“Freedom to Roam” by Swedish artist Henny Linn Kjellberg, installation #6 of the fieldwork project

Members of the fieldwork project collective l-r: Susie Osler, Chris Osler, Erin Robertson and Chris Gosset. Photo courtesy of Suzie Osler

Rural environments are not usually a likely location for public art installations but when Susie Osler first set up her home and shop outside of Maberly years ago, visions of public outdoor art projects began dancing in her head.

In 2008, those dreams became a reality when she along with her brother Chris Osler, Chris Gosset of Almonte and Erin Robertson of Ottawa formed a four-member art collective that resulted in the “fieldwork” project.

Osler, who works from her home studio primarily as a ceramicist producing unique, one of a kind objects and commissions for clients, explained why she branched out into the sphere of public art. “Personally for me this project developed out of the desire to see public art in a rural space and it’s another creative avenue for putting my work out there for the public to see.”

She also underlined a key motivating factor for her in this project. “I’m very interested in the element of surprise and no matter what kind of art that I happen to be making, be it a ceramic piece or an installation it is always an important consideration for me.”

And the fieldwork project is nothing if not surprising. Coming across art work in a farmer’s field in the country is not a common occurrence and is part of what makes the installations so engaging.

As defined on its website the goals of the fieldwork project are “to present site-specific art installations for passers-by to stumble upon, discover, journey to, and explore” and thanks to the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council a total of six installations have been carried out to date at the four acre field on Osler’s property since the project’s inception.

The most recent installation titled “Freedom to Roam” is by Swedish artist Henny Linn Kjellberg and consists of a 300-foot long strip of oversized barb wire fence constructed from wooden poles and fence wire. Hanging from it are over 700 larger than life ceramic barbs that Kjellberg made in Sweden and brought with her to Canada in 3 large suitcases.

Due to its outdoor setting the piece is subtle and easy to miss if one does not take the time for a closer look. When one does one begins to see the fence as an anomaly; it neither holds anything in nor keeps anything out. So what exactly is it all about?

In the artist’s own words the piece is “a comment on land rights and the use of land.” Kjellberg explains in her artist’s statement that in many Nordic countries an individual’s freedom to roam is actually written into the constitution; people are free to roam the land as long as they are respectful of it. Nordic people grow up with the idea that “nature both belongs to everybody and to nobody“.

The work intends to raise questions about the ownership of land: what is public? What is private? And what do these terms actually mean?

The piece also touches on larger issues of war, conflict borders, migration and poses questions like, just exactly who it is that decides who can enter or leave a country, especially those countries experiencing conflict?

Included in the work is a box of “extra” ceramic barbs and on a posted sign at the site the artist invites visitors to take a barb and photograph it at any location they come across currently undergoing some kind of land issue conflict. She also hopes that participants will email her their photos.

Perhaps the most subtle and sober of all of the fieldwork installations to date, Freedom to Roam is most surprising in that simultaneously as one begins to examine the artwork, one also begins to question their own personal beliefs about land issues, land rights and the movements of people and creatures across the land on a variety of scales.

Osler, who produces ceramic art pieces that function mainly as gifts, is thrilled to be a part of the fieldwork project and sees its installations also as a kind of a gift as well.

For myself the project offers everything that a memorable gift can be: thought-provoking, mystifying, engaging, often delightful and most definitively and in this case, always a pleasant visual surprise.

“Freedom to Roam” will be on display until March 21, 2010. From Highway 7 just east of Maberly take the west most entrance to Old Brooke Road and head south for approx. 2km. The field site is on the north side with posted signs marking the installation site. For more information on the fieldwork project please visit www.fieldworkproject.com

Participants enjoy exotic meat dishes prepared by Tibrata Gilles and her students at Meat Matter, a Lanark County Slow Food event

Convivial and curious foodies, members of the Lanark County Slow Food group, gathered at the Maberly Hall on March 14 for “Meat Matters” to learn about and sample “slow food” made from local meat.

