More about the J than the G

Yes all the attendant folderal with the Summit is now going on - oddly quiet in downtown Toronto....I am concerned more with covering the jazz festival here for the next 7 days or so, in fact every night of the upcoming week except Friday. Tonight I start with Nikki Yanofsky - young vocal phenom of Olympic anthem fame "I Believe"...

Those blogs will appear on Jazz FM. For now I will scribble a  bit about my visit to Farm Sanctuary near Watkins Glen, New York - it was a day trip as part of the Rochester excursion. It turned out to be quite cool and overcast but the drive down was very lush and hilly.

The first photo is of the resident cat who like to tag along on the tours. The tours start in the "People Barn" with a short video about the horrific lives these animals are subject to and the lucky few who are rescued by the good folks at Farm Sanctuary - founded by Gene Baur - who is always popular at the TVA Food Fair in the fall.

Above is husband Fraser with Dino - a wonderfully friendly turkey - I had no idea turkeys bred for food were white! He had a blue head that felt like a warm blackberry....we also visited cows, sheep, goats - who were very cute and pigs. I never expected that a turkey would be my favourite - his feathers are incredibly soft and he loves to display them for visitors...our guide said the turkey was probably his favourite too.

There was a little girl along on our tour with her mom and she was very excited about petting everyone - even the chickens.

After our wonderful visit which included buying vegan snacks - cookies and peanut butter pretzels and souvenirs at the gift shop we went for lunch at the Grist Mill at the suggestion of the volunteer - delicious portobello mushroom sandwich and tempeh reuben - that was in Burnett - just north east of Watkins Glen - a quaint spot.

Please visit them if you are in the area - you will certainly be touched on many levels. There is also a sanctuary in California and many other smaller places here in Ontario, across Canada and the U.S. - please support them for their noble work.

http://www.farmsanctuary.org/.