More than 200 served at Bruce Botanical Food Gardens harvest dinner in Ripley

A total of 185 guests and about 20 volunteers enjoyed the third annual Bruce Botanical Food Gardens harvest dinner, held Thursday evening at the Ripley-Huron Community Centre.

Lynne Taylor, executive director of the food gardens, welcomed everyone and paid tribute to Mary Rose Walden and her dedicated group of volunteers who helped put together this event, as well as the chefs who prepared the food, the local businesses and individuals who donated the food, those who donated to the silent auction, and the major sponsors of the event: Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), Mosey and Mosey, the Ripley and District Lions Club, and Foodland Ontario.

Besides the major sponsors and the food gardens, the following were sponsors of the harvest dinner: Best Friends Bakery and Ice Cream of Kincardine, Back Eddies of Paisley, Backwoods Preserves of Holyrood, Burke's Catering of Kincardine, Chia Garden, Cowbell Brewing Co. of Blyth, Gay Lea of Teeswater, Grassroots Rural Retreat and Wood-Fired Pizza of Lucknow, Green's Meat Market and Abattoir of Wingham, Harley's Pub and Perk of Mildmay, Hoity Toity Winery of Mildmay, Holm Potato Farms of Elmwood, Far-Lot Farm of Ripley, Kinloss Produce of Holyrood, Pine River Cheese, Red Cat Farm of Goderich, Ribbink Family of Tiverton, Ripley Variety and Bakery, Simply Deli-cious of Walkerton, Sobeys of Kincardine, Southampton Olive Oil Company, The Soup Spoon Co. of Kincardine, Vintage Cafe of Mildmay, Voisin's Maple Products of Formosa, and Whenever Events of Kincardine.

As the meal was being served, Taylor noted the progress at the gardens this year.

The Ontario Horticultural Society, through the Ripley and District Horticultural Society, sponsored the construction of a water-harvesting demonstrator at the front gate. Water runs off the gatehouse roof and is directed by an eavestrough around the pergola and into a trough hidden in the bench. The water pump accesses the water which is then used to water the planter and nearby plants.

With the generosity of NWMO, work has begun on a mud oven which will allow the gardens to demonstrate off-grid cooking of the vegetables and fruit grown there.

Through financial assistance from the Grey Bruce Community Fund, work was done to complete the ends to the two new hoophouses. This allowed completion of the new learning centre which opens up opportunities to deliver food events, classes, seminars and workshops.

The gardens welcomed more than 1,000 focused visitors this season. As well, the Body of Health garden set the stage for developing the gardens as a learning place about food nutrition and how good health is supported by the foods we eat - more to develop in the coming seasons.

The highlight, said Taylor, is having the gardens embark on an extraordinary year of networking and partnership development.

"We have been successful in engaging Fanshawe College to use the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens as its second-year studio project," she said. "Students will be responsible for the research of heirloom, rare and endangered food varieties, rotation plans, plant plan, seed-sourcing, and master plan development as they learn about edible landscaping."

Through the generosity of NWMO, 50 landscape design students will descend on Ripley, Oct. 21, to undertake the work. "The potential this offers, not only the gardens and the students but Fanshawe's programming and the Township of Huron-Kinloss, is tremendous. We hope this is the budding of a strong relationship with Fanshawe."

In addition, Taylor said there is a partnership developing between the gardens and the University of Windsor and its dandelion research project into treating cancer.

"We had the honour of having Dr. Siyaram Pandey deliver the university's  presentation to our board of directors," she said. "Suffice it to say that his team's findings, currently being prepared for publication, are staggering. We are now working to develop a way to enrich the qualities of this dynamic accumulator with the goodness of Bruce County's clay tilth."

While all of this work is under way, Taylor said the main focus of the gardens is to maintain a readily-available source of fresh, safe, healthy, nutritious and culturally-appropriate food for all the residents of the area, as well as visitors.

"Our living marketplace saw much of its produce taken up this year, but we still need more users of the gardens," she said, adding there is also a continuing need for volunteers, especially as the demand grows and the programming expands.

"So, thank you for joining us for this amazing meal, and consider joining our team of amazing people as we work toward some pretty stunning development for Huron-Kinloss and Bruce County."

The Bruce Botanical Food Gardens are located south of the Ripley soccer fields on Park Street.