This noxious plant was a major topic at, “Preparing for the Invasion”, a day of public seminars hosted by Morel Magazine in St. Thomas last November. The exponential and, in most cases, unimpeded spread of such a threatening, difficult to eradicate species could easily be seen as an overwhelming challenge. However, St. Thomas resident David Collins’s presentation of the approach he and his committee have taken in the city provided a positive model of grassroots effectiveness. It inspired Marg Hulls from Dutton to spearhead a group in her own municipality. She says, “His message seemed to me to have answers to the problem.”

Marg, a nature lover and educator, invited David Collins to share what was happening in St. Thomas at a meeting of the West Elgin Nature Club. He outlined the process his committee has undertaken – it has included extensive research and consultation with experts, creation of a grassroots committee, procurement of expert help, development of a step-wise plan and involvement of a wide circle of organizations for support and assistance.
 
Following the West Elgin Nature Club meeting, five people volunteered to form a committee to help eradicate invasive Phragmites in western Elgin. They have received support from experts Janice Gilbert and Nancy Vidler, been given access to the St. Thomas plan, begun a process of public education and obtained a resolution from Dutton Dunwich council this past July.  That council resolved to authorize a Phragmites Advisory Committee which will be responsible for mapping stands along and near municipal roads. The committee has also submitted a request for monetary assistance from the 2017 budget. West Elgin council voted to return the Phragmites issue back to council for future discussion.  

TEDDY BEAR PICNIC - WED JUL 20
Elgin’s second Teddy Bear Picnic of the season takes place in Straffordville, with lots of fun Teddy Bear activities. Bring a teddy and a picnic; snack and dessert are provided. Call the number below for more information. 
10am-1pm, Straffordville Community Centre, 56169 Heritage Line, Straffordville, 519-631-9496

MOVIES UNDER THE STARS - SAT JUL 23 & AUG 20 
City of St. Thomas & Elgin St. Thomas Public Health will host free movies under stars, on a 25-ft Jumbo HD screen in Pinafore Park, two evenings this summer. July 23rd, “may the force be with you” and Aug 20th, “look for the bare necessities”.
Dusk; free with donation of canned food for the caring cupboard; Bandshell, Pinafore Park, 95 Elm St, St. Thomas

FREE SWIMS 
Tim Horton’s sponsors free public swims in St. Thomas and Aylmer. 
Jaycees Pool – Sun Aug 21
1-4pm, 93 Inkerman St, St. Thomas
Aylmer Town Pool – Sat Jul 23rd & Fri Aug 12th
1:30-4:30pm, 17 Myrtle St, Aylmer 
Both pools also offer plenty of swimming lessons and public swims over the summer. For details and rates, visit www.stthomas.ca/ (Parks and Recreation Aquatics page) and www.aylmer.ca/index.php/Recreation/AylmerPool

BAYHAM BEACHFEST – Fri Jul 29th – Sun Jul 31st
Fun for the whole family all weekend long on the beach in Port Burwell. Sunday evening wraps up with an amazing fireworks display over the water.
www.bayhambeachfest.com

FAMILY FUN DAY AT THE OLD ST. THOMAS CHURCH – Sat Jul 30th
Drop by and discover St. Thomas’ oldest church while the kids experience Pioneer games, crafts, tours, free hotdog, chips and Shaw’s ice-cream.
11am-3pm, The Old St. Thomas Church, 55 Walnut St, St. Thomas, www.oldstthomaschurch.com

FAIRIES, PIRATES AND MAGIC - Sat Aug 6th
The lavender fields are a magical place during the Lavender Fairy Festival. Fairies (and pirates!) of all ages come to explore the gardens, make crafts and try fairy delicacies. Don’t forget to bring your wings! 12-4pm; Steed & Co Lavender, 47589 Sparta Line, Sparta; www.steedandcompany.com

