Farm Crawl with HCA

A variety of farms opened up their doors and fields to the community this past weekend at another successful Farm Crawl, this time on the western edge of Hamilton. This area's farms, are big on community and on sharing their products and way of life. Saturday was overcast and rainy, but people flooded into the fields.  Ticket sales were estimated at several hundred, not including the many children who could learn and take part for free. This family and community orientated day exemplified the importance of agriculture as an industry and a lifestyle.

The Dundas Valley 50 Year Vision and Strategy along with the Hamilton Halton Stewardship

Program were graciously hosted by Weirs Lane Lavender and Apiary for the afternoon. The Hamilton Halton Watershed Stewardship Program had assisted the farm establish a native/pollinator garden. This project would benefit their bee keeping and lavender honey-making venture, but the garden also provides a living teaching tool.

The staff of Weirs Lane Lavender and Apiary are enthusiastic about not only their craft, but also in their roles as hosts and teachers that day. The Hamilton Conservation Authority’s Dundas Valley 50 Year Vision and Strategy were there in recognition of the farm’s commitment to the community. This agricultural leadership is community focused, and will help preserve and enhance the Dundas Valley as it is today and how it could be tomorrow.

If you'd to view these farms and their products and practices, please follow the links below to their webpages for contact information.  Click here for information on the conservation efforts and the work of the Hamilton Halton Watershed Stewardship Program (including the pollinator garden at Lavender Apiary).

Click here for more on the Dundas Valley 50 Year Vision and Strategy or complete our survey if you have any ideas or comments about the Dundas Valley area now and in the future.

Hamiton Farm Crawl http://www.farmcrawlhamilton.ca
ManoRun Organic Farm http://www.manorun.com/
Lotsa Hostas & Jerry’s Berry’s http://www.jerrysberries.ca/
Weir’s Lane Lavender and Apiary http://www.weirslanelavender.com/

John Williams
Project Manager; Dundas Valley 50 Year Vision and Strategy
Hamilton Conservation Authority

Stewardship in Action

I will admit that I was pretty excited when I received a referral from one of our Watershed Steward Award winners that put me in touch with the owners of Weir’s Lane Lavender.

I have a great job, and one of the best parts about my job is the experience of getting to see how people use their properties in different ways. During our on-site visits to properties our goal is to assist the property owners in learning more about the natural areas on their properties and if applicable, assisting them with completing projects to create new, enhance existing, or protect natural areas. The property owners that live in this watershed are so diverse and I have learned a great deal from their experiences of living on, and working their lands. My visit to Weir’s Lane Lavender was no exception.

It’s a story that I never tire of hearing.

Kevin Beagle was working for a software company in downtown Toronto. His wife, Abigail Payne, commuted long hours between the couples Toronto home and her job at McMaster University. Six years ago they decided it was time for a change in their hectic lifestyle, and they made the move to Weir’s Lane.

Since 2010 Kevin and Abigail have been growing and harvesting Lavender, and the property features 5,500 Lavender plants on-site, with plans to add two to three thousand plants per year to the western edge of the property, eventually converting all of the current cash crop rotation to lavender fields.  An apiary was a natural addition to this site, and there are presently approximately 250,000 bees on-site with plans to add more hives. They opened a store on-site which features a variety of their own lavender products, including lavender infused honey and locally produced giftware. In 2012, Weir’s Lane Lavender & Apiary was recognized as the Agri-Tourism Business of the Year by Tourism Hamilton.

Kevin and Abigail were more than happy to educate me about Lavender. Lavender has no known natural pests, requires no fertilization and no spraying occurs to protect the health of the honey bees and other pollinators on-site. Their interest in educating the public is what prompted our visit. By the end of our visit, the plan for a native plant garden that would serve as forage for pollinators and a demonstration site with interpretive signage was underway.

