Co-Chair’s Message My involvement with LOLGC started at the October 2015 meeting, when I went as a guest of Rosemary Teed to learn about ticks. Before I knew it I joined the club and raised not only my arm but also Rose-mary’s and that night we became Co-Chairs This has been the most amazing year. I’ve met so many won-derful people and have been inspired by some excellent speakers. The most exciting part of the year has been our preparations for Canada’s 150th Anniversary. Our Sesquicentennial project consists of: 1) Encouraging the community to plant red & white flowers representing Canada which we will also do in our Planter Boxes. 2) A white oak will be planted on the property between the Pioneer Museum & the Library on a site that is to be developed by the Museum & the Mazinaw Lanark Forest Group. This area was devastated by a mi-croburst in 2002 and trees that were probably at least 200 years old were felled. This was a great loss for the whole community and this is why we are very pleased to be involved in the restoration of this area. 3) We have hired a local artisan who will create a metal bench which will be placed in the above area. This bench will be inscribed with “LOLGC 2017, Gift to the Community.” 4) A special recognition will be made to the First Nation Community as theirs were the first footprints on this land. 5) My most exciting part of the celebrations is that we are painting the 13 Provincial & Territorial flowers of Canada. I have been overwhelmed with the response to help paint the flowers and it started when eight of met up at Rosemary Teed’s to base paint 13 pieces of marine plywood. Throughout the summer many volunteers have come to my cottage to paint elements of the plaques. Some were beginners & others were more expe-rienced but all were very enthusiastic. This was a way I could share my love of painting and having taught this for the past 30+ years I was delighted to be able to pass this on to those who showed an interest. We have approached the Cloyne & District Historical Society and they have agreed to partner with us on the next phase of our Sesquicentennial project. Rosemary & I have been promoting the “shadow” program. This is where we ask those who have been heading up committees to get somebody to work with them for a year or so with the intent of them taking over and in turn getting others to shadow them as we go forward. This will ensure the longevity of the club. This buddy system promotes involvement and working with someone else makes the job fun and a lot easi-er. We came up with this idea because we had each other to work with and we saw first-hand what a tre-mendous amount of work that goes into our Club’s Community Projects. Having come to this area for over 60 years and staying primarily at my cottage, joining the garden club has opened my eyes to how much more goes on in this community and I have been enriched with so many new friends. I particularly want to thank my Co-Chair Rosemary for her expertise, enthusiasm and most of all friendship; I will miss her. I am looking forward to 2017 and working with Lynn Young, our new Co-Chair and with her, taking our club through this special Sesquicentennial year.

Thanks

Lynn Oborne

On The Rocks

Land O’ Lakes Garden Club

Cloyne Ontario

Letter from Co-Chair Musings from Mary Speakers 2016 Message from our Webmaster Christmas Craft ideas Jerusalem Artichokes Bring Back the Monarch Butterflies Plant Sale/Tomatoes Insert Canada’s Sesquicentennial (Designed by Martine Buissart) Red Berries Winter Planter 2016/17 Executive

Co-Chair Lynn Oborne

Co-Chair/Recording Secretary Lynn Young

Treasurer Michele Burgess

Webmaster/Advertising & Correspondence Secretary Martine Buissart

Membership Rosemary Woods

Program Co-Ordinator Mary Kelly

Past Co-Chair Rosemary Teed Directors Lynn McEvoy Jeananne Houle Patty Rout Elaine Miller

Committees

Planter Boxes: Jane Jeffreys, Jeananne Houle, Mary Kelly

Pine Meadow Mary Kelly

Meals-on-Wheels Homebound Planters:

Rosemary Woods Martine Buissart Editor: Lynn Young

November 2016

Volume 6

Page 1

Dear Members Today is September 23rd and it is raining!! It was supposed to have been a Cemetery clean up day but so much for that idea. So, since my housework is done & I’ll be using the food that Jack prepared for lunch today, for supper, I’ll get started on this year’s Newsletter.

Can you believe it is 10 years since The Land O’Lakes Garden Club started? I can’t really but as one of the originals I have to say I have thoroughly en-joyed being part of this very special group.

Thank you Carolyn McCulloch for practically getting down on your knees last November asking for somebody to step up and take over. She was very con-vincing and as those of us on the Executive held our breaths, up shot the hands of two of our newest members at the time, Lynn Oborne & Rosemary Teed. What an amazing duo those two have been, they have taken us to the next level and have been able to get so many more people involved which is what every club should strive for.

In the Co-Chair’s letter & Insert, you will see how their ideas blossomed into an amazing project to celebrate Canada’s Sesquicentennial in 2017. There is still much to be done and planned and we hope we can count on all of you to help us put this together in time for June 24th 2017.

Part of Lynn & Rosemary’s initiative is to share the workload and not have our projects be a one-person job. To do this I’ve been asked to get somebody to “shadow” me for a year in the projects we continue to take part in. I’m very happy to say that Elaine Miller has offered to shadow me for the Plant Sale and Jane Jeffreys has taken over the helm of the Planter Box Program. I still need to find a shadow for Pine Meadow so don’t be shy, come and see me or just put your hands up like Lynn & Rosemary did :) Rosemary did her part and got Lynn Young to step up as Co-Chair for her and we are very glad she did; welcome back Lynn!

