It wasn’t that long ago that the Plevna Freshmart looked like it might be on its last legs. The attached North of 7 Family Restaurant had closed and the grocery store had become more of a convenience store/gas bar operation.

But on Sept. 1 of last year, Bill James bought it.

A Plevna native, James had run a successful diesel fuel business but had decided the time had come to sell. He had some commitments to diesel business up until the end of January but now he’s fully committed to his new venture.

“I saw it (the restaurant/grocery store) needed some help,” he said. “And I needed something to do.”

Well, he has plenty to do now.

He started by increasing inventory in the grocery and opened the restaurant in mid-December. He estimates he’s at about 25 per cent of where he wants to be with the operation.

“We still have work in the restaurant but we have the bakery up and running,” he said. “We’ll be adding a butcher shop and this will be a fully operational grocery.”

It’s not like James always wanted to have a restaurant or a grocery store, he just saw an opportunity.

“I’ve got six month’s experience,” he joked. “Every day I’m learning.

“But, I’ve worked in customer service my whole life and regardless of what you’re selling or promoting, at the end of the day, your customers are what matters.”

He said he’s just getting through his first year and the new year will begin May 1. He knows it will take time to build the business up to it’s potential.

“This started out as a hamburger stand you know,” he said. “It’ll take a couple of years to get it to where we want it.”

He has no shortage of ideas and plans however.

Like any successful northern rural businessman, he knows he has to make most of his money when the tourists are around.

“Right now, we bake bread twice a week,” he said. “In the summer it will be every day.

“In the summer, people will come in for meat and buy the rest of their groceries too.”

As for the restaurant, they have a varied menu within the family restaurant genre but once they get going he plans dinner specials on weekends and such.

“It’ll be seven days a week in the summer,” he said. “This is not a corner store any more.”

For example, he plans specials during the hockey playoffs this year and then “let ’er happen.”

Right now, the store is open from 8-6 daily and 9-5 on Sunday. The restaurant is open from 9-3 Thursday to Sunday but expect those hours to expand soon, perhaps as early as sometime in March.

But James certainly seems to be enjoying himself with his new venture.

Is there some part he likes the best?

“All of it,” he said.

The Trail Time Junction bike shop sprung in a previous abandoned corner of the Johnson Real Estate Office in Harrowsmith in early June without much fanfare. Martha and Sean, the volunteers who operate the shop for the owner, who is disabled, were motivated by a love of cycling and an enthusiasm for the K&P and Cataraqui Trails.

“We knew that people were using the trails for cycling and that cycling is gaining in popularity in South Frontenac, and we were able to make this space into a decent shop, so here we are,” said Martha when I visited last week as they were opening for the day.

Since they have opened they have quickly become a clearing house for people who are interesting in getting back into riding a bike after many years, avid cyclists looking for repairs or upgrades to their bikes, and curiosity seekers from around the community.

They sell refurbished brand name bikes, mostly from Giant, Trek or Norco, in a price range of around $250 to $350. They also recondition bikes and buy and sell.

“We get people who want to upgrade their bikes and people who have old bikes that are in good shape and might need a bit of work. For us its all about getting them out on the trails or the roads in a safe bike that is set up properly for them,” said Martha.

Sean does all the repairs in a small workshop behind the showroom, where there are 20 or 30 bikes available for sale or for rent.

“Mostly what we have been doing, and it has been very busy, is getting people back on a bike after many years and helping those who are already active with the sport to improve their enjoyment,” said Martha.

Sean is an avid cyclist himself, and he loves being located at the junction of the two trails because that gives him options for rides on his breaks and lunch hour.

“There is some really good cycling on the K&P and Cataraqui Trails,” he said, “the scenery is fantastic, it is quiet. The trail is smooth and flat. You can’t really beat it.”

“That’s why we named the store Trail Time,” said Martha.

When the first part of the K&P Trail in Frontenac County was opened, the celebration ceremony took place just south of the Trail time shop, just on the west side of Road 38 where the K&P and Cat Trails, which are joined at that point, are about to split off, with the Cat traill heading west and south and the K&P turning north to head up to Hartington and Verona.

