Spring In The Hills 2021

Spring A

M A G A Z I N E

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VOLUME 28 NUMBER 1 2021

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R E G I O N

Greystones

A landmark reborn

Pandemic babies

Wildscaping a Mono garden

Foxes in town Conservation Authorities v. Doug Ford

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F E A T U R E S 32 W IL DSC A PING

A dedicated Mono gardener embraces the naturalistic planting style of Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf

by Tony Spencer

60 NO CONSERVAT ION, N O A U T H O R I T Y

Under cover of Covid, the Ford government is stripping conservation authorities of the very meaning of their name

by Nicola Ross

44 A L ANDMARK REBORN

An Orangeville icon gets a splashy makeover and is poised to turbocharge the town’s vibrant dining scene

by Tralee Pearce

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67 NEW K IT S ON THE BLOCK

Fox families are taking up residence in our neighbourhoods, frolicking in our yards and denning in our sheds

by Don Scallen

5 3 S O M E S U N N Y DAY

Covid has shifted our world and changed our priorities. For many, the hopes and dreams for the aftertimes are simple ones.

by Anthony Jenkins

Love your Outdoors

80 I T TA K E S A V IR T UA L V ILL AGE

In what could have been a lost year for isolated new parents and their babies, social agencies moved their triedand-true community meetups and support groups online

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Our readers write

The Orange and the Green

by Ken Weber

25 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Christine Nnawuchi

92 OVER THE (NE X T ) HILL

Covid-19 has changed us

by Gail Grant

27 FIEL D NO T E S

What to plant, read, wear this spring

by Janice Quirt

94 AT HOME IN T HE HIL L S

Reimagining an Erin farmhouse

by Janice Quirt

31 F E N C E P O S T S

Who you gonna call?

by Dan Needles

79 LOC AL BU YS

Fixate on florals this spring

by Janice Quirt

1 0 8 W H A T ’ S O N ( A G A I N )

A calendar of spring happenings

72 FOOD + DRINK

On the menu

by Janice Quirt

86 HE A DWAT ER S NE S T

Pandemic fatigue

by Bethany Lee

1 1 8 A P U Z Z L I N G C O N C L U S I O N

by Ken Weber

77 MADE IN THE HILL S

Kristin Evensen

by Janice Quirt

88 GOOD SPORT

Canoeing the Humber

by Nicola Ross

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

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publisher and editor Signe Ball art director Kim van Oosterom Wallflower Design writers Johanna Bernhardt Gail Grant Anthony Jenkins Bethany Lee Dan Needles Janice Quirt Nicola Ross Don Scallen Tony Spencer Ken Weber photographers Erin Fitzgibbon Rosemary Hasner Chantalle Jacob-Okorn Robert McCaw Pete Paterson Fred Webster illustrators Shelagh Armstrong Jim Stewart

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 East Credit River, Ken Whillans Resource Management Area, by Chantalle Jacob-Okorn

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 $27.95 (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) © 2021 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 The ad booking deadline for the summer (June) issue is May 14, 2021.

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Canada Post Agreement Number 40015856 We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada.

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

Meet three of the creative folks – Johanna Bernhardt, Anthony Jenkins and Kim van Oosterom – who make this issue shine. johanna bernhardt

tony jenkins

Johanna Bernhardt has been writing features for In The Hills since 2012 on topics including the arts and social services.

She says she “feels so honoured to capture stories of local residents who pour their hearts into their work and demonstrate the profound difference one person can make in a community.” In her newest story, “It Takes a Virtual Village,” Johanna dove into the meaningful work community organizations are doing to support new parents as they navigate uncertainty and isolation during the pandemic – an especially difficult task with community centres and other gathering spots closed for the better part of a year.

Johanna lives in Orangeville and homeschools her two treasures, Fynn and Eily. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading a book or in a nearby forest, practising slow, intentional living. You can see more of her reflections on self-love, gentle parenting, and everyday magic at manymerrymoons.com

TILES

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For four decades Anthony Jenkins’ editorial cartoons, illustrations and caricatures delighted the readers of The Globe and Mail.

Relocating from Toronto eight years ago, he now paints, writes and draws in Mono. He also plays local seniors’ hockey (which he wrote about in In The Hills in winter 2017), keeps bees (summer 2017) and spies on wildlife with trail cams (spring 2020) dotted around the 17 acres he calls home with wife, Kathryn, and dog, Maggie. If he wins a Nobel Prize, you’ll likely read about it here, he says.

Listening to World War II big band music recently brought to mind Anthony’s United Kingdom forebears’ need for hope and fortitude, echoing our own during the current pandemic. It inspired his latest piece, “Some Sunny Day” (page 53), in which he interviews six locals across a spectrum of age and endeavour about their own hopes for if and when “normal” returns.

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FIXTURES

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kim van oosterom A freelance graphic designer, Kim van Oosterom started art directing In The Hills in the spring of 1999; incredibly, this is her 89th issue.

Each has been a unique pleasure to design. Many columns touch on her interests, but her favourite just might be the puzzle page.

Inspired by what she’d learned of the area, Kim moved with her husband, Andrew, from Toronto to a remote hilltop cabin in Mulmur in 2016. A nature enthusiast, she loves to explore the nearby trails and catalogue the flora and fauna around their home, from stoneflies to bald eagles.

In her youth, Kim’s family regularly drove out west (canvas popup in tow) to visit family in the summers, thereby instilling in her a love for travel. Someday soon she and her husband hope to hit the road again, pulling their little teardrop trailer across the country to visit friends and family and continue exploring the Canadian wilds – between issues of In The Hills of course!

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In 2018, less than six months after Doug Ford’s Conservatives came to power, his government introduced Bill 66, the Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act. Its provisions would have allowed municipalities to seek provincial permission to pass “open-forbusiness” bylaws, bypassing sections of the Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Protection Act, and opening portions of the Greenbelt for development. A tempest of protest ensued, and the government retreated, insisting it had all been a misunderstanding and declaring its unequivocal commitment to protecting the Greenbelt.

But the move put people who care about protecting Ontario’s drinking water, farmland, wetlands, woodlands, wildlife – you name it – on high alert. With good reason. Not long after Bill 66 was introduced, among other moves, the Ford government eliminated the office of the environmental commissioner (duties transferred to the auditor general), cancelled the 50 Million Tree Program (saving itself less than $4.7 million annually even as it proposed spending up to $1 billion to expedite beer sales in corner stores), and introduced the More Homes, More Choice Act (vastly compromising protection of endangered species).

And then came Covid.

No thoughtful person could envy politicians of any stripe the task of responding to the pandemic. And, kudos where due, the Ford government has navigated Covid, with all its tragedy and uncertainty, as well as or better than many. Among other things, it has regularly rolled out millions in assistance to businesses, social services and cultural organizations to the considerable benefit of many of them here in Headwaters (though the reckoning related to the horrors in long-term care homes here and across the province is still to come).

But at the same time, in the name of Covid recovery, the govern­ ment has escalated its pro-development agenda and its assault on environmental protections. In the past year, along with resurrecting the rightly moribund Highway 413 across the Peel Plain in Caledon, its revisions to provincial growth targets will more than triple the town’s population to 300,000 by 2051, effectively locating a city the size of Barrie along the highway in Caledon’s south end.

Most recently, perhaps most cynically, as Nicola Ross reports in this issue, buried in the government’s so-called Protect, Support and Recover from Covid-19 budget bill, was a provision that will grievously undermine the province’s conservation authorities and their essential role in providing the vital, science-based knowledge required to protect our watersheds. This time, unlike Bill 66, an emboldened government brazened out massive public opposition and passed the bill.

In the days of Covid, around the world, the skies grew silent of jets, highway congestion vanished, waterways ran clear, the smog lifted – and suddenly it was possible to imagine a different kind of world. It was hard not to be hopeful that in resetting the economy, we might also reset our troubled and intimate relationship with the natural world. Indeed, in many cities and countries, there is an exciting effort to forge a green recovery. Not in Ontario.

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L E T T E R S

Inspiring people It’s inspiring to read about the people who have stepped forward to help others during Covid-19. [“Local Heroes” winter’20].

Certainly, the recognition they are receiving now is well deserved. I am sure they did what they did, and continue to do so, out of a spirit and actions that emphasize a message which says, we all are here to help each other.

Equally inspiring for me is to read about the activities associated with Back Lives Matter [“Up to the Task”] and the two demonstrations and rallies in Shelburne and Orangeville [“The New Hope”]. In the past, many of us would think it difficult to organize such activities in largely agricultural communities. Similarly, the work of the Shelburne Anti-Black Racism, AntiRacism & Discrimination Task Force is very important. These community activities do in fact inspire hope for a better future and indicate that, indeed, there are some very capable and committed people who are up to the task.

Stop Highway 413

Joe Grogan, Bolton

In The Hills has done it again!

Thank you for the excellent article about the infamous 413 [“Highway 413: The Opposition Reloads” winter’20]. I was happy to see that it ended on an encouraging note. If the fertile Peel Plain is built over by a toll road and the inevitable sprawl that degrades all the land around a 400-series highway, that class 1 and 2 farmland will never be replaced. I understand there are farmers who were looking to retire on the sale of their land, but the province should be planning how to help them achieve retirement without selling off the future and creating a massive climate catastrophe. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to protect these lands.

I confess to being somewhat mystified by the Caledon town councillors who support the 413. If they are so enamoured of pavement, as well as the noise, light, air and water pollution that accompany highways, would they not be happier living in Brampton, Toronto, or another urban setting, rather than in the primarily rural Caledon?

Kudos to writer Paul Webster, activists Jenni Le Forestier and Tim Gray, councillor Annette Groves and all who contributed their time and expertise to this article. I hope everyone who reads it will join the “court of public opinion” and tell the premier we don’t need or want this expensive and unnecessary expressway to disaster. The 413 is not progress!

Karen Alison, Caledon

I wish to object to construction of the GTA West transport­ ation corridor.

Before moving to my farm (now a forest) in Dufferin County, I wondered at the wisdom of paving over southern Ontario, where some of the world’s best farmland is found. The limestone area around Kingston might make a better choice, or the rocky regions north of lakes Nipissing and Superior.

Creating an ever more politically powerful GTHA (Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area) is also a mistake. Mayor John Tory of Toronto wields a huge stick over provincial and federal governments, and can demand yet another billion dollars anytime a new subway strikes his fancy. Meanwhile, we buy food from California.

Doesn’t the inconsistency of environmental, carbon and highway policies strike you as not very sensible? Converting 2,000-odd acres of prime farmland to paved corridor would be only the start. Massive new housing developments would grow alongside the corridor and pave over yet more thousands of acres. Is Ontario getting out of the agriculture business?

I paid off the mortgage on my farm only a few years ago, and might like a million-dollar payout for my land by some developer, but I would much prefer to grow my trees to maturity – and so would my children and grandchildren. This farm is approaching its 200th anniversary, so I can appreciate how family farmers in the Highway 413 target area feel. Their roots are in that land.

Divided highways never expand existing roads. They cut through the backs of farms, destroying woodlands and severing off bits of land that can no longer be viably farmed and must be “developed.” It would be much better to choose wilderness areas that are vacant for a reason. Southern Ontario needs east-west highways far enough north to disconnect them from Toronto. They should run both north and south of Georgian Bay. Traffic in the south has become dangerously dense, and in the northern reaches towns are closing for want of transportation infrastructure.

The highways needed in Canada do not pass through the GTHA to connect with U.S. highways. They must traverse the country, north of Lake Superior. Build them and the people will come to open the vast and empty northern Ontario where mines, not farms, are the best use for the land.

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Since before Confederation, it has been difficult to resist the pull of the U.S.A. on Canadian roads. Roads and transport are inclined to move north-south, not east-west, thanks to our geography. Canada can still break up politically, and politicians should exert themselves to establish barriers to its destruction. Facilitating national transportation, as the railway did initially, is the best means. The Trans-Canada Highway system was not opened until the mid-1960s and still consists in many areas of only two lanes.

There is no direct divided highway between Ottawa and the GTHA. Highways 401 and 416 deviate through densely farmed areas, while eastern Highway 7 winds through wilderness devoid of good farmland.

I have no time to cover all the possibilities of highway layout in Ontario, but designing a transportation system favourable to farmland, national security and population growth must be much broader than for the GTHA alone.

I recommend that the 413 corridor be closed permanently and a major review of transportation be conducted.

Charles Hooker, East Garafraxa

A fairy house update Inspired by an In The Hills article about fairy houses [“Away with the Fairies” summer’20], Peggy Dickey of Caledon decided to create her own version using cedar shingles and pine cones and call them Pixie Properties by Peggy.

The idea is to leave the houses in the garden or forest as an entrance to the magical underground world of fairies, pixies and the like. Her first design quickly led to five more, and Peggy decided to start selling them as Christmas gifts.

A member of the Inglewood Schoolhouse Performers, Peggy approached the group to see if they would be interested in purchasing a few of the houses. The response was overwhelming and sales have increased with all proceeds given to Bethell Hospice ($1,400 so far). For more information, email Peggy at peggydxyz@gmail.com.

(Via Bethell Hospice)

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 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.

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Clockwise from top left • Sacred Amulet 9" x 22" porcelain, leather, stainless steel • Speaking Stones 4", 2" and 1½" porcelain Astrological (Almanac) 14" and 7" x 5" porcelain, leather • Hush 13½" x 3" porcelain, leather • Flint 37" x 2½" and Dusk 50" x 3" turned wood, twine, porcelain

Christine Nnawuchi At first glance multimedia artist and ceramicist Christine Nnawuchi’s pieces read as museum-worthy artifacts. A ceremonial spear.

Sun and moon dials. A decorative breastplate. But the unglazed crisp white porcelain is a first clue that these creations are new, not old.

And while their shape and function draw on the Bolton artist’s Nigerian heritage, they are relics and mementos from a world that exists only in Christine’s imagination – a fictional village overseen by a matriarch who is both a healer and a warrior. As Christine says, “I want to evoke a nostalgia, a longing for a place you’ve never been but you’re connected to.” Her show Everything She Left Behind is part of the outdoor exhibit Where She Went, We Thrived at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre until April 11. www.christinennawuchi.com

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Ailsa Craig At the Village of Arbour Trails

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Come see why you’ll love our retirement community Enjoy your Independent Living rental apartment while easily engaging in the activities and amenities at The Village of Arbour Trails and Village by the Arboretum, one of Ontario’s most unique and innovative retirement communities for older adults.

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F I E L D

N O T E S

what to plant, read, wear this spring

BY JANICE QUIRT

Plot your veggie garden Seed packets started cropping up at local retailers while the snow was still knee-deep – a sign that last summer’s kitchen garden trend shows no sign of slowing down. Need a kickstart to your planting plans? We asked Jamie Richards of Mono’s Am Braigh Farm for a few DIY tips.

S AV E T H E D A T E

Q What is the best time to start planting? Popular wisdom says Victoria Day weekend, but we begin planting the third week of April and continue until the first week of September. Hardy crops are peas, spinach, radishes and carrots; semi-hardy are beets, broccoli and lettuce; somewhat frost-tolerant are onions and leeks; tomatoes, cucumbers and squash are tender – plant accordingly.

Q Can you recommend a first vegetable to try if we’re looking for a quick win? Radishes thrive in 30 days during the cooler wet weather of late April and May.

Q Rookie mistake to avoid? Spacing counts! Giving plants room to grow will increase yields, plus a jungle is hard to weed and harvest.

(Save the seed packet for details.)

For seeds and plants, check out local nurseries such as Dufferin Garden Centre or Mono’s 10 and 10 Garden Centre, or in Caledon, Stephanie’s Country Greenhouse, Rock Garden Farms or Glen Echo Nurseries.

Or check out seed libraries such as Erin Seed Lending Library.

Deb Menken

Making art IRL At Deb Menken’s live Maggiolly Art workshop in Orangeville, called The Abstracted Landscape in Acrylics (Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14), participants will work on creating harmonious colour schemes based on Northern Ontario landscapes. Sounds like a balm for the soul.

Mental health + kids The pandemic has been a hard go for families with young kids and teens, so we’re grateful there are some bright lights on the local mental health services scene tailored to this group. Orangeville teacher and parenting expert Jill McPherson coaches via empathetic webinars. For kids who find comfort in creativity, Art as Therapy (Orangeville) offers counselling based on drawing, crafts and other tools.

Orangeville’s Dufferin Parent Support Network hosts online parent workshops on topics from self-regulation to anxiety, and the Upper Grand District School Board’s new Mental Health & Me website shares age-appropriate supports.

(For resources for new parents, see “It Takes a Virtual Village” on page 80.)

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

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READING NEWS

Bookworms rejoice!

Daffodils and tulips aren’t the only things sprouting up with abandon this season. A bumper crop of new local books will keep us busy for months to come, says Nancy Frater, owner of Orangeville’s independent bookstore, BookLore.

“As our population is expanding, so are the number of talented authors associated with the area and they all have something to say – from memoirs to true crime, from fiction to kids’ books. Their contribution to the arts scene just makes the Headwaters region richer and unique.”

www.thelocalgardener.ca Make positive lasting change Karen Dougherty MA, RP, FIPA Psychotherapy . Psychoanalysis . Career Counselling

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Anxiety . Depression . Relationship Issues

Mono writer Michelle Grierson’s stormy novel, Becoming Leidah, centres on a mysterious girl born with blue skin and webbed hands and feet in coastal 19th-century Norway.

The protagonist of Janet-Lynn Morrison’s new romance, Forever is Today, is inspired by the Orangeville author’s adult daughter, who has lived with autoimmune hepatitis 1 since she was 15. A.G. Pasquella, who grew up in Mulmur and now lives in Toronto, has penned a third Jack Palace mystery, Season of Smoke. Shelburne novelist C. D. Wood’s Pine Ridge: Insidiously kicks off with the tragic death of a zealous pastor. Fellow Shelburne author Alex McLellan also goes a little dark in Deadly Shorts: Death Can’t Be All Bad, a collection of short stories.

On the kids’ front, McLellan’s other new books feature a frog who wants to fly (The Frog Who Wouldn’t), a boy’s plan to banish his bedtime monster (Jeremy’s Monster), and DIY activities (I Can). Prolific pro Carolyn j Morris adds Allie’s Alpacas to her stack of charming titles. And The Stray and the Strangers – by Steven Heighton, who has roots in Caledon – is based on a true story in which a stray dog befriends an orphan boy and an aid worker in a Greek refugee camp.

Local memoirs and nonfiction reads include Derek French’s Reap the Wild Harvest, a warm and humourous sequel to the former Mono resident’s earlier memoir of life in wartime Britain. Alexis Burnett, an Orangeville native now living on a farm in Durham, shares green-thumb tips in Homegrown Cannabis: A Beginner’s Guide to Cultivating Organic Cannabis.

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In So Now What? One Foot in Front of the Other, Mono singer-songwriter Sara Rose opens up about living with loss. Steve Anderson’s Driven to Succeed: From the

PE TE PATERSON

BookLore staffers Brenda Juno and Jan Hettwer peek out from behind a bumper crop of new local books.

Infamous Streets of Jane and Finch to the Privileged Seats of Town Hall traces his journey to a career in law and 2018 election as Shelburne’s deputy mayor.

In The Therafields Psychotherapy Community: Promise, Betrayal, and Demise, Brenda M. Doyle shares the story of her time with the controversial Toronto psychotherapybased commune that started in 1960s Toronto – and extended to five farms and a former schoolhouse property near Orangeville. Ann Burke’s true crime read, The Seventh Shot: On the Trail of Canada’s .22-Calibre Killer, recounts the story of Ronald Glenn West, the Amaranth-raised police officer charged in 1999 for the 1970 murders of two women in Palgrave and Gormley.

Stock up at BookLore, Forster’s Book Garden in Bolton and Curiosity House Books in Creemore.

Stretchy style Finding locally stitched clothes is getting easier by the day. Orangeville’s Meikaa Shop offers expandable modern pants for babies and kids – plus spring beanies to match, all made BRIT TANY PIERSON, GOYOGA

of eco-friendly bamboo. For adults, GoYoga Orangeville recently launched their own loungewear line designed and made by the GoYoga team. We’re eyeing the Hannah Pant, Britt Tie Tee and Maple Tunic for

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look-good, feel-good spring wear.

GoYoga’s Shelley Wishart wears the studio’s tee and pant designs.

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

Who you gonna call?

BY DAN NEEDLES

I

was just reading a piece in the New York Times about how people have been fleeing the city in droves this past year to find freedom from the pandemic. The same thing is happening in our neighbourhood and rural real estate prices have surged as a result. What interested the Times writer was how the refugees were discovering how unprepared they were to cope in a house that relies on a well and a septic tank. A country house has a lot of moving parts that can stop moving at any moment, and there is no condo board to call about it. You’re on your own.

So you start picking up a lot of new skills, usually quite soon after you hire that guy in the truck with a hand-painted sign advertising “handyman services.”

The contact list on your cell phone skews away from life and fitness coaches in favour of plumbers and electricians.

My father was an actor who did not own a hammer or a screwdriver. It was painful to watch him struggle to put a key in the lock on his own front door. He had no idea how water, electricity or heat got to the house.

The internal combustion engine was an impenetrable mystery to him. My brothers and I learned very early that if something went wrong around the house, my father would beg off, saying he had a show to do that night and leave the problem to us.

When I bought this abandoned farmhouse in 1978 and called the hydro office about bringing in service, they told me they didn’t hook up people who hadn’t gone through a winter here. They suggested I rent a house in the meantime and call them next spring if I had plans to stay. I renovated the entire house

ILLUS TR ATION BY SHEL AGH ARMS TRONG

without a power tool or a phone, and during that winter I formed bonds with a few tradespeople who are still on my cellphone contact list to this day.

I called one of them last week when the cast-iron faucet on the water hydrant out in the barn broke off in my hand and sent water gushing all over the barn floor. I got the water shut off and went searching

So you start picking up a lot of new skills, usually quite soon after you hire that guy in the truck with a hand-painted sign advertising “handyman services.” through the hardware stores for a replacement. But the hydrant was a model that went out of production about an hour after I bought it 25 years ago. No parts to be found online or anywhere else. So I purchased a new model and went home to start digging down four feet to remove the old one. At two feet I hit water. So I called Paul the water pump guy who runs a massive rental shop in town and asked him if I could get his miniature backhoe.

“What do you need that for, Dan?” he asked.

(Privacy is not a thing in the rental business up here and for good reason.)

I explained and Paul said, “No, no, no… bring those pieces over here and we’ll get you fixed up.”

Paul Van Rental, as we call him, started out life as a banker, but about the time I moved up here he, too, abandoned the city to build his own business based around water pumps. He has only failed at one thing that I know of, and that is teaching me how to play euchre. He takes the global view on every emergency and has the calm of a man who has been talking people through floods for 30 years. He took the old rod, spent ten minutes in the machine shop refitting the end for the new model spout and sent me home with it. In a few minutes I had water running in the barn again.

It’s one thing to learn a few skills of your own with hammer and pipe wrench. But the real secret is to cultivate a career-counselling committee who will give you really good advice about what you can do about the problem right now, while the kids are crying and your wife is yelling. My call list has at most a half dozen people who have anything to do with the writing profession or the theatre. The rest are all trusted voices on small motors, appliance repair, animal science, electricity, plumbing, mushrooms, tree-felling, gunsmithing, home curing, two-cylinder John Deere tractors and jacking up aging barns.

I have the list backed up in the Cloud and on fireproof paper in a safe.

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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Wildsc

A dedicated gardener channels the aesthetic of famed Dutch master Piet Oudolf into the rural countryside of Mono.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY TONY SPENCER

W

e spent two years searching for a place in the country. Dreaming of an old stone farmhouse with wild-ish gardens and a pond where my near-amphibious wife, Troy, could swim.

She and I looked everywhere – high, low, online and off, at every point of the compass, and it nearly drove us out of our minds. We finally gave up, exhausted by the endless stream of generic bungalows and funky basements. That is until a horse-loving friend alerted us to something special up in a place called Mono.

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caping

Growing wild along escarpment trails, the bells of Canadian columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) glow against the blue spires of large camassia (Camassia leichtlinii), a west coast bulb naturalized here.

Troy and I drove together up a long winding gravel lane through a leafy tunnel of birch and cedar wetland before crossing a bridge and then climbing ever higher until, there, nestled at the top of the hill, was an old log cabin with stately trees on either side.

The surrounding glacial terrain rolled down the hill to a sun-flecked, one-acre pond. On the near bank, a tiny guest bunkie looked out across the water to a towering curtain of conifers on the far side.

There were scant signs of any actual garden. It was more like a park-sized expanse of manicured lawn with a sprinkling of grand old trees fringed by forest beyond and wetland below. Not a neighbour in sight.

This is the land that found us. Far bigger than anything we’d imagined.

Troy, who’d been the toughest of critics of everything we’d seen, melted at first sight of the pond.

And once I saw all the hiking trails leading out to the nearby hills, I too was convinced. We clinched the cabin and all its contents before anyone else could.

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What makes this garden interesting?

It is a full-blown naturalistic garden with aesthetics inspired by naturally occurring plant communities.

This is a garden for plants and people. For plants to thrive and for people to experience.

The pond is a living mirror. A source of life and reflection.

Anything but flat, the undulating natural landform creates different levels and microhabitats.

It’s designed to be viewed from above, up close and far away.

All individual species of plants, grasses and ferns are intermingled within plant communities.

