In The Hills Summer 2010

VO L U M E 17 N U M B E R 2 2 010

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Grow Local Vegetable gardens galore Imagining the Future A grassroots approach

Dream dancers Artist Hal Henry

Stone houses of Shaw’s Creek

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PUBLISHER | EDITOR

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

That was the headline Jeff Rollings suggested for the story he wrote for this issue on community-based planning, now headlined “Imagining the Future.” I was the one who vetoed his suggestion. To me it projected a whiff of patronization onto what I consider very earnest and worthwhile undertakings.

But I have to declare a confl ict of interest in that. I am a member of Headwaters Community in Action and sit on the committee that has been working on the community wellbeing report for the past nearly three years. I also participated in the Mono Visioning Conference this spring. Although I admit to a certain kneejerk cynicism by nature, I also have faith that things can change for the better when a group of informed and engaged citizens puts their concerted minds and goodwill to the undertaking.

Like a good journalist, Jeff brought a healthy dose of skepticism to the story. Among other things, he queried the point of spending all that time and energy to come up with the less-than-startling revelation that people who live in the countryside value the countryside, i.e., the environment, the landscape, the small-town feel and agricultural heritage.

Fair enough. I do recall my impatience at early HCIA committee meetings as we checked in again and again with the “community stakeholder” groups to come up with, well, the obvious: Okay, okay, we know what people value, let’s get on with it!

But as the process unfolded, I was converted. I came to think of the “slow planning process” as something like the “slow food movement.” A slab of pre-packaged, pre-cooked, factory-raised chicken may (or may not) contain the same calorie fuel as a free-range, organic chicken you cook yourself, but the former has nothing of the latter’s richness in terms of the complex connections between you, your food and, by extension, your sense of place in your environment.

Likewise with grassroots planning and its emphasis on consensus building. By taking the time to consult, review, consult again, and then again, the HCIA committee has built up a rich and complex analysis of our Headwaters community. And through the slow and sometimes painfully iterative process, it has begun to reveal new areas of common ground and forge new alliances across social sectors and municipal borders.

Still, Jeff poses the pertinent question for all three projects he profi les. If in the end it all comes to no more than a feelgood exercise for the participants, what has been achieved?

And, in the manner of slow things and acts of faith, we may have to wait for our children to answer that.

EDITORIAL

Kelvin Browne | Monica Duncan Roberto Fracchioni | Michele Green Alison Hird | Bethany Lee Douglas G. Pearce | Jeff Rollings Nicola Ross | Don Scallen | Ken Weber PHOTOGRAPHY

Don Armitage | Rosemary Hasner Pete Paterson | Bohdan Petryk I L L U S T R AT I O N

Shelagh Armstrong Linda McLaren | Jim Stewart DESIGN | ART DIRECTION

Kim van Oosterom Wallflower Design ADVERTISING SALES

Roberta Fracassi | Julie Lockyer ADVERTISING PRODUCTION

Marion Hodgson Type & Images PROOFREADING

Susan Robb COVER

Stone House on Shaw’s Creek Road

by Rosemary Hasner — In the Hills is published four times a year by MonoLog Communications Inc. It is distributed through controlled circulation to households in the towns of Caledon, Erin, Orangeville, Shelburne and Creemore, and Dufferin County.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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T H I S

I S S U E D E P A R T M E N T S

F E A T U R E S 17

STONE HOUSES OF SHAW’S CREEK

Three historic homes and gardens

by Kelvin Browne

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FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE

A tribute to pollinators

by Don Scallen

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50 IMAGINING THE FUTURE

Community-based planning

by Jeff Rollings 56

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ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Hallie Watson 14

MUST DO

Our favourite picks for summer 35

HEADWATERS SKETCHBOOK

Cicadas

by Linda McLaren

Palgrave Community Kitchen

by Nicola Ross 47

EDIBLE HILLS

Puffballs and zucchini

by Roberto Fracchioni 48 HEADWATERS NEST

Swimming back upstream

by Bethany Lee 54 HISTORIC HILLS

The Scott Act splits the hills

by Ken Weber 70 WHAT’S ON IN THE HILLS

A calendar of summer happenings

by Alison Hird

HAL HENRY

An artist’s life

by Jeff Rollings

78 A PUZZLING CONCLUSION

60 DANCING ON THE EDGE 26

44 HOMEGROWN IN THE HILLS

THE DIGEST

Countryside news

by Douglas G. Pearce

26 GROW LOCAL

Vegetable gardens galore

by Monica Duncan

LETTERS

Our readers write

by Ken Weber

No. 6 Dance Collective

by Michele Green

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L E T T E R S

P H O T O R O S EM A R Y H A S N ER

Expand the Greenbelt?

LORI MCNEIL-CHONG INTERIOR DECORATOR

c 519 939 8878

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

This letter is on behalf of those farmers who happened to get caught in the Greenbelt plan.

A friend of mine farmed 75 acres, down on McLaughlin Road, and got caught in it. His little spread was his retirement plan. I talked to him, asking if he’d read your article and he says, “Oh, sure.” But like most farmers, it is not in their nature to complain – and for that matter, he thinks the Greenbelt is a good idea.

The article mentioned the 2007 study

by Richard Vyn, University of Guelph: “Over half of the Greenbelt area is negatively impacted by more than a 25 per cent decrease in the value of land assets.” It’s a whole lot more than 25 per cent. Ask anyone, even a decrease of 75 per cent in value is closer to fact. The article also says, “in essence, there are three camps in the argument” – you ought to add a fourth: those farmers, who happened to be in the Greenbelt area, and whose pockets were picked.

My good buddy down there on McLaughlin is comfortable enough.

But if he can no longer take care of his little place and decides to sell, it will be mighty difficult. The land is too expensive to farm. So perhaps someone will want to buy it, tear down his bungalow and build a nice big custom home – but how much can he get for a 75-acre flat-land building lot? He might be hard put to get even a million…so much for his retirement plan.

The solution – too late for Joe of course – is to tax the developers on adjoining lands. Even a small percentage, say 5 per cent, would create a nice fund for these people who’ve been shortchanged.

It seems like the farmers get it in the neck, every time, and In The Hills’ representation of them, in this otherwise excellent article, is disappointing. And no, I’m no farmer.

Thanks for the fantastic article by Jeff Rollings on the Greenbelt (Letting Out the Belt, spring ’10). Yes, the Greenbelt should be expanded. There are two solutions to urban sprawl – the GTA should insist that developers design denser housing or/and our government should reduce immigration numbers to Canada; ultimately our environment cannot accommodate such a large increase in population growth.

Not being a farmer myself, I would like to know exactly what farmers located in the Greenbelt do not like about the plan and what would they like changed. How can protecting land from development and farming coexist? Let’s work together to have the Greenbelt expanded.

John Vibe, Erin

Sarah Carter (web comment)

Jane Bowen, (web comment)

As my farm is already about one kilometre inside the Greenbelt, I may be taken as neutral on Greenbelt 2. I’m against it on principle, as well as for other reasons.

The Greenbelt assumes that the landowner no longer owns his own property. The original owner of my farm was granted it by King George IV in 1822. Ever since, the owners have preserved farmland and a woodlot, and now I have planted the entire farm in trees. Does that sound as if I plan to destroy the greenery?

It is monstrous for a government to seize control of land without compensation. It is equally monstrous that the Greenbelt Alliance, with its over eighty environmental groups, should be telling the government that they know better than me what to do with this land. I suspect few of them have ever farmed and most are urbanites.

As for trespassers who believe that farms in the Greenbelt are public, I notice that a Hills of Headwaters tourism publication printed in 2006 includes a “Greenbelt” advertisement of two pages that says, “Join us in celebrating our living countryside.” Not only does the government seize planning control; it also encourages trespassing.

Farmers are geographically isolated and generally not gregarious; so they do not belong to any lobby movements – or they didn’t until the present government commenced to curtail their right to make farming decisions.

(The Ontario Landowners Association was created by MPP Randy Hillier to amend that state of affairs.)

I’m reminded of the poem “The Man with the Hoe.” Back off, government.

This land is my land.

Charles Hooker, Orangeville

I agree with what the Greenbelt intends to do. Preventing urban sprawl and protecting the environment should be considered by both municipalities and the provincial government. However I think that farmers should be compensated because “for the greater good” doesn’t pay the bills.

Season2010

MUSIC, LOVE & LAUGHTER ARE YOURS TO DISCOVER!

Bethell House Hospice Thank you so much for another excellent issue. As a volunteer involved in the landscaping at Hospice Caledon’s Bethell House, I was particularly interested in the fine article by Iain Richmond (Bethell House, spring ’10) about this wonderful project. Two hundred volunteers! Who knew?

In a happy connection to your magazine, our Bethell House committee contacted Maple Leaves Forever whose founder Ken Jewett was one of In the Hills’ Local Heroes (winter ’09). As a result we have forty beautiful sugar maples which will line the driveway at Bethell House, providing shade, colour and a connection to our area’s heritage for many years to come.

And as a final thought I wanted to say how handy it is to have In the Hills online! We always save our issues but can’t always find them when we want to look something up. It was great to be able to read the spring issue online when we were away in March.

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You’ll Get Used to It! I wanted to thank Michele Green and all of your staff for the wonderful coverage of Theatre Orangeville’s Drama Young Company (The Enchantment of Young Thespians) in the spring issue. I think you have captured all that we do so wonderfully ... and generously. We have linked Michele’s article all over our website and look forward to promoting kidsinthehills.ca – your latest brilliant endeavour!

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I’ve always admired and appreciated your magazine and its general contents, including the very tasteful and artfully created graphics (ads included). A quality product, through and through. As much as I’ve appreciated and continue to appreciate your seasonal publication, I welcome and applaud your decision to support and expand your base, with the inclusion of your newly developed web site. Nicely done. It’s advantageous and convenient to have both options and your web site really facilitates the ability to archive or pass on worthwhile information to others, on a far wider scale and with significantly greater ease.

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ONLINE IN THE HILLS We welcome your comments!

For more commentary from our readers, or to add your own thoughts on any of the stories in this issue, please visit www.inthehills.ca.

You can also send your letters to the editor by e-mail to sball@inthehills.ca.

Please include your name, address and contact information. In the Hills reserves the right to edit letters for publication.

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“In 1927, Henry Ford bought a Connecticut-sized piece of the Amazon and built an authentic American town in the Brazilian jungle, complete with electric lights and indoor plumbing.

In Ford’s conception, Fordlandia would be an independent source of raw materials for his burgeoning auto empire, and a way to preserve the vanishing America of his Michigan childhood. His enormous wealth and willpower enabled him brief ly to establish a utopia in the jungle, complete with golf courses, ice cream parlors, movie theatres and Victrolas.

But these were succeeded by brothels, bars and disease ... Ford’s experiment finally foundered in the wilderness, and in 1945 he sold the whole property back to Brazil.” Greg Ross, in American Scientist, Mar-Apr/10.

“On October 27, 2009, the United Steelworkers of America issued a press release headlined ‘Steelworkers Form Collaboration with Mondragon, the World’s Largest Worker-Owned Cooperative.’ That is to say, the largest industrial union in North America, representing 1.2 million workers, has entered into an agreement with a firm hitherto virtually unknown in the United States to ‘transform manufacturing practices in North America.

According to USW International president Leo Gerard, ‘We see Mondragon’s co-operative model with “one worker, one vote” ownership as a means to empower workers and make business accountable to Main Street instead of Wall Street.’” David Schweickart, in Worldwatch, Mar-Apr/10.

“When my brother and I built and flew the first man-carrying flying machine, we thought that we were introducing into the world an invention which would make further wars practically impossible. That we were not alone in this thought is evidenced by the fact that the French Peace Society presented us with medals on account of our invention.” Orville Wright, quoted in CCPA Monitor, Apr/10.

Fare of Flying “German scientists have figured out why tomato juice tastes better aboard an airplane than on the ground (and coffee tastes worse). Low atmospheric IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

pressure dampens the experience of sweet and salty tastes, whereas sour comes through unchanged and bitter is slightly intensified, says f lavour chemist Andrea Burdack-Freitag of the Frauenhofer Institute for Building Physics in Holzkirchen.

“She and her colleagues asked thirty taste testers to rate their perceptions of different foods and wines while sitting in a partial Airbus A310 in a chamber with adjustable pressure. At ground pressures, tasters perceived tomato juice as musty, but at a low pressure typical in flight they found it fruitier, with cool notes. The complex aromas picked up by the nose that give coffee its flavor were barely perceived at low pressure, unmasking coffee’s bitterness, Burdack-Freitag says. Lufthansa’s catering arm, which sponsored the study, wants to use the data to improve its menus.” Science, Feb 19/10.

Mondragon on Main Street

Wright Wrong

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by Douglas G. Pearce

Fordlandia, Flying Machines and Formulas for Success Rich Man’s Utopia

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Formula One “My formula for success? It’s simple: Rise early. Work late. Strike oil.”

J. Paul Getty

Milky Way “Milk has nourished young mammals for millions of years, but only humans skim, shake, ‘chocolify,’ and otherwise alter and commodify the milk of other species. Yet before cattle were domesticated some 9,000 years ago, milking a cow was an extreme sport and humans avoided or just ignored their milk. And after weaning, they had no need for the enzymes that separate lactose sugars, so most older humans were lactose intolerant. But geneticists guess that 5,000-7,000 years ago in Europe a rare adventurous lactose-tolerant individual dared to drink the milk from his or her cattle.

Those with similar genetic advantages eventually followed in a similar milky way.” Ben Block, in Worldwatch, May-Jun/10.

Moon Birds “Each spring and fall, our skies fill with the beating wings of birds making their annual migrations – a phenomenon that has intrigued scientists for millennia. Aristotle was among the first to suggest an explanation for the birds’ mysterious appearances and disappearances. Some species, he thought, simply hid themselves in the ground until spring. ‘Swallows, for instance, have often been found in holes, quite

denuded of their feathers,’ he wrote.

“Eclipsing all other far-fetched migration theories, though, was the one presented in 1703 in a booklet titled Whence Come the Stork and the Turtle, the Crane and the Swallow, When They Know and Observe the Appointed Time of Their Coming. Birds, suggested the publication’s author, fly to the moon to spend the winter.” Terry Krautwurst, “Lunar Nature,” in Mother Earth News, Apr-May/10.

Earth Invaders “While gardeners love to see earthworms in their soil and eco-conscious apartment dwellers rely on them to compost food waste, most people do not realize that the vast majority of worms in Ontario are invasive species. The majority of the approximately two dozen species of worms we see today arrived with European settlers more than two centuries ago, in ships’ ballast and agricultural products. (Before that, only two species of worms were in Ontario.)

“But the very trait that makes the worms the darling of gardeners everywhere also makes them a menace in Ontario’s hardwood forests.

European worms are much better than native species at munching through leaf litter. In doing so, they alter the structure of phosphorus and nitrogen – nutrients on which northern hardwoods trees and plants depend – such that they are no longer bound up with organic matter and they leach away with the rain.” Sharon Oosthoek, in Ontario Nature, Spring/10.

Numerical Aids “There are children in Tokyo, trained in after-school abacus clubs, who can sum up to 30 large numbers using only the mental image of an abacus, and do it faster than someone with an electronic calculator. And there’s a mathematician in New York whose intricate crocheting has allowed her colleagues to visualize various surfaces in hyperbolic space for the first time.

These are some of the delightful characters that populate Alex’s Adventures in Numberland.” From Celeste Biever’s review of the book by Alex Bellos, in New Scientist, Apr 24/10.

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Lawren S. Harris (1885 - 1970), North Shore, Lake Superior, 1921, oil on paperboard, 30.1 x 38 cm, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Gift of the Founders, Robert and Signe McMichael, 1966.16.84

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

A R T I S T

I N

R E S I D E N C E

clockwise from top : Jet Trail; Hay Bale and Barn; Cedar Forest (detail); River With Rocks; Canola Field and Maple Tree; all 27.5" x 19.5"

Hallie Watson Hallie Watson winters in Halifax and summers in Mono. The latter is the inspiration for Gumboots and Drawing Board: Fields and Streams of Mono, an exhibition opening July 11 at Dufferin County Museum. Hallie includes a narrative with each of the pastoral images of her childhood home, where “life was a mysterious, fascinating, unexpected thing.” Over a thirty-year career, along with her interest in the natural world, Hallie has focussed on domestic subjects, those quotidian objects that “hold significant small places” in our lives and offer “a pocket of quiet calm in the whirlwind of time zooming forward.”

She has a fine arts degree from Mount Allison University. www.halliewatson.com IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

13

must do

A highly selective guide to the picks of the season.

must

must

indulge

must

chill

As much as we love the country, on a lazy summer day there’s nothing quite like a long tall cool one on an urban patio – especially if it comes with live music and fabulous people watching. And now you don’t have to go all the way to Toronto to feel the vibe.

This year The Rose Theatre in nearby Brampton has opened its fully-licensed patio in Garden Square. It’s offering a free folk music series from noon to 2 pm on Thursdays through July and August, as well as Friday night concerts from 6:30 to 8 pm, featuring Dean McTaggart and friends.

But that’s not all. Under the stars on Tuesday and Saturday nights, you can also enjoy free movies on the patio’s huge outdoor screen. Titles chosen for their big-screen appeal include The Sound of Music (June 29), Mamma Mia! (July 24 & 27) and Casablanca (August 24). Bring a lawn chair, buy some popcorn and enjoy. en The Rose Theatre Patio is open seven days a week. It’s located in downtown ull Brampton at 1 Theatre Lane. For the full outdoor music and movie program, as well as details of the theatre’s summerr season, visit rosetheatre.ca.

They’re red, sweet and luscious, with a taste that defines the very essence of early summer. The strawberries are in season, and for a few short weeks there is no such thing as too many.

Get into the spirit on Saturday, June 26, by starting the day with a strawberry pancake breakfast at the Hockley Village Strawberry Festival.

A few days later, go back for seconds at another strawberry pancake breakfast that kicks off the Canada Day festivities at Caledon Village fairgrounds. Events on both days start early, go on through the afternoon and include plenty of family activities.

And don’t forget to pick a few pints – or quarts – of your own, at any of several farm markets in the hills. To find one in Caledon, check out the Grown in Peel map published by Peel Region (at growninpeel.ca). It’s a very handy reference source not only for finding strawberries, but all in-season produce at some 30 farm markets in Caledon and points south.

smell the flowers One day, eight glorious gardens. Whether or not you are a gardener yourself, there is hardly a more pleasant way to spend a day than taking in the sensual pleasures of some of the region’s finest gardens. Among them are a walled garden, a wedding garden, a shade garden, an artist’s garden and an arboretum – all within a few minutes drive of each other on the east side of Mono.

The Mostly Mono Garden Tour takes place on Saturday, June 26 from 10 am to 4 pm. It’s sponsored by the Dufferin Arts Council, with proceeds to programs in support of local artists.

Tickets are $20 and available at BookLore and several other locations. For details, go to the Garden Tour link at dufferinartscouncil.com.

must

eradicate!

It’s a plant that looks worthy of a star turn in the comedic Little Shop of Horrors, but the giant hogweed is no laughing matter. If you see one, don’t touch it! Do report it to your municipal authorities.

An invasive plant that can reach a height of 15 feet, its stem and stiff white hairs contain sap that can cause a serious skin inflammation activated by exposure to the sun. The symptoms include painful blisters and burns, and occur within about 48 hours. Contact with eyes can cause temporary or sometime permanent blindness.

If you do come into contact, wash the affected area immediately (as well as your clothes) and stay out of the sun.

If symptoms occur, see your doctor. this giant hogweed was photographed in orangeville last year

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

must

tap your feet It’s been around for 60 years and still offers an unbeatable toe-tapping good time. The Canadian Open Old Time Fiddle Championship in Shelburne opens with a concert on Wednesday evening and wraps up with a fiddle jamboree on Sunday. In between there’s non-stop fiddling, including a giant fiddle parade on Main Street, a fiddle and step-dance show at Grace Tipling Hall, and a Saturday night dance at the Legion.

Throughout it all, old-time good fun combines with virtuoso performances by fiddlers from across the country.

The Fiddle Championship, sponsored by the Shelburne Rotary Club, runs from August 4 to 8. For admission prices and program details, go to shelburnefiddlecontest.on.ca.

must

race

On Monday, August 2, the residents of Terra Cotta close their streets and open their beautiful village to some 200 cyclists for le Tour de Terra Cotta. Along with the main 108K open race, the event includes a shorter 27K course for first-time racers, triathletes and mountain bikers, and a 9K squirt and peewee course. The challenging closed course laps south from the village around the concession block through some of the most scenic landscapes in Caledon.

The event was founded in 2005 by the Brampton Cycling Club and is now co-sponsored by the village residents. To see a map of the route, register as a racer, or choose your time to go and cheer on the cyclists, see letourdeterracotta.com.

Recreational cyclists might also want to have a look at the new online map produced by the Region of Peel and showing more than 700 kilometres of trails, bike lanes and paths for cycling and walking throughout Caledon, Brampton and Mississauga. Visit walkandrollpeel.ca.

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

15

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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The Stone The Stone Houses of Shaw’s Creek

BY K ELV IN B R OW NE PHOTO GR A PH Y BY ROSEM A RY H A SNER

Few can resist the charm of century-old stone houses. They instantly inspire romantic visions of a kinder, gentler time in a bucolic setting fit for a greeting card.

That mythic ideal is certainly perpetuated by three glorious houses on Shaw’s Creek Road near Belfountain. All of them project a beguiling harmony between building and landscape. And they all share a history in common, including the luck to have been occupied by people sensitive to the original architecture and skilled at adapting historic buildings to fit contemporary needs.

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owever, it’s worth noting that the romance of stone houses tends to be a modern fiction we bring to them. After meandering through these antique-laden houses and peony beds a florist would covet, it’s sobering to reflect that the lives of the original inhabitants weren’t always so charmed. But then, much of what we see as antique and refined from the 1800s was a product of a much tougher time when, for instance, survival not serenity was the top priority in Caledon.

Set well back from the road, this 1846 stone house is approached by a winding, tree-lined drive that crosses a bridge and reveals a large pond to the left. The original farmhouse has been tastefully extended to the rear and the gardens extensively developed. The current owners purchased the property forty years ago and the maple in the foreground is one of the few trees they didn’t plant on acreage that had been grazed all but clear.

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

17

shaw’s creek continued from page 17

As the very informative Rockside Cultural Heritage Landscape Study, published by the Town of Caledon in 2006, notes: “The earliest settlers in Caledon Township were a group of Scots originating from the counties of Renfrewshire and Argyllshire in Scotland, an area west of Glasgow…” Those first pioneering families were “largely in place on the land by 1825, opening up a particularly rugged wilderness for settlement. [They have] come to be known in local lore as the Rockside Pioneers (the area being named Rockside, after a village on the Island of Islay.)”

Two of these houses are in the officially defined Rockside area, with the other very nearby. The hamlet of Rockside, at the intersection of Olde Base Line Road and Shaw’s Creek Road, has long since disappeared.

¤ “Most farmsteads were situated within sight of the concession road, though typically down a lane well back from the road itself,” explains the study. This is true of two of the three houses. The exception is the house owned by Janet and Bill Rowley, which is close to the road.

The Rockside Study also says, “Typically most of the early dwellings, including those of stone, were three bays (door flanked by windows on each side), originally one or one-and-a-half storey with a mediumpitched gable roof, relying on the end gable windows to light the second floor, and a chimney(s) at the end wall.”

Our entire trio exhibit this classic proportion. They usually had four or five rooms on the ground floor, all crammed into a space of about 18 feet by 24 feet, with a kitchen tail as one of the first additions to be undertaken.

Most of Caledon’s stone houses are in the western part of the town. Sally Drummond, the town’s heritage resource officer, says that while there are a handful of stone buildings to the east, on the Peel Plain and mostly in the former Chinguacousy Township, historic stone buildings in Caledon relate to the Niagara Escarpment which cuts diagonally across the town.

“The Escarpment provided material, hence it’s along its edge and atop it to the west that you’ll find a preponderance of stone houses.”

The many brick houses built on the Peel Plain in the south end of the region also related to availability of material, in their case, the red clay that fed the town’s early brickworks industry. Original log houses and frame houses can also still be found throughout Caledon, though particularly in the northern part of former Albion Township where farmland was poorer and the first houses, built with material hewn from the forests, were not replaced by other, grander structures.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

below : The additions to the rear of the house blend seamlessly with the original structure. Architect David Molesworth designed the patio to preserve an old apple tree, one of the few trees on the property when the owners purchased it.

top left : The large pond was dug on the site of the original cattle slough. It is is stocked with koi which “naturally keep the water pristine and are very attractive too.” above : A profusion of peonies garlands the house in June. “Most are pale pink; our favourites are Sarah Bernhardt and the single Claire de Lune. We also have some lovely Auntie Sherry peonies courtesy of our neighbour.” middle : A frog sits cheerily among the brilliant blooms of evening primrose.

“They’re lovely but quite invasive,” cautions the owner.

T

he oldest stone house of our trio was constructed pre-1850 in a neoclassical style. Sally Drummond says the 1834 patent the owners have for the property is an indication of land ownership, not the house construction date.

Settlers were given Location Tickets for land, but then had to perform settlement duties in order to receive their patent/title to the land. These duties included construction of a dwelling, typically a log house. However, the simple style of the house, particularly the lack of gable, suggests it was built within a decade or so after the first settlers arrived.

The owners of this stone house bought it in 1969 and date its construction to 1846. They had a stone lintel carved and placed over the original front door to commemorate this.

It’s fascinating to research the origins of these stone houses; there’s remarkable information available, although not necessarily who built what when. For instance, for this house, the 1839 original Crown patent for the fifty acres was first granted to Malcom Nivenn, although that could be a spelling mistake as “McNeven” was a more common name in the area. In 1845, Nivenn sold the property to Alexander McLellan, and in 1849, he sold it to Charles Rosewell, and so on. Many house construction dates are estimated by interpreting census information that described the residents’ dwelling – a log cabin in one census may have become a stone house in the next, for example.

