Matson Family Fun Day at the Farm a look back at yesteryear

Craig Bakay | Feb 19, 2020

Matson family patriarch Glen loves preserving history and so, for the third straight year, he opened up the farm in Arden for a Family Fun Day, with all sorts of demonstrations, wilderness skill games, and horse-drawn wagon rides.

“We’ve got a lot of old stuff here,” he said Sunday, after sawing through a log with an old two-man saw. “You see that wagon made out of logs? We got that 40 years ago and it was old then.”

But preservation of history isn’t the only motivation for the clan.

“I just cook,” said Betty Matson. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?”

When asked why she does it, she was quick to respond however.

“It’s so good to see all the kids running around having a good time,” she said. “It’s great to have all the families together having fun.”

She said she expects they’ll do it all again next year, probably doing all the same things they did this year and the year before that.

“It depends on the weather,” she said. “We’ll just go with the flow.

One display that drew a crowd was the Frontenac-Addington Trappers Association, who will be celebrating their 40th anniversary April 15 at the community centre in Flinton.

“We’re here for the heritage aspect of things — pure and simple,” said association president Wilf Deline. “Trapping is the oldest land based business in North America and we’re still here.”

Deline said they’re constantly trying to “educate the public” not only on trapping but primarily on environmental issues.

“We’re the real conservationists here,” he said. “We keep an eye on deer and everything else.

“Who spends more time in the bush than trappers?”

A couple of other things worthy of note at the Farm Fun Day: the skating trail through the bush was really cool, something the economic development people maybe should take a look at and . . . Moose Tongues. t

Derek Matson was serving up the deep-fried, cinnamon and sugar covered dough treats most people would know as beaver tails.

But he explained: “Beaver Tails is a copyrighted franchise, so we can’t call them that.

“These are Moose Tongues.”

Whatever you call them, they sure were tasty.