The Dutch master’s apprentice I’m a writer by trade who has gardened all my life. Twenty years ago my passion ran deeper as I discovered for myself the world of naturalistic planting design through the life work of Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf.

Still a creative force in his mid-70s, Oudolf envisions his gardens as living art forms designed to evolve in time and space. He does it all with trees, perennials and grasses, meticulously orchestrated to evoke the illusion of wildness, exemplified by signature projects such as the High Line in New York and The Lurie Garden in Chicago. His gardens are charged with a sense of atmosphere where people can transcend the everyday to reconnect to nature lost within.

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I was determined to try and translate his approach to a smaller-scale garden.

I spent years experimenting at our old family cottage garden in the Kawarthas, teaching myself the new language of designing with plants.

In 2013, I went next level and travelled to the Netherlands to study New Perennial planting design with Oudolf himself at his garden home in Hummelo. It was a transformative experience where we became friends and he kindly introduced me to a whole circle of designers exploring the naturalistic frontiers in Europe, the U.K., South America, the U.S. and beyond.

Here in Mono, I’ve started to make this kind of garden a reality with my own northern twist.

Big picture thinking Year one at the cabin, Troy and I decided to simply live there without changing a thing. We quietly observed the land and sky, hiked in the hills, and let the manicured grass grow into a fuzz of natural meadow.

Mounting worries about the cabin’s rotting cedar shake roof and derelict furnace foreshadowed an unexpected leap into a massive two-year renova­ tion to restore the original cabin and expand it with a new addition. Best thing we ever did.

We worked closely on the cabin project from concept through exe­ cution with Andrew Jones, a brilliant TO architect and furniture designer, for whom big picture is second nature. We paired Andrew up with

dream contractor Scott Murray of Thistlewood Timber Frame Homes in Markdale, who brought hard-earned experience and a way with wood to lead the intensive reconstruction.

Meanwhile, Troy and I camped out in the tiny bunkie by the pond, quite enamoured by the charms of microliving while the hammers, drills and tablesaws buzzed away up the hill.

Pond life In the meantime, I began my first solo garden design project in earnest on the western bank of the pond. I poured all my learning into the planning and plant lists to create a supercharged slice of woodland garden plugged into the existing ecosystem.

far left A matrix of native woodlanders lights up spring with phlox (‘Blue Moon’) and maidenhair fern, intermingled with white wood aster that blooms in fall. top Ruby-throated hummingbirds visit frequently in early summer to nectar on Sicilian honey garlic (Nectaroscordum siculum), a lesser known member of the onion family. near left Wave Hill chairs welcome visitors to the sandstone terrace. The Ovals beyond are freshly planted with pollinatorfriendly perennials with a massive black cherry overhead.

The project started in my imagin­ ation – I wanted something that felt a little wild, otherworldly, unexpected – a hidden place with a charged atmosphere connected to the greater scale of pond, forest, sky.

On a parallel track, I conducted a site analysis to better understand the local ecology and conditions – a critical step at the outset of any project.

The garden took more than two full seasons to fully design and plant – with the benefit of stellar advice from Piet Oudolf himself during the initial design phase. Now maturing into its fourth year, the pond garden has come to embody my vision for wildscaping beyond anything I can write or say.

It’s not just for show. The garden is a conversation with nature offering the species diversity and structural

complexity (i.e., food and shelter) to help the pond attract and support a growing population of insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and small mammals.

Here are my four guiding principles: • Plants selected primarily for structure vs. flower colour; as blooms come and go, the essential structure remains.

• Freely combines native, near-native, and introduced plant species for the best of all worlds. No invasives.

• Designed to capture light and movement from the wind.

• Not fussy. It leaves messy areas and room for nature to happen.

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

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Your Garden, Beautiful.

Design • Seasonal Cleanup Edging • Pruning • Weeding Recoveries • Planting Call us to book your complimentary consultation:

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above, clockwise A ladder-top view shows the textural interplay between shady moisture-lovers, like umbrella leaf, lady ferns and others, fringed by creeping forget-me-not.

A monarch butterfly alights to nectar on one of the many coneflowers (‘Prairie Splendor’) seeding about the sand garden.

RITA LANGE

Your vision is my passion.

Hoarfrost in late fall crystallizes the dotted seed heads of eastern beebalm and various coneflowers.

Fall colours set off the perennials: Dark red stems of golden valerian suffuse the warm orange glow of fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica ‘Gro-Low’).

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right The final version of the planting design for the perennial pond garden.

The guest bunkie looks out at the garden below with woodchip path snaking through the middle.

W I L D S C A P I N G C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 35

Hardscape design: Tabula rasa Post-construction, all that was left of the landscape around the cabin was glacial sand and our two massive trees, their root zones protected during the building process.

This gave architect Andrew Jones and I the freedom of a blank slate to reimagine the hardscape both from a functional and aesthetic perspective.

Our challenge was to reintegrate the newly renovated cabin within the total landscape and relate the indoor and outdoor spaces. We decided on a curvilinear approach to the hardscape because it reflects the natural roll of the escarpment land and the country feel of the cabin.

We found just the right touch of inspiration in the serpentine curves of a rustic dry-stack retaining wall built right outside our bedroom window by Mono stonemason Brian Wood.

Our hardscape plans checked off a wish list of major elements including all paths and walkways, entertainment areas, stairways, fire pit, and a long sinuous bioswale designed to capture stormwater runoff from the cabin and slopes.

From my plant design perspective, this also meant creating strategic space for a series of significant plantings around the cabin, all designed to capture sightlines from multiple viewpoints, especially from inside the cabin and our screened porch.

With Andrew’s plan ready to go by early 2017, we chose Genus Loci, an

Rock Garden spr21_Layout 1 21-03-11 11:39 AM Page 1

Wildscaping is about using plant-driven landscape design to create and sustain dynamic garden spaces, filled with beauty and wildlife, to rekindle our relationship to the natural world

A New Perennial garden ethos

Spring is here!

Reduce garden inputs, recycle

garden outputs; design with biodiversity and maintenance in mind; group plants by common habitat; work with local conditions; invite spontaneity; use plants as a living mulch to cover ground; create a true four-season garden leaving plants to stand over winter and amend in their own debris.

EAT LOCAL

& taste the difference!

Lots of great gift ideas for Easter and Mother’s Day! REOPENING MARCH 26 Large variety spring flowers – hydrangeas, Easter lilies, pansies, potted tulips, hyacinths, fresh cut flowers.

FULL GARDEN CENTRE AND GREENHOUSE OPEN IN MAY DINNER IS READY! Great frozen homemade meals ready for pick-up!

ecological landscape design/build company from King City, as partners to construct the actual hardscape.

They brought a strong background in sustainable design practices and ecological sensitivity to the project along with particular flair for the regrading and stonework.

We chose all local materials for the hardscape with massive limestone and granite boulders, supersized slabs, and pink and grey sandstone, sourced from an old-time, Credit valley quarry along the escarpment.

Foot traffic areas were finished with either pea gravel or mulch.

I looked after all aspects of the planting design, with invaluable guidance in the selection and planting of trees and shrubs from 81-year-old, Swiss-trained, master gardener Paul

Ehnes from Erin. This provided the structural framework we needed to gradually bring the landscape back to life with a series of naturalistic plantings created in a variety of contexts and scales.

Fresh picked strawberries & u-pick strawberries, farm fresh eggs, baked goods, fresh baked pies, fresh baked bread, preserves, jams, maple syrup.

Ontario fruits & vegetables also available.

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Here’s a walking tour of work to date.

from our table to yours

Northern sand garden & bioswale Sand. Sun. Heat. Evil storms. Angelic light. The polar opposite of the pond garden and larger, this bone-dry xeriscape required a functional strategy to create habitat tough enough to handle extreme conditions but peppered with unexpected bursts of beauty.

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

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SILVER CREEK PONDS

With 15 ponds… we know ponds!

We naturally balance your pond’s biological ecosystem by reducing algae, weeds, and odours.

This results in an aesthetically pleasing pond, great for swimming and fishing.

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CONSULTATION SERVICES A professional biologist with over 40 years of practical experience, I assess the cause(s) of your pond issues and provide long-term, practical, biologically-sound solutions. We also assist with permit requirements, new pond designs, and provide excavation advice and contacts.

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above Little bluestem (‘Standing Ovation’) forms the grass matrix in the bioswale rain garden, interplanted with black-eyed Susan and mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), among others. top right Tony Spencer, aka The New Perennialist, with full lockdown beard checks on the pond spillway.

(Photo by Peter Mettler) right A native stunner for a shady woodland, the white wands of black cohosh rise like slow-motion fireworks out of the bog garden.

W I L D S C A P I N G C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 37

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Hardscape: After regrading the land to sculpt more natural slopes and drainage patterns, Genus Loci built the wide slab and flagstone entry walk leading to the back porch. The slopes create a natural amphitheatre for the plantings, complete with a hollow cedar stump rescued from the wetlands to conceal the well. We also carved out a long serpentine bioswale reinforced with dams of boulder, river stone and coir logs to capture and absorb stormwater runoff from the roof and slopes. All set off by a handcrafted wooden bridge discreetly illuminated at night.

Trees and woodies: To create yearround structure and fall glory, we

framed the area with Serbian spruce (Picea omorika), stands of native sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Laciniata’ and R. aromatica ‘Gro-Low’), and river birch (Betula nigra ‘Cully’) to hold the slopes and connect with the forest beyond.

Closer to the cabin, there is sassafras albidum and a gnarled specimen of ‘Horstmann’s Recurved’ larch.

Planting design: I wanted the garden to feel at once magical and bewitching, choosing a stark palette of spiky and twisted plants, ecologically adapted to the setting. Designed as a grass matrix planting on sloping ground, this will eventually feel more like meadow with taller perennials poking up through large sweeps of prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) and autumn moor grass (Sesleria autumnalis).

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There are mosaic clusters of seasonal accent perennials scattered through­ out. Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) forms the matrix in the bioswale rain garden and has also been seeded into the upper slopes. Wildly attractive to beneficial insects, all the selected perennials and grasses grow in pure sand with no amendments. A layer of pine mulch keep weeds down to minimize maintenance.

The fern pit There is an almost Japanese aesthetic to the plantings in the courtyard – overlooked by our screened porch which has chiselled beams and red lacquer trim. It’s an unexpected

change of atmosphere and exercise in understatement, wabi-sabi style.

Hardscape: We carved out slopes on both sides to enclose the inner courtyard and set large rough lime­ stone steps leading down to the stonecircled fire pit. Fieldstone retaining walls and stonework on the house are the expert work of Brian Wood.

Trees: A few specimen trees provide multi-seasonal interest and match the aesthetic, including multi-stemmed stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia), renowned for its peeling bark and fall colour, and a hardy cultivar of Korean maple (Acer x pseudosieboldianum ‘First Flame’). The northern slope repeats the native sumac found

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top right Looking eastward in early fall with little bluestem in foreground. Staghorn sumac holds the slopes, anchored by a quintet of Serbian spruce below (Picea omorika). above A luminous fall display at the fern pit with Asian specimen trees sheltered in the stone courtyard. A twisted old sugar maple stands guard up the slope. above right The pondside matrix with tufted hair grass (‘Goldtau’) and purple spires of astilbe (‘Purpurlanze’) softened by the white umbels of milk parsley (Selinum carvifolium).

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elsewhere and a single weeping European larch (Larix decidua ‘Pendula’) graces the steps on the opposite side.

Planting design: Captivated by how native sedges (Carex species), ferns and mosses grow along the trails of the escarpment, I created a mixed sedge and fern matrix on the steep northfacing slope under our majestic sugar maple. The zen plantings accentuate the nubbled limestone surfaces with a minimalist focus on form and texture. The only flower that blooms is Epimedium ‘Amber Queen’ in spring.

Sometimes, simple is best.

The ovals My 2020 summer lockdown project was to make a pop-up naturalistic pollinator garden in the two oval

island beds directly in front of the cabin. In true lockdown style, I worked with whatever plants happened to be hanging around to create a seasonal banquet for insect life and complete the view looking out from inside the cabin and from down the lane .

Hardscape: The island beds are edged with rusted Corten steel for a contemporary look.

Planting design: In this micro distillation of naturalistic style, a single tall moor grass (Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Windspiel’) in each bed catches every breath of wind and light. Larger groupings of perennials repeat with a mix of native and near-native plants timed to produce nectar and pollen from early summer to fall. All planted in pure sand, part sun, with extra tight spacing to fill in fast in 2021.

The ungarden Everywhere else on the property, I am busy ungardening. That means not doing much at all and letting nature have its way. The former lawn has grown into meadow to create wildlife habitat on a massive scale. It gets mown once a year in late spring to create walking paths and then gets left alone. This is something anyone can do (or not do) to help attract and support the web of life in this fantastical place we call home.

Tony Spencer is a writer, photographer, public speaker, planting designer and consultant. His blog, The New Perennialist, focuses on explorations in naturalistic planting design. His Mono pond garden won the 2020 Landscape Design Honor Award from the U.S.based Perennial Plant Association.

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a Landmark R

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Reborn

An Orangeville icon gets a splashy makeover and the chance to turbocharge the town’s vibrant dining scene.

BY TRALEE PEARCE PHOTOGR APH Y BY PE TE PATERSON

I

n the bright and spacious basement prep kitchen at Greystones Restaurant and Lounge, staff in face masks and gloves are chopping onions, lugging vegetables and stirring giant vats of broth on a chilly, damp February afternoon. The room is all gleaming stainless steel; giant stock pots show no signs of wear and tear. A series of whisks and other implements hang as though merchandised in a high-end kitchenware shop.

Because the town of Orangeville is still in lockdown, this bustle will fill only takeout orders starting at 4:30 p.m. It’s only the team’s fourth day at cooking for customers in the new space. Still, it’s a glimpse at the well-oiled machine that this professional kitchen – affiliated with Glen Williams’ Glen Tavern and Toronto’s venerable Scaramouche Restaurant, Pasta Bar and Grill – will be when all the seats are filled on the main floor.

Head chef Shigetaka Wakai fills a pan with herb-dusted, hand-chopped breadcrumbs. He will soon sprint them upstairs, where they will coat slabs of fresh halibut served with beurre blanc. The secret to the dish? “Lots of butter,” he says. That’s also true two workstations away, where pastry chef and café manager Kasten Alvarez is showering a cloud-like coconut cream pie with shavings of white chocolate as she lists the pie’s components: coconut cream custard, Chantilly cream and a puff pastry crust made with “a lot of butter.”

In the “before times,” this truism about how butter makes restaurant food taste so good might have inspired a dose of diner guilt. But after the year we’ve had, many of us are saying: Bring. It. On. Filling takeout boxes with halibut, house-made cavatelli and delicate desserts was not the original game plan. Restaurant co-owner Benn Froggett – who has been running the Glen Tavern with partner Carl Korte since 2015 – says he and his new team have been happy to, “stay busy, introduce ourselves to the community slowly and get to know people.”

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

top left Greystones Restaurant and Lounge director of operation Danielle Hughes and co-owner Benn Froggett stand at the bar in the lounge. top right The private dining room tucked into the lower level of the restaurant. near left On the same level, head chef Shigetaka Wakai checks his stock pots in the prep kitchen. far left A rendering of the project’s exterior includes the café space to the east of the main building.

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And for locals who’ve been watching the renovation and construction at the historic Georgian building at Broadway and Third Street over the past year and a half, walking through the door for takeout is not only a break from cooking, but a chance to see what all the fuss is about. The 1850s landmark is one of the town’s most famous sites, designated by town council in 2002 under the Ontario Heritage Act as part of the downtown’s Heritage Conservation District.

Now, with its spacious 60-seat dining room, glamourous glassed-in lounge, two private dining spaces for intimate meals or full-on weddings (remember those?), and a café space in the small building to the east, this incarnation is bigger and bolder than anything that’s come before. It’s poised

to boost Orangeville’s reputation as a thriving dining destination for locals and tourists alike – especially when it becomes able to operate at full throttle.

A passion project The story starts three years ago, when Jennifer Dattels, who lives in Caledon, finally acted on her longtime crush on the place – and an accompanying itch to refashion it into a chic restaurant.

“I just adore the stonework more than anything,” says the philanthropist and former antiques dealer. “I love the size, the shape of the windows. The scale of everything is really good. And I’ve always been a fan of Georgian architecture.”

According to local lore, the location got its start in 1852 as an inn and stagecoach stop owned by one of

the town’s famous early settlers and businessmen, Jesse Ketchum. Tavern keeper and Irish immigrant James Graham is believed to have leased the property and replaced or expanded the original log structure with a fieldstone and ashlar design in the early 1860s, calling it Graham’s Tavern. According to research by former Heritage Orangeville member Shelagh Roberts, Graham finally bought the property, valued at $600, three years before his death in 1879. About a century later, the first modern iteration of the Greystones Inn opened its doors.

Since 2015, it housed Orangeville entrepreneur and restaurateur Rodney Hough’s Steakhouse 63.

Rumours have always swirled that there are multiple ghosts and spirits – including early owners and staff – who may not have vacated the

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premises. Some owners have been known to regularly set a table for one such spectre, complete with a bottle of scotch. A lovelorn First Nations woman named Red Feather who once worked here has long been linked with the place. Tribute is paid to her with the dramatic mural of a red feather by artist Candice Kaye in the lounge.

Dattels bought the building, ghosts and all, from Hough in 2017, and set about on renovation plans and securing new co-owners for the restaurant business. (Hough has continued to work with Dattels and the Froggetts as a consultant.)

Preparations for the renovation work began in February 2019 and by the fall construction was in full swing. Contracting company Anjinnov oversaw the work under the guidance

top The view of the new Greystones from the perspective of Third Street highlights a generously sized patio. left Tables in the lounge area are set with casual elegance. above The glamourous bar runs the length of the lounge and features brass fixtures against striking mural wallpaper.

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top Curved booths, reclaimed beams and a botanical wall treatment elevate the look of the main dining room. above One of the specialties of the kitchen is handmade mafaldine topped with Bolognese and lots of Parmigiano Reggiano. right Original stone walls and vintage art add country charm to the updated solarium.

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of Ian Rydberg of Solid Design Creative and architect James Rasor of Stanford Downey Architects, all based in Toronto. (Steakhouse 63 moved to 34 Mill Street in the meantime. It closed in May 2020.) Orangeville-born landscape architect Matthew Regimbal of Toronto’s Strybos Barron King and the team at Orangeville-based Tumber & Associates will put their final touches on the hardscaping and greenery in the spring.

While Dattels’ son and daughterin-law are partners in the successful Toronto restaurant, DaiLo, with chef Nick Liu, Greystones is Dattels’ first foray into the business (no pressure!).

In the fall of 2019, Scaramouche chef/ owner Keith Froggett and his son, Benn, came into focus as the “dream team,” Dattels was looking for. The youthful new Greystones team is made up of Benn Froggett, the trio of key chefs Wakai, Alvarez and sous chef Sam Bavaro, and director of operation Danielle Hughes. Each has worked at Scaramouche or the Glen Tavern, or both. “We’re all young and motivated and we want to grow together,” says Froggett.

A new era Locals and previous customers will recognize the building’s historic calling

card – all that pale, elegant stone and the tidy proportions. The new addition on the north side, which houses the lounge, mimics the proportions of the original building, but with a contemporary aesthetic. According to rules for designated buildings, explains Debbie Sherwood, town councillor and chair of Heritage Orangeville, “the addition did not have to match the original building but complement it, and it needed to be approved by the committee to ensure it would work with the original building.”

Inside, everything’s been reimag­ ined, most strikingly the original warren of small rooms, once divided by the central staircase. With the

A D V E R T I S I N G F E AT U R E

stairs moved to the north end of the old building, the main dining room is now open, warmed up by plum-coloured leather booths. Soft renderings of native plants were painted directly on the walls by artist Tisha Myles in a whimsical update to traditional framed botanicals. The once-structural ceiling beams were reclaimed for their decorative value after they were removed during the renovation.

Tucked on the east side of the main room, the small solarium – believed to have been added in the 1970s and the most requested spot in the house ever since – now features vintage paintings and a deep green banquette. Solarium fans will notice one big difference once in-person dining resumes, says Dattels.

“It used to be absolutely freezing, freezing cold in there. There was never sufficient heat, so we fixed that.”

Unanticipated hiccups included having to replace the six-over-six sash windows on the second floor because they weren’t up to code and would have needed safety bars installed. And there was the matter of rushing to get special dispensation during the first lockdown in 2020 to work long enough to cover the structure because there was no roof on the building at the time.

Now, cue the anticipation – not just for this jewel of a restaurant, but also for the promise of life that includes eating out in a busy restaurant once again. Among the lessons of the pandemic for many of us is a clarity around just how life-affirming the pleasure of meeting friends and family at restaurants really is.

Sure, the Greystones tuna tartare travels well and is as fresh and citrusy at home as it would be in situ. And pastry chef Alvarez has been busy making whole pies for pickup, so they must travel well. (Also, the word could be out that at $48 a pop, they’re $10 less than a whole pie at Scaramouche, where they have been a staple for decades.) But we crave more than tasty mouthfuls.

“When you go out for dinner, it’s an experience,” says Froggett. “You let someone cook for you, and you let someone look after you. It’s an escape, really, from your day-to-day life.” And while far-flung holidays may remain a mirage for months to come, the satisfying act of sliding into one of the new Greystones booths amid the C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

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din of fellow diners feels tantalizingly close. (At press time, Greystones was allowed to welcome just 10 diners at a time, with a maximum of four per table. According to their recorded phone message, Friday and Saturday reservations were booked well into April and May, respectively.)

As Danielle Hughes, who on this February day is busy answering phones and training a new front-of-house staff person, puts it, “I miss the sounds of a live restaurant.”

A broader role Coincidentally, the splashy Greystones relaunch comes at a time when the Town of Orangeville is rolling out its

new tourism strategy and can benefit from some fresh narratives. Along with arts, heritage and outdoor attractions, the town’s growing reputation as a dining destination was identified as something to build on in the five-year plan released mid-January.

Indeed, the Orangeville restaurant scene contributes significantly to the town’s appeal, adding essential energy and character to the downtown vibe (see sidebar). “Restaurants just add such diversity to cities and towns,” says Froggett. “You take away restaurants and small businesses, what really do you have left?”

Councillor Sherwood suggests Greystones will tick two major boxes.

“Many visitors to our town come to enjoy the culinary offerings as well

as the heritage, including the historic downtown walking tours. As one of the oldest permanent structures in the town, it was important to preserve the integrity of the building, and the end result is impressive.” The building really needed that investment, adds Froggett.

“It’s a pretty big deal what Jennifer has done. Now we need to do it justice.”

To that end on this wet afternoon, sous chef Bavaro is prepping pizza dough and freshly handmade egg pasta in the main kitchen off the lounge.

Down the line, Wakai is working on the halibut. And even though no one will be sitting down here for weeks yet, Froggett is moving through the 50-seat lounge straightening chairs and wiping up wet footprints from customers picking up orders and gift certificates.

great plates – where a town goes to dine Lamb curry at Forage.

An elegant bite before a night out at Orangeville Theatre. A quick lunch after stocking up at the Saturday farmers’ market. A leisurely evening out where the food is the entertainment. These are among the culinary pleasures Orangeville diners embraced before the pandemic – and are no doubt ready to do once again. The newest player on deck, Greystones Restaurant and Lounge, makes its debut in a town that loves its indie eateries.

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A trio of hardworking restaurants anchors the scene. Two of them bookend the dense eatery lineup along Broadway. The Bluebird Café and Grill (100 Broadway) has had the longest tenure, leaning in on Italian fare with pizza, pasta and mains like chicken piccata. Rustik Local Bistro (199 Broadway) serves hearty farm-to-table mains (daily spaetzle is a recent offering) in its airy studio-like space. And at the north end of town, Forage (163 First St.) flexes its culinary muscles on a broad, elegant menu – with lots of seafood.

on broa dway Broadway’s dinner options include The Black Wolf Smokehouse (139 Broadway), slated to reopen

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March 31, and Coriander Kitchen (85 Broadway), known for fragrant Indian classics. At the far west end of town, just as Broadway ends, The Edge Restaurant & Bar (205467 Dufferin County Rd. 109) punches above its weight as a full-service restaurant tucked inside a racquet club.

Easy homemade lunches and other nibbles dominate the balance of foodie spots. Pia’s on Broadway (177 Broadway) offers healthy salads and sandwiches in its light, bright space. At the cozy Mochaberry (177 Broadway) in the same building, lunch, snacks and coffee – even cocktails – rule.

Two great options for stocking up on goodies with a side of sandwiches are Son of a Chef Bakery (114 Broadway) and Fromage (111 Broadway) – don’t miss the latter’s gourmet grilled cheese. Euphoria Café & Smoothies (154 Broadway) serves vegan and vegetarian fare. And there’s a kids’ menu at the Green Apple Café (489 Broadway). Parisian-style Le Finis (125 Broadway) offers pretty pastries and cakes, savoury bites and, to cover your next meal, fully stocked freezers with soups and mains from the Lavender Blue Catering side of the biz.

For a quick bite or takeaway on the strip, don’t forget Chinese at Guest Wok (47 Broadway), barbecue at Sul Irmaos Smokehouse (66 Broadway), gooey beef cheese steaks at Philadelphia Kitchen (281 Broadway), a classic club at Deja Vu Diner (318 Broadway) and fish and chips at Broadway Fish & Chips (308 Broadway).

t he sou t h off broa dway hub Another batch of restaurants beckons diners just a few steps from the centre of Broadway. In the historic train station, the Barley Vine Rail Co. (35 Armstrong St.) keeps the town in duck-fat fries. Taphouse Craft Beer & Kitchen (34 Mill St.) is a new brewpub with filling fare to match. RJ’s Taste of Asia (19 Mill St.) hits cravings for pho and pad Thai in its sit-down space. And the sprawling two-floor Mill Creek Pub (25 Mill St.) brings folks together over pub classics.

