Photo: Pat Ward (center) of Pat's Kitchen in her home kitchen near Hartington with students l-r, Marie McKenna, Shelley Grant, Gerda Murphy and Tina McFarlane

If you’re someone like me who greatly benefits from hands-on learning, Pat's Kitchen is the place for you. Pat Ward has studied and practiced cooking both locally and internationally and offers cooking classes at her home near Hartington.

On September 8, I joined her Thai Cuisine dinner class with four other fans of Thai food also wanting to broaden their weekly dinner roster. The class included the preparation and consumption of five Thai dishes representing a typical Thai meal, beginning with appetizers of fresh Thai salad rolls, a lemongrass mushroom soup with shrimp, mango salad, a main entree of red curry chicken with coconut milk followed by a dessert of flamed bananas with rum.

Pat started by introducing us to all of the ingredients, focusing on the more exotic ingredients like lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal root, chili pepper paste, fresh cilantro, fish and chili sauce, and green and red chilies. She explained where to buy the ingredients and how to store them. The fun began when we were given aprons, cutting boards and knives and began preparing the menu items, tackling each one at a time while working around a granite-topped island in the kitchen that makes a perfect central hub.

As we work, different conversations develop, all focusing of course on food. Pat keeps everything moving along and jumps in often with her expert skill, demonstrating for example how to break the whole cooked shrimps midway through their curve so that they lie flat in the rolls. She explained how to store the fresh rolls in the fridge if you want to make lots and eat them at a later date. She explained how the jasmine rice used in the main course should be rinsed in water until it runs clear to remove the excess starch. She demonstrated how to chop fresh herbs like cilantro more effectively by bunching it up in a tight ball before chopping it and then scrunching it up into a paper towel to remove the excess water. She demonstrated how to prepare the lemongrass for the soup by using just the bottom third of the stalk and slicing it open lengthwise so that it gives up its flavors more easily. She explained that a sweet white onion is the best choice for the mango salad since it offers a milder flavor when eaten raw. The most rewarding part of her class, of course, is sitting down to enjoy the bounty.

Pat provides students with print outs of all of the recipes they prepare so that they can take them home. Pat's Kitchen exudes a love of food and cooking and she says that her business is much more about sharing that love than making a buck. Upcoming this fall are a number of classes. On Sept. 15 Cooking with Quinoa; on Oct. 11 or 13 Indian Cuisine. Visit www.patskitchen.ca or call 613-374-1366 

Photo: John Schweighardt of Livingstones with a few of his stone sculptures and a view of the old grist mill ruins at the Sundance Studio Tour in Maberly

Artists and organizers alike welcomed the change in venue location for this year's 5th Annual Sundance Studio Tour. The one-stop tour, which was taken over this year by Paul and Michelle Zammit, owners of the Fall River Restaurant, moved its location to the banks of the Fall River in Maberly at the corner of Highway 7 and the Bolingbroke Road, and the increased visibility made an impact.

Paul Zammit said when he was approached to take over the tour that he jumped at the chance, wanting to “preserve what we thought was a good thing for the community. We didn't want to see the event just die off. One of the big resources in this community is its artists and giving them more exposure helps create a more sustainable community,” Zammit said on Sunday at the show.

The tour, which attracts 30 artists in a wide variety of mediums and includes the availability of high quality food and beverages and live music, appears to be gaining momentum as a result of its increased visibility at the new location. Excavation work began at the site in the spring and Harry Van Alstine of Herns Sand and Gravel donated a lot of the necessary work and also part of his property for parking. The result is a beautiful, expansive site that includes a scenic walk along the Fall River behind the restaurant where the ruins of an old grist mill are still visible and where half of artist booths were located.

Products from local farmers as well food produced by Seed to Sausage in Sharbot Lake were included, and show that Zammitt is aiming to highlight more of what the community has to offer.

