harrowsmith

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 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 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.

The Rundown

In this episode we meet the woman behind a remarkable Canadian documentary, “First We Eat”. Suzanne Crocker takes us behind the scenes of a film she made about the transformative year when she inspired her family to eat totally local for twelve months. In Dawson City, hard by the Artic Circle, through the winter. 

Next up, Ontario farmer Ken Dam talks about going whole hog, eating pork from nose to tail as a way of honouring the animal. So, eating honourably and locally all in this episode.

Suzanne Crocker, First We Eat

Dawson City, Yukon is a northern community of 1,500 people. 97 per cent of the food for those folks is trucked in from thousands of kilometers away.Retired doctor, filmmaker and mother Suzanne Crocker wanted to see what would happen if she and her family could eat completely closer to home for a year - no salt, no coffee no oranges or chocolate. Her coaxing resulted in an at-first resistant family eating only eating local produce, foragings fish and livestock for a year, through a Yukon winter. And, she decided to film the whole thing. The result is a remarkable portrait, no only of a family’s resilence, but also of a bountiful land and a community of independant and inventive farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous elders ready to share their bounty and their wisdom. You can learn more about her film at firstweeat.ca.

Ken Dam, From Nose to Tail     

Ken Dam and his wife Clare run a small farm near Lyden, Ontario. And on that farm they have some hogs, hogs that the couple wanted to honour by making sure they didn’t waste a bit of the goodness in the animal. So, they decided to eat from nose to tail, struggling with gelatinous headcheese and salty prosciutto along the way.

End Notes

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.

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can find Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada. Or you can order subscriptions online cat harrowsmithmag.com.

The Rundown

In this episode a visit with an environmental non-profit that has weathered political, social, and ecological storms and shifts. Earth Day has been around since the Guess Who’s American Woman topped the Billboard charts and the hole in the ozone layer wasn’t even on our radar screen. In the distant 70s. Earth Day Canada was born in the 90s and has been growing and adapting ever since. I chat with the organization’s director about its legacy and longevity. Next up, I talk to our resident astronomer, light pollution Don Quixote and engineer Robert Dick about how we might farm in the future, on Mars. So, legacy and legumes on the red planet all on this episode.

Earth Day Canada

Earth Day, as a movement and an event, was born in the heady cauldron of peace protests, concern for the environment, and an Apollo 8 photo of earthrise on the Moon. That image helped launch an ecological consciousness that the nascent Earth Day organization latched onto. Since the 90s Earth Day Canada has continued to preserve the activist spirit of the 70s. It’s kept itself decentralized and focussed not on social media clicks or exposure, but on supporting diffuse actions in the community that make a real difference to the planet. I had a chance to chat with Earth Day Canada’s director, Pierre Lussier about his organization’s focus, decentralization, and the secrets of its long life

Farming Mars

As I record this the NASA Mars Rover Perseverance is slowly trundling over the surface of Mars looking for organic compounds, blasting rocks with lasers, and sending that valuable data back to Earth. But here at Mission Control for Harrowsmith, we have to ask, could we farm Mars? To find out I asked Robert Dick our deep space and engineering boffin. Here’s our out-of-this-world chat.

End Notes

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.

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

The Rundown

In this episode we go all-in on planting, planting gardens that are gyms, therapy, and workplaces that don't take a lot of work. And planting that attracts pollinators, our little at-risk insect pals that do all the heavy lifting when plants want to have sex, with a middle man. 

Elizabeth Peirce and Grow Hope

Elizabeth Peirce is an award-winning author, a mom, and an avid and frugal gardener in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In her new book, Grow Hope, she brings a fresh take on starting a garden from scratch, kitchen scraps, and ingenuity. She sees gardens as gyms, workplaces, and classrooms. And also as a place to toss your banana peels and bicycle box cardboard. 

You can learn more about Elizabeth and her book here.

Pollinator Partnership Canada

Pollinator Partnership Canada is a non-profit that aims to protect and promote pollinators and their ecosystems through conservation, education, and research. I had a chance to talk with the organization’s director, Vicki Wojcik about our pollinator pals, and there are hundreds of different kinds.

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can find 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, you’ll hear the remarkable story of the Farmerettes, a brigade of young Ontario women who saved the crops of Southern Ontario during World War II. You may not have heard of the Farmerettes, I know I hadn’t until prepared for this interview, but it’s a story you won’t forget. 

Next up our intergenerational gardening gurus Mark and Ben Cullen give us some tips on why waiting for May 24 to plant is a mug’s game. So two stories about getting back into the good earth.

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.