After making a success of the cozy, convivial Glen Tavern, Froggett appears laser-focused on the success of this new venture (he often mentions his 23-month-old daughter and his wife, Camille, and how he could not have taken on this project without Camille’s support). It’s as though he might get word any moment that a full house is about to flood through the door, so everything must be perfect.

The stage is set. The players are ready. All they need is that live audience. “Believe us, we can’t wait,” says Froggett.

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up f ir s t s t ree t Heading north from Broadway on the way to Forage, you’ll find longtime Orangeville pub The Hatter (101 First St.) and a smattering of mostly takeout Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Filipino kitchens – JB Panda (121 First St.), Auntie Joy’s Springrolls (75 First St.), Sweet Chili (82 First St.) and South 88 (95 First St.). Nestled beside indie book shop BookLore is the French Press Coffee House & Bistro (121 First St.) to settle in with a good book or a friend, a light meal and a coffee or glass of wine.

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more quic k bi t e s They may not be on Broadway or First, but there are plenty of other ways to fill in your local food card. Thai For You (235 Centennial Rd.), Sushi Kaika (245 Centennial Rd.) and Curry Mantra (520 Riddell Rd.) draw fans in the west end of town. And there are two more indie fish and chips spots on Townline: East Coast Fish and Chips (57 Townline) and Townline Fish and Chips (400 Townline).

Bon appétit!

Online In The Hills Visit our Dining Guide at inthehills.ca to find a map that pinpoints locations and provides details for each restaurant to help you explore, taste and enjoy all that local chefs have to offer.

For links to all these destinations, visit this story at www.inthehills.ca M O R E O N PA G E 49

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SOME

SUNNY DAY

Covid has shifted our world and changed our priorities.

For many, the hopes and dreams for the aftertimes are simple ones – to hug a parent, have dinner with a friend. B Y A N T H O N Y J E N K I N S “We’ll meet again Britain, late 1939. World War II has just begun, and people are tensely Don’t know where, holding their breath as the “Phoney War” plays out. During this relatively quiet prelude to the all-out fighting that will dominate much of the world for the next Don’t know when six years, no one is sure about what will happen next. But the armed forces are But I know we’ll meet again mobilizing and a 22-year-old singer has released a recording that will become an Some sunny day. iconic song of the war years.

For loved ones, whether at home or in the heat of battle, Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again” will dominate radios in living rooms and cafés, on troop ships and in lorries. The song lifts minds, hopes and hearts, and will become a timeless aural artifact. Lynn, knighted Dame Vera Lynn, died only last year at the age of 103. Her song remains.

“Keep smiling through Just like you always do ’Til the blue skies drive The dark clouds far away.” Headwaters, early 2021. The dark clouds of Covid-19 are far from far away. They linger. And linger. Masks, social distancing, ennui and worry have become the new normal, and it’s hard to keep smiling through each new spike and lockdown. But we try, we mask, we hope.

What will the post-Covid “sunny day” look like? We may not know where, we may not know when, but we asked a hopeful handful of Headwaters residents to speculate on how it will arrive for them, and to tell us about the music that has seen them through the worst. Here in their own words is what they said.

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Jim Robb A native of Scotland – never accuse him of being British! – Jim Robb immigrated to Canada in 1966. The former Toronto police officer, now 84, is a resident of the Lord Dufferin Centre in Orangeville.

Oh, I recognize the song “We’ll Meet Again.”

That song was sung to the troops going overseas to fight in the war. You would hear it on the radio everywhere. I remember my mother singing “We’ll Meet Again” to me. I think its feelings could be connected to today. It brought hope. It brought people together.

People were scared. After the alarms went off, searchlights would come on, tracking German planes coming over. I recall it very well. We had masks, gas masks you took with you. You had to hide your lights at nighttime, cover your windows with black cloth so no light escaped from your house. We were rationed. You got ration books and were allowed to buy X number of things. Very little. I never knew what candies were.

You were taken away from your parents. Most of the children were moved to the countryside. I was moved out of Glasgow to a place called Balfron. I was away one or two years.

It was a different type of war from today, but the same sentiment applies. The unknown. You had no control over it. Your friends and relatives were going overseas to fight and you had no idea if they were coming back again. We didn’t know what was going to happen in the war, and we don’t know what is going to happen during the pandemic. This is just as dangerous.

I doubt that the hope expressed in “We’ll Meet Again” can be drawn from the songs of today. Hope in a rap song? Far from it!

But I think the proper word for the feeling here in the Lord Dufferin Centre would be “hopeful.” We watch the television news. In all the retirement homes in Toronto, for instance, every night on the news, there’s more and more people dying. Up to this point, here in the Lord Dufferin Centre we’re absolutely clear of any scares, any Covid.

It will be amazing when Covid ends. It will take a bit of getting used to. Getting close to people. In the summers here, I spent most afternoons outside in the sun. I miss fresh air. I miss sunshine.

We’re not allowed out of the building.

I look forward to seeing my sons, Neil and Jim. Neil lives in Grand Valley, and Jim lives in Brampton. I would invite them for dinner. I’d like to go out to a restaurant. It has been a long time since I was in a restaurant. I would gather some friends and go to Mrs. Mitchell’s, one of my favourites.

I remain hopeful, and I’ll stay that way. I’m a stubborn old bugger! I get hope from family. I talk to my sons on the telephone as often as possible. I’m positive about things. I was a police officer for a lot of years – I had to be positive to do that job.

I believe in people.

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Carolyn O’Neill Melancthon resident Carolyn O’Neill, 52, is a FedEx courier whose territory encompasses Dufferin County, but in her 32 years with the company, she has delivered parcels and packages all over Headwaters. During Covid, seeing her FedEx truck pull up to make a delivery is a highlight of many people’s day.

I go down driveways that I’ve never gone down before because of this pandemic. I’m going to be going down those driveways a lot more in the near future. I’m no doctor, but I think we have one more year of this.

Maybe two.

In the last five years a lot of online shop­ pers, the elderly in particular, were not comfortable using credit cards online. Now everyone is comfortable and we’re getting deliveries to them. It’s easier to find what they need online than going to get it. It’s part of the new normal. That’s why we’re so busy.

Everybody loves it when I show up. I’ve always been appreciated. When the people think of FedEx in Dufferin County, they think of me. They’re not always going to get me, but I’m who they think is coming. As I’m running back to my truck, they’re outside their door saying thanks. Everybody is home.

Everybody’s outside. They look happy.

“Frontline worker” is very true. I’m proud. I deliver people’s meals. I delivered a chair to a young girl. She needed it for schoolwork. I deliver medicine to people every day. Last week, I lost a customer who I delivered to weekly. Cancer. Which is heartbreaking. Things people can’t go get, I’m delivering. Everyone I deliver to has a story.

I don’t know the song “We’ll Meet Again.” I’m going to look it up. I’m not a song person. I listen to AM640 Global News Radio all day in the truck.

At home my husband, John, and I listen to country music. Garth Brooks. His music puts a smile on my face. But I always have a smile on my face, that’s the problem! I have a picture of me smiling at his concert in Hamilton two or three years ago. It would be cool if Garth Brooks sang “We’ll Meet Again.”

I’ll have to fly to see her, but after Covid is over, my mom is the person I’d like to see the most. She lives in Newfoundland. She’s 72. We’d be crying and hugging at the airport. Then I’ll go see all my family, and we’ll play a few card games with her and her sisters.

Probably have a kitchen party. And get someone to take us cod fishing in Gander Bay. No, it doesn’t matter if we don’t catch many, but we’d catch some anyway! That would be my “sunny day.” Fishing – with my mom.

Customized Wealth Management Plan, grow, protect and transition your wealth Jennifer MurphyNovak Nurse Jennifer Murphy-Novak, 43, is manager, intensive care unit and acute medicine, at Headwaters Health Care Centre.

One song that enters my mind a lot during the workday is “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers.

Though the lyrics sound a bit uncertain, I find them hopeful and encouraging.

“When the day that lies ahead of me Seems impossible to face When someone else instead of me Always seems to know the way.”

The song reminds me of a mentor of mine that loved Bill Withers, and though she doesn’t work alongside me any longer, her leadership and role-modelling helped to foster skills that immensely assisted me.

The lyrics remind me of togetherness and connection with other people. Particularly during these confusing and challenging times, we are in this pandemic together and we will see the other side of this pandemic together.

I don’t listen to music at work. I’m too busy. I’m masked. All the shifts are masked. It will be that “sunny day” when those masks aren’t required for sure! I miss being able to have a coffee with my coworkers without having to social-distance, being able to have team meetings that aren’t just virtual.

My sister, Katie, recently moved from Orangeville to Kitchener. She was part of my bubble. That bubble has been popped. I would visit with my sister, ideally on a beach. Or just have a coffee on a nice patio and catch up. Mochaberry on Broadway in Orangeville would be great!

There’s lots of extra work for Covid, well beyond our normal shifts. Planning and reviewing new guidelines that come from Ontario Health. It has added extra hours to everyone’s work life – weekends, evenings for sure. It is emotional every day, especially when you see people struggling with Covid.

My colleagues are definitely stepping up, taking on roles that are not necessarily within the job they were hired for. We’re going beyond. Helping patients maintain contact with families through technology – iPads, Zoom. Everyone is working to strict guidelines, working 12-hour shifts masked, working with respirators, with PPE – personal protective equipment – that is almost industrial-looking. Working through that. People are making the best of it.

It is a challenge to keep smiling.

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Sara Rose Music is the “biggest light” for Orangeville singer-songwriter Sara Rose. In 2019, she released her second album, We Could Be Beautiful, and she recently published her first book, So Now What? One Foot in Front of the Other.

She is now working on new music, a second memoir and a novel.

The music industry is a tough one. It takes a lot of persistence and hard work, but that helps you grow as a person and as a musician.

With Covid, people still do music, livestreaming events from their own home, which is great. It is what you make it. But conversation on a computer screen, we have all come to know, is not the same as seeing people in person and giving them a big hug.

I didn’t know “We’ll Meet Again.” I’ve been listening to it. It is a very hopeful song – so powerful, so fitting. Even with Covid, sitting in the depths of this worldly unrest, it is hopeful, and people need hope right now. Some day, no one knows when, if we all hope and do our part, we can find a new normal and be together. Music is one of the vehicles that provides hope.

A lot of people have turned to music during Covid. In stressful times my go-to is music. Music is a nec­ essity for so many people – to breathe, to look within, to rejuvenate, to validate how they’re feeling. In whatever form, art can serve as a support in adversity.

I’ve expanded the genres I listen to. Covid has created a lot of anxiety, so I listen to a lot of calming music to ground myself, to appreciate music I may not have delved into – instrumental music, orchestras. I’ve grown to appreciate Taylor Swift even more.

During the time of the first lockdown in 2020, I wrote a song called “Come Home.” I wrote it specifically for Covid.

“Where were you when the world fell still and an unseen ruin took the streets?

Staring at the phone ’cause we’re scared and alone and uncertainty weighs a thousand stones But you do your best, it’ll be over soon, do your part and hold onto hope Everybody’s saying when I see you again, I won’t let go.”

I was lucky. My family could have a bubble. We do video chats.

The first person I would see would probably be my grandfather in Mississauga. Just to do anything – go for a walk, sit and have a nice visit. Anything. Enjoy how grand the little things are that we didn’t really notice before. Hugs. When this is over we’ll stop and lean harder into that love.

I am hopeful. My hope has been tested during Covid, but in the end, hope helps.

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Laura Campbell Laura Campbell is co-owner of Pia’s on Broadway in Orangeville. She and her husband, Xel, live in Mono with their sevenyear-old son, Kipp, and five-year-old daughter, Owynne.

I’m not musical, but I like music. Yes, I know “We’ll Meet Again.”

“Some sunny day” I’ll meet all my customers, my community, the people I’ve spent the past 10 years with in the loop of their lives, but I can’t meet now. “Where” will be at Pia’s, hopefully, once everyone is vaccinated and we’re beyond the day when it’s dangerous to see one another face to face.

When? In a year … by September.

Our community has kept us going, getting takeaways. It’s reciprocal. I’m given hope by all the people working so hard to support one another. People support small local businesses, and we support our community by continuing to provide fresh, healthy foods at the best price we can. I support local food banks, bake things for friends. Little acts of kindness give me hope, finding moments of lightness in this dark time.

We listen to a lot of music, a lot of records. I support Aardvark Music & Culture on Orangeville’s main drag. I go probably every other week. I had a small record collection. It has really grown over the course of Covid!

A favourite album of ours is the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, the original soundtrack recording of the CBS television special. I grew up listening to it. It’s so good! It gives me and the kids hope and joy.

If we want to relax we listen to Pink Moon by Nick Drake.

I’m home three days a week with the kids. Oh, they are aware there is a pandemic. We’re part of synchronous learning online.

We get material sent from the school and we home school. We do try to get outside every day to play, toboggan, skate. The kids’ hope is to go back to school, to see their friends. They miss the familiar routines of school that mark the seasons.

I reassure the kids it will all be over soon. One day they’ll look back and it will just be a distant memory.

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Aliya Hodgson Both Aliya Hodgson’s grandparents and her mother caught Covid-19.

The 17-year-old Grade 11 student at Westside Secondary School in Orangeville worried for them and self-isolated at home, fearful she might catch the virus and fail her school year.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of “We’ll Meet Again.”

I listen to music every hour of the day – BTS, Trippie Redd, Juice WRLD, K-pop, rap.

A hopeful song? There’s one – Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song.” When it first came out, people listened to it all the time on repeat. People made videos about how it inspired them – to lose weight, try out for a new sport, beat cancer. During times like now, it gives me hope that all of us will get through Covid and get back to normal, if we just keep fighting and following all the rules.

I was worried about my grandparents’ health and safety when they caught Covid. Luckily they didn’t need to go to the hospital.

They were okay.

At home I had to stay in my room and stay away from my mom [In The Hills ad designer Marion Hodgson], even though we were in the same house. My mom collap­sed on the stairs one day. I had to help her to the bathroom, get her ice packs. She couldn’t stand up or walk. I was really, really scared. I didn’t like to talk about it. Two months later she still wasn’t completely over it. Doing simple tasks she still got tired quickly and had to stop, but she has now fully recovered.

The whole time we were quarantined, I was worried I would get Covid. I was always checking, but I never did. It was hard. I couldn’t go to school and I thought I was going to fail. I listened to music, texted my friends, tried to destress. I baked a lot – brownies, a cake and cookies, sugar and chocolate chip twice! I even made and decorated a cake for my grandmother’s birthday.

I never liked school, having to wake up early, but during Covid I missed going to school because I couldn’t see anyone. I couldn’t easily ask my teachers for help and I couldn’t go for extra help.

Online learning is pretty difficult. I appreciate going to school now.

We’ve made a lot of progress since the beginning of Covid.

Vaccinations are coming. Yay, [at age 17] I’ll be last!

I’m very hopeful that by summer we’ll be almost over Covid.

After more than two month of not seeing Karli, my best friend who lives just up the road, we were able to meet up. We talked about things we missed over Christmas break, school, if we are getting good grades still, watched our favourite movies together.

I’m still looking forward to seeing my boyfriend, Kahleel, probably at Angels’ Diner in Orangeville, a diner I love to go to.

And I plan to keep baking!

These interviews have been edited for length.

Anthony Jenkins is a writer and artist who lives in Mono.

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NO CONSE

NO AUTH Under cover of Covid, the Ford government is stripping Ontario’s conservation authorities of the very meaning of their name.

BY NICOL A ROSS

the 1940s, our province has greened so remarkably, but also “Since so imperceptibly that we have lost sight of the achievements of our conservation authorities,” says John Riley, science advisor emeritus for the Nature Conservancy of Canada and a Mono resident. “While not perfect, they are a commendable institutional legacy, and the act under which they operate is an environmental Magna Carta of sorts.

It awards much-needed rights to our natural world. To improve our conservation authorities is laudable, and we weaken them at our peril.”

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Like a mounting number of Ontarians, Riley is appalled at changes Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government imposed on conservation authorities last December with the passage of its omnibus budget Bill 229. Buried in Schedule 6 of the Protect, Support and Recover from Covid-19 Act were amendments to the Conservation Authorities Act that put economic interests in the driver’s seat, relegating environmental considerations to the back of the bus.

In combination with the government’s escalating use of ministerial zoning orders, the changes allow developers to circumvent local planning processes and development controls, deprive CAs and citizens the right to appeal development approvals, and deny CAs the right to turn down projects even if they pose a threat to the environment and people. The Ontario government says the measures are all aimed at reducing red tape as a way of creating jobs and restarting the pandemic-ravaged economy.

Reaction to the government’s move was swift, widespread and overwhelmingly negative.

“I’ve been in this business for over 40 years,” says Deborah Martin-Downs, chief administrative officer of Credit Valley Conservation, “and I’ve never seen anything like the outpouring of support for

HORITY

OSP R E Y, ROBER T M c C AW / C R EDI T R I V ER , ROSEM A RY H A SNER / NE W T, COUR T E S Y C VC BOA RDWA L K , COURT E S Y C VC / T ROU T, D ON SC A L L EN / FISHING , ROSEM A RY H A SNER

SERVATION Scenes from the watershed

Clockwise from top left : Osprey on nest, Credit River at Belfountain, red-spotted newt, fly fishing on the Pine River, brook trout in a Caledon stream, and the marsh boardwalk at Terra Cotta Conservation Area.

conservation authorities and the work we do for the environment.” Although she is only an occasional social media user, Martin-Downs says when she posted her resignation on LinkedIn, it received 53,000 views.

Among the many organizations who formally declared their dissent were the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Ontario Nature, the World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defence and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. Locally, the towns of Mono, Orangeville and Shelburne, as well as the Region of Peel, were among the more than 40 municipal councils across Ontario that petitioned the government to repeal Schedule 6.

Last December 5, half the board of the Greenbelt Council – the government’s own appointed advisory body – resigned in protest. On December 8, the government brazened out the opposition and passed its budget bill with Schedule 6 largely intact.

In his letter of resignation, Greenbelt Council chair and former Toronto mayor David Crombie didn’t mince words. Schedule 6, he wrote, “cuts out the heart of integrated watershed planning and management; severely cripples the Conservation Authorities in the pursuit of their historic

stewardship of environmental issues, and now with the grossly expanded use of ministerial zoning orders and other procedural revisions, essential public discussion and debate will be stifled or shut down.

This is not policy and institutional reform. This is high-level bombing and needs to be resisted.”

A disillusioned Martin-Downs also resigned from the council: “I believed that being ‘in the tent’ was valuable and that I could contribute to good public policy that makes Ontario great. However, it is now clear that the government’s direction … is a blatant assault on conservation, the environment and transparent governance.”

A watershed-wide approach The Headwaters region derives its name from the four rivers that begin their journeys here to either Lake Ontario, Lake Erie or Georgian Bay. Taking care of these waterways, their tributaries, floodplains and riparian habitat are four CAs: Credit Valley Conservation, the Grand River Conservation Authority, the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority and the Toronto and Region Conservation

Authority which safeguards the Humber River as well as other watersheds in the GTA. Many of us are most familiar with CAs because of their recreational amenities – the hiking trails, fishing, canoeing and sugaring off events offered in conservation areas such as Terra Cotta, Island Lake, Glen Haffy and Albion Hills among others. Over the past year, conservation areas were newly discovered by thousands of pandemic-weary urbanites seeking relief in nature. (In 2020, for example, NVCA reported a 60 per cent increase in visits to its 11 conservation areas).

But the primary and more critical mandates of the CAs encompass source water protection, flooding and erosion mitigation, and the health of fish and wildlife. In particular, CAs play a key role in evaluating development applications by providing municipalities with the science-based technical information they require.

CAs came into being after the Ontario government passed the Conservation Authorities Act in 1946 in response to growing concern about the impact of a burgeoning population on nature. They were conceived as a way to combine conservation with efforts to find work for World War II veterans.

Although this latter feature was never realized, the movement grew – first into community-driven, C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

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watershed-based entities and then, in the fallout from the disastrous flooding caused by Hurricane Hazel in 1954, as organizations focused on flood and erosion control, pollution abatement and recreation. Since 2002, after the Walkerton tragedy, CAs also have responsibility for implementing the Clean Water Act. Conservation Ontario, the organ­ ization that gives the province’s 36 CAs a unified voice, describes these uniquely Ontario entities as agencies that “deliver services and programs to protect and manage impacts on water and other natural resources in partnership with all levels of government, landowners and many other organ­ izations.” Significantly, CAs strive to balance “human, environmental and economic needs.” In other words, as Riley points out, they give the natural world a seat at the negotiating table.

Collectively, CAs own and protect 150,000 hectares of land in Ontario, second only to the Crown. Reasoning that owning land is the best way to protect it, TRCA, in particular, has an aggressive plan to secure more land within its watersheds. Currently TRCA owns more than 18,000 hectares, more than 7 per cent of the watersheds it manages.

What makes Ontario’s CAs the envy of conservationists the world over is that they operate on a watershedwide basis, rather than the more common piecemeal approach dictated by arbitrary municipal boundaries.

Because the whole-watershed approach is so eminently sensible and has been around for nearly 75 years, it might seem unremarkable to us.

How would it be possible to manage flooding, water quality or flow if each jurisdiction operated its part of the watershed in isolation from the rest?

Despite this common-sense approach, town of Erin mayor Allan Alls is not alone in complaining that

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“I’ve been in this business for over 40 years,” says Deborah Martin-Downs, chief administrative officer of Credit Valley Conservation, “and I’ve never seen anything like the outpouring of support for conservation authorities and the work we do for the environment.”

CAs’ mandatory environmental reviews of development projects can be cumbersome and slow, holding up approvals. He grumbles about the $75,000 in annual levies the town must pay to the two CAs within its boundaries. But Alls is also quick to add, “They save towns a lot of money.”

He recognizes that Erin has neither the expertise nor the staff to undertake the essential technical and scientific work CAs do on behalf of municipalities.

Although the province calls the shots for CAs, it contributes as little as 1 or 2 per cent to their operating costs. Municipalities contribute more than 50 per cent and the rest is raised through park admissions and landowner services, corporate and community sponsorships and a small portion from federal grants.

CAs operate under the direction of a municipally appointed board and 70 per cent of board members must be municipal councillors who have to balance the sometimes conflicting pressures of their dual responsibilities.

In its resolution asking the Ford government to repeal Schedule 6, the

Town of Mono noted, “In 2021 Mono will spend $133,365 on conservation authorities. If we had to hire our own employees – engineers, planners, ecologists, hydrogeologists, foresters, outdoor educational staff, etc. – to do our own work, we would spend much more than $133,365 for these services.” Clearly upset with the Ford government’s assault on CAs, Mono mayor Laura Ryan and her council added, “And we were particularly unimpressed when your government slipped these proposed changes to the Conservation Authorities Act into a budget bill.”

What is the Ford government up to?

As Mono council pointed out, the Ford government buried Schedule 6 among 44 other schedules attached to Bill 229. This move follows on the heels of the government’s 50 per cent cut to CAs’ flood control budgets (even as local communities like Grand Valley and Bolton are experiencing more floods), its elimination of the office of the environmental commissioner, cancellation of tree-planting initiatives, its resurrection of Highway 413, and its bewildering population growth targets for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

This provincial push for suburban growth puts more and more stress on watersheds as a result of water taking, sewage dumping, land clearing, and pollution from increased car- and truck-based transportation. According to Conservation Ontario, 95 per cent of Ontarians live within a watershed managed by a CA – mostly in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Erin’s population, for example, is slated to more than triple to 14,000 from 4,200 over the next 20 to 30 years, but that’s not the worst of it.

According to TRCA board chair and

Caledon councillor Jennifer Innis, under new population targets set out in the 2020 Provincial Policy Statement, Caledon now has “the highest trajectory of growth in the GTA.” Brampton will burst its seams, overwhelming Caledon’s agriculturally rich Peel Plain as the town explodes from a population of 80,000 today to more than 300,000 by 2051.

It all indicates a provincial govern­ ment determined to shed the anti-sprawl approach to growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe that has dictated planning for the past two decades or more. And that puts extraordinary provincial, municipal and corporate pressure on CAs to yield to development despite its cumulative impact not only on our water resources but also on both the anticipated and the unknown consequences of a warming climate.

Tim Gray, executive director of the Toronto-based non-governmental organization Environmental Defence, says of the government’s pro-development agenda, “It’s an ideological aversion to urban life.

They want sprawl.” Martin-Downs is more direct: “It’s all pandering to the development community.”

Environmental Defence has part­ nered with more than a dozen other environmental organizations to launch a wide-ranging campaign called Yours to Protect. On its website, the group states, “We came together to say that we live here, we love this province and we are not going to let it be dug up, paved over and polluted.”

What is the role of CAs? To understand the role CAs play in the development approval process, consider the town of Erin’s plans for a wastewater treatment plant, aka sewage plant. Before receiving approval, the project must go through

What makes Ontario’s CAs the envy of conservationists the world over is that they operate on a watershedwide basis, rather than the more common piecemeal approach dictated by arbitrary municipal boundaries. an environmental assessment, which involves review and comment from various organizations, including Credit Valley Conservation.

