Fundraising Events Near You
As a grass-roots organization, it has been important to us to create a space in which everyone can give according to their means. For some that means making a donation, others get more involved by organizing their own fundraiser and engaging their own community. Others wish to stay informed so they can attend the fundraising events taking place near them. It all works!
Below is a list of the upcoming and ongoing fundraisers in support of the Sheltering Forests Campaign. These are the events we are aware of and endorse. If you are planning an event or have encountered a fundraising event that is not listed here, please contact us.
Upcoming Events
A Naturally Sweet Fundraiser for FRS
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.
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!
Merchandise
Shirts are wasabi green, 100% certified organic cotton and made in Canada. Attractive placement of Friends of Redtail logo on the front. Very generous fit.
Tees ~ $30
Contact us to order
Shirts are wasabi green or H2O blue, 100% certified organic cotton and made in Canada. Attractive placement of Craig's Way logo on the front. Very generous fit.
Tees ~ $30
Close up of logo
Sara Bonnyman Handthrown Stoneware Mugs
Neutral colour mug, no logo $20
Contact us to order
This item is now re-stocked and available to order!
Garden Stones from the Scotsburn quarry
Volker Klum from Pictou County Stone Ltd. has created a series of unique garden stones. Designs include the tree and sun symbol from the Sheltering Forest logo and a gecko design. Stones are $40. For more information or to order call: (902) 485-5318
Handmade Jewellery
Necklaces, bracelets and anklets by various artisans $10
Contact us to order