Northern Tales, Farmers and Food Banks

The Rundown

In this episode, I chat with Andrew Barnsley, an executive producer of the Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek. We discuss how and why small-town Canada has found a place in the hearts of audiences around the world. Next up, is a walking tour of the historical kitchen garden of Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario. We learn about how two acres of produce sustained the family of Sir Allan Napier McNab a Premier of the United Canadas in the mid-1800s.

So huge gardens and small towns all in one episode.

By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listen to it you can subscribe to the print version online at harrowsmithmag.com and you can find Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada. But for now, settle in for the next half hour of Harrowsmith Radio.

Up Schitt’s Creek

The comedy series Schitt’s Creek is a sitcom phenom. Over its six seasons, the show, set in the fictional small Ontario town of Schitt’s Creek, hard by the bigger smaller town of Elmsdale, attracted a passionate international audience. Its final emotional and heart-felt season hit the streaming service just as COVID hit that audience hard. Andrew Barnsley, an executive producer on the show along with show creators Dan and Eugene Levy, says the epidemic of isolation is of the reasons for the show’s unparalleled success. But, he argues, there’s something about small towns like Schitt’s Creek that resonates with folks looking to reconnect with simple values, family, and the ties that bind. Even when the going gets tough. Here’s our conversation about a huge success and small towns.

A Walk in a Historic Garden

Victoria Bick is head gardener for the historic kitchen garden for the Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario. That means she carries on the work started by William Reid, the gardener there when Sir Allan Napier MacNab was Lord of the castle in the 1800s. Amazing, Bick is still growing the same varieties of flowers, vegetable,s and herbs Reid did. In Reid’s time that two acres of produce sustained the 18 residents of the castle. These days Bick keeps the garden thriving to sustain interest in the gardening heritage of centuries past. Here’s my conversation with Victoria as we strolled the pathways of a castle’s garden.

End Notes

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. Or you can check out Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.

By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer, and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.

The 140-year-old Smart Home - Amber MacArthur

Amber MacArthur has been helping Canadians and corporations understand technology and social media for decades now. But, she grew up in a decidedly untechy PEI. She’s living in Toronto now, but in 2019 she and her partner videographer Chris Dyck decided to buy a 140-year-old home in the heart of Charlottetown and go to town on a renovation. They also used their connections and social media cache to bring companies like Home Depot, LG, and Google along for the ride. The result? A renovated home with smart TVs, washers, driers, lights, sensors, and outdoor security cameras. Sort of like Tony Stark’s vacation home if he was into Anne Shirley. I had a chance to talk with Amber about that reno and what she learned by doing it. You find more about AmberMac here.

Zero Waste with Christine Tizzard

Now, it’s time for a short conversation about living responsibly on our planet, brought to you by Oroweat Organic Bread. Great Taste that’s Sustainably Baked. 

As a food stylist and chef, Christine Tizzard has seen her share of food waste. These days she’s doing something about it. Tizzard recently wrote  Cook More, Waste Less. It’s a terrific guide to buying, cooking, menu planning, and storing food in sustainable ways. You can find her blog here.

End Notes

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. Or you can check out Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.

By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.

The Rundown
In this episode we learn how some burdens, the ones that bring us together in the physical world, can be good burdens. I chat with author Christina Crook about her new book all about just that. Next up, a beautiful cookbook that centres around the seasons, family and a kitchen table. We coming together, all the time, on this audio outing.

The Good Burdens of Christina Crook
Christina Crook is an author, workshop leader and speaker. She’s also worried that as a species we fail to thrive if we don’t connect. If we don’t take on, as the title of her new book suggests, “Good Burdens” Those are the tasks that bring us together not isolate and divide us the way Crook thinks social media does. I talked to her about good burdens and connections. Here’s our conversation.

Trish Magwood’s New Table
Chef and entrepreneur Trish Magwood also has a new book out. Hers is about bringing family together around the dining table. The book is a beautiful celebration of good, local, seasonal food and essential ingredients, the most essential being the people who come together over food. Here’s our conversation.

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. Or you can check out Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.

By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer, and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.

The Rundown

In this episode, we meet up with Canada’s favourite Internet dad, Stuart Reynolds, or as you might know him, Brittlestar - the comedic nemesis of Covidiots everywhere. Next up, that jovial jill-of-all-trades Karen Bertelsen explains why making, fixing, and cooking stuff yourself is good for the planet. So, funny people with a purpose in this episode.

By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listening to it you can subscribe to the print version online at harrowsmithmag.com and you can find Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada. But for now, settle in for the next half hour of Harrowsmith Radio.