We have once again been very privileged to have some wonderful speakers this year; we have all learned new things and because of them we are better armed to be good stewards of our properties and put what we have learned into practice. We have a great lineup of Speakers for 2017 so spread the word and tell a friend.

Speaker’s Programs—2016

In April Robert DeRoche was to have been our first speaker and he was going to tell us all about worms & thermal composting. He had to cancel due to an illness but Lynn & Rosemary jumped right in and had us enthralled as they rolled out their ideas for Canada’s Sesqui-centennial.

In May, Master Gardener Doris Power talked to us about “Garden Pests,” how to understand their cycles and eradicate them. She couldn’t offer much help for Nellie’s “humping bugs” which seem to have found their way to my garden & the cemetery this year, so it is back to the old fashioned method of squishing as many as you can and hope they get the message.

In June, Brad Smith & Michelle Cole talked to us about herbs; some we were familiar with and others not and they talked about their properties both medicinal & culinary. They also had some very yum-my dips & vinegars for sale.

In July, Master Gardner Carol Hegadorn talked to us about tiered gardens. Her “labour of love” was taking a sloped area of her garden and installing raised beds in intervals down that slope.

In August we had Kathryn Aunger talk to us about Celestial Garden-ing; planting using a calendar to learn how to plant in accordance with the moon & planets to produce better crops & seeds. We will definitely have Kathryn back and maybe we’ll go down to do one of her workshops.

In September we had a last minute speaker, Paul Lehman from the Mississippi River Conservation Authority and he talked to us about climate change and how that is affecting our watershed. The news was not very encouraging but we all know we have to be vigilant and take care of our properties in a way that will encourage native plants and water conservation.

In October Master Gardener Diane Huddle showed us how to make a beautiful winter planter. I’ll be looking out for lots of showy displays in our members gardens this holiday season.

Page 2

Speaker’s Programs—2016, cont’d. In November we will once again have our beloved Michelle VandenBosch and she will take us through another workshop, a Christmas centerpiece, this year.

Welcome to our new Website Visit our website at: https://landolakesgardenclub.com

We are a small garden club comprising approximately 60 members. Our primary goal in starting this website is to broaden our membership and to reach out to people of like interest from all regions of Ontario and even neighbouring provinces.

Although the techniques and subjects covered by this site are mostly appli-cable to our geographical/climate zone region (we are zone 4b), you will find that in many cases they also apply to other regions. It is our hope that you find the articles of interest and of use to you.

If you like our website, please tell your friends.

What about our Webmaster extraordinaire, Martine Buissart!! She has done an amazing job on our new website. I hope you have all had a chance to check it out. If you have any items you’d like included, be sure to get in touch with Martine, we want to keep all of our club news current and Martine will do that for us. Thanks Martine for all your time and effort, great job!

Here’s a nice Christmas craft for the folks in the Wine Tasting group, looks easy enough right? save those corks eh :)

Or maybe something a little less challeng-ing, all you need is some ribbon and a few twigs from your gardens.

Plant Sale I hope you all have had a chance to decide what to donate to our Plant Sale next year. As always Hostas are our most popular, but not just this plant; we hope you can spare some of your other favour-ites too. At the April & May meetings we’ll be reminding you to start checking your garden beds once the ground has thawed. When you see those hosta “noses” appear, think about digging up and separat-ing as soon a you can. When potted up this will allow for your dona-tions to harden off and leaf out nicely in time for the sale. We’ll be asking for pot donations at around that time too (no not the marijua-na plant) so you’ll have plenty to fill up. Our member Carolyn Has-ler from Flinton has been known to scour the dump sites for discard-ed pots and always has lots to pass on.. As always, our sale is on the Saturday after the May 24th long weekend and next year it will be on Saturday May 27th.

We hope you can wait until the Plant Sale weekend to buy your to-mato plants in 2017. We partner each year with the Cuddy family who last year donated 12 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. From red & yellow cherry to the very large red meaty ones. Don Cuddy grows his seeds responsibly and you can be sure the seedlings you buy will give you the best possible results. We’ll advertise this far & wide so the people who buy from us each year will wait until our sale. Be sure to pass on the word to your friends and families.

If you poll 1,000 people who have only room for one or two vegetable plants on their balco-ny or in their garden, 999 of them will say they’d reserve that spot for a tomato plant. Even the most unwilling gardeners – those who say growing vegeta-bles is a pain, that you can buy potatoes in the grocery store, that flowers are prettier – will find a spot for a tomato plant.

I’m here to tell you that there is hope. Every year I grow about

30 tomato plants and every year I use up every single tomato. In past years, I resorted to pawning off the extras on my neighbors’ kids, telling them they were tomato-shaped water balloons, but not any-more.

If you’ve ever resorted to letting your tomatoes rot on the vine, then this list is for you.

