Emerie Brine, executive chef with Bernardin is hard at works making peach jam at the canning workshop of August 25 at Moira Community Hall. He will run another on September 8 at Bridge Street United Church in Belleville at 6.30 p.m. Please call (613) 395-4388 or (613) 962-9178 to book your place. Unfortunatley he broke down on Highway 401 and didn’t get to Maynooth for the September 1 workshop. We hope to re schedule it.

The Quinte Ex is on September 2 to September 5.

Madoc is having its 105th Annual Fall Fair on September 17, 18 and 19. It is a traditional fall fair with draft horses, sheep dog trails, horticultural events, beef cattle, demolition derby, lawn tractor racing, antique engines and much more. Check out the wonderful new website.

There is a very interesting section of the history of the new Madoc & District Agricultural Society included the Townships of Madoc, Elzevir, Huntingdon, Grimsthorpe, Tudor, Cashel, Limerick, Wollaston, and the village of Madoc. The fair ground was purchased in 1922.

Sager Brothers Farms are now picking fall raspberries at the farm at Frankford-Stirling Road, 4 km south of Stirling. Call 613 395-0504 for availability.

About Cheese is a website dedicated to helping you get more out of your cheese. They sell a tempting collections of cheese, wheels of cheese and cheese by the piece on line boath retail and wholesale, and give information about cheeses and cheese makers. Seven year old Cheddar from Mapledale is featured on the site.

Codes, compliance, by-laws, best practices and green initiatives. From Planning to Maintenance Join Belleville Fire Department, Bay of Quinte Safe Communities and the City of Belleville Green Task Force for an informative morning workshop and a “Question and Answer” luncheon. Tickets - $45

This is a must attend event for building staff and property managers; engineers and architects; developers & planners; and fire prevention specialists. and particularly for those involved with green design or retrofit initiatives on multi-residential, commercial or industrial buildings.

They will explore fire and building code compliance, by-laws that supersede codes and standards, “go green” challenges we face today, maintaining Fire Code Retrofit Compliance, the new 2007 Fire Code, , Safety Plan implementation, due diligence, how to avoid non-compliance while addressing “go green” initiatives. Register now (613) 967-4693

Date: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. (registration starts at 8:30 a.m.) Location: Quinte Sports Centre - upstairs in the Wally Dever Arena.

Death of a Farm By Verlyn Klinkenborg New York Times, July 31, 2010 Farms go out of business for many reasons, but few farms do merely because the soil has failed. That is the miracle of farming. If you care for the soil, it will last — and yield — nearly forever. America is such a young country that we have barely tested that. For most of our history, there has been new land to farm, and we still farm as though there always will be.

Still, there are some very old farms out there. The oldest is the Tuttle farm, near Dover, N.H., which is also one of the oldest business enterprises in America. It made the news last week because its owner — a lineal descendant of John Tuttle, the original settler — has decided to go out of business. It was founded in 1632. I hear its sweet corn is legendary.

Harvest Hastings, in partnership with the Women’s Institutes of Hastings County, Maynooth Farmers’ Market, Bridge Street United Church Outreach program and the Hastings Price Edward Food Security Network, is excited to by hosting three workshops with Chef Emerie Brine from Bernardin. Chef Brinehas been making jams and jellies for many years, so come and join him in the kitchen while he demonstrates how simple and easy it is to preserve the very best of the locally grown produce.   He has been making jams and jellies for many years. He will demonstrate how to preserve safely all the goodness that goes in a Bernardin Jar, along with  a few handy tricks to help preserve lots of fresh fruits and veggies for the rest of the year.

Ermie Brine will be featuring different recipes so do come to more than one event

Wednesday August 25 - Moira Community Hall, 29 Carson Road, Moira, Centre Hastings 6.30 p.m. Call Linda Lain (613) 395-0372 Wednesday September 1 - Maynooth Community Hall, 33090 Highway # 62 Maynooth, Hastings Highlands 6.30 p.m. Call Chris Hass (613) 338-5303 Wednesday, September 8 - Bridge Street United Church, 60 Bridge Street E, Belleville 6.30 p.m. Call Carol (613) 962-9178.

Each guest will receive freea Bernardin green recyclable bag, printed recipes, a Bernardin pen and a taste of what Chef Emerie Brine will be preparing.

Please call to book your place as numbers are limited. There is no change but donations are welcome to help cover the expenses of running the workshops. You can also call (613) 395-4388 or email louise [at] tubb [dot] ca

Stirling is going to have to host a new tractor parade as the record of 601 tractors was beaten by Dresden with 1231 tractors. Dresden farmers Ride for Cancer raised $104,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society on July 24, 2010.

Owen and Jackie Harder run Harders Heritage Farm at Tuftsville in Stirling-Rawdon. They power their home with solar and wind power and their farm with draft horse power. Grade 12 students from Bayside Secondary School visited the farm in May to learn more about sustainable agriculture. They also visited Donnandale Farms, a very progressive dailry farm generating hydro from manure with a anaerobic digestor.