The group’s leader, Janet Duncan of Almonte, formed the Lanark Slow Food group in 2005 after she and her husband attended the first ever Terra Madre in Turin, Italy. Terra Madre is now a bi-annual Slow Food event where the world’s sustainable food communities gather to share ideas and of course - food.

Founded in 1989 Slow Food is an international non-profit organization with 83,000 members in 107 countries, whose goal is to counteract fast food, fast life and the disappearance of local food traditions.

In Janet’s words, “Slow food is all about good, clean and fair food. We always try to have a theme and an educational component at our local events. Our goal is to focus attention on current food issues and to try to connect local producers with customers.”

Saturday’s focus was local meat, and more specifically, cooking with the more unusual parts and cuts.

Participants paid a minimal fee ($3 for members and $5 for non) and were asked to bring along a potluck dish made from local sourced ingredients, which Janet explained, “really encourages people to make relationships with their local producers.”

Tibrata Gilles was the guest presenter at the event. The former chef of Pan Chancho restaurant in Kingston now teaches at St. Lawrence College. She and her team of seven students spent the entire day prior to the presentation preparing a number of

exotic dishes from locally sourced chicken, pork, bison and yak, focusing on the more unusual parts like the head, feet, trotters, jowls, ribs and caul, the thin, white lacey fat that covers the pig’s kidneys.

Tibrata shared her passion and know how on a number of different topics throughout the presentation - like how to cook and cut various cuts of meat to best bring out their flavour and texture. She covered meat broths and stressed the added flavor and health benefits of incorporating collagen-rich hooves. She spoke at length about the various types of pork fat, what they are best used for and how to render them down.

Next she described the ancient French recipe she and her students followed to prepare pigs’ trotters stuffed with wild mushrooms and herbs and wrapped in the lacey white caul The students also had their chance in the limelight. Louis and Ken described how they prepared pork jowls on a bed of garbanzo beans; Colette described a chicken stock using only the heads and feet of the bird and herbs, and Alan described a bison broth made solely from rib cuts. Meagan finished off the presentation with a detailed description of the preparation a yak heart stew.

Following that was the best part of slow food - the not so slow eating part. Participants were invited to add their locally sourced potluck dishes to the meat dish-laden table and everyone sat down to an exotic meal.

If meat is your thing Maberly was where it was at on Saturday. If Slow Food and local produce interests you, contact Janet Duncan or Cheryl Nash at 613-256-2933 and 613-268-2881. Lanark County Slow Food holds regular presentations throughout the year, each followed by a potluck dinner. 

Just because they say they are undesirable does not mean they aren't full of desire themselves, at least in the lyrical and emotional content of their music.

The Undesirables are a two-man band. Sean Cotton plays guitar and sings harmony vocals, and Corin Raymond sings lead vocals and tells stories. The format of their shows lends itself particularly well to the house concert format, and the 40 or so people who attended last weekend’s concert at the Sullivan house off Bennett Lake road near Maberly were treated to an intimate concert.

This was the second “Incident at Shakey Acres” as Danny Sullivan has named his house concerts at a property that has the nickname Shakey Acres.

As Danny explained in introducing the band, bringing the Undesirables to his home was what led the Sullivan family to consider opening up their home as a venue for house concerts in the first place.

Danny approached Corin Raymond last summer, and Corin was happy to oblige, but not until May, so a performance by Angus Finnan, the first Shakey Acres incident, was held in November.

Corin Raymond and Sean Cotton have been performing together since they were teenagers in Georgetown, and they have an ease with each other that comes after 20 years of performing and writing together. They named their band The Undesirables because they write from the point of view of outsiders.

The lyrics and the mood of the pieces the Undesirables perform vary, but they are at their best, as are all true country musicians, when dealing with being mired in pain and loss and thwarted desire.

Themes of lost love and weather metaphors have been the stock in trade of folk and country music forever, and the trick to making them resonate with audiences is to use music and language to connect emotionally with the audience.

This is something that Corin Raymond does masterfully. Whether he is begging a former lover to come back, even if only to hurt him again, or attempting to put a lost love into perspective, there is an emotional honesty and maturity to his songs of lost love.

