And then there were 32.

From the initial round of about 4,000 applicants for the Canadian Astronaut Recruitment program, Harrowsmith’s Andrew Smith has moved on to the next round of 32 remaining applicants.

Two candidates will be selected to relocate to Houston, Texas, to begin basic astronaut training at the NASA’s Johnson Space Center in August.

“I am honoured to be selected out of such a distinguished group of individuals and am excited to be moving forward in this process,” Smith said. “I’m overwhelmed by the outpouring of support I’ve received from so many people.

“I would like to thank everyone who have taken the time to send words of encouragement.”

Smith said candidates haven’t been told if there will be further cuts before the final two are selected.

“The details of the selection process are not disclosed to candidates,” he said. “I know that there will be further evaluation which will ultimately lead to a selection of two candidates in June.”

In Mid December, Tracey Parker took over from the now happily retired Terry Romain, as Business Development Officer with the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (FCFDC).

Two and a half months into the job, Parker said she is “absolutely loving it”. She said she is able to use many of the skills she has developed in her diverse educational and working career to bear and is happy to be “working with small businesses where you can see the impact of what you are doing.”

After completing a Bachelor of Commerce at Queen’s, she moved to Toronto and worked in marketing and technology. Over time, she developed interest in how businesses can make use of information to make better decisions in developing short and long term goals. To that end she completed and MBA with a focus on Information Technology.

After moving to the Kingston region, she did consulting work while raising a family and then spent 8 years at Empire Life dealing with business processes.

“About a year ago I decided it was time for a major shift in focus, and I left Empire Life and started my own hobby farm business north of Murvale, just inside of Frontenac County. I did that for a season and during that time I came to the CFDC as a client. When Terry decided to retire I thought this was a great opportunity.”

As Business Development Officer at the CFDC, Parker is spending about half of her time overseeing the loan portfolio, freeing up the rest of her time to do consulting with local business.

She said that her background in the strategic use of information, when combined with the skills of IT consultant Max Sadlowski in the use of technology, has already turned out to be useful to their clientele.

“We seem to have easily come to a separation of duties and we have been working very well together,” she said.

The number of businesses who are accessing CFDC services is on the rise as well.

“Within a week after our quarterly newsletter came out in January, ten new people contacted me.”

She has been meeting primarily one to one with business owners but thinks there would be a benefit to bringing different people together, not only to make efficient use of her time, but also to help build connections in the business community. She is setting up her first workshop for later in March. The geography of Frontenac County has made it difficult for business owners to get to know each other and despite some attempts there are no Chambers of Commerce type organisations in Frontenac County, which she sees as a gap.

“A lot of businesses are doing everything on their own.”

The brand ambassador exercise that Frontenac County has undertaken is making a difference, however, and it comes about as the CFDC and the County Economic Development department are forging a stronger working relationship.

Out of that relationship, Tracey Parker, small scale hobby farmer, is about to learn as much as she can about the large scale goat dairy business.

The county is looking at the possibility of providing a supply of goat milk for Feihe International, which is setting up in Kingston, and they came to the CFDC to talk about capacity building for this new challenge.

“I am now going to be seeking some training opportunities so we have some sense of all of the issues that come with starting a goat dairy,” she said.

When she applied for the Business Development Officer job there was no way she could have known that her business experience, expertise in business processes and information, and interest in farming, would all come together over goats.

All that and the ability to commute for only 15 minutes in the opposite direction of rush hour twice a day. Not a bad gig so far.

If this astronaut thing doesn’t work out for candidate Andrew Smith doesn’t work out, he could probably make a living teaching public school judging by how he had students at Harrowsmith Public School enthralled during his visit last week.

Smith, who attended Harrowsmith in his younger days, is currently one of 72 candidates left for two open spots in the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut selection process. He spent last Thursday talking to students and visiting classrooms to field questions from eager space fans.

Of course, students weren’t all that interested in the fact that Smith was born and raised in Harrowsmith and his parents Don (a former South Frontenac Council member) and Margaret still live in the family home. Nor were they interested in the fact that Smith was a running back for both the Sydenham High School’s Golden Eagles or Queen’s Golden Gaels.

Heck, they didn’t care that he has two Queen’s engineering degrees and is currently completing a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University or that he works for Gumstix Research Canada.

They wanted to know about space . . . and Smith was happy to oblige.

“At heart, I’m an engineer,” he said when asked why he wanted to go into space. “I really like taking things apart and putting them back together again.

“In space, all the problems associated with building stuff are bigger, so that’s why I want to go to space, to solve those problems and build stuff.”