“We realize that our guests are coming from far and wide and we want to shine a light on everything that we have to offer here,” he said. Zammitt also said that he is considering holding the tour twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. “I plan to speak to the artists about that but what we really hope is to one day be the premier event for artists and producers in this area.”

Photo: Sofia and Natalia Tippin of Perth Road at the Local Beef Promo Day in Verona

Dave and Kim Perry of Perry Maine-Anjou Farms and the Local Family Farms store in Verona once again hosted the Frontenac Cattlemen's Association (FCA) Local Beef Promo Day at their Verona store. Visitors had a chance to meet members of Frontenac 4H Beef Club, to sample and purchase local beef products and to get up close and personal with a few of the Perry's award-winning herd, which recently won numerous awards at the Napanee fair including first place in the breeders herd category. Kingston radio’s KIX FM-93.5 was on site all day and interviewed many of the personalities involved in producing and promoting local beef in the area. Dave Perry is past president of the FCA and director with the National Farmers Union Local 316. He spoke of the importance of the public knowing of the availability of local beef as way to support local farmers, who this year have been facing extra challenges due to the serious drought conditions, a situation Perry said he has not seen since back in 1965, when part of his farm burned as a result of the dryness. “People tend to think that this drought has affected only farmers, when in fact it affects everyone in the community. It's not just the farmers and the gardeners who need rain; it’s everyone who eats food that needs rain. Now more than ever it makes sense for people in the area to buy beef and other produce that is produced and processed in this area. The food miles traveled are much less; the beef and other produce tastes better, and you are supporting local farmers.” Perry said that there is enough beef in the area to satisfy the consumers’ demand and enough processing capacity here as well. He also warned that if the processing plants are not utilized, ultimately they will close down.

Perry, like all local producers, was affected by this summer’s drought. One of the two wells at his farm in Hartington temporarily went dry this year, which meant he had the extra job of hauling water to make sure that his cattle were properly watered. “I know of one farmer in Renfrew who had to sell his 230 head because he couldn't afford to feed them due to the sky rocketing price of grain as a direct result of this drought.”

On a more positive note Perry said that the public is now beginning to source out locally produced food, which is a good thing for him and other local growers in the area. Local Family Farms not only sells a wide selection of local meats and produce but also a wide variety of prepared foods and other locally made products. The store is located on Hwy 38 in Verona.

By Lorraine Julien

The Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) is a fairly common salamander that lives in and around forested areas throughout most of eastern North America. In fact, North America has more kinds of salamanders (the group that includes newts) than all the other continents. Salamanders, in general, look a lot like lizards but their skin is thin and moist whereas lizards have hard scales or plates.

You’ll know this salamander by its characteristic red stripe, which begins immediately behind the head and extends nearly to the tip of its tail. The wide red stripe usually covers the entire back but, in some populations, the red colour of the stripe is replaced by dark gray. This is called the lead backed phase. Males and females look the same but all have five toes on their hind feet and four toes on their front feet (just in case you get this close to see!). Red-backs normally reach a length up to 12 cm long.

Along with all salamanders in the Plethodontidae family, the Eastern Red-backs do not have lungs. Instead they breathe through their skin and mucous membranes. Unlike most other salamanders that spend at least part of their life in water, Eastern Red-backs are mainly terrestrial and can swim for only short periods of time because they cannot breathe oxygen in the water through their skin. However, their skin must stay moist to enable it to breathe. Most likely this is the reason they like to hide under rotting logs, rocks and leaf litter during the day so that their skin doesn’t dry out. When we’ve had to move our rain barrel, it’s not unusual to find a newt or salamander enjoying the damp seclusion. The rain barrel is very dry this year though!

Red-backed salamanders make up an important food source for a wide variety of snakes, birds and mammals. If they are under attack, they have the ability to drop all or part of their tail and can grow a new one afterwards. The tail that grows back is usually lighter in colour than the original tail. Another type of defence for most species of salamanders is that they can exude a white fluid that is distasteful to predators.

