by Jonathan Davies

Titia Posthuma believes that all land deserves to be loved. Anyone who farms knows that land is classed by its current capacity to grow desirable, marketable crops, and Frontenac County, while it has a beautiful diversity of landscape, and some great agricultural ingenuity, is not known for an abundance of prime land.

More than 20 farmers from across the region, brought together by CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training), gathered at Ravensfield Farm on April 8 for a full day of touring fields and back country - not to bask in pristine, manicured pastures but to become more fully aware of the complex bio-systems that farms are, and consider what the farm wants to become above what we want from it.

"Observation is king," says Posthuma.

When she bought a 200-acre farm in the Maberly area in 1981, it was an overgrazed desert, a condition that would not be cured with a quick high-tech fix. It was not until 1989 that she began to earn a livelihood from the farm, growing vegetables and raising animals for meat and for fertility. Over the decades, she has paid attention to soil in ways that most farmers never consider.

For example, when she sees thistle - the "worst of the weeds" that "won't let go", instead of simply eradicating it, she first takes its presence as a sign that the soil is communicating a likely calcium deficiency - and a need for amendments, including an increase in humus.

When she sees prickly ash - an equally offensive plant - she sees a shade source and deterrent to animals that would otherwise disturb tree seeds.

And where farmers first settled the region by burning forest to clear cropland, Posthuma recognizes their immense value: namely that a soil's stable nutrients are derived not from grasses and animal manures, but from tree matter like leaves and chips, which form the basis of any healthy soil.

As the tour group stood in a grove dotted with a mix of evergreens and deciduous trees, Posthuma asked, "How many trees do you see that would have been here 30 years ago?" Apart from a few sturdy oaks, almost all were not much older than me. The forest is slowly being regrown.

While Posthuma's land has seen transformations since she began working it, she knows how quickly ecosystems can be degraded. She introduced me to the writings of Sir Albert Howard, who studied soil in the early 1900s and reported, in his book "The Soil and Health," "The foundation of industrialization has been impoverishment of the soil."

He noted that between 1914 and 1934, there was more global soil loss than in all of history prior to that time. As the soil is neglected, rains become unabsorbed and floods abound, as do wind erosion and drought.

The United Nations has declared 2015 “The International Year of Soils.” The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has cited issues such as a loss of organic matter, salination, and erosion of soils as being tied to unsustainable land management practices. These can include a variety of industrial practices, from mining to oil and gas extraction, but also agriculture.

A 2013 United Nations report, titled "Trade and Environment Review 2013: Wake up Before it's too late" recommends an increased prioritization of farming methods like those Posthuma espouses - small-scale and ecologically-focused – as a measure in helping preserve soil, and in doing so, ensure food security. In essence, the report suggests a counter-intuitive argument that organic and small-scale agriculture - often perceived as being less efficient than industrial agriculture - are crucial to feeding a growing population, in contrast to chemically intensive, biotechnology-based practices.

Meanwhile, food industry groups and government food and agriculture agencies have put forth the argument that organic agriculture is no better than what is currently the norm in Canada, and prioritizing it would lead to a great increase in land use for the same output volumes.

A recent publication, entitled "The Real Dirt on Farming" (published by Farm and Food Care Foundation) states, "there is no evidence that organically produced food is healthier or safer than food that is [conventionally grown]."

When I presented Posthuma with this quote, she noted that the merits of organic practice depend on the degree of commitment to its principles.

"It's how you're doing it that matters. There are a lot of dedicated people that are going the extra mile to work with their soils, to increase the nutritive quality of the food that is being grown on that soil, and that food has been demonstrated time again to have a seriously increased nutritional impact of a positive nature."

For consumers, or "eaters," the issue of price is often as important as nutrition and ecological viability. As “The Real Dirt on Farming” states, "Canadians enjoy one of the lowest-cost 'food baskets' in the world, spending only about $0.10 of every dollar on food," reminding the reader that low food prices are dependent on maintaining current industrial-scale production methods.

However, as Albert Howard noted long ago about industrial agriculture, "The food was cheap, the product was cheap because the fertility of the land was neglected." It is these connections that reinforce Postuma's and others' concern with the tension between what humans want and what the land will provide.

"You cannot take the economy of nature," says Postuma, "And supplant it with the nature of humans and come out ahead."

The tour wrapped up in Posthuma's home. Attendees ate lunch in her living room and talked more about observing what goes on in our surroundings. Posthuma began a discussion on the way animals transform what they eat and how the manure they produce enriches soil.

