Spring is in the air at Erin Garden Club

As published in The Erin Advocate

In the middle of winter, when the great outdoors is looking a bit dreary, a meeting of the Erin Garden Club is just the thing to stir up hopes of springtime.

The group normally meets in the Wellington Room at Centre 2000, providing an opportunity each month for education and inspiration on all aspects of gardening.

“We are a service group and we need new volunteers to help in planting and maintaining gardens in the village of Erin,” said President Jenny Frankland, at the January meeting.

Birdhouse Building was the topic for speaker JoAnne Howes, but not the traditional style of construction. She took on the creative challenge of making birdhouses out of natural material such as gourds, or household objects just waiting to be re-used.

“We went to Wastewise and got all kinds of junk,” said Howes, showing off a series of unique creations. “We had fun making these, and I think we spent $10.”

Howes showed off several bird shelters made from unlikely items, such as a teapot, a jelly mould, an olive oil can and children’s rubber boots. You can even make a birdhouse out of a 2-litre plastic pop bottle, painted to suit your garden décor. Step-by-step instructions for various projects are readily available on-line.

Nest-friendly enclosures will normally have a hole of 1 to 1.5 inches, and an interior area of 4 to 5 inches square, depending on the type of bird you want to attract. An outside perch is needed, and some ventilation and drainage holes inside are a good idea.

Instead of creating complete birdhouses, some gardeners simply like to create sheltered nooks for birds that are willing to build more open nests. Just make sure that cats can’t get at them.

Birds will use a wide variety of materials for nests, including sticks, moss, grasses, leaves, feathers, dog hair, dryer lint, pine needles, bits of string and cedar chips. Providing a nearby supply could encourage a building project.

The Garden Club has a series of flower shows with different themes, where members can compete with entries that they have grown or designed.

There are various guest speakers throughout the year, with Garden Ergonomics featured at the February 24 meeting. Other topics include the growing of cacti and other succulents, plant spirit medicine and home landscape principles.

Some sessions provide hands-on workshops, such as Fairy Garden Planting, Garden Hedgehogs and Seasonal Decorations.

Other events are field trips to special gardens, and there’s the Garden House Tour on July 16, which is open to the public. On September 9-10, the club will have their Plant Sale at McMillan Park in Erin village. The Annual Meeting in October features a Photography Show.

Members are entitled to discounts at Country Crops, Country Garden Concrete, the Dufferin Garden Centre, Greenscape Nursery and Meadowville Garden Centre.

More information about the club, also known as the Erin Horticultural Society, is available at eringardenclub.ca.

Catching a glimpse of steampunk horsepower

As published in The Erin Advocate
The title of the painted horse sculpture at McMillan Park, which has arrived during the Pan Am Games as part of the Headwaters Parade of Horses, has had a few people scratching their heads.

The words of “Future Past 2412” make sense enough. The work is in the steampunk mode, which uses imagery of old-fashioned steam powered mechanics and Victorian aesthetics to create a futuristic style of art, as well as science fiction, attire and lifestyle.

But what about the 2412? Could it be a secret code or an allusion to something that will happen 397 years from now? Or maybe an obscure numerological reference – 24 being the 12th even number, the number of ribs in the human body and the number of furlongs in one league.

Clicking around the world wide web got me nowhere, so I just emailed the artists, Eva Folks and Judy Sherman, and asked about the horse’s name.

“We decided we wanted to add something personal to his name,” said Folks. “Judy came up with the idea of using our birthdays. I’m July 24th and Judy is September 12th. So there is the 2412. Mystery solved.”

The idea of man-made mechanics as part of a living being is central to the steampunk genre. The fiberglass horse stands 15 hands tall and appears to be held together with leather straps, chains, rivets, nuts and bolts, and has an ornate steam gauge that recalls the industrial revolution. There are portals into its interior showing a fiery furnace, gears and a gentleman with his hand on a lever. He is formally dressed, with a Victorian mustache and round goggles that are a trademark of steampunk fashion. 

He reminds me of Captain Nemo, from the 1870 science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. Nemo is a mysterious, vengeful scientist; a foe of imperialism; a connoisseur of art and technology; an anti-hero who roams the oceans in the battery-powered submarine Nautilus. He has been adopted by steampunk culture.