If built, this controversial project will cost each household in the villages of Erin and Hillsburgh at least $17,000.

It will allow Solmar Development Corp. and others to build ever-expanding rings of suburban housing around the two villages where growth has so far been limited by a lack of sewage capacity. But these are not the direct concerns of the CVC. The proposed plant is also slated to dump 7.2 million litres of wastewater a day into the West Credit River just upstream from the hamlet of Belfountain and near some of southern Ontario’s most pristine brook trout spawning beds. Brook trout require cold water to survive and would be threatened by an influx of warm effluent.

Despite what many think, CVC doesn’t “approve” a project like this.

That responsibility goes to the Minis­ try of the Environment, Conservation and Parks which approves the environ­ mental assessment and is also respon­ sible for reviewing and approving the plant and its discharge, including the effluent temperature. CVC is responsible only for the portion of the

project located on a natural hazard, such as a wetland or floodplain, expected in Erin’s case to be the pipe that will carry the effluent from the plant to the river. CVC will review the detailed design submission and determine requirements for permits prior to construction.

The MZO override One of the tools the Ford government is increasingly relying on in its pursuit of “streamlining” development aprovals is the ministerial zoning order which enables the minister of muni­cipal affairs and housing to override the local planning process.

Although MZOs have long been included in Ontario’s Planning Act, their intended use was for emergencies, not political expediency. An MZO was issued, for example, to quickly permit constrution of a new grocery store in Elliot Lake after the town’s only supermarket collapsed in 2012.

Between 2000 and 2018, previous provincial governments had used MZOs about once a year. The Ford government has now applied this mechanism more than 40 times. A map on the Yours to Protect website details each MZO currently approved or under consideration.

Schedule 6 further consolidated the power of the MZO by forcing CAs to issue a permit on otherwise protected land. Moreover, by using an MZO, the government denies the right of CAs and citizens to appeal a project even if it goes against the CA’s scientific assessment and its provincially mandated responsibility to protect people, infrastructure and the environment.

On the other hand, Schedule 6 has expanded the appeal process for developers or municipalities by allowing them to leapfrog the CA and

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go to either the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal or directly to the minister of natural resources and forestry who can approve a project without input from a CA. In either case, a CA would not have standing to present its case, except in the unlikely scenario the minister or proponent requests it.

Doug Hevenor, chief administrative officer of NVCA, says, “These amend­ ments go beyond simple changes. They remove science from the equation by politicizing these decisions, effectively eliminating the local knowledge of the conservation authorities to accurately forecast the risk to the environment, infrastructure and human life.”

Hevenor adds, “I think that if you look you can see that some developers have supported our government. So, [Schedule 6] is a chance for govern­ ment to shorten the process for them.”

But if shortening the process is the government’s goal, the expanded opportunity for developers to appeal may be counterproductive. The appeals tribunal, even without this added role, is already under duress with a current backlog of more than 1,000 cases.

As a result, opponents say the new legislation could slow down, not speed up the approvals process – thereby adding more, not less of the dreaded red tape. Conservation Ontario predicts the changes could delay approvals by as much as 200 days.

An MZO can also be requested and granted without public notice, as happened in Caledon last summer.

Normally Peel Region is required to approve an official plan amendment for a new development. In this case, town council was frustrated that Peel had twice deferred the town’s longstanding plans for a low-density, car-dependent development of 7,500 residences on prime agricultural land in southwest Caledon. Peel cited concerns about the costly infrastructure needed to support a

It all indicates a provincial government determined to shed the anti-sprawl approach to growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe that has dictated planning for the past two decades or more. greenfield development they weren’t sure was needed given population growth throughout the GTA has not kept pace with the province’s projections. The Caledon motion to request an MZO was introduced and passed mid-council meeting without prior notice to the public or the region who, once the MZO was issued, had no avenue for appeal.

Beyond the obvious risks to people and the environment of the new direction, Samantha Lawson, CAO of Grand River Conservation Authority, ponders its ethical and legal ramifica­ tions. Who is liable, she wonders, if a CA is forced to issue a permit for a project that its scientific investigations indicate is hazardous? The TRCA went a step further. It forwarded a motion asking the government for a liability clause – one that would make the government accept legal responsibility in the event that disaster strikes.

Jennifer Innis also raised a question for a government seemingly intent on relegating science to a back seat. With regard to due diligence, she asked, “What science are you using to trump the CA’s science?” Despite this logic, TRCA’s motion was not approved.

The poster child for the Ford govern­ ment’s use of MZOs is the one issued to the Triple Group of Companies

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to greenlight a 4-million-squarefoot Amazon distribution centre in Pickering next the developer’s massive hotel and entertainment complex called Durham Live. The proposed warehouse is on Lower Duffins Creek, a “provincially significant wetland” that provides floodwater containment, is a breeding ground for fish and amphibians, and an important stop­ over for migratory birds.

Perhaps as disturbing, the MZO was issued even though the neighbouring town of Ajax was vying for the same project just a kilometre away on land that is not environmentally fragile and where presumably – given that employment is the Ford government’s stated goal – the same number of jobs would be created.

As part of the MZO, TRCA was directed to sign what critics call a “pay to slay” agreement with the developer.

Such an agreement, contained in another provision of Bill 229, allows for a kind of ecosystem swap in which a developer pays to replace lost wetland. Innis says that despite the TRCA’s efforts, it has been unable to find a replacement property in the watershed. And if it could, she says, the Triple Group of Companies would have to cough up an estimated $40to $60-million to purchase it.

Following months of controversy and a CBC News investigation, Amazon announced in mid-March it will seek an alternative site for its warehouse. Amazon’s withdrawal does not mean the land will not be built on, but municipal affairs minister Steve Clark has asked Pickering if it wants to amend the MZO to remove the wetland from development plans.

The Duffins Creek MZO prompted Environmental Defence to team up with Ontario Nature and law firm Ecojustice to take the provincial government to court. They argue the provincial government is breaking the law by superseding its own Provincial Policy

Statement in permitting development on the wetland. However, the govern­ ment moved quickly to short circuit the legal challenge. Hidden within Bill 257, Supporting Broadband and Infrastructure Expansion, introduced in early March, is an amendment to the PPS that makes MZOs retroactively exempt from its provisions, except within the Greenbelt.

We weaken CAs at our peril CAs are not without their critics, and the Ford government may well have been surprised by the ferocity of the backlash against Schedule 6. Even outside of the commercial develop­ ment industry, many a private land­ owner has been frustrated by what often seem like unnecessarily petty restrictions on minor renovations or secondary outbuildings. “Nobody likes to be regulated or told no,” MartinDowns acknowledges. “There are times we haven’t said no in the best way… These things haven’t stood us well over time.” She continues, “We’ll never be perfect, but we are trying.”

Innis believes that rather than gutting CAs, it would be better to improve the planning process. She would like the various agencies involved in development applications to get together and come up with a more streamlined approach to avoid duplications and inconsistencies.

Conversely, on larger projects, CAs have been accused of caving to poli­ tical pressure – and the new amend­ ments to the Conservation Authorities Act will now make it even harder for them to hold the line. In his support of Erin’s proposed sewage plant, for example, Mayor Alls repeats the mantra endorsed by many a municipal politician: “[If] you don’t grow you die.”

Still, for much of living memory, CAs have been minding our water­

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sheds in a technical, science-based way, and it appears that whatever their faults, loyalty to their essential value resides deeply within the Ontario psyche. Although Schedule 6 passed, the resulting hue and cry may have caused the Ford government to adjust its course, at least in part. NVCA’s Hevenor says, “The public voice was loud enough on this that some folks are worried about getting re-elected.”

According to Martin-Downs, public outrage seemed to have dissuaded Queen’s Park from its original plan of releasing the regulations that will drive Schedule 6 back in December without consultation.

Instead, the government announced the formation of the Conservation Authority Working Group. Chaired

by Hassaan Basit, president and CEO of Conservation Halton, the group is made up of representatives from CAs, Conservation Ontario, municipalities, and the development and agricultural sectors (arguably the kind of mix that should make up a CA’s board of directors). The group’s mandate is to determine how the regulations will guide implementation of the broad framework and direction set out in Schedule 6.

Their deliberations will have a pro­ found effect on the future of CAs. In particular, the regulations will define what will be considered mandatory services for CAs and according to what standards, as well as what programs and services they can negotiate with municipalities. All this affects not only levies municipalities must pay, but whether CAs will ultimately retain enough of the “authority” in their name to actually protect watersheds.

Martin-Downs says, “Hopefully, [the working group] signals an attempt by the provincial government to bring about a collaborative process and fund it.” She notes that release of the regulations has now passed two new deadlines, which encourages her to think, “They might be listening to us.”

In mid-February, in another appar­ ently conciliatory move, the munici­ pal affairs minister announced the government was launching a 60-day consultation period aimed at growing the Greenbelt “to help protect the province’s natural environment … from future development.”

Opponents say the new legislation could slow down, not speed up the approvals process – thereby adding more, not less of the dreaded red tape. Conservation Ontario predicts the changes could delay approvals by as much as 200 days.

While not unwelcome news, the announcement was interpreted by many as a cynical attempt to defuse mounting opposition to Schedule 6 and the dismantling of other environ­ mental protections. For critics it’s hard not to see a sleight of hand in the announcement which said in part that the government is seeking public input on how best to grow the size and quality of the Greenbelt on “land around Duffins Creek in Ajax and Pickering.”

Although the controversial Lower Duffins Creek wetland is designated as provincially significant, it is not contiguous with the Duffins Creek urban river valley, so even if the river valley is incorporated into the Greenbelt, it is unlikely to include the wetland or affect the status of the MZO. David Crombie and the board members who resigned from the Greenbelt Council did so just days before passage of Schedule 6. Council member and Inglewood resident Linda Pim, however, had reached her breaking point a month earlier, submitting her resignation specifically in reaction to the Duffins Creek MZO. In her letter of resignation, Pim wrote, “I find that with the issuance of the MZO for Durham Live and its complete destruction of an irreplace­ able provincially significant wetland, I have simply had enough … I have lost confidence in your govern­ment’s commitment to honour and meet Ontario’s long-standing requirements to protect our precious natural heritage from development. Future generations will thank us for both economic development and protection of natural places. We can and must achieve both simultaneously.”

NEW KITS

CRIT TER CLICKS PHOTOGRAPHY

ON THE BLOCK

Foxes are taking up residence in our towns and villages.

BY DON SCALLEN

The foxes of Inglewood include Bethell Hospice in their foraging circuits. And that is a great delight to staff and residents, says ecologist and hospice volunteer Neil Morris. “The foxes love the nature at the hospice. It’s such a nice fit,” he says.

Tranquil gardens, butterflies, bird feeders, foxes. A pageant of natural delights.

Last spring, hospice staff set out orange slices to attract beautiful Baltimore orioles. One memorable day, onlookers gasped as a fox snatched an oriole and sauntered off. Neil sums up the reaction: “It’s a story where you laugh and cry at the same time.” After staff and residents got over their initial shock, he says, they came to terms with the incident. Carnivory, after all, is how foxes make their living.

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Red foxes may be at home in Ingle­ wood, Grand Valley and Palgrave, but they are also perfectly comfortable in Alexandria, Egypt; Sapporo, Japan; and Melbourne, Australia. These creatures are the widest-ranging carnivores in the world. That enormous range, as well as their ability to thrive in forests, grasslands, mountains and deserts, marks them as extraordinary animals.

They possess a suite of qualities – curiosity, intelligence and risk-taking – that have helped a few other vertebrates, including rats and people, conquer the planet. And like rats, foxes appear to be figuring out how to make a living in our midst.

Foxes now live not only on the periphery of our towns and villages, but also in their cores. They hunt in our yards and den under our sheds and garages.

Last July, Kevin Parsons, a Canadian evolutionary biologist at the University of Glasgow, told Canadian Geographic magazine he had been

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surprised by the number of foxes on Glasgow streets. “I found it really strange,” he said, “because in Canada you can sometimes see foxes darting away in the distance late at night or really early in the morning, but never walking along the sidewalk next to you.”

His observation may have been true, even in recent times. But it seems the foxes of Headwaters are becoming more like Glasgow’s. Everyone inter­ viewed for this story mentioned the casual deportment of the foxes in their neighbourhood. They spoke of foxes trotting down village streets, of foxes lolling about on lawns, and of fox kits playing at den sites in backyards.

Though this growing familiarity is not celebrated by everyone, the general response to foxes in the ’hood has been overwhelmingly positive.

Janice Partington watches foxes that have denned for the past five years in a sandy bank at the intersection of two streets in her Caledon community. “Smack in the middle of the community, they have

Perhaps the Covid lockdown did contribute to the higher visibility of local foxes last spring, but there are other reasons why red foxes are becoming more citified. To invoke the carrot-and-stick metaphor, the carrot is abundant prey.

raised four to six kits each season,” she says. Though Janice is aware of other dens in the area, she says that “this prominent one has become a bit of a local legend.” There is joy and wonder in watching the patently adorable kits wrestle with and chase one another.

And there is drama in watching the parents teach their young how to hunt by dropping still-living prey at their

feet. Unfiltered, authentic nature not mediated by a screen.

These foxes are regulars in Janice’s yard. She fondly recalls an evening sitting on her back deck at dusk watching one of them jumping playfully for June bugs.

In normal times Janice’s neighbour, Laura Campbell, would travel widely to compete with her four border collies in agility events. Covid pressed pause on that, but gave Laura, an animal lover and avid photographer, time to get to know the resident fox family better. Last spring she sat for hours watching them and enjoying master classes in natural history. She learned of their ability to discriminate sounds.

Automobile noise was met with blasé detachment, but the occasional roar of a motorbike sent them scampering for their den. Bird calls were generally ignored, but the cawing of crows triggered alarm.

Learning the cues that signal fox anxiety led Laura to conclude they are not unduly bothered when people watch them from a respectful distance.

The kits and the adults conducted

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left : Kits at play. above : Three of a family of nine kits born under a Georgetown garage. previous page : A quartet of curious youngsters in a Caledon neighbourhood.

business as usual. Fox watchers in other communities reported the same.

The robust health of these citified foxes (aside from one adult fox in Inglewood with mange) suggests they were not unduly stressed, as does the high survivorship of the kits.

In Georgetown last spring, Doug and Mary Lou Brock had frontrow seats on a veranda overlooking a fox family denning under their neighbour’s garage. “Almost everyone was excited,” says Mary Lou. People lingered on the sidewalk, hoping for a glimpse of the remarkably large family – mom, dad and nine kits. Those kits gradually became habituated to Doug and Mary Lou’s presence on their porch. “One kit approached me within about four feet and looked at me as if to say, ‘What are you doing here?

Why are you intruding on my patch?’

There was nothing menacing about the encounter at all,” says Mary Lou. The kit was simply curious.

Francis Hulme, the Brocks’ neigh­ bour and fox landlord, first caught a

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glimpse of his new tenants after dark and thought they were coyotes. The next morning he began plugging the gap under his garage with rocks. When Doug told him they were foxes, Francis decided to grant them provisional lodging. He soon fell under their spell.

One quiet evening I watched from a perch on the Brocks’ porch as Francis spoke in soft, reassuring terms to the kits in his yard. He sat in a lawn chair as they playfully fought in the waning light.

Over the course of two months or so, Francis watched the kits grow from “fluffy little fur balls” to almost the size of their parents. He witnessed them practise their hunting skills on insects. “They would rise up and jump forward, coming down with their forefeet on a cricket or grasshopper.”

When the kits finally left in late spring, Francis missed them. “I’d be very pleased to see them again this spring,” he says. If they return, he will happily defer repairs to his slumping garage until summer.

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took note of the foxes last spring. She expresses a “fascination that they were in the village in a way we’ve never seen before,” and wonders if their boldness was encouraged by the pandemicrelated quiet of the streets.

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Perhaps the Covid lockdown did contribute to the higher visibility of local foxes last spring, but there are other reasons why red foxes are becoming more citified. To invoke the carrot-and-stick metaphor, the carrot is abundant prey. As gardeners know, rabbits thrive in our towns and villages. These eastern cottontails were the most frequent prey subject mentioned by the fox watchers. Other prey included such common urban animals as squirrels and chipmunks.

The stick factor is more speculative.

Coyotes are the uber-successful apex predators of these hills. Their choruses ring out on quiet evenings in rural areas and on the edges of our towns.

Larger predators are not noted for their tolerance of smaller competitors, and coyotes are no exception. Fox kits are confined to their den sites for about three months and make easy prey for coyotes. My guess is that foxes respond to this formidable stick by moving in with us during the vulnerable denning period. It’s not that coyotes don’t hunt

A farm within a village is a good thing, as is the growing number of folks raising backyard chickens.

Although the grief that foxes will likely visit on some of them is not a problem easily solved, I hope it can be managed with compromise and understanding.

in towns (they do), but it’s possible foxes play the percentages. Their kits are less likely to become coyote food in suburbia than in the countryside.

Neil Morris supports the coyoteavoidance hypothesis. He suggests “an interesting mutualism is going on. The foxes do us a favour by keeping rodents down and offering aesthetic and natural virtues.” In return, we grant them safe lodging.

Coyote avoidance is also exhibited on Keith Lamont’s Thistlestone Farm in Wellington County. For much of the year, his sheep graze in fields protected from coyotes by electric fencing. The

ROBERT McC AW

Chickens should beware, but if foxes are left to their own devices, these beautiful animals pose little threat to people.

smaller foxes slip between the electric wires with impunity and for decades they have built their dens within this electrified sanctuary. Keith welcomes the arrangement. The foxes are no threat to his sheep.

I realize I’m casting the urban fox phenomenon in glowing terms.

But of course the interplay between nature and people is usually nuanced.

Last spring, a fiasco unfolded in the Beach area of Toronto. A family of foxes denning under the boardwalk attracted a horde of paparazzi vying for selfies with the animals. One especially boorish selfie-seeker reached into the den to grab a kit. The Toronto Wildlife Centre erected barricades and enlisted the assistance of volunteers to protect the foxes. Sadly, some of those volunteers were verbally abused for their efforts.

The ill-treatment of the foxes in the Beach surely flowed from the sheer numbers of people who visit the boardwalk but have no allegiance to the community. In smaller communities, a protective norm seems to emerge: “These are ‘our’ foxes and we’ll take care of them – just as we do other community members.”

Another issue that clouds the sunny image of urban foxes is their possible predation of house cats. Of course, if

cats were kept indoors, this wouldn’t be an issue. Regardless, I found no evidence of foxes killing cats. Janice Partington did describe one incident of a fox chasing a cat, but the cat found refuge in a tree. She also told me about a cat chasing a fox. Do foxes occasionally kill cats? Perhaps, but it’s almost certainly a rarity. A fox would much rather tangle with a squirrel or a cottontail. Moreover, the fox watchers I spoke to didn’t report cats among the prey they observed.

However, if roaming cats have little to fear from foxes, the same is not true of chickens. The cliché about “the fox guarding the henhouse” didn’t emerge from thin air. When I spoke to the owner of a farm nestled inside a Caledon community, she rued the loss of a dozen chickens to fox predation last spring. That loss cost money – $25 a chicken – and forced the farm to confine their chickens to coops.

“With the foxes around, we can’t have happy, healthy hens,” the owner says.

She understands why foxes appeal to residents, but notes many of the same people also “like to eat free-run eggs.

They can’t have it both ways.” She’s worried. “The foxes will definitely be a problem again this spring.”

I feel for this embattled farm owner.

A farm within a village is a good thing, as is the growing number of folks raising backyard chickens. Although the grief that foxes will likely visit on some of them is not a problem easily solved, I hope it can be managed with compromise and understanding.

Of course, I can’t conceal my bias.

I view foxes in our communities as restorative, a healing of sorts – nature finding a way to live with us in our built environments. And gracing us, in turn, with beauty and delight – like that experienced by 82-year-old Francis Hulme sitting in his yard on a quiet spring evening talking to “his foxes,” by the staff and residents of Bethell Hospice thrilling to the foxes hunting in the hospice gardens, and by Janice Partington watching a fox snap at June bugs in her backyard, its orange fur lit by the setting sun.

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

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Don Scallen is the author of Nature Where We Live: Activities to Engage Your Inner Scientist from Pond Dipping to Animal Tracking. You can read more of his observations about local flora and fauna in “Notes from the Wild” at www.inthehills.ca.

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on the menu We’re tracking family-sized meals, vegetarian tacos and gourmet doughnuts

BY JANICE QUIRT

Winner, winner, family dinner

Thinking inside the box

Pandemic takeout has intensified our relationships with our

Palgrave’s White Birch Special Needs Day Program for adults is getting into retail. At The Birch Shoppe, program participants will help sell local groceries, meats and gifts. Because a grand opening was not possible due to pandemic restrictions, the team created Birch Boxes to celebrate. The $55 boxes feature over $70 worth of products, including local BBQ sauces, honey, cookies, baking mix, candles and jam.

favourite restaurants, saving us from menu-planning despair on more occasions than we can count. One especially brilliant development has been the boom in family-sized meals that feed the whole crew, in some cases more than once. Dinners seem to routinely exceed the advertised four-to-six portions, with leftovers stretching for a day, even two. Most come with side veggies and salads. Rotating specials posted online add that much-needed variety – aka the spice of life – to our routines. We’ve fallen hard for tangy lasagne from Caledon Hills Brewing Pub. “Our customers say that during these challenging times, families are happy they can relax and enjoy a delicious meal, ready for pickup,” says Monica Riedelsheimer, co-owner of the family business.

We’re also working our way through spatchcock chicken and Rock View Farm’s burgers from Mono Cliffs Inn, buttermilk fried chicken from Gourmandissimo, striploin roast beef from Vista

At The Birch Shoppe in Palgrave, Adam Ali (left) and Joshua Newton of the White Birch Special Needs Day Program create gift boxes filled with local pantry products.

restaurant at Mount Alverno in Caledon and a donair kit or pulled pork (vegetarian jackfruit version also available) from Alchemy Kitchen in Orangeville.

We may never cook again!

The takeaway family-sized lasagna from Caledon Hills Brewing Pub in Palgrave is smothered in a tangy tomato sauce.

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

“This project is a great way to get our participants involved and enhance life skills, from working checkout to building the front counter and shelves,” says Carlo Summaria, who runs the program. “It provides them with both reward and responsibilities, working on a meaningful initiative.” Mother’s Day and Father’s Day boxes are in the works.

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Gourmet doughnuts

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bakers play with flavours and toppings, and classicists perfect winning traditions. Orangeville’s Son of a Chef Bakery now serves malassadas, traditional Portuguese doughnuts with airy dough and a sugary coating, available only on Saturdays.

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Don’t miss their traditional Italian zeppole, with light pastry sandwiching vanilla custard and fresh strawberries, topped with fluffy whipped cream. Holtom’s Bakery in Erin continues to wow with old-fashioned apple fritters,

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honey dips and, on Saturdays, Boston creams. Magpie’s Bakery, based in Mount Forest,

Providing the community with healthy, fresh, local food since 1887

services the Shelburne and Grand Valley areas. Their lovelies are gigantic, with loads of classic flavours like chocolate dip and jelly-filled, plus tempting creations like the Homer, named for the sprinkle-covered bright pink doughnuts the Simpsons’ patriarch can’t get enough of, along with red velvet and other delights.

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A twist on tacos Fine funghi We adore mushrooms – sautéed in a delicate omelette or in the mix of a tasty veggie burger. Amaranth’s Fresh and Tasty Mushrooms offers a wide selection — lion’s mane, oyster and cinnamon caps, to start — plus some

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foraged rare beauties such as morels and chanterelles.

Hard to believe that Cinco de Mayo will arrive soon, but we’re always up for a Mexican-inspired menu. Orangeville’s Taphouse Craft Beer & Kitchen includes a hearty veggie option as a clever take on a favourite. It builds on breaded cauliflower, coleslaw and corn salsa with an avocado ranch drizzle. Pair it with the pub’s house-branded beers.

Want to indulge in more taco research across Headwaters? Blue crab tacos light up the menu at Bolton Jacks Pub & Grill.

The Busholme in Erin serves jerk chicken, tempeh, and fish tacos. Or, for a DIY nosh, swing by Rosemont General Store and Mulmur’s Maple Grove Farm for authentic fixings from Alliston’s Alba Lisa, along with local cheese and sour cream, and a house blend of ground beef to go.

Visit them at www.freshandtastymushrooms.com for info on how to shop for spring varieties.

Going to the dogs Why should the doggos go without treats, especially on special occasions like a birthday or “gotcha day”? Pupcakes N’ Bakes in Orangeville uses natural, human foods like pumpkin and banana to make “pupcakes,” “ruffins” and cookies too. Recipes are dog friendly, so no xylitol or chocolate.

Pizza night Neighbourhood pizza stops just keep popping up. We’re fans of Spirit Tree Estate Cidery’s Friday/Saturday pies.

Hockley General Store is back in business with Friday pizza nights. Now there’s also Beegs Pizza for wood-fired ’za in Grand Valley. We’re going to need a bingo card to keep track.

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Soup’s on!