A chicken, for example, is able to accomplish the impressive task of digesting rocks with its gizzard. The friction involved in the process creates energy, and that energy goes back to the soil, depositing calcium and other minerals. Cows, meanwhile, which are micro-accelerators of digestion, impart high levels of bacteria. Every animal, when closely observed, makes its own soil-enriching recipe.

As a farmer, Posthuma has been called upon to impart her knowledge and observational expertise to others through presentations and on-farm tours like this one, but she is, as she puts it, "first and foremost a farmer, tending farm." She is a vendor at the Kingston Public Market, and runs two CSA programs, one in Kingston and the other serving the Perth area.

As a vendor, she is not keen to proselytize on the merits of her practices and the quality of her products. "I send out information with every single vegetable I sell, in the vegetable itself," she says. If her efforts toward creating good soil really are making for better food, then, it seems, the food should speak for itself.

Jonathan Davies is a farmer himself, and operates Long Road Eco Farm near Harrowsmith with his partner X.B. Shen. Jonathan is contributing a series of articles called Frontenac Farming Life, which profiles the lives of local farmers who are trying to make a living through farming, navigating struggle and hope. If you would like to have your story considered, please contact Jonathan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

As I drove up Sonset Farm's laneway, I noticed an odd structure sitting near one of their barns. There were stacks of straw bales forming four low-rising walls, and a wooden frame supporting a flat, plastic covering. While I could not see through the opaque film, I imagined greens flourishing in spite of the slush and snow that surrounded them.

My guess was right: farm owner Andrea Cumpson said they were growing spinach and arugula in the warmth of aged compost.

This is not an ordinary farm and Andrea and Orrie Cumpson are not ordinary farmers. While Sonset is a typical dairy farm at its core, over the years it has taken on layers, which have allowed it to be more self-sustaining and, ultimately, more resilient.

While it is common for farmers to buy inputs year after year from suppliers and then ship their products off, essentially leaving a clean slate for the next year, Sonset operates with principles that create loops rather than end points. In a nutshell, crops are grown to sustain animals, and animals, in turn, provide fertility to crops.

This is central to organic agriculture, one of several frameworks that inform how the farm functions.

Cumpson joined her husband, Orrie, 31 years ago on the land he then owned with his mother near Inverary and there sought to work towards organic practices at a time when few resources were available to help farms transition. When a course on ecological agriculture did emerge in the early 1990s, the pair enrolled and it gave them the confidence to begin.

"Orrie could see that the land was improving. It was plowing up so much more beautifully and the tilth was better," she says.

They had the land itself certified as organic in 1996, motivated in large part by their plans to market their spelt crop. Spelt has been more than an isolated addition to their farm's output. It provides much of the nourishment for their pigs and chickens, which they market from their farm gate, as well as providing bedding for cattle, which in turn adds carbon to compost.

The flour that the Cumpsons mill on the farm is another important addition to their overall income. "With the uncertainty of supply management, it's not putting all of our eggs in one basket," she says.

Supply management, a long-standing marketing system in Canada that requires that dairy farmers own quota in order to produce commercially, is another framework within which the farm operates. While supply management provides security of income for dairy farmers, it has attracted widespread criticism for inhibiting competition - controlling the amounts produced domestically and limiting imports with high tariffs. With a couple of trade agreements likely to take effect in the coming years - namely the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), neither of which has yet been ratified - farmers are anticipating changes in regulation and competition.

It is possible that supply management would eventually be repealed. Cumpson notes, "I've heard stories of people, before supply management, being sent back when they brought their milk to the local dairy."

The concern is that the downsides of pre-supply-managed farming, such as flooded markets and prices that don't account for the cost of production, could resurface, along with fierce competitions from countries like the U.S, New Zealand, and EU countries, where dairy farmers are subsidized by their governments.

This brings us to another of Sonset’s frameworks: Local Food.

One of the main challenges with trade agreements is how local and national governments balance honouring trade policy with citizens' social, environmental, and economic interests.

Cumpson, a former president of the local National Farmers Union (NFU), is concerned about the scope and lack of transparency of CETA.

"It's so comprehensive and could be detrimental to what a lot of farmers are doing. It's very secretive and there are suggestions that the wording is not in favour of farmers in general," she explains.

