KAGAWONG—Gardener Ed Burt’s vegetable raising skills are legendary on Manitoulin—not surprising since he first learned the art and science of gardening at the foot of his grandfather 82 years ago at the age of five— and a lot of the knowledge he has acquired over the years is contained in his new book, ‘My Journey in the Garden: Ed Burt’s Way of Growing Food,’ to be launched at the Green Living Expo in Kagawong running April 22-23.
“When my grandparents came to Manitoulin they experienced some especially rough winters,” he said. “We didn’t have the transportation we have now. The railroad was 40-50 miles away and if you didn’t have a horse, it was a long way away.” Adding to the distance, the roads in those days were not ploughed in the winter and few people had a car or truck to travel the roads even if the snow wasn’t an obstacle. Growing and storing food wasn’t a hobby or pastime in those early days, it was a survival skill. “I grew up in that environment,” said Mr. Burt.
“A lot of people have been pressing me to write a book,” he said. “A few years ago I finally started to talk into a little machine, getting my thoughts down.” The project moved forward in fits and starts. “More fits than starts, sometimes,” he chuckled. But every time the project stalled, someone would come along to goose it back into motion.
Mr. Burt credits a large part of finally getting the book from tape to page to M’Chigeeng writer and editor Kate Thompson. “I finally found someone who I could work with to get it done,” he said.
“People really seem to think I might have something worthwhile to share,” he said. Anyone who has seen the products of Mr. Burt’s garden will recognize just how much of an understatement represented in that statement.
“I never understood the lengths that some peoples’ jet lagged foods have had to travel,” he said. “Most of my food comes from 200 feet away. There’s the 100-mile diet, mine is more like the 100-foot diet.”
Mr. Burt has built on the knowledge passed onto him by his grandparents, adding eight decades of experimental soil building and techniques hard won from the soil.
While not a 100 percent “organic” farmer, Mr. Burt has eschewed chemical fertilizers throughout his life. “I don’t worry too much about bugs anymore,” he said. “I find my plants tend to grow faster than the bugs can eat them, so it tends to work out alright.”
Readers of Mr. Burt’s book will discover a philosophy and spirituality to tending the soil that is practical, as his successful haul of tubers and legumes readily attest. “I have worked in the three main types of soil to be found on Manitoulin,” he said. “I don’t irrigate, we never had that kind of thing growing up.” Success is to be found more in the building and care of the soil than in mechanical assistance.
Mr. Burt’s book is to be launched at the Green Living Expo at the Kagawong Park Centre on August 22 and will cost $25.