Until they can host their raucous soup-making sessions again, the Orangeville-Dufferin chapter of the national Soup Sisters charitable social enterprise – led

by Lori Robertshaw and Le Finis/ Lavender Blue owners Terry Doel and Vanessa Kreuzer – is keeping the soup pot bubbling online. Keen soup makers buy tickets for one-off virtual cooking classes with chefs from across the country. Soup Sisters sends you a grocery list. After the live online class, you keep the soup you make, and Lavender Blue delivers soup they make to Orangeville’s Family Transition Place. Upcoming sessions star Toronto chef Massimo Capra making southwestern black bean soup, Prince Edward Island chef Michael Smith making farmhouse chicken and vegetable soup, and Calgary chef Nicole Gomes making zuppa di pesce (Italian fish soup).

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M A D E

Jewelry maker Kristin Evensen at work in her Orangeville studio.

At right is a pair of her polymer clay, bead and deerskin earrings.

MEET THE MAKER

Kristin Evensen This Orangeville artist strings together her Anishnaabe heritage and contemporary design in every pair of earrings she makes.

BY JANICE QUIRT

K

ristin Evensen vividly recalls watching her grandmother, surrounded by canisters of brightly coloured beads, as her flying fingers nimbly decorated handcrafted moccasins. Her grandmother’s quilts, dreamcatchers, medicine bags and birch bark art are other early memories.

“I’ve always been an artist,” says Kristin. “My life has been surrounded by art and design, as well as by my Indigenous heritage.”

Born in Toronto, Kristin moved with her family to Christian Island, part of Beausoleil First Nation, when she was three, then to Orangeville at age nine.

After living in Toronto for a few years, she and her husband bought a house in Orangeville where they now live with their three young children.

Kristin studied design at George Brown College where she experimented with a variety of media.

Her first foray into her own design business involved knitting patterns, but when she started beading two years ago on a journey to deepen her connection with her Anishnaabe heritage, she found her primary medium. She watched YouTube tutorials on tradition­ al beadwork practices and began to create her own designs. Six months later she launched her Etsy shop, K. Frances Beadwork, which specializes in earrings.

Though her technique is influenced by cultural traditions, her aesthetic is exuberantly contemporary.

Kristin’s process begins with a colour palette influenced by nature, fashion and favourite works of art. For this year’s spring collection, for example, she envisioned soft, light hues inspired by natural stone.

Kristin uses polymer clay – laced with a subtle metallic shimmer to add depth and light-catching visual texture – to fashion central cabochons, the unfaceted, polished “gemstones” that anchor her earrings. She bakes the cabochon at 275F (135C) and sands it with wet, fine-grained automotive sandpaper before polishing it with a Dremel tool. The cabochon is then fixed to a felt backing that also serves as the backing for the glass seed beads she stitches into place around the polished stone. She then glues all this to a sustainably sourced deer-hide backing.

Kristin has found an online Indigenous merchant who sells scrap bags of deer hide left over from other artists’ larger projects, as well as smaller pieces of hide purchased from hunters who can’t use it all. Main­ taining this continuum with traditional practices and materials is just one way she is building a business that is both authentic and highly contemporary.

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Kristin adds beadwork to an earring.

At left are two of her original designs.

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The drops for each earring are also formed from polymer clay, processed in much the same way as the cabochon. Kristin uses shape cutters and homemade stencils to create the shapes.

“Indigenous cultures are particularly genius at using shape and colour to communicate through art,” she says. As an example, she cites acclaimed Michif (Métis) artist Christi Belcourt, whose paintings resemble traditional beadwork and depict Indigenous traditions and their interplay with the natural world.

“I use my culture’s language and teachings as a way to guide my business practices and build relationships with my customers and other artists,” she says, adding that she uses an Anishnaabemowin (the language of the Anishnaabe) word or phrase to name each new earring design. “It helps me to reclaim and learn my language, teach and inspire others, and hopefully bring some awareness, understanding and appreciation of Indigenous culture.”

Her Animikii (thunderbird) earring design, for instance, with its circular cabochon and beads that resemble the sun, was inspired by Anishnaabe stories that tell of the thunderbird flying close to the sun to deliver messages to the Creator. The names Kristin chooses, however, aren’t always a literal representation of the shapes. Some, such as Nibwaakaa (meaning she or he is intelligent or wise), represent the feeling she draws from the design as she works on it.

In addition to operating her Etsy shop, Kristin sells at local shows and events, including the Museum of Dufferin’s Holiday Treasures show and at Dufferin County’s celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day. She notes that, for traditional ceremonies, Indigenous people wear regalia, including colourful jewelry that reflects the individual. Because her designs are not intended to be worn as regalia, her view is that it’s fine for non-Indigenous folks to wear her creations.

“My earrings are for everyone,” she says. “Buying from an Indigenous maker shows cultural appreciation. Personally, I want to share our designs and stories with the world, and I’m proud and happy when someone supports my work.”

Janice Quirt is a freelance writer who lives in Mono.

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Karina Marie, founder of Caledon’s Marie Lavender Flowers, discovered her love of greenery and flowers while working at a local garden centre when she was 16. “Fresh blooms radiate joy. Their bright colours and scents have the ability to bring life to any room and brighten someone’s day,” she says. “Many of our pieces are inspired by the changing seasons and nature’s beauty.” Her new offerings focus on cheerful, fresh spring blooms including tulips, stock, hyacinth and alstroemeria. She’s also making spring wreaths with a punch of synthetic blooms that will help you get a jump on the season year after year. ($65–$170, Marie Lavender Flowers)

Perfect on paper – and on the wall Jenna Marinelli of Victoria Lynn Designs (named in honour of Jenna’s late mother) is the local princess of paper creations.

Her intricate floral designs, which come ready to hang, turn the wallflower trope on its ear. The look-at-me pieces add texture to nurseries and softness to a bedroom or living room wall. Customized shadowboxes offer another eye-catching way to add life to a room. We love the pale pastels offset by champagne, cream or barely-there greys, but the Shelburne artist is up for any colour or creation challenge. (Wall décor, $100–$125. Shadow boxes, $40–$55, Victoria Lynn Designs)

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Roses built to last These are not the dusty dried roses disintegrating in the back of your closet. Diana Benson gives dried flowers new meaning with Orangeville’s Village Rose Luxury Rose Boutique, specializing in special-occasion Ecuadorian “eternity roses,” which are chemically treated from stem to bloom and last one to three years.

She tucks the fulsome fleurs into chic round or square white hat boxes and acrylic vases. Creations include tidy single- or minirose collections or showstopping 48-rose arrangements to mark an engagement or new baby – or for any reason at all, really. She also offers hydrangeas. (From $35 for a single rose box to $450 for a deluxe 48-rose box, Village Rose Luxury Rose Boutique)

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it takes a

virtual village

In what could have been a lost year for isolated new parents and their babies, social agencies moved their tried-and-true community meetups and support groups online – in the hope of building connections that just can’t wait.

BY JOHANNA BERNHARDT

“Z

oom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon,” sings Kelly Rumney, a facilitator at the Caledon Parent-Child Centre in Bolton. From her home in Tottenham, she’s leading a song and rhyme session for infants and their parents – virtually, that is.

“I sure miss doing these with participants!” she says, squeezing the imaginary baby on her lap. As she scans the screen, she sees a familiar face and says to new mother Emma, “Wow! What a big change in one week! He’s so alert.” Emma goes on to talk about the typical struggles of getting herself and a new baby out the door for groceries and errands.

Except, at this point in history, parenting is anything but typical. New parents, already navigating the ups and downs of sleepless nights and emotional swings while scrambling to hone their parenting skills, are also coping with a public health crisis. So to the usual tensions, add isolation, restrictive lockdown rules and heightened stress levels. The temporary

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closure of parent-child centres, community centres and church basements that host free communitybased programs for new parents is a major loss. But nonprofit agencies such as the CPCC, founded in 1987, are throwing everything they’ve got at making a virtual go of it.

“The whole Covid experience has had a profound effect on young families and those that are dealing with pregnancy, birth and the first year of a baby’s life,” said Shelly Sargent, who manages the CPCC’s community relations and volunteers, during a Skype interview. All eight CPCC sites in Caledon are designated locations for the provincially funded programming offered across Ontario by EarlyON Child and Family Centres.

Over the course of the pandemic, staff for providers such as the CPCC, like many newly remote workers, have switched to digital drop-in programs and support groups via services such as Zoom. Some facilitators offer daily and weekly virtual programs

that focus on infant playtime and storytime for parents and babies. The CPCC’s Infant Mother Goose Plus, for example, is a new offering that features a combination of English, Hindi and Punjabi songs. Other facilitators lead discussion groups that encourage parents to talk about issues relating to developmental milestones, feeding, sleeping and infants with special needs, as well as their own emotional needs. At the CPCC, this means more than 20 virtual sessions over the course of a five-day week. Staff are also available to respond to personal questions and to help with referrals to other services.

“If I could say one thing to new parents, it would be that you’re not alone,” said CPCC program manager Ailsa Stanners-Moroz. “We need our village more than ever and the village hasn’t gone anywhere. We’re here and we’ll embrace you.”

The hope? These virtual connections will undergird real-life liaisons that will resume in time.

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SYLVIA JONES, MPP Over the course of the pandemic, staff for providers such as the CPCC, like many newly remote workers, have switched to digital drop-in programs and support groups via services such as Zoom.

happen. Lindsay Cowan, supervisor of EarlyON programs in Wellington County, including in the town of Erin, has witnessed how new moms are bonding over a historic experience that sets them apart not only from peers with older children, but also from women who will give birth post-

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pandemic. “We notice participants in our infant programs starting to build new relationships with others in their community,” Cowan wrote in an email message. “Many of these new mothers gave birth in 2020, which provides them with a unique connection they share and can relate to together.”

Laurie Rooney is supervisor of children’s services for Dufferin County, which operates EarlyON sites in Orangeville, Grand Valley and Shelburne, with plans to expand the programs to other communities.

Rooney’s department has been running a slate of online offerings including casual coffee chats promoted on its Facebook page. She believes the pandemic has thrown the value of these services into sharp relief.

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“I think when people are able to come back [to in-person programs], we will have a fresh outlook on how we do things, what support looks like, and how valuable human connection is,” she wrote in an email. “This will be more of a focus than ever – allow­ ing time and space for connection, not so much education about a topic, but opportunity to enjoy the company a community brings.”

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College professor Rosana Fialho has been leaning heavily on Caledon and Dufferin County EarlyON virtual programs since her daughter Emilia’s birth last July. With her parents out of province and her husband’s family out of the country, she said the programs offer a lifeline for new parents during these strange times.

“EarlyON has stepped in to help with the things that we can’t do because of Covid. Helping us meet other moms by singing songs, helping us keep our babes entertained and interacting with people, even if it’s just online,” said the Orangeville mom. “A critical factor moms are missing right now is connection, and the CPCC is really taking great strides to help us with that. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without them.”

Last fall, when EarlyON centres were briefly open for in-person programs, said Fialho, staff did a fantastic job of quickly shifting again, in a way that helped parents feel very safe in the facility. Fialho attended an infant massage program that had staggered start times and small numbers. “My baby could see other babies, and faceto-face conversation felt so great for me,” she said.

A key moment for Fialho came when Caledon program manager StannersMoroz asked her, “What are you most worried about?” No one had asked that before. For Fialho, a huge concern was that, aside from her and her husband, Vicente, and a few healthcare providers, no one had yet held her daughter. She also wondered what will happen when it’s time to find a daycare provider and she can’t even take an inperson tour of the facility.

Rooney agrees that by the time daycare starts for these pandemic babies, families may be dealing

“If I could say one thing to new parents, it would be that you’re not alone,” said CPCC program manager Ailsa Stanners-Moroz.

with underdeveloped social skills and heightened separation anxiety.

“Programs and activities will be provided to help these families build these skills,” she wrote.

Each CPCC EarlyON virtual session is currently attended by about six to eight families, says facilitator Aly Kapoor, who acknowledges that creating an online sense of community so fast was a challenge. “It was a bit bumpy. There was a lot of fear at first,” she says. “It takes a while to gain a level of trust with each other.”

Staff incorporate icebreaker questions to give parents an opportunity to share how their day is going and to keep them engaged and active in the discussions. Facilitators also try to go quiet at times – to mimic the inperson experience and give parents an opportunity to talk among themselves.

In the CPCC’s virtual programs, staff include extended family in the fun for both practical and emotional reasons. Grandparents, for example, are encouraged to join the classes so they can witness those fleetingly precious moments they miss because they can’t visit their grandkids in person. Older siblings are also welcomed, making it easier for parents

to keep them engaged and active during sessions.

In addition to one or two facilitators and a behind-the-scenes technical staffer, the virtual sessions may be attended by an EarlyON resource consultant, who offers parents phone or email support to answer questions or connect them with other services they may need.

And virtual programming goes beyond screen time. Facilitators also create simple off-screen activities for parents to incorporate into their day, and the intention is always to use what participants have at home. One of the CPCC’s most popular programs has been Exploring the Great Outdoors, which suggests an outdoor family activity, such as gathering found objects while out walking, then using the objects to create, for example, a collage. Later in the week, the family and facilitators meet virtually to review their experience and share what worked and what they learned.

getting the word out Before Covid, parents would find out about these groups and programs through word of mouth, including staff members’ own efforts at striking up helpful conversations in public.

Stanners-Moroz, for example, would often encounter expectant or new mothers in the grocery store and invite them to visit the Bolton site if they hadn’t heard of it, direct them to another spot in the Caledon EarlyON network (two more locations, in Caledon East and Southfields, will open when restrictions lift), or to

another EarlyON network if they lived outside of Caledon.

Unfortunately, those spontaneous encounters have mostly disappeared, as expectant and new mothers are trying to stay safe at home. “When was the last time you saw a baby in the grocery store?” asked Stanners-Moroz.

One of the consequences of this isolation, said both Sargent and Stanners-Moroz, may sound subtle: many women struggle with having no witness to their pregnancy. Mom Fialho said that she expected to “become part of that social sisterhood of pregnancy,” but instead, many people, such as her college students, were seeing her only from the shoulders up on a video call and didn’t necessarily know she was pregnant.

In addition, most prenatal appoint­ ments now take place virtually, or if in person, exclude a partner. And all the typical rites of passage, such as baby showers and celebrations, simply aren’t happening. Clinical counsellors say expectant and new mothers who miss these events and acknowledgments may be experiencing grief from accu­ mulated “micro losses.”

Planning a birth during a pandemic has also proven to be a logistical night­ mare, as hospital rules and regulations change constantly. “Everything had a next layer of concern and uncertainty,” said Fialho. Unsure whether she would be required to wear a mask during labour or if her husband could be in the room with her, she planned a homebirth to mitigate some of the variables. When the time came, she experienced some minor complica­ tions and delivered at Headwaters Health Care Centre, unmasked and with her masked husband by her side.

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screen times Are you an expectant mom or new parent in Headwaters?

Here’s where to meet other parents and connect with community resources.

EarlyON Child and Family Centres EarlyON Centres offer free, engaging, quality programing for families and children from birth to age six. Families can attend activities such as reading, sing-alongs and special events. Parents can seek advice from professionals trained in early childhood development, as well as attend workshops to help them navigate all stages of their child’s early growth. The centres provide a safe and inclusive place to make connections with other families with young children and to help families who need to access other support services within the community.

Dufferin EarlyON offers programs such as Feelings after Birth and Come Under­stand Parenting. Call or text Dufferin EarlyON at 519-938-0559 or check their Facebook page for up-to-date program options and special events.

Erin EarlyON includes offerings such as Circle Time and Mother Goose Rhymes. For more information about EarlyON and other support services, visit the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington, or call 519-843-7000 or email program supervisor Lindsay Cowan at lcowan@communityresourcecentre.org.

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The Caledon Parent-Child Centre operates EarlyON programs such as Baby Play Time, Baby Chat and Shake Rattle & Roll, as well as Let’s Get Together for parents of babies with special needs. For current listings, go to the centre’s online calendar. You can also call 905-857-0090 or email earlyyears@cp-cc.org.

Research published last June noted that just a few months into the pandemic, the number of pregnant and postpartum participants who reported feeling depressed and anxious was sharply higher than before the pandemic.

V I R T U A L V I L L A G E C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 8 3

Many new mothers are also navi­ gating the challenges of breastfeeding with little or no support available.

“Most new mothers need a little help with breastfeeding,” said Faith Flatt, a naturopath, doula and lactation educator at Village Naturopath in Orangeville. (Flatt is also my sister.)

“Especially now,” she continued, “many mothers are completely on their own, doing online research about complicated nursing holds, and feeding schedules, and they’re being overwhelmed.”

A lactation consultant or educator is a valuable resource for mothers who need reassurance and help with posi­ tioning and pumping, not to mention kind words and encouragement. But during lockdown, consultants have been unable to do in-person visits, often leaving mothers to learn the ins and outs of breastfeeding under tough, lonely conditions.

Research published last June in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health noted that just a few months into the pandemic, the number of pregnant and postpartum participants who reported feeling depressed and anxious was sharply higher than before the pandemic. Titled “Moms Are Not OK: Covid-19 and Maternal Mental Health,” the study found that nearly 41 per cent of participants experienced depression and 72 per cent reported symptoms of anxiety as the pandemic set in.

“I’m seeing a lot of anxiety, marital problems, depression, and grief,” says Amaranth psychotherapist Karen Dougherty. “New parents are thinking, ‘This is not how things were supposed to be.’” Dougherty believes there will be a great deal of research down the road on “pandemic babies,” who received so much focused attention from their parents in their infancy but lacked socialization with other babies.

Still, the therapist points to an explosion in virtual therapy, including in her own practice, as one silver lining of these times. “Many more people now have access and, frankly, more time, given they do not need to commute there and back.”

EarlyON Centres in Dufferin are trying to take preventive measures for vulnerable expectant and new mothers. Rooney wrote that staff are currently enrolling nearly every new mom they encounter in one of their support groups or offering other supports and resources to reduce the burden. And teams throughout Headwaters insist that no matter what a new mom needs, an extensive net­ work of community resources can help.

Organizations have provided porch drop-offs of lasagna dinners, food boxes, supplies and even craft kits.

From infants and mothers with special needs to those with worries about food insecurity, said Sargent, “If the CPCC can’t help you, we can find someone who can. The local social safety net is real and we’re all here to help.”

Mom Fialho can attest to how powerful these connections have been for her. They have not only helped her cope, but she is also paying it forward by sharing with others what she’s learned about the benefits of exercise in lifting her mood. Her experience is borne out by the “Moms Are Not Okay” study which found a much lower rate of depression and anxiety among participants who engaged in at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity every week. On Zoom, Fiahlo now leads a group of new mom friends in a twiceweekly drop-in “baby-wearing” dance class, often to lively Latin rhythms. “I always feel so much better after I’ve been physically active,” she said.

Sargent acknowledged that some people continue to feel a sense of stig­ ma over asking for help, adding that families who struggle financially have been the hardest to connect with. She offered these reassuring words: “A quick phone call to us doesn’t tie you to anything or put you on any list. If you need some help, we’re here to talk.”

At the end of our Skype meeting, Sargent touched on a broader reason the agency’s work with new parents is so meaningful, especially during times of uncertainty: “Babies are a message to us all that we’re going to go on.”

Johanna Bernhardt is a freelance writer who lives in Orangeville.

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H E A D W A T E R S

Pandemic

N E S T

fatigue

BY BETHANY LEE

Dance through the April break Not quite sure what to do during April’s “March” break? With travel out of the question, it might be time to check out the expanding world of online master classes taught by national and international experts. Among those that caught our eye are the Zoom classes put on by instructors at Toronto’s famed National Ballet. Categorized for absolute beginners and up, they include the Children’s Spring Break Dance Intensive for students age 7 to 11 (with two years of dance experience). On Monday to Friday mornings, April 12 to 16, the course offers instruction in ballet, hip hop and contemporary dance. At $250, the fee is hefty, but cheaper than a ski holiday. national.ballet.ca/explore/in-studio

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ILLUS TR ATION BY SHEL AGH ARMS TRONG

T

he pandemic just keeps going. Even as the tsunami of the second wave recedes, we’re dragged back by the frightening undertow of virus variants from across the globe. Although many of us reading this in our cozy homes have not been hit head on by Covid, it’s fair to say that young and old alike have experienced an epidemic of loneliness and frustration, leading to family struggles and difficult decisions.

It’s not that we haven’t been trying to fight the isola­ tion and to construct – in that overused phrase – a “new normal” for our families. Zoom calls have helped connect us to others, for sure. Outdoor hot chocolate dates and socially distanced hellos are within the rules.

For our more vulnerable loved ones, grocery drop-offs are celebratory affairs – waves from the driveway, a surprise of baked goods tucked inside the boxes and bags, and a cheery but empty honk! as we drive away. Most of us are doing our best to conform to these fairly safe or “approved” outings and interactions. But now, more than a year in, there are days when, love them or not, one more minute confined in the house with “these people” could cause an implosion.

In the early days, my family’s best tactic for managing the madness was based on “one foot in front of the other.” We had a family meeting. An emergency had been declared, and I liked to think our family is pretty good at emergencies. We talked about Gramma and Grampa, how they have been through so much, and what we could learn from them, and their parents before them. Just take things

step by step, don’t think too far ahead, focus on survival.

Food, shelter, sleep? Yep, we’re good. Now repeat.

But what about when the emergency isn’t just about food, shelter and sleep? What about the disintegration of everything we know, and the feeling that there is no end in sight? The sadness of not visiting with friends and family, of not celebrating the joy of small road trips or skiing with kids and friends this winter, or meeting workmates we haven’t seen for a year (or in my husband Derrick’s case, ever, as he lost and gained a job during the pandemic and has only seen the screen version of his new colleagues). We really reached a nadir this winter and at times it’s felt eerie, sad and intolerable.

As hard as my family has worked to be vigilant, we also struggle with the rules and making sense of it all. I have many friends who are angry, out of patience with what they feel are poor official communications, mixed messages and reversals. As a teenager, my son, Adrian, tries so, so hard to pay attention to the numbers and obey the rules. But as many times as I say, “Maybe it’s not about us” to try to shift his perspective, it’s hard for

eBooks for the entire family

adolescents in particular to carry on without taking it personally and wanting some relief – right now.

It’s well understood their growing brains have not fully developed impulse control or the link between action and consequences. Instant gratification is everything. Novelty!

Risk! Reward! Again!

So here we are in year two of the pandemic. Reports of highprofile people who have foolishly broken the protocols have led to swift public judgement. While I can’t condone their choices, I also can’t help feeling some sympathy for them – the public shaming, the destroyed careers and embarrassed families (and sometimes coming down with Covid themselves). I’m trying to remain human, too, and recognize the human pressures and temptations – the oh-so-human frailties – behind their folly.

Same goes for my son and his actions. I try to make allowances for his needs and his stage of life. I understand that getting out of this alive means something entirely different for him than it does for me.

Problem is – it’s contrary to the rules.

My sense is there are many parents who, like us, are immersed in the ongoing and exhausting struggle to police their children, teens espe­ cially, whose every natural impulse is toward new experiences and social affirmation, and whose grasp of consequences is shaky at best.

There have been times when we have let go of the reins and our son has made decisions for himself – visiting his grandparents (who collude in the visit) or meeting up with friends too close with no masks. And for that I find myself sleepless with the fear of illness seeping silently into our home. It’s now a different kind of one foot in front of the other for each of us, so I’m trying to add to the mantra: Food? Shelter? Sleep? Kindness?

What I’m trying to say is that we as a society are not perfect. So we have to be as kind as we can, especially with our growing children and young adults. It goes against everything I’m made of, because I am a rule follower at heart. But we’re not good at this, nobody is.

Let’s just hope it’s over soon.

Bethany Lee is a freelance writer who lives in Mono.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I stumbled upon the Ontario Library Service download centre. It’s full of e-books and audio books available free, for the whole family. It’s carefully curated by subject matter such as thoughtful themes like Confronting Racism, or fun themes like Belly Laughs for kids and Page Turners for teens. Plus for parents there’s One eRead Canada – a book club you can jump into any time. Get an account by using your local library card info (Caledon, Orangeville, Grand Valley, Shelburne and Newmarket are all linked). odmc.overdrive.com —

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Public art grows across Orangeville Orangeville’s Utility Box Art Displays and murals are super cool! When you’re out on a family walk, have you ever wondered who created the beautiful paintings on the town’s utility boxes and buildings? These public art pieces are all created by local artists who submitted their visions and were selected to have their work come to life, sprinkled across the streets of OV. Artists 18+ residing in Dufferin County are invited to apply by May 28. (Could net your youth artist a cool $500 prize as well!) See orangeville.ca for details.

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S P O R T

Canoeing the Humber Everyone must believe in something. I believe I’ll go canoeing.

– Henry David Thoreau

BY NICOL A ROSS

F

rom the stern of our canoe, Angus Doughty began, “I identify as …” This phrase has become commonplace in recent years, and I was curious about where he was going with it.

After a pause, he continued, “… a paddler. I identify as a paddler.” From among all his outdoor endeavours, it’s canoeing that has captured the heart of this Bolton native. “It’s the way to get away from it all fastest. You don’t need roads or trails as you do for hiking or cycling or cross-country skiing. Just a lake or a river,” he explained.

I had lined up a short canoe trip with Angus last fall after he told me he had paddled the Humber River every month of the year, often with his kids and, more often, with his dad. So on a glorious blue-sky morning, we loaded his car with a pair of canoes: one for Angus and me, the other for Angus’s wife, Sian, and our photographer, Fred Webster. In minutes we were carrying the canoes from a parking lot on Duffy’s Lane, just north of

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Bolton, to where we would put in, a portage of about 600 metres. For the next two hours, we would navigate one of Canada’s 40 officially designated heritage rivers, taking out in Bolton, with an easy portage to Angus and Sian’s house.