Though usually slow moving, salamanders can rise on their legs and run rapidly through the forest. The Red-backed salamander is a jumper though, leaping along by slapping its tail against the ground.

Finding salamanders takes a bit of searching; they are silent creatures and are mostly active at night (especially after a rainfall) while they look for food. However, if food is in short supply, they may be somewhat active during the day. Usually they walk along the forest floor under leaves, rocks and stumps but you might see one climbing a tree or shrub in search of food. Red-backs like to dine on a large variety of invertebrates and other slimy things: mites, spiders, insects and their larvae, centipedes, millipedes, beetles, snails, ants, earthworms, flies and larvae. They snare their food by quickly thrusting out their tongue with its sticky pad – much like a snake. When conditions are good and food is plentiful, they eat large amounts, then store the extra nourishment as fat to live off when conditions are bad. Breeding can occur in spring or fall with the female laying 3 to 13 relatively large yolk-filled eggs. The young hatch from the eggs and do not go through a larval stage. Groups migrate to a common woodland location and burrow several feet underground to hibernate annually.

Anything that eats slimy, creepy, biting things is a very good creature to have on your property or anywhere else. Since we are in the midst of a drought, I imagine you’d have a difficult time spotting salamanders as they would have to burrow deeply in the forest to find moist areas. I notice our lake level has been dropping steadily this past few weeks, as I’m sure the levels in most other lakes and rivers are also dropping.

Last week I saw an unusual sight along Highway 506 near the sign for Myers Cave, and where an osprey nest was located for years on a hydro tower – all of the sumac on the rocks have changed colour – reds, oranges, yellows just like you’d usually see in October. I’m not sure if the cause is the drought we’re having or if Hydro One had sprayed in that area.

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This week, North Frontenac Council made one large expenditure, $511,000 to Smith Construction for road paving (which was included in their 2012 budget) as well as a number of much smaller expenditures for other projects.

One of those expenditures was for the Snow Road Hall, where the Monday June 27 meeting was held. Lorie Ryder appeared before Council, representing the South Palmerston Community Centre Committee (the formal name of the hall), and put in a request for $2,000 for materials. Volunteers are available for installation. Council decided to fund half the project, and granted $1,000.

Canada Day grants

Council granted $500 for the festivities being organized for Saturday for a township Canada Day event (see details in Canada Day supplement) and $600 for the fireworks display at the Ompah gravel pit in the evening. Please note that the Canada Day events are indeed set for Saturday June 30 in North Frontenac.

Harlowe Hall

The Harlowe Hall Committee has raised $5,000, which they would like to see going towards the installation of a roof over the back door of the hall. They asked for the township to manage the project and to refinish the floor. Council agreed to allocate staff time for the two projects.

$750 to feed fishermen

The township received a request from the Land O’Lakes Tourist Association to support a stay at Frontenac Parklands by the production team for Fish TV, a syndicated fishing show that is shown on Global TV, World Fishing Network, Outdoor Life Network, and others. The request was for $750 for food (accommodation has been arranged). Council agreed to provide the food money.

Update on Bobolinks

Councilor Gerry Martin, township representative to the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, (MVCA) reported that the hatchling Bobolinks have been born at the site where the MVCA is planning to build a new headquarters in Carleton Place.

“They should fly the nest by the beginning of August and the building project can start,” said Martin.

No news on Ompah build

There was no reference to the Ompah Fire Hall/Ambulance Post project on the agenda. CAO Cheryl Robson said she has not heard back from MALROZ Engineering, the company that is dong a Environmental Assessment on the proposed site of the project, so she left the item off the agenda. Council is expected to consider their next move in early July. A Request For Proposal for the project yielded a recommended bid of $1.14 million for the project, $734,000 for the township share. That is almost $200,000 more than the township had contemplated paying.

The Frontenac County portion is $380,000, $80,000 over the county budget, but the county also declined to consider the item when it came up at their meeting last week, as they are also waiting to hear about the Environmental Assessment.

Photo: Olivia & Kathy Groenewegen.