If all goes well and Smith is one of the two successful candidates, he would head to Houston at the end of August to begin training full-time. Since June of last year, he’s been involved in the selection process.

“What will you be doing as an astronaut?” one student asked.

“I don’t really know much about being an astronaut yet,” Smith replied. “But astronauts are either doing experiments are fixing things most of the time.”

Of course there were questions about the moon being made of cheese (“I don’t think so”) and the possibility of alien life (“to me, it seems a little odd that we are the only ones”) and “how do you get back to Earth?

After thinking a moment about how to answer in a way seven-year-olds could fathom, Smith replied: “You slow down and the Earth sucks you back in.”

His overall message to the students was about the importance of working hard — both at school and also at whatever other interests you have.

“Math and science are perhaps the most important subjects if you want to be an astronaut, but it’s important to be well-rounded,” he said.

So were those his favourite subjects in school?

“Actually, I liked auto shop the best,” he said.

Adam and Craig Voith are brothers who work smarter, not harder.

Talking from their 150-year-old farmhouse in Battersea, the brothers’ banter with each other good-naturedly as they talk on a cold Canadian morning about the farming operation around them.

A woodstove in the corner of the old kitchen fills the air with a comfortable heat and a warm glow. Their father, Mike Voith, sits in a chair near the fire. He smiles as his sons talk about their accomplishments and dreams.

“These guys are the brains behind the place,” Mike says kindly, gesturing towards his sons. “I think it’s nice that young men like these are trying to get a business going.”

Young and ambitious, Adam, 25, and Craig, 22, are shareholders with their father in a family sheep farm called Sugar Hill Rideaus located 20 kms north of Kingston. The farm was purchased by the family in 2012 and covers approximately 90 acres, 35 of which is tillable.

“Our main focus is direct marketing,” explains Craig, the main labourer on the farm and a construction worker off the farm.

“Our real goal is to direct market as many lambs as we can to consumers,” echoes his father about their sales method of a product that is gaining attention for its quality.

Born on the family farm, the lambs are Canadian purebreds called Rideau Arcott. Raised ethically and humanely, the animals are watched carefully for optimal health.

“They’re all good quality,” says Adam with a smile about the 300 sheep on the farm.

“It takes dedication,” adds Craig about the work required to feed and care for the animals 365 days a year.

“You can’t just call-in sick,” says Adam who works on the farm and off the farm as a combat engineer officer with the Canadian Armed Forces.

Leading the way to the barn, the brothers show a group of lambs that have just been born for Easter sales. Two more batches of lambs will be born in March and May to coincide with other Canadian holidays.

“Right now we’re still growing,” says Mike about the operation. “We want to get up to at least 600 animals.”

Raised until they are 100 pounds, the sheep are sold by the half or whole. The farmers are diligent to avoid disease, worms and coyotes to minimize lost time and animals. It is a model based on efficiency and quality.

“We want to make sure we keep our flock clean from disease,” says Mike, who helps with the operation while running his own beef farm nearby. “Raising the flock in the barns is a little bit more expensive, but we don’t have a worm problem or predator problem.”

Proud of what they have built, the men are working hard to expand the business to meet a growing demand by consumers.

“There’s a huge demand right now for sheep,” confirms Craig.

Talking about the growing ethnic diversity in the country, Mike says about the market for lamb, “There’s tremendous opportunity right now.”

Asked if he enjoys the work, Craig answers with a smile and laugh. “It’s a lot better than a 9-5 job. It’s a nice change of pace. Every season is a different task such as planting, cutting wood, getting ready for harvesting. You’re your own boss here. Everything is better.”

Working hard to build their business, the men are excited about the future. They describe their challenges as balancing growth with infrastructure capability.

“I think our land base is good now with other land we own,” Mike says about the land needed to grow crops for the flock.

Walking around the property, the Voith men talk about their operation with equal parts humility and pride. It is a common trait in farmers.

A glaring difference on this farm is the efficiencies built into the housing and feeding systems.

Enclosures have been modified for the care and comfort of the flock, and services have been added to the water and feeding systems. The men’s skills can be seen everywhere.

“We’re trying to be as efficient as we can with our time,” says Mike, a retired combat engineer officer with the Canadian Armed Forces who also works off the farm.

Walking around the property that was designed as a dairy farm and later converted into a horse farm, the men’s hard work and ambition has resulted in a prosperous sheep operation with a bright future.

Summing up what is obvious to a visitor, Craig notes “We’ve come a long way.”

To learn more about the Voith Family or Sugar Hill Farm, visit www.sugarhillfarm.ca or call 613-353-6380.

