Not-so-smashing pumpkins
RD: One of the casualties of hurricane Dorian is the Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Regatta. Although the race was scheduled for October, the combination of an extremely wet and cool spring, and the loss of vines and leaves during the storm, means that the giant pumpkins used to transport human cargo in the race are too small this year. Cancellation of a festival pales in comparison to the hardship caused by Dorian from the Bahamas to Cape Breton; however, it does highlight how the string of unusual weather events over the past few years is making the work of farmers much more difficult. As the economic fallout from losing the festival becomes known, it will prove once again how agriculture is at the core of our economy.

Rupert Jannasch
Summerville, Hants Co., N.S.

Brew book giveaway
RD: I say there – I bought this book for a Christmas present but the giftee handed it back saying, “I only drink and only want Molson’s Canadian, so keep it or give it to someone who appreciates a book on international beer.” Possibly you may find someone who is interested. One Midwest brewer utilizes maple syrup. It needs months to stop brewing but if it sits more months it tastes okay.

PS. I miss Pot Luck. I hope it resumes, at least on occasion.

Dan Hogan
Lawrencetown, N.S.

(Thanks for the book, Dan, and an early yet belated Christmas back to you. In the spirit of pre-holiday giving and your own selfless generosity, we’d like to offer this fine book, The World Atlas of Beer – The Essential Guide to Beers of the World, by Tim Webb and Stephen Beaumont, published by Sterling Epicure, as well as a gift subscription to RD, to one of our beer-loving readers. For any homebrewers out there, please send us some details of how you make your beer, a photo or two of your set-up and/or your finished product, some unique ingredients you have used, favourite food pairings, or a story of brewing gone awry. Submissions may be posted on our Rural Delivery Facebook page, or sent to dvlmagazines@gmail.com by email, or by snail mail to Beer! c/o Rural Delivery, Box 1509, Liverpool, NS B0T 1K0. The lucky winner will be drawn at random. More details about the book can be found on page 54. Cheers! MB)

Bears and berries
RD: Late one afternoon a neighbour came to ask me if I wanted to go pick some blueberries. I agreed, so off we went driving along a back road between hills. We came around a turn and Wow! Here was a patch of raspberries right next to the road, just hanging red with berries. So out we went and in no time had a bowlful each, which we sat on the back floor of the car.

Up the road a ways to pick blueberries, we had to go down an incline, so could only see the roof of the car from where we were picking. Soon our bowls were almost full. I told her it would be dusk soon and we should get up to the car. When we got there, here were five piles of bear poop around the car! The bears must have been full of berries, or they would have broken in to get ours. It scared her so bad she never went on a back road again!

Esther Bradley
Dorchester, N.B.

Enjoyable Delivery
RD: I am sending you one of my poems for your magazine Rural Delivery, which I do very much enjoy from time to time.

I hope it can give your readers a little something to enjoy.

Monique Carrier
Lorne, N.B.

I HANG THE CLOTHES
by Monique Carrier
I hang the clothes with wooden pins,
End to end, extended and unfolded,
As the morning sun rises.
Through the still air,
I hear the echo of a well-timed chainsaw
From across the river.
The morning dew wets my shoes
And it won’t be long the plane will fly over.
The crows have left and the Blue jays discover.
The heals of bread that they’ve been fed, by my uncle.
I grab the pole and push it up,
I make sure it is well grounded.
I walk away, I look back, and admire.
All neatly hung from big to small and
Commonly color coded.