The owners have done two renovations directed by David Molesworth, of Armstrong, Molesworth and Shepherd, one in 1973 and another 1991. The integrity of the original house is maintained even though the additions dwarf the tiny 1846 structure.

Of equal magnitude is the transformation of the surrounding landscape.

The owners started with a ten-acre parcel and have now reassembled the original 100-acre homestead. The cattle slough has become an elegant pond and the land, initially all but bereft of trees, has been planted into a park-like continued on next page landscape.

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

19

centre left : “We painted the door of the original house red to differentiate it from the neighbours,” recalls Janet. “Few pay much attention to street numbers in the country. There’s a stone house nearby with a yellow door. We tell visitors, we’re the stone house with the red door and that seems to get them here.” left : Janet Rowley in her garden, with willing companion Bertie.

20

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

top : The original stone house is close to the road, but separated from it by a woodland garden. “Behind the original house is a kitchen and porch,” Janet Rowley explains, “and next to it, with the large window, the great room where we spend time when we’re not gardening.” Adjacent to the house is a large and exuberant perennial garden. “The fenced area is a vegetable garden. We like lettuce, but so do the local rabbits.” far left : Some distance from the house, a thyme-carpeted pathway offers a vista to a statue of Diana and a folly in the background. “We originally planted fifteen varieties of thyme. Some didn’t succeed, and we have about five types remaining.” Since the photo was taken, the yews have been shaped into topiary forms.

T

he other two houses are known to have been built by two wellknown Rockside pioneers. The Rowley house by Alex McArthur, and the other by Donald McEachern.

Janet and Bill Rowley’s house is the area’s best example of the three-bay concept. It’s a one-and-a-half storey, gabled cottage with a centre gable in stone. The Rockside Study notes that it has the irregular stone slab lintels of the vernacular stonework typical of the 1860s, and that it was likely constructed after the 1851 census when Alex McArthur was assessed for only a log house on the property. According to Sally Drummond, “The Rowley house has an elevated status as one of the area’s character-defining elements.”

The Rowleys bought the property in 1984 and one of the most compelling features was the very large pond on the property. The beginnings of the pond can be seen, according to the Rockside Study, on the 1877 atlas map as a spring.

This spring was also the source for the creek that still runs across Olde Base Line Road.

Of all three properties, this one has the most extensive gardens, with dramatic vistas formed by clipped hedges, a thyme walk, and a large vegetable garden. The house has changed little since the Rowleys acquired it; the previous owners added a thoughtful addition by the late architect Napier Simpson (likely the best architect of country homes in Canada). The Rowleys’ only renovation was the removal of ureafoam insulation. In doing that they discovered there had been a major main-floor fire decades previously.

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continued on next page IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

T

he third of our Shaw’s Creek trio is nearby and was probably built prior to 1851. It’s called the McEachern house, presumably corresponding to family that built it. Unlike the other two houses which face the concession road in a manner more typical of the period, this house faces south, overlooking a large pond.

This home’s current owners acquired it in 2002 and added an addition so the kitchen and master bedroom could have a view of the pond. The owners recall they were attracted to the property by its lushness and their development of the garden has only accentuated this characteristic. With their fondness for peonies, the garden is awash in sensuality and colour in June.

Evident with these stone houses, and the one I used to own (and still recall wistfully), is their intrinsic connection to the landscape. Built from stone gathered from the very land on which they sit, they contain the spirit of the landscape in a way few human structures do. And credit for that must also go to the pioneer builders, who seemed to have had an unrivalled eye for siting.

All three of the current owners have developed their properties to take advantage of the careful initial placement of their houses. All the gardens have been expanded to reinforce their connection to the land. This might be the secret of their success. None of the owners hired a designer to do it all overnight. Historic houses often need gardens that evolve slowly to become truly compatible with the heritage property as they mature.

In speaking with the owners of the three houses, their concern for preservation is evident, but they’re not interested in living in museums or recreating gardens of a previous generation. These houses are symbols of surviving and prospering in a tough new world, but they have also become icons of the gentle country life – perhaps the fulfillment of the wishful dreams and struggles of the early pioneers who built them.

The Rockside Cultural Heritage Landscape Study is available on the Town of Caledon web site. Go directly to it on the link that accompanies this story at inthehills.ca.

Kelvin Browne is a freelance writer who now lives in a new, sleekly minimalist house in Caledon.

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www.hillndalelandscaping.com on our cover : “The off-centre door is one of the quirky charms of the house,” says the owner. Above the door, a carved lintel dates the house to 1858, and includes the image of a horse. The builder’s mark shows up on several houses in the area. The stone wall is actually the remains of the foundation of the original barn which burned down many years before. above : The glorious Auntie Sherry peonies are available exclusively from Garden Import. When you purchase this variety, a portion of the price goes to the Kohai Education Centre in Toronto. The centre provides education for the most challenged learners, including children with autism – a significant charitable focus of the owner, for whom the peonies were named. left : Auntie Sherry peonies in front of a bronze sculpture by English artist Lynn Chadwick. The shady rear of the house contains a quiet meditation garden.

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

23

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T

he availability of stone meant that not only houses, but many other structures in Caledon were built with the material that was free for the back-breaking-taking by early settlers.

Fences in particular were an obvious use for the rocks and boulders turned up as farm fields were cleared. Although many of those old fences have tumbled down, one impressive survivor has been restored to its stunning former glory.

Designated under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1993, the dry stone wall runs 561 metres along the east side of Mississauga Road, south of Grange Road, on land owned in the mid-1800s by James Pattullo, whose family operated the quarry at the Forks of the Credit. Although beautifully constructed with sloped, flat faces, patterned layers of large and small stones, and cedar shims that cleverly cushion it from frost heave, it too had recently begun to deteriorate.

Enter current property owner Ted Simmonds and stone mason Mike Schenk.

Over the past two summers, Schenk (below) became a familiar face to local commuters, more than a few of whom stopped to observe and chat, as he duplicated the craftsmanship of his unknown predecessor and painstakingly rebuilt the portion of the wall that crosses Simmonds’ property. In the course of his work, he discovered the wall’s date stone: 1889. Although Schenk has finished his work for now, his craftsmanship continues to turn heads on Mississauga Road. ≈ Restoring the wall required painstaking skill and labour by stone mason Mike Schenk over the past two summers. He used cedar shims as ties.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

growlocal The local food fervour is evolving from simply “buy local” to “grow your own.” Not just in the countryside, but in cities like Toronto, vegetable gardens are springing up in backyards, parks and empty lots, on rooftops and even window sills.

In these hills, vegetable gardening is hardly a nce upon a time I had a magical garden, a humus-rich half-acre that accommodated every creative addition: herbs and vegetables, a koi pond, here and there an exotic, extra flowers for cutting, a pergola, a pool, some xeriscaping and statuary. Pretty much everything I could desire in a garden was fashioned into that yard, a shady sanctuary that that offered up seasonal glories of colour, texture, flavour and scent.

And then we moved.

Now, after several years on acreage zoned for agriculture, there is nary an exotic to be seen. Sandy soil washes into gulches at the slightest provocation and irrigation water sinks away as fast as we can haul it. The composters, set at some distance from the house, are working but yield up insufficient black gold to the proportionately larger vegetable garden. On the lawn’s brown spots, to which I attend as though running from one wildfire flareup to another, flocks of juncos feast upon carefully sown grass seed, while grubs chew away at anything that does manage to germinate.

It was in year three that it dawned: The garden had become a battleground and we had literally lost the plot. Year one, the vegetable garden struggled.

With some horse manure, a wet year two was better.

But by year three we were strategizing a mini crop rotation because the insects had sent out our GPS co-ordinates to bugs as big as bananas. Gone were my dreams of specimen trees because, on this windy, hilly tract, a “microclimate” exists only in the hothouse of my mind.

How did our farmer grandparents manage? They grew crops and raised their own animals for food.

There was no waste, no chemical warfare, and no

OO

26

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

new thing, but even here growing your own food seems to come with a renewed sense of purpose.

On these pages, we visit several kinds of local vegetable gardens – some of them new, some long established – and talk with the growers.

BY M O NI C A D U N C A N P H OTO GR A P H Y BY ROSEM A RY H A SNER

ceremonial wave of the credit card at the nursery each time some problem arose due to drainage, soil fertility or invasive plants. When did we stray so far from our roots? So far that we sometimes have to examine a bulb intently just to figure out which end is up?

Enter the word “permaculture.” It had been banging about at the back of my mind for some time, and suddenly moved to the fore. So I called Russell Scott.

Russell and his wife Linda have been working with permaculture design principles for over a decade at both their home in Hockley and the nearby Ecology Retreat Centre where Russell organizes permaculture seminars. Both sites are a revelation.

The Retreat Centre has a large, circular community garden centred on an arch of kiwis and fringed by beds of gigantic garlic and onions. An experimental water feature fed by roof runoff is home to amphibians and oxygenating water plants.

A little further along Hockley Road, the Scotts’ one-acre property is an oasis of harmony and abundance. “Seven years ago there was nothing much here,” says Russell, save the house which nestles into the crook of a steep slope.

On sunny high ground, a charming straw-bale henhouse overlooks the 30-by-50-foot vegetable garden, but it’s not all tidy “row on row.” Russell points out companion or “guild” plant groups, deep mulching, and the site of a future nut tree plantation. Even on an extremely hot day, nothing looks desiccated.

“Every plant should be multi-purpose,” says Russell, explaining that besides its æsthetic value, each plant is either a food source or has medicinal

S TOCK

Russell and Linda Scott have been pursuing permaculture techniques for more than a decade on their Hockley Valley property. Russell also organizes workshops on the subject at the nearby Ecology Retreat Centre.

properties – as well as providing a useful companion to its neighbour, either fertilizing the plant beside it or driving away its predators. A pretty berry plantation (blueberries, raspberries, currants, and gooseberries), for example, anchors slope soil, encourages bees, and leads to a small spring-fed pond that provides a catchment for run-off. Frogs, birds and butterflies abound.

A simple straw-bale hot frame sits smartly in the middle of the garden. Rain barrels are fed from the roof of the henhouse. When the growing season ends, “nature’s tractors,” as Russell calls the chickens, will be called upon to till the soil.

There are also some spectacular weeds, but Russell points out they help to break up hard soil, many are edible, and “weeds” such as Queen Anne’s Lace and yarrow attract predatory wasps that feed on other, more destructive insects.

With a mastery of advanced planning and a natural progression of projects, it’s all calculated to minimize manual labour. The land is not tilled or regularly watered; mulching keeps down the weeds and the moisture in. By working with the contours, soil type and other naturally existing features of the environment, the goal is to harmonize with, not fight, the land. In fact, says Russell, although it takes a lot of planning, the ultimate goal is to “let nature do the work.”

His self-published booklet, Blueprint for Green Living, spells it out, “The needs of one component are easily met by the resources of another component.” Put another way, in a fundamental sense, permaculture is about “location location location.”

“I can remember when I was a kid, having to weed for an hour before going out to play,” he says. His

grown-up garden is a lot more fun.

The principles of permaculture were worked out in the 1970s by Tasmanian wildlife scientist Bill Mollison and ecologist David Holmgren. After witnessing the rapidly disintegrating natural cycles in the countryside of his childhood, Mollison wanted to find a way to practise sustainable and speciesrich gardening.

The principles they published were at fi rst received skeptically by academics. Fellow professorial types had trouble wrapping their heads around thinking that combined strategies from forestry, animal husbandry, architecture and other disciplines. But popular interest was piqued by ideas promoting household and community self-reliance, not to mention the health of the earth.

These ideas, says Russell, are gaining new traction as people grow more concerned about food quality and security. Chain-store produce tends to be grown in chemically-induced high-yield monocultures where the primary goal is to produce food that can survive shipping over long distances. What is lost? Flavour, nutrition, diversity and soil vitality.

But even beyond such compelling practical considerations, permaculture offers a deeper spiritual metaphor, says Russell. By making a relationship with our food, the soil, the living entities that combine to feed us, and by intimately listening and observing, and living and breathing with receptivity, we begin to heal our broken connection with the natural world.

“It’s how I feel when I’ve had a salad from my garden,” says Russell. “I literally feel the life force from my food.”

At the Ecology Retreat Centre, the workshops on

permaculture that Russell organizes are taught by experienced faculty from the Kootenay Permaculture Institute in British Columbia. Workshop participants study permaculture principles and research the characteristics of the local climate, then set about analyzing a test lot and designing solutions that take into account such site-specific features as moisture, light, soil, vegetation, elevation and the like.

The course draws a mixed demographic: old, young, mid-career, recent students – folks united by their desire to live lightly on the land and by the conviction that they can achieve at least some independence from big agri-business.

This year, I am beginning to redesign and integrate various elements of my garden surroundings. I’ll try to think of my activity as a practice rather than a chore. Perhaps I’ll create a shrine to the permaculture gods in the centre of it all. And I’ll remember to repeat Russell’s mantra: “Permaculture is a healthy lifestyle, a way to self-sufficiency, and a return to harmony with our surroundings.”

For links to more information about permaculture and its principles, as well as Russell Scott’s seminars at the Ecology Retreat Centre, go to inthehills.ca continued on next page IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

27

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here is some native lore that says, “Five generations with a plant and it becomes your ally.”

Ten years on, George and Liz Knowles’ 300 head of garlic line up like a small green allied army. In early May, already knee-high to the sky, they are weeks ahead of everything else in the rich black soil.

In the expansive perennial beds leading to the vegetable garden, other early risers – narcissus, grape hyacinth and tulips – are already lush in bright yellows, deep blues and purples. The whole of Larkspur Hollow, resting in a crescent-shaped bowl in Hockley Valley, feels a month ahead of its surroundings. Its harmonious symphony of colour and texture is nothing short of breathtaking.

“The first lie is that Liz isn’t interested in any more beds,” says George.

“And the second is that all this is low maintenance.” He gestures over the acre and a half of cultivated gardens that have been cut out from the surrounding nine acres of forest.

Like several other couples I’ve come

T

across, George tends to do the berries, rhubarb and vegetables, and Liz to the flowering perennials and herbs.

“It’s not that the men don’t like flowers,” says Liz “It’s because they’re growing food!”

George corrects, “It’s because men have the strong backs and weak minds.

And we take instructions.”

In fact, theirs is not a rigid division of labour. Both take a keen interest in the activities of the other, and help out as necessary. For example, George built the compost boxes, but Liz manages the turning.

The Knowles arrived in Hockley Valley in 1976 with one daughter and another expected, as well as twelve chickens and a rooster in tow. George remembers well the effort it took to make the one-time scout camp garden-ready. First went the privies and then the summer kitchen. Hidden beneath the soil was the bane of many an Ontario rural property owner, a garbage dump. “We found a diary from 1937 and a bottle of Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound,” says

George. Some muscular old pines and apple trees from that period remain, and some hawthorns.

As the gardens have gradually extended further from the house, gravel paths curve up a gentle slope through the perennial beds and rock gardens and past a water garden, mature fruit trees and sculptural evergreens. The large 35-by-100-foot vegetable garden lies in a sunny meadow at the crest of the slope, sheltered by a high ridge in the distance.

The vegetable patch had an easy start compared with some of the challenges of starting gardens at Larkspur Hollow. In those early days, a local farmer came by to help, ran his two-furrow Farmall tractor back and forth, and said, “You’re ready to go.”

Onions, beets, garlic, lettuce, legumes and more supply the family kitchen from the now loamy soil, much augmented by compost over the years. The deer evidently enjoy the gardens too. The Knowles have had to marshal up hedges, page wire and a peripheral electric fence. “If

Geothermal is Freedom Liz and George Knowles amid the rhubarbs. Because of all the rocks, it’s more like excavating than digging, says George of his vegetable patch.

there is one deer, there are three,” says George, noting that deer can decimate favourite tender plants in no time.

The Knowles store and enjoy the root crop harvest all winter. And they protect tender leafy crops from frost with garden fabric and homemade wire-mesh hoops. One year they had fresh garden greens a week before Christmas!

During the summer, trellised beans grow up to the sky. Below them, George says he has tried ten varieties of potatoes – each variety, he insists, having a different flavour and texture.

All the work is done by hand, and there is definitely a touch of artisanal pride as George describes his trusty, traditional hand tools. Because of all the rocks, “it’s more like excavating the gardens, than digging,” he says.

“I turn a section and plant, turn another section and plant.” His favourite tools are a sturdy English digging fork, a long narrow rabbiting spade, regular rake and Dutch hoe.

The digging fork, a gleaming steel specimen with a reinforced userfriendly handle, leans against a fence post at the ready.

“It’s all meant to be wilder looking, the further you go from the house,” says Liz. There is a dampish section by the lily-fi lled frog pond, a xeriscape feel to the tamped and augmented sand in the rock gardens, and the welldrained slope is perfect for a succession of bulbs and mixed grasses. By season’s end, this hillside dry bed will have seen the rise and fall of red, white and blue bulb groupings, followed by exotic grasses that provide colour and movement right through the winter.

Elsewhere there are rhododendrons, azaleas, heathers and alpine plants – some recommended for Zone 6, although George figures Larkspur Hollow is technically in Zone 4.

Some of the Knowles’ most cherished plants are living souvenirs from their travels to “high places.”

“The wilder the better,” says Liz of their trips to Iran, Patagonia and Corsica, among others. They are fascinated by discovering flowers flourishing in harsh habitats. But just because a plant will grow in a difficult situation doesn’t mean it will do well in Larkspur Hollow. High desert plants grow soggy in Southern Ontario humidity. Others need prolonged cold or heat for their life cycles. Often the Knowles try several locations around the yard before a plant decides it’s home.

Liz’s long association with various alpine plant societies finds her deeply involved well beyond the Knowles’ garden borders. She researches and guides tours to remote locations as she follows her passion to see flowers in the wild.

Back at Larkspur Hollow, George and Liz are often asked how they can stand all the work. “When you love it, the plants, being outdoors, it’s all play,” says Liz. Follow the progress of Liz and George Knowles’ gardens on their blog, A Year at Larkspur Hollow, at inthehills.ca For information on Liz Knowles’ wildflower tours and to see her photo albums, visit wildflowerquest.com.

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continued on next page IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

29

Don’t wait for the next issue! visit inthehills.ca

Liz does flowers, George does vegetables – though they are always willing to lend each other a helping hand. Follow them both as the year unfolds in their expansive gardens in the Hockley Valley. A founder of Hockley Valley Garden Club, when Liz is not in her own garden, she researches and guides botanical tours, travelling with George at her side to remote locations around the world.

Bethany is the online editor of kidsinthehills.ca.

Along with her blog, she writes the new “Headwaters Nest” column in the magazine.

She has one son, lives in Orangeville and owns a web design/communications company.

Notes from the Wild

Don Scallen

Nest Profiles

A journalism professor at Humber College, Lara contributes engaging interviews with local moms and dads who live, work and balance the demands of parenting in the hills. A mother of three youngsters, Lara lives in East Garafraxa.

In the Kitchen with Chef Megan

kidsinthehills.ca

Lara King

Headwaters Nest

Bethany Lee

Especially for parents and kids

A passionate naturalist and long-time contributor to the magazine on the subject of local wildlife, Don studies the natural world through kayaking, photography and hiking. He is a science teacher with the Peel Board and vice-president of Halton North Peel Naturalist Club. He also raises silk moths, tallies turtles for Toronto Zoo, and is making his own property a natural oasis with native plantings, bird feeders and bird houses.

Megan Armstrong

Christine humorously recounts the trials she and her husband Wendall experienced on their return to the farm after a 30-year exile in Toronto. A self-described novelist-in-training, car-racing enthusiast and expert composter, she is also an accomplished chef who recently volunteered to serve in the kitchens of the Armed Forces in Afghanistan. With boot camp finished, she expects to be called up at any moment!

A Year at Larkspur Hollow

George & Liz Knowles

Red Squirrel Musings

Christine Thomas

Between seasons, you can visit the magazine at its online home where our bloggers offer thoughtful, informative, often amusing reflections on life in the hills.

The mother of a son and daughter, Megan works at Cara, the largest full-service restaurant operator in Canada, so she knows what it means to be “on the go.” Her blog offers quick and easy, seasonal menus that busy young hands can help prepare.

A doula and childbirth educator, Holly owns A Better Birth, located in Orangeville. Her blog will focus on healthy, natural options for birthing, food choices and wellness. Holly lives in Shelburne with her husband and baby boy.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

Jennifer will describe her experiences living in rural Melancthon with two children, including their transition to country living, cloth diapering, gardening and eco-friendly gift-giving. When not on maternity leave, she works with Earth Rangers.

The Grammar Nanny

Jean Hayward

Simple Matters

Jennifer Jansen

The Nurtured Way

Photography by Gillian Gauthier

Holly Haner-Lo

Stay tuned this summer for these new contributors

An Orangeville mother and grandmother, Jean works as a kindergarten teacher. Her blog will consist of short lessons that parents can do with kids to improve their language skills and – most important – to discover that grammar is fun!

It is never too early to discuss retirement options for healthy living.

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Call Sara Cronkwright for your personal tour and complimentary lunch.

519-941-8433 32 FIRST STREET • ORANGEVILLE

Take a virtual tour on our website

lorddufferincentre.ca

stone path curves gently past a tiny windmill, over a small footbridge spanning a water feature, then traverses a toy-sized rail line. The path continues to a larger yellow windmill. Beneath it jolly pink dahlias, marigolds, candytuft and blue alyssum shiver in the breeze of the turning blades.

Counterpoint in tidy rows are deep green, almost blue tomato plants, beans, kale and endive. This fantasy of a town garden in an Orangeville backyard has been a fortyseven-year labour of love for Ida and Dick Vanderaar, and it’s still evolving.

It all started almost accidentally. Decades earlier, one of their nature-loving sons came home with a pail of live trout scooped from a nearby creek. He dug a hole in the backyard, lined it with plastic, turned on the garden hose and briefly became a fish farmer. When the fish were gone, the excavation was converted into a flower garden. From there it grew.

“He does the vegetables and I do the flowers,” says Ida of the division of labour between her and her husband.

Although Dick has created an impressive patch of edibles, he still occasionally pulls the wrong plant when he “helps out” on the perennial side. His neat and intensely planted vegetable garden occupies about 500 square feet in the back corner of the approximately 3600-square-foot back yard.

The garden yields up an astonishing amount of produce for a small area, some of which tides the Vanderaars through the winter. Built up over the years with homemade compost, the vegetable garden is now slightly raised to lessen the battle with wandering weeds.

Each year both husband and wife experiment with additions to their respective undertakings. Several plants, such as potatoes, strawberries and raspberries, took up too much space. “We’d still like to try blueberries,” says Ida. The Vanderaars start almost everything from seed, although Dick remembers a year where Ida potted up over a hundred geraniums to winter over. She wasn’t always an avid gardener, though. Growing up in Holland, Ida was required to work on her father’s commercial tulip operation. His standards were quite particular. “I hated it,” she says. When her father visited his daughter’s Orangeville home, he made no secret of his opinion that their entire front lawn should have been in tulips.

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I M AG I N E A B E T T E R WAY o f L I V I N G

Dick and Ida Vanderaar’s vegetable garden occupies the back corner of their fanciful backyard in Orangeville.

While the scale-model windmills bring to mind another Holland landmark, Madurodam Miniature Village, inspiration in fact came closer to home. Dick had built a couple of small windmills, but was inspired to try a larger version after seeing one on a front lawn in Brampton. Since then he has built several for friends and family. He added the train about six years ago.

This spring, like every other, Dick had to hold his wife back from planting. “There is always a chance of late frost,” he admonished. Nevertheless, Ida is always up to hear the birds sing. Later on they share coffee on the deck and in the evening comes another tranquil time for the Vanderaars to observe their garden in the changing light.

Ida relishes the downtime. After all the work is done, to rest and enjoy the garden with friends and neighbours, says Ida, “I just love it, I am in my glory.” continued on next page IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

31

the Commercial Garden with a Conscience everal years ago, when a neighbour asked landscaper David Warburton to design a garden for his property, aesthetic considerations were soon put aside for a more synergistic project.

The neighbour, a restaurateur, and David put together a plan for an organic plantation to supply the landowner’s businesses with seasonal vegetables, herbs and flowers. Caledon Farm, located north of Alton, is now providing chefs, restaurants and specialty grocers biweekly produce deliveries during the growing season.

“It was kismet,” says David, adding, “You could have pushed me over with a feather.” It was a long-held dream of his to develop just such an undertaking, and it was a dream fuelled by the groundswell of interest in all things organic, fresh and local, not to mention the growing fascination among foodies for heirloom and ethnic produce.

Riffing off restaurant successes like Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California and Intervale Community Farm, a long established CSA in Vermont, as well as desiring to integrate the overall philosophy of selfsustaining permaculture, David conceived an intensive farming strategy for ten of the farm’s 160 acres. Four of those acres are now in production.

His plan involves growing vertically on trellises. A tomato plant, for example, is encouraged to grow up up up, so that picking is not all done bent over the plant, and the yield is literally higher. The plan also involves letting roots grow down, down, down. The beds were very deeply trenched and backfi lled with rich, imported soil. Narrow 30-inch-wide beds mean rows can also be easily harvested from two sides. Between the rows, gravel walking paths save on topsoil compaction, weeding, and reflect heat back up to the greenery.

David’s intensive layout and growing methods, including a pollination project (see story on page 39), are not only expected to increase conventional yields by 50 per cent, but to extend the growing season with the help of a greenhouse and moveable hoop houses. In future, chickens will provide fresh eggs for the table, and their nitrogen rich droppings will provide a catalyst for the handily situated composting piles.

All this comes after some massive earth-moving activity pushed aside enough gravelly soil to create the flat acreage and build a large, sheltering berm. David admits that the huge excavation represents anything but a holistic approach to husbandry. But, he says, “I like to think of it as the last gasp of the bad, old technology to make way for the new.”

