CRUSHING IT!

I have been remiss in posting about my gardening adventures this summer. Definitely lower in energy this year. But, my gardens are just as big and doing marvellously. I have difficulty growing my basil in a pot. It never lasts until the fall when I need it for my pasta sauce. A friend suggested I plant it in my garden. Idiot. Why didn't I think of that? Holy basil!!! I will have much more than I will need. Did I just say that about basil? I did! It's huge!! And the carrots? Well. This time last year I had just hoed up an entire row. The Guelph Seed Bank rescued me after my little 'in the garden' melt down. This year, my husband suggested ( I will not say forbade because if he had forbade me I would have totally ignored him) that I steer clear of the carrots this year until they were well up. He actually put orange tape on the row markers and politely asked that I stay outside of the markers......politely. The carrots this year are amazing. I think it has been a great garden year so far. Aside from the potato beetles, no issues so far and I am watching closely for that first tomato horn worm. It was horn worm war last year. Did you notice that Ontario is crushing COVID? One-hundred and fourteen cases today. We have to go all the way back to July of last year to find cases this low. Truthfully, I did not expect our daily case count to get this low. Almost 80 % of Canadians have had their first dose of vaccine and 50 % are fully vaccinated. In GWD, 78.7 % have had their first dose and 51.5 % are fully vaccinated. That is truly amazing and the reason the number of new daily cases continues to plummet. There is not yet any clear evidence that a third vaccine dose will be required. If a third is needed, it may just be for the elderly, frail and immune compromised. The World Health Organization ( WHO ) has voiced concern about mixing vaccines. Fear not. The WHO review the clinical data from the randomized controlled trials done by the companies that manufacture vaccines. Pfizer's trials look only at the results of studies using two Pfizer vaccines. Moderna's trials look at results of studies using two Moderna vaccines. The WHO is a regulatory body. They look at all the health and safety data that comes from clinical trials. These trials do not mix vaccines. Canada’s immunization advisory body ( NACI- the National Advisory Committee on Immunizations ) looks at both the manufacturers clinical trials and real world data from several countries. The UK, Spain and Germany all have ongoing trials that have shown that mixing vaccines is safe and effective. If you have had two different vaccines, you have had a safe and powerful vaccine regimen. This from our beloved Dr Isaac Bogoch: "We see data from the UK, Spain & Germany demonstrating that mixing vaccines (in the manner we are doing in Canada) is safe & provides a significant/robust immune response." Fear not. Take a look at this graph: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations Notice Canada's position in the world in terms of vaccination rates? TOP. Well done. Let's not mess this up. Line up for that second shot and let's push our vaccination rate to above 90 %. It can be done. Will that bring about herd immunity? Possibly. Would 90 % shut out the delta variant or any other emerging variant of concern? Yes. Re-open with care. Line up for both vaccines. Get Canada to the lowest possible rate of transmission of COVID-19 and then let's do what Canadians do best. Share. It's time to reach out and assist other countries that need vaccines. Our next Finding the Balance During COVID-19 webinar is July 20th. I will post a flyer shortly. You can register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8DuFeOOYSA6I9LKRWd2D3A Anne-Marie Please share For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-