8/6/2019 Bog Walk Benches

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District LivingWednesday, October 28, 2009

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By Peggy RevellStaff writer

Toronto will be getting a bigtaste of Rainy River District for10 days next month as local agri- businesses gear up to send their products down east for the 87th-annual Royal Agricultural WinterFair.

Were taking the region to theRoyal Winter Fair, said JeanetteCawston, rural ag co-ordinator forthe Rainy River Future Develop-ment Corp., who has been busilyco-ordinating with local producersand will be bringing at least 17 products to promote and sell atNorthern Ontarios pavilion.

Running Nov. 6-15 at ExhibitionPlace in Toronto, the Royal Agri-cultural Winter Fair is the largestof its kind in the world and sees hundreds of thousands of visitorspass through its doors.

I think, as an economic commu-

nity development organization, [theRRFDC] recognizes that producerscant afford to go [there] and havea whole booth by themselves, butthey would all love to have their product showcased and sold atthe Royal Winter Fair, Cawstonexplained.

So thats what were aiming atwell take it and sell them for it.

Were really excited becauseRRFDC decided to move forwardwith regionalization in farming,added Cawston, explaining thatalongside producers from RainyRiver District, she has been work-ing with producers from ThunderBay, Dryden, Atikokan, and Ke-nora to bring together items fromacross the region.

Products from Rainy River Dis-trict include Seven Bends Honey,Purple Llama products, wild ricefrom Dick Trivers Enterprise, cran- berry beef bag summer sausagefrom Cornell Farms, Breezy Bags by Mike Leatherdale, and cedarfurniture from Kish-Gon-Dug Can-ada.

Weve got all kinds of reallywonderful products going there,so I think [producers] are startingto get excited about it, Cawstonenthused.

Being able to bring local prod-ucts to the Royal has been great,said Deb Cornell of the Rainy Riv-er Elk Company, who will return-ing to Toronto for the ninth timeto set up shop under the NorthernOntario pavilion, which is fundedby FedNor.

The idea was to give northernagri-food producers just the venue

to show their stuff, Cornell added,referring to the pavilion that shehas seen grow from 15 vendors toroughly 40.

There are just all kinds of north-ern products, she noted.

Probably the thing thats beenmost important to me is network-ing with other northern agri-foodproducers, she continued. I wouldhave had very little opportunity toget to know the people in thenortheast, and now I do businesswith a few of them.

So thats probably been themost valuable.

One fun part of the Royal forCornell also has been the chance tomeetand even sell products tocelebrities over the years, such aschampion curler and CBC weatherpersonality Colleen Jones.

The other highlight is the wholeactivity of the place, Cornell said

from horse shows and calf showsto butter sculptures.Theres just very many very

cool things going on, she stressed,noting that with some reorgani-zation over the last three years,theres also been a lot of focus on

Staff

As the Clover Valley FarmersMarket wraps up for another sea-son this Saturday, the public is in-vited to come out to enjoy a lunchmade from locally-grown food.

It is in celebration of our 25thanniversary, said market managerDeb Cornell.

[The lunch is] all based on mar-ket products, she noted. It will besoups, biscuits, pies, and theyre allproducts developed here from thearea that will be available.

The day also will give peoplethe chance to come out and meetsome of the local growers, Cornellexplained.

Pretty well all of the big growersare represented [at the market] insome way, she remarked. If theyarent an actual participant in mar-

ket, they often have product thereanyways.Besides the lunch, there also will

be free draws, some food samples,and bulk maple syrup available atthe market this Saturday.

And for those who dont yet have a pumpkin for Halloween,

there will be lots of pumpkins,Cornell promised, as well as lots ofgood fall foods, perogies, cabbagerolls, and pies.

The market started in 1984,Cornell recalled. It moved to thepresent site [on McIrvine Road] in89.

In those first five years, and intothe sixth year actually, it operatedin three different locations, shenoted.

