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The result is comfortable, covered, op-erating greenhouses creating a shop-ping experience where customers canshop directly from some of the benchesthey grow on. The little garden centrethat could has now become four retailgarden centres with full productioncapability. Their tagline is WhereColour Lives and they do their bestto bring that to life with what theirstaff wear and the gorgeous displaysthat can be found in the store yearround. They are located in Burlington,Waterdown, Vaughan, and Milton.

Apple Land StationThorndale, ONwww.applelandstation.com

Apple Land has come a long way sinceErnie & Sharon Muzylowsky harvestedtheir first crop of apples and sold them

from a picnic table in 1986. Since then,they have enjoyed providing their com-munity with high quality fresh produceand opportunities to create familymemories. As the train pulls into AppleLand Station, they certainly have a lotto toot their whistle about in all thegreat things they have accomplished.You will find a great gift store, a bakeryand a brand new caf. Theres also lots

of family fun in riding the train, applepicking, petting farm animals, andplaying on sand mountain. Lots ofschool tours come to enjoy Apple LandStation.

Clovermead ApiariesAylmer, ONwww.clovermead.comClovermead Bees and Honey is asbusy as the 24 million bees that callClovermead home. Chris & ChristyHiemstra bought the family honeybusiness in 2000 and also took on thefamily tradition of restoring and reusingantique buildings and barns. In the

past decade, they have taken thesetwo themes and developed a HoneyGift Shop in the old log cabin that fea-tures a honey bar with their famousSummer Blossom Honey and 12 differ-ent honey spreads, and carrying awide variety ofother productsthat create a truecountry retail ex-perience. Theiradventure farm is

buzzing with ex-citement that in-cludes a Re-stored Browns-ville Train Stationthat is the homeof Ontarios larg-est Bee DisplayHive, a Feath-ered Garden

Page 2 Fresh Facts

A registration formhas been

included with thissupplement.For further

information, contact:Cathy Bartolic,

Executive Directorph: 905-841-9278

e-mail:info@ontariofarmfresh

.com

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Way, Enchanted Bee Yard Trail,Friendly Farm Animals with a GoatBridge, a Play Zone, and a Pedal CartTrack. Come along to see what theBUZZ is all about.

Heritage Line Herbs &the Silver Birch Tea RoomAylmer, ONwww.heritagelineherbs.comTom & Deb Benner have gone throughthe experience of transitioning fromgrowing tobacco to producing culinary

herbs with flying colours. They nowspecialize in bringing zest to your cook-ing through their organically-grownfresh potted herbs and dried herbalblends. Their goal is to farm sustaina-bly, sell locally, and connect deeply withtheir customers. Their heritage farmstore reflects their values of local, ar-tisanal, and hand made in Ontario.Their Silver Birch Tea Room allows thevisitor to experience the outdoors ofbeautiful landscaping and soothingsounds of a waterfall with all the com-fort of fine service. As a result, thou-sands of visitors come to their farmeach year.

Winter WheatSparta, ONwww.winter-wheat.comLucy Ogletree is a Canadian folk artistwho has developed her own uniquestyle of expression. Her paintings areoften whimsical and reflect a simpler

life. Lucy resides with her husband,Mike Robertson a 5 acrepiece of prop-erty near theVillage ofSparta. Theirunique home,charmingcountry storeand Lucys ArtStudio arenestledamong thetoweringpines andspruce trees.This warm and inviting place is WinterWheat. The Store is a unique folk artenvironment with pockets of delightand delicious expressions of imagina-tion. Winter Wheat has some uniquetheories about marketing and an impor-tant story to share. Dont miss this tour.

Lavender Blue Lavender FarmSparta, ONwww.lavenderblue.caSuzanne Steeds LavenderBlue is the premier grower oflavender in Elgin County, lo-cated along the OntarioSouth Coast, just outside thevillage of Sparta. Not only isthe lavender farm part of a 45acre horse farm nestled atthe edge of a forest, but it isdesignated as an Area ofNatural Special Interest. Lav-ender Blues lavender fieldsand gardens are integratedinto the natural beauty of thisrural setting. Suzanne invites her visi-tors to stroll through the fields and gar-dens and enjoy the experience of theunique heady fragrance of lavender.She also invites everyone to visit thegift shop to take advantage of thehandcrafted products created rightthere on the farm. Many one of a kindproducts made with lavender.

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Birtch Farms &Estate WineryWoodstock, ONwww.birtchfarms.com

Four generations with a passion for theland. Excellent soils and a gentle south-facing slope attracted McKay Birtch andhis family to this farm in 1946. Operatedas a mixed farm for several years, the firstapple trees were planted in 1956. One ofthose original trees greets you as you en-ter the laneway.Current owners, grandson Bob and hiswife Dyann, purchased the farm fromMcKay in 1978. Bob and Dyann plantednew orchards and built new storage build-

ings all the while raising a young family ofthree boys. Now three sons; Josh, Mat-thew and Nathan are all involved with thefarm in varying degrees.From the beginning McKay encouragedfolk from town to purchase produce freshfrom his fertile fields. Bob and Dyann car-ried on with that tradition. In 1993 the de-cision was made to expand upon that in-terest. A retail store was created in a por-tion of the barn and the first apple festivalwas hosted that fall, receiving rave re-

views and becoming an annual event.Over the last few years it has become oneof the region's most popular fall destina-tions.The latest venture - Birtch Farms EstateWinery - is the most ambitious undertak-ing to date. The Birtch family take pride inpresenting the fruit of Ontario in a bottle!

This is a sampling of what we have in storefor you. We are still working on contactinga few additional businesses to ensure youhave 3 days of jam packed touring.

Page 4 Fresh Facts

Send in your registrationforms today, (deadline Octo-ber 7th)and pack your bagsfor one fun-filled, educa-tional, idea generating trip. The last few years, the bustour has been sold out, so get your application in early if you are interested in joining us.