Another Seedy Saturday! February 21, 2009. This year's theme:

Places to Grow: Gardens, Homes, Neighbourhoods

New! The menu is now available! Port Burwell's 2009 event will again have something for everyone. Mark February 21st on your calendars and get your tickets early!

Gardeners will enjoy the "Seedy Saturday" part of the day (see sidebar on the left), which includes a seed swap table, master gardeners and seed vendors. We have speakers on organic gardening, home retrofitting, and community-building.

What's the connection? It's really about the future, when we may be depending on our gardens, homes and communities for the essentials of life. The time is coming when we can no longer simply work to avert global calamities— climate change, peak oil, recession/depression— we must think also about adapting to new conditions. We'll need places to grow productive gardens, low-energy homes and local economies. In short, we need home grown, small-scale solutions.

You're invited to spend a day learning, talking, meeting, and growing at Seedy Saturday 2009.

To our returnees from previous events: please note some of the changes this year. Trinity Hall is a lovely venue but it is small. With last year's jam-packed crowd, we've decided to limit the attendance this year so everyone can have a seat and enjoy all the events. You must buy a ticket in advance for all events. Only if we do not sell out will tickets be available at the door. We are strictly limiting the afternoon session to 75, and the dinner/wine-tasting to 50. Tickets are available on a first-come basis. Visit our tickets section for details and online ordering.

If you liked last year's scrumptious amazing all-local lunch, you'll love this year's scrumptious, amazing all-local dinner. The menu is now set. Click here to view the menu and see details about the origin of each dish. New this year— wine tasting! A special wine tasting event is available free with dinner. The wine tasting event is sponsored by Grey Gables Bed and Breakfast, a short block from Trinity Hall. Wines include varieties from Florence Estates, Frog Pond, and Chateau des Charmes; details are available here.

Again this year we have three excellent speakers. Click here for our speaker bio section

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Days Events

9:00 am	Nature/Bird Walk with Ron Allensen and members of the Otter Valley Naturalists Club. Free. Various distances & groups. Meet at the main office (the one on top of the hill) gate of Port Burwell Provincial Park Latecomers welcome! More details here: Morning Events
11:00 - 11:30	Local history walking tour guided by volunteers from the Port Burwell Historical Society. Free. Meet at Grey Gables B & B. More details here: Morning Events
lunch-ish time	Looking for lunch? Local food spots Lighthouse Restaurant and Schooners Galley are both open. Or try Songbirds or Goldies in Vienna.
12:00 noon.	Doors Open: seed vendors, seed swap, info tables. Organic fair trade Fire Roasted Coffee, local herbal teas ("Herbal Posy" blends from Vienna herbalist Christine Dennis) "normal" tea, cold beverages, and snacks available during the day.
1:00 - 1:30	Speaker 1: Kim Delaney of the Canadian Farmers Union and Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds: Sustainable Farming Know-How for the Home Gardener
1:30 - 2:00	Questions, networking, browsing
2:00 - 2:30	Speaker 2: Nick Dalton of Braden Homes: Retrofitting older homes for frugality, comfort, and environmental responsibility www.bradenhomes.ca
2:30 - 3:00	Questions, networking, browsing
3:00 - 3:30	Speaker 3: Bill Loney of Keppel Croft Gardens, Wiarton: The Private Garden Goes Public: the experience of Rural Gardens of Grey Bruce www.ruralgardens.ca
3:30 - 4:00	Questions, networking, dinner setup.
4:00 - 4:45	Group 1: Wine Tasting at Grey Gables (one short block east of the hall)	Enjoy musical entertainment (classical guitar with Steven Beausoleil and hors d'oeuvres at the hall
4:45 - 5:30	Group 2: Wine Tasting at Grey Gables
5:30 - ?	Dinner of locally grown food prepared from scratch by the volunteers at Trinity Church Here's the menu. New this year: due to hall size limitations and fire codes, you must pre-register (& pre-pay) for the dinner and wine tasting.

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Tickets

Ticket Type	What You Get	Cost
Afternoon Only	admission between noon and 3:30 pm. enjoy all our speakers, vendors, info tables, and seed swap refreshments (organic fair trade coffee and tea, juice, snacks throughout the day unlimited entry / re-entry	$10.00
All-Inclusive	everything above, PLUS dinner, cooked from scratch, with locally grown food wine tasting pre-dinner hors d'oeuvres classical guitar entertainment	$20.00
All profits go to Trinity Anglican Church and Seeds of Diversity Canada. Would you like to receive an e-mail notice about next year's event? Join our mailing list— one e-mail, no spam.

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Speakers

Kim Delaney is a farmer based in Palmerston ON. Her business, Hawthorn Farm produces certified organic seeds for vegetables, herbs and flowers, focusing on heirlooms and public plant breeding releases. Kim's interest in seed production came as a result of many years of seed collection and production in a tallgrass prairie restoration program based in Chatham Ontario. On-farm vegetable breeding and selection for short season growing continue to fuel her passion for seed.

Kim and her partner live off-grid, in a strawbale house surrounded by acres of meadow and woodland. She is the womens advisor the National Farmers Union of Ontario and sits on the board of the Centre for Applied Renewable Energy. Kim is committed to the production of healthy food and clean energy.

Nicholas Dalton has been building energy-efficient homes with his company, Braden Homes, for 23 years. Included in the portfolio is building for acute allergy sufferers and the environmentally sensitive. He resides on a 70 acre farm north of Rockwood where he raises antibiotic- and hormone-free meats. The farm also houses 2 greenhouses producing certified organic herb and vegetable seedlings operated by his partner, Vera. Nicholas' community initiatives include many years of involvement with Hillside Festival where he is currently on the board of directors and is focussing on environmental issues.

Nicholas will be discussing a variety of methods to decrease heating energy usage in retrofit projects. The possibilities will range from the simple DIY ideas to more major undertakings. A fielding of specific questions will assist in bringing some of the concepts into focus.

Bill Loney is a founding member of Rural Gardens of Grey Bruce and owner of Keppel Croft Gardens. Bill is a consumate, unstoppable gardener who, when living in the Arctic as a young teacher, grew plants in tin cans on the windowsill. Bill and Dawn Loney, since buying the Keppel Croft property in 1977, have developed it into a lush tapestry of natural and created worlds: rock gardens, xeriscape gardens, herb gardens, spring bulb gardens, art installations, bird habitat, a stone henge, a greenhouse, a bed and breakfast, and a plant nursery. Bill enjoys his summertime roles as a WWOOF host and a teacher at the Southampton Art School. The Loneys also take interns from the French Horticultural Institute in Angers.

Bring regional gardeners together under the RGGB umbrella was "like herding cats". "Gardeners are very strong individuals!" says Bill. "We had no template for what we were doing. We just learned as we went along". One of the biggest challenges was to keep everyone focused on sharing their gardens, not creating cash flow.

The Loneys' experience speaks to Bayham in a unique way. With the history of McConnell Nursery on Nova Scotia Line playing such a big role in the economy of the region, the people of East Elgin county have gardening in their cultural bloodlines. So much of that rich history has been lost, as well as the plant breeding work and introductions done at the nursery. How fitting it would be if the area could recover some of that heritage, through gardener collaborations and networks instead of a corporate monoculture?

Bill's talk will surely inspire those with fresh ideas new eyes for horticulture as an opportunity for community and economic development.

Vendors

If you produce an environmentally friendly agricultural or horticultural local product and you'd like to book a table (for sales, not just promo), please call Bev at 519-874-1227 for details. Organizations, small businesses and not-for-profits with a focus on ecology, sustainability or local energy alternatives are welcome to bring brochures and material for the literature rack. We promise to have a really nice one this year...

Hawthorn Farm	Certified organic, heirloom seeds to preserve the genetic diversity of our crops and gardens. A large selection of rare and unusual seeds, mostly vegetables, will be for sale. Owner Kim Delaney will be on hand to answer your questions. www.hawthornfarm.ca
Acorus Restoration & Native Plants	After 11 years as wholesale nursery Acorus' new retail operations include gardens, trails, guided walks, and workshops. Now confirmed www.ecologyart.com
Seeds of Diversity Canada	Seeds of Diversity will have an information table.
St. Thomas Field Naturalists	St. Thomas Field Naturalists will have an information table.

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Wine Tasting

Yayeee! The wine list is finally complete.

Our final selection came from a stellar review given by Konrad Ejbich, wine expert on CBC's "Ontario Today" phone-in show. On the January 30 program, Konrad showcased his January pick: a Gamay Noir that we just knew we had to have at Seedy Saturday. Made by Chateau des Charmes, the wine is a 2007 Gamay Droit, St. David's Bench Vineyard VQA. The "Gamay Droit" is Canada's first vinifera, bred from a single unique branch occuring in Paul-Michel Bosc's Chateau des Charmes vineyard (in the Niagara Peninsula) in 1982. This wine certainly expands our concept of "local wine", with a variety of grape that is truly, 100% Canadian. Okay, so we have a local grape. But is the wine good? Konrad called this 2007 vintage "the greatest Canadian wine". Reviewer Michael Pinkus of OntarioWineReview.com (November, 2008) quipped: "This is one kick-ass wine". Read more reviews here (scroll down to the 2007 Gamay Noir Droit).

One of our favourite wineries is Frog Pond Farm, near Niagara on the Lake. Frog Pond is Ontario's only organic winery and we've chosen their 2007 Organic Cabernet Franc VQA. The Martin's vineyard Cabernet Franc has a ruby red colour with blue edges and a spicy, earthy nose that makes me think of a forest floor. A wine with a strong structure that features lively, rich raspberry and blackberry flavours as well as a hint of pepper and subtle tannins. This full and fruity wine is best enjoyed with pasta, steaks and stews, dark meat and Mediterranean dishes. $17.00 – 750ml sugar code [0]

We're really pleased to try a few selections from a new, local winery: Florence Estates, just east of Elgin County on CR 45, near Deer Creek. Florence Estates is a staunch proponent of local food in the restaurant adjoining their winery and retail store. The Florence Estates wine we'll be tasting is: Vidal 2007.