“Everything is falling into place” for the 11th annual Frontenac Heritage Festival this weekend, says organizer Janet Gutowski.

It looks like even the weather will be cooperating with partly sunny skies and temperatures around 0 degrees forecast.

“For the past two years, we’ve hit the coldest weekend of the year,” Gutowski said. “Even to the point of having to reschedule the Polar Bear Plunge.”

And speaking of the Plunge, it’s back on Sunday at noon where costumed plungers will jump into the frozen Sharbot Lake down at the marina to raise funds for Community Living, Connections Adult Learning Centre and the Central Frontenac Volunteer Firefighters.

Things get underway Friday afternoon as Gutowski, town crier Paddy O’Connor, Debbie and Doug Lovegrove will be going around to various businesses and organizations dressed in period costume to award prizes.

Those prizes, along with those for the snow sculpture contest will be awarded at the opening ceremonies at the Granite Ridge Educational Centre at 6:30 p.m. with a performance by the Limestone North Young Choristers.

Then, at 7 p.m., things move upstairs at GREC for Frontenac’s Got Talent, the annual variety show (admission is a donation to the food bank).

“(Variety show producer) Rob Moore’s enthusiasm for the variety show is amazing and there will be plenty of ‘variety,’” Gutowski said.

Things really get going on Saturday, with a variety of events all with heritage themes including Bavarian Curling in Tichborne with the Kingston Area Ice Stock Club (noon-2 p.m.), an open house at Peter Bell’s restored 19th Century log home on Fall River Road (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), Lion’s breakfast at Oso Hall followed by an open mike, a ‘romp & stomp’ at the Child Centre with kids events, the caboose in Sharbot Lake will be open, a host of events at the Community Centre in Arden including the popular fur-traders camp reenactment, wolf creek carvings, displays by the Kennebec Trappers Association and Historical Society, the Arden Potters Empty Bowls Project, horse-drawn wagon rides and finally the chilli cook-off at the Legion.

On Sunday, there’s the aforementioned Plunge, followed by chili on a bun at the Sharbot Lake Legion and the popular Tryon Farm visit on Wagarville Road from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Parking is at the Parham Fire Station with a free shuttle every 20 minutes. There’s also a movie for kids at Oso Hall at 1:30 p.m., The Good Dinosaur. Sunday evening wraps up with a performance by Harry Manx at The Crossing Pub in Sharbot Lake.
On Monday, there’s the annual Heritage Walk/Run at 1 p.m. Register at Oso Hall.

And something else that will be running on Saturday that Gutowski’s really looking forward to is quilt displays. Participation and interest was such that they had to arrange four venues to accommodate all the quilts.

“It will be at the Sharbot Lake United Church, the Sharbot Lake Anglican Church, the Arden United Church and the Masonic Hall in Sharbot Lake,” Gutowski said. “I think with this being the 150th Anniversary year for Canada, there’s been a lot of interest.

“The vast majority of quilts are heritage but even the newer ones will have something special about them that will show what we have in our hearts.”

Johnathan Ferreira is lucky to be alive.

Standing in his room in the burn unit at Sick Kids Hospital four days after he was engulfed in flames, the 15-year-old from Sydenham talks with a mature somberness about the accident on Feb. 8 that nearly took his life.
Gone is the fun-loving teenager with the big smile who friends call Johnny. In his place is a young man recovering from a brief mishandling of a heat source and can of gasoline on a cold Canadian night.

Covered in second degree burns on his face and third degree burns on his neck, his skin appears raw and painful. He wears gloves to apply Vaseline to the sores that doctors say will heal with time. Small spots of blood dot the sheets where he sleeps.

“I’m okay,” he replies softly when asked about his health. “It’s a little iffy sometimes, but overall, I’m not too bad.”

At his side since he was flown to Sick Kids from Kingston General Hospital, Johnny’s parents nod from a corner of the room to confirm the validity of his statement.

Looking tired from their constant vigil, John admits, “It was awful. “He looks like much better now, compared to those first 48 hours.”

“The nightmares are hard (though),” adds Tina, Johnny’s mother. “He wakes up and he thinks he’s on fire.”

Her words trail after her and leave a silent echo in the room that reinforce the extent of the damage above and below her son’s skin.

Out of immediate danger, Johnny’s treatment scheduled for the next day is the removal of dead skin on his face and neck. As luck would have it, good clothing and work boots protected the rest of his body when flames consumed him.

Grateful the burns aren’t worse, his parents say he could be discharged later in the week if he continues to heal without complications.

“We’re taking it day-by-day,” confirms Sherri Douven, Johnny’s Aunt.

