Letter from the President, Christine Dennis

May, 2004
One of my favorite albums to listen to is Stan Roger’s “Home in Halifax”. It is great house cleaning music! It is a folksy album where he sings about different lives and events across Canada. He gives the impression and that he really has worked on fishing boats, sailed the mighty ocean, worked as a night guard and that he truly did love his wife. He very well could have! I do not know for sure having not met him but he sure makes you believe he did! (I think he was married.) But my favorite song is “Field Behind the Plow”. He sings

“Hear the tractor steady roar. Oh you can’t stop now….
And it figures that the rain keeps its own sweet time.
You can watch it come for miles.
But you guess you’ve got a while
So ease the throttle out a hair, every rod’s a gain.
There’s victory in every quarter mile….

In an hour, maybe more,
You’ll be wet clear through.
The air is cooler now,
Pull your hat brim further down.
And watch the field behind the plow turn to straight dark rows,
Put another season’s promise in the ground…”

Every spring when I hear this last line, a warm feeling washes over me. And I think about how lucky I am to live in a part of the world where I actually do have this power. I can plant my seeds with a fairly good chance that they will produce. It is promising. (By the way, what is “a rod?” Being the prairies it must mean something big.)

As I flip through this year's Richter’s Herb Seed Catalogue I have to wink at my husband as I tell him to hide my visa card. (Wow, Wasabi and Rhubarb Pie Sorrel…. must have!) I always have high hopes that THIS year I will be MORE productive yet. More seeds, more plants, more garden area ….. more work. But that is ok because it is spring! Ever notice how much energy you have in the spring and that come fall you secretly look forward to winter. No grass to cut, no weeding and an excuse to just sit and read all day. But this year I won’t! No, not me! This year I will try some more new herbs and exotic vegetables AND I will not miss the harvest time! Well I guess we will have to wait and see about that.

I always let my children flip through and pick out some seeds that they would like to try this year as well. It has become a bit of a tradition in our house. I find that with them being involved right from the start it helps to keep them excited about their little garden spaces. Alistair’s is usually watered daily and kept relatively weed free, where as Clare’s is weedy as all get out with the flowers either cut and placed in a vase or eaten since she usually picks the edible flower seeds. But they too have developed a healthy appreciation of planting, nurturing and then harvesting after a season of patience and hard work.

The OHA is planning a productive season. The Herb Fair is scheduled for June 6th at the Harbourfront Center in Toronto. Come on out, try some new seeds and plants. Pick up something exotic or how about a native woodland plant for that dark shading spot on the north side of the house. There really is a wonderful selection of plants and seeds at this event. Good luck to Lisa Hazanoff and Diane Kent and everyone else involved in making this day happen. Then on June 26th Aviva Romm, who is a herbalist and midwife, will be coming to speak on herbs for pregnancy, babies and children, and vaccinations. It promises to be a very informative day! Plus, on October 2nd Rosemary Gladstar will be coming for a day! Watch the website and next journal for more on her visit.

At this time I would like to say thanks to Lisa Hazanoff and Nicole Nantel for organizing for the OHA to be at the Guelph Organic Conference in January. Thanks so much to all the volunteers as well. Thanks to my fellow board members for their continued dedication and work for this association and to the PPAC committee members who have done so much work behind the scenes specifically for all you Professional Members. They have been working on a Scope of Practice and have successfully found insurance coverage for our Professional Members. Thanks Bruce Robertson for your persistence with this issue. And a big thank you to the John Redden and the entire journal committee for all the long hours and hard work that goes into producing this wonderful journal. Thank you. And finally thank you to Rick DeSylva, Lisa Hazanoff and Angela Bossence for the new bump stickers that are now available for all to buy. Come check them out any of this years events!!!

Hope you all have a promising spring and that we will see you at some of these big events!!

Letter From the President, February 2002

Letter From the President, May 2002

Letter From the President, Fall 2002

Letter From the President, November 2003

Letter From the President, February 2004