UCV Horse Lover’s Weekend, Sept. 5-7

On September 18th volunteer fire fighters from the Iroquois, Morrisburg and Williamsburg stations came together as one unit at the Morrisburg fire station.

The stations, no longer separate entities, comprise what is now the South Dundas Fire & Emergency Services (SDF&ES).

Fire Chief Chris McDonough met with the Leader on September 14th to discuss some of the exciting changes taking place at SDF&ES, including the upcoming safety and educational programs coming to South Dundas.

According to McDonough, “the past few months our fire service has been upgrading a lot of our personal protection equipment (PPE) such as self contained breathing apparatus, helmets and boots.”

“Also, along with that Iroquois purchased a new pick-up for SDF&ES as a support vehicle for personnel transport and training.”

He explained that the money required for the purchases came directly from the stations’ fundraising endeavours with each station funding their own purchases.

McDonough feels that “the community needs to be aware of the commitment these fire fighters have for their community.”

With the amount of time each volunteer gives per week, McDonough says that “it’s like they have two full-time jobs.”

In addition to general meetings, fire fighters also meet on a regular basis for training, cleaning of the firehouse and equipment, fundraising, and more.

One of the requirements of becoming a volunteer fire fighter is the willingness to be on call even during the day.

At the moment, the Iroquois and Williamsburg stations are beginning interviews to add a few more volunteers to their rosters. Morrisburg’s numbers are fine.

Each station in SDF&ES has a Deputy Fire Chief as well as officers and fire fighters.

In the next couple of weeks fire fighters will be canvassing all of South Dundas.

During this door-to-door campaign, fire fighters will check to see that each home is outfitted with the correct number of functioning smoke alarms. Should a residence be missing a smoke alarm, the fire fighters will provide and install a new one free of charge.

In addition to ensuring that all homes in South Dundas are equipped with the requisite smoke alarms, the South Dundas Fire & Emergency Services will also be hosting Fire Prevention Week from October 9th to 15th.

Fire Prevention Week will kick-off on Saturday, October 8th with  an open house at each fire station location. The event will last from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

McDonough says they “haven’t done this in a number of years.”

[…]

Country music lovers, come on down!

On Saturday, April 6, New Country Rehab, a dynamic four man band, is coming to the St. Lawrence Stage for one incredible concert, starting at 7 p.m.

“New Country Rehab is high octane alt,” said St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage board member, Sandra Whitworth. She has seen the group perform, and claims she was simply swept away by their concert. 

“Their roots are definitely country, yet they take their music in a direction that is completely surprising. I think our audience will be enthralled. New Country Rehab will be as much a hit with people who might say “I don’t like country,” as these musicians will be with the country music aficionados.”

Described by the Winnipeg Free Press as “Canada’s answer to Mumford & Sons” and a country band that has “bred something extraordinary and singular,” New Country Rehab hails from Toronto. 

The band is composed of lead singer and fiddle player, John Showman, Champagne James Robertson on guitar, Ben Whiteley on double bass and Roman Tome on drums and backing vocals. All are outstanding, seasoned musicians in their own right: all have performed with some of the biggest concert names in Canada.

New Country Rehab is a modern, high-voltage, alt-country band,  yet steeped in the traditional sounds of old time classic country: the band brings a unique, exciting and original edge to their music.

I caught up with lead vocalist John Showman as the band was en route to a concert tour in British Columbia and asked him where the name New Country Rehab came from.

“After I had found the guys I wanted, and who wanted to be in this band, and right before we were due at our first gig, my wife and I looked across the street and spotted a furniture store with a window display,” Showman explained. “She said we ought to use the word refurbish in our name. Refurbish became rehabilitate, then rehab. 

It seemed to work because we felt that we wanted to take the old country style of music, that traditional country sound, and somehow make it new again. We were determined to retain country themes, but to find a new approach,  to deliver a new twist on the traditional country sound. The name eventually evolved into New Country Rehab.”

The band’s roots really are firmly planted in country. When the musicians first got together in 2010, their plan was to revive country classics by artists like Hank Williams. 

Their well received, self titled, first album,  came out in 2011, and featured their take on other people’s music. But Ghost of Your Charms, just released in March, 2013, is mostly original work, and is quickly garnering critical and fan praise.

“In composing songs, I think our creativity is shared. (James, Ben, Roman and I) work together and share writing credits. If one person has an idea, we play with the potential song until we are comfortable with it. Do songs come easily? That depends. ‘Back in Time’ on our new album took a lot of work, but ‘Lost Highway’ came together very quickly.”

The term alt-country has been applied to the band’s sound. As John Showman pointed out, however, describing music is not the same as hearing it.

“I would say that we are people playing music with timeless themes, ideas which have been celebrated in folk music for centuries. 

There really are classic  themes tied to country – ballads about heroes and villains, spirituality and mortality, and of course, love songs. We want to continue to keep those traditional roots while appealing to a wide range of listeners.” 

He and the band are looking forward to their concert at the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage on April 6, where they will be playing both sets.

“On stage, we try to stay open to different audiences, to get a sense of them from the stage,” Showman said. “We want to develop warmth and finesse with our listeners. Actually,” he added, “it’s easy to relate to any audience when you really love what you are doing. We do.”