Farmers are, by necessity, a patient lot. There are so many factors - the health and temperament of the animals, the amount of rain, the price of grain and electricity, changes in markets, etc. that are out of their control. Anyone who can survive the long hours and uncertain pay of farming has got to develop a pretty good ability to wait for things to happen.

However, I could sense a hint of frustration from Kathy Groenewegen as she explained late last month how the small milk processing plant and dairy store her family has been dreaming about for so long are almost ready. A few niggling details remain, including one piece of equipment that seems to be taking forever to arrive.

“My husband Francis says they must be sending it from China, on a slow boat, but all I know is it isn’t here yet, although we did order it over a year ago.”

The Groenewegens, Kathy and Francis and their children Patrick and Olivia, are very close to opening a dairy that goes well beyond the 100 mile food cycle concept.

They will be selling pasteurized milk, cream, butter and yoghurt within sight of the pasture land where their 32 Jersey and Holstein milk cows and the rest of the herd spend much of their time.

In 1967, Kathy’s parent’s Gerry and Lilliane Groome bought the farm, which is located in Storrington District of South Frontenac not far north of Elginburg on Sydenham Road. Gerry and Lilliane grew up in downtown Montreal and although Gerry had a good job with Bell, he wanted to farm. So after he took a number of agricultural courses at McDonald College, the entire family headed off to South Frontenac, to a piece of Class A farmland within a short distance of the city of Kingston.

In 1989 Kathy and her then new husband Francis Groenewegen, who came from a dairy farming family from Harrowsmith, took over the farm.

The path that led the Groenewegens to opening Limestone Creamery really started to gather steam in 1998, when they made the decision to transition the farm to a certified organic operation. That took four years but since then the milk has been pooled with milk from about 100 other organic milk farms in the province and sold under the Organic Meadow label.

Their efforts at organic farming have enabled them to feed their cattle without having to bring anything in from off the property. They produce all they need to fertilise the pasture and hay fields on site, and while the cattle are 90% grass fed, all the grain they require is grown on the farm as well.

The next step began to take shape a couple of years ago. With assistance from the Ontario Ministry of Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), the Frontenac CFDC, National Farmers Union Local 316 and other partners, Limestone Creamery became one of a small number of pilot projects under the OMAFRA "Project Origin" label.  

Of the five pilots, Limestone Creamery is one of only two that will be selling locally produced milk on site. The other three are cheese making operations.

Last October construction began on the building that holds not only the shop, but also a shiny new state of the art small scale milk processing plant, complete with a pasteurisation and homogenisation unit, cleaning and testing capabilities, a stainless steel electric butter churn, loading dock, storage tanks and more. A water recycling system has been built in to minimise both water needs and runoff from the operation.

Crews have been working for months getting all the equipment in place, while the animals in the field across the fence have carried on their daily pattern, unconcerned with the jumble of activity that has taken place.

“We wouldn’t have been able to try this if we weren’t located so close to Kingston,” said Kathie, "but there are lots of people who commute to work every day on this road, so we think we will have a good demand for our products.”

The Groenewegens' son Patrick has taken courses in pasteurisation and cream grading and he will manage the plant, while daughter Olivia, a recent agriculture graduate from Guelph, will manage the store. Francis and Kathy will continue to run the farm and oversee the entire operation, as they have for 23 years.

In addition to their own milk, which will be sold for $2.99 a litre, the creamery will have a number of locally sourced, organic products available, including Slickers Ice Cream from Prince Edward County, honey and maple syrup, their own beef and pork, and more.

Milk will also be available for delivery locally and across Kingston, and in Sydenham at Trousdale’s Foodland and Desert Lake Gardens, Local Family Farms in Verona and Kudrinkos in Westport, and at locations in the City of Kingston.

"There are so many benefits to selling directly: to preserve the family farm, to preserve farmland, to rebuild the local food system and contribute to food security,” said Kathie Groenewegen. “We are just itching to open the doors and welcome people in to our creamery.”