With road word scheduled for Harrowsmith, Sean and Martha are hoping that plans to build a trailhead in Harrowsmith can be resurrected. Frontenac County commissioned an architect to come up with a plan several years ago. The proposal, which included parking, washroom facilities, a roofed structure, landscaping and a park,. Was received by the council of the day but no action was taken.

“With the amount of use people make of the two trails, it is an ideal location for something to be put in. Said Sean.

In the meantime, Trail Time has been providing a rest stop behind their shop, offering couches, shade and water to trail riders. They have posted signs at the trail letting riders, and walkers, know there is a cool rest stop available.

Then major goal of the store is to get people out on bikes, enjoying the countryside. Since they have opened they have been busy buying and selling bikes, and helping people.

“Whether people are looking to upgrade, or to find something simple to get them on their way, we can always find a way to make it work. Whatever their level of fitness or financial situation, we can get them on a bike,” said Martha.

Trail Time is now open 7 days a week, 9-5 (or thereabouts) until at least Labour Day. They intend to remain open all year.

The small straw bale building in the parking lot of the Fall River Pub and Grill at Hwy. 7 and the Elphin-Maberly Road is back in business. In past summers a coffee shop has been open at that location, and now it is the home of  the new Maberly Bakery.

Bonnie and Ross Palmer recently purchased the former Maberly United Church and were planning to build  bake shop on their property over the next year or two.

“But when the opportunity to lease the coffee shop came up we changed our plans,” Bonnie said early this week when interviewed at the shop.

While the shop is small Bonnie is baking bread, cinnamon buns, lemon squares, and hundreds of butter tarts each day on site.

They opened over the Canada Day weekend as a test run and Bonnie says “we were overwhelmed. Everything sold.”

They spent the next two weeks preparing, celebrating their anniversary and opening a few days before the official launch of their business last Saturday morning (July 15) at 6:30am. From now until at least Labour Day they will be open from 6:30am – 5pm but it pays to go to the shop early in the day because by mid-afternoon the selection gets pretty thin. I visited on Monday at 2pm for an interview but had to return on Tuesday morning to get a photo because there were only 3 lonely butter tarts in the display case.

It is early days for the business, and hot dogs on homemade buns are available now, but the plan is to put on a breakfast sandwich, prepare homemade sausage rolls and Jamaica patties for lunch as well as a daily sandwich. All this will complement an increasing line of classic Ontario baked treats.

“We do catering, special orders, and are planning to run a year round business,” Bonnie said. Hours will shorten in the fall, but the hope is that even in winter the shop will be open at least on Wednesdays and Saturdays for local and regional food lovers to pick up home baking.

The shop also serves brewed and espresso based coffee drinks and teas, and Kawartha Dairy Frozen Yogourt with a selection of frozen fruit. Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream is available in the Fall River Pub.

The Palmer's have long term business ambitions.

“I love business, the challenge of it, and I love this area, Frontenac and Lanark County, as well. There is a lot of potential here, and in this location,” Bonnie said.

But for now, the focus is more on smaller issues, such as making enough butter tarts each morning in a small oven to get through the day.

Chances are if you’ve been to an area event where food is being served in the past couple of years, you’ve probably seen a converted motorhome with a pig on top of it.

There’s only one and that belongs to Cota’s Mobile Catering.

And since they got the operation up and running two years ago, business has been growing and growing.

“It’s getting busier all the time,” says Tim Cota, chef/vehicle converter/entrepreneur.

Cota, who still lives in the house he grew up in on Eagle Lake, was a maintenance supervisor at RKY camp for 24 years.

In the year 2000, he and his wife Penny got married.

“We couldn’t find a caterer,” he said. “So we decided to do it ourselves with some help from Glenna McGill.”

At their wedding, the Cota’s must have done a good job because they got offers from “several guests who wanted us to do their weddings,” he said.

That got Cota to thinking.

“I’ve always been a big fan of cooking,” he said.

So, in 2008, he got his chef’s papers.

Now, you can’t just start cooking and selling it, there are a lot of regulations involved.

