At the time a long time ago-gunpowder was very scarce, and money even more so. Some of our Lanark County residents had a unique way of bagging the wild pigeons that were plentiful then. Knowing the favourite feeding and roosting places of the birds, the residents of Ashton soaked pail after pail of peas in high wines, scattered the grain on the ground, then sat and watched.

The pigeons would descend in hundreds to the feast, and in a very short matter of time the village would have a glorious choice of birds. All you had to do was pick them up, put them in a bag, and the community was assured of pigeon pie for some time.