We pushed off into the narrow stream and the current caught our canoes, carrying us along at a surprising clip. I had imagined flat, near-still water. Instead, the Humber burbled and bubbled with river-wide ripples, often building into, well, larger river-wide ripples. Roughly one-third of the way along its route to Lake Ontario, the Humber seemed to be an adolescent vying to prove itself. A bit cocky for its size and depth.

“You need to respect the Humber,” Angus explained. When the water’s low, as it was when we paddled it, it’s unlikely you’ll get into trouble, but inexperienced paddlers shouldn’t attempt our route during spring flooding or after heavy rain. “Water levels can rise by a metre after rain,”

he said. “It’s easy to get caught in the trees that overhang the river. They can capsize a canoe.” If your boat tips over and you don’t have the right equipment and warm clothing, you can be in danger.

It was hard to imagine such perils as we floated downstream on a warm, sunny and calm day. An expert paddler, Angus guided us between rocks and around overhanging trees.

When I heard a rustling in the tall grass, I looked up to see a doe leap off the bank and gallop through the shallow water. A tiny spotted fawn followed in her mum’s hoofprints.

I thought of Angus’s comments that canoeing was the fastest way to get away from it all. Here we were, minutes from Caledon’s largest town.

There was no hum of traffic or beeping construction equipment. No planes overhead or neighbour’s music.

Around the next bend, the first of two great blue herons lifted its long-legged bulk from the riverbank, startling a pair of mallards that had

been leapfrogging our progress.

As we rounded yet another bend in the Humber’s sinuous course, Angus warned we’d soon begin to see houses.

He told me this was the spot where he would often stop with his dad and have a cup of tea. In an effort to delay our return to civilization, I said, “Let’s stop, too.” We hauled our boats up onto shore and climbed back on board.

We didn’t actually have any tea, but we sipped from our water bottles and exchanged stories.

Both Sian and Angus had been longtime teachers at Mayfield Secondary School, so they regaled Fred and me with tales from inside the walls of the institution I’d attended for five years and where Fred’s daughters had learned about math and history, as well as cross-country skiing and other sports. But the talk quickly turned to past canoe adventures. Now retired, Angus is spending more and more time in Canada’s iconic vessels. He would like to paddle the Coppermine River in the Arctic to see the Barrens.

FRED WEBSTER

G O O D

Paddling places in Headwaters Many Headwaters lakes and rivers are perfect for paddling, depending on the time of year, suitability of water conditions, and your equipment and experience. For paddling conditions and the availability of rental canoes, check the relevant conservation authority website, especially during the time of Covid while restrictions may apply.

Humber River Toronto and Region Conservation Authority trca.ca

Luther Lake, Grand River Grand River Conservation Authority grandriver.ca

Island Lake, Ken Whillans Resource Management Area, Credit River Credit Valley Conservation cvc.ca

Nottawasaga River (downriver from Nicolston) Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority nvca.on.ca

opposite Nicola Ross and Angus Doughty startle a deer and her fawn on the Humber River near Bolton. below Angus and his father, John, paddled together at least once a month through every season for 21 years.

www.headwatersracquetclub.com

SPECIAL He longs to once again make his way down Quebec’s Moisie River, the socalled Nahanni of the East. But these weren’t the paddling adventures that have most shaped Angus. Instead, it was time spent with his mum and dad.

Both emigrants from England, the couple met while paddling in Algonquin Park. Angus’s childhood, along with that of his three siblings and four informally fostered siblings, involved exploring Ontario’s waterways. As an adult, Angus decided to hone his skills after reading the advice of an expert who suggested paddling every month, year-round – a difficult task in a cold country. In 1997, when his father, John, retired, paddling every month became a father-son ritual, one they kept up for 259 months (more than 21 years) – until John’s bone cancer made even sitting in a canoe impossible.

Since his father’s death in 2019, Angus has kept up the tradition. If all has gone well, he will have hit 300 consecutive months by the time this

issue of In The Hills is published.

That’s 25 years!

“Finding open water in February is the most difficult,” he said. But the Humber River has been his friend in this regard. When other waterways in the province are icebound, some part of the Humber has always been open, even when the temperature is –25C. Angus grew up within earshot of the Humber. Its waters carried countless explorers, adventurers, Indigenous peoples, fur traders and others into the nation’s hinterland, and its valley hosted the ancient trail known as the Carrying Place. The river flows through Angus’s adventurous veins and is the reason he identifies himself as, of course, a paddler.

The latest book in Nicola Ross’s Loops & Lattes series of hiking guides focuses on trails in the Collingwood, the Blue Mountains and Beaver Valley region. Nicola lives in Belfountain.

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H I L L S

The Orange and the Green A Legacy of Distrust Animus between Protestants and Catholics brewed among early settlers in Headwaters.

COURTESY DORIS PORTER

H I S T O R I C

Huge crowds filled every community on Orangemen’s Day. In Caledon East, c.1900, the Ontario Hotel had to install extra balcony supports for this group photo.

BY KEN WEBER

F

or well over a century, daily life and local politics were dominated by the fiercely Protestant and intensely patriotic Orange Order. Roman Catholics, greatly outnumbered here, had to keep their heads down.

and country (hence the term “papist,” a common Orange smear). On the other hand, Catholics felt shut out.

They were a minority without influ­ ence and, not entirely without reason, believed themselves victims of bigotry.

What was the problem?

The Orange/Green population ratio

A bit of oral history from the early days of Mono Mills might be apocryphal, but it suggests much. Around 1840 the community engaged a highly regarded teacher, a Catholic, for its tiny log school. Before the school year began, a member of the community’s Loyal Orange Lodge (L.O.L. 192) is alleged to have warned him “not to be teaching your Roman numerals,” but “to stick to good Protestant numbers.”

True or not, the story illustrates the religious distrust early settlers carried across the Atlantic and fostered here for generations. There was an inherent sense that the other side was just that – the other side. Catholics were suspected, not entirely without reason, of being loyal to the pope rather than to king

Census data and the number of Orange Lodges show these hills were settled overwhelmingly by Protestants, many of whom were Orangemen.

Peel County was noted by historian W. Perkins Bull to be “as full of Orangemen as an egg is full of meat,” an assessment echoed in measure, though certainly not in spirit, by the Roman Catholic Mirror which in 1843 described Bolton as “infested with Orange scoundrels.”

In Wellington, Simcoe and Dufferin, a count of lodges reveals impressive numbers. In 1905, for example, members of no fewer than 19 lodges came to Grand Valley from just a carriage ride away when L.O.L. 256 hosted Orangemen’s Day, the annual

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12th of July celebration. In 1931, crowds on Orangeville’s main street cheered on 53 lodges in the Glorious Twelfth parade, and in 1962 there were 91 lodges in the march.

Catholics living here could join Corpus Christi parades or Rogation Day processions but had to travel to Toronto or Guelph for that, or sometimes Adjala Township and in later years Melancthon Township.

Until the later 1900s there was nothing close to an Orange/Green balance.

Catholics were too few in number to mount any celebration as impressive as that of their Protestant neighbours.

Parties and patronage Orangemen’s Day was both party and annual general meeting. It was the biggest event of the year in every community, and if Catholics showed up, it was rarely by invitation (and never to official dinners and speeches).

Local lodges were social clubs and the local Orange Hall was the ultimate site for making political and patronage connections. In January

1881, following the first county council meeting in brand new Dufferin County, where nearly every councillor was a past or present officer of an Orange Lodge, local papers reported uncritically that the majority of paid municipal appointments went to Orangemen. This kind of patronage was common not just in these hills but around the province, an irritant remembered long after the Orange Order’s influence had declined.

External pressures Despite a range of annoyances, the two sides got along remarkably well in their own neighbourhoods. Most often it was outside forces that stirred the pot.

In 1923, for example, in response to the idea that “O Canada” be our national anthem, The Sentinel, an official organ of the Order, fired up its well-oiled, anti-Quebec rhetoric, calling the anthem “a French Canadian racial hymn,” and harrumphing that “until this Dominion becomes a French Canadian republic, our anthem shall be ‘God Save the King.’” The

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The Orange Order and the Glorious Twelfth On July 12, 1690, Protestant succession to the British throne was assured when The Netherlands’ Prince of Orange defeated his Catholic father-in-law, James II of England, at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland. Both the battle and its date are ritual touchstones of the Orange Order, a fraternal society founded in Ulster in 1795 to support Protestantism and the British Crown. Canada’s Grand Orange Lodge was established in the 1820s and over the next 100 years grew to a position of power and political influence.

Though still functioning today, it is a shadow of its former self.

Shelburne Free Press and Economist dutifully reprinted the editorial, presumably assuming it reflected local majority sentiment.

The anti-Catholic rhetoric was exponentially exacerbated in the latter half of the 1800s by the activities of the Fenian Brotherhood, a U.S.-based society seeking Irish independence from Britain. The brotherhood’s idea was to conquer Canada to use it as a bargaining chip in their struggle.

Through the 1860s and ’70s the Fenians attempted to invade Canada several times, doing more to fire up Orangemen than even Pope Pius IX, whose extremely conservative pronouncements were often used against local Catholics.

Inflated tales of violence Although rumours of an imminent Fenian attack were occasionally serious enough to bring militia to the streets and sideroads here, the history of violence between Orange and Green in these hills is more legendary than factual. A popular tale, for example, describes Ballycroy (mostly Green) versus Palgrave (mostly Orange). In one oft-cited account, members of L.O.L. 185 in Ballycroy were frequently

pummelled as they walked past a “Catholic tavern” en route to their meeting hall. Reputedly, they were avenged in turn by a Captain Wolfe from Palgrave whose horse kicked down the door of the tavern. Since the same captain’s horse seems to have taken down various tavern doors in Centreville and other places, the story, like many others, remains dubious.

Certainly some brawls did occur, especially on the Fourth Line of Albion Township between the Catholic-Irish of Centreville (aka “Helltown”) and the Protestant-British of neighbouring Lockton, but even these tussles tended to be isolated affairs that almost always blew up in a tavern. Most verifiable stories about Orange and Green show that while the distrust was real, people on both sides preferred simply to get along.

Ultimately friends … just not pals Among the striking stories of cooperation is that of Lodge brothers in Caledon’s Silver Creek who, in 1886, carted bricks from Orangeville to help the Catholic parish rebuild its St. Cornelius church in the village.

Their gesture not only contradicts the purported animosity but shows

Must have been a party!

James Foley, Jr., editor of the Orangeville Sun and an Irish Catholic, dutifully reported Orange Lodge activities with respect and considerable detail. Still, it’s tempting to believe that in writing his account of the Glorious Twelfth in 1909, he may have indulged in at least a small smirk. More than 200 Lodge brothers from Dufferin County went to Brampton for the big day and celebrated with such enthusiasm they missed the last train home and had to spend the night in the Brampton station.

how the pioneer ethic of help-yourneighbour inspired both sides to see beyond the religious divide.

Another such tale comes from the early history of the Sheldon mill on the Mono-Adjala Townline. In the early 1800s the townline became a mutually agreed border. Catholics settled to the east in Adjala, Protestants to the west in Mono, and new settlers were advised of the practice. But in the 1840s, when the area’s first grist mill was built at Sheldon Creek on the townline, farmers from both sides needed it and, given the slow milling practices of the day, Orange and Green literally had to lie down together while they waited, usually overnight, for their grain to be ground.

In pioneer society the immediate demands of daily living were far more compelling than abstract principles. Though there was time and opportunity, there were no recorded fights at the Sheldon mill. And there were no fights at the McLaughlin brothers’ grist mill in Mono Mills either. The McLaughlins were Catholics who, in addition to their mill, opened a store that housed the first village post office (the postmaster was a Protestant minister).

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The legacy in perspective Such day-to-day co-operation doesn’t mean history has overstated the animus that once prevailed here.

It was genuine and pervasive, and it took several generations to fade away. Still, compared to the violence and intractable disagreements that religious differences have roused around the world for centuries, the bigotry that rose, thrived and diminished over 150 years in these hills was relatively mild.

For example, however suspicious the members of L.O.L. 192 were of the Catholic teacher in Mono Mills – and his agreement to teach only Protestant numbers – the Orangemen are alleged to have contented themselves with eavesdropping at the school window to ensure he didn’t slip other papist doctrine into his lessons.

Caledon writer Ken Weber is the author the internationally best-selling Five-Minute Mystery series. This is his 100th Historic Hills column in this magazine since his first one in 1996.

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Covid-19 has changed us And some of those changes may be for the better.

BY GAIL GRANT

ISTOCKPHOTO

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M E E T

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hen the Covid upheaval began a year ago, who would have predicted we would still be wearing masks and launching yet another round of clearing out closets, spice drawers and garages?

Tough times tend to obscure the tides of history while they are buffeting us, but we all know this past year has changed some things forever. Getting on top of this virus has been a process, not an event, but I’d like to check in with some improvements Covid has brought to my life. Surprisingly, there are quite a few.

Before lockdowns, for instance, a yoga morning consisted of showering, finding my yoga duds, dressing for class, making a cold 15-minute drive to the studio, and then setting up and settling in. Now I roll out of bed, flip out my yoga mat in the sunroom and turn on my computer for an online class, still in my pyjamas. My yoga instructor has managed to keep her thoughts on my attire to herself, for which I’m grateful.

And what about the new ways we tap in to the delivery of medical services? Pre-Covid, how often had you experienced a phone consult with your physician?

C O M M U N I T Y

E L D E R

Bruce Wanless

L

ocal lacrosse legend Bruce Wanless credits his love of the game to seren­ dipity. “When we were kids, a neighbour gave my brother and me two well-used lacrosse sticks. We spent countless hours whacking the ball against a brick wall of our farm house that was a perfect backboard,” he said.

Growing up as one of five children on the family farm in Caledon’s former Chinguacousy Township, Bruce, now 82, remembers riding bareback on a horse to a one-room schoolhouse with two of his siblings. “When we got there we’d send our four-legged friend home while we headed to class,” he said.

Humble beginnings for Bruce, who is considered one of lacrosse’s all-time great defensive players.

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He would eventually claim three MVP awards in Ontario lacrosse leagues and be part of four national championship-winning teams. He was inducted into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame in 1987, the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2002.

In addition, the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation named him a Lacrosse Legend and created a YouTube video to honour his achievements.

In the mid-1960s, Bruce briefly played profes­ sional lacrosse with the Detroit Olympics, making enough money to buy a colour television, but the league didn’t survive.

It was the camaraderie of the game that Bruce treasures most. “The train trips from Ontario to Western Canada to play in national competitions are some of my fondest memories,” he said.

Research carried out by ICES, an inde­ pendent, not-for-profit research institute, and Unity Health Toronto compared Ontario medical billing data from March to July 2020 with data from the same period in 2019. The study’s authors found that the number of office visits dropped by nearly 80 per cent in 2020, while virtual visits jumped by an eyepopping 5,600 per cent.

Though not everyone will agree that virtual visits are an improvement, for most medical appointments I much prefer the ease of talking to a medical professional over the phone to the hassle of showing up and waiting my turn in a doctor’s office.

And having test results available online is a huge step forward. Now, will the medical system please work on assimilating each patient’s bits of information into one central place? This can’t be very far off.

In addition to all this, the speed at which the latest vaccines have been developed is no small miracle. “The science behind vaccine preparation is light-years ahead of previous vaccines,” said Karen Peirce, a retired Caledon family physician. “I have huge faith in Health Canada and absolutely no concern that it

might appear to have been done on the fly. The science leading to the production of these vaccines has been in the works for many years.”

Though getting vaccines into the arms of those who want them is presenting challenges, the job will get done, and we’ll all be better off for it.

We have also became proficient at understanding and using online stores, and we’re now at ease with the process of curbside pickup and even grocery home delivery.

Online courses are available in everything from dog training to web design. We can tune in to choral concerts and watch theatre perform­ ances. I’ve even heard there are thriving online knitting communities.

National and international multigeneration family online chats enable us to see people we rarely get to visit without using our passports and enduring the inconvenience and expense of air flights. Though these chats are often chaotic as we adapt to the technology, we still manage to connect and celebrate special events with people thousands of kilometres away. And we can take pride in reducing our carbon footprint through reduced air and vehicle travel.

For decades the city of Toronto has

been dithering about repurposing a few traffic lanes for bike and pedes­ trian use. This finally became a reality when the city realized it could no longer ignore the fact that people need safe ways to move around outdoors.

And people are getting outdoors much more. Those of us living near conservation areas are well aware of the huge jump in the number of people enjoying our woodland, bike and rail trails.

My anxious thoughts and occasional nightmares are likely similar to yours – forgetting to mask, unwittingly finding myself in a crowded setting, hugging a friend spontaneously. I often wonder how long it will take us to recover after all this is over, as well as how difficult it’s going to be to stop moving our lips in sync with our thoughts when we can finally chuck our masks.

The Covid experience has most certainly left us all a bit ragged. But the end is on the horizon, and in at least a few areas of our lives, we will be better off for having foundered, fought, recovered and persisted through it.

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

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healthy and One wonders what might have happened if instead of lacrosse sticks the neighbour had dropped off hockey sticks, or perhaps tennis rackets.

At the beginning of his working life, Bruce briefly owned both a dairy and a variety store, but when he joined the Brampton Fire Department in 1971 he knew he had found his professional calling. He retired as district fire chief 28 years later at the mandatory retirement age of 60.

For the next 20 years Bruce worked as safety manager for Graham Bros. Construction and was honoured to give the eulogy at founder Bill Graham’s funeral in 2019.

As pandemic restrictions ease, Bruce and Donna, his wife of 59 years, are eagerly anticipating resumed visits from their two daughters and six grandsons.

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a New Heritage How a young family is reimagining an 1885 Erin farmhouse for a long, happy life.

BY JANICE QUIRT

“O

PHOTOGR APHY BY ERIN FITZGIBBON

h, no. I love it!” These were the fateful words Julia Grys uttered in 2016 when she and her husband, Dave, first clapped eyes on a vintage Erin village farmhouse that had lost its lustre.

At the time, Julia was six months pregnant with their daughter, Abby, now four. And tellingly, even their realtor discouraged the purchase, saying the couple would spend all their free time and money on the fixerupper. The kitchen was dark and pokey with stick-on floor tiles, cupboards

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that were falling apart and an awkward layout. But the couple loved the small kitchen in the one-and-a-half storey Georgetown home where they were then living and suspected they could recreate its sensibility.

Still, they took their realtor’s advice and walked away that day. With their first baby on the way, they were daunted by the project and the prospect of starting over in a new community. They subsequently looked at newer builds, but none could compete with the high ceilings, wood floors (except in the

kitchen) and a claw-foot tub that had caught their eye. A month later they made an offer, believing the quirky house needed only some unconditional love.

Julia found herself captivated by the history of the place, which started with determined Scottish immigrant Mary McMillan (née McKechnie) who had lived there with her five children. The house was built in 1885, the same year Mary’s husband, John, died in a sawmill accident. Mary lived there until her death in 1926 and is buried just up the road in the Erin Pioneer Cemetery.

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As they planned their renovation, Julia and Dave discovered an old stone foundation running along the middle of the house, leading them to believe that the kitchen and dining room were at one time its only two rooms, with the rest added later. This could explain some of the dwelling’s odd features. The front windows on the second storey, for example, are very close together, and a stair railing ends abruptly in the middle of another second-storey window.

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

facing Julia Grys and her daughter, Abby, on the steps of their “modern farmhouse” in Erin. top A checkerboard floor adds cheer to the home’s porch. above The second floor features original wood flooring and a stair railing that ends in the middle of a window.

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top left The newly renovated kitchen pops with white cupboards and polished nickel hardware. top centre Contractor Graham Laird removed the wall between the kitchen and dining area. top right A collection of vintage bottles glows on a windowsill. A kitchen light fixture gleams against the room’s reclaimed ceiling. near right An antique harvest table dominates the dining area.

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far right A Turkish rug and cozy textiles balance the crisp white walls in the living area.

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The building’s architecture seems to be a hodgepodge of Italianate, Georgian and Ontario farmhouse styles, says Julia. “No doubt it was the result of what each builder knew how to build at the time, and what the homeowners could afford. Still, we love all the quirks and character, and we wouldn’t change anything.”

Except for the old kitchen, which underwent a four-month renovation, longer than expected because of Covid-related delays. Overseen by the

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Orangeville firm, Laird Kitchen and Bath, construction finally finished earlier this year. With its abundance of natural light, the newly renovated kitchen is now the most-used room in the house – and Julia’s favourite.

The home’s massive beams allowed for the safe removal of the wall between the kitchen and dining room – and the salvaging of wood to form part of the new kitchen ceiling. When tearing down the wall, contractor Graham Laird carefully removed its wide pine planks, pulling out the original hand-

forged square nails. Dave and Julia then sanded and whitewashed each board before it went up over their heads.

Julia and Dave found the kitchen door at Artefacts Salvage & Design in St. Jacobs. “It was stained an awful orange colour, but it had good bones and original hardware, plus it was the right period for our home,” says Julia. She sanded the door, adding only a wax finish, so its natural colour provides an eye-catching contrast with the white kitchen cupboards, quartz countertops and sink. As a finishing

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touch, Julia chose polished nickel hardware. “Everyone is doing brass right now, but I prefer cooler tones like French blue and pink, so nickel was a better choice,” she says.

Julia’s love of elegant blue shows up on the front door, an Erin garage-sale find painted Benjamin Moore’s Wythe Blue, a colour also found on parts of their backyard shed. “It’s my favourite accent colour because it reminds me of old mason jars and medicine bottles – blue in some lights, green in others,”

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says Julia. Indeed, this approach is the scaffolding behind most of Julia’s style decisions: “Do what you love and don’t worry about what everyone else thinks.”

With the kitchen out of commission for several months during the pandemic, the family’s harvest table, already a favourite piece, did double and triple duty hosting online school, work, painting and crafts in the dining area.

Found during a family excursion to the Cookstown Antique Market, the table was a gift from Dave’s

parents. Other treasured belongings with strong family ties range from a pair of coveralls Dave’s grandfather wore to his job as a bus mechanic and a miniature gold tea set Julia’s grandmother played with as a child.

The set is safely tucked away in the china cabinet until Abby is older.

The couple considers their style to be “modern farmhouse” with a dash each of French country and Scandinavian minimalism. To unify the main floor, Benjamin Moore’s Chantilly Lace, which Julia describes as the

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top left The vanity is made from an antique buffet.

perfect white, is the paint colour used throughout. She loves the way this colour allows the antique details on their Turkish rugs, oil paintings, old frames and mirrors, ironstone china and wooden crates to shine. Many of these collectibles were found at favourite local shopping haunts, such as The Weathervane in Erin, Blumen on Broadway in Orangeville, and Epiphany Apparel, though its Erin location has recently closed, much to Julia’s regret.

“While we aspire to live with less C O N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

top right The clawfoot tub is the star of the bathroom.

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lower left A wroughtiron bed adds romance to the principal bedroom.

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above Lilliputian delights fill Abby’s playroom.

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top Mature trees and a steel gazebo provide a backyard oasis for the Grys family. right Julia and Dave Grys sit on a homemade bench in front of their refurbished potting shed.

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(there are no true closets in the house), we do love our stuff – books, records, antique dishes, things that show their age and have history,” she says.

Upstairs are three bedrooms and the bathroom with the unforgettable claw-foot tub, which was refinished

by Miracle Method of Georgetown.

Julia painted the outside with a coalblack shade of Fusion mineral paint.

She added milk-glass sconces for a schoolhouse look, and the vanity is an antique buffet. The bathroom walls are painted Benjamin Moore’s Gray Owl, a soft grey shade.

Outside in the backyard, the prop­ erty’s natural history sets the scene for outdoor play and entertain­ing amid

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beautiful mature pine and maples and a row of towering black walnut trees. When they can, Dave, Julia and Abby love having people over to spend time there, enjoying a fire in the evening and looking up at the stars.

It’s a slightly more rural upbringing for Abby than that of her parents.

Dave was raised in Richmond Hill, Julia in Ottawa. Dave, who works in cybersecurity, now enjoys exploring the nearby country roads on his motorcycle. And on rainy days, the family heads for the front porch, all the better to greet friends passing by.

“We wanted wide open spaces, a friendly community and great neighbours, and we got all of those in Erin,” says Julia. “We love the slower

pace of this quaint town where people still smile and wave when you pass them on the sidewalk.”

Julia is passionate about both her new hometown and shopping local. She supports the buy local movement not only personally, but also professionally. As a “member ambassador” with the Orangeville BIA, her work involves marketing and member communications.

And her love of historic buildings extends beyond her own. A member of Erin’s heritage committee, she enthusiastically champions a residential plaque program for homeowners who wish to place a sign on their house to indicate the year the home was built and the name of

the original owner. Julia is looking forward to the day when “Mary (née McKechnie) McMillan, Head of Household,” goes up beside her beloved blue-green front door.

“At home, our goal is to put back some of the original features that have been lost over the years,” says Julia. “I don’t think we’ll ever be done, but it’s incredibly satisfying to restore this heritage home and fill it with love and family while continuing to tell its stories.”

Janice Quirt is a freelance writer who lives in Mono.

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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.

