It's flag day.....for real, look it up

This link was copied from the Mazatlan Messenger, it is a story of how my people ended up in Mexico. Both my parents were born in Chihuahua, my mother came to Canada with her whole family as a young child but my father didn't come to Canada until he was a young man. He came all alone, with only the shirt on his back, 5 pesos in his pocket (or something like that) and a pair of well worn cowboy boots on his feet.....you know how that story goes don't you. I've been to Chihuahua a few times as I still have many relatives there, each time I go I can feel that my roots are there and there is always a slight pull when I leave. I am very grateful that   I am able to go back and forth between my homeland and my rootland (a new word I just invented) so freely.  Both flags are near and dear to me. 

The Mennonites of Mexico

Filed under Arts & Cultureone comment

Mennonites make 80% of the region's Chihuahua cheese.

The Mennonites, like many people, have persecution as a pivotal part of their history. They began as a part of the Christian Church in the 16th century known as “Anabapist.” This name came from the fact they rebaptized their adult believers. The Mennonites took their name from Menno Simons, a Dutch priest who converted to the Anabaptist faith and helped lead it to prominence in Holland by the mid-16th century. In addition to rebaptizism, the Mennonites refuse to take oaths or go to war, and believe in the separation of church and state. They are one of the peace churches, which hold to a doctrine of non-violence and pacifism.

The first Mennonites came mainly from Swiss and German roots, with many of the important martyrs of the early church coming from the area around Zurich. To escape persecution, many Mennonites fled Western Europe for the more accommodating religious climate of the Americas. During the American War of Independence many Mennonites living in Pennsylvania felt a threat to their pacifistic beliefs and migrated to Canada.

Although most Mennonites eschew modern technology, some will utilize modern farm machines.

The Mennonites diligently applied their traditional agricultural ways and faith-based social structure and thrived once again. But in 1890 the Manitoba Municipal Act of 1880 established secular local governments. And the Manitoba Schools Act in 1890 required English as the sole language of instruction in schools as well as a secular curriculum. Their subsequent legal battles with the government cost them large sums of money, and in some cases Mennonites were imprisoned for refusing to send their children to public schools.

Rejecting any compromise Old Colony Mennonites began to seek another promised land. In 1921 six Mennonites were chosen to seek out a new land for settlement in Latin America and they believed Mexico, despite its recent Revolution, would offer them a home.

In 1922 Mexican President Álvaro Obregón invited Mennonites to settle in the northern regions of the country. He offered them cheap land and freedom from taxation for 100 years, as long as they agreed to supply cheese for northern Mexico. The Mennonites were also given freedom to organize their own educational system and freedom from military service. A total of 20,000 Mennonites arrived in 1922 in a mass migration beginning in March 1922. Over a four year period a total of 36 trains of 25-45 cars made the journey from Canada to Mexico carrying the settlers and their farm equipment. A total of 200,000 acres was obtained by the church.

The cheese the Mennonites were obliged to produce was originally known as queso menonita, but currently called queso chihuahua. This pale yellow cheese, now duplicated in other parts of Mexico in versions ranging from mild to sharp, is still considered a specialty of the region, where the best Chihuahua cheese is found.

Today in Chihuahua, Mennonites coexist, learning Spanish and English, as well as Low German, and living side by side with Tarahumara Indians in the hill country of the state. The lifestyle of Mexico’s Mennonites has not changed drastically since their initial migration, and continues to be centered on the fields, orchards and kitchen, making it food-centered, in both domestic and commercial terms. Each family grows its own vegetables. There are also family orchards, with cherries, pears, peaches, and the famous Chihuahua apples, a specialty of the Mennonites. Some continue to use plow horses to work the fields, although the modern Mennonites, who live in the same communities as the Old Colony groups, now use tractors. A number of these families also choose to use electricity, replacing part of the canning chores with freezing.

About 50,000 Mennonites reside near the city of Cuauhtémoc in Chihuahua. In Durango, there are 32 Mennonite communities. Mennonites in Durango number more than 7,000 most of them living in Nuevo Ideal. The total Mennonite population in Mexico is estimated to be about 80,000.