The NFU released a report in December 2014 outlining its views on CETA. It states, “From the farmer’s point of view, export market growth has not delivered promised prosperity,” noting that, over the past four decades, as agri-food exports have risen roughly twenty-fold, half of Canada’s farms have folded.

This reality has prompted some farms to go in the opposite direction - to a local focus. Cumpson is not only among the vanguards of the local organic community, she was co-chair of the Feast of Fields committee, which organized events to promote local food starting in 2004. Sonset has become one of the best-established direct-to-consumer farm operations in the region.

Local food remains a niche market, but while government policy has not been supportive of small, community-focused farms, a segment of the consumer population has grown wary of the food industry’s practices, seeking direct relationships with farmers in order to have more knowledge about how their food is produced. Cumpson sees this continuing to grow. “I feel strongly that we're just at the beginning," she affirms.

Meanwhile, the greens that were growing unseen when I drove in will serve as early vegetables in a spring that is about to begin, and with spring comes the green blades of spelt. There is a lively spirit to the farm, in spite of the weather, as it gears up for another season.

Jonathan Davies is a farmer himself, and operates Long Road Eco Farm near Harrowsmith with his partner X.B. Shen. Jonathan is contributing a series of articles called Frontenac Farming Life, which profiles the lives of local farmers who are trying to make a living through farming, navigating struggle and hope. If you would like to have your story considered, please contact Jonathan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By Jonathan Davies

I sat down with Josh Suppan and Jen Valberg of Fat Chance Farmstead at their home in Inverary earlier this month. The thaw was just setting in and the sun streamed through the glass doors to the deck, revealing a vast, snow-covered meadow.

The view is lovely and the home is cozy. Only, it is a rented house on another farmer's land, and it may be a short stay. The farmstead itself is about a five-minute drive away, on a rented piece of land, part of a larger organic farm. Last year, it was a few miles away from their current plot.

Living and farming in rented homes, on rented land, sometimes each in a different location, is not uncommon for farmers, and it is pretty much the norm for those younger and early into their careers. For Suppan and Valberg, it has not stopped them from establishing a farm business, which, now into its third season, is a fixture in the Kingston-area CSA scene.

The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) concept, which began in the US in the 1980s, is a way for farms to market goods by providing a weekly allotment of its product, for which customers pay in advance at the beginning of the season. While it was initially designed so that customers shared in both the benefits and the risks (meaning that they would go without if the harvest was poor), Valberg and Suppan ensure that customers receive their money's worth by planting a broad diversity of produce and developing value-added items.

Suppan, who got his first farm job at 13 on a peach and kiwi farm, has pruned, packed and picked in orchards of the Okanagan, and worked vegetable fields on Vancouver Island, where year-round harvests are possible. Aside from being the main driver behind Fat Chance's production, he currently works at a couple of local farms, milking cows and working vegetable plots.

Valberg, who has a degree in business and several seasons of farm experience, currently works full-time at Queens University but helps out “evenings, weekends, and vacation days.”

With their combined knowledge and experience, the challenge isn't so much figuring out how to grow food. Beyond the weekly dose of seasonal produce, the pair provide soft fruit and mushrooms, depending on the season, and rustic bread, as part of a food box program that spans 19 weeks in the summer. So far their harvests have been plentiful.

Furthermore, Valberg's business savvy and aesthetic sense serve them well on the marketing front. She designed their logo and does their promotional materials. For last year's season, they posted weekly professional-grade photos of their offerings on their Facebook page.

The biggest hurdle, initially, was around accessing land. In the spring of their first season – 2013 – they had hundreds of dollars of garlic and nowhere to plant it. After a long stretch of knocking on doors and answering ads, they found a place just in time.

Now that they have land, the challenge is in working within the vision that the landowner has for it. “We have had good relationships so far with renting, but lack control over what we can do,” says Valberg. Renting also means learning the lay of the land with each new property, and finicky crops can be hard to grow well when the soil and slope are unfamiliar to the farmer.

It is also hard to invest in equipment like tractors without knowing how they will fit in with the operation over the long term. This has prompted the pair to contract their plow work to other farmers, and that means having the work done on someone else's schedule.

Where they have an advantage is in their breadth of farming knowledge and interest, which has given them flexibility in their vision for what their farm will be once they have their own property. Says Suppan, “Each time we see a farm, we imagine what our business model will be based on what the land offers.”

