in Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey
November 18, 2024
BY JOHN BUTLER — Autumn may have been putting our vegetation to sleep for the winter on Saturday, November 16, but there was plenty of live green talk on display at the Grey Highlands Peace Committee’s fifth annual Peace Luncheon at the Kinplex in Flesherton. Eighty-five people gathered over a meal provided by the women of the Flesherton Charge of Highland United Church to honour ten organizations that make our communities green, flowering and productive. Representatives of the organizations accepted certificates of recognition from the Peace Committee, and MP Alex Ruff and MPP Rick Byers added their voices of praise by providing certificates of appreciation that were also presented to these representatives.
Grey Highlands Mayor Paul McQueen and Southgate Mayor and Grey County Warden Brian Milne were unstinting in adding their own praise for these ten groups — and praise for volunteerism in general in their communities, while Committee member and Southgate Councillor Joan John pointed out to the guests that these ten recipients were part of a larger array of civic organizations devoted to bringing beauty as well as economic wellbeing to their communities. “Your Peace Committee looks forward to continuing to explore and celebrate our communities’ strengths and successes, since these are the conditions that lead to peace,” said Peace Committee Chair Lynn Silverton, who also pointed out that the volunteer members of the Peace Committee were happy that their hard work and planning was appreciated by people who attended the Peace Luncheon.
The event also profiled an unsung local horticultural hero — John Caesar, CPR station agent in Markdale in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose station garden started a national movement to add ornamental gardens to railway stations. Attendees gave John a much belated round of applause for his work in blooming the railway coast to coast.
These are profiles of the ten groups recognized by the Peace Committee:
The Eugenia Cenotaph Peace Garden Naturalization Project
A collaboration blossomed in 2023 to rejuvenate and landscape the cenotaph area adjacent to Eugenia Falls by creating an accessible garden of plants and flowers indigenous to the area. Partners in this re-wilding include the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority, the Flesherton-Markdale Legion, the Grey Highlands Climate Action Group, the Grey Highlands Peace Committee, the Eugenia community and botanist Claire Ellenwood of Ontario Flora, a Grey Highlands nursery and landscape design firm. Based on Claire’s site plan, volunteer teams removed non-native vegetation and planted native species, centred on the red Cardinal Flower representing soldiers who lost their lives — flowers that provide nectar for hummingbirds and pollinating bees and butterflies. The group received funding, donated labour and supplies from the Municipality of Grey Highlands, the Community Foundation of Grey Bruce, the Kimberley Community Association, the Eugenia District Community Improvement Association and generous business, individual and group donors. This project combines remembrance with native plant gardening, including benches, signage, fencing, pruning trees whose branches threaten the cenotaph, and transfer of non-native plants from the cenotaph to gardens at the Markdale Hospital. The cenotaph will be updated to reflect post-World War Two conflicts in which Canadians served. For more information please contact Joyce Hall at greengreycounty@gmail.com.
The Feversham Park Committee
For 18 years the Feversham Park Committee, funded 100% through local fundraising, has enhanced Feversham’s Park, a scenic riverside property once owned by the Feversham Agricultural Society, deeded years ago to Osprey Township for park purposes — and now owned by Grey Highlands. The Committee’s six core volunteers are joined by many more for special events. It plants and maintains trees and flowers in the Park, including five “horse trough” raised flower beds, and it keeps the Park tidy. Its legendary pie sales at Feversham Fall Fair have allowed it to buy a playground climbing sphere, and previous fundraisers led to the purchase of benches, picnic tables and Park playground equipment. With start-up help from Grey Highlands, it now provides a community garden — 12 raised beds for community gardeners, and one planted and maintained by the Committee that yields produce donated to the local food bank and to local people needing food security. Volunteer master gardener Judy Jackson ensures the garden is planned, planted and harvested well. In addition to the beautiful, green, open and fully accessible Park, the Committee maintains welcoming flower boxes on two bridges on the approaches to Feversham. For more information please contact Kimberley Briggs at kabriggs43@gmail.com.
