Annual Meeting 2007

The annual general meeting of the Friends of the Farm (PEI) will be held on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. at the Carriage House, Beaconsfield Historic House, West Street, Charlottetown.

Members and non – members are invited to attend the brief business meeting which will be followed a lecture by Diana Beresford – Kroeger entitled “Island Trees, Island Treasures”. Beresford – Kroeger says: "PEI has the climate, the soils, and the inclination to grow a treasury of trees: the kinds of trees that beat the stock market and keep the Island solvent in a most interesting way ...." The lecture is being co-sponsored by the City of Charlottetown and the friends.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a scientist and author specializing in classical botany and medical biochemistry. She is known for her captivating and well informed lectures and is the author of Arboretum America: A Philosophy of the Forest and A Garden for Life, about growing gardens for pleasure which are also eco-friendly. Her book, “Arboretum America”, won the American National Arbor Day Foundation Media Award in 2005, for an exemplary educational work on trees and forests. She is currently working on “Arboretum Borealis”, a sister book to “Arboretum America” about the great northern forests and the importance in the global eco system.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a botanist, medical and agricultural researcher, lecturer, and self-defined “renegade scientist” in the fields of classical botany, medical biochemistry, organic chemistry and nuclear chemistry. In

the area of popular media, she has regularly contributed to, written for, or hosted programs on CBC radio, National Public Radio (USA) and CTV. She is a regular columnist for the Canadian magazines, Nature Canada, and Eco/Farm and Gardens, and the community newspaper, the Merrickville Phoenix. Her articles also appear in Europe in journals such as those of Irish Garden Plant society, the Wiltshire Gardens Trust and others.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger was raised in Ireland and now lives outside of Ottawa. She has studied classical botany, medical biochemistry, organic and radio nuclear chemistry, and experimental surgery in Ireland, the USA and Canada. Her scientific publications appear in journals such as, The American Heart Journal, The Canadian Heart Journal, and The Journal of Microscopy. She has lectured at the University College Cork (Ireland) and at Carleton University (Canada) and received a fellowship at the University of Connecticut. She has worked as a research scientist at the Canada Department of Agriculture and the University Of Ottawa School Of Medicine, as well as the aforementioned institutions.

Her charitable work includes raising considerable funds for the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize winning group Medecins san Frontiers, the Shepherds of Good Hope Shelter, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, many

horticultural societies, arboreta and libraries. She is also an active scientific and educational resource for eastern Ontario schools. She continues to write and conduct research in her extensive private gardens at Merrickville, Ontario.

A documentary film completed in 2007, about her life and her garden, will be broadcast in March 2008 in North America and Europe.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger contact information. 613 269 4453

P.O. Box 253

Merrickville,

Ontario, K1G 1N0

Ravenwood Update

In the past few years, there has been little outward change at the Charlottetown Experimental Farm (Ravenwood). However, many plans and proposals for the future use of this property have been put forward, and it is small wonder that the general public and even members of the Friends of the Farm are confused about its current status. In 2002, Agriculture Canada put the Charlottetown Experimental Farm on its surplus lands list, resulting in much public concern. The Friends of the Farm and other such groups whose objective was to keep the Farm green and public led a public awareness campaign to inform Islanders about the possibility that the Farm would be developed for profit. Agriculture Canada has since removed the Farm from the surplus list. Nevertheless, the future of the Farm remains in question as Agriculture Canada plans to move the Charlottetown Research Station to its Harrington site. At present, minimal research is carried out at Ravenwood.

Because of the high cost of maintaining the buildings at Ravenwood and the liability associated with property ownership, Agriculture Canada has begun a process of disposal of certain buildings deemed to be no longer useful or beyond repair. The Friends of the Farm have identified several buildings that have a historic or functional value and to date Agriculture Canada has agreed to remove them from the list.

Over the years, the Friends of the Farm have approached the various levels of government about preserving the Farm. Government's question has always been the same: what is your vision for the property? In order to answer that question, the Friends have hosted public brain-storming meetings. With funding from ACOA and the City of Charlottetown, the Friends contracted Daniel Glen, landscape architect and park planner, to incorporate the ideas presented at those meetings into a conceptual plan for the Farm. Of course, this plan is not set in stone. It would certainly evolve should the Farm become available to Islanders. The Friends of the Farm envision working with the Province, the City of Charlottetown, the First Nations, the University of Prince Edward Island, and any other groups interested in preserving and protecting this beautiful property for future generations.

The City of Charlottetown has designated the farm as a cultural and historic park in its master plan for the future of parks and recreation in the city. The city is to be congratulated on its foresight in developing this plan. However, the Ravenwood Experimental Farm remains the property of Agriculture Canada and ultimately it will be Agriculture Canada's decision as to how and when the Farm is transfered to its future owners. It is the opinion of the Friends of the Farm that the rightful owners of this property are the taxpayers of P.E.I. Our organisation continues to act as a watchdog for the Experimental Farm and to lobby government to keep the Farm green and publicly owned.

Rob Roy reviews Farm buildings

At the request of the executive of the Friends of the Farm, contractor Rob Roy toured the buildings of the Charlottetown Experimental Farm with Mike Hennigar who is in charge of property at the Research Station. Rob concluded that 6 of the buildings slated for disposal could be useful in the future and would be worth preserving. These 6 are:

1. 5 car garage
2. Apple House Storage
3. Horticultural Building
4. Vehicle Storage Building [Bull Barn]
5. Cereal Barn
6. 8 car garage opposite Bull Barn

All of the above would require extensive work in order to be functional. We have sent a letter to Mike Hennigar to request that they be removed from the disposal list.

The Friends have no objection to the disposal of the following buildings which either contain mildew or pesticides or are in such a state that the cost of repair would be prohibitive :

1. Pea Vin Building
2.Small Equipment Storage
3.Birch Court
4.Sheep Barn
5.Fertilizer Storage
6.Pesticide Storage

The Friends of the Farm would like to express our sincere thanks to Rob Roy for volunteering his time and expertise to our cause. We would also like to thank Mike Hennigar for his patient cooperation with the Friends .

Parks and Recreation Master Plan

The City of Charlottetown has a master plan for the future of parks and recreation in the city. The executive summary is available in pdf form here.

Friends of the Farm would like feedback from its members about this plan.

Facebook

Welcome Facebook members.

We now have a group on Facebook for those who would like to show their support for this green space.

New members are also welcome to sign up using the forms on the right side of this page.

Thank you!