Last Day of the Fair

Horse Races and Catching Up with Neighbours

Last day of the fair. We attended on Wednesday evening. They run a lounge out of the old, unused swine barn. They have outdoor bleachers where people can sit and watch the horse races. We have the 2 horse chariots and the 4 horse chuck wagons. The horses are Thoroughbreds. We have a local family who have been in the breeding and racing business for 3 generations. Many of our neighbours and friends sit in the same area that we do! We managed to catch up on almost everyone's lives.

A Local Vodka Maker's Rhubarb Flavour

There was a lady from Spruce Grove selling her own brand of distilled vodka. I'll go into town this afternoon and purchase a few bottles from her. She has a specialty vodka flavoured with rhubarb. We're having a BBQ for friends in a few weeks. Our friends will enjoy the novelty drink!

Rhubarb: The Good Part and the Poisonous Part

Rhubarb is a perennial. It comes back every spring. The red part can be used in pies, crisps, wine and juice. The green leaf is poisonous and must be completely cut off from the red stem. My baba used to boil rhubarb leaves on an outdoor wood and coal stove in a pot with no other use. When the water/leaf mixture was cool, she would discard the leaves and water her onions with the poison water. It killed the worms that like to eat the bottom of the onions, without harming the humans who ate the onions.

Baba's Old-Fashioned Pest Control

Similarly, Baba would gather poisonous mushrooms in the summertime. She would cut them up and dry them. She would set them up on high window ledges in a washed out sardine cans. Then she would sprinkle sugar on the mushrooms. The flies would eat the sugar and die. Baba would sweep them up.