Issuu

AUGUST 2018

The monarch’s amazing migration

Discovering Muskoka’s watershed wonders

MUSKOKA’S WOOL TRADE

Henry Bird’s genius and entrepreneurship

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...telling the Muskoka story Features

Discovering Muskoka – Watershed Wonders

Article by Dianne Park Thach / Photography by Larry Carroll Watershed Wonders is the exciting new exhibit that opened in July at the Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst. It tells the story of the 5,100 square kilometre Muskoka watershed and reveals the mystery of life under the water’s surface.

Quilling – Blending Artistic Vision and Wildlife

Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Andy Zeltkalns Few artists blend their artistic vision with natural materials collected directly from wildlife and the landscape. Henrike Clement stitches quills and birchbark into stunning works of art.

Monarchs – The Amazing Migration

Article by Doug Smith Photography by Eleanor Kee Wellman The annual migration of Monarch butterflies from Mexico to Muskoka is an amazing feat for an insect that weighs less than a gram and has a 10-centimetre wingspan. With the right weather conditions, it can cover the almost 3,000 kilometre distance in two months.

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The Golden Era of Muskoka’s Wool Trade

Article by J. Patrick Boyer Centred on Henry Bird and his family, the heyday of the local wool trade is, for many, an unknown story. Bird’s woollen mill began production in Bracebridge in 1872 and for the next 80 years created an international name for its woollen blankets. 2 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

Humour and Creativity – The Artistic Bonds of the Grimm Sisters Article by Meghan Smith Photography by Tara McGrath While they work with different mediums and techniques, Carola and Ileana Grimm have always shared a passion for art. Their support of each other’s artistic endeavours throughout their lives is a contributing factor in their growth and their success.

Heather Belle – Tradition Embraces Technology Article and Photography by Tim Du Vernet Originally built in 1902, the Heather Belle has served as a private cabin launch, a hotel jitney and has been outfitted with an electric engine. While its home is now on the Lake of Bays, it will be featured at the Muskoka Lakes Association bi-annual boat show in August in Port Carling.

The Beley Family – Celebrating 150 Years of Keeping Connected

Article by Meghan Smith As members of a pioneer family, Benjamin and Lucy Beley’s descendants maintain deep roots in Muskoka. In 2017, the same year as the celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary, the Beley relatives hosted their own 150th anniversary reunion.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 3

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Muskoka Calendar

There are still lots of summer activities on the calendar for the month of August. Kicking off the month, the Civic Holiday weekend lineup includes everything from a midnight madness event in downtown Bracebridge to a music festival and fireworks in Gravenhurst, and an art show in Port Carling. The month continues with boat shows, a vegan food festival in Huntsville, studio tour events and wraps up with a skating show in Port Carling.

What’s Happened

Koilos – a controversial sculpture – has made the trek from Nevada to Lake Muskoka, and now resides in downtown Bala. Seasonal and permanent residents have joined together to realize the construction of a residential hospice in Port Carling. A program of the Muskoka Watershed Council is assisting waterfront property owners to naturalize their property. For more of what’s happened, go to: www.uniquemuskoka.com

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Opinion 9 AUGUST 2018

Discovering Muskoka’s watershed wonders Antique watercraft embraces technology

Humour and creativity, shared artistic bonds

Muskoka Insights

Cottage Country Cuisine

By Don Smith

Muskoka chefs are well attuned to the growing interest in vegetarian and vegan dining options. Three local establishments have shared their recipes for plant-based dining. Bon appétit.

Muskoka Moments By Kent Phillips

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Our Cover

Photograph by Tim Du Vernet The Heather Belle will be one of the featured attractions at the Muskoka Lakes Association bi-annual boat show that will be held in Port Carling, August 11.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 5

…telling the Muskoka story Unique Muskoka is published six times per year by Unique Publishing Inc. Donald Smith Publisher and Editor Donna Ansley Sales Lisa Brazier Design Susan Smith Administration J. Patrick Boyer Larry Carroll Tim Du Vernet Dawn Huddlestone Eleanor Kee Wellman Tara McGrath Dianne Park Thach Kent Phillips Doug Smith Meghan Smith Tomasz Szumski Karen Wehrstein Andy Zeltkalns Contributors Annual Subscription Rates: (including HST where applicable) In Ontario $30.00 All Other Provinces $36.00 U.S. $60.00 All Other Countries $72.00 HST: 773172721 Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement Number: 43268016 Copyright © 2018 Unique Publishing Inc. No content published in Unique Muskoka can be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Mailing Address Box 616, Bracebridge ON P1L 1T9 Street Address 28 Manitoba St., Bracebridge ON P1L 1S1 www.uniquemuskoka.com info@uniquemuskoka.com 705-637-0204

6 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

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Muskoka Insights experiences as both a seasonal and permanent resident. There is no doubt that the Muskoka Discovery Centre has made a major contribution to the future of Muskoka with its newest exhibit – Watershed Wonders. The Muskoka watershed is the very essence of what makes the district so distinctively different. When we understand the watershed, we develop knowledge that is at the very core of the district’s past and its future. It is also interesting to read how one of the ultimate symbols of Muskoka’s past – the wooden boat – can be married with new technology. With words and photos, well-known contributor Tim Du Vernet shares the history of the Heather Belle and its transition to electric propulsion. The featured craft in the Muskoka Lakes Association’s bi-annual boat show, this is very much a symbol of how traditional values can embrace the future when ingenuity and vision align. As always, we attempt to reach out to the varied interests of our readers. In this issue, you’ll find there’s some interesting reads on Muskoka artisans. Humour and creativity have been bonds that two sisters – Carola and Ileana Grimm – have shared throughout both their personal lives and their business lives. Collecting materials from wildlife and the local landscape, Henrike Clement stitches quills and birchbark into awardwinning designs. For those who love nature, the story of the monarch butterfly is an inspiration. We hope you’ll enjoy this issue as much as we’ve enjoyed bringing it to you. Happy reading. Photograph: Susan Smith

Learning from history is so important when it comes to informing the decisions we make today. In reading the text for this issue of Unique Muskoka, I have been constantly reminded how the history and traditions of the district’s past have had a significant role on who we are today. The ongoing changes that have taken place through the generations provide perspective on what should be important considerations for the future choices we make. They provide an understanding that will assist us in finding the balance that is required to ensure a vibrant but lasting legacy. Regular contributor Patrick Boyer, who has a deep understanding of Muskoka’s history, describes the genius of Henry Bird. A driving force behind much of Bracebridge’s prosperity and growth for almost 80 years, Bird was a visionary, a creator and an innovator. He pooled energy and resources to build a business that had supply networks throughout Muskoka and served markets throughout Canada and abroad. He harnessed the power of the Muskoka watershed and turned the plight of many Muskoka farmers into success by developing a market for them. Along the way, he explored many other ideas that improved the community. For the Beley family, their roots on the land surrounding the shores of upper Lake Rosseau keep them connected. In telling the story of this family who has been a part of the Lake Rosseau community for over 150 years, contributor Meghan Smith highlights the depth of passion and the ongoing bonds that have been strengthened over so many generations. This is not the story of one family – rather, it reflects the attachment so many have to Muskoka and why it is their “special place.” This same attachment to family and Muskoka is well expressed in the guest opinion column Muskoka Moments, written this issue by Kent Phillips who can share his

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Muskoka Calendar several lucky people who win a handmade draw prize. The festivities run 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the gallery is located at 111 Medora St. in the centre of the village.

Hit the Bracebridge bandshell for great weekly concerts It’s one of Bracebridge’s grand summer traditions: heading over to the bandshell in Memorial Park and listening to some great music by local artists on Thursday night. There’s no seating, so bring lawn chairs or blankets. Concerts run 7-8:30 p.m. Aug 2: Northern Lights Steel Orchestra Aug 9: Grady Kelneck Aug 16: Doug McLean Aug 23: Olde Tyme Gospel Band Aug 30: Mike Phillips

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Taste and rock at the Session Muskoka Taps Craft Beer Festival Photograph: Amy Longard

What better combination than delicious beer, scrumptious food and great music? You’ll be able to get your fill of all three at the Session Muskoka Taps Craft Beer Festival, happening in Annie Williams Memorial Park in Bracebridge on Aug. 4. Civic Holiday Weekend in Huntsville will host the first annual Muskoka VegFest at Rivermill Park, all Craft breweries from across the Muskoka offers a fine day on Aug. 11. Try delicious vegan food while listening to speakers. province will provide more than combination of fun and 100 different brews for cultural experiences: Sawdust City Music Festival is a multi-venue sampling. Live music will provided by the music extravaganza with award-winning Paul James Band, Big Tobacco and the artists performing at the Gravenhurst Opera Pickers, and The Royal Crowns. This is an House two nights as well as providing Music event for people aged 19 or older only. on the Barge. Headliners Good Lovelies, sessionmuskoka.ca Rose Cousins and Royal Wood are joined by In case you aren’t familiar with the a long list of great acts. As well, there’ll be a Midnight Madness concept: the main street Songwriters’ Circle, Sunday Kids’ Zone of the town is closed and the shops all throw (story time, balloons and more), and a their doors open and/or bring their wares vendor village in Gull Lake Rotary Park. Full out onto the sidewalks and street, offering line-up on the website. The whole family loves fireworks! At dusk deals on everything way into the night, sawdustcitymusicfestival.com on the night of Aug. 4, come by car, bike, while people spend and celebrate. boat, on foot or however you like to travel Bracebridge’s crazy night happens on Aug. to see the sky light up over Muskoka Wharf 3, the Friday of the long weekend, and in Gravenhurst in celebration of the Civic features live music, fun for the kids at the Holiday. Bring a chair if you’re on land. Memorial Park Kids’ Zone and much more. gravenhurst.ca

It’s time for Midnight Madness in Bracebridge

Muskoka Wharf Civic Holiday fireworks set for Saturday night

Meet the artists at Red Canoe Gallery

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Sawdust City Music Festival has it all Happening in Gravenhurst for the entire weekend, Aug. 3-5, the second annual

10 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

The Red Canoe Gallery in Port Carling is celebrating 25 years of bringing great Canadian art and crafts to Muskoka. It will mark its quarter-century milestone on Aug. 4 by inviting you to Meet the Artists for viewing of their work, demonstrations of their techniques, inspiring conversation and refreshments. You might even be one of

Muskoka Comic-Con attracts comic industry celebrities The first annual Muskoka Comic-Con convention happens Aug. 4 at the Bracebridge Memorial Community Centre,

offering comic industry celebrity guest speakers, discussion panels, a cosplay contest and more than 100 exhibitors and vendors catering to multiple interests: comic books, science fiction and fantasy, animation, magazines, toys, games, movies, television, anime, manga, cosplay, artwork, sketches, apparel and everything else that fandom loves. Dress code allows, nay, encourages, costumes. You’ve never seen anything like this in Muskoka. muskokacomiccon.com

A little bit of everything at the Celebrate Gravenhurst Sidewalk Sale And you’re invited, of course! Happening all day on Friday, Aug. 10 and Saturday, Aug. 11, in historic downtown Gravenhurst, this festival offers great opportunities for shopping, entertainment and family fun. A wide variety of vendors will be happy to show you the great things they’ve got.