They take a slow-growth approach, recognizing that with a lack of access to money and debt, their best bet is maintaining a stable income, including that of their off-farm jobs, which will allow them to invest in the business over the long term. As Valberg puts it, “We can't jump in with a 500-member CSA in year one...we can't hire staff and grow as fast as we could if we were on our parents' farm. We have to mobilize the resources that we have.”

Jonathan Davies is a farmer himself. He operates a small farm at Harrowsmith with his partner X.B. Shen. Jonathan is contributing a series of articles called Frontenac Farming Life, which profiles the lives of local farmers who are trying to make a living through farming, navigating struggle and hope. If you would like to have your story considered, please contact Jonathan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Over 30 local growers attended the 4th annual McDonalds Corners Seed Swap, which took place at the MERA schoolhouse on March 7. The event invites local growers to share the bounty of their cumulative efforts to grow and save their own seeds, many of which are heirloom and heritage varieties that they have been experimenting with for years. Set up inside the MERA schoolhouse were tables offering up a wide variety of vegetable, flower and shrub seeds.

Kristine Swaren is one of a small group of local growers who founded the annual event, and she owns and operates Blue Chicory Garden, where she and her husband produce honey and grow a wide variety of produce that they sell at the Perth Farmers' Market.

Swaren said the annual seed swap began not only as a way to help local growers share seeds but also to help them inform each other about what they have been growing and experimenting with, many with the goal of acclimatizing specific varieties to the local area.

Swaren is currently in the process of setting up a seed savers' network and guests who attended the event were invited to sign up to be a part of it. One benefit of the new network, Swaren said, is that it will encourage local growers to grow specific plants that need to be grown in isolation from other varieties to prevent cross-pollination.

“Take squash for example, which needs to be grown in isolation. The network will enable growers to plant and harvest one type of squash each year while other growers can plant and harvest other types. Then, at the end of the season we will be able to share the seeds and plants and swap them at the end of the year without the possibility of cross-pollination.”

Swaren was excited about a number of seeds that she acquired at the event, including the Doe Hill sweet pepper, a variety that has a very short growing season and survives in colder weather. She was also excited about a number of soup bean varieties, which she said “are very easy to collect seed from and a great plant to start with if you are new to seed collecting.” Hollow Crown Parsnip seeds that local grower Linda Harvey has been collecting were also on hand and in abundance and is one species no longer available in seed catalogues. “One of the goals of the seed network is to also save seeds from older varieties of plants like the Hollow Crown parsnip that are no longer commercially available.”

Swaren said that these days seeds are becoming more readily available from local growers and she gave the example of the Mountain Grove Seed Company located near Parham, where local grower Dawn Morden has been selling a wide variety of local historic and heirloom seeds.

Swaren said the annual seed swap is growing every year and in addition to its regulars, who keep coming back year after year, there are always new faces in the crowd. Growers who missed the Seed Swap at MERA and who want to join the seed network can email Kristine at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Over 100 Verona area gardeners were offered a sneak peek at what's new for gardeners this year thanks to Karen MacLean, a new financial consultant with Investors Group of Kingston.

MacLean, who is a long-time Verona resident, sponsored and hosted the free event titled “Investing in Your Garden”, which took place at the Verona Lions hall on March 8. The event was catered by Joyce Casement and in lieu of an entrance fee, guests were invited to make a donation to the Southern Frontenac Community Services food bank. MacLean's aims were twofold: to bring the local community (especially gardeners) together, and to introduce herself to the community as a new member of Investors Group.

Front and centre at the event was guest speaker Denis Flanagan, director of public relations with Landscape Ontario, a not-for-profit horticulture trades association that has over 2000 member companies from across the province, and whose aim is to promote professionalism in the garden landscaping industry.

Every year the organization partners with the University of Guelph and prepares trial gardens where seed companies plant their new varieties for the year. Flanagan’s presentation highlighted a number of these new plants and also outlined what he believes will be some of this year's trends in gardening.

Orange is in this year and the new “Oh So Orange geranium and the new “Summer Fling” patio rose have that colour in spades. Flanagan cited berry shrubs as a new trend to watch for, with new varieties of ornamental edibles like the “pink icing blueberry” and “glaze blueberry” exciting many growers in the audience. Other new noticeables included the “L.A. Dreamin' Hydrangea”, the “Ambassador” crab apple tree, proving that both species are making a comeback this year along with a number of vibrant rose varieties. Flanagan also spent time highlighting a checklist for gardeners looking to hire a landscaper. He cautioned them to make sure the service provider is properly insured, and can provide sufficient proof of their past experience and expertise. Flanagan also opened up the floor to questions and spoke about using copper wire to control slugs and about how to over-winter perennials. One audience member suggested using East Indian neen oil to keep pests off of lilies.

