all
- a crack between boards in the floor of the bridge provides a space to grow away from competition from other plants
- mosses and lichens find a place to thrive in the rotted hollows of posts and timbers
Animals:
- birds use rafters and beams as nesting sites
- spiders find places to attach their webs
- mice store seeds in nooks and crannies
- birds hunt insects on the sun-warmed boards of the bridge
Humans:
- travellers find brief respite from wind and snow and rain
- friends and lovers find meeting places, out of the view of curious eyes
- visitors find surfaces for expression – graffiti, vulgarity, art, a space to say ‘I was here’
- children of all ages find a place to shout, hear echoes, remember
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shelter
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the engine dies – after midnight
not far from home
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snow builds on track
eyelash and mitten
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wind conceals the road
sweeps the bridge
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enter, a lull and chill subsides
bright of snow subdued
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no solitude – a mouse ticked
off, her hibernation interrupted
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and ghosts carve names, spray
broad epithets in purple
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inspire defiance, kick me
out, into the storm
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Copyright Jane Tims 2016
warming winter – my finished quilt
Last week I began making a small quilt for my guest room. The fabrics are printed with lavender, morning glory, violet and primrose, perfect for a room themed with purple flowers! To see my method for this quilt, see my post for January 11, 2016.
https://janetims.com/2016/01/11/warming-winter/
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I promised a look at the finished quilt. Here it is, back and front and front again!
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I tried something different with this quilt. I used some drawstring details from the blouses I cut up for fabric and made the quilt so it could be rolled and tied. Now it can be stored neatly on the corner of the bed and unrolled when needed!
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I have plans for a few more quilts this winter. Lots of cold evenings with needle and thread …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2016
Next painting for Isaac’s Way art auction …
On January 25, 2016, the 25th Art Auction and Sale at Isaac’s Way Restaurant in Fredericton, New Brunswick will come to an end. Only a few more days to own some reasonably-priced art and help kids-in-need. As of January 4, 2016 this 25th auction has sold 22 paintings and raised $7,600 for art lessons for kids. For a look at the paintings still available, visit http://isaacsway.ca/art/. To have a look at my submission to the 25th Art Auction, see my post for September 18, 2015 https://janetims.com/2015/09/18/art-auction-new-painting/
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My next submission, for the Isaac’s Way 26th Art Auction and Sale, is a landscape. The piece features a view of the Saint John River, from the Nerepis Marsh at Grand Bay-Westfield towards the Westfield Ferry. It is entitled ‘across the bay’ (24” wide by 20” high, acrylic on canvas, unframed with gallery edges). This auction will run from January 27, 2016 to late May, 2016. The proceeds from the auction will go to sponsor kids-in-need. I am donating 50% of the proceeds from my painting to the charity.
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‘across the bay’ Jane Tims
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Copyright Jane Tims 2016
warming winter
After Christmas, especially on cold evenings, I stay warm by making lap quilts. These little quilts warm you when you make them, and when you use them!
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the patchwork of the lap quilt I am making
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These evenings, I am working on a quilt for my guest room. The theme of the room is purple violets, so this quilt will use fabrics printed with various purple flowers.
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some of the patches I am using
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My quilting methods are not academy worthy. I don’t follow any pattern and my stitches are a bit long and haphazard. Thanks to an aunt who gave me a store of left-over fabrics last year, I have lots of pretty fabric and quilt-backed material to use as a batt for my quilt. I begin by measuring out the quilted fabric. My guest room lap quilt will be about a meter by a meter.
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I use ready-quilted fabric for the quilt batt … the fabric doesn’t have to match the quilt patches because it will be covered in the end
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I cut rectangular blocks of fabric in random sizes and baste them to the backing. Then I apply other fabric patches by top-stitching. Gradually, the quilt takes shape.
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patches go on in a random pattern, wherever they seem to fit
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For this quilt I have a plan to incorporate a drawstring tie, so the finished quilt can be rolled up and tied to use as a neck roll. For the ties I will use salvaged bits of the dresses I used for fabric patches.
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I like salvaging parts of the clothes I used to make the patches … pockets, ties, drawstrings and hems may make it into the finished quilt.