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Baysville Arts and Crafts Festival is a two–day horticultural treat This two-day outdoor show features 74 artisans from all over the province, their booths arranged along paths through beautiful flower gardens created by the Baysville Horticultural Society, which is the event’s beneficiary. Items include jewelry (costume, silver and gold), women’s fashions and accessories, wood and metal products, gourmet foods, toys, leather goods, paintings, home accessories, fibre art, glass art and much more. Barbecued goodies will be available at the bandshell. It happens on Aug. 12 and 13, all day on both days rain or shine, in Baysville’s Gristmill Park, which is easily accessed by car or boat.

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Photograph: Muskoka Lakes Association

Waterborne beauties at the MLA Antique Boat Show

The Muskoka Lakes Association’s bi-annual Antique Boat Show will be held in Port Carling on Aug. 11.

Aug. 11 is the day of the Muskoka Lakes Association’s bi-annual Antique Boat Show in Port Carling, and boat collectors will be there with their most spectacular, shined-to-gleaming watercraft docked wherever there is space. This year’s theme is “Celebrating 125 Years” and, accordingly, some of Muskoka’s most venerable surviving boats, many more than a century old, will be there for your admiration. Muskoka’s antique and classic boats are a world-renowned boat-crafting legacy, treasured by the most informed collectors. mla.on.ca

Calling all vegans, your festival is happening in Muskoka The first annual Muskoka VegFest will happen at Rivermill Park in Huntsville, all day on Aug. 11. Speakers will include

Josh LaJaunie, who went from 410 pounds to running marathons, and educational YouTube star Mic the Vegan, who has more than 200,000 followers. Nutritional educators Mary-Ellen and John Landry will lead a morning yoga class, followed by a breakfast food demo by Amy Longard Nutrition from Ottawa. Chalk artist Tim the Chalking Vegan will provide art and David Dino White will provide music. Try delicious vegan food including vegan cheese, award-winning vegan pizza from Toronto’s Apiecalypse Now, vegan burgers and hotdogs, healthy raw foods, fresh juices and much more. It’s all about conscious living, wellness and sustainability. muskokavegfest.com

Enjoy lamb dinner with all the trimmings for a good cause On Tuesday, Aug 16, the Muskoka Lakes Museum will hold its annual gala

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Photograph: Larry Carroll

106 Manitoba Street Bracebridge, ON

The 27th annual Dockside Festival of the Arts, Aug 17-19, brings together three things that are loved in Muskoka: art, music and lakeshore. fundraising dinner, Artifact or Fiction, at the Port Carling Community Centre. This year’s event will continue the tradition of exceptional food, offering a delicious lamb dinner, fine fresh salads and top-of-the-line desserts. Runs 5-8 p.m. and you’ll receive a charitable receipt. Book early to avoid disappointment as seating is limited. mlmuseum.com

One of Muskoka’s best craft shows happens lakeside The 27th annual Dockside Festival of the Arts brings together three things that are loved in Muskoka: art, music and lakeshore. It happens Aug 17-19 (Friday 10-6, Saturday 10-6, Sunday 10-4) on Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst. Artisans will offer fine art, furniture, jewelry, photography, pottery, sculptures, clothing, accessories, woodworking, candles, gourmet foods and much, much more. Featured musicians are: Sean Cotton, Gina Horswood and Nico Henderson. Kids will be able to create their own masterpieces at the Gravenhurst Chamber of Commerce’s kids’ craft table, and enjoy entertainment vendors at the Kids Zone. docksidefestival.com

Huntsville will green up Main Street for Summer Sidewalk Sale Huntsville is the kind of town that will cover its main street with snow for a

cross-country ski tournament in winter, and cover it with green grass for a street festival in summer. If you don’t believe this, check it out on Aug. 18, where the sod will be rolled out on Main St. from Centre St. to Brunel Rd. for the Summer Sidewalk Sale. As well as deals galore from local retailers and vendors, there’ll be activities for the kids, live music and all kinds of fun. Afterwards the sod will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

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Self-guided journey into the past aids local hospital Muskoka Roadshow ‘2’ happens in Bracebridge on Aug. 18. Five avid collectors open their homes for a day, letting you visit five different places that showcase antique cars, trucks, farm equipment and memorabilia. It’s a glimpse into Muskoka’s past which is both fun and educational. Ticket proceeds go to the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge. About 300 people attended at the last event. For info and to book, contact Janet Davidson of the hospital auxiliary at davdsn@xplornet.ca.

Artists of the Limberlost offer studio tour in the woods Several artists and artisans living on or near Limberlost Road, off Highway 60 near Huntsville, realized they should get together to provide a studio tour. Now in its 12th year, the Artists of the Limberlost Open Studio Weekend takes place Aug. 18 and

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Muskoka Muscle fitness competition draws athletes from coast to coast

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from local wood, and more, by 19 artists at seven locations.

At the 2018 “Muskoka Muscle” fitness competition, you’ll be able to watch both individuals and male/ female mixed teams of Canada’s fittest people battle it out for gold, silver and bronze medals as well as four-figure cash prizes in multiple divisions. The gruelling two-day challenge, which involves events such as handstand walks, no-legs rope climbs and various types of weightlifting happens at Bush’s Watersports Park near Bala on Aug. 18 and 19. Bush’s Wakeboarding team will provide spectacular watersports entertain-ment. Beer garden is onsite and if you’re a competitor, you get some beer for free.

Muskoka Muscle is a fitness competition, hosted by Bush’s Watersports Park near Bala on Aug. 18 and 19, is a gruelling two-day challenge event for men and women. 19, offering nature-inspired pottery, jewelry, glass art, sculpture and paintings in many styles and media, functional art crafted

MUSKOKA AUTUMN STUDIO TOUR Cordually invites you to help celebrate their

40th ANNIVERSARY Muskoka Discovery Centre

Opening night - Friday August 10, 7pm-10pm Show continues August 11&12  275 Steamship Bay Rd, Gravenhurst

Chapel Gallery

Opening celebration - Saturday August 18, 1pm-4pm

Time Capsule to be opened during the celebration Show continues August 21 to September 8  15 King St. Bracebridge

STUDIO TOUR DATES SEPT 22-23 & 29-30

muskokaautumnstudiotour.com 14 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

Forty years ago, Muskoka sculptor Richard Green and a few friends decided that art is best understood when the viewer can meet the creator in their natural habitat, and witness the process of creation – and the studio tour concept was invented. (Yes, Muskoka’s was the first.) The tour has been going on ever since and now presents only the finest professional artists and craftspeople in Muskoka, opening their studios to fascinated and inspired visitors every fall. In celebration of the tour’s 40th anniversary, the Chapel Gallery in Bracebridge presents an exhibition of arts and crafts running from Aug 18 to Sept. 7, to celebrate the tour’s storied history and give you a taste. The Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour itself happens Sept. 22-23 and Sept. 29-30. See our next issue for more. muskokaartsandcrafts.com

Photograph: Jan Davidson

Art exhibition celebrates Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour’s 40th anniversary

Five avid collectors, centred around Bracebridge, open their homes during Muskoka Roadshow ‘2’, Aug. 18, showcasing antique cars, trucks, farm equipment and memorabilia. The project supports South Muskoka Memorial Hospital.

Baysville show features antique and classic boats and cars The Lake of Bays Antique and Classic Boat and Car Show, happening on Aug. 19,

was designed to satisfy lovers of both gleaming chrome and shiny mahogany. More than 120 antique and classic cars and trucks were on display last year, as was the lovingly-restored SS Bigwin and beautiful wooden boats owned by local collectors. By popular demand, the Northern Lights Steel

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August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 15

Orchestra returns to present its steel-pan renditions of Caribbean and popular tunes. At the end the show the boats will leave in a stately procession, piped out by bagpiper Sharon Mace. All proceeds go to Baysville’s and Dorset’s Winter Pantry Food Program. huntsvilleadventures.com/events/lake-bays-antique-classicboat-car-show/

Tomorrow’s opera stars perform today in Bracebridge

Photograph: Brenda Mannings

The Opera Muskoka Stars of Tomorrow Concert takes place at the Rene Caisse Theatre in Bracebridge on Aug. 22. This is where up-and-coming young local opera singers get to strut their stuff. “This is always a very popular event, giving audiences a chance to see performers who are just on the cusp of breaking through,” says Diane Adamson, chair of the Opera Muskoka Festival. www.muskokachautauqua.com/event/opera-muskokastars-of-tomorrow/

And if you are into singing opera yourself… Muskoka Chautauqua is again offering vocal master classes with accomplished singer and teacher Jennifer Tung at Pinegrove Fellowship Church in Port Carling. From 1-4 p.m. she will put the class through its paces; at 7 p.m. she and the students will perform in the Opera Muskoka Opera Concert with Jennifer Tung and students, also at the church. muskokachautauqua.com/event/opera-muskoka-vocalmaster-class/

Antique sale offers a full weekend of treasures from the past The 35th annual Bracebridge Antique Sale takes place Aug. 24-26 (Fri: 5-8 p.m., Sat 10-5, Sun 10-4) in the Agricultural Building at the J.D. Lang Activity Park, aka the Bracebridge Fairgrounds. Offerings will include but are not limited to: Canadiana, furniture, tools, lamps, Persian rugs, jewelry, coins, silver, china, paper items and advertising, dolls, pressed glass, toys, quilts and linens. For information, email: geriandwalt@sympatico.ca

16 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

The Brian Orser Foundation teams up with the Port Carling Figure Skating Club to present the seventh annual Beat the Heat Skating Show on Aug. 25 at the Port Carling Arena.

