Autumn In The Hills 2020

Autumn A

M A G A Z I N E

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C O U N T R Y

L I V I N G

VOLUME 27 NUMBER 3 2020

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R E G I O N

Working

from home

(and internet woes)

On the prowl for antiques The nice kids of 4-H Preserving tradition

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F E A T U R E S 24 AT HOME IN T HE OFFIC E

Once the pandemic is over, many people intend to keep working from home — if only their rural internet will co-operate

by Paul Webster 32 A FINE V IN TAGE

A treasure hunt with purveyors of antiques and collectibles across Headwaters

by James MacDonald

62 FROM SOIL TO TA BLE

For a Caledon gardener, preserving the harvest is a link to her ancestral roots

by Gail Grant 68 NOT YOUR GR ANDMOTHER’S 4 - H

But the principles of head, heart, hands and health still thrive in Headwaters

by Anthony Jenkins

40 MORE THAN TREES

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From deep in the earth to high in the sky, our local forests teem with life

by Don Scallen 57 PRE SERV ING TR ADITION

Our forebears knew how to put sunshine in a jar. Local pros share their canning tips

by Tony Reynolds

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14 L E T T E R S

76 H E A DWAT E R S N E S T

Our readers write

When times are tough – decorate!

by Bethany Lee

17 A R T I S T I N R E S I D E N C E

Patty Maher

78 OV ER THE (NE X T ) HILL

Hanging up my apron

by Gail Grant

19 F I E L D N O T E S

What to see, do, watch this autumn

by Janice Quirt 23 FENCE POSTS

When the spirit moves

by Dan Needles

8 0 AT HOME IN T HE HIL L S 65 MADE IN THE HILLS

A model of off-grid living

by Janice Quirt

Knitter Svetlana Ponkin

by Elaine Anselmi

98 W H AT ’S ON (AG A IN)

A calendar of autumn happenings 48 HISTORIC HILLS

67 LOC AL BU YS

The trees had to go

by Ken Weber

Printed cushions and jewelled letters

by Janice Quirt

53 FOOD + DRINK

1 0 6 A P U Z Z L I N G C O N C L U S I O N

by Ken Weber

74 G O O D S P O R T

Moveable feasts and sweet diversions

by Janice Quirt

Kayaking on Island Lake

by Nicola Ross

I N D E X 1 0 2 F I N D A N A D V E R T I S E R

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VOL .27 NO.3 2020

publisher and editor Signe Ball art director Kim van Oosterom Wallflower Design writers Elaine Anselmi Marilyn Boyle Gail Grant Anthony Jenkins Bethany Lee James MacDonald Dan Needles Tralee Pearce Janice Quirt Tony Reynolds Nicola Ross Don Scallen Ken Weber Paul Webster photographers Erin Fitzgibbon Rosemary Hasner James MacDonald Robert McCaw Pete Paterson

associate editors Tralee Pearce Dyanne Rivers operations manager Cindy Caines regional sales managers Roberta Fracassi Erin Woodley advertising production Marion Hodgson Type & Images events and copy editor Janet Dimond web manager inthehills.ca Valerie Jones Echohill Web Sites on our cover Tony Reynolds’ preserves

by Pete Paterson

illustrators Shelagh Armstrong Ruth Ann Pearce Jim Stewart

In The Hills is published quarterly by MonoLog Communications Inc. It is distributed through controlled circulation to households in the towns of Caledon, Erin, Orangeville, Shelburne and Creemore, and Dufferin County. Annual subscriptions outside the distribution area are $25.95 (including HST).

For information regarding editorial content or letters to the editor: 519-942-8401 or sball@inthehills.ca.

For advertising, contact one of our sales managers: Roberta Fracassi 519-943-6822 roberta@inthehills.ca (Orangeville, Shelburne, Creemore, areas N of Hwy 9) Erin Woodley 519-216-3795 erin@inthehills.ca (Caledon, Bolton, Erin and areas S of Hwy 9) Š 2020 MonoLog Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

No reproduction by any means or in any form may be made without prior written consent by the publisher.

Find us online at www.inthehills.ca Like us on facebook.com/InTheHills Follow us on twitter.com/inthehillsmag and on instagram.com/inthehillsmag

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Ad booking deadline for the winter (November) issue is October 23, 2020.

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C O N T R I B U T O R S

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Don Scallen is passionate about nature in all its kaleidoscopic diversity from songbirds to salamanders and mayflies to maples. He explores meadows, woodlands and wetlands to learn the fascinating stories that plants and animals tell. Don taught middle school science for more than 20 years, allowing him to share his love of nature with children, something he enjoyed immensely. In addition to writing for In The Hills, he provides talks and workshops for the Bruce Trail Conservancy, Ontario Nature, Guelph Arboretum and High Park Walking Tours. This fall he is publishing his first book, Nature Where We Live: Activities to Engage Your Inner Scientist from Pond Dipping to Animal Tracking. In this issue, Don explores the vast network of life sheltered by local forests. Between issues, his “Notes from the Wild” blog at inthehills.ca zooms in on species he’s observing in real time – most recently foxes, beetles and moths.

roberta fracassi Whenever Roberta Fracassi drives along Broadway in Orangeville, she has fond memories of growing up in the hills of Headwaters.

After a 19-year stint commuting from Orangeville to Brampton as a dental assistant, Roberta found what we consider her true calling as one of two In The Hills marketing managers. In 2008, Roberta completed Magazine Canada’s School for Advertising Sales and this year celebrates her 12th anniversary serving clients in Orangeville, Shelburne, Rosemont and other locations north of Highway 9. “We have an amazing team spirit and it’s no wonder In The Hills is the best loved and most read publication in all of Headwaters,” she says. She enjoys making the most out of life with her husband, their two children and her friends. It’s not surprising to anyone who knows her that Roberta won the Dufferin Women in Business Networker of the Year Award in 2017. “We all need to help one another to succeed,” she says.

erin woodley Erin Woodley has known the meaning of hard work since she was a kid. The highlight of 15 years of competitive synchronized swimming? Winning an Olympic silver medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta! Erin brings this drive to her work as an In The Hills marketing manager.

Erin moved to Orangeville with her husband and daughters in 2012 and has worked with the magazine for six years. “It’s energizing to work with so many bright, creative and caring women,” she says of the core team. With a background in advertising, sales and fundraising, Erin is keen to build lasting relationships with her clients in Caledon, Bolton, Erin and other areas south of Highway 9. In her spare time, Erin is a volunteer swim coach with Dufferin Special Olympics. She also loves spending time with her family, her two French bulldogs and stacks of books, along with trying out new plant-based recipes.

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Here at In The Hills, we’ve always been decentralized. All the folks on our masthead work from their home offices, scattered across the towns and countryside of Headwaters. And now with the rest of the world catching on to the idea, we like to think of ourselves as trendsetters – who can vouch for what a very fine way to work it is.

At this magazine, our work culture is based on trust and respect.

In a business driven by hard deadlines, I have faith as publisher that our talented and thoughtful team understands their jobs, represents the magazine professionally, and that we’ll all get our work done on time. And so it has proven. But how and when we work is up to each of us. Some of us are morning people and some work best at night. If there’s a child to get to swim class, a parentteacher meeting to attend, a visiting friend to pick up from the airport, or even a midday yoga class to make, personal schedules get juggled and balanced accordingly.

As for the social aspect of a formal office, or so-called watercooler creativity, well, although we mostly communicate electronically on business matters, working remotely hasn’t stopped ideas from flowing or friendships from being forged.

So is it all perfect? None of us would probably go that far. And Covid has certainly added some pressure points to everyone’s carefully orchestrated schedules, but because here at the magazine we were already used to the idea of working from home, perhaps we were able to adapt more readily.

In this issue, writer Paul Webster looks at how the pandemicaccelerated trend to working from home is playing out across these hills, as well as the big problem that stands in the way of making it a happy reality for more of us – that is, our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad rural internet. He also reviews some of the initiatives underway to solve that problem, though he finds a broad-based (make that broadband-based) solution for everyone is probably still years away.

In her Headwaters Nest column, Bethany Lee notes, “Over the past few months, we’ve certainly become familiar with our own four walls.” If your family is like Bethany’s, for whom managing the lockdown meant discovering a new zest for self-reliance and DIY projects, this issue also offers plenty of inspiration, from growing and preserving your own produce, to redecorating with the durable comfort of vintage furniture, or to reducing your reliance on the grid.

We’re not out of the Covid woods yet, so keep those home fires burning – and stay safe.

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L E T T E R S

Inspired by the

Fairies

dalerosecountry@bellnet.ca Staying home never felt so good!

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Saving Energy Never Felt More Comfortable

I was inspired by the fairy house in your summer edition [“Away with the Fairies”] and made one (pictured above) for my garden. The foundation is a wooden birdhouse and I collected the stones along the shore of Lake Huron.

Our son and daughter-in-law live in Orangeville. I live in Mississauga but head to the hills often to hike, bike and explore.

Janet Larter, Mississauga

An addendum from writer Gail Grant: My grandkids and I were rambling in the forest recently, checking in on some of the fairy houses. Next to one was a jar stuffed with three ornate silver buttons, chunks of polished orange amber and a Brownie patch, along with this charming note.

Covid reflections I have found the entire period from mid-March until now very distressing. In part, that is due to the terrible loss of life of those innocent victims in long-term care facilities here in Ontario [Editor’s Desk: “No Life Untouched” summer’20].

Knowing what I know from years ago when some predicted that a huge crisis in these facilities was possible due to budget cuts, apathy, mismanagement and callous government changes with respect to inspections, a disaster that was predictable happened. My hope is that we do not slide back, but that is possible after the present concerns abate. We all have to push to make sure that a return to previous conditions does not recur. Another concern is that some politicians are using the pandemic in a very opportunistic way for their own political agenda.

I like the personal accounts in the summer issue [“Pandemic Journals”].

Very community-oriented, which is what we need. We all must remember we each have a responsibility to look after each other and not let greed and ambition again be the dominant norm in our society.

Joe Grogan, Bolton

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From the dynamic cover to the kaleidoscope of excellent articles, insights and photos – primarily having the pandemic as their theme – I found your summer issue to be uplifting, positive and ever so full of creative ways that our fellow neighbours have put into play, not only to survive but thrive in this ever-changing “new normal.” Well done indeed!

Verona Teskey, Bolton

We welcome your comments!

For more commentary from our readers, or to add your own thoughts on any of the stories in this issue, please visit www.inthehills.ca. You can also send your letters by email to sball@inthehills.ca. Please include your name, address and contact information.

In The Hills reserves the right to edit letters for publication.

Over 35 years in the Real Estate Industry… …I have learned that how you live should determine where you live. There is no need to settle for less.

In 2020, this observation is even more relevant. The turmoil and uncertainty of 2020 has made many, many people re-assess their real estate plans. This year has been one of the busiest in my career. My decades of experience offer confidence to my Sellers and Buyers, as we navigate through the uncertainty brought by Covid-19.

Demanded by our current circumstance, the real estate industry has adapted quite quickly.

Strict protocols around hygiene and the number of people allowed in a house during listing appointments and showings are now in place. Open Houses (although now allowed till phase 3) were also prohibited during Phase 1 and 2 to decrease the chances of spreading the virus.

A lot more thought went into implementing personal health and safety measures during the complete real estate process – a process that can last from weeks to months. Covid-19 also, perhaps unexpectedly, prompted many people to advance their real estate plans.

Brooke Cooper – Toronto

This year, I have been helping people sell, buy and move to many locations that they otherwise had not considered before… West Grey, Markdale, Ballantrae, WhitchurchStouffville, Fonthill, Hamilton, Oakville, Fergus, Paris, Cambridge, Toronto, Brampton… in addition to my home base of Caledon and Erin. And, the market has been hot... almost frantic, all over. People’s desire to move, in conjunction with low interest rates and possibly isolation fatigue has seen the ‘Coming Soon’ signs turn into ‘Sold’ signs in short order. I must be honest, I enjoyed the beautiful country drives… in fact they were therapeutic for my clients and myself during this time of pandemic and a bit of a break from the isolation protocols.

Equipped with masks, gloves, and sanitizers, we hit the road, respecting the safety of the sellers and the buyers in what is now the “new normal” in the real estate industry.

My clients this year are motivated and excited to move on to the next stage of their lives.

However, in the excitement to move quickly, it is important to make sure all aspects of the real estate process are addressed and mistakes are not made. Experience truly does matter.

After 35 years, I can state that “I have been there… done that.” Covid-19 has made people carefully consider how they live and what they want out of life. My years of corporate relocation experience has served me well in many jurisdictions. I will help you make it happen… in a home near or perhaps a little bit farther!

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In times of uncertainty, trust experience…

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Clockwise from top left • The Good Egg • Choppy Waters • The Gathering (detail) • At the Edge of the Universe

Patty Maher “When you see the back of someone, you can write yourself into the story,” says Patty Maher, explaining why the women in her moody landscapes never show their faces. It’s just one of the tools the conceptual photographer uses to craft her fictional scenes. With a zeal for Photoshop and Lightroom, Patty works over every individual strand of hair, every blade of grass. The resulting images explore how women experience the natural world, while toying with what’s real and what’s imagined. When she moved to Caledon from Toronto ten years ago, Patti says she discovered the backdrops she never knew she needed. “I was not an artist until I moved here.” Limited edition prints in a variety of sizes on metal or framed in acrylic at www.pattymaher.com.

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www.karry.ca www.mrsmitchells.com 40 YE ARS IN THE HAMLET OF VIOLET HILL · HW Y 89 BET WEEN HW Y 10 & AIRPORT ROAD 519 ·9 2 5 ·3 6 27 M R S M I TC H E L L S .CO M T U E – SU N J O I N U S F O R B R U N C H LU N C H O R D I N N E R

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what to see, do, watch this autumn SHU T T ER S TO C K 15528 4 4255

BY JANICE QUIRT

Wee weddings “Minimonies” is the moniker florist and flower farmer Amber Swidersky of Melancthon’s Petals Flower Co. uses to describe the trend toward tiny, safe weddings. As the pandemic unfolded in the spring of 2020 and stretched into summer, many couples downsized their nuptials, moved them outdoors, postponed them until 2021 – or planned a combo of these

Generous green thumbs If you’ve stopped to admire the tidy rows of blossoms and shrubs in a public space in Orangeville, chances are you’re looking at the handiwork of the Orangeville & District Horticultural Society, which celebrates 50 years of service this year. Since their motto is “Gardens are for Sharing,” why not consider a selfguided tour this fall?

The gardens near the Alder Street Recreation Centre, for instance, bloom white, yellow and orange in honour of the town colours. Alexandra Park, behind Orangeville Town Hall, features mature perennial beds under a canopy of maples. And the town’s public works building on C Line boasts an award-winning pollinator garden. In all, 10 gardens around town are marked with the volunteer group’s distinctive orange daylily emblem.

Group archivist Vivian Petho says the society’s 25 “gardening angels” see their mission in straightforward terms: “We strive to beautify the town of Orangeville and its surroundings. Our horticultural society has changed over the years, but our impact on the community is unfaltering.” We wholeheartedly agree.

options. “Once they embrace a smaller ceremony, couples accept it and get excited about an intimate affair, with some adding a larger reception in 2021,” she says.

Couples who did opt for smaller weddings found them full of romance, says Vanessa Kreuzer of Lavender Blue Catering in Orangeville. “The large, rocking parties they envisioned transformed into lovely intimate affairs with bonfire chats, brandy and cigars, sparklers and dancing beneath the stars.”

Petals Flower Co.

Folks at Orangeville’s

Fancy That Cake booked wedding confections for a handful of small and medium autumn weddings, but 2021 orders are already filling up. It’s a trend echoing at Alton’s Millcroft Inn, with large celebrations booked for May through October 2021. And couples keen to wed at the Alton Mill also appear ready to wait and celebrate with all their guests rather than paring down the party. Cheers to all.

You’ve got mail When the pandemic cancelled summer plans, Caledon brothers Marcus, 13, and Thomas Dietrich, 15, took their love of art and woodworking and created their own business, The Mailbox Studio. They design, build and install three styles of mailboxes according to Canada Post specifications in the Caledon, Orangeville and Hockley Valley areas.

Business has been so brisk, the duo plans to continue this fall, ridding our country lanes of tired old mailboxes.

M O R E O N PA G E 21

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Relax in the country...

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‘Red’ by Mykail, from the virtual Art Voice exhibit hosted by PAMA

In green news With all the disposable masks and gloves we’re running through these days, the time feels right to go zero-waste in other ways. Here are three places to get you started.

Orangeville’s genius Grassroots Eco Refills launched earlier this year with Canadian-made, eco-friendly personal care products and household cleaners. When you’ve used up your mango shampoo or lavender laundry soap, pull up at the shop and drop off your bottles for refill and delivery, or call for a driveway refill at home.

Grassroots Eco Refills

The show must go on The fall arts landscape looks like none in recent memory, but there is

The new farmers’ market at 10 and 10 Garden Centre in Mono reuses biodegradable plastic and cardboard baskets and wooden bushels to display produce and transfers everything into paper bags at the cash.

still plenty to enjoy. At PAMA (Peel

And The Creemore Refillery recently moved into a bigger, brighter store location offering a mind-boggling array of reusable products, including hard-to-find bulk jars of toothpaste and deodorant.

exhibit featuring more than 70

Art Gallery, Museum and Archives), co-curators and Community Leadership Program ambassadors Anupama Aery and Loloa Alkasawat worked with Peel’s Regional Diversity Roundtable on Art Voice, a virtual young local artists and their work about isolation, mental health and racism. Orangeville’s contemporary dance mavens, Suzette Sherman and Michele Green, will press on with their passion project of solos and duets, Passionate Heart, albeit in smaller audiences at a studio in Guelph and via livestreaming. While awaiting the

T R AV E L T I D B I T

return of live performances, The Rose in Brampton offers online workshops about using the arts for

On the road

social justice. And while Theatre

See yourself touring the province by RV this fall? You’re not alone,

Orangeville remains dark, its

according to local dealers including Erin’s Platinum RV and

weekly newsletter offers entertaining

Mono’s Globetrotter RV. “With most of the community

arts picks. The highlight, however,

trying to stay within their own family bubble, more

is a “Cocktail of the Week” video in

and more people have turned to RVing as a way to enjoy the outdoors while adhering to the new social norm,” says Globetrotter RV sales manager Jeff Hall.

Interested in something mentioned here? Find links to social media pages & websites at Field Notes on inthehills.ca.

which artistic director David Nairn demonstrates his knack for making everything from the trendy Aperol Spritz to the century-old Clover Club, with a trademark twinkle in his eye.

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www.caledontile.com

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t ru e c on fe ssions from t h e n i n t h c once ssion

When the spirit moves

BY DAN NEEDLES

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he chief purpose of a country property is to be looked after. I knew this as a young man, long before I bought my own place. When I was a student, my friends often invited me to join them for a weekend in the country because they knew I was a willing worker and didn’t flinch at the to-do list their parents presented at the breakfast table on Saturday mornings. Half the kids who were supposed to be home to help would beg off with some feeble excuse or other, because they’d rather be anywhere else than the “prison farm.” The parents were lawyers and bankers who enjoyed organizing work parties and barking orders. Mowing lawns and mucking out horse stalls can be tedious enough. Not being paid for it was a tipping point for desertion.

I know summer cottages have their work parties, too. The May 24th opening and the Thanksgiving closing are command performances where attendance is strictly enforced. But that’s it. The rest of the time is set aside for sunbathing and Trivial Pursuit. A country property, on the other hand, always perches on the precipice of chaos. After a three-week absence, the jungle reclaims its own.

So when I bought Larkspur Farm in 1978, I made a vow never to make a chore of it and find myself becoming resentful. I would work at a thing until I tired of it, and then give myself permission to down tools and do something else until the spirit returned. I did this for 10 years until it became a deeply ingrained habit, one that bothered the hell out of some people, but also helped me become a happier writer.

Robertson Davies once observed that the problem with the humorist Stephen Leacock was that he

ILLUS TR ATION BY SHEL AGH ARMS TRONG

suffered from a very strong work ethic. He kept going on and on in spite of all obstacles, when it might have been better if he had just sat down and waited for a good idea. I often tell my writing students that they are unlikely to get better at writing, but it is possible to get better at not writing. To do it you must first learn to conquer your wretched willpower.

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down,” said the poet. I would add that it doesn’t love a two-stroke engine either or a water pump or any other moving part on a farm.

My wife took a while to board the train on this subject. By nature she is impatient with waiting for the spirit to move a man. Over the years we have achieved a delicate balance. She likes to landscape with a riding mower and I like to putter with broken machinery, so we are a fairly good match.

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down,” said the poet. I would add that it doesn’t love a two-stroke engine either or a water pump or any other moving part on a farm. If you need any evidence that the universe is cooling off, slowing down and wearing out, then you should come here for the weekend. After 42 years I find

myself surrounded by a mountain of repairs and unfinished projects.

Now the quarantine has handed me the gift of unlimited time to finally get down to all this work with no excuse to slide into town or go back to the desk to meet a deadline. For the first time in four decades I have finally gotten around to chores that normally slip away forgotten every season. I have pruned and staked tomatoes before bottom rot strikes. I have installed a new washer on a garden tap that has dripped for 10 years. The goldfish pond has a new waterproof liner. Shovels, axes, rakes and hoes have new handles. The apple trees are pruned.

Three bush cords of firewood are stacked beside the house. Fifty meat birds and two pigs lie in the freezer.

The henhouse even has a new coat of paint. The term we use in the writing profession for such a burst of non-essential activity is “avoidance behaviour.”

One writer I know has turned out two drafts of a novel in the same amount of time.

I read everywhere that the pandemic is going to change the way we live and work for a long time to come. I have my doubts about that. The headlong rush with all its noise and fuss will inevitably return. In the meantime, I will remember the summer of 2020 as a very odd and productive blip that forced me to pause and smell the roses ... and prune them for once.

Author and playwright Dan Needles is the recipient of the Leacock Medal for Humour.

He lives on a small farm in Nottawa.

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Once the pandemic is over, many people intend to keep working from home — if only their lousy rural internet will co-operate

BY PAUL WEBS TER ILLUS TR ATION BY RUTH ANN PE ARCE

W

hen the Covid lockdown suddenly turned much of Toronto into a vast, eerily quiet urban dormitory last March, Joan and Murray McDonald’s home in the city’s west end started to feel uncomfortably confined. Many of the nearby parks were closed, along with almost every other urban amenity. Murray’s office in a downtown tower was also declared out of bounds. So the McDonalds packed up and headed for the hills, where they own a picturesque weekend home in Hockley Valley.

“We’ve been here in Hockley throughout the pandemic, and I’ve been working remotely since March,” says Murray, a 38-year veteran with one of Canada’s biggest corporate accounting firms. “Like a lot of other people, I’ve discovered I don’t need to be in the office five days a week.

For me, I think, the future will likely be a hybrid mix of office work and working from home.”

McDonald is far from alone in forecasting an increase in working from home. According to a recent Statistics Canada survey, about 40 per cent of Canadians have jobs that can be done outside a traditional office setting.

Another survey of the public, this one by the Angus Reid Institute, indicates 20 per cent of Canadians say they intend to keep working primarily from home if and when their offices reopen.

“I think we may see many of Toronto’s office towers converted to condos,” muses Caledon mayor Allan Thompson. “A lot more people are working from home in Caledon and other similar areas. It’s the new reality.”

Matt Lindsay, the Royal LePage sales representative who helped the McDonalds find their country home, agrees. “There’s a big swing happening,” he says. “Many properties in Caledon, Mono and Mulmur are city folks’ weekend properties. But Covid has brought a lot of those people to live here full-time. And lots more people are coming up from the city now looking to buy properties. I’ve had four sales propelled by the Covid crisis recently.”

Lindsay’s perspectives are endorsed by data from ninetyminutesfrom toronto.com, a website that profiles real estate information from 55 towns and cities within a 90-minute drive from Toronto, indicating many of the most attractive relocation destinations for people leaving the city are in Headwaters.

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www.suzannelawrence.ca

Government data suggest the urban exodus brought about by Covid may prove enduring. In July, Statistics Canada’s monthly survey of home builders reported rising demand for homes outside Toronto. In the same month, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported that after a slowdown in the early months of the pandemic, both the number of home sales and the prices they fetched across the country reached historic highs.

Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, studies urban-rural divides in places like Caledon and Dufferin. He theorized in his blog that semi-rural areas near cities are exploding for two main reasons: “First, many have realized that space can be an issue especially when dealing with a pandemic.

Spending three months in a two-bedroom apartment can make you think differently about space. Second, telecommuting is an emerging factor. Financially, the case for more telecommuting is very strong. An employee at home spends less on clothes, transportation of course, and restaurants.”

There are some big environmental benefits as well, says Alexandra Service, climate change specialist for the Town of Caledon. “The global estimate is that Covid has reduced emissions by about 7 per cent,” she notes. “And locally, here in Caledon, the shift towards working from home presents a number of positives in terms of reduced traffic and emissions.”

the corporate shutdown Five months after the Covid-19 pandemic forced all Canadians except frontline service providers to stay home, many employers remain reluctant to reopen their offices.

In Toronto’s downtown financial core – where upwards of 100,000 office workers once kept scores of high-rise towers and hectares of underground malls and food courts humming – life now literally resembles a month of Sundays.

Many Bay Street banks and financial services companies – including RBC, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC and National Bank – have advised their employees that most of them will be working from home until at least the end of the year.

Other Canadian companies are making even more drastic moves. In Waterloo, software company OpenText Corporation is permanently reducing its number of offices by half. In Ottawa, Shopify says “office centricity is over,” and most employees will now permanently work remotely. And Rogers, one of Canada’s biggest employers, says its 375 Ottawa customer service agents will work from home as a pilot project to test the fate of its 7,000 call centre employees across Canada.

By all reports, Canada’s vast work-from-home experi­ ment is going just fine.

But there’s a hitch. And it’s a big one: In order to work from home, affordable and dependable internet access is vital. Yet across much of rural Canada, including Caledon and Dufferin, service often remains inadequate and fickle. And it can also be extremely pricey.

For Murray McDonald, the Hockley accountant who juggles some of corporate Canada’s most nuanced finan­ cial transactions, it’s a constant hassle. “Some days it’s fine. But some days it’s slow and unreliable, and we’re constantly calling Bell,” he says wearily.

For Caledon mayor Thompson, “It’s the number one issue that comes up at the door when I’m out meeting with people.”

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And it’s not just a matter of municipal policy and politics, says Thompson. It’s also a highly personal issue – like many of his constituents, his monthly household internet bill often runs to $600 or more.

“We’re facing a serious crisis around rural people needing internet access to work and access basic services from their homes,” he insists. “We need to get our communities connected.”

bandwidth banditry When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Sabine Rohner-Tensee moved as much of her business selling first aid and CPR courses online as she could.

Working from her countryside home at the north end of Mono, her internet usage rapidly increased, driven by her business needs and her son’s online educational courses, as well as her family’s increased movie downloads through the months in near-total lockdown.

It was all going reasonably well until July, when Rogers Communications suddenly ended its pandemic-induced moratorium on internet usage charges and presented the Rohner-Tensee family with an $800 monthly bill.

“Normally Rogers throttles back our internet availability, which keeps the bills down. But for seven months they accidentally let us use as much as we needed,” she explains. “The bill was a shock, although it proved to us that they’re capable of delivering the capacity we need. They just don’t want to make it affordable.”

Alarmed by the expense, Rohner-Tensee says she imme­ diately tried to negotiate with Rogers, which led nowhere.

Then she discovered that nearby neighbours Michel Godbout and Sue Mclean had reached a deal with Bell that held their bill below $100 a month. But when Bell refused to offer her the same rate, she began to fear for the future.

Government data suggest the urban exodus brought about by Covid may prove enduring. In July, Statistics Canada’s monthly survey of home builders reported rising demand for homes outside Toronto.

“We can’t afford our internet bills. And that means my business is in jeopardy,” Rohner-Tensee explains. “It also means my son’s online university education could be up in the air.”

A 2018 Industry Canada study concluded that Cana­ dians pay among the very highest fees in the world for internet access. Nevertheless, in response to petitions for lower internet charges, the federal cabinet decided in August to allow costs to increase further, arguing higher rates are an incentive for corporate investment in unserved or underserviced areas.

The twin woes of access and affordability form a scen­ ario that’s being played out in hundreds of homes across Headwaters, says John Creelman, deputy mayor of Mono.

Like Caledon mayor Thompson, Creelman campaigned for election in large part on the issue of expanded internet access. In fact, decent rural internet has been on his agenda since the 1990s when, as mayor at the time, he championed DSL (digital subscriber line) access in Mono.

These days Creelman is pushing for high-speed wireless internet as well as fibre-based connections. He strongly questions why Bell and others won’t open up the existing fibre optic cables at reasonable rates. “A cable runs along Mono Centre Road from Camilla hamlet on Highway 10 to the Third Line and that’s cheaper than laying down new fibre.”

In order to work from home, affordable and dependable internet access is vital. Yet across much of rural Canada, including Caledon and Dufferin, service often remains inadequate and fickle.

And it can also be extremely pricey.

There’s also what’s termed “dark fibre,” says Creelman. “That’s fibre that does not carry a signal, that’s just being sat on.” It’s his unconfirmed understanding there is just such a line along the hydro tower corridor that bisects Mono.

For now Creelman energetically supports initiatives local individuals, businesses and municipalities are cobbling together, such as the installation of personal towers and the growing number of small entrepreneurial wi-fi internet providers who are using existing structures such as barn silos, private poles and other tall structures to hopscotch connections across the countryside.

Mono Wireless is one such company. Started by Mitranand Singh, a businessman who moved to Mono and was frustrated by the poor internet service, the company is already offering unlimited bandwidth within five service pods in the town and is actively developing more locations.

For its part, Creelman says Mono has revised a bylaw that put height restrictions on structures and now allows for posts of up to 80 feet on private property. And it is currently reviewing bids by suppliers to locate a wireless repeater on its water tower on the town’s southern border. Like other local municipalities, Mono has also established a kind of internet café (minus the café) in the municipal office in Mono Centre where people can come to download large files. (For some time, Caledon has welcomed residents to use the town’s wi-fi from the parking lot of its municipal office in Caledon East and in its libraries and recreational centres.)

“The essential problem is that the large providers like Bell and Rogers aren’t interested in servicing areas with low population densities,” Creelman explains. In the local countryside, there is no incentive for the likes of this summer’s announcement that Ontariobased Wightman Telecom will invest $56 million to bring 350,000 metres of fibre optic cable to urban Orangeville.

When Bell Canada contacted the Town of Mono recently to ask for its support in accessing cash from the $750 million Broadband Fund – money collected from Canadian telecom companies that’s earmarked to help deliver rural internet service – Creelman viewed it as an opportunity to seek information.

C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

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Helping You Make Informed Decisions

“We asked them to provide details about their plans,” he recalls. “That seemed to surprise them. They were basically mounting a political campaign to get access to those funds. We pushed back. Whereas before we couldn’t get our calls returned, we now have their attention.”

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Across Canada, rural internet access is an increasingly potent political issue.

What’s at stake? The economic future of thousands of rural communities, and the millions of rural families who live in them.

In an era when virtual transactions are quickly eclipsing conventional ones, the hunger for bandwidth recalls the infrastructure competitions of the past, when communities lived and died according to their successes in accessing railroads, highways and rural electrification schemes.

Shannon Ellis had described her rural internet as adequate – until the pandemic hit. “As a mother who’s working while my two sons are doing their classes online, I need to make online work calls,” she explains, but there’s not enough bandwidth for the two activities to happen simultaneously. She can’t even distract her sons with a movie while she’s on a Zoom conference call.

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the hunger for bandwidth recalls the infrastructure competitions of the

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past, when communities lived and

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died according to their successes in accessing railroads, highways and rural electrification schemes.

Ellis was raised in the hills, but moved away after high school. For the past 20 years, she has lived in China, most recently in Shanghai where she worked in corporate communications. Last year she returned to Canada, taking up residence in a log house in rural Mono to be near her family. While the setting could hardly be more different, she is doing largely the same work with the same clients as she was in an apartment in a city of 24 million half a globe away. Her story exactly exemplifies the vital role reliable internet plays not only in connecting rural residents to the global marketplace, but by extension in the very sustainability of rural communities.

the response so far Dave Arseneau, Owner

Arseneau Home Comfort

arseneauhomecomfort.com www.arseneauhomecomfort.ca 519-927-5151 Caledon Village

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In May, 2011, a United Nations commission issued a report declaring broadband access a basic human right, comparable to health care, shelter and food.

In 2014, the federal government launched a $305 million program aimed at delivering improved internet connectivity for 300,000 underserved rural households.

That was expanded in 2016 with a billion-dollar private-

public initiative in more than 900 communities and the laying of more than 20,000 kilometres of high-capacity fibre optic network.

In its 2019 budget, Ottawa announced “historic new investments that will mobilize up to $6 billion toward universal connectivity” – although only $1.7 billion in new federal money was actually pledged.

According to the government’s 2019 High-Speed Access for All: Canada's Connectivity Strategy, the internet “is no longer a luxury – it is a necessity.”

To take full advantage of the internet, federal policy­ makers say 50/10 speeds are necessary, affording the capa­ city to download at 50 Mbps and to upload at 10 Mbps.

And that’s where the trouble lies.

“At these speeds there is a clear divide between rural and urban Canada. In 2017, only 37 per cent of rural households had access to 50/10 Mbps, compared with 97 per cent of urban homes,” the government acknowledges, and has committed to bringing those speeds to 100 per cent of Canadian households by 2030.

a swift solution Currently many local hopes are pinned on SWIFT. The website of the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology consortium says it’s committed to improving access to high-speed internet services across Southwestern Ontario and “enabling greater digital equality between rural and urban populations” by subsidizing “the construction of open-access high-speed networks to encourage service providers to expand broadband infrastructure in underserved rural areas.” Initiated in 2013 by the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, its services are delivered in partnership with member municipalities and the federal and provincial governments.

SWIFT is currently overseeing a $209 million “South­ western Ontario broadband expansion plan” that it says will connect 22 per cent of the region’s underserved households over the next three years. The governments of Ontario and Canada have committed up to $63.7 million each to support SWIFT. The project also draws on fund­ ing from municipal partners and private sector investors.

So far the bulk of SWIFT’s investments have been around Kitchener and Sarnia, says Sonya Pritchard, chief administrative officer for Dufferin County, but both Dufferin and Caledon have been prioritized in the latest round of projects – for which SWIFT issued requests for proposals in June. As this magazine went to press, the announcement of the successful proposals, expected since July, was said to be imminent.

For Mulmur mayor Janet Horner the announcement can’t come soon enough. “For people living in Mulmur internet access has been a perennial problem,” she says.

“But the pandemic is amplifying that because so many more people are living here now in their weekend homes and demand has intensified. I’m especially concerned about schoolkids who are reliant on the internet for home schooling.”

Horner, who lives on Mulmur’s 10 Sideroad, describes her own family’s internet service as “terrible.” During the pandemic she has had to find an office in the closed municipal office to chair online council meetings. She doesn’t know if her farm will make the cut, but the pending project does aim to bring service to areas of Dufferin with the most difficult terrain, which Mulmur, with its steep hills and valleys, amply represents.

Assuming the latest Dufferin project is approved, it will bring new funding of over $4 million including a contribution of $1.3 million from the county’s broadband reserve. Along with four previous SWIFT-funded projects, the total investment in the county’s rural broadband to date is about $10.37 million to make fibre available to 1,640 premises.

In Caledon, even as the final touches are being put on a 35-kilometre, $1.4 million installation by Vianet along the Caledon Trailway that will provide “the backbone for future high-speed expansion in the town,” residents are also waiting for the SWIFT announcement that will put $5 million into the town’s internet infrastructure. That figure includes a municipal investment of $600,000 raised through the town’s broadband levy. (Introduced to the Caledon tax bill in 2016, the levy raises about $300,000 a year, or an average of about $11 per household, toward improving broadband service in the town.)

www.carters.ca

waiting for swift 2.0 As substantial as the investment numbers seem, they represent a “toe in the water” in relation to overall needs, says Horner. And Pritchard warns, “The SWIFT criteria mean that some areas get bypassed.”

Ultimately, Pritchard adds, billions of investment dollars are needed and SWIFT gets a small fraction of that. “Hopefully there will be a SWIFT 2.0 and more money will be invested,” she says. In Mono, John Creelman hopes any such future SWIFT investments will include more cost-effective high-speed wireless as well as fibre-based options.

Like his political colleagues in Dufferin, Caledon mayor Thompson describes SWIFT’s investments as significant and welcome, but far from sufficient. “The feds and the province have never taken this initiative seriously,” he charges. “But maybe the Covid crisis will force their hands? Because we now have a crisis around people accessing basic public services and employment from their homes.”

He continues to urge Caledon citizens to sign the Change.org petition on the town website calling for federal and provincial governments to declare broadband an essential service.

Meanwhile, frustrated citizens like Sabine Rohner-Tensee and Shannon Ellis are increasingly convinced the root of the problem isn’t lack of infrastructure, bandwidth or any other technological constraint. On the phone from her home in Mono, Rohner-Tensee describes it as a crisis of economic unfairness in which Canada’s internet oligarchs – the small handful of people who control Canada’s highly uncompetitive cartel of internet giants – are deliberately gouging rural customers in what she sees as outrageous discrimination that deprives rural workers of economic equality of opportunity, and their children of educational equity.

O

nce the pandemic subsides and the kids are back at school full-time, some of the current emotional and technological overload issues may subside. The real estate market may settle down, and frazzled parents may be able to reclaim their workspaces, their time and some of their bandwidth – that is, until the next time.

What isn't likely to subside is the momentum for working from home or the ongoing struggle for reliable, affordable, rural high-speed service.

In the meantime, many exasperated country folks have resorted to putting their faith in the heavens – where Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite is slowly orbiting the planet, with the promise of providing a global network of high-speed broadband internet by 2021, “unbounded,” as the Starlink website declares, by such earthly considerations as “ground infrastructure limitations.”

Paul Webster is a writer and teacher who works from homes in Toronto, Montreal and rural Ontario.

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VINTAGE

Headwaters’ antiques and auctions experts offer an irresistible way to connect with the history – and value – that comes with well-made furniture and nostalgic collectibles.

STORY AND PHOTOGR APHY BY JAMES MACDONALD

As any antiques hunter will tell you, the thrill of shopping for classic furniture, retro collectibles and other secondhand wares lies in the often slim chance that no one else has snapped up a treasure with your name on it – whether it’s a sleek teak credenza enjoying a moment in decor magazines or a dead stock Star Wars action figure that sparks happy flashbacks to grade school. They’re all out there lurking around the next corner – at least in our imagination. And now that the antiques world, like many others, has replicated itself online, those next corners have multiplied for shoppers craving an antidote to mass-produced, homogenous goods built and priced to end up in a landfill.

It’s a quest that feels right for our times. Local sellers report business is strong, even after weeks-long pandemic closures. Jon Medley of Inglewood Antiques, for one, says business in his sprawling barn location is up this summer over last. “Typically June is one of the worst months of the year, but it was really good. I was actually really surprised.”

Maybe we’ve all been stuck at home wondering how to add roots to our surroundings. Or we’ve noticed that buying vintage can save us a few bucks. Online auctions are certainly a great alternative to doomscrolling. Whatever the case, the industry is ready for its closeup. These five local stalwarts are ready when you are.

left to right, from top Maple Leafs hockey cards at Reinhart Auctions; Underwood typewriter at Erin Auctions; Coca-Cola machine at Orangeville Flowers & Greenhouses; cameras at Inglewood Antique Market; snowshoes at Erin Auctions; Wedgwood blue jasperware at The Wright Attitude Shoppe in a Shed; Beatles memorabilia at Inglewood Antique Market; spool cabinet at Orangeville Flowers & Greenhouses; toy cars at Reinhart Auctions.

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Reinhart Auctions

Don Reinhart, who joined his family’s business in 1965, sits in the auction warehouse on Heart Lake Road.

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he old Reinhart Auctions sign still sits on an empty lot near Highway 10 and Mayfield, the former location of the business.

But the two-generation operation now lives in a warehouse on Heart Lake Road under the watchful eye of patriarch Don Reinhart.

Known beyond Headwaters for his stint as the nononsense auctioneer on two seasons of TV’s “Storage Wars Canada,” Don is best known locally for his eclectic monthly online auctions of consigned pieces. “Good items, no junk,” as he puts it on his website.

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owner Don Reinhart how he started “My dad was

an auctioneer. He died in 1964 and I started in January 1965 at 19. Basically it’s all our family has ever done since 1952.” tr ained in “I’m probably one of the few left in Ontario who are self-taught auctioneers. I never went to an auction school. Street educated, you might call it. At an auction school they try to teach you a chant, they try and teach you filler words [the words you put inbetween the bids]. If someone can’t understand you, they won’t bid.”

favourite collec tion In his auction

hall Don has a wide range of toy and model cars, trucks, diggers and excavators. But his real pride are his Pepsi bottles, containers and paraphernalia dating back to the earliest days of Reinhart Auctions.

They remind him of the refreshments his mother served when he was a kid. pro tips Research before you buy, he

says. Try and get a good look at the item, make sure it’s not damaged and it’s not a reproduction. Then set a goal in terms of your dollar limit and don’t get too carried away. If you say $100, don’t be afraid to go $110 or $120, but not $175. his new normal “Things have ticked

best known for Don’s live farm

and farmhouse auctions are rare but well-known throughout Ontario.

His primary auction format is online, usually anywhere from 500 to 800 lots per auction. Over the years he’s sold new and antique farm machinery, antique cars, and oddities including an airplane seized by police and even caskets.

“You name it. All kinds of stuff.”

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up a little. We’ve been doing curbside pickup only. There seems to be a lot more interest than there was six months ago.

People are actually calling about doing live auctions, but until Mr. (Premier) Ford says we can, we’ll hold off.” www.reinhartauctions.com

Orangeville Flowers & Greenhouses

D

on’t let the name fool you.

At Orangeville Flowers & Greenhouses cleverly curated antiques have sidelined much of the potted plant population.

Expect a gauntlet of fresh-flower scents as you enter off the John Street parking lot, but beyond the busy floral counter you’ll find rows of antique furniture, wall decor and vintage toys under the bright greenhouse glow.

Co-owner Joanne Woudenberg’s parents bought the business in 1985. Joanne and her husband, Martin, took over in 1999. She says the seven-week pandemic closure helped the couple imagine life after retail and they are now contemplating retirement. The store was for sale at press time, so if you haven’t yet visited, now is the time.

steve.roud@rbc.com Joanne and Martin Woudenberg stand next to her sewing station amid the store’s carefully curated antiques.

owners Joanne and Martin Woudenberg how they started Martin has been at it since he was a kid. “I was given an old radio when I was in my early 20s. I thought it was really cool. Other people thought it was really cool, and I just kept buying more, and next thing I knew I sold a few pieces.” best known for Reclaimed furniture. “People aren’t too concerned with how old it is.

They are going for a look they see in magazines. The real collectors want good pine pieces that haven’t been painted. But when it comes to paying the bills, painted stuff is hot right now,” says Martin. recent hits Nostalgic items, old

coffee grinders, old signs, says Martin. “Barber poles – I mean they were always there, they were always popular – but in the last three or four years, they’ve just exploded. It’s more the guys that are into those.

Advertising signs have been lying

around for years too. The man cave thing happened and they all wanted to decorate with anything ‘manly,’ anything mechanical.” what they’ll never part with

Joanne, who stitches heating pads and other items – now including face masks – at her sewing station in the store, says her favourite is a vintage spool cabinet. Martin says most of his favourites are long gone.

“We like to sell. That’s the thrill.” pro tips Buy from reputable

dealers, “people who know their stuff,” says Martin. “There are a lot of reproductions out there.

Young people can go to the internet for research. Back in the day we used to have to buy big books.” their new normal They are open again, monitoring numbers to avoid bottlenecks. Overall business has remained good, Joanne says.

www.orangevilleflowers.ca

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Inglewood Antique Market Jon Medley talks to a shopper at his large, packedto-the-rafters heritage barn on Highway 10.

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on’t count on a quick drop-in when you pull into the Inglewood Antique Market on Highway 10 south of The Grange Sideroad. This classic late-1880s barn is packed to the rafters in a way that makes you want to scan every last trinket.

Jon Medley, a lifelong antique hunter and collector, took over the business in 2018 from previous owners and curators Annette and Phil Turturici who had run it for 25 years. Jon’s collections fill about a third of the stock, and the rest comes from about 10 other dealers.

owner Jon Medley how he started Jon has been a

dealer at Inglewood since it opened.

He started his career working at a flea market on the former Reinhart Auctions location in the hamlet of Snelgrove in Caledon.

recent find “I have a pair of

[Austrian Art Deco sculptor] Karl Hagenauer bookends that are world class, and you just never see a lot of Hagenauer stuff.” what he’ll never part with “I still

have my 1971 Cutlass Supreme. But I’d sell most other things now.”

his first purchases Jon says he’s

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been a collector since he was a kid – everything from hockey cards to coins. “Later I was looking for wooden pieces for my mom to paint. I went to an auction and got hooked. I loved the atmosphere and the people.” He started with bottles and art pottery. After discovering Victorian photo albums, he dove into the world of old photos and cameras. tr ained in “I’m pretty much self-taught. Auctions have been the greatest education. And going into people’s houses and dealing with estates, you come across art, silver – everything. When you buy something, handle it and try to sell it to somebody, that’s where you learn.”

pro tip “People come in saying,

‘You had this piece a couple of months ago, do you still have it?’ and it’s usually, ‘No, it’s gone.’

There are some things you see all the time and it doesn’t matter. But if you see something that really works for what you like, just buy it.” his new normal Jon says it hasn’t

been too different, adding that keeping people from handling things too much can be hard, as can enforcing social distancing and limiting the numbers of visitors. But his summer went well. “Typically June is one of the worst months of the year, but it was really good. I was actually really surprised.”

Inglewood Antiques on Facebook

Erin Auctions

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ith row on row of classic antiques, paraphernalia and collectors’ items, Erin Auctions is one of the top treasure troves in the hills. The auction house was opened six years ago by Alanna Babka, who has lived in Ballinafad for 35 years, and Saskatchewan native Bonnie Schneider, who moved to Erin eight years ago. The friends met playing in a baseball league, and have bonded over breathing life into cast-off collections.

Stay local.

Support local.

Buy local.

Alanna Babka, left, and Bonnie Schneider met playing baseball and opened their auction house six years ago to find homes for their eclectic offerings.

owners Alanna Babka and Bonnie Schneider how they started In 2009 the pair were working to help area seniors with downsizing, says Alanna.

“In the process we saw the need for quality items and vintage pieces to find new homes – and rightfully respect a piece’s craftsmanship and artistry. It was heartbreaking to see a 19th-century ‘flat-to-wall’ or a 1940s mahogany hand-carved dressing table end up in the refuse.” a few recent hits Coloured glass pieces from masters like American brand Steuben and France’s Lalique, whose designs were far ahead of their time and are still highly collectible, says Alanna.

“Mid-century-modern teak is very popular as it has the contemporary lines that suit most current decor styles. Sterling silver draws a crowd and achieves good prices. A carved duck decoy we recent-ly sold found a new home in the U.S. for $650.

For us it’s a new job every week.

From tin toys to Tiffany lamps, it is a privilege to sell these items.”

caledon.ca/business www.caledon.ca/business

pro tips Alanna says even a single piece

of antique furniture can change the whole feel of a room. “It adds warmth and history. Buying the right piece is similar to picking artwork. You will design the room to make it the centre of attention.

“After assisting hundreds of people in downsizing, we have found that most if not all are very attached to their heirlooms, yet not one has been sorry to let a piece of Ikea go.

Antique furniture has character, charisma and a shared history with each family. If it’s a hundred years old, it will probably see 200 years.” their new normal Alanna and Bonnie have stopped running live auctions for now because they don’t want to turn away shoppers when they reach maximum capacity. They are currently offering online-only auctions. In-person previews are by appointment and masks are required. Pickups are curbside (mask required) after the auction.

“We do miss our regulars and look forward to opening the doors for live sales in the near future,” Alanna says.

www.erinauctions.com

The right property can make a huge difference as we all spend more time at home than ever before. If you’re wondering if this is a good time to buy or to sell, please call me for honest professional advice and to learn about procedures to keep your family safe during these challenging times.

Your Trusted Local Real Estate Advisor for In-Town and Country Properties Since 2005

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WE MISS YOU! Its been a while.

The Town of Erin is open for business.

From all of us here in the Town of Erin we would like to wish you a safe and healthy fall.

T

@TownofErin #discoverErin www.Erin.ca

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The Wright Attitude Shoppe in a Shed

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he latest iteration of John Wright’s patricianyet-rustic antique shop is a fantasy space tucked into a driveshed behind his Erin home. Artwork and chairs hung on pegs fill every inch of wall. Chic English-country vignettes of set tables and armchairs paired with just the right lamp cover the floor. This is his fourth retail outpost – the Erin native started filling weekend and summer storefronts in Erin a quarter century ago. John moved to this leafy locale from his Main Street location, The Annex, this summer.

He’s currently open Friday to Sunday, noon to five.

John Wright opened his new location on Spring Street in Erin this summer. It showcases china, chairs and other posh collectibles.

owner John Wright how he started While John has no formal training, antiques are his lifeblood. He was a Canadian Airlines customer service representative for 35 years, retiring in 2001 after Air Canada took over the airline. “When I was growing up my parents had nice antiques and furniture. I used to dabble in garage sales, and 25 years ago I started my first shop, a weekend shop, called the Wright Attitude.”

them. They’re easy to recover. I like brass candlesticks, art and I do like lamps.” a recent find “A little dark wood dresser with moustache handles. I’m liking it a lot. That’s an auction find.” what he’ll never part with

“I have my mother’s sofa that was originally in Casa Loma. It’s now got leopard print upholstery. It’s a great big Victorian thing.” pro tips “I send a lot of people to Paul

his first purchase “I used to hang

around with the painter and antiques dealer, Lillian Milne, who had an antique shop in Cheltenham when I was in my 20s. A wild, wild woman.

Flame-red hair, always a cigarette holder with a butt in it. I bought china pieces from her and I still have them.” best known for “People ask me

if anyone buys crystal and silver anymore, and I say that I think I’m the only one! I also seem to have a passion for chairs – I have a lot of

Noonan of Paul Noonan’s Antiques in Alma, Ontario. He’s been in the antiques business since he was a teenager. I also send people up to Orangeville Flowers. They are amazing buyers. Their displays are fabulous.” his new normal John says he’s

thankful visitors are returning. In the new shop, physical distancing, masks and hand sanitizer are de rigueur. @johnwright.thewrightattitude on Instagram

James MacDonald is a freelance writer, cinematographer and photographer who currently works in the Pacific Northwest and southern Ontario.

Erin, where you feel naturally inspired and genuinely at home.

SHOP • DINE • DISCOVER

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a forest is more than

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its trees

From deep in the earth to high in the sky, forests shelter teeming life.

BY DON SCALLEN

M

Hemlocks are late arrivals to the woodland, thriving in the rich moist soil of mature forests. inset The ovenbird’s call of teacherteacher-teacher reveals this warbler’s presence deep in the undergrowth.

y shirt clings to my back as the midsummer sun pushes the temperature past 30C. I’m hiking the Dufferin County Forest Main Tract at 5 p.m. on July 17. Prime time for birdsong is early morning, but avian voices still ring out in the sweltering woods. Two male black-throated blue warblers call and respond, warning each other off. Each male guards a home territory containing the food and shelter necessary to attract females.

Black-throated blue warblers were not common in Headwaters during the time of the first Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario project from 2001 to 2005. Since then, however, these dapper forest birds have increased here and elsewhere in southern Ontario. The reason is likely increased forest cover and the maturation of existing forests.

As I ramble onward, other forest birds also sing. The emphatic teacher-teacher-teacher of an ovenbird, another warbler species, resounds from the undergrowth. Somewhere among the mushrooms, tree seedlings and fading trilliums on the forest floor is the ovenbird’s unique domed nest. Its resemblance to an outdoor bread oven with a side entrance gave the ovenbird its name. So well concealed are these nests that in my five decades of birding I’ve found only one.

Red-eyed vireos call high above in the sugar maple canopy. These warbler relatives are champion vocalists. The late Ontario nature writer, Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, once counted 22,197 songs from a single male in a single day!

A wood thrush adds its voice to the modest symphony. Beautiful crystalline notes glide through green foliage backlit by the afternoon sun. I’m intrigued that the song of this bird can touch my heart, bridging the divide between bird and human.

ROBERT MCC AW

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F O R E S T C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 41

More than trees But what is this forest I’m hiking through? The pat answer is an expanse of trees. Not just one tree, or a copse, but thousands of trees covering a wide swath of terrain. And though you can’t have a forest without trees, a forest is much more than the oaks, pines, maples and basswoods contained within it. It is all the life that finds succour within its bounds: life underground, life on the forest floor, life on the trees themselves – on their bark, limbs and foliage.

Underground, a forest is a living community of mycorrhizal fungi entwined with tree roots in a nutrienttrading relationship that greatly benefits both trees and fungi. And among the fungal tendrils and tree roots is a subterranean city teeming with billions of inhabitants, from numberless bacteria to legions of ants, worms, grubs, millipedes and centipedes. All those invertebrates feed a host of small animals including moles, shrews and salamanders. Sus­

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tained not only by abundant food, but also by the moisture and humidity that prevails in the shade of the forest trees, salamanders are completely dependent on our forests. Most salamanders live a fossorial existence, wending their way through underground clefts, tunnels and fissures, and appearing only occasionally on the surface, notably for springtime breeding.

Above ground is a forest’s most obvious feature – its trees. Trees, through their size and height, multiply the sheer volume of habitat available for birds and animals. Meadows may teem with life, but a forest supports life in a biotic layer that can extend 20 or 30 metres upwards.

Many birds, including nearly all in the appropriately named wood warbler group, need those trees. About 20 warbler species inhabit Headwaters.

The common yellowthroat prefers open wetlands, and a few other species live in shrubby habitats, but the rest depend on forests in various stages of succession, from young trees to old growth.

Along with the ovenbird, those forest-dependent warblers include the

Canada warbler, a species of special concern here in Ontario. (“Special concern” means a species is at risk of becoming endangered or threatened.)

Even rarer is the cerulean warbler, a threatened species that requires large forest tracts for breeding.

Role of dead and dying trees Through their long lives, forest trees sustain wildlife – and they continue to do so after death. Dead and dying trees offer much to birds, insects and mammals. “We need more dead wood in the forest,” says Laura Timms, an ecologist at Credit Valley Conservation. “Snags, dead trees and woody debris are one measure of the ecological integrity of forests.”

Kata Bavrlic, senior specialist with CVC’s watershed monitoring program, cites the valuable relationship between dead trees and woodpeckers.

“Woodpeckers,” she says, “are ecosystem engineers, creating cavities in dead trees that are then used by many other organisms for roosting,

breeding and food storage.” In large forest tracts, hairy woodpeckers and the impressive crow-sized pileated woodpeckers are the main ecosystem engineers. Flying squirrels are one of the many creatures that benefit from their construction projects, living in the holes created by these woodpeckers.

The value of dead trees doesn’t end when they topple. As trees decompose on the forest floor, they provide habitat for beetles, spiders, millipedes and many other arthropods. Fallen trees sometimes nurture seedling trees and are often called nurse logs. Hemlock and yellow birch often germinate on these logs. Ultimately, of course, fallen trees decompose entirely, but even then they contribute to forest health by enriching the soil.

The takeaway for landowners lucky enough to have forest on their property is to show dead trees some love. Leave them in your woodlands, whether upright or lying on the forest floor. To those concerned about the safety of leaving dead trees standing, Timms says conservation authorities will remove limbs and reduce a tree’s

ROBERT MCC AW

far left The shiny red hemlock varnish shelf fungus is believed to be a curative for many ailments. left The pretty black-throated blue warbler has a reason to sing. It belongs to a species whose numbers have increased here in recent years. above Red-eyed vireos are champion vocalists.

One nature writer counted more than 22,000 songs from a single male in a single day.

height, eliminating risk while leaving snags to satisfy the needs of wildlife.

Forests once dominated the Head­ waters landscape. Now they occupy only 33 per cent of the Nottawasaga River watershed, and a little less than 25 per cent of the land in the Credit River watershed. Forest cover is even lower in the Grand River and Humber River watersheds, at about 19 per cent each. The good news for Headwaters, however, is that much of the remaining forested land in all four watersheds is found in this region – along the Niagara Escarpment, on the Oak Ridges Moraine and at Luther Lake in the Grand River drainage system.

Interior forests Another metric is the amount of “interior forest” embedded in larger forests. Interior forests are at least 100 metres from the forest edge – removed from roads, buildings, farmland and the dry, windy conditions on the forest perimeter, as well as the predators that often lurk there. Interior forest patches provide vital habitat for forest birds,

including several warbler species, and this makes their scarcity concerning.

Only about 3 per cent of the Credit River watershed qualifies as interior forest. The Nottawasaga watershed, the most heavily forested in Headwaters, fares better, but only about 9 per cent of its forests are interior.

Larger forests, of course, contain more interior forest and this contri­ butes to increased species diversity, says Yvette Roy, a CVC ecologist.

Roy touts other attributes of large forests: “They contain a variety of habitat types characterized by trees of different ages and species. This overall habitat matrix can support a greater diversity of all sorts of animals.

Invasive species are also less likely to be found within large woodlands.”

Fortunately Headwaters is graced with several large forests. The Dufferin County Forest Main Tract is one of the largest, at more than 600 hectares, or 1,500 acres. Other large Dufferin forests that feature interior forest habitat include Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve, Mono Cliffs Provincial Park and Boyne Valley Provincial Park, as well as the Luther Marsh Wildlife Management Area in the Grand River watershed. In Caledon, Glen Haffy and Albion Hills conservation parks protect extensive forest habitat.

Though bigger is usually better when it comes to forests, every little bit helps. Timms even raises the intriguing idea that some small remnant wood­ C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

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lots may, in fact, contain old-growth trees. Timms defines old growth as trees older than 120 years. She wants to get out the message that private pro­perties may include old-growth forest containing rare plants. Conservation authorities can undertake inventories of private woodlots and offer manage­ ment strategies.

Threats to forests Threats to our forests include habitat loss, climate change and invasive species. Though most of Headwaters’ remaining forests enjoy some measure of protection, increasing urbanization is likely to affect them negatively.

More people will probably lead to more forest disturbance. Even passive activities, such as walking a forest trail, can disturb sensitive birds and animals. Add off-leash dogs and freeroaming cats from nearby residences, and the effects escalate.

Climate change may happen too quickly for some of our tree species to undergo the genetic change necessary to adapt to warmer temperatures. And invasive species such as garlic mustard and buckthorn continue to displace native shrubs and wildflowers.

If we are wise, we’ll think carefully about how we can best manage these threats in order to sustain healthy forests far into the future. How far? Scott Sampson, manager of CVC’s natural heritage management program, takes the long view. “Forests can live for thousands of years,” he says. “Not the individual trees, but the forests themselves. They will endure for as long as we allow them to.”

Imagining the potential of Head­ waters forests to endure for the coming millennia forces humility and makes it imperative for us to steward our forests with care, not only for the benefit of future human beings, but also for the wealth of fascinating life that depends, utterly, on their health.

Tell us your stories about urban wildlife: Don Scallen is currently researching an article for this magazine on urban wildlife, and he’d like to hear from readers with stories to tell. Foxes, ravens and various species of hawks and falcons appear to be making themselves at home among us. Though Don may include some exceptional skunk and raccoon stories, he is particu­larly interested in hearing about some of the newer wildlife arrivals in our local towns. If you have a tale to tell, please contact him at dscallen@cogeco.ca.

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SC A RL E T TA N AGER ROBERT MCC AW / RED BAT SHU T T ER S TO C K 1665 42356 / RED - BAC K ED S A L A M A NDER D ON SC A L L EN

F O R E S T C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 4 3

these flora and fauna rely on forests

We are fortunate in Headwaters. Our forests are still large enough to support remarkable diversity. But what would be lost if our forests continue to decline or even disappear? Here are six plants and animals, representative of myriad others, that depend completely on forests.

May we learn from our forests, enjoy them responsibly, and have the wisdom to protect them.

Scarlet Tanager

Red Bat

S TATUS : NOT AT RISK

S TATUS : NOT AT RISK

Breathtaking is an overused word, but sometimes exactly apt.

The sight of a scarlet tanager foraging for insects among the bright green leaves of a spring woodland can leave an observer fumbling for superlatives.

Hundreds of tanager species exist in the tropics of the Americas, and most are sublime. Alas, a flight to Costa Rica or Colombia is necessary to see most of them. The scarlet tanager is an outlier, one of a handful of migratory tanager species and the only one that breeds in Headwaters. Why this tanager migrates thousands of kilometres, in contrast to its homebody relatives, is a mystery. Regardless, its wanderlust is most welcome.

Scarlet tanagers nest in mature deciduous woodlands, especially if these woodlands contain oak trees. In most of Headwaters that means red oaks. The appeal of oaks is likely the teeming insect fauna – caterpillars, beetles and so on – supported by those trees.

After their spring migration scarlet tanagers are difficult to spot, despite their brilliance and the exuberant singing of the males. This is because they usually sing on high, obscured by foliage. Their song is often compared with that of a robin, albeit a robin with a sore throat. Learning it will enable you to detect tanagers on woodland walks in spring through early summer.

Red bats challenge the popular perception that bats are creepy. “Cuddly” might be a more accurate description. They have pixie-like faces with upturned noses and plush orange-red fur. I once found a red bat hanging from the branch of a shrub when I was birding in May. Had it been September or October, I might have mistaken him (yes, it was a him – males have brighter fur) for autumn leaves.

Red bats are forest dwellers and, unlike their big and little brown bat relatives, which often occupy the attics and soffits of human dwellings, they generally roost and raise their young in trees.

These bats appear shortly after dusk and use their astonishing echolocation abilities to target the moths, beetles and other flying insects that thrive in forest ecosystems.

Though white-nose syndrome has wreaked havoc on several bat species, red bats have been left largely unscathed. Perhaps this is because, dispersed in trees throughout woodlands, they exercise social distancing for much of the year.

However, some do gather in caves after migrating south to the United States to pass the winter.

www.canadianoutbuildings.com

far left The brilliantly plumed scarlet tanager is the only one of hundreds of tanager species that breeds in Headwaters before heading to the tropics for the winter. top More cuddly than creepy, red bats have pixie-like faces and upturned noses. left Probably the most common vertebrate in our woodlands, red-backed salamanders breathe through their damp skin, requiring the moisture of shade and the detritus on the forest floor to survive.

Red-backed Salamander S TATUS : NOT AT RISK

This slender amphibian is probably the most common vertebrate in our woodlands. A New Hampshire study found the total biomass of red-backed salamanders in a woodland was twice that of all the birds, excluding owls and hawks, and equal to the total biomass of all the mice and shrews.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines an amphibian as “an animal, such as a frog, that lives both on land and in water, but must produce its eggs in water.”

Red-backed salamanders break this rule. Unlike most of their amphibian kin, they don’t require ponds for breeding and egg laying. Instead, they usually lay them under or within rotting logs. And in another departure from the typical amphibian MO, red-backed mothers protect their eggs until they hatch.

Breeding occurs after dark in September and October. I clued in to this a few years ago when friends and I were out searching for caterpillars on a sultry autumn evening. We discovered red-backed salamanders seeking mates. Some sat atop woodland plants and others clung to the trunks of trees up to a height of a metre or so. A perch above the forest floor could allow their pheromones to circulate more freely, a come-hither message to other red-backed salamanders.

Red-backed salamanders are lungless. They breathe through their skin, a method of respiration that requires moisture. Dry skin leads to suffocation.

That’s one reason red-backs are woodland creatures. They find life-giving moisture in the shade and detritus of the forest floor. When conditions get really dry, these salamanders retreat underground.

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Stay safe and healthy! We’ll get through this together. the way!

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Nature Where We Live: Activities to Engage Your Inner Scientist from Pond Dipping to Animal Tracking, he shares the techniques he uses to learn about the creatures near and dear to his heart. The low-impact activities provide opportunities to investigate the beautiful and fascinating life that abounds here in Headwaters and beyond.

Nature Where We Live is available at BookLore in Orangeville and Wild Birds Unlimited in Guelph. It can also be ordered directly from the author at dscallen@cogeco.ca. $20 (by cheque or e-transfer).

SHU T T ER S TO C K 482818942

Longtime In The Hills contributor Don Scallen has roamed our hills for decades exploring nature. In his first book,

American ginseng captures a high price on the black market, which has reduced its once robust population to endangered scarcity.

American Ginseng S TATUS : ENDANGERED IN C ANADA AND ONTARIO

I’ve rambled the woods in this part of Ontario for about five decades. Despite this history, I need the fingers of only one hand to count the number of times I’ve found ginseng. This fabled, almost mythic, forest-dwelling herb was once more common. But a plant with roots touted to increase energy, relieve stress, lower cholesterol and moderate blood sugar is going to attract some attention.

Add the dubious claim that ginseng boosts performance in the bedroom, and its perceived value soars. Garnish those claims by peddling the belief that the most potent ginseng grows wild, and its current scarcity in our woods is explained.

Historically, ginseng root was collected by the ton from the forests of eastern North America. And though wild collection of the scattered remnants of its once robust population is illegal today, anything this valuable will attract bad actors.

An internet search found a wholesaler willing to pay $180 to $900 (U.S.) a pound for freshly collected wild ginseng roots. The older the roots, the higher the price.

Ginseng doesn’t shout its presence. When not sporting bright red fruit, it is easily missed, hiding among such woodland stalwarts as Jack-in-the-pulpit and sarsaparilla. But as if its stratospheric value to human traffickers isn’t enough to imperil it, our abundant deer and turkey populations value it as well. No evidence that it improves their sex lives though.

When gypsy moths are adolescent

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When gypsy moths are adolescent Furry bodied caterpillars Gentle feelers flung wide to touch

the world Synchronized legs trembling behind Having glutted themselves on grasses, green things They string themselves high aloft Drop from branches into Spatial vapours, wind and storm Wantonly swung, elements control.

Twisting between the gusts Circle unto themselves feeling Beginnings and endings in their Bodies gray, red dotted, white striping Many legs suggesting newer ways To snap the cord that keeps

them dangling And squirming alternate circular Touching they begin the head Of their cocoon.

—Marilyn Boyle Caledon poet Marilyn Boyle is a member of the League of Canadian Poets and her work has appeared in several literary journals. This summer her oak tree was decimated by gypsy moth caterpillars. Luckily, the trees sent out a second set of leaves that give her hope for the future.

ROBERT MCC AW

The population of wood thrushes, along with their melodic songs, has declined in the Credit River watershed by 36 per cent since 2002. They are now deemed of “special concern” in Ontario.

Wood Thrush S TATUS : THRE ATENED IN C ANADA , SPECIAL CONCERN IN ONTARIO

Some sensory pleasures momentarily eclipse our worldly concerns. The smell of lilac blossoms does this for me. Inhaling the fragrance puts me in a good place, if only momentarily. The song of the wood thrush has a similar effect. Trouble recedes, peace descends. Thoreau called its song “a pure and unmatchable melody.”

Unfortunately, it's becoming more difficult to hear this melody locally and in other parts of Ontario. Since 2002, says Kata Bavrlic of Credit Valley Conservation, the population of wood thrushes in the Credit River watershed has declined by 36 per cent. Ontario has also experienced an overall decline, according to a 2013 report by the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario.

The COSSARO report cited a Pennsylvania study that found a significant relationship between forest size and the survival of wood thrush eggs and nestlings. As forest size decreases, nest failure increases, from 10 per cent in large forests to a stunning 56 per cent in small forests. One reason it’s riskier for wood thrushes to nest in small woodlots is because cowbirds frequent woodland edges. Cowbirds are nest parasites, laying eggs in the nests of other birds, and wood thrushes are regular victims. Nest predators such as crows, blue jays and raccoons also abound in small woodlots.

The wood thrush is only one of many birds that do better in large forests. We can improve their chances by planting trees to enlarge existing woodlots and to create corridors to link currently isolated woodlots.

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Eastern Hemlock S TATUS : NOT AT RISK

Hemlock trees are true forest denizens, seldom able to survive removed from the company of other trees. Fascinating research has shed light on the northward advance of trees after the last glaciation. White pine, able to thrive in sun, poor soils and dry conditions, arrived here about 1,000 years before hemlock.

Hemlock had to wait until rich, moist soils were created by a thousand years of woody decay. Hemlock’s ability to thrive in shade, unlike most conifers, enables these trees to colonize established forests.

Hemlocks support many other forest organisms. Black-throated green warblers forage and build their nests in the tree’s foliage. Porcupines are also attracted to hemlocks, especially in winter. Twigs and small branches strewn on the snow at the base of hemlocks are a sure sign of porcupine presence. Look up, way up, to find the agent of the pruning.

And then there is the beautiful hemlock varnish shelf mushroom, a close relative of the Asian reishi mushroom, long been used to cure or relieve various ailments.

It also shows promising medicinal uses and is being researched as a potential treatment for tumors and for healing wounds.

Don Scallen has recently published his first book, Nature Where We Live: Activities to Engage Your Inner Scientist from Pond Dipping to Animal Tracking. You can read more of his observations on local flora and fauna in his blog “Notes from the Wild” at inthehills.ca

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The Trees Had to Go! Settlers in the 19th century came here to farm, and to do that they had to clear the trees.

Their success with that was thorough and dramatic. So was the impact on the landscape.

BY KEN WEBER

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hen Thomas Wolfe and his family first set eyes on Lot 22 on the Ninth Concession of newly surveyed Albion Township, what they saw was definitely of the good-news/bad-news variety. Beneath the stands of oak, maple and beech on their property, they knew the soil had to be wonderfully rich and fertile. The problem was that most of it was underneath those very same trees. It was not just a matter of the space taken up by the trees, but also the shade they created. No matter how fertile the soil, seed grain needs light to germinate and grow, assuming – yet another challenge – the trees’ extensive root systems permit planting in the first place. To have a true working farm, the Wolfes realized, the trees had to go.

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Axe, saw, girdling, fire – and patience Like every other pioneer family, the Wolfes got right to it, beginning with the underbrush and smaller trees. (“Small” could mean a diameter of up to 50 centimetres.) Usable logs were saved for building projects. The rest, along with branches and detritus, were burned.

The big trees, many of them far larger than the settlers had ever seen in Europe, were usually killed by girdling (removing a ring of bark around the circumference to cut off moisture and nutrition from the roots). It was a slow death. Beech and sugar maple would dry out and fall, or at least be easier to cut, in two to three years, whereas walnut, oak and aspen hung on much longer. Once toppled, big trees were still a problem. For first-generation

settlers, the logs had little commercial value, and except for properties near the Grand River, there was no way to transport them in any case. So what could not be used on the property was simply burned.

An ongoing process Within a decade or so, the Wolfes would have had Lot 22 looking like a farm. But the clearing process was nowhere near finished. Now, like their neighbours, they would be into the next phase: getting rid of stumps, a task requiring more chopping, burning – and digging – a process that must have sorely tested their patience.

In fact, on most pioneer farms, cutting down trees, clearing away brush and taking out stumps would occupy the second generation and even the

third. The overriding objective was to expand the arable land, so clearance was a priority everywhere in these hills.

Did they go too far?

Today we are acutely aware that the removal of nearly all the forest cover in these hills and elsewhere in southern Ontario during the 19th century had profound environmental effects.

Although the people who cleared their land with such relentless determination would not have realized how their actions would affect climate change in the long term, they were around to see an immediate result – soil erosion.

By the end of the century, erosion had become a problem in every township.

The first and second generations to settle – those who cleared most of the forest cover – were no doubt thrilled

FRAME YOUR FLAME

Restoring the Forest Cover Records at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry indicate the forest recovery in this part of the province is noteworthy.

And it got going early. In Dufferin County alone, over a 50-year period that began in 1914, nearly 18 million trees were planted in a major thrust of reforestation by municipalities and by individuals. Of interest is that planting in Dufferin was underway well before the creation of provincial conservation authorities in the province (1946) and organizations like Forests Ontario with its now federally funded goal of planting 50 million trees. Started in 2008, it has reached 29 million and counting.

with their first crops. Virgin soil previously covered by trees of almost any kind, if fed with fresh spring water and boosted by a bit of fair weather, will produce high yields. Over time, however, if soil is light and sandy – as it is in many parts of these hills – it suffers from the absence of replenishment from fallen leaves and rotting wood.

Even worse, without forest protection, it blows away. By the 1880s and ’90s, in parts of Mono, Mulmur and Garafraxa particularly, the tax rolls were showing abandoned farms.

Not just wind, but water More dramatic than wind erosion was water erosion. Flash flooding in particular was exacerbated when land clearance expanded beyond the tree cover to include riparian vegetation.

The banks of many creeks and rivers across these hills had become as bald as the nearby fields. The result was flash floods like the one in Amaranth in June, 1890 that spread so rapidly the Dufferin Advertiser described children on their way home from school being forced to cling to rail fences to save themselves. In the Hockley Valley in 1908, an entire family was swept away by a flash flood and both parents drowned. Just a few years after that, and not for the first time, the Bolton Enterprise reported the entire south end of Albion Township had been inundated and the spring planting washed away when the

creeks could not handle runoff from a downpour. It had become apparent that significant areas in these hills had been rendered defenceless.

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Very few township lots were spared the axe and saw by those first families, and the easy wisdom of hindsight makes it obvious they overdid it. Yet they emigrated precisely because there was land here to clear and farm, so they not only did what they came to do, but what government policy required them to do. To qualify for a free lot, a settler had two years to clear five acres. Second and third generations followed the example of those who came before. In the early years of settlement, clearing trees was as natural as planting crops.

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The wisdom of experience It took half a century and more before mitigation of those practices began to take hold. Farmers changed tactics on their own land, and by the start of the Great War municipalities had begun concerted efforts at reforestation. [See sidebar]. Today, with the conversion of much of the early farmland to country estates here in the hills, the forest continues to reclaim its own.

The Wolfes’ lot and many others like it became productive working farms that lasted for generations. Yet in every township, deep along the reforested paths, modern-day hikers will come upon the remnants of stone foundation here and there or a disappearing rail fence, evidence of heroic effort in a time gone by, but also a reminder that we humans are most successful when we work with, not against, nature.

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Political Plantings In November 1968, Premier John Robarts planted a sugar maple at Queen’s Park, symbolically representing the one billionth tree planted to that date in the province.

Caledon writer Ken Weber is author of the internationally best-selling Five-Minute Mysteries series.

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Adventure Cups STUDIO POTTER – AL PACE: During the pandemic, I’ve been forced to pause and reflect on the things I hold most dear. One silver lining for me is extra time in the pottery studio to create with clay – my bold designs in stoneware have been inspired by a life-time of exploring Canada’s northern rivers by canoe. It is both a pleasure and privilege to bring beauty into the world during such a tumultuous time in our world history. Knowing that my creations will be admired, utilized and cherished for generations to come fills me with deep pride. This Christmas will be like no other. Our outdoor “front-porch” gallery is overflowing with gift ideas created by hand and brimming with heart and soul. By October 1, a new website with online sales will be launched featuring my latest creations.

By late October, the gallery will move indoors and guests can experience a safe and private gallery viewing by booking an appointment online or by phone.

THE TRADITION OF THE ADVENTURE CUP (featured above) originated in 1987 on one of my earliest Arctic canoe expeditions. I created a set of small wine cups with a different motif on each cup – reflecting the various personalities within the group. Each evening while in camp, the cups were unpacked and wine would be served and a toast to the day’s adventure was made. At the end of the trip, each participant was presented with their Adventure Cup as a memorable keepsake.

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Stoneware Canoe-Vessel

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AT CANOE NORTH ADVENTURES, we are proud to introduce the finest selection of guided canoe expeditions across the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. These rivers are overflowing with magic and mystery – they hold secrets that will reach deep into your soul and change you – forever. Our groups are carefully selected for maximum enjoyment and camaraderie, and matched with your novice, intermediate or advanced skill level. From the Mackenzie Mountains to the Arctic Coast, from the Klondike Gold Rush to the Legends of Nahanni – we are excited to share the secrets of these amazing rivers.

LOOKING AHEAD to 2021, consider putting together a group of friends or plan a family canoe trip on one of these cherished rivers. If you love the idea of fast water, big waves and stunning, pristine mountain scenery, consider the epic Keele River. The legendary Nahanni River holds secrets like Virginia Falls, Sunblood Mountain and Kraus’s Hot Spring and we offer both raft and canoe trips. If you are a history buff, step back into the glory years of the Klondike Gold Rush and canoe the smooth and fast Yukon River – perfect for novice or vintage paddlers. If you dream of seeing big game like musk-oxen, caribou and arctic wolves or dream of hooking into a spectacular arctic char, the remote Horton River is calling your name – the mysterious landscape emerges from the edge of the boreal forest and breaks out into the Arctic barrens. Evening tundra walks under the midnight sun are magical!

www.canoenorthadventures.com To attend an upcoming webinar on these and other river adventures, register for free online.

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SMALL GATHERINGS

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Freshly made burgers, awesome wings, daily specials, great beers on tap — and our famous breakfasts.

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appetite for adventure Moveable feasts and sweet diversions

BY JANICE QUIRT

S H O P TA L K

Into the woods Fresh food aficionados have two new FRESH FROM THE OVEN

spots to explore. Mulmur’s Maple Grove Farm is well known for strawberries and more recently for

Main Street in Erin feels a little more Gallic these days, thanks to Alan Le Louedec and Gaëlle Thollet (above), who opened their French bakery Bistro du Pain in May. The spot builds on Gaëlle’s popular crêpes-and-galettes food truck. Opening during a pandemic could have been challenging, but the pair report an enthusiastic response from pastry lovers. The couple make fresh bread, bistro sandwiches, pastries, crêpes, galettes and fête-worthy layered cakes. The most popular items are the plain and almond croissants, apple turnovers and pain au chocolat, says Gaëlle. We’ll have to continue to sample every menu item until we can confirm. Bon appétit!

PE TE PATERSON

A taste of France

the nifty produce vending machine in Mansfield. Now they’re also selling sweet corn, fruit, veggies and fresh baking at a newly built farm shop – in the former Woodfield Farm location on Airport Road. Market in the Woods in Caledon focuses on Arlete Cevada-Marcos’s

Market in the Woods

garden harvest and plant-based goodies.

Best-sellers include vegan muffins and herbed cashew cheese, as well as falafel, soups and tomato jam. Open

DEP OSIT 256577268

Red cabbage ready Pop by Hillside Farmz in Mulmur for local colour in the form of young red cabbage, which we’re using everywhere its green colleague has gone before. The brassica brightens up cabbage rolls, kimchi, sauerkraut or slaw.

Sundays until the end of November – then it’s by appointment only.

Interested in something mentioned here? Find links to social media pages & websites at Food+Drink on inthehills.ca.

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Proudly made with 100% Ontario apples.

Locally Made, Naturally Refreshing.

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Moveable feasts Cooler temperatures and a lack of pesky bugs make fall our favourite hiking season — made even better with a portable picnic. Here are four suggestions that pair a tasty takeout option with a nearby walk. (Visit inthehills.ca for Google Map pins and visit park sites for admission details.) And don’t forget this trail trash credo: If you pack it in, pack it out.

Cruise by Pia’s on Broadway in Orangeville for healthy lunch sandwiches on homemade bread and then crank out a loop in Monora Park (it’s less busy than Island Lake).

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Stop by Landman Gardens and Bakery in Grand Valley for a hiking classic — pepperettes from Thatcher Farms — paired with freshly baked scones.

Then birdwatch in the ethereal Luther Marsh.

At River Ridge Café in Palgrave pick up a fruit smoothie and breakfast sandwich or wrap and enjoy the network of trails criss-crossing Albion Hills Conservation Area. (If you have cyclists in your crew, check out the biking options too.)

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Visit the Bank Café in Creemore for a panini to go (plus carrot cake!) before making your way to Creemore Nature Preserve to catch epic views of the Niagara Escarpment.

Do you have a favourite takeout-plus-outdoor-fun combo?

See this story at inthehills.ca to share via comments.

Frothy beer news

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Pilsner and lager hitmakers Caledon Hills Brewing Company have taken over the former Church pub in Palgrave. Plans are for a brew pub to open in early October serving seasonal beers on tap, along with a bottle shop. They’ll brew small batches on-site while maintaining their original manufacturing location.

Similarly in Orangeville, Taphouse Craft Beer + Kitchen — the folks behind the town’s annual Brewzapalooza — has moved into the former Soulyve on Mill Street, with craft beers on tap, a beer-inspired food menu and bottle shop.

A sweet focus FA M I LY V I N E YA R D S

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It’s getting harder to justify buying those prefab, processed sweets these days, when there are so many options fresh from local kitchens. Here are three — who will even deliver to your door. Melissa Purvis’s Orangeville service Muffins by Melissa features rotating specialty flavours like rhubarb cinnamon alongside the alwaysavailable lemon almond ricotta. Now she’s got mini carrot muffins perfect for school lunches and even a savoury cornbread option. At Caledon’s Mmm Cheesecakes & Desserts, founder Manpreet Mundhan specializes in mini and whole cheesecakes in a wild array of flavours and styles including strawberry, lemon, mango, Ferrero Rocher, vegan, diabetic-friendly or keto. New creations include caramel pecan and apple pie cheesecakes.

And Grand Valley’s Berry Sweet Notes lavishly decorates chocolatecovered strawberries with everything from gold leaf to sprinkles for any celebration big or small. (She offers pickup as well as delivery.)

Authentic.

E S T AT E G R O W N A P P E L L AT I O N S P E C I F I C

An estate-grown wine has its own special character. It’s a true statement about the way the vines transform soil,

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All of the McManis wines are estate grown in several preferred appellations, allowing each varietal its full expression.

Raise a glass, and find out exactly where we’re coming from.

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www.thevineagency.ca The complete range of McManis wines is available directly from theVineAgency.ca for home delivery. McManis Cabernet Sauvignon is a ‘Vintages Essential’ – always available at the LCBO. Please enjoy responsibly.

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We rejoiced the minute restaurant patios were open for business this summer — many of them purpose-built for pandemic-weary diners. This fall we’re especially keen to keep the staycation moment alive by pulling up a chair in some of our region’s most spectacular rural settings.

Heidi Baufeldt reports she’ll be keeping her magical new garden dining at Mrs. Mitchell’s in Violet Hill going as long as possible — watch for outdoor heaters to stretch the season. The front drive at Forks of the Credit Inn in Cataract was annexed to expand the patio and to make room for a chic Airstream trailer bar. Check out their live music and Name That Tune nights. And don’t forget the patio at the Terra Nova Public House with its views of the rolling Mulmur countryside or the breathtaking vineyard view from the patio of Adamo Estate Winery in Hockley Valley.

water, and sunlight into something

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A garden table at Mrs. Mitchell’s Restaurant.

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Preserving tradition Our forebears knew how to put sunshine in a jar. You can too.

BY TONY REYNOLDS PHOTOGR APHY BY PE TE PATERSON

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hen my wife, Susan, and I lived in Toronto, we would go early on Saturday mornings to the St. Lawrence Market on Front Street.

We would often buy small steaks, eggs and fresh bread for a late morning brunch. On the north side of the market, we always stopped at a booth toward the back, where a man sold his own jams and jellies. We really enjoyed his raspberry jam, but our favourite by far was his apple jelly. A beautiful, delicate pink colour, it had a perfect light jelly texture. He even poured a layer of paraffin on top, sealing it the old-fashioned way, but most important, the jelly tasted as if we had just picked the apple from the tree.

This experience sparked the idea of making my own preserves, and over the years I made a few successful forays into the world of homemade jams and jellies. One afternoon, after we’d moved to the hills, we went out to the fields behind our home and found enough wild strawberries to make a batch of jam. It sure takes a lot of those little things to fill a quart box! I cheated a bit and put in some storebought berries to bulk things up.

We have also picked wild black raspberries for jams and “put down” other produce, such as pickled beets. For a very short time, I even thought about pickling butternuts. The recipe was in a homesteading book I had. The process involved boiling immature butternuts in changes of water until the boiling liquid stopped turning black, then putting them down in pickling brine for a year or more before tasting. As if the wait weren’t sufficiently daunting, I realized I’d have to pick young butternuts from the 40-foot tree in our front yard. Nope. I didn’t even know, after risking life and limb, whether we’d like the taste.

So that idea went no further.

Writer Tony Reynolds waited a long time to fulfill his fantasies of preserving the harvest, but now he is a dab hand. Here he prepares to make pepper jelly.

My on-and-off preserving endeavours changed a couple of years ago when Susan gave me a maslin pan from Lee Valley Tools for my birthday. It is beautiful – stainless steel, with a thick, heavy base and a flare, like a teacup, up to the rim. It measures 8 inches in diameter at the base, 12 inches at the top.

The pot is not named for its designer, as I first thought. The word maslin derives from Old English and apparently refers either to the mixture of grains used to make gruel in the pot or to the mixture of metals used to make the

pot itself. Whichever, it looked perfect for the job, and I wanted to put it to good use. But I had to wait until preserving season, which wasn’t far off – my birthday is at the end of February.

In the meantime, I searched online for recipes.

Pinterest is a gold mine of ways to add new twists to old favourites.

Fortunately for those eager to get the preserv­ ing season underway, some of the growers whose produce is available at farmers’ markets here push the season in greenhouses and the like, C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 59

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Pepper Jelly The nice thing about this recipe is that it can be made year-round with hothouse peppers.

You can vary the colour from yellow to green to red by changing the proportion of the various sweet peppers, and you can change the heat by using more or less jalapeño, hotter habanero or even Scotch bonnet peppers.

The recipe fills six 250-ml jars, more or less. Sometimes there’s a little extra, which means you get to taste the jam without opening a jar. Less often the result is a little shy of six jars, so one jar isn’t as full.

pro ce s sing t he ja r s You’ll need a canner and six canning jars, as well as lids and rings. To sterilize the jars, “bake” them in the oven at 250F for 15 minutes or boil them in the canner for 10 minutes. Keep them hot so they don’t crack when the hot mixture is ladled in. The lids can sit in very hot water until you need them. The rings don’t need sterilizing because they don’t touch the jar’s contents, but you can put them in hot water with the lids.

When the jelly is ready (recipe follows), ladle the hot mixture into jars, leaving 6 mm (¼ inch) of space at the top. Canning jar tongs and a canning funnel are helpful tools at this stage.

With a damp cloth wipe any spills off the rim.

Place the lids on the jars – be sure they’re centred – and screw on the ring, finger-tight so that air is able to escape during the sealing process. To process, place the filled jars in hot water in the canner. The water should cover the jars by at least an inch. Bring to a boil and boil for five minutes. Remove the canner from heat. Let the jars cool in the water and listen for the ping that indicates the jars are sealed.

Once the jars are cool, press on the lids. If a lid springs back, it isn’t completely sealed.

Store those jars in the refrigerator and use up their contents first. The others can go in a cool cupboard for up to a year (or more, I’ve found).

1 Sterilize clean jars — “bake” them in the oven at 250F for 15 minutes or boil them in the canner for 10 minutes.

4 Add vinegar and stir in pectin.

2 Seed and finely chop sweet and jalapeño peppers.

5 Stir constantly over high heat and bring to a rolling boil.

ingredien t s

4 cups peppers, seeded and finely chopped (a mix of red, yellow or green sweet peppers and jalapeño peppers*) 1 cup apple cider vinegar 1 box (57 g) powdered pectin 5 cups sugar * I’ve never used more than a generous ¼ cup of jalapeño peppers, but some like it hotter.

prepa r at ion Place chopped peppers in a large pot. Add vinegar and stir in pectin. Heat on high, stirring constantly, and bring to a full rolling boil – that’s when the boiling doesn’t stop when you stir.

Add the sugar all at once and keep stirring.

When the mixture returns to a full boil, continue to boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove the pot from heat. Skim off any foam. Then ladle into the jars and process in the water bath.

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7 Take the pot of peppers off the heat, skim off any foam, then ladle into sterilized jars with finger-tightened lids.

8 Place the filled jars in the canner, covered by at least an inch of hot water. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.

P R E S E R V E S C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 57

3 Place chopped peppers in a large pot.

6 Add the sugar all at once and keep stirring. When it comes back to a full boil, continue for another minute.

9 Once cooled, check the lids for a good seal (see instructions at left). Label and enjoy your jelly!

so their produce is available earlier than expected. Lennox Farm, north of Horning’s Mills, forces rhubarb, for instance. The greenhouse at Besley Country Market in Shelburne ensures Evan Besley’s tomato season gets a jump start. And Sun-Ray Orchards of Beamsville has raspberries at the Orangeville Farmers’ Market both before and after the regular season.

That first season after receiving the maslin pan, I bought flats of berries and baskets of peaches. For a little zing I added slivers of habanero peppers to one batch of strawberry jam, and little pieces of jalapeño pepper to the peach jam. Ah, peaches.

I remember many years ago opening home-jarred peach halves in a light syrup – a gift from a home economics teacher I knew. We were deep in the valley of winter. The wind was howling, the snow was blowing and it was as cold as a well digger’s toe.

When I opened the jar and took the first taste, it was as if the sun had come and melted winter away. Overstated?

Not a bit. So of course, I had to put down some peach halves. They were as delicious as I remembered, and I made a few batches. Even after giving some away, we had enough jars of sunshine to warm us throughout the next winter.

As the growing season progressed and tomatoes ripened, I bought a food mill and made passata, a purée of plum tomatoes (San Marzano variety, if you can get them). The tomatoes are skinned and passed through the mill to eliminate the seeds, which can add a bitter, astringent taste. Some passata recipes call for lightly cooking the tomato purée before processing. But for a fresher taste and colour, I prefer jarring it fresh, then processing the jars in a water bath. Passata is a wonderful start to Sunday pasta sauces, cream of tomato soup and so on. It, too, brings some sunshine to cold winter days.

The water bath is straightforward, but there are details about timing to consider to ensure your preserves are well sealed and will keep until you open the jars. Recipes usually specify the time needed to boil jars after they’re filled, and it’s worth paying attention to those details.

The companies that make mason jars (Bernardin or Ball, for example) are good online sources. So is Public Health Ontario.

The hot water process has been around since Nicolas Appert discov­ ered how to safely feed Napoleon’s

armed forces in the early 19th century, but many people now use steam, which saves water and energy. There are pots specifically made for that process.

There are also pressure canners (different from pressure cookers) that sterilize preserves under pressure. Now that’s a pot, like my maslin, that looks as if it can do the job!

Whatever the process, the most rewarding part is when you hear a pretty little ping as the hot air in the jar cools, creating a vacuum that seals the lid.

Oh yes, I did make apple jelly … sort of. Last fall, a friend brought over a couple of bags of wild apples in various shapes, sizes and colours, from nearly white and light yellow to a dark, winey red. They looked perfect. I must admit I wasn’t patient enough to let the juice drip (so slowly) through the cheesecloth (jelly makers, cover your eyes), so I squeezed the cheesecloth just a little. Actually, quite a bit. Obviously, the results were not as refined as the St. Lawrence Market product, but they were tasty – and just for fun I put a sprig of thyme in each jar before processing.

Experience has taught me a few things about canning and preserving, and I’ll no doubt continue to discover more. I now attach my labels to the lids of the jars, for example, to avoid having to scrape them off the glass later – and the lids are replaced anyway. But the most important lesson may be to read and follow directions precisely. When the instructions say, for instance, “Boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly,” don’t just count to 60. Use a timer and stir as if you mean it. If you let up or skimp, you can end up with something more like sauce than jam or jelly. Go too long and the texture can resemble an India rubber ball. Unfortunately, you won’t know the outcome for certain until the jam is jarred, processed and cooled to room temperature.

I once got distracted from a batch of peach jam and boiled it so long it began to darken and smell like caramel. I had to throw it out and expended a lot of soaking time and elbow grease to clean the hardened sugar off the bottom of the pot. It’s all part of the learning process. It’s all fun, and in January I get to pop open a jar of summer sunshine.

There’s nothing like it.

Tony Reynolds is a freelance writer who lives in Orangeville.

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Recipes from Local Pros

My preserving skills have a long way to go to match the expertise and output of the pros.

Here are three examples of local folks who have taken preserving to another level. You’ll find more in the Headwaters Farm Fresh guide (see the summer 2020 issue of In The Hills, or headwatersfarmfresh.ca) and still more at farmers’ markets and local retailers.

Mrs. V’s Preserves Terra Cotta

Connie’s Kitchen Mono

Barb Vivian

Connie Arteaga

Some 15 years ago, Barb Vivian – Mrs. V – decided on a whim to sell her homemade strawberry jam at the Brampton Farmers’ Market. She had volunteered to help at a booth selling a fundraising cookbook.

When she brought in the jam, she was surprised at how quickly it sold.

She made more for the next week … and the next … and that opened the floodgates. Since then, she has expanded both her repertoire and her output. One year Barb overshot her goal of 10,000 jars and made 14,000, which she offered at local stores and markets. Her pace has slowed down somewhat from that peak.

Barb’s products are made with Ontario-grown fruit and vegetables and often named after the people who inspired or contributed the recipe. Offerings include Lumpy’s Pickled Beets, Ollie’s Dills and Nan’s Chili Sauce. Nan, in this case, was Barb’s husband’s grandmother. “The kids actually called her Gaggy,” said Barb with a laugh, “but I didn’t think that was a suitable label for something to eat.”

Mrs. V’s Preserves are available at retailers from Brampton to Orangeville. Check mrsvspreserves.com for an up-to-date product list.

When Connie Arteaga and her husband, Rafael, retired, they downsized to a smaller house and upsized the land around it, with room for a large vegetable garden. “I always made preserves for the family,” said Connie, “but when I was looking for something to do in my retirement, our kids said I should sell my preserves, so that’s how I got started.” That “something to do” now includes the vegetable garden, chickens for free-range eggs, beehives, a sugar bush, baking and a long list of preserves made, for the most part, with her own crops.

Many of the recipes have their roots in Sicily, where Connie grew up in a small town and worked in her parents’ general store before immigrating to Canada at age 16. She makes passata, eggplant antipasto, sundried tomatoes in olive oil, and bean soup with Romano beans from her garden, for example, along with some new additions such as red pepper jelly with tequila, and apricot jam with ghost peppers, among many more offerings.

Preserves from Connie’s Kitchen are available at 487207 30 Sideroad, Mono, but call first (519-925-4380). Her preserves are also available at the Alliston RURBAN Market (Sat, 8–2) until the end of October. For a list of products, go to shop.connieskitchen.ca.

Nan’s Chili Sauce

Melanzane Sott’olio Eggplant Antipasto

M A K E S A B O U T 10 5 0 0 - M L J A R S

MAKES 2 500 - ML JARS

18 cups tomatoes, peeled and chopped* 6 cups celery, chopped* 4 cups onions, chopped* ½ cup pickling salt 2 cups cider vinegar 5 cups white sugar 2 green peppers, seeded and chopped 30 g mustard seed * Chop by hand for a nice chunky texture

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Combine the first three ingredients in a bowl, add the salt and let stand overnight. Drain well and discard liquid. Place in a large pot and add the salt, vinegar, sugar and green peppers, along with the mustard seed in a mesh bag. Simmer slowly, uncovered, for 1 to 2 hours, depending on how thick you like it.

Remove the bag of mustard seeds and discard.

Pour into clean, hot, sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath.

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3 cups water 6 cups white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar ½ cup salt 6 medium eggplants (Connie prefers Sicilian eggplant) 3–4 cloves organic garlic, thinly sliced 1 bunch Italian parsley, leaves finely minced 2 tbsp oregano 1–2 cups olive oil

Mix the water, vinegar and salt in a stainless steel bowl. Peel and thinly slice the eggplant lengthwise and then slice each piece into thin strips. Add the eggplant to the vinegar mixture and weigh it down with a plate to make sure it is completely submerged. Let stand for 6 to 8 hours.

Drain the mixture well, squeezing out as much liquid as possible, and pat dry with a paper towel. In a large bowl, mix the garlic, parsley and oregano with the olive oil and add the eggplant. Mix well.

Pour the mixture into 2 500-ml jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Add more olive oil if needed. Cover and refrigerate or store in a cold room. No need for a water bath.

Rock Garden fall 20_Layout 1 20-08-28 6:00 PM Page 1

Landman Gardens Grand Valley

EAT LOCAL taste the &difference!

ONTARIO HARVEST IS HERE

Rebecca Landman

Rebecca Landman began making preserves to sell when the Landman farm evolved away from dairy production some years ago, but the experience was not entirely new. She remembers being underfoot with her sister as they tried to help their mother make jam. “We’d make freezer jam that you have to stir for three minutes,” she laughed. For a child watching the clock, three minutes is a long, long time.

Today, along with selling their own chicken, eggs, pork, sweet and savoury pies and other baking, Landman Gardens produces a sizable selection of preserves in their kitchen. The preserves include many family recipes, such as Mom’s bread-and-butter pickles, which head a long list of pickled treats, as well as sweet and savoury products from corn relish to apple bourbon barbecue sauce. Rebecca usually preserves with produce from her own garden, but this year she also sourced off-farm produce from as close to home as possible.

The peach blueberry jam below is one of the farm’s concoctions. Rebecca said weighing the ingredients gives more consistent results.

Landman Gardens preserves are available at the farm store at 322345 Concession 6–7, Grand Valley. You can order for curbside pickup at the store, and some local delivery is offered. See details at landmangardens.ca.

Peach Blueberry Jam

Peaches & cream corn, field tomatoes, Niagara peaches and local apples, farm fresh eggs, baked goods, fresh baked pies, fresh baked bread, preserves, jams and maple syrup.

FALL DÉCOR IS HERE Mums, grasses and kale, pumpkins and straw bales.

READY TO GO HOMEMADE MEALS Fresh lasagna, meatballs and tomato sauce.

CURBSIDE ORDERS AVAILABLE OPEN EVERY DAY! April to November 8am to 6pm

MAKES 4 500 - ML JARS

250 g peaches (pitted, peeled and chopped before weighing) 250 g blueberries, stemmed and lightly crushed ¼ cup lemon juice 1.295 kg sugar 1 pouch liquid pectin (Certo)

Place peaches, blueberries, lemon juice and sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring. Boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Add the pectin and stir steadily for 5 minutes, hoping your arm doesn’t get tired!

Pour into sterilized jars, seal, and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Remove from the canner and cool.

WE CONTINUE TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS TO KEEP OUR CUSTOMERS AND STAFF SAFE AND HEALTHY Social distancing in market, one person per family please.

Farmer Fresh Produce from our table to yours

16930 AIRPORT ROAD, 2.5 KM NORTH OF CALEDON EAST

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from Soil toTable Preserving her garden’s bounty is in Karen Hollingshead’s DNA

BY GAIL GRANT

I

PHOTOGR APHY BY ROSEMARY HASNER

f you were ever to experience a food shortage, Karen Hollingshead would be the perfect next-door neighbour.

With the help of her dehydrator, steam juicer, vacuum sealer and pressure canner, her densely planted 800-square-foot garden feeds not only herself and her husband, Steve, but also both sets of their parents, with plenty left over to share with friends, neighbours and the odd lucky bunny.

To minimize both watering and weeding, Karen intentionally keeps her garden plot compact. Everything within its boundaries must offer something of value to earn its place. “Whether it’s for shade, as a poll­ inator, a companion plant or as a food source, everything in the garden has a purpose,” she says. “Being just a pretty face doesn’t cut it here.”

At 60 and recently retired from a career in marketing and commu­ nications, Karen says the “homesteading thing” has always been influential in her life. She and Steve grew up in King Township, met in Grade 10 and have been together for 45 years. They designed and built

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their current home high on a sun-washed Caledon hillside when they were in their mid-20s, taking the DIY approach every step of the way.

Karen’s fascination with gardening was sparked by happy childhood visits to her Danish grandparents’ home in North Toronto where she enthusiastically helped with the annual fruit and vegetable harvest, as well as the preserving rituals that followed.

She refers to her current garden as transitional. In anticipation of a future when bending over to tend it might be a problem, she sourced galvanized steel raised beds (made by Conquest Steel on Rivalda Road in Toronto) to add to the three water-trough containers she had already been using. The bottomless 8-foot x 3-foot x 30-inch steel containers allow water to drain and earthworms to come up through the soil.

Thirty-five varieties of tomatoes grow in the garden, some obtained from a seed exchange and some from seeds saved from previous crops.

Karen thinks of the currant, or spoon, tomato as the caviar of tomatoes because of the tiny bursts of flavour each produces, but her

Proud to serve and support our community Garden Foods continues to serve the community with the same level of excellence and trust we have built over the past 38 years. Here you will find carefully selected fresh produce, breads and meats, specialty goods, and fully prepared quality meals cooked in-house – everything you’ll need to enjoy delicious meals at home.

Mondays to Fridays 8am–7pm Saturdays and Sundays 8am–6pm Online ordering with curbside pickup available for seniors and the immune-compromised.

Produce from the raised beds in Karen Hollingshead’s 800-square-foot garden feeds her family year-round. She stores her ample collection of preserves in a cold cellar.

most treasured tomato plants are the heirloom bonny best. Their seeds had spent 30 years in a napkin before her aunt discovered them and gave them to her.

Settled in a special place in the garden, the nine bonny best plants produced about 150 pounds of tomatoes in one exceptional year and regularly provide a bonanza Karen transforms into purées, salsas and sauces. The variety has also won her prizes at the Bolton Fall Fair.

One of Karen’s busiest times of the year is the six weeks from St. Patrick’s Day to the end of April while the maple sap is running.

During that time she regularly puts in 15-hour days making syrup for her family, friends and the neighbourhood.

Using a three-burner propane stove set up on her driveway, Karen distils 43 litres of sap for each litre of the final product. She collects sap from her own trees as well as neighbourhood maples, and doesn’t limit herself to hard sugar maples. She also collects from soft maples such as C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

www.gardenfoodsmarket.com gardenfoodsmarket.com | 905-857-1227 501 Queen Street South in Bolton

A locally owned and operated independent gourmet grocer for 38 years, we offer fresh daily prepared foods for your convenience and catering services for larger gatherings.

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F R O M S O I L T O TA B L E C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 6 3

THANK YOU

FOR MORE THAN 22 YEARS!

Thank you to the loyal readers of In The Hills, and Signe, Roberta, Cindy and the team. Your magazine helped Kitchen To The Table reach local customers since we opened in early May 1998 in downtown Orangeville.

A heartfelt thank you to our many loyal customers, and to Kristin, Lynne and Sarah. We worked well together, keeping the store shipshape and providing product knowledge. I could not have managed without you!

Now, after growing and operating the store for more than a third of my lifetime, it is time to change my path. I wish you all good health; enjoy what you have, be happy, and be kind to one another.

Take care, Sigrid

Lavender Blue 1/8 Horizontal In the Hills Sept 2020

SMALL GATHERINGS

BIG MEMORIES

(519) 939-3663

SWEAT IT OUT SAFELY DISTA NCED BU T TOGETHER INDOORS A ND OU T

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riverdalefitnessmill.com Lavender Blue/Le Finis 3” Dining In the905-838-3236 Hills Sept 2020

104 M A PLE AV E INGLEWOOD

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silver maple, Manitoba maple, Norway maple and crimson maple, as long as they have a diameter exceeding 10 inches. She says soft maples produce a milder, buttery-flavoured syrup.

Her best year to date was 2019, when she produced 55 litres of finished syrup processed from more than 2,000 litres of sap.

Every tree and bush on the property has a history. “The gooseberries and red currants were transplanted from my grandparents’ house, and some of the maples were rescued as saplings from a parking lot. My family never wonders what to give me for my birthday or anniversary.

They always hit a home run with a fruit tree,” she says with a smile.

A huge fan of vertical gardening and a dedicated recycler, Karen uses both concrete reinforcing mesh and 16-foot galvanized hog fence panels, bent into half-circles, as trellises. She also recycles plant pots, thereby extending her garden’s area, and even has a few loofah plants growing among the cavalcade of vegetables climbing her trellises.

Bucking tradition, Karen grows both her carrots and her potatoes in individual containers placed randomly throughout the garden. At harvest time she simply bangs the inverted pot into a wheelbarrow and picks out the produce.

Near the garden grows a 4-in-1 apple tree. Its grafted branches produce McIntosh, Granny Smith, golden delicious and Cortland apples. “It just makes sense and saves a tremendous amount of space,” says Karen. She has also scoured roadsides for wild crabapple trees and grafted scions from them onto apple trees in the remains of an old orchard on her property.

Happiest when she is in her kitchen, Karen remembers her first success as a cook was a salmon loaf she made for her family when she was seven. She hasn’t looked back.

Making good use of her juicer, dehydrator and pressure canner, she annually “puts down” more than 300 jars of homegrown fruit and veggies, turning them into pickles, jams, jellies, sauces and mustards, as well as jars of mixed dehydrated offerings ready to add to stock for soups. She stores her canned goods in a cold cellar and fills three freezers every year.

“I give away as much as I keep, never have to buy fruit and vegetables during the summer months, and Christmas giving is never a problem,” she says.

Especially during the coronavirus pandemic, Karen has been more than happy to head for her garden, rather than the grocery store, when she’s ready to cook.

And she finds her neighbours are more than willing to share their harvests. Two neighbours with pear-laden trees, for instance, are delighted to exchange their crops for some of her preserves.

Karen is currently experimenting with flavoured vinegars. Her favourite at the moment is the chive blossom version she makes using white balsamic or white wine vinegar.

She rinses the chive blossoms, puts them in a mason jar with the vinegar, waits a couple of weeks, runs the liquid through a coffee filter, and voilà, she has a pretty pink chive-infused vinegar.

In addition to gardening, Karen has a fascination with genealogy, originally sparked by a high school family tree project. Now an accomplished researcher, she has traced the Quaker roots on her husband’s side to the 1680s in North America and even farther back in England. She is currently helping Steve write a book detailing the Hollingshead family history.

A hand-painted sign in Karen’s garden reads in Danish “Fra jord til bord” – “From soil to table” – a tribute to her own origins. She feels the roots of her passion for growing, harvesting and preserving extend deep into her farming heritage, with her garden providing a living link to ancestors who lived from the land. With a similar goal of self-sufficiency, she takes pleasure in the sustenance her garden offers: “It’s an adventure to help things grow. My garden is a happy and giving companion.”

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MEET THE MAKER

Svetlana Ponkin From the Alton Mill to the One of a Kind Show, this knitter’s up-sized pieces are wowing collectors.

BY ELAINE ANSELMI

PHOTOS PE TE PATERSON

W

hen Alton Mill artisan Svetlana Ponkin works with her customary 10-pound skeins of supersized yarn, she has to consider ergonomics – each skein is about the size of a huge watermelon. If she’s knitting, say, a chunky scarf, she’ll often take a seat as she manipulates the huge wooden knitting needles, which look like two cucumbers attached by a length of hose. The yarn, which is more than an inch and a half in diameter, streams off to her right.

But if she’s making a large throw blanket, she stands, using her hands to create a chain of loose, apple-sized stitches that will form one side of the piece. She also abandons the needles, she explains as she demonstrates the process in the Alton Mill Arts Centre’s Rare Threads boutique, which she manages and where she stocks her wares. With the chain laid out in front of her, she takes the length of wool attached to the skein, pinches a loop between her thumb and forefinger, then pulls it through the final loop of the chain. Working back along the chain, she does the same in each loop, creating a new row of loops as the foundation for the next row, fashioned by repeating the process.

Svetlana, who now lives in Orangeville, has been knitting and crocheting since she was eight years old in London, Ontario. “My granny taught me when I was a little girl,” she says with a laugh. “Russian-Ukrainian background, you know.” As a child, she made only simple things, but loved working with yarn. When she hit a beginner snag, she recalls asking, “Babushka, how do I fix this?” And her granny would call her Kroshka, which means “little one,” take the piece and show her how to let out a few stitches and correct her mistake.

As time passed she put down her knitting needles and crochet hooks. She worked as a dental assistant for about 13 years before stepping away, taking some time off, and then hankering to dig back into her artsy roots. “What really got me back into it was a girlfriend saying, ‘I’ve never knitted or crocheted and I want to learn. Like, right now,’” says Svetlana, who was a ready teacher.

C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

Svetlana Ponkin demonstrates knitting with supersized merino wool at the Rare Threads shop in the Alton Mill. The sweater and scarf, left, are made with a quarter-weight version of the wool.

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P H OTO S B Y P E T E PAT E R S O N

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the GIFT of NATURE sterling silver nest pendants, featuring a wide range of natural gemstones, from $150

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That was about 15 years ago. Gradually she got back into the craft – eventually in this literally big way. “When I saw this megachunky yarn I thought, What a cool concept,” she says. “I wanted to make something super-luxurious, high quality.” And that meant using merino wool, an all-natural, super-soft yarn that’s moisturewicking and biodegradable to boot. She and her husband, Richard, spent about a year trying to track down a wholesale supplier in Europe (she is mum about the exact location).

She debuted her first pieces just a few months after the first skein arrived – throw blankets, baby blankets, shawls, scarves, cowls, bed scarves, dog beds and area rugs – at the 2019 One of a Kind Winter Show in Toronto. They were a hit. Now her creations are folded in vibrant stacks of yellow, lavender, red, grey and cream on the shelves of Rare Threads. A book of yarn ends shows the array of 46 colours available for custom orders. And, ever the teacher, Svetlana offers group lessons – akin to painting parties, with vibrant wool subbing in as the medium.

Svetlana’s own learning curve has been steep, a result, she says, of taking her cues from the unusual raw material. “Because the yarn I’m using is so chunky, I have to make up my own patterns.”

She reserves one skein for testing various stitches and patterns, and creates several prototypes before she commits to making an item.

She has heard from customers, petite women especially, that they love her scarves and capes but just can’t pull off the volume.

So Svetlana offers a line of quarter-weight pieces for which she divides a skein into four and rewinds each quarter into a new skein. She finds this also allows her to play with different patterns.

Up next is a cheerful concept – she wants to mix different coloured quarter-skeins into “unicorn yarn.” She also has her sights set on making an extra-long, open sweater with a couple of knit daisies on the front and a chain of them snaking down the back. She’s still deciding whether the flowers will be stitched in or knit separately and attached. Svetlana follows other artists online and is keeping an eye out for ways to make the daisies come to life. Like all her new creations, the sweater has been knitted in her mind over and over again. “I’m always looking for inspiration,” she says. “There are lots of aha moments.”

Svetlana’s knits can also be found at Svetlanascreations.com and range in price from about $67 for a cowl to about $1,800 for a king-sized blanket.

www.henningsalon.ca

Elaine Anselmi is a freelance writer who lives in Erin.

A cappuccino-coloured throw blanket in Svetlana’s trademark chunky merino wool.

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local buys

Ann Clifford, Open Spaces Medium: Cast Stone

What we’re shopping for this autumn in Headwaters

BY JANICE QUIRT

Mrs. Clean Lindsay Sammut believes what goes on your skin is as important as what goes in your body. The Orangeville artisan started her skincare brand Primal and Lavish last year to offer natural handcrafted products at an affordable price, all made with local ingredients whenever possible. “My most popular product is the Bluegrass Cleanser + Moisturizer, which has introduced many customers to the oil-cleansing method,” says Lindsay of the skin craze which eschews soap in favour of oils to draw out impurities and hydrate. Whipped body butters (Lemongrass + Cedarwood, Pink Grapefruit + Lime, and Cacao + Vanilla Bean) round out her lineup. Products are packaged without plastic to reduce their ecological footprint.

