[2022-10-09] Thanksgiving weekend
Today, Chris, Shane, Mel and I made a detour on the way to my mom's for Thanksgiving dinner. We traveled to Clayton, Ontario, to an open house at Fluid Solar Roasted Coffee as part of the Crown and Pumpkin Tour.
We've loved Fluid's coffee ever since we discovered it a few years ago, so we appreciated the opportunity to stop by the farm and see their solar-powered operation. I didn't really know the company's story before today. They are a small-scale coffee roaster that applies its sustainability philosophy to their business. As per the company's website, "Lorraine and Bill have lived off the electrical grid for the past 25 years, generating electricity and heat directly from renewable resources." They recycle their water, minimize waste, package their coffee in compostable bags, and deliver their products using a fully electric vehicle that is charged using solar energy. And they make really good coffee.
The drive to Clayton via Almonte and then on to my mom's farm in Ferguson Falls was breathtakingly beautiful. The foliage on the many maple trees that line the roads in Mississippi Mills and Lanark Highlands was in full splendour. Today's drive reminded me of many such drives we would take when I was young—especially in the fall—from my mom's farm to Almonte, where we would enjoy a cone at Peterson's Ice Cream. The bottom photo in the montage is of the maple bush on my mom's farm.
On this Thanksgiving weekend, I'm grateful for family, food, friends, farms, coffee, kindness, puppies, trees, memories and no cancer recurrence.