Authorities estimate Mennonite farmers account for at least 60% of Chihuahua’s agricultural produce, supplying staples such as corn and beans. Nicknamed “vendequesos” or “cheese-sellers,” Mennonites make 80% of the region’s cheese and some 70% of its dairy produce.

Share this article with your Facebook friends!

Oh my, you shouldn't have.....all these roses just for me?

Our provincial flower in Alberta is the Alberta Rose and it is in full bloom at the golf course and alongside most roads. Every once in a while if I stand still I get a wiff of the sweet sweet rose scent, it's floating throughout the whole course. Last year in the fall I picked the rosehip and dried a whole bunch to make tea and I loved it. This year I am hoping to make a batch of rose water, I guess I better hurry up, looks like the time is now.

The wild honeysuckle is out too

A long over due update

I am so sorry for being away for so long but oh my gosh I have been having the most frustrating technical problems with the internet and with my laptop, which is no longer a laptop since it now has a regular keyboard attached to it and 6 things plugged into it, I had to get a USB port to handle it all. which means it's not portable anymore and boy, I miss that. Now my writing schedule is all wonky. I used to get up early (with the sun) and have coffee in bed with my laptop, this is when I did my blogging and reading up on the news and catching up on other people's blogs that I follow. Now I have to develop a new morning habit and for some reason sitting on a chair first thing in the morning just isn't comfortable......how spoiled do I sound?
So, lets do a little catch up with some photos;

This is my little fruit garden that I am very excited about, the tree on the right is an Apple tree and the 2 smaller ones on the left are cherry trees. 

a neighbor found a little red wagon at a yard sale and bought it for me.....very handy

this is my vineyard, I have 3 little grape vines that you can't really see growing here that are supposed to cover the wall of my house within time

Strawberries look a lot better this year, I am hoping for a few bowls of berries this year

Out of the 20 garlic that I planted last fall 12 are growing.....better than nothing I guess

This spinach has already been eaten and new stuff has been planted

Radishes are almost ready.....much later than last year

This is my shady garden that has plaged me for many years, I finally have hostas and monkshood growing in there and I transplanted some rhubarb (they say you can't kill rhubarb....but how does it do in the shade?) 

All these little cucumbers have since been frozen and new ones have been seeded which are just popping out of the
ground...grrr!

you can't really see but the peas are up and so are the 100 onions I planted along this fence( yes I planted 100 onions, I am expecting an onion famine in the land) )  

Here is the "before" photo for 2011, the goal is to create a green wall along that back fence

My new arbor that is to be covered in green by July, it is where the squash and pumpkins will fight for space (I always plant everything too close together)

If you came to tea in the evening this is where we would sit, among the herbs and Geraniums 

Up close at my vineyard, I am waiting for the gas company to complain because I have planted so close to their meter, I;m thinking since I pay dearly for that meter it shouldn't be their business but sometimes it's easier to ask for  forgiveness instead of permission 

If you came for tea in the afternoon this is where we would sit.....but then, who has time for tea in the afternoon?

The potato patch on the right and a few stray perrenials that have survived over the years

This area has been so ugly in the past so last fall I redid it, it is to be my fruit garden and hopefully all the space will be filled with bushy rhubarb soon 

Now lets see what has been happening in the kitchen;

Here is my version of homemade ice-cream, I did not invent this I got it from  Jamie Oliver's website. First you freeze some fruit, cut it up in small pieces and put in a freezer bags. Don't pack it in there tightly or you will end up with one big round frozen chunk. I lay the fruit on a coolie sheet and freeze for a few hours and then take put them in  bag. I have lots of Saskatoons in the freezer so I use lots of them. When you want ice-cream put some frozen fruit in your food processor or blender (my Canadian blender does not do frozen stuff, m y Mexican blender could make pulp out of a spruce tree) blend it until it is a frozen slush and then put in some yogurt and blend a wee bit more. I use my homemade plain yogurt, the whole point of making my own ice-cream is to avoid all the sugar in store ice-cream and most store yogurt is  full of sugar too. I also add some vanilla and a wee bit of honey and blend. Yummm yummm 

Frozen fruit

With yogurt and vanilla

Creamy smooth ice-cream

You could add any flavoring, like chocolate syrup or coco, maple syrup, whatever you have a hankering for.