The Farmerettes

In 1939 the stain of the Second World War spread across The Atlantic to Canada, pulling Canadian men and women overseas to fight. In Southern Ontario that meant fertile farmlands and orchards would be soon would soon be swollen and laden with fruits and vegetables that would rot while able farmhands were fighting Germany. Fortunately, that summer and until 1952 over 20,000 high school girls from Ontario and Quebec enlisted in a homegrown brigade called the Farmerettes. Lured with a promise of sunshine, adventure, and exclusion from final exams, they left their homes and took trains, boats, and bicycles to become newly minted farmers in the fields of gold and green. They stayed in converted sheds and barns, become close friends, smoked corncob pipes, fell in love, and even fell in with good-natured motorcycle gangs. And, they saved the crops and fed the troops. Bonnie Sitter and Shirleyan English have documented the story of the Farmerettes in a wonderful book called “Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz - Memories of Ontario Farmerettes". The book contains letters the Farmerettes sent home to anxious parents and is packed with evocative black and white photographs. And, it was a photograph that Bonnie Sitter found in her late husband’s photo album that started her on her path to harvest Farmerettes tales. 

You can buy a copy of the book here.

Early Planting with the Cullens    

You might think in the earliest days of spring, that you’ve got plenty of time before you have to turn your hand to gardening. But, you would be wrong. Yes, May 24 may seem a long way off but there is plenty you can do now, and score early garden bounty in the process. And, here to give us the details are those early birds Mark and Ben Cullen. Get more great gardening advice from this duo at markcullen.com.

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. You can find Harrowsmith magazine at 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 

This episode is about the 5 Hs. First, there’s the H in healthing.ca, a website that amplifies the voices of those living with diseases and disorders and who are looking for options for healthy lifestyles. The next of the five are four H’s are in the 4-H club of Canada …. So, five Hs, six, if you count Harrowsmith, which we do.

Lisa Machado and healthing.com

Lisa Machado is the executive producer of healthing.ca. And that relatively new website is partnering with Harrowsmith to share evidence-based health and wellness information with our readers, while Harrowsmith shares content about healthy lifestyles. Lisa herself knows all about the desire to live well. She lives with a rare form of blood cancer, a disease that caused her to set aside her life as a financial journalist and head up a unique site that amplifies the voices of those living with diseases and disorders. I talked with Lisa about her plans for the site and its healthy relationship with Harrowsmith. 

Stephanie Nagelschmitz and the 4H Club Canada

Stephanie Nagelschmitz is the Chair of the Canadian 4H Foundation and is on the Board of 4H Canada. She’s also an avid 4Her herself. 4H is like the Madonna or Lady Gaga of youth clubs. It has rural roots, but has reinvented itself over the decades, but has keep some core principles intact. I chatted with Stephanie about those changes and what’s remained the same. 

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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

This episode takes us on an arctic journey where we explore the life and words of a remarkable Canadian, children’s author and storyteller  Michael Kusugak. Next, the story of how thousands of farmers across the country have assisted the Canada Food Bank to ensure food security for all Canadians and help defeat hunger even in the darkest times. 

Michael Kusugak and the Power of Stories

Michael Kusugak grew up in Repulse Bay, almost a stone’s throw from the Arctic Circle. As a child he lived a traditional Inuit life, travelling the tundra, snow and sea ice of Hudson’s Bay with his extended family and hearing, from his grandmother and other elders the stories of his people. Michael was one of the first Inuit to write those stories down and share them in books and in person with thousands of Canadian children, and adults. I had the pleasure of speaking with Michael about his life, the power of stories and a way of life dear to his heart.

Kirstin Beardsley on Food Banks Canada and Farmers

Kirstin Beardsley is the Chief Network Services Officer at Food Banks Canada. For decades food banks have been providing nutritious food to those most in need across Canada. I recently had a chance to talk with her about how farmers help especially when it comes to fresh food, even over long distances. 

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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

This episode is about native plants and a mode of transportation that couldn’t be more homegrown in this country if it tried - the canoe.

First up, Mark Cullen, our perennial, and annuals, gardening experts fills us in on how native plants benefit gardens, birds, bees and well, the environment in general. Next up James Raffan of the Canadian Canoe Museum explains the lowly watercraft speaks to us as old and new Canadians alike. From coneflowers to canoes, all in one episode.

Mark Cullen on Native Plants

Mark Cullen has been a fan of native plants for years now. They’re a favourite of indigenous bird and pollinator species, take advantage local conditions and help keep ecosystems in check. He chatted with me about some of his favourite native varieties and we disagree about lawns. Here’s that conversation.

James Raffan on Canada and Canoes

James Raffan, the director of external relations for the Canadian Canoe Museum, knows how deep the relationship between Canada and the canoe goes. He’s an author, outdoorsman and  collector of Canadian canoe advertising. We talked about why the canoe resonates with so many cultures and how its a symbol of freedom, exploration and entrepreneurship. And, we touch on ways the museum will use its new building to forge and reforge links to the communities where its canoes came from. 

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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.

This episode is about hens and hops. First up, we head out to Port Hope and learn raising urban chickens, not just for the eggs, but for the companionship. 

Next, Ben Cullen, the youngest generation of the Cullen garden dynasty, tells us about hops as an ornamental. They’re not just for IPAs any more.

Signe Langford on Raising Chickens

Signe Langford is a cook, a book author, a gardener and a lover of all things chicken. She grew up with hens and then, years later, rediscovered their wonders as an urban chicken activist in Toronto, bylaws be damned. These days she has four hens, she calls them her girls, in Port Hope, Ontario, another community not so keen on the practise. But Langford is devoted to her girls, not just for the eggs, but for their beauty, personalities and friendship. 

