A man of many talents

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This article was published 31/07/2015 (3954 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Portage la Prairie’s Ted Meseyton calls himself the Singing Gardener and Grow-it Poet and he has the fruit, vegetables and words to back up his title.

The longtime Portage resident said he believes every person should use their natural talents. His include musical skills, the ability to write prose, poetry and song lyrics, and a green thumb.

Meseyton combines his zeal for growing plants with his love of writing in the gardening column he’s written for Grainews, an agricultural newspaper, for the past nine years. His columns contain practical advice on improving plant growth through natural methods and his replies to questions sent in by readers from across western Canada and Ontario. He sometimes slips in a poem as well.

He said his overall writing tone is folksy, and readers seem to enjoy what he writes as was demonstrated by a strong response to his offer made earlier this year of free packages of heritage tomato seeds.

He said that 381 people entered the contest to win one of the 16 seed packages he was giving away.

“The response was phenomenal.”

During his youth and early adult life Meseyton took formal writing instruction from a private tutor; worked at a newspaper and then in broadcast journalism as a news writer-reporter, as a disc jockey and an on-air personality for a number of years. 

Later he worked as a provincial court clerk for many years, but was determined to pursue his dream of writing.

“I knew that I wanted to write,” he said. He began visiting the local newspaper office on a regular basis in hopes of getting hired as a freelance writer. His persistence paid off, and he’s written for Portage papers for many years.

As for music, Meseyton took formal speaking and singing lessons and studied guitar. He writes and performs his own songs, including one recounting the legend of the White Horse that marks the entrance to St. Francois Xavier. This song ends with Meseyton doing some yodelling, a skill that he learned from a German woman he first saw performing at a Folklorama pavilion in Winnipeg.

“I always loved yodelling and there aren’t many people who’ve got that skill,” he said.
He has passed his love of music and performing to his son Chris, who is an accomplished accordion player. The two sometimes perform together.

Meseyton said his green thumb can be traced back to his mother, who always had a large garden to produce food for the family. He also took workshops and sought the advice of local market gardeners. His prized crop is bluebell grapes, a variety of blue-skinned grapes that grow on vines hearty enough to survive through Manitoba winters.

“I never protect my vines,” he said. However, the trick to ensuring healthy vines and a good yield is proper pruning in the spring and mid-summer.

Meseyton primarily uses his grapes to make grape juice, which he says is a natural beverage with health benefits.

The Singing Gardener might be best-known among local residents for a song, called Oh It Must Be the Tomatoes, he penned about 10 years ago to inform people, especially men, about the importance of getting a regular prostate exam.

“It’s a fun song with an important message,” he said.

Meseyton can be contacted for information and bookings at singing gardener@mts.net or 204-857-5766.

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