Saturday, May 26th 2012 Prince Edward County, Ontario
County Terroir is decanted once again for its 7th year to celebrate the end of Spring and to welcome Summer! This anticipated annual showcase for new County wines (presented by Prince Edward County Winegrowers Association) returns to the beautiful Crystal Palace in Picton, on Saturday May 26th, 2012.
With over 30 wineries, Prince Edward County has much to experience. Many County wineries will introduce their new Spring releases and serve their own unique wines paired with delicious cheeses and other gourmet food tastings. Guests will also have the opportunity to take part in seminars, demonstrations and meet the winemakers themselves while tasting some of Ontario’s finest. The event’s $35 in advance ticket price includes all wine samples and one food pairing.
Additional food pairings are available for purchase. Guests from across the province will be in attendance as there is much to discover in Prince Edward County. Bus/train weekend packages will allow visitors from Toronto to Ottawa to experience all that The County has to offer, with County winery tours, gourmet
dinners, and accommodations that range from quaint to posh.
When: May 26th from 12pm to 8pm Where: The Crystal Palace, Main Street Fairgrounds, Picton
“World’s least-known great wine zone” – Wine Spectator Magazine
“Burgundy of the North” & “Vineyard Haven” – Wine Bloggers
Upcoming transportation options & package deals to be announced soon at:
Artisan, farmstead and specialty cheese from coast to coast showcased June 2-3 at Crystal Palace in Picton, Ontario
An expanded Great Canadian Cheese Festival returns to historic Crystal Palace in Picton, in the heart of Prince Edward County, on the first weekend in June.
The Cheese Festival is the only event in Canada to bring together cheesemakers from coast-to-coast so cheese lovers, foodies and culinary tourists can meet to learn, talk, taste and buy the best in artisan, farmstead and specialty cheese—and sample fine wine, craft beer and artisan foods.
The Festival’s Artisan Cheese & Fine Food Fair (where consumers can sample and buy product) will run two days this year, Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3. It was one day last year.
More than 100 cheeses, produced by artisans from Vancouver Island to Prince Edward Island, will be available for tasting and purchase. The largest contingent of producers will be from Quebec, Canada’s leading cheese region.
Artisan foods, ranging from chutney to preserves to sausage and sweets, will also be available, as will Ontario fine wines, craft beer and cider.
The culinary and social highlight of the Festival takes place Saturday evening, at the Cooks & Curds Gala, eight leading chefs from across Canada will use Canadian cheeses to create tasting dishes that will be paired with Canadian wine, craft beer and cider. The evening will conclude with sweets, ice wine, port and coffee. Participating chefs will include Jamie Kennedy, Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, Toronto; Michael Blackie, National Arts Centre, Ottawa; Dominic Serio, Inn at Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island, Marc Cohen, Lawrence, Montreal; and Katie Hayes, Bonavista Social Club, Newfoundland.
At the Cheese Fair on Saturday and Sunday, Dairy Farmers of Canada, the Festival’s top-tier sponsor, will offer seminars presented by leading cheese educator Deborah Levy in the All You Need Is Cheese® Annex. With sampling of cheese, of course!
The Festival Dairy Farm will be open both days to give city folk a look at the animals that start the process of turning grass into milk into cheese. Yvette, the matriarch of the water-buffalo herd at Ontario Water Buffalo Company near Stirling, Ontario, will likely be the star attraction.
Added to the Cheese Fair this year is a food court featuring Cheesewerks of Toronto, Primitive Cuisine of Trenton and Buddha Dog of Picton.
Concurrent with the Cheese Fair, a program of Tutored Tastings will be offered on topics such as Artisan Cheese Tasting 101, Taste of Québec and Best of the West, presented by cheese experts Julia Rogers, Andy Shay, Vanessa Simmons and Janice Beaton and wine expert David Lawrason. A separate ticket is required.
The pre-Festival program on Friday, June 1, features:
An all-day Cheese Tour of nearby Black River Cheese and Fifth Town Artisan Cheese and other food- and farm-related stops;
Cooking with Artisan Cheese Class conducted by Cynthia Peters, a personal chef and food writer who owns and operates the acclaimed From the Farm Cooking School in Prince Edward County;
Great County Dine Around at restaurants featuring cheese-themed dinners. The county is known as the fasting-growing culinary destination in Ontario.
Georgs Kolesnikovs, founder and director of the Festival, maintains the popular cheese blog CheeseLover.ca.
The Festival is produced by Cheese Lover Productions with the generous support of Celebrate Ontario. Dairy Farmers of Canada is Diamond Sponsor, Ontario’s Artisan Food and Beverage Region (FAB) is Gold Sponsor. A portion of Festival proceeds will benefit a Cheese Scholarship Fund to encourage young Canadians to pursue careers in cheese.
Advance tickets are sold online at www.CheeseFestival.ca. In order to assure a high-quality experience for exhibitors and attendees, Cheese Fair attendance will be capped at 1,500 each day, so don’t delay in ordering your tickets.
Stone’s Maple Syrup,
644 Cty. Rd. 5, Picton, Ontario
613.476.6134
This year, come and see antique tractors—shiny toys for the big boys. Free wagon rides through the sugar bush to the sap shanty. Watch maple syrup being made the time-honoured way: in open pans over a wood-fired evaporator. Maple syrup, maple butter and other maple products available for purchase along with complimentary coffee.