Ben Cullen on Hops as a Hedge

Ben Cullen and his father Mark wrote about hops as an ornamental in the 2020 edition of the Harrowsmith Almanac. So, I wanted to catch up with Ben to get the lowdown on how a key ingredient in beer can also be an important part of a beautiful garden. 

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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

This episode is about what plants, especially native plants, can teach us about thriving in adversity. We also discover an unlikely Japanese garden in Lethbridge and a B.C. winery where sacred geometry, a pyramid and a reverence for the earth has nurtured award winning vintages.

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.

Lyndon Penner

Lyndon Penner is an Alberta-based garden designer, CBC plant pundit, author and sometimes garden tour guide. One of the gardens he’s helped visitors explore is the remarkable Nikka Yuko garden in Lethbridge, Alberta. The authentic Japanese garden, only one of four in Canada, was a Centennial project for the good folks of Lethbridge. It celebrates the friendship between Canada and Japan. But, because it also substitutes some native Alberta species for the Japanese maples, cherry trees and other plants native to Japan its also a lesson in how to make wise use of native plants, and how, sometimes plants, like people, thrive in adversity. I spoke with Lyndon Penner about all that, and much more.

Ezra Cipes

Ezra Cipes heads up the second generation that runs the Summerhill Winery in Kelowna, B.C. Summerhill produces organic, vegan wine and stores it within a wooden pyramid built on the principles of sacred geometry. I chatted with Ezra about his family’s reverence for the Earth, what it means for its wines and the lessons of nature. I began, of course, with the pyramid.

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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.

This episode  is about how a Moroccan stamp entrepreneur became a fish magnate whose offspring are shipping fresh tuna right to your door. And, we learn about why buffalo milk makes 3 per cent from cows look like skim. 

Seafood Crate

When Phil Behaim’s father, Marc first came to Canada from Morocco, he sold collectable stamps, stamp tweezers and anything else an avid philatelist could want. Then he got the idea of importing octopus and other sorts of seafood and grew his company into   Inter-Canada Fisheries. Phil, now the CEO of the company along with his brother and sister now run the shop and have turned their attention to delivering fresh seafood right to customer’s doorsteps, no stamps involved. He’s our conversation about that journey.

Tenderbuff

Henry Koskamp is bullish on buffalo. Not for their meat, but for their milk, porcelain white and fat and flavour-rich  For twenty years he’s breeding and milking buffalo on his Stratford farm to serve a growing cheese market, all without a milk marketing board looking over his shoulder Here’s our chat about his beginnings, his buffalo and how not having to worry about quotas is just fine by him.

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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.

This episode is a third generation duck farm and a remarkable multicultural handshake that rocketed the unusual poultry farm to success. Next up, an intimate tour of Price Edward Country, bottomless lake and all.

King Cole Ducks

Patti Thompson is one of four sisters who run King Cole Ducks near Stouffville, Ontario. That farm has been running for almost 70 years. It was a bit of an oddball at first, ducks just weren’t as popular as beef and chicken in the fifties,  but a few decades later, a wave of Chinese immigration washed upon Canada’s shores and that, and an handshake changed the company forever.

A Tour of Prince Edward County

Phillip Norton is an avid photographer and a lover of Prince Edward County. He leads van tours around the kind-of-an-island that juts out into the northeastern part of Lake Ontario near Bellville. I caught up with Phillip between van trips and learned about the alcohol soaked past of that landscape and the wine and locals that set it apart. Here’s that conversation.

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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.

This episode is about mushrooms from the edge of Canada and beer from the heart of the nation. First up, Stephanie Lipp co-founder of Gillis Naturals tells us about how she and her partner Leo have launched a mushroom farm in Bonavista Newfoundland. Yes, devoted listeners,  that’s the same place the Newfoundland Salt Company calls home. Next, we learn about how Harrowsmith inspired craft brewing and the dozens of reasons Ottawa is the beer capital of Canada.

Stephanie Lipp was an Ontario girl, born and bred, until she met her partner Leo, a Stephenville, Newfoundland lad. The two visited Leo’s hometown, Stephanie fell in love with the province, and when a chance to start a business in the entrepreneur friendly Bonavista, they jumped at the chance. Now their passion is bearing fruiting bodies, in the form of six different types of mushrooms.

Who knew that back in 1978 Harrowsmith Magazine just might have kicked off the craft brewing industry in Canada? Shawn McQua did and he wrote about it recently in Harrowsmith. And about the micro brewing industry of Ottawa.

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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

This episode is about plays, a fictional farm, heroes and highways. I start off by chatting with Dan Needles, a mainstay for Harrowsmith readers and the author of the WIngfield Farm mediaverse. We touch on turnip-mashing drudges, the parallels between Walt and Dan and how Needles is taking to the boards himself these days. Next up, Mike Hurley tells us about the ambitious charity, the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign, that aims to plant a tree for every man and woman who’s served in Canada’s armed forces. So, one way or another, we’re getting back to roots.

End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's 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.