While it may be the last dayfor the farmers market this year,Cornell said the site wont be sit-ting emptyhome-based businessvendors will be setting up andselling goods there on Saturdaysthroughout November.

Im guessing that there could be some farmers market vendorsthere, too, Cornell remarked.

And then on Nov. 28, the

market food store will open untilChristmas again! she enthused.While the market runs from 9

a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday, the lunchwill have set out starting around 10a.m., Cornell said.

The cost is $5 a meal.

By Dave OgilvieEmo correspondent

Since its establishment in 1976,the Rainy River Federation of Ag-riculture has acted as an umbrella

organization for the various ag-ricultural producers across RainyRiver District.

Meeting monthly, the RRFA ac-tively has promoted local foodproduction and proudly supportedall initiatives that have improvedthe quality of life and livelihood forits members and all others living inthe district.

Last Thursday (Oct. 22), the ag-ricultural organizations across thedistrict were asked to send repre-sentatives to a strategic planningmeeting of the RRFA.

The purpose of the meeting,led by rural ag co-ordinator Jean-nette Cawston, was to review thestrategic plan that was developedin 2005, to discuss the groupsactivities over the past three years,and to give input into future agri-cultural initiatives in the district.

The first part of the evening wasdevoted to examining the variousactivities which the agriculturalproducers have used to strengthenand promote their products overthe past three years.

Those on hand followed Caw-ston as she used a flow chart onthe wall to review the activities ofthe various organizations.

It became clear after a few min-utes that many of the agriculturalrepresentatives had not realizedhow much had been accomplishedsince the last strategic review.

Its amazing what weve donein the last few years, stated RRFApresident Rick Neilson.

It was the consensus, of thegroups represented, that togetherthey have effectively strengthened

and promoted agriculture in thedistrict.

The Clover Valley Farmers Mar-ket, the food box program, andmany other local initiatives havereinforced the importance of agri-

culture in Rainy River District and promoted the districts products both locally and across the prov-ince.

Dick Trivers, of the Soil and CropImprovement Association, also wason hand last Thursday to explainto those in attendance about thedevelopment of the Northern On-tario Agricultural Research andInnovation Network (NOARIN).

Each district, such as North-western Ontario, will have its ownRegional Agri-Innovation Networkas the project develops.

The purpose of this group willbe to establish a network of farm-ers across the province, to improvecommunication, and to tap intogovernment programs which pro-mote research and innovative de-velopment in agriculture.

Cawston then organized theworkshop members into smalltable groups. She asked them toexamine the accomplishments ofthe RRFA over the past few yearsand discuss what they felt shouldbe the next steps for agriculturein the district.

Each table recommended cre-ative ideas they felt would furtherstimulate and improve agricultureacross the district.

The suggestions and ideas theycame up with were absolutelyamazing, enthused Cawston.

The ideas and suggestions pro-duced at this meeting, as wellas those developed by the RRFAexecutive, will be forwarded toFedNor for its approval and imple-mentation in the coming year.

By Peggy RevellStaff writer

Those taking a stroll along theCranberry Peatlands InterpretiveTrail in Alberton now have a newplace to rest their feet and take inthe view thanks the sites newestadditionbenches in memory ofthe late Victor Raiche.

I know that my dad is smilingdown right now and happy, Ra-

iches daughter, Erma Armit, saidat the dedication ceremony Fridayafternoon at the trail, which islocated at the end of WhitmoreRoad in Alberton Township.

Id like to thank all, and themany, many volunteers who havebeen involved with the Rainy Riv-er Valley Field Naturalists, andother groups, too, I understand,said Armit, referring to all the ef-fort that has gone into building theinterpretive trail.

I know this has been a verydedicated project.

I know that there are a lot of

volunteers who have put a lotof time and effort and heart intomaking this happen this far, andIm sure that theres plans to gofurther, she added.