Freezing: Yes, freezing. Just pop your washed tomatoes into a freezer bag and put them in the freezer. All winter long you can pull out as many as you need for sauces, soups or stews. After they thaw, the skins peel off like magic. In terms of saving your harvest, it doesn’t get any easier than this. If this is too much effort for you, I suspect you might actually be a cat.

Tip: 15 heirloom tomato plants will produce a minimum of two bush-els of tomatoes in a year, which will yield 25 or so quarts of pressed tomatoes.

Roasting: Slow-roasted tomatoes are what you want in your freezer on a dark January night after you’ve just come in from shoveling a foot of snow. They’re complex and meaty tasting. And they can be mixed in with a bowl of pasta to create a restaurant-quality dinner in about ten minutes because all the work is done in advance. Roast for three to four hours at 275°F, checking on them and stirring every hour.

You can either freeze these slow-roasted tomatoes as is, or you can put them in a food processor with a bit of water or tomato juice to give them more of a saucy consistency. Either way, after you’re done, pop them into individual serving sized freezer bags, freeze them flat so they don’t take up too much space and get ready to look forward to that cold January night. Continued on page 4

Page 3

Do any of you have some of these in your gardens? They are called Jerusalem artichokes and at this time of the year (September) they are very tall and showy and the bees just love them. They some-how arrived in my garden, put there I suspect by my late neigh-bour who used to do her Johnny Appleseed routine when I wasn’t looking. Every year I’d discover yet another gem in my garden that I know I didn’t plant, thanks Ursula, your legacy lives on.

These plants are great for covering a multitude and they show up just after the ostrich ferns have died down and cover an unsightly area I just haven’t been able to figure out what to do with yet. Incidentally if any of you want some of these, let me know I have lots!!

I Googled Jerusalem artichokes and got lots of recipes so when the time comes I’ll dig some up and try them out, I’ll let you know how I make out.

Bring back the Monarch Butterflies, Photo & Article by Patty Rout Monarch butterflies are the most beautiful of the butterflies. The orange and black flutter brings excitement to my garden.

Monarchs go through 4 stages in a year; egg, larvae, pupa and adult butter-fly.

Butterflies in the springtime come out of hibernation to mate. They will fly north and lay their eggs in milkweed, then hatch into caterpillars, and then butterflies. They do this 4 times and the last time, in September and Octo-ber, they will migrate to the south.

The last two years there have been very few butterflies in my garden. This year they came September 11 and for 6 days I had 2 butterflies in my gar-den each day.

Scientists believe the decline is due to logging, severe weather and loss of the milkweed habitat. In Frontenac, we can help bring the Monarch butter-fly back by planting milkweed and other native plants such, as black-eyed Susan, bergamot, purple asters and butterfly bushes.

I have all of these in my garden Patty and I hope you all will include them in yours too. Don’t cut back those purple asters that grow wild and spring up in your gardens this time of the year, keep them for our beautiful orange friends, you can always cut them back later on.

Ladies, I have it on very good authority that there are red berries

around this year. If you haven’t been checking your favourite spots,

get out there now and check the places where you found a stash last

time. These usually only show up every other year and since there

were none last year this should be one of those other years, right?

Hopefully the drought in the wetlands will not have killed off these

little gems, I’ve been looking as I drive up and down #41 but I have

not seen any great big swaths of them standing out.

Jack discovered a nice little stash that I had no idea was there. Now

I don’t have to go out in leaking wellies into the swamps and come

back with specimens that are not nearly as nice as mine.

For those of you who were not able to make the October meeting, this

is the winter container that Diane Huddle showed us how to make

using “materials” that are plentiful north of #7 Diane also donated

a beautiful fall arrangement that we raffled off and Patty Rout was

the lucky winner.

We got lots of tricks & tips for interesting pieces to add into our

“jardinières” didn’t we!! I’m sure there will be a run on spray paint

& glitter at our local hardware & dollar stores. Don’t forget to save

those yellow things in your arrangement Patty and keep spraying

them different colours to go with your subsequent arrangements.

Page 4

Tomatoes, continued from page 3

If you are so obsessed with growing tomatoes and grow so many varieties that you still have tomatoes left over after all of this, then you, my friend, might have a bona fide problem. And my awe and respect.

Text and photos by Karen Bertelsen, from the Lee Valley Tools Newsletter Or if you know somebody who does this sort of thing, make them your new BFF & and see if they’ll do a few extras just for you.

You can bet your Burpee that we’ll be giving out these tips when we sell our heirloom tomatoes at the Plant Sale in May.

We planted 150 of these in the big bed at the front of Pine Meadow on

October 14th and we’re hoping the squirrels won’t find them and there

will be a real showy display in the Spring.

Stepping Stone Workshop:

We did a workshop at Lynn McEvoys this fall and Sheila Steele & Karen

Stinson came from Verona to teach us how to make stepping stones. Very

easy to make and you can be sure we’ll be making more of these ourselves.

Cost to make 5 stones, $2 or less per stone.

Thanks ladies, this might just be the start of more events like this in the

future. If you have any suggestions, please pass them on and we’ll Google

the instructions and try to set a workshop.