1 3 0 5 3 " * 5 r 1 3 0 ' * - & BLANCHE “SAMME” PUTZEL FOLLOWS HER NOSE
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
the challenge of working with wood heat, using past experience as a timing guide for how long a pot should sit on the stove top or when a baking pan must come out of the oven. On a farm there is always something UPEP FWFOJOUIFNJEEMFPGXJOUFS&BSMJFS that day, Putzel was outside at the barn, chipping a drain trough the ice to make sure that any of the icy rain expected over the weekend, or the meltwater that would result as the weather continued to warm up, drained away from the barn rather than seeping inside, making things damp for the horses and sheep sheltered inside in their stalls or the chickens and peacocks promenading around their pens. “And we have a llama, named Lilly, who thinks she’s a horse,” said Putzel, smiling. “The first thing I do in the morning is go to the barn, and the last thing I do is check on the animals.” Life with Phil Life in Vankleek Hill for Putzel began with Phil Arber about 45 years ago, though their life together began a bit earlier than that when the two met in Montréal. She was a social worker, operating through the YMCA’s street outreach program to help youth deal with their drug problems. He was working as an engineer when they met and fell in love. She smiled when asked how they first met. “By accident, a stroke of luck,” she said. “It was always a wonderful and entertaining
Samme Putzel divides most of her time between the usual chores that go with managing a small farm and all of the items on the to-do list of Vankleek Hill’s festivals, that she has in hand now as owner/manager of Excellent Events. Yet she still manages to find time for some- thing new. “Lately I’ve taken up fiddling,” she said, laughing. “Now I play with the Vankleek Hill Old Time Fiddlers. Fiddling in Vankleek Hill, it’s a heritage tradition of the area. It’s the roots of Canada, really.” Blanche Putzel—“Samme” to her friends and family—sits at ease next to the 1910 wood-fired oven/stove combination in the centre of the kitchen of the almost-two- centuries-old farmhouse at McAlpine Farm, near the edge of the Vankleek Hill village boundaries. The oven door hangs open to help warm the kitchen. One of two house cats sits on the door, enjoying the warmth before jumping down to make his way to a favoured sleeping spot elsewhere in the kitchen. “It’s a bit like dancing,” Putzel said, about using the wood stove/oven for cooking and baking. She also has a regular electric oven. It sits up against one wall of the kitchen behind the woodstove. She likes
Il n’y a pas de signe plus évident du printemps sur une ferme qu’un agneau nouveau-né et Blanche Putzel - Samme pour les intimes - tient l’un des nouveaux ajouts au troupeau de la ferme McAlpine, près du village de Vankleek Hill. En plus de la gestion de son troupeau, des chevaux, des poulets et d’autres animaux, Samme partage également son temps entre ses propres activités artistiques et aussi la préservation du festival communautaire et de l’héritage culturel de son défunt mari, Phil Arber. —photo Gregg Chamberlain
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PUBLI-REPORTAGE
Félicitations à Jean-Claude Chartrand , de Rockland, nommé Ambassadeur culinaire de l’érable lors de l’événement L’érable illumine la ville, qui avait lieu à Montréal le 1 er mars dernier, dans le cadre du festival Montréal en lumière. L’évènement a été l’occasion d’expliquer les qualités exceptionnelles de l’érable et la nouvelle classification du sirop d’érable pur à 100%, innovant et de grande qualité, aux consommateurs d’ici et d’ailleurs. Fier Rochelandais, le chef Jean-Claude Chartrand est propriétaire du restaurant L’Orée du Bois à Chelsea. Au fil du temps il a formé une équipe de passionés, à qui il a transmis son amour du terroir. Équipé depuis quelques années d’un fumoir traditonnel, L’Orée du Bois fume lentement, au bois d’érable, ses viandes, ses volailles et ses poissons. Félicitations Jean-Claude !
relationship.” The couple made their way to the Van- kleek Hill area where they bought McAlpine Farm when it came up for sale. His idea was to go into organic farming and that remained the focus for McAlpine Farm. But all through the four decades of their life together in the Vankleek Hill area, Phil Arber spent almost as much time away from the farm, cultivating the cultural life of the community. “He was very forceful, very determined,” recalled Putzel. “What becomes apparent now is how much vision he had. He had this commitment to community, to the spirit of community, and he loved artists and their creativity.” 5IVTXBTCPSO&YDFMMFOU&OUFSUBJONFOUT Phil Arber’s cultural events company that created, organized and managed the Fes- tival of Flavours, Horse-and-Buggy Days, and many other popular events sprinkled through the four seasons of Vankleek Hill. Life after Phil Through the four decades that saw Phil Arber become almost a one-man festival committee, making the community life of Vankleek Hill more colourful, Samme Putzel stayed in the background, focusing her attention on their organic farm. She served as the sounding board for his inspirations of a new community event or a cause for the Vankleek Hill community, and she was his sanctuary when even his strong spirit needed sheltering after it smashed against an obstacle to one of his ideas. After Phil Arber passed away in mid-De- cember 2016, Putzel announced, at his
memorial service, that she was willing to UBLFDIBSHFPG&YDFMMFOU&WFOUT iJGUIF community would help shoulder some of the load”. “Phil left a wonderful legacy of cele- bration,” she said, adding that while she IBEBMMUIFEFUBJMTPGIPX&YDFMMFOU&WFOUT operated, she admitted that she couldn’t do the job alone. Suzanne Hocquand stepped VQBT1VU[FMTHPPESJHIUBSNXJUI&YDFMMFOU &WFOUT BMPOHXJUIBIPTUPGPUIFSQBSU time volunteers. So Phil Arber’s legacy was assured. Putzel still has a bit of time during the EBZ JOCFUXFFOUIFGBSNBOE&YDFMMFOU &WFOUT GPSIFSPXODSFBUJWFBEWFOUVSFT She’s written three murder mystery novels, TFUJO&NFSBME)JMM UIFSVSBMDPNNVOJUZ IPNFPG&NJMZ#MPTTPN “They’re about a little old lady who wants to be a detective, and her sidekick, an antiques dealer named Peter Picken.” Putzel smiled. “There’s humour, and it’s all based on surroundings I’m familiar with. But I had to write the books first to find out who did it. Which is kind of how I lead my life.” Asked how else she occupies herself or what she would like to do, Putzel has a ready answer. She does what she always did since she lived in Montréal: explore life and be a part of life. “I was a wanderer, a philosopher, I was following my nose to see where I belonged. I’m very busy. I love my life. I want to create an antidote to hatred and violence, to celebrate the planet, its richness and the environment and the human spirit.” She smiled. “That’s what it’s all about.”
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