Twenty one Rotarians attended this special off-site meeting at South Pond Farms.  In addition we welcomed four guests.  Kathleen Armstrong and Faye Tamblyn were guests of Sharon Chambers and Rotarian spouses Ron Swain and Betty Fox were also in attendance.

On duty for June 15, 2015:

Sgt. at Arms:  Greg Clements and Bernie Nickerson

Thanker and Fine Master:  Bert Lauwers

Greeter and Prize:  Jim Mackey

Humorist:  Jill Sadler

Today’s Program was a Classification talk by Danielle French.  Danielle bought South Pond Farm ten years ago and moved there from Toronto with her four daughters.  She felt an affinity to the area as it reminded her of Vermont where she had grown up.  The farm house was built in 1864 but the property had not been farmed for thirty years.  Danielle had never lived on a farm or grown vegetables but she started and decided she wanted to make food from what she was growing.  She started selling a “farm fresh weekend basket” to people in Toronto and her dream to start a business based in agriculture became a reality.   As she went along she learned of the many compliance items that she needed to operate a business such having an event permit, a liquor license and commercial kitchen.  Danielle called in Sean Sutcliffe to restore her barn so she could hold events on the property. Danielle is part of the slow food movement educating people to make a choice to use local foods in season when possible and that meat does not have to be a prime focus.  She feels that it is her calling to be here as part of an agri-tourism movement and that agriculture can be both a business and impact tourism.  Danielle is currently offering a supper club series every month with various food themes and musical entertainment.  She is also offering “art in the field” a five day event with local artists.  A Psychic Comedy show will be held in late August.  A variety of workshops from stone oven pizza making to Concrete Art can also be taken at the farm.  More information about South Pond Farm can be found at: www.southpondfarms.ca

Lynda thanked Danielle for hosting us at the farm, for her inspiring talk and the delicious lunch that was served.

President Dan noted that because of our off set meeting there would be no fines or 50/50 draw.  The door prize was won by Ron Swain.

Word of the week:  Loquacious – an adjective meaning talking too much or freely.  Excessive talk

Other Business: John Bennett reported that 10 Rotarians showed up to clean up Lindsay Street and that the work was done in less than two hours.  

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 pm.

Your scribe, Carol Timlin