Here is our locally sourced burger!

@prettyroadco.farmstore (ground beef & eggs) @greatlakesdairy (caramelized onion goat cheese) @maplecitybakery (bun & bread crumbs) @prodenchuk_produce (tomatoes, lettuce, onion & mushrooms) @sunshine_farms_ (pickles)

OFA has developed a “Burger Challenge” that challenges our members, partners and fellow stakeholders to source as many local ingredients as possible for their burger creations. Such as locally sourced ground meat, baked goods (buns) and toppings (local preserves, produce, condiments, cheeses, etc.)

#ThankYouFarmers #CdnAgDay #BurgersUpOnt #ShopLocal 

Woohoo!  We seem to be perfectly located for birds from all areas!  This wee lady is a Snow Bunting (non-breeding).  They are known to flock in the winter, so it's unusual to see an individual on their own.  Snow Buntings breed in the high Arctic among rocky crevices where their crisp white plumage blends in with the snowy landscape. Here are some fun facts about this latest visitor (courtesy of The Cornell Lab).  

• The Snow Bunting places its nest deep in cracks or other cavities in rocks. Although such nest sites are relatively secure from predators, rocks are cold. The thick nest lining of fur and feathers helps keep the eggs and nestlings warm, but the female must stay on the nest for most of the incubation period. Because the female can't leave the nest very often, the male brings her food almost every 15 minutes.
• Although breeding and nonbreeding Snow Buntings look quite different, the change from nonbreeding to breeding plumage isn't caused by growing in a new set of feathers (molt). The change from brownish to pure white happens when males rub their bellies and heads on the snow, wearing down the brown feather tips to reveal immaculate white features below.
• The oldest recorded Snow Bunting was a male, and at least 8 years, 9 months old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alaska, the same state where he had been banded.

You can learn more about this bird, including hearing its song and call by visiting The Cornell Lab website.

Bird watching from the kitchen window is a great pastime.  Nature comes right up for you to see and you get to stay warm and dry!  This location is great and every day there seems to be a new visitor or two.  Today, there was a Red-Bellied Woodpecker that showed up.  Though not a rare bird in general, they are more often found in the southern states.  Here are some fun facts about this latest visitor (courtesy of The Cornell Lab).

• A Red-bellied Woodpecker can stick out its tongue nearly 2 inches past the end of its beak. The tip is barbed and the bird’s spit is sticky, making it easier to snatch prey from deep crevices. Males have longer, wider-tipped tongues than females, possibly allowing a breeding pair to forage in slightly different places on their territory and maximize their use of available food.
• You may sometimes see Red-bellied Woodpeckers wedge large nuts into bark crevices, then whack them into manageable pieces using their beaks. They also use cracks in trees and fence posts to store food for later in the year, a habit it shares with other woodpeckers in its genus.
• The oldest known Red-bellied Woodpecker was a male in Georgia, and at least 12 years, 3 month old when he was identified in the wild by his band.

You can learn more about this bird, including its call by visiting The Cornell Lab website.

Today is a day of family, love, happiness and being together. All family memories are the best times that we spent together. Family is not just a bunch of people who are related to you. Family is a group of people you choose to be by your side no matter what. You choose them to be with you for the rest of your life and this is the most precious gift.  Happy Family Day!

If you're looking for something to do today, here's a free docuseries that you can check out, Grow Your Own Vegetables.  The link is in the button below.  We've signed up and are looking forward to learning some new things.  If we all grow a little, it can help our whole community become more food secure.
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If you're looking for something to do on Family Day (tomorrow), here's a free docuseries that you can check out, Grow Your Own Vegetables.  The link is in the button below.  We've signed up and are looking forward to learning some new things.  If we all grow a little, it can help our whole community become more food secure.

After watching tracks being created by a diverse wildlife crowd, we decided to take a walk through the fields and see where some of them led.  Some tracks were easy to identify as canine (probably fox or coyote), though we have not seen anything other than a few people walking their dogs nearby.  There were wing marks left in the snow that led us to believe that the Red Shouldered Hawk that's been seen overhead, may have found a meal to take away.  There were some very curious etching type marks in the snow.  There were no tracks near to them, but they look oddly like someone was drawing in the snow with a stick.  The day was sunny and the wind had died down, so it made for a nice jaunt.  The day ended on a beautiful note with a colourful winter sunset.  It's nice when winter days aren't so grey and dull. 

Watching the clouds can be relaxing and entertaining.  Clouds can tell us a lot about oncoming weather, if we care to listen.  They can form fun shapes and be a variety of colours.  Today, was one of the days that they had an absolute rainbow of colours!  It's hard to see in the first photo, but these clouds had rainbow linings!  It was fascinating to see.  They didn't make an actual SunDog, but the colours were amazing.  If only cameras could capture the true beauty that they displayed.

It appears that the bird feeder isn't just attracting birds.  You just never know what you'll see when you look out the windows.  Sometimes it's too dark to get a good photo of visitors if they're hanging out by the trees.  We knew that there was at least one skunk in the area. We'd seen evidence of it visiting the yard, even before the snow.  We saw him (or her) leave through the field.  If we hadn't seen him leave, we would have still known where he went, because he left plenty of tracks in the snow showing his trail. 
It would be nice to get a picture of the deer that sometimes visit.  We'll keep trying.  Until then, we'll enjoy seeing the critters that come by and share the photos that we do get.

You could tell that a good snowfall was expected by the way that the birds were clearing out the feeder.  There was lots of traffic at this post today.  There were lots of newcomers, too, including this bully!  The blue jays chased off the smaller birds and emptied the feeder onto the ground.  They only want the sunflowers and peanuts.  It made for an interesting show.  There were crows that visited today and several cardinals, too.  Maybe the word is getting out and more kinds of feathered friends will visit.  We can only hope!