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Once one side of the quilt is done, I will work on the other side. I do the backing with wide strips of fabric, stitching through all layers of fabric so the whole quilt is sewn securely together. I’ll bind the quilt in more wide strips.
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My quilt will be done in five or six evenings. I will be showing you the final result! You can see one of my quilts from last January at https://janetims.com/2015/01/23/stitching-a-small-quilt/
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Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
It’s snowing!
… on our tree! Lots of snowflakes added. Next come the snowmen!
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Through the years we have collected so many ornaments. One year I decorated seven trees! Now we only have one tree and most years I decorate with snowflakes, snowmen and snow-covered houses. A few birds and other items sneak in as well!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2015
Lighting the tree
A week after bringing the tree inside, we have lights!
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I am taking my time with Christmas. I enjoyed the look of the undecorated green tree. Now I will spend at least one evening with lights alone for decorations. No hurry. No hurry at all!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2015
loving hockey
I think that I will never be as proud of a magazine publication as I am of my two poems and two drawings in a hockey magazine!
Between the Lines – A Journal of Hockey Literature is a publication of the University of Saskatchewan, now in its third volume. The editors are Dwayne Brenna and Sara-Jane Gloutnez.
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Between the Lines: A Journal of Hockey Literature
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So, why am I so proud of this accomplishment? Is it because I am a lover of hockey? Just the opposite. I never pay it any attention! I have been known to ask if the Blue Jays won the Stanley Cup last year! However, one of my brothers is a devoted hockey fan. His love for the sport when he was young has always impressed me … I think people need should be passionate about their interests!
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Hockey is a great theme for poetry. The game itself is naturally rhythmic (the movement of the skater, the varying pace of the game). The names of players and announcers, the terms for various plays, the enthusiasm of the fans … interesting words to work with! And metaphors abound.
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I like to learn new things, to discover new themes for my writing and art. I also consider the game of hockey to be quintessentially Canadian. I can’t name a single hockey player after Mickey Mantle, but I love having my poems and art in a hockey magazine.
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Between the Lines is a well-presented publication that includes stories about hockey and hockey players in both poetry and prose. The writing inside captures the scratch of blades on ice, the excitement of the announcer’s voice, the clouds of breath above the outside hockey rink, and the scurry of kids to move the net from the way of subdivision traffic.
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loving hockey
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at eight, my brother
was tall for his age
narrow-boned, jointed
as a skater bug
on the big farm pond
but compact, center
of gravity low
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he learned to skate
on a strip of ice
by the driveway
practiced on the pond
a family myth
that he was pale
and our dad saw no value
in rising early
for ice time
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my brother’s rink
a screen, rabbit-eared
Hockey Night in Canada
a pad of blue-lined
paper, hockey stick
a yellow pencil, skate
marks neat columns
of statistics, goals
and assists, Howe hat tricks
Mahovlich, Rocket
Richard, numbers
from the breathless
crescendo, Foster Hewitt –
‘He shoots, he scores.’
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today my brother
is a fit man
an accountant, skates
on the boardroom table
on the frozen pond
a water strider
on the meniscus
attends games
at the coliseum
can still do a pivot
from standing
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poem published as ‘loving hockey’ in Between the Lines, Volume 3, 2015/2016
drawing published in Between the Lines, Volume 1, 2014
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
A tree for the corner!
It’s inside! Our Christmas tree for 2015.
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our tree for 2015, a balsam fir
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We are lucky here in New Brunswick – we can buy locally-grown Christmas trees. We buy our tree at a lot where they cultivate their own trees, so usually the tree has been cut only a few days before, and will last well past Christmas. I usually take our tree down on January 6th.
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When my son was young, we often cut our tree at a Christmas tree farm with my brother’s family. I can still see the paths the kids made as they ran in the rows, trying to find the perfect tree.
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I am happy to know that many trees sold in communities across America come from New Brunswick. We have seen the loads of trees on the highways for weeks.
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OK, I am officially in the Christmas spirit! Now the lights for the tree. And then our box of ornaments. Results to follow!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2015
nichepoetryandprose 