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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-10-23, Page 5Wednesday, October 23, 2013 • Lakeshore Advance 5 Community Talking about food I have been thinking about food a lot lately. Every time 1 go out into my 10 -acre gar- den 1 am reminded that the food that 1 grew with such pride through the summer is melting away into pockets of rot. The garden becomes 'dark' as they say in the thea- tre business. But I and here to tell you that there is an encore happening in your garden and celebration is lot finished. Leeks. Leeks are run- ning my life these days. 1 grew more than I can count on account of the fact that when I sowed four packets of their seeds 1 had 110% germination (an impossibility, I know, but this is how h feels to be successful in the garden). Every gardener has had this experience. Often it is with zucchini: you sow a few measly little seeds in May and they all germinate into steroidal plants with fruit the size of dinosaur eggs. I am in just such a situation with leeks right now. My wife Mary makes leek soup and freezes it. Her criteria for using the recipe that she does? It uses more leeks than any other recipe that she could find. You will find it online at www.markcullen.conl under the Ilot Topic heading. Leeks enjoy the cold, especially tem- peratures below freezing. They get big- ger and better by the day. Column Mark Cullen www.markcullen.com Carrots are (much the same. Bring on the cold weather, they say to one another as they huddle shoulder to shoulder in the cold, sandy soil. I suggest that you dig them soon and put therm in bushel baskets of dry sand to hold theta over the next couple of months in your garage or cold cellar. Ditto with parsnips. Pumpkins. You will no doubt he picking up a pumpkin at your local food retailer soon. 1 sug- gest that you keep it on your porch or in your garage until 1 Ialloween just to prevent It from being hit by hard frost and going gooey and rotten before the big day. Best of all is to drive out to a farmers market and pick your own. Shouldn't every kid have this experience? Show them where pumpkins grow and help them understand why you cannot grow o11e in your townhouse hack yard. They would take over the neighbourhood if you tried, much like the zucchini. 1 remind you that pumpkins are 90% water. 'Therefore throwing them out or disposing of them at the end of your driveway makes no sense. 'Think about all of the garbage trucks In early Novem- ber that are driving around with Targe orange vegetables: neat packages full of water. It makes so much more sense to just place it on the surface of the soil in your garden and let Another Nature rot it down Into some- thing useful for your soil. In time it will assist in building microbes and organic matter there. Rhubarb. It -you have a huge rhubarb plant in the garden, now is it good time to dig It up, divide It into smaller root por- tions and replant It or give away some of the divisions. This is also true for hostas, dayliles, monarda, and many other per- ennial flowering plants. It may he late October and you were planning on going for a walk in the park this weekend, but don't forget that the garden still needs some of your attention. Corniest Ernie Hardeman won't rest until a law mandates CO detectors in all Ontario dwellings. Larry Cornles OMI Agency Oxford MPP Ernie Ilardeman is nothing if not determined. Four times he's tried to get the Ontario legislature to pass a private 'Member's bill to tnake carbon monox- ide (CO) detectors mandatory in all dwellings in the province; four tinnes events have conspired to thwart his efforts. Now, amid a fractured legislature in which his party, the Progressive Con- servatives, are sitting in Opposition but unwilling to deal with the Premier Kath- leen Wynne's Liberals on Hutch of any- thing of importance, he's trying again. And ironically, it's now --- in the face of a minority government that lurches from crisis to crisis under the constant threat of a snap election -- that I lnrde- man has managed to reach his point of greatest hope. The spark that lit this flatne in 111111 originated in the awful events of the first week of December 2008, when Laurie Hawkins, 41, her husband Richard, 40, their daughter Cassandra, 14, and their son Jordan, 12, all died of carbon mon- oxide poisoning because of a poorly vented fireplace in the basement of their Woodstock, Ont., home. Laurie was especially well-known because of her role as chief media spokesperson for the Oxford OPP, which had followed 19 years on the road as a constable and higKh-proflle community safety officer who visited schools, seniors residences, camps and civic organizations. While the rest of her family had died in the poisoned house, Laurie clung to life In hospital for a few days until she, too, succumbed. Within two days Of Laurie's death, Ilardeman had introduced the t lawklns GIgnac Act (Glgnne was l.au- rle's maiden name) to snake CO detec- tors compulsory In Ontario homes. 'the private member's hill passed sec- ond reading in the spring of 2009 and was sent to a committee for study, but died on the order paper when Premier Dalton McGuinty prorogued the legis- lature in March 2010. Ilardeman reintroduced the meas ure as Hill 69 two months later. It passed second reading and was referred to committee, but w8S spiked by another McGuinty prorogation in dune 2011. Ilardeman tried 41 third time late that year, Bill 20 as 11 was labelled this tins', was reintro deiced in December and passed second reading in March 2012.11 went for hearings before the leg islature's social policy commit- tee, which then reported hark to the house. But the hill died on the order paper when the McGuinty prorogued the Iegtsln lure in October of that year. Ilardeman tried it fourth time. The I lnwkins Lignac Act was reintroduced in February as 11111 18. In hope of quick pas sage, the Oxford MPP revised the hill as requested by the Lib- eral government and reintro - deiced It as 1111177 in May. Seeing the summer recess on the horizon, Ilardeman moved for unanimous consent for sec otul and third readings of the I lnwkins (;Ignar Act in lune, but was rebuffed by the Liberal and NDP house lenders. Now, he's making a fifth attempt. The l lnwkins Glgnac Act, Bill 77 this time, is sched- uled for second reading on Oct. :t 1 . Barring a snap election, a prorogation or a meteorite strik- ing Queen's Park, the hill stands a chance of becoming law by the time the legislature rises for the Christmas break - five years after the Woodstock tragedy. Should chill happen, [lank - man will breathe a sigh of relief. The cause has become more 1114111 just it piece of legislation for him; It's become symbolic of the need for politicians from all patties to recognize a policy gap and to act In the public Interest. It will also, In my view, dem- onstrate the doggedness with which a politician must some- times pursue an agenda about which they feel strongly - and about which they must just p141111 refuse to give ftp, even in the face of repeated cynical prorogations and other roadblocks. When and If the Hawkins (igne Act becomes law --- as it surely must -- the foundation created for public education and to push for CO detectors in every Canadian home will sim- ply go on doing what it's been doing. Laurie's uncle John ('ignac, chair of the Hawkins Gignac Foundation for CO Education, based in Brantford, Ont., sant this week his organization would simply shift its focus to other provinces. So far, only the Yukon has a law mandating the use of CO detectors In homes. 'There's still plenty of work to do across the country. It's a testament to Hartle - man's determination that he's still trying to make this impor- tant difference. And it's just plain wrong that, so far, a per ferny reasonable measure has been repeatedly nixed by the Liberals' purely political calculations. Larry Comics is al London journalist and educator. corn- les(i)gnualLcotn