David especially wants to demonstrate that a smaller footprint is possible with conscientious farming practices. He envisions a future where young farmers will want to be self-sustaining on smaller land parcels, and he’s convinced “they should be able to make a decent living on five or six acres.”

His gaze becomes distant and dreamy as David rhapsodizes on Caledon Farm’s potential as a demonstration hothouse, for both produce and concepts. It seems he’s harnessed the technological developments of the past with a harmonic vision of the future in which almost any edible plant you can imagine has the potential to spring from this place.

S

In early spring, David Warburton’s large hoop house is already bursting with fresh greens. As summer progresses the plants outside are encouraged to grow up, up, up.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

Chill Out - With a Sizzling Summer Read

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

By Stieg Larsson Published by Penguin

Available at BookLore Independents Matter

the Restaurant Garden o one recognized John Paul Adamo. The patrician young company president strolled through the hip new lobby of Hockley Valley Resort in gardening scrubs, gumboots and cap. He’d just helped plant a huge quantity of heirloom garlic in the resort’s massive new vegetable garden. It’s a fresh undertaking for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the revamped resort, and the next generation of Adamo family management.

A chef by trade, John Paul trained in Switzerland and Italy and apprenticed as a chef in Florence. In love with the practices of local sourcing and sustainability, he knew he wanted to bring this energetic approach back to his parents’ Hockley Resort. He admits it’s a big commitment. Modelling on strict Italian ideals, Adamo the younger is aiming for lots of homegrown produce, 95 per cent local sourcing, and a light footprint on the land.

He’s gathered devoted “locavores” for support. Chef Daniel Mezzolo glides briskly through the kitchen door.

“Dolce,” says the Italian-trained chef, smiling as he delivers fresh, fruit-studded biscotti and a delicate berry mousse, frothy with scented cream and herbed mint compote.

“Daniel knew what we were about immediately,” says John Paul. The new head gardener, Santo Bertucci, is a lifelong organic grower and family friend. Caledon Farm’s David Warburton helped with the plant list. And John Paul has sourced boutique Ontario vintners, eager to complement the collection of privately imported Italian wines.

The planned variety of vegetables on the two-acre site runs into a half-dozen varieties each of heirloom carrots, beets, tomatoes, squashes and beans. They’ll feed the seasonally evolving menus of the resort’s two restaurants. The menu in Babbo changes weekly, and the menu in Tavola with the diners’ wishes after they are invited to walk through the garden.

N

Hockley Valley Resort’s executive chef George Madalena, head gardener Santo Bertucci and chef Daniel Mezzolo are three happy men as they anticipate a summer of fresh produce from the resort’s large, new vegetable garden.

John Paul also plans to guide staff through the garden as its offerings come along, so that what ends up on the plate has been encountered from seed to ripened picking. It’s vital, he says, to understand what goes into growing your own, to partake of the organic processes of life from garden to table.

Glorious colours, textures, scents and subtle flavours are what come to mind, that suffusion of sensations and desires evoked by an amble through a village market. In fact this other piece of sensual indulgence, the luxury and bounty of a farmers’ market is part of John Paul’s inspiration. Running through October, the Resort will host a Sunday Farmers’ Market, featuring local growers and artisans.

John Paul is bringing back-to-the-land values on an ambitious scale for the agri-tourism trade. A more typical establishment in Europe would have around 20 rooms; Hockley Resort has 104. But big change necessitates big ideas, and for John Paul, the effort is dear to his heart.

“I know where we want to go,” he says.

True to his vision, the change is also a kind of tribute to John Paul’s parents. He figures a new generation at the resort requires a contemporary and fresh approach.

But funny that. It’s the delicious old-world tradition of growing your own and crafting your own menu, really knowing where your food comes from, that the younger Adamo is reintroducing to a new generation of Hockley Resort visitors. And John Paul’s father still moves quietly about in the background, sometimes with a tasting spoon in hand for the sauce, and sometimes elbow deep in flour, turning fresh pasta.

121 First Street, Orangeville 519-942-3830

Woodlot Management Natural inventories • Management plans MFTIP plan approver • Certified tree marker Maple syrup production Anne-Marie Roussy, M.Sc.

519-925-0439 hemlockhill@rogers.com

continued on next page IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

33

the Gardens a Community Shares Heidi Torreiter and Theodore Theolis work at planting, while Adam Monid takes his hoe to the weeds in the garden.

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“Farming is the most important job in the world,” says Peace Ranch green spaces co-ordinator Heidi Torreiter. Along with the garden, the ranch’s green spaces initiatives include art, animal care and equine programs. Heidi notes that employment training opportunities aren’t readily available for ranch residents, and those in need of rehabilitation often tend to be isolated from the very things they need: a job, a friend, a home.

What better way to help provide all three than with this next phase of the garden’s evolution: selling shares to supporters, providing work experience to ranch participants, and helping to make the garden self-sustaining.

The farm share program, Heidi notes, allows ranch participants to be “providers” rather than simply net-consumers of social services. It’s a benefit of the “enterprise model” – a more holistic

Caledon’s Whole Village produce is available at the Orangeville Farmers’ Market on summer Saturdays.

strategy than in days gone by, when “treatment” simply meant hospitalization and, by inference, stigmatization. Nowhere is the success of the contemporary healing model more evident than on market day when, Heidi says, the beaming faces of both program participants and market shoppers set her heart “aflutter.”

In mid-May, the air in the greenhouse is hot and thick with humidity, the seedlings of pepper, kale, eggplant and celeriac look eager to get into the ground. The idea is to start small with the market share program. But if the exuberance of these seedlings and the smiles on market day are any indication, plans to incrementally expand will grow like perennials – with the passing years.

For information about participating in the Peace Ranch farm share, visit peaceranch.com, or call 905-584-9156.

he Peace Ranch CSA joins two other wellestablished CSAs in the Headwaters region.

The CSA at Everdale Organic Farm and Environmental Learning Centre near Hillsburgh is now in its eleventh year. Farm manager Gavin Dandy has acted as a consultant on the Peace Ranch program. Everdale’s Harvest Share program runs from mid-June to October and features options in share sizes and pick-up days; and it’s not too late to purchase a share for this year.

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For information about the farm’s Harvest Share, as well as the very wide variety of other farm-related programs at Everdale, visit everdale.org or call 519-855-4859.

ike Everdale, Caledon’s Whole Village uses biodynamic farming principles and also offers farm shares. The farm offers options of pickup locations and two farm-share sizes. Although it’s probably too late to purchase a share this year, you can purchase Whole Village produce every summer Saturday at the Orangeville Farmers’ Market.

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Visit wholevillagefarm.ca or call 519-942-0168.

Monica Duncan lives, writes and gardens in Adjala.

P H O T O CO U R T E S Y W H O L E V I L L A G E

or those of us who don’t grow our own, but care about supporting local growers, participating in a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) is a fun and socially engaged way to get your greens. By purchasing a share, participants receive a weekly pick-up or delivery of fresh, inseason, organic vegetables straight off the farm.

As the name suggests, CSAs involve throwing your lot in with the grower and sharing in the fate of the season. Bugs and blight may scale back some harvests, but in a better year, bumper crops are similarly shared out.

At Caledon’s Peace Ranch, a residential community supporting people managing serious mental illness, a farm share is starting up this season. It evolved from the farm’s kitchen garden and is the kind of “social purpose enterprise” the ranch strives to achieve.

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

35

DISCOVER

BROADWAY . . . AND BEYOND

There’s more to see and do

Downtown Orangeville

Dragonfly Arts on Broadway Join us for our Found Art Festival in July.

Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle.

Accessories, jewellery and sculptures.

Pia’s Bakery The gourmet lunch destination in The Hills. Organic breads and sweets daily. Sidewalk patio opening in June.

519.941.5249 189 Broadway dragonflyarts.ca

519.307.1258 177 Broadway piasbakery.com

The Chocolate Shop

Cabelo The Art of Hair

Indulge yourself with a tasty tidbit, or surprise someone special with a delectable treat.

Handmade chocolates and truffles. Gifts for any price range.

At Cabelo - The Art of Hair our commitment to our clients is a priority. Presented with the 2010 Environmental Sustainability Award for Business in Orangeville.

519.941.8968 114 Broadway thechocolateshop.ca

519.941.1125 98 Broadway cabelo.ca

Glasscraft

Bluebird

Custom-designed leaded stained-glass windows and door panels worked in the traditional manner. Repairs, classes and supplies.

No time to dine? The Bluebird take-out offers a full menu for you to choose from. Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday.

519.941.2505 159 Broadway

519.941.3101 519.941.5246 (take-out) 100 Broadway

A.M. Korsten Jewellers

Icarus Skate and Snow

Fine jewellery, custom designs, watches. Goldsmith and gemologist on premises.

Serving Orangeville and area since 1960. Celebrating 50 years.

We are the go-to shop in Orangeville for skateboards, snowboards, apparel, shades, watches, accessories and shoes.

We have moved to 94 Broadway (across the street). Stop by for a visit!

519.941.1707 163 Broadway korstenjewellers.com

519.938.8985 94 Broadway icarusskateandsnow.com

• • • •

Summer Solstice Downtown Evening Sidewalk Sale Friday, June 18th until 9pm Market on Broadway Petfest June 26th, Story Time in the Park Every Saturday morning in July Orangeville’s Annual Founders’ Fair July 9th and 10th Theatre Orangeville Musical Young Company Presents Tom ‘N Huck July 23rd and 24th

discoverbroadway.ca marketonbroadway.ca | theatreorangeville.ca Greystones Inn & Spirits Pub Open 7 days a week. Spirits Pub, Red Feather Pub, Patio Feature Nights. Wed: Ladies Night, 1/2 price feature wine, cocktails & apps. Thurs: Import draft features. Fri & Sat: Live entertainment.

Orangeville Inn & Suites

Euphoria Euphoria smoothies - your daily dose of common sense.

100% natural fruit smoothies and organic fair trade coffee.

Light breakfast, lunch menu.

Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free options.

519.941.2235 63 Broadway greystonesinn.com

519.938.5554 16 Mill Street euphoriaorangeville.ca

Pear Home

The Manhattan Bead Company

Introducing Pandora Jewellery: bracelets and necklaces with handmade charms make Pandora so easy to personalize.

It’s the perfect gift.

Now at Pear Home.

Please visit us for all your beading needs!

519.941.1101 185 Broadway pearhome.ca

519.943.1299 111 Broadway manhattanbeadco.com

Café Bella

Academy of Performing Arts

Meet with friends, relatives and business associates and enjoy our casual, friendly ambience.

We can also provide panini, sandwiches, salads and desserts for your office meetings and functions. Breakfast all day!

519.941.0300 85 Broadway

Noinkees Noinkees...the thoughtful purchase. We offer unique, fair trade, earth friendly, Canadianmade clothing, accessories, jewellery, bath & body, toys, and gifts for women, moms2B, kids & infants.

519.942.4456 168B Broadway - through the tunnel noinkees.com

Fun, inspirational atmosphere!

Children and adult classes.

Hip-hop, ballet, tap, acro, vocal, musical theatre, ballroom and more. Now offering summer camps and adult yoga classes.

519.941.4103 133 Broadway academyofperformingarts.info

Best Western Orangeville Inn & Suites Event and banquet facilities for up to 300 people. Unrivalled business amenities. Swimming pool and fitness centre.

Gourmet catering. Relaxing spa.

519.941.3311 7 Buena Vista Drive bestwesternorangeville.com

Horses in the Hills presents DESTINATION EQUITATION September 11th to September 18th

A Celebration of All Things Equestrian • 3rd annual Headwaters Stable Tour • Breeders’ Parade of Horses • Equestrian Fair • Seminars, clinics & demonstrations • Industry forums

www.horsesinthehills.ca

38

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

*and other pollinating insects to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for keeping food on the tables of the human race!

BY D O N S C A L L EN

Thirty years ago Mark van Trigt of Seventh Heaven apiary in Mono loaded the back seat of an old Volkswagen Beetle with cages of bees purchased from a beekeeper in Aurora. He and his brother and sister had plans. His dad had recently retired. Beekeeping seemed just the ticket to keep him occupied. So van Trigt and his brother were now on their way to Owen Sound, their home at the time, with a stash of bees.

Shortly into the three-hour trip, some of the bees, chafing at their confinement, managed to slip out of the cages. The interior of the Beetle was soon abuzz. Van Trigt remembers thinking, “Omigod, what are we doing?�

The careful insect ’midst his works I view, Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew, With golden treasures load his little thighs, And steer his distant journey through the skies. john gay, rural sports (canto 1, l. 82)

bumblebees

honeybee

pollinators continued from page 39

In a testament to great concentration, van Trigt managed to negotiate his way home without incident. He breathed a sigh of relief, cleared the car of bees and introduced them to his father. It turned out that though his dad was fascinated by the bees, he had little inclination to take care of them. That task fell to van Trigt and his sister. It was the beginning of a labour of love that eventually brought van Trigt and his bees to the meadows of Mono.

Beekeepers like van Trigt are the latest in a lineage of honeybee devotees that stretches back into the mists of time and spans the globe. And like most who work closely with the world’s most celebrated insects, van Trigt is passionate about his bees.

“When I’m out in my bee yard – and it can be very hard work, very hot sometimes – the bees just make me so happy. I love the fact that they’re living and thriving and they’re doing us such a service.”

Like Pooh Bear most of us equate honeybees with the sticky sweetness of honey and little else. We should pause and consider where that honey comes from. In her book Nature’s Little Wonders, Candace Savage quotes the almost unbelievable statistic that “one pound of honey represents the sweetness of about ten million blossoms.”

On average, Dufferin beekeepers harvest about 115 pounds of honey per year from each of their hives.

Exceptional hives sometimes produce an incredible 300 pounds or more. I’ll leave you to calculate the number of blossoms that represents!

40

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

red-tailed bumblebee

Using magical alchemy to transform nectar into honey isn’t all that honeybees do. They are also interested in the pollen of those numberless flowers offer, for they feed it to their brood. And as they collect the pollen, they serve inadvertently as the flowers’ sexual proxies, transferring pollen from male stamens to female pistils.

H

owever, honeybees are far from alone in providing this vital pollination service. Like most of us, honeybees are relatively recent arrivals to North America. They were passengers aboard the wooden sailing ships of European colonists. As they spread across the continent, the native people referred to them as “white man’s flies.” No doubt their expansion was assisted by the successful colonization of the new land by some of their fellow travellers, including dandelions and clover.

Prior to the arrival of the honeybee, a host of native bees and other insects provided the essential pollinating services. These insects continue to labour in relative obscurity for our benefit and that of natural ecosystems. They include the plush toys of the pollinator world, the furry bumblebees that, like honeybees, enjoy a communal, cooperative lifestyle.

Hundreds of other bees also inhabit our hills. Most are solitary, independent creatures who don’t depend on the intricate support structure of a hive to exist. They are a colourful and fascinating lot and include mining bees and mason bees, carpenter bees and sweat bees, leafcutter bees and long-horned bees.

Beyond bees is a menagerie of other

local pollinators. Wasps, reviled by many for their stings, are major pollinators; fl ies are as well, including the common bluebottle f ly. Many beetles forage atop wildflower heads and they too are worthy of acknowledgement. Butterf lies also contribute to pollination as they sip nectar, and their nocturnal counterparts, the moths, also play a role.

There has been a recent awakening here and throughout the world as to the importance of all of these pollinators. About three-quarters of the world’s flowering plants rely on them.

They pollinate most of the fruits and

Native insects continue to labour in relative obscurity for our benefit and that of natural ecosystems. They include the plush toys of the pollinator world, the furry bumblebees that, like honeybees, enjoy a communal lifestyle. vegetables that we enjoy. Pollinators are also vital for the seed production of such crops as alfalfa and clover that are used as forage for cattle.

Beyond this, the industrious pollinators knit together the fabric of the environment. Trees, shrubs and wildflowers depend on them to produce fruit and seed – bounty that then feeds all manner of birds, mammals and other insects. A decline in pollinators would have dire consequences for our local biodiversity.

Given their tremendous importance to our food supply and ecosystem, it is no wonder that stories of recent honeybee decline have caught public attention. Much ink has been spent warning of imminent doom due to something called “colony collapse disorder.” Books such as Fruitless Fall and A Spring Without Bees have hit the shelves. Lesser known, but perhaps just as potentially alarming, is the perceived decline in native pollinators, including bumblebees.

At a Dufferin County Beekeepers Association meeting this spring, I met an engaging group of men and women who, like Mark van Trigt, share a passion for honeybees. Their good-natured banter seemed somewhat out of place in light of the bad news in the press.

It was not that honeybee decline was unknown to them. Winter mortality, a major measure of honeybee health, has apparently increased in Dufferin as it has elsewhere. Whereas 15 per cent of bees could be expected to succumb during the winter in years past, the “new normal” appears to be more like 30 per cent, according to some club members.

Honeybees, like people, are victims of a variety of diseases and parasites.

Some of these pathogens probably accompanied them to the new world long ago. But others are of more recent origin, and like the human afflictions of AIDS or West Nile, have arrived from off-shore. One of the latest, first appearing in Dufferin County about 1985, is the ominously named Varroa destructor mite. This pinhead-sized arachnid pierces honeybee exoskeletons, sucking up body

SCHUSTER CONSTRUCTION 30 Y E A RS O F QUA L I T Y C RA F T S M A N S H I P

leafcutter bee

green metallic bee

About three-quarters of the world’s flowering plants rely on pollinators, including most of the fruits and vegetables that we enjoy. They are also vital for the seed production of such crops as alfalfa and clover.

fluids and passing on lethal viruses.

The Dufferin County Beekeepers Association isn’t going to roll over in the face of Varroa destructor and other honeybee threats. In fact, association president Darcie McKelvey suggests that “Newcomers have been attracted to the field in light of all the information about colony collapse disorder because of their concern about pollinators. Yes, honeybees are somewhat in trouble, but the story is far from over.”

The Dufferin beekeepers are actively seeking answers to strengthen the health of their hives. The speaker on the evening of my visit to the beekeepers’ meeting was Glen Ackroyd, a major honey producer formerly of Caledon East and now resident in Tara, Ontario. He stressed that, “Research appears to indicate that nutrition is key to the health of hives. Controlling Varroa mites and providing a well-balanced diet are important steps towards successful honey production.”

Various chemical and mechanical means are available to control the mite. What is still evolving is the optimum mix of such controls, a

regimen that preserves the health of the hive without tainting the honey supply. Van Trigt contends that Varroa and other problems are completely manageable if honey producers and beekeepers would only put “bees first.”

Van Trigt’s winter mortality over the last three years – the very years of colony collapse disorder alarm – have been astonishingly low, at 5 per cent or less. Like Glen Ackroyd, he sees a balanced diet as one of the keys to success.

He assails the big beekeeping operations in the United States who practise “pollination for hire,” trucking their bees from state to state to pollinate monocultures – almonds in California in the spring, for example, perhaps apples later in New York, and then on to Maine to pollinate blueberries. Like people, he says, bees need diversity in their diet. The wildflowers, trees and shrubs of Dufferin County satisfy this need.

In van Trigt’s view, when bees become mere units of industrial production, health problems ensue. Too many beekeeping operations “strip the bees of every drop of honey they can get out of them,” he says, “and then feed them back a junk food diet of corn syrup and a pollen-substitute concoction made up mostly of soy flour.”

Van Trigt eschews advice to offer that “energy-boosting” diet to his bees in the spring. Instead, if their spring honey stores are low, van Trigt gives the bees back some of the honey he harvested in the fall. Honey, after all, is a honeybee’s natural food.

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continued on next page IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

41

The wild Bee reels from bough to bough With his furry coat and his gauzy wing, Now in a lily cup, and now Setting a jacinth bell a-swing, In his wandering.

greenbottle fly

paper wasp oscar wilde, her voice

pollinators continued from page 41

A

s much as he loves honeybees, Mark van Trigt is also taken by the various wild bees that visit the flowers around his home in Mono.

And he admits that honey bees “don’t fi ll every niche in pollination.” That is why attracting native bees will be front and centre at Caledon Farm, an intriguing enterprise that has hired van Trigt as a pollination consultant.

This farm, located on Main Street between Orangeville and Alton, produces fruit and vegetables for Toronto restaurants and specialty grocers.

According to part owner David Warburton, the practices on the farm are guided by the principles of permaculture.

Permaculture seeks to “replicate complete environmental systems,” says Warburton. Using nature as a model, the farm will feature a wide diversity of crops, and compost and manure will take the place of artificial fertilizers as much as possible.

Every effort will be made to establish natural, sustainable interactions between animals, insects and plants to create a functioning ecosystem.

Pollination is a fundamental way to strengthen these natural interactions.

This is where van Trigt’s expertise comes in. He will help Warburton establish an apiary on site and will endeavour to make the farm a haven for wild pollinators as well.

Bumblebees will be needed to pollinate the tomatoes. Unlike honeybees, bumblebees will readily enter the hoop houses where the tomatoes will be grown. Bumblebees are also far better at pollinating tomatoes than honeybees. They use a process

42

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

flower fly

called “sonification,” basically shaking the dickens out of a f lower to release its pollen.

Van Trigt hopes that surveys of the farm site will reveal enough resident bumblebees to do the job. Though it is possible to buy commercially reared bumblebees, van Trigt would rather not. Such bumblebees can carry disease and parasites that may infect wild populations.

Van Trigt will also survey the site for other native bees and “try to accommodate them by providing them with the homes, plants and building materials that they need.”

Mason bees, for example, use mud to build the cells that house their eggs and larvae. So areas of clay soil will be left open for their benefit.

Van Trigt laments that even gardeners who appreciate native pollinators often cover all bare patches of ground with mulch, denying the mason bees their building material.

Like people, bees need diversity in their diet. The wildflowers, trees and shrubs of Dufferin County satisfy this need.

“Leafcutter bees, also notable pollinators, have specific plants that they really like for rolling a leaf-tube to lay an egg inside,” says van Trigt. Roses are favourites and will be planted at the Caledon farm to furnish the leaves necessary to make leafcutter bees happy.

Because leafcutters make small oval holes in rose leaves, van Trigt understands why rose-loving garden-

ers might rush for the insecticide when they see evidence of the bees’ work. But he insists such reaction is amiss. Leafcutter damage is merely cosmetic and no danger to the health of the roses.

Mark van Trigt will also attract native bees to the farm by providing them with accommodation. Mason bees, leafcutter bees, orchard bees and others nest in holes in wood. Homes will be provided by drilling holes in chunks of non-pressure-treated wood with little roofs to shed the rain.

They’ll be elevated about three or four feet and facing southeast to catch the morning sun. It is hoped that these bee-friendly practices – which can easily be copied in your backyard – will become an important part of the farm’s permaculture practice.

V

ictoria McPhail of Pollination Guelph is engaged in a project that also seeks to attract and sustain pollinators, though on a grander scale than the one underway at Caledon Farm.

McPhail is a natural heritage technician with Credit Valley Conservation. In her off-hours she wears another hat as director of publicity and outreach for Pollination Guelph, an organization “dedicated to the conservation and development of pollinator habitat for current and future generations.”

The creation of “Pollinator Park” on an old landfill site in northeast Guelph currently occupies much of this organization’s energy. It will contain the “first large-scale planned pollinator plantings anywhere,” says McPhail.

She says a primary goal of the park

Hybridized exotic annuals such as impatiens, petunias, marigolds and the like are about as appealing to pollinators as silk flowers.

They may be pretty, but they contribute little or nothing to the health of the environment.

is to “educate city officials and people in the community about the need for pollinator habitat and protecting pollinators.”

Pollinator Park will be founded on principles that can be duplicated on a smaller scale by anyone on their farms and in their gardens or natural areas. There will be a wide diversity of native flowering plants – shrubs, trees and wildflowers to meet the needs of honeybees and the native pollinators.

Flowers of many different shapes and colours will aim to satisfy the needs of various pollinators. For example, with their short tongues, bumblebees need flowers with shallow “nectar wells,” because they can’t reach inside the tubular blossoms favoured by their long-tongued cousins.

The flowers will be chosen to bloom from early spring into the fall, ensuring a constant supply of pollen and nectar for the winged throngs.

And flowers of the same species will be planted in “bundles” or patches to act as visual beacons to the pollinators.

What won’t be found in Pollinator Park are the hybridized exotic annuals so often the flowers of choice in

TA C H I N I D F LY, G R E E N B O T T L E F LY, PA P ER WA S P A N D S W E AT B EE P H O T O S D O N S C A L L EN

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suburbia. Most of those – impatiens, petunias, marigolds and the like – are about as appealing to pollinators as silk flowers. They may be pretty, but they contribute little or nothing to the health of the environment.

Like Caledon Farm, Pollinator Park will also provide the other things pollinators need, says McPhail. “We’ll put up nest boxes for twig-nesting bees and leave areas of exposed soil for ground-nesting bees, for example.”

The end result, and a goal all of us can embrace in our own patches of earth, will be “an increase in fruit and seed production helping the whole food chain. This will be like a wildlife reserve where birds come in and eat the insects and seeds. It will become a fully functioning ecological community supporting all different types of animals and plants.”

McPhail envisions a future when owners of properties large and small will consciously consider pollinators in their landscaping plans. She looks forward to a network of “green backyards that will enable bees to travel from place to place within our towns and cities.” It’s a future worth aspiring Holes drilled in logs make for an attractive home for many native bees.

to. Creating pollinator habitat in our own yards and public spaces is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways that individuals and communities can help heal nature.

It is also a fascinating way to bring natural diversity to our doorsteps. I predict that “pollinator watching” will grow in popularity over the coming years, just as butterfly and dragonfly watching recently has. Watching the pollinators is like bird watching, though admittedly on a rather Lilliputian scale! Pollinators are as beautiful as birds and immeasurably more diverse.

Late summer fi nds me sitting for long periods of time in front of a wildflower called boneset in my backyard.

The pollinator traffic is constant – honeybees, bumblebees, leafcutter bees, wasps, beetles and a host of other tiny fliers that I have yet to identify.

