Happy New Year! 

Bonne année!

To our members, volunteers, donors and supporters, as well as to your families, the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Farm send you best wishes for 2024!

À tous nos membres, bénévoles, donateurs et sympathisants, les membres du Conseil d'administration vous souhaitent nos meilleurs voeux pour 2024!

Our 2024 Winter Newsletter Is Out

Three success stories for the Friends in 2023 are presented in the Winter issue of our newsletter. The inaugural year of the CelebriTree (such as the one above) program was a sold-out success, the Used Book Sale was another fine fundraiser, and our Arboretum Tree Tours, such as the Autumn Colours Tour, remained as popular as ever.

The perennial beds in the Ornamental Gardens are looking great again, after the pandemic break, and a special thanks goes to the Friends’ Perennial Team led by Nicki Quintero, who have worked with AAFC grounds staff to refresh the beds. The newsletter features a profile of Nicki.

There is another profile in the newsletter, this one of Shannon Asencio, collections manager of AAFC’s herbaria, including the renowned Vascular Plant Herbarium. Her love of nature has taken her from pressing flowers as a child to overseeing well over a million plant specimens in support of Canadian and international scientific research.

Also in the newsletter, Will Knight, curator of the agriculture and fisheries collections at Ingenium, celebrates 40 years of the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum with an article about museums at the Central Experimental Farm.

Finally, we can look forward this winter to more of the intriguing snow spirals on tree trunks in the Arboretum, according to local artist Raymond Roy (pictured below), who tells us in the newsletter about the ephemeral “treelines” he created last winter on his favourite trees in Ottawa.

We're Seeking a Volunteer Treasurer

A Great Opportunity to Help Us Thrive!

Could you be the one? If you are newly retired or have time on your hands, the Friends of the Central Experimental Farm are seeking a volunteer Treasurer. The Treasurer is a member of the Executive Committee and is responsible for and advises the Board on financial and budget matters. This position is supported by a volunteer bookkeeper.

Experience/knowledge in managing the financial affairs of a business or another not-for- profit charitable organization. Professional designation desired. For further information or to submit your resume, please contact [email protected].

Our photo cards and books are still available!

Visit our online Boutique to order your gift items today! Thank you for your orders -- the proceeds help support the valuable work we do!

Our 2024 Events are in the Final Planning Stage

Stay tuned for details!

Stay tuned for information about our events this year. Once again, we plan to hold our AGM, our annual plant sale, our annual used book sale, tree tours, and to co-host Master Gardener Lectures with the Master Gardeners of Ottawa-Carleton. Details will be announced in the February issue of Farms Notes, as well as on our website and social media.

NCR and CEF Seasonal Road Closures

2023-2024

Roads will reopen next spring

Please note that the following roads on the Central Experimental Farm (CEF) are now closed to traffic for the winter:



• McCooey Lane from Merivale Road to Ash Lane
• Ash Lane from McCooey Lane to the NCC Driveway

These road closures are implemented to:

• Reduce the possibility of unsafe road conditions during the winter months; and
• To reduce the environmental impact of traction aids (salt) on the research fields.

The roads will re-open to traffic in April 2024.