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FAMILY COMPOUND, 160 ACRES, CALEDON Newly designed interiors. Exceptional country estate. Main residence with 10 bedrooms, indoor pool. Underground parking. Multiple guest houses. Trout pond, tennis, miles of trails. $14,995,000

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65 GLENVIEW HEIGHTS, KING Custom home with valley views. 10 private acres. 3 finished levels. 2 kitchens. Guest bunkie. Spa by Betz. Paris kitchen. Wow! $3,499,000

BRAECROFT, HALTON Family residence surrounded by gardens, within 150 acres of inspiring vistas along the shores of the Scotch Block reservoir. Ponds, farmland, barn, outbuildings. $5,500,000

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MONO PARK FARM, HOCKLEY VALLEY 100-acre property. Across from the majestic 1850-acre Mono Cliffs. 7-bedroom stone Century home. Pool, pond, barn with 6-stall stable, workshop. $3,490,000

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SOLD

ERIN HILLS, EXCLUSIVE Prime location on 8th Line. Stroll to CataractElora trails or into Erin. Lovely rolling acreage, pond, woods and superb views. 4-bedroom Century home. 99 acres. Asking $1,699,000

HOCKLEY LODGE, MONO Elegant country home dramatically placed on Hockley Valley Ridge. 6-bedroom custom home, coach house, tennis court, large pond and hiking trails. 80 acres. Asking $4,500,000

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SOLD WOOD CROWN FARM, MONO 4-bedroom restored Victorian house, pool, organic gardens and separate log cabin.

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

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SILVER CREEK FARM, GEORGETOWN Granite built, 5-bedroom farmhouse on 133 acres of Halton Hills. Hardwood bush, 50+ acres of arable land. Maple syrup operation. Asking $3,590,000

COUNTRY ESTATE, 50 ACRES Spectacular country estate. 4-stall stable, pond, tennis court and guest house. 6 bdrms, indoor pool & basketball court. 5-car garage. Perfect home for entertaining. Asking $7,975,000

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Sales Representative o: 705.435.4336 britton@marcronan.com www.marcronan.com

Marc Ronan

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PRIVATE MONO CENTRE EQUESTRIAN ESTATE Secluded estate on 6.93 acres next to Mono Cliffs Park. Custom bungalow with world-class renovation and decor with all of today's at home amenities. 5 acres of secure paddock area, small horse barn, heated tack room and loft area. Gated entry allows complete privacy yet walk to hiking and riding areas. 10+ offering with all the bells and whistles. Bruce Trail, Hockley Resort, Adamo Winery, and restaurants galore in a high end country atmosphere. $2,500,000

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A PIECE OF COUNTRY PARADISE IN HOCKLEY VALLEY Set amongst beautiful equestrian farms and estates this 11-acre property boasts a large frontage with great privacy from neighbours. Enjoy your own walking trails and mixed forest. Solid stone and brick bungalow with 3 bedrooms up & 2 down. Country kitchen with open-concept living/dining room with walkout to brand new deck. Walkout lower level with large family room, rec room with new floors. Fresh neutral paint throughout, updated windows, 3-car garage. $1,298,000

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HORSE FARM IN SOUTH MONO TOWNSHIP Storybook setting on approximately 23.70 acres in the heart of horse country. 70'x140' indoor arena, 9-stall horse barn with feed room, 1 standing stall, horse shelters, wash stall, loft for 500 bales, large tack room and hired hand apartment. 100'x200' outside sand ring, 7 paddocks. Farm home with great views over the countryside, riding trails, mature trees, and ravine. Backyard fully fenced. Geothermal heating. $1,850,000

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SPRAWLING STONE BUNGALOW CLOSE TO HOCKLEY VALLEY This executive home is placed perfectly on your own 10 acres. Tree-lined paved drive leads to 4-car tandem garage & landscaped front walkway to the double door entrance. Features large principal rooms with vaulted ceilings. Multiple walkouts to huge deck overlooking backyard with inground saltwater pool & hardwood bush with walking trails. 2 master suites, ground source heating & cooling. Microfit solar panels (great income). Close to Caledon Equestrian Centre. $1,695,000

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100-ACRE FARM ON THE EDGE OF KING TOWNSHIP Beautifully renovated bungalow. 3+1 bedrooms & 2 baths. Custom kitchen w/ solid surface counter tops, b/i charging station & wine rack. Lower level bath w/ heated floors & lower level bedroom w/ custom w/i closet. Pride of ownership is apparent. Extensively landscaped & meticulously maintained yard w/ several outbuildings & large bank barn. Approx 60 acres of workable land, remainder being mixed bush and 2 ponds. 5 mins to Schomberg & 10 mins to Highway 400. $2,700,000

CUSTOM BUNGALOW ON JUST OVER AN ACRE – NEW TECUMSETH Custom executive home to be built minutes to town. This beautiful stone and brick walkout bungalow features 3-car garage, 4 bedrooms plus office on main floor, large eat-in kitchen with island, open concept to the great room with gas fireplace and walkout to large covered deck.

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Paul Richardson SALES REPRESENTATIVE

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CENTURY HOME ON 41 ACRES Brick farmhouse with gorgeous views across the valley within walking distance of Mansfield Ski Club. Private and serene location. $1,150,000 PRIVATE CUSTOM COUNTRY Tucked away on 5 private acres sits this immaculate custom home with everything completed to the highest standard. You will be the first person to live in this wonderful setting complete with your own pond for summer fishing and winter skating; surrounded by mature trees. This new home features high ceilings and large windows, principal bedroom with spa ensuite, enormous kitchen with centre island, quartz counters and custom window seat. Solid wood doors and trim including reclaimed extra wide hardwood floors, exterior finish of cut limestone and wood siding. Full lower level for added space. $1,999,999

SOLD

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CABIN FOR RENT IN MULMUR Cozy 2-bedroom log cabin available for March and April. Complete with woodstove and open-concept living space. Large windows overlooking private pond and waterfall. 10 minutes to Mansfield Ski Club and 20 minutes to Devil’s Glen. $3,500/month + utilities.

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CLARKSON BEAUTY This completely renovated custom family home is a Rattray Marsh gem. The home boasts mature private and serene. Yard features an inground pool with lots of grass for kids and dogs. Your own oasis in south Mississauga where you can walk to the lake and just minutes to Clarkson GO. High end finishes, filled with natural sunlight, 5 spacious bedrooms and extra storage will check off the must haves. Call for more details.

PIKE BAY BUILDING LOT Over 2 acres on the Bruce Peninsula to build your dream getaway. Steps to Lake Huron and beautiful sunsets with internet service. Yours to enjoy! $179,000

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STARTER HOME In the growing town of Arthur, enjoy small town life with big town conveniences in this 3-bedroom home. Walking distance to parks, rec centre, schools and downtown.

Great investment! $499,000

SPECTACULAR WATERFRONT On the shores of Georgian Bay, this renovated cottage with everything from a rock climbing wall to a roof top deck w/ 360° views. 5 bdrms, 3.5 baths, over 4200 sq ft of living space & 117’ water frontage! $3,850,000

BEAUTIFUL SUBDIVISION In sought-after Georgian Meadows, Collingwood. 3 bdrms,1.5 baths. 1547 sq ft.

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PRESTIGIOUS COLLINGWOOD Upgraded loft unit in Wyldewood w/ cathedral ceiling! 1456 sq ft, 2 bdrms, 1.5 bath on main level. Loft suite w/ 3rd bdrm & full bath on 2nd level. Year-round outdoor pool.

Elevator & parking at front door. $649,000

CHARMING CHALET Open concept living, dining & massive chef’s kitchen! 5 bdrm, 3 bath, 2-car garage on a 100’x200’ lot. Deck for BBQing in any season.

Partial ownership of a lot down the street for access to Georgian Trail. $1,100,000

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Sean Anderson

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Dale Poremba

Sales Representative dale@remaxinthehills.com

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98-ACRE ESTATE FARM WITH MOST CAPTIVATING VIEWS! Two road frontages in the middle of the hills of Mono! Gated entry leads past riding arena and multiple agri-buildings that were once home to vet clinic.

Great flat pasture for paddocks. Trails through forest to the lower lying lands. Board & batten 3+1-bedroom bungaloft features post and beam interior with soaring ceilings, open flow, warm fireplace, finished walkout basement with heated floors and views! Very versatile property like this with buildings, land and views doesn’t come along very often! Mono $2,799,000

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COMING SOON! Investment or work/live opportunity! High exposure village commercial building with retail at the front and existing massage therapy tenant at the back, 2 sep large residential units on the second level! Great central location, parking, with loads of charm! Erin $1,099,000

SOLD JAN 2021

143+ ACRES & 360˚ VIEWS FROM THE SOUTH RIDGE OF HOCKLEY VALLEY Transformed country estate that caters to discerning taste for quality and detail! Follow a grand maple tree-lined driveway and discover your own private island sitting amongst rolling fields, mixed forest and unspoiled escarpment. The handsome residence has been redesigned with a modern take on the classic with high ceilings and flowing floor plan with forethought for expansion. One barn has been outfitted with a stunning heated garage that can handle all your large toys. At 35 minutes from Pearson a property of this calibre in a setting so sublime is hard to find. The time to enjoy is now!

Mono $3,999,000

SOLD FEB 2021

LUXURIOUS CALEDON EAST 5 bdrms, 5 baths, over 4000 sq ft. Modern kit with quartz counters, high-end appliances, gas grill top. Most sought after floor plan with main floor office and 2 master suite options.

Sep entry to basement via main level laundry.

SOLD FEB 2021

WELCOME TO YOUR RIVERFRONT RESORT! 2 bedroom + den, bungalow set on banks of Nottawasaga River, 200 ft of frontage. From huge deck or hot tub - watch salmon as they leap over the cascading falls. At foot of the Hockley Valley, world-class golf and fine dining minutes away or cruise down the river and visit “Schitts Creek” motel just around the bend. 45 minutes to airport, yet in your own slice of natural heaven. Double lot on private road, newer flooring and all new appliances in the last 3 years. Modified kitchen, renovated 4-piece bath with integrated laundry! Hiking, biking, skiing, fishing and most importantly relaxing is all right here! Mono $749,000

34 ACRES ON FRINGE OF CALEDON VILLAGE O/c energy efficient bungaloft offers easy commute. Rehabilitated gravel pit is now your private space for rural recreation w/ endless possibilities for the future. Home built to R-2000 standards and features geothermal heating/cooling system, coupled w/ tracker solar system. Natural elements offer total privacy, great for overnight guests w/ upper loft, fin bsmt/rec room and more bdrms. Above ground swim spa w/ hot tub. Close to everything but like you’re in your own beautiful world!

HANDSOME HOME ON MATURE TREED LOT IN CALEDON VILLAGE Family home was 4 bdrms, now w/ lrg dressing rm in mstr that could easily convert back & 3-pc ens which could be extended into adjoining closet if desired. Hrdwd flrs just installed recently throughout most of home. Kitchen is open to large breakfast area/living rm combo. Private fam rm w/ fp & w/o to massive recent deck. Bsmt mostly unspoiled. Generator, forced air/gas 2005, roof 7 years w/ 30-year shingle. 151x203 ft lot, 3-car garage w/ parking in driveway for 6, municipal water & central air.

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7 WHITNEY WAY, CALEDON Situated on 3.1 acres with towering cathedral ceilings. Open concept with loft and main floor master. $1,799,000

13 DAWNRIDGE TRAIL, BRAMPTON 3100 sq ft with many upgrades including inground pool liner, sprinkler system, appliances and gas fireplace. Walkout basement with full kitchen and bedroom. $1,525,000

969 FORKS OF THE CREDIT RD, BELFOUNTAIN Situated on a 1-ac lot backing onto conservation with many upgrades & pride of ownership. W/o bsmt. O/c liv/din/kit, main flr laundry. $1,349,000

60-SEAT RESTAURANT, GODERICH Land, building and business. Seller is retiring, chef will stay on, beautiful historic building, ranked #1 fine dining in Huron County. $999,000

WORBLER WOODS, LONDON Located in a prestigious community, this stately home is well appointed and sitting on a mature lot. $899,000

4800 SQ FT STEEL STORAGE BARN FOR LEASE Located at Winston Churchill and Bush St in Erin. Cement floor, private access, running water. $1500/month

SOLD

79 ACRES, CALEDON 10,000+ sq ft, 5 ensuite bedrooms, 7 baths, stunning Escarpment views, 50 ft lap pool, 1 year old, no expenses spared. $7,999,000

SOLD

SOLD

Jim Wallace spr21_layout 21-03-10 12:38 PM Page 1

37 MCGREGOR DR, CALEDON 2100 sq ft on .5+ of an acre with many upgrades including inground pool, kitchen and windows. $1,325,000

Phillips Imrie spr21_layout 21-03-10 6:34 PM Page 1

Adrian Muscat spr21_layout 21-03-10 11:53 AM Page 1

Move With the Muscats

Welcome to Headwaters Country HeadwatersCountry.com info@headwaterscountry.com 519-941-5151 Victoria Phillips and Janna Imrie

RCR Realty, Brokerage

The ultimate real estate experience.

Independently Owned & Operated

Charsanda Muscat

SALES REPRESENTATIVE

SALES REPRESENTATIVE 2019 RECIPIENT OF

519-278-5888

DUFFERINCOUNTYHOMES.COM

SOLD OVER ASKING

Sales Representatives

Adrian Muscat

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MISSISSAUGA VALLEY BLVD Searching for that one incredible home?

That one that's unique and equally gorgeous as it is functional, maximizing every square inch to its greatest and best potential?

SOLD FIRM

STUNNING EQUESTRIAN FACILITY Situated on 100 acres this fabulous farm features 15 stalls in the renovated bank barn, 80x180 indoor arena, grooming/wash stalls, numerous paddocks, outdoor sand ring, manager's apartment and heated workshop. Lovely Victorian homestead with several garages. $3,100,000

GRAND VALLEY Remarkable opportunity to renovate your own country home. Large bungalow on nearly two acres. Bring your design ideas and shabby chic finishes.

SOLD OVER ASKING

SOLD

GORGEOUS ROLLING HILLS This lovely rolling 60-acre property with a spring-fed pond and a tributary of the Humber River running through it generates over $70k income per year via a long-term tenant and a solar panel contract. Approximately 30 acres in hayfields, lots of trees, cut trails, 12-stall barn, paddocks and two homes. Great for investment or personal use. $2,500,000

BURBANK CRESCENT, ORANGEVILLE Incredibly accommodating and versatile 4-bedroom freehold semi-detached property in Orangeville.

CANNON COURT, ORANGEVILLE Amazing opportunity to experience Orangeville's ever popular west end while owning a spacious two-storey semi-detached home with a full 1-car garage.

Ross Hughes spr21_layout 21-03-10 6:40 PM Page 1

Wayne Baguley spr21_layout 21-03-11 9:56 PM Page 1

RCR Realty, Brokerage Independently Owned & Operated

RossHughes.ca 519-938-2225

1-800-268-2455

LIVE & WORK ON BROADWAY Mixed-use building! Well-maintained Italianate Victorian split into 3 self-contained units. Main floor commercial space currently a salon could be transformed for many other commercial uses/possibly even 3rd residential unit. Main floor also features bachelor apt. Upper floor is bright 1-bdrm apt. Live & work or become a landlord! Property is fully tenanted. $999,900

DOWNTOWN CENTURY HOME Investment opportunity w/ many original finishings. Combined kit/dining rm, living rm & addition at rear of home. Upper level offers convenient laundry & 3 bdrms serviced by 4-pc bath. 3 bdrm, 1 bath. $679,900

SARAH ASTON Sales Representative

SUTTON

-

HEADWATERS REALTY INC

Town and Country Properties

PRIVATE COUNTRY PARADISE 2+1 bdrms, cathedral ceilings, bright eat-in kitchen, renovated rec room with walkout plus an impressive master with spa-like ensuite. Attached workshop. Summer pond and secret bunkie in the woods. 2 acres. Erin. $1,299,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

100-ACRE FARM Large bank barn for cattle w/ hay storage and concrete silage pits. Separate horse barn w/ 10 stalls and tack room. Multiple paddocks w/ run-ins. Mixed bush w/ trails.

2+1-bedroom home awaiting your finishes. $2,299,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

CUSTOM COUNTRY BUNGALOW Open concept, 3 bedroom on 1.38 acres backing onto forest with Sheldon Creek wrapping around the yard. Detached 3-car garage with loft. Stunning landscaping, stone patios, gardens, hot tub and sauna. $1,899,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

CIRCA 1860 MANOR Historical features plus modern conveniences. 4 bdrms, eat-in kitchen with w/o to screened porch. 6+ acres w/ towering trees, privacy, European style natural pool & views.

Separate 4-bedroom, 2-bath guest house. $2,399,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

519.217.4884

4TH LINE, MULMUR Views and privacy – you can have it all! Lovely modern 4-bdrm farmhouse w/ incredible barn complex, 2nd 2-bdrm residence and 71.80 gently rolling productive acres. House boasts new spray foam insulation, metal roof, kit with quartz counters, furnace and CAC, 2018. New barn 60x100x18' clear height, with 5 stalls, tack, wash concrete foundation, 16' sliding door, 12' overhead door, on demand hot water. Large outdoor sand ring professionally built. $1,895,000

QUEEN STREET, ALTON Embrace the sound & sight of the river rushing past. 2019 2-storey, 4-bdrm, 4-bath home.

Entertainer's kit, reclaimed birch plank flring, massive decks overlook water. Sit by the firepit overlooking the waterfall. $1,689,000

TUCKED AWAY IN THE FOREST 3+1 bdrms, open concept, European eat-in kitchen, dining & living room. Charming wood stove with stone wall. Screened-in sunroom.

Finished basement. Heated workshop with 3-car parking and loading dock. Erin. $1,449,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

ESCAPE FROM THE CITY 3000+ total living space of custom-built splendour in East Garafraxa. Situated on over 3 acres with an inground pool and hardwood forest behind, this property is sure to impress! 5 bdrm, 3 bath. $1,525,000

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sarahaston.ca

STUNNING VICTORIAN Many original features – floors, woodwork and gingerbread trim. 3 bedrooms, renovated kitchen, sunroom. Large yard and mature trees. Workshop with 3-car parking.

Steps to Orton Park & Rails for Trails. $949,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

GREY HIGHLANDS A family resort for all seasons! Beside Lake Eugenia, a 80.92-ac wonderland. Trails, a lrg pond, treehouse, frog pond, fenced paddock & 4-car grg. 4-bdrm bungalow with w/o bsmt & 3-bdrm apt with sep entrance. $1,399,000

SPECTACULAR 20,000 SQ FT OF FINISHED SPACE IN THE COUNTRY Unbelievable landscaping, 10+ acres, 3 ponds, waterfall, tennis court. Grand entry, 7 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 2-storey library, home theatre, indoor firing range, indoor pool, solarium, 5-car garage with nanny suite above. Incredibly private. Caledon Wonderland. $6,800,000 Wayne Baguley 519-941-5151

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ILLUS TR ATIONS JIM S TEWART

What’s on in the Hills A

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H A P P E N I N G S

As the pandemic evolves, many familiar events have moved online while others have instituted Covid-19 protocols. When planning to participate, please check the websites or social media platforms of your favourite performers and organizations for updates.

arts+letters

APR 15 : EMWF BOOK CLUB: RETURN OF THE TRICKSTER Live discussion

Walk the outdoor Magic Word Trail by Alex Leikermoser around the mill. Free.

Alton Mill Arts Centre, 1402 Queen St, Alton. 416-818-9642; yogagurl.com

between best-selling author Eden Robinson and CBC’s Rosanna Deerchild. Submit questions. Free, virtual. 8-9pm. Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, 519-341-4320; emwf.ca

NOW – MAY 24 : REL AUNCH 2021

APR 16 : READING OTHER LIVES

Members exhibit their artistic visions in various media. Virtual preview.

Open onsite as of Apr 21. Wed-Sun 10am-5pm. Free. Alton Mill Arts Centre, 1402 Queen St, Alton. 519943-1149; headwatersarts.com

AF TERNOON BOOK CLUB The

NOW – APR 4 : FOLLOW YOUR MAGIC

Henna Artist by Alka Joshi. 1pm.

Free; Zoom link provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca

1pm. Free; Zoom link provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 22 : DIY UPCYCLED FARMHOUSE BOOK STACK – AGES 18+ Customize

this farmhouse chic design. All materials provided. 7pm. Free; Zoom link and pickup instructions provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905-857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca

APR 20 : IT’S A MYSTERY BOOK NOW – JUN 30 : DIY FASCINATORS

APR 8 : OH CANADA EVENING BOOK CLUB The Forgotten Home

Child by Genevieve Graham.

7pm. Free; Zoom link provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca

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AGES 16+ Crosshairs by Catherine Hernandez. 7pm. Free; Zoom link provided on registration.

Caledon Library, 905-8571400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 28 – MAY 23 : FULL CIRCLE – ILLUMINATING THE ART OF C J SHELTON Mandala artwork and paintings in various media and subject matter. May 1: reception, 1-4pm.

Wed-Sun 10am-5pm. Free. Alton Mill Arts Centre, 1402 Queen St, Alton.

Dancing Moon Designs, 519-2168643; dancingmoondesigns.ca

CLUB Still Midnight by Denise Mina.

ABBREVIATIONS

Step-by-step instructions inspired by the Our Voices, Our Journeys exhibition. Free, virtual. PAMA, 905-791-4055; pama.peelregion.ca

APR 26 : LGBTQ+ BOOK CLUB –

CCS Caledon Community Services

DCAFS Dufferin Child

CPCC Caledon Parent-Child Centre

DPSN Dufferin Parent

CVC Credit Valley

EWCS East Wellington Community Services

Conservation

and Family Services Support Network

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MOD Museum of Dufferin – Regular admission: $5; seniors $4; children 5-14 $2; under 5 free; family $12 PAMA Peel Art Gallery, Museum and

Archives – Regular admission: $5; students, seniors $4; family (2 adults & 5 children) $12

NVCA Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority OAS Orangeville Agricultural

Society Event Centre SBEC Orangeville & District Small Business Enterprise Centre

Virtually Visit Us DufferinMuseum.com

Discover, Educate & Share in our Online Learning Hub. Enjoy our Archival, Artifact & Education Collections.

Gain some insight on our virtual MoD Talks guests.

Spend some time in our Research databases.

ARCHIVAL

ARTIFACTS

EDUCATION

RESEARCH

www.dufferinmuseum.com Check our website to see if we are open. @MuseumofDufferin

936029 Airport Road, Mulmur

#MuseumofDufferin

dufferinmuseum.com

facebook.com/DufferinMuseum

519.941.1114

info@dufferinmuseum.com

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www.theatreorangeville.ca C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 10 8

community FARMERS’ MARKETS OPENING DAYS WINTER FARMERS’ MARKET APRIL 3 & 17: OR ANGEVILLE 9am-1pm.

Tony Rose Sports Centre, 6 Northmen Way. orangevillefarmersmarket.ca SUMMER FARMERS’ MARKETS MAY 8: OR ANGEVILLE Saturdays,

8am-1pm. 96 Broadway parking lot. orangevillefarmersmarket.ca MAY 22: CREEMORE Saturdays, 8:30am-noon. Creemore Springs Brewery parking lot, 139 Mill St. creemorefarmersmarket.ca MAY 22: ALLISTON Saturdays, 8am-2pm.

Centre St & Victoria St. allistonbia.com MAY 23: MULMUR Sundays, 11am-3pm.

CUSTOM FRAMING & ART

Mansfield Community Park, 937016 Airport Rd. mulmurfarmersmarket.ca JUNE 25: ERIN Fridays, 3-7pm. McMillan

Park, 109 Main St, Erin. villageoferin.com NOW – APR 18 : ARTFUL GIVING

Unique treasures and original art.

Wed-Sun 10am-5pm. Free. Alton Mill Arts Centre, 1402 Queen St, Alton.

519-943-1149; headwatersarts.com NOW – APR 25 : JUMP UP! CELEBR A­ TING CARIBBEAN CARNIVALS

“Every time I have an idea for something that needs displaying, I just let Tracey run with her amazing talent. She outdoes herself every time!”

AARON PILATZKE

Be it fine art, photography, or shadow box, please make the investment with Tracey and give yourself the opportunity to bring her into your home.”

BRANDON MUIR

“It was nice to not have to decide on every little detail as the trust with Tracey was immediate. The prints are fabulous and I highly recommend her.”

JULIE THURGOOD

www.framedxdesign.com D IS TI N C TIVE C R E ATIVE D E S I G N S

75 Broadway, Orangeville | framedxdesign.com | 519-940-3050 OV E R 3 0 Y E A R S O F C U S TO M F R A M I N G E X P E R I E N C E

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History, emancipation, immigration and contemporary life in southern Ontario. Free, virtual. PAMA, 905791-4055; pama.peelregion.ca NOW – APR 29 (THURSDAYS) : FRENCH CONVERSATION CIRCLE – AGES 18+ Practise with others in a casual setting. Some experience needed.

7pm. Free; Zoom link provided on

registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca NOW – MAY 17 (MONDAYS) : EXPLORER’S BIBLE STUDY Online discussion group of Matthew’s Gospel.

Newcomers welcome anytime.

7-8:30pm. Brampton Christian School, tabitha.ebs@gmail.com NOW – JUN 30 : OUR VOICES, OUR JOURNEYS: BL ACK COMMUNITIES IN PEEL Personal stories of leaders

and mentors from the North Peel Community Church congregation.