For me, watching pollinators is a feel-good experience, akin perhaps to the ineffable happiness that Mark van Trigt feels when he is working with his honeybees. Maybe these positive feelings are due to “biophilia,” a term coined by the great naturalist E.O. Wilson to describe an instinctive bond between humans and nature.

Welcoming the vital pollinators into our midst can only strengthen this bond. ≈ Don Scallen is a naturalist who teaches elementary school science in Brampton.

You can read his regular blog, “Notes from the Wild,” at inthehills.ca.

To find out more about pollinators and pollination, see the links with this article at inthehills.ca.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

43

H O M E G R O W N

I N

T H E

H I L L S

by Nicola Ross

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

I

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With about 500 meals now being served at the popular dinner, the United Church Women (UCW) were faced with a mountain of dirty dishes.

Church kitchens, when used to prepare food for church functions, are exempt from the regulations that health officials demand from other “commercial” kitchens. But the ladies were nonetheless concerned that rules might change. They wanted an industrial dishwasher.

Barb and the committee already had plans brewing to create a community garden that could supply

some of the church’s needs when the UCW’s dishwasher idea captured her imagination. She explains, “A little voice said to me that maybe it’s time to create a community kitchen.”

So the committee applied to the Town of Caledon’s Green Fund for the money it needed to upgrade the kitchen to certifiable standards and included plans to create a 4H Baking Club. When a church elder, Esther Downey, passed away and willed some money to the church, they had the sum they needed.

The industrial dishwasher cost them about $11,000 once they had figured out all the associated plumbing and wiring. They put in a large double stainless-steel sink and a handwashing station, upgraded the floor, and had money left over to purchase some excellent small appliances.

The wall behind the main working counter is lined with an impressive array of shiny mixers, blenders and processors.

Last September, Peel Health certified the Palgrave kitchen, and Barb, the Palgrave Environment Commit-

P H O T O S P E T E PAT ER S O N

Chef Services

t’s not hard to imagine Barb Imrie as a young Girl Guide.

When I visited her in the new community kitchen in the basement of the Palgrave United Church, this mother of three teenagers was elbow-deep in a batch of blueberry and cranberry muffins.

They were for the potluck lunch that would complement the congregation’s annual general meeting later that day.

We had a few private moments before churchgoers started to arrive carrying their slow cookers filled with hot soup and wooden bowls ready for salad greens. With her long red hair hastily pulled back in a youthful ponytail, Barb directed traffic in the busy kitchen with an ease that suggested she likely organized Girl Guide cookie drives too. A smudge of flour decorated her chin.

Barb is chair of the Palgrave United Church Environment Committee, which, as readers may recall, was the force that helped convert the church’s annual turkey supper from a meal that would have made Mr. Swanson proud to one that sources almost all of its main ingredients from within a ten-mile radius of the village (one of the reasons, the committee members were included among this magazine's Local Heroes in 2008).

from left : Saverio (13), Eva, Russell, Heather, Amanda, Mia (7), Barb and Ruth peel, cut, chop, scoop and stir at a recent soup bee held at the community kitchen.

tee and the 4H Baking Club were in business. Their grand opening took place on December 13. Since then more than 400 people have used the community kitchen.

The Beavers have baked cookies, Barb and her husband Russell made butternut squash soup for Christmas presents, and the kitchen hosted a fair-trade chocolate-cake-baking workshop. They have also held two food handlers’ courses and Barb says she is now one of twenty-three people with “certified hands.”

But it’s the 4H kids who have been the largest presence. Plans were that once a week this group of 10- to 19year-olds would spend an evening learning the ups and downs of baking.

Soon after they began, however, the members elected to narrow their horizon. Baking was okay, but pizza was better. So they morphed into the 4H Pizza Club and have been happier ever since.

Kori de Boer, the 16-year-old daughter of Caledon councillor Nick de Boer, is one of the 4Hers. When I asked her why she participated, Kori replied with the deadpan directness of a teenager, “Because I like doing 4H and I like pizza.”

Kori’s favourite is pepperoni and bacon, and she’s been able to show off her skills at home. “I think I’ve made it three or four times for my family,” Kori told me, and there seemed to be a hint of pride in the voice of this young woman who says she’d like to farm when she grows up.

The committee’s plans for the kitchen sound remarkably sustainable.

To support the monthly community dinners, canning bees, cooking classes and other events, the committee is planting a small kitchen garden that will supply herbs and other basic cooking ingredients. The committee’s

larger dream will come true when the new Albion Hills Community Farm and Learning Centre is growing a good proportion of the produce the kitchen can use.

Together with Caledon Countryside Alliance, the environment committee was successful in a bid to take over the farm at Albion Hills Conservation Area. Initially, unprocessed produce grown on the site will be sent to the Palgrave kitchen. There it will be washed, peeled, chopped, diced and otherwise made ready for the conservation area’s kitchen, which feeds some 60,000 meals a year, mostly to kids attending programs at the field centre. Other plans for the farm include the development of allotment gardens.

With all of this activity, the Palgrave kitchen will be a pretty active place.

Nonetheless, Barb hopes that other food producers will use it too.

Currently, health rules dictate that food products sold to the public must be prepared in a certified kitchen.

(There are some exceptions such as products sold at farmers’ markets and for church functions.)

Caterer and Palgrave resident Sarah Caylor has to cook in her customers’ kitchens because her own kitchen is not yet certified. Although the $20 per hour fee (to a maximum of $100) to rent the Palgrave kitchen would add to her independent costs, Sarah is enthusiastic about the concept: “I think it’s a great idea for people who want to hold a canning bee or a cooking class.” She also agrees that if a few people could come together to share the kitchen – and the fee – that could work too.

Not only is the kitchen proving to be a great community meeting place, it’s bringing home the green message too. As she clears a stray lock of hair, Barb says, “We almost have the church off Styrofoam.” The kitchen is Bullfrog-powered and free of nonstick cookware, which reduces exposure to phthalates. But this means that Barb is on the hunt again. Anyone have old cast-iron frying pans they’d like to donate? ≈

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

45

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w w w. v i l l a g e b u i l d e r s . c a

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

E D I B L E

H I L L S

I L L U S T R AT I O N S S H E L A G H A R M S T R O N G

perfect

by Rober to Fracchioni

Puffballs and zesty zucchini

As anyone who has a child or has been a child will attest, kids are rarely fond of vegetables. You might think a future chef growing up among the verdant gardens of Niagara might be an exception, but you would be wrong.

I subversively slipped as many vegetables to the dog under the table as I could, and fostered a special hate-on for two vegetables in particular: zucchini and mushrooms.

Soggy, slimy, seedy round slices of limp zucchini. Fleshy, sweaty, bland chunks of mushrooms. They were both reduced to one word in my kid vocabulary: yucky.

The beauty of being an adult is that you get to eat what you like. The beauty of being a chef is that you get to challenge yourself to turn something you once despised into something even you can love.

I start by getting rid of the trait perhaps most offensive to kids and to me: the slime factor. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but slimy things are rarely delicious.

To achieve crisp, zesty zucchini, the critical first step is to remove the seeds. Just like you would with a cucumber, slice the zucchini in half lengthwise, then drag a

spoon down the centre of the flesh to clean out the offensive slime-making seeds.

Alternately, slice the zucchini length-wise into quarters. Place each quarter on a cutting board with the skin side down, and with your knife blade parallel to the cutting board, slice along the pointed edge of each quarter to efficiently remove the seeds.

The flavour of zucchini is delicate and, if poorly prepared, blandness can easily result.

Your goal is to encourage the very zucchininess of the little zucchini soul, wake it up out of its stupor. A fifteen-minute marinade in olive oil and balsamic vinegar is all it takes to shake up this quiet little veg and make it sing.

Mushrooms, of course, come in many varieties and this time of year, my mushroom of choice is the wild puffball. These huge white mounds grow in the forests and gardens throughout the hills and remind me a bit of giant sperm whales: ridiculously oversized, uncommonly seen by most, and very gentle. Choose young puffballs, free of gills and pure white all the way through with no soft spots.

Like zucchini, puffball mushrooms have a

shy, earthy taste that can be accentuated with a simple marinade of olive oil, melted butter, minced garlic and a handful of fresh herbs. Choose an herb with a similar earthy warmth, such as rosemary or thyme. Above all, be gentle and use a light hand when it comes to seasoning or saucing these overgrown yet demure forest creatures.

Zucchini and mushrooms are summer vegetables and benefit most by using the definitive tool of summer, namely, the outdoor grill. Both have a high water content and, as a result, can easily suffer a mushy fate if cooked too long or over too low a temperature.

So be gentle, but firm. If you must sauté them, start with a very hot pan over high heat and toss quickly and briefly. Otherwise, stick with the barbecue and lightly grill just enough to produce a fork-tender, non-slimy vegetable that will reward you with all the fresh taste of summer and perhaps, the biggest reward of all, a “yum” from the kids.

Well, we can dream, can’t we? ≈

Roberto Fracchioni is the executive chef at The Millcroft Inn & Spa in Alton.

balsamic grilled zucchini 3 3 2 tbsp 2 tbsp 2 tbsp 2 tbsp 1 tsp 2 tsp

green zucchini yellow zucchini grapeseed oil (or vegetable oil) good olive oil aged balsamic vineger fresh thyme, washed, picked over, and chopped fresh ground black pepper kosher salt

Cut tops and bottoms off of the zucchini to remove the woody nibs.

Slice lengthwise in half, then each half again to make 4 long pieshaped segments. Place the skin side of each ¼-piece of zucchini

on the cutting board. The seeds will be in the top piece of each of these strips. Turn your knife parallel to the cutting board and drag your knife horizontally along the length of the zucchini, cutting away the seeds.

Place all the pieces of de-seeded zucchini in a bowl. Put all the other ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well. Pour marinade over the vegetables and let marinade for 15 minutes, tossing a few times.

Remove from marinade, let drain for a couple minutes.

Cook over medium heat on a preheated barbeque, removing from the heat while still a bit tough. Cut into more manageable-sized pieces.

Drizzle with a bit of very good olive oil, check seasoning and serve!

Serves 6 as a side dish.

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

47

H E A D W A T E R S

N E S T

by Bethany Lee

magic in the garden I L L U S T R AT I O N S H EL A G H A R M S T R O N G

A toddler makes

Power-hungry kids Nothing stirs a little boy’s or girl’s imagination like the “chug-chug,” “sputter” or “rooooar” of an engine! Here are a couple of events to introduce young farmers, tractor lovers and auto enthusiasts to power machinery of days gone by: The High Country Antique Power Club 4th Annual Show features Ferguson and Ford and other farm-related equipment.

Held at the Orangeville Fairgrounds, June 19 to 20. Adults $5, children under 12, free. (Must be accompanied by an adult) antiquefarmpower.com Centre Wellington Museum Antique & Classic Car Show takes place August 29, 12pm to 4pm. Admission $2 per person.

A much anticipated summer event, featuring a parade of antique and classic cars, entertainment, refreshments and car-themed activities for children and families. Come out for a close-up view of treasured vehicles on the big front lawn of one of the hills’ prettiest museums. wcm.on.ca

High Flying The public BMX park is now open in Orangeville for free summer fun. The park can be used by anyone on a mountain bike wanting to try out some hills and jumps. The BMX park is located on the Alder Street Recreation Centre property. Safety is a must, so ensure kids are wearing helmets. And expect them to come home dirty!

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will be honest about how I first saw my garden – I was snooping.

I am in love with houses and their histories. In five years of living in the hills, I was already in my second house. I grew up with parents who relocated, renovated, redecorated and then… relocated. So when a “for sale” sign went up down the street, I just had to snoop.

The house was not beautiful. Every room needed to be updated. The flat roof presented a problem. The once-modern cooktop could quickly meet with little fingers and cause burns unless children were whisked out of the area. Patterned wallpaper crawled up the walls.

But, oh, the gardens!

The back door slapped behind me as I walked out to look upon idyllic pools of shade, rippling waves of green, mountains of blooms, a trickling stream with a bridge – all in downtown Orangeville. The gardens were absolutely magnificent, a wonderland for raising a child.

Thirty days later we closed the deal.

That summer, with halting confidence, my twoand-a- half-year-old son and I poked and prodded the garden. It seemed straightforward, though the maps that the professional gardener presented to me held mysteries in Latin that would need to be decoded much later.

I lay on the bridge with my son until my ribs hurt, watching the water go by while he practised his numbers by counting tiny fish. We sprayed a simple soap solution on roses to keep the bugs off, watching for the “cat claws” on the stems.

We discovered two bunnies living under our mad lavender patch, and decided they were magical, based on the fact that they could disappear at will. Wheelbarrow rides to the compost pile covered my son in slick rotting leaves. I sighed and thought of the growing laundry pile. He delighted and squeezed and inspected.

Meanwhile, my internal perfectionist drive to maintain what had been created by the passionate gardeners who owned the property before had its own growth spurt. I had a babe on my hips and a business to run, but surely I could do some simple gardening.

I quickly found out that it wasn’t so simple. I felt

panicky as the garden pulsed and grew. It grew wildly, madly, and out of control. Borders became undefined, groundcovers threatened to choke out prized blooms (names still unknown). I scolded my son when he hid among the giant heucheras and trampled the variegated hostas. Mornings brought fresh guilt as I looked out and saw weeds that had popped up overnight.

When my son decided he would create a magic garden himself, it seemed that it would be just one more thing to weed and care for. I felt exasperation as I looked on. He took soil from the garden and poured it into an ugly plastic pot. He planted stones in it, snail shells, and a half-burned wooden kabob stick.

“Nothing will grow!” I warned him sternly. (I told myself that it wasn’t because it was an eyesore; I just didn’t want him to be disappointed.)

“It will grow, Mom. The magic bunnies that live in the lavender will help it,” he said. He blessed it as his “Hippity-Hop Garden.” His blue eyes looked into mine with excitement and hope.

I sighed and we put the Hippity-Hop Garden in a place of honour.

Over the summer, I started to learn Latin names. I researched (somewhat successfully) which hydrangeas should be cut when. I learned that groundcovers can take a ruthless beating and still come back for more.

More than once, my son hand-delivered posies of dandelions and grass, mixed in with prize velvetyblack irises. I couldn’t be angry at the sweetness and joy that his creative picking brought him.

And while I learned about my little piece of land that

first year, my son learned more first-hand than I could have imagined about plants and animals. His garden creation was inspected daily and watered with care. Tiny treasures were added by his little hands.

Little sprouts began to emerge from the soil. “It’s magic!” he exclaimed.

We talked about what it meant to tend to gardens and care for plants. Growing up mostly in rural Ontario, I had watched gardens of the floral and vegetable varieties come and go. Fields of hay and grain were toiled upon by groups of hard workers. I was pleased have the opportunity not only to explain the growth cycle to him, but to watch it happening before our eyes.

Fall burgeoned. Apples grew and fell. A dead bird presented a life (and death) lesson, and we buried the sweet lifeless body in the compost pile. Of course, the use of compost and manure for fertilization continued to be of particular interest for my son.

As he inspected his Hippity-Hop garden, the weedy grasses now dried out and brittle, he turned to me with a smile.

“Next year,” he said, “my garden will be even bigger.”

My son had learned that tending to the earth was good work, getting dirty was okay, and that there is a simple reward to watching your garden grow. For me, one immediate reward was that he was often so pooped from sunshine and fresh air that he went straight to bed!

The long-term rewards are that we have become more patient and forgiving as mother and son, and we know how to work together well. The haphazard garden my son created is a reminder that nothing is perfect and there is opportunity for growth all around us. Indeed, there is a touch of magic all around you when you are in your garden. ≈

Thank you for a wonderful response to kidsinthehills.ca! As soon as we launched this spring, we heard from you. Indeed, you have been looking for a centralized information resource for parents, grandparents and caregivers living in the hills. We’re happy that we are able to fill that niche with fresh content, great blogs and contests.

Be sure to visit kidsinthehills.ca this summer to stay up to date on events for children and families. Check out our local “Camps” section for ways to keep your children engaged and active while out of school.

We will also be hosting an end-of-school giveaway for kids. And finally, we will be introducing three new bloggers, Jennifer Jansen, Holly Haner-Lo and Jean Hayward.

They’ll bring you interesting, insightful (and sometimes controversial) commentary on their parenting experiences.

As always, we welcome your feedback, so drop by and leave a comment!

Bethany Lee is the online editor of kidsinthehills.ca, a sister site to inthehills.ca, where she also has a regular blog.

stice Make Summer Solstice ngest day of plans for the longest ummer the year. The Summer un takes place Solstice Trail Run ncial Park on at Mono Provincial June 19 at 7pm.. The event is h year! The run now in its tenth is organized by local business mily gals Kim owners and family es. and Karen Gillies.

This is a family mily event that sees lots of kidss and parents doing the shorter ter 3K walking route together, and runners of all skill levels hurtling urtling through the beautiful trails ails of Mono on the 5K or 10K K routes.

Celebrate outside de until sunset with family and d friends – what could be better? summersolsticetrailrun.ca cetrailrun.ca

Hike, swim, explore xplore galore A free-play -play day of hiking, swimming, ng, exploring and picnicking might be just what the familyy needs. Our beautiful conservation ervation areas in the hills are looked ooked after by four conservation on authorities.

Visit the following ing websites for hours, events ts and admission prices. es.

We’ll make you smile

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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it’s called community-based planning, and with it citizens hope to shape a sustainable future in the hills

BY JEFF R O L L IN GS

This sculpture by Kristina Priebe, 16, a Grade 11 student at Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School, was one of the winning entries in a competition sponsored by the Town of Caledon asking students to visualize the town’s future.

“We’re not a political organization, but we know that our work on community well-being will feed into the political process. Our hope is that the politicians will take it and use it.”

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

A

P H O T O S P E T E PAT ER S O N

IMAGINING THE FUTURE

s I write this a fan-created Facebook page touting 79-year-old William Shatner, better known as Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek fame, to become Canada’s next Governor General has more than 41,400 members. Shatner is well ahead of Man-in-Motion Rick Hansen who has 727 members, and the Father of the Reform Party, Preston Manning, who has 526.

The thousands who responded to the Facebook call to “back the Shat” are part of a new engagement by Canadians with public life. Another online petition, thi time calling on the federal government to cut off this serri killer Clifford Olsen’s old age pension benefits, serial gatth gathered 46,000 signatures in a matter of a few weeks.

T movement to recruit Shatner – who hasn’t even The saiid if he’s interested in the job – is part of the increasing said fluence of online networking sites, which are inviting infl mo or participation in the public process. So are blogs, more meed comment sections and YouTube. Access is easy, media an nd often anonymous. and H However, the Internet is not the only place this new dem m democratic zeal can be found. Here in Headwaters, sevve groups of private citizens have begun banding several togge together.

In person, even. Using their real names!

T purpose of the gatherings sounds like crystalThe ba ll gazing, but it’s actually called community-based ball plaan planning.

In differing ways, each group’s purpose is to havv a say in the decisions that are shaping the destiny of have ou ur region. They’re attempting to peer into the future, our picck and choose what they like, and then plot copick ord d ordinates that will propel the good ship Headwaters in thaat direction. that L Kirk, Spock and the gang, they’re determined to Like exp p explore new worlds; to seek out new life and new civiliza lizations; to boldly go where no resident of Headwaters has gone before. All without leaving home turf. has A Along the way, it’s a great excuse to visit with the neig neighbours.

A a nation, we’re a conflicted bunch. A 2009 report As n democratic engagement by the Canadian Index of on Wellbeing We el shows that only a little more than 7 per cent of us cclaim we have no interest in politics. Presumably, this me ea that over 92 per cent of us do. Yet, only 59.1 per means cent cen nt of us bothered to vote in the last federal election – an all-time low. Participation rates are even lower for proall-t i vincial elections, and lower still at the municipal level.

So while more people than ever are interested and prepared to get involved, they aren’t participating in the traditional political system. Instead, they’re looking for new ways to make a contribution. The rise of community-based planning groups gives them an opportunity to do just that.

The Mono-Mulmur Citizens’ Coalition, or (MC)2 – pronounced Emm-See-Squared, is one such group.

(MC)2 was born in 2000, when separate ratepayers groups in each municipality banded together to fight the threat of amalgamation in Dufferin County. In the early years, (MC)2 focussed mostly on specific situations, such as opposing a factory farm proposal in Mono, a proposed aggregate operation in Mulmur, and the spreading of sewage sludge on Dufferin farm fields.

One battle in particular seriously tested the group’s

Only a little over seven per cent of us claim we have no interest in politics. mettle. Test pumping by a proposed water bottler in the area affected some local wells. (MC)2 took on the issue and delivered a 7,700-signature petition to Ontario premier and local MPP Ernie Eves, demanding that the planned operation be put on hold.

Their efforts were successful; the province placed a moratorium on new “permits to take water.”

Along the way, however, the water bottler fi led a civil lawsuit against several (MC)2 members.

Such suits are referred to as “SLAPP” suits, or “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.”

Normally in such suits, the plaintiff does not expect to win. Rather, the purpose is usually to silence and distract critics with the cost and effort of mounting a legal defence.

Taking the threat very seriously, (MC)2 hired the best lawyer they could find, and though they eventually won, they also ran up a huge legal bill.

Board member Harvey Kolodny says, “We won big time, even getting the province to stop the water taking, but seven of our board members were held personally responsible for the cost.” Indeed, (MC)2 continues to fundraise for legal expenses.

“There is very much a hunger for citizens to contribute – and be part of – their communities.”

Since then, (MC)2 has evolved its role in the community. These days, rather than taking sides on specific issues, coalition president Don MacFarlane says that now “We see ourselves more in a communications role. We want to make sure that citizens are informed about important issues in the community, and that they have a chance to participate in the decisions being made.”

In an effort to do that, the group monitors every Mono, Mulmur and Dufferin County council meeting, reporting back to the membership about the goings-on. They hold all-candidates meetings at election time, publish a newsletter and issue other alerts about brewing concerns.

A couple of times a year, (MC)2 also hosts public forums, including a recent one on potential Greenbelt expansion. But perhaps the surest sign of the group’s evolving preoccupation with consensusbuilding rather than confrontation was the “Mono Visioning Conference” they hosted this spring to explore how citizens want their town to look in 2025.

The meeting attracted about fi fty residents. It was facilitated by an (MC)2 board member who is bucking the trend of engaged citizens who eschew conventional politics. Elaine Capes has filed nomination papers to run for Mono council. Capes says her children were a big part of her decision: “I want my daughters to know that they have the opportunity and the responsibility to be a leader in the community.”

Yet, only 59.1 per cent of us bothered to vote in the last federal election.

Participation rates are even lower for provincial and municipal elections.

Sylvia Cheuy, a paid consultant for Headwaters Communities in Action (HCIA), puts it slightly differently. Rather than leadership, she says, “There is very much a hunger for citizens to contribute – and be part of – their communities.”

Community-based planning, or to use her term, community collaboration, is an emerging option for people who in days gone by might have found that connection through more traditional volunteering opportunities, such as organized religion, the Women’s Institute or the Legion.

Established in 2004, HCIA bills itself as a crosssector, collaborative, grassroots organization. Its goal is to promote “a vigorous, sustainable and resilient community” in Dufferin and Caledon.

Under the initial leadership of retired Orangeville businessman Cam Ballantyne, the group attracted a large following of active volunteers, including numerous prominent names in the community.

After consultation with various community groups, HCIA decided to focus its first efforts on two areas: assisting with regional trail development and production of a community well-being report.

Based on the broad framework set out by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, and with inspiration from similar reports in other communities, the HCIA report will aim to provide a baseline measure of the community’s economic, social and environmental health. The selection of the critical issues and indicators by which to establish that measure have been the subject of wide cross-community consultation by HCIA over the past three years.

Although it’s been a long process, Marg Long, chair of the report committee says, “We haven’t lost many members. I’m actually pretty amazed, but people tend to keep showing up.” She feels that the social aspects of the group have helped. “Absolutely.

Getting to know people in the community has been a big part of it. I come away from every meeting feeling so energized.”

In Long’s view, the membership has a “tremendous amount of integrity.” And furthermore, because active politicians are not permitted, “There are no hidden agendas around the table. This helps ensure that everyone is heard, their opinions are equally valued, and we come to a consensus that will move the Headwaters region forward as a whole.”

“Everybody has a voice, and it leads to robust conversations,” says committee member Kerry Braniff.

“Even at our Christmas party we find ourselves in deep conversation about issues over a glass of wine.”

“We’re not a political organization,” says Long, “but we know that our work on community wellbeing will feed into the political process. Our hope is that the politicians will take it and use it.”

Holly Greenwood, HCIA’s other paid consultant, adds, “It’s difficult for politicians to make good

decisions if they only hear the squeaky wheels.

HCIA is in a position to provide the decisionmakers with unbiased information.”

As the Canadian Index of Wellbeing describes it: “This collective action can indeed be a powerful force – refocussing the political discourse ... helping to reshape the direction of public policy that will genuinely improve the quality of life of Canadians, and holding decision makers to account for whether things are getting better or worse.”

Meanwhile, down in Caledon, the planners seem pretty excited about the Community-Based Strategic Plan they’re developing. An introductory page on the town’s web site describing the process contains no less than six exclamation points!!!!!!

Unlike the work being carried out by (MC)2 and HCIA, development of Caledon’s plan is being driven by the town itself, with the help of a consultant.

Over the last eight or nine months, a series of public consultations have been held to hear residents’ hopes and dreams for the town’s future.

Looking ten years down the line, the town’s goal is to “achieve continued economic, social and environmental success in the Town of Caledon.”

Planning director Mary Hall says the provincial Places to Grow legislation triggered the work. “The growth plan created the White Belt (the portion of south Caledon that was left out of the Greenbelt) and some day, we assume, the White Belt will be developed. So councillors wanted a vision for that.

We’ve always used a community-based approach to planning in Caledon, so the planning department made a proposal to council to do a CommunityBased Strategic Plan for the whole town.”