PORT STANLEY HARBOURFEST – Sat Aug 6th – Sun Aug 7th
During this nautical celebration of the Port Stanley harbour kids can see a Tall Ship, street performers, fireworks at dusk and more.  Check the website for details and schedule closer to the date. www.portstanleyharbourfest.ca

ELGIN TEDDY BEAR PICNIC – RODNEY RECREATION CENTRE – Wed Aug 10th    
Elgin’s third Teddy Bear Picnic of the season takes place in Rodney, with lots of fun Teddy Bear activities. Bring your  teddy. Call the number below to register.
10am-1pm, Rodney Recreation Centre, 135 Queen's Line, Rodney, call WECHC, 519-768-1715 to register

MAIN STREET AYLMER SWEET CORN FEST – Sat Aug 20th
Cornfest is a free celebration of fun, food and laughter in the park with wagon rides, jump and bounce activities. There’s also food available for a charge. 
10am-2pm, Aylmer, www.aylmer.ca

PORT GLASGOW’S BLUE FLAG BEACH
For an almost always quiet, uncrowded spot to enjoy sun and sand, Port Glasgow can’t be beat. It’s has recently become Elgin County’s second Blue Flag designated beach. It has a popular fishing pier, a beautiful shoreline and nearby trails. Take a picnic (there are a few tables right on the beach) or there’s food available for purchase.
8536 Haven’s Lake Rd, RR#3 Rodney

STRAFFORDVILLE WATERMELON FEST – Sat Aug 27th
The Straffordville Community hosts the annual festival of Watermelon themed fun with free entry, lots of free kids activities – and watermelon.
Straffordville Community Park, 56169 Heritage Line, Straffordville, www.bayham.on.ca  

34TH ANNUAL ST. THOMAS FIRE MUSTER DAYS – Sat Sept 3rd – Sun Sept 4th
Two days of family entertainment! Muster competitions, antique fire trucks and apparatus, emergency service displays and demonstrations, live stage entertainment, vendors, huge car show, parade, interactive children's area, fire truck rodeo and more!
10am-6pm, Pinafore Park, 95 Elm St, St. Thomas, www.facebook.com/FireMusterDays

ADVENTURES IN READING & CRAFTING FROM A LOCAL AUTHOR
Check out some of the books by award-winning St. Thomas author and artist, Mary Wallace. Her latest, An Inuksuk Means Welcome is a picture book which gives a sense of place and of the traditions of Inuit life. I Can Make That could provide a whole summer of free and inexpensive crafting. The book is colourful, clearly illustrated and packed with fun crafts, most of which lead to more ways to play and further adventures. These and others of Mary Wallace’s books are available at the St. Thomas Public Library, branches of the Elgin County Library and on-line at www.owlkidsbooks.com.

SPLASH PADS
Visit one (or all) of these wet, wild and cool play places.

• Aylmer Pool & Splash Pad, Balmoral Park, 17 Myrtle St, Aylmer
  
• Belmont Splash Pad, Don Yeck Park, 14020 Belmont Rd, Belmont
  
• Miller Park Splash Pad, West Lorne
  
• Waterworks Park Splash Pad, St. Thomas
  
• Pinafore Park Splash Pad, St. Thomas
  

Everyone in St. Thomas and Elgin County is invited to set a goal, get moving and track their minutes of physical activity from February 22nd to March 20th. The Physical Activity Challenge is part of a line-up of late winter-early spring initiatives designed to:

The challenge is open to all ages – active living is important at any stage of life and adults can be role models who help create a community culture of healthy living.

Recently, as the busy harvest season was winding down, Leo de Wit chatted about his farm and led us along some of the trails he proudly shares with the public during the month of December.
 
Leo planted 7,000 trees on his farm in 1985 because he likes them. He also wanted to forge a connection between rural and urban life by giving people a reason to visit a farm, so in 1996 he opened Leo’s Tree Farm. Since then, visitors have come to appreciate an experience which provides reasons for visiting well beyond that of just finding the “perfect” tree. 
 
