[Sust-mar] A Naturally Sweet Fundraiser for Friends of Redtail Society

Sat Jan 21 12:55:19 EST 2012

A Naturally Sweet Fundraiser for Friends of Redtail Society

The Friends of Redtail Society is partnering with Bonnymans’ Wild
Blueberries of Tatamagouche to offer 5lb boxes of wild, spray-free Nova
Scotia frozen blueberries. Boxes of Bonnymans’ spray-free blueberries are
$20 and *FRS gets $5 from the sale of each one*. We have partnered with
Bonnymans’ because they show a high degree of integrity in their operations
and in how they relate to the other beings that live in relationship to
their blueberry fields (more details are below).

We are *accepting orders now through February* {simply email us or call
485-4561} and are inviting members and supporters to use this as an
opportunity to generate some funds for FRS by promoting/sharing this with
your networks and taking orders from friends & neighbours (for those of you
who are doing so, *please contact us for an order sheet*).

*There will be 2 delivery locations*: Scotsburn and Halifax.

*Order Deadline: *

- for Scotsburn deliveries is: Thursday, February 16 @ 4pm

- for Halifax deliveries is: Monday, February 27 @ 4pm

*Delivery: *

- Village of Scotsburn, Saturday, February 18th @ 1pm-2pm, Parking Lot
beside Wayne Murray's Gas Station

- Halifax, Wednesday, February 29 @ 4pm-6pm, Ecology Action Centre - 2705
Fern Ln  Halifax, NS B3K 4L3.  Located between Robie and Agricola off May
Street near Colonial Honda. Click here for Google
Map<http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=ecology+action+halifax&ll=44.657542,-63.596313&spn=0.007738,0.013711&oe=UTF-8&fb=1&gl=ca&hq=ecology+action&hnear=0x4b5a211407dbfac1:0x666be3a6438b2ddc,Halifax,+NS&cid=0,0,6089300711704573372&t=m&z=16&vpsrc=0&iwloc=A>
.

*Payment Due upon Delivery:*

Cash or Cheque made payable to “Angus Bonnyman” is accepted.

*About Bonnymans’ Wild Blueberries:*

Angus Bonnyman is a third generation wild blueberry farmer. The Bonnymans’
have been farming wild blueberries for almost 40

years now and have fields in Colchester and Cumberland counties on the
North Shore. They have approximately 200 acres of wild blueberry

land, half of which is in production at any one time, the other half is 'in
sprout', or resting (the plants are harvested every two years).

*A few words from Angus on their spray-free operation:*

My family has never been very reliant on chemicals in our operation and use
significantly less than the industry average on our

'conventional' fields.  We use a lot of compost tea to boost the level of
helpful bacteria in the soil.  For anyone who's brewed a batch of

compost tea in the back yard, they'll appreciate the challenges of brewing
up a batch in a 250 gallon tank, letting it work overnight

with aeration and then transporting it to the field to spray on the field.
I think it is safe to say that there aren't enough people

using compost tea in their operations and my father was a bit of a pioneer
at least in our area in doing this and in the 8 years since

that we have been using compost tea, there has been a significant increase
in the health of the soil which has meant that our fields are

happier, the plants healthier with less disease and produce better.

We work pretty hard at increasing the amount of organic matter on
the ground.  We also fertilize the soil with lobster shells and fish
fertilizer which cost

about 3 times what a chemical fertilizer would cost, but feel that it's
worth it.  We spend some time removing weeds manually and others

we just live with, which explains why some of our fields are a
little grassy.  We also burn the fields after the harvest as part of the

pruning routine which helps reduce the disease, weed and insect pressure,
so it really is a multi-pronged approach.

Another challenge for us, along with all wild blueberry growers, is getting
the blossoms pollinated, so in addition to the honeybees that

we hire in for a month in Spring and the bumblebees we use, we are finding
that with the spray-free approach we are also able to

encourage the natural pollinators.  Bees like to have some variety, so in
addition to providing them with a year-round habitat we are also

providing a veritable buffet of food - the wild blueberry blossoms along
with all of the other natural flowers that grow around the

field. You wouldn't have that with a more sterile monocultural environment.

*On Bears*

Regarding bears, we are honestly pretty thrilled to see them and we
actually had one visit us three nights in a row the year before last at my
inaugural spray-free wild blueberry u-pick.  Although we let them munch at
the buffet that is our wild blueberry fields, we do try to manage them a
bit during the pollination phase of the cycle and we fence the hives with a
solar-powered electric fence. If things start to get out of hand we ask the
beekeeper to remove his hives.

*On Land Clearing*

On land clearing, we have not cleared land to make way for wild blueberries
in the last ten years, preferring to grow our land holding through
buying established wild blueberry fields.

*Contact Info to learn more or connect on Facebook*

Bonnymans' Wild Blueberries

Wild blueberry farmers for three generations

PO Box 8  Tatamagouche, NS  B0K 1V0

(902) 956-3629

www.facebook.com/NSWildblueberries

*We're celebrating our 40th harvest in August 2012 - 'like' us on Facebook
for updates, photos and more!** ***

-- 

Friends of Redtail Society
RR#2 Scotsburn NS
B0K 1R0

The Friends of Redtail Society is a grass-roots, non-profit organization
formed to pursue a community-based solution to an industrial forest clear
cut that was scheduled to take place in an upland watershed in western
Pictou County. This 313 acres is now protected. The ecosystem is a
naturally regenerating forest that sustains a diversity of life and
contains many hallmark Acadian species—a forest type indigenous to Nova
Scotia and one of the most endangered in North America. We wish to
demonstrate a more respectful land ethic, which begins to redress decades
of extractive land use that has degraded forests and rural communities. The
Friends of Redtail Society recognizes the inherent value of all living
beings – flora and fauna – in the forest. Through our "Sheltering Forests"
campaign, we are raising funds for the process of reclaiming, re-visioning
and restoring our relationship with the forest.

Learn more about our vision at
http://www.friendsofredtail.ca/our_vision.html
Make a gift http://www.friendsofredtail.ca/sheltering_forests.html
We're on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Redtail-Society/128631873862252>
Follow us on Twitter @FriendsRedtail <http://twitter.com/FriendsRedtail>

We are a registered charity and donations are tax deductible.

* *