"Having lived most of my 72 years in urban environments, I have had a lifelong appreciation and deep connection to nature, the soil, and water through my mother and many generations of my farming family. At present, I have the privilege of living on a small farm where I can, hopefully, be a partner in beginning a restoration process to at least part of the property.
We began this past spring by retiring 8 acres of the 30-acre cash crop field, excavating a 2-acre pond and creating a berm barrier along the field. The balance of the area between the pond and the adjacent Sydenham River will become a native prairie grass meadow. My vision is to protect and enhance wildlife habitat, return this floodplain area to its natural filtering capabilities, and see our wee bit of Carolinian woods alive and healthy in every way possible. My hope is that my great-grandchildren will develop an even deeper love for nature as I have had the privilege of knowing. My other objective is to create an area for others to visit and learn about the importance of having a connection to the land and nature – that we are part of, not separate from it, and that we have responsibility to that relationship.
Our goals are to enhance, expand and enrich wildlife and pollinator habitat while creating a natural area of interest for people to enjoy and, hopefully, to develop our Bed and Breakfast on this 36-acre farm, to the point of becoming a learning/teaching centre for educating our guests through interactive experiences.
We are a work in progress, to be sure! What "garden" we have so far is mostly Mother Nature's own plantings within the woods and along the edges of the trees. We have planted a few pawpaw trees, two butternut trees, and some native mulberry seedlings. I have 93 elderberry cuttings rooted and ready to be planted as well. Currently, I'm working on laying out beds in the yard for native wildflowers.
We must give credit to several people and agencies for getting our project going, from advice, to recommendations, to help filling out and filing forms, and particularly, our appreciation for funding! These include Ontario Nature, through ALUS (our contacts Lindsay Buchanan and Ian Cameron), Ducks Unlimited Canada (Darrel Randell), OSCIA, SARPAL, RLSN, and SCRCA."