Standing with the loving family that fills, and sometimes overflows, the hospital room in Toronto, Douven smiles as she talks about the support Johnny and his family have received from friends in neighbours back in South Frontenac Township.

“The support of his friends has been amazing. They’re definitely a family of kids,” she says thoughtfully, referring to a group of Sydenham High School students who were with Johnny the night of the accident; one of whom drove him to the hospital. The group has been supporting him ever since.

“I know any one of them would do anything for him,” says Johnny’s mother gratefully.

Reflecting on the outpouring of support they have received, Tina admits, “The community and everyone has been very helpful.”

Johnathan Ferreira is a Grade 10 student at Sydenham High School. He is expected to make a full recovery from his injuries sustained the evening of Feb. 8. To make a donation to help the family with unforeseen expenses, please visit Go Fund Me and go to Funds for Johnathan.

A rally of about 30 people of all ages was held on Wednesday, February 8 in front of the Limestone District School Board offices on Portsmouth Avenue in Kingston. It was a protest against the board’s proposal to close all the public schools in Stone Mills Township and the school Selby, starting with the Yarker Family School.

The Yarker Family School educates children from 3 years 8 months in Junior Kindergarten up to 8-9 years old in Grade 3.

“Closing this school would increase bus ride times for our youngest students to more than an hour each way. The possibility of being bullying and witnessing inappropriate behaviour by these very young children goes up the longer the bus ride.,” said Gail Knowles, one of the protestors.

Students from Yarker and Selby achieve the highest standardized test scores, #1 and #2 respectively, of all the schools in the Limestone board.

“The board has proposed that students from Yarker be sent to Odessa Public School where the test scores are #39th. This means more than half the Odessa students failed to meet provincial standards. Since the board rarely mentions scholastic achievement it would appear that school closures have more to do with balancing the financial books than anything else,” Knowles added.

According to Knowles, the provincial funding model has serious flaws, giving school boards money to build new schools but providing only limited funds to maintain schools that are already here.

“They are forcing students from their a rural school where they learn well, feel safe, and are fully supported by their parents, and sending them away from their home community to a large penitentiary sized school doesn’t seem to work certainly when the standardized test scores are compared.” she said.

Supporters of the Yarker School and other schools slate for closure in the near future are encouraged to express their opinion about possible school closures by writing to the Minister of Education and elected representatives.

Robin Hutcheon, chair of the group called Rural Schools Matter, holds her sign outside the Limestone District School Board offices on Portsmouth Avenue in Kingston on November 8, 2017. She, along with about 30 others, are protesting the possible closure of all of the public schools in Stone Mills Township and the school in Selby.

The goals of Bill 151, The Waste-Free Ontario Act, 2016 are a “wonderful, noble objective but there are significant problems with blue box funding,” South Frontenac Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth told Council at its regular meeting Tuesday night in Sydenham.

Segsworth is a rare rural representative on the Ontario Waste Management Association board.

“I wouldn’t say I’m that active (on the board) as it’s mostly City of Toronto and big waste company representatives,” he said.

But while the idea of having absolutely no waste and 100 per cent recycling is admirable, there are many roadblocks that must be solved before it could ever become reality, he said.

“For one thing, it’s time we let producers be 100 per cent responsible for the products they produce,” he said. “My fridge was only 13 years old when it needed replacing and people said ‘wow, you got 13 years out of it.’

“That thinking has to change.”

And manufacturers are responsible for 50 per cent of blue box recycling programs, but don’t often make that goal. Segsworth said that has to be closer to 100 per cent for zero waste to have a chance.

“We’ve all heard the arguments for less packaging,” he said. “When is that going to take place.”

And it’s one thing to ban organics from land fills, but, he said:

“it would be great, we wouldn’t have garbage if we eliminated the organics but where is that going to go?

“I don’t think anybody has it figured out.”

He said the City of Vancouver has a private firm doing its blue box program but doesn’t see that as an option for rural municipalities because of volume.

However, he does see changes coming whatever they might be and as such has recommended Council try to extend its contract with existing waste contractors for three years (in order to buy some time) rather than negotiate new seven year contracts which they might end up having to pay for but not using. And too, it might mean that the existing contractors would be in a situation where they bought equipment that wouldn’t be needed.

“That’s the kind of challenges we face,” he said.

One thing Segsworth would like to see is waste management becoming a County wide contract.

“I’m led to believe that everybody believes zero waste is a good idea,” he said. “But a lot of it is coming out of the GTA, especially the demand to recycle organics.

“We need a solution that works in rural areas.”

In the meantime, Segsworth said that for organic waste: “We sell backyard composters for $33 each and that price hasn’t changed in years.”

