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.

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.

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.

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.

by Catherine Porter I went out to the Stonegate Farmers’ Market in south Etobicoke one afternoon this week.

It was exquisite: potted basil, fresh apricots, pickled white asparagus, mustard seed loaves all on display in the parking lot of a little Anglican church.

Roger and Valerie Kelly of Kelly’s Berry Farm says they have an excellent crop of cultivated wild low-bush blueberries. You can start picking on Monday, July 19 at 10 a.m. They are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Sundays. The price of pick you own is $3 per pound. They advise that you bring a 9 inch high stool as picking can be hard on your back. Also, please bring your own containers.

Please call (613) 338-2535 to check they are open.

You can get high-bush blueberries at West Moira Orchards as well as raspberries and a variety of vegetables and home-grown beef.

Work is going well on revamping this website and everything should be finished by the end of July.

Plant SALE - 2 DAYS ONLY! Saturday, July 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lots of great specials and clearance plants! Including…

4” Begonia ‘Doublet White’, 75¢ each. In great shape, will last until frost. 4” Solenia Begonia in Light Yellow, Velvet Red and Dusty Rose, 99¢ each. Can be grown in full sun. 4” New Guinea Impatiens in Light Orchid, Fuchsia Cream, Orange Blaze and Red, 99¢ each. 1qt Double Impatiens ‘Musica Pink Aroma’, $1.99 each. 4” Vinca ‘Cooler’ series, 99¢ each. Fresh crop, heat tolerant, will last until frost. 4” Petunia ‘Madness’ series, 99¢ each. Some fresh crops here. 1qt Argyranthemum ‘Comet Red’ or ‘Comet Pink’, $1.99 each. 6” Zonal Geraniums, $2.99 each. 6” Regal Elegance Geranium ‘Rose Bicolour’, $1.99 each. Fresh crop, first blooms still to come.

“It’s that time of year again - breaking the previous record for the earliest opening date! Come have a thrill on Blueberry Hill!! Wilson’s Organic Blueberries is opening for the season. Please give them a call to time out when they are open. Please call/e-mail to pre-order picked berries so I can get them ready for you.

Wilson’s Organic Blueberries (613) 478-5070 email Denice Wilkins denicejohn [at] live [dot] ca