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Better management options for the devices – also known as bird bangers – can reduce crop losses and improve relations with non-farm neighbours put off by the noise, according to a recently completed Ontario study. Continue reading Keeping birds away from wine grapes  
Yet fruit wines and an iconic fall holiday berry are helping farmer Murray Johnston and his wife Wendy Hogarth put their family business on the map. The couple, with help from their four sons, run Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh and Muskoka Lakes Winery near Bala, where they grow 27 acres of cranberries and produce a range of wines using locally grown fruit. Most people think they know how cranberries are grown and harvested, says Wendy, but what they’ve seen in television advertising doesn’t paint an accurate picture. Continue reading Producing wine and cranberries in cottage country  Ontario lavender bunches Lavender, hazelnuts and sweet potatoes are not crops we commonly associate with this province. Yet they’re starting to emerge in Ontario’s south coast area, the fertile sand plains in Norfolk, Brant, Elgin, Middlesex and Oxford counties where tobacco used to reign supreme. As the decline of the tobacco industry continued over the last decade, agricultural and economic development leaders in the area began grappling with key questions governing the future of their region, which is a key producer of many Ontario foods, including fruits and vegetables. How can we bring new life and new value to this farmland? How can we keep farmers profitable and sustain the rural and regional economies? At the same time, is there an opportunity to bring new products to Ontario or to grow crops here that we’re currently importing from other places around the world? Continue reading New crops in local soils raising high hopes
We started off the day at Wormeldange cellars of the Domaines De Vinsmoselle, united winegrowers since 1921. They make a fabulous series of cremants – sparkling wines that we would call champagne if they actually hailed from the Champagne region. Continue reading Discovering Luxembourg wine country Kudos go out to a Niagara region winery for grabbing top honours in a competition sponsored by a wine magazine in Quebec. Le Clos Jordanne’s Claystone Terrace 2005 beat out 13 other vintages mostly from California and France in the contest run by Cellier magazine. The victory came as a surprise, but not for the reason you might think. Continue reading A Niagara wine victory
The Beef Information Centre (BIC) has just launched a new contest – grand prize: a weekend getaway for two at the luxurious Inn on the Twenty in the heart of Niagara’s wine country. The local food phenomenon is not just a burgeoning trend in North America – it is also taking off in Europe. I experienced this first hand during a visit to Switzerland last week, when I happened to visit a Migros store in Interlaken. Migros is one of the country’s two big retailers, a sort of Swiss [...] |  | |||||
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Automating the acoustical devices that keep birds away from grape crops in Ontario’s vineyards could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of these tools.
Winemaking and farming aren’t two things most people associate with Muskoka.
It was the day of wines – bubbly wines, white wines, pink wines and even red wines. The Moselle wine area of Luxembourg is a gem and one I didn’t even know existed.
If you’re tired of winter and in need of a break, this might be for you.