The Summer We Were Farmers

The summer we were farmers — blueberry picking, herb harvesting, dehydrating and blending teas. We spent our weekends at the Sudbury Farmers Market and held a tea workshop at River and Sky festival. Driving a little red truck, spending too much time in greenhouses, dripping sweat under the hot sun with blueberries between fingers, snipping cool herbs in the morning, and drinking winter savoury in the evening. Pretty darn fantastic.Blueberries are a staple of northern Ontario. We've grown up having blueberries for breakfast with milk and honey, in hot blueberry pies or eaten by the handful. Don't get us wrong, it is hard picking. You can't go too early or they are still moist and by midday it can be scorching hot - but when you do find that bushel overflowing in blue, you’re entirely grateful to settle in, spend hours with a basket.

Sudburians love blueberry picking or well, eating blueberries or celebrating the Blueberry (see Sudbury's Blueberry Festival held each summer). One of the three, anyway, or all three, like us. A couple horseflies buzzing, the quiet of the forest, the ripe fruit glistening; at night when we would fall asleep we'd still see blueberries! As for tea, we infused herbs and leaves for spicy, calm and fruity natural teas. We blended french lavender, lemon balm, mint, sage, dried blueberries, raspberry leaves and had toasty chamomile and fresh mint fill our home.

We began educating ourselves on botanical medicine, we had wild medicine in our own backyard (dandelions). It is quite a grounding, energizing process, to learn first hand how these rich green plants or blue fruits protect us. And on a grander scale, how we can protect and increase the biodiversity of ecosystems. We are enthused by a local medicine movement and grateful for the opportunity to be farmers for a summer.

All in all, there was something settling about seeing growth, pressing hands into soil each day. And at the market we met many folk in sun hats walking about downtown and getting fresh local food. And by the way we still grow a herb garden, pick blueberries in summer and would like to learn more about sustainable farming, teas and other green things. This was really the beginning, the summer when our projects began.

Thank you for reading.

- WS