Sample suds and play games at beerfest in Gravenhurst Muskoka Craft Beerfest returns again to Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst on Aug 25, offering sampling of umpteen brews from 14 craft breweries (as of this writing), as well as craft items, wines, wing sauce and other good things to sample. There’ll be live music. At the Muskoka Craft Beerfest Lawn Games Tournament, you and a teammate will get to play Cornhole, Beersbee, KanJam, Beer Pong and more, for bragging rights and beery prizes. muskokacraftbeerfest.com

Beat the Heat – Port Carling Aug 25 Just when you thought you’d seen everything that summer has to offer in Muskoka, it’s: a world-class figure skating show. The Brian Orser Foundation teams up with the Port Carling Figure Skating Club to present the seventh annual Beat the

Heat Skating Show on Aug. 25 at the Port Carling Arena. Skaters from around the world coached by Brian Orser will perform, including two-time world champion Javier Fernandez. VIP tickets include a meet and greet session with Orser and the skaters, wine and hors d’oeuvres and a commemorative gift. Book early to avoid disappointment. All proceeds go to the Port Carling Figure Skating Club. portcarlingskatingclub.ca

Speaking of amazing shows in Muskoka, there are simply too many to list, so visit the venue websites for acts, artists and dates: Algonquin Theatre (Huntsville): algonquintheatre.ca/en/

Rene Caisse Theatre (Bracebridge): thecaisse.com/

Gravenhurst Opera House: gravenhurst.ca/en/opera/opera.asp

Peter’s Players (Gravenhurst): petersplayers.com

The Kee to Bala: thekee.com

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DISCOVERING MUSKOKA

Article by Dianne Park Thach / Photography by Larry Carroll

id you know that the Muskoka river watershed is over 5,100 square kilometres – about the size of Prince Edward Island? This fact is just one of many that can be found at the new, permanent exhibit at the Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst. Watershed Wonders, which opened in July, is the newest exhibit to the Discovery Centre that opened in 2006. The exciting new presentation reveals the mystery of life under the water’s surface. More than a dozen interactive screens throughout the exhibit help visitors learn about the various plants, trees and

creatures of the watershed in Muskoka, along with their natural environments and the challenges they face. It also educates visitors on the human side of the story – the flow of water, hydroelectric power, water level management and that stewardship makes a difference. Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre (MS&DC) is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization that owns the RMS Segwun, Wenonah II and Wanda III, and operates the Muskoka Discovery Centre, where visitors learn about the history of steamships, wooden boats, resort hotels, and aboriginal and early settlers to the area.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 19

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Above: Catching a digital otter can be fun as well as educational for young people at Watershed Wonders, the new exhibit at the Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst. Below: The exhibit allows visitors to explore microscopic organisms that inhabit the deep cold waters of Muskoka lakes. Back in 2014, it was determined the museum needed a bit of a change with something more current, says Ann Curley, operations manager of the Muskoka Discovery Centre. One element discussed was the absence of water itself, from a gallery perspective, so they began with small exhibits in partnership with Friends of the Muskoka Watershed. “Some people might struggle to see the true importance of water, here,” explains Curley. “If there was no water, there would be no ships. We wouldn’t have our history and there are a lot of specific things that are unique to the Muskoka watershed.” Watershed Wonders occupies a space that originally held ‘The Hotel’ exhibit, which was an area underused for storytelling. “It was more important to have a new story to tell

that would add to the educational value for the community and it will draw in a whole new demographic,” says Curley. “All of these stories are very important and it’s current with families and kids, learning about sustainability. There’s no other place like this offered.” Christy Doyle, who is director of environmental and watershed programs for the District of Muskoka, agrees with Curley. “From my perspective, any exhibit with a watershed focus is unique and this one, with so much local content featured, is extraordinary,” she says. “The audio-visual installations are custom-built, so it really is a ‘made-in-Muskoka’ attraction.” Newcomers to Muskoka and longtime residents may be surprised to learn that this area has as many lakes as it does, she adds. The ‘Did You Know…?’

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 21

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section should be an eye-opener for many of them. The audio-video installation at the exhibit’s entrance shows the size and complexity of the watershed, highlighting the different lakes, rivers, dams, wetlands and communities on a map of Muskoka with the touch of a button. Inside the room, a sand table explains what a watershed is, and what it takes to make one. A large mural depicts a scene above a lake, while a virtual aquarium shows the world what exists underwater on a substantial 96-inch screen. Visitors can touch an image of walleye swimming by and learn more about it, or touch an image of an anchor to learn about a shipwreck. This virtual aquarium is the second in Canada – the first being in Saguenay, QC. The display in the centre of the room shows biodiversity through a constructed land and shoreline with artistic models of animals. There are bird carvings by local artist John DeLang and other animals such as great blue heron, loons, Massasssauga rattler, beavers and turtles provided by a company that has created models for the Smithsonian Institution. Children can crawl through the tunnel underneath to see real video footage of the lake floor, and a water management game gets players to create a virtual flood and then see its impact on the watershed. The invasive species interactive shows users the non-native species that have a negative impact on the lakes.

Left: Watershed Wonders, the new exhibit at the Muskoka Discover Centre, explores everything from maple syrup production to flooding. Right: Yannic Gosselin of Montreal-based Simbioz demonstrates the software that drives the exhibit. The vibrant photomurals that cover the walls inside were installed by Expographiq from Gatineau, QC, and exhibit design was provided by Toronto’s Reich+Petch. Audiovisual installations were done by Simbioz from Montreal, a company that the Discovery Centre has worked with a number of times on other projects.

Curley says working with Simbioz again was important because they have a good understanding of their needs, such as the vision of having a 50-50 split of text and audio visual in this exhibit. Simbioz designer Yannik Gosselin says it’s unusual to have that much audiovisual in an exhibit. “It was suggested by the design consultants

that they only have one, two or three interactives but they wanted more,” he explains. “They wanted it to be more interactive, with more visuals, and they knew the stories they wanted to tell. Our job was to translate the stories into an interactive solution and it was a little tricky to find an interesting way of telling them.”

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Using technology to tell these stories can help connect content to different people of all ages in different ways, adds Doyle. “Some people like interactivity, others like visual material, and so on,” she says. “Technology also allows for content to be updated regularly so becoming stale-dated isn’t a problem.” The Discovery Centre collaborated with individuals from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, District of Muskoka Watershed Council and Friends of the Watershed, creating the content and collective video footage and photos. They got together weekly, creating an interpretive plan by sharing knowledge. The half-million dollar exhibit was funded by FedNor, the District of Muskoka, Muskoka Lakes Associaion, MS&DC fundraising and private donations. Doyle hopes Watershed Wonders will inspire visitors to do their part to protect and enhance Muskoka’s watershed. “We’re an area filled with water lovers; we play in it, sail on it, paddle it, dive into it, skate on it, fish in it, and of course, drink it,” she says. “We all have a collective stake in the health of our watershed.”

The centre hub in the Watershed Wonders exhibit features aquatic life found above and below the surface of the watershed. Curley wants visitors to discover new things and find out ways that they can be a better citizen and steward for sustainability. “There should also be a sense of pride for

having such a wonderful facility right at our door that talks about a very important part of Muskoka,” Curley says. “It showcases the watershed of Muskoka.”

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Quilling Blending artistic vision and wildlife Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Andy Zeltkalns

When soaked in lukewarm or room temperature water, quills become pliable, allowing for each end of the quill to be pulled through the birchbark.

Clement attended a workshop in 2010 led every day to the Knox church to learn,” says uskoka’s natural landscape has been the inspiration throughout by an Aboriginal man who taught quilling. Clement. “The rest of the group decided it the years for many artists. While Together with other members of her beading was easier to buy the quill boxes but I took to many have painted, drawn or created pieces group, they were interested in the art and it like a duck to water. I just fell in love with of art based on the artist’s version of collected quill boxes. A quill box is birchbark, the art because it’s so different and I could see Muskoka’s lakes, rivers and trees, few artists finished with sweet grass and pictures made so much potential.” Clement collects the materials for quill blend their artistic vision with natural with porcupine quills. “He was here for a full week and we went boxes from her property as well as the materials collected directly from wildlife and generosity of friends and the Muskoka landscape. neighbours. Quills are Mixed media artist collected from road kill, Henrike Clement talks about washed with warm, soapy her art as “dabbling in a bit of everything.” Growing up, water and, once dry, sorted by colour and size. Sweet her parents each had differing grass is hung to dry in creative pursuits – her father as an artist and her mother clumps and birchbark is laid flat and weighted, in order with sewing and gardening. to prevent curling. Now, at her home in “I have to gather Bracebridge, Clement takes everything for the quill inspiration from both of her boxes,” says Clement. “It’s parents, as well as her not like I can walk into a surroundings. craft supply store for these “I’ve always had art in my things. We have birch trees life,” comments Clement. “I here on the property and picked it up from both sides. friends let me hunt for sweet I’m always creating or grass on their properties.” building something and I’m The quills are dyed with always trying a new project. synthetic dye and then You name it; I’ve done it. Just about everything you see in sorted, depending on the the gardens, I’ve built one Of the many quill boxes she has created, Henrike Clement is most proud of a large final hue. Each project may way or another.” require blending of different box, in all-natural shades, depicting many of the animals of Canada.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 27

SUMMER 2018 CELEBRATING 26 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE IN THE ARTS

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shades or a perfect match in colour. Quills are quite firm. However, when soaked in lukewarm or room temperature water, they become pliable, allowing for each end of the quill to be pulled through the birchbark. “What is very difficult is when you’re putting the box together and you’re going through so many layers of bark, trying to sew it together and have it turn out looking like a box,” says Clement. “I like to see bark showing on the finished box. Some people like to see the whole thing quilled. It’s personal preference for different pieces and different techniques.” Once the quill is pulled tightly through the bark, the ends are clipped off. When the quills dry, they become very hard again and the bark contracts, creating a strong bond. The design must be thought out well in advance of the quilling, in order to avoid missteps and mistakes. Clement often trials ideas first on a small scale before moving forward with a new project. “There are certain things you can do, I’ve discovered, and certain things you cannot get away with doing,” explains Clement. “After the course, I did a lot of studying, I read books and I phoned the teacher many, many times. I’d ask ‘what about this’ or ‘can I do this.’ I asked him if you could dye sweet grass and he said ‘I don’t know but why would you want to?’ And I said ‘why not?’ It turns out you can’t because it really wrecks the grass, but I have to try everything.” The art created by Clement, not only with her quilling, but with all of her various projects, is based on her own artistic process. Ideas for projects often come together in her head over several months before she begins to work on the physical art. “Some of the ideas just come to me,” shares Clement. “There’s one I call my Mexican rooster because it reminds me of the art in Mexico. I had a rooster at that time, too, and he was also that pretty, so I combined the two. Other ideas are more basic, like a cardinal. That’s just ordinary for me.” While she has created many quill boxes and works of art, one piece she is most proud of is a large box, in all-natural shades, depicting many of the animals of Canada. “I had to pick quills that had dark areas, Henrike Clement collects the materials for quill boxes from her property as well as from friends and light areas, reddish for the fox, blacker for the neighbours who support her work. Above: Sweet grass is dried in clumps. Below: Quills are collected bear, that sort of thing,” explains Clement. from road kill, washed with warm, soapy water and, once dry, sorted by colour and size.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 29

“That box took me a long time to mull everything over before I figured out exactly how I wanted to do it, and then it took eight months to make.” The art of quilling is a craft Clement feels as though she has been doing for her whole life. While she has spent time learning the Indigenous techniques and craft, Clement does not use Indigenous wildlife in her pieces. “I want to make my own art and I want to honour what I was taught,” says Clement. “It’s about learning, sharing and honouring what you can. Plus, I want to share what I know.” Teaching is another step in her artistic journey. Clement has taught several short workshops for local culture days and is teaching a two-part clinic this summer. Most quilling can take weeks, if not months to complete, so courses can only give a bit of insight into the art. “It’s more suited to a longer six-week course, with time in-between for homework,” explains Clement. “Quilling is very precise.” Clement’s quill boxes come in varying shapes and sizes, with some boxes being shaped and most depicting wildlife. Each box is one-of-a-kind with no

The design of a quill box must be thought out well in advance of the quilling, says Henrike Clement. She often trials ideas first on a small scale before moving forward with a new project.