When Holly Labow moved her spa business out of town to her home north of Grafton a few years ago, she was concerned that she may lose business being north of the 401, and in the country.

“That didn’t happen. People made the trip for the services I provide and the atmosphere I created,” she said last week from her new home on Pine Lake, on Brown’s Lane off the Ardoch Road in North Frontenac.

Being a few minutes north of Grafton, and just 15 minutes from Cobourg, is not exactly the same as being located off the Ardoch Road, especially in the winter when even permanent residents are planning southern getaways.

Holly and her husband Michael bought their lakefront property a few years ago, and once he retired, they moved in last summer on a full time basis. They had a new building designed and built for Polished Spa, for Holly to start up her business in North Frontenac.

Since then they have continued to work on their house and have built Polished Spa for Holly to start up her business in North Frontenac.

Polished Spa has one main room with a treatment bed and plenty of room to work, and a foyer/waiting room at the front. It is clean and comfortable and has views of Pine Lake and the surrounding woods.

In it, Holly Labow offers a range of services, including: manicures, shellac manicures, pedicures, facials, makeup,  and waxing and trimming. She also provides hot stone, aromatherapy, and exfoliating massage treatments.

Holly is also a certified foot reflexologist and provides reflexology treatments in the spa.

“By manipulating specific reflexes in the feet to remove stress, a parasympathetic response will occur in the body,” Holly says on her website about reflexology.

Reflexology treatments include a foot bath and the use of essential oils. First sessions can last 90 minutes and subsequent sessions are not as long.

“I love my work in the spa, and even if we are in a new location, far off the beaten track, I wanted to get  started up as soon as I could after we moved here. I opened in mid-August, and caught the tail end of the summer. Since then I have been learning about the community, and introducing myself and my services to people in the area, many of whom have never had a pedicure, never spent an hour in a spa like this,” she said.

So far, even in the dead of winter, she feels pretty good about how the business has gone.

“The summertime is more about the esthetics part of the spa and the winters are more about healing and wellness. I’m happy to create this kind of peaceful atmosphere, to help my clients relax and serve their needs.”

So far so good. While the spa has not been overwhelmed with business this winter, there have been clients coming in on a regular basis, and Holly is as optimistic as ever about the future.

“I kind of took the philosophy that if you build it they would come, and so far it is working out.”

As history books, however complete and comprehensive they may be, tend to be rather dry reads.

But Marion Sly Hart’s new offering, Hart to Heart, My Life in Poems is not one of those.

Make no mistake, it is a history book, the history of the Mountain Grove area and particularly its people. But it’s told more in the style of a memoir, with the unique twist of being primarily poems, most of which consist of rhymed couplets. And, it’s a very easy read, with many interesting historical photos and the inclusion of Hart’s family tree, which incidentally can be traced back to the Pilgrims and the Mayflower.

She has a rich cultural history with Mohawk, Scottish and English ancestry on her father’s side and Algonquin, French and English on her mother’s.

But Hart was born, raised, married and raised her family in Mountain Grove and therein lies the focus.

She’s been working on the book “since 1983 at least” compiling some of her dad’s stories in three ring binders and writing her poems from them and other source material.

For those who don’t know Hart, from her writing style you may be surprised to learn she didn’t get her Grade 12 until she was 36. She did however supplement this with several writing and word processing courses.

But, she freely admits she doesn’t know just how she writes her poems and prose.

“Most days, I can’t put two words together,” she said. “When I get writing, it just comes.

“I think it must come from the Lord.”

Her book should be an interesting read to anyone with Mountain Grove connections. She weaves many names, incidents and histories together and although told from her perspective, her poetic stories should strike many familiar notes.
And they’re told in a rather welcoming folksy style.

In particular, her account of the train bringing her grandfather, who had been killed in a hunting accident, home to Sharbot Lake makes one feel like they were standing on the platform with her on that day many years ago.

Hart credits Bill Willis with helping her get the book actually published and former Frontenac News editor Jule Koch with inspiration, writing tips and encouragement.

Most of the original run of 200 soft-cover books (176 at last count) have been “spoken for” (ie sold) but copies will be available at Pharmasave in Sharbot Lake and Shabot Obaadjiwan Smoke Shop. There’s a book signing planned at the Cardinal Cafe during the Heritage Festival as well as the Mountain Grove Seniors meeting Feb. 8 and the Bedford Jam in Glendower Hall Feb. 25.

As well, copies have been donated to GREC and Land O’Lakes Public School and the Kingston Frontenac Library has two copies, on in its local authors section and one in its archives.

$1 from each book sale will be donated to the Food Bank.