Meyer Farm Project

ur first weekend of Bouja was a smashing success!  After a quiet first hour and a half, Friday evening, I started saying to myself, well that’s it, the people have had enough of our shinanigans.  But then the Legion got very busy and when 8pm finally rolled around, we had to prep our first ever emergency “bumper” batch of bouja for Saturday so many people came.   Thanks to my aunt, Jai Meyer, for taking the above picture of her three sons in our service line Saturday evening, supervised by my brother Joe:)

< Some of my friends from St Ben’s Monastery next door came out for Bouja, Sister Ione and Sister Karen whom I know through volunteering on the Whitby Gallery Committee at the Monastery.

I had to smile when a card game was organized by a bunch of bouja volunteers during a lull in visitors.                            >

So many people are bringing their dearest friends with them to Bouja, or better yet, running into old friends they might never expect to, at the Bouja, that it really is turning into the community dinner I dreamed it could be.  After a hard year, feeling beat up by bureaucracy, the Bouja is replenishing my soul in a much needed way.

his year’s Bouja is overwhelming me with pride as it grows into its own beast.  My student Jackson was taught by my grandmother, the wily Dee Giroux, how to make bread from scratch .  The conversation these (three) had while mixing up the bread dough Thursday night should have been recorded, it was the most hilarious thing I have witnessed in a while.

Dom and his mom joined us again for the fun, roasting 60 pounds of meat for this weekend’s batch.  My dad, in fact, would like you to know, Bouja is not so much a soup but rather more of a meat stew.  I would like you to know the beautiful table decorations the last two years are all Dom’s mom, Rhoda’s, efforts.  Thank you Rhoda for making the Legion such a welcoming space!

Lots of kids were in tow for Bouja Prep, including my goddaughter, Zoe.  She and her mom, by best friend Aremy, are thrilled to be able to participate in their first Bouja, as they live in the Netherlands these days.  I am ecstatic to have them around.

Thanks goes to all my friends and family who make this crazy endeavor possible.  Watching all of you become friends through our annual affair makes it all worth it.

ow proud I am to post this picture of some old friends who came to help glaze Bouja mugs, Lisa Carlson and Jessica Haugen.  What a blast to have them in the barn!