30 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

duplications, although she does take custom orders. “I like having artistic licence,” says Clement. “All-natural materials have a will of their own too. Try as you might, you can’t get it to do exactly what you want. I think I do a pretty good job getting it into the shape I want but there are still some limits. Plus, it’s no fun if someone has told me exactly what to do!” Quilling and beading are Clement’s primary forms of artwork, but she is keen to learn new skills and attempt new projects from felting to beaded totem poles, based on totem lore. “Whatever I’m working on at the moment is my favourite,” says Clement. “I can put quill boxing down for a couple of months and work on something totally different, and that’s what I’m all immersed in at one time. I keep going back to quill boxing and beading, for sure. It’s very creative.” For Clement, the change in medium is an opportunity to be inspired by Muskoka’s wildlife and landscapes, and move forward with a new vision.

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FROM MEXICO TO MUSKOKA

Monarchs The Amazing Migration Article by Doug Smith / Photography by Eleanor Kee Wellman

32 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

monarch butterfly clings to the leaf of an abandoned apple tree on an evening in late August. It’s not just orienting itself to capture the first warm rays of the morning sun. It is on a journey. Soon it will join other monarchs, all intent on the same purpose – to migrate south to Mexico for the winter. It’s an amazing feat for an insect that weighs less than a gram and has a 10-centimetre wingspan. With the right weather conditions, it can cover the almost 3,000 kilometre distance in two months. An arduous trip even by human standards, it is a lifetime for a monarch. Most adult monarchs don’t even live that long, except the generation that migrates in the fall. “The adults normally live for only four to six weeks,” says wildlife photographer Eleanor Kee Wellman. Fascinated by their intricate life cycle, she has been photographing monarchs at her west Muskoka home for over 10 years now. To make the area more attractive to these familiar and famous butterflies, Kee Wellman allows milkweed to proliferate in her backyard. Common milkweed is the monarchs’ favoured host plant for their caterpillars. Kee Wellman looks for the single eggs, which the adults lay on the underside of milkweed leaves. She then takes them inside to raise them in a protected environment until they are butterflies. “I found monarch eggs in late May this year – on the 29th and 30th,” Kee Wellman says, wondering if they arrived that early because she had raised some monarchs at her place the previous summer. Once the eggs hatch after four to five days (or sometimes a little longer), the two to five millimetre long caterpillars first eat their egg shell. “They then eat around themselves in a crescent shape,” says Kee Wellman, pointing out this is a distinctive monarch caterpillar trait. She continues, explaining “the first frass – insect poop – is white from them eating their egg shell. Then it turns yellow because their next meal is the fuzzy filaments on the underside of the milkweed leaves.” Kee Wellman keeps the caterpillars in a large container, which is cleaned out regularly. New leaves are added as needed. Eating almost constantly, it doesn’t take long until the caterpillar outgrows its skin. When this happens the caterpillars go through a moult, also known as an instar, Kee Wellman explains. ‘It’s really quite fascinating how they wriggle out of their old skin,” she adds. “It’s like they are changing their socks. They wriggle out of their old skin by moving their feet up and down.” Kee Wellman says photos don’t do it justice. “You need to see it on video,” she says, adding that she has a post on YouTube. “When they are moulting, it takes about 24 hours, and they crawl off of the plant to do this,” she has observed. “They moult the skin and the head cap at each instar,” she continues. “Immediately after each moult, they wait until their new head cap and their mouth parts solidify, then eat the old skin.” The boldly striped white, yellow and black caterpillars go through a total of five instars, says Kee Wellman, before forming a chrysalis and entering pupation. By the time they are ready to pupate – 10 to 14 days after hatching – they are two to five centimetres long.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 33

Monarch caterpillars feast on leaves, almost constantly, as they prepare for the next stage in their metamorphosis. The boldly striped white, yellow and black caterpillars go through a total of five stages before forming a chrysalis and entering pupation. “The pupation stage in the chrysalis is less than two weeks,” states Kee Wellman, adding, “I think it is weather dependent.” While it doesn’t seem that much is happening during their pupation, a dramatic change takes place, one that transforms the slow-moving, earthbound caterpillar into a delicate and ethereal butterfly, capable of flying for many hours at a time. “The chrysalis changes, too, from a pale green with gold and black to clear by the time the butterfly emerges,” says Kee Wellman, adding that it looks dark inside

because of the monarch’s wings. When they finally emerge, the newborn butterflies first rest on their chrysalis or other nearby perch to let their wings unfold and dry. Kee Wellman has raised a total of 11 caterpillars to butterflies this spring, losing only two. “One began to come out the top instead of the bottom. Eventually it came out the way it should but its legs were too soft to hold onto the pupa case,” she notes. “I wait until they are flying and a little restless before I release them outside.”

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Once out in the big world, it is not always easy for the monarchs. “This year, one of them was almost immediately captured by a dragonfly,” she states. “That was unusual, as they aren’t usually predated because they are poisonous.” Toxins in the milkweed plant are what make the butterflies poisonous. While the prime host plant for the caterpillar is milkweed, they don’t nectar on just milkweed. Monarch butterflies also visit daylily, clover, dogbane, thistle and, in the fall when they are migrating, asters and goldenrod.

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Though not usually predated upon, there are other problems facing monarchs, not the least of which is habitat loss. A tall and robust herb that grows in open fields and along roadsides in Muskoka, milkweed is considered a noxious weed, so it is often eradicated. It also falls victim when the annual roadside grass is cut in the region. “If there was a published schedule of when the cutting is taking place, then concerned individuals could move the caterpillars to other milkweed plants that are growing away from roadsides,” Kee Wellman points out. “Roadside grass cutting is done for safety and sightline visibility for driveways and side roads,” District road services supervisor Ryan Elbee explains, stating that he is willing to work out a way to communicate when and where this takes place in the summer. Cutting of roadside vegetation destroys many milkweed plants, but it’s not the monarch’s biggest problem. The spraying of food crops such as corn with herbicides like glysophate and the resulting drift to the milkweed plants has been documented to adversely affect monarch caterpillars. The use of GMO seeds, spliced with Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria (Bt) for the purpose of deterring caterpillars, has also been proven to affect the caterpillars of monarchs. While these practices usually take place in large agricultural locations outside of Muskoka, particularly in the U.S. Midwest,

When they finally emerge, the newborn butterflies first rest on their chrysalis or other nearby perch to let their wings unfold and dry.

they greatly affect the numbers of monarchs that finally make it north to Muskoka each spring. As a result, monarchs are now listed as a species of Special Concern under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act. Naturalist Al Sinclair, who co-ordinates the region’s annual butterfly count, mentions, “the population is still quite low compared to a decade ago.” The generation of monarch that Kee Wellman raised from late spring into the early summer is the third generation for the year. Its parents arrived in Muskoka in late spring, having grown up further south. Its grandparents, emerging as butterflies in late March still further south, were the offspring of the generation that overwintered in Mexico. The generation raised by Kee Wellman mate throughout their usual two to six week life as a butterfly. It’s those offspring, emerging as butterflies in late summer, which are the generation that are somehow

While roadside grass cutting is done for safety and sightline visibility, this activity poses a threat to monarchs who require the vegetation to live.

equipped to live much longer. They are the ones that make the journey south to Mexico. Once they have survived that perilous journey and are resting in the high-altitude locations of Oyamel fir forests in the mountains of Mexico, the monarchs still have problems. Their wintering grounds in Mexico are under increasing pressure from development, particularly logging and the conversion of the forests for agricultural uses. First discovered by Dr. Fred Urquhart of the University of Toronto, back in 1975 after some innovative tagging techniques and countless hours of dedicated research, the monarchs' wintering areas are fragile ecosystems. Fortunately the Mexican government has taken steps recently to protect these important sites. Tourism is also helping promote the monarchs' plight and reverse the development of these areas to some degree. There are a number of ways to effectively help monarchs in Muskoka. Growing milkweed plants is one of them. Though not everyone is into letting the big plant become part of their flower garden, as is Kee Wellman. Setting aside a sunny corner for milkweeds works, as does having them as part of a larger butterfly garden. Several nurseries in the region sell milkweed plants for gardens. Using natural alternatives for insect pest control rather than glysophate and other harsh chemicals is another way to help monarchs, and all wildlife. As the monarchs make their way south each fall, many anticipate their return to Muskoka as a sign of spring. With awareness of their needs and support, they will continue to return.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 35

The Bird Family Photographs: Boyer Archives

and

Right: Bird’s original 1872 woollen mill, a 3¾ storey wood structure, had living space on the top floor. The millrace drew water at the head of the falls, powering machinery on the two middle floors. Above: This is how hard-driving Henry Bird looked relaxing with his long-stem meerschaum pipe in his Woodchester study during the prosperous 1920s. Family pictures and a panoramic photograph of Muskoka’s Overseas Battalion are among his mementos.

eople of Muskoka enjoyed prosperity, and the District newfound fame, during wool’s 80-year golden run. Centred on one man and his family, that heyday of the local wool trade is, for many, an unknown story. It sure did not happen automatically. Henry James Bird, innately curious and uncommonly determined, was in his early 20s when he left England for an adventure of discovery. He was not heading for Muskoka. Crewing aboard an uncle’s sailing ship with routes to the colonies, he got to Australia and spent time with his older brother, George, who’d begun his own “New World” life there in 1860. Henry next explored the United States, then landed in Canada. Though young, he brought ancient knowledge of wool. Born January 3, 1842 in Southfield House at Woodchester, son of Catherine and Oliver Bird, one of their eight offspring to survive childhood diseases, Henry grew up in the family’s woollen factories in Gloucestershire’s Stroud Valley, well-known for quality textiles.

