I am sharing about my recent visit to Ste. Anne’s Spa in Grafton, Ontario. I was fortunate to be gifted a day at the spa with my teaching partner as an end of year gift from some of our students. It was a thoughtful, generous and heartfelt gesture that we greatly appreciated.
This was my first time going to Ste. Anne’s and it was amazing! The moment that you walk up to the grounds you feel like you are special. The colourful fall leaves on the trees, pumpkins and fall flowers artfully placed throughout the property and a heritage stone castle nestled among the hills – what could be better?
The dining experience was fantastic with delicious food, beautiful plating, and a focus on relaxation. We enjoyed a three-course lunch and afternoon tea in a serene atmosphere where everyone prioritized slowing down. The menu showcased farm-to-table cuisine, featuring seasonal ingredients at their best.
The day consisted of various activities. We relaxed in hydrotherapy pools, enjoyed the sauna, walked on the trails, had a hand treatment, ate delicious food, and had great conversation.
I recommend visiting Ste. Anne’s Spa for a rejuvenating experience. Treat yourself with kindness and indulge in a wonderful day of relaxation and self-care.
On the weekend, I was fortunate to visit Bon Echo Provincial Park. The weather was like a summer day, although we are full into the fall season. The sun shining through the trees was spectacular.
We spent the day sitting around an afternoon fire, eating lunch, enjoying conversation and making camping tea on the Coleman stove. We got the opportunity to walk along the trails, take some photos, and smell the fresh, clean air and spend time with each other.
It was a wonderful day, filled with family, love, and nature. Looking up into the trees just gives me such peace. This photo captures a feeling for me, serenity and calm. In the busy day to day, hustle and bustle, this photo is a reminder for me to take a moment.
Sometimes, you just need to listen to the trees.
The sunflower is such an epic flower, so big and beautiful. There are so many varieties of sunflowers available now. Within our local community, farmers have started to plant fields of sunflowers in mazes that they then invite the public to enjoy. These fields provide a great opportunity for people to come and learn all about sunflowers!
I have done the ‘Sunflower Experience’ at Pingle’s Farm Market every summer for the past few years. The tractor ride to the field allows you to see it from a different perspective. It certainly builds the anticipation of its beauty. At this farm they have done such a good job of setting up props for photo ops throughout the sunflower field.
Bees buzz from one flower to another collecting pollen, busy at work. The giant sunflowers tower tall above your head while others are more petite in size. It is incredible to think about each tiny seed growing into this grand flower. Then the middle of each sunflower is filled with hundreds more seeds. These seeds can then be dried and ready to grow next year to start the cycle all over again.
This year we created a pollinator and bee garden in our front lawn. We hand planted about 30 to 40 sunflower seeds of different varieties in the soil. Today, we have one sunflower that survived, and it’s almost ready to bloom. Needless to say the bunnies thought sunflower sprouts were a delicacy and they enjoyed them very much! This gives me a much deeper appreciation for all the hard work involved in growing acres of sunflowers, and being able to provide this wonderful experience.
If you get the opportunity to visit a sunflower field, I strongly recommend it. What could be better than soaking up some sunshine among the sunflowers?
As an Early Childhood Educator, I am always looking for new ideas and innovative methods of presenting educational content. Inquiry-based learning is especially important in our classroom. One of my favourite ways to discover new approaches is by exploring how different communities embrace educational opportunities. Sometimes it’s a library, a park, a garden, or other community spaces, and in this case, a museum.
On a recent visit to the small town where I grew up, I made such a discovery. The local museum, which is housed in a heritage home next-door to what used to be my grandparent’s house, had put together an amazing inquiry filled outdoor space. Under a canopy of oak trees on the museum’s lawn, there were games like ping pong, skee-ball, and giant jenga available to the public for young and old to play. There were also different seating arrangements scattered around, including picnic tables, muskoka chairs, iron butterfly benches, and stumps to sit on. There were people reading books and having picnic lunches while enjoying the shade of the old oak trees that I grew up with.
The space that I found most interesting was the many hands-on opportunities for children. There was water exploration tables, a huge sandbox, a giant bubble maker that you could stand inside of, small world play with sunflower seeds, and many more. The children visiting these stations had huge smiles on their faces as they explored their curiosity and made discoveries.
The centrepiece of the museum’s outdoor space was a community garden. Local varieties of flowers and lots of different vegetables filled the garden beds. As an avid gardener, I found the unique ways they used trellises for the climbing vegetables particularly inspiring. The potting shed had information for the public on tips and tricks for pollinator and native plant gardens as well.
I would love to meet whoever led this incredible community project. The rich content and attention to detail that went into it was admirable. There was also a sign with all the local businesses and volunteers who contributed to make this special project possible. What an amazing attraction to have as part of this small town community! Stay tuned for another post, when I have time to visit the museum inside.
If you ever get the chance to visit a lavender field, I highly recommend it. A few years ago, my daughter surprised me with a yoga experience in the lavender fields at Laveanne Lavender Farm. It was a great outing and it was beautiful to look out and see a sea of purple. Another local farm that is now doing a lavender experience is Pingle’s Farm Market and you can also pick your own lavender bouquet. If you get the opportunity to go I strongly recommend going!
When we moved to our home we decided to add some gardens in our backyard. We wanted to be able to enjoy lots of colour throughout the summer, especially perennials as they would come back year after year.
