Review-Mirror

By Margaret Brand The Review-Mirror Variety might be the spice of life but it's the stuff of life at the Bastard County Fruit Farm of Paul Dehler and Carol Gudz. The husband and wife team grow around 150 shrubs and trees and over 20 varieties of fruits and nuts at their acreage on the Newboyne Road. Among them are apples, aronia and goji berries, cherries, chums (cherry/ plum), elderber- ries, grapes, haskaps, pears, plums, raspberries (black, red, and purple), service berries, hazelnuts, heartnuts, northern pecans, and walnuts. "It's a small orchard by conventional standards. Conventional apple orchards have 50 acres. We have 150," said Dehler whose management of his orchard in also unconven- tional. Instead of feeding the trees and shrubs they are concentrating on recreat- ing nature's ways by creat- ing an environment which mimics the edge of a for- est. There beneficial myc- orrhizal fungi thrive beneath the twigs, rotting wood and leaves and ben- eficial insects thrive. Orchards benefit from soil which is carbon rich and rich in fungi. The tree and the fungi play a sym- biotic relationship by feeding each other with the creation of long root systems which protect the plant from drought and continue to feed the fungi. "The most fabulous part of it is that they enter into a symbiotic relation- ship, extend tree root sys- tems ten to 1000 times and expand their bodies to pro- vide an extended reach," said Dehler. The couple has adopted the permaculture practices of Michael Phillips, a New Hampshire orchardist who has developed a concept of managing an orchard organically by reproduc- ing the forest edge where a community of plants per- forms a variety of roles. Permaculture is the design of cultivated ecosystems with the diver- sity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. In the orchard the couple are striving to create a community of plants which perform a variety of roles, reaching deep into the earth to bring up minerals and nutrients to be available, distracting and attracting insects, and fixing nitrogen. A ramial mulch, chopped branches of hard- woods is an important part of keeping weeds down and is a carbon rich feed for growth of beneficial fungi. At the fruit farm the practice of planting a com- munity of plants around each tree has evolved into rows of beneficial plants between the rows and a fabric landscape mulch. "We made quite a few mistakes at the beginning. The biggest was grass. It's is a real inhibitor of tree growth," said Dehler. The couple have been working at their property over six years but didn't make the move from Ottawa until September last year after their home was completed. The couple have been reaching out to the com- munity with tours, reach- ing out to schools and the hosting of WWOOFers, willing workers on organ- ic farms, who volunteer doing farm work in exchange for a stay at the host farm. Growing the fruit is just a part of the couple's goal in creating the orchard which they are developing into a site of which they plan to be able to show the success of best practices. "We are doing this in order to increase food security or resiliency for ourselves, our neighbours and our local community," said Dehler. Orchard thrives with nature's ways 43 Bedford St., Westport, ON 613-273-8000 1-800-387-0796 advertising@review-mirror.com 43 Bedford St., Westport, ON 613-273-8000 1-800-387-0796 advertising@review-mirror.com Mirror The Review Mother's Day Gift & Dining Guide! Thursday, May 10 Advertising Deadline Monday, May 7. Husband and wife team Paul Dehler and Carol Gudz operate the Bastard County Fruit Farm an orchard which distinguishes itself in its diversity with more than two dozen varieties of fruit and nuts as well as its permaculture practices. The Review-Mirror April 19, 2018 – 16 Local historian Doug Bond will be lending his knowledge of the histo- ry of cheese making in Leeds County to the Athens Historical Soci- ety this Saturday. The history of local cheese making is the topic of Saturday's gathering of the soci- ety's members at their museum on Wellington Street in Athens from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.. Two years ago Bond, with the Heritage Soci- ety of Bastard and South Burgess published Per- spectives on a Wedge of Cheddar. The 169-page coil- bound book is full of historic photos, maps, anecdotes and facts which explore changes in agriculture in North Leeds along with the rise and fall of local cheese making. When local cheese factories were thriving the landscape was dot- ted with small mixed farms, cheese making was seasonal, and dairy production was limited before and transporta- tion systems expanded the market and scaled up production. The demand for a standard quality of cheese year-round as well as the economics of a larger scale of produc- tion signaled an end to local cheese factories. There were as many as three cheese factories in Athens and as many as 40 cheese factories in Leeds County. Bond is not sure how many operated at the same time. The Athens Museum is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon. The history of cheese in Leeds County at Athens museum Saturday

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