The Flesherton Beautification and Improvement Committee
Founded in 2013 as an amalgamation of the Flesherton Recreation Committee with a group that had planted flowers in public places for decades, this Committee comprises six year-round volunteers and dozens more at planting time. The Committee plants flowers in flower boxes and hanging baskets throughout the village and weeds the plantings to complement watering by the Municipality of Grey Highlands. Taking to heart their dual beautification and recreational roles, these volunteers also arranged the planting of trees throughout Flesherton, worked with Hanley Institute kids to decorate garbage receptacles in public places, spearheaded acquisition of durable playground equipment for Memorial Park, replaced the swimming raft in Flesher’s Pond, commissioned four murals adorning a building beside the Pond, arranged a fishing day for young people in the Pond, and organized school children and volunteers into a village cleanup squad. Come winter, members replace flowers in boxes and baskets with winter themed greenery until spring planting starts. The committee welcomes short-term or longer term volunteers, offers enriching activities for community service placements from schools, and welcomes new ideas and new people. For more information please contact Committee Secretary Barb Henry at barbhenry07@gmail.com.
The Kimberley Community Garden
The Kimberley Community Garden flourishes under the auspices of the Kimberley Community Association (KCA), a volunteer social and support service organization for Kimberley and environs. KCA helps operate Kimberley Community Hall, owned by the Municipality of Grey Highlands. The Garden, kick-started with Grey Highlands funds in 2022, comprises four raised garden beds and a series of planting pots on the Hall property’s south side, maintained by a core group of nine volunteers who prepare the soil, plant, weed, water and harvest vegetable crops that include beans, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, onions, kale, lettuce and spinach. The Garden owes much to input from community garden specialist Simona Freiberg. The plots yield up to three harvests each season — food delivered by a volunteer every second week to the Flesherton Food Bank. A volunteer also musters an autumn crew to pick fruit from participating orchards for delivery to food bank larders. KCA’s latest green project is a memorial garden in front of the Hall with help from Artemesia Day Lilies, 13 Forty Landscape Supplies and Willow Grasses. The group continues to foster community collaborations such as its cash donation this year to the Eugenia Cenotaph Naturalization Project. For more information please contact Ray Macdonald at raymondpmacdonald@gmail.com.
The Grey Bruce Native Seed Bank
The Grey Bruce Native Seed Bank provides archived genetically diverse wild seeds for restoration projects in this area. Since 2023 its volunteers have sustainably collected native seeds and begun growing them at seed orchards on Bruce Trail Conservancy land in Duncan, as well as at Ontario Flora near Markdale. It has a volunteer roster of 80 and a core administrative team of three volunteers. Among its many supporting individuals, groups and businesses, it works closely with the Friends of Kimberley Forest, Beaver Valley Destination Stewardship, Creek Valley Cattle Co., Grey Highlands Climate Action Group, Beaver Valley Bruce Trail Club, Beaver Valley Biodiversity Project and Regenerate Grey Bruce. It has also recently been sponsored by Ontario Nature. Kimberley General Store continually powers Seed Bank volunteers with coffee, tea and treats. Volunteers are welcome for any of the Seed Bank’s “action circles”: administration and finance; outreach, communications and engagement; ecosystem restoration; and grants and funding. Aside from winter, a Stewardship Group meets weekly for volunteers involved in hands-on Seed Bank projects — work that ultimately gives renewed homes to plants whose ancestors thrived here for millions of years. For more information or to contribute to its GoFundMe campaign, please contact the Seed Bank at greybrucenativeseedbank@gmail.com.
The Grey Highlands Climate Action Group
Created in 2019, the Grey Highlands Climate Action Group is a network of 23 volunteers who advocate for — and help create — climate action and environmental wellbeing within its community and with governments at local, county, provincial and national levels. The Action Group also engages in project-specific alliances with other civic groups in and beyond Grey Highlands. It has recently been involved in the Eugenia Cenotaph Peace Garden Naturalization Project and in the seed gathering and propagation activities of the Grey Bruce Native Seed Bank. Recognizing that climate action is needed at local, national, and global levels, the Action Group also supports and takes part in direct local citizen action here in our community to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to foster local environmental conditions that create a livable, enjoyable and climate-friendly way of life. The Climate Action Group is also active in the work of the Grey Bruce Climate Action Network, a consortium of municipally-focused climate action groups in Grey, Bruce and parts of Simcoe County. The Climate Action Group welcomes new members, new insights and new energy to help create, step by step, a green community and green planet. For more information please contact Joyce Hall at greengreycounty@gmail.com.
