I Sure Did, Did Ye?

I sure did, did ye?

These shall remind us to check for any signs with the urgency for professional help.

Now wouldn’t this be helpful to keep in mind?

‘Petrichor’ is the soothing, earthy, and wonderfully pleasant smell of rain falling on dry ground. 

(Source, Source 2, Source 3)

Ipehe Siretanra poronno ipehe Nonnosir samba ne, korkay ponno naa oyamokte-ampe ne.

(Canadian food is a lot like [U.S./States United] American food, but is a little more wondrous.) Don’t forget spruce beer as a local drink, which can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic & even served as a soda. If ye have country (native) food from it to contribute, please do so for the benefit of us all.

To anyone wanting to claim that Canada doesn’t have a national cuisine:

Nanaimo Bars

Invented in Nanaimo, BC

Persians 

Kind of a cross between a large cinnamon bun and a doughnut, topped with strawberry icing, unique to Thunder Bay, ON.

Butter Tarts

Invented in Eastern Ontario.

Beaver Tails/Elephant Ears/Whale Tails

Particularly popular at fairs.

Nougabricot

A Québécois preserve consisting of apricots, almonds, and pistachios.

Flapper Pie 

Wafer pie in Manitoba; a custard pie popular in Western Canada

Moosehunters

Molasses cookies.

Pets de sœurs

Pastry dough wrapped around a brown sugar and butter filling.

Tire d'érable sur la neige/Maple Toffee

Hot maple syrup poured over snow then rolled up on a stick.

Figgy Duff

A pudding from Newfoundland

Back Bacon/Peameal Bacon

A kind of cured ham.

Green Onion Cakes

Created in Edmonton, AB in 1979 and unique to the Greater Edmonton area.

Poutine

Invented in Quebéc, and Canada’s national food.

Cod tongues and scrunchions

Baked cod tongue and deep fried pork fat

Jiggs dinner

A Sunday meal similar to the New England boiled dinner.

Toutons

Fried bread from Newfoundland.

Oka cheese

Cheese originally manufactured by Trappist monks

Flipper pie

Pie made with harp seal flipper, traditional to the Maritimes region

Garlic fingers

Dough with cheese, garlic, and sometimes meat on top, similar to pizza

Tourtière

A meat pie made of pork and lard.

Calgary-style Ginger beef

Candied and deep fried beef, with sweet ginger sauce

Canadian-style baked beans

Beans cooked with maple syrup.

Bannock

An Indigenous food that’s basically fried bread dough (though some versions are baked instead).

Pemmican

Dried berries mixed with dried meat and fat. Really freakin’ delicious and originally used by Indigenous people as a food for travelling as well as for avoiding scurvy in winter. There are various ways to make it, each variation coming from a different Indigenous culture.

Montreal-style smoked meat

Cured donair-like smoked meat

Ceasar (cocktail drink)

Invented in Calgary, AB in 1969. Similar to a Bloody Mary, but contains clam broth.

Try again. (And that’s by no means a complete list.)

This may be much closer to where a few I know live, & this may help encourage a visit to such places of the Kwakiutl.

The cases where lawns would be appropriate are in recreation-based areas & purposes, but using the slots for plant growth for food & meds (even the occasional animal protein) would be better in other cases. Lawns do more harm than good overall & should be used for parks, play areas, & other recreational places. Thankfully, my northern neighbour & its cultural relatives already have such a tradition continuing where the residents have their own plot of land for use of choice called the dacha. Maybe its time to start using whatever’s available in pots or otherwise to fill in if the landlords won’t allow it for planting the plants to become theirs.

Actually you know what. Just don’t mow. Get rid of your lawnmower. Turn your whole yard into a wildflower field or an edible garden. Lawns are the invention of the upper class to show wealth through wasted plots of grass that is meticulously tended for no reason other than to be grass. It’s literally an empty plot of land they kept because they had so much money they didn’t need it to grow food. Not using a yard as just a yard is an act of rebellion.

One of the main industries still supporting lawns is chemical pest control companies, and they’re also responsible for the insecticides that crashed the bird populations in the 40s and 50s as well as a lot of what’s killing bees and butterflies now. The herbicides they produce specifically targets “bad” plants like dandelions, buttercups, and clovers, which are plants bees rely on for early spring feeding. Grass is just grass; it would be great for feeding small mammals if people would let it grow more than three inches, but they won’t.

So, yeah. Kill lawnmower culture. Plant some native flowers. Grow some vegetables and fruit trees. Put out bird feeders and bee sugar spots and homes for both. Be kind to bugs and birds and rabbits and opossums and whoever else might wander by. Make your neighborhood a lot more beautiful.