For an evening of country music to remember, don’t miss New Country Rehab in concert at the St. Lawrence Stage on April 6, beginning at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $15 in advance, or $18 at the door.

 Tickets are available at the Basket Case, Strung Out Guitars or Compact Music or by contacting www.st-lawrencestage.com

[…]

 

Although three area apple growers say their orchards were affected by the unusually heavy frosts that occurred on the weekend of April 28-29-30, the jury is still out on how this fall’s apple crop will fare.

Also in jeopardy were the ‘strawberry’ plants which are expected to be in bloom within the next week or two and ready for harvest by mid June.

It all began with the unseasonably ‘hot’ weather in mid-March which put most plant-life into early bud production.

It culminated on the frosty final weekend in April, when the apple trees and berry plants were a bit farther along in their bud production than would be normal for the time of the year, and therefore, more susceptible to frost damage.

“We have had some damage, but what is left on the (apple) tree is still sufficient to support a normal crop,” says Paul Dentz at Dentz Orchards and Barry Farm located on the Brinston Road north of Iroquois.

“But we can’t afford to lose any more. At this point, we are very optimistic that we will still have a normal crop.”

Bill Barkley at Barkley’s Farm on the Robertson Road north of Morrisburg agrees. “It is hard to know until September, but when the apples start budding they can take some frost. You can check them at this point, but you don’t know what is going to happen.”

“You need at least five per cent of your blossoms and you can still get a good crop,” said Barkley.

Sandra Beckstead at Smyth’s Apple Orchard on County Road 18 west of Williamsburg, was slightly less optimistic. 

“A lot of our blossoms were frozen,” said Beckstead. “As soon as you get the tip, that’s the blossom and that’s the apple.”

Beckstead says their trees “were a month ahead of schedule. It goes back to that one week in March when everything jumped.”

Although she says there are still going to be apples, “it is now just a wait and see.”

In the meantime it is business as usual. “We are getting the bees in tomorrow (Friday, May 4), and we will do all of the normal work. You have to look after it and hope for the best.”

The Smyth Orchards are the largest in the area with some 30,000 trees on 120 acres.

At the Dentz Farm, Paul and brother Calvin, did not leave the fate of their berries and apples to mother nature.

With the weather predictions leading into the weekend, they watched the temperatures closely and were prepared to take what action they could to assist.

They explain that both wind and cloudy conditions help prevent frost as both help to hold the escaping warm air closer to the ground.

According to a Ministry of Agriculture printout “frost occurs when the temperature around the plant drops blow 0º Celcius (32º Farenheit). At this temperature, pure water forms ice crystals on surfaces which have fallen below the freezing point of water. Plant sap is not pure water; therefore, strawberries have a lower freezing point than 0ºC

On the weekend in question, “the wind saved us on Friday night.”

“The stage we were at with the buds (apples trees) was that they could take temperatures to -3,” says Paul. “But it went to -5/-6.”

“By 8 p.m. on Saturday evening, we were reaching critically damaging temperatures at ground level. So at that point, we got our irrigation system going (on the strawberries), and we ran it for 12 hours, overnight Saturday and into Sunday morning,” says Paul. “We did the same thing on the Sunday night and into Monday morning.”

“The long and short of it is, we were able to save our strawberry crop.”

“While spring frosts are generally less threatening to the apples than they are to strawberries, on occasion you do have a situation,” says Paul of the weekend in question.

 “As the sun leaves, the warmer air radiates upwards and warmer temperatures are found at 30-40-50 feet,” explains Paul. “ So how do you capitalize on that?”

“Ten to 15 km per hour wind is enough to keep it mixed,” says Calvin, but when there is no wind, intervention is required.

And so, for the two cold mornings in question, a helicopter was rented.

 “Beginning at about 3 a.m. (both mornings), the helicopter flew at seven mph at an altitude of 50 feet, pushing the warmer air back down to the ground where we needed it,” says Paul.

Because apple trees produce more buds/blossoms than they can support as apples, a limited amount of damage to a portion of the buds may not necessarily affect the quantity of the harvest.

Temperatures on the weekend of April 29-30 did vary throughout the area, and the cold was experienced throughout Ontario and into Quebec. The extent of the damage will vary in all areas depending on how cold it got and at what stage the apple bud was at.

The trees at the Dentz Orchard were in stage four, the tight cluster, of their bud development at which the temperature dipping to -3.9ºC  would result in about a 10 per cent loss. At -7.9ºC you could expect bud damage at about 90 per cent.

As the bud progresses into the next stages in the next couple of weeks….first pink bud, full pink, first bloom, full bloom and post bloom…they become more sensitive to low temperatures. Through these critical stages growers do not want to experience temperatures approaching anything near -2ºC to – 3ºC  range.

Damaged or not, the crab apple and apple trees are now heading into first and full bloom. Even those that have been damaged will blossom, but the tips (within the clusters) that were damaged are unlikely to produce fruit.

Area growers are now looking for good pollination weather which means good flying weather for the bees and after that a summer of normal rainfall and normal sunshine to fill our apple baskets.

[…]