Our sommelier is Gary P. Brown of London. A sommelier (pronounced suh-mal-'yAy), or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional who specializes in all aspects of wine service. Our sommelier will help make the wine tasting fun and informative. We also provide the wine glasses, the special venue, and napkins. We won't dry clean your Armani suit or gold lamé gown, so please dress casually, for comfort. No scents, please (it interferes with participants' experience of the wine bouquet. Here is an informative and light-hearted look at wine tasting events, especially helpful for first-timers.

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Contact Info

The 2009 is sponsored by Port Burwell Trinity Anglican Church (providing the beautiful and historic community hall), Otter Valley Chamber of Commerce (providing food donations and volunteers), the Otter Valley Naturalists Club (organizing nature walk), and Grey Gables Bed and Breakfast (our gracious host for the wine tasting and overnight accomodation for late-stayers.

Port Burwell Seedy Saturdays are planned and organized by Bev Wagar and Sean Hurley of Vienna* Ontario. For more information, please send us an e-mail at seedysaturday@theviennacafe.ca

* visit beautiful Vienna, the gateway to Port Burwell :-)

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Maps and Directions

Places to Grow will be held at the Parish Hall of Trinity Anglican Church in Port Burwell, 25 km. south of Tillsonburg in Southwestern Ontario.




26 Strachan Street
Port Burwell, ON
N0J 1T0

Phone: (519) 429-3443
Web site: www.pbtrinityanglican.ca

Parking There is a small parking lot just east of the hall. You may also park on the street. Another larger parking lot is located at the museum, a few blocks west on Robinson Street,

Driving directions

-from London: Go east on the 401 and take exit #216 at Hwy (Culloden Road). Proceed SOUTH on Culloden Road, through Brownsville, and cross Hwy. 3 / Talbot Line. Continue south on Culloden to where it ends at Heritage Line/ CR 38. Turn left / west until you reach Straffordville. In Straffordville, turn right/south onto Hwy 19 (Plank Road) and proceed south, through Vienna, to Port Burwell. Where the road splits at the top of the hill, go straight ( becomes Victoria Street) and continue to Wellington Street (gas station at corner). Turn right and look for the hall on yor left.
-from points east: take the 401 to the Woodstock area. Take exit #232 (Hwy. 59 (Norwich Ave.) and proceed SOUTH. At Salford Road take CR 13 (Rock Mills Rd,) south through Springford. Proceed south, cross Hwy. 3 in Courtland, and turn right/west onto Colonel Talbot (CR 38/Heritage Line). In Straffordville turn left / south onto Hwy 19/ Plank Rd. and continue south through Vienna into Port Burwell.

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Info for Media

Initial Media Release "Port Burwell sprouts another garden event" (as pdf)

Initial Media Release "Port Burwell sprouts another garden event" (as .rtf - rich text format)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Port Burwell sprouts another garden event

The seeds for another Seedy Saturday have taken root in Port Burwell as organizers again have a full agenda to celebrate spring and gardening while swapping seeds and sharing ideas.

The theme of this year's event, being held on Saturday, February 21st at the Trinity Church Hall in Port Burwell, is Places to Grow: Gardens, Homes, Neighbourhoods. As usual there will be seed vendors, a swap table, and three excellent speakers.

Speakers and topics at this year's event include: Bill Loney of Keppel Croft Gardens of Wiarton, who, along with his wife, were instrumental in creating Rural Gardens of Grey and Bruce County, an organization that describes itself as having "a willingness to open our gardens and a desire to have others share the beauty of our wonderful countryside"; Kim Delaney of Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds who will describe how sustainable farming know-how can benefit the home gardener; and Nick Dalton of Braden Homes in Rockwood, which specializes in energy-efficient homes, who will speak of retrofitting older homes for comfort and frugality.

For a twist, this year's Seedy Saturday will include a local history tour and a nature walk through Port Burwelll Provincial Park. The doors will open at 12 noon and the day will end with a meal featuring locally grown and prepared foods, and a wine tasting with locally produced wines.

Seedy Saturday is part of a series of independent local events which have sprung up across the country in the past twelve years. Seedy Saturdays are public events, for the betterment of the local gardening community, organized and operated by volunteers.

They bring together home gardeners, seed savers, native plant collectors, agriculture conservation groups, and community gardeners as well as local seed companies that sell open-pollinated varieties of vegetables, fruits, flowers, grains and herbs.

Admission to the Port Burwell event is $10 or $20 depending on whether the dinner and wine tasting are included. Tickets must be purchased in advance, and proceeds go to Seeds of Diversity, a charitable organization dedicated to the conservation, documentation and use of public-domain non-hybrid plants of Canadian significance.

The event is being organized by local citizens in partnership with Port Burwell Trinity Anglican Church, the Otter Valley Naturalists Club, and the Otter Valley Chamber of Commerce.

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For more information: http://theviennacafe.ca/seedysaturdays Bev Wagar, organizer: 519-874-1227 seedysaturday@theviennacafe.ca

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