A number of local businesses had tables set up in the Lions hall displaying their gardening-related goods and services. They included Asselstine Hardware, Memory Lane Flowers and Gifts, and the Silverbrook Garden Centre, and Simply Landscaping from Odessa. Representatives from the horticultural societies of Kingston, Collins Bay and Lennox and Addington were in attendance and the work of two local artists was also on display.

Door prizes included six free tickets to the upcoming Canada Blooms Garden show, which takes place at Toronto's Direct Energy Centre from March 13-22.

As an avid gardener himself Flanagan has his own work set out for him this summer. He will be hosting his daughter's wedding in his own garden, which he said will be a feat considering his almost total lack of lawn.

Judging by the turn out, and the enjoyment had by the over 100 guests, MacLean said she might just consider making the event an annual one.

For more information about Landscape Ontario visit landscapeontario.com

By Jonathan Davies

The average age of farmers in Canada keeps rising, and while leaving a pasture for a golf course may be a welcome relief for some, retirement can be a daunting task in itself. The B.C. government's website features a guide for farmers ending their careers, which begins: “For many people, dealing with succession planning and farm transfer arrangements is sort of like taking on a porcupine - it's prickly and hard to approach - a creature one would just as soon avoid entirely.”

Local sheep farmer Carolyn Turner has recently gone into retirement and her experience has been less prickly than many. Last spring she sent sheep off to Cookstown auction in Toronto for the last time, bringing in a decent profit as it coincided with Ramadan – a time of high demand for lamb.

It was a long time coming – 43 years to be precise – but the time she spent farming for a living was joyful. “My passion was always animals,” she says.

Her mother grew up on a farm during the Depression and knew she wanted to live in town. She married a teacher and they settled in Bowmanville, where Carolyn was born and raised along with two brothers.

Her father, who taught science and agriculture studies, pointed out the breeds of cattle as they drove to visit her maternal grandparents who were still farming. A horse-crazy teen, Turner went on to study at

Queens but cut her graduate studies short when, in 1972, she and her husband Ron came upon a 40-acre property in Elginburg.

They bought the farm and while it underwent growing pains early on, these were eased by the fact that she started small, had the added security of a teaching income in the household, and, perhaps most importantly, knew she was where she wanted to be.

Horses came first. They converted old stalls into boarding boxes and began with a couple of their own Arab mares, eventually boarding on a small scale. And while horses would be a continued presence, sheep became a more prominent fixture in the late '70s and grew to a flock over 50-strong at its height.

Turner's focus was on meat and she initially marketed her product through direct sales. She brought her sheep to now-defunct Hoffman's for cutting and wrapping, and then delivered the cuts. Her customer base began with a few friends and acquaintances but grew quickly to a point where she could not keep up with demand.

While this marketing avenue was successful, devoting time to deliveries and attention to the myriad cutting requests grew cumbersome. For roughly the last two decades the sheep were sold to

Cookstown through a delivery driver with good instincts for when to ship for a good price. On top of this, the rigorously-tended herd presented well, and she often got top dollar.

But even for an animal lover whose farming career has gone well, there comes a point where the physical demands, coupled with worries over threats to flock health, lead one to wind down the business. While Turner insists she needs animals in her life, she has been glad to let go of lambing – being up at all hours for a stretch of nights in early spring every year – and the burden of diseases like Sore Mouth and Foot Rot that can crop up even in the most meticulously-run farms.

Foot rot appeared on Turner's farm about four years ago and persisted through a variety of treatments. An anaerobic disease affecting the area between the toes, it can leave the animals lame. While she was able to eventually bring the disease under control, it was a harrowing ordeal. This alone did not shutter the operation, but with her own health problems – worn knees and heart trouble - it became clear that a change was in order.

Turner has not followed the clichés of Canadian retirement: golfing in the summer; wintering somewhere warmer. She still has 21 sheep left to take care of, and while she has stopped breeding them, they are used in training herding dogs, which her neighbour Lorna Savage raises.

While many farms grapple with easing a farm business on to a new generation of farmers, Turner has not gone this route. There are, however, young farmers raising sheep, creating a more indirect succession. Though she is retired, Turner remains a wealth of knowledge on sheep and horses – one of those rare individuals whose hunger to learn more about them is never sated.