Doug Stone
Doug Stone grew up on a dairy farm. He bought his own farm in 1979, choosing one with an established sugarbush. When he began tapping trees in 1980 he would hang 500 sap buckets then drive around on his tractor emptying each bucket into a big tank to take back to the sugar shack. He built an addition onto the
farm’s original sugar shack and in 1985 bought a new wood-fired evaporator that takes full advantage of the abundance of fallen trees as fuel. (Doug heats his home with wood, too.)
Twenty years on, Doug no longer hangs buckets. Now he drills tap holes and connects each tree to a sturdy plastic line that runs straight to the evaporator.
Doug and his family welcome about 900 visitors for the Maple in the County event. Their antique tractors are a huge attraction, but everybody enjoys the maple butter and maple sugar treats. They can also enjoy a special coffee, made with raw sap instead of water for a very distinctive taste.
Doug says maple producers are a great bunch of people, hard working, supportive and dedicated to the art. They have traveled around Canada to see how other producers work and are active in promoting County maple syrup at events like TASTE! a celebration of regional cuisine.
Trevor Stone
Stone’s Maple Products
1979 – started with a few taps and a flat pan
1980 – built sugarhouse, first evaporator was a Grimm
This year, enjoy homemade pancakes, grilled sausages and pure maple syrup—made fresh all day long —for Adults $10, Children $5. Work off that breakfast by taking a walking tour of the sugar bush and learn all about maple syrup production in the sugar shack.
Cliff Foster’s father started making maple syrup in 1924 at the home farm near Sandbanks. He spent everything he had to buy 75 acres, and at first he lived in the barn because the farm had no house. But it had a sugarbush, and he tapped the trees and hung 375 sap buckets. He worked hard, built a house and eventually bought Outlet Farm that had another good sugarbush. So he bought another 325 buckets.
Now Cliff runs Fosterholm Farms with his son Dean with help from his two grandsons. Each year they tap 7,000 trees, but Cliff and Dean no longer hang buckets – they collect sap by running lines to each tree. Taps and lines go in beginning in January and come out in April.
The Foster family evaporator is oil fired, and with the price of oil rising, Cliff is thankful for his reverse osmosis system that removes 70% of the water from the sap before it even reaches the evaporator making huge savings on boiling time. It’s a tough machine, built in 1967 and going strong.
Maple in the County kicks off the season for the Foster family, and in 2005 a thousand people visited them in the sugar shack to enjoy home made pancakes with sausages and as much maple syrup as they wanted. Cliff is generous with his syrup and puts big jugfuls on the table for guests to help themselves. His dad would be proud!
Timeline
1924 -Fosterholm Farms started in with 267 buckets and a 2X8 Lightning evaporator
1967 -built new sugarhouse and had a 4X12 Lightning evaporator
1970 -started to use tubing
2001 -had a 5X14 oil-fired evaporator
2003 -built on a bottling room
2007 -bought a Reverse Osmosis machine
2011 -inducted into the Quinte Local Maple Hall of Fame
Prince Edward County Encaustic Sculptural Painter, Andrew Csafordi announces the following upcoming dates for his popular Two-Day Encaustic “Paint-cation” Workshops.
Upcoming Winter & Spring workshops are scheduled for the following dates:
March 3 & 4 or March 10 & 11
April 14 & 15 or April 21 & 22
For other 2012 dates, please visit Andrew’s website at www.andrewcsafordi.com.
Encaustic painting is fun and easy, using natural aromatic melted beeswax and oil paint mixed in for colour. A very friendly medium, the fast drying time allows one to create captivating works that will ignite their imagination. The warm liquid wax is applied to a wooden surface with brushes. Each layer is then gently fused using heat, resulting in a luminescent painting. Relax and be inspired while painting in a casual studio environment in the tranquil countryside. The results will delight and surprise participants. No experience is necessary.
The Two-Day Encaustic Painting Workshop fee is $295. per person(plus HST) and includes a workbook, all materials, light refreshments and snacks. There is a maximum of 5 persons per workshop. All workshops take place in Andrew’s studio on his beautiful farm in the heart of Prince Edward County’s thriving wine region.
Around the corner is the Inn at Huff Estates Winery. Ask for the “Bee Creative Package” and enjoy a special reduced rate in a Premiere Suite (double occupancy) with a delicious breakfast buffet for two each morning.
Workshop gift certificates are available. Give someone special a two-day “Paint-cation” in Prince Edward County for that special birthday, wedding or anniversary gift. We accept Visa and Mastercard.
The Andrew Csafordi Gallery is open by appointment until March 31st, and from 10 AM to 5 PM Thursday through Tuesday, April through October. Along with the Love Nest Studio Gallery (also located on site) we are both proud members of the Prince Edward County ARTS TRAIL.
For more information, to purchase a Gift Certificate or to register for any of Andrew’s 2012 Encaustic Painting Workshops, call Andrew Csafordi at: (613) 393-1572 or visit his website at:www.andrewcsafordi.com. For accommodations, call The Inn at Huff Estates at 1-888-484-4667 or visit www.huffestates.com.
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Saturday, May 26th 2012
Upcoming transportation options & package deals to be announced soon at:
