Something to chew on

I've never bought organic products, mostly because of the cost factor. Now I don't have to feel like I'm getting less nutritional benefit for less money. Here's an excerpt from today's Globe and Mail:
Consumers who choose organic food are often willing to pay a premium, but it turns out added nutritional benefits may not be included in the hefty price tag.

A new analysis has found organic food has the same nutritional quality as crops grown under conventional methods.

“There's no evidence that organically-produced food is nutritionally superior to conventionally-produced food,” said Alan Dangour, public-health nutritionist and senior lecturer in public-health nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“You can buy organic for other things, but there's no evidence you should be buying it because there's enhanced nutrient content of organic food.”

There are, of course, other reasons for buying organic. For instance, I have friends who are trying to up their family's intake of organically-produced products, because their eight-year-old daughter is already showing signs of puberty. They believe it's from the hormones and other nasty stuff in non-organic fruits and veggies.

Meet my new neighbours

These are Bud and Rose. They recently took up residence in the garden just outside my front door.
The previous owner left me with several perennials. She must have known what she was doing, too, because the flowerbed takes on a new appearance and character almost weekly.
There is also a flowerbed in the backyard, which is far from as nice. I decided to let it go wild, and boy oh boy, did it ever go wild! No, I will not post photos of it.

My vacation from my forced vacation

I spent last week in the Iroquois Falls/Timmins area, taking a break from the frustrating job hunt (nothing after four months on layoff). I stayed at the cottage, reminding my Dad that I don't go up there in the summer to stay at his house, which is a ten-minute drive from the cottage.
The mosquitoes are monstrous, thanks to the cool, wet summer, which held true to form for the entire week I was there.
I did, however, have some close encounters with wildlife. On the drive through the Ottawa Valley, a bear ran in front of my car, between Petawawa and Chalk River. Yeah, at shortly after ten o'clock on a Saturday morning! Then I saw a dead moose on the shoulder of Highway 11, between Marten River and Temagami.
Heading into Iroquois Falls via Monteith Road, there was a young bull moose on the side of the road. I pulled over, dug out my camera, but the damned batteries were dead.
Then one morning, while I was still asleep and my Dad was in town, Stepmama saw a moose walk up from the lake, alongside the cottage, and out to the road. This is a photograph of a footprint I took later.
I also saw a couple of foxes near the cottage. It might even have been the same fox twice. They all look alike to me.
It was nice to spend some time up North for the first time since last summer. I relaxed a lot and got to visit some friends and family, but one week isn't enough to do it all. But I have to keep job hunting, because severance pay isn't gonna last forever, and a man's gotta eat, pay the bills, feed the cat, etc. If things get bad enough, I might have to eat the cat. Anyone got any recipes?