Most Popular Post

Monday 11 July 2016

Idyll, Yet...

Georgie, the golden grand-dog is visiting again and we walk with her every day. 

 


Confederation Trail on Prince Edward Island is one of our favourite places to go. It is the former railbed across the island and we can let Georgie off the lead if there is no one on the trail. She loves to run 

 

and explore the rest areas.

 

Our first walk started well. It was hot and sunny with a westerly wind, keeping the mosquitoes in check, ideal walking conditions. Part of the trail had workers doing summer maintenance, so we went in the opposite direction.

 

There are fields of crops on either side of the trail, wheat, potatoes,

 

corn and grass for hay, to name a few. With no one on the trail, Georgie ran around us, having a great time.

Both sides of the trail are lined with trees and at ground level, wild flowers 

 

and ferns. 

 

The wind in the trees was a pleasant companion and created waves on the wheat. We walked to the end of this section of trail and turned back. Georgie was tired now and stayed close by. At one point, we put her on the lead because bikers were on the trail, seniors in this group.

 

There are several sections of the trail with gaps in the trees so you can see the fields. Looking out into the wheat field, there was a spraying machine, 

 


ready to apply its contents to the fields. 

 

With the high wind that day, we hurried to leave the area. 

 

However, when the operator started the sprayer, we could smell the chemicals, thus breathing in the spray. We didn't get out of there quickly enough.

Reality check!


 

16 comments:

DJan said...

Such a beautiful place! Georgia is a sweet dog, I can tell by the pictures. Thanks for sharing her with me. :-)

ADRIAN said...

I really dislike the sprayers but they are a necessary evil.

Judith @ Lavender Cottage said...

It's so nice when one can take a walk and let the furbaby run and run, Georgie must have loved this! We used to live in the Holland Marsh area, well known for vegetables shipped across Canada and abroad but the spraying they do caused many people to have asthma, including our two girls.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

You can always tell the hiking trails that are old converted railway beds because they're straight as an arrow!

Down by the sea said...

Not such a nice ending to a lovely walk. Sarah x

Elephant's Child said...

What a lovely walk - until the end. Sigh on the spraying front. Sometimes I wonder whether we should spray a great deal less. And I am sure we should spray less toxins around.

Marie Smith said...

It is a beautiful area, a great place to walk, not challenging enough for your level of fitness, Jan.

Marie Smith said...

I hate them, Adrian.

Marie Smith said...

It is the same here. Our two girls have ashma, puffers, etc. We were not used to this spraying in Newfoundland because food was not grown in our area as it is here.

Marie Smith said...

Lol. They sure are. You can see for miles.

Marie Smith said...

I hate the spraying, but the walk was great.

Marie Smith said...

I think we should too, but it is not likely to happen. We can't even get a ban on herbicides and pesticides for lawns. That would be a great start.

Anonymous said...

What a pretty place to walk you have. And I know your golden loved it.

I thought I would have to use Roundup on my side yard (overrun with a noxious weeds), but I didn't. I poured vinegar over it and it died and the thick leaved plants (sedum) survived. Troy pulled out the wild roses and Pokeweed, and then we took our weed burner and wiped them the others. We never put any chemicals on the lawn.

There are organic solutions for large farms also.

Emma Springfield said...

Georgie is beautiful. Your walk was filled with tiny adventures and discoveries. It was a grand day.

Marie Smith said...

It was a great summer day!

Marie Smith said...

I doubt will ever go organic here. The big corporations are so invested in the potatoes here there would be no room for experimentation I fear. How I wish it was organic though.