The Scoop // February / March 2014

SCOOP The

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2014

www.thescoop.ca

celebrates rural life

B. Rich, Out For a Rip! Ice Storm

Sandy Pines Expansion

Deer Crossing

Jo-ann Ferreira

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The

PUBLISHER / DESIGNER AD SALES Karen Nordrum stonemills.scoop@gmail.com

EDITOR

Angela Saxe angela.saxe@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHER

Barry Lovegrove barrylovegrove@bell.net All photographs are by Barry unless otherwise noted.

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CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

C

anadians are known to be obsessed by weather and we’ve certainly had a lot to be obsessed about: snow storms, rain, freezing rain, icy roads and sidewalks, frigid temperatures and a January thaw – and all of this in the first quarter of the season. We’ve had to learn new vocabulary like “polar vortex” and “frost quakes” and we’ve learned that it’s wise to check the weather forecast several times a day. The ice storm left many people enduring days without power, while recent propane gas shortages had many without cooking or heating fuel. Weather in Canada is about survival, no wonder we’re obsessed!

We are usually a hardy lot but there’s a difference this year: there’s a feeling of dread. In terms of weather, we worry about what the next three months of winter will bring. Are we prepared?

There is a general malaise as well, a feeling that there are many things out there that can harm us, or make our lives more difficult.

Like it or not, the sentiments broadcast in our local, national and international news seep into our consciousness.

There’s high unemployment, especially among youth. The manufacturing sector has pretty well disappeared only to be replaced with low-paying service jobs. We will see increases in our electricity and gas bills even though we have an abundance of both. Retirement will be impossible for many unless they take on part-time jobs. The list

Jerry Ackerman, Jordan Balson, Leah Birmingham, Sally Bowen, Dustin Crozier, Julieanne DeBruyn, J. Huntress, Thomasina Larkin, Barry Lovegrove, Cam Mather, Blair McDonald, Mark Oliver, Milly Ristvedt, Angela Saxe, Michael Saxe, Grace Smith, Terry Sprague, Sue Wade, Isabel Wright The contents of this publication are protected by copyright.

Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

The Scoop is an independent publication and is not affiliated with nor funded by any corporation or interest group.

COVER PHOTO

Brendan Richmond, Out For a Rip. Photo by Rich S.

If you care about the environment, there’s plenty to fear. The degradation of the land is colossal and hidden away from us. Go online to https://vimeo. com/84170239 to view an excerpt of the film Petropolis: An air balloon flies over the Alberta tar sands and captures a land that one may mistake for the moon – a dead, lifeless place. We’re being told that objecting to this is un-Canadian, anti-business and suspect. It’s supposed to make Canada a richer country and therefore we will all benefit.

Excuse my cynicism, but that seems hard to believe when at the same time we are being told that there’s not enough money to put into the Canada Pension Plan, something that really does benefit us all.

Joy is of the moment. You only feel joy in the here and now not in the future. I can feel joy when I spend time with family and friends enjoying each other’s company. I feel joy when I see beauty in the natural world: the herd of deer streaking across the snowy field, the flash of the red cardinal at the feeder or the blue jay in flight. I feel joy when I write a good sentence or paragraph.

I feel joy when I stretch and exercise. I feel joy when I get hugged or when someone laughs at my joke. I feel joy when I do service by volunteering and see how my efforts have helped someone. There are so many ways to feel joy and the benefits are tremendous. Our whole body warms up with feelings of wellbeing; the restriction around our chest loosens and our senses sharpen.

It may very well be that we live in a constant tension between these two feelings: dread and joy, but we have to make sure that there’s a balance. Taking a stand and speaking out against policies that will not benefit us or our children helps, as does working to make a difference in our communities – these actions help reduce the amount of dread we feel and raises the level of joy. While we can’t control the weather, we do have the capacity to take action and make a difference in our communities and our country.

The SCOOP is looking for writers!

Are you a community-minded person who loves to write?

Well then join our team and have fun writing for the best little newsmagazine in the area!

Contact Angela Saxe: angela.saxe@gmail.com

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Our concern deepens when we look at the politicians at every level of government: corrupt mayors in Quebec and shameless ones in Ontario. Senators who lie and misappropriate funds for their personal use. A national government that has destroyed the accumulated wealth of scientific knowledge by closing and destroying libraries filled with world-class research and important information. They are prepared to break treaties with our First Nations people. Our Prime Minister is controlling and evasive. Our media serves its corporate owners and doesn’t ask tough questions.

Communities are exposed (as well as destroyed) by hazardous chemicals being transported through their villages and towns. Plans to eliminate postal service are being discussed, thus changing a national service to a for-profit business. This is just a small list of things that makes many Canadians apprehensive and distrustful.

Dread is the fear of something terrible happening in the future.

Human beings live with the uncertainty of the future all the time: will we or our loved ones get sick? Lose a job? Be unable to be financially secure?

Will our children be safe? Will our marriages last? When we contemplate all these fears, we’re projecting ourselves into the future where we have very little control. We can plan, but there’s always the unexpected, the unforeseen. The only way I can stay optimistic and sane, is to think of the opposite of dread, which is hope and a feeling of joy.

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

Family Day Event

Marionette Show

by David & Muriel Smith

Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014 1:00 pm - Tamworth Library

Free Admission

Sweets Refreshments

Fun for the Whole Family Sponsored by the Christmas Events Committee - T/ECDC, Robert & Gwynne Storring - C21 Lanthorn Real Estate and Ron & Mary-Lynn Gillan - Gillan Trucking Contact: Marilyn 613-379-2727 or Lorraine 613-379-2684

Letters and submissions are most welcome and encouraged.

This is your community magazine devoted to celebrating the stories and lives of the folks who live here. Get involved! Let us know what’s happening in your area.

goes on and both the working and middle classes are feeling the full blast of rising expenses, rising household debt and fewer opportunities.

Founded in 2005 by Richard Saxe

By Angela Saxe

Celebrates rural life

Letter to the Editor Who Does Canada Post Serve?

As you know home delivery will cease early next year and the price of stamps will increase substantially, two new policies introduced in December 2013 without public consultation.

Canada Post president and CEO Deepak Chopra claims that senior citizens are happy to have an excuse to leave the house every day to pick up their mail. I feel there are a number of things wrong with Mr Chopra’s statement: 1. How many senior citizens did Mr Chopra speak with? Will all seniors even people who don’t normally leave the house leap at the chance to go out to get their mail especially in winter weather? In other words where is his evidence for his claim?

2. Senior citizens who are unable or unwilling to venture out of the house will be forced to go without their mail in icy or snowy conditions. Bills might go unpaid and seniors will be forced from their homes.

3. Not everyone has a computer.

Downloading bank statements and bills is not an option for someone who has no computer or who doesn’t have the expertise and experience to use one. If people are unable to continue to be self sufficient how will higher costs and less service save seniors money and how will this be beneficial to Canada?

Deepak Chopra was on the board of directors of the think tank that recommended the cut in service and the increase in stamp prices.

Naturally Canada Post claims this is not a conflict of interest even though the source of the think tank’s funding is not required to be made public.

According to the National Post Newspaper dated December 12, 2013, Canada Post has nearly two dozen presidents and vicepresidents. The article states that Mr Chopra earns between $422,500 and $479,100 plus a bonus of 33%. Imagine how many letters could be delivered if the number of presidents and vicepresidents of Canada Post was cut in half?

The presumption is that Canada Post is a business and must make a profit. If the cuts in service and the increase costs to the consumer are not adopted there might profits in the future.

Who does Canada Post serve - the Canadian people or the government’s requirement that public services make money?

Announcing the changes by Canada Post after the House has risen for Christmas means that questions sent to our elected representatives will go unanswered. The timing is cowardly which I feel demonstrates the cynical disrespectful attitude of the current government and Canada Post toward Canadians.

Please stand up to the service cuts and the increased costs by contacting Mr Chopra or your representative in Ottawa.

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Bring Food Home

By Milly Ristvedt In the face of mounting health crises such as obesity and diabetes coupled with a farm income crisis, Ontario has developed a vibrant food sector and a growing sustainable food movement.

Hundreds of initiatives across the province are connecting people to the sources of their food, helping them to grow, and helping them to eat a better diet. The seeds of a healthy and sustainable Ontario are being planted.

(Bringfoodhome.com)

T

he 2013 Bring Food Home Conference, “Building Bridges Together”, conducted in the spirit of optimism for change expressed above, took place in Windsor, Ontario on November 17, 18 and 19 and was attended by more than 450 people with interests ranging from food security, food safety, and food justice to food sovereignty. The conference featured more than fifty sessions which highlighted a range of subjects including the role of co-operatives and food hubs in the food movement, new farmer training, and relationships with municipal councils, addressed by a roster of more than 140 plenary and panel session speakers.

Bring Food Home is Ontario’s biennial conference connecting individuals and organizations who are working towards a sustainable food system. Sustain Ontario - the Alliance for Healthy Food and Farming is presently the lead hosting organization.

The conference and its aims have gained strength since its 2010 inauguration in KitchenerWaterloo, and are now bolstered by the recently passed, Local Food Act, 2013.

The conference brought together food system leaders from the areas of public health, community and social services, education, and environmental sciences, as well as farmers, processors, distributors, retailers, and municipal staff, to talk about good food solutions. Following on the news of the closure of the Heinz plant in Leamington, several sessions involved topics relevant to this communitydevastating event: one on bringing retailers and farmers together, another to brainstorm ideas for alternatives for affected tomato growers and plant workers, and at least one session on distribution to institutions.

According to Carolyn Young, Program Manager for Sustain

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4

Ontario, part of building a good food system is having ownership.

“We are definitely addressing food distribution, and that’s a huge issue for local food and sustainability in this province,” said Young. “So the larger the scale and the more global the market, the more you lose local infrastructure.”

With as many as six 1½-hour sessions running concurrently throughout the day (as well as several off-site tours to urban agriculture sites, greenhouses and processing facilities), choosing which to attend was a challenge. I was there to expand my understanding of food systems and food issues for my work as a member of Tamworth/ Erinsville GrassRoots Growers and the newly formed the Food Policy Council for KFL&A, and came away feeling that my mission was well satisfied for both objectives.

SCOPE OF THE CONFERENCE Bring Food Home covered everything from land and water use to food wastage, informed by the underlying premise of the food movement that local food, from production to consumption, will empower citizens and alleviate a multitude of health, environmental, and social ills, as well as some political ones, e.g., border closings and tariffs.

Some of the key words and phrases repeated from one session to another were collaboration, diversity, innovation, social enterprise, food hubs, food charters, food policy councils, co-ops, community gardens, and urban agriculture. When related to local food production, processing and distribution, these terms suggest a more holistic vision of social, health and economic well-being than exists in conventional agribusiness and food retailing models where the emphasis is on economics.

PLENARY SESSIONS The opening plenary began with a recap of the food movement’s successes in the past five years and its present challenges, including the on-going struggle to protect prime agricultural lands, the food justice movement, school food and food literacy programs. One of the panelists, Wayne Roberts, a respected Canadian food policy analyst, stressed the importance of

relations between farmers and others in the food movement.

Another speaker noted that localizing the food system would take the power out of the hands of the hedge funds that now control two to five per cent of the food sector.

A second plenary panel brought together representatives from Ontario political parties to discuss student nutrition, challenges facing new farmers, and access to healthy local foods among First Nations communities. MPP Teresa Piruzza, current Minister of Children and Youth Services, spoke of the need to educate students and others about the true cost of food, an issue that emerged several times during the conference.

The third plenary, a panel discussion with funding organizations, offered the opportunity to hear from several organizations on how they fund ‘food systems’ work, what funders can offer community groups, and best practices for groups and municipalities working with them.

MUNICIPAL FOOD POLICY Several sessions dealt with the role of municipalities in collaboration with food policy councils and volunteer community groups. At a panel on municipal food policy, Marc LaBerge, Senior Policy Analyst with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food/Ministry of Rural Affairs, suggested strategies for getting support from municipal councils.