In a relatively short period of time, they set out to get as many comments as possible from as many sectors as possible. Some 20,000 surveys were sent out, one to every property owner and business in the town, and an impressive 500 of them were completed and returned. A hundred organizations, from the Federation of Agriculture to residents’ associations to town committees to environmental, senior and athletic groups, were invited to take part in a stakeholder advisory group, and about twenty of them did.

Extending the conversation even further, the consultant sent people out to arenas and other public gathering points to speak informally with residents and encourage them to participate. And council attended five one-hour workshops on the process. As well, an art contest was held for students in grades six to twelve, as a technique to include the opinions of the town’s youth.

Attendance was slight at four town hall meetings on the topic, with the fi nal drawing the largest turnout of about fifty. However, Hall says that continued on next page IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

51

story continued from page 51

While the process has been municipally led, Hall points out that some elements of the plan are outside municipal jurisdiction. “Some suggestions from the community would certainly benefit the town, but we don’t have the power to do it,” she says. As an example, she points to health care. Some participants, including those who submitted entries to the youth art contest, envisioned Caledon having its own hospital.

As a result, simply preparing and releasing the plan, due in July, isn’t enough. Hall says, “The next step will be looking for assistance from the stakeholder groups to implement it.

sometimes a small turnout can be a good thing, in that people are more willing to speak up. “Small groups can have great ideas,” she says.

Patti Foley, president of Caledon’s Green T environmental group and a declared candidate for municipal councillor in Bolton, says “In all I’ve been very impressed with the efforts to engage the community in what truly is a distillation of what is really important to us.”

From what Hall describes as “a lot of dialogue,” six primary goals emerged, together with supporting objectives and actions.

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hen the Mono Mulmur Citizens’ Coalition, or (MC)2 , held its “Visioning Conference” this spring, it involved a lot of sticky dots and big sheets of brown craft paper.

(MC)2 is just beginning a process that other groups in the community have been at for some time. The Town of Caledon began developing its CommunityBased Strategic Plan last November, and expects to release its final report this July. Headwaters Communities in Action began work some three years ago on its Community Well-Being Report, and plans to publish the final document this fall.

While (MC)2 is looking at a small rural municipality (population 7,000), Caledon at a much larger municipality (58,000) with a more urban mix, and HCIA is considering the whole Dufferin-Caledon region (112,500), common themes have emerged in all three community consultation exercises.

At the Mono Visioning Conference, display boards along one wall each described a different element of a possible future for Mono. Participants were asked to place sticky dots next to the statements they supported most. Among those that got the most dots were “respecting the community’s agricultural roots,” despite the fact that farming has already largely disappeared from Mono.

Environmental protection was also a top priority, distinguished from another high priority: preservation of the rural landscape. The former focusses on air and water quality and the like, the latter more on scenic qualities. Encouragement of arts and culture also figured prominently in the priorities of Mono citizens.

All of these factors likewise emerged as high priorities in the community consultations conducted by both Caledon and HCIA. Economic prosperity is also identified as important in all three initiatives, but it is described with adjectives such as “sustainable” and “resilient.” That is, a healthy economy is no longer attached at the hip with “growth.” Indeed, containment of growth is another concept expressed frequently across the board.

One factor that is deemed critical to prosperity by all groups is the need for region-wide, high-speed internet access.

Although it’s something of an amorphous term, maintaining a “small town feel” is also cited as crucial to the region’s future. On “mind maps” developed by each table at the Mono conference (this is where the craft paper came in), at least one group envisioned establishing a population ceiling.

52

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

We don’t know about buy-in yet.”

As the years pass, and other issues come up, how will the plan remain relevant? Hall says “A lot of municipalities use their strategic plan to work through what the municipality is going

to do. If something comes up and it’s in the plan, it happens. If not, maybe we don’t focus on it at this time.”

So, will community-based planning be Headwaters’ salvation? Maybe. Maybe not. Be that as it may, it will, as Patti Foley says, “tell the rest of the world what we are about and what matters most to us. And that’s important, because if you don’t define yourself, someone else will.” ≈ Jeff Rollings is a freelance writer in Orangeville.

This sculpture by Aislinn Cicinelli, 16, a Grade 11 student at Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School, was a runner-up in the Caledon student art competition.

In Caledon, where the population is expected to nearly double between 2006 and 2031, the small town concept is expressed as “completing our community of communities,” by maintaining the town’s current urban/rural mix and applying “Smart Growth” principles to any development that does occur.

In its analysis of measures that enhance the “small town feel,” HCIA includes mixed-use neighbourhoods, downtown cores as a hub of activity, and preservation of architectural and landform heritage features.

Responsive municipal governance and involvement in community life are also significant concerns for all the groups.

However, there are also some differences in the three initiatives. HCIA has includes more focus on social health – issues such as poverty, diversity and mental illness. Caledon does make mention of primary health care, under its “live healthy” goal, and touches on affordable housing and aging at home, but does not speak directly to broader social concerns. At the Mono conference, the concept of social health barely came up.

Transportation, too, is highlighted in all three projects, but in different ways.

In Caledon, the talk has an urban flavour: provision of transit and sidewalks, street beautification and traffic management. HCIA identifies commuting as a community issue, and considers the negative social impact if Headwaters tends more toward becoming a bedroom community.

In Mono, meanwhile, conference participants suggested less, not more, was the route to go on transportation issues: there were calls to stop using winter salt and to stop paving any more country roads. Transit also came up in Mono, but the focus was on re-establishing passenger rail service to Toronto, and the possibility of providing environment-friendly rural transit to seniors so they could remain in their country homes as they age.

As is the way when it comes to visioning, conflicting objectives have also begun to emerge. In Mono, for example, residents expressed great support for living “green,” and for small scale, personal-use renewable energy production. In an ideal year 2025, they imagined the whole community being off the grid and no longer using fossil fuels. At the same time, they wanted to ban all commercialscale production of renewable energy, including wind turbines or solar panels.

HCIA faces an additional challenge. Over three years, they have amassed a vast amount of research. While it is hoped that all of the research can be made available on a web site, it will be a Herculean task to distill the material and produce a meaningful document.

It’s early days yet for all these initiatives. Whether they effect real change, or just turn out to be feel-good exercises, remains to be seen.

Still, the fact they are happening at all illustrates the strong sense of stewardship Headwaters residents feel about the place they call home. Perhaps, over time, fostering that will be the most important result of all.

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For more information about these local community planning initiatives, as well as other more broad-based organizations that promote citizen engagement and community well-being, see the links with this article at inthehills.ca.

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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H I S T O R I C

H I L L S

by Ken Weber

T

he temperance movement was but a smouldering ember in the nineteenth century until a piece of legislation in February, 1878 fanned it into a raging fire.

The Scott Act, named for the Liberal MP who pushed it through Parliament just months before one of the country’s best known imbibers, Sir John A. Macdonald, returned to power, established the principle of “local option.”

If just 25 per cent of the electors in a city or county petitioned for a vote to prohibit the sale of alcohol, then a vote had to be held and the result would be binding on the entire city or the entire county.

A PROHIBITIONIST’S DREAM The Scott Act was a plum for the “dries,” the supporters of temperance and prohibition. For one thing, it overrode existing – and very confusing – legislation, thereby closing loopholes for the “wets.”

Early in 1884, for example, Shelburne hotel owners were told the McCarthy Act meant only three of them could get a liquor licence, so the owners reapplied under the Crooks Act and got four with a promise of more! That kind of end run stopped with the Scott Act. Even more attractive for the “dries,” the Act mandated that a simple majority, 50 per cent plus one, was sufficient for victory. In Dufferin, that meant that the Shelburne vote, guaranteed to be a wet “No!” could be more than offset by a dry “Yes!” from Orangeville where the population was larger and prohibitionists were powerful.

The most delicious plum of all was that if a city or county voted “dry” as its local option, the legal sale of alcohol would be eliminated completely. Hitherto, both provincial and federal laws had merely fiddled with 54

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

the controls, but now things were different, so here in the hills the prohibitionists got right to work.

INTO THE FRAY Although the Act became law in 1878, legal rulings such as the one that decreed towns and townships were subordinate to counties and could not decide their own local option, delayed voting in most of Ontario until 1884. Both “wets” and “dries,” especially the latter, used the time to crank up their campaigns.

Local clergy thundered from the pulpit – no surprise there – but in Dufferin the newly constituted Sal-

vation Army (locally known as the “Lord’s Army,” not always with respect) took it a step further. Members would march up Broadway and kneel in the street before the Queen’s Hotel, conveniently located within sight and hearing of five more hotels, to sing and pray for the patrons and their servers inside.

Other groups were slightly more sophisticated in their approach, although hardly subtle. The Royal Templars of Temperance, for example, ran regular performances of the wayover-the-top drama, “Ten Nights in a Bar Room,” in Orangeville, Alton, Erin, Bolton and Caledon East. As well,

touring temperance speakers were invited to camp-meeting rallies in hamlets like Camilla and Mono Mills.

Letters to the editor were a key element, with both sides appealing to the Old Testament. “Prohibition was the first law promulgated in the Garden of Eden!” Mr. J. Snell advised Bolton readers, prompting Joseph Vogan of Caledon to respond that the first thing Noah did after the waters receded was plant a vineyard and make wine.

Others placed emphasis on the New Testament, with several anonymous writers from Peel citing Jesus turning water into wine. Responding to this example may have over-stimulated a popular temperance orator, Susannah Pech, who is alleged to have told an audience at Perdue Hall in Bolton that if Jesus made wine we can use to get drunk, perhaps we don’t need him as a saviour! (There is no record of Ms. Pech ever speaking in Bolton again.)

Interestingly, the editorial position of local papers tended to be anti-dry.

While that was somewhat expected of the Brampton Conservator and the Shelburne Economist, it was a surprising position for James Foley of the Orangeville Sun. Foley was a temperance advocate, but argued that voting Dufferin “dry” could seriously endanger the livelihood of the county’s farmers because of the negative impact on sales of barley. (Foley’s argument was prescient; after many parts of Canada voted for prohibition in the 1880s, the price of barley – essential to distillers – dropped significantly.) Perhaps most interesting of all was the relative silence of hotel owners and distillers on the issue. They had the most to lose, but throughout the grand debate their collective profi le remained remarkably low.

I M G A E S CO U R T E S Y R EG I O N O F P E E L A R C H I V E S

In the 1880s, prohibitionists took the fight for liquor control to the voting booths of the nation. In the hills, choosing “wet” or “dry” became such a hot button that neighbours and whole communities were pulled in different directions.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time As a cure for what temperance advocates saw as a social curse, the Scott Act – its actual title is the Canada Temperance Act – was a total failure.

Through the mid-1880s, when Peel and Dufferin were taking their separate paths, most Ontario counties, indeed much of Canada (except Quebec) voted to go “dry.”

There were two immediate outcomes. One was the growth of a vast, illegal liquor trade; the other was violence directed at Scott Act enforcers who, in Dufferin and several other counties, faced gunfire and even dynamite.

Even relatively peaceful enforcement did not always succeed. At magistrate’s court in Wellington, for example, in August 1886, thirteen separate charges were heard, most of which were dismissed when witnesses suddenly failed to recall seeing liquor being served during the incidents in question.

Fortunately, the Scott Act had an escape clause in that a vote for “dry” had to be revisited within three years. By 1888, every county in Ontario had voted to abandon the local option.

APPLYING THE ‘X’

THE OUTCOME?

Until the 1880s, voting days in Canada were often marked by brawls, but the same government that passed the Scott Act (the Liberals under Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie) had also brought in the secret ballot, so on local option voting day (Oct. 23, 1884 in Peel; eight days later in Dufferin), the voters were safe. Not so for the ballot boxes, at least in Dufferin. In Mulmur Township, the boxes at Mansfield and Banda disappeared after the polls closed; likewise at Riverview in Melancthon, Coleridge in Amaranth and Ewing’s in Mono.

Needless to say, when the boxes were recovered, all contained a majority for the “dries.” Not that it mattered. Every poll in Dufferin County with the single exception of Shelburne, had voted “dry.” Peel, however, went “wet,” and in a big way. Caledon Township and the Village of Bolton were the lone polls heavily favouring prohibition. The others reflected a different view. In Albion Township, for example, for each voter choosing “dry,” there were twelve who chose “wet.”

For the very first time on a major legal and lifestyle issue, these hills were split. Peel, in the opinion of the most strident prohibitionists, had sold its soul to the devil. Yet as a “wet municipality,” the county experienced comparatively little difficulty with alcohol issues.

In Dufferin, things were different.

James Foley’s prediction following the Dufferin vote, that a hitherto wellmanaged commerce by hotel keepers would now be “driven into low groggeries and vile haunts,” was reinforced by the statement of a travelling salesman only a few years later: that one had but to name a concession road in Dufferin County and, in turn, he could name its illegal still. It was a difference in these hills that would prevail for years to come. ≈ Caledon writer Ken Weber’s best-selling Five Minute Mysteries series is published in 21 languages. He was recently appointed as special advisor on the concept and internal design of the Region of Peel museum and archives, currently under extensive renovation and expansion.

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The Ontario Temperance Act was passed in 1916 under Conservative premier William Hearst, a dedicated teetotaller. By 1917 every other province followed suit (except Quebec). Once again, a thriving bootleg trade arose, even more successful this time because of the many cross-border customers subject to rigorous prohibition laws in the United States.

The Ontario Act was repealed in 1927, but the illegal border trade carried on until 1933 when prohibition came to an end south of the border. Various forms of local option in Ontario continued, however. Orangeville remained famously “dry” for years. And as recently as 1966, Caledon Township voted down the sale of beer in licensed establishments where women were permitted.

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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In the mid-1940s, Hal Henry paid $75 for his first car.

It was a Ford Model A Roadster he had found abandoned in a haymow. It made him the first student at the high school in Lucknow, Ontario to have his own set of wheels. Unlike most young men, though, Hal’s first concern wasn’t mechanical. He didn’t dive under the hood to get the neglected old car running – his father would take care of that. No, his first concern was æsthetic. He gave it a paint job.

Hemlock Bluff, Algonquin Park, acrylic 18" x 24" Martha’s Garden, acrylic, 2o" x 16" Old Mill at Sutton, Ontario, oil, 8" x 1o"

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Some sixty years later, the exhibition of Hal’s artwork this summer at Dufferin County Museum and Archives proves just how completely the die was cast those many years ago. The retrospective, titled Hal Henry: Dufferin’s Renaissance Man, reveals a life characterized by a creative heart and gifted mind. As DCMA manager Darrell Keenie describes him: “Hal is a kind of Daniel-Boone-meetsR hodes-scholar-meets-poet-meetsDelta-bluesman.”

Hal’s first career was in education, and although it lasted more than three decades, he fell into it by accident.

Following World War II, there was a shortage of teachers. Hal’s mother had been a teacher before she married and the school board wanted her to come back to take a one-room school in the country. There was a problem, however: the family lived in Wingham and his mother couldn’t drive.

Eighteen-year-old Hal had just graduated from a mediocre high school career.

One of the school board trustees came up with a plan: there was another oneroom school without a teacher, a few miles distant from the one they wanted Hal’s mother to take. Hal could drive his mother to school, and then continue on to teach at the other school. Hal’s mother talked him into taking the job.

He spent the next four years teaching in one-room schools, taking a couple of summer courses along the way. Today, he credits that early experience with shaping

his lifelong philosophy about education.

It was a philosophy he was able to put into practice when fate intervened again, shortly after he had moved on to an urban school in Georgetown.

“The second week of school the principal died,” Hal recalls. “The board invited me to attend a meeting that night, and they asked me to take a grade eight class, and become principal.” So at the ripe old age of twenty-three, Hal moved into administration.

Over the next decade in Georgetown, he also advanced his own education, eventually earning a Master of Education from the University of Toronto.

That accomplishment didn’t come without effort, though. He says, “I was almost a workaholic by the time I was thirty.”

Moving on to North York, Hal was asked to design and open Shoreham Public School – and with that he set about creating what, at the time, was a bold new concept for education.

Borrowing from his one-room schoolhouse days, the facility featured an openconcept design and “multi-age” school organization. It was located adjacent to a seniors’ centre as well as York University, and Hal incorporated both the seniors and students from York’s teaching program into the Shoreham classroom and after-school programs.

Another novel feature was that students meted out penalties themselves for misbehaviour among their peers, by way of a teacher-monitored com mittee. Perhaps

continued on next page

P H O T O S P E T E PAT ER S O N

most revolutionary, the school had no grades. Says Hal, “You soon learn that the graded structure, which still persists in most schools, has nothing to do with the learning process.”

The school opened in September, 1969, and Hal remained principal until his retirement in 1981, a tenure interrupted by one year-long sabbatical to study and report on schools in England. During those years, he also served as a consultant on the design of two other schools – one in Peel and the other in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Ironically, with an indexed pension, Hal says that after nearly thirty years of retirement, “I’ve now made more money on my pension then I ever did teaching.”

In the mid 1950s, Hal’s work in education also introduced him to painting. “I had a teacher on my staff at Harrison School in Georgetown. She noticed I did sketching on the chalkboard a lot. She said, ‘Why don’t you come to an art class?’ She eventually talked me into it after about a year.

“So I went to this art class and the teacher said, ‘What do you like to paint?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ So he told me to look around at his paintings to see if I got any ideas. I did that and told him, ‘I have a photograph of a red canoe on the shore beside an old stump up in Algonquin.’”

The teacher sent Hal home to get his photograph. He returned and set to work, staying an hour after everyone else had left. After reviewing Hal’s work, the teacher said, “I can’t teach you anything about painting. All I can do is tell you how to mix colour.”

At the teacher’s urging, Hal submitted that first painting to the Five Counties Art Show. It didn’t win the show, but it did win in Halton County.

“My first wife still has that painting,”

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

57

hal henry continued from page 57

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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says Hal. “She says she’s going to keep it until the day she dies.”

Hal has continued painting ever since. And just as one-room school houses shaped his view of education, so too does his rural background influence his choice of subject matter.

His art most often reflects the buildings, scenery, animals, people and artifacts of life in the country.

After a half-century, Hal keeps painting for the pleasure of the experience. “It’s the creative process. I just get satisfaction out of doing it for myself.” Because of that, he says, selling his work is not important to him.

Be that as it may, hundreds of paintings have sold. In particular, he has completed many commissioned portraits, including, he says with a note of pride, “a lot of dogs.”

Since that first painting, Hal has expanded into other media, and now works comfortably in acrylics, oil, pencil or watercolour. He describes his work as depicting “realism with careful attention to colour and detail.”

He has exhibited across southern Ontario and has studied and painted in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Perhaps painting also feeds Hal’s soul. A practitioner of transcendental meditation since the 1970s, who met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, he says “With painting, you’re working by yourself.”

Following Hal’s retirement from education, he combined the skills he learned building schools with the attention to detail he shows in his painting, and created a second career.

“I wanted to be an architect originally, but my parents couldn’t afford to send me to architectural school,” he says.

So, at age 55, Hal came back to architecture.

In the years since, he has designed, built, renovated or added to some forty homes in and around Dufferin County. His designs have earned a name, too. Even some second- and thirdhand owners in the region will tell you that they live in a “Hal Henry house.”

Hal’s own home, which he shares with partner Marion Middlebrook, is an example of his handiwork. Located in Orangeville’s Montgomery Village subdivision, the house appears fairly standard issue on the exterior. Inside, however, it quickly becomes apparent that Hal worked with the developer to remove walls and rearrange rooms, resulting in a comfortable, open space uncharacteristic of a subdivision house.

Window positions have been adjusted to perfectly accommodate antique furniture and the view outdoors. Hal works from a generous studio he installed in the basement.

Along one wall in the studio sits a large collection of harmonicas. Playing them has been another of his

Bailey, watercolour, 8" x 1o.5"

lifetime pursuits. “I learned to play from my Uncle George. I still have one of his harmonicas.”

About a decade ago, Hal’s harmonica playing underwent a major evolution.

For a couple of years, he and Larry Kurtz, a blues musician and founder of the Orangeville Blues & Jazz Festival, made regular trips to Toronto together to study blues harmonica.

“I’d been playing straight harmonica for years,” says Hal. Playing cross harp, traditional to blues, “is like playing the opposite of straight harp.”

Hal and Larry took their lessons from Al Lerman, leader of the multiaward-winning Canadian blues band, Fathead.

The lessons opened the door to a whole new world of music, and with typical Hal Henry drive and focus, he is now an accomplished blues musician.

Given Hal’s life as a visual artist, his passion for music may seem like an unusual departure. But, he says, “There’s no other kind of communication I enjoy as much as playing with other musicians.”

He now jams fairly regularly with the four-man band Dirty Cargo on Saturday afternoons at the Hardwick House in Orangeville. “Lead guitar Neil Board is a really good player.

He’ll play a riff, and then I’ll play a

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top : Back to the Farm Before Sunset, acrylic, 3o" x 18"

Peggyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cove, oil, N.S., 18" x 14"

riff on the harp.â&#x20AC;? Hal also performs on occasional Sunday afternoons at Erinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Busholme Inn. Surprisingly then, asked which of all his accomplishments has made him feel most alive, Hal chooses a decidedly less glamourous pursuit: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Probably the volunteer work I do at the hospital. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been doing it for about fifteen years, two afternoons a week. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;escort.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Pushing people around on wheelchairs and stretchers, mostly.â&#x20AC;?

Now 83, Hal credits remaining physically and mentally active with keeping him going as the years progress.

And he feels his most important role in life has had nothing to do with his creative or professional interests.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;fathering four childrenâ&#x20AC;? in two previous marriages. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Two of my children are in their early fifties, and two are in their late twenties and early thirties. My daughter Dianne is the oldest, and I have three sons: Eric, Byron and Sean.â&#x20AC;? He describes his relationship with all of them as â&#x20AC;&#x153;very close.â&#x20AC;?

That closeness is perhaps best reflected in the fact that, in one way or another, his children have all followed in his footsteps. Dianne is a teacher, while the three boys all attended art school and two of them are musicians.

Hal also has two grandchildren, with

a third on the way.

Hal and Marion have lived together for about fourteen years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We met at a line dancing class,â&#x20AC;? he recalls, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and we liked to jive together. We still dance whenever we get a chance.â&#x20AC;?

He remains an active learner, as well. Currently, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s taking a course on computers and the Internet. A shiny new computer has taken up residence in a little room off his studio.

Always an avid outdoorsman, Hal also continues to hike and snowshoe.

He and friend and fellow artist Helmut Koell can frequently be found hiking the Bruce Trail.

The wilderness is where heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to end up, too. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gone canoeing up in Algonquin with all my sons,â&#x20AC;? Hal says, and adds that when he dies, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like them to go out in the canoe and sprinkle my ashes on the water somewhere.â&#x20AC;?

Maybe the canoe can be red, and his friend Larry Kurtz can play some twelve-bar blues. â&#x2030;&#x2C6; Jeff Rollings is a writer in Orangeville.

Hal Henry: DuďŹ&#x20AC;erinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Renaissance Man, a retrospective of the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life and work, runs from June 20 to August 29 at DuďŹ&#x20AC;erin County Museum and Archives, Airport Road and Highway 89. See duďŹ&#x20AC;erinmuseum.com for details.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

59

dancing on the edge

Michelle Grierson and Kerri-Ann Paradis Hutton use bold, contemporary dance to explore emotional and social boundaries.

The result will be performed by a collective of young dancers this summer.

BY MI C HEL E GR EEN

Kerri-Ann Paradis Hutton (left) and Michelle Grierson (right) in rehearsal.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

D I G I TA L P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y B O H D A N P E T R Y K

I

The No. 6 Collective rehearses. Circling Bronwyn Stanowski and Claude Dunkley are (from left) Lauren Galea, Jono Orme, Brooke Clark, Nick Squire, Megan McCreary, Brittany Fenwick, Leela Scott and Jayne Davey.

University of Toronto, began the dance program.

“I teach a generic breath, spine, fall and recovery,” Michelle explains, “combined with a bit of [Martha] Graham, [José] Limón and some contact improvisation, so they receive exposure to various contemporary techniques.” Her interest in organic movement and authentic expression has led her to international study, most recently with a journey to Bali, Thailand and Cambodia to experience art and dance as a form of divine worship and meditation.

About half the dance students at ODSS are studio trained and half have no formal training when they begin the Grade 11 program, but they soon find that it is not technical expertise that Michelle is after.

“The idea is for them to find new ways to explore body awareness,” Michelle says, “and often the trained dancers find it just as difficult – or more difficult – to express themselves honestly and relate to one another.”

The continued success of the dance program is proof that Michelle is fi lling a gap in Orangeville’s dance community. “By the time they come to me they are getting frustrated with the lack of depth and meaning in their home studios. Teens need to feel that they have ownership over their work. They aren’t quite ready to choreograph their own show, but they are certainly ready to take a concept and interpret it into choreographic sequences.” Field trips to Toronto allow the students to experience cutting-edge dance performances that Michelle says “stretches their perspective in a useful and productive way.”

Michelle’s classes did just that for Kerri-Ann. She had taken dance classes for years as a child, but had not been introduced to contemporary dance before

joining the ODSS program. Michelle encourages her students to explore difficult subjects and worked with that first group of young women to deal with social and emotional body issues.

“I threw myself into it and it was the most amazing experience for me,” Kerri-Ann recalls. “It was expression through movement that we had never experienced before.”

After reconnecting, Michelle and Kerri-Ann realized that their personal lives and interests outside the world of dance had also grown in parallel during their decade apart. Both had received training in physiology and healing in the arts and do ongoing work with special needs children in a therapeutic, dance-oriented environment. They have an interest in yoga and both are married and mothers of toddlers.