(Body Butter 120 ml/$29, Bluegrass Cleanser + Moisturizer 60 ml/$34, Primal and Lavish)

Celebrating the Equestrian & Country Lifestyles

www.redscarfequestrian.ca www.redscarfequestrian.ca

Prints Charming Although she was scooped up by Lululemon and other companies to work in design on the West Coast, Nadine Nevitt grew up in Caledon and still spends three months a year here. Specializing in textile design, illustration and photography, Nadine’s original pen and ink drawings grace pillows, cards, prints, journals and tumblers at Rare Threads in the Alton Mill Arts Centre and on her website. Each illustration is a treasure trove of detail – motifs include VW vans, wild animals peering out from scenic landscapes, and florals – rendered in muted pastels. (Pillows $60, cards $5, Rare Threads)

CUSTOM FRAMING & ART

sources Primal and Lavish, Orangeville. www.primalandlavish.com Nadine Nevitt and Co., Caledon and B.C. www.nadinenevitt.com Rare Threads, Alton Mill Arts Centre, Alton. 519-307-9300. www.rarethreads.ca Renaissance Boutique, 72 Main St, Erin. 519-833-4488.

Jewels At Renaissance on Facebook. @renaissance001 on Instagram

PE TE PATERSON

Crown Jewels If you have a drawer full of gorgeous baubles that just aren’t being worn, Stephanie Gairdner of Erin’s Renaissance Boutique has a clever way to turn them into art. She’s created a niche market with her bespoke letters and numbers festooned with antique, vintage and costume jewellery. To pull each design together, she chooses from both a client’s collection and her own stockpile.

These mosaic masterpieces are often tributes to deceased loved ones, featuring personal jewels handed down through generations. Mounted on a wall or tucked into a bookcase, they’re sure to shine as conversation starters.

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After a year of training in the Dufferin 4-H Beef Club, Maggi Murray and Glam took first place at the Orangeville Fall Fair in 2019.

“Not your grandmother’s 4-H” But the principles of head, heart, hands and health still thrive in Headwaters

BY ANTHONY JENKINS

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PHOTOGR APHY BY ROSEMARY HASNER

ice. Nice kids.

There would be no more fitting description of the children and youth observed over the long 2019 season of wholesome 4-H activities in Peel Region and Dufferin and Wellington counties. All the kids are nice. Very nice. All the time. Even when nobody’s watching.

4-H is an agricultural, community-based nonprofit youth organization. The four Hs stand for head, heart, hands and health, and every meeting these four words guide members to commit to clearer thinking, greater loyalty, larger service and better living for their club, their community, their country and, in a recent addition to the pledge, their world.

They mean it.

In early spring 2019, a pale sun, setting precipitously, painted a pastel sky above the rolling, freshly greening countryside of Mulmur. Swallows swooped and darted through gaps in barn slats, a happy dog yapped, sleepy cattle bawled. It was rural, it was real, and it was striking.

It was a happy time, before Covid-19 was even imagined.

On a hard-working farm, two dozen members of the Dufferin 4-H Beef Club and their leaders were ranged in a ragged circle on the rutted earth, wrapping up the season’s first meeting. The kids were there learning to raise, show and judge heifers – young female cattle – and to acquire the arcane terms – underfinished, a good top line, and stands on a more correct set of feet and legs – to describe the qualities of beef cattle and the correct ways to communicate a critique as a judge. “Say it in a nicer

“What is relevant to 4-H today is very different from what was relevant when 4-H started. way,” a leader suggests. “Say ‘lacking in overall eye appeal.’ No one wants to hear that their cow is ugly.”

Lanky lads in denim and girls in ponytails and pink hoodies stood side by side, ending the two-hour meeting by earnestly reciting the club motto: Learn to do by doing. They recognized and thanked the evening’s hosts with applause, set the time and place for the next meeting, then retired to the tailgates of mud-streaked trucks for snacks and happy banter.

Six meetings and a final event to honour their achievements stretching from early spring to fall made the beef club season, and all the meetings finished this way – circled, casual, country and unrelentingly, genuinely nice. Across 4-H, the venues and clubs varied, but the philosophy – and the nice – never did.

The beginnings 4-H was founded in the United States in the early 20th century as a means of encouraging young people, who were considered more open than adults to experimenting with new agricultural ideas, to bring about change by sharing new developments with older farmers. The organization was also a way of helping rural kids connect their formal, often theoretical, classroom education with the hands-on learning they experienced at home.

Independent 4-H organizations now exist in more than 70 countries. The first club in this country was founded in Manitoba in 1913, and 4-H in Canada now boasts about 23,500 members, more than 350,000 alumni and about 8,500 volunteer leaders spread over 1,900 clubs in all provinces. The clubs view themselves as a complement to, rather than a competitor with, other youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, which often focus on a more urban demographic.

Shannon Benner, chief executive officer of 4-H Canada, was raised rural but wasn’t a farm girl or a 4-H member. She has no box of fading agricultural show ribbons in the back of a closet. “I wish I did,” she said with a laugh.

Benner leads a 4-H in transition, trying to break from the dated stereotype of farm kids doing farm stuff: fresh-faced girls in crinolines baking pies, jugeared boys with brilliantined hair beaming beside a red-ribbon swine.

“We’re trying to change that perception,” she said. “We’re not your grandmother’s 4-H anymore.

What is relevant to 4-H today is very different from what was relevant when 4-H started. We talk a lot about science and technological progress. About STEM [science, technology, engineering, math].

We talk a lot about science and technological progress. About STEM [science, technology, engineering, math]. The connection between science and innovation in agriculture is the natural next step.”

depending on the kids’ interests. And new clubs are added all the time.

A 2019 pilot project supported by Bayer Crop Science Canada, part of the global giant Bayer AG, illustrates 4-H’s commitment to STEM. The seasonlong project involved more than 2,200 4-H members across the country in building, testing and refining a wearable human health monitor. Clearly 4-H is no longer all square dancing and pie baking. “The programing has changed,” said Benner, “but the principles, the pledge, the skills we are fostering haven’t changed over the century.”

All about raising kids The connection between science and innovation in agriculture is the natural next step.” Phrases such as “sustainable agriculture” and “food security” pepper today’s 4-H literature.

For some people, the terms “science” and “food” are mutually exclusive. Put together, the two words can conjure up unpalatable thoughts of frankenfoods, big pharma and agribusiness. 4-H does embrace “pillar partners” in corporate agricultural and scientific research, but “our approach is to enable young people to have access to all perspectives,” said Benner. “To educate them to understand all the different parties at the table and let them decide.”

4-H is changing. “We’re trying new club formats to engage people,” noted Benner. “You don’t need to live on a farm to care for an animal, to have that experience.” A host farm, as well as an animal, can be found for urban kids who want to join sheep club or raise a calf or pig.

In Ontario, 4-H associations are generally organized according to counties and regions. In Peel Region, which encompasses Brampton and Mississauga, as well as rural Caledon, the Peel 4-H Association is actively trying to attract more urban kids. The same is true in other similarly mixed demographic areas.

Under the umbrella of each county or regional association are a great many activity- and interestspecific clubs, each with a minimum of six members and at least two leaders. For an average annual fee of about $95, Ontario kids aged nine to 21 may join as many interest clubs as they wish in fields such as agriculture (swine, llama, field crops), food (chocolate, “breadventure”), life skills (job hunting, photography, woodworking), outdoors (snowmobiling, birdwatching,) and just plain fun (Lego, animation, paintball). The clubs offered vary from county to county and region to region

Those principles are summed up, indeed embodied,

by June Switzer. “4-H is not about raising a calf or a chick,” said Switzer. “It’s about raising kids. About building confidence and leadership. Kids today know a lot more about gadgets – cell phones and computers – but they know just as little about the world, and interacting with people, as we did.”

In Wellington County, for nearly 60 years, Switzer, a former school teacher, has seen and done it all in 4-H. From her start as a 12-year-old new member right through to being recognized in 2013 as national 4-H leader of the year, she has loved every minute of her involvement – and yes, she does have her childhood ribbons and trophies stashed somewhere.

A mother – and now grandmother – of 4-H kids, she has led clubs such as beef, photography, tractors, sewing, quilting, ploughing and fine arts.

She has even created several. “In Lego engineering, we learned about gears and pulleys and solved engineering problems,” she said. Projects like this, dreamed up locally and submitted to the provincial body for approval, are encouraged.

In 2019, June led “cloverbuds,” a pre-4H club for children aged six to eight, as well as black light drama, cake decorating, woodworking and poultry clubs – and seems happily unfamiliar with the concept of free time.

In a church basement in a quiet hamlet tucked into northwest Erin, the soundtrack of the Mimosa 4-H Poultry Club’s first meeting of 2019 was the chatting of children and the chirpings of chicks.

“Black sex link,” said Switzer, referring not to a porn site, but to a breed of chicken. When Switzer mentioned the name, it drew no more giggles among a mixed group of rural eight- to 16-year-olds than did barred rock or light Sussex. “I didn’t expect it would,” she said. “If it had, I’d casually say, ‘Well, you obviously don’t know about chickens.’”

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Popcorn and Skittles

At the meeting, officers were nom­ inated and elected, minutes were kept, a code of conduct signed. The club was split into smaller groups for activities and games that involved identifying breeds, judging henhouse apparatus, decorating eggs (Easter was imminent) and fun, high-fiving intergroup competition. Points were awarded and deducted with comic arbitrariness, and a “golden” egg filled with treats was the team prize for the evening.

“Competition is motivational and it’s fun,” said Switzer. “We bunch the kids up so there’s some of every age in each group [who named their teams the KFCs, the Cheesy Chickens, etc.] and so they’re not just with their friends.

That allows for the kids who are shy or challenged in some way to work co-operatively, for everyone to have a role in their team. Leadership can come out of the shyest ones. Leadership is not about being bold, it’s about bringing out the best in your group, the best in you.”

Peeping black, grey and yellow dayold chicks with their egg tooth – a bump on the beak to aid cracking though an eggshell – still evident were distributed with much oohing and cooing. Each club member would nurture their chick or chicks to maturity and learn to groom, handle and show their bird in competition on achievement days at local fall fairs.

Sam McLean, aged 12 at the time, in a worn ball cap and a sweatshirt garnished with agricultural firm logos, took two chicks and named them Popcorn and Skittles.

Sam wasn’t certain whether he’s a farm kid or a city kid, or if Popcorn and Skittles are pets or livestock. “A little bit of both” was his answer to both questions. Sam plays basketball and could have signed up for paintball club, but he chose poultry club and sheep club. “I just wanted to do farming activities.” His cousins had chickens and he thought he’d like to have some of his own.

Popcorn and Skittles started out in his mom’s suburban Orangeville home before moving to a small shed under a big willow in the backyard. A month or so later, when the chicks grew larger – and they did swiftly – and risked running afoul of town bylaws, they were relocated to a roomier, rustic coop on Sam’s dad’s 10-acre property in East Garafraxa.

At subsequent poultry club meetings, Sam and his peers shared photos and reports of the progress of their growing birds, laughing, encouraging and learning equally from disasters and successes. There were the-dog-ate-my-bird excuses and shared intelligence on strategies, such as using an old-fashioned Vaseline

rubdown as a remedy for lice now that access to some once-common lice powders is restricted. “Why would the powders be difficult to find, do you think?” June asked, with a nod to Socratic teaching. The answer?

Because if not used properly, they could be harmful. And so it went.

Popcorn was becoming an elegant amber beauty – when not flapping in the barnyard dust. Sam’s hopes of winning awards were pinned on this atypical black sex link. “I think she’ll do well,” he said. But Skittles was also along for the ride. Sam fed the two carefully, groomed them with a toothbrush and habituated them to handling, which included spreading their wings to display plumage and bobbing their backsides to present their vent (where the egg comes from) to best advantage. He practised with both birds all summer.

In a cool drizzle at the 2019 Fergus Fall Fair, the poultry club’s seasonending public competition, Sam was looking miserable. Skittles, on the other hand, was looking great. A nearmature beauty, she gloried in her shiny black plumage with iridescent green undertones set off by a waterfall of amber at her neck.

“I got soaked, I’m freezing and I’m tired, but I guess it was a pretty good day,” Sam admitted as he huddled beneath a dripping awning after the

LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED Sam wasn’t certain whether he’s a farm kid or a city kid, or if Popcorn and Skittles are pets or livestock. “A little bit of both” was his answer

YEA

and could have signed up for paintball club,

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but he chose poultry club and sheep club.

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to both questions. Sam plays basketball

EXPER

competition. Surprisingly, it was Skittles’ cage that was decorated with red ribbons. Best in breed, best in show – as good as it gets! Judges praised Skittles’ generous comb, full breast, broad stance and well-developed plumage without gaps. Sam’s favoured bird, Popcorn, placed a respectable third in the field of 20, beating the likes of Cluck Berry and Darth Layer.

Switzer, bundled up and striding across sodden lawns, was quietly satisfied and visibly proud, praising the performances and participation of all the kids. As she always does. As she always will.

Even during this year’s pandemic.

The Mimosa 4-H Poultry Club carried on in 2020, though without Sam. Now a teen, he’s hoping to play baseball and basketball, but thinking of joining sheep club in 2021.

This year, following 4-H national protocols for masks and social distancing, Switzer raised and distributed chicks to club members, family by family, from her backyard.

Club lessons and quizzes are conducted online. Dividing the club into smaller units for in-person meetings – more meetings with smaller groups – is being discussed, because club meetings via Zoom proved to be challenging where rural high-speed internet is often sketchy.

Achievement days have disappeared, along with fall fairs, of course, but alternative kids-and-parentsonly outdoor gatherings are being considered.

“It has been a struggle,” said the indefatigable Switzer. “We’re limited, but we’re managing. We’re doing our best to carry on, but the social stuff, the leadership stuff, is what we’re really missing.” That and the hugs.

Maggi and Glam For 16-year-old Maggi Murray, the restrictions on this year’s activities, as well as a part-time job, mean she hasn’t had as much time to devote to 4-H, so she hasn’t been visiting her great-aunt’s 230-acre beef farm as often as she did last year. The gravel drive leading into the farm is a kilometre long, and the views across Mulmur from its hilltop pastures must be 10 times that. When I arrived at the farm for a meeting of the Dufferin beef club last summer, Maggi, then 15, was wearing jeans in fashionable shreds. She had rope burns on her hands and, if you looked closely, a scar from a cow bite on her arm.

At the time, Maggi would have liked to be swimming in the farm’s pond. Instead, she had spent the previous hour working with “Glam” – registered name Jdl Janice y79d 2031g – a 600-pound toddler in cattle terms, with a difficult disposition.

“Working” refers to a bovine beauty parlour regimen of washing, sham­ pooing (TRESemmé is favoured), blow-drying, combing, fluffing, teasing and clipping, as well as completing myriad minute primps seemingly fit for a supermodel.

Glam was unimpressed by it all and barely co-operative. She was even less so during a battle of wills with 110-pound Maggi over the following hour of show ring dry runs in an adjacent paddock.

The two- or three-times-a-week sessions in promenading and display­ ing her heifer were practice for the time Maggi and Glam would face the judges at the fall fair. Glam would be rated for physical conformation against a breed ideal, and Maggi would be judged on her poise in handling and her knowledge of Glam’s care C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

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“Everyone learns at a

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Make your plans with the Headwaters Farm Fresh guide, as well as our in-depth look at some of the region’s most inspiring food operations.

different level,” Jessica Lasby said. “We have competitive 4 – H C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 71

PA N DEM IC JOU R NA L S We wanted to mark these unforgettable times the best way we know how – by diving into as many stories as we could. Delve into new journal entries from your neighbours in these hills.

Check in with nature expert Don Scallen’s “Notes from the Wild” to see the flora and fauna that are capturing his imagination this season, from the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar to nocturnal critters.

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and feeding. The idea is to control your animal confidently and pose it in the correct, aesthetically pleasing stance – in profile, front legs apart but parallel, one hind leg slightly ahead of the other, head raised showing a strong straight line from nose to tail, with good body mass showing no divots or flaws. In theory.

In practice, Glam, recently weaned and missing her mom, was at her most obstreperous – slobbering, pulling, declining to hold pose, and prone to tread on toes or kick. In a circling queue of a half-dozen heifers led by the other beef club kids, Glam stood out as the diva. She did like to have her belly scratched with the blunted hook of Maggi’s show stick, but she largely ignored the stick’s proddings.

“That’s it! They’ve had enough,” the club’s co-leader, Jessica Lasby, called out before the day, the animals and the kids got any hotter.

Lasby, in her mid-20s, has 4-H in her DNA. Her parents were in 4-H, and Lasby’s mother, Shirley, and brother, Justin, share leadership of the Dufferin beef club. Former club members themselves, the siblings have an impressive list of competition successes both locally and at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, the Olympics for Ontario livestock.

Earlier last summer, wearing a baggy sweatshirt and with a manure-smeared

kids and kids who are just here for fun. Try to adapt your teaching style to individual members so they get out of it what they want. We put in a lot of work to help them reach any goals they may have.”

boot resting on a split rail fence, Lasby leaned down to work with a little girl daunted by a big cow and complicated judging criteria. The girl was schoolaged, but couldn’t read. “So I adapt,” said Lasby. “We adapt so people don’t get singled out. It’s a challenge, but a good one. I’ll do it verbally. It’s easier for her, not as stressful.” Turning to the girl, she questioned, “That was good, but how do you say ‘bigger,’ ‘better’?

How about ‘shows more growth for age’?” The little girl nodded and smiled. The cow pooped.

Patience is Lasby’s greatest skill as a leader. “Everyone learns at a different level,” she said. “We have competitive kids and kids who are just here for fun. Try to adapt your teaching style to individual members so they get out of it what they want. We put in a lot

Members of the Dufferin 4-H Beef Club in the happy, chummy days of last summer – before Covid-19 obliged them to move their meetings online.

of work to help them reach any goals they may have. Maggi is competitive.

We give her a good calf, we give her the tools to be successful. What she does with them is up to her. I’m confident Maggi can take anything into the show ring and make the animal look its best.”

And so she did.

Glam was on her best behaviour in Barn B at the 2019 Orangeville Fall Fair. Maggi wore a navy blue Dufferin 4-H Beef Club T-shirt, competitor bib number 10, a belt with lots of bling, and knots between her brows for most of the morning. She was nervous, fussing with Glam, raising, gluing and reclipping a stiff ridge of hair atop the heifer’s tail head until it was just so.

Then thinking better of it and doing it again. “I’m sooo nervous,” she jittered.

In the centre of the show ring, a lean, solemn judge in cowboy hat and crisply pressed jeans stood motionless, his arms crossed, looking intently, giving nothing away. A couple of hundred silent spectators were equally intent in the stands. Lasby looked on, draped on a show ring gate, trying to appear casual.

The six competitors in the junior heifer class circled the judge, posed their animals, repeated and waited.

Anticipating. No one smiled. The judge slowly walked down the line of competitors, making eye contact, asking questions, testing knowledge, learning whether each handler

understood the care and feeding of a calf, and had not just “grabbed a halter” at the show. That the handlers had “done their job in the barn.”

Maggi had. Glam was named first in her class, and Maggi took the honours in showmanship. The choice was easy, according to the judge, who listed his reasons, including “more than eye-appeal.” Maggi was thrilled with her season-ending success. Lasby, who admits to being moved to tears on such occasions, was very proud.

Glam pooped.

After that eventful day, Glam and Maggi went on to become Ontario provincial reserve champions (second place) in the Hereford class at the Royal Winter Fair. Their partnership – as Glam matures, she is coming to accept that Maggi is in charge – continues in 2020. Maggi is still in the beef club, but the club experience has changed. Club meetings and season-ending competition are now conducted virtually because of Covid-19, but Maggi is content. “You can still learn,” she said. “I get to be close to agriculture. I’ll get to be a better farmer, maybe a better vet.”

And, as is the way in 4-H, a better person.

Anthony Jenkins is a freelance writer and illustrator who lives in Mono.

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KAYAKING Seeking peace and solitude on Island Lake

BY NICOL A ROSS

L

ately I’ve been thinking a lot about noise. About how hard it is to get away from the cacophony of daily life in these hills. There may be fewer airplanes during these Covid days, but it seems there are a lot more loud motorcycles and racing cars than ever before.

Noise has become my bugbear, often an irritation, sometimes a loathing.

You might wonder what this has to do with kayaking. Plenty, as it turns out. It has to do with finding a welcome respite from noise by spending a soft, overcast Wednesday morning on Island Lake, seeking peace and solitude as Orangeville’s incessant hum of traffic fades into the distance.

Located on the east side of Highway 10 across from Orangeville’s crop of big box stores, the 329-hectare Island Lake Conservation Area is mostly a 182-hectare body of water. The lake is a reservoir formed when two dams were built in the 1960s to control flow in the Credit River, but these origins aren’t evident from a kayak, especially

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on a cloudy, tranquil morning or with a friend in another kayak on a still, blue-sky evening.

From tip to tip, Island Lake is about 4 kilometres long. A recreational kayaker could cover this distance in about an hour, but I knew the temptation to explore could turn an hour into two or three.

I prefer kayaking just after dawn, but the park doesn’t open for rentals until 8 a.m., so it was a quarter past the hour by the time I zipped up my PFD, slid my rented, very adequate and stable, orange plastic kayak into the water, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Home. I was at home in the boat, floating on an expanse of open water.

I was free of land and would soon be free of my bugbear, or so I hoped.

I decided to seek out the pair of loons park staff had told me live on the reservoir. I nosed my agile kayak through the reeds and alongside the lake’s small islands and into its hidden channels. As I did, a pair of trumpeter swans caught my eye. Even

from afar they are magnificent birds.

Rebounding from near extinction, trumpeter swans can measure nearly two metres long and weigh about 12 kilograms, making them twice the size of Canada geese. We are more accustomed here to seeing introduced mute swans, with their orange bills, but there’s a growing population of native, black-billed trumpeters on the Great Lakes and, it seems, on Island Lake.

I cozied up to the shoreline thick with bulrushes, which swayed gracefully in the breeze, hopeful a muskrat, mink or deer might reward my sleuthing. Families of mallards and American black ducks parted as I glided by as silently as my paddle would allow. Kingfishers hurried overhead, Canada geese preened in the shallow water and then, in the distance, came the mournful, iconic call of a common loon. It drew me on, deeper into the lake, farther from the now dampened, but still evident, drone of Highway 10 traffic. I hadn’t escaped yet.

Kayaking is a solo pursuit for me. I get into the rhythm of paddling, my arms, shoulders and core working in a figure-eight pattern, making minute corrections with every stroke to keep my boat straight. I’ve become practised enough that I’m no longer conscious of these movements. But kayaking can be social too. Kirsten Ball found it a good alternative to a coffee shop.

As Covid-19 eased its grip, Kirsten and a friend exchanged a café meetup for a paddle on Island Lake. They lowered their kayaks into mirror-like water as the sun dipped toward the clear blue horizon. “We were the only people on the lake,” Kirsten recalls, “but we saw two loons.”

Like me, Kirsten took to the water to get away from the noise of everyday life. Her memory of that evening is of exchanging thoughts and ideas with her friend. “In a coffee shop we mostly gossip,” she said. “Out there we had a more intimate conversation.” Peace is what she recalls.

to try kayaking Unlike some sports, kayaking is fairly easy for beginners. Here are a few things to consider before heading out.

• Some kayaks are more stable than others.

Generally, the wider they are, the more stable they are. Novices should select a stable kayak.

On the border of Orangeville, Island Lake offers a welcome respite from the noisy clatter of daily life.

• The trickiest part of kayaking is getting into and out of the craft.

There are ways to do this that reduce the likelihood of tipping, so either take a lesson, look for a few tips online or select a sit-on-top kayak, which is easier to use.

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• Lessons are available in Guelph at the Ontario Sea Kayak Centre (www.ontariosea kayakcentre.com).

As I neared the far end of Island Lake, having passed under one of the boardwalks that span the reservoir, the mixed hardwood forest closed in on the shoreline. I noticed a pair of channels at the back of the last bay and coaxed my kayak forward between dinner-plate-sized lily pads in hopes of continuing farther upstream. I felt like an explorer within reach of the source of the Credit River. But I didn’t get very far before becoming grounded in thick mud, my paddle draped in reeds, mosquitoes buzzing in my ears.

Reluctantly I turned back and was soon into the open water where a stiff breeze had picked up. Feeling invigorated, I put my head down and paddled hard, directly into the wind until my shoulders and core began to complain. When I let up I’d travelled halfway back to where I’d begun well over an hour before. It was then, and only then, that the first sounds of traffic again imposed on the blissful silence.

You can rent kayaks at Island Lake Conservation Area for $20 an hour or $50 a day, plus a $200 deposit and the entrance fee of $5.75 for adults, $2.65 for children and $4.43 for those 60 and older. Or launch your own kayak for $8 plus HST and the entrance fee. Credit Valley Conservation supplies PFDs (personal flotation devices), paddles and safety equipment for rental kayaks. Check the CVC website (www.cvc.ca) for more information.

Nicola Ross is the author of the Loops & Lattes series of hiking books. She lives in Belfountain.

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When times are tough – decorate!

BY BETHANY LEE

Help for mental health Mental health supports are always important, but especially during the pandemic. Dufferin Child and Family Services (DCAFS) is available via phone 24/7, and is taking non-emergency appointments to help families, children and youth with their mental health.

And the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) offers an impressive lineup of online tools including BounceBack, a free, guided self-help program for ages 15-plus with mild to moderate anxiety or depression, along with links to Kids’ Help Phone, Youthline (peer support for LGTBTQ+ youth) and The Big White Wall, an online peer-support community moderated by clinicians. www.dcafs.on.ca, www.ontario.cmha.ca —

Reskilling during Covid Many families have been hit hard by job loss due to Covid-19. If you are looking for a new direction or want to brush up your skills, Lynda.com (now at LinkedIn Learning) may be for you. It offers more than 4,000 online courses, and Orangeville Library cardholders can access them – for free! (Nonresidents can obtain a library card – a fee may apply.) www.orangevillelibrary.ca

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ILLUS TR ATION BY SHEL AGH ARMS TRONG

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ver the past few months, we’ve certainly become familiar with our own four walls and the way we inhabit the space they enclose – that space many of us normally leave early in the morning, only returning hours later when the workday is done. For others, the space is often little more than a blurry backdrop as we chase little ones from room to room, while juggling piles of laundry and scooping up toys. Either way, it’s easy to ignore how our most intimate surroundings make us feel – how they affect our mood and outlook.

With the Covid slowdown, many of us have begun to see those walls with new eyes. And our deeper feelings about them flooded in as clearly as the sun shone down during the glorious summer we’re just leaving behind.

For a lot of us, those early weeks offered a welcome respite from the mind-numbing 7 a.m. rush down Highway 10 – a chance to take back that two to three hours of daily commuting time.

For me it’s been a joy to crouch down and pet the cat as he licks the cereal bowl after breakfast, instead of cursing him in my way as I fumble for my keys. Rather than rushing the dog out for her morning duties, and forgetting her outside the door, her sad eyes peering in, I can walk the yard with her, toss her a ball, and laugh at her morning sprints and joyful zoomies.

Back inside after these morning walks, I reflect on how my family has been functioning within our three dimensions. At first I used the dining table as my workspace. Even as I was on work calls, I might also be making a coffee, putting on dinner and kicking the laundry door shut. Ah, the ease and speed with which I could manage everything at once! I spread out and owned that space.

But then the tedium began to set in. My ears grew sore from wearing a headset, and when I took it off, my husband and son cursed me under their breath for being too loud. And I did some cursing of my own. The dinner wasn’t my job every day, I com­ plained. Could someone else please take care of it?

And pick up your dishes! My teenaged son, Adrian, covered his ears and stomped through the kitchen to get breakfast – when he woke up after lunch.