Brittlestar 

Stuart Reynolds (aka Brittlestar) got famous six seconds at a time on the once-popular short video sharing platform, Vine. But these days Brittlestar - more about the name later - has won the hearts of YouTube watchers with his deadpan takes on mask-wearing and taking a humourous jab at folks who don’t want to get one. We talk about his musical, and Scottish past and his plans for humour on the other side of COVID - Omnicron variant notwithstanding.

That was Brittlestar, scourge of idiots everywhere. You can learn more about Brittlestar at https://www.brittlestar.com.

Karen Bertelsen

Karen Bertelsen is a rare bird - a funny Do It Yourselfer. On her blog The Art of Doing Stuff, Karen teaches us how to raise chickens, and dough and roofbeams, and well, tackle just about any home and garden reno you could imagine. Here’s our chat about how all that helps keep the planet ticking along. And you can learn more about Karen at http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com

End Notes

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. Or you can check out Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.

By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.

In this episode we discover the incredible variety of folks, produce, places, and methods involved in urban gardening in Toronto in a new documentary by Jamie Day Fleck called In My Backyard. Next up, a decades-long waiting game played with hazelnuts, farmers, and science.

In My Backyard

Jamie Day Fleck is a documentary filmmaker and an avid backyard (and soon front yard garden). Her passion for gardening, a well-timed pregnancy, and her film-making chops lead her to make a fascinating documentary about other folks, like her in Toronto who grew plants, well, just about anywhere they could find space. The documentary is called In My Backyard. You can learn more about it at https://www.fleckpro.com I spoke with Jamie about her film and the importance of urban gardening for the soul and the planet. Here’s our conversation.

The Nutella Waiting Game

GrimoNut Nurseries https://www.grimonut.com/ pioneered growing nut trees in Ontario almost 50 years ago. One of the species they produce is the hazel tree. I spoke with Linda Grimo, the farm manager about a fascinating story of foresight and patience. It all has to do with hazelnuts and Nutella. Here's our conversation.

End Notes

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. Or you can check out Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.

By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer, and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.

The Rundown

In this episode Emm Gryner who rocketed from a chicken farm to singing backup for David Bowie talks about how singers, and the rest of us, can uncover the voices we’ve got inside us. Next up, Ilona Daniel, Harrowsmith’s relatively new food editor explains how Anne of Green Gables and a father named Gilbert changed her life. 

Emm Gryner - Uncovering Your Voice

Emm Gryner’s new book, The Healing Power of Singing, is, yes, a practical guide to becoming a strong singer and making it in the music business. But, it’s more than that. The book is full of poignant stories of the triumphs and heartbreaks in Gryner’s own life, and the idea of uncovering your voice, putting yourself in the path of opportunity and finding strong mentors is advice we all could use whether we sound like Sinatra or not. Not, in my case. Here’s my conversation with Emm all about voice.

Ilona Daniel - A New Food Editor is Served

Ilona Daniel has only been Harrowsmith Magazine’s food editor for a new months. I got to speak with her when she had just taken on the gig. We discuss her love of vibrant food, local producers and Anne of Green Gables. Here’s our conversation.

End Notes

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. Or you can check out Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.

By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.

The Rundown

In this episode a visit with that self-proclaimed culinary charlatan, Bob Blumer, whose new book teaches us all how to make bombs, flavour bombs that is. Speaking of making, our go-to DIY guy Steve Maxell is back, this time to explain why MIG welding is the glue gun of the future. So, bombs and welds all in this episode.

Bob Blumer and Flavourbombs

Bob Blumer didn’t start out life as a chef. He went to Western for business, sold heavy metal t-shirts at concerts, managed Canadian indie music queen Jane Sibery and through a surreal cookbook for his sister, tumbled into a rollicking, rock and roll journey into extreme cuisine. In his latest book, Flavourbomb he explains how to dial the savoury, sweet, bitter, sour and umami of everyday dishes right past 11 in full on Spinal Tap style. 

Steve Maxell and MIG Welding

Steve Maxell wants everyone to fall in love with MIG welding. MIG welding? It stands for Metal Inert Gas welding. It’s a simple form of electrical welding you can get into for a few hundred dollars and a bit of practice. If you think welding is all about acetyl torches, Iron Man-style helmets, and years of training, you’re in for a surprise, because the technology has really come down in size, price, and complexity. So much so anyone can learn how to do simple welds at home.

Steve’s been teaching folks how to do just that. Here’s our conversation about welding for the rest of us.

End Notes

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. Or you can check out Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.

By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.