My Aunt graciously offered to help us plant the gardens and she brought a lot of extras from her own established yard. One of her many contributions was two lavender plants. They started off small but this year they are so spectacular. The smell is wonderful and they are getting so big. Next year I will definitely be able to split them and share them with other parts of the garden. Now I have a little bit of lavender in my backyard that I get to enjoy year after year.
This fantastic set up caught my eye as I was driving through the Port Hope community. What a brilliant idea to build community and offer up shared resources to be used by others.
A set of scissors are hanging from a hook, with the simple instructions on how to use the community herb box. This warmed my heart and was a great example of how we can provide for others and share within our community. Take only what you need, and leave some for others. If the plant looks like it need to grow, let it grow. Such a simple message and a great way to combine your love of gardening and supporting your community.
On a recent Pinterest search I discovered The Hammered Flower by Michelle Moore designs. Michelle has created pieces of clothing and art using the hammered flower technique. Her items on Pinterest and Instagram are simply beautiful and inspiring.
The actual process of hammering flowers onto cloth and fabric requires a pre treatment of an alum wash to improve colour and longevity. I however wanted to try this technique on paper. I choose watercolour paper for this application.
My Mom brought me some of her pansies to give it a try. The process was quite simple and the results were amazing. I simply lay the flowers on the water colour paper one at a time. I then covered the pansy with a piece of doubled over paper towel and then used my hammer. It was easy enough to pull back the paper towel to see what spots still needed to be done. There were a few spots that I had missed but I just had to put the paper towel back down again and repeat the hammering.
The exact flower shape and colour transferred onto the water colour paper and then I just had to carefully peel off the pounded flower to discover the print. A recommendation would be to use a pair of fine tweezers to remove the flower remnants as to not smudge your work. It was so exciting to see how well this worked! I am hoping to try it with leaves and other flower petals as well.
My plan is to transform these prints into handmade cards with a simple ‘thank you’ or ‘happy birthday’ message on them. I am also thinking about maybe outlining parts of the flower with a thin lined art marker.
Will you try flower hammered art? This art project is a great combination of my love of gardening and the creative process.
Local strawberries are now available in grocery stores, and local markets. The fresh sweet smell of a strawberry is like no other. Biting into that first juicy bite is just so good.
We eat strawberries from the grocery store during off seasons, but they are nothing like local, in season ones.
There are so many places to go and pick your own local strawberries as well. Some local farms and markets even let you bring your own containers to reduce packaging.
What is your favourite strawberry recipe? My favourite is Christina Tosi’s recipe for Strawberry Shortcake. It is beyond amazing and if you haven’t tried it, you need to. Happy strawberry season!
This was a beautiful book that I recently picked up at Winners. I loved the front cover and was drawn to it right away.
The author, Julia Watkins, is the creator of @simply.living.well on Instagram. Her book is jam packed with great tips and diys for living simply and sustainably. What could be better? I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it as a great read with lots of actionable ideas to implement.
In Julia’s introduction, she shares that, “this is a book your grandmother could have given you. Chock full of tips, recipes, and remedies .”
Using a reusable bag has become second nature to most of us now. Having reusable bags near the front door of your home makes it easy to grab on the way out to shopping. I also recommend keeping a stash of reusable bags in the car. This is very helpful and ensures that you have bags on hand when you need them.
Trying to use what I have on hand has been my most recent challenge. I think my former self just used to go out and get what I needed from the store. Now I try to look around the house to see what I have first. At least half the time, I end up finding the item I needed already in our home. We have a joke at our house that sometimes we need to “shop the basement “.
Using natural choices for cleaning is an important change as well. There are many earth friendly products now on the market for cleaning choices. Julia includes lots of kitchen made recipes for all natural cleaners. Lemons, salt, olive oil, white vinegar, and baking soda are just some of the kitchen items that she uses to create easy cleaning recipes.
With the price increase of groceries we all have had to make some adjustments to our weekly grocery shopping. In our home we create a meal plan that gives us some focus for the week ahead. Making a list to take to the grocery store helps me to stay focused on what I need. Shopping your home freezer and pantry is a great idea as well. We grow our own vegetables in our home garden, and have the guarantee of top freshness.
I highly recommend this book as a great read. I encourage you to try one new simple way to make your home more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
There are a lot of reasons to do companion planting in the garden. In this container I have planted a pear shaped yellow tomato, basil and marigolds. I also have a larger raised bed with a variety of other tomatoes. Including sweet one hundreds, heirloom, black cherry tomatoes, and grape tomatoes. I have added marigolds and lots of basil in this planter as well.
Companion planting allows the plants to reap benefits from each other in the same container or space in your garden. The main reason for doing this is pest control. In this instance the pests that may want to eat your tomato plants don’t like marigolds or basil. This is a simple non toxic way to control garden pests from eating your vegetables.
Basil is also good friends with tomatoes. Last year was the first year I planted them together. It was lovely to smell the aroma of the basil while working in the garden. This also led me to discover one of my favourite lunch time snacks. Start by taking a Rye Crisp (or similar cracker) and spreading hummus on it. Then slice up cherry tomatoes and place them on top. Then add a few fresh basil leaves, a drizzle of balsamic and a sprinkle of fresh sea salt ! Delicious!
Some other easy companion planting combinations are corn, beans, and squash or onion, peppers, and garlic. Radishes, cucumber and oregano are also another choice. As well as, rosemary, carrots and lettuce.
It is indeed worth looking up what pairs well with other plants in the garden. This is important because some pairings are not good with each other and will affect your productivity in the garden. A simple search of companion planting will result in a lot of information, which you can then use to get the most benefit in your garden.
Happy gardening!