Sometime soon, hopefully by the end of this month, Limestone Creamery will be able to open its doors and it’s a safe bet that Frontenac County and Kingston residents alike will beat a path to it

It is destined to be another major piece in the ongoing establishment of local food initiatives that are becoming a major force in the region.

Mike McKenzie, left, caught up with his brother, who was one of of over 1000 visitors to the Food Fair and Grand Opening event.

“What just happened?” Mike McKenzie posted on the Seed to Sausage twitter feed at 7 pm on Saturday, two hours after the doors closed and the guest chefs had packed up their portable smokers and pizza ovens and departed for their home restaurants.

On a normal week day, a few cars can be seen parked next to the unassuming Quonset huts on a normally lonely stretch of Road 38 near what used to be the village of Oconto. The Seed to Sausage logo and slogan (Local, Ethical, Humble) on one of the huts is the only indication that there is more going on there than boat storage. Years ago food lovers used to pay more attention to the property across the road, where Levi Ducharme used to grow and sell some of the best sweet corn in Frontenac County.

The property that presently houses Seed to Sausage was developed by Martyn Jenkyns, who built a butcher shop and slaughtering facility there and opened M&C meats. Just over a year ago Seed to Sauage took over the property, and since then sales have gone in one direction - up!

Seed to Sausage's start up coincided with the establishment of the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market, and even before their shop was opened they were meeting new customers at a stall in the farmers' market. By mid-summer last year the store was open, and until Thanksgiving they kept store hours, selling some of the cured, fresh and frozen sausage and smoked bacon that they produce for markets in Toronto, Ottawa, and Kingston.

Since then, while the Seed to Sausage shop has not officially been open, a steady stream of customers has stopped by whenever there was someone available there to sell some fresh or frozen meat.

Meanwhile, Seed to Sausage's profile in the foodie communities has kept building. When interviewed last summer Mike McKenzie asked me not to name one of the restaurants that was carrying Seed to Sausage's dried meats for their charcuterie plates because they wanted people to think they were making it themselves. Now, that same restaurant is actively promoting the fact that they have Seed to Sausage Sopressata and Chorizo available. When a number of celebrity chefs took over an Ottawa restaurant one weekend this winter because the chef/owner of the restaurant was off to a Food Olympics in Vancouver, most of them included something from Seed to Sausage on the plates they prepared.

The Chien Noir restaurant in Kingston, which is at or near the top of the food chain in that city, is a big booster as well, and they had a crew on hand on Saturday at the grand opening, cutting up a freshly prepared side of pork and doling out meat and skin to a drooling public. Olivea Restaurant, also from Kingston, brought a portable wood-fired pizza oven with them to promote their rustic Italian locally sourced fare. Perhaps the most popular spot was the Whalesbone booth, from Ottawa, which served fresh shucked oysters to go with wine from Sandbanks winery from Prince Edward County and Pale Ale from St. Ambroise brewery from Montreal.

Where did the customers come from, however? Of the 1,000 plus people who came out, there were many local faces, to be sure, and the cottagers were out in force last weekend because of the mid-summer weather on Victoria Day weekend, but there were a number of people from Ottawa and Kingston, and some from Toronto and even Guelph, who made the trip to Sharbot Lake just for the food.

The shop itself was full to the brim all afternoon, with people lined up at the shelves carrying local and regional products, at the meat counter and on to the checkout counter.

When contacted a few days later, Mike McKenzie talked about the trajectory of the business and plans for the coming summer.

Last summer, about four pigs were processed each week in the shop. Now that number is over 10, in addition to beef and venison, and McKenzie now has about a dozen employees. The store will be open from Wednesday to Sunday from now until Thanksgiving weekend, and it features a full butcher shop in addition to cheese and other specialty food. A converted chip truck will be selling sandwiches and other items on site as well. Seed to Sausage products are also available at Local Family Farms in Verona, and Jossy’s chip truck in Sharbot Lake is carrying Seed to Sausage on a bun.