Free, virtual. PAMA, 905-7914055; pama.peelregion.ca NOW – SEP 30 : INSPIRING STORIES OF WOMEN IN THE VIRTUAL PAMA COLLEC TIONS Postal worker,

entrepreneur or United Nations diplomat, each woman has shaped our community. Free, virtual. PAMA, 905-791-4055; pama.peelregion.ca APR 8, 14 & 24 : SOUP SISTERS VIRTUAL SESSIONS For every ticket

sold 4 lbs of soup will be delivered to FTP. Buy a ticket, receive a grocery list, log in to a Zoom class. Apr 8: Nicole Gomes. Apr 14: Massimo Capra.

Apr 24: Jennifer Snell. Virtual private events available. $49 per virtual event, register. Orangeville Soup Sisters, 519-939-3663; soupsisters.org APR 8, MAY 13 & JUN 10 : OR ANGE­ VILLE & DISTRIC T PROBUS MEETINGS

Apr 8: Human Trafficking with Knut Holmsen. May 13: Caledon Trailway with Diane Allengame. June 10: Birdwatching (speaker TBA). Zoom link provided on registration. 10am-noon.

519-307-2887; probusorangeville.club APR 12 : STARTING A SMALL BUSINESS

Tips and strategies for success. Free, virtual. 1-3pm.

Town of Orangeville Economic Devel­ opment, 519-9410440; orangeville business.ca

Art at the Farm Open Studio and Gallery Events

SUBMIT YOUR EVENT

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 summer (June) issue, submit by May 14, 2021.

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.

Vista Dr, Orangeville. Canadian Blood Services, 1-888-236-6283; blood.ca

June 26 and 27 from 10am to 5pm September 11 and 12 from 10am to 5pm

APR 30 & MAY 28 : CALEDON SENIORS’ CENTRE DRIVE-THROUGH MONTHLY DINNERS Call to order two days

before. 5-6:30pm. $14. Local delivery available $2. 7 Rotarian Way, Bolton.

905-951-6114; caledonseniors.ca JUN 1 – 30 : HEADWATERS 50/50 R AFFLE – AGES 18+ Draw Jul 2.

Tickets online: 3 for $5; 20 for $10; 80 for $20; Proceeds to new and replacement equipment at Headwaters Health Care Centre.

Headwaters Health Care Foundation, 519-941-2702 x2303; hhcf5050.ca JUN 10 : EDC ROTARY GOLF

INTHEHILLS.CA

TOURNAMENT Proceeds to Shelburne splash pad. Noon-10pm. $150.

Shelburne Golf & Country Club, 516423 Cty Rd 124, Melancthon.

Rotary Club of Shelburne, Shelburne EDC, 519-925-2600; shelburne.ca

Spring Cleaning (above) and Violette JUN 24 : SENIORS’ STR AWBERRY SOCIAL High tea with

live entertainment. Free, donations to the expansion fund. Rain date Jun 25. 2-3:30pm.

7 Rotarian Way, Bolton. 905951-6114; caledonseniors.ca APR 13 : PALLIATIVE CARE MY TH BUSTING: EVERY THING YOU WANT TO KNOW, BUT ARE AFR AID TO ASK! Palliative care support provided in our community with Bethell Hospice. 7pm. Free, link provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 14 : GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR BROADBAND Tips with Erin Britnell and Debra Mann. 7pm. Free, link provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905-857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 21 : WALK THE TALK: WHAT’S

kids NOW – JUN 21 (MONDAYS) : OR ANGEVILLE TR ADITIONAL SCOUTING Scouting program for 7- to 10-year-olds. 7-8:30pm. $120.

Mono Amaranth Public School, Hockley Road, Orangeville. 905746-9501; traditionalscouting.ca MAR 29 – APR 30 : ISL AND L AKE ROWING CLUB CAMP REGISTR ATION

Camps run Jul 5-9 and Jul 12-16, 9am4pm. $225. islandlakerowing.com

THE BIG DEAL ABOUT CLIMATE

APR 6 : TEEN SKETCHBOOK CLUB Free

CHANGE? Solutions and action with

sketchbook and drawing pencils. Weekly drawing prompts posted at noon on our Teen Instagram account @teensofcpl.

Submit your sketches by DM or email.

Free, sketchbook pickup info emailed on registration. Caledon Library, 905-857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca

ecoCaledon. 7pm. Free, link provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905-857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 26 : OR ANGEVILLE BLOOD DONOR CLINIC The need for blood goes on.

2-7pm. Register. Best Western, 7 Buena

Studio and Gallery 20451 Porterfield Road, Caledon, Ontario

www.maryscattergood.com Visit maryscattergood.com for details

Studio open by appointment in accordance with health regulations

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Find an Advertiser L I N K

at

Headwaters Health Care Centre Take a virtual tour of 20 hospital gardens, created by community volunteers, on our new smartphone app built by University of Waterloo students. Download FriendShip Gdns free from your app store.

Follow our Instagram feed at Friendshipgardensheadwaters to learn about what’s in bloom, new native and environmental plantings, and how we’re combating gypsy moths and invasive phragmites.

To make a tax deductible donation to the garden, go to friendshipgardens.ca https://www.friendshipgardens.ca/

D I R E C T L Y

T O

O U R

A D V E R T I S E R S

a r t s + c ult ur e + t he at r e

d inin g

Dragonfly Arts on Broadway 42 Mary Scattergood, Folk Artist 111 Museum of Dufferin 109 Peel Art Gallery, Museum & Archives 113 Theatre Orangeville 110

Forage 49 Gourmandissimo Catering & Fine Food Shop 49

au t o Caledon Motors 48 Jaguar & Land Rover Brampton 5

be au t y + f i t ne s s Bridlewood Soaps 28 Foxy Face Lash Forever 42 Go Yoga 42 Headwaters Racquet Club 89 Henning Salon 42 Riverdale Fitness Mill 84 Skin ’n Tonic 42 Skin by Mosaic 43

Greystones Restaurant & Lounge 51 Judy’s Restaurant 51 Mono Cliffs Inn 51 Mrs. Mitchell’s Restaurant 30 . 49 Pia’s on Broadway 49 Rustik Local Bistro 51 Spirit Tree Estate Cidery 51 Terra Nova Public House 49 The Busholme Gastro Pub 58 The Globe Rosemont 47

f a r m + f e e d s up p l ie s Budson’s Farm & Feed Company 59

f a r m + g a r d e n e q uip me n t

A T

I N T H E H I L L S . C A

Davis Family Farm 73 Debora’s Chocolates 59 Fromage 43 Garden Foods 20 Heatherlea Farm Shoppe 73 Hummingbird Hill Farms 75 Landman Gardens & Bakery 75 Lavender Blue Catering 43 . 69 Le Finis 43 . 69 Lennox Farm 73 Maple Grove Farm 75 Mount Wolf Forest Farm 66 . 75 Orangeville Farmers’ Market 43 . 73 Pommies Cider 47 Pure Music Garlic Products 75 Rock Garden Farms 37 Rosemont General Store 47 Spirit Tree Estate Cidery 73 The Chocolate Shop 42 The Vine Agency 16 . 19

Larry’s Small Engines 26

g e ne r at o r s books

f a s hi o n + je w e l l e r y

BookLore 81

A.M. Korsten Jewellers 43 Gallery Gemma 19 Hannah’s 58 Naturally Rugged 58 Renaissance 59 Scented Drawer Fine Lingerie 43 Seconds Count Hospital Thrift Store 43

buil d e r s + a rc hi t e c t s + developers Canadian Outbuildings 38 Centre Point by Devonleigh 4 Classic Renovations 70 Dalerose Country 40 Dutch Masters Design & Construction 76 JDC Custom Homes 21 JDC Janssen Design 95 Pine Meadows 82 Post Farm Structures 15 Summit View by Devonleigh 4

Tanco Group 76

g o v e r nme n t Sylvia Jones, MPP 81

he a lt h + w e l l ne s s

McGuire Fence 66

Avita Integrated Health 78 Big Smiles Mobile Dental Hygiene 70 Dr. Richard Pragnell 84 Healing Moon 42 Karen Dougherty, Psychotherapy 28

f in a n c i a l s e r v i c e s

he at in g + c o o l in g

f e n c in g

BMO Nesbitt Burns Wealth Management, N. Meek 55 RBC Dominion Securities, S. Roud 15

Arseneau Home Comfort 91 Bryan’s Fuel 65

c h a r i ta b l e o rg a ni z at i o n s Friendship Gardens 112 Headwaters Health Care Foundation 87

c o mmuni t y s e r v i c e s Caledon Community Services 93

f ir e p l a c e s a l e s + s e r v i c e Caledon Fireplace 64

flowers Caledon Hills Peony Farms 19 Suzanne Gardner Flowers 43

c y c l in g Lynx & Hare Cycles 48

dance Academy of Performing Arts 42

f o o d + d r ink + c at e r in g

h o me d é c o r + f ur ni s hin g s Caledon Lighting 97 Decor Solutions Furniture & Design 58 Framed X Design 110 Granny Taught Us How 30 Heidi’s Room 30 Orangeville Furniture 120 Recovering Nicely 57 Sproule’s Emporium 43 The Weathervane 58

4th Line Cattle Co. 75 Bistro du Pain French Bakery 59 Calehill Farms 73 C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 114

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APR 6 : T WEEN FELTIE TAKE & MAKE KIT Learn simple stitching techniques. Share photos on the CPL Youth Facebook page. Free; Zoom link and kit pickup details provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 6 & MAY 4 : FRENCH STORY TIME ONLINE Interactive songs and rhymes.

11am. Free; Zoom link provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 12 – 16 : PAMA KIDS VIRTUAL SPRING BREAK Downloadable

activities and a special guest.

10am-4pm. Free. PAMA, 905-7914055; pama.peelregion.ca

Doc Gillies Rehearsal Hall, 065371 Dufferin Cty Rd 3, Orangeville. 519942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca APR 20 – JUN 29 (TUESDAYS) : THE JUNIOR STAGE (GR ADES 2- 4)

Storytelling, improvisation, role playing, pantomime, voice and movement. 6:30-8pm. $175. Nancy & Doc Gillies Rehearsal Hall, 065371 Dufferin Cty Rd 3, Orangeville. 519942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca

CALEDON EAT LOCAL GUIDE

caledon.ca/eatlocal www.caledon.ca/eatlocal

APR 21; MAY 19 : TEEN ADVISORY GROUP (TAG) – AGES 13-17 Earn community hours, meet new friends on Zoom. Contact ysvolunteers@caledon. library.on.ca for info. Caledon Library, 905-857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca

#LoveLocalCaledon

APR 22 – JUL 1 (THURSDAYS) : THE INTERMEDIATE STAGE (GR ADES 5 - 8) Improvisation, memorization

and personal experience. 6:308:30pm. $195. Nancy & Doc Gillies Rehearsal Hall, 065371 Dufferin Cty Rd 3, Orangeville. 519-9423423; theatreorangeville.ca APR 24 & MAY 22 : PUNJABI APR 13 : TEEN NEON SIGN TAKE & MAKE KIT (SELF-DIREC TED) Create a

sign with working lights using EL wire and canvas. Submit photos to our Teen Instagram account @teensofcpl. Free; Zoom link and kit pickup details provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905-857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 13 & MAY 11 : FAMILY GAMES NIGHT Fun for all ages! Apr 13: Virtual

Bingo. May 11: Family Feud. Free; Zoom link and instructions provided on registration. 7pm. Caledon Library, 905-857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 15 & MAY 13 : CLIMATE CRUSADERS CLUB Crafts and

activities to understand climate responsibility. Free; Zoom link and instructions provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca APR 19 – JUN 28 (MONDAYS) :

STORY TIME ONLINE Interactive songs and rhymes. 2pm. Free; Zoom link provided on registration.

Caledon Library, 905-8571400; caledon.library.on.ca MAY 1 : TEEN COMIC EXPO TAKE & MAKE KIT (SELF-DIREC TED)

Geeky-themed crafts and activities.

Submit photos to our Teen Instagram account @teensofcpl. Free; Zoom link and kit pickup details provided on registration. Caledon Library, 905857-1400; caledon.library.on.ca MAY 4 : EMWF KIDS: THE ROCK FROM THE SK Y Jon Klassen’s hilarious

meditation on friendship, fate and shared futuristic visions. Free, virtual.

10-10:30am. Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, 519-341-4320; emwf.ca

music

THEATRE OR ANGEVILLE EXCEP TIONAL

MAR – JULY: MUSIC AT ROSE

PL AYERS (T.O.E.P.) Skills-based

THEATRE Visit the website for virtual performances. 905-874-2800; rosetheatre.ca

theatre program for youth with neuro diversities. Adult: 2-3:30pm. Grades 6-12: 5-6:30pm. $195. Nancy &

www.pama.peelregion.ca

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Find an Advertiser C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 112

h o me imp ro v e me n t + r e pa ir

p o nd s

All-Mont Garage Doors 64 AllPro Roofing 2 Bolton Electrical Supply 97 Cairns Roofing 6 Caledon Tile 14 CBG Homes 26 Celtic Carpet 99 Karry Home Solutions 11 Kurtz Millworks 69 Leathertown Lumber 99 Orangeville Building Supply 21 Orangeville Home Hardware 24 River Ridge 3 Roberts Roofing 23 Synergy Exteriors 119

AquaVac Pond Cleaning 82 Pond Perfections 76 Silver Creek Ponds 38

pool s AquaVac Essentials 82 D&D Pools & Spas 17 New Wave Pools & Spas 85

p ro f e s s i o n a l s e r v i c e s Carters Law Firm 85 Town of Caledon Economic Development 83

in t e r i o r d e c o r at i o n + d e s i g n McNeil Design Group Interiors 95

l a nd s c a p in g + g a r d e nin g Aaron’s Gardens & Design 78 Clintar Landscape Design & Build 35 GB Stone 8 Headwaters Landscaping 40 Jay’s Custom Sheds 40 Leaves & Petals Garden Maintenance 36 Peel Landscaping 98 Raymar Landscape Design Build 71 River Ridge 3 Rossmann Landscaping 66 Stephanie’s Country Greenhouse 78 The Local Gardener 28 Tucker’s Land Services 11 Tumber Landscape Design & Build 7

m o v in g s e r v i c e s Downsizing Diva Dufferin-Caledon 98

mu s i c Gerber Pianoworks 97

pet portr aits Shelagh Armstrong, Illustrator 112

p e t s up p l ie s + s e r v i c e s Global Pet Foods 10

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r e a l e s tat e + h o me in s p e c t i o n s Bosley Real Estate 71 Velvet Alcorn Century 21 Millennium Inc. 39 Amir Mojallali Century 21 Millennium Inc. 13 Mary Klein, Kaitlan Klein Chestnut Park Real Estate 83 Sue Collis, Sarah MacLean Clairwood Real Estate Corporation 104 Jacqui Viaene Coldwell Banker, Ronan Realty 103 Britton Ronan, Marc Ronan, Sarah Lunn Coldwell Banker, Ronan Realty 17 Linda Pickering Coldwell Banker Select Realty 50 Verona Teskey Cornerstone Realty 69 Nancy Urekar Moffat Dunlap Real Estate 102 Moffat Dunlap, John Dunlap, Murray Snider, Nik Bonellos, Elizabeth Campbell, Courtney Murgatroyd, Sean Wynn, Mark Campbell, David Warren ReMax In The Hills 105 Chris Richie, Sean Anderson, Dale Poremba, Jennifer Unger ReMax Real Estate Centre 106 Adrian Muscat, Charsanda Muscat ReMax Real Estate Centre 52 Ann Shanahan, Bonnie Sturgeon, Sarah Anthon ReMax Realty Specialists Inc. 46 Sigrid Doherty ReMax Realty Specialists Inc. 63 Maria Britto ReMax Realty Specialists Inc. 22 Tav Schembri

Royal LePage Credit Valley 36 Rita Lange Royal LePage Meadowtowne Realty 104 Paul Richardson Royal LePage RCR Realty 29 Doug & Chris Schild Royal LePage RCR Realty 84 Jacqueline Guagliardi Royal LePage RCR Realty 101 Matt Lindsay Royal LePage RCR Realty 57 Neil Moutrey Royal LePage RCR Realty 101 Roger Irwin, Dawn Bennett Royal Lepage RCR Realty 107 Ross Hughes Royal LePage RCR Realty 104 . 79 Suzanne Lawrence Royal LePage RCR Realty 106 Victoria Phillips & Janna Imrie Royal Le Page RCR Realty 21 . 107 Wayne Baguley Sutton-Headwaters Realty 106 Jim Wallace Sutton-Headwaters Realty 107 Sarah Aston

rv sales & service Under the Stars RV 89

s c h o o l s + e d u c at i o n Brampton Christian School 9 Headwater Hills Montessori School 87

s e ni o r s ’ s e r v i c e s Abbeyfield Caledon East 82 Ailsa Craig at the Village of Arbour Trails 26 Avalon Retirement Lodge 12 Headwaters Home Care 70 Lord Dufferin Centre 93

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NOW – SEP 29 (WEDNESDAYS) : COME & SING WITH US Fun four-part barbershop harmonies. Looking for bass voices too. 7:30pm. Free, virtual. Sweet Adelines, orangevilleshowchorus.com APR 22, MAY 27 & JUN 24 : LIVE MUSIC ON ZOOM Linda Nusca

Albertyn of Ramblin’ Soul. 11amnoon. $4, call to register and get the Zoom link. Caledon Seniors’ Centre, 905-951-6114; caledonseniors.ca APR 28 – MAY 12 : ACHILL CHOR AL SOCIET Y VIRTUAL SPRING CONCERT – JOURNEYS Selections from recent concerts, Missa Gaia, two new pieces with the Eglinton St. George’s UC Choir. Free, YouTube link provided on registration. achill.ca

outdoor NOW – APR 30 : ERIN SEED LENDING LIBR ARY Returning new seeds in the fall or monetary donations appreciated.

11am-5pm. Free. 519-833-4461; erinseedlendinglibrary.weebly.com NOW – MAY 10 : LORD DUFFERIN IODE GER ANIUM FUNDR AISER Sold in flats of 10 plants either pink, red, salmon or white. Call Dori 519-941-1865 to order. Drive-through pickup May 20, 21 or 22. 10 and 10 Garden Centre, 634026 Hwy 10, Mono. 519-941-1865 NOW – JUN 1 : TR AIL RIDES – AGES 10+ One-hour rides. Walk/trot (if comfortable). 9am-5pm. $55; register and pay at rachel.stevens@teenranch. com. 20682 Hurontario St, Caledon.

519-941-4501; teenranch.com

t o ur i s m + t r av e l Orangeville BIA 42 . 43 Town of Caledon Eat Local 113 Town of Erin 58 . 59

tree services Maple Leaves Forever 52

MAR 31 : PREPARING TO WALK THE BRUCE TR AIL Hiking tips. 7pm. Free;

Zoom link provided on registration.

Caledon Library, 905-857-1400 x228, caledon.library.on.ca MAY 8 : MOTHER’S DAY PL ANT SALE Pre-order baskets, planters and boxes of tomatoes and flowers.

Pick up at Primrose United Church.

Call 519-925-2397 or complete order forms on website. 8-11am.

486281 30 Sdrd, Mono. 519-9252233; shelburneprimrose.com

v i s i t

theatre+film

JUN 5 : TORONTO & NORTH YORK HUNT PONY CLUB DAY Intro to riding

to hounds. Registered pony clubs invited. 9am-2pm. TNYH Kennels, 878445 5th Line E, Mulmur. tnyh.horse

APR 16 – MAY 2 : THE RULES OF PL AYING RISK Grandfather and grandson on an obstacle course of divides not resolved without “Risk.” $25, virtual ticket; show runs anytime; link and instructions provided on purchase.

519-942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca

JUN 5 : PERENNIALS SALE & GARDEN ART EVENT Plants and handmade

garden ornaments. Call 519-925-9136 for more info. 1-3pm. Primrose United Church, 486281 30 Sdrd, Mono. 519925-2233; shelburneprimrose.com

i n t h e h i l l s . c a

SPRING ONLINE

MAY 14 – 30 : THE THIRD LIFE OF EDDIE MANN Fired by his only client,

Eddie contemplates his new life. $25, virtual ticket; show runs anytime; link and instructions provided on purchase.

519-942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca

JUL 1 : TORONTO & NORTH YORK HUNTER PACE Teams ride a marked

course over rolling hills with optional jumps. Ribbons and supplied lunch.

9am-3pm. $100; 13 & under $50, register and pay online. 9am-3pm.

TNYH Kennels, 878445 5th Line E, Mulmur. 647-227-8671; tnyh.horse

JUN 11 – 27 : SUNSHINE SKETCHES

A new musical based on the Stephen Leacock classic. $25, virtual ticket; show runs anytime; link and instructions provided on purchase. 519-942-3423; theatreorangeville.ca

FLOWER POWER Start the gardening season off right with painterly plant pairings and insider peony and dahlia picks from our area’s top private gardeners and flower farmers. They know how to keep their plots vibrating with energy and colour year after year.

SPRING CHARACTERS

S O L U T I O N S

From the office window 87

F R O M

P A G E

1 1 8

The prevaricating paddlers First, Jean-Guy; second, Dave; third, Klaus; fourth, Angelo. All statements are false so Dave beat Klaus (B) and Jean-Guy beat Angelo (C).

Thus either Dave or Jean-Guy came first and either Klaus or Angelo came fourth. Dave cannot be first (D), so Jean-Guy was. Klaus cannot be fourth (A), so it was Angelo. That leaves Klaus and Dave as second or third. Since Dave beat Klaus (B), Dave was second and Klaus third.

Mr. Stuart eases up 44244 Riddling in Redickville Mary Margaret 73, Bridget 37, Seamus 40, Cyril 10.

Headwaters is packed with talented artisans – and we’re trying to meet them all! Fashion designer Cristina Repanovici, dry stone waller Eric Landman, and beauty product maven Jennifer Kleinpaste are among our favourites.

Overlapping words Here are our solutions. There are several others.

P

R

A S

M H

I O

D O

E Z

A E

C R

H O

O B

P E

A A

L U

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E A

I T

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Y M

MEET MORE MAKERS

E

PETE PATERSON . SHUT TERSTOCK . ROSEMARY HASNER

P U Z Z L I N G

As winter melts away, a slate of intriguing wild creatures emerges to enchant us. Resident naturalist Don Scallen shares his notes – pointing out the songbirds to watch for, the vernal pools to peer into, and the flying squirrels lurking overhead.

FOLLOW US

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www.joangray.ca mcarthurbessey@gmail.com

www.pvrbeef.ca

frank@homeenhancers.ca

echambers@enrichbuildings.com

www.bachie.ca

info@schoolofmiracles.ca

5417@tbrg.ca

karena@goodison.com

www.woolandsilkco.com

www.back-yard-office.com

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www.centurywood.com

pjw1211@aol.com

www.brianwilsonservices.ca www.pyramid-contracting.com

www.thirstylawn.ca

msplantsofcaledon@gmail.com

www.theoutsideguy.ca

www.echohill.ca webdesign@echohill.ca

www.creativeponds.ca

radhadiaram@remax.net

www.ong-biz.com/dillmanseptic www.environmentalpestcontrol.ca

www.woodlandlawn.ca

www.drbug.ca

www.charlesemersontreeservice.com

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a Puzzling Conclusion

BY KEN WEBER

From the office window From the window of her office in Caledon, Lateesha has this somewhat restricted view of the company parking lot, but it’s enough to see her car in its assigned parking space.

What is the number of her assigned space?

Mr. Stuart eases up

Riddling in Redickville

The prevaricating paddlers

At S.S.#15 Mulmur in Kilgorie, Mr. Stuart finally yielded to pressure from the school inspector and agreed he should provide some easier arithmetic problems to build confidence in students who find the subject difficult. Here’s one he devised.

Among the O’Malleys gathering at the family reunion at Redickville in Melancthon Township were Seamus and his cousin Mary Margaret, who had not seen each other in a long time. Mary Margaret had brought her daughter, Bridget, and when Seamus asked Bridget’s age, Mary Margaret responded, “I’ll tell you that last year I was twice as old as Bridget. Now this year, our ages have the same numbers in reverse.”

Before their kayak race at Island Lake, the four competitors agreed on a bit of mischief – namely that when they told their friends in what order they’d finished the race, each of them would deliberately report something untrue. When the four gathered with their friends the next day, here’s what each competitor said:

Not to be outdone, Seamus had an equally enigmatic response when asked the age of his youngest son, Cyril. “Well, in 20 years I’ll be twice as old as he is today, but right now I’m four times as old.”

Angelo said, “Klaus came fourth.”

What five digit number satisfies these five requirements?

1 There are no zeroes in this number.

2

How old are Mary Margaret, Seamus, Bridget and Cyril?

A B Jean-Guy said, “Klaus beat Dave.”

C Klaus said, “Angelo beat Jean-Guy.”

The first two digits are identical.

D

3 The fourth digit is twice the third digit.

Dave said, “I came first.”

4

You know these statements are false so what were the real race results?

The fifth digit is also twice the third.

5 The sum of the five digits is 18.

Overlapping words Enter 10 different 4-letter words of your choice into this ribbon graph, filling every space except P and Y which must remain in place and be used in your words. Because your 10 words will have more letters than there are blank spaces, you will need to overlap two letters in every word as in the TEST - STUN - UNDO example here.

P

T Y

S E

U T

D N

O

Now do it again! The same instructions apply as above. The letter U must be used where inserted.

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www.synergyexteriors.ca

www.orangevillefurniture.ca