Jonathan Davies is a farmer himself. He operates a small farm at Harrowsmith with his partner X.B. Shen. Jonathan is contributing a series of articles called Frontenac Farming Life, which profiles the lives of local farmers who are trying to make a living through farming, navigating struggle and hope. If you would like to have your story considered, please contact Jonathan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By Jonathan Davies

Pat Joslin doesn't call what he does “farming” so much as “homesteading in a village.” Joslin, along with his wife Kate, owns Bear Root Gardens, which began operation in 2014 from their backyard plot in the center of Verona. An Environmental Studies graduate, he has been in the agricultural field in various forms for the past three years and his current focus is on intensive growing, primarily for seed, with the balance going to market vegetables.

The intensive focus is particularly important to Joslin, given the small scale of land he currently has, and it is an approach that is gaining ground, particularly among young farmers and homesteaders with limited space.

“Sustainable farming means many small farms versus a few huge ones,” he says.

However, sustainability in food production is not merely a matter of which system, whether small or large-scale, diversified and organic, or conventional mono-crop, works most efficiently and ecologically. The question of financial sustainability for the farmers themselves is also pertinent in an age where more and more small farms are going out of business.

A recent article in Salon magazine entitled “What nobody told me about small farming: I can't make a living” sheds light on the realities of running a farm business. The author, Jaclyn Moyer, notes that according to USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) statistics, about 90% of American farms rely on outside income to stay afloat.

Likewise, Statistics Canada's most recent data shows that over three quarters of the average Canadian family farm's income is gained off-farm.

Joslin is happy with his location and the challenge of using his yard effectively, and he is happy with the progress they have made thus far. “We're showing what you can do on about a third of an acre,” he says. They are in close proximity to the Frontenac Farmers Market – mere blocks away – which served as Bear Root's main vending point in the 2014 season. Perhaps most importantly, they are a reasonable

distance from Kingston, where Kate works full-time for a seed technology company. Pat, meanwhile, will be entering his second season working at the Kitchen Garden, a certified organic vegetable farm in Wilton this coming spring.

While Joslin hopes to be able to devote himself full-time to his own business down the road, he sees value in having the kind of steady, assured income that off-farm work brings. The threat of crop failures combined with worries about marketing opportunities, which are sometimes sluggish, lend credence to this view.

While working at the Kitchen Garden has helped him gain knowledge and experience that will translate to building a better farm business, he admits that working long days on another farm can mean little energy at the end of a long day for his own gardens. “Our farm always suffers first, ” he says.

Asked if he has any concern that the business will never achieve its potential, given the temptation to leave the weeding to another day or give up after a hard frost when vital income is not at stake, Joslin says that his passion for farming will drive the business forward. “Creating our own model, we can still have our non-farming lifestyle,” he says.

He has the option of going camping in August when most farmers would not dare, and the mantra, “farmhands often make more money than farm owners” currently favours him more than it works against him.

Joslin's approach gives food for thought to farmers and aspiring farmers alike. Certainly, the quest for quality of life at the sacrifice of financial certainty is a difficult balance for most anyone getting into agriculture. “For now, if we look at it as a hobby that we make money at, it's awesome,” he says. “I'd like that to change, but what we are getting out of what we are doing is more than if we were not doing it.”

Jonathan Davies is a farmer himself. He operates a small farm at Harrowsmith with his partner X.B. Shen. Jonathan is contributing a series of articles called Frontenac Farming Life, which profiles the lives of local farmers who are trying to make a living through farming, navigating struggle and hope. If you would like to have your story considered, please contact Jonathan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

by Kristine Swaren

The best remedy for winter blues is to think spring! And that's best done in a convivial group, so come join us to swap seeds and garden stories. It's the fourth annual Seed Swap hosted by the McDonalds

Corners Farmers' Market on Saturday, March 7, at the MERA Schoolhouse. Bring seeds - the ones you saved from last year's garden or the left-overs (commercial or saved) that you didn't plant. Bring containers (small bottles or envelopes, plus labels and markers) for the new-to-you seeds that you'll take home. Bring friends to share the fun!

The seeds are all priceless, as we try to live the principle of free seed supply. On the sale tables will be garden accessories such as books and utility aprons, plus farmers' market jams, eggs and other

goodies. If you have garden-related items that you would like to sell, please contact Kristine Swaren at 613-278-1226 at least a week ahead.