Other panelists from different regions of Ontario and abroad provided municipal food policy experiences which were instructive in showing how good food strategies and programs must be tailored to the needs of specific regions and communities.

COMMUNITY GARDENS Another session concerned partnerships between municipalities and volunteer groups in community gardens.

Although most community gardens are found in large urban centres, there are some in smaller communities, particularly where food distribution is an issue. Among the often daunting obstacles to the implementation of community growing projects are start-up costs, zoning, by-

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laws, contracts, maintenance, and public and user education.

There are also many benefits: the production of fresh local food, the pleasure of watching things grow, exercise, fresh air, and the relief of stress.

A session on the ethics of access to community gardens stressed the need to be clear about goals – start small, invest in soil, ensure stable access to land, be prepared for hard work. Above all, when overseeing rights of access and use, ensure your volunteer group reflects the needs of the community.

FOOD HUBS A session on regional food hubs – defined as centrally located facilities for the aggregation, storage, processing, distribution, and/or marketing of local or regional products – presented several models operating within Ontario, including Holland Marsh, the largest and oldest food hub in Ontario, which links 440 farmers to the Ontario Food terminal and Savour Ottawa, which promotes local food production with the goal of making Ottawa a culinary destination. Some of the benefits of food hubs are shorter distances and delivery times in the chain between producer and consumer, and potential integration between regional hubs. By providing a more direct chain between farmer, retailer, and consumer, food hubs cut the costs associated with imports, and create new jobs associated with food production. Within the past five years, 239 food hubs have been created, mostly in the US.

COOPERATIVES Community-based local and organic food co-operatives are also on the increase. Speakers at one session I attended introduced us to three different models of non-profit social enterprise that arose out of a need to address specific economic needs of each of their communities. One started with CSAs (communitysupported agriculture), then added greenhouses, and is now an online operation year round with weekly pick-up, food for local schools, and cooking classes.

West End Food Co-op in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood is a multi-stakeholder, community owned grocery store that began as a farmers’ market. Canning and preserving workshops have become an integral part of their offerings, directed at developing an interest in food and helping

continued on page 7...

FOR THE LOVE OF WRITING

The Newburgh Native

By Dustin Crozier

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his is my eleventh year living in Lennox and Addington County. I grew up in a suburb outside of Saint John, New Brunswick and once when I was in high school, I returned to our house on Roberts Lane late at night to find my parents gone, the door locked and me keyless. I spent the next hour or so waiting on the front deck in the dark wondering if they would ever return. As I looked across the street where the houses sit closely side by side, I realized that everyone was asleep except for me and a gang of raccoons; they were busy working their way from house to house tearing open piles of garbage bags.

Raccoons are a mischievous bunch. Their masked eyes are full of trouble - but trouble with a smile - like the villains on the old 1960’s Batman TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward. They certainly made a racket. They’d finish at one house, crawl through the culvert and pop out at the next house. It was hilarious to say the least and good entertainment for someone who was in the precarious predicament I had found myself in. It was an urban wildlife exchange at its best. Now time travel ahead with me to 2013.

Here I am living in a rural community where I’ve started a career, found my beautiful wife and at present, working hard to raise our two girls. It’s springtime, and our four year old is in the back seat of our car playing with Disney Princesses when we come

across a cat in the center of the street in Newburgh – a really big cat, with a flat leathery tail.

As we approach this cat, the car coming towards us slows down and we all watch the thing lumbering along the yellow line.

It is not a cat. It is definitely a beaver. My daughter is delighted and bouncing with joy so we pull the car over to watch. We laugh and smile together, both of us feeling like four year olds. In my textbook a raccoon and a beaver are from the same genus of animal – varmitus goofus. When God was designing them he said - Man, the humans are going to get a kick out of these things!

We watched as long as we could until it finally ducked down over the embankment and into the river. Perhaps he was heading up to the store to get some Township garbage bags before we interrupted him.

Since moving to the country, animal encounters on the way to work or church or to the grocery store are pretty commonplace.

Animals beautiful, strong and ridiculous are always just a few feet away. You still get that feeling that there are more of them than there are of you. I love it. In a city or suburb, any encounter with wildlife feels like an animal intruding in your territory. In the country, the roles are soundly reversed. I am totally on their turf; they are not on mine. In the country, they are the longtime occupants and I am the unexpected guest. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Poet Space Silent cedars Sumac rich red against the grey blacks And deep greens Of the snowfilled paradise – An utterly gorgeous delight – POETSPACE I stand and stand in deep snow arms loose, and lift my eyes and arms and ears UPWARDS past the brown ferns and silent cedars that surround me in God’s own shrine outstretched to the dying tops of the once strong elm trees shivering slightly from a sky-breeze heard but hardly felt in the gracious communal solitude of these perfect artistic pieces – this perfect poet place – This space, Where God and poet meet.

I stand and shiver yet seem held to this space and upheld in this space as I think: Grace Yes, grace...

With God’s grace I could die easily here and be reborn.

By Jerry Ackerman, 5th Depot Lake

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5

Giving Our Immune Systems a Little Push And Pull

By Thomasina Larkin

A

s winter settles in, so does the ongoing battle with flues and viruses. Our poor immune system is in overdrive as our lymphatic system swabs out one strain of germs for the next.

The lymphatic system is basically a network of organs, lymph nodes, lymph ducts, and vein-like lymph vessels that transport lymph fluid from tissues to the bloodstream. The lymph system is a major part of the body’s immune system because the lymph fluid is mainly filled with white blood cells, specifically lymphocytes that attack bacteria in the blood.

There are 600 to 700 lymph nodes clustered at key regions in the human body that filter the lymph before it returns to the circulatory system. The nodes act as filters to trap invasive organisms that cause sickness and disease. When bacteria are recognized in the lymph fluid, the lymph nodes make more infection-fighting white blood cells, which can cause swelling.

That’s why when you’re sick the nodes in your neck feel like hard yet spongy jelly beans. Finally the toxins pass through a duct before being excreted.

We all know the cardiovascular system uses the heart to pump blood through our bodies. Well, unfortunately our lymphatic system does not have a pump. It relies on the body’s movements or physical activity to circulate lymph around. Within the scope of massage therapy, there’s a treatment called Manual Lymph Drainage that is extremely effective for treating conditions with swelling.

The good news is we can all do a few simple techniques at home to help encourage the movement of lymph, giving a little boost to our immune systems.

Here’s a series of compressions and stretches that you can easily do. The compressions will act as a pump on the main lymph node clusters to help empty them out, and then by stretching that area you will help circulate fluid.

Hold each stretch for 15 – 30 seconds, repeat on both sides and remember to breathe throughout.

During the stretch you should feel a gentle pull but no pain. If you ever feel pain, back off the pose a little. If the pain persists, stop doing the pose. Please do not perform the compressions if you have cancer as it may encourage the spread of cancerous cells throughout the lymphatic system.

THE NECK Doing one side at a time, use your whole hand to gently compress and massage the sides of your neck, from just below the ear down to the collarbone.

Compress each spot five or so times to help empty lymph that’s stored in the nodes there.

muscles. We carry a lot of tension in our necks, especially during cold weather when we scrunch our shoulders up to our ears. Start off slowly, respect your body and gradually work your way to deeper stretches.

THE AXILLA Here comes the fun part: the armpit. To compress the nodes here you get to embrace your inner child. Hold your left hand snug under your right armpit and then move your right arm up and down, as if you’re trying to make those tooting sounds like when you were a kid. Go ahead, give it a good five tries or so.

After that perform half moon pose by reaching your arm above your head, palm facing the midline of your body, and gently stretching your arm into a crescent shape above your head.

Repeat on the other side.

Then, sitting with a tall spine and shoulders relaxed down away from the ears, gently tilt your right ear toward your right shoulder and hold for 15 – 30 seconds.

Make sure Lymphatic system not to start raising your shoulders up, it’s very easy to do THE TORSO this without realizing it. Facing a mirror is useful so you can keep Start at the sternum (breastbone) your posture in check. Next, and use flat fingertips to gently keep your ear at your shoulder compress down along the outer but reach your chin toward the edges of the sternum until you ceiling to stretch the front of the get to the bottom ribs. Repeat neck. After 15 – 30 seconds, keep about five times. your ear to your shoulder but draw your chin to your chest so For the stretch, interlace your you’re facing your armpit. Check fingers behind your back and that you’re still sitting with tall draw your chest forward as you posture, shoulders relaxed, and slowly squeeze your shoulder hold for another 15 – 30 seconds. blades together. If you can’t Come out of the stretch very interlace your fingers, you can slowly. Your neck will probably hold the back of a chair behind feel a little stiff – that’s quite you. normal, just give your head a little bobble and then repeat on THE GROIN the other side.

Place flat fingertips at the crease These neck stretches target where the top of your legs meet almost all of the headache your hip. Gently compress and

work your way down toward the pubic bone. Repeat each pass about five times.

The stretch for this works best sitting on the floor with the soles of the feet together and the knees open, relaxing down to the sides.

Most people are quite inflexible here so if that’s how you’re feeling, you’re not alone (come to yoga class!). If you feel a good stretch, just stay like this. If you want to deepen it, sit with a tall spine and then slowly lower your chest towards your feet. If the floor is not working for you, lie on your bed on your back with your legs in the air and then slowly open them into a wide angle, using your hands for support.

THE KNEES Much like the armpit, the technique is done by placing the hand behind the knee and then bending the leg so it squeezes your hand. Do this about five times and then perform a hamstring stretch. Either seated or standing, keep your leg straight and your back flat as you slowly lower your chest toward your leg.

KEEP FIT, STAY HEALTHY As I already mentioned, the best way to keep your immune system functioning optimally is with physical activity. If you feel like you’re coming down with something, a little exercise may bring it on quicker, but it will also get it out of your body a lot faster.

To decide whether or not to head to class with a cold, use the above-or-below-the-neck rule. If you have a head cold -runny nose, coughing, sneezing -- exercising can be a key way to push it through your system faster (however, it’s not a good idea to exert yourself if you have a fever). If it’s below the neck -upset stomach or diarrhea -- it’s best to wait until you feel better to work out.

I wish you all the best health of 2014!

Thomasina Larkin is a Registered Massage Therapist and owner of The Health Hut www.thomasina.ca

Formerly ONeill’s Farm Supply - Your Local, Full Service Farm Supply Dealer Since 1994 6

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

The Marionettes are Coming to Town

By J. Huntress

T

he David Smith Marionettes are coming to Tamworth’s Stone Mills Library on Saturday, February 15 at 1:00 p.m. This very special children’s event (suitable for all ages) is being sponsored by the Christmas Events Committee and made possible by donations from Century 21, Lanthorn Real Estate Brokerage (Robert Storring), Gillan Trucking (Ron and Mary Lynn Gillan), and Tamworth-Erinsville Community Development Commitee (Mark Oliver).

Don’t miss the FREE event when the Smiths come to town to present their cabaret-style variety show to entertain their audience. We may be lucky enough to see their Wiley Wolf, Bozo, and Pierrot the Clown.

After the production hot drinks and sweets will be served. Come early to get a seat!

See David and Muriel’s web site with pictures by going to www.DSPuppet.com.

David and Muriel Smith of Kingston are Masters of Puppetry and their colorful and lively marionette productions have been presented around the world - in Europe, America, Canada and Asia. They hand craft and paint their marionettes and they design and make the props and the scenery for their sets. Their productions combine theatre, music, and storytelling for children, teens and adults.

Over the years their interaction with their audiences have helped them to create modern interpretations of classic fairy and folk tales, operas, and even a ghost story – for example The Sleigh Without Bells based on the famous Canadian Donnelly Trilogy by James Reaney. Their marionettes also appear in music videos for Canadian music groups such as Great Big Sea, Crash Test Dummies, et al. You don’t have to be a child to enjoy and interact with their puppets.

