To expand on her wisdom, researchers are trying to re-create the gardens of insightful and meticulous record-keeper Mabel Bell. (Her husband, Alexander Graham Bell, was no slouch either.)
Alana Pindar is smiling broadly as she nudges a tiny green tomato with the tip of her forefinger.That tiny tomato represents the first fruit — yes, fruit — of a garden that is as much a tribute as it is her research.
Her motive for planting the garden was not particularly unusual — she grew it to feed her family and the workers on the estate. What was unusual was that in doing so, and documenting it so thoroughly, she showed a prescient understanding of the ecology of plant systems, of the importance of crop diversity and of a hospitable environment for pollinators — mostly bees, in her case.
They are important critters. One in three bites of food you put in your mouth, she says, is a direct result of the efforts of pollinators. “So, what I’m finding there, I’m going to be comparing back to the re-creation and seeing how the pollinators return. Do they return? Is there something else driving the populations in that area or is it that easy? Is it just as simple as we just need to give them their plant?”
In the other plot — the vegetable garden — are planted a mix of crops: squashes, tomatoes, bell peppers, blueberries and more. These are potential targets for pollinators. It worked. At Beinn Bhreagh recently, on the day of the Star’s visit, the air is calm and still — surprising, given that it rests on a hill on a point which juts out into the lake. That’s thanks to Mabel’s windbreak, but also to the surrounding forest doing the same job.
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