Friendsgiving, local meat, and my 300th post!

Now the green conifers stand out in a sea of gold

And suddenly, it was fall. Full-on. Trees are aflame with vibrant colours, fluttering to the ground, painting trails with rusty gold. It seems that the trees were green just yesterday, with only a tinge of the colours to come, but now they're suddenly scarlet orange.

To celebrate this (sadly) brief, but oh-so-wonderful time of year, we had some good friends over for a potluck feast of epic proportions, but not before a lovely hike in Gatineau Park together to fully soak in the delicious colours and that unmistakable scent of fall — what is that? Is it the fallen leaves? The earth readying itself for its winter slumber? Anyway, it's an incredible smell, that makes you happy and content with each deep breath.

What's more glorious than walking through a sunny forest in Autumn?

Ever since India, where we ate exclusively vegetarian for the month, I've been trying to figure out how, and in what ways vegetarianism fits into my life. In the yogic tradition there is a tenet called 'ahimsa' which means 'do no harm', so vegetarianism goes without saying. And with food production the big, soul-less commodity that it is, there is no arguing that beyond their death, that the animals we eat have had anything resembling a happy, natural existence. And I just don't want to be a part of that, just because I find it tasty. However, all of that said, we are lucky to have several friends, or friends of friends, that have small-scale farms where the animals are free-range and for all but that last second, have a happy and natural life. And I want to support them in what they do, because it's important work, to raise animals for meat in a fair, ethical, humane way.

So for our delicious feast, among other delectable dishes, we all shared a chicken raised by our friends — and it was eaten in an attitude of deep gratitude and thankfulness.