So I am back to packing lunches and I know it sounds weird but I really enjoy packing a lunch, I usually cook for the whole week on the weekend and plan a weeks worth of lunch. Right now I still have to buy vegetables from the store so I am not eating as much veggies as I would like.

A great way to sneak in an extra serving of vegetables is to serve everything on a bed of greens....these days I only have spinach in my garden

Always a baggie of fruit laying on the seat of my golf cart (my office)

This week I happy to see my local grocery store had some more organic vegetables, I was so excited.

I chopped it all  up and put it all in a big bowl and will just add some oil, vinegar, and Cayenne pepper and fill little baggies for work....really excited about this (I know I sound like a geek) 

Finally we are getting some heat, it's been a cold spring and still is very cool at night.

When it gets warm like that I make an extra batch of yogurt and let it incubate in my greenhouse, see the towel covered bowl on the left

Then I made cream cheese with it;

All you do is take your yogurt and put it in a cheese cloth and hang it up to drip, I save the dripping, it is the whey which is high in protein I put it in whatever I am baking at the time, bread, muffins or granola bars. Yesterday I had beans in the crock pot so I poured it in there. After about 5 hours you have a nice lump of cream cheese. Once I have fresh herbs I plan on seasoning it with herbs,  it's a great dip for crackers or chips. If you like a bit of a tart flavor drip it out in the fridge instead of on the counter.

Now, on to something real serious, I got old, real old. When my birthdays come they just come and go and sometimes I even forget, my birthdays have never bothered me or excited me in any way. I have never enjoyed birthday parties either, it's just another day. But....when my daughter has a birthday it is always a really emotional day for me, I always reflect back on the day she was born (May 28) it was a  beautiful sunny spring day, so full of joy, new hope, new life, new plans, new promises, new commitments, it was a life changing day for me. This year she turned 22, which makes me feel really old.  There is an ornamental apple tree in my yard, now I would never plant an ornamental anything tree, whats the point of having an apple tree if you never get apples but it was here before I and has survived over the years, it always blooms on my child's birthday.....glorious, stunning pink flowers, I call it her birthday tree. This year spring it was later than usual so it bloomed a week later.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful little one

So from there we go on to mayonnaise, over the last few years I have tried many recipes for homemade mayonnaise as the store stuff has too many things on the ingredients list that doesn't sound much like edible food and the fact that it can be in your fridge until the sides of the jar and inside of the lid look like you catch a new disease and .... it is still not rotten is also very scary (that also goes for catsup and cheese whiz) These recipes have all been good and defiantly edible but have really never been very wowing to me until I tried this one. I found it here;  Thank-you so much Brenda for posting this. This stuff by the way will keep for a few months in the fridge but not as long as store mayo.

http://myfavoritefoodsyesterdayandtoday.blogspot.com/

So I won't bother retyping it, I did not put in any white sugar  but just added about a tbsp of brown sugar and next time I won't put so much vinegar, I don't like things to be really tart and this was just a wee bit too tart for me, it was more like tarter sauce, which was great because I just happened to be cooking  fish that day and it was so great with it. 

My so good mayonnaise, love it, no story about the noodles in the background they just happened to be
 there

Fish with a nice lump of mayo

Then I had a visit from Flat Stanley for those of you that don't know him you can read up on him here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley  Flat Stanley came to me all the way from Oregon, it is his first visit to Canada. When a Flat Stanley comes to your house you are to treat him like a guest and send him home with pictures and stories of his visit so I tried to be as good of a hostess as I could.

I took him to work with me

He rode around with me in my gold cart (my office) while I watered the grrens

Check it out, it'a only 7 am and the sun is bright and high

He went on a rode trip to La Crete, we crossed the Mighty Peace River

Standing on the banks of the Peace River at my mom's house

"Look  at me" he says, I am in Canada

Just after 10 pm and the sun is just setting ( this was on May 28th, sun sets later now)

This is shortly before 6 am, sun has been up for about 2 hours already, "this Canada sure is a sunny place" he says. 

He opted to not ride on the bobcat with me, I don't blame him, I am not exactly smoothie poothie on the bobcat and the noise would have curled his ears

Due to me not being on the ball and sending him home right away he is now stuck it Canada due to the Canadian mail strike, I might have to send him on the Grey Hound Bus.