...continued from page 4 to make food affordable to local residents.

The model that most impressed me is the Karma Project in Penetanguishene. Karma tackles local food needs with the ‘from me to we’ philosophy, and continues to expand with community gardens, three farmer’s markets in outlying areas, and a food box program.

It has just opened a ‘pay as you wish’ café in storefront space adjacent to their store, and is in the process of forming its first elected board. This is a great example of flexibility and strategies for growth according to community needs.

GMO DEBATE The final session was a debate between Jodi Koberinski of the Organic Council and Terry Daynard, grain farmer and former University of Guelph professor two individuals who are on opposite sides of the GMO (genetically modified organisms) debate. Citing ‘Golden Rice” (genetically modified rice designed to replace indigenous varieties in the developing world because they lack sufficient Vitamin A), Terry supported the

David and Muriel. Photo from DSPuppet.com.

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Pierrot. Photo from DSPuppet.com. idea held by many farmers that food prices are consumer driven and that organic food production is ‘elitist’ and will not feed the world’s poor. There may be no denying the nutritional value of Golden Rice, given free to third world farmers for humanitarian purposes, but the patent holder, Syngenta, maintains control of distribution and sets limits on its commercial use that make it difficult for poor farmers to prosper. The reduction of biodiversity is another potential problem. By contrast, the South Asian country of Bhutan recently announced a national policy of organic food production, a pragmatic solution for a country that can’t afford chemical fertilizers and other crop inputs.

As for food prices, Jodi said that consumers need to be educated on the true costs of food, dwindling farm land, lack of workers, and poor soil health.

Both agreed that soil structure and soil organisms have been altered by modern farming practices, and that much current science is either flawed or misused.

A farmer in the audience brought up questions of liability for GM seed drift when organic farmers’ fields are contaminated

by GM pollen and farmers are

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358-2629 charged with seed theft. Another person questioned whether GM produced foods were responsible for the increase in chronic gut problems through the introduction of foreign proteins.

Someone else was concerned that choice has been taken away from the consumer because Monsanto and other GM producers are successfully fighting labeling, so most people don’t know when they are ingesting GM foods.

This session offered insight into some of the divisions in the food movement, and showed that it was possible to have a respectful conversation around a highly controversial subject.

Such debates and discussions concerning best practices in the food world will continue – as they should: Food is everybody’s business, and there is so much more for each of us to learn about it.

February / March 2014 • THE SCOOP

7

Farmers Feed…

Everyone!

By Cam Mather

T

he nice thing about being a cash crop farmer is that you get to enjoy some down time over the winter. If you have animals you don’t have this option but there’s not much you can do about growing vegetables during the long winter months. Michelle and I went to a local food conference in Kingston in December to get re-energized for next season. It was a great chance to meet other farmers and hear some of the challenges other small growers are experiencing. I came home with lots of ideas and now the challenge is to figure out which ideas to focus on.

It seems there are two ways to approach farming. One is to have a lot of land and a big tractor and plant cash crops. This is the traditional model and with high commodity prices for corn, wheat and soybeans it’s not a bad way to go if you can afford it. It tends to be very capital intensive and fossil fuel intensive not just in terms of what goes into the tractor, but this type of farming requires fertilizers derived from natural gas and various pesticides and herbicides.

I noticed at the conference that a lot of younger farmers who lack the capital resources find ways to get higher returns from a smaller plot of land. As long as land is expensive there are barriers for younger farmers to get started.

The average farmer in Canada is almost 55 years old. So younger farmers have to be more creative and find smaller market niches to fill to provide them with an income from farming. Something that I’ve noticed (and was reinforced at the conference) is that many of the younger farmers are female and it’s a wonderful trend to see.

Many of the smaller farmers have found niches supplying Kingston.

Some use traditional routes like the farmers’ market downtown and the new one at the Memorial Center. Others choose to supply restaurants or sell directly to consumers through CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) where members get a regular basket of the farmer’s harvest during the growing season. Limestone Organic Creamery has even begun home delivery of their milk and dairy products, a service that I vaguely remember from when I was a kid.

Here in Stone Mills there is less local food production and consumption going on. We have lots of farmers growing food but it is mostly on a larger scale and therefore their harvest is shipped away to be processed somewhere else. Many residents of Stone Mills work outside of the township and so they purchase their food in the urban centers 8

where they work.

I find the idea that rural people who are surrounded by farm land purchase their food elsewhere, alarming. It makes it hard for small-scale farmers to earn a living and keep the skills and resources close to home. As the cost of oil stays around $100/ barrel and the planet is on its way to having 8 billion mouths to feed, a vibrant local food marketplace supporting local farmers both big and small becomes vitally important.

Michelle and I have found one way to connect locally through our Sunflower Farm CSA. Our membership grew significantly last year and we hope to increase it again this year. Our members received a basket of vegetables from our garden from June to October and this year we managed to include strawberries from Wise Acres in Centerville and local blueberries as well. A CSA is a great way for us to connect with the people who consume the food that we work really hard to grow and it’s wonderful to get such positive feedback. For our members, belonging to a CSA is a very tangible way for them to support Local Food while at the same time enjoying the freshest, healthiest and most local food possible!

We would like to see a much more vibrant market for local food and so we have started The Stone Mills Local Food Project.

I’m seeking partners so that we can apply for a Rural Economic Development grant, which we can put towards researching how best to approach this goal. Is this a chicken and an egg thing? Do people in Stone Mills not always seek out local food because it’s not widely available or is it not widely available because smaller farmers have found it difficult to sell their harvest locally?

How can we educate consumers about the advantages of local food in terms of lowering the distance food has to travel and building resilience in our food supply? What ways can we link up producers and consumers to facilitate a more vibrant market?

Over the coming months The Stone Mills Local Food Project will be examining these ideas.

We plan to come up with some recommendations to really make some inroads into creating a thriving local food economy. We often see the bumper sticker that reads Farmers Feed Cities. This has always been the case and I hope we can add a new slogan in Stone Mills that reads: Farmers Feed Their Neighbours.

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

We welcome your input. cam@aztext.com www.sunflowerfarm.ca

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www.collisionprevention.ca SATURDAY, MARCH 22 Sharbot Lake Farmers Market SEEDY SATURDAY, MARKET AND SEED EXCHANGE Cate Henderson, Seed Saver and Gardener for the Heirloom Seed Sanctuary, will lead a workshop and Q & A on growing your very own heritage seeds in your garden (10-11 am).

The Heirloom Seed Sanctuary is a ministry of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul in Kingston.

In addition to the workshop, there will be a Seedy Saturday seed exchange and a farmers’ market from 9-1, Oso Hall, 1107 Garrett Street, Sharbot Lake.

To register for the workshop, please contact info@handsonharvest. ca

Birthday Gifts

Lessons Learned

By Sue Wade

By Blair McDonald

T

he year our son turned fifteen, my husband and I gave him a blender as part of his birthday gift.

“You gave me a blender,” he intoned with furrowed brow and puzzled expression in a voice that confirmed that the parents of this particular fifteen year old, if not all parents of fifteen year olds, are insane. (I’m sure some of you are familiar with that voice.)

There was method to our gift giving madness. Our son has always had a knack and a love for working with food, and his fifteen year old self had earned the place of milkshake master for our family that spring. The blender that was the key kitchen tool for his milkshake creations was one that I had received as a shower gift decades before and had earned its keep well over those decades - had indeed made baby food for this same son and his two sisters - but was at that time a senior citizen of the small appliance world and was becoming arthritic. Since I believe good tools help make good creations, and since a quality blender was on sale for half price, a blender seemed to me a great gift for a child who would be craving maple banana milkshakes in his own kitchen in a few years’ time.

I was a little premature, it seems.

The blender was not received with quite the gusto I expected and was swiftly exiled to that no-man’s-land situated at the bottom of our son’s bedroom closet where it served its sentence for several years, waiting for this child to become a man with a wife, a house, and the responsibility of being the chef for his new little family. I’ll allow that the blender might have come into his life a few years before it was time, but it was in the end appreciated. I’m told it makes a first-class cauliflower soup and is well used.

Let me tell you a parallel story of another birthday gift that was received by a child who one might think would have been too young to receive such a gift. This time, it was a seven year old child accepting a birthday present from her parents. The gift was an original oil painting by a local

artist, whimsical and magical in design with exquisite blends of living colours deep on the canvas.

“So, what did Julia say when she opened your gift?” I asked the child’s mom when we spoke of this birthday present, expecting her answer to be an echo of the same monotone puzzlement that my son exhibited on his Blender Birthday.

“She was over the moon!”

Julia’s mother said. “In fact, the painting was on her wish list as soon as she saw it in an art show this past summer. We’ve met the artist too, and she told Julia all about the painting.”

Well, well. This is something one does not hear every day, but doesn’t it just warm your heart to hear it? There are two levels of wonderfulness here. On one level, we have Julia’s mother making the world of art available to her child, not only by buying the painting that captured Julia, but by thinking of taking her young daughter to the art show in the first place, giving her the opportunity to know that such a thing as whimsical, magical, colourful art exists in her world.

On the other level is Julia herself, who has with some combination of Nature and Nurture in her life, found in herself an appreciation for art that will stand her in good stead forever.

Sue Wade is a stained glass artist from Stone Mills who looks forward to taking her grandson to art shows.

I

s it just me or has this Winter really tested us? The ice, the snow, the record cold days. This winter has got more attention this past year then all the Kardashians combined (Kanye included) – and that’s saying something.

Regardless, 2014 is up and running. Resolutions are beginning to fade into the rear view and like many of us without sunny vacation plans, we will have to make do with the very thought of Spring to keep us warm.

At school, I am mid-way through a new course which has just been put on the curriculum that aims to make sense of what our historians call the information age or the digital world. Those with a fascination with history will know that, while history is always done in order to understand the present, seeing ourselves and the advancement of culture objectively is the hardest thing. To see history clearly not only do we need a long view of things but we need some breathing room. In order to see the present clearly we need some distance from it. Nonetheless, we march on and do the best we can.

We began the course with an instructive tale from Plato’s Phaedrus about the relationship between technology and knowledge. In Phaedrus, Socrates tells the story of an encounter between Thamus, the king of a great city in upper Egypt and the god Theuth, the inventor of

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calculation, geometry and above all, writing.

Socrates tells of Theuth proudly proclaiming to the King that writing “will improve both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians” having discovered “a sure receipt for memory and wisdom.”

To this, Thamus replied, “Theuth, my paragon of inventors, what you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory.

And as for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality: they will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction, and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant. And because they are filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom they will be a burden to society” Is this not the wakeup call our tech-savvy, degree-driven culture needs more than ever? While the Internet might make information more accessible and immediate, this simple story reminds us all to keep our tools in check and leave our credentials at the door.

I can’t help but wonder what King Thamus would make of the Internet and all this talk of social media. I can just imagine him repeating, “All these reputations without the reality…”. Surely, he must be spinning in his tomb.

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Thank-you to all who bought tickets!

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9

Jo-ann Ferreira

Always Choosing in Favour of Her Passion

By Angela Saxe

T

he word passion has a variety of meanings: it can be a strong and barely controllable emotion, or an intense sexual love, but it’s the third meaning – an intense desire or enthusiasm for something, which is the focus of Jo-ann Ferreira’s work. As a Passion Test Facilitator, Jo-ann works with individuals, couples and groups to help them identify their greatest desire; what activity or focus gives their life a purpose and a meaning. “Often people don’t know what it is, and if they do, they don’t know how to change their life so they can “live their passion.” Jo-ann used the same tools and skills she uses with her clients to identify her own passion and discovered that what she really wanted to do was help people, facilitate groups and most importantly, gain independence by having her own business.