My shoulders ached and shrugged up from long days sitting on a low dining chair, and my grumbling grew louder. But for Adrian it was much worse. For him our house began to feel like jail. Determined to keep ourselves and others safe, we adhered to public health guidelines, but for a lot of kids the monotony seemed interminable.

With no horizon, the walls closed in.

Three dimensions warped into two.

Missing social interaction with friends morphed into depression and anxiety – manifesting in anger, bitterness, tears and blame.

As many times as we parents ex­ plained the reasons, they didn’t console a child who missed the playground, the preteen who missed sharing secrets and skipping home after school, or the teen who desperately wanted to be out and involved in the wide world, or even just have an alternative beyond their own soul-crushing walls.

To make things better in my family, we’ve done our best with paint and elbow grease to improve our physical space, in the hope of providing fresh perspectives to brighten our minds.

We’ve been lucky to be working and able to pursue the reno redux. Our old decks have been pressure washed, sanded and painted. A new back deck has popped up. A few flowers were moved from bed to bed, trying to find their new homes.

In Adrian’s room, furniture was arranged, then rearranged, a taller desk added due to his recent height explosion. We helped him with those tasks. On his own, he ordered LED lights – a perpetual array of colours that glow and pulse, often until the morning comes – and a mini-fridge.

A mini-fridge! It’s well-stocked with all the sugar groups. He decorated his walls with snowboards and art, and chose a monotone palette of greys and blacks to create a very cool space.

We’re far from the only ones who have engaged in these small but satisfying pleasures. Thank goodness for the local hardware stores and the formidable job they’ve done to support our efforts. Named an essential service from day one for truly needed home repairs, they became a lifeline for those like us in need of a Covid diversion.

Sure there were lineups, but cheerful helpers greeted us as we made trip after trip to town, masks and sanitizer in hand. We were cheerful and friendly in return. We are so grateful to them, and for the privilege of having our space to fuss about and nest in while we keep our families safe.

Bethany Lee is a freelance writer who lives in Mono.

Indigenous learning for all When Dan Levy of TV’s celebrated Schitt’s Creek (set in Hockley) speaks, we listen. So when he urged his social media followers to take the University of Alberta’s online course, Indigenous Canada, offered free through Coursera, thousands did. I’ve signed up for the paid version – small change to get official recognition for completing a 12-week course from Indigenous teachers who explore historic and contemporary culture with classes titled Worldview, Trick or Treaty and Red Power, among others. I am so impressed by the platform, the multimedia, and the compelling lessons. www.coursera.org —

Don’t overlook this trail …

We have so many up and down, craggy, wet and wild trails here in the hills – but if you prefer to take it flat and slow, the Caledon Trailway could be the solution. Stretching 35 kilometres across Caledon, it’s built on a former railway, so it’s very flat and even – good for strollers and mobility-assisted devices. But don’t let the ease of use make you think it’s boring. This is an excellent trail to see the changing fall colours and all kinds of birds, bugs and other wild critters. www.visitcaledon.ca

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Macramé – it’s back Boho chic is hot, hot, hot, and that means macramé is back.

With just a few instructions, crafty types can whip together useful and decorative arts that will have your grandma grinning.

The Macramé School is an online resource for patterns, projects and bracelets (fun!) that will keep you and your kids knotting for hours. Try the easy macramé owl – so sweet perched on his branch – or the fish that can be made into earrings or keychains.

Graduate to plant hangers to bring that boho vibe to your space. www.macrameschool.com

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Kelly Nolan, Pharmacist and Owner

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Hanging up my apron

BY GAIL GRANT

I S T O C K P H O T O 14 59176 82

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o, here’s the thing. For me, cooking – or to be more specific, planning meals and food shopping – has become drudgery.

My relationship with the kitchen has always been shaky, but somewhere around my 70th birthday any pleasure, inspiration or joy I may have previously felt in the kitchen went missing. Feed­ ing myself became tedious and boring.

And this puts me in a bit of a bind.

Friends who share my attitude have partners who enthusiastically and, in most cases, proficiently stepped into the breach. As a single, I don’t have that option. And because eating is an integral part of living, I really must come up with solutions to this dilemma.

In the past, I’ve been a seasonal cooker, not a recipe user. I bought whatever looked fresh and nutritious, and figured out how to prepare it when I got home. So my meals developed during the food shopping trip, rather than from cookbooks. But with pandemic precautions in place, food shopping has become a gruelling

E L D E R

Sigrid Wolm

M

artha Stewart was all the rage when Sigrid Wolm first opened the doors of her Kitchen to the Table store in Orangeville 1998.

At the time, naysayers predicted her business selling high-end kitchenware wouldn’t last a year. But in July, when Sigrid closed the store for the final time after 22 years, the store had become an iconic fixture of the local retail scene, and Sigrid a respected and involved member of the business community.

Automatically a member of the town’s BIA when she opened at her first location on Broadway,

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Sigrid wasn’t content to leave the work to others.

Instead she jumped in by joining the board, helping direct the BIA’s activities for the next 10 years.

Along the way she also found time to lend her energy and enthusiasm to the board of Headwaters Tourism.

Sigrid is a faithful supporter of many local charities, but she identifies most with Theatre Orangeville (because everybody deserves culture), Headwaters Health Care Centre (you never know when you might need its services), and the SPCA (because that’s where her heart is). And as a store

chore. No inspiration there.

Neighbours who recently moved into a retirement residence say the number 1 reason for selling their condo and relocating was the availability of three meals a day in the onsite dining room.

But uprooting seems a bit drastic.

Surely there are other options.

My daughter suggested I try the boxes of ready-to-cook meals that are delivered to the doorstep. What a great idea! A menu popped up on my computer once a week, I made my selections and on the specified day a courier dropped off a box of fresh ingredients, all prepped, proportioned and ready for the pan, complete with colourful, step-by-step recipe cards.

Most meals took 20 to 30 minutes to prepare, vegetarian and gluten-free options were available, and the cost was automatically charged to my credit card. Simplicity itself.

This worked well for a while, until it occurred to me that I was turning down social invitations in an attempt to get through the food that was piling up in the fridge. Not ideal in a world in which one in every nine people goes hungry.

For some seniors, Meals on Wheels is an option. Christine Sevigny, executive director of Caledon Meals on Wheels, which serves Caledon, as well as Orangeville and the surrounding area, says the volunteer-driven organization delivered 21,571 meals last year, enabling 272 seniors to remain in their homes.

To qualify, a person must be 65 or older, or recovering from surgery, or have a health condition that warrants food delivery. The cost of meals is subsidized by the provincial health ministry. A hot meal delivered to your door will currently set you back $7.50.

Caledon MOW also touches the lives of nearly 800 seniors in Caledon and the Orangeville area through a number of wellness activities, including the popular “Wee” Care Grocery program, which is providing grocery baskets to seniors during the Covid outbreak. “We’re happy to do our best to make our seniors’ lives easier,” says Christine.

In a pinch, I still find it easy to pick up a barbecued chicken from the supermarket or perhaps one of the home-cooked frozen offerings from any of our fine local catering or specialty food shops – or even drivethrough takeout.

But a step up from bringing home a burger and fries is rediscovering the local fine dining establishments

that are currently offering pickup menus. Add a linen tablecloth, some candles, chilled bottles of wine and a few friends, and the evening becomes a “dining in” event, without the hassle of pots and pans to clean up. What a bonus. And of course, we all know the benefits of sharing a meal with others are incalculable.

Yet I have been known to dine on popcorn. Or perhaps a throwntogether salad with bits and pieces found in the fridge, or even a poached egg on toast. I figure the Canada Food Guide, upgraded or not, has had its way with me for long enough. I feel justified in occasionally submitting to guilty pleasures.

And there is a certain freedom in needing to please only ourselves, without a lot of fuss and muss, while giving in to strange cravings every now and then. We’ve earned the privilege.

When Covid-19 turned the world on its head, some wag suggested that at the end of the turmoil there would be two types of survivors: those who have become outstanding cooks, and those who have developed a drinking problem. I certainly won’t be the former.

www.pinemeadows.ca

Gail Grant is a happily retired senior who lives in Palgrave.

ROSEMARY HASNER

Sigrid Wolm may have closed her iconic kitchen store, but she’s far from ready to retire.

owner, she could often be counted on to produce a spectacular gift basket for The Maples Academy.

Born in Germany in 1956, she immigrated to Canada in 1981, worked in Toronto for a number of years, and finally found her home in the Orangeville area in 1986. A very proud Canadian, she has travelled the country extensively – even making a mid-February trip to Baffin Island.

About her retirement from the store, she says, “I’m healthy, full of energy, and have lots more to give. My future may involve working with seniors, or with young people, but I know I will find something to get involved with that will define the next phase of my life.”

Sigrid thrived in retail through hard work and a positive attitude, and she’s not ready to walk into the sunset quite yet.

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Model Home How a landmark off-the-grid dwelling caught its new owner’s eye and captured his heart.

BY JANICE QUIRT

PHOTOGR APHY BY ERIN FITZGIBBON

B

ill Dandie recalls the first time he saw Ketchum House, nestled in a Hockley hillside, with almost equal parts chagrin and shame. “I didn’t see her beauty. I didn’t see her potential – at first,” he confesses of the boxy off-grid home sitting on about four acres of land, a far cry from many of the elegantly manicured country estates in the area. “I was looking through everyone else’s lens and I regret that judgement.”

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Thank goodness for second chances. After Bill saw Ketchum House – named for its creators and previous owners, Anthony and Mary Ketchum – again with fresh eyes, he didn’t lament the vines growing wild on its walls or all the toil it would take to keep the place in working order.

This time he found it tapped into a growing sense of hope he’d started to feel around climate change. He saw the appeal of Ketchum House’s natural look and the pull of its time-

honoured sustainability principles.

He bought the eco-dwelling in June 2019 after the Ketchums moved to Toronto full time, and when he isn’t occupying it himself, he plans to include it among his Onthe9 Airbnb options (others are a farmhouse with a secluded log cabin at Highway 9 and 4th Line, Mono, and a multi-cottage location on Wolfe Lake in Nipissing).

With few residential buyers inter­ ested in Ketchum House, Bill feared a developer would raze it. Instead, the

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MCNEIL DESIGN GROUP INTERIORS Q U A L I T Y D E S I G N & R E N O VAT I O N Bill Dandie is the enthusiastic new owner of Ketchum House, an off-the-grid home in Hockley Valley built in 1998.

newly retired telecommunications businessman has begun a great adventure in sustainable living – with all the repairs and troubleshooting that adventure entails. Bill, who was more accustomed to condos than composting toilets (he recently sold his 970-square-foot Toronto condo), frames the purchase as part of his “15-year lease” project, a personal commitment to pay “rent” to the planet by living sustainably. Why 15 years? Over 13 years of travelling to

Xi’an and Ningbo in China for work, Bill saw a dramatic improvement in the air pollution levels in those cities, with smog giving way to blue skies. The observation convinced him change is possible in roughly that timeframe.

The house was originally designed as the Ketchums’ weekend home by Toronto-based sustainable architect Greg Allen. It was finished in 1998 after a two-year building period.

(Read Anthony Ketchum’s firsthand C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

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Broker

top left and above The interiors at Ketchum House, including all furnishings and collectibles, are entirely vintage or upcycled.

Helping you make the right move sigriddoherty.com www.sigriddoherty.com sigrid@sigriddoherty.com

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far right top and bottom A two-sided masonry heater sits at the centre of the home, providing both heat and a 200C oven. right The houseplants at Ketchum House filter grey water from the shower, laundry and kitchen sink.

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account of that time, “Sustainable Dwelling: A first-person account of building a solar-heated, earthsheltered house,” at inthehills.ca.)

The north and east sides of the two-storey house are built right into the hillside, which helps keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter thanks to the earth’s constant temperature of 10C below the frost line. There is no basement and the entrance is on the bottom floor, at grade. The south and west sides of

the 11-room home are positioned to harness the power and warmth of sunlight, a feature Bill says anchors the home’s ecological credibility: “Sustainable living starts with sustainable design and construction.”

The electricity powering the house is generated by a wind turbine and solar panels, then stored in batteries. Bill uses that electricity sparingly, with no extras such as a dishwasher, TV or even a plug-in hairdryer or iron. The house uses little in the way of nonrenewable resources. In cold months, sunlight

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streaming in the windows warms the interior brick walls and terracotta floors, but most of the heat emanates from his favourite feature of the 1,600-square-foot house: a central seven-ton wood-burning masonry heater and fireplace. Its bricks retain enough heat to keep the home warm overnight. The fireplace can also serve as an oven – albeit one that cooks all items at 200C – on its kitchen-facing side. And those windows letting in the sun? Their “heat mirror” function keeps all kinds of heat from escaping.

On a chilly morning the outside temp­ erature might register 1C, but with a fire lit in the heater the night before, Bill’s home will be a cozy 21 or 22.

While most of us can simply flip on our furnaces at the first sign of chill, Bill will have been prepping for weeks – cutting, moving, and storing wood from the forest behind the house. A bonus: he says the physical labour involved in harvesting and hauling all that wood is good for him. Other Herculean tasks abound, C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

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top and centre As cooler temperatures take hold, Bill enjoys chopping copious amounts of wood to keep the home’s heater fed. top right Batteries fed by solar and wind power are among the systems housed in Ketchum’s utility room. right The cozy bedroom sits under a galvanized metal ceiling and is decorated with well-loved antiques.

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far right A composting toilet has been a component of Ketchum House living since 1998.

as Bill eschews carbon-powered motors or machinery on the property.

Cutting grass? A push mower suffices.

Whacking weeds? An old-school scythe does the trick – he says it’s his form of practising his golf swing. And after a hard day’s work indoors and out, he rinses off in the shower, drying off with a hand towel rather than a bath sheet to save on laundry.

Seemingly small choices like towel size can echo across a continent and do good, Bill believes. Pandemic

willing, he hopes he can soon welcome his first Airbnb visitors here and that they will absorb ideas to practise in their own lives. Last year he took a family visiting his Mono Onthe9 spot for a tour of Ketchum House, and one of them began sharing green living ideas on social media as soon as she got home to Massachusetts.

“Ketchum House is here for a specific reason, and the interest will come,” says Bill. “I envision the Airbnb check-in as a virtual tour, with QR codes loaded with all of the sustainable

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features. There will be a ripple effect.”

No aesthetic detail or lifestyle choice is accidental here. Bill’s tropical houseplants, for instance, share a long container, forming the backbone of a grey water filtration system. Used water from the shower, laundry and kitchen sink runs through the soil before it flows outside. Bill aims to avoid new products and instant gratification in this space, so furniture and art are upcycled from local thrift shops and online auctions. And he doesn’t miss an opportunity to connect with sellers,

telling them where their pillow, table or wall hanging is headed. He even managed to convince a seller in Fergus to donate a vintage two-person hand saw as an art piece. It sits near the bottom of the staircase to the second floor. That staircase, incidentally, was itself reclaimed by the Ketchums from the Toronto home of record retailer Sam Sniderman (founder of Sam the Record Man).

A new purchase Bill is happy to show off are two bright red outdoor C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

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Muskoka chairs made by C.R. Plastic Products in Stratford. The company uses hundreds of recycled milk jugs to manufacture each chair.

Other new spending will be reserved for updating and upgrading the home’s infrastructure and technology into what Bill calls “Ketchum House 2.0.” Coming soon are new photovoltaic solar panels positioned to both collect additional solar energy (he would like to be able to iron a few shirts, after all) and act as awnings over the windows. They will replace the grape and kiwi vines currently shading the windows to help keep the house cool in the summer.

Other updates on the Ketchums’ work have already included repainting the white ceilings grey to celebrate, rather than downplay, the material they’re made from – galvanized steel.

When renovating the bathroom to feature a shower instead of a bathtub, Bill managed to keep the majority of the existing tiles intact. He often looks to creative salvage expert and dealer Jeff Densmore of Hockley Valley and his “treasure trove of repurposed items” to help fill in the holes.

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These red Muskoka chairs are the only new items Bill Dandie has purchased for the home – they’re made from hundreds of recycled milk jugs.

Loreto Mazzola, who manages Ketchum House and the Mono property, is another loyal supporter of the Ketchum vision. Bill named a treasured water feature Loreto Falls, after Loreto and his team cleared the area around a natural stream and waterfall, allowing its gurgling sounds to echo across the property.

Bill remains in touch with the Ketchums, and one of his favourite grace notes on the property is Mary Ketchum’s perennial gardens, which she tended for the past 20 years. He likens the gorgeous black-eyed Susans and blush pink rose blooms to fireworks, a fitting celebratory image in the eyes of their grateful new keeper.

Janice Quirt is a freelance writer who lives in Orangeville.

CHARACTER HOME – 2 ACRES 4+2-bdrm board & batten bungalow with loft is full of character. Walkout lower level with rec room, sunroom. 2 bdrms. Many decks with views and outdoor fireplace. Above ground pool. Detached heated workshop. $1,299,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

CIRCA 1860 MANOR Historical features/modern conveniences.

4 bedrooms, master with 5-pc ensuite, eat-in kitchen. 6+ acres with beautiful long views, towering trees and European style natural pool. Plus 4-bedroom, 2-bath guest house. $1,999,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

ON THE BEACH OF LAKE HURON 3-bedroom bungalow, granite counters, 18’ ceilings. Fabulous views of beach and lake from gazebo. Private road, mature trees and groomed hedges. Garage with separate workshop area. Swim, surf, boat. $1,399,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

STUNNING, PRIVATE 36 ACRES Paved road, stream, pond, forest leading to this contemporary gem. Centre kitchen/ great room leads to deck and 4 hexagons consisting of master bdrm, living room, family room, 2 more bdrms, laundry, garage. $1,199,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

SPECTACULAR 94 ACRES Late 1800s brick farmhouse. Rolling land, forest, open fields, crops and phenomenal views. Live in the existing home or build your dream on this stunning acreage on Airport Rd in Hockley Valley. $1,499,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

LIVE, WORK, INVESTMENT 3.95 acres, 3-bedroom bungalow, approx 2500 sq ft office and workshop in great location, 5 mins to 401. Possibility of severing home on .7 of an acre and build on remaining land. Grand opportunity. $2,799,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

THE ART OF STONE 1866 farmhouse, 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 4500 sq ft. Elegant features, crown mouldings, wainscoting, original baseboards and flrs. 98 scenic acres. Plus 3-bdrm bungalow, studio/ workshop. Corner lot. Metropolitan Orton. $2,299,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

GORGEOUS 101 ACRES Updated 3-bedroom original Victorian.

Meditative solarium, heated floor. Fabulous views. 44x66 ft workshop/hangar. 65 acres farmed. Forest with trails and bunkie next to ponds. Short walk to the Grand River. $1,699,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

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extended family living, mono

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15863 HEART LAKE RD, CALEDON 16 acres in desired location. Rare 2 homes on the property (1) 3 bdrm with detached 3-car grg (2) 2-bdrm bungalow. Gourmet kitchen with s/s fridge, Miele dishwasher. Impressive 50x30 ft barn, inground fully fenced pool. $2,149,000

197255 2ND LINE NE, MELANCTHON Nestled on 1.65 acres – 5-yr-old custom bungalow. 3 spacious bedrooms + 2 baths. 4-season sunroom w/ built in BBQ, open-concept family room overlooking the chef’s kitchen w/ walkout to deck. Custom 14x20 workshop. $875,000

19 BUCKSTOWN TR, CALEDON Luxury 4 bedroom, 4 bath, 3800 sq ft bungalow. Sits on over 1.3 acres in Palgrave.

10’ ceilings, spacious family room, gourmet chef’s kitchen with built-in Jennair appliances, walkout basement, heated floors. $2,275,000

15351 MOUNT HOPE RD, CALEDON 98+ acres includes a detached home and 3 barns. Regular source of income as property is being farmed. Over 80 acres farmed.

Property is just north of Bolton. Great investment opportunity for future growth. $4,995,000

12029 COLERAINE DR, CALEDON Unique parcel, approx 1.2 acres to include a bungalow home both w/ sep entrances. Great opportunity & investment at NE corner of Mayfield & Coleraine. Regular rental income potential, zoned for prestige industrial. $4,500,000

35 DIAMONDWOOD DR, CALEDON Luxury bungalow with over 9000 sq ft of living space. Sits on 2 acres with 300’ frontage.

Inviting gourmet chef’s kitchen with high-end appliances. 4+2 bdrms and 4-car garage. 800 sq ft home theatre/games room. $2,888,000

16 INGLEVIEW DR, CALEDON Picturesque 2.86 acres in south Caledon. Main floor master with suite & walkout + additional bdrm, upper level 3 additional bdrms. Finished w/o basement is an entertainer’s dream to include a custom-built home theatre. $2,495,000

16900 HURONTARIO ST, CALEDON Rare corner lot on 4.7 acres. Build your dream home w/ potential for future development site & a great investment. Water line, gas line & hydro on property. Located between 16874 Hurontario St & 16980 Hurontario St. $2,900,000

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Moffat Dunlap fall20_layout 20-08-28 8:51 PM Page 1

MOFFAT DUNLAP

REAL ESTATE LIMITED, BROKERAGE

905-841-7430 moffatdunlap.com STONE HOUSE, MONO

Moffat Dunlap*, John Dunlap**, Peter Boyd, Murray Snider, Nik Bonellos, Elizabeth Campbell, Courtney Murgatroyd, Sean Wynn, Mark Campbell***, David Warren****

Charming renovated stone house with pool.

Asking $1,249,999

*Chairman, **Broker of Record, ***Sales Representative,****Broker

100 ACRES, HOCKLEY POND FARM Stunning scenery. 3+ ac swimming pond, mature trees, miles of trails. Solid home built by notable Ladd family circa 1912. Bank barn with stalls, paddocks, large outbuildings! $2,100,000

HORSESHOE HILL LAKE, CALEDON 106 acres of pure country bliss! South views over dock and 40-acre private lake. 2nd house.

Serene country retreat. Exclusive

BELFOUNTAIN HORSE PROPERTY 30-stall equestrian complex with 80x187 ft indoor arena, meticulously maintained paddocks and outdoor riding ring. 25 acres. $2,499,000

254 ACRES, BLITHE HILL, MONO Landmark property! Extensive river frontage. 2 deep ponds, trails, pool. Classic stone residence, gatehouse, 3-storey barn w/ workshop. Your own arboretum & lilac collection. $4,125,000

REDESIGNED HOME, CALEDON Newly designed interiors. Exceptional country estate. Main residence with 10 bdrms, indoor pool, underground parking. Multiple guest houses. Trout pond. 160 acres. $14,995,000

HIGHPOINT RETREAT, ALTON Rare 100-acre property. Update current 80’s ranch bungalow or create a new residence.

Rolling hills, pond, pastures, hardwood forest. $4,125,000

THE SCOTCH ESTATE, HALTON Three residences. 185 acres of farmland.

Three possible severances. Several dwellings and farm buildings. Private access to the Scotch Block reservoir. $14,995,000

SOUTH FARM, HOCKLEY Fully restored, exceptional quality, 4-bedroom Victorian farmhouse, plus coach house. Paved quiet road. 90 acres. Views. $1,995,000

HOCKLEY LODGE, MONO Beautiful granite and glass home, soaring ceilings, guest house, trails, river, pond all set on 80 acres of rolling hills, woodlands and farmed fields. $4,250,000

WOOD CROWN FARM, MONO 4-bedroom restored Victorian house, pool, organic gardens and separate log cabin. $1,498,000

BEECH GROVE HALL, CALEDON Custom-built bungalow + 4-bay garage with loft apartment. Privately sited country home on 46 acres. High-efficiency and high-calibre build. New price: Exclusive

100-ACRE HORSE FARM, HOCKLEY An impressive country home with full guest wing plus 2nd house with private drive. Detached office building. Well-designed horse facilities.

5 minutes to Orangeville. $4,199,000

MAPLE LANE FARM, MONO 71 acres with pristine 1837 stone house + elegant 2-bedroom guest house. Private setting. Pond. 3-bay workshop. AAA location.

Great commuter location.

HOCKLEY VALLEY ESTATE 3 houses surround 2 beautiful ponds.

Nottawasaga River flows through this 88-acre property. Meandering trails plus income from solar power!

51-ACRE ESTATE, HOCKLEY VALLEY Restored century home, saltwater pool, 1100 sq ft coach house, rec centre/office + immaculately restored stable. Pond. Long driveway. Peaceful country living.

CALEDON COUNTRY HOME Amazing view to the Escarpment. Swimming pond with beach & dock. Private 3.45-acre lot.

Renovated 4-bedroom, 4-bath home. Deluxe master suite. Renovations just completed.

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BEAUTIFUL 10 ACRE AT-HOME RETREAT Distinctive, modern home shines with abundance of natural light and multiple walkouts to rear yard and forest from both levels. 2+2-bedroom, 4-bath residence features a gourmet’s kitchen fit for a professional chef, open to dining areas for easy entertaining. Work from home in the large den with gas fireplace. The artistic architecture beams with vaulted ceilings in multiple rooms and a spiral staircase to lower level. Unwind outside in the park-like yard. $1,349,000

A VIEW FROM THE TOP This sprawling custom bungalow is sited to take advantage of beautiful vistas out every window.

We invite you to check out this unique 50-acre parcel in north Mulmur with spectacular easterly views. Spacious principal rooms, inviting sunroom, great room with fieldstone fireplace, finished basement, spring-fed pond, detached heated 30’x40’ workshop. $2,490,000

INVEST IN MIXED BUSH AND OPEN MEADOW 44 acres on a paved road, just 1 km south of Shelburne. Boasts 990 ft of frontage on County Rd 11 and features a sparkling spring-fed pond. $595,000

INCOME PROPERTY WITH TRACK AND STABLES 107 acres, sprawling main residence + 3 separate homes, heated workshop with loft, storage shed 30'x80', 2 barns with 44 stalls, 1/2 mile standardbred track, multiple paddocks, spring-fed pond and workable farmland. Eco-friendly geothermal heating. Multiple rental income options, farming and equestrian business. Main house is currently set up as 2 separate units: 4 level home + separate multi-office unit with large boardroom and kitchen. $2,479,900

A WALK THROUGH THE FOREST Opportunity to purchase land just mins from Shelburne on County Rd 124! 797’ of frontage on paved road. Dense woodland of mixed trees & small stream running through. Adjacent to Shelburne Golf & Country Club. $379,900

GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY End unit industrial condo. Access to major roads, public transit. Approx 1000 sq ft all on one level w/ kitchenette, 3 offices, waiting rm w/ 2-pc bath, sep laundry rm, office with 2-pc bath.

Rooftop furnace 2018. Option to lease. $285,900

GROW YOUR BUSINESS IN SHELBURNE Commercial property zoned M1 – approx 3 acres siding onto County Road 124 at Highway 89 in the rapidly expanding Town of Shelburne. Approximately 10,000 sq ft solid steel building. High visibility to major highway and loads of paved parking with great access for tractor trailers, deliveries and customers. Building has 3 gas and hydro meters. $2,149,000

A NATURALIST RETREAT Peace and tranquility in the hills of Mulmur.

