The Sideroad Farm Store

Thanks to directions from one of my care workers, we found The Sideroad Farm Store the other day.  Off in the countryside down a less-travelled gravel road near Walters Falls, it turned out to be an interesting place.  We will certainly be returning.

I never did ask why their farm symbol is a fox, especially when they raise chickens, but you can find them on the web at The Sideroad Farm.  Besides the farm store they appear at the Collingwood market, sell to restaurants and have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program.

They have obviously invested a lot in opening this farm store, just open about a year.  They grow pastured chicken, pork, and have several greenhouses, all of it totally organic.

I was just glad to see the fresh veggies, greens included, and all of it looked fresh.  We picked up a number of things.

They've obviously developed contacts with several local suppliers.  This bread is from the 'Brilliant' bakery in Flesherton.

I was glad to see the first field tomatoes, my favourite summer food.

And fresh peaches from Niagara - as close to local as peaches get for us.

A number of wooden crafts from a business right across the road.  You can look them up at 'thewoodlot.org'.  We've met them on the fall art tour.

They're open and honest about their philosophy.  But we didn't taste the coffee yet.

Out the door was a nice little butterfly garden.  This was a delightful farm market to discover; we'll be back.  For anyone nearby it's on the 25th Sideroad east of #40, just a mile south of Walter's Falls.

In Bloom Just Now

Although it's been a dry July and we're now well into August, the blooms in our garden continue unabated.  Day Lilies above all, but some bright Canna Lilies as well, a few Dahlias, and our tiny little Bear's Breeches.

The Day Lilies amaze me.  How a plant can continue to find the energy to put out a large beautiful colourful flower day after day. I just don't know.  They seem to be one of the most successful of garden plants to me.

The Canna Lilies take a long time to get to this stage, but they certainly sport some bright blooms once they get here.  We have red, pink and yellow ones this year.

The Dahlias we have are fairly small and simple compared to some of the sumptuous flowers you see on other varieties, but they're bright and pretty never-the-less.  The roots need to be stored indoors over our winters.

Here's our tiny Bear's Breeches, an orphan from a plant we gave to friends before we moved.  But it's surviving and doing well.  This will get 3 feet wide, with several spikes of flowers 4 feet high in a few years.  It's a very spiky plant, with leaves that are almost thistle-like.  Certainly will add some interest to the garden.

Raining here this morning, thank goodness, and Mrs. F.G. is making Black Currant jam.  They're hard to come by and expensive, but we found a local source, so perhaps I'll be the beneficiary of this every year!  I'll let you know how it tastes.

Walters Falls Feed Mill

The most amazing part of Walters Falls to me is not the falls, but the history.  And besides the old sawmill at the falls, now replaced by The Falls Inn and a new lumber operation, there's another piece of living history here.  For Walters Falls has long had two mills, two milldams, and two mill ponds, one upstream of the other.

And the other mill, a feed mill, is still an active water-powered mill, the last commercial mill like this in the province!  It is amazing to see, and more amazing to me that it still runs on water power.  These two posts, from early November 2014, tell you the story of that mill.

First, A Real Water-powered Feed Mill.
Second, Walters Falls Water-powered Mill, Part 2 

Walters Falls

This is a flashback to some of the photos I've take  of Walters Falls in the past, these ones from late September 2014.  The only way I can test it is by publishing it for real, so here goes, even though I may change this later.

Walters Falls

Went for a nice drive in the country today, and stopped in at Walters Falls, one of only a couple of waterfalls up here that I can get to in my wheelchair.  A beautiful hot sunny day, but just enough breeze to make it pleasant.

I always like this view of the creek and the only remaining building from the old mill.  The water raced through the pipe and into the mill, behind me.

The original sawmill (and the village) here was established by John Walter (1804-67), but was bought by The Hallman family in the mid-'40's.  Sadly it burned down in 1984.  The family re-established the mill on the main road, and chose to build a hotel here overlooking the falls.

The old mill has been replaced by 'The Falls Inn', with what I think of as its modernesque Portuguese architecture.  It's a popular location for weddings and special events.

The mill pond still exists up behind that stone dam, and as you edge closer to the falls you see the foundations of the old mill.  It's hard to believe the change here in 40 years or  more.

Grey County Tourism has erected signboards like these at all the waterfalls tourists can visit in the county.  All but one that I know of are on public land, and Inglis Falls is said to be the second most frequently photographed waterfall in Ontario (after Niagara Falls).

 These are about the best photographs you can get today, with the safety fence holding you back, and vegetation growing rampantly.  I may dig out some of my old pre-wheelchair photos to share with you.

Couldn't resist this Teasel, framed by the wrought iron safety fence.

Yuccas and Clematis

Yuccas are one of those mid-summer plants that are really striking here, but they only last a short time.  Clematis on the other hand, are rather more gentle, but they seem to go on forever.  They've both been in bloom here.

There was one big but young Yucca in our neighbour's yard, and another bigger older one around the corner.  Such a striking flower!

 A forest of white flowers.

A very interesting flower when you look closely.

Clematis are a totally different plant, a vine that needs to be supported on a trellis. This deep purple Clematis is outside our side wall among the bright orange Day Lilies.

This deep red one is a new one for us this spring, a beautiful deep red colour.

Lots of other flowers in bloom too, like these Geraniums and Bellflowers.

Sailing School

Meaford boasts an active sailing school, directed primarily (I think) at young teenagers.  They have their own building on the harbour, and a small fleet of sailing dinghies tied up at their own dock.  I was downtown last week heading for the museum, also on the waterfront, when I saw a class head out for some practical training.

The class of four little boats heads out, with an instructor in a zodiac.

I do know one young lady who signed up for the week-long sailing camp a few years back.  Based on knowing her, I judge the age of students to be in the 10-15 year age range.

I spent some useful time in the museum (though not as useful as I had hoped), and then rode down to the shoreline park where Mrs. F.G. was going to  meet me.  Out in the bay I could see quite a few small sailboats, including this class of four.

Moments later I was a little worried to see two of the boats go over!

But my worry only lasted a moment or two, as I saw one of the boats pop back up again.

And a moment later, the other popped back up.  Obviously this was part of the sailing lesson, so nothing to worry about.

Soon the lesson was over and they headed back into the harbour.  Just another summer day in the sun here in Meaford!