Jo-ann not only identified her passions but made them real when she and her husband Peter Kerby and daughters Savannah and Morgan, moved from Toronto eleven years ago to a lovely home north of Tamworth on the Salmon River.

Both Jo-ann and Peter were heavily involved with their careers in the city while also raising two small children. Joann has a Master’s Degree in Counselling and was working as a supervisor in Break Away – Youth and Family Services Agency, while Peter, who also has a Master’s Degree in Counselling, was working for an Employee Assistance Program of a large company. It was a very busy life, and they both knew that they wanted to scale back the number of days they were working and improve their quality of life.

It took a dream to clarify the feelings they both had.

“In my dream,” Jo-ann tells me, “I wanted to plant a pear tree, but I couldn’t because the condo where I was living wouldn’t allow it. It wasn’t difficult for me to make the connection. We had to move to a place where we could plant ‘a pear tree’ – that is, a place where we would have enough space to do the things that would make us all happier. I wanted a house filled with light and with lots of room. I wanted woods and fields. Land where I could plant a garden and watch things grow.

“We started searching and we quickly realized that we couldn’t afford our dream anywhere close to commuting distance to Toronto. Once we realized that we considered our other objectives: we needed to be close enough to a city where we could find work and we wanted to be closer to Peter’s family who live in the Stirling area north of Belleville.

10

Eventually our search brought us to a bright, sunny, spacious home on a hill overlooking Beaver Lake. The property has fields and woods and a leisurely walk takes us to the Salmon River. Perfect!

“But my vision of a new life had another component: I wanted to have my own business. I wanted to teach and facilitate workshops for small groups instead of working for an agency.”

Jo-ann’s vision had to wait. First they had to settle into their new home and find jobs to support their family. Peter was able to continue counselling on-line while Jo-ann took a job at the Mental Health and Addictions agency in Napanee. Eventually the agency merged with the Kingston agency to become the Frontenac Community Mental Health and Addiction Services.

After the merger, her position disappeared and Jo-ann found herself with time on her hands and the opportunity to realize her early vision.

“It was a blessing in disguise,” she says with a huge smile.” I now had the opportunity to leave behind a career that didn’t make me feel fully alive. I realized that what I really wanted to do was to teach people how to live their lives with passion and with no regrets.”

Years before, she and Peter had read the book The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose by Janet and Chris Attwood, and completed the test. Jo-ann wanted to take the certification course but felt at the time that she couldn’t afford it. After losing her job, she seized the opportunity and enrolled in the program believing that this was a direction she wanted to pursue.

The Passion Test™ enables a person to discover those things that matter most to them. It is a simple and profound process that helps a person gain clarity about their own personal passions and purpose. After taking the test, the person will have identified their top five passions and see how closely their current life is aligned with their identified passions.

There’s a difference between a passion and a goal. Jo-ann explains: “A passion has more juice. It comes from a deeper place and it answers the question ‘why?’ You may have a goal to lose weight but when you ask why, you come closer to identifying the passion. A person may say: Because I want to be healthy and live a longer more energetic life so that I can enjoy my grandchildren. There’s the juice. The person has identified something that is really important to them. Once the

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

passion has been identified we can think about what he or she needs to do to achieve the goal of being healthy. The person makes daily choices based on obtaining and fulfilling their passion.”

Jo-ann is quick to point out that it is not easy for people to figure out the why. “It’s not always apparent since each one of us has our own unique values and belief systems that we have used to live our lives. My work is to help people understand and then break down the barriers they have erected that ultimately prevent them from living a more fulfilling life.”

Jo-ann’s long experience working with individuals enabled her to classify most people as belonging to one of three groups: • People who know what they want but have too many passions that distract and dilute their energy. “If you choose to chase three rabbits, you may end up with none,” says Jo-ann, to illustrate her point. She helps these people narrow down their choice to five simple passions they can then focus on.

• People who don’t know what their passion is and who believe they have none. Jo-ann’s counselling skills helps them to define their values and discover who they are.

• People who are terrified of change. They are living a life according to other people’s expectations or they made life decisions when they were quite young, and don’t feel that these decisions apply to them anymore. Jo-ann suggests taking very small steps towards change. “We are all afraid of change because it’s an unknown. I suggest we always move slowly in the right direction; we don’t have to feel stuck.”

Jo-ann’s dream of living in a place

where ‘she could plant a pear tree’ enabled her to fulfill her passion of hosting week-end long retreats for groups from all over Ontario.

She can usually accommodate seven people, where everyone has their own room and a person in the community is hired to cater all the meals. Apart from the time spent working on their passionate plan, guests can go for long walks down to the river or visit the alpaca herd grazing in their nearby field.

Everyone leaves Sunday afternoon with a binder that includes the work they’ve done and worksheets they can do every day that will help them address the question: What is the one small step today that will take me in that direction?

Jo-ann is certified as a Passion Test facilitator for business. She leads members of organizations and businesses through a process to transform the way in which they work together. As a manager and supervisor in the public service, she has spent many years learning the importance of having a strong team of individuals who are passionate about their work. Employees who can clarify their own values and identify what they enjoy when doing their job have a greater commitment to their employer.

They are open to new ideas and innovations and are more positive and motivated when dealing with their co-workers and their clients.

“I consider myself fortunate to be able to use my training to help others fully realize their potential. To be able to offer effective tools that can help anyone overcome the mental blocks they have created over their lifetime is so satisfying.”

To contact Jo-ann Ferreira visit: www.thepassionplan.com or call 613-777-5169.

A Natural View

This Ruffed Grouse Has Me On Edge

By Terry Sprague

I

have never killed a bird intentionally. However, there is one along the road I walk on every day whose days may be numbered.

The bird is a ruffed grouse that purposely waits for me in the branches of an ironwood tree every morning. It is very dark these mornings, so I can’t spot it in order to prepare myself.

With an explosion of whirring wings, it flies directly in front of me to a maple on the other side of the road, missing me by inches. Sometimes there are two, strategically spaced, as though purposely, to produce the greatest effect.

I walk this road every day in the crispness of early morning and bask in the absolute stillness that accents this road most days.

I started my walk thirty minutes early this morning, at 5:15 a.m., with the thought that I could pass the tree before the two ruffed grouse realize that I had arrived. But, they were waiting for me. This time I was sure that I could feel the wing tips grazing my coat as they ambushed me, yet again. In the darkness I could hear a faint chortle. Bird guides would have us believe that it is just one of several sounds that it makes from its somewhat primitive vocal apparatus; my interpretation is somewhat different.

Mornings are special along this road. Both the Big and Little Dippers hang suspended in the sky, their images extraordinarily sharp despite considerable illumination from the moon.

Recent mornings have produced the deep booming hoots of the great horned owl. Incredibly, with snow still thick in the woods and frost tingeing the branches, the owls are now actively nesting.

They must nest early as their eggs need to be incubated for more than a month, and the owlets don’t roam from the nest for another two months. By then, it will be May, and it could still be awhile before the owlets take flight.

Surprises like the grouse make the walk more interesting.

Last year at this time, it was a screech owl whose descending whinny from a grove of poplars caught me my surprise. One morning, the LED beam of my headlamp affixed to my forehead revealed the image of a coyote as it crossed the road less than 10 metres in front of me. It had come from the ice on the Bay of Quinte and disappeared out of sight between two houses, barely giving me a second glance. It was a heart stopping moment, almost ethereal, as it was so unexpected.

He was so quiet that my dog didn’t even notice him, as though he had been walking on a cushion

of morning air.

The bay was uneventful this winter. I did not hear the usual rumbling associated with the ice rending itself in response to changing temperatures.

There was no heaving, and no pressure cracks that I could see. Was this due to consistently cold overnight and daytime temperatures this winter?

Only the bay has the answer. In a few short weeks, the relevancy of the mystery will have less importance as the ice turns black and begins its journey in a convoluted route to Lake Ontario.

What we have had this past winter was a somewhat new phenomenon known as frost quakes, aka cryoseism, miniature seismic events that resulted from the expansion of ice during a sudden cool down. And we experienced several of those this winter, sending home owners in their night attire out into the frigid temperatures to see what had hit the house.

Miniature crevices appeared in the snow the length of farm fields as the ground rebelled from the sudden freezing of watersoaked surfaces and substrates.

It was particularly unnerving when the frost quake occurred on the roof top because of the accumulated ice from the storm in late December. We also learned another new term - polar vortex, an Arctic air mass that brought us very cold temperatures.

Interesting buzzwords that we have added to our vocabulary this winter. These were all weather extremes that I witnessed on my morning walks.

As I return home, a hint of daylight is appearing on the horizon. A male cardinal calls from deep within the red cedars.

Mnemonics suggest the male is singing “cheer-cheer-cheer” as he establishes his territory.

Is it anthropomorphic for us to imagine that he is simply singing because he’s happy?

Happy that winter is on the

This ruffed grouse waits for a chance to fly across the road.

Photo by Barry Kant.

wane and longer days, slightly warmer temperatures and a hint of greening on the conifers suggesting that another spring is about to arrive, perhaps in spurts as though unsure of its welcome.

Deeper in these same cedar woods, at least a half dozen robins are stirring. They were here all winter as I have bumped into them often during my morning walks. Lots of wild fruit is hanging on the trees for them this winter. Very soon, the first song sparrow of the season will erupt into its varied repertoire.

Horned larks have been here for some weeks. An optimistic killdeer may show up in late February.

In the weeks to come, this same road will burst with song as towhees, savannah sparrows and flycatchers accent the air with their individual songs. No longer will I need to dash to one side as the snow plow approaches.

Instead, it will be sidestepping puddles. The ruffed grouse hopefully will be nesting by then.

For more information on birding and nature and guided hikes, check out the NatureStuff website at www.naturestuff.net.

Terry Sprague lives in Prince Edward County and is selfemployed as a professional interpretive naturalist.

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February / March 2014 • THE SCOOP

11

Out for a Rip with B. Rich Warning: This interview contains slang

By Michael Saxe

I

f you have been anywhere near the Internet in the last few months, you might have come across the music video for Out For A Rip, a song by the rap group Shark Tank. Over a smooth, laidback beat, front man B. Rich lays down verses about life in “the Great White North,” “rockin’ plaid jackets,” and “operatin’ chainsaws,” while the refrain “just out for a rip are ya, bud?” is catchy enough to remain lodged firmly in your head for days.

spending a lot of time with the American members of my band Shark Tank. The two other guys are from Pittsburgh and Baltimore, and we spent a lot of time comparing our local dialects. We thought it’d be tight for me to release a whole track in the Canadian voice, so we made it happen!

B. Rich, otherwise known as Brendan Richmond, is a local boy.

Born and raised in Tamworth, Brendan first started making music as a high school student at NDSS, as guitarist and vocalist in the rock-turned-rap group, Slaves of Spanky. Twenty years later Slaves of Spanky are still making music, although Brendan and cofounding member Pete Rae (Cap’t Footbags) involve themselves in other musical projects as well.

The video was something I put together on pretty short notice with some Kingston friends over the Thanksgiving weekend last year. The dude in the Bruins jersey is my good pal Elijah Abrams, a wild dude and phenomenal bass player with Rueben Degroot’s band. The other guy is my little brother, Christian Richmond. The video also featured Zane Whitfield and Donny Larson, two super talented audio engineers, as well as the lovely Sarah Harmer...oh, and my dad has a cameo at the end.

I recently sat down with Brendan for a Facebook chat to talk about the viral success of Out For A Rip, future projects and small town Canadian life.

The Scoop First of all, congrats on the success of Out For a Rip. What have the last few months been like?

B. Rich Thanks, hombre! It’s definitely been a whole lot busier than usual since the video came out. The good kind of busy though. I’ve spent lots of time following up on a ton of cool opportunities that have opened up for me. Other than that, the last few months have been cold as bananas. This winter stuff is rough.

The Scoop How did the song and the video come to life?