Folks said the man was nicknamed George Frankenstein IV by two young friends of the artists who saw the painting in progress. Strangely enough, Mary Shelley’s gothic Frankenstein character from 1818 is also a favourite of steampunkers because of its quest for identity and the experimental merging of mechanical and human elements.
Steampunk seems to have only a distant link to punk music – perhaps in a gritty, anti-establishment attitude. It is also linked to cyberpunk, which can be seen in stories and movies about technology and the future breakdown of social order.

The sculpture has been funded by the Town of Erin and by Chris Naraysingh of Rapid Rentals. For more about the 26 horses (including Rosie at Century Church Theatre in Hillsburgh) and artists, visit headwatershorsecountry.ca, in the Parade of Horses section under Happenings.

Lions walk supports dog guide program

Some of Erin’s finest fundraisers will be straining at the leash when their dogs take them for a walk on Sunday, May 31. The Erin and District Lions Club is hosting its first National Dog Guide Walk on the Elora Cataract Trailway, starting at Centre 2000.

There will be swag bags for the dogs in attendance and a free barbecue for the human participants. Sign in starts at 11 am and the walk is at 12 noon.

Organizer Wendy Parr says the idea is to create a fun social event, to raise money and inform people about the training of dogs to support people with various disabilities.

The goal is to get at least 100 walkers and raise $25,000 – the amount it takes to train one dog for its special duties. All of the funds will go directly to the training of dogs, which are provided at no cost to qualified applicants by the Lions Foundation of Canada.

For more information, go to www.purinawalkfordogguides.com. Click on “Find a Walk” and then to the Erin page, where people can register, make an immediate donation or create a team.

Registration can be done at the event as well, and you don’t have to have a dog to go on the walk. The plan is to walk to Winston Churchill Blvd. and back, a round trip of about 4 km, but participants are welcome to do a shorter section if they wish.

More than 200 similar walks are happening on the same day across Canada, a tradition that started 30 years ago. Parr had attended the one in Fergus in previous years, and had often thought it would be great to organize one in Erin.

With the support of the Erin Lions, she has been busy promoting the event to local businesses and schools. Helping her is Bonnie Gagnon, a local foster mum for prospective guides, currently caring for Garbo, a 9-month-old black lab.

Prior to their formal training, puppies are sent to foster families who house-train them, teach them manners and basic obedience, expose them to many different situations and get them used to the distractions of public areas such as streets and malls. Nestlé Purina PetCare donates all food and the Lions Foundation covers routine veterinary expenses.

For nearly 100 years, Lions Clubs around the world have supported projects to prevent blindness, restore eyesight and provide eye health care. The Lions Foundation operates a dog training centre in Oakville, plus a breeding and training facility in Breslau.

The program started out with only canine vision dogs, but now has expanded to include hearing ear dogs for the deaf, seizure response dogs for those with epilepsy, service dogs for other physical disabilities, autism assistance dogs and diabetic alert dogs.

Once fully trained over two years, the dog is matched with its handler who then spends one to four weeks at the Oakville facility, learning how to handle, trust and bond with their new Dog Guide. Breeds commonly used are Labrador Retrievers, Poodles (for those who are allergic to most dogs) and Golden Retrievers.

The trained dogs give their handlers the confidence to navigate obstacles in public areas and help them pursue education, careers and community participation.

More information about the work of the Lions Foundation is available at www.dogguides.com.

Hunters build skills and friendships

As published in Dufferin Sideroads Magazine

Fishing and hunting provide a unique blend of satisfactions for those that get hooked – the serenity of outdoor relaxation, the comfort of friendly company, the challenge of unpredictable prey and the hope of a fine meal.

With 125 acres of pristine woodlands, ponds and trails just north of Orangeville, the Dufferin Northern Peel Anglers’ & Hunters’ Association (DNPAHA) offers its members an opportunity to improve their skills and an escape that is much closer than a cottage.

Since 1932, they have promoted conservation and responsible hunting, providing stocked trout ponds, camping, target ranges, competitions and social events. Membership is limited at 300, with an annual fee of $200, and there is a waiting list of 60 hoping to join.

