HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-07-02, Page 23PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015.
Garden to be integral to 14/19 plans: Smith
Continued from page 1
your food comes from,” he said.
Smith next invited garden designer
David Rankine to speak. He said he
envisioned a labyrinth when he was
first tasked with crafting the garden.
Several weeks of work later, his
design has become a reality and
features three small spirals and three
large spirals forming one giant spiral
on the ground, which takes 240 steps
to get around.
Next, Smith began introducing
and thanking the people who had
worked hard to get the garden up and
going.
First on that list was Rick Elliott
for his work with the garden. Next,
he shone a spotlight on Rhea
Hamilton-Seeger who said a few
words to the audience about how she
originally didn’t want to get her
hands dirty.
“I should tell you when I got the
call from Peter to work on this
garden project, I said I’d come and
talk but I don’t want to do any
work,” she said. “I told Peter I had
too much to do.
“When we sat down with David,
however, and I saw the design, I said
‘I am so in’,” she said. “It’s an
incredible way to garden. It’s
something new. How could you not
be involved?”
Hamilton-Seeger explained that
the centre of the garden is built
around three bare-root Macintosh
apple trees which will provide
structure for the rest of the garden.
“From the middle, we’ve put in
perennials which will come back
every year and encourage the
pollinators we need for the
vegetables,” she said. “From the
perennials we planted the herbs and
from there we put in the vegetables.”
She then said that the genesis of
the garden was very organic in that
those responsible for planting just
put things where they would fit. She
also said that there was a kind of
magic to the garden where if
something needed to be done, it just
happened.
“I remember we talked about a
trellis,” she said. “I don’t know
where the idea came from, but the
next thing I know Rick is calling me
and saying it’s up. That’s the magic
of this place – things happen.”
She also spoke to Smith’s idea of
feeling the dirt and the earth and said
he was on the mark with the notion.
“Planting in the earth is amazing:
there is no better way to ground
yourself,” she said.
Smith also thanked Laura Peach
for her work on the committee and
said it was encouraging to have
younger people involved. He also
thanked local Pastor Gary van
Leeuwen and Minister Gary Clark
for their help with the project.
To conclude the presentation,
Smith wanted to remind people that
the garden is something he hopes the
community takes ownership and
pride in.
“This garden is a community
effort,” he said. “We’re not
interested in this being a five or six
people project. We want it to go out
to the broader community and we
want people to come down and hang
out and walk the walk, the 240
steps... and to share some of the
bounty here.”
For more information on the
garden, visit the Facebook site at
www.facebook.com/TheGardenatBlyth
Continued from page 23
excited they were to the audience
about the opportunity for the
businesses present.
The total cash value of the
winning prize was $18,000 in
services including the rental of the
space. The prize included
advertising opportunities,
counselling and mentoring through
the HBDC and SBEC and team
building opportunities through local
businesses as well as some tangible
rewards like printing and sign
opportunities, internet and phone
discounts and custom embroidery.
Originally, there had been eight
judges, the final five contestants only
faced off before six: Huron East
Economic Development Officer Jan
Hawley, business consultant and
Central Huron Councillor Alison
Lobb, Seaforth Business
Improvement Area (BIA) Director
Maureen Agar, Seaforth BIA
director Brenda Campbell, Seaforth
Community Development Trust
Director Neil Tam and Marriage
Commissioner Cathy Elliott.
Absent judges included Brussels
Community Development Trust
Director Paul Nichol and business
owner and consultant Chris Lee who
couldn’t be at the meeting, however
Hawley said their input was
invaluable.
“Narrowing the 12 entries to five
was a big job and that’s where Paul
and Chris were involved and
incredibly helpful,” she said. “They
were very important to the mix and it
just happened that they couldn’t be
there for the finale.”
The other four finalists included
Tara Finnigan and Cara Wicke who
had plans to open Local Organics
Health Food and Wellness Centre;
Gerrie Huenemoerder whose plan
was focused on Local Artescape, an
art gallery featuring jewelry of her
own design and arts and crafts by
Canadian artists; Kaleda Connell
who wanted to open Degree Fitness,
a store focused on ‘functional
fitness’ and Brittany Williams who
wanted to open Grounded Café, a
café/bistro serving gourmet coffee
and pastries.
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Laying the groundwork
The Blyth Community Garden is moving along quickly now after hosting its first social, above,
and work by some volunteers from the Huron Serve chapter of Youth Unlimited, below, who
were working out of the Christian Reformed Church. The volunteers are from across the
province as well as south of the border and they were able to learn a little bit about gardening
through the experience. Shown below is community garden committee member Rick Elliott,
left, showing how to make cuts in the grass to volunteers Tricia Ryzebol of Newmarket, centre,
and Arianna Wimmers of Burlington. (Denny Scott photo)
Competition shows
growth: Hawley