B. Rich The song stemmed from

The whole thing was shot and edited over the course of a month or so, I slapped er’ on the Internet - and the rest is history!

Brendan at The Mansion in Kingston. Photo by Brent Nurse. me the most have always been the ones who seem to be having the most fun, and really anybody who’s a true entertainer - musicians of all styles, comedians, magicians, anybody doin’ their THING! I might add, that the first Cypress Hill album definitely blew me out of the water in 1992. That was a highly influential record.

The Scoop Yes. Noted.

The Scoop What got you into music in the first place? Who have your influences been?

You must be pretty tuned into the local music scene - which local musicians do you see doing really interesting things?

B. Rich I guess the main attraction to music started back in the day, getting into Nirvana as a teenager...rocking out, jumping on the couch and rockin’ the air guitar with my bonehead friends.

B. Rich The last few albums by Rueben Degroot have been absolutely amazing. The dude is a phenomenal songwriter, and his band is the tightest around. By all means, check him out live, or look him up on the Google, or whatever kids are calling it these days.

The Scoop Excuse me. I resemble that remark.

B. Rich Ha! You know it! Over the years the artists that have influenced

The Scoop How did you get together with the Shark Tank guys?

B. Rich I met the other 2 members of Shark Tank in 2001 and 2004, respectively. Both meetings were basically the result of going out to see bands or playing shows with Slaves of Spanky. Both Lord Grunge and Height had their own projects that I was a big fan of.

We became friends over the years and kept in touch, eventually putting the band together in 2008. We’ve tried to put out an album every year or two since then, and it has been a blast.

The Scoop And what is next for you? Any other projects on the go?

Brendan performing at the Mod Club in Toronto.

Photo by Brent Nurse.

12

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

B. Rich Right now, I’m trying to jump on writing some follow-up material

for Out For a Rip, and working on booking some gigs across Canada in the winter. I should really be booking gigs in the Caribbean, but, gotta strike while the iron’s hot, right? There’s also a new Shark Tank album that’s almost finished, and I’m supposed to be renovating my dad’s bathroom with him - in between rapping, of course.

The Scoop Aside from painting and bathroom renos, you do a lot of collaboration and different projects - even HEY KIDS!, the kids project. There must be something in the variety and change that drives you.

B. Rich Yeah, I seem to always have a bunch of stuff on the go. I guess it’s always been about trying to keep it interesting and keep the creativity going in as many directions as possible... HEY KIDS! is still rockin’ for the under 3’ tall crowd – we’ve got a CD and a video – although my involvement may be less prominent than it’s been in the past, as I’m having to shift focus to the current project for the moment.

The Scoop As of this interview, the video has been viewed 3,267,887 times on YouTube. What does that number represent? Do you feel any pressure to follow it up? What are your expectations?

B. Rich It’s a little overwhelming at times, and there’s obviously some pressure to follow it up in a big way, but it’s a fun kind of pressure to have. It gets me pretty psyched that the track has resonated with people in a big way. It’s both very weird and very cool. I’m trying to keep the expectations to a minimum and just roll with it. I

continued on page 17...

Meet Ruth and Bill Orr

By Barry Lovegrove

W

hile driving home after spending a couple of hours with Ruth and Bill Orr I couldn’t stop thinking about what a nice couple they are.

Most of the time when I interview people for The Scoop, we inevitably sit around the kitchen table and chat over a cup of tea or coffee. My visit with Ruth and Bill Orr was no different. We sat at the kitchen table talking but it didn’t take long before their little Jack Russell came to visit and finally settled on top of Bill’s feet. Bill had called the humane society looking for a new dog and they told him they had just received a new little puppy looking for a good home. The puppy sure was cute, but in the cage next to him was this little rascal, looking all forlorn. He was told that she was ten years old and no one wanted her because of her age so they would probably have to put her down soon.

“Well we can’t have that I thought so without any hesitation I said I’ll take her. Her name is Tea Spoon and she has never left my side from that day. She is a great companion, we go for walks out back when there is no snow on the ground and she never leaves my side. We have become good buddies for each other.”

Bill loves to talk and went on to tell me about his life in construction as an electrical engineer and finally ending up here in Centreville working in the prison system until he retired.

Ruth on the other hand loves to weave small carpets and wall hangings. She cuts up old denim jeans, shirts and coloured fabrics into strips and weaves them into floor mats, wall hangings, tea cozies or anything that is practical. Ruth donates all the money that she gets from selling her woven creations to several charities here in Canada and abroad. “I don’t keep a single penny. I feel that I was given this gift that I really enjoy doing and I’m at an age now where I don’t need anything so I take

great pleasure in giving support to charities that help people in need.”

Bill, who helped one of their sons run a music instrument business in Camden East, decided to continue buying and selling musical instruments from his home, after his son left the business. He and Ruth will often sell instruments and her weaving at fairs and craft shows. “One time”, Bill told me, “I had set up a booth at a local fair when a little girl came up and told me that she would love to learn how to play the mouth organ. I told her to take one and if she could learn to play a scale on it, it was hers. Well, a couple of hours later, she came back smiling from ear to ear and played the scale for me. Just as I had promised her, she walked away with a new mouth organ in a case. Years went by and we were set up at another village fair with our instruments on display when I heard someone playing a beautiful tune on a mouth organ.

Curious, I went to see who was playing. Well lo and behold there

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was that little girl not so little any more playing up a storm on the very same mouth organ that I had given her.”

It just goes to show that a little bit of kindness can go a long way. If in your travels you run into Ruth

and Bill Orr at a country fair (they call themselves: Ally Cat Music - The Mobile Music Store), stop and say hello and have a chat.

They epitomize the image we have of rural folks who are “the salt of Earth”- friendly, kind and really generous.

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“Prevention is the Best Medicine” February / March 2014 • THE SCOOP

13

Adapt or Die: Time for Change

By Leah Birmingham

W

hen I think about the upcoming year at the Sandy Pines Wilderness Centre, I am both excited and nervous all in one.

It will be a big year of changes for our little, but mighty wildlife centre. Last year two incredibly generous donors offered to help build a new clinic for SPWC; they strongly support the work we do and want to help increase our ability to help wildlife. While they are generously covering the biggest expense of building the new clinic, SPWC is responsible for covering the cost of the septic system, parking lot, all fixtures, furniture, cages, sinks, cupboards and other incidentals along the way. On top of these expenses we will have our usual daily operating costs to cover as well.

This is a daunting task. At this point SPWC’s amazing volunteers fundraise just enough to get us through the year in operating costs.

Fundraising and money aside, we will also have to find a way to help the injured and orphaned wild animals while we’re under construction.

There is no doubt this building is a dream come true for the staff, volunteers, and the founder/ director Sue Meech. With every wish granted comes the reality that nothing in life comes without a little struggle. Our journey to improve the care we give our patients, and handle the ever increasing number of them, will end undoubtedly with a more efficient, streamlined wildlife centre capable of safely caring for our local wildlife. Its presence in our community will allow SPWC to continue helping wildlife for generations to come.

As well as being yet another unique and beneficial addition to the area - just ask anyone from Peterborough, Oshawa, Brockville and Cornwall who have to drive a couple of hours to find refuge for their injured wildlife.

Since I first encountered Sue Meech and got involved with

SPWC, I have witnessed constant growth and expansion. From the increase of patient numbers and additional caging to house those in need of care, to volunteers, staff and community support, this organization has adapted in accordance to Mother Nature’s ultimate rule adapt or die. It is true for all the species we care for, and for the blood, sweat and tears we put into the organization, we must grow and change with the demand, regardless of how difficult change may be.

When I started as a summer student at SPWC in 2001, Sue had not yet applied for charitable status, she was primarily helping mammals, and was caring for close to 400 of them a year. She worked very closely with local humane societies who were often rescuing wildlife (a policy the OSPCA has clearly moved away from over the last several years).

After graduating from the Vet Tech program at St. Lawrence College I worked in a local vet practice and helped Sue out whenever I could. During that time she received her not-forprofit status, and also started caring for more birds species.

Kitt Chubb who ran the Avian Care and Research Foundation (in Verona, ON) had previously tended to most of the injured birds in the area. She started to retire for health reasons and Sue started to take on more avian species. This doubled the patient load quickly.

By 2005 Sue contacted me because she was looking to train

Architectural drawing showing the new plans. Contributed by SPWC. 14

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

Mute swan in a crowded facility. Photo contributed by SPWC. someone to be ready to take over, or step in to care for all the animals if she couldn’t due to injury or illness. She needed an employee who could handle winter lay-offs and still come back season after season. She was looking for someone with the passion and dedication to continue the work she was so deeply invested in. She knew it was my dream to work with wildlife so it seemed like a good fit. I came back to SPWC that year, and ever since I have been part of and witnessed the constant evolution of a small grass roots charity functioning in the back room of a large shed/ work shop, to an incorporated charity known internationally for the care we have provided unique patients such as the Yellow-Nosed Albatross, as well as our increasingly successful Internship Program. We have also given opportunities to many high school and college placement students. This led to another permanent full time employee Veterinary Assistant Julia Evoy joined the team in 2008.

We now admit over 2400 patients annually and that little garden shed has been adapted and changed to house as many patients as physically possible.

It can grow no further, and the burden of patients is not subsiding. Several years ago we started to realize a new building was going to be imperative.

Slowly we started to campaign for a building fund, but often this goal seemed to be unattainable because the patient demand and therefore daily operating fees were always growing. Not to mention the ever growing cost of grains and other food items, as well as medical supplies. It seemed like the new building was never going to happen.

Ironically now that it is, we still face challenges, not only to make it happen and endure the process, but to adapt our work to suit the new building. Thankfully Sue, Julia and I have had a lot of input, brainstorming on the best design

for the building so that SPWC can function more efficiently.

The reality of change is that even good change can hurt a little while you adapt.

At this point we have detailed architectural plans and approval from local authorities. We are hoping to start building in the spring and we will be moved in by next winter.

To make this dream a reality we will need our community’s support like never before! You will see many fundraising events for SPWC in 2014, as well as many pleas from us searching for help with building and supplies, and daily operating fees. If ever there was a time you were considering getting involved, either by volunteering or donating this is the year we need your help the most! Don’t sit on the fence any longer, contact SPWC and see how you can help. You will not only be helping your local wildlife but also the people in our community (or across Eastern Ontario for that matter) who find them injured and orphaned and seek somewhere to help. Often when people arrive they express their deep gratitude, because until you find yourself in the situation where a wild animal needs your help, you don’t realize what limited help is available.

If you want to help email info@ sandypineswildlife.org or call SPWC 613-354-0264 and find out how you can be part of creating an amazing facility to care for our wild ones when they need help.

Help them have a second chance in the face of habitat loss and rapid species extinction.

Leah Birmingham is the Assistant Director at SPWC. As a Registered Veterinary Technician, she helps manage patient care and treatment, as well as coordinating a successful Internship Program, handling media relations, and assisting Sue Meech with management of the staff and operations of SPWC.

Icy Work on a Sheep Farm

By Sally Bowen

T

he December ice storm hit us on the second day of breeding season. The lamb count next spring will reveal whether the breeding action was affected. We suspect the rams’ footing might have been dicey; otherwise, the sheep seemed content, with their ice-crusted coats clanking like out-of-tune bells. But the farmers struggled with all that ice.

My son Jake set off that first morning with a baseball bat, a bag of kitty litter, and a razor.

He needed them all. The rolling doors of the workshop were plastered with about 500 lbs of ice that impeded rolling. The men used flat shovels to bash the ice off the door and the perimeter around the door frame had to be excavated. Finally, they were able to access the plugged-in machinery which fortunately started, but unfortunately the tractors had virtually no traction on the ice. It helped to add some weight with a large round bale set on the back of the tractor, but getting up the laneway to the stored hay still proved to be tricky. We watched as it drifted sideways but with some speed and momentum they were finally able to gain access to the bales.