“Food has to be cooked in an inspected kitchen, there are requirements for time and temperature and pest control,” he said. “Now there are places, like Oso Hall, that have inspected kitchens and that’s fine.

“But we started to get calls for events where there was no inspected kitchen like out in a farmer’s field and barn dances.”

So,  . . . Cota got the idea to bring an inspected kitchen with him.

He bought a good used motorhome and started to work on it getting it to the point where it fulfilled all the required regulations, and the next thing you know, he’s booked solid every weekend into October.

“We already have some bookings for next summer and one in 2019,” he said.

Cota is big on preparation. Sometimes the mobile unit is used for just that and sometimes the preparation is done on site. He has an assortment of smokers and barbecues he can use that can do 30-40 steaks, 50-60 hamburgers, 100 pieces of chicken all in one go. He has propane and charcoal units depending on the demand. He also has the necessary gear to cook pulled pork overnight and he has developed something of a reputation for being the go-to guy if you want an entire pig roasted.

He does admit to needing a bit of help with a whole pig though.

“Pigs are heavy,” he said. “At about 220 pounds, that’s a lot for one guy to lift.’

Although his mobile unit could be used as a chip truck, that’s not his thing, he said. It’s get back to the preparation thing.

“I like to know if I have to have 300 tomato slices ready,” he said. “And I don’t like the idea of waiting around for customers only to be swamped all at once.”

He does use local suppliers for some things though. For rolls and pies, he uses Gray’s Grocery.

“They’re up to my standards,” he said. “And I’m pretty particular.”

And he’s especially particular about his meat. He tells a story about buying a pig that came with only one ear.

“That was unacceptable,” he said. “Presentation with something like a whole pig is a big part of it.

“We had to take the whole head off.”

Now he gets all his meat from Gilmour’s on 38 in Harrowsmith.

While he can make things like coq au vin, he said his business is more geared towards the foods people in this area are used to, things they grew up with and expect to see when they’re out for a meal.

“I can cook fancy French things but it doesn’t work here,” he said. “When the dinner bell rings, you gotta have a lot of good food on a plate.

“And we’ve never run out of food.”

By the way, the pig on the motorhome . . . it’s a lawn ornament that came from Mike Dean’s.

Making a living from June to September in this area is a relatively simple matter. However, the rest of the year is often quite problematic, as many a failed business owner has found out.

But Jeff and Jenna Fenwick may have found a wrinkle that others have missed.

You see, the owners of Back Forty Artisan Cheese on Gully Road in Mississippi Station have gone about things in a slightly different manner. Instead of immediately taking advantage of the readily available clientele summer in the Frontenacs provides, they got their main business — providing artisan cheese to restaurants and tea rooms — up and thriving before getting into the summer cottage and tourism market.

Last Saturday, they opened their shop and patio for the season, the second year they’ve done so.

“The shop is a bonus,” Jenna, who’s also operated a textile business for 10 years, said during the busy opening day. “We weren’t sure anyone would come but we’re very pleased with the turnout and the community support we’ve received.”

In 2011, the Fenwicks bought an existing sheep cheese business in Lanark township and Jeff worked with the owners to learn the business.

“It was an opportunity,” Jeff said. “I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own because it’s difficult to get started.”

A couple of years ago, they found their farm, made all the necessary arrangements and renovations and moved everything to the banks of the Mississippi River.

“This land provides all of our food and we’ve started shaping fields to one day raise our own sheep for milk,” Jenna said. (They currently have arrangements with some family farms for their milk to make cheese.)

“But there’s no rush on that,” Jeff said.

They’d also like to expand the patio and its menu, get a liquor licence and maybe even build some cabins to rent out.

But, again, no rush.

“I do like food,” Jeff said. “So yes, we think about a cafe, a bar, whatever.

“For now, we’re just trying to make good cheese and we have a good spot for that. We do have about 300 restaurants we have to take care of.”

Jenna said that “on some level, we’ve always dreamed about having a restaurant, even back when we lived in Hamilton.”

Jeff does like to take things cautiously, for example while he’s considered expanding to cow or goat milk cheese, the certification process alone presents its own hurdles.