The de Wits’ farm and home are set against woodlots of deciduous trees along with bush lots of the conifers destined for Christmas festivities. Visitors are welcome to trek back through the woods in search of their tree, or to just enjoy the fresh air and a country walk in the woods.

white pine (considered by many to be the most beautiful), Scotch pine (a well-wearing choice), white spruce (with slender branches; needs lots of watering), and concolour fir (easy to decorate and doesn’t drop its needles).

Leo says “The most popular tree used to be spruce, then it was pine and now it’s Fraser fir. They make up 90% of what I plant.” He remembers a few years ago when Martha Stewart’s magazine had a white pine tree on the cover. “Everybody came looking for white pine.” He grins, “We don’t grow a lot of white pine. It takes eight years to grow one – you can’t be in a hurry with trees.”
 
The trees available range from small to stately 15’ specimens suitable for a room with a cathedral ceiling. You can cut your own or Leo’s helpers are happy to cut your selection for you. They will also retrieve it with a four-wheeler, although Leo says, “Some people are quite possessive of their tree and prefer to drag it out of the bush themselves.”

Of course dragging the tree from the woods would help build your anticipation for a steaming cup of hot chocolate. A warming reward for all your hard work awaits you at the rustic shack, complete with woodstove, chairs and a big urn of hot chocolate.   
 
And then there are the chestnuts – many more people have sung about “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” than have actually had the experience (or enjoyed the nutty, sweet flavour). Leo’s 1 ½ acres of chestnut trees yield the nuts which Leo gathers, hulls and offers along with a fire for roasting.  
 
A variety of fragrant greens for creating your own garlands is also provided, spread out on long tables. It’s a great opportunity for the creative and crafty to pick out a custom selection of greens at a reasonable price.
 
The farm is open from December 1st to 24th, but ensuring a supply of nicely shaped trees in a variety of sizes for that month requires work throughout the year. Students are hired to help plant new trees (mostly from seedlings). About 80% of trees planted will survive to Christmas tree size and suitability over several years. Dead trees and stumps need to be removed. Each of the 10,000 trees requires pruning, mostly with a machete which Leo demonstrates with skill and surprising speed. “You have to be careful not to over-prune – you want a tree that looks nice but still natural, not too perfect or it will look like an artificial tree.”

Reaping the fruit of the chestnut trees entails a harvest-time competition with the deer. Says Leo, “They love the taste – you have to get the chestnuts off the ground promptly, before the deer do.” Over the last couple of winters deer have also caused considerable damage to many of the Christmas trees by eating the shoots. “That is unusual,” says Leo, “but with the severe winters, the deer were desperate for food.”
 
Locals, urbanites and outdoor lovers visit the farm and generally spend at least an hour there. Relatives of one family come from Chatham, London and St. Thomas and meet at the farm to visit and enjoy time together. Many families with university students show up in the latter half of December after school breaks for vacation. The “kids” insist that the family wait till they get home to get the tree so that they can be included in the traditional trip to Leo’s.  
 
Leo believes that until the last few decades, many urban dwellers had reason to visit a farm as they weren’t too far removed from family or friends who lived on one. But those ties and opportunities are rapidly disappearing and, with them, the feeling of connection between rural and urban people. A visit to his Elgin County farm provides a perfect way to get in the Christmas spirit, create memories, share traditions and reconnect to the local rural area. (Oh yes, and you might just find your perfect tree). 
 
The de Wit family farm includes Leo, his wife Anneke and daughters Sarah & Emma. The operation includes cash crop (corn and soy beans) along with chestnut trees, Christmas trees and three solar systems. The Tree Farm is open December 1st to 24th, 9am-9pm, located at 24483 Silverclay Line, West Lorne. To find out more visit www.leostreefarm.com or call 519-768-2741. 

Photos courtesy of Leo's Tree Farm.