Each bale of hay was coated in thick layers of ice and a lot of energy went into breaking the ice loose and then lifting it off.

Christopher used a metal pipe and Jake used his baseball bat

to smash the ice loose to get at the recyclable plastic wrapping.

Removing the wrap proved a challenge, as the outer layer of hay was glued onto the wrap.

They kept lifting and dropping the bale, moving it forward and backwards in order to get the huge wad of ice, the snow and the plastic wrap to separate.

This laborious process had to be repeated fourteen times since that’s the number of bales needed to feed all the sheep.

Getting through the gates that separated the fields was another challenge. The ice needed to be removed in order to access the cedar poles at the bottom that weighs the page wire down. The baseball bat and shovel continued to be the most frequently used tools. Even the knotted plastic ropes, normally requiring seconds to undo, were difficult to manage since they too were encrusted with layers of thick ice.

You need gravity and friction to unroll a bale of hay in the field.

However, with the ice coating everything there was no friction – so the bales kept sliding around. Jake had to continuously manoeuvre the tractor back and forth to get the hay bale to unroll.

Finally, the first bale was loosened and the sheep were able to start feeding, but there wasn’t enough traction to get the tractor up the laneway to hoist the next

Shimmering sheep on Christmas Eve day. Photo by Jacob Murray. bale up. Jake had to spread a bag of non-clumping kitty litter on the ice since the sand pile was solidly frozen under the equally frozen tarp. Driving the tractor quickly up the laneway, while it was sliding sideways, was scary since there were cars parked close by.

The freezing rain was constant that morning. Jake’s hood froze into a solid helmet of ice preventing him from having any peripheral vision. He couldn’t rotate his head to see anything.

At one point he dragged one of the bales for awhile, thinking it was unrolling, only to discover that it was still a solid lump. The tractor windshields were icing up on three sides so he couldn’t see. The squeegee had no effect.

He had to use a razor utility knife to carve a hole in the windshield ice then shaving the window like an old style barber; each opening lasted only 10 - 15 minutes.

Standing on crystal fields of ice while sheltered by the hedgerows, the Topsy sheep, with their well-insulated wool and lanolin and their shining armour of ice, peacefully ate their hay or they continued in their breeding mode. The Topsy men, however, struggled to achieve this peaceful vision. Chores that should have required about 2 1/2 hours took them over 5 hours.

For more information call Topsy Farms at 613 389-3444 or 888 287-3157 or visit their website at topsyfarms.com.

Six Great Reads for Teens

By Isabel Wright A Complicated Kindness (Miriam Toews) A Complicated Kindness is a must-read for any teen (or adult, for that matter). The story of a young girl living in a small Mennonite town, it is teeming with rebellion, great characters, and Toews’ fantastic storytelling.

TransAtlantic (Colum McCann) Colum McCann’s most recent novel is also one of his best, in my opinion. TransAtlantic weaves stories of the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, and Ireland’s tumultuous history, with many interesting – not always fictional – characters to create a very intriguing piece.

Three Day Road (Joseph Boyden) Just Kids (Patti Smith) Canadian author Joseph Boyden’s first novel tells a breathtaking story of two First Nations men who enlist in the First World War. This is a very worthwhile read for anyone interested in World War One, Aboriginal, or Canadian history, or for anyone who simply loves a great read.

Patti Smith’s memoir will be an interesting read for anyone who loves music or New York City.

This story of an artist’s life is a beautiful piece, engaging from cover to cover and filled with vivid, meaningful details.

Eating Dirt (Charlotte Gill)

Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi) An effective, engaging graphic novel about one woman’s experiences during the Iranian Revolution, Marjane Satrapi’s story is often sad and difficult to discuss, but ultimately an important and enjoyable read.

Perfect for any lover of the outdoors, “Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the TreePlanting Tribe” is filled with information, both scientific and of the story-telling variety, about the tree-planting industry and culture. Though highly informative, it reads almost as a novel, and should be included on any nature buff’s reading list this winter.

February / March 2014 • THE SCOOP

15

Canadian Musicians Play Abbott Hall

By Mark Oliver

T

he Tamworth Erinsville Development Committee has just launched its 2014 Concert Series. The TECDC identifies at least three significant goals of the concerts.

The first is to enhance the identity of the community by promoting itself as a small rural centre for the Arts. The second is to provide an exceptional entertainment option for people in and around the community.

The third is to help support Canadian musicians by providing a high quality opportunity for them. There are of course, many other benefits associated with this activity.

There is much evidence that the goals are being achieved. The concert held on Saturday, January 25 featuring Madison Violet attracted audience members from Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston, Belleville, Stirling and elsewhere that augmented those from the immediate community.

Like the first event, the remaining three also feature multiple award winning performers namely Peter Karp and Sue Foley, Keith Glass and the Laws, and George Fox, providing entertainment experiences unequalled in most small centres.

Word of mouth has spread amongst the music community and the welcoming attentive audience combined with the great, warm natural acoustics of Abbott Hall in the Tamworth Legion has resulted in continual approaches, often made through www.tamworth.ca, from accomplished performers distributed across the nation hoping to fit in a show in our community. On that note we would like to remind everyone that the intimate setting that the musicians enjoy limits ticket sales to 120 and so it is wise to secure tickets for events sooner rather than later.

Council. We also benefit from several businesses who volunteer as ticket outlets for our events.

The list of entertainers who have graced the stage recently in Tamworth is significant; The Good Brothers, Jadea Kelly, Valdy, Jonathon Byrd,

International Documentary Film Festival

February 28 - March 2 Over 40 films on five screens over three days 613-849-1976 downtowndocfest.ca

16

We believe this is an opportunity

for performers to meet a new audience and for audiences to become acquainted with new performers. If you have attended some of our events we hope you enjoyed the entertainment and plan to come again. If you haven’t yet enjoyed the experience we welcome you to give it a try.

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613 • 379 • 5958

Linda Pierce Administrator

35

The series is operated on a not – for – profit basis with the direct assistance of twelve local business sponsors (see ad in this issue) and the Ontario Arts

3rd Annual Belleville Downtown DocFest

Kelli Trottier, Belle Starr, The Abrams Brothers, The Good Lovelies, The Marigolds, Steve Dawson, Catherine MacLellan, Allan Rhody, Tim Nutt, Jason Blanchard, Lorne Elliott and others.

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THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

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The Power of Positive Thinking

By Grace Smith

T

he beginning of a new year signals the opportunity for a fresh start. It’s a brief period in time in which we often stop the craziness that is our lives to think and reflect on what we see around us. For some, it is a well deserved chance to revel in the amazing things they have done, accomplished, achieved.

And for others still, it is a crucial moment in which they can stop and dream of the future, of changes they can make within their own life that will make their future a better and brighter one.

Some of us like to make the usual New Year’s Resolutions, which are unfortunately more infamous for being broken than for guiding us to a better future. But I believe there is merit in mapping out specific goals we want to achieve.

Even if we don’t follow the plan exactly, it is important to articulate the changes we want to bring about to better ourselves and the world around us.

It could be about our health— going to the gym more regularly or vowing to eat healthier.

We may want to improve our financial situation—to cut back on the handbags and start saving. We might want to focus on helping others—finding time to volunteer or consciously trying to be a better person and thus a good example in our communities. It could concern our education and careers—to

finish all the week’s assigned readings, to make an impact in the workplace or to find pleasure in our own hard work.

And finally, we may want to pay special attention to our mental well being—to make time for ourselves, to surround ourselves with the people we love, to focus on the positives not the negatives, or to talk to others when we need help.

It doesn’t matter what our resolutions are or whether we make specific goals at all. That’s the beauty of the new year. It simply gives us the much needed opportunity to reflect. There are no right or wrong ways to reflect on our lives or to imagine the future, but I do believe that we should always cling tight to positivity.

B. Rich Yeah, the visual art was a really enjoyable process that I’ve been trying to find time to get back into, although I don’t see a lot of free time in the near future.

Jo-Ann has a Master’s of Education (M.Ed.) in Psychology, is a registered Social Worker, and a certified Passion Test facilitator.

She is highly skilled at bringing clarity to decisions you need to make to develop and grow your business. You will discover how easy these decisions will be once you target your passions.

Jo-Ann supplies these workshops for organizations at a cost of $1500 but she is volunteering in her own community with the TECDC to assist businesses in our small community to survive and thrive.

Space is limited. Please email Jo-Ann to reserve: Jo-ann@thepassionateplan.com

Artwork by Kyra, Tamworth Elementary School. Courtesy of TES.

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The Scoop I saw some of your visual art using old barn boards and farm implements in Bella Bistro in Kingston recently. It seems to be both a different avenue and consistent with what you are doing now.

If you own a business or are planning to start one, you will benefit by this free workshop available at the Tamworth Library by our own Jo-Ann Ferreira. In one afternoon you will become more focused and passionate about what you do and how you do business.

And New Year’s Resolutions are no exception to this power of positivity. So reflect, revel, and enjoy, but above all else, know that we can do whatever we believe we can do.

Wm. (Bill) Greenley Kim Read

try and take every opportunity that presents itself, and hopefully entertain a whole bunch of people in the process.

Saturday, February 8, 2014 1:00-5:00 Tamworth Library

We should focus on the positive aspects of our lives without dwelling on the negatives and choose to believe that yes, we can accomplish the changes we want to bring about in our lives.

It always amazes me just how far a positive attitude can carry us in our attempts to accomplish what we want, no matter the goal.

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...continued from page 12

PASSION TEST FOR BUSINESS

Which is cool...I’d never made the connection between the art and the new rap project, but yeah, I guess both projects are new ways of looking at local history and culture. That makes total sense.

You’re very smart.

The Scoop Thank you. I appreciate that.

What are your thoughts on being a Canadian artist?

B. Rich I guess I’ve never really thought of myself as a specifically Canadian artist, as I’ve split my most creative experiences between here and the U.S. But as a result of the video going viral, and the ensuing project and

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Email stonemills.scoop@gmail.com for details touring to support it, I’m looking forward to getting into something that’s insanely Canadian and seeing what comes of it.

The Scoop When I read the comments under the video on YouTube, people, no matter where they are, Sudbury, Moose Jaw or Halifax, identify with the song and the video. The song is, in a sense, Canadiana, in the same vein as Stompin’ Tom and Bob and Doug Mackenzie, the FUBAR films and that Joe Canadian commercial from a few years back.

B. Rich Hosers unite! Yeah, seems like it really struck a chord with small town Canada... everybody knows

a “buddy” that they associate with some of the elements of the video.

The Scoop Okay, that should about do it. Any final thoughts?

B. Rich SMOKE BREAAAAK! You can visit B. Rich online at www.brichrap.com, follow him on Twitter @brennyrich and check out Shark Tank on Facebook by visiting facebook.com/ sharktankrap.

The video for Out For a Rip can be found on YouTube – but be forewarned, it contains some salty language.

February / March 2014 • THE SCOOP

17

Deep Breath, Plan it Out

The Best Semester Ever

By Julieanne DeBruyn, Grade 12, Sydenham High School

By Jordan Balson, Grade 11, NDSS

T

I

his time of the year is always stressful for high school students, particularly those moving on to post-secondary education this upcoming fall. The two weeks between Christmas break and exam week seem to pass by before students get a chance to blink. One minute we’re still readjusting to dragging ourselves out of bed at six o’clock in the morning, and the next minute we only have a few short days until exam week starts. The accumulation of summative projects plus the looming stress of studying for exams can leave one feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated to do any work at all. I know from personal experience that if I feel like I have too much on my plate, I tend to end up procrastinating, and the work keeps piling up until I finally breakdown. I’ll admit that I’ve led myself into this situation more than once, and the toughest lesson I’ve learned from it is that time is still going to pass, whether I use it productively or not.