But in the case of having the shop open on Saturdays in the summer, that’s a slightly different matter.

“If you’re back here making cheese, it’s kind of reclusive,” he said. “I like people and I like to talk to people.

“I’d like to make money (with the shop and patio), but it’s not about that.”

Sharbot Lake Pharmasave has been serving Sharbot Lake and surrounding communities for more than 25 years. Pharmacist owner, Jocelyn Whalen graduated from the University of Toronto in 1983 and in March of 1991, Jocelyn and her husband Nick purchased the Tea Room-Gift Shop at the corner of Elizabeth and Garret Street. After renovations, Sharbot Lake Pharmacy opened in May of 1991. The Pharmacy has been renovated twice since then and has become a very recognizable cornerstone in Sharbot Lake.

In the fall of 2016, Jocelyn and Nick decided the time was right to sell the Pharmacy. Jocelyn isn’t quite ready to retire, but the Whalen’s are hoping to enjoy a little bit more freedom from the demands of full time work and running a Pharmacy business.
On May 1st, Jocelyn and Nick sold the Pharmacy to a small, independent Pharmacy group based in Guelph. Redtail Pharmacies group owns and operates Pharmacies primarily located in small centres in Ontario and Alberta. In addition to focusing on community Pharmacy, Redtail also provides services to nursing homes, retirement homes and group homes.

Jocelyn and Nick wanted someone who would maintain a high level of customer service and who would be committed to serving the community. “Redtail’s appreciation for the uniqueness of small communities and maintaining the established practices made them the right fit” said Jocelyn.

Paul Thomson, Director of Operations commented “We are pleased to be part of the community of Sharbot Lake and will continue to honour the legacy of Sharbot Lake Pharmasave in providing exemplary Pharmacy services to the community.“
Jocelyn and her staff will remain at the Pharmacy and will be joined by Pharmacist Matthew Dick. Matthew is a 2016 Doctor of Pharmacy graduate from the University of Waterloo. He has spent time working as a Pharmacist in Forensic and crisis units in Ottawa and Interned at the Royal Hospital in Ottawa. He has also gained valuable retail Pharmacy experience on his clinical and co-op rotations in several locations in Ontario.

Matthew said that although he has been working in Ottawa since January, he has roots in small town Ontario. He grew up in the town of Douglas, Ontario (the Home of the Leprechauns) near Renfrew, population 300, and he said that he finds working in a small town to his liking. One aspect of the job in Sharbot Lake that he really likes is “getting to talk to people and getting to know them, which is something that does not happen at the hospital in Ottawa,” he said.

“This is my 4th week here and the staff at the Pharmacy and Jocelyn have been very welcoming and good to work with. We are off to a good start,” he said.

The Pharmacy will continue to run the Pharmasave banner at Sharbot Lake and provide all of the programs and promotions available under the popular Pharmasave name.

Please feel free to drop by and say hello to Matt, Jocelyn and all of the staff at any time.

The Frontenac News is happy to announce that our new website, frontenac-live.ca, a companion site to our popular frontenacnews.ca site, is up and running.

Frontenac Live includes a business directory listing over 450 businesses and counting, to cover every need a resident or visitor to the area might have, from restaurants to electricians and everything in between, listed by community and type of service. Under accommodations, for example, there are 56 options.

Businesses that are not included are invited to fill out a simple online form and get listed without delay, and perhaps opt for an enhanced listing which will bring opportunities for increased promotion immediately, and much more over time, at a low annual fee.

Our events guide is the most complete breakdown of weekly, monthly and one time events, with an easy to access map to the location of every event, and links to articles on frontenacnews.ca about previous years versions of annual events.

Event organisers can also easily list and update events on the site.

The site also includes information about parks and recreation opportunities, markets, museums and more, and sections on local lakes and villages are being built into it.

Frontenac-live.ca is designed to help residents and visitors take advantage of all that the region has to offer.

Check it out sometime soon.

Geof and Amanda Hall are looking to their past to plan their future.

Married for three years, the couple has been quietly building an apple orchard in Battersea with the trees of their ancestors.

Often found working late into the night at their kitchen table or outside early in the morning with headlamps to guide them, the friendly pair dreamed big as they spent the last two years planting 500 trees of 37 varieties of heritage apples.

“It’s been an interesting experience for us,” says Amanda over a cup of tea on a wet spring afternoon in early May. “We learned of different varieties (of apples) we had never heard of before.”

“A lot of these are cherished varieties,” adds Geof.

Named Harvest Mill Farm after milestones in the couple’s life, the orchard started with a tree from Geof’s great grandfather’s farm located near Rideau Ferry.

“I started to get into this because I wanted to save the last tree that blew down (on the family farm) during a storm,” says Geog about his ancestor, a horticulturalist from Scotland.

“We started a nursery there to keep the line,” he notes. “That line was able to produce small trees.”

Using dwarf roots from British Columbia, the couple attached a branch to each root and placed it carefully in the ground.

“Each branch just needs a few buds,” explains Geof about the grafting process of attaching a branch to the root with tape, wax and a label.

Spread over approximately six acres, the trees are from Geof’s ancestor and fruit trees not commonly found anymore. The orchard is a mix of nature and nurture.

Last year, the trees were subjected to drought-like conditions. This year, they are enduring a historically wet spring. Through it all, the roots are mapped with precision, subjected to organic practices, and documented as they progress.

“The entire orchard is a grid,” confirms Amanda as she wraps her arms around her 18-month-old daughter, Lily.

Since starting the orchard in 2015, the couple has lost 70 of their 500 trees. The loss was anticipated.

“You always have some loss with brand-new roots,” says Geof, 41, a Water Researcher at Queen’s University.

Bright and kind, Geof is proud of the 143-acre farm he purchased in 2013 from Russell Clark. In time, he will use a flock of sheep to help manage the apple orchard. The animals will help with weed control and fertilization.

For now, he is building the orchard the way he is living his life: on a solid foundation that respects the past and anticipates the future.

Smiling at his young daughter, he notes wisely, “That’s important to us. This really is a family thing we’re doing here.”

“The neat part is, it’s a learning experience for us too,” adds Amanda, an Occupational Therapist at Providence Care in Kingston. “These are apples we have never had experience with. We’ll be trying the apples with everyone else.”

“Some of these varieties have amazing tastes,” she explains about the fruit that will be ready in three to four years. “For us, it’s bringing back our heritage.”

Originally from Barrie, Amanda talks about the farm and the community with the soft tones of a woman in love.

“We were looking for two years to find this farm,” says the 34-year-old. “We’re honoured to live here and carry-on the memories. We love it here. Everyone has been so welcoming. We have not come across someone who has not wanted to help us in one way or another. Battersea is a really special community.”

The couple continues to invest in their future by expanding the farm at a sustainable pace. Working at their kitchen table and investing what they can afford, they plan to add 70 new trees annually to the orchard until they reach 2,500. When the orchard is producing, they will advertise the operation as pick-your-own.

“This year, if we can have a non-drought summer, that would make us happy,” says Geof  about the challenges ahead of them. “Right now, we could also use a week a week of sun and no rain.”

“We’re really encouraged by what we’ve seen this year,” says Amanda  about their fledgling apple trees and small vineyard planted off to the side. A pumpkin patch will be added this summer.

Looking around the farm that is thriving thanks to careful planning, hard work and perseverance, Amanda seems pleased with the results.

“It’s more meaningful for us to do it this way,” she says about the orchard they are building, one branch at-a-time. “There’s something kind of neat about knowing you created that tree.”

To learn more about planting an apple orchard, please join Geof and Amanda Hall at their farm in Battersea on June 10. Details on this one-day course can be found at www.harvestmillfarm.ca or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This weekend is Frontenac Outfitters 33rd annual spring sale and although the idyllic location near Frontenac Park may be familiar to some this year's sale will be the first one for new owners Kiley and Zack Fiddis who recently took over this South Frontenac paddlesports business.

For Kiley, Zack, and their 2-year old daughter Lyla, it's not only a significant lifestyle change but a dream come true.

“This is something we've wanted for a long time,” Zack, a former heating and air-conditioning technician and long-time paddler, told Frontenac News. “The stars kind of aligned.”

“It seemed like it was now or never,” Zack said when asked about why they made the move. “Our daughter is young and we'd been looking for a lifestyle change when we found this backyard oasis.”

Kiley, a former social worker, was equally as thrilled about the change, excited to be able to spend more time raising their daughter amongst the lakes and woods of South Frontenac and running the business from home.

Kiley and Zack purchased the business from Larry and Christine Showler who had posted the sale online looking for the right buyers. For Larry Showler, who originally purchased the business in 1994, this meant someone that would continue to run Frontenac Outfitters with the same appreciation of the business' natural surroundings and a love for paddling.

The Fiddis family made it through the vetting process and have since moved from Bowmanville, Ontario to the Sydenham area and taken over the operation.

“I've been paddling for 20 years,” Zack said as he excitedly described all the new boats that are premiering this weekend at the sale.

Larry and Christine have stayed on temporarily to help the Fiddis family transition into ownership and to share their knowledge and enthusiasm of paddlesports as well as to introduce Zack and Kiley to their faithful clientele.

“We've had a great response from the community,” Zack said. “We've been meeting so many awesome people.”

When I visited Frontenac Outfitters on a rainy Easter weekend Zack was quick to take me on a hike of the property. The tour started at a building stacked to the rafters with shining new canoes and sea kayaks then wandered amongst tall trees and Canadian Shield through 7 campsites they maintain and rent out and finished right at the water's edge on the quiet and beautiful Pearkes Lake where you can try your boat before you buy it. The entire time Zack was walking me through some of the brands that Frontenac Outfitters carries and the latest technology that goes into boat building from the volcanic ash interweave in H20's new canoes to the unbelievably light kayaks they have for sale on site.

“Any day you come out here you can test paddle any boat we have,” Fiddis told me.

The annual sale begins on Friday and runs until Sunday with company reps on hand, competitive sale pricing, a wide selection of boats and gear, as well as the opportunity to get out on the water to test the canoes and kayaks. Add free coffee and donuts to that list of perks and a chance to say hello to the owners and you've got yourself a nice little day trip in South Frontenac.

For more details on the sale you can visit Frontenac Outfitters online at Frontenac-Outfitters.com.

The Cardinal Cafe in Sharbot Lake has a new product this week with a twist — a raspberry twist to be exact.

At first glance, Caden’s Ultimate Raspberry Twist looks like a tasty square, which it is. But how it came to be is a bit of a story in itself.

Cardinal owner Rob Moore is known for his innovative concoctions but in this case he had some help from the Lakers and senior food and nutrition programs at GREC. Moore has had a relationship with the Lakers program in the past and so when students were studying how to promote fruits, Moore came to give a talk. The next thing you know, they’d come up with a bit of a contest, with Moore offering to feature the winner’s creation in his Cafe.

Part of the Lakers program’s mandate is to get students involved in the community. You might know them from their work with the Food Bank.

“He came to our class to talk about fruits and deserts and then each person had to come up with a recipe,” said Summer Kennedy. “Rob then judged them.”

The result was Caden’s Ultimate Raspberry Twist, which is on sale this week at the Cafe for $3 a square.

‘Caden’ in this case is Grade 12 Caden Stephenson, a budding pastry chef who’s looking at St. Lawrence College next year.

“I found the original recipe on the Internet,” Stephenson said. “It took two or three tries to get it to look right.

“It’s raspberries, lemon zest, sugar, flour, salt and lemon juice.”

It was something of a labour of love for Stephenson.

“I love cooking and baking,” he said. “I can do it all day.”

Moore said judging the competition was a difficult job.

“There were a lot of delicious creations,” he said. “But part of the criteria was how it would work as a marketable item.”

He liked the raspberry twist and saw its potential.

“It has a unique texture and a very vibrant flavour,” Moore said. “And we didn’t have anything like it.

“I modified the base into a short-bread and came up with a lemon-raspberry curd topping.”

“Rob’s changes are awesome,” said Stephenson.

Moore said the squares will be for sale all this week and if all goes well “I might keep them.”