Kerri-Ann worked as director of a City of Toronto creative movement program and was lead dancer and choreographer for Famous People Players. She is also a child and youth worker and, for four years, has held a full-time job as a residence counsellor for the National Ballet School. Meanwhile, Michelle completed a Master’s program at ISIS Canada (International School for Interdisciplinary Studies), the country’s first integrated arts therapy training program, and for several years she has taught a specialized expressive arts program for special needs students at ODSS. These experiences have coloured their choreographic bent. “We think and feel outside of the box of what’s expected and how we’re supposed to behave as dancers, as women, as part of society. And we go places where maybe other people might feel uncomfortable,” Michelle says. continued on next page IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

61

P H O T O P E T E PAT ER S O N

t is a poignant moment when teacher and student reunite after years apart. In 2008, when Kerri-Ann Paradis Hutton returned to her hometown and made contact with her dance teacher Michelle Grierson from Orangeville District Secondary School, the stars aligned and a creative partnership blossomed.

Currently the two women are working with a group of eight young men and women with the goal of presenting an outdoor dance performance entitled Falling Dark in early July. The dancers – some with previous experience and some without – auditioned in early April to become part of No. 6 Collective. Through dance, meditation, mental imaging and energy work, the program aims to explore body imagery through improvisation, as well as to teach some solid dance techniques.

“We initially worked with the dancers to see what they would bring out, because the piece will be based on their expression,” says Kerri-Ann. “We just help them along and then we come together and create.”

By the third rehearsal they had settled on the imagery of sleep and dreams and the concept that dreams can jump from person to person. Characterbuilding and choreographed movement round out the work.

This is the second major project Kerri-Ann and Michelle have developed since Kerri-Ann’s return with her husband and young daughter after a decade in Toronto. “I just felt I had to be here for some reason – that something was going to happen in Orangeville,” Kerri-Ann, 32, says.

That “something” turned out to be the creation of a small company called No. 9 Collective and a performance, entitled ‘CINCH,’ at the Rosemont Hall last summer. The company of four dancers will be part of this summer’s performance with No. 6 Collective.

Michelle Grierson, 39, always had a soft spot for Kerri-Ann who was one of her Grade 11 dance students fifteen years ago in the newly formed ODSS dance program. After graduating, Kerri-Ann became Michelle’s first student to pursue dance professionally, receiving a coveted spot in Toronto Dance Theatre’s student training program. Although not an arts high school, ODSS boasts a solid arts program that includes visual arts, dance, music, film and drama with a good base of instructors.

“The statistic is that over 80 per cent of the students are taking arts training at some point, not just because of the one credit that is required,” Michelle says. She has been teaching contemporary dance to Grade 11 and 12 students since 1994. The program does not require an audition or previous formal training. For many years it was a “girls only” group, but recently more and more male students have joined in. This year there were seven young men in the Grade 11 program. Possibly, Michelle says, due to exposure to the phenomenal success of such TV programs as “So You Think You Can Dance.”

The ODSS dance program has matured over the years along with Michelle, who was only twentyfive when she returned to Orangeville with a Fine Arts degree from the University of Guelph. She began teaching visual art and the following year, after receiving dance qualifications through the

dancing continued from page 61

haps – but in particular pieces.

All this might ruffle a few feathers in the still largely rural-conservative milieu of Orangeville. But Michelle’s and Kerri-Ann’s interests lie well outside the more conventional smiling, sequined dance entertainers/competitors. Instead, they offer local audiences dance as an art form that is raw, emotional and often explosive.

They agree their approach does not always generate a positive reaction, but that is not necessarily their aim.

Like intense drama, evocative music or unsettling art, the goal is to encourage spectators to contemplate what they are seeing – and any reaction is better than no reaction.

With the experience of the No. 6 Collective’s summer program and performance, Michelle and Kerri-Ann have plans to expand the program, possibly applying for funding for an ongoing summer project that offers a variety of dance experiences, similar to Guelph’s dance festival.

“It’s a nice long-term goal to shoot for,” Michelle says. “I don’t know what is possible with the local studios, but it would be fun and not competitive – just a space and a form for groups to contribute work. Especially teens – they have so much to say through movement and rarely have the opportunity to create their own work.” ≈ Michele Green is a freelance writer and former dancer/dance teacher who applauds the work of these artists.

D I G I TA L P H O T O B Y B O H D A N P E T R Y K

Forming No. 9 Collective and presenting ‘CINCH’ allowed them to delve into a subject that touched on sexual, physical and emotional abuse – work that they agree would not be appropriate in the school or dance studio settings where they teach.

Along with Bronwyn Stanowski (a former student of both Michelle and Kerri-Ann) and Claude Dunkley, they created a haunting, thought-provoking piece that explored the repression of women in the 1800s.

During the 2009 Orangeville Blues & Jazz Festival they decided to do a guerrilla outdoor performance based on an improvisation of ‘CINCH’ material. They had not been hired as part of the festival program and some spectators did not know what to make of strawberry-eating dancers dressed in Victorian lingerie.

“We didn’t realize it was the night of the antique car rally and it was perhaps not the best crowd to perform to,” Michelle says with a shrug.

They consider ‘CINCH’ to have been a success despite having left a few uncomfortable audience members scratching their heads at the end of the performance.

“I like to see how a captive audience will react when they see a piece,” Michelle says. “Kerri-Ann and I both like to break the frame of the performance space to connect more directly with the audience.” They fi nd that this is an interesting way to approach performance – not all the time per-

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The No. 9 Collective: Michelle Grierson (foreground) and Kerri-Ann Hutton Paradis, along with Bronwyn Stanowski and Claude Dunkley (rear) performed a guerrilla dance improvisation to the surprise of strollers on Broadway during last year’s Blues & Jazz Festival in Orangeville.

Falling Dark will be performed by the No. 6 Collective on Saturday, July 3 at 8pm at Kay Cee Gardens, Bythia Street, Orangeville. Free admission; donations welcome.

62

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

To see video clips of ‘CINCH,’ visit inthehills.ca. For futher information, contact Michelle Grierson and Kerri-Ann Paradis Hutton at no.9collective@hotmail.com.

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THIS SPACE SAVED FOR YOU!

**Broker of Record *Sales Representative 122 Main Street, Erin

TERRICE ESTATE! Fabulous rolling, private 74 acres in Mono overlooking 2 ponds with waterfalls. House features black walnut floors, marble counters, 9 fireplaces, 2 large outbuildings. $6.5 Million Jamie Gairdner**

ROCKSDRIFT HILL Erin, gorgeous 1899 double stone house with 7 bedrooms on 162 acres. Gated entrance, 3-bdrm gatehouse, huge stocked pond, large gated swimming pool, 5-box stall barn, large equip shed. $6.5 Million Jamie Gairdner**

PICTURESQUE CALEDON ESTATE! 88 acres with manicured gardens, pond, pool and 4,600 sq ft main house and 1,000 sq ft guest house. Spectacular views, 4+2 bedrooms with marble ensuite baths, master suite with library, balcony. $3.5 Million Jamie Gairdner**

CALEDON RETREAT! Total privacy on 10.4 acres, 2 stocked ponds, mature trees, ravine, perennial gardens.

Renovated Richard Wengel house, inground pool. Separate 2-bedroom apartment above garage. $1,987,000 Jamie Gairdner**

RARE OPPORTUNITY! This 15-acre property is on approximately 1,500 ft of Credit River frontage and boasts some of the most incredible views of the Niagara Escarpment. Lovely 3+2 bedroom home with wrap-around porch. $1,795,000 Jim Wallace*

STUNNING CALEDON HOME! On 10 acres of rolling hills, this 3,500 sq ft home has had many upgrades, granite slate radiant floor heating. 2-bdrm apartment above garage with sep entrance and parking. 20’ x 40’ shed at back of property. $999,000 Jim Wallace*

SPIRIT VALLEY FARM! Rare and gorgeous 94-acre property with lovely 3-bedroom bungalow beside a spring-fed pond. 8-stall barn and several paddocks with split rail fencing. $985,000 Jamie Gairdner**

IN THE HILLS OF CALEDON! This fabulous 3+1 bedroom home is nestled amongst mature trees on 2 acres. This builder’s home is perfect for entertaining and features 6 fireplaces, crown moulding and heated floors. $947,500 Jim Wallace*

COUNTRY ELEGANCE! Set well back from Airport Road on 10.96 acres. 18’ ceilings, 4 large bedrooms, granite counters, hardwood floors, basement walkout, complete privacy and stunning softwood bush. $829,000 Jim Wallace*

MAGNIFICENT VIEWS! Hillsburgh. Gorgeous 5-bedroom house with Brazilian hardwood & marble floors, state-of-the-art kitchen, huge 3-car garage and large deck overlooking countryside. $793,000 Jamie Gairdner**

HWY 10 & FORKS OF THE CREDIT! On almost 5 acres on one of Caledon’s most prestigious streets, this 3,300 sq ft home has 3-car garage with studio above, hardwood floors, sunroom, basement walkout and hot tub. $699,000 Jim Wallace*

CALEDON VILLAGE! This historic home is set back from Charleston Sideroad. The stunning 1.8-acre property has 3 large garages including workshop. The 4-bedroom home has a large eat-in kitchen and inground pool. $589,000 Jim Wallace*

CALEDON SKI CLUB 12+ ACRE LOT Access your private 12+ acre building lot through these gates. Not on Ski Club property, but take advantage of the facilities. Treed property with driveway in place. $499,000 Jim Wallace*

WONDERFUL BRAMPTON HOME! This home has been fully restored and renovated to include 4 spacious bedrooms, eat-in kitchen, large living room and a full/finished basement. Gourmet kitchen, built-in appliances. $479,000 Jim Wallace*

INVESTORS ONLY! Refurbished, fully leased building on Main Street of Erin is responsibility of the present owner who will continue as tenant.

Net/net, a great investment. $375,000 Jamie Gairdner**

WELCOME TO STANDING STONE POND! 2.5-acre building lot w/ pond & incredible views of conservation lands & rolling hills. Driveway in, ready for your dream home overlooking Standing Stone Pond. $275,000 Jim Wallace*

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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MOFFAT DUNLAP REAL ESTATE LIMITED, BROKERAGE

905-841-7430 www.moffatdunlap.com Moffat Dunlap*, John Dunlap**, Peter Boyd, Murray Snider, George Webster, Peter Bowers*** *Broker, **Broker of Record, ***Sales Representative

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CONTEMPORARY FLAIR, CALEDON Fully updated Napier Simpson bungalow overlooks Caledon Hills. Separate guest quarters or office. 5-stall stable, paddocks.

3-car garage + workshop. Immaculate. $1,295,000

“PARKMOOR”, CALEDON Private 99 acres in Caledon. Custom stone and beam open concept home. Trout pond with floating gazebo. Walled garden with waterfall. Miles of trails. Stable. Tennis. Viewing Tower. Permit for new residence. $3,850,000

“CRAIG ELLACHIE FARM”, ERIN Views, privacy, 6 ponds, fields, stables, tennis, pool and golf all can be found on this impressive country estate. Residence with separate guest wing. Gatehouse. 101 acres includes additional building lot.

GEORGIAN MANOR, CALEDON Renovated home. 3 finished levels with walkout to pool and gardens. Eat-in kitchen.

Master suite with change room, deck and fireplace. Private valley, stream, tennis.

27 acres. $2,050,000

CALEDON BUILDING LOT 16.56 acres bordering 100s of acres of conservation. Lovely rolling hills.

Paved road frontage. Priced to sell! $349,000

“WINDSONG MEWS”, TERRA COTTA Eb Zeidler designed estate! Main home, gatehouse and guest retreat overlooking pond.

Heated workshop. Magical setting on 21 acres.

Multiple waterfalls and superb gardens. $2,750,000

VALLEY VIEWS, THE HOCKLEY VALLEY The best views available! 159 acres. Dramatic site for custom bungalow. 80% complete. Pick the finishes. Stream, meadows, forest, valleys.

Stunning setting. $1,495,000

BANKS OF THE CREDIT, ERIN Prestigious Pine Ridge Road. 3-bedroom Cape home overlooks ravine and river. Cedar shake roof, wonderful kitchen with granite counters and lovely views. Erin. $749,000

“HUMBERVIEW STABLE” Turn-key horse farm 15 minutes to Palgrave.

20 stalls. New board paddocks, arena, outdoor ring. Original farm house, staff apartment. River cottage alongside the Humber.

49.79 acres. Strong income! $1,495,000

“HIGH MEADOWS”, BELFOUNTAIN Immaculate 3-bedroom bungalow overlooks 43 acres. Stable, pool, lovely views. Pond.

Mix of open fields and wooded valleys. $1,250,000

122 ACRES, 2 HOME ESTATE Main home with walkout lower level plus 2nd home alongside pond. Lovely views.

Award-winning pool. Miles of trails. Erin. $2,595,000

“WATER’S EDGE”, CALEDON If you want a country property with a large pond, this is it! 3-bedroom home with glass elevator. Japanese inspired open spaces and tranquil gardens. Garage for 4 cars. Tennis. $1,998,000

MANSFIELD SKI CLUB Immaculate 3-bdrm home on 1.59 acres at the foot of the Mansfield ski slopes. The house is filled with light from the many large windows and multiple walkouts. Unique low maintenance landscaping with large mature trees. $479,000

HOCKLEY VALLEY PROPERTY 3-bdrm country home set back from the road and overlooking 10 acres. Lovely gardens with mature trees. Situated on a quiet dead end road near Mono Centre village overlooking the Hockley Valley. $680,000

FOUR SEASON LIFESTYLE 20-acre property with 3+ bdrm home offers amazing long views across the valley from the Mansfield Ski Club. Walk to the Pine River. A mature pine forest on the property is ready for selective harvesting. $575,000

PINE RIVER RETREAT Enjoy valley ridges that soar from the valley floor up to the country bungalow with huge deck. Pristine river frontage along the Pine River. Distant views over the Mulmur Hills. $449,000

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

VIEW-T-FUL! Rare opportunity - 24 acre private setting in Hockley Valley w/ outstanding views. Sprawling home, 6 bdrms all w/ luxurious ensuite baths, spacious 2nd flr den, fin w/o bsmt, 270 yd single hole golf fairway. Geothermal heat. $1,500,000

ENCHANTING PROPERTY - 2 HOMES Main bungalow w/ multiple w/o’s, open concept w/ gourmet kit, fin w/o bsmt, saltwater pool, large stocked pond & treed 38 acres. Plus 2 bdrm home attached to main house by sunrm.

Det. triple garage & paved drive. $995,000

DESIRABLE CUL-DE-SAC Spacious principal rooms, main floor laundry & master bedroom with 4pc bath. Bright sunroom overlooking mature backyard.

2 bedrooms on upper level with ensuite bath, finished walkout basement. $529,900

COUNTRY CLASSIC - 92 ACRES Substantially updated farm house. Lovely addition w/ open concept fam rm w/ cathedral clg & outstanding modern kit incl granite counters, ctr island & stone backsplash. 2nd flr overlooks great room. A combo of new & old. $699,900

NEARING COMPLETION Pick the finishing touches to this new 4 level backsplit, open concept main floor, 2 bdrms upstairs, master w/ semi ens bthrm. Lower level roughed in w/ family rm, 3rd bdrm & bath. Enjoy country living w/ minimal lawn care. $389,900

49 ACRES Country property that features a large pond, sand beach area & floating dock with slide and windmill for aeration. The property offers a small cabin approximately 12’ x 16’, portable garage and dirt practice track. $224,900

PRIVACY AND GREAT VIEWS Perfect combination for your next building site, located on quiet cul-de-sac near Hornings Mills. This private 4.69 acre lot is sure to please. Features well treed area along with open meadows. $139,900

LIVE-IN INVESTMENT Attractive 24 ac property w/ 2 ponds, well treed & open meadow w/ water hydrant. Lrg 2 storey home divided into 2 sep living areas, inground pool, attached oversized dbl garage, det dbl garage & sep 2 storey steel storage. $599,900

MULTI-SEASON RETREAT 99.5 acs of ultimate privacy. Pond, quaint country home, det garage, sep storage/wrkshp 20’ x 40’.

Trails throughout the wooded property. All-season sunrm, spacious fam rm w/ woodburning fp.

Sprawling mstr bdrm w/ fp, 5 pc ens. $635,000

IN THE HEART OF MULMUR Beautiful century homestead features approx 88.7 acres of rolling land w/ great views to the east, bank barn, large workshop/driveshed 40’ x 60’ & detached garage. Large principal rms & updated windows throughout. $574,900

LAND, THE BEST BUY ON EARTH! Great opportunity to own 166 acs of land with approx 145 workable acs with 10 acs of mixed bush. 4 bdrm bungalow home w/ unfinished basement, large barn has water & hydro, separate driveshed and silo. $699,000

GREAT COMMUTER LOCATION A well maintained bungalow on spacious lot.

Quaint & cozy two bdrm bungalow plus finished bsmt including third bdrm, rec-room & exercise room/office. This immaculate home is ready to move in! Great for commuters! $279,900

COUNTRY SETTING ON 91 ACRES Great location. 3 bdrm farmhouse, on paved County Road. Corner farm, high & rolling land w/ approx 70 acs workable, 5 acs hrdwd bush, 8 acs cedar bush & balance in pasture land. Orig bank barn & det steel driveshed. $649,900

IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES Captivating and private 29 acre parcel of land located on paved road in Mono Township, well treed with high elevation and great views. Lots of privacy, great location for commuters. $319,900

GREAT BEGINNINGS - BUILD HERE Start planning now to build your dream home.

An exceptional 46.44 acre parcel of land in south Mulmur offering great views, open meadow, small bush and pond site. $329,900

DON’T FENCE ME IN Beautiful bungalow on 2 ac, paved road, dbl garage & det 30’ x 40’ workshop. Open concept w/ rear kit, dining rm, w/o to deck & aboveground pool. Fam rm w/ Napoleon wood fp, lvg rm has great view, main flr laundry. $549,900

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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Creemore Hills Realty Ltd. 705-466-3070

Austin Boake www.CreemoreHillsRealty.com Broker of Record/Owner

“The Richie Group”

SEAN ANDERSON Broker

CHRIS P. RICHIE Broker of Record/Owner

DALE POREMBA Sales Representative

Conveniently located in downtown Caledon East

905-584-0234 1-888-667-8299 www.remax-inthehills-on.com

SPECTACULAR VIEWS - CREEMORE - 10 ACRES A stone house with privacy adjacent to 200 acres of Nature Conservancy. Open concept, 6 bedrooms, 4 baths. Features include 20 ft cathedral ceilings, marble and wood floors throughout, great room with fireplace, gourmet kitchen. Sauna. Inground pool.

Triple car garage. $1,650,000 A WONDERFUL HIDEAWAY! A quiet secluded road, 40 acres of hardwood bush, wandering gardens, unique architecture, a second residence/guest house, guys play area, the walls of window, multiple walkouts, roof top terraces. $1,175,000

ELEGANCE IN CHELTENHAM! Luxury bungalow, gourmet kitchen, coffered ceilings, lavish baths, granite tops, large, bright rec room. The landscaping is also a gem with footbridge across a stream. Come pamper yourself. $1,295,000

RIVER PARADISE ON 2 ACRES Secluded Cape Cod overlooking Noisy River.

4 bedrooms, 4 baths, living room with fireplace and walkout, master bedroom with luxury ensuite. Landscaped grounds. Pool, hot tub, gazebo. Creemore. $639,900 2 HOMES OVER 30 ACRES! Picturesque rolling land, both homes overlooking their own pond. The principle bungalow is totally private from the other and features countryside views, tennis court and indoor pool. $1,299,000

7.67 ACRE DREAM HOME! High-end finishings on a private treed property, meadow and stream. 14’ great room ceilings open to stunning kitchen, Hartland stove and oven, granite, massive finished walkout basement. $1,900,000

jacquelineguagliardi.com 2006-09

2008-09

2006/07

RCR Realty, Brokerage Independently Owned & Operated

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ESTATE HOME ON 50 ACRES Gazebo overlooking pool, main floor guest room, custom design with hardwood and slate floors, vaulted ceilings. Newer 12-stall barn, small 4-stall, 7 paddocks and trails. Bush, stream. $2,149,000

CENTURY REPRODUCTION Private 16+ acres, home hidden down long winding driveway. 3-car garage/ workshop, insulated and heated. Barn, sunroom, country family room overlooking pool. 3 fireplaces, pegged oak flooring. $949,000

THIS ONE EXUDES LUXURY! Recently built and stylish bungalow with high calibre finishings: lavish spa master bath, massive kitchen, granite counters, Brazilian walnut floors, covered patio with fireplace, limestone floors. $1,087,777

STATE-OF-THE-ART ON 41 ACS Exceptional newly constructed, 4 levels with soaring ceilings, inground pool, 3 season indoor bbq room, finished walkout basement, waterfall above fireplace in the great room, (ICF) construction, full nanny suite. $2,290,000

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

LOG HOUSE ON 7.4 ACRES Mulmur Hills, privacy, forest. Square hewn log with round log addition. 4 bedrooms, 4 baths.

Flagstone/wood floors throughout. Living room with vaulted ceiling. Huge separate studio/workshop. Sauna. $499,000

(519) 833-0569 (519) 941-5151 (905) 450-3355 jguagliardi@royallepage.ca

ERIN HORSE FARM POTENTIAL Designer decorated, move-in ready bungalow with new baths, cathedral ceilings, solarium and finished walkout lower level.

23+ acres, inground pool, river tributary and barn. Swim, hike or fish! $745,000

TERRA COTTA ESTATE First time offered in 33 years! Stunning and spacious Century home integrates original charm with modern conveniences. Inground pool and 2-bedroom coach house/apt on 3+ acres with wooded ravine. $1,150,000

COUNTRY COMFORT Impressive nearly new 4-bedroom home on mature lot with no rear neighbours. Chef’s kitchen with granite counters and hardwood floors and a huge master suite are yours to enjoy here. $650,000

CHARMING CAPE COD Superb floor plan! Main floor master bedroom, huge kitchen overlooks family room and beautifully finished lower level.

Large yard adorned with mature trees and perennial gardens in Hillsburgh. $425,000

Sales Representative

Susan Brown

Royal LePage Top 1% in Canada, 2009

519-925-1776 1-800-483-7740 Serving Mono, Mulmur, Caledon and Orangeville

View Full Details On All Our Listings At:

www.susanbrown.com

EXTREME PRIVACY AND QUIET ON 47 FABULOUS ACRES Stunning architecturally designed home in a magnificent wooded setting with views. Guest room ceilings rise up 2 floors, double-sided wood-burning fireplace, spacious chef’s kitchen with eat-in area and walkout. Two decks look out at the views and beautifully groomed trails. Stone water feature with 2 ornamental ponds, waterfall and stone bridge. Located in the heart of rural recreational Ontario. Close to skiing, golf and Bruce Trail. Less than 1 hour to airport. MONO $1,999,000

RCR REALTY Brokerage

600 FT WATERFRONT ON 20 ACRES Very private & scenic with fabulous views over Bailey Lake. Truly a show piece home. Open concept, huge windows, spectacular great room w/ ceilings to 14 ft peak. Mature trees, groomed trails. 25 min to airport. ADJALA $1,195,000

RARE 50 ACRE COUNTRY RETREAT Currently operating as a registered B&B. 8 bdrms, 9 bthrms, 5 different sitting rms, spacious pine eat-in kitchen. Fin lower level w/ games rm, spa, hot tub, sauna. Studio & barn. Borders on the Noisy River. CLEARVIEW $1,100,000

UTMOST PRIVACY ON 56 ACRES Built 2007. Approx 5,000 sq ft of finished space.

3 sep living areas. Stunning great rm w/ huge windows, walnut flrs, stone fp. Cherry kitchen w/ granite counters. Includes sep 29 acre lot with hydro to the bldg site. MULMUR $999,000

STUNNING TIMBER FRAME HOME On 24 private & mature acres. Solid white pine beams, floor-to-ceiling windows, stone fireplace, upscale maple chef’s kitchen with granite counters. Bsmt in-law suite with walkout to patio.

Mature trees with cut trails. MULMUR $799,900

RENOVATED BUILDING WITH APT on 2.98 acres. Prime business location. The perfect setup for owner living on location or renting to employee. Apt on 2nd level with 3 bdrms, bthrm, living, dining & kitchen. Sep garage. Huge rear lot. MONO $749,000

VICTORIAN REPRODUCTION Beautifully crafted 4 yr old century farm house on 5 very private acres. This home has the charm of the past w/ all the amenities of today.

Basement w/ 2 walkouts. Rolling land w/ mature trees & groomed trails. MULMUR $649,900

PERFECT HOBBY HORSE 13.4 AC Charming cedar log bungalow, beautifully fin open concept living space w/ w/o bsmt. Steel barn w/ 5 box stalls + open bay. Gently rolling ac w/ 5 oak board paddocks. Nearby riding & skiing. 10 min to Creemore. MULMUR $509,900

GORGEOUS 3 YEAR OLD HOME In a beautiful enclave of large brick homes on generous lots. Great rm w/ stone fp open to huge eat-in kitchen. 3,000 sq ft approx w/ 4 bdrms, 3 bthrms, full bsmt. 3 car garage, newer deck & fully fenced lot. MANSFIELD $479,900

MULMUR GEM ON 7.8 ACRES Mature & very private acreage w/ views & pond.

Charming raised bungalow, recently refurbished w/ w/o lower level. Rolling landscape, mature bush, cut walking trails & spectacular views. 2 car garage & drive shed. MULMUR $469,900

UNIQUE HOME ON 10 MATURE AC Open concept living area, large principal rms, 13 ft ceilings & 10 ft high windows. Spacious kitchen & walk-outs to large rear deck. Full bsmt can be finished for further use. Detached 2 car garage & sep small barn. MONO $459,900

4 BEDROOM COUNTRY HOME On a mature 1.3 ac lot on rolling terrain w/ views of the Mulmur Hills. Open concept, wood flooring, massive picture windows, lrg decks on 2 levels. Great family or retirement home. Close to ski hills, 1 hr from airport. MULMUR $379,900

PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP Immaculate 5 bdrm home, recently upgraded.