36 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

the golden era of

MUSKOKA’S WOOL TRADE Article by J. Patrick Boyer

Henry first acquired an immigrant’s “Canadian experience” in Almonte as superintendent of the Rosamond woollen mill, adjusting for how Ontarians thought and acted. He especially liked the thoughts and actions of Sarah Fraser from Manotick. The couple married on Christmas Day, three years after he’d arrived in Canada. Henry and Sarah moved to Glen Allan on

the Conestoga River near Guelph, so he could have his own woollen mill. The operation was destroyed by heavy spring flooding. He rebuilt. Another spring surge, the next year, washed out his mill a second time. Between floods, Conestoga’s flow was inadequate to power his mill. Understanding why it had been for sale, Henry vowed greater diligence for a future mill.

Then a darker shadow descended. Sarah developed symptoms of tuberculosis, as did their three-year-old daughter Elizabeth. Their seven-month-old son Oliver was also failing. A doctor ordered complete rest. Henry took his wife and children to her parents in Manotick, near Ottawa. Rest was not enough. Sarah, Elizabeth and Oliver all died within weeks of each other. Henry considered returning to England

or joining George in Australia for a fresh start. But a practical man, he first researched where he might build a better mill, closer at hand. By the late 1860s, Ontario’s government began giving free land to homesteading settlers in Muskoka, Parry Sound and Nipissing districts. The nearest, Muskoka, was attracting farmers. One needed nearby sheep farmers to operate a woollen mill.

A devoted reader, Henry scoured Thomas McMurray’s just published The Free Grant Lands of Canada, first book ever printed in Muskoka. He realized an enterprising man could do well if he got in on the early action. A waterfall Henry judged suitable was at the head of navigable water on the Muskoka River. North Falls already powered a grist mill reducing pioneer farmers’ grains to flour. The falls were large in volume, strong in flow,

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 37

Photograph: Boyer Archives

This silhouetted study captures a two-engine Grand Trunk train pulling many cars laden with northern Ontario resources south, across the Muskoka River by Bird’s Mill, at right. The building with water shooting out is the turbine wing of Bracebridge’s water-pumping station and original hydroelectric plant.

38 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

Henry had seen hilly farms with rocky outcroppings when first scouting Bracebridge’s environs, deciding whether and where to locate his mill. Though poorly suited to field crops, they were ideal for grazing sheep. He now made generous financial arrangements with hard-pressed farmers to raise sheep, provided they’d sell their wool to his mill alone. It was win-win, with Muskoka farmers prospering and Bird’s Mill getting about 70 per cent of the district’s annual clip. The ripples kept spreading. Muskokans were opening hotels and lodges for tourists. Soon a specialty item on their dining room menus was “Muskoka Spring Lamb.” Prospering sheep farmers teamed up with enterprising hoteliers to supply fresh lamb and mutton. As train service connected the district to larger centres, these farmers supplied the growing demand for Muskoka’s now-famous lamb. Hotel restaurants, restaurateurs in major Canadian cities, New York and Chicago, and posh railway dining cars all featured this celebrated fare. In tandem with these spin-off benefits for Muskoka’s farmers and tourist operators, Bird’s Woollen Mill kept expanding. Henry had become a flourishing manufacturer of high quality woollen products. He broke into world markets. His famous “Bird Blanket” sold across Canada and was exported, Photograph: Boyer Archives

central in the village and fairly accessible brigade was formed or the place incorporated from either side. The northland was sprouting as a village. Gravenhurst would follow a grist mills, lumber mills, and shingle mills decade later, Huntsville in 1885 and Port but, so far, no woollen mill. Henry Bird saw Carling by 1887. Bird’s Woollen Mill was becoming an his opening. He crowded out his grief, working like a exceptional feature in Bracebridge’s progress, fanatic, building his mill at the head of the creating good jobs and generating wealth falls on the north side of the river, a 30 x 50 throughout the district. Henry increased foot 3¾-storey wood structure, sited so it production to include spinning yarn, then faced no risk of disastrous flooding. Henry weaving cloth. The ripple effects of his was assured of plenty of power from the operation were far reaching. He made farming in Muskoka profitable. millrace, which he’d designed himself. His mill began limited production in 1872, first carding wool for local farmers. But filling lonely hours with work wasn’t enough. The widower, who’d rebuilt his woollen business, needed to reboot his personal life, too. The next year, 31-year-old Henry returned to Glen Allan and proposed to 26-yearold Mary Matilda Ney, whom he and Sarah befriended when operating his ill-fated mill there. After a June wedding in 1873, the couple moved into the mill’s top floor, complete with waterfall music right below their windows. The next year, Henry, avid reader and believer in self-education, drove creation of a library. A founding member of the Bracebridge Mechanics’ Institute, the model for establishing libraries at the time, Henry ensured the tiny settlement’s readers had a worthy New milling equipment for Bird’s Mill was imported from collection of books – even before a fire England and installed in 1912.

Photographs: Boyer Archives

scientific learning and taking advantage of British spiritual understanding. Empire preferential trade Even at the simplest level, duties, to an imperial the magic of an octagonal “common market.” house is its invitation to For British-based Hudson’s think differently about the Bay Company, Bird’s filled space we inhabit and, in orders for its hallmark white turn, about ourselves in blankets with distinctive relation to our green, red, yellow and navy surroundings. The octagon stripes. He produced a wide structure, in other words, range of cloth. His embodied Henry Bird’s “mackinaw” material was in approach to life. high demands by clothiers On this other side of the river, Mary manufacturing jackets and trousers. turned from boys to girls, now birthing Flourishing in harmony with woolthe couple’s succession of daughters: weaving below, Henry and Mary Bird’s Margaret Elizabeth, in the final hours family in their top floor residence was of 1883, Catherine in 1886, and Mary filling with boys. In March 1874 Henry Matilda in 1889. James Bird Jr. had arrived, followed by The golden era of Muskoka’s wool Robert Oliver Bird, William Lister Bird trade continued as Henry outpaced and Thomas Ney Bird. competitors. In 1888, a 33 x 27 foot Henry solved his space need for the brick and stone structure was added for expanding mill enterprise and his use as a warehouse and shop. He crowded home by a single stroke. He needed more space to store the greater built a larger home across the river for part of the Muskoka clip of wool, his family and converted the third floor which was increasing in quantity each apartment to much-needed offices for year as more district farmers raised mill operations. Top: The Bird family arranged itself artfully before their sheep, and for his large stock of tweeds, Ever keen about applying science, octagonal home for this 1910 photograph, with Mary and flannels and blankets, which had he’d taken inspiration from American Henry fronting their sons and daughters in alternating pose: become widely known as the standard Orson Fowler’s recent book on the Henry Jr., Mary, William, Margaret, Robert, Catherine and health benefits of octagonal homes. Thomas. Above: Across the Muskoka River from his mill, atop for durability and excellent quality. Attentive custodian of his rapidly Only a very determined man could a clear cut hill, Henry Bird built this octagonal home for his construct a large octagonal house of growing family in 1882, for enhanced health benefits. His wife expanding weaving business, Henry poured concrete on the second highest Mary gave birth to three daughters here; at their home in the stayed abreast of innovations in wool manufacturing techniques. More point of land in Bracebridge in 1882. mill, she’d delivered four boys. broadly, he sought explanations for any The railway had not yet reached town, Always an early adapter, Henry would add new invention resulting from applied science. so cement had to be shipped from Gravenhurst to the town wharf, loaded onto a pioneering vacuum cleaner and A founding member of the Mechanics’ horse-drawn wagons and pulled up the Bracebridge’s first telephone to connect his Institute in Bracebridge, he presented steepest roads. The exercise produced several home office with the mill across the river as engaging evening lectures about some of his Ontario records, with Henry’s house still soon as the technology appeared on the own inventions, such as a new generator, and standing today while Orson Fowler’s in New horizon. When automobiles were invented, updating townsfolk on new developments in among the first chugging Bracebridge streets the woollen industry, relevant information Jersey vanished long ago. for a community thriving because of his mill. Bird’s design also incorporated artful and Muskoka roads belonged to the Birds. Very active in community activities, The eight-sided residence, high above the octagonal motifs throughout, in woodwork and flooring. An irrepressible champion of Muskoka River on a hilltop treeless from Henry served as a town councillor during the modernity, Henry installed indoor plumbing, lumbermen’s prior clear-cutting, offered a first decade of the 20th century. He was a ventilating shafts, water-pressure tanks, commanding view over his mill and voice for progress and boldness in local speaking tubes for staff or family members to Bracebridge. With a nod to his birthplace, he affairs, and championed the new Andrew communicate and a “dumb-waiter” elevator called the estate “Woodchester.” It remains Carnegie public library against councillors to carry food from the ground floor kitchens one of North America’s best enduring who considered it an “unnecessary to the dining room above, or the master examples from the 1880s of these buildings extravagance,” answering “The library offers that embodied a full measure of advanced an education second only to that of the bedroom above that.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 39

Photograph: Boyer Archives

Bird's Mill and main street seen circa 1900. The substantial mill appears as it had when it was expanded into a number of stone and concrete buildings by the early 20th century. The railway runs nearby and the original colonization road crosses the river to the mill’s right and continues up Bracebridge’s main street, upper centre. school and financial support should be given.” Andrew Carnegie himself called libraries “an adjunct” to schools. Henry Bird was a free thinker who read widely and followed a scientific bent. His wife Mary was a Wesleyan Methodist, and he’d once belonged to the Methodist Church but gave up church attendance. He disassociated himself entirely from organized religion, yet did not make his views on religion a matter of contention with others. A Conservative in politics, Henry became local treasurer of a fund the Tory-backing Toronto Telegram organized to pay for the bronze monument of Sir John A. Macdonald on Parliament Hill, after the prime minister’s death in 1891. Yet Henry maintained friendship with those of different political views. He had a lively and inquiring mind, became a keen student of Darwin’s explanations of evolution and liberated himself from Bird family traditional beliefs. “He sought,” noted his granddaughter Mary Speers, “to shock people out of their complacency.” He knew a town could not be complacent. In 1897 Henry provided downtown Bracebridge with needed shops and living accommodation by building a business block, with retail stores at street level and apartments above, across from the Dominion Hotel, on the west side of Manitoba Street near his mill.

