No need to tell us that you are annoyed about the flies when you visit us at The Good Earth. So are we! They are the reason we have not been able to fire up the pizza oven and offer you our new exciting summer menu!
After weeks and weeks of frustration, (and I mean FRUSTRATION with every comment card that ccomes in with “great food, wonderful staff, beautiful venue…but too many flies! — thanks for putting another knife through my heart! ARGH!!!) I decided to take matters into hand. Taking my lead from the famed super sleuth Hercule Poirot, I conducted a little research and investigation with other homes and businesses around The Good Earth. What I quickly discovered was that everyone — businesses, residents and local pets from Durham Rd. through Bartlett Rd. – in effect the entire town of Beamsville were suffering the same plague. Go searching for a fly swatter or icky, old school (and may I say environmentally friendly and super effective) fly strip in the area and you hear the same refrain –“sorry, we are all sold out!”
Given how localized the plague was, I figured out that there had to be a source somewhere in the vicinity. A call to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Farm Practices specialist Hugh and a sit down on site soon had the probable source identified…6 beautiful barns to the south of us filled with Muscovy ducks! Seems they have a longer production cycle and well…produce more and wetter excrement than other birds…a perfect breeding ground for flies. To add to it, the flies have a travelling radius of one mile explaining why all of Beamsville is suffering!
We wish our neighbour no ill will and understand that he is actually a fine farmer BUT we have requested (actually demanded) that something be done ASAP to address the situation. I have obligations to my creditors for this place I have built but more importantly to my loyal earthlings.
This week, a wasp will be introduced into the barns to attack the fly larvae and hopefully that coupled with some new fangled biological practices from University of Guelph will help make this all just a distant memory. Unfortunately, some old school killer pesticides are not in the cards since there are blessed birds still in the barns.
I cannot begin to express how mentally exhausting this situation has been. Ask any of my neighbours, who cower in their homes — relaxing outdoors with some friends over and glass of wine and with the BBQ blazing is totally out of the question. In fact, two of my neighbours dropped in last week to rally the troops (and if you only new how many times I have heard the refrain…well it was a very wet spring so…so what, I say. There is no plague of flies on the streets of Jordan or St. Catharines!!) and get a petition going to get some action. After I brought them up to speed on my discoveries, one neighbour decided that the day the flies dissipate, we are firing up the pizza oven and gathering all the neighbours on the street for a little f@*! the flies celebration!
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we tackle a classic “right to farm” conundrum. We appreciate your business and trust that you understand our predicament and efforts to address them.