Snowy Speculations

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If I could paint, I would have tried to replicate the landscape very early this morning. Illuminated by the faintest hints of light and hours before sunrise, the cold, stark landscape lay completely still in its snowy blanket. Naked trees stood proudly and quietly against this backdrop, this palate of pure white an unforgiving place for any creature, big or small, to attempt to cross without drawing attention to its existence at this time. Even our ancient tire swing looked sleepy and droopy, suspended precariously close to the ground, as if the effort of hanging from a tree limb was too much for it. To the east, the only rays of light visible were the ones coming from the across the river, and even those seem hushed and muffled, like a child tired and murmuring not to wake them up just yet.  The young families down the road have gone all out with Christmas lights this year. Bright colours adorn the night skies and my neighbours even have a Christmas Cat and a Christmas Dinosaur that i
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Close the Windows, Hold your Breath!

I can't say enough about how much I love living on a rural property. Looking out my home office window at the endless stretch of vineyards before me gives me such a sense of serenity and peace. I love my views of the Niagara Escarpment in the distance and am constantly mesmerized by its every changing  colours. On cloudy days filled with bursts of sunlight, you can see patches of dark and light where cloud shadows and sunlight reflect the skies above. Driving down Concession 1 or 2 in late fall, I am amazed at the plethora of fall foliage that looms before me as I drive towards York Road and its rustic beauty never ceases to take my breath away.

But these views come at a small price. With vineyards directly across the street from me, we have the off-shore workers starting their day rather early and there is constant tractor traffic at various stages of the season. It does take some getting used to, especially if you are a light sleeper like I am.

But spraying is what gets me the most. I can be driving down our road and see the white mist of spray spurting out of the tractor's sprayer coating the vines and its fruit at various stages and a light panic sets in.  I immediately close my windows or turn off the AC and hold my breath. This is something I did even as a child. On an intelligent level, I know that spraying is a necessary evil. But old habits die hard.

The wine industry is huge in Niagara. As a student, I worked as a tour guide at a local winery and paid for my university education this way. Having rehearsed the tour script at least a million times and having enjoyed the local fare, I know how crucial the wine industry is to our region. It's a constant process of pruning, tying, leaf removal, cluster thinning and harvesting, all of this work done by manual labour and by machines.  The vineyards are in constant motion. The spray is necessary as fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides need to be applied in order to produce a quality crop worthy of our consumption.

So living on a rural property does have a ton of perks.  There's nothing that beats the quiet or the priceless views all around. But one needs to understand the harmony of working the land and living on it. Over time, the tractor noise and the singsong conversations of the offshore workers in the fields provide a different kind of music that becomes a part of our every day.

Lolita Hale

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