40 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

In 1902, with Dominion Linen Mills starting up across the river alongside the railway tracks, Henry reconstituted his own business as a joint-stock company, Bird Woollen Mills Limited, with himself and his sons its directors, and confidently continued to expand facilities, building a handsome three-storey building by the mill, 60 x 90 feet. The lower level housed storerooms, the street level offices, retail rentals and warerooms, with the rest of the space for the latest in weaving machinery coming from England. A decade later, a three-storey stone and concrete building, 140 x 45 feet, was added. Up and running as The Great War began in 1914, this vast expansion gave Bird’s Mill capacity to handle substantial blanket orders for the Canadian soldiers and subsequent orders from both the British War Office and the French government. Filling war contracts propelled the mill to record levels of production, creating more jobs for skilled workers in the fully-modern mill and boosting demand for all the wool Muskoka’s numerous sheep farms could shear and deliver to the insatiable mechanized looms. Lightly populated Muskoka had a manpower crisis. Able-bodied men from Muskoka’s farms and factories enlisted and had gone to war. By naming their first-born “Henry J. Bird, Jr.,” Mary and Henry Bird set him on the dynastic path to become the next generation’s version of the family’s Muskoka founder. For

his formative first eight years, Henry Jr. grew up over the mill, its sounds and smells familiar, learning how the machinery worked and watching farmers deliver their wool. In 1882, he moved across the river with the rest of the family to begin a unique life in octagonal Woodchester, another impressionable experience for a Bracebridge boy, playing with wooden toys, climbing high onto the “widow’s walk” platform of Woodchester’s summit for unencumbered views across the entire town, sensing the confident power of a captain on the bridge of a ship, as curious as his namesake father. His outlook was typical across his generation, despite distinctive interests of the eight siblings. Henry Jr. became a director of The Bird Woollen Mill Company Limited when he was 28. He didn’t merely “carry on” the weaving business but had his father’s curiosity about new machinery and commitment to expand operations with modern possibilities. Henry was elected a Bracebridge councillor four times, promoting electric power development and upgrades to the town water supply. Henry Jr., a decade later, was elected to the Power Commission, then two terms as Bracebridge’s mayor in the 1920s. Henry was a Conservative in politics and held party responsibilities. Henry Jr. spoke at the convention in 1917 to nominate a candidate for that year’s wartime general election. With

Photograph: Boyer Archives

Bird’s Mill and Bracebridge electricity generation operated together with the town’s first generation plant, seen here, drawing water from Henry Bird’s millrace. This high-use zone also included a long wooden chute, seen descending right to left, carrying logs over the falls to the bay. the family’s mill a pillar of Muskoka’s economy, the second iteration of Henry J. Bird admirably fulfilled his remit. His responsibilities and leadership grew. He became president of the company. After war broke out in 1914, all three Bird daughters went overseas. With Muskoka’s 122nd Overseas Battalion going to England in June 1917, Bird Woollen Mills opened “Muskoka Rooms” in London where any of Muskoka’s soldiers on leave could meet, get news and relax. Margaret and Catherine Bird moved to London and took charge of the venue personally, ensuring friendly hospitality for kindred Muskokans. Their younger sister May Bird sought front-line action to help soldiers directly as a nurse on active service from the very start of the war at military hospitals in England, France, Egypt and Russia. Margaret and Catherine lived privileged lives at Woodchester, social debutantes whose upbringing included attending private schools for girls in Toronto, extensive travels abroad and high social connections. They made Woodchester a centre for vibrant cultural life for women, with musical performances and literary discussions. They supported community projects with time and money in an era when citizens, not government agencies, held prime responsibility for themselves and their neighbours. When May Bird returned to Canada in 1923, she trained further in nursing at Toronto Western Hospital and worked with Toronto Social Services. She later rejoined her sisters at Woodchester, her commitment

to helping others continuing in her work with Muskoka-Parry Sound Social Welfare. The “Bird Sisters” never married. They continued gracious traditions, from serving afternoon tea with silver service to singing in the Bracebridge Choral Society, hosting concerts at Woodchester. Henry Bird became a widower a second time, when Mary died in 1912. His daughters Margaret and Catherine lived on with him at Woodchester. His beard became fuller and scruffier. He read voraciously, enjoyed intelligent conversation and watched the family mill operate under his sons, producing quality wool products and generating work for skilled craftsmen and Muskoka’s many sheep farmers, and paying the high taxes the town levied on Woodchester. Henry completed his allotted time in 1936, four days after his 94th birthday, on January 7. For 82 years Henry Bird’s mill thrived as a large employer, taxpayer and economic mainstay of Bracebridge. It had accounts across Canada and in the United States, as well as Britain. Muskoka farmers with flocks of sheep prospered selling wool to the mill and meat to fine dining rooms. Local suppliers of machinery, tradesmen and community organizations also benefited. But after the Second World War, demand for wool declined with the rise of synthetic fibres and lab-made fabrics. Alongside the demise of Muskoka’s leather tanneries and steamships, new products and changing methods eclipsed the district’s golden age of wool. By December 1953, Bird’s Mill was bankrupt. The golden era of Muskoka's wool trade had ended.

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Humour & Creativity Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Tara McGrath

rtists and sisters Carola and Ileana Grimm have always shared a passion for art. From very early years, they both recall spending time painting, crafting and creating together, with no instruction beyond their own imaginations and experimentation. The loss of their mother when they were very young led the sisters to bond over their interest in artistic pursuits. “As kids, if we weren’t playing in the forest, we were making things,” says Carola Grimm, artist and owner of the Red Canoe Gallery in

42 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

Port Carling. “We don’t really know why. It’s just what we wanted to do. That interest in creating always stuck with us as we went through the years in different ways.” Both of their parents had their own artistic talents. Their mother created beautiful oil paintings while their father, a mechanical engineer in his work life, created small papier-mâché statues and sculptures. Creativity from their parents bloomed early and continuously in the sisters’ lives. “I remember my sister and I painting a whole wall in our room,” shares Ileana

Grimm, Toronto resident and owner of the Canadian company Grimm. “And I just remember thinking ‘wow, none of our other friends are allowed to paint on their walls.’ Art has always been part of our lives.” Ileana applied to the Ontario College of Art as a first choice for schooling but was not accepted. Although heartbroken, she pursued a degree in kinesiology from McMaster University and continued to draw in her spare time. “I have anatomy class to thank for my ability to draw the human form,” jokes Ileana.

Opposite page: Sisters Carola and Ileana Grimm shared a passion for art from a very early age and continue to embrace this form of expression. Above: Carola displays the work of the sisters and other Canadian artists in her Red Canoe Gallery in Port Carling. Below: Art and humour are universal, and the Grimm sisters have fun with their creativity. After graduating, Ileana worked briefly selling fitness equipment but continued to draw and submit her work to newspapers and other publishing outlets. When she left that job, she started hand painting T-shirt designs. At that time, Carola was running a successful, hand-painted children’s clothing line. “I said ‘why don’t we try a show,’ and we got into the One of a Kind Show and we honestly never looked back,” says Carola. “We did so well. We were one of the top three booths out of 500.” With success and recognition at these shows, Ileana grew her creatively designed T-shirts into a successful gift company. They attended numerous shows, including the annual Muskoka Arts & Crafts Summer Show in Bracebridge. During their attendance at one of those shows, Carola noticed a lack of art galleries in the Muskoka area showcasing Canadian artists.

“We did the festival at Annie Williams and that’s really how people became familiar with our work,” explains Carola. “When I moved to Muskoka, which is 25 years ago now, that’s when I opened the gallery and went back to painting.” Carola seized the opportunity and launched Red Canoe Gallery in Port Carling. Through the years, the gallery has changed

and evolved as has her art and the other artists who are showcased in the gallery. “I pretty much just make my own rules,” laughs Carola. The sisters work with slightly different mediums and various techniques. Ileana’s paintings feature acrylics, although she originally worked with oils. In designing for her T-shirts, she sketches using basic hotel pens or markers; whatever she can get her hands on. Once a sketch is complete, she scans the drawing into her computer and plays with adding and changing colours. Sometimes an entire piece or design is created on the computer with the pen tool while other times she prefers to design in her sketchbook. “I keep looking back at the original sketch and I always end up liking it best,” says Ileana. “I like to let it be raw looking and crudely drawn. There’s something about the essence of that first effort, something special that lends

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 43

Ileana Grimm builds humour and whimsy into all of her pieces, commissioned artwork as well as T-shirt designs and original paintings and sketches. itself to the humour. Almost everything I do is humour based.” Carola’s approach to painting incorporates three-dimensional aspects, not unlike her papier-mâché sculptures. Her techniques, no matter what the medium, are experimental and self-taught. “My new approach that I’m working on – it’s very hard to explain – but it’s done with layers and layers,” shares Carola. “I work with acrylics because I can build them up in more interesting ways. Then I do a lot of distressing to the piece as well and I keep adding to it and adding to it.” Her paintings, both her popular birch trees and her newer works, evolved in tone and in looks, based on a side-hobby of renovating homes and working with various finishes.

44 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

Refinishing walls and using dimensional materials in numerous homes – her own, her family’s and her friends’ – led to the creative exploration of texture in Carola’s studio. “All the time people come in to the gallery and they want to know how I do it, but there’s no way I can explain it, unless you’ve renovated three or four houses,” says Carola. “Then I can show you how you hold the thing, why it works that way, how you put three or four layers on it and then after that, this is what you do to finish it.” Ileana builds humour and whimsy into all of her pieces, commissioned artwork as well as T-shirt designs and original paintings and sketches. “Humour in the past was not a widely accepted form of art,” explains Ileana.

