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From the seed of an idea, a community benefits |
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March 16, 2017 |
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| Casimir Holeski's love for
growing things isn't his passion alone,
it is shared by everyone in his family;
wife Katie, daughter Sopia and twins
Gabriel and Isabel are all as avid as he
is! Here Gabriel checks out the dill
growing amidst the blossoming lilies. |
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By Mike Weland
Editor
On his business card, Casimir "Cas" Holeski
defines himself as a "Fruit and Nut Enthusiast,"
and it's a self-bestowed title that didn't come
about easily. But it's a good thing it did, as
his enthusiasm for all things growing has led
him on a one man mission that is starting to
change how people in Boundary County look at
their food supply in a most fundamental way.
Cas, a 1992 graduate of Bonners Ferry High
School who lives with his wife and three
children on 20 acres up Camp Nine Road, said he
started thinking about food and where it comes
from about 12 years ago and, like many, decided
that a garden was a logical first step to
getting a sure supply of good and healthy food.
"I'm not a survivalist, but I like good food and
I couldn't really afford the good, fresh food I
wanted for myself and my family at the grocery
store," he said, "and that got me thinking about
food security ... what happens if we have a
really bad winter and the trucks can't get
through to stock the stores? If the electricity
goes out, the refrigeration?"
His first attempt at gardening was ambitious.
Looking at his piece of Boundary County, he saw
hills, many of them steep, trees and lots and
lots of rocks. In fact, a good bit of ground was
sheer granite. He decided that raised beds were
the way to go, and he set about building them,
which was pretty straight forward and relatively
easy. Then, when the waist high boxes were
built, he set about filling them with soil with
shovel and wheelbarrow and realized that the job
was a bit more labor-intensive than he'd
anticipated.
Unlike most folks, when Cas gets hold of an
idea, he has a tendency to pursue it, learning
all he can through any source available. He read
books, stopped to visit with the owners of
gardens he saw and admired to chat and learn how
they grew things. He was amazed, he said, to
find out how happy and gracious they were to
share.
He found what he calls an amazing resource,
Facebook, and was soon networked with gardening
enthusiasts from around the world, as eager to
learn and to share their knowledge as he was.
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| What brings
a smile; "Posing with a second year
grafted heirloom apple. I'm six feet
tall and this apple is well above that!" |
The raised beds soon gave way to more natural
"on-ground" beds, the straight, tidy rows of a
single crop to an amalgam of plants that grow
well together. Instead of toiling to pick out
the endless supply of rocks, they are now part
of the beds, natural heat sinks that collect the
sun's warmth by day and release it slowly
through the night. In addition, they provide
shelter for a plethora of garden creatures
beneficial to the things he grows; worms, the
occasional toad and more.
A starting orchard of four trees grew into a
seemingly haphazard scattering of fruit and nut
trees, though each tree is, in fact carefully
situated on more marginal ground to form a "sun
mirror" that reflects light on the tender
annuals and helps protect them from the wind.
What started as a hobby was soon a burgeoning
career, the addition of a green house became the
foundation of the Infinity Matrix Permaculture
Nursery, a place where he could propagate for
his garden and have enough seed, scions and
plants left over to sell.
It wasn't all that long before he started
looking outside his own garden, spying old
derelict fruit trees that seemed to be situated
in the middle of nowhere, long untended but
still bearing fruit for birds, deer and other
wildlife. He began looking up the owners of the
lands, both for permission to take a closer look
and to gather scions from which to re-propagate
the old classics as well as to see if he could
learn more about them.
"I was fascinated to learn of all the orchards
planted here around 100 years ago," he said.
"These old trees were once part of some pretty
impressive operations, but from what I've
learned, a series of bad weather years knocked a
lot of them back, and people gave up."
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| When most
think of a star, Lady Gaga, Justin
Bieber or depending on your age, Frank
Sinatra might come first to mind. In
2016, the biggest star in Cas Holeski's
world (besides his family), was this
awesome Carpathian walnut seedling. |
Some of the old trees he's found are heirloom
cultivars that are now exceedingly rare, and
each one that has survived is testimony that
they are well suited to grow here and well
adapted to this environment. He came to see the
need for what he calls a community forest, not a
stand or mere collection of trees brought in and
planted for the riches they provide, but rather
an accounting of the myriad fruit and nut trees
already growing here.