41-acre parcel, varied terrain with trails throughout. Close proximity to area villages, restaurants, hiking & major highways. 2 km north of Highway 89 & just off a paved road. $499,900

CHARMING, CHARISMATIC HOMESTEAD 4-bedroom, 3-bath farmhouse on 54 acres with original bank barn and drive shed. Take in the beautiful views while enjoying coffee or wine on the spacious patio. House and land have been well-kept and are ready for the next family. Escape the city, bring your horses/livestock and enjoy living off the land. Call us today for more details. $1,229,900

READY FOR YOUR FAMILY Outstanding lot backs onto Island Lake Conservation area. Walking distance to shops, restaurants and walking trails. Over 2500 sq ft of living space, featuring large principal rooms, hardwood flooring and updated decor throughout. Beautiful kitchen with granite counters, large picture window, open to family room with gas fireplace and walkout to composite deck. Rear yard is picturesque, with water feature and forest view. $1,299,900

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EXCEPTIONAL 6.93-ACRE COUNTRY PROPERTY IN MONO CENTRE Passive solar stone bungalow with luxuriously crafted interior and exterior. Entertain in style with chef’s kitchen, dining with cathedral ceiling, family with wood fireplace, sunroom with heated floors and Swim spa. Main floor master has big views and heated floors in ensuite. Home studio/office in lower level could also be a 2nd suite. 5 acres paddock, 2-stall barn, heated tack room, 2-car garage and tractor storage. $2,500,000

4500 SQ FT OF SUSTAINABILITY, HISTORY AND CRAFTSMANSHIP 7 acres with Shaws Creek running through the forest, the centre is an 1854 restored Ontario bank barn timber frame, the interior organized around it, central wood-burning heater and fireplace, two-story great room and open loft spaces; the kitchen is 300 sq ft with a high cedar-clad ceiling opening to elliptical clerestory windows and a wall of glass looking out to your private outdoor sanctuary. $1,999,000

15 ACRES HORSE/HOBBY FARM – PALGRAVE Featuring updated brick walkout bungalow, heated and insulated 30'x50' workshop or garage, steel sided barn with 8 stalls, 5+ paddocks, tack room, 2 run-in sheds, 650 metre track around paddocks and chicken coops. Large area of fruit trees and vegetable gardens. Paved road minutes to Palgrave Equestrian Centre and Highways 400 and 9. $1,395,000

WANT IT ALL? LOG HOME IN THE WOODS Only 5 minutes to Schomberg and Highways 9/27/400. Privacy and convenience on a dead-end road with access to trails for hiking or biking. Built for family life and surrounded by beech, white pine, hemlock and hickory trees with canopy lighting throughout. Distinctive design, exposed beams, brick, granite, oak hardwood and heated floors. Forest views from every window, wrap-around deck, perennial and vegetable gardens and invisible fencing. $1,399,000

EXECUTIVE HOME ON 4.5 ACRES WITH VIEWS FOR MILES Amazing Viceroy design customized to perfection. Views, gardens, patios, fire pits, vistas, privacy, vaulted ceilings, sunken rooms, 20 kilometre views westerly to the Escarpment and Blue Mountains.

Enbridge gas heat, 5 minutes from Alliston and all amenities. Truly a must to see! $1,390,000

CUSTOM BUNGALOW ON 2 ACRES – KING TOWNSHIP This gated and fenced property features 4+1 bedrooms, 3 baths and renovated kitchen. Finished basement with kitchen for recreation or in-laws. Attached triple-car garage and large workshop with separate office space. Inground pool with waterfall and outdoor entertainment area. Quality offering for contractors, in-home occupation or hobbyist. $1,795,000

BUNGALOW ON 10 ACRES – SOUTH ADJALA Follow the paved drive from the gated entrance to this very solid walkout bungalow on a park-like 10 acres in south Adjala. Offers a large eat-in kitchen and great size principal rooms with multiple walkouts to back deck overlooking several acres of manicured yard and pond. Custom home office with beautiful woodwork. Sunroom off living room and master perfect for a hot tub. Walkout lower level with large rooms and wet bar. Windmill at rear. $1,285,000

10-ACRE ENTERTAINER’S DELIGHT – ADJALA Set on 10.17 acres this 5-bedroom home is set up perfect for entertaining guests or a large family, with many walkouts from the large common rooms. Two wood-burning fireplaces for that crisp dry heat and beautiful ambiance, the perfect pool/outdoor bar area. Covered outdoor sitting areas, walking trails and beautiful countryside to enjoy nature. $1,385,000

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Chris Richie fall20_layout 20-08-28 8:31 PM Page 1

Sean Anderson

Broker seananderson@remaxinthehills.com

IN IN THE THE HILLS HILLS INC. INC. BROKERAGE BROKERAGE Independently Independently Owned Owned & Op Operated e ra t e d

905-584-0234 519-942-0234

Philip Albin

Broker phil@remaxinthehills.com

1-888-667-8299 www.remaxinthehills.com

Chris P. Richie

It’s the MARKETING, the EXPOSURE, the RESULTS!

Our Award Winning agents have 86 years of combined experience at your service! Caledon, Mono, Adjala and surrounding areas.

Broker of Record/Owner chris@remaxinthehills.com

WOW, THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL Absolutely incredible world-class views combined with utmost quality in this serene country residence on 14 acres. Sleek yet refined interior with multiple windows and walkouts maximize the views even from the finished walkout basement. Hemlock floors, multiple fireplaces, gourmet kitchen open to the sunroom with Italian cobblestone, sensational grounds with multi level waterfall cascading to the gazebo, massive deck and outbuilding for storage. Welcome home. Mono $2,100,000

Dale Poremba

Sales Representative dale@remaxinthehills.com

Jennifer Unger

Sales Representative jenunger@remaxinthehills.com

ELEGANT AND STATELY BUNGALOW Perfect for 2 family living. Approx 4470 sq ft incl bsmt, cathedral ceiling in living rm, master bath w/ heated flrs 2018. $160,000 spent in landscaping, appliances & home upgrades 2017/18. Hrdwd & ceramic flrs, open kitchen to family rm w/ access to deck & views of greenery behind. High ceiling w/o bsmt w/ recent new kit, family rm, bdrm, office + sep laundry. Furnace & a/c 2018 & fully fenced lot. Schools, The General Store, shopping In Tottenham & Bolton mins away! Adjala $1,249,000

BUNGALOFT ON 1-ACRE LOT 5000+ sq ft, 3 bdrms, 3 baths, kit w/ granite tops, main flr master w/i closet & 5-pc ensuite, w/o bsmt w/ rec rm, kit island, s/s appl’s, woodstove, games rm, theatre area, bath & w/o to covered patio. Caledon $1,699,000

2 HOMES ON APPROX 88 ACRES Rolling land, farm area, brook, privacy, views.

Bungalow built in 2004 + original log home.

Great potential to build your dream home. 2 road frontages of picturesque land. Let your imagination do the thinking for you. Mono $1,479,000

TOTAL RENO, WELCOME HOME 3 bdrms, 3 baths, 100’x150’ lot, open kit/great rm, new office w/ sep entry, baths all updated, hydro extended, new windows in great rm, Pella in bdrms, forced air gas, a/c, tank-less hot water, s/s appl’s, new septic. Schomberg $799,000

TRANSFORMED CHURCH Open concept bungaloft w/ 2+3 bdrms, 4 baths, cathedral ceilings, maple flrs, kit w/ 6 burner gas stove & s/s appl’s. State-of-the-art 3-car grg w/ quiet openers, 10’ bay doors, heated, insulated, nanny flat above. Melancthon $979,000

18 ACRES WITH SALTWATER POOL 4 bdrms, 3 baths, 3rd level loft & bsmt w/ rec rm & library. Vaulted ceiling sunroom, master w/ 4-pc ensuite & fp, kit w/ island, living rm w/ fp & w/o to sunroom. 3-car grg + det 3-car shop.

Cabana & hot tub. Caledon $1,849,000

PRIVATE, GATED EXEC HOME 4+1 bdrms, 5 baths, stone fp & w/o, kit w/ slate flr, granite tops & w/o, master has hrdwd flr, 7-pc ensuite & his/hers closets, walkout bsmt w/ sep entry, rec rm & bath. 25.5 acres, 2-car grg, outbuildings, pond. Caledon $1,999,999

23.66 ACRES JUST IMAGINE Pretty treed lot w/ mixture of natural forest, reforested sections & pond, a nature lover’s playground. Outstanding building site for custom home, inground pool, tennis court, outbuildings, possibilities might be endless. Mono $679,000

53+ ACRES NEAR ORANGEVILLE Ready for your custom home or agricultural operation. Minimal conservation, great building sites, gently rolling but mostly flat land. 3 phase power, ideal for your workshop. On a paved road, what a super opportunity. Mono $995,000

51.81 ACRES OF NATURAL BEAUTY Views across ponds towards Conservation land, ideal for a country dream project. Gently rolling terrain, old farmhouse may serve to save on some dev fees. Ideal location for a priv escape, only 45 mins to TO. Caledon $2,400,000

52.15 ACRES, FABULOUS VIEWS Flat fields w/ gentle roll, A-1 zoning. Few mins to Hwy 10 & Orangeville for commuting & shopping. Ideal for equine facility. Farmhouse & barn are functional, potential for improvement. Your personal country escape. Caledon $2,800,000

28.89 ACRES, 2 ROAD FRONTAGES Rolling hills, a mixed bush, rolling meadows as far as the eye can see. Build your dream home, like you’ve always wanted. Near golf, ski hills, biking, hiking, horse riding, all you would expect from a country retreat. Mulmur $519,000

MODERN INNOVATIVE DESIGN 3+1 bdrms, 4 baths, 2.64 acres. Kit w/ island, porcelain flr & high-end appliances. Master suite w/ 8-pc ensuite & w/i closet, living rm w/ hrdwd floors & vaulted ceiling, w/o bsmt w/ rec rm, fam rm, bdrm, bar & bath. Caledon $1,799,000

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MONO – 95 ACRES – BRING THE WHOLE FAMILY A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for extended family living with a 4400 sq ft main 3-bedroom home with finished basement, plus a 1600 sq ft, 1-bedroom guest house and an amazing 7300 sq ft insulated/heated shop with finished loft. This beautiful parcel has 35 acres in cultivation, maple trees for tapping, trails through the forested area, dirt bike track, stocked 22’ deep pond with beach, vegetable garden and chicken coop. Enjoy nature at its finest.

5 minutes to Orangeville. $3,498,900

EAST GARAFRAXA OUTDOOR OASIS – POOL, WATERFALL, PERGOLA Backing onto conservation, this custom build on 1-acre has professionally landscaped interlocking walkways, stone walls, inground pool with stone waterfall, pergola with bar, outdoor fireplace and TV. This 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath two-storey has a great room with cathedral ceilings, custom cabinetry, stone wall with gas fireplace, TV, and a unique circular dining room. Master 5-piece bath with walk-through curved shower. Bright basement theatre rec room with games area, dry bar and gym. Shows amazing! $1,488,900

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1910 RENOVATED FARMHOUSE ON 37.5 ACRES IN MULMUR Immaculately kept home with lots of character and charm, including original flooring, clawfoot tub, living room with bright southerly views, and a separate dining room. Roomy and warm family room addition with fireplace and a walkout to deck with ornamental pond and hot tub. Fantastic family home with over 30 workable acres for a mixed farm. $975,000

‘VALLEYVIEW FARM’ ON 41 ACRES IN MULMUR Truly a one-of-a-kind property located across from Mansfield Ski Club. Long and private drive to perfect siting of house on 41 acres of fantastic views to the east and south over rolling countryside. Wonderful privacy with a mix of trees and open fields. A 4-bedroom Century brick home with original wood trim including 10” baseboards, wainscoting and wood floors. Potential for secondary dwelling. A true and unspoiled country property to make your own. $1,150,000

CALEDON 30 ACRES WITH MODERNIZED FARMHOUSE On the escarpment with a newly paved 260 ft driveway, a 2-car attached garage, parking pad for 6 cars, plus a detached 4-car garage. This 2.5-storey, 1915 century home is totally updated with 5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and 3rd floor master suite, while keeping the character of yesteryear with new high baseboards, wide trims, oak hardwood, slate floors in kitchen and a finished basement. Perfect for a hobby farmer, horse enthusiast, or as a retreat paradise on the escarpment. $2,189,900

CALEDON – 2.7 ACRES Professional contemporary renovations to this 3+1-bdrm, 2.5-bath bungalow. Polished concrete floors, unique fp, new upscale kit, custom doors, master 4-pc open ens. Maple bush & gravel rd to heated outbuilding with upgraded electrical. One-of-a-kind! $1,348,900

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SOUTH CALEDON – 13.42 ACRES Great retreat or hobby farm with a portion of the land tenant farmed. Manicured grdns w/ towering hedges for ultimate privacy on lovely parcel w/ stream. Immaculate 3-bedroom bungalow w/ fireplace, sides onto Caledon Trailway, close to golfing & skiing. $1,548,900

BRICK FARMHOUSE ON 88 ACRES IN THE MULMUR HILLS Victorian style Century brick home features 3 bedrooms with large country kitchen, front porch, wood floors, living room bay window area and family room addition. Old log cabin used as a workshop. Original bank barn with fenced paddocks. True value is in the varied land; 2 road frontages, rolling hills, wild apple trees in ravine, open hayfields, mixed bush woodlands and views galore. Wonderfully scenic property! $1,150,000

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15 VALLEYGREEN CRES, CALEDON EAST 2450 sq ft, finished bsmt, large principal rooms, gas fireplace, many upgrades, pie-shaped lot, large great room addition. $1,349,000

700 BUSH ST, BELFOUNTAIN Newly renovated bungalow with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths on 1.2 acres with stream running through it, plus commercial building with 2 storeys with many approved uses. $1,249,000

1200 FORKS OF THE CREDIT RD, BELFOUNTAIN 3000 sq ft 4-bdrm chalet at Caledon Ski Club.

Many upgrades over last 10 yrs. Enjoy use of 200 acres at your back door. $1,100,000

TURN-KEY RESTAURANT, GODERICH 63 seats plus patio, stunning & well-maintained historic building, thriving business, sellers are retiring. Chef would like to stay. $999,000

39 OLD CARRIAGE RD, EAST GARAFRAXA 3180 sq ft home with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 1.8-acre estate lot, finished basement with walkout, large principal rooms. $1,199,000

THE CHURCH PUB Sold to Caledon Hills Brewing Inc, stay tuned for the grand opening of the pub and beer retailing facility.

758 BUSH ST, BELFOUNTAIN Live/work opportunity in the historic General Store now named The Common Good.

Renovated 3-bedroom apartment. Business is included in the listing price. $1,499,000

12938 WINSTON CHURCHILL, HALTON 55+ acres with approved building envelope.

2000 ft of the Credit River runs through it. River visible from the building envelope. $1,749,000

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Interior design consulting, home staging, paint colour selection, space planning & project management - all included when you buy or sell with me!

REALTOR® + DESIGN CONSULTANT Direct (416) 919-5400 jacqui@clairwoodrealestate.com jacquiviaene.ca

SUSTAINABLE PRIVATE OASIS ON 606057 RIVER ROAD, MULMUR Up the winding drive through a forest to the top of a natural plateau, you will find a Tyrolean-inspired custom-built timber-style of quality & sustainability! This 8.8-ac parcel is on River Rd, bordered by 100+ ac parcels. 5 bdrms w/ w/o’s & balconies to take in panoramic views. 3 contemporary baths, celestial ceilings, custom pine staircase, cork + terracotta porcelain flring. Open kitchen w/ granite counters, SS Miele & AEG appliances + w/o deck. Bright living rm + study has w/o’s w/ tilt & turn European doors & windows. Part fin’d w/o bsmt w/ 10’ ceilings, wood stove, laundry; ready for sauna & in-law suite!

Geothermal passive heated det’d 3-car grg + workshop. Full-sized loft above; perfect for office/artist/yoga/hobbyist. Solar power produces passive income, hi-speed internet, apiary to make honey & candles, 2 dry wood sheds, direct access to Pine River, established grdns, Conservations Land Tax Incentive, rain barrel water collection & Kachel oven (radiant/wood) heat this home. $1,645,000

DUNTROON 9.2 acres with renovated red brick farmhouse, self-contained guest house, bank barn and triple-car detached garage. $1,649,000

DOWNTOWN COLLINGWOOD 4 bedroom + 4 bath, 3200 sq ft finished space contemporary home with in-law suite with separate entrance. Steps to downtown, trails, skiing + golf and beaches. $1,249,000

285 CLARK STREET, CLARKSBURG Rarely found 2.05-acre property, 1 bedroom, 1 bath, short walk to Thornbury. Workshop + loading dock. Zoning has many possibilities! $899,000

30 CRANBERRY SURF, COLLINGWOOD 3 bedroom, 3 baths, water views, professionally decorated, move-in ready. $599,000

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Paul Richardson

Jacqueline Guagliardi fall20_layout 20-08-28 8:35 PM Page 1

jacquelineguagliardi.com

Royal LePage Meadowtowne

519-833-0569 • 800-268-2455

17228 Mississauga Rd, Caledon RCR Realty, Brokerage Independently Owned & Operated

SALES REPRESENTATIVE

RICHARDSONTOWNANDCOUNTRY.CA

BROKER

866-865-8262

paul@richardsontownandcountry.ca

COUNTRY LIVING ON 2 ACRES Nearly new, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1600 sq ft Mennonite built home on paved road.

Wrap-around verandah for al fresco dining.

30'x50'x16' steel clad garage/workshop with 12' doors/one heated bay. $1,285,000

IDYLLIC DREAM HOME SITE A stunning and serene setting for nature enthusiasts who seek privacy with ~6 clear acres with space for a couple of horses. A river tributary runs through it too. Managed Forest Plan for reduced taxes. $769,000

WELCOME TO WOODWYND FARM Charming, well maintained 4-bedroom Victorian on ~14 awesome acres. Detached 4-car tandem garage, bank barn with 11 stalls by System Fence, 4 paddocks, former hayfield and river tributary. $975,000

25-ACRE HOBBY FARM 5 bedroom, 3 storey with newer siding, windows, furnace and generator, 4-bay 24’x64’ shop with loft storage, 32’x64’ 6-stall barn, 500-metre training track, 6 paddocks.

Don’t stall, call today! $1,325,000

VICTORIAN REPLICA ON 50 ACRES Room to roam on this beautiful property featuring an 8-bedroom Victorian replica home with tennis court swimming pool and hot tub. Lots of space to add your barn or enjoy all the country pursuits your heart desires. 23 acres currently farmed. All wrapped up in a convenient location with spacious rooms to enjoy inside on those rainy days. $3,700,000

Phillips Imrie fall 20_layout 20-08-28 7:13 AM Page 1 CALEDON ESTATE LOT Your opportunity to build your dream home in the much admired Caledon Mountain Estates in a private enclave in Belfountain. The Bruce Trail at the end of your street, Forks of the Credit River, trails. Nature close to the city. $799,000

Welcome to Headwaters Country HeadwatersCountry.com info@headwaterscountry.com 519-941-5151 Victoria Phillips and Janna Imrie

RCR Realty, Brokerage Independently Owned & Operated

Sales Representatives

CALEDON EAST FAMILY HOME Fully renovated with over 3500 sq ft of living space including 4 bedrooms, finished lower level, 9ft ceilings, quartz counters, hardwood floors, large fenced backyard with patio and hot tub.

Walking distance to schools, rec centre and shops. $1,239,999

RENOVATED BACKSPLIT Professionally renovated on Erin Street.

Open-concept kitchen, 4 bedrooms, family room. Move in and enjoy. $769,000

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FAMILY FRIENDLY SIDESPLIT 4-bedroom home on quiet street, with spacious kitchen, 3 bedrooms, family room and large backyard. $749,900

WHERE COTTAGE LIFE AND FARM LIFE COLLIDE The Eramosa River runs through this stunning 90-acre property in Erin. Sprawling board & batten family home overlooking one of two stocked ponds. Equestrian facility with 30 stalls, indoor arena, 3/8 mile track, multiple paddocks, outdoor sand ring and attached 2-bedroom apartment. 30-acre hayfield, acres of forest and so much more. $2,900,000

ATTENTION INVESTORS Looking for a great place to invest other than the stock market? This 60-acre property just north of Palgrave has a long-term tenant and a solar panel contract that generates $70k income per year. Lovely rolling property with spring-fed pond and a tributary of the Humber River running through it. Approximately 30 acres in hayfields, lots of trees, cut trails, 12-stall barn, paddocks and two homes on the property. $2,500,000

Ann Shanahan fall20_layout 20-08-28 8:24 AM Page 1

Ann Shanahan Sales Representative

Real Estate Centre Inc., Brokerage

905-713-7233 annshanahan.com

Bonnie Sturgeon

Sarah Anthon

Sales Representative

Sales Representative

Independently Independently O Owned wned & Op Operated e ra t e d

5504 EIGHTH LINE, ERIN Nestled into the most private acre in town, this stunning custom-built home has had every inch designed and chosen by the current original owners. Main floor master, coffered and cathedral ceilings, gorgeous kitchen, 2 bedrooms upstairs, 2 more in the finished walkout basement. And the views! Absolutely no picture could do this property justice. A must see! $1,800,000

5333 FOURTH LINE, ERIN These 23 acres will end your search, it has everything you want in elegant rural living. The fabulous 4-bedroom home, with sensational great room, walkout finished basement with home gym, family room and your own private pub. Manicured trails thru the property wind you over bridges and streams. The breathtaking pond is filled with trout and has a new entertaining 2-level dock with gazebo to relax on. $1,949,000

28 ERINLEA CRESCENT, ERIN The perfect 4-bedroom family home, perfectly situated in the Village of Erin, walking distance to schools, library and arena. Stunning decor, new kitchen, family entertainment room in basement.

And the yard? A private patio with retractable roof, plus sunny deck and hot tub.

Your search is over! $935,000

9328 SIDEROAD 9, ERIN Wow! If you are a lover of post and beam, here you go! This custom-built Caledon Build post and beam home is situated on one of the loveliest roads in Erin. Quiet and serene, surrounded by horses, the relaxation awaits you. Gorgeous from top to bottom with all the finest finishes used.

Beautiful views with nothing to hear but the birds singing. Don’t wait! $1,475,000

Matt Lindsay fall20_layout 20-08-28 8:11 AM Page 1

HOCKLEY COUNTRY LIVING Bungalow on a private mature lot in the heart of Mono w/ 3 bdrms + office. South-facing kitchen w/ breakfast bar, large windows, ceramic flrs & granite countertops w/ comfortable seating area.

Large living rm w/ wood-burning fp & hrdwd flrs. Gorgeous 3-season sunroom w/ gas fp overlooking the property. 2-car att’d grg. Insulated outbuilding that is heated w/ a pellet stove. $1,489,000

PARK SETTING IN MONO Custom built home with 3+2 bdrms on a mature lot in a quiet neighbourhood backing onto Island Lake Conservation. Front foyer welcomes you w/ soaring ceilings & hrdwd flrs to a bright & spacious kit w/ huge granite island & breakfast bar. Living rm offers a gas fp & lrg windows overlooking the priv backyard featuring a pool & sauna. Fin lower level w/ walkout to pool. $1,489,000

ESTATE SETTING IN MONO Meticulously renovated custom built 3+1-bedroom home on a private 1/2-acre mature lot. Open and bright gourmet kitchen with Caesarstone counters & large island with breakfast bar. Hardwood flooring & stone tile throughout main level. Gorgeous bathrooms with polished Calcutta & Carrera marble floors, counters & sinks and custom glass showers. Oversized garage. $1,468,000

HOCKLEY VALLEY COUNTRY ESTATE Exceptional estate in the hills of Hockley Valley. 87 acres w/ main house, century stone house w/ elm plank flr & renovated barn. Main house includes great rm & floor-to-ceiling Wiarton stone fp. Mstr bdrm has ens w/ w/in closets, infrared sauna, grdn doors out to hot tub. This one-of-a-kind property offers a 2-acre vineyard, hayfields, hrdwd bush w/ walking trails & a saltwater pool. $3,889,000

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Irwin Bennett fall20_layout 20-08-28 8:03 AM Page 1

Sigrid Doherty fall20_layout 20-08-28 7:04 AM Page 1

CaledonTownandCountry.com Roger Irwin, Broker Dawn Bennett, Sales Representative sigriddoherty.com sigrid@sigriddoherty.com

905-857-0651

Broker direct 416-274-1592 office 905-584-2727

WELCOME TO “FOREST VIEW” This award-winning custom built 3-storey home sits privately on 3.5 lushly treed acres surrounded by hundreds of acres of Conservation. Spectacular post & beam great room with 32’ ceiling at its peak, over 6000 sq ft of finished living space, finished lower level, detached 3-bay garage/workshop with 1000 sq ft guest suite above. 4 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 4 fireplaces. Breathtaking! $2,589,000

EXECUTIVE HOME TO LEASE IN KLEINBURG 3950+ sq ft on pool size lot, fully fenced, 3-car tandem garage, large family kitchen, butler’s pantry, main floor office, main floor laundry, unfinished basement. 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, fireplace. Minimum 2 year occupancy. www.dawnbennett.com Exclusive listing. $3995/month Sarah Aston fall20_layout 20-08-28 7:09 AM Page 1

OUTSTANDING CALEDON COUNTRY This property is located on “The Grange” Sideroad. Beautiful 32.47-acre farm with residence and custom horse barn that is 60x150 ft, completes this equine facility. 4-stall barn, oak board paddocks, outdoor riding ring and the works. Pastoral views of rolling land with stream and waterfall. Wonderful main house boasting new custom gourmet kitchen, circular staircase.

Vaulted ceiling in family room. Updated throughout. Just gorgeous and is a must see!

Come enjoy the rural Caledon lifestyle. $2,349,000 Ross Hughes fall20_layout 20-08-28 7:11 AM Page 1

SARAH ASTON Sales Representative

SUTTON

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Town and Country Properties

sarahaston.ca

519.217.4884

MONO CENTRE ROAD, MONO Custom Ontario white pine log home with walkout basement on 44 acres. 4-stall barn with tack and feed rooms, coverall hay storage, separate in-law suite, paddocks, run-ins, 18-acre hayfield, close to hiking, fine dining. $1,499,000

7TH LINE, MULMUR 55 acres on a dead-end road. 5-bedroom bungalow overlooks a pond and 7-stall horse barn.

2nd residence, heated shop, Century bank barn. 35 acres of tile drained crop land, 7 acres of bush. Close to Highway 89 and Airport Road. $1,398,000

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HEADWATERS REALTY INC

Independently Owned & Operated

RossHughes.ca 519-938-2225

1-800-268-2455

EAST GARAFRAXA OASIS This is the one you’ve been waiting for! Large family home situated on 1.6 acres with 2800+ sq ft total living space surrounded by trees. Detached shop with heat, hydro and covered porch. 2 master suites with ensuite baths and walkouts to private decks. Feeling of total privacy while only minutes from both Orangeville and Grand Valley. 5+1 bedroom, 4 bath. $1,099,900

SECOND EMPIRE ON SECOND Walking distance to shopping/dining and located in great school district on a huge lot, this property offers an ideal location & fully finished walkout basement with self-contained apartment. 3+1 bedroom, 3 bath. $799,900

STUNNER IN ALTON This gorgeous and lovingly restored home built from quarried stone is sure to charm.

Set well back from the road you'll feel like you're in the country with a covered porch and balcony. 3 bedroom, 2 bath. $849,900

Amir Mojallali fall20_layout 20-08-28 8:13 AM Page 1

Sue Collis fall20 half_layout 20-08-28 9:37 PM Page 1

Sue Collis

Sarah MacLean

Sales Representative

Sales Representative

Caledon, Erin, Mono & Surrounding Areas

www.chestnutparkcountry.com Country Office: 519.833.0888 Sue - Direct: 519.837.7764 Sarah - Direct: 905.872.5829 sue@chestnutpark.com sarahmaclean@chestnutpark.com

8 COUNTRY MEADOW DR, AMARANTH JUST LISTED! This spectacular raised bungalow features two complete living spaces with high-end finishes F ASKING 99% O throughout, perfect for a large F family. on a 2.4-acre lot and landscaped to perfection; OR Situated this home leaves nothing to be desired. $1,468,850

SOLD

7172 COOLIHANS SDRD, CALEDON JUST LISTED! Find blissful tranquility in your own oasis. This gorgeous home sits on 10.89 acres of forest and trails with endless picturesque scenes. Completely upgraded from top to bottom while preserving the charm. $1,899,900 Basia Regan fall20_layout 20-08-28 8:23 PM Page 1

705-466-2115

basiaregan@royallepage.ca www.basiaregan.com

A TASTE OF PROVENCE IN CALEDON French country charm, safely isolated for privacy yet ideal proximity to the city. 38+ acres of rolling hills on the prestigious Grange Sideroad with skiing, golf, hiking and shopping within minutes. This spectacular home offers sophisticated styling while maintaining a casual country atmosphere. 4 bedroom, 6 bathrooms (main floor master suite), bonus 2-bedroom apartment over 4-car garage. Enjoy the gardens and stone terraces offering multiple outdoor dining experiences. Covered seating, fireplace and outdoor kitchen poolside. 4 stalls/paddocks, fresh herb/cut flower and vegetable gardens. From chef’s kitchen, home office, climate controlled wine room, to home gym, hot tub, steam room, and even a custom tree house with swinging bridge for the kids! Something for the whole family. $5,750,000

Sales Representative

BEST KEPT SECRET IN BOLTON A beautiful private enclave at the end of a lane on almost an acre and surrounded by conservation forest. The stately granite fieldstone home has 3 bedrooms plus a bonus guest apartment in the coach house. Many recent upgrades. Only you and nature to enjoy spectacular sunsets from the rooftop deck. This is truly a hidden gem. $1,687,000

MULMUR SANCTUARY Designed by acclaimed Toronto architectural firm "Superkul", this prototype healthy home is a sustainable, multi-award winning contemporary masterpiece. Nestled into the hillside, the 2000+ sq ft main house has 2 ensuite bedrooms on either side of the great room. Detached 800 sq ft guest cabin is perched on top of the 2-car garage affording views of the large pond.