On behalf of the RRVFN, AhlanJohanson thanked the Raiche fam-ily for their support throughoutthe years with the building of theinterpretive trail, as well as thememorial fund in support of theRRVFN which was established in

memory of Raiche, who passedaway in 2001 at the age of 94.

Theyre beautifully made andgood workmanship, Johansonsaid of the benches, also thankingKish-Gon-Dug Canada for theircraftsmanship and work.

With the memory of Raicheslove of music and talent in mind,Armit was joined by two of herchildren, Wanda Botsford and Vic-tor Armit, who celebrated the ded-ication by singing a family songwritten about Rainy River District,as well as an slightly-altered peat-lands version of Peter, Paul and

Marys This Land is Your Land.Born in 1907 in Maple Lake,

Mn., Raiche arrived in Rainy RiverDistrict with his family in 1920. Hewas married to, and predeceasedby, Ida May King (daughter of Ja-net and R.H. King), with whom he had two daughtersErma Armitand her sister, Marjorie Vautrin.

At Fridays dedication ceremo-ny, Armit spoke of the many skillsand trades of her fatherfrom

being a prospector, trapper, and hunter to working with the Min-istry of Natural Resources for 17years, as well as his musical talentas a fiddler.

With all his talents, Raiche sup- ported the work and goals ofthe RRVFN as they worked toestablish the interpretive trail, sheexplained, also taking the time tohighlight the many important rolesbogs and peatlands have when itcomes to the environment.

This type of thing certainly wasdear to my dads heart, Armitsaid about the work which the

RRVFN has done to build theinterpretive trail.

Because he was a man of manytalents, and one of his talents wasart. And you know, it wasnt untilafter this started happening thatI started looking at a lot of hisartwork and theres bogs in hisartwork.

He paid a lot of attention todetail and his art, Armit recalled.He would sit in his living room

and paint from his memoryallthose details from his memory andpeople would look at his paintingsand say, Ive seen that, I think Iknow where that is! because theyhad so much detail.

While there originally was just plans for the one bench, follow-ing an act of vandalism, both theRaiche family and Kish-Gon-Dugeach donated a new bench.

These benches will be storeduntil they are installed on the plat-form which sits overlooking thebog at the end of the trail in thespring.

Variety of district products off to Royal Winter Fair

Jeannette Cawston, rural ag co-ordinator for the Rainy River Future Development Corp.,pointed to one of the many promotional tools for district agriculture shell be taking to theRoyal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto next month. Peggy Revell photo

Local lunch to wind up

farmers market season

RRFA updatesstrategic plan

Erma Armit, along with two of her children, Wanda Botsford and Victor Armit, serenaded those who gathered at the Cran-berry Peatlands Interpretive Trail on Friday afternoon for a ceremony to dedicate the trails newest additions: two parkbenches in honour Armits father, the late Victor Raiche. Peggy Revell photo

Ceremony held to dedicate bog walk benches

Staff

The OPP is looking for informa-tion following an act of vandalismat the Cranberry Peatlands Inter-pretive Trail in Alberton.

Sometime between Oct. 18 and20, a park bench the Rainy RiverValley Field Naturalists had in-stalled earlier this month wasdemolished and thrown into the

pond.The benchwhich has since

been replacedwas meant to bededicated in memory of the lateVictor Raiche.

The RRVFN is a volunteergroup which has worked hard tocreate, build, and maintain andimprove the interpretive trail forthe benefit of the public, thegroup said in a release concerning

the vandalism.This selfish act to destroy pub-

lic property donated by volunteersis extremely frustrating to theRRVFN.

The bench was removed fromthe raised platform where it pro-vided a resting spot for users atthe end of the trail. It had beensecured to the deck with screwsand steel brackets, the release

also noted.The incident was reported to

police Oct. 20.Police are asking that any-

one with information pertainingto this incident contact CrimeStoppers anonymously by calling1-800-222-TIPS, visiting www.tipshelp.com, or texting tip262with tip information to CRIMES(274637).

Please see Variety, B3

Police asking for tips in vandalism of initial bench