Even as Corin Raymond claims his songs really are only weather reports, the audience knows better.

Behind their gruff exteriors, even though they yell a lot, “The Undesirables” are all about heartbreak and loss, and sometimes, albeit fleetingly, about joy.

The most recent recording of The Undesirables is “Travelling Show”.

The title track is about a thunder storm. 

Photo: l-r: building committee chair Brad Adrain, fire chief Greg Saunders, Rev. William Crozier, councilor Gail Code, deputy reeve Susan Freeman, councilor Roxanne Darling, MP Scott Reid, reeve Keith Kerr, councilor Brain Campbell and fire chief Jeff Kirkham

Various officials and members of the community gathered at the location of the new fire hall in Maberly for the official ground breaking ceremony on August 20.

The event was hosted by Tay Valley Township Reeve Keith Kerr, and before the shovel was put in the ground a number of guests spoke at the Maberly Hall including MP Scott Reid, Fire Chief Greg Saunders, and councilor and Chair of the Fire Board Brian Campbell

The new hall will replace the much smaller two- building facility, which lacked adequate parking for fire vehicles, meeting room space, training grounds, kitchen facilities and women's washrooms. The new $1.3 million facility will be built on a 14 acre parcel of land located just west of Maberly's Main street and just north of Hwy. 7. It was purchased at 25% less than its original purchase price from Rev. William Crozier of the Free Methodist Church – which amounted to a near donation of the land at cost.

The new 8,000 square foot facility was designed by Christine Erdos Design and will be built by Guy Saumure and Sons Construction Ltd. It will include six bays with entrances on both sides, a large meeting room, kitchen facilities, two offices, and men’s and women's washrooms. The surrounding land will be used for training exercises.

The provincial and federal governments have each contributed $430,000 to the project.

Chair of the Building committee and fire fighter Brad Adrain is thrilled with the new proposed facility. “The need has been there for a very long time. Going from two small inadequate buildings to a single building where we can properly store and maintain our vehicles and equipment will greatly improve virtually everything that we do, including our response times. The morale of the fire fighters is sky rocketing right now. With everything now under one roof, everything as a result is going to improve.”

The new facility is due to be completed by March 2011.

Photo: Enjoying the midway at Parham Fair.

One way or another, all outdoor events are captive to the weather, and summer fairs are no exception.

Torrential downpours did their best to dampen spirits on the Saturday of the Parham Fair last year, which also happened to be the only day of the Maberly Fair. This year not only was the weather spectacular on Maberly Fair Day, it was ideal for the entire three days of the Parham Fair.

Both fairs were heavily attended this year, and with no rain delays all of the events went off without a hitch, although Bessie the cow was a bit slow in doing her business at the Maberly Fair, but more about that later.

In Parham the festivities began on Friday evening with the Town Crier, Paddy O'Connor, Mayor Janet Gutowski and Fair President John Waddingham participating in the opening ceremonies. A good crowd came out for one event with a long history at the fair, the horse draws in the main ring. A newer tradition, but one that has proven to be extremely popular, a performance by the band Ambush, attracted a huge crowd on Friday night.

Saturday was agricultural day once again, and one of the new events this year at the Palace was a silent auction. Participants bid on a number of items including various gift certificates, and garden ornaments, all of which were donated by local area businesses.

The horse and cattle shows also took place on Saturday morning. Congratulations are due to Gary Allen, Megan Farrow, Ashley McCaffery, and Haley Larmon-Code, who along with their horses won the various high point horse show categories at the fair.

The greased pig competition once again attracted a large crowd and participants ages 7-13 all received ribbons. The western games were well attended and the final race of the day, the Dolly Pardon, was the comical highlight as usual.

This year’s new Reptile Show intrigued youngsters and was a successful new addition to the fair. The lawn mower races once again thrilled visitors and though this year a number of rollovers made the competition more exciting, thankfully there were no injuries to report.

On Sunday the demolition derby drew record crowds.

All told, the weekend was another great success, with new events like the reptile show and all-day volleyball ensuring that there was indeed something for everyone.