“It’s a cottage atmosphere – all for one and one for all,” said President Murray Johnston.

Members can enjoy two large fishing ponds within the Credit River Watershed. There are rainbow trout supplied by the Humber Springs Trout Hatchery in Mono, as well as speckled trout. The association has its own fishing permit system – $80 for 30 fish. The ponds are also suitable for swimming, including an enclosed kids’ area with a sandy bottom.

Pond Chairman Pat Black

For a low fee, members can also arrange to use seasonal or short-term campsites near the ponds, complete with firewood. There are woodland trails, a large pavilion for barbecue events, and a playground area. Members can bring guests three times per year. New members pay a $100 initiation fee and provide eight hours of volunteer work to help maintain the site.

Ice fishing is also popular on the upper pond, with the association supplying huts, and a new cabin on-shore for people to get warm. This past winter there was so much snow that they had to cut paths to the fishing holes with a snowblower. In February they held a Family Day event with skating and bonfires.

The association has a Conservation Fund that provides three $1,200 scholarships annually for students going into environmental studies. They also support school educational projects about fish, and funded a special dock for the disabled at Island Lake Conservation Area.

Some members are primarily interested in archery, and many meet on Saturday mornings. The association has a figure-8 trail with 43 targets in the shapes of various animals, including deer, elk, moose, turkey, wolf, wolverine, coyote and even alligator. These are placed among the trees, 20-40 yards from the shooting stations, and are embedded with concentric target areas, rewarding accurate shooters with higher points.

John Hunter

Groups of four or five archers follow the course together, like a group of golfers, taking turns at each station. It takes about 3 hours to complete – including time to retrieve arrows that miss the targets completely.

Different competitions are held based on three main types of bows, including traditional or recurve bows, where the archer has no special devices to guide the shot. Then there are compound bows with sights and stabilizers, and crossbows that mechanically pull and hold the string, releasing it with a trigger. Crossbow hunting has a longer season than regular hunting.

Bows used for hunting must have at least 40 lbs. of pressure when fully drawn to ensure their effectiveness said Jim Donnelly, an experienced archer.

“The last thing any ethical hunter would want to do is just wound an animal,” he said.

About 130 members participate in archery, and the sport seems to be gaining popularity with young people, said Johnston.

The DNPAHA clubhouse is a meeting place for members, and it is also made available to community groups such as Cubs and Brownies.

The facilities are located on Dufferin Road 16 at Blind Line, just west of the Cardinal Woods subdivision, where there has been concern about sound from the shooting ranges.

DNPAHA has brought in soil this year to raise the berms surrounding the ranges by 8 to 9 metres to reduce the sound. This will have the added benefit of creating a more consistent visual background for trap shooters as they try to hit their moving targets.

Trap shooting dates back to 1750 in England as a method of practice for hunters, and has been an Olympic sport since 1900. Originally, live birds and later glass balls were used as targets. The standard now is a clay disk, but they still call it a “bird”, with the shooter yelling “pull” when they are ready to have the target released.

DNPAHA has two fields and nine above-ground machines to throw the birds in fixed paths. There are also two machines in bunkers that vary the angles left and right, one at a standard height and the other wobbling to produce a more challenging variety of unpredictable trajectories.

“This simulates the idea of hunting in the field,” said Trap Chairman Dale Krushel. The counter on the second machine has reached 1.68 million.

Trap Chairman Dale Krushel

Dale Krushel shooting, and below, instructing reporter Phil Gravelle

Competitors normally take turns firing five times from each of five shooting stands, and scorers determine whether each bird has been struck or missed. In addition to a single target, variations include two birds thrown in quick succession or two simultaneously.

Trap shooters gather on Sunday mornings at 10 am, and on Monday nights, while Wednesday is Ladies’ Night.

Training is available to new shooters to help them learn etiquette and safety procedures (which include ear and eye protection), plus firearms and hunter safety courses to help members meet government regulations.

DNPAHA and its members are affiliated with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, which not only advocates for their activities but also invests in education, conservation projects, fish and wildlife research and anti-poaching efforts.

