Just minutes away in the heart of Cumberland Village Where creativity is embraced and experiments are celebrated.
Da Artisti
Fuzed glass classes and workshops for groups and individuals.
Studio • Gallery
Located at 2565 Old Montreal Rd. in the heart of Cumberland Village
May 23, 2024 • Volume 39, No. 1
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613-833-2565
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www.daartisti.com
Next edition June 6
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SEE STORY ON PAGE 13
L’édition de cette semaine à l’intérieur...
Navan dairy farm in full swing two years after derecho
Orléans pianist Emily Hou is reflected in the top of her piano during a recent recital at the 10,000 Hours Studio on Montreal Road. Emily recently completed the first year of her Masters in music at McGill University in Montréal. FRED SHERWIN/PHOTO
By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star It’s been two years since a derecho windstorm swept through the mid-section of Cumberland, destroying over a thousand trees and damaging over a dozen farms between Navan and Sarsfield. The McFadden farm on Trim Road, south of Navan, was one of those farms. Other farms that were severely damaged include McFaddens’ neighbour John McWilliams farm and Wyatt McWilliams’ farm on Trim Road where the barn that had stood for 120 years was completely destroyed. Gordon McFadden had 70 cows and calves on his farm before the storm hit on May 24, 2022. Five cows died in the storm and another 25 died or had to be destroyed in the weeks and months that followed due to the trauma they suffered. All the cows were eventually replaced, but
McFadden was without a barn to house them. The derecho destroyed two barns and two other buildings and severely damaged their silos. The surviving cows were all moved to a farm near Kemptville, where McFadden paid rent to house them and have them milked on a regular basis. After going back and forth with his insurance company, McFadden was finally able to hire a contractor in late 2022. Construction began with a concrete slab last summer, and the barns were completed last December. McFadden now has a state-of-the-art production facility complete with two robotic milking machines in which the cows have been trained to enter on their own and be milked three times a day. “It’s something else,” says McFadden. “ I never ever thought that cows could be trained to get milked, but they took to it almost overnight.” The barn is designed as an open concept with CONTINUED ON PAGE 2