128th Maberly Fair

Photo: Winner  and still champion of the heavyweight Zuchinni race competition, Max Bumstead.

Visitors at the 128th edition of the Maberly Fair especially enjoyed the horse show, kids’ games and musical entertainment by the Tebworth family, as well as the 2nd Annual Zucchini Races. Nine-year-old Max Bumstead of Maberly successfully defended his title again this year with his car he named Racer.

The sunny, warm weather brought a relaxed feeling to the busy fair day, and the old and new styles of agriculture mixed together in an atmosphere that is unique to this corner of eastern Ontario at the far west of Lanark County.

The day ended with the Maberly Fair’s first ever Cow Pie Madness event, a type of 50/50 draw that saw 100 participants each purchase a $10 square on the Cow Pie Bingo board. Dave Campbell donated Bessie for the event. Bessie was fed straw and grain all afternoon to prepare her for her $1000 pot plop, half of which (the money that is) was to be taken home by a winner and the other half to be donated to the Maberly Agricultural Society. The large crowd had thinned out considerably after waiting for two hours for Bessie to do her business.

At the end of the day two lucky winners were declared, as Bessie's first plop landed on a line between two squares. Congratulations to Anne Thomlison and Barb Wheeler, both of Maberly, who split the $500 prize.

Also congratulations to Whitney Lewis of Perth, who won the Big Ben Memorial Award of $100 that was given by Team Millar Brooke. This award is presented to the person who has the most overall points in the horse show.

With the sunny weather and an effort to offer new events in their lineups, both fairs were events to remember.

Photo:  Bob and Catherine Bowyer, the new owners of Fall River Espresso in Maberly

Catherine and Rob Bowyer took over the Fall River Espresso one month ago and are enjoying their new line of work.

The couple, who originally met in Toronto, moved to Maberly from Carp in May of this year and decided they also wanted to work in the area instead of commuting to jobs in Ottawa where Rob worked in construction and Catherine as a pre-school teacher. “We were brainstorming ideas for work and this came up and seemed perfect.” The two bought the business from Paul Zammit, owner of the Fall River Pub and Grill, who ran the coffee shop, which was formerly known as the Fall River Ice Cream and Coffee Shop.

Catherine said her and Rob's aim is to offer customers “fresh, tasty and inexpensive food and snacks”. These include gluten-free baked goods and soups that Catherine makes herself; a variety of fresh deli sandwiches using home-baked ham, which can also be made with gluten-free bread; plus a variety of regular baked goods like butter tarts, lemon and raspberry squares, and a wide assortment of cookies and muffins.

For those on the go Catherine recommends their home-made breakfast sandwich, a definite improvement from the usual fare made with a poached egg, real cheddar, and home-baked ham.“What we're trying to do is raise our fare up a notch and our aim is to have a clean label.” In that vein the couple are also sourcing their supplies locally and have made local contacts for fresh farm eggs, and pork.” They also plan to cover the walls with profiles of local area food producers.

The coffee they serve and sell is fair trade organic coffee from Equator coffee in Almonte and they serve up espresso cappuccino and lattes using new machines that they both have mastered.

Their future plans include acquiring a new breakfast bar and tables and chairs so that customers can sit and enjoy a quick meal or snack and they also plan to gussy up the patio come spring. Catherine also plans to serve seasonally based food products and snacks like mint hot chocolate and mince meat tarts come Christmas time.

Right now though, they are content serving customers who appreciate their fresh fare and who are overwhelmingly friendly and courteous. “Starting off we didn't expect people to be as friendly as they are and that is one aspect of this work that we are both really enjoying.”

Their drive through window is great for those looking for a quick purchase but if it is friendly conversation you are after, Catherine and Bob are more than happy to oblige.

Fall River Espresso is located at the corner of Hwy. 7 and 36 in Maberly and is open Monday through Thursday 6:30AM-4PM, Fridays 6:30AM-5PM and Saturdays and Sundays from 9AM-5PM.