Although it's a drop-in, any time between 10 am and 2 pm, be warned - you will want to stay for a while to share gardening tips as well as seeds! The Steady Way (Sean and Aynsley) will be providing café service with yummy treats. For more information on when and where, please visit the McDonalds Corners Farmers' Market page on Facebook, or the MERA website at www.meraschoolhouse.org

Contact: 613-278-1226, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

by Jonathan Davies

The Minister of Agriculture, Jeff Leal, along with members of Frontenac and Kingston councils, took in presentations from a variety of agriculture ventures on a tour held January 29, which included Glenburnie's Sun Harvest Greenhouses and Inverary-area Bennacres sheep farm. Frontenac Federation of Agriculture members organized the visits. The minister's day concluded with a dinner hosted by the Frontenac Liberal Riding Association at the Lions' Hall in Verona.

The visit came on the heels of a January 28 announcement of several “food literacy goals” aimed at increasing consumers' awareness of local food. These goals are an extension of the Local Food Act, which came into effect in 2013 and focuses primarily on ensuring that public institutions source foods from within the province.

Not surprisingly, the minister was enthusiastic about the agriculture sector in Ontario.

"The future is going to be in agriculture in this province,” he said, adding that $34 billion in Gross Domestic Product comes from agriculture; 760,000 Ontarians are employed in the sector; and 23% of manufacturing is in agriculture.

He also said that consumers are choosing local food more and more.

“The consumers in Ontario are becoming more and more sophisticated in terms of the choices they're making. They're looking at where their produce is coming from,” said Leal in an interview from Sun Harvest.

The focus on local is welcome news for many farmers but questions remain about how the benefits of such policies will be enjoyed in our region. The Kingston area has itself seen an increase in interest in local food in recent years. Allison and Greg Shannon, owners of Sun Harvest, a greenhouse operation that has been running for 13 years, realized early on that their best route to success would be growing a high quality product and finding a niche selling directly from their location and through local independent shops. The Shannons have made a name for their brand of hydroponically-grown tomatoes, and have also branched out to include cucumbers, lettuce and asparagus in their vegetable roster, as well as offering seasonal craft-making courses. In an interview following the delegation's visit, Allison Shannon said, “The Local Food Act has great intent but doesn't have teeth. They are trying to enable and build a culture of people appreciating local food and entrepreneurs are already doing that.”

She noted that the term 'local' is a relative one and in the case of the Local Food Act, refers to all of Ontario.

“Consumers may not realize when they see local labels in a grocery store that it may not be from within the region at all,” she said.

While Sun Harvest is a large hydroponics grower by Frontenac standards, its one-third acre of greenhouse space devoted to tomatoes is dwarfed by similar operations in parts of south-western Ontario, where up to 100 acres may be developed. The relatively small scale of most agriculture operations in the Frontenac region means that institutions such as hospitals and universities, which are the focus of the Act, may source from elsewhere where supply is greater.

Part of the scale challenge lies in the nature of the land. The shallow soils that cover much of the county can be difficult for growing crops and vegetables, and pose particular environmental concerns for groundwater contamination, especially where raising large herds of cattle is concerned.

Bennacres owners Ed Bennett and his son Jim, who have transitioned from managing one of the largest herds of dairy cattle in the county to raising sheep in a cooperative system, noted in an interview prior to hosting their leg of the tour, that issues around liquid manure from their cattle herd were part of what prompted them to switch to sheep.

The Bennetts also see a lack of infrastructure as a barrier to developing the region's potential. Ed Bennett pointed out, “If [the government] is going to promote local food then they have to promote the processing.”

Furthermore, with thriving farming industries in the southwest and far southeast, Frontenac finds itself outside of the hubs where many agriculture-related events and resources are located. As Ed Bennett said, “We lack a lot of infrastructure...we are too far from anything.” In some cases, suppliers from either end of the province are unwilling to ship equipment and supplies so far outside of their regions.

On top of this, the Bennetts find that they miss out on many of the industry-specific meetings and workshops, which tend to be a long drive in either direction.  

Adele Colby, chair of the Grandmothers-by-the Lake chapter of the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmother to Grandmothers Campaign, knew Canada's leading gardening expert, Ed Lawrence, from when she used to work at Rideau Hall, and she conceived the idea of asking him to speak in Verona as a fundraiser for the group.