“Whatever emotion you’re talking about, they should all have equal representation in our art or theatre. Humour is universal, art and humour are universal things that cross everything, including language barriers.” Ileana’s use of pop art imagery and creative phrasing together extends into all aspects of her work. The popularity of her designs presented her with a major opportunity to further explore her original paintings in recent years. A company in the United States approached Ileana about selling original paintings in seven galleries they operated in hotels across the states. “It was a big dream come true of mine,” shares Ileana. “I painted night and day to keep up with things. During that time, I was very successful. I sold over 200 original

paintings. It was a great way to know I was doing something worthwhile and to keep doing it.” While the company went out of business, Ileana continues to paint commissioned work while she finds an appropriate gallery network with the right customer base. “My artwork is not for everyone and that’s ok,” says Ileana. “I love to create work that can sit on somebody’s wall and make them smile every day. If it makes me laugh, I hope it will make someone else laugh.” The whimsical and humorous aspects of Ileana’s art are matched in the papier-mâché sculptures Carola creates. Through her own techniques, Carola constructs almost life-size sculptures of animals and people in various poses. “The papier-mâché is really difficult to work with,” explains Carola. “People have no idea. You really can’t control it as well as people think.” Papier-mâché can require significant detailed refinement in order to create the final piece. The casting can dry lumpy and requires sanding in order to resurface the sculpture. The finer detailing and smoothing is often completed with paint. Each sculpture can require significant shaping, pulling and tightening of paper strips in order to achieve the desired effect. “I can do three paintings in the same amount of time as one sculpture,” explains Carola. “I do love doing them though. I love creating that kind of art, sculpturally, but I think that it’s time for me to explore some other mediums.” While not wanting to move away entirely from the sculptures, Carola is interested in exploring working with sculpting cement or casting with resins. She often receives requests for outdoor sculptures and paintings. However, the current mediums she uses do not weather well in the elements. “I was, at one point, working on developing an outdoor painting technique,” shares Carola. “I did some samples on a canvas panel and I threw it in my backyard for two years in the grass, just left it there, and the canvas deteriorated but the paint didn’t. Maybe it’s worth revisiting and working on a wood panel. We’ll see.” Experimentation and determination are hallmarks of both sisters’ artwork. The pieces

Top: Carola Grimm constructs almost life-size papier-mâché sculptures of animals and people in various poses. Above: Carola’s approach to painting incorporates three-dimensional aspects, not unlike her papier-mâché sculptures. the sisters create combine real elements of life and nature with interesting uses of colour, imagery and even phrases in Ileana’s case. Their inspirations are drawn from their own experiences and exploration. “I experiment a lot,” shares Carola. “And you know what? Sometimes it doesn’t work, sometimes I try things as experiments and they’re simply duds. Sometimes they work or sometimes they lead to something else that

works and that’s how I evolve as an artist.” While Ileana often utilizes her original sketch as her design, Carola barely sketches at all when beginning a piece. She maintains a notebook of ideas that she may go back to but prefers to follow her creative instincts when a blank canvas is in front of her. “I think when you’re relaxed, you open that door up and it’s amazing if you give yourself the calm time,” explains Carola.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 45

“Most people think artists have music blaring but I work in total quiet. I need quiet, with the windows open, I need to see the garden, I need to hear the birds and that’s when I do my best work, when I have space.” Creative processes for both sisters have evolved and changed as they have moved through life. Although living in different areas and creating in vastly different spaces, the sisters still enjoy sharing potential ideas with each other, whether they use them or not. While the Grimm sisters share talent, they each prefer to While the Grimm sisters share talent, they each prefer to maintain their individuality as the creators and designers maintain their individuality as of their artwork. Their constant return to art and their support of each other’s artistic endeavours throughout their the creators and designers of lives is a contributing factor in their growth and their success. their artwork. Their constant return to art and their support of each other’s Ileana. “My company has been successful for “That’s where we landed and now it’s a noartistic endeavours throughout their lives is a 31 years and it doesn’t feel like work. It’s a brainer. Now we know and we understand, contributing factor in their growth and their gift and a blessing to brighten people’s days.” this is who we are and this is what we have to success. “We seem to always go back to art, no have in our life. We always have to have “We make people laugh for a living,” says matter what else is going on,” says Carola. creativity.”

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The Heather Belle

Tradition embraces technology Article and Photography By Tim Du Vernet

eather Belle, the 1902 cabin launch, was mobbed by boat show attendees at the then largest aquatic event in Muskoka history – the Muskoka Lakes Association Boat, Auto and Air Show of 1978 – held at the Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club. It wasn’t quite the Greatest Show on Earth, but for some, it was close. Attendees still remember the show, particularly the rocket launch assisted Hercules aircraft. This lumbering giant did a low flyby and then pointed itself skyward letting loose its rockets. Spectators actually fell out of their boats. The Muskoka Lakes Association’s boat show of 2018 will not likely bring the same degree of spectacle but our favoured boats will make their bi-annual appearance and for the first time in 40 years, Heather

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Belle, will be on the water in Port Carling. Built by the Marine Engine and Machine Company of Harrison New Jersey for Sidney McKinnon, a successful merchant of Toronto, Heather Belle was registered in Toronto. It would be for his daughter, Elizabeth Miles, as a boat to enjoy leisurely cruises on Lake Rosseau. McKinnon, who also owned the Rambler which he had bought a few years earlier, had a cottage on Tobin Island, where both boats were housed in a grand boathouse. Heather Belle was then powered by a 12 hp Alco Vapor engine. The Marine Engine and Machine Company owned the patent for Alco Vapor engines. Heather Belle and her current owner, Graeme Ferguson, were an arranged partnership. Ferguson says it was due to the Butson’s recommendation that he became her custodian, which has been for

over 20 years so far. As Ferguson learned more about Heather Belle, he became especially fascinated by her original source of power, the Alco Vapor technology. Steam-powered boats required a certified engineer to operate, while Alco Vapor and Naphtha powered craft were not regulated. According to Ferguson, this differential treatment has been a mystery, one that he set out to resolve through research about Heather Belle and her power source. Ferguson expects to publish a book about this within the year. Ferguson knows of no other surviving boat that was originally powered by an Alco Vapor engine. He believes perhaps only a few hundred boats were ever sold with this kind of engine. Heather Belle shared this innovative engine technology with an exclusive club that included boats owned by Alfred Nobel, J.P. Morgan, a kaiser and a president, Grover Cleveland (who named his launch after his second daughter Ester), among other notables. Alco Vapor operates in a similar manner to steam but it boils alcohol rather than water. The inventor, Frank Ofeldt, also invented the Naphtha engine. Naphtha was a hydrocarbon fuel similar to gasoline and it was relatively cheap to produce. Jabez Boswick, a founding partner of Standard Oil, had also partnered with Ofeldt. Ferguson believes that Boswick’s interest in the Ofeldt designs was due to the use of the Naphtha fuel. Boswick was looking for technologies that would make use of petroleum-based fuels that Standard Oil would produce. Futhermore, the freedom to operate these boats without an engineer increased their popularity. Ferguson has come to the conclusion that Boswick, a partner in Standard Oil, was able to persuade regulators not to apply the same restrictions suffered by steam engines to the Naphtha and Alco Vapor launches. This helped considerably in the marketing of the engine technology. Ferguson believes this had been a mystery for many as to why steam was alone in being regulated. When McKinnon died, his daughter changed the power to a gasoline opposed twin engine that weighed more than a ton. The boat was sold to George Thorel of Thorel

The stately Heather Belle, which was built in 1902 for Sidney McKinnon, a successful merchant of Toronto, was registered to carry over 30 passengers. It was later used as a “jitney” for Thorel House for 54 years. House to be the summer hotel boat. She was the nautical hotel “jitney,” as she was called. George Thorel had immigrated from England and established Thorel House in 1914. Heather Belle, despite her rigorous use by the hotel for 54 years, was also especially well maintained. She made weekly runs into town and other destinations. She was never left outside and George Thorel Jr. was the only one permitted to dock her. Ferguson learned that not even George Jr.’s son was allowed to do this. While her engine was mid-ships, her bilge

pump was manually operated and located in the stern. This meant that one of the passengers had to take on the duty periodically. Heather Belle was registered to take over 30 passengers and given the number 22 by government officials. Her time at Thorel House drew to close in 1968 when George Thorel was looking for a new owner to be her continued custodian. With the agreement that she would be kept and cared for in perpetuity, she was sold to Santa’s Village for $1. Perhaps she was not big enough or durable enough and after three

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 49

years, Heather Belle was sold to Donald opportunity to give her a new engine, Davis, an internationally famous actor. one that would be equally historic and Davis founded the summer theatre revolutionary. company Straw Hat Players in Muskoka. Boaters on the Lake of Bays know Davis kept her on Lake Muskoka at Heather Belle and will see her at annual one of his properties. When Ferguson events and occasionally leaving her took ownership of Heather Belle, she house near the Bigwin Island Golf Club. had the Chrysler Crown engine installed She has been a distant memory for most by Davis. The actor explained to on Lakes Rosseau or Muskoka. Boats Ferguson that the Kermath engine like Heather Belle seemed to be touched Davis inherited gave him nothing but by great hands of ownership. grief. Graeme Ferguson is one of the coFerguson remembers that Davis founders of IMAX. Together with his loved the boat and referred to her as former partners Robert Kerr and “The Belle”. Davis always drove her at William Shaw, he set about to convert “top speed,” which isn’t saying much Heather Belle to electric. Before since her hull speed was around 15 committing to electric, he wanted to be mph. She was owned by Davis when she sure it would work. was brought to the MLA show of 1978 Shaw, an engineer, had visited Bavaria and that likely added to her appeal. and observed a fleet of boats that had Belle is now on Lake of Bays been very successfully powered THE RI OBEL Heather M OM ENTI™ COLLECTION andAT cared for as lovingly as any boat electrically since 1911 and determined AVAI LABLE KNOWLES PLUM BING! could be. When Graeme Ferguson that this would be a good fit for Heather acquired her, she was in need of a new Belle. Ferguson would turn to Elco for bottom. When the Butson’s began the the electrical motor system. task and removed her engine, it was Ferguson also wanted proof from a Graeme Ferguson, the current owner of the Heather Belle, BATH & K over I TC Mthat Ferguson realized he had an satisfied customer. Elco put them in became its custodian 20HE years N ago. S HOW R O O then DES IGN. I NSTAL LATI ON. RE PAI R SERVING A LL OF M U S KO KA 279 MA N I TOBA ST, BRAC E B RI D G E

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Boaters on the Lake of Bays know the well-maintained and gleaming Heather Belle, and will see her at annual events and occasionally leaving her house near the Bigwin Island Golf Club. touch with a man from Boston who had a summer cottage in Temagami and ran two electric boats, despite having no electrical service. Solar panels on the roof were sufficient to keep the boats charged. Elco is also one of the oldest names in electrical power, displaying at the Chicago Exposition in 1893. It seemed fitting that a company with this legacy in electrical power should also power Heather Belle. Elco designed and manufactured the engine and Butson Boats installed it. “The actual wiring of the whole system was done by Tim Butson and when we had the whole thing assembled, the Elco technician reviewed Tim’s work. He did a water test and everything worked perfectly and we never needed the Elco technician’s help again,” explained Ferguson. Ferguson has been extremely pleased with the success of the conversion. Of course, it is quiet but also powerful enough and very reliable. “There have never been any maintenance issues and she is as fast as she needs to be.”