Floor-to-ceiling triple glazed windows and skylights bathe the minimalist interior in natural light and draws one's eye outward to the inviting stream and spring-fed pond surrounded by lush low maintenance landscaping. Explore trails that meander through the forest. $2,690,000

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MONO RETREAT 25 private acs with 2 ponds. 3-bdrm, 3-bath bungalow. Large solid drive-through workshop with loft. Perfect for hobbyist or home business. Groomed trails through mature forest and open meadows. $1,320,000

GRANGE SIDEROAD TREASURE Private retreat on 11+ acres. Lovely log home IT’S nature trails, overlooking ponds RYwaterfall, SORwith butterfly meadow. Pride of ownership shines throughout. Convenient proximity to city, airport, golf, hiking, riding, skiing and amenities.

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ILLUS TR ATIONS JIM S TEWART

SEP 27 : AUTISM SPEAKS WALK ON

What’s on in the Hills A

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H A P P E N I N G S

Welcome back! As the world begins to open somewhat, several familiar events have moved online while others have instituted Covid-19 protocols. When planning to participate, please check with your favourite performers and organizations through their websites and social media platforms for details.

arts+letters NOW – OC T 4 : THE ARTFUL REVIVAL FALL ART SHOW & FESTIVAL Provincewide juried exhibition. Sep 27: Juror’s walk and talk. Several events. Virtual gallery tour. Wed-Sun 10am-5pm.

Alton Mill, 1402 Queen St, Alton. 519943-1149; headwatersarts.com SEP 26 & 27, OC T 3 & 4 : ELOR A FERGUS

Mondays. Wed-Sun 10am-5pm. Free.

Alton Mill, 1402 Queen St, Alton. 519943-1149; headwatersarts.com

community FARMERS’ MARKETS OR ANGEVILLE : Saturdays, 8:30am-

OC T 7 – NOV 8 : SHERRY PARK – CAPE

12:30pm, to Oct 24. Order, prepay online. Scheduled pick-up time, driveby or curbside collection. Onsite sales. 96 Broadway parking lot. orangevillefarmersmarket.ca

BRETON HIGHL ANDS Works inspired

CREEMORE : Saturdays, 8:30am-noon,

ART IN THE OPEN 2020 Studio tour, works

displayed in gardens, porches, tents and garages. 11am-4pm. Free. facebook.com

by a six-week residency granted in the national park. Wed-Sun 10am-5pm.

Free. Alton Mill, 1402 Queen St, Alton.

519-943-1149; headwatersarts.com

to Oct 10. Order, prepay online, curbside pickup. Onsite sales. Creemore Springs Brewery parking lot, 139 Mill St. creemorefarmersmarket.ca

NOV 11 – JAN 3 : ARTFUL GIVING:

ALLISTON : Saturdays, 8am-2pm, to

ARTISAN GIF TS & ART SALE Gifts

Oct 31. Regular market, onsite sales.

Centre St & Victoria St. rurban.ca

in various media. Open holiday

ERIN : Fridays, 3-7pm, to Sep 25.

Order, prepay online, curbside pickup.

Onsite sales. McMillan Park, 109 Main St, Erin. erinfarmersmarket.ca NOW – ONGOING : EXPLORER’S BIBLE STUDY Women’s on-site or online discussion

group of Matthew. 7-8:30pm. Brampton Christian School, 12480 Hutchinson Farm Ln, Caledon. tabitha.ebs@gmail.com NOW – SEP 27 : CANADIAN SHOW JUMPING TOURNAMENT International

Hunter/Jumper equestrian competition.

Big prize money and top honours. 8am4pm. Free. Caledon Equestrian Park, 200 Pine Ave, Palgrave. Equestrian Management Group, 905-880-5344; caledonequestrianpark.com NOW – OC T 13 : VILL AGE OF ERIN SCARECROW STROLL Meet dozens of

unique scarecrow creations and shop local businesses. 10am-9pm. Main St, Erin. Erin BIA, 519-833-9258; villageoferin.com

WHEELS CAR PAR ADE Wear your

team T-shirts or ASC swag. Decorate your vehicle. Option 2 – Go virtual and bring the Walk home! 11am-noon. autismspeakscanada.akaraisin.com SEP 28 : OR ANGEVILLE BLOOD DONOR CLINIC It’s in you to give.

2-7pm. Register. Best Western, 7 Buena Vista Dr, Orangeville. Canadian Blood Services, 1-888-2DONATE; blood.ca SEP 28 : STARTING A SMALL BUSINESS

Requirements and considerations.

5:30-7:30pm. Free webinar.

Orangeville & Area SBEC, 519-9410440; orangevillebusiness.ca SEP 30 – OC T 4 : FALL FINALE Big prize

money and top honours with some of Canada’s top equestrians. 8am4pm. Free. Caledon Equestrian Park, 200 Pine Ave, Palgrave. Equestrian Management Group, 905-880-5344; caledonequestrianpark.com OC T 3 : DUFFERIN FARM TOUR Support

food banks in Orangeville and Shelburne.

Then meet local farmers through a Facebook Watch Party on our website.

7pm. Free. dufferinfarmtour.com OC T 8 : A COMPLETE GUIDE TO INSTAGR AM Attract new customers

and grow your business. Noon-1pm.

Free webinar. Orangeville & Area SBEC, 519-941-0440; orangevillebusiness.ca

ABBREVIATIONS

OC T 8 & NOV 12 : OR ANGEVILLE &

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CCS Caledon

DCAFS Dufferin Child

MOD Museum of Dufferin – Regular

NVCA Nottawasaga Valley

Community Services

and Family Services

Conservation Authority

CPCC Caledon Parent-Child Centre

DPSN Dufferin Parent

admission: $5; seniors $4; children 5-14 $2; under 5 free; family $12

CVC Credit Valley

EWCS East Wellington

Conservation

Community Services

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Archives – Regular admission: $5; students, seniors $4; family (2 adults & 5 children) $12

OAS Orangeville Agricultural

Society Event Centre SBEC Orangeville & District Small Business Enterprise Centre

DISTRIC T PROBUS ZOOM MEETINGS

Oct 8: Mono Nordic ski program. Nov 12: TBA. Attend as a guest. 10am-noon. The Salvation Army New Hope Community Church, 690 Riddell Rd, Orangeville.

519-307-1789; probusorangeville.club C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 10 0

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It’s Happening!

This year the tour is virtual for the first time ever.

Get to know local farmers through a different lens at our Facebook Watch Party on Saturday, October 3 at 7pm – or anytime after at dufferinfarmtour.com/watch.

Support local food banks during our Food Drive at locations in Orangeville and Shelburne on Saturday, October 3.

www.dufferinfarmtour.com more information at dufferinfarmtour.com

OC T 11 & NOV 15 : WHOLE VILL AGE ONLINE ORIENTATION Meet members and tour the eco-residence via Zoom.

1-3pm. $10, email info@wholevillage. org to register. 20725 Shaws Creek Rd, Caledon. 519-941-1099; wholevillage.org

H A P P E N I N G S

9am-1:30pm. $20. Carters Law Firm, 519-942-0001; carters.ca NOV 5 : A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SEO

Create an SEO strategy for your small business. Noon-1pm. Free webinar.

Orangeville & Area SBEC, 519-9410440; orangevillebusiness.ca

OC T 17 : UPPER CREDIT HUMANE SOCIET Y R ABIES & MICROCHIP CLINIC

Dogs leashed, cats in carriers. Minimum age for rabies vaccine is 3 months. $30 rabies vaccine; $30 microchip, etransfer only. Register at events@uppercredit. com. No walk-ins. Deadline is Oct 16. 10am-1pm. Premier Equipment, 8911 Wellington Rd 124, Ospringe.

519-833-2287; uppercredit.com

NOV 19 – 21 : OPER ATION CHRISTMAS CHILD SHOEBOX DROP- OFF Gift-filled shoeboxes for struggling children in the developing world. Thu 7-9pm. Fri & Sat noon-3pm. Broadway Pentecostal Church, 556 Broadway, Orangeville.

416-697-9999; samaritanspurse.ca

OC T 19 : LEGAL STRUC TURE OF BUSI­

Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives

Welcomes you back!

NESS Is restructuring your business the

next step? 10-11:30am. Free webinar.

Orangeville & Area SBEC, 519-9410440; orangevillebusiness.ca OC T 22 – DEC 27: THE SISTERS TOUCH OF CHRISTMAS One-of-a-kind, hand-

painted items, baking, seasonal linens and more. St. Kosmas Aitolos Greek Orthodox Monastery, 14155 Caledon King Twnln S, Bolton. The Sisters, 905-859-8077; thesisterstoc.com

kids NOW – OC T 31 : DOWNEY’S FARM PUMP­

Owen Gordon (Jamaican/Canadian), Extreme Social Distances, 2020, oil on paper, 58.4 x 76.2 cm, ©the artist

New fall exhibitions • When Night Stirred at Sea: Contemporary Caribbean Art • Jump Up! Celebrating Caribbean Carnivals

www.pama.peelregion.ca Stay tuned to our social channels @visitpama for our fall opening date!

Visit pama.peelregion.ca to learn more

9 Wellington St. E., Brampton, ON L6W 1Y1 • 905-791-4055

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KINFEST Live entertainment, activities and

SUMMIT Brian DePratto of TD Bank

Group speaks, local business panel discussion. 8-9:30am. Free webinar, Orangeville & Area SBEC, 519-9410440; orangevillebusiness.ca

farm animals. 10am-5pm. Limited tickets daily. Weekdays $12; weekends, Oct 12 $16; $75 family of 5. Downey’s Farm Market, 13682 Heart Lake Rd, Caledon.

905-838-2990; downeysfarm.com

OC T 30, 31 & NOV 1 : CALEDON HOME

NOW – JUN 21 (MONDAYS) : OR ANGE­

& LIFEST YLE SHOW One-stop shopping

VILLE CUB PACK Scouting program for 7- to 10-year-olds. 7-8:30pm. $120.

Mono Amaranth Public School, Hockley Rd, Orangeville. 519-940-4738

and advice for the home, design trends, green living, renovation and landscaping.

Free. Albion Bolton Community Centre, Bolton. Liz Shaughnessy & Associates, 416-508-7056; homeandlifestyleshow.ca

OC T 13 – DEC 1 (TUESDAYS) : THE JUNIOR STAGE – FALL SESSION GR ADES 2- 4

NOV 5 : 2020 ANNUAL CHURCH & CHARIT Y L AW WEBINAR The Honourable Ratna Omidvar, senator, and Tony Manconi, director general, Charities Directorate, CRA. Register online or call 1-877-942-0001 x230;

Storytelling, improvisation, role playing, scripted work, pantomime, voice and movement. 6:30-8pm. $175. Nancy & Doc Gillies Rehearsal Hall, 065371 Dufferin Cty Rd 3. 519-942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 10 3

www.dufferinmuseum.com Open Thursdays to Saturdays 936029 Airport Road, Mulmur dufferinmuseum.com 519.941.1114

@MuseumofDufferin #MuseumofDufferin facebook.com/DufferinMuseum info@dufferinmuseum.com @MuseumofDufferin

#MuseumofDufferin

facebook.com/DufferinMuseum

Foxingham Farm Bed & Breakfast - Mulmur

tourism.indufferin.ca https://www.dufferincounty.ca/services/tourism-indufferin

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Find an Advertiser L I N K

D I R E C T L Y

T O

O U R

a r t s + c ult ur e + t he at r e

e q ue s t r i a n s e r v i c e s

Alton Mill Arts Centre 103 Dragonfly Arts on Broadway 30 Museum of Dufferin 101 Noodle Gallery 43 Peel Art Gallery, Museum & Archives 100 Rose Theatre 99 The Farmhouse Pottery 50 Theatre Orangeville 103

Red Scarf Equestrian Lifestyle 67

A D V E R T I S E R S

events Dufferin Farm Tour 100

f a r m + f e e d s up p l ie s Budson Farm & Feed Company 39

A T

I N T H E H I L L S . C A

Kitchen to the Table 64 Orangeville Furniture 108 Pear Home 30 Recovering Nicely 43 Sproule’s Emporium 31 The Weathervane 39

h o me imp ro v e me n t + r e pa ir

Foxy Face Lash Forever 30 Go Yoga 31 Henning Salon 30 . 66 Riverdale Fitness Mill 64 Skin ’n Tonic 31

A.M. Korsten Jewellers 31 Gallery Gemma 66 Hannah’s 39 Renaissance 39 Scented Drawer Fine Lingerie 31 Seconds Count Hospital Thrift Store 31

books

f e n c in g

BookLore 36 Loops & Lattes Hiking Guides 70 Nature Where We Live 46

McGuire Fence 46

All-Mont Garage Doors 83 Bolton Electrical Supply 27 Cairns Roofing 13 Caledon Tile 22 CBG Homes 71 Celtic Carpet 85 Headwaters Windows & Doors 14 Karry Home Solutions 18 Kurtz Millworks 49 Leathertown Lumber 10 Orangeville Home Hardware 7 Roberts Roofing 2 Synergy Exteriors 107 Upper Canada Carpentry 10

f in a n c i a l s e r v i c e s

in t e r i o r d e c o r at i o n + d e s i g n

Main Street Mortgages, C. Graham 31 RBC Dominion Securities, S. Roud 35

McNeil Design Group Interiors 81

f a r m + g a r d e n e q uip me n t au t o

Larry’s Small Engines 47

Caledon Motors 47

f a s hi o n + je w e l l e r y be au t y + f i t ne s s

buil d e r s + a rc hi t e c t s + developers

l a nd s c a p in g + g a r d e nin g f ir e p l a c e s a l e s + s e r v i c e

Alinea Design Associates Ltd. 73 Canadian Outbuildings 45 Classic Renovations 77 Dalerose Country 14 Harry Morison Lay, Architect 27 Pine Meadows 79 Stockridge Construction 16 Westview Condos by Devonleigh 11

Caledon Fireplace 83

flowers Suzanne Gardner Flowers 31

f o o d + d r ink + c at e r in g 4th Line Cattle Co. 54 Fromage 30 Garden Foods 63 Heatherlea Farm Shoppe 54 Lavender Blue Catering 64 Orangeville Farmers’ Market 31 Pommies Cider 54 Rock Garden Farms 61 Rosemont General Store 56 The Chocolate Shop 30 The Vine Agency 55 . 56

c o mmuni t y s e r v i c e s Caledon Community Services 35 Town of Erin 38 Town of Caledon 37

c y c l in g Lynx & Hare Cycles 75

dance Academy of Performing Arts 30

g e ne r at o r s d inin g

Downsizing Diva 73

p e t s up p l ie s + s e r v i c e s Global Pet Foods 20

pool s D&D Pools & Spas 12

p ro f e s s i o n a l s e r v i c e s Carters Law Firm 29 Wheelwright Group, Permit Specialists 81

r e a l e s tat e + h o me in s p e c t i o n s he a lt h + w e l l ne s s Avita Integrated Health 77 Dr. Richard Pragnell 77 Healing Moon 30

he at in g + c o o l in g Arseneau Home Comfort 28 Bryan’s Fuel 8 The Foundry Infratech Comfort 49

h o me d é c o r + f ur ni s hin g s e n v iro nme n t

Caledon Lighting & Home Decor 27 Decor Solutions Furniture & Design 39 Framed X Design 67

Credit Valley Conservation 46

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Tanco Group 22

Forage 52 Judy’s Restaurant 52 Landman Gardens & Bakery 52 Le Finis by Lavender Blue 52 Mono Cliffs Inn 56 Mrs. Mitchell’s Restaurant 18 . 52 Pia’s on Broadway 52 Rustik Local Bistro 52 Spirit Tree Estate Cidery 52 Terra Nova Public House 52 The Busholme Gastro Pub 39

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Bloom Green 5 GB Stone 16 Jay’s Custom Sheds 12 Leaves & Petals Garden Maintenance 75 Sinovi Masonry & Stonescapes 75 Tucker’s Land Services 4 Tumber Landscape & Supply 3

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Bosley Real Estate 45 Velvet Alcorn Century 21 Millennium Inc. 29 . 97 Amir Mojallali Century Millennium Inc. 71 Irena Lechnowsky Century 21 Millennium Inc. 92 Mary Klein, Kaitlan Klein Chestnut Park Real Estate 97 Sue Collis, Sarah MacLean Clairwood Real Estate Corporation 93 Jacqui Viaene Coldwell Banker, Cornerstone Realty 73 Nancy Urekar

Coldwell Banker, Ronan Realty 90 Marc Ronan, Sarah Lunn Coldwell Banker Select Realty 84 Verona Teskey Moffat Dunlap Real Estate 88 Moffat Dunlap, John Dunlap, Peter Boyd, Murray Snider, Nik Bonellos, Elizabeth Campbell, Courtney Murgatroyd, Sean Wynn, Mark Campbell, David Warren ReMax In The Hills 91 Chris Richie, Philip Albin, Sean Anderson, Dale Poremba, Jennifer Unger ReMax Real Estate Centre 95 Ann Shanahan, Bonnie Sturgeon, Sarah Anthon ReMax Realty Specialists Inc. 82 . 96 Sigrid Doherty ReMax Realty Specialists Inc. 15 Maria Britto ReMax Realty Specialists Inc. 6 . 87 Tav Schembri Royal LePage Credit Valley 47 Rita Lange Royal LePage Meadowtowne Realty 94 Paul Richardson Royal Le Page RCR Realty 97 Basia Regan Royal LePage RCR Realty 89 Doug Schild, Chris Schild Royal LePage RCR Realty 37 . 94 Jacqueline Guagliardi Royal LePage RCR Realty 95 Matt Lindsay Royal LePage RCR Realty 96 Roger Irwin, Dawn Bennett Royal Lepage RCR Realty 96 Ross Hughes Royal LePage RCR Realty 26 . 92 Suzanne Lawrence Royal LePage RCR Realty 94 Victoria Phillips, Janna Imrie Royal Le Page RCR Realty 20. 86 Wayne Baguley Sutton-Headwaters Realty 93 Jim Wallace Sutton-Headwaters Realty 96 Sarah Aston

s e ni o r s ’ s e r v i c e s Avalon Retirement Lodge 9 Headwaters Home Care 85 Lord Dufferin Centre 79

t o ur i s m + t r av e l Caledon Travel 85 Canoe North Adventures 51 Orangeville BIA 30 . 31 Town of Erin 39

SUBMIT YOUR EVENT C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 10 0

OC T 14 – DEC 2 (WEDNESDAYS) : THE NEX T STAGE – FALL SESSION GR ADES 9-12 Intensive acting techniques,

various disciplines. 6:30-8:30pm. $195. Nancy & Doc Gillies Rehearsal Hall, 065371 Dufferin Cty Rd 3. 519942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca OC T 15 – DEC 3 (THURSDAYS) : THE INTERMEDIATE STAGE – FALL SESSION GR ADES 5 - 8 Improvisation, memorization and personal experience. No prerequisite.

6:30-8:30pm. $195. Nancy & Doc Gillies Rehearsal Hall, 065371 Dufferin Cty Rd 3. 519-942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca OC T 25 : HAUNTED HILL 1K FAMILY

To submit your community, arts or nonprofit event: Go to inthehills.ca and select ‘what’s on’ from the menu bar.

That will take you to the listings page. Select ‘submit your event’ and complete the easy form.

For the winter (November) issue, submit by October 23, 2020.

For up-to-date listings between issues, click ‘what’s on’ on the menu bar at inthehills.ca.

We reserve the right to edit submissions for print and web publication.

FUN RUN Staggered start. Wear your

costume. 9:30am-noon. Free. Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness, Bolton. rotaryhauntedhill.ca

INTHEHILLS.CA

OC T 30 : VIRTUAL HALLOWEEN COS ­ TUME PART Y Virtual Zoom celebration with costume contests. 7-8pm. Join the meeting at zoom.us/j/93654738 017?pwd=bTE2ZjYyTW1QY2g0eUp 6VHNaOEVtZz09. Caledon Library, 905-857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca

www.altonmill.ca

music

OC T 12 : TORONTO & NORTH YORK HUNT

OC T 7 & 21 : ACHILL CHOR AL SOCIET Y

– HUNTER PACE Timed ride. $100, includes

WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS Virtual

open rehearsals for new members on Zoom. 6:45-8pm. Free. Orangeville Achill Choral Society, achill.ca OC T 7 : MUSIC & DANCE FOR CHANGE – AGES 14+ Virtual event with acclaimed artist panel and breakout networking rooms on Zoom. Part of social justice and the arts series. 7-8:30pm. Free.

905-874-2800; rosetheatre.ca OC T 24 : CALEDON CHAMBER CONCERTS – THE ANDREW SORDS TRIO Works by

Brahms, Saint-Saëns and Sarasate. Limited seating. $35; $15 students 16 & under, register, no door sales. 7:30-8:30pm.

St. James Anglican Church, 6025 Old Church Rd, Caledon East. 905-8802445; caledonchamberconcerts.com

outdoor OC T 8 & NOV 12 : CALEDON GARDEN CLUB MEETINGS Oct 8: After the

harvest. Nov 12: Forest bathing. Annual membership: $15; $20 family; $3 guest/ visit. 7-9pm. Cheltenham United Church, 14309 Creditview Rd, Cheltenham.

905-838-3541; gardenontario.org

lunch; children $50. Register online at karen.cybulski@gmail.com. Entries close Oct 5. 10am-3:30pm. TNYH Kennels, 878445 5th Ln E, Mulmur. tnyh.horse

theatre+film OC T 9 – NOV 13 (FRIDAYS) : ADULT AC TING & SCENE STUDY Try acting with Debbie Collins. 6:30-8:30pm. $100. Nancy & Doc Gillies Rehearsal Hall, 065371 Dufferin Cty Rd 3. 519942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca OC T 19 – DEC 7 (MONDAYS) : THEATRE OR ANGEVILLE EXCEP TIONAL PL AYERS (T.O.E.P.) – AGES 11+ FALL SESSION Skills-based theatre

program for those with developmental challenges. Youth A: 5:30-7pm. Youth B: 7-8:30pm. Adult (postsecondary): 2-3:30pm. $195. Town Hall Opera House, 87 Broadway, Orangeville.

519-942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca NOV 4 : PODCASTING & FILMMAKING FOR CHANGE – AGES 14+ Virtual event with acclaimed artist panel and breakout networking rooms on Zoom. Part of social justice and the arts series. 7-8:30pm.

Free. 905-874-2800; rosetheatre.ca

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www.natureshealing.ca

frank@homeenhancers.ca

karena@goodison.com

www.theauctionadvertiser.com/KMcArthur

www.evoelectricalcontracting.com

www.woolandsilkco.com

www.pvrbeef.ca info@schoolofmiracles.ca

www.heavensbestorangeville.com

5417@tbrg.ca

TO PL ACE AN AD, C ALL 519 -942- 8401 OR EMAIL INFO@INTHEHILL S.C A FOR AUTUMN ISSUE CALL BY OCTOBER 23, 2020 104

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www.theoutsideguy.ca

www.typeandimages.ca

www.thirstylawn.ca www.charlesemersontreeservice.com

www.environmentalpestcontrol.ca

coldcreekland@hotmail.com

www.drbug.ca

For autumn issue call by October 23, 2020

P U Z Z L I N G

S O L U T I O N S

F R O M

P A G E

1 0 6

cool peso boil

The Empty Triangle A square should be in the empty triangle.

Adding the numbers around each triangle results in odd and even numbers — circles are odd, squares are even.

Letter Locales climate A Little Toughie In each word the alphabet number positions of the first and last letters add up to 22.

Know Your Colours It’s a ranch-style house and as such has no staircase.

Silas Renarm at the Orangeville Fair Invert 3–4, 4–5, 2–3.

e ats se at

www.ottstreeservice.com tuba gear what abut r age thaw

hunt whim deck purr

diet tied

Anagram Maze eats (seat), tuba (abut), gear (rage), what (thaw), diet (tied), much (chum), feet (fete), list (slit), news (sewn), newt (went), nuts (stun) drop (prod), maim (imam), ripe (pier), vane (nave), brag (garb), coin (icon), hare (hear), taco (coat)

maim drop nuts new t ooze much imam prod stun went chum ripe pier

plus news sewn

list slit

feet fete

vane br ag body into nave garb

aloe

fall

coin hare taco crew icon he ar coat

foil

five

unit

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a Puzzling Conclusion

BY KEN WEBER

The Empty Triangle What shape — a square or a circle — should be in the empty triangle?

6

8

3

11

12

5

12

2

2

6

6

4

8

4

7

Letter Locales

Anagram Maze

A Little Toughie (with clue)

Use each clue below to select a letter of the alphabet and enter it in the blank that follows.

The correctly chosen letters, read in order, will reveal a word we hear frequently these days.

Make it competitive: Compare your solution time with an opponent’s.

Anagram a selection of four-letter words (e.g., change a word like SALT to LAST) that will enable you to enter this maze at EATS and exit at TACO. You may move up, down, right or left (not diagonally) by anagraming words in adjacent squares.

What feature do all the words below have in common?

1) The first letter appears in Achill and in Glen Cross _ . 2) The second letter is found in Alton and in Laurel _ .

3) Crombie has the vowel you need here, so

cool boil

peso

eats

tuba

hunt whim deck

gear what purr

diet

maim drop nuts new t ooze much

does Primrose _ . 4) Both Horning’s Mills and Campania offer the consonant that goes

ripe

unit

plus

news

list

feet

vane brag body

into

aloe

fall

five

taco crew

foil

flip oblong dealer built

cross ulna hymn queue

Two clues follow, but only one is relevant.

(After all, it is a toughie.)

1 2 The letter ‘e’ is the The letter ‘e’ is the

5th letter in the most used letter in the English alphabet.

English alphabet.

here _ . 5) The correct choice appears three times in either Honeywood or Amaranth _ . 6) The letter needed at this step

Know Your Colours

_ . 7) To complete the word correctly

A ranch-style house in Creemore has a green roof, green shutters, a green front door, and an attached double garage painted green. Inside the house the floor of the front foyer is green.

you will need a letter from Monticello _ .

What colour is the staircase?

appears twice in either Cataract or Peepabun

coin hare

Silas Renarm at the Orangeville Fair In response to a request from the Literary Society, the fair board refused Silas permission to run his medicine show on the fairgrounds, but even off site his potent elixir sold very well on fair day, a result he attributed in part to the coin puzzle below.

1

2

3

4

5

6

Like all of Silas’s puzzles, the coin challenge was designed to attract children to his setup, hopefully with adults in tow.

The children were invited to win a candy with this puzzle by inverting any two coins at the same time to establish an alternating heads-tails pattern. The adults saw how quickly children could win a candy by simply inverting numbers 2 and 5 at the same time, so they readily accepted Silas’s invitation to win a free sample of elixir by trying the following variation with the coins: In three moves, establish an alternating heads-tails pattern by inverting two adjacent coins at the same time.

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www.orangevillefurniture.ca