Historic Keremeos Grist Mill gardens to benefit from $150K heritage grant

The heritage gardens at Keremeos’ historic Grist Mill will be a beneficiary of a grant from the province’s Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure program.

The $150,000 in funding will go specifically toward restoring and improving the heritage gardens and landscaping on site at the Grist Mill and Gardens at Keremeos, according to a Grist Mill media release.

The grant will be used over the next year to re-landscape large portions of the site in order to highlight the significant heritage seed research and collection done on site, in addition to providing improved outdoor amenities such as a multi-purpose garden gazebo, expanded interpretive signage and more, the Grist Mill said.

"Although this heritage site is best-known for its unique heritage buildings, such as Western Canada’s only working heritage waterwheel-powered flour mill, it has also played a pivotal role in the heritage garden interpretation, seed-saving and research movement over the last 30 years,” general manager Chris Mathieson said in the release.

It’s hoped the funding will help restore the mill’s gardens to their original status as one of the best heritage gardens in Canada.

“One of the site’s first interpreters, Sharon Rempel, was a true visionary who saw, before many others, the value in collecting and preserving endangered and historically-important fruit, vegetable and ornamental plants," Mathieson said. "It’s not an understatement to say that her work in these gardens, which wasn’t even her main job, has had a massive influence on the modern popularity of artisanal bakeries that are using heritage grains, on the seed companies that are reintroducing heritage varieties for sale and now an apple cider industry specifically interested in the sorts of heritage apple varieties she collected for this site."

Sixty-eight projects provincewide are being funded through the Heritage Infrastructure Fund.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to tips@infonews.ca and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.