Master Development Plan for Country Heritage Park

Country Heritage Park is located on 80 acres in the Niagara Escarpment, with over 30 exhibit buildings and 20,000 artifacts, including a fascinating array of vintage tractors.

Country Heritage Park is an interactive heritage park in Milton, depicting the Ontario Greenbelt’s vibrant agriculture and rural life over the last 150 years in Ontario.

Country Heritage Park’s Master Development Plan for the Park is improving future development and bringing the park into conformity with regional planning requirements. The plan guides decision making, integrates Park needs with those of commenting agencies and allows the Park to operate and prosper as a not for profit owned site without being reliant on government subsidies.

Holland Marsh Greenbelt Sustainability Program

Holland Marsh plays a major role in Ontario’s food economy annually, bringing in $130 million for its carrots, $160 million for its onions, and $160 million for its greens.

Though the Holland Marsh is already an extraordinarily productive region of Ontario farmland, farmers there are ushering in a new era of agricultural sensitivity, doing their part to become more environmentally sustainable and finding new markets for their products.

Holland Marsh farmers, in collaboration with local packers and processors, are shifting fresh vegetable production from a largely export market to the local market. They are diversifying crop production and implementing more sustainable growing practices through Local Food Plus certification and other changes. Additionally, the entire distribution chain is being shortened through the processing and packaging of food products directly within the Holland Marsh.

The CBRA hopes to take advantage of booming internet usage through the introduction of ‘webisodes’, targeting the 38% of Ontarians who booked their holidays online and the more than 3.2 million users sessions banked on Ontario’s official travel website in 2007.

The Canadian Biosphere Reserves Association (CBRA) produces high-definition television programs and interactive website to promote awareness and exploration of the Niagara Escarpment – a World Biosphere Reserve in Ontario’s Greenbelt. The ‘Webisodes’ are streamed online in varying lengths, enabling viewers to choose between watching segments on culinary and agricultural life, travel, or other and healthy recreational opportunities in the Niagara Greenbelt region.

Taste! Explore! Enjoy! Toronto residents are invited to taste and delight in our very own Ontario-grown strawberries and other local fare during the First Fruits of Spring Festival, taking place from June 12 to June 29, 2008.

Lovingly grown and harvested by local farmers and expertly prepared to delicious perfection by the city’s top chefs and other culinary experts, our local food is both a celebration of the harvest and a reminder of the envionmental and nutritional benefits of buying local versus imported food.

Toronto, June 12, 2008 – Local farmers, the city’s top chefs and other culinary experts invite Toronto residents to taste and delight in our very own Ontario-grown strawberries. Leona Dombrowsky, Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs was the first to savour a bite of the heart-shaped sweet treat, with berries freshly picked from Whitty Farms in the Greenbelt and prepared by cordon-bleu chef Karen Viva-Haynes. The tasting took place at the First Fruits of Spring Festival kick-off at Viva Tastings restaurant and gourmet food store in Toronto. The Festival takes place from June 12th to June 29, 2008.

Toronto residents are invited to taste and delight in our very own Ontario-grown strawberries and other local fare during the First Fruits of Spring Festival, taking place from June 12 to June 29, 2008.

See below for a full list of participating farms and restaurants or visit Edible Toronto Magazine to get your eat on.

Andrews’ Scenic Acres
Bert Andrews
Milton, ON (*Greenbelt)
Restaurant:
Cava & EPIC at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel

Toronto, June 4, 2008 – The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation today announced Martha J. Shuttleworth, President and Founder of the Neptis Foundation, as the 2008 recipient of the Friend of the Greenbelt Award. Shuttleworth received the award for the planning leadership of the Neptis Foundation and for their visionary research for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, which creates a better quality of life within and around Ontario’s Greenbelt.

First Fruits of Spring Launch

First Fruits of Spring is a strawberry extravaganza in Toronto that features 25 restaurants and over 20 strawberry producers from around the Greenbelt and beyond. The inaugural celebration includes a month of programming that celebrates the Ontario strawberry industry and ways that consumers can support Greenbelt and other strawberry farmers.

Interested in attending the 2008 Ontario Historical Society Conference? The conference takes place in Guelph from Friday, June 13, 2008 to Saturday, June 14, 2008. This year's conference will be held in partnership with the Guelph Historical Society, Guelph Civic Museums, and the History Department, University of Guelph. The theme is Ontario's Environmental History: "From Nature to Ecology, Landscape to Ecosystems: An Historical View of Ontario Environments." Click here for more information and an application to register. For more information contact: Dr. Cynthia Comacchio, Director, OHS Board, Conference Committee, [email protected] . Dr. Debra Nash-Chambers, President, Guelph Historical Society,[email protected] .