Mr Reiche at the abbatoir said Lulu was the fattest pig he had seen in thirty years. No wonder...she dined all summer on gourmet left overs from our cafe...everything from organic salad to chocolate cheesecake. And we usually threw in a bit of leftover beer for a treat on Friday night. It was a good life and she is now equally appreciated in her incarnation as delicious sausages.

preparing sausage for winter

Neighbour Pete's adventure in pig-raising turned out well and we had a day of sausage making in the kitchen. We borrowed the Zomers family sausage machine and Tom made chorizo and bratwurst and smoked some of them....delicious. We rendered the lard for pies and Pete ended the week with a grand pig roast in the snow at the Jacksons. It was minus 20 that day...but the piggy was delicious.

Wild Women in Wilno

And with the completion of our new wilderness gallery, we were pleased to host the Wild Women in Wilno exhibition featuring wilderness art by Joyce Burkholder, Linda Sorensen and Kathy Haycock.

These creative painters paddle, hike and snowshoe into the Ontario wilderness with brushes and easels and return with amazing images.

One of the highlights of our music series was a fabulous performance by alt-roots artist Cara Luft accompanied by Hugh MacMillan from Spirit of the West. Cara is touring with her new CD "The Light Fantastic".

Cara is a founding member of the Juno award winning group The Wailin Jenny's and is now doing her own thang....see her if she's in your town!!!!

We celebrated Tom's birthday with a great performance by Cris Cuddy and Dennis Delorme. Here's artist Linda Sorensen and Terry and Patrice Walsh enjoying the music....and Tom of course, wearing his usual black cap!

Dennis Delorme and Cris Cuddy

Our booklaunch for artist Horst Guillhauman was well attended by area notables such as the Reeve of Madawaska Township, John Hildebrand. Guillhauman's beautiful limited edition book documents his fifty year career as an artist and showcases his artistic career with vivid full page reproductions of his paintings and sketches.