Page THE VOICE of Pelham Wednesday, July 20, 2011
VIEWpoints
With cherries, try thinking outside the box Every day, the dogs and I walk through the cherry and apple orchards behind our house and visit the ravines that cut across east to west with their majestic oaks, maples, and nut trees. It’s a never-failing source of pleasure to be surrounded by trees, whether cultivated for crops or natural; and the dogs and I never take our walk without silently tipping our virtual caps to Linda Allison, and Leo and Dan DeVries, and Lee and Brenda Johnson, whose orchards we are so lucky to have for our walks. Those of us not involved in farming can only partly appreciate the risk and work it takes to bring a crop to market. We see the early morning and late evening mowing and cultivating and spray-
ing, and watch the frenzy of harvest with only a dim idea of the amount of labour and nail-biting that goes on behind the scenes. This year, I notice that the sour cherry crop is light compared to other years. When I mention this to Linda, the real weight of my observation becomes clear: depending on the micro-climate within Pelham, the cherry crop is down from 50 per cent to more than 80 per cent! Imagine that you put in the same amount of work, invested the same amount of money in your business or job, and then at the end of the year had your pay reduced by half to three quarters. The culprit this year was the cool, damp spring. The bees that the farmers
rented from beekeepers took one look outside their hives and decided to stay in and play cards or knit sweaters rather than go out and pollinate the trees. In our area, south of Highway 20, the bees got maybe two days of work in during the two weeks for which they were hired. The result is clear to see on the trees now: fewer sour cherries hanging from the branches, with some trees having almost no fruit at all. Most of Niagara’s sour cherry crop goes to Michigan for processing and shows up back on our supermarket shelves and freezers as pie filling, and no wonder because sour cherries make pie that is nothing less than divine. Of course, getting the cherries when they are
fresh and unprocessed improves the flavour, and cherries freeze very well, so it’s a good idea to stock up at this time of year for cherry pie all year long. If you aren’t a confident pie baker, or would rather defer to the talents and expertise of truly accomplished pie bakers, I suggest you take in the Talent Night Auction at Pelham Community Church on Canboro Road. Cherry pies and contracts to bake cherry pies are up for bids, and if you can outbid the church’s regulars who are in the know, you will experience the absolute pinnacle of the baker’s art, created by people with generations of pie baking behind them. But sour cherries aren’t only about pie. How about a Sour Cherry Cab-
ernet Gastrique (a cherry and wine reduction) to accompany game? The recipe comes from Michael and Anna Olsons’ Inn on the Twenty Coook book and is simple to make and simply delicious with duck. Put 1 1/2 Cups of cabernet wine, 1 1/2 Cups of red wine vinegar, 2 Cups of sugar, and 1 Cup of sour cherries into a saucepan and simmer until the sauce is reduced by 2/3 and coats the back of a spoon. The brilliant dark red colour adds accent to the plate, and the taste sets the meat up perfectly. Another delicious way to serve sour cherries is as a salsa to accompany lighter meats like pork. This recipe comes from June’s Bon Appetit. Simply combine 1/2 Cup of chopped
Snail’s Space
Slow Food Pelham
Brian Green fresh cilantro, 1/2 Cup of minced shallots, 2 Tablespoons of lime juice, 1/2 pound of fresh sour cherries (pitted and halved), 1 minced chile (choose one that has the degree of heat that you like; jalapenos are good), and 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Mix together to let the flavours combine, and serve alongside grilled pork tenderloin. Enjoy!
Letters to the Editor YOUR VOICE
Never relax guard around children in a pool I would like to share a little story with you. It’s about fast reaction times, and always keeping an eye out. My wife and I were at a backyard pool party/BBQ with our three children. Of course there were lots of kids in the pool, and many adults around. It was an in-ground pool with both a shallow end and a deep end. We were sitting around the pool, enjoying the sun and socializing, and watching the kids play in the water. Eventually, all the girls got pulled off to the side to do a raffle, and most of the men were involved (except for a couple of us). I had stepped off to the side to change our 18-month-old’s diaper. At that time, a gentleman that was sitting watching the kids got called off to the side to join the raffle, which left one person sitting on the deck (and she was watching her own three children around a table eating). I remember the gentleman enquiring about who would be responsible for watching
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the kids in the pool. Someone’s response was “the bigger children will watch the little children in the pool”. The gentleman was very hesitant to go but wasn’t really given a choice. Not even five minutes later, just by a complete stroke of luck, my daughter had called out to Mommy while I was changing her, and so my spouse had come over to see what was going on. As we were talking, I had my head down, and my spouse had looked up just at the perfect time to spot a child in the pool struggling in the deep end. As fast as her saying “oh, no” I had looked up to see the little boy sinking like a brick to the bottom of the pool. My spouse darted to the pool, jumped in and pulled the little boy out to safety. He was very shaken up and hadn’t taken in enough water at that point to need CPR, and he turned out to be okay. The boy was supposed to be wearing a life jacket, and he was supposed to stay in the shallow
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end, but had wandered out a little too far and slipped down the slope that led to the deep end. This is a lesson to all adults and children having fun around a pool. Please watch your children; don’t rely on someone else as they may not always be around in the sticky situations where an adult is needed. I just hope that someone would do the same for our children if it ever came down to it. My wife is a local Fenwick school bus driver. Her name is Amanda Sutcliffe, and deserves recognition for her fast reaction, and saving that little boy from drowning. If you see her in town please be sure to say something about her heroism. Rick Thompson, Fenwick
Tina Chivers, Editor Warren Mason, Advertising Coordinator Liz Hayden, Ad Composition Jaye Cawood, Office Manager Letters to the Editor are welcome provided the submission contains the writer’s full name, signature, address and telephone number. Names only will be published. Names will not be withheld. The newspaper reserves the right to change, condense or reject any contribution for brevity or legal purposes. All Material in this publication is protected by copyright. Reproduction is prohibited without express, written permission of the publisher. Advertising: The VOICE of Pelham regrets any errors that appear in advertisements in this newspaper, however, we will not be held responsible for more than one incorrect insertion or for any damages beyond the amount of space which contains the error. WEEKLY CIRCULATION: 8,705 Canada Post Agreement No. 40026500