Bees, bees and more bees

At the moment, millions of people are dealing with tremendous devastation from either wildfires or Hurricane Harvey and Irma. The western half of our continent is going up in flames, while the eastern half is drowning in floodwater and/or being torn apart by winds. So much damage and total destruction! The TV footage is just horrendous! My thoughts are with everyone who is dealing with any of this.

Yesterday, 8 September 2017, I decided on the spur of the moment, to drive south to the Saskatoon Farm. I wasn't sure what I would be doing this weekend and wanted to make sure I went there to buy a few of their vegetables and fruit. I knew that a weekend would be a much busier time. I also wanted to photograph a few of their beautiful Artichoke flowers before they were all past their prime, though the one in this photo is already aging. These flowers were very popular with the bees, which was so good to see.

As usual, I wandered round the grounds with my camera, catching one of the cats, one of the dogs, and a few of the chickens, as well as flowers. I never return home with an empty memory card when I visit this place.

Unfortunately, it was a smoky day (what's new?) with the air quality rating an unpleasant High Risk level. In fact, I almost turned back before I was half way there.

This interesting place is maybe a 20-minute drive SE from the southern edge of Calgary. You can collect your own Saskatoon berries in season, look around their outside green houses, and their inside gift shop full of unusual things, and buy special baking, jams, teas and so on. They also have a restaurant that offers great food.

www.saskatoonfarm.com/