The Markdale and District Horticultural Society
The Markdale and District Horticultural Society, founded in 1912, has nurtured green and blooming plants to lift the spirits of Markdale through two World Wars, the Great Depression and two pandemics. Its 55 members include a core of about 17 volunteers involved in its hands-on work. It plants and maintains 21 plant containers in several Markdale locations, with spring, summer and winter displays in them. Members also maintain gardens at downtown Markdale’s cenotaph and at the Walter Harris Memorial Library. The Society holds eight member meetings each year — opportunities for learning through guest speakers and, annually, a presentation by Grey County Master Gardeners. Its annual June flower show, a community highlight, is expanding to include a vegetable component, and each year it has a booth at the South Grey Home and Garden show. Winter isn’t dormant for this group: it enters a float in Markdale’s Santa Claus Parade and in November provides a winter arrangement workshop. The Society is aided by Grey Highlands staff who water its plants. The Society also makes annual cash donations to fall fairs in the area. For more information please contact the Society at markdalehorticulture@gmail.com.
The Markdale Hospital Gardening Group
The Markdale Hospital Gardening Group, founded in June 2024, comprises eleven volunteers who have prepared, planted and maintained flowers, shrubs and trees at 17 garden areas at the new Markdale Hospital, using plants donated by founder Bo Penny from her three-acre Beaver Valley garden and by other donors, and with volunteer help from three local landscapers — Doug Sowerby (Markdale), Cary McArthur (Berkeley) and Dorothy Smith (Markdale.) Individual volunteers can “adopt” specific garden sectors as their own “labour of love” areas. Weeding, tilling, planting, watering, mulching and pruning have all been done by these volunteers. The plants include herbs, fragrant plants, plants with traditional healing properties and junipers and cedars for winter garden greenery. One healing garden component, containing a gazebo and benches, is visible and accessible directly from the hospital so patients and their families and hospital staff can conveniently relax in it. The Group has also placed a gazebo and benches in this garden. The Group has designed a range of garden experiences at the hospital that can be visited by all community members and by visitors from other communities. For more information please contact Bo Penny at mhgg2024@yahoo.com .
The Priceville Improvement Committee
Established in 1992, the Priceville Improvement Committee amalgamated several years ago with the committee that managed Stothart Community Hall in Priceville. It comprises twenty volunteers. In addition to keeping the Hall secure and safe, the volunteers engage in a number of seasonal activities for the community. In warmer weather they plant and maintain flower beds abutting the two “welcome to Priceville” signs at the east and west entrances to the village and flower plantings adjacent to the Priceville war memorial. In May each spring they conduct a community-wide clean-up, in November they organize the Remembrance Day ceremony at the war memorial, and in winter they place hydro-pole banners and Christmas lights throughout Priceville (including seasonal decoration of prominent trees in the village), as well as constructing and maintaining Priceville’s outdoor rink near Stothart Hall. As advocates of the connection between Priceville’s heritage and its present, the Committee has more recently worked with the Municipality of Grey Highlands to ensure that the village’s two welcoming signs display a series of images from the past of this prosperous and vibrant community. For more information please contact Mary or Doug Harrison at harrisondandm@gmail.com.
The Southgate Economic Development Department
Southgate’s Economic Development Department coordinated the Communities in Bloom (CiB) process in the Township of Southgate. CiB is a partnership-driven charitable organization that uses an evaluation process to foster community strength, involvement and continuous improvement. In 2024, Southgate received prizes from Miracle-Gro® for a “Best Garden Selection Contest,” and gave 12 local gardeners awards for contributing to community beautification. The Township hosted CiB judges in August 2024, who conducted a tour and evaluation of the community. They visited public and private properties across the Township and heard about municipal, business, and resident initiatives to improve and beautify the community. They were amazed by environmental projects carried out by the Township’s Public Works and Recreation Departments and numerous businesses, and they recognized the many events held to celebrate culture and heritage. CiB awarded Southgate four out of five blooms (78.30%) at its awards ceremony in September 2024. Southgate also received recognition at the event for its heritage conservation. While the CiB process engaged communities across Southgate, it contributed especially to one of the Township’s strategic goals: to “Revitalize Downtown Dundalk to Enhance its Beauty and Restore Pride-in-Place in the Downtown.” For more information, please contact Economic Development Officer Brenna Carroll at bcarroll@southgate.ca
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