Photo: Pam Lemke and Sharon Macfarlane

At a time when people are becoming more and more aware of need to reduce their garbage output, David Yerxa of Silver Lake continues to do his part with his recycling activities.

David has run a can recycling and paper shredding business for several years. He has pop can bins in Sharbot Lake at the Drop In and outside the Community Living office, and at the Anglican church in Maberly. His friends Bart and Alex help him to crush the cans on Mondays and Ernie and Alex help out on Tuesdays. The crushed cans are taken to Glenview Iron & Metal in Smiths Falls.

David also does paper shredding for several area organizations, including the Family Health Team, the Child Centre, Northern Frontenac Community Services and Rural Legal Services. Some of his business is volunteer, and some he gets paid for. David welcomes all the business he can get and he can be contacted at 613-268-2343

Photo left: Beryl Stott in Maberly. Below: Beryl on the road in 1983.

Unknown to many is the incredible story of long- time Elphin resident Beryl Stott, who in 1983 at the age of 37 made it into the Guinness Book of World Records when she completed a 6867.6 km, seven-month long run across Canada.

On November 8 at the Maberly Hall, Beryl spoke to members of the Bethel Women’s Institute and guests about her record-breaking achievement, which she said she undertook simply “to set a world record”. At the time Beryl was a follower of Sri Chinmoy, an Indian spiritual teacher, who taught her the practice of transcendental meditation, a philosophy based on meditation and transcendence of the self and world.

Beryl was given the name Kanchan, which translates to Heart of Gold. As explained in the book “Heart of Gold - Will of Iron”, written by June Rose-Beaty about Beryl’s run: “Through the teachings and practice she (Kanchan) found something that she had up until that time always been searching for, a perfect balance between leading an outer, physically active life while developing a spiritual inner life.” Beryl spoke of that inspiration in Maberly. “My teacher promoted running as a form of self-transcendence. He felt that if you really worked at it you could pass through the pain. It was all part of the philosophy.”

The run proved to be incredibly difficult on both a physical and mental level and though she prepared by running numerous marathons and ultra-marathon races both in Canada and the US (she set a Canadian record for a 24 hour race in New York in October, 1982) she also sought the expertise of an Olympic-class coach before taking on the cross-Canada run.

During her talk she recalled the one and only time that her set goal truly frightened her. “I remember looking out the window of the plane on the flight out to Victoria, BC [where her run began] and realized that I had to run all of the way back. It was the first and only time that I wondered if my training was sufficient.” Regardless, the run was a grueling one. Throughout it she lived alone in a camper and was assisted by two attendants, who saw to her daily needs. One, she recalled had to feed her her dinner, as she would often be too exhausted to even lift a fork to her mouth. Every day she set out with a body in pain, which steadily began to take the toll of her daily efforts which consisted of two running stints averaging 33 km per day.

“The hardest part by far was starting each day. But I used the meditation to find the inner strength to overcome the pain, and to stay focused. It's the marriage that takes place between the body and the mind that got me through.” In Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, she was forced to take a week off when her left knee, wracked with severe tendonitis completely gave out. She tended to her injury by swimming and by designing makeshift devices that she fit to her knees and upper torso before setting out each morning. In hindsight she said it was the physical obstacles, particularly the tendonitis she experienced in Saskatchewan that she learned most from. “It taught me that you cannot run with your mind. You literally have to go with the condition your body is in as well as all of the outdoor conditions, like the weather and wind. I learned that you have to give yourself the privilege to let the body dictate what it is capable of doing, not what your mind wants it to do and that was a big shift for me and a wake up call.”

In her down time when alone in her camper each evening she recorded on tape each day’s experience and after completing the run took them to a dicta-typist, who she said “typed out every single word that I recorded”. Her goal? “I wanted to use the diary to create a book for children, particularly girls who I felt needed strong role models at that time and I wanted to be one of them.” The result was the book, “Heart of Gold, Will of Iron”.

