April 27, 2011

Hometown. In the Spring.

Ok, ok, I admit it.  I am cheating.  This is a post I wrote last year about my hometown.  It just happened to be in the Spring.
And Spring looks the same here every year.
Annnnnnnnd, MamaKat asked us to post pics of our hometown.
Sweeeeeet.

We still have17 donut shops and the 22 pizza places.
We still have our many parks, grocery stores and schools.
But every community has those.
Bor-ing.

We have a McDonalds.
A Home Depot.
Even a Walmart.

We have a new public library.
A recreation complex is {still} being built as I write this.
And we have a few arenas.
Because hockey is huge in this town.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned I live in Canada?
Ontario to get more specific.
I am in a medium (but growing rapidly) town approximately 30 minutes north of Toronto.

My town is known for something special.
Something unique.
My town is smack dab in the middle of the Holland Marsh.
My town is the Heart of Canada's Vegetable Industry.
Onions, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, radish, endive and even bok choy are grown in my backyard....and across the road.....up the street...around the corner and across town. 

I know.  You are jealous. 
I would be if I couldnt go across the street to pick carrots for dinner.

But I have never done that...nope...not me.

The town I live in is surrounded by marshland that has been drained and worked for agricultural purposes.  This is some of the most fertile soil in the entire, enormous, gigantic Universe.
Honest.

Surrounding this marshland is the Canal System. 
The Canal (which flows into Lake Simcoe) provides water for irrigation and a waterway for recreational activities such as fishing, snowmobiling, and picking seaweed if that is something you enjoy doing in your spare time.
Just sayin'.
In 1942, my Grandfather-in-law moved to this small town to break the Marsh.  That means he was one of the first people on the land with horses after it had been drained.  The ground was so soft that they had to put paddles on the horses hooves to keep them from sinking in the muck.
Yes, really.
True story.
Today they use tractors without paddles because it isnt 1942.

Why do I love it here you may be wondering?
Because I enjoy living in the country but also being close to everything.
It takes me 3 minutes to get to the store or my children's school.
But.....my children can come home and dirt bike in our backyard, build bridges just for the fun of it, watch tractors across the road and pick onions for dinner.
Oops.....umm...no they dont do that.


So now that I have convinced you that my town is a gem and you have decided to move here, you can reward me with some bok choy.
I can tell you where to get some for cheap.

workshop-button-1

I bet MamaKat's hometown isnt this awesome.

7 comments:

Foursons said...

Yup, I'm packing the boxes right now. You can expect me in a week or so. I like a mint on my pillow when you turn my bed down.

Gigi said...

Ummm, yeah I'd be packing except I've heard about the winters you guys experience.....and I figure if I can't deal with the North Carolina winters then I'm pretty sure that the Canada winters would surely kill me.

Barbara said...

Your town has a Wal-mart, that is already a one up on me! Although we do have a McDonalds and various other American chains, so we might be about even!

Jessica said...

I love the history behind where you live. It would be neat to see some pics of the horses with paddles on their hooves.

Anonymous said...

My son would love to come and watch all the tractors work. What a wonderful place to live!

Heatherlyn said...

I think that you must live in the perfect place--except that maybe you get a little bit too much snow in the winter. But it might be worth it to be surrounded by all that agrigulture and beauty. I have a little bit of that where I live and it is wonderful. You have even more, that makes it more wonderful, right? :)

kt moxie said...

Beautiful. This Michigander approves. (Michiganders are basically half-Canadian, right?)