The Dufferin shooting range, for both rifles and handguns, is one of the safest in Ontario, said Krushel. It is narrow trench surrounded by high earthen berms, with a building for target shooters at one end. Paper targets are set at 25, 50 and 100 yards, in front of bunkers that trap the bullets.

There is pair of high wooden baffles in front of the shooting windows. Participants can see the targets while sighting below the baffles, but they cannot see the sky from their positions, eliminating the possibility of high, stray shots escaping the range. Targets can be suspended below the baffles for close-range handgun use.

Some members only do target shooting, but others consider it essential practice for success in hunting animals.

“I want to be as good a shot as I can possibly be – I want to be able to hit a target the size of my thumbnail at 100 yards,” said Krushel. “A one-shot harvest is ideal.”

For more on the association, go to www.dnpaha.org.

Cozy homes for nocturnal bug munchers

As published in the Erin Advocate

Bats may not be the most attractive of creatures, but any critter that can eat up to 5,000 mosquitoes per night without harassing humans does qualify as a friend of mine, and is welcome to hang out in my back yard.

The Countryside Stewardship Team at Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) points out that 7 of Ontario’s 8 types of bats live in the Credit watershed, and that none of them drink blood.

A little brown bat being banded during a study last year
at Century Church Theatre. They have 38 sharp teeth,
which are very useful for eating hard-shelled beetles.

“A single lactating Little Brown Bat can eat up to 5000 mosquitoes per night,” says the CVC team. That’s a lot, considering the bats only weigh between 8 and 15 grams. “They are also a great help to agriculture in controlling insect pests and helping to pollinate crops.”

Bats have had a rough time in recent years, with a disease called “white nose syndrome” that causes them to wake up too early from hibernation in caves and mine shafts. Millions of them have died, but those that survive return in the spring to large roosting sites such as Hillsburgh’s Century Church Theatre, or seek out smaller homes.

That’s where humans can help bats, and themselves, by building backyard bat boxes out of cedar or plywood (non-pressure-treated).

Bat houses in the Town of Mono.

The suggested size is at least 24 inches tall, 13 inches wide and 3 inches deep, with a ceiling and a sloped roof above it, an entrance at the bottom just .75-inch wide (to keep predators out) and a thin air vent about 6 inches above the entrance.

A bat house can have one or multiple narrow chambers for them to sleep during the day, including plastic mesh on the front and back for their claws to grip.

Houses should be caulked to keep rain out, and coated with black latex paint in the Southern Ontario climate. They should be mounted on poles or the sides of buildings where they will get maximum direct sun exposure, at least 12 feet above the ground.

Bats prefer locations that are within half a kilometer of a stream, river or lake. They are mammals (not rodents) that live about 7 years, and sometimes up to 30 years, with 1,240 separate species.

About 70% eat insects, and most of the rest eat fruit. Vampire bats, native to Mexico and South America, do have a taste for blood, making small bites on sleeping animals.

Erin bylaw will regulate pigeons and chickens

As published in The Erin Advocate

Town council has decided to allow urban residents to continue keeping pigeons and chickens, but to prohibit the keeping of exotic animals in all areas of the municipality.

By a vote of 3-2, councillors directed staff to prepare a new bylaw, which will also rescind an old bylaw on animals other than domestic pets which applied only in the Erin village area.

The new regulation would require any buildings that house pigeons or chickens to be located at least 7.5 metres (25 feet) in from the side and back property lines.

No limit on the number of animals was specified, but the proposal would effectively force owners of smaller urban properties to locate animal sheds in the middle of their back yards. The bylaw itself has not been written or voted on yet, and councillors could decide to change the size of the setback.

Residents in agricultural areas will also retain the right to keep pigeons and chickens, but they will also have to comply with the setbacks. Council considered whether to regulate or prohibit the keeping of other agricultural animals on small properties within agricultural zones, but decided not to include that in the bylaw.

There will be a long list of prohibited exotic (non-domestic/wild) animals. Non-venomous lizards (less than 2 metres long) and snakes (less than 3 metres) will be allowed.

Animal issues have been under discussion since March 2012, when a complaint was made to Council regarding the keeping of pigeons on Mill Street in Hillsburgh. A special public meeting last summer drew about 100 people, expressing a wide range of opinions.