Colby also wanted to give her 23-member group a break and her idea panned out big time. Tickets for the event quickly sold out and on April 5, 160 people packed Trinity United Church to soak up words of wisdom from their favourite gardener.

Ed Lawrence has advised gardeners for 32 years on CBC radio, and worked as the chief horticulturalist at Rideau Hall in Ottawa for successive governor generals from the 1970s until 2005. At the Verona event Lawrence began by addressing one of the commonest queries of gardeners, spring pruning. He advised using by-pass hand pruners as opposed to the anvil-styled ones, which will damage plants.

Like all effective teachers Lawrence used humour and also repetition and throughout his presentation he stressed the two basic rules of pruning: 1) cut with the blade closest to what you are keeping, and 2) cut at the node, keeping it intact so that it can heal, seal and continue to grow. He listed the five D's to direct you when pruning. Cut out the Dead, Damaged, Diseased and Dangerous, and prune for the Desirable. He reminded over-zealous pruners to never remove more than 25% of a plant. “If the dead material makes up 25% of the plant, quit pruning until the following season.” He offered up tips like taking a picture of the pre-pruned plant to give a record of its size and flowers or fruit in case you get carried away. When to prune? After flowering occurs, so that you can see what is worth keeping and what is not.

For the remainder of the presentation Lawrence answered questions that guests had written down on cards beforehand. Grandmothers group member Barb Rodgers picked the cards from a hat and read them out. Numerous topics were covered, including how to encourage more flowering on a Japanese silk lilac shrub. Lawrence advised pruning only after flowering, providing more sun by pruning nearby vegetation, avoiding moisture stress, offering proper balanced feeding of the soil, and of course, “eternal hope”.

Lawrence's recommendations for the best chemical-free food for house plants? Top dressings of musky, a fish emulsion product with no feeding from mid-October until April. When asked about his preference of planting trees by seed or with nursery stock, Lawrence said that seed is always more rewarding and local seeds will do best, but that if time is short and money is no object, purchasing preferably local tree stock will speed up the results.

The best approach to long-term lawn weeding? “Dig up areas of soils with heavy infestation, and top with a patch of new sod or re-seed with grass seed.” For seeding Lawrence recommended a fine-bladed grass called creeping red fescue mixed with 25% Dutch white clover: “That mix will tolerate very dry conditions and full sun but also shade and because of the clover you will never have to feed the lawn.” How to keep squirrels away from bulbs? Lawrence advised using blood meal since squirrels are vegetarians. However, it needs replacing after every rain. Another option is using a highly perfumed soapy detergent mixed with water since they do not like the taste or smell. Another option is chicken wire weighted down over the bulb site and cut to six inches larger. The wire can be removed after the ground freezes and put back in the fall.

Other pointers for this time of year? To avoid compacting the soil, keep off the lawn until no foot prints are left when walking over the ground. He addressed mealy bugs and scale on house plants, how to best separate dahlias, how to spruce up old Christmas cacti and peonies, and what to do with a lime tree producing too small fruit.

Regarding how to keep deer out the garden without using a 10 foot fence, Lawrence suggested a few sprays, one called plant skid, made from putrefied eggs, or a spray made with a heavily perfumed detergent. He mentioned that Leonard Lee of Lee Valley Tools hangs CDs on a line, which kept the deer out until harvest time but added that a combination of the smell and sight deterrents might work for deer. He suggested hanging one-foot lengths of triangular material spaced 10 of 15 feet apart on a line strung 4 feet off the ground. An artist friend of his had success with this method.

By the end of the day most of the gardeners present had their queries answered and Colby and her Grandmothers group raised $2800 for their African grandmother counterparts, who continue to care for and support the 30 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa (16 million of whom are children), who have been devastated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Since the inception of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign in 2006, it has brought together 9000 Canadian grandmothers who have raised over $19 million. She stressed the fact that there is still much more work to be done. “These African grandmothers work tirelessly every single day and continue to do so and it is they alone who know exactly what needs to be done. What they need from us is the resources to do it. Why do we do what we do? Because we have to. When you see the progress that these African women have made, against all odds, it's a true inspiration.”

Colby was grateful to Ed Lawrence, who donated his time and energy to help the Grandmothers' cause. The next Grandmothers by the Lake fundraiser will be the annual plant and bake sale on May 31 at the Tiffany Gift Shoppe in Harrowsmith. For more information contact Adele Colby at 613-375-8845 or visitwww.grandmotherscampaign.org