That led him to launch the Boundary County
Orchard Restoration Project to revitalize these
wonderful old trees and to ensure that they live
on. A one man effort borne from nothing but an
idea grew quickly, and now many county
landowners, surprised to learn more about some
of the old, weathered trees they'd long assumed
just grew there are, in fact, the remnants of a
wonderful part of county history, as well as a
lasting source of nutritious food.
"Many of these old trees are reaching the end of
their years," Cas said, "but there is still time
to save them, to keep the genetic line alive and
growing."
Another project that arose from his fertile mind
and continued excitement is the Boundary County
Fruit and Nut Collaborative, a way for local
growers to work together to explore and share
resources to enable them to take advantage of
commercial possibilities individual growers
could not afford on their own.
Like one successful flower that blossoms in a
barren landscape, the seeds of the ideas
germinating in Casimir's mind are
spreading outward, slowly at first but
inexorably. He now gives classes regularly at
the Boundary County Extension Office and speaks
to anyone interested, and more often than not
the ideas reach receptive ears and the seeds of
ideas grow and take on a new life of their own.
And sometimes, it's happenstance, a mere
coincidence, that bears the best fruit.
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| Cas and the
twins when they were just sprouts. |
Grumbling about having to go see a doctor at
Boundary Community Hospital one morning not long
ago, he happened to spot what looked like an old
orchard, now just four old trees, at the base of
a hill on an empty lot on the west side of the
hospital, and came to learn those trees were
what remained of an old homestead on what is now
hospital property.
"It was a happy accident," he said.
He went to hospital public information officer
Lauren Kuczka to ask permission to collect scions
from the old apple and apricot trees, and they
started chatting about having fresh food to
serve to patients and residents.
In the 1950s, an auxiliary group collected
locally grown produce for the hospital, canning
what couldn't be served fresh, but more
stringent regulations made it harder to do, and
the practice died out. Cas learned that there's
no reason the hospital can't accept local
produce, but if it's preserved, it has to be
processed in a certified kitchen ... and it
turns out the hospital just happens to have one.
Cas and Lauren paid a visit to maintenance
supervisor Deanna Galbraith, who gave Cas
permission not only to gather scions from the
four old trees, but accepted his offer to
renovate them, and to bring students to the
hospital property to learn pruning and orchard
care. Not only that, she liked the idea of a
community garden in which to grow produce, fruit
and nuts for use by the hospital.
They took the idea to hospital CEO Craig
Johnson, and he, too, was enthused, and gave the
go ahead to the idea.
Work is now underway to renovate those four, old
and wizened trees, and to plant more trees,
likely to include many of the scions collected
by Cas over the years. Plans are being developed
for a poly-cultural garden that will provide
enough fresh fruit, nuts, vegetables and produce
to keep the hospital kitchen stocked
year-around, with the garden designed to provide
freshly picked garden fare for the longest time
the growing season will allow.
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| Katie and
Casimir Holeski |
While Cas is the man with the green thumb and
the vision, he's the first to admit that he
can't bring the idea to fruition on his own;
that, in fact, he is just one small part of a
much bigger wheel. As with nearly every good
idea, it takes the talents of a whole community.
"There are amazing things being done right here,
from growing to marketing to financing, but the
one thing missing is connectivity, bringing
people together," Cas said. "We all haves
skills, knowledge, interests and ideas -- the
key is to bring them all together so we all
benefit."
Like a seed, a good idea starts small and expand
outwards, "me, my family, my community, my
town," as Cas puts it, and in his vision, it's
cooperation, not competition, that is essential
in nurturing the seed of a good idea into
something beneficial of which we can all be
proud.
"It makes me feel good to grow good, healthy
food," he said, "but this is so much more than
gardening. There is something in this to which
everyone can contribute."
Those interested in learning more or who have
ideas or help to offer and who are looking for
the best way to reach him might not be surprised
to know that phones, stamps or even email aren't
the surest ways, but that a private message on
Facebook through any one of the several Facebook
pages he maintains will most quickly get his
attention and response.
Just log in and look up
Infinity Matrix Permaculture Nursery,
Boundary County Orchard Restoration Project,
or, if all else fails,
Casimir Holeski. Don't be surprised that
each page you visit will greet you with photos,
videos and news of walnuts, apples, the
opportunity in a broken branch.
He is, after all, a fruit and nut enthusiast. |
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