Author: Chris Mathieson

I'm a father, a husband, a son and the General Manager of the Grist Mill and Gardens Historic Site.

Apple Day 2015

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WE NEED YOUR HELP!

This year has been an exceptional year for growers in the Similkameen Valley, with many crops coming in three (or more) weeks early. That isn’t a bad thing, but it does create a difficulty for one of our most popular annual events, Apple Day.

Traditionally, our Apple Day is on Thanksgiving Monday in the middle of October, but with such an early season there will likely not be many heritage varieties still in their prime that late. As such, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to move up our Apple Day festivities and include them, instead, in our Heritage Fall Fair on September 20th. Also, many of our usual apple-loving volunteers will be hard at work in their orchards at that time, and will be less able to help than they usually are.

Here’s where you can help… We’re already pretty busy with organizing the rest of our Fall Fair, so need some extra volunteer assistance with pulling together the apple component. That means helping track down orchards in the region with heritage varieties, helping set up an informative display, helping run some apple-related activities that day and more.

If you’re interested in lending a hand or maybe have a lead on someone with heritage apple varieties in their orchard in the Similkameen or South Okanagan, please drop Chris a line at chris@oldgristmill.ca or at 250-499-2888 as soon as possible.

If you’re curious about the sorts of heritage varieties we’re interested in, here’s a list of many of the kinds of apples grown historically in the Okanagan:

Okanagan Heritage Apple List

Thanks, and please help us spread the word!

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Call for Entertainers – 2015 Summer Concert Series and more

The Rakish Angles playing in our Summer Kitchen.

The Grist Mill and Gardens has now started planning our 2015 schedule of events and have numerous opportunities for musicians and entertainers.

1) Summer Concert Series

The Grist Mill is a 12 acre Provincial Heritage Site in the heart of the Similkameen Valley featuring western Canada’s only working waterwheel-powered flour mill and stunning gardens. Our Summer Kitchen provides an intimate, rustic outdoor venue for folk, roots and world music for audiences of up to 200 from June to Sept.

The last two years, we’ve hosted an evening concert series and hope to do the same this summer, with a further expanded lineup. (Four shows in 2013, six in 2014 and eight this summer.) The series features one outdoor evening show a week from Mid-July to early September, timed to coincide with the spectacular sunsets here in the Similkameen Valley. Dates are somewhat flexible, but we’d prefer Thursday to Saturday evenings to ensure the largest possible audiences.

If you’re part of a group of no more than four members that might be suitable for headlining one of these shows, we’d love to hear from you.

2) Special Event Days

Each year, the Grist Mill hosts a number of special event days with our partners including Victoria Day (May 18), Father’s Day (Jun 21), Canada Day (Jul 1), BC Day (Aug 3) and Labour Day (Sept 7) as well as our Fall Fair (Sept 20) and Apple Day festival (Oct 12). We’re always looking for musicians or other performers interested in being a part of these family-oriented events and we can accommodate amplified performances in our Summer Kitchen, roving or busking style performances throughout our site and more. 

3) Private Events

The Grist Mill often hosts events such as weddings, reunions or private receptions are are often asked for a list of recommended musical acts to play unamplified in our gardens for their event. Classical guitar, wind or string trios or quartets would be ideal for these sorts of opportunities.

If you’re interested in any of these opportunities, please contact us at entertainers@oldgristmill.ca no later than March 13, 2015 with the following information:

  • Group/Artist Name
  • Main Contact and contact information (phone #, email address, etc)
  • Theme/Style of Music or Type of Act
  • Number of performers in act
  • Available Dates & Times
  • A brief overview of the experience and background of the act
  • The rundown of the equipment requirements for your performance
  • Compensation expectations
  • Any other information you think would help us find the perfect opportunity for you

We would also appreciate a sample of you performing, either a video or audio recording. You can email us links or mail us CDs or DVDs, whatever is most appropriate. If you don’t have recordings, we may request an in-person audition.

Please direct all questions or submissions to Chris Mathieson, Site Operator at entertainers@oldgristmill.ca.

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The Grist Mill Welcomes Innovative Chef

Meet our newest addition: Chef Natasha Shooten
Meet our newest addition: Chef Natasha Schooten

As the Similkameen Valley becomes a destination for the creative cook to source the freshest ingredients, one of its iconic historical sites has added a seasoned chef to its team.

The Grist Mill and Gardens at Keremeos welcomes Chef Natasha Schooten, whose career has taken her from two Delta Hotels and Resorts, to Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, and most recently to Terrafina Restaurant at Hester Creek Estate Winery.

“Here in the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys, chefs are blessed with plentiful access to the freshest ingredients, from organic vegetables to thoughtfully raised proteins,” says Chef Natasha. “Setting menus for the Tea Room and events at the Grist Mill in the heart of farming country is an exceptional opportunity for me as a chef.”
The Grist Mill is home to the mill itself — the only working mill of its type west of Winnipeg, and a provincial heritage site — where visitors can watch grain becoming flour; originally built in 1877, the mill produces flour that may very well end up in the site’s own outdoor stone oven. A campground, the Tea Room, gift shop, and surrounding gardens round out an entire experience not be missed.

Heritage plays a critical role on the property, where almost 40 varieties of heritage apple trees thrive, and research has led to the preservation and popularity of wheat types, such as Red Fife.

Natasha in the Similkameen“We are pleased to welcome Chef Natasha as we continue to build our capacity for visitors, and treat them to a true farm to table experience,” says Chris Mathieson, operator of the site. “We are very lucky to have a chef of such caliber plant her culinary roots in the Similkameen.”

Chef Natasha has already begun establishing herself at the Grist Mill. She will soon be placing her stamp on the menu in the Tea Room, where visitors can enjoy local preserves, organic tea and coffee, as well as a lunch of soup, salads and sandwiches, from all locally sourced, seasonal and ingredients, as well as creating menus for the Mill’s summer concert series and other special events. Many of the vegetables and herbs used in the dishes will come from heritage plants grown on the site’s two acre garden, and of course the freshly milled flour will be highlighted.

“I have often come to the Similkameen for ingredients, now they will be closer than ever, and truly reflect the history of agriculture and preservation at the Mill,” says the chef.

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