For those who believe that famed and coveted family donut and cookie recipes should remain safe in family hands, rest assured that that is the case for the bakery formerly known as Ella's Bakery in Harrowsmith.

The bakery, which is now called simply the Harrowsmith Bakery and Variety and includes the Harrowsmith Convenience Store, is now solely owned and operated by Ella Vanderburght's sister, Coleen Whan. Coleen held a grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony there on July 6, offering to her guests a deal of a BBQ, face painting for the kids, and live music for all courtesy of the Cold Country Bluegrass Band.

Ella Vanderburght originally opened the bakery in December 2010, as part of Ella's Café, and she moved the bakery to the other side of the highway beside the convenience store, which she had also bought, in December 2011. The cafe closed in October of 2012.

From the very start, Coleen had her hand in the baking side of Ella's business, first in its original location, and after it was moved. She often also cooked in the cafe's kitchen as well. Therefore, to see her taking over the entire operation is no big surprise, and because she has been so involved in the business since its inception two and a half years ago, she has made the transition a rather smooth one.

Coleen officially took over the bakery on February 1, 2013 and the store on March 1, one month later. The bakery continues to offer up the popular and much sought after home-baked fare, which include numerous pies, bars, cookies, muffins and of course the family’s famed mashed potato donuts, which people travel many kilometres to purchase.

On any given day Coleen says she sells upwards of 100 potato donuts and one bite will tell you exactly why people make a special trip from as far away as Sharbot Lake, Kingston and Westport to purchase them. Coleen is also well known for her filled donuts, especially her Boston cremes, and all of her baked goods are always baked from scratch right on site. She has three flavors of brownies and she is also well known for the family’s famed shortbread cookies, which melt in the mouth and which also come in a variety of flavors.

Coleen is assisted by two full-time staff in the bakery along with her daughter Julie, who works part time. Assisting her in the store, which is located right next to the bakery and which stocks all of the usual convenience items, are six full-time staff members. Coleen seems perfectly at home in her new role as the business’s sole owner and she wishes to thank the community for their ongoing support, her hard working staff, and her husband Mike Whan, who has been working by her side since she took the business over. The Harrowsmith Bakery and Variety is located at 4937 Road 38 in Harrowsmith and is open Monday through Saturday from 5am-9pm; Sundays from 6am-9pm. Call 613-372-5883.

It was more of a whirlwind at the end that anything else, as crews have transformed an ageing Sharbot Lake Freshmart into a shiny Mike Deans Superstore in 23 days.

On Friday morning, May 3rd, the superstore opens its doors.

Shoppers will be greeted with a full produce section along the sidewall, a full meat sections at the back, dairy and bread to the left, and a limited selection of groceries. For now.

Only the original building has been completed for the opening this week. Two remaining sections are still under construction and plans are to have them opened within a short time frame, hopefully by the May 24th holiday weekend.

The other thing shoppers will notice is a new entranceway, floors and ceilings, and store design. In short, a brand new store.

Gordon Dean has been supervising the construction project.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve done this,” he said, one day last week from site as dozen’s of carpenters, electricians, and other tradespersons were working away.

“We have worked with all of the contractors a number of times, most recently earlier this year in Almonte, where we’ve just opened a new store. So they know the drill.”

The Sharbot Lake store is the sixth store for the Winchester based company, which operates its own warehouse and carries national brands and it’s own Nancy’s Fancy and General Merchant brands.

“We’re not shy about our what our stores offer,” said Gordon Dean, “Our prices compare favourably to a anybody in the region and I will stack the quality of our meat and produce against anybody else.”

The conversion of the Sharbot Lake store is typical of what the company has done elsewhere, taking over older grocery businesses in rural towns, and converting them in short order to the Mike Dean’s model of a store.

“We are a rural store, you can see that from our interiors, it’s wood over steel. And we serve rural communities with quality, fresh food at a very good price. That’s all there is to it,” said Gordon Dean.