Beryl completed her mission and on November 29 arrived at the Atlantic ocean at Black Rock beach in Halifax, Nova Scotia to the sight of water cannons shooting off in the harbour in recognition of her efforts. Did the run change her? “I see life in a different way. The run took so much determination and inner strength every single day that I felt very old after completing it, not physically but emotionally and psychologically. Something like that ages you inwardly.” That being said she is glad to have experienced it and to have achieved what she did. “It gave me the experience of Canada and its people first hand from one ocean to the other and that is really a once in a life time experience. But the most important thing I got from it was the experience of being on the road. There is something about doing something, every single day and staying completely focused on it that gives you such a fine concentration that everything else seems to fall away. And it also brought me to where I am today. After the experience of being so fully in nature, I could not live in the city after that.”

Stott brought with her to Maberly numerous mementos from the run. One of her favorites is the letter of congratulations she received from Alexa McDonough, at that time leader of the NDP in Nova Scotia, which accompanied a T-shirt that read “A Woman's Place is in the House.... of Commons”. Anyone interested in reading more about Beryl’s 208-day journey from sea to sea can contact her at 613-278-0041.

The Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra will be joined by a number of musical groups and other friends as they host the first ever community fiddle-a-thon at the Maberly Hall on Sunday afternoon.

The entire community is invited to join what promises to be a large community jam from 1-7 pm. Orchestra members have gathered sponsors for the event, which is a free event, complete with music and refreshments.

Orchestra Director Cindy McCall said that she came up with the germ of the idea for the event when the orchestra was brainstorming earlier this year to come up with a new fundraising event.

“Over the years I’ve been involved in a lot of fundraising for community groups,” she said, “there were walkathons, bike-a-thons, even a rehears-a-thon one time, so why not a fiddle-a-thon. The group just took it from there and here we are.”

In addition to the Blue Skies Community Orchestra, the Heritage Fiddle Orchestra from Perth, the Long Sault Trio, Fiddlers and Friends, and the Blue Skies Prep Orchestra will be playing at times during the afternoon.

“People are more than welcome to bring instruments, any kind of instrument, and play along with the different groups, or just come out and listen,” said McCall, “the whole idea is for people who have or have never played together to share some music.”

The Blue Skies Fiddle Orchestra receives about 50% of its funding from Blue Skies in the Community, the outreach arm of the Blue Skies Music Festival. Participants in the orchestra pay fees as well, but the fees are kept as low as possible because high fees might make it more difficult from some families to participate. The orchestra also operates an instrument rental program, also at nominal fees. All of this is in keeping with the general aim of Blue Skies in the Community to bring music to everyone in the region who would like to participate. The orchestra does fundraising to cover off some of the costs that fees and the grant do not cover.

“One of the nice things about the Fiddle-a–thon is that the orchestra members have already collected the donations, so the event is free for the public to enjoy,” said Cindy McCall, “not that we won’t accept further donations.”

The Fiddle–a–thon will run from 1-7 pm on Sunday, April 22, at the Maberly Hall.

Photo: Contra Dance Caller Emily Addison of Ottawa with Sheesham and Lotus at the Maberly Hall on Feb. 11

Emily Addison of Ottawa tested out her calling for calling at the first Quarterly Contra dance of 2012, which was held at the Maberly hall on Feb. 11. The Maberly Contra's house band, Sheesham and Lotus, played their usual magic as dancers twirled across the wooden floor boards, heating up the hall to the point where one could see billowing condensation escaping through the hall's open front doors.

As usual a beginner's lesson started off the evening and newbies were taught all of the necessary moves for each dance prior to the dance's formal start at 8 pm. There's no better way to introduce yourself into the community than taking part in a Contra dance. Contras are similar to square dances; however, the squares and partners are constantly changing, so by the end of each dance, everyone has do-si-doed and promenaded with half the people in the room, and by the end of two or three dances, everyone has met everyone else. There are no wallflowers at Contra dances; it's an old fashioned dancing meet and greet for all ages, where everyone has a chance to cut the rug with their fellow community members.

People come from far and wide to Contra dances and at Saturday's dance there were several people from Ottawa and even farther afield. Three more dances will take place this year so keep an eye out for the next scheduled event.