Councillors considered whether it was necessary to enact a town-wide bylaw to deal with an isolated dispute between neighbours. Planner Sally Stull has met with the parties, and says that the differences are not likely to be resolved with further mediation.

“A solid tall fence may be the best remedy regarding the differing of opinion on nuisance and unsightliness of the keeping of pigeons,” she said.

Voting in favour of preparing a new bylaw were Councillors Jose Wintersinger, Deb Callaghan and Barb Tocher, with Mayor Lou Maieron and Councillor John Brennan opposed.

“This won’t change the situation,” said Brennan. “It’s an exercise in nothing.”

Rodeo pros really show animals who's the boss

As published in The Erin Advocate

After watching the bull riding competition at the Erin Extreme Rodeo, I went home and turned on the TV news. There was a warning about a video clip that could be disturbing to some viewers, so of course I had to watch. It was a stunt pilot at an air show, losing control and hitting the ground in an unsurvivable fireball.

It got me to thinking about why people participate in high risk sports entertainment, and why spectators are drawn to it. For the athletes, it cannot be just for the money, even at the professional level.

The desire to defy death, with a combination of skill and luck, is not the mark of a crazy person. It seems to be a mix of testosterone and rational choice, driven by the need to take real risk, push the limit, overcome fear, feel an adrenaline rush, raise your arms before a cheering crowd, earn the admiration of your peers and maybe win some money.

For the crowd, it is as though the risk takers are mocking death on our behalf, doing things we would never dare to try ourselves.

There is a tense moment at the end of many bull rides when the bull either flails its hind hooves close to the cowboy lying in the dirt, or whirls around and stares down at him. And unless he is unconscious or paralyzed, he will be up and literally running for his life.


That's when the bullfighters (formerly known as rodeo clowns) move in to skillfully distract the angry beast, when all goes well. Their job is even more dangerous when they have to free a rider who is hung up, dangling from the bucking bull by the arm or leg.


One bull took a straight charge at a bullfighter at the Erin event. With no chance to get to the fence, he made a quick little fake and the bull rumbled harmlessly past him – just another day at the office. Bull riding is a relatively civilized North American invention, compared to the Spanish bull fighting tradition – we just annoy the bull for a few seconds instead of killing it.

It is important to laugh at danger, preferably from a distance. The rodeo announcer at one point suggested that one of the bulls was planning to give the bullfighter a "2,000-pound ivory suppository". Those horns have rounded tips, but they can throw a person 15 feet up in the air, or worse.

If you have strong stomach, go to YouTube and search "bull riding wrecks" to see 742 samplings of what can go horribly wrong. There was nothing quite that "entertaining" at the Erin rodeo, although one fellow hobbled off after his lower leg was stomped by a bull, and another rolled around in the mud clutching his stomach for several minutes after flinging himself over the fence. Most riders wore hockey helmets with face cages, but others were content with cowboy hats.

Bull riding was the grand finale that Sunday afternoon, promoted as the world's "most dangerous sport" (though there is a lot of competition for that claim). There are many sports or performances that are not primarily about violence, but draw part of their appeal through the possibility that something violent might happen at any time. There is hockey, car racing, circus acrobatics, downhill skiing, motorcycle racing, big wave surfing and competitive cheerleading.







Rodeos, of course, are mainly about horses, not bulls. Any sport involving horses has risks, due to the speed and power of the animals and the height from which a rider can fall, but professional riders make the moves look smooth and natural. The horse and rider seem to become a single entity and it is amazing to watch. The riders have a special connection with their horses, a combination of discipline and affection.


The same respect does not apply to calves, however, since they occupy a lower rung in the hierarchy of mammals. Their job is to come charging into the ring, only to be have their necks roped, their bodies flipped in the air and their legs tied.


If you tied one end of a rope to a pole and the other end around a calf's neck, then made the calf run just for the fun of seeing it jerked to a stop, some people might call it cruel. But when the calf is brought down through the skill and strength of a cowboy and horse, as part of a traditional competition, it becomes a whole different thing – quite acceptable to most people.


Calves sometimes get hurt, but like cowboys they are tough and wiry. They usually bounce back up, trot off happily, punch their time cards and relax until the next show.