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Flowers for love and money


The herb garden of Cynthia Cook Story by Dorothy Dobbie, photos by Veronica Sliva.


Cynthia Cook at home in her garden. M


any years ago, on a farm near the shores of Lake Huron, a small girl dreamed away her days


amidst the fragrance of roses and lilacs and peonies grown by her father. Their scents had the power to transport her to a world of intense happiness as she harvested their petals to make perfumes surrounded by the dozy drum of the bees, drunk on the nectar of alfalfa and sugar beets. Cynthia Cook was only eight years old,


but she had a clear picture of where her life was headed and it was straight into the heart of the flower kingdom where enchantment ruled. She is now the owner for Forest Glen Herb Farm and Bed and Breakfast. It could hardly have gone any other


way. The headiness of the plant world surrounded her. Both grandmothers were skilled in the ways of plants. Her grandmother on her mother’s side always smelled of lavender and lily-of-the-valley and successfully grew Hydrangea macro- phylla (then called hortensia), a delicate plant even around Lake Huron. She grew herbs and taught Cynthia’s mother to cook with them. Cynthia’s paternal mother did the same, completely under-


8 • Winter 2014


standing the natural culinary uses of the flowers and herbs that are not only beau- tiful but useful. Cynthia has a deep connection to this


land, her family having come here from Scotland 180 years ago, in 1833, as one of the area’s earliest pioneering families. She knows how to coax unlimited goodness from the soil, using the intensive agricul- tural practices inherited from her British ancestors. Her current home occupies an eight-acre site on Lambton Shores near the lake and here she raises 7,000 plants a year, employing traditional methods with very few mechanical devices to assist her. Her husband uses a very old tractor to pull the cultivator in spring time and, occasionally, Cynthia calls in the help of a roto tiller. The rest is done entirely by hand – all the sowing and weeding and harvesting. There is a lot of this to do. The harvest


is the product sold in her retail store that is housed in a 140-year-old barn. It provides the staples for the cuisine in her Bed and Breakfast, that occupies a 130-year-old house on the property. “We grow just about everything we eat,” says Cynthia.


As that wonder-struck eight-year -old,


Cynthia’s greatest thrill was making bottles of perfume from flower petals and distilled water. Today, she continues to pursue her passion, adding not only soaps and lotions to her list of potions, but also many culinary herb and spice mixes. “Yesterday, I made a wonderful herb and garlic mix for fish,” she says. She used fennel, dill, lemon thyme and lemon basil. (“It’s not bay-zil,” she emphasizes. “It’s basil, as in dazzle with basil.”) Imita- tors may have to experiment to get the exact proportions of each as she is sensibly not about to give away her trade secrets. When it comes to herbs, Cynthia grows


hundreds of different varieties, both annu- als and perennials. These include parsley, sage, chervil, arugula, dill, cilantro and the already named fennel and basil, the most sought after herb in her garden. She grows 23 different varieties, which she plants in staggered batches to keep fresh growth available as long as possible. Customers can harvest their own bunches of basil and dill. (She advises those in clay soil areas to grow dill in raised beds.) “People love cutting their own herbs,” she says, clearly getting a vicarious thrill


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