This doesn’t mean that you have to work and study nonstop until you can’t possibly read another word; it just means that planning out what you have to get done and the time you have to complete it can be helpful, and relieve you of a lot of unnecessary stress. By making yourself a schedule or a to-do list, you can look at the bigger picture of your timeline and tasks. It allows you to plan time for studying, projects, and down time. It’s important that during busy periods such as exams, you still give yourself time to rest. If you don’t give yourself an

occasional break, you’ll end up feeling way too busy to handle, and that’s when you can start to feel unmotivated and lazy.

I’ve learned that it’s better to keep the work going at a steady pace with breaks, as opposed to attempting to get it all done at once.

Another one of the hard things I’ve had to face during exam period is taking a break from the things I do outside of school.

Many of us have hobbies that we enjoy doing on a daily basis.

These things can include sports, working out, reading, video games, watching TV, and so on.

For some it’s hard to imagine a day being complete without doing the things they love. But as a student you have to remember that your education is priority.

It may seem hard to put your hobbies on pause but what you have to remember is that a short break doesn’t mean you can’t pick up right where you left off once you’ve completed your school work. Think of your hobbies as a reward for completing all of your tasks for the day. If you prioritize your time well enough you’ll have time to study, as well as an hour or two of doing the things you love.

If you feel like you’re in a rut before exams, just make yourself a to-do list. It will help your brain feel less crowded and you’ll feel accomplished as you check things off. Don’t forget to take a break, and most importantly, due dates and exams will come, regardless of if you’re prepared for them. So plan ahead and be prepared!

Grandmothers by the Lake are sponsoring

ED LAWRENCE

Saturday, April 5, 2014 at 2 p.m.

Trinity United Church, Verona All proceeds will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign Come and bring your questions for Ed, CBC’s Gardening Guru For tickets please contact Adele Colby 613-375-8845 18

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

t’s that time of year again - the start of semester two. Just when you think the stress of exams is over, a whole new batch of classes comes at you. And whether your 2014 resolutions were to get your grades up, or just to have a fun semester, it’s a new year and a new semester.

And with these come new opportunities to perfect the term.

First of all, stop stressing! Exams are always such a long, strenuous and seemingly endless process, so when they are finally over, take a break. Recycle all of those old useless notes, crack open that new set of pens for the new semester and breathe in deeply. Take some “me time” before starting out this semester.

Balancing enjoyment with your work will make you feel more fulfilled and improve this semester completely.

Next, prioritize. Decide what your goals are for this semester and be prepared. Whether it’s doing all of your homework or practicing your lay-ups every night, by deciding what’s important to you, you can maximize your time and get everything done. At first it may seem boring; after all, homework or practice is seldom fun. But once you get into the habit of it, it will become part of your schedule and something you even start to look forward to. Eventually, with enough dedication, these chores can become fun.

Thirdly, don’t be afraid to try something new. With a new semester come a lot of new clubs

and opportunities to be involved.

There are sports - maybe this is the spring you try out for the rugby team or try track and field.

And if being healthy was one of your New Year’s resolutions, that’s two birds with one stone.

If sports aren’t your thing, the arts offer a fine selection of extracurriculars. This could be the semester you try out for the school play, learn a new instrument or finally get those volunteer hours you need. And with there being so many clubs with community involvement, there’s something for everyone.

Finally, step outside of your comfort zone. It’s often not until you push yourself that you start loving what you’re doing.

With new classes come new opportunities and there’s a whole new world of options, so take a risk! Join that new club, maybe it will lead to other things and prove to be something you’ll want to do for the rest of your life.

Sign up for that new course that none of your friends are taking, it could ultimately be fun! Whether it’s as simple as making new friends within your new classes or changing your path completely and taking a whole new direction of courses, taking risks can open you up to new things and ultimately be something you treasure for the rest of your life.

The start of a new semester is always stressful, exciting, unknown and all too familiar all at the same time. But breathe in deeply, be prepared, and get ready to make this semester the best semester ever.

Gallery Space for South Frontenac Artists The Arts Commi ee of Southern Frontenac Community Services is accepting applications from local artists (preference given folks from South & Central Frontenac) interested in showing their work at the Grace Community Centre on Stagecoach Road in Sydenham. There is no charge to show, but a 10% commission will be charged for any sales from the gallery.

Please submit application with 10 digital images (jpeg.

Approx. 1000x750 dpi) or photos with name, title, date, size, material, an artist statement or short bio.

Address applications/queries to: Rose Stewart 4247 Henderson Road, Harrowsmith, K0H 1V0 613-372-365 samborsk@kos.net Deadlines: Feb 15 for April/May/June 2014 April 15 for Jul/Aug/Sept 2014 July 15 for Oct/Nov/Dec 2014 October 15 for Jan/Feb/Mar 2015

KIDS & PARENTS County of Lennox & Addington

Public Library Programs AMHERSTVIEW

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BYOB Computer Class Tech Talks Storytime Family Night Lego Club Lego Club Avid Readers Speaker Series

Storytime Family Night Coffee Club

Best Bet Books

Mon@ 10:30AM Mon@ 2PM Mon@ 2:30PM Wed@ 10:30AM Wed@ 5PM Thu@ 6:30PM Sat@ 2:30PM Monthly@ 2PM Monthly @ 3PM Quarterly @ 3PM

NAPANEE

Early Years Centre Fri@ 11AM Wed@ 7PM Monthly@ 7PM

Lego Club Book Club

Wed@ 6PM Monthly@ 7PM

As a musical storyteller Andy’s warm voice and gentle humor turns each concert into a

Thu@ 4PM Monthly@ 6PM

Campfire Sing-a-long FREE Event

SOUTH FREDERICKSBURGH Lego Club

Thu@ 6:30PM

Any donations greatly accepted to help purchase

TAMWORTH Kids Club Storytime

equipment for our “Busy

Wed@ 6:30PM Thu@ 11AM

Feet” program

Wednesday March 12, 2014 At Trinity United Church 25 Bride St. East, Napanee

(side door)

At 10 a.m.

Floor seating only

Fancy Tea Party On

Sandwiches

Thursday March 13, 2014

It’s A

Andy Forgie

ODESSA

Come Join us March Break Fun at our for some March Break Fun at our Making Fancy

March Break Fun With Children’s Entertainer

Come Join us for some

Music

For some

CAMDEN EAST

Lego Club Book Club

Tech Talks Each Day@ 2PM Puppy Tales Wed@ 10:30PM Family Night Wed@ 5PM Computer Class Wed @ 11:30AM Lego Club Sat@ 10:30AM Book Club Monthly@ 2PM Coffee Club Monthly@ 7PM Speaker Series Monthly @ 3PM Best Bet Books Quarterly @ 3PM

Come join The

Party Dress &

At

& Cool Tie Event!

The Early Years Centre 1178 County Road 8, Napanee At 9:30—11:30 or 1:00—3:00 Spaces Limited Please Reserve Your Space at 613 354‐6318 ext. 34

Tuesday March 11th 2014 5:00pm - 7:00pm Newburgh Community Hall 2 Factory St. Newburgh ON Our awesome D.J. will be spinning the tunes to keep the party rocking!

Advance tickets can be purchased from LARC or Playgroups for $15 per family OR Tickets $20 per family at the door

For more information or tickets please call

613-354-6318

February / March 2014 • THE SCOOP

19

F I L E JUST 39 BUCKS FOR A BIZCARD AD. $110 FOR 3 LASSIFIEDS ISSUES.REE YOU CAN’T BEAT THAT!

F

C

“Hope, Purpose & Belonging in Long Term Care”

Free to private individuals or not-for-profit community groups. To place an ad, phone 613-379-5369 or email stonemills.scoop@gmail.com.

FOR HIRE: Small Kubota tractor which comes with an operator.

Perfect for landscaping, drainage and clearing. Let us know your needs and we will fulfill them.

Steve @ Dynamic Digging: 613539-8015 WANTED: Studebaker memorabilia. Items such as manuals, brochures, old dealer calendars, pens, pencils, lighters, watches, etc. Norm 613-9684400.

OFFERED: Exercise classes, Barrie township hall (Cloyne). Mondays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. Everyone welcome! Tabatas, pump, and Latin dancing (total body). Cost: $8 a class or $45 per month. New members pay $6 first visit and $30 first month membership.

Please contact if you need car pooling or for more info: Terrilynn Storms 613 847-6666 or 613-4784720.

W&S ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES Napanee & District

John McClellan

Answers to the crossword on the Puzzle Page (page 21):

Chartered Accountant 6661 Wheeler Street, Tamworth, ON K0K 3G0 613-379-1069

Solid Gold Organic Pet Food. 100% organic! No Chemical Preservatives! Beef, Lamb and Fish/ Vegetarian Formulas.

Pick-up or delivery available. Please call for more information and catalogue. Call the Regal Beagle: 613-379-1101

Approved by the Ministry of the Chamber of Environment Commerce

47 Dundas St. E • Napanee 613.354.6601 • Seniors receive 10% discount Phone: 613-379-5872 www.napaneechamber.ca • Large items pickup Cell: 613-483-8441

• SNOW PLOWING

• Garbage pickup & recyclables

sadie.4309705@gmail.com

Networking • Business Seminars Programs That Can Save Businesses $$ Ask Us About Membership

Alpaca Stop Wrap your sweetie in WARMTH this Valentine’s Day steven@moorepartners.ca susan@moorepartners.ca

www.alpacastop.com

info@alpacastop.com www.moorepartners.ca

613-379-2580

Tamworth, ON 613 • 379 • 5958

The Stone Mills Fire Department is holding a Blanket Drive. We are looking for blankets to use at emergency calls. If you have any blankets you would like to donate please drop them off at the Township of Stone Mills municipal office. Thank you, Stone Mills Fire Department

SPEECH PATHOLOGIST PLEASE TELL OUR ADVERTISERS THAT “I SAW IT IN THE SCOOP” AND THAT ADVERTISING WORKS.

hurch Tamworth invites YULETIDE LUNCHEON BAKE SALE at the orth Library Tuesday, ber 14 from 11:30 a.m. .m. A homemade lunch ved with loving hands e might even be some 20 THE SCOOP • February / March 2014 rtainment for your

Coming to visit at Napanee Playgroup on Wed. Feb. 19th from 9:30 – 11:30 at Trinity United Church 25 Bridge St. East Napanee. For families that may have questions or concerns regarding their child’s speech they may talk one on one with JoAnne for Kingston Frontenac Lennox & Addington Public Health.

Please call us at 613 354-6318 for more information.

book s h o p

PUZZLE PAGE New York Times Crossword

by Barry Boone / Will Shortz ©The New York Times 2

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Down 1. Winery containers 2. Toledo's lake 3. "I'll take Potpourri for $200, ___" 4. The Civil War, for the Confederacy 5. Portents 6. 1970s Dodgers AllStar Ron 7. What the starts of 22-, 36-, 41- and 50-Across comprise 8. Yours: Fr.

32

46

51

62. Available from a keg 63. The Beatles' "Lovely ___" 64. Beauty mark 65. View again 66. Iditarod vehicle

P S A I N T J G U I E W S X Z

43

47 50

Word Search

13

26

30

41

12

23

25

29

11

59

9. Predecessor of Katie Couric 10. Telly Savalas role 11. Golden ___ (senior) 12. City near Provo 13. "Oh yeah? ___ who?"

21. Grain in Cheerios 23. Gas brand in Canada 25. Some potatoes 27. Talons 28. Hearing-related 29. Dilapidated 31. Walked with a purpose 32. Upon 33. Assesses, as a situation, with "up" 34. "This is only ___" 36. Lazy person's stairs?

60

M H W E W O B N I A R L H J H

G F C S A Z X C V H D L S P L

P R O R R D J L U I E W I X E

N Q E E A T Y O I A P L R J P

E F D E A M X V F N D M I P R

E P L O N D J E U I E W S V E

T M Q W E R T R R I S P L K C

N F F K C O R M A H S D Y P H

E O O I R D J G U I E W A X A

V U W E R K Y U T O P T D J U

E R D D A C X C V N R M I P N

S L L I R U J G U I E W L X Z

M O W E R L Y U C O P L O J H

G F D S A Z X K V N D M H P L

See how many of these newspaper related words you can find in the puzzle.

