I was raised not too far from Maynooth and Lake St. Peter. It's beautiful land but challenging to grow things. Here's some random local insight. I hope some of it will help you with planning!
I am glad you have some higher land. A lot of rivers in that area have flooded in the past few years and done some damage to homes and cottages due to abnormal spring conditions meaning more water than normal needs to be released from dams... and that lake looks like it's dam controlled, which would be why it doesnt usually flood. I have no idea what the creek banks look like but you may consider planting willow to stabilize it in case of flood? We had a friend lose a good portion of her lot, and almost her house a few years ago.
The farmers market on Saturdays in Maynooth is surprisingly busy with lots of local and often organic produce. Most people there are quite friendly and like to talk. Someone there may have suggestions for good varieties to try. Combermere's Madonna house raises much of their own food and has for decades. I heard they scoured old homesteads collecting local apple varieties and grafted them to some special cold tolerant apple rootstock. They might be interesting to talk to and have an open house day and tours. There are a few localish nurseries that specialize in cold tolerant plants. I haven't bought from them but wanted to - golden bough tree farm and the hardy fruit tree nursery come to mind.
I grew up north of there in a cold valley. We had no success with anything not rated for zone 3 and several years had 2 straight weeks it wouldn't rise above -30C. Summers can get quite hot(30-35 C +and very humid) although the nights tend to be cooler. The last few years have had long fire bans due to lack of rain. Keep in mind when looking at varieties that there are differences between Canada's system for agricultural zoning and the American one. We had moderate success with the University of Saskatchewan sour cherries, and with saskatoons, grapes, currants, and goose berries- they grew but the birds got most of them. Strawberries and rhubarb did well. Never bothered to plant raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries as they are abundant in the wild. Zone 4 and 5 rated apples, grapes, and cherries died, as did many zone 4 and 5 perennials. They would live for a few years them die off affer a bad winter or a bad drought. We would have had more success if our soil was deeper and if we had mulched or fertilized prior to planting. Our soil was 10-50cm of orange brown silty sand with a scant few cm of topsoil, over bedrock. I only saw a moose twice but there are LOTS of deer , wild turkeys, and some black bears. We didn't have a deer problem and never fenced anything but we had dogs. Locals say the deer tend to spend the summers in the uplands and move down to the valleys to eat cedar and pine and have shelter from the wind in winter. Maybe try planting both in the uplands and in the valley?
That trail is likely to be very busy with ATVS in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. I walked ATV trails occasionally or skied them but you have to be ready to jump off in a hurry. The ATVs/snowmobilers pay to maintain the trails and definitely think they have right of way. Definitely find a good lock for your shipping container and maybe try to keep it, any outhouse you build, and trails to it hidden from the trail. It's also a big hunting area so wear orange if you are out walking in the fall even on your own land. This is cottage country so the highways are often stop and go traffic north on Friday nights and south on Sundays during the summer.
Oh! And if you go in May and June bring a bug net, hat, and clothing that covers you completely including gloves and pants tucked into socks
Blackflies like running water and bug spray isn't much help.
Good luck Kacy! I hope to see photos and updates in the next few years-especially about what grows. A lot of the things on your trial list are things I wanted to try when I lived there. It sounds like a great project.
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