Large windows, hardwood floors, fresh new kitchen. Finished bsmt w/ kitchenette, bathroom, bedroom & separate entrance. Perfect in-law suite. 1 hr to GTA. SHELBURNE $249,000

IMMACULATE MOVE IN READY Bright open concept Arlington model home, beech hrdwd flooring, solid oak staircase, beautiful cream coloured shaker style kit w/ faux stone counter. Larger size lot w/ newly planted spruce & apple trees. SHELBURNE $247,900

BUILDING LOT ON 26 ACRES Recently severed lot with views to the Niagara Escarpment. An attractive parcel located in an area of beautiful recreational properties. Close to downhill and cross country skiing, golf and walking trails. MULMUR $259,900

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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Triple Threat Performance Centre dance . music . drama

.studio III dance.

Accredited teachers in R.A.D. and P.A.E.C. Specialized classes for ages 2-1/2 - 5 Recreational-Competitive

Summer Dance & Music Camps

www.studio3dance.net

I L L U S T R AT I O N S J I M S T E WA R T

35 Robb Blvd. Unit 8 Orangeville L9W 3L1 (519) 940-3840

What’s on in the Hills A

C A L E N D A R

arts+craft NOW – JUN 27 : HIDDEN PLACES

Stimulating exhibit of work by Marty Rothstein, Anne Shabason, Merle Harstone and Elizabeth Babyn. Gallery at Williams Mill, Glen Williams. 905-8738203; www.williamsmill.com. unleash the book in you!

NOW – JUL 5 : HOME GROUND

See our specials at grafo.ca

Recent paintings, photography, sculpture and furniture by Diana Hillman, Susan Powell, Pamela Purves, Hugh Russel and Ian Sinclair. Alton Mill Gallery, 1402 Queen St W. 519-941-9300; www. homegroundart.com.

1 866 274 8520

JUN 18 – 20 : QUINT*ESSENTIAL 2010 – IT’S A WRAP Show and sale of blown

Self publish your own book for business or pleasure!

Create p professional quality t Soft cover or Hard cover publications, bound in options from Linen to Leather.

glass, jewellery, paintings, pottery and weaving. Opening Fri 6-9pm, entertainment; Sat & Sun 10am-5pm. Mono Community Centre. 754483 Mono Centre Rd. 519-925-3056; www.brendaroy.com/5.html.

JUN 19 & 20 : ART IN THE GARDEN

Original garden art set among beautiful gardens. 9am-6pm. Plant Paradise Country Gardens, 16258 Humber Station Rd, Palgrave. 905-880-9090; www. plantparadise.ca.

JUN 19 & 20, 26 & 27 : THE GARDEN PATH ART SHOW Stroll the perennial

country garden and view colourful abstracts by Lucille Weber. 10am-4pm.

17 Lorne St, Inglewood. 905-838-0922; www.lucilleweber.ca.

JUN 20 – AUG 29 : HAL HENRY: DUFFERIN’S RENAISSANCE MAN Fifty

years of rural scenes, people and animals.

Opening Jun 20. Museum hours/ admission. Dufferin County Museum and Archives, Airport Rd and Hwy 89. 1-877941-7787; events@dufferinmuseum.com.

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IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

O F

S U M M E R

H A P P E N I N G S

JUN 22, JUL 6, 20, AUG 31 : WINDOW ON BROADWAY Jun 22: Sumi-e paintings,

Roslyn Levin. Jul 6: Found Art, Carmen Hickson. Jul 20: Blown glass, Kathryn Thomson. Aug 31: Panoranimals photography, Ron Pitts. 10am-5pm. Dragonfly Arts, 189 Broadway, Orangeville.

519-941-5249; info@dragonflyarts.ca.

JUN 26 & 27 : SPRING FLING – KAI-LIIS MCINNES New work from recent

globetrotting. Whimsical carousel horses and thieving crows! 11am-5pm. Kai-Liis McInnes Studio, 4th line, N of Hwy 89, Mulmur. 519-925-0421; www.kai-liis.com.

JUN 26 – AUG 8 : PAUL MORIN – SOLO SHOW Artist, illustrator & filmmaker.

10am-5pm. Paul Morin Studio, 110 Main St, Erin. 519-833-7078; morinstudios@ bserv.com.

JUL 5 – 26 : SILENT AUCTION – PAWS & CLAWS Mennonite hand-embroidered

Techpen sketches of homes and streets.

Opening, Jul 10 noon-3pm, poetry reading & reception, RSVP. Ilma Arts Studio, 185 Diane Dr, Orangeville.

519- 941-4533; www.ilmaarts.com.

JUL 11 – AUG 29 : HALLIE WATSON, ART SHOW Gumboots and drawing board;

fields and streams of Mono. Opening Jul 11. Museum hours/admission. Dufferin County Museum and Archives, Hwy 89 & Airport Rd. 1-877-941-7787; events@ dufferinmuseum.com.

JUL 16 – SEP 5 : HEADWATERS ARTS FESTIVAL PREVIEW EXHIBITION Artists

featured in the juried Festival Art Show & Sale. Wed-Sun, 10am-5pm. Headwaters Arts Gallery, Alton Mill, 1402 Queen St W. 1-877-262-0545; www.headwatersarts festival.com.

JUL 17 & 18 : CUISINE-ART Food & art, a

glorious combination. 10am-5pm. Alton Mill. 1402 Queen Street W. 519-941-9300; www.altonmill.ca.

quilt, queen size. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm; Sun noon-4pm. Paws & Claws Thrift Shop, 162 Broadway, Orangeville.

519-942-0402; www.orangeville. ontariospca.ca/4-store.shtml

JUL 21 – AUG 18 : DRAGONFLY FEATURE WALL – GAIL PRUSSKY Wild and

JUL 5 – AUG 13 : TURN PAINTING/ PHOTOGRAPHY INTERESTS TO ARTWORKS Learn new creative skills,

wonderful paintings. Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Fri to 7pm, Sun 11am-4pm. Dragonfly Arts, 189 Broadway, Orangeville.

519-941-5249; www.dragonflyarts.ca.

painting & photography basics. Ages 4-85. Tues, Thurs & Fri 1:30-3pm. Ilma Arts Studio, 185 Diane Dr, Orangeville.

519-941-4533; www.ilmaarts.com.

JUL 9 & 10 : LOOK WHAT I FOUND AT DRAGONFLY! The art of turning found

items into treasures. Recycling becomes art! 10am-5pm, open late Fri. Dragonfly Arts, 189 Broadway, Orangeville.

519-941-5249; www.dragonflyarts.ca.

JUL 10 – OCT 15 : CATHARSIS EXHIBIT

Solo show of Ilma Barayuga-Doherty.

AUG 21 : PUT LIGHT INTO FLOWERS, WITH SUSAN CHATER Watercolour

workshop to learn to make flowers more vibrant. 10am-4pm. $30; nonmembers $50. Victoria Park Community Centre, Mono Mills. 519-307-0210; www.orangevilleartgroup.ca.

SEP 4 & 5 : ALPACA FIBRE SALE Skeins,

socks, insoles and more in soft alpaca fibre. 11am-5pm. Kai-Liis Art Studio & Heed Farm Alpacas. 4th line, Mulmur.

519-925-0421; www.kai-liis.com.

SEP 10 – NOV 7 : BUCKETS OF COLOUR EXHIBITION A blaze of autumn-coloured

art. Wed-Sun 10am-5pm. Headwaters Arts Gallery, 1402 Queen St W, Alton.

1-877-262-0545; www.headwatersarts.ca.

SEP 11 : SKIES AND CLOUDS WITH DOUG PURDON Painting workshop

includes landscapes, demonstrations.

10am-4pm. $50; non-members $70.

Victoria Park Community Centre, Mono Mills. 519-307-0210; www. orangevilleartgroup.ca.

SEP 12 – 14 : PETER ADAMS, THE LEIGHTON FARM PROJECT Paintings

and photographs of an abandoned farmhouse on Mulmur’s Second Concession. Recipient of Reed Cooper Bursary. Museum hours/admission.

Dufferin County Museum and Archives, Hwy 89 & Airport Rd. 1-877-941-7787; www.dufferinmuseum.com.

SEP 18 & 19 : HIDDEN TREASURES ART TOUR Art, food and fall colours in Hockley

Valley area. 9:30am-5pm. Buses depart parking lot near Future Shop, Orangeville. $40 from BookLore, Paper Moon, Dufferin County Museum. 519-941-8509; www.hiddentreasuresarttour.com.

SEP 18 & 19 : TAG OPEN STUDIO Ian Sinclair, Hugh Russel, Pamela Purves, Susan Powell and Diana Hillman show furniture, sculpture, photography and paintings. 10am-5pm. Silver Creek Farm, 16849 Kennedy Rd, Caledon. 519-9275639; www.TAGartists.ca.

SEP 18 & 19, 25 & 26 : HILLS OF ERIN STUDIO TOUR Self-guided tour of studios

in Erin and Hillsburgh. 10am-5pm. 519833-9042; www.hillsoferinstudiotour.com.

SEP 24 – OCT 11 : HEADWATERS ARTS FESTIVAL A premiere Arts Festival

celebrating visual arts, music, dance, literature, film and kids’ events. 10am5pm. Various locations and Alton Mill, 1402 Queen St W. 1-877-262-0545; www.headwatersartsfestival.com.

SEP 25 & 26 : CALEDON HILLS STUDIO TOUR 20th annual self-guided tour of

paintings, photography, glasswork, wood vessels and jewellery. 10am-5pm. 905-8802029; www.CaledonHillsStudio Tour.com.

community NOW – OCT 7 (THURSDAYS) : CALEDON FARMERS’ MARKET Outdoor market

offers fresh, local produce.

3-7pm. Jul 1: Face painting.

Aug 19: Corn Roast. Sep 16: Harvest Festival. Albion

Bolton Community Centre, 150 Queen St S, Bolton. 905-584-2272; www.caledon. ca/farmersmarket.

NOW – THANKSGIVING (FRIDAYS) : COUNTRY FARMERS’ MARKET From

farm to fork, fresh local produce, baking, hormone-free meat, maple syrup, annuals and vegetables. 2:30-7:30pm. SE corner of Dufferin Cty Rd 109 & 24.

Grand Valley. 519-928-2453.

JUN 17 : BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS GOLF TOURNAMENT Annual event to

help match children with caring mentors.

11am-8pm. $145. Shelburne Golf & Country Club, 516423 County Rd 124.

519-941-6431; dufferinbigs@aol.com.

JUN 17 : 25TH ANNIVERSARY OPEN HOUSE & BARBEQUE An opportunity to

thank the community for its support.

4-7pm. RSVP. Family Transition Place, 20 Bredin Parkway, Orangeville. 519-9424122; kelly@familytransitionplace.ca.

JUN 17 : ROTARY CLUB OF ERIN GOLF TOURNAMENT Annual event with fun

and fellowship. Shotgun start 1:30pm. $75; $30 dinner only (David’s Restaurant).

Erin Heights Golf Club. 519-833-9675; mary.cunningham@td.com.

JUN 19 : PANCAKE BREAKFAST FUNDRAISER Caledon Navy League

cooks a hearty breakfast of pancakes and sausages. Proceeds to Bolton Sea Cadets.

9am-noon. Adults $5, kids & seniors $3.

Bolton United Church, 8 Nancy St, Bolton. 905-951-7182.

JUN 19 : INGLEWOOD COMMUNITY DAY Pancake breakfast, kids’ games,

vendors, BBQ, beer garden and duck race. 9am-6pm. Inglewood Park, Lloyd Wilson Arena, McLaughlin Road.

905-838-2625; wboughton@hotmail.com.

JUN 19 – OCT 23 : ORANGEVILLE FARMERS’ MARKET Local fresh produce,

home-baked goods, entertainment.

8am-1pm. Downtown, Second St. Orangeville BIA; 519-942-0087.

JUN 25 : BOLTON TRUCK & TRACTOR PULL Kidsland, displays, Bavarian garden.

Features prostock, mini modified, multi-engine and more. 6-11pm. Adults $12, children under 12 $2. Albion & Bolton Fairgrounds, 150 Queen St S. 905-880-0369; www.boltonfair.ca.

JUN 26 : HOCKLEY VILLAGE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL Pancake

breakfast, silent auction, BBQ, bike parade and entertainment. 8am-3pm.

Hockley Village. 519-938-9239; geordies1@sympatico.ca. continued on next page

We Rent and Sell Charcoal & Gas Barbecues

Hwy 9: 2.5 miles E of Hwy 10, Orangeville 519-941-3667 David Young

- If it’s Weber, it’s great outdoors. -

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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continued from page 71

SEP 15 : THANKSGIVING FESTIVAL AT INGLEWOOD FARMERS’ MARKET

JUN 26 – DEC 4 (SATURDAYS) : CREEMORE MARKET Jun 26: Strawberry

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Festival. Jul 31/Aug 7: Eat local. Sep 4: 13th birthday of market. Sep 25: Art & Purple Hills Studio Tour. Oct 9: Thanksgiving & Applefest. Dec 4: Christmas market.

Station on the Green, Creemore.

Last market this season. Ideas for Thanksgiving, local turkey-on-a-bun, make-your-own table centrepiece.

3:30-7pm. Inglewood General Store, 15596 McLaughlin Rd, Caledon. 905584-6221; www.eatlocalcaledon.org.

JUL 1 : CANADA DAY STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL Strawberry pancake breakfast,

SEP 15 : 2010 CALEDON COUNCIL COMMUNITY GOLF TOURNAMENT

eating contest, entertainment, BBQ, petting zoo, crafts. 9am-4pm. Caledon Fairgrounds, 18297 Hurontario St. 519925-3461; www.caledonfairgrounds.ca.

JUL 1 : 2010 CANADA DAY CELEBRATIONS Family fun, live

entertainment, BBQ and more. 3-10pm, fireworks at dusk. Free. CDRD & Shelburne Fairgrounds. 519-925-2600; scrouse@townofshelburne.on.ca.

JUL 1 CANADA DAY – ORANGEVILLE

Run by Orangeville Optimists. Talent show 7pm, fireworks at dusk. Orangeville Fairgrounds, 5 Siderd Mono, off Hockley Rd. 519-942-9597.

JUL 1 : ORTON CANADA DAY CELEBRATION Children’s games, 4-6pm.

Chicken barbecue 4:30pm, 5:30pm & 6:30pm. $10-$13, eat in, take out (Aston Hall). Fireworks at, dusk. Adults $4; children 3-12, $2; under 3 free; family $10.

(Ball Park). 519-855-4243.

JUL 9 & 10 : ORANGEVILLE’S ANNUAL FOUNDERS’ FAIR Family entertainment.

Fri evg, Sat. Downtown Orangeville.

519-942-0087; www.discoverbroadway.ca.

JUL 10 : DOORS OPEN, ERIN Seven

sites with a theme of bells. 10am-4pm.

519-833-0872; www.villageoferin.com.

JUL 10 : LEARN HOW NOT TO COOK SUSHI Raw or cooked fish, vegetarian

options. Try new cooking techniques.

10am-3pm. $88.19. Georgian College, 22 Centennial Rd, Orangeville. 519-9400331; orangeville@georgianc.on.ca.

JUL 20 : GOLF TOURNAMENT Fundraiser

for East Wellington Community Services.

Noon-8pm. Golf, cart and dinner, $125.

Guelph Lakes Golf & Country Club, 519-836-9696; caroline.t@ew-cs.com.

JUL 23 – 25 : ORANGEVILLE ROTARY RIBFEST Features 5 international ribbers,

other food vendors, crafts, midway, children’s area, entertainment, beer tent.

Fri 4pm-10pm, Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-7pm. Donation at gate. Alder St Arena Playing Field, Orangeville. 519941-0246; www.orangevilleribfest.com.

JUL 24 : 45TH ANNUAL HONEYWOOD BEEF BBQ Served from 5-8pm, followed

by live entertainment. $15; under 12, $5.

Honeywood Arena, 706114 Dufferin Cty Rd 21. 519-925-6616; kdavidsonlock@ mulmurtownship.ca.

AUG 4 – 8 : 60TH CANADIAN OPEN OLD TIME FIDDLE CHAMPIONSHIP

Fiddle playing, parade, market, 24-hour meals, fiddle jam. Wed: campground open. Thurs: Scott Woods. Fri: Playdowns.

Sat: Parade & Fiddle Championship. Sun: 72

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

Non-demoninational church service & BBQ. Package: $40, children $20; Thurs evg: $20, children $10; Fri all day: $10, children $3. Sat evg: $20, children $10.

Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex, 200 Fiddle Park La, Shelburne. 519-925-8620; www.shelburnefiddlecontest.on.ca.

Enjoy a day of golf in support of Headwaters Arts Youth Scholarship Program. 8:30am-7pm. $175; $50 dinner only. Osprey Valley Resort, 18821 Main St, Caledon. 905-584-2274; Doreen_ beffort@caledon.ca.

AUG 7 : ERIN FEST Unique, discounted

SEP 16 : FAMILY TRANSITION PLACE GOLF CLASSIC Presented by RBC

merchandise, sidewalk sale. Entertainment at park. 10am-5pm. Main St Erin.

519-833-0872; www.renaissance-erin.com.

AUG 12 : TCCC ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT & FUNDRAISER Golf,

fees, power cart, lunch and dinner.

9:30am-9pm. $160; dinner only $40 (Terra Cotta Inn). Caledon Golf & Country Club, 2121 Old Baseline Rd, Caledon.

905-702-0480; www.terra-cotta.ca.

AUG 18 : CORN ROAST AT INGLEWOOD FARMERS’ MARKET Fresh local corn-on-

the-cob, live country music, kids’ crafts, local burgers on the grill, corn relish & more. 3:30-7pm. Inglewood General Store, 15596 McLaughlin Rd. 905-5846221; www.eatlocalcaledon.org.

AUG 21 : SPIRIT OF THE HILLS 2010

Family fun day sponsored by the Hillsburgh Lions Club and the Let’s Get Hillsburgh Growing Committee. Classic cars, games, entertainment & vendors.

10am-2pm. 98B Trafalgar Rd, Hillsburgh.

519-855-4010.

AUG 22 : LIVE AUCTION Bargains, collectibles, antiques, and household items donated by friends and members.

Preview 9am, auction 10am. Corbetton Church, DCMA, Airport Rd and Hwy 89. 1-877-941-7787; www.dufferin museum.com.

SEP 3 – 6 : ORANGEVILLE FALL FAIR

Midway, livestock shows, vendors, homecraft and much more. Presented by Orangeville Agricultural Society. Fri 5pm; Sat-Mon 9am. Orangeville Fairgrounds, 5 Siderd, off Hockley Rd. 519-942-9597; www.orangevillefairgrounds.ca.

SEP 11 & 12 : FERGUSON MEMORIAL 5KM WALK/RUN Celebrate the lives of

Heidi (Bogner) Ferguson and Hugh Ferguson who died tragically. Proceeds to Family Transition Place. Race Kit Pickup: Sat 4pm-6pm; Sun 8-9:45am. Alder St Recreation Centre, Orangeville. 905853-4743; www.fergusonrun.org.

Dominion Securities. 9:30am registration; 11am shotgun start; 5pm reception & silent auction; 6pm dinner. Tournament $225; dinner only $50. Caledon Country Club, 2121 Olde Baseline Rd, Inglewood. www.familytransitionplace.ca/golf/ EventInfo.html.

SEP 17 – 19 : SHELBURNE FALL FAIR

Tractors, midway, demo derby, livestock, homecraft and more. Presented by Shelburne Agricultural Society to promote the importance of agriculture.

519-925-0243; www.shelburnefair.com.

SEP 17 : ANNUAL COALITION GOLF & DINNER Golf fundraiser, delicious food

by Gourmandissimo, silent auction and prizes. Sign-in 11am; shotgun start 12:25pm; dinner 6:30pm. $250; dinner only $125. Caledon Country Club, 2121 Olde Base Line Rd. 905-838-3042. www.coalitioncaledon.com.

SEP 18 : MONO’S BIG DAY OUT

Community event celebrates local food, heritage, music, art and environment.

Special kids’ activites. 11am-4pm. Mono Centre. 519-942-8401; info@inthehills.ca.

SEP 18 & 19 : CANADA COLLECTS FALL FESTIVAL Canadian-made glass and

ceramics 1850-1890. 10am-5pm. Museum admission. Dufferin County Museum and Archives, Airport Rd and Hwy 89. 1-877941-7787; www.dufferinmuseum.com.

SEP 19 : PALGRAVE TERRY FOX RUN

Annual Marathon of Hope. Participants enjoy free breakfast by Palgrave Rotary.

Walk/run/jog/bike and have fun. 8am1pm. Trans Canada Trail, Brawton Drive Shelter, Palgrave Orange Hall, Birch Ave. 905-583-0088; pvswain@rogers.com.

SEP 23 : CALEDON FARMERS’ MARKET – BOLTON FALL FAIR Outdoor market

and opening of the Fall Fair midway.

3-7pm. Market each Thurs until Oct 7.

Albion Bolton Community Centre, 150 Queen St S. 905-584-2272; www.caledon. ca/farmersmarket.

SEP 24 – 26 : GRAND VALLEY FALL FAIR

Family fun, theme: scarecrows & pumpkins. Fri: Blazing Fiddles, Fair Ambassador, exhibits. Sat: Parade, dairy, goat, sheep, demo derby, children’s events, midway. Sun: Church service, heavy horses, T&T Pull. $7; Secondary $5; 12 & under, free. Grand Valley Fairgrounds, 90 Main N. 519-928-5754; gvasdblackwell@execulink.com.

AUG 20 – 28 : THE ODD COUPLE Two men muddle through midlife singledom.

Wed-Sat 7:30pm. Thurs, Sat & Sun 2pm. $30. Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre La, Brampton.

905-874-2800; www.rosetheatre.ca.

SEP 24 – 26 : FOOTLIGHT FOLLIES

Olde Tyme Music Hall. Fri, Sat 8pm; Sun 2:30pm. $27; matinee $22. Century Church Theatre, Hillsburgh. 519-855-4586; www.centurychurchtheatre.com.

kids JUL 10 – AUG 12 (TUESDAY – THURSDAY) : DCMA SUMMER CAMPS

Rediscover your museum, workshops for children ages 8-12. July 20-22 A Day of Games. Aug 3-5 Pioneer. Aug 10-12 Music.

1-4pm. $20 per day; $15 each for 2 or more children. Dufferin County Museum and Archives, Hwy 89 & Airport Rd. 1-877941-7787 x 32; www.dufferinmuseum.com.

JUL 14 : CHILDREN’S DAY AT INGLEWOOD FARMERS’ MARKET

theatre+film JUN 26 & 27 : DRIVE-IN MOVIE NIGHT

Fundraiser for Fiddlepark development.

Gates 7:30pm; movies 9:10pm.

Shelburne Fiddle Park. 519-925-2600; www.townofshelburne.on.ca.

Face-painting, egg relay race, water balloon toss, make-your-own strawberry jam, scavenger hunt & more! 3:30-7pm.

Inglewood General Store, 15596 McLaughlin Rd. 905-584-6221; www.eatlocalcaledon.org.

JUL 26 – 30, AUG 16 – 20 : BASIC ANIMAL RESPONSIBILITY CAMP OSPCA

week-long Humane Education program for children 7-12. 9am-4pm. $185. Monora Park Pavilion, Orangeville. 519-942-3140; www.orangeville.ontariospca.ca.

JUL 3 : FALLING DARK Outdoor,

contemporary dance explores dream imagery. Performed by No. 6 Collective.

8pm. Free, donations welcome. Kay Cee Gardens, Bythia St, Orangeville. Michelle Grierson, no.9collective@hotmail.com.

JUL 9 – 31 : 7 STORIES A darkly funny

look at a man on the edge – literally.

Wed-Sat 7:30pm; matinee Thurs, Sat & Sun, 2pm. $25. Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre La, Brampton. 905-874-2800; www.rosetheatre.ca.

JUL 14 – 24 : SADIE FLYNN COMES TO BIG OAK, BY NORM FOSTER Witty,

fast-paced dialogue. Wed, Thurs, Sat 2:30pm; Thurs, Fri, Sat 8pm. $27; matinees $22.Century Church Theatre, Hillsburgh. 519-855-4586; www. centurychurchtheatre.com.

music NOW – JUN 20 : SWEET CHARITY

Orangeville Music Theatre presents Neil Simon play, music by Cy Coleman, lyrics

by Dorothy Fields. Fri & Sat 8pm; matinee Sun, 2pm. $23. Town Hall Opera House, 87 Broadway, Orangeville. 519-942-3423; www.orangevillemusictheatre.com.

JUL 11, 25 & AUG 15 : SUMMER CONCERT SERIES Symphony musicians

play classical and contemporary. Jul 11: Afendi Husuf, Clarinet. Jul 25: Kimberley Sartor, Soprano. 7pm. $8 advance, $10 at door. Aug 15: Concert & Hat Festival (hat making, sale, prizes). 2pm. $5. Corbetton Church, Airport Rd and Hwy 89. 1-877941-7787; www.dufferinmuseum.com.

JUL 23 – 31 : BROADWAY GOLD II

Toe-tapping musical theatre with solos, knee-slappers, ballads and dancing. WedSat, 7:30pm; Thurs, Sat, Sun 2pm. $30.

Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre La, Brampton.

905-874-2800; www.rosetheatre.ca.

AUG 6 – 28 : YOU’LL GET USED TO IT! THE WAR SHOW A humourous look at

Canadian history through the eyes of soldiers. Wed-Sat 7:30pm; Thurs, Sat & Sun 2pm. $25. Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre La, Brampton. 905-874-2800; www.rosetheatre.ca.

AUG 18 – 28 : THE DECORATOR

Irresistible summer comedy by Donald Churchill. Wed, Thurs, Sat 2:30pm; ThursSat 8pm. $27, matinees $22. Century Church Theatre, Hillsburgh. 519-855-4586; www.centurychurchtheatre.com.

