The Farm Market

On Saturday as hubby was still out of town Mom and I decided to have a day out of thrifting and we went to the Farm market which is only open for another month.  The market is situated right on one of their farms and their pumpkin field is full of huge pumpkins ready to be sold.  It would have been stunning on a sunny day but it was overcast.  Canadian Thanksgiving is in a week and a half and Halloween is right around the corner so the market only stays open just past Halloween and then shuts until May.  They sell 90% of their own produce and also sell a few other local farm produce such as peppers from Campbell river.  At this point in the year they had all sorts of ornamental squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, farm eggs, tomatoes, broccoli, hot peppers, leeks, carrots and lettuce.  Earlier in the Spring when they don't have all of their produce ready they also sell fruit from the Okanagan.  All 100% grown in British Columbia.  On this day I didn't need much but wanted to stock up on their carrots which are the tastiest in the world, second only to baby carrots fresh out of your own garden if you have one.  They also last several months in the fridge without losing their taste unlike many of the store bought carrots.  I also bought some green onions which are absolutely huge.  My grand total for a large bag of carrots and the onions was $3.80.  Yes, you can buy cheaper carrots by just a smidge but the quality and taste is simply no match.

Siefferts Farm Market, Comox

We also went thrifting but I found nothing except two pair of earrings and a bracelet for $3.50 total.  Mom found a couple of books.  Sometimes you do really well on thrifting, other days not so much.
So all in all a cheap day out with a total of $7.30 spent and a nice day of hanging with my Mom since it was my anniversary and hubby spent it cleaning out my Mother-in-laws apartment in Alberta.

Fortunately 3 of the kids were able to help (the other is in the military and was in Northern Alberta on a training exercise).  As my mother-in-law is going into long-term care the kids each were able to take some household items for themselves as she will not need them.  My stepdaughter took most of the towels as she has a furnished apartment with roommates and doesn't have too much room for much else.  The boys each took a picture that used to hang on the wall of their grandparents home and some kitchen items.  Some stuff was hauled to the thrift store and the rest went into storage until she gets her room so they can figure out what she can fit in it before getting rid of anything else.  We are all so happy that we downsized her many years ago, first when her home sold and she moved into a rental condo, then into the unit that we just cleaned out.  Each time some of her stuff was downsized as no longer needed or wanted.  Her Alzheimers is progressing so fast.  She did not know her son or the kids and part way through their first conversation she remembered where we lived, then she remembered hubby, then she remembered my stepdaughter and so on.  She ended up in much better spirits by the second day of the visit.  Funny Alzheimer story (if you have a relative with it you have to laugh sometimes, there are some funny moments) we bought her a seal stuffed animal at Christmas.  Those with Alzheimers tend to like things they can feel, especially soft things.  It seems to calm them.  Anyway, she gave it away to a kid in her seniors facility two months ago and then immediately regretted it so we bought another exactly the same and gave it to her in July.  On this visit hubby took it out of her apartment and brought it to her hospital room and she was very happy to see it.  Hubby asked her what she named him.  The answer?  China....as the name was on the tag. They all laughed and now she only needs to look at the tag to remember the seal's name.

Work is extremely busy still, September will always be our busiest month but we are looking forward to our weekend away this is just 2 and a half weeks now to Gabriola Island.  I need to get back to selling items on Facebook - did really well then got burned out but need to raise some more funds so less is taken out of the travel fund and more can be spent on our June trip to Greece (see last post if you missed it).  Lots to look forward too.  Have a great week everyone!