An evening on the farm
Stormont County 4-H Soup Club held their achievement night, assisting at the Aug. 15 Farm to Table Dinner held at Avonmore Berry Farm. From the left, Adelia Bretzler, Pamela Phillips, Vanessa Landriault and Julia Graham. Thompson Goddard photo
Grace Graham provided musical entertainment for the first 2019 Farm to Table Dinner at Avonmore Berry Farm on Aug. 15.
Thompson Goddard photo
AVONMORE – It was a beautiful summer evening for an event celebrating local food with approximately 80 people attending the Farm to Table Dinner at Avonmore Berry Farm in North Stormont on Aug. 15. Hosted by Dave and Pamela Phillips, the event was catered by the Quirky Carrot in Alexandria, and featured local foods and refreshments from throughout Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.
Pamela Phillips explained that the event, now in its third year, allows “people to see where their food comes from” and features wagon rides in the fields, allowing them to see how the crops are grown and managed with the opportunity to ask questions while on the Farm Tour.
The event also served as the Achievement Night for the Stormont County 4-H Soup Club. Five members of the Soup Club assisted with registration and serving hors d’oeuvres. Susanna Bretzler, who with Harrietta Bretzler led the Club of seven, explained that meetings included a cooking class at Winchelsea and a shopping trip with ten dollars to purchase ingredients to make soup from scratch. Bretzler commented how the Stormont County 4-H Go for the Gold Team will be competing in the provincial championships at the Royal Winter Fair in November. Team members are Aimee Van Loon, Dougie Robinson, Oliver Bretzler and Lillian Flegg.
During the evening, Grace Graham provided musical entertainment near the door of The Pantry where dinner was to be served, with Rurban Brewing of Cornwall and Stone Crop Winery and Vineyard from South Dundas providing refreshments.
Phillips was pleased with the turnout at the event, and explained that there would be two further events on Aug. 29 and Sept. 12 at the Avonmore Berry Fair.
Carolyn Thompson Goddard, grew up in Chesterville and attended North Dundas District High School. After completing her BA in Political Science at Carleton University she has worked as a medical secretary and library technician. In 2020 she graduated from Algonquin College with a diploma in Journalism and has been a reporter and column writer for The Chesterville Record for over 10 years.