JUL 17 – AUG 15 : CANADIAN OPEN FIDDLE CONTEST EXHIBIT Display of

memorabilia. 10am-5pm. Museum hours/ admission. Dufferin County Museum and Archives. Hwy 89 & Airport Rd. 1-877941-7787; www.dufferinmuseum.com.

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outdoor+ envlronment NOW – SEP 28 : TUESDAY HIKES Group hike with Caledon Hills Bruce Trail Club on different sections from Dundas to Singhampton. New hikers welcome.

Contact for location. 9:30am-2pm.

905-453-2254; marilynross@yahoo.com. continued on next page

E]^a^e EZVgXZ *&. .(. .*() IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

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JUL 1 : MONO CENTRE HIKE Celebrate

AUG 2 : LE TOUR DE TERRA COTTA

Canada Day with Caledon Hills Bruce Trail Club. 11km on hilly terrain, medium pace. Lunch stop. 10am-3pm. Mono Community Centre, 754483 Mono Centre Rd. 519-833-7261; www.caledonbrucetrail.org.

Annual Ontario cycling event, ages 8-78, all levels. Register 6:30am; youth trials 7am; youth races 8am; adult short course 27km, 10am; classic 108km, noon. The Forge Pavilion, 215 King St, Terra Cotta. 416-618-6436; www.letour deterracotta.com.

JUL 3 : GRAND VALLEY OPEN GARDENS DAY Self-guided tour of gardens in town

and slightly beyond. 10am-3pm, rain or shine. Free, maps at GV Home Hardware and Brewed Awakenings. 519-928-5694; www.grandvalley.org/sites/Groups/ Horticultural/def.

JUL 3 – 31 : ALTON HIKES (SATURDAYS)

continued from page 73 JUN 19 : SCOTSDALE HIKE Join

Caledon Hills Bruce Trail’s 13km hike, variable terrain, medium pace. New hikers welcome. 10am-3pm. Scotsdale Farm, Georgetown. 905-850-1507; www.caledonbrucetrail.org.

JUN 19 & 20 : HIGH COUNTRY ANTIQUE POWER CLUB SHOW Enjoy

the history of farming with working activities. Tractor pull. 8am-5pm, parade 3pm. $5. Orangeville Fairgrounds, 5 Siderd Mono, off Hockley Rd. 519942-8635; www.antiquefarmpower.com.

JUN 19 – AUG 28 : EVERDALE WORKSHOPS Jun 19: Vegetable cold process

soap. Jun 25-27: Straw bale construction.

Jul 17: Cement-line plastering. Jul 24: Seasonal cooking. Aug 7: Canning & preserving. Aug 21: Cob construction.

Aug 28: Cold frames. $65-$325. Everdale Farm, 5812 Sixth Line, Hillsburgh.

519-855-4859; www.everdale.org.

JUN 20, JUL 11, SEP 26 : LILACTREE FARM OPEN GARDEN A spacious

country garden combines careful design, unusual plantings. 10am-4pm. Lilactree Farm, 547231 8th Siderd, Mulmur.

519-925-5577; lilactree@sympatico.ca.

JUN 21, AUG 16, SEP 27 : FLOWER SHOW & SPEAKERS Shelburne &

District Horicultural Society. Jun 21: Monica Skinner. Aug 16: Betty Fretz, Heuchera. Sep 27: Wayne Townsend.

7pm. Royal Canadian Legion, William St, Shelburne. 519-925-2182; shelburne@ gardenontario.org.

JUN 26 : MONO GARDEN TOUR Eight

spectacular private gardens in the hills of Mono, presented by Dufferin Arts Council. $20, tickets at BookLore, Rosemont Store, Renaissance, Jelly Bakery, Hockley Store & Plant Paradise. 705-424-9727; www.dufferinartscouncil.com.

JUN 26 : SUMMER THYME HERB & GARDEN FAIR Family activities,

demonstrations, garden items. 9am-4pm.

Free. Wellington County Museum and Archives, 0536 Wellington Cty Rd 18, Fergus. 519-846-0916; www.wcm.on.ca.

JUN 26 : PURPLE HILLS GARDEN TOUR

Nine spectacular gardens in Creemore village and surrounds. 10am-4pm, rain or shine. $15 from Creemore Echo, Curiosity Books or Creemore Farmers’ Market. 705-466-3021; www.purplehills artsandheritage.ca.

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Join Caledon Bruce Trail Club for a 12km loop hike, variable terrain, medium pace.

Refreshments follow. Noon-4pm. Parking lot, Caldwell St, Alton. 519-942-8624; www.caledonbrucetrail.org.

JUL 5 & 6 : EQUUS 3D RIDER CLINIC – LEVEL 5-6 Equine Canada Rider, 2-day

clinic. Flat/fences, stable management.

8am-4pm. $80. Equus 3D Equestrian Centre, 434136 4th Line Amaranth.

519-940-0048; www.equus3dfarm.com.

JUL 7, AUG 25 : EQUUS 3D COMBINED EVENT Short Course and Young Event-

Horse Series. 8am-4pm. Equus 3D Equestrian Centre, 434136 4th Line Amaranth. 519-940-0048; www. equus3dfarm.com.

JUL 8 & 9 : EQUUS 3D RIDER CLINIC – LEVEL 1-2 Learn to Ride! Equine Canada

Rider 2-day clinic. Basic horsemanship, safety, grooming, stable management.

8am-4pm. $80.Equus 3D Equestrian Centre, 434136 4th Line Amaranth.

519-940-0048; www.equus3dfarm.com.

AUG 7, SEP 14 : ORANGEVILLE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY Aug 7, 2pm:

meeting. Sep 14, 7pm: Design simplified

by Heinke Thiessen-Zemanick, flower show. Visitors welcome. Orangeville Seniors’ Centre, 26 Bythia St, Orangeville.j-cutter@sympatico.ca.

AUG 25 : GARDEN CLUB BARBEQUE

Join Hillsburgh and Erin clubs for a BBQ and plant auction. 9am-5pm.

McMillan Park, Erin. 519-855-4390; www.eringardenclub.ca.

SEP 12 : BOLTON GARDEN TOUR

Caledon gardens, plant sale at one venue.

Proceeds to community projects.

10am-4pm. $10, after Aug 15, from Glen Echo Nurseries, Zehrs Bolton.

905-857-0321; www.boltonhort.ino.

SEP 13 : FORE THE ANIMALS GOLF TOURNAMENT Golf, lunch, dinner,

entertainment, silent auction. 10am registration, driving range, putting contest. 12:30pm shotgun start. 6:30pm cocktails & dinner. $170. Register at SPCA, 650 Riddell Rd, Orangeville.

Caledon Country Club, 2121 Olde Baseline Rd. 519-942-3140; www.orangeville. ontariospca.ca.

SEP 18 : FIND MUSHROOMS FASCINATING? Mushroom identification

walk with renowned naturalist Bob Bowles. 10am-1pm. $10. Venue tbc, Alliston area. 705-435-1881; www. dufferinmuseum.com/forest.

SEP 18 & 19 : 2010 ECO ENERGY EXPO

Orangeville Lions show. Alternative energy, conservation, environmental responsibility and adjusting lifestyle for sustainable future. Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 11am-4pm. Orangeville Agricultural Centre, 5 Siderd Mono, off Hockley Rd. 519-9412401 x227; www.orangevillelions.org.

List your community, arts or entertainment event free of charge. Please complete the online form at www.WhatsOn.ca (Events Calendar, Submit Event).

Submission deadline for the fall issue is July 31. Event information is supplied by Alison Hird, admin@WhatsOn.ca, 519-940-4877 (evg). Visit the What’s On Ontario website for up-to-the-minute details of these and other local events. www.WhatsOn.ca – your local resource for events!

JUL 9 – 11 : ISLAND LAKE FISHING TOURNAMENT & FAMILY CAMPING Try

your luck in the fishing tournament and participate in family activities. 6am-9pm.

Island Lake Conservation Area, Orangeville. shardwar@creditvalleyca.ca.

JUL 10 : WHAT TREE IS THAT ANYWAY?

Leisurely hike. Learn to identify trees, shrubs and plants. Reserve. 9am. $5; children free. Little Tract, Dufferin County Forest, 938130 Airport Rd, Mansfield.

1-877-941-7787; www.dufferinmuseum. com/forest.

JUL 12 & 13 : EQUUS 3D RIDER CLINIC – LEVEL 7-8 Equine Canada Rider 2-day

clinic. Flat work, jumping, stable management and safety. 8am-4pm. $80. Equus 3D Equestrian Centre, 434136 4th Line Amaranth. 519-940-0048; www.equus3dfarm.com.

JUL 17 : ORANGEVILLE GARDEN TOUR Ten gardens, various sizes and

features. 11am-4pm. $10. BookLore, Dufferin Garden Centre. 519-940-0261; sharon.ann.rees@live.com.

JUL 25 : EQUUS 3D HORSE TRIALS

Watch dressage, cross-country and show jumping. 8am-4pm. Equus 3D Equestrian Centre, 434136 4th Line Amaranth.

519-940-0048; www.equus3dfarm.com.

P U Z Z L I N G Collector Coins at Rosemont Six of each.

Orville’s Albion Octagon 20

S O L U T I O N S

from page 78

Adrian’s Leg Count Eighteen. Adrian saw twenty legs, eighteen more than he has.

What am I? Auto.

The Case of the Stolen Documents Eye colour – especially blue – would not be apparent if someone is wearing aviator glasses.

You’ve Got Ten Seconds!

1 | Mary 2 | ate 3 | Artie is bald.

4 | He asks for it.

5 | Five (four of equal size; the four together make a fifth).

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June 26 & 27, 11am-5pm paintings, alpaca fibre & more!

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

R&M Stucco Superior quality & service Interior/exterior plaster/stucco finishing Marco or Rose Mary Andreozzi

705-434-0248 Saxon~Manor Flooring & Home Quality installations of

Specializing in Stone & Restoration Work Brick • Block

Kai-Liis Art Studio & Heed Farm Alpacas

519-925-0421

Wood Floors & Trim Wide-plank & Reclaimed Wood Floor Refinishing Floor & Wall Tile

Brian Wood

836100 4th Line Mulmur

(cont’d)

519-941-5396

705.434.8181

Tony Calabrese Stone Mason

• Artwork in various media • Specializing in animals and rural scenes

Flagstone Patios & Walkways Drystone Retaining Walls • Stone Facing Fireplaces • Repairs & Restoration

“The Original Ones”

905 456-9964 Brampton

Linda McLaren, Orangeville 519-925-6040

The Outback Gallery & Gifts IN MONO CENTRE

A Unique Blend of Australian & Canadian Art Wed - Sun, 11am - 5pm evenings by chance or appointment

705-440-3282

Custom Homes in Caledon East • quiet cul-de-sac • escarpment views • Energy Star homes 519-938-8417 Sales Office located at 15891 Airport Rd, Caledon East Sat/Sun & holidays, noon - 4:30 www.dalerosehomes.ca

BIRD FEEDING Caledon Mountain Wildlife Supplies • Wild Birdseed / Feeders / Nesting Boxes • Pet Food & Supplies / Wildlife Feeds • Crafts / Books / Nature Accessories “We’re here to help you help nature.”

18371 Hurontario Caledon Village Tel 519-927-3212 Fax 519-927-9186 Brian Thayer

Forrest Custom Carpentry Established 1986

Design, Build, Install Wall Units, Bars, Home Offices Call Gary for a Free Estimate

ZOLTAN POTOVSZKY

MASONRY

BRICK • BLOCK • CONCRETE • FIREPLACES • STONE Serving Dufferin County & Creemore Area

(705) 434-3285

Insured and Licensed

519-323-1121/1-877-454-9522 www.forrestcustomcarpentry.com

C AT E R I N G

E C O - F R I E N D LY P R O D U C T S Eco-Friendly Products & Gift Ideas!

834263 4th Line EHS 2.5km N of Hockley Rd

519-943-1490 Open by Appointment

100% Bamboo Bedding • Klean Kanteens Pure Cappings Beeswax Candles Recycled Glassware • Eco Gift Wrap Bird, Bat & Butterfly Houses Sacred Stones Jewelry • Singing Bowls & Much More!

See Our Website for Upcoming Events

www.VisionsInTheWoods.com

TO PLACE AN AD, CALL 519-942-8401 OR EMAIL INFO@INTHEHILLS.CA IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

75

MARKETPLACE EQUESTRIAN SERVICES HOCKLEY HILLS SCHOOL OF HORSEMANSHIP English & Western Riding Lessons Bright indoor arena Certified coaches, well trained horses Summer Camp sign-up now available!

519.940.8197 246063 County Rd 16, Orangeville, ON www.schoolofhorsemanship.com

ONICE HORSE FARM SUMMER RIDING CAMPS Ontario Icelandic Horse Farm 16218 Albion Trail, Caledon www.onicehorsefarm.ca

905.880.4002

H E A LT H & W E L L - B E I N G

PARTIES

(cont’d)

School of Miracles

Pottery Parties in the Hills

workshops & classes

- meditation - reiki healing - psychic development - readings Heather Scavetta, R.N. Reiki Master, teacher info@schoolofmiracles.ca 519.927.3387 www.schoolofmiracles.ca

Art parties for Birthdays, Schools, Corporate Events, Ladies’ Nights, Showers and Fund Raisers.

Paint Ceramics & Play with Clay.

Cakes & loot bags available.

www.potterypartiesinthehills.com

519.942.9022

LANDSCAPING

Where scaly isn’t scary!

COLD CREEK

LANDSCAPING & L AWN MAINTENANCE INC.

• Exciting packages to choose from • Great idea for birthdays, club meetings, corporate events, camps... • Interactive presentations with a variety of exotic critters Jennifer 519-925-1165 www.partysafari.ca

SPECIALIZING IN WEEKLY LAWN MAINTENANCE AND LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION SERVING THE AREA FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS

PHONE 1 888 880 4118

OR

905 880 4118

PEST CONTROL

FOOD DAVE’S BUTCHER SHOP Beef, pork, veal, lamb, chicken, fish - Sauces, rubs, marinades Alder Street Mews, 75 Alder St, Unit 4, Orangeville www.davesbutchershop.ca 519-415-MEAT (6328)

Garden Design & Installation Property Maintenance Nursery Stock Supplied & Planted Concrete Garden Ornaments David Teixeira 519-942-1421

FURNITURE PET SUPPLIES & SERVICES

TOPNOTCH

CONSIGNMENT FURNITURE

Where Things of The Past Are Present

We sell carefully chosen, well priced, quality pre-owned home furnishings on consignment.

Visit our showroom at Hwy 10 & King St, Caledon. www.topnotchfurnishings.com keith@topnotchfurnishings.com

Victorian Sand Cast Aluminum Reproductions • Estate Lighting • Table & Chair Sets • Fountains & Garden Ornaments

These are signs that your pet’s current food needs to be looked at:

Open: Wed-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5 936577 Airport Road, Mansfield

• Overweight • Frequent paw licking • Hairballs • Biting root of the tail • Dry, flaky or greasy skin • Smelly ears or skin • Excessive shedding • Stiff joints/arthritis • Recurring ear infections

705-434-0200 www.once-a-tree.ca

647-297-0611

Custom design, manufacture & repair of quality furniture for home & office Call or write today for our product brochure

/ Seasonal Gardener Garden Bed Maintenance Planting & Pruning Spring & Fall Cleanup

Janice Sant Barry 705-440-8607

3creeks@sympatico.ca 519-833-9510 / (after hours) 2182 ERIN

H E A LT H & W E L L - B E I N G

LAND SURVEYING

47 Broadway, Orangeville 519-942-8187 113 Victoria St W, Alliston 705-434-3311 226 First Ave E, Shelburne 519-925-3471

PET Portraits

DOGS, CATS, HORSES References provided from happy customers!

in watercolour

by J.Gray

action Satisf ANTEED R A U G

519.927.3454 or 416.690.7262

CPR TRAINING For Healthcare Providers, Business, Personal Daniel Fracassi, BCLS Instructor “May the Beat be with you” 519.942.9944 daniel.fracassi@sympatico.ca

P.J. Williams Ontario Land Surveyor

606286 River Road, Mulmur

(Prince of Wales & River Road) Open: 8am-4pm weekdays Free Consultation on Weekends by Appointment Phone: 519-941-6231 or 519-925-0057 Fax: 519-925-4010 Email: pjw1211@aol.com

joan@grayterartservices.com

DOG BOARDING ~ GROOMING Exclusive in-home love & care.

Daily exercise & positive play with personal individual attention. Special-needs specialist.

Puppies, seniors, post surgery, diabetics, disabilities, rescues.

30 years experience in professional animal care.

By appointment 519-843-7150 www.K9services.ca

TO PLACE AN AD, CALL 519-942-8401 OR EMAIL INFO@INTHEHILLS.CA 76

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

Layla

of Inglewood

MARKETPLACE SEPTIC SERVICES

PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICES

TREE SERVICES

TREESCAPES

(cont’d) MOVING TREES SINCE 1983

• Supply and Plant Mature Trees • On-Site Transplanting • Deep Root and Intravenous Fertilizing • Pruning and Removal • Watering

POND SERVICES

519-942-1507

TREE SERVICES

TUTORING

Charles Emerson Tree Service ISA Certified Arborist

1-8 66-367-5932 windmills • fountains • pond aeration pond management specialists

www.pondperfections.com

Free Estimates & Consultation Tree Removal & Pruning P Bucket Truck Service Emergency Work P Year Round Service Clean & Reliable Workmanship Fully Insured

905-801-5891

since 1925

Call & Compare

Competitive Rates

McCauley WELL DRILLING SUNSHINE TREES

Supply plant and transplant services.

Various size trees and spades available.

New and Cleaned • Pump Sales and Service 519-217-0331 Licenced Technicians Free Estimates

MARKETPLACE: CLASSIFIEDS DON’T GET ANY CLASSIER

Payment Plans

A member of the Precept Group Inc.

35 Main Street, Erin Tel: 519-833-9393 • 1-800-930-4293

WELL DRILLING

www.charlesemersontreeservice.com

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Home Auto Commercial Farm Financial Services Life

homework help, personal tutoring, exam reviews, prep courses, mastery courses, video game design camp 1-866-519-MATH (6284) 519-307-0989 295A Broadway, Orangeville www.mindovermath.ca

1.800.361.5296

www.sunshinetreeplanting.com

Bed&Breakfast D•I•R•E•C•T•O•R•Y

JENNY’S PLACE B&B Come and enjoy our beautiful Victorian home, walking distance to downtown Orangeville, theatre, dining and shopping. Each of our rooms has a television and DVD, and we offer a selection of books and movies. In addition, we also have a separate bed sitting room with a cozy wood stove, ensuite bath and kitchenette and separate entrance. Great for skiers, hikers, romantic getaways, and even for commuters. In the summer we have a beautiful huge deck, overlooking a half-acre of lawn and trees. Besides our hot or continental breakfasts, coffee and teas are always available in our guest kitchen. Open year round.

Rates from $70 to $120. Chris Leith 519-938-8866 www.thehillsofheadwaters.com/jennysplacebedandbreakfast jennysplace@gmail.com

BLACKSMITH HOUSE This c1895 Victorian home in picturesque Creemore (“one of the 10 prettiest towns in Canada,” Harrowsmith Country Life) in the valley of the Mad and Noisy Rivers is ideally situated for visiting many places of local interest and taking scenic drives with breathtaking views of Georgian Bay and the Niagara Escarpment. We offer quiet relaxation, individual attention, warm hospitality, delightfully furnished guest rooms, and delicious Canadian cooked breakfasts. Member of the Federation of Ontario Bed & Breakfast Accommodation.

Single $90; Double $135. John and Jean Smart 705-466-2885 www.blacksmithhouse.ca enquiries@blacksmithhouse.ca

For Fall Issue Call by August 6, 2010

COUNTRY HOST BED & BREAKFAST HOMES Accommodating guests and visitors throughout Alliston, Beeton, Caledon, Cookstown, Erin, Hillsburgh, Hockley Valley, Innisfil, Mansfield, Mono, Orangeville, Thornton, Tottenham and Lake Simcoe cottages. Established 1998. Proud recipient of Customer Service Excellence and Best Accommodation awards. Gift certificates, garden weddings, bridal showers, small conferences, hot tubs and pools. Open year-round.

Singles from $65; Double from $85. Lesley Burns 705-436-3686 www.countryhost.com info@countryhost.com

THE STREAM A tranquil base in the Hockley Valley offers queen-size sleigh beds and the sound of the stream to lull you to sleep. A cedar deck and hot tub overlook the forest, winding trails and foot ridges. Open-plan in cedar, glass and slate features indoor 30-foot tree and fireplace that burns five-foot logs. Minutes to hiking, biking, golfing, skiing, and dining. Seeing is believing - drop in and say “hi”.

Singles from $85; Doubles, private and shared baths, $125-$150.

Discounts for stays over 2 nights. Kersty and John Franklin 519-941-3392 www.streambb.com www.bbcanada.com/thestream john@streambb.com

UNTO THE HILLS The Hills of Headwaters Tourism Award for the Best Accommodation 2007. Rated in the top 5% of places to stay in Ontario by travel writer Janette Higgins.

Quiet in the Hills, where Our Guests send Their Friends.

Warm hospitality in a new climate-controlled French country farmhouse. Magnificent escarpment setting on the Bruce Trail, with 50-km views over Hockley Valley. Charming, professionally decorated bedrooms, ensuites with soothing air tubs.

Single $100; Doubles $120-180. Lynne Laverty 519-941-2826 www.untothehills.ca d.laverty@sympatico.ca

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

77

a Puzzling Conclusion

by Ken Weber

Orville’s Albion Octagon Collector Coins i s at Rosemont At the June meeting of the Rosemont Antiquarian Society one of the members showed up with a jar of very old silver dollars, quarters and dimes in equal numbers. In a moment of nervousness before the meeting began, the chairperson spilled the entire contents of the jar and the Society members were forced to spend the rest of the night on their hands and knees looking for the coins.

When the members finally gave up searching, the face value of the coins now in the jar was $6.75, but there were three coins still missing.

How many of each denomination was in the jar before the spill occurred?

After Orville scraped away several layers of yellowed and cracked linoleum from the kitchen floor of his century home in the former Albion Township, he found that decades ago someone had painted the outline of an octagon on the original pine floor.

Then, after several more hours of hard work, Orville discovered that someone, possibly the same painter, had joined each of the eight corners of the octagon to every other corner with straight black lines.

How many straight black lines inside the octagon did it take to join each one of the corners to every other corner?

Adrian’s Leg Count

What am I?

Adrian was riding his new ATV along the shore of the Humber River when he met a couple on an outing with their two sets of twins, pet dog, pet cat and – he found this hard to believe – their pet snake!

Choose a single letter as suggested in each line below. The correct choices in order from first to fourth will produce a four-letter word that answers the question: What am I?

How many more legs than Adrian has did he see at that moment of his ride?

“My first is in Amaranth but not in Hillsburgh.”

“My second is in Unser but not in Violet Hill.”

“My third is in Terra Cotta but not in Erin.”

“My fourth is in Orton but not in Silver Creek.”

Hint: In these hills I am both a boon and a bane.

A N I N T H E H I L L S M I N I M Y S T E R Y

The Case of the Stolen Documents The shoulder patches on the man in the office doorway said he was an employee of Our Hills Courier Service, but the growing patches of perspiration under his arms indicated far more eloquently, along with the fidgeting, that he was in trouble. The cause of his stress was coming from a voice inside the office.

“Let me go over this one more time,” the courier’s boss was saying. “Just to be sure I’m not dreaming this! You’re saying this cop pulled you over on McLaughlin…”

“Yeah, motorcycle cop,” the courier said. “Just outside Inglewood.”

“And he makes you get out of the van, ramps his motorcycle into the van and then drives away!”

“Yeah, like that. I mean… by then I know he’s not a cop but… I mean he looked like a cop. A motorcycle cop, big gloves, aviator glasses, white helmet, shiny boots, that kinda cocky way about him. You’da stopped too I bet! ” The voice became quieter. “And you say he was a big, husky guy, blue eyes, heavy moustache, a little cut on the nose?”

“Yeah, like that. And he wasn’t fat like a lot of those cops. But I still…”

“You know, don’t you,” the voice was stern again, “that you were carrying extremely valuable documents for a company in Shelburne.” Before the man could answer the voice carried on, “And now the cops, the real cops are on their way here from Caledon East to talk to you.”

“Yeah, but I still…”

“And there’s no way in the world they are going to believe your story!”

“They’re not?”

“No, they’re not! And just for the record, I don’t either!”

Why does the courier’s boss not believe the story?

You’ve Got Ten Seconds!

When the school bus broke down between Caledon East and Caledon Village, Chuck had a load of grade six and seven students to amuse until the relief bus showed up. Among other things he tossed out these puzzles, challenging the students to answer correctly within ten seconds. How would you have done if you were on the bus?

Mary’s father has five daughters, Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono and _?

Use one three letter word to fill the blanks and make four different words.

design _ _ _ congreg _ _ _ altern _ _ _ consider _ _ _

Artie has been standing outside in the pouring rain on Broadway in Orangeville for the past ten minutes. He has no umbrella, no hat, no raincoat, and nothing to hold over his head. His clothes are drenched; his shoes are soaked and he’s really cold.

All this happened without a single hair on his head getting wet. How is this possible?

A mute person goes into a store in Grand Valley to buy a toothbrush.

She’s a stranger in Grand Valley but by imitating the action of brushing teeth, she conveys what she wants and soon walks out with a new toothbrush. Five minutes later a blind person, again a stranger in Grand Valley, goes into the store to buy a pair of sunglasses. How does he convey what he wants?

Imagine three horizontal lines, one above the other, each of them one centimetre apart. Got that? Now imagine three vertical lines, one beside the other, each of them one centimetre apart, and each one cutting through the horizontal lines. How many squares have been formed? solutions on page 74

78

IN THE HILLS SUMMER 2010

POLYURETHANE

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