On June 16, 2013 Kevin and Abigail, with the help of friends and family, some McMaster University students and the Hamilton-Halton Watershed Stewardship Program, planted 936 wildflower plugs in 3 newly dug gardens near the apiary in record time. Species planted include:

Brown-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirtaLance-leaved Goldenrod Euthamia graminifolia
Common Milkweed Asclepias syriaca
New England Aster Aster novae-angliae
Flat-topped Aster Aster umbellatus
Sweet Oxeye Heliopsis helianthoides
Dense Blazing-star Liatris spicata
Wild Bergamot Monarda fistulosa
Foxglove Beardtongue Penstemon digitalis
Virginia Mountain Mint Pycnanthemum virginianum

There is a great little rhyme with perennial plants “In the first year they sleep, in the second year they

creep, and in the third year they leap!” I was invited back to the farm to act as a resource on native plant gardens during the 2013 Farm Crawl and I was pleased to see the plugs holding their own. In addition to the native plant/pollinator friendly demonstration garden, Kevin and Abigail also began letting areas of the property along a watercourse quietly begin to naturalize, creating a riparian buffer which will provide habitat to wildlife, help cool the watercourse by providing shade, and filter runoff from adjacent areas.

The Hamilton-Halton Watershed Stewardship Program was pleased to be able to offer technical and financial support to this project. While small-scale to start, it provides a large-scale opportunity in reaching out to the over 800 annual visitors to the farm. I look forward to revisiting the site in 2014 to see the plants grow and installing the interpretive signage that is currently in development. We look forward to working with Weir’s Lane Lavender in the coming years to ensure the success of the site, add new species, and potentially expand the native plant garden to new areas.

 Are you interested in establishing a demonstration project on your property or at your businesslocation? Feel free to contact me to discuss your ideas. I can be reached at celwell@conservationhamilton.ca.


Cherish Elwell
Watershed Stewardship Technician
Hamilton-Halton Watershed Stewardship

Interested in learning more about Weir’s Lane Lavender? Visit their website at http://www.weirslanelavender.com/ or like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/weirslanelavender. The farm store remains open up to Christmas (see website for hours) before Kevin and Abigail take a well deserved rest for the winter.

Wood Duck Nest Building

On Saturday November 26^th Hamilton-Halton Watershed Stewardship Program hosted a Wood Duck Nesting Box Workshop at Fifty Point Conservation Area. The event was led by Wood Duck expert Alfie Stanevicius (aka Wood Duck Alfie) who has worked on nesting structures for the species for many years. Alfie builds nesting boxes for Wood Ducks because their natural nesting sites have been destroyed due to a lack of understanding of the importance of allowing dead trees to stand rather than cutting them down. 

Wood Ducks nest in tree cavities adjacent to lakes, ponds or wetlands. As humans have developed southern Ontario we have removed many of these trees and consequently Wood Duck nesting sites. What makes Wood Ducks so marvellous are their bright colours, crested head and ability to perch in trees because of their unique adaptation of talons.   

Alfie is the builder and caretaker of over 200 Wood Duck boxes in the Hamilton – Halton area. Through his experience, Alfie has figured out what does and does not work. He has stories of chewed up boxes and stories of Wood Ducks literally laying eggs on the roof of a nesting box.

His presentation was motivational and his love for wildlife was infectious for those in the room. Everyone shared their tales of Wood Duck sightings, nesting successes and failures and everyone constructed their very own Alfie-designed Wood Duck box. One of the attendees was so inspired that they have begun planning a Wood Duck box building event for sometime next year. 

For me it was a great learning experience. I was completely unaware of all the benefits a wood duck nesting box can have. A single box could be used by a Wood Duck, Great Crested Flycatcher and Screech Owl all in the same year. Even Kestrels are using the structures for nesting. These boxes are providing important habitat for species at a vulnerable life stage and they’re also providing an opportunity for people to have a very personal educational experience with local wildlife.

Thank you to all who helped to make this event a success and a special thank you to Alfie for his devotion to helping out Wood Ducks.

Kent Rundle

Watershed Restoration Technician

Hamilton-Halton Watershed Stewardship Program

If you’re interested in joining a future Wood Duck Nesting Box Workshop or would like plans to build your own at home please contact the Hamilton-Halton Watershed Stewardship Program at mark.funk@conservationhamilton.ca