#9 But that's a nice photo

Yep, there was no bear encounter, so here's a new blog post.

On Monday was Thanksgiving, unlike in the USA, Thanksgiving is celebrated here on the second Monday in October, and this year it was October 10, 2022. The day is nearly a month earlier than in the USA, as the harvest season in Canada also started earlier back then, so this day has been a statutory holiday in almost all provinces of Canada since 1879. This day is used here to spend time with family, so we drove to the farmer's sister by car and there it was all about eating, eating, and maybe even more eating. On this day, I also had my first experience with turkey. The meat tastes just like regular poultry, but the skin tastes significantly different. For some reason, it tasted like fish to me, and I don't like fish - the only problem was that I thought the skin would taste just as good as that of a duck or a goose, so I had a bit too much of it on my plate. We also had other things to eat, but I can't remember their names, but we also had a ham, and it was huge and damn delicious. Conclusion: Turkey without skin is quite tasty. Speaking of turkeys, last week in the morning while feeding the pigs, I saw my first wild turkeys, and I was surprised because I didn't know how they got into the enclosure, and then those fat and supposedly "flightless" birds started running and flying. I was really amazed - I also didn't know that turkeys can fly. I rather thought that they could fly like chickens maybe one meter or so, and speaking of chickens. Some time ago, the farmer had more chickens, and then a bear came, and now he doesn't have that many chickens anymore. However, there are chickens that have survived this traumatic experience and are sitting in the trees. Quite funny, I would like to watch how they fly up there. By the way, the chicken coop is located on a path that I hate but have to walk every day. It is so steep. It always feels like a real 3-minute leg workout, and afterwards you are dead, and then best of all with a wheelbarrow. You do a lot of sports here doing your work, so I decided to stretch every morning and especially my roommate knows it... I hate stretching. She always said that she feels really good afterwards and stuff - I always feel like shit during and after :D And I'm so unbelievably ungainly, really scary, but now in the morning you can always hear a cursing person in my little house for about 15 minutes, who is anything but relaxed. Otherwise, I do what I always do and enjoy the view. The other day, I made myself a coffee and sat in the herb garden. The view there is really beautiful. Then I took a photo of it and while looking at this photo, I thought to myself "That's a really nice photo with a really beautiful landscape." and after this thought, I didn't have to do anything else but raise my head and enjoy the landscape in real life. I know, I write it every time and it probably annoys a little bit, but the landscape is always a pleasure for me. I often catch myself taking three-minute breaks from work, just standing still and enjoying the landscape - except when feeding the pigs, then I always run. The other day, I already got a hit in the head from a pig, the bite is not far away :D They are just so hyperactive when they see food.

On Wednesday, I went on a short bike tour again and on the way back, I looked towards the river and couldn't believe it. At first, I thought I saw a moose with its herd, but there are no moose here, you have to go north for that. Then I thought of reindeer. It looked so beautiful and it was such a natural moment. I thought I would cry :D This beautiful river and its rushing, the wild animals, and the mountains. It was beautiful. But they had a really intense smell. They were about 20-30 meters away, but you could smell them so distinctly and I just thought to myself: Hopefully, there are no bears here. For this reason and because the sun sets really quickly here now, I had to quickly ride home and there is always this last stretch that doesn't look so steep, but guys.... it is. Oh, and they were elk.

Things are also getting better with the kids. Just today, the daughter said she wants to sit next to me when drinking coffee because I'm funny. That was really sweet :D But there's one thing I can't get to and that's the dog Summer. She is so extremely shy and my goal is to pet her once - the other day, I was almost there. Complete opposite: Midnight. He is a magnet. Just whistle, stretch out your hand, and poof, he's there.

Otherwise, we're currently drinking homemade grape juice. Yesterday, we harvested roots. The plants that contain certain medicinal substances in their roots are naturally deep-rooted, so sometimes you had to dig deep. You could easily hear me swearing in a riverbed full of stones. And then I harvested parsley (that took five minutes of work) and the next day I prepared it for drying, which felt like four hours. That's when you understand the prices and you realize how much work is behind all these processes. I'm really grateful that this farm does something completely different from my last farm, so I can gain experience and insights in different areas.

And with that, goodbye and see you soon

Samuel