The words can be forward, backward or diagonal.

1.

2.

3.

4.

HOLIDAY SAINT PATRICK IRISH

5.

6.

7.

8.

GREEN SHAMROCK FOUR LEAF

9. CLOVER 10. LUCK 11. POT 12. GOLD

13. LEPRECHAUN 14. RAINBOW 15. MARCH 16. SEVENTEEN

37. Trigger man?

42. Deciphered 46. It can be constricting 47. Search with the hands 49. Figure of speech 50. Jaguar or Mustang 51. Golden deity, say 52. Clock chime, e.g.

54. What a donkey gets at a children's party 55. Commedia dell'___ 56. Trash bag brand 57. Musical free-for-all 59. ___ kwon do

9

1 1 3

9 2

6

5

2 1 7

8 4

3

5 5

9

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2014. All rights reserved.

Across 1. Calves' meat 5. Group of eight 10. Evil organization in "Get Smart" 14. Folkie Guthrie 15. Conductor Zubin 16. Shrek, for one 17. Knots 18. Keep an ___ (watch) 19. "Man, oh, man!"

20. Church bell ringer 22. Heater or repeater 24. Japanese maker of watches and calculators 26. Request 27. Weight of diamonds 30. Runs a cloth across furniture, say 32. Happy ___ clam 35. Event with ukulele entertainment 36. Revolutionary pattern of the moon 38. The "A" of A&E 39. Sex researcher Hite 40. Seep 41. Non-oil painting method 43. Fashion's ___ Saint Laurent 44. Stealthy 45. Soothed or smoothed 46. Treaty of ___Litovsk, 1918 47. Guy's partner 48. "Ditto!"

50. TV Guide info 53. Shabby 57. Olympic sport from Japan 58. Lone Ranger's companion 60. Countess's husband 61. Upon

1

3 7 4

3

5 8

1 6

2 Daily Sudoku: Thu 30-Jan-2014 February / March 2014

7 8 • THE SCOOP

21

Barry’s Photo Tips

By Barry Lovegrove

Photo courtesy Cathy Burrell.

W

hat does ISO on our camera stand for?

Back in the days of film, we used to use ASA but that has gone by the wayside due to the introduction of digital photography. Here are a couple of quotes that I found on the Internet about ISO & ASA. ISO stands for International Standards Organizations. It is the sensitivity that the film or digital sensor has to light, the higher the ISO the more sensitive it is so that you can shoot with less light available, the down side is that with film you get more grain in the image as you go higher and with digital you get more noise in the image.

ASA in photography stands for American Standards Association. It refers to an outdated scale for film speeds devised by Kodak during the 1940s. Film speed measures the degree to which film is delicate to light.

Let’s put some more light on

the subject in a way we can understand it, whether you have a point and shoot or a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex). If you go to your menu on the camera you should see a setting that says “ISO” It’s basically a numbering system that can range from 100 to 6400 depending on your camera.

The lower the number the slower your sensor in the camera will be able to absorb the light or image. I like to work in the 100 to 400 ISO number range as it works well for general use. If I’m photographing in a low light situation and don’t want to use a flash I will dial up my ISO to a much higher number.

The higher number will also help when taking action shots as you can increase the speed on the camera to stop an image in its tracks. The only problem with the high ISO numbers is that the picture quality isn’t as good and will introduce what they call “noise” meaning that the image won’t be quite as crisp. Having said that, today’s sensors are getting much better in reducing noise and I’m sure will continue to get better. I personally would rather use a higher number (ISO) to capture the mood in a specific situation than use a flash. You can also set the ISO to AUTO on some cameras and the camera will assess the lighting condition and set itself accordingly. If you don’t want to get too technical set it to ISO 200 and that will do for most of what you need. Just have fun taking photos and capture those images that will bring back memories for years to come.

SEED Exchange

Taken at ISO 1000, natural light from window.

Taken at ISO 200, natural light from window.

Napanee District Community Foundation

Heirloom Organic Local Seeds

Browse

Purchase

Learn

River Cottage Cafe & Village Shop & Mountain Grove Seed Company Present...

Share

Trade

Grow!

Ph: 613-354-7333 F: 613-354-4613

Join us for this event:

Saturday, February 15th 10am – 1pm Dawn from Mountain Grove Seed Company will be available to answer questions & provide information.

You do not have to bring your own seeds to attend this event!

47 Dundas Street East, Napanee, ON K7R 1H7

Tell your neighbour Bring a friend Bring the kids or grandkids & get them involved in growing!

info@ndcf.ca www.ndcf.ca

STANDBY GENERATOR SPECIALISTS CONSULT • DESIGN • SUPPLY • INSTALL • MAINTAIN Residential - Commercial - Life Safety

Crintec Ltd. Colebrook, ON mail@crintec.com

613-377-1002 www.crintec.com

The SCOOP is looking for writers!

Are you a community-minded person who loves to write?

Venue Location & Contact

22

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

Well then join our team and have fun writing for the best little newsmagazine in the area!

Contact Angela Saxe: angela.saxe@gmail.com

Deer Crossing...

By Barry Lovegrove

W

e often drive along roads and see the sign that depicts a Deer Crossing but we never see a deer.

Well this winter you don’t need a sign to alert you to the fact that there are deer everywhere and they can be seen crossing the

snow-covered roads in our area.

Recently I came over a small hill and right in front of me was a small herd of deer. I had to stop

and take some photos. What a beautiful sight. Nature at its best.

By the time I drove off, I had counted over twenty deer.

La Senda

Eco Store & Naturopathic Clinic 46 Dundas Steet East, Napanee

613.308.9077

Your individual path to optimal health.

Lumberjacks in the Timber Sports Competition held in Market Square, downtown Napanee during January’s Winter Chill Festival.

STONE MILLS FIRE DEPARTMENT Accepting applications for the position of Volunteer Fire Fighter If you are at least 19 years of age and would like to learn lifesaving skills and serve your community, please consider applying to the Stone Mills Fire Department.

Please visit out web site at www.stonemillsfire.ca to print a copy of the application or visit the municipal office during regular business hours to pick one up.

All applications can be dropped off, mailed, faxed or emailed.

4504 County Road 4, Centreville, ON K0K 1N0 Fax: 613-378-0033 / Email: firechief@stonemills.com All applicants are required to provide a CPIC/Vulnerable Sector Check; Driver’s abstract and Medical prior to starting recruit training.

February / March 2014 • THE SCOOP

23

Asselstine Hardware Dealers for CDL maple syrup equipment & supplies

• General excavation - land clearing, basements, retaining walls, trenching, etc.

• Septic systems - design and licensed installer • Landscaping • Trucking - sand, gravel and topsoil • Demolition - buildings, barns, etc.

MOE licensed well techs, submersible pump installations & water treatment systems (UV & water softeners)

For all your excavating needs call RICK at

Phone: 613-388-2460 Cell: 613-561-6585

Email: rick.tuepah@gmail.com

CHALK WELL DRILLING LTD.

MNR Outdoors Card License issuer Full line of Hardware • Plumbing • Electrical Seasonal • Camping & Fishing Supplies SICO Paint • Housewares • Gift items & more

Established since 1922

BBQs

Wells for home, farm & industry Rotary & cable tool drilling • • • •

Prompt service Free estimates Pump installations & service Wells decommissioned & abandoned

Authorized appliance service centre for:

RR 6 Napanee

1-800-850-2881 chalkwel@kos.net

613-374-3400

Licensed by the Ministry of the Environment

Robert Storring

Broker

14 Concession St. Tamworth

CONTACT Direct: Office: Toll Free:

613-379-2903 613-354-4347 1 866-233-2062 storring@kos.net robert.storring@century21.ca

CHEAP HOME Older small home in village would be perfect for single person, retiring or beginning couple.

Spacious main level, tad smaller 2nd level.

Full bath & laundry on main level. Walk to all conveniences and view the river out front.

Cheaper than rent! $69,900 MLS 13609870 ROBLIN Great opportunity for beginners. Home has had many upgrades and needs very little more. Nice backyard and fencing, back deck with access to inground pool. Don’t miss this chance to own at less monthly cost than rent. Call listing broker now. $105,000 MLS 14600245 HOBBY FARM Set up for horses farm just north of town has 25 acres, box stalls, riding ring, pond and pasture fields. The house is all updated with almost new everything. Features 2 or 3 bdrms, woodstove in living room, back deck to view the critters and wild life. Visit www.horsehobbyfarm.com. $269,900 MLS 13609280 BATH AREA, 1500 SQ.FT. Ranch bungalow on Doyle Rd. Maple floors, 4 bdrms, 3 full baths, huge family rm with new woodstove, fabulous kitchen with all built in convection appliances, master ensuite & walk-in closet, drywalled garage, inside/outside basement entry, detached garage/shop building. 2 ½ acres with only the deer & turkeys for neighbours. Visit www.bathcountryhome.com.

$339,900

MLS 13608129

SPRING IS COMING, REALLY! The spring market is not that far away and I am starting to build up my listing inventory. Don’t let your property get lost in the crowd, call me for personal, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, 40 years of experience work for you. Call me now.

24

THE SCOOP • February / March 2014

6826 Road 38 VERONA

ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED

OFFICES 44 Industrial Blvd.

Napanee

Andrew Asselstine

Open 7 Days a Week Mon-Thu: 8am-6pm Fri: 8am-8pm Sat: 8am-5pm Sun: 9am-4pm

TOWNSHIP OF STONE MILLS 4504 County Road 4, Centreville, Ontario K0K 1N0 Tel. (613) 378-2475 Fax. (613) 378-0033 www.stonemills.com

INTERIM TAX BILLS The Township of Stone Mills will be mailing Interim Tax Bills commencing January 22. This year bills will be printed on legal size paper in an attempt to reduce mailing costs. This new format will have your stubs for payment located on the bottom of the page and tax payers will be able to tear them off for submission with their payment. On the back of the one page bill is a Township directory for the convenience of our tax payers.

DUE DATES ARE: Tuesday February 25 & Friday April 25 If you do not receive your Interim billing, please contact the tax office and a copy will be provided to you. Failure to receive this notice does not exempt you from payment or penalty charges. To ensure prompt delivery of your property tax notices, please provide the tax office with your current mailing address including any post office box number, civic address, etc.

Property tax payments can be made through the following options: • internet and telephone banking • at most financial institutions when presenting both pages of your bill • cash, cheque or interac transactions • post dated cheques or drop slot at side of municipal office • preauthorized payment plan REMINDER TO PICK UP YOUR DOG TAGS prior to March 31, the price goes up from $15 to $25.

Dog Tags Are Available At: • Beaver Lake Variety, 5804 Cty. Rd. 41, Erinsville • Hilltop Variety, 2068 Cty. Rd. 1 & Main St., Newburgh • Kingston Humane Society, 1 Binnington Crt., Kingston • McCormick’s Country Store, 2561 Cty. Rd. 1, Camden East • Stone Mills Municipal Office, 4504 Cty. Rd. 4, Centreville • Tamworth Hardware, 2 Concession St., Tamworth • Yarker Lucky Dollar, 4255 Cty. Rd. 6, Yarker Keep in mind the Municipal Election is Monday October 27, nomination forms can be picked up at the Municipal Office until September 12.

The way we choose representatives has changed, the ward boundaries have now been eliminated and by holding Elections at Large it allows an opportunity for ratepayers and residents to vote for each one of their elected officials as well as being able to cast a vote for Deputy Reeve.

Take advantage of the Free Skates offered at the Township of Stone Mills Community Centre on Wednesdays and Sundays. For more info check out the Township Website.