Her original engine was rated at 12 hp and the 8 hp, the same as you would put on a little tin boat for a child, notes Ferguson, is more than adequate to push Heather Belle to hull speed. In terms of the lifespan of the sealed

batteries, Ferguson had heard that it was best to never let them run down below 20 per cent remaining capacity, although the German fleet apparently frequently drained their batteries well past that mark. “With few exceptions, we have never drawn the batteries below 50 per cent,” said Ferguson. The average lifespan of the batteries is about eight years, which is also improving with new technology. Batteries are a great benefit in a displacement hull; they help to produce stability. In smaller boats, there isn’t enough space in the bilge, typically underneath the seats on the side. Kerr once told Ferguson, “hull design in boats peaked around 1900 and has gone downhill ever since.” The advantage of the displacement hull boat is its ability to travel within its hull speed very efficiently. “It is a credit to the boat’s displacement hull, how beautifully it is designed,” says Ferguson. At 36 feet long, and painted brilliant white with oak trim, she is a striking sight on Lake of Bays. Despite her size, she could

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 51

When owner Graeme Ferguson arranged for the restoration of the Heather Belle, he also added an electric engine, one that would be equally historic and revolutionary. easily sneak up on you since she is now powered by a nearly silent electrical engine. Transporting a 36 foot cabin launch from one lake to another is no easy task and Ferguson agreed to the honour of Heather Belle being show and poster boat only on the condition that Tim Butson would be available to supervise her transport.

Heather Belle will arrive in Port Carling on the Friday afternoon before the show and stay for the show day. She will return to Lake of Bays on Saturday. This will be a very special opportunity to see “The Belle” on August 11, in Port Carling. She will likely be joined by the Rambler and perhaps Miss Supertest, as well.

Heather Belle is so much more than an historic wooden boat. Like any well-cared for wooden boat, she will outlast all her owners and will represent that special link across the generations. “The Belle” is also a symbol of the changing technologies as her means of propulsion reflects the advancements of her time.

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C e l e b r at i n g 1 5 0 y e a r s

Beley family The

Keep in g co n n ect ed Article by Meghan Smith

or tourists and residents alike, Muskoka is filled with charm, natural wonders and hidden treasures. Regardless of whether someone has lived in Muskoka for their entire life or visited for just a few days, everyone has a Muskoka story – an adventure through the wild forests, enjoying lakes, rivers and beautiful views. The first settlers to Muskoka may have had experiences that were less hospitable but no less inviting for those looking for a challenge. In 2017, the same year as the celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary, the Beley relatives hosted their own 150th anniversary reunion, commemorating Benjamin Sowden Beley and Emma Lucy Beley’s arrival in Rosseau as settlers. “My great-grandfather, when he first arrived here, there was no Rosseau,” says

54 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

Top left: Benjamin and Lucy Beley. Above: The first cabin and home built by the Beleys was named Oaklands. During their first years in the Rosseau area, the Beleys ran a store at Oaklands, which was built near what is now known as Ashdown Corners. George East Beley, a Beley-family member still cottaging in Rosseau every summer. As members of a pioneer family, Benjamin and Lucy’s descendants maintain deep roots in Muskoka. George Beley, Mary Beley and Bob Topp – all share Benjamin and Lucy

Beley as their great-grandparents. All three currently call Rosseau home, at least seasonally. “Last summer, we had all of the descendants at the reunion for the 150th,” comments Mary Beley. “A lot of the Topp

In 1878, a few years after they first emigrated to Canada, Benjamin and Lucy Beley built Ferncliffe, a three-storey farm house with a picture-perfect view of Lake Rosseau. After selling Oaklands to the Ashdown family, the Beley family farmed the land surrounding their new home, as well as logging timber. family and George Beley’s family were there. My grandfather didn’t have that large of a family. I just had two first cousins and they live down in southern Ontario.” “I was the chairman of the organizing committee, which George, Sue and Mary were on as well as a few others,” says Bob Topp. “There were at least 80 of us, even though the Anglican church hall only holds 60, so we were very fortunate the weather turned out. Almost half of those who came were from the Topp side of the family. We don’t often have a formal family get together, so it was something special.” Diaries and photo albums kept by family members throughout the generations have allowed Mary, the family historian, to maintain family records and history, as well as contacting family members to update records. Among the diary entries and photos through the years are signatures, ages and dates of those who visited, from family in the local area to visitors from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and San Antonio, Texas, as well as England. “When my grandfather took over the farmhouse at Beley Point, the walk-in vault was a fascinating part of that house,” explains Mary. “In the diaries, you come across all sorts of names. They named all of their houses over in England as well as here.” The vault housed the Beley family correspondence including wills, deeds and similar records. However, the vault also

housed community records, deeds, wills and books for different organizations. In addition to diaries and photos, the Beleys have physical monuments to their family’s historical settlement and beginning in Rosseau. A stone wall built in the 1880s at Beley Point, erected by a relative who was a stone mason, continues to stand on the property. In 1967, on the 100th anniversary of Benjamin and Lucy’s settlement, a plaque marking the occasion was erected at Beley Point. The records are a testament to Benjamin and Lucy’s connection to the community,

settlement of the land and the role they played in Rosseau’s beginning. Their determination to create a home in relatively uncharted territory built a legacy for their descendants. Shortly after their marriage, Benjamin and Lucy began pursuing a new life in Canada. One of Lucy’s two brothers had already been assisting in the wilds of Muskoka as a surveyor on the Nipissing Road since 1866 and had encouraged Benjamin to venture to see the landscape and opportunities for himself. Having had little luck farming in England, Benjamin was very much searching

Although there were several years where Ferncliffe had no permanent residents, the interior décor remained virtually the same as it had in the 1900s. Unfortunately, the house was demolished as it was too costly to maintain. August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 55

Members of the Beley family leaving Pinelands for their return drive to Arkansas. George Alfred, one of Benjamin Beley’s sons moved first to Mount Forest and then to Arkansas. The family members continued to return to Rosseau to cottage in the summers.

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to make his own way in the world. “My favourite story is reading in his diary, what it was like; the first trip that Benjamin came up to this area, when he was looking for property,” shares Mary. “All the ordeals they had to go through to get here. How far they walked. He left his wife with friends down around Peterborough at a farm and his friends’ son came with him.” From Liverpool, England, the couple sailed to Portland, Maine, and then boarded a train to Montreal, followed by a train to Ottawa. Following a train trip to Port Hope, the couple stayed at Rice Lake with a friend. Benjamin then left Lucy and continued on in search of her brother in the wild north. This journey consisted of a train trip from Port Hope to Toronto and then another from Toronto to Barrie. A stagecoach bore them the 28 miles from Barrie to Orillia, along barely more than a track in the mud. They commissioned a private conveyance from Orillia to Gravenhurst. They then proceeded to walk for two days, at the height of blackfly season, in order to reach “The Corners,” at

the junction of the Parry Sound and Nipissing Colonization Roads, where they hoped to find Lucy’s brother. After this first trip, Benjamin would experiment with other routes and modes of travel in the following months. Lucy’s first journey to the area was much easier than Benjamin’s. They took the train from Toronto to Collingwood, then took passage on the ship Waubuno across to Parry Sound followed by a wagon ride from Parry Sound to Rosseau. In May of 1867, Benjamin Beley set off to explore the choices of available lots in the Muskoka area and described two of them in his diary as “convenient, healthy and beautiful with several lovely sites for house building.” As part of the Free Grants and Homesteads Act of 1868, settlers were able to acquire one 100-acre lot for free and purchase additional land at 50 cents per acre. Benjamin, with the input of his wife’s brother, chose Lot 75, Con A for his free plot and later bought Lot 76. These lots lay south and west of the Parry Sound Road, on White Oak Creek (now Shadow River), a short

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Beley family members stand in front of the original cabin named Pinelands. The cabin, through the years, was enlarged and renovated. George and Sue Beley continue to cottage at Pinelands, every year. 56 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

Descendants of Benjamin and Lucy Beley came together in 2017 to mark the 150th anniversary of their history in Rosseau. While some family members had never been to Rosseau before, others continue to visit the area seasonally or live there year-round. distance from Lake Rosseau, with the Nipissing Road passing through them on its way to the end of Cameron’s Bay. “Pioneers were rugged people,” comments Sue Beley, George’s wife. “Even when they had health issues, they just persevered. They had to.” Although often recording both his and Lucy’s health issues in his diary, Benjamin worked tirelessly to complete the homestead as well as helping other local settlers. Benjamin wrote in his diary during the early beginnings in Rosseau, “We get on but slowly, but I suppose patience and perseverance will conquer at last.” Soon, the rudimentary Beley cabin of Balsam Lodge on Shadow River was renamed Oaklands, as it was now a fully furnished home and not just a cabin. Benjamin farmed, sold logs to millers and operated the village store, located where current Highway 141 intersects with Nipissing Road, for a short time. “Benjamin sold the store to a man named Ashdown, which is why that’s now called Ashdown Corners,” explains George. “Maybe if he’d had hung on at Oaklands for a few years longer, it would have been called Beley Corners instead.” In 1878, the Beleys left Oaklands and moved to a farm at Beley Point on Lake Rosseau, just across the bay from Rosseau.

The home Benjamin and Lucy built on Beley Point, which they called Ferncliffe, remained in the family until 2000. Ferncliffe was a three-storey home with a view straight out onto Lake Rosseau. Beley further showed his entrepreneurial abilities by both farming and running a tourist lodge named Rossmoyne Inn. “My grandfather was the oldest of Benjamin’s children, Charles Kingsbury Beley,” says Mary Beley, a second cousin to George, who lives in a home on a portion of the Ferncliffe homestead property. “He inherited the farm at Beley Point. He was the first non-Native child born in the Township of Humphrey (now part of Seguin) in March of 1868.” Of Benjamin’s children, several stayed in Rosseau while others moved away. In addition to Charles, one of the other boys, Jim, inherited Rossmoyne Point, which he eventually sold. Mary Eliza, called Birdie, married Dr. Richard Topp, who practiced in Bracebridge and Rosseau before they relocated to Toronto. Bob Topp, a Beley descendant through his paternal grandmother, recalls growing up surrounded by family, from both the Beley side and the Coate side, his mother’s relatives. “We were always surrounded by family in Muskoka – aunts, uncles and cousins,” explains Topp. “There is at least a mile of

shoreline on the east side of the north end of Lake Rosseau that still belongs to various relatives. We played tennis, did all kinds of boating, sailing, swimming, all of the cottage things we did them.” Benjamin’s daughter Ethel married and moved to Toronto while another son, Will and daughter, Fanita, moved out west to the Calgary area. George Alfred Beley, another of Benjamin’s sons, moved to Mount Forest to marry. “My grandfather, George Beley, was named after his grandfather, George Beley,” comments George. “There’s a George in every other generation. My grandfather was George Alfred, and I’m George East. I don’t think Benjamin’s father George had a middle name though.” “A lot of people went by middle names,” explains Mary. “For example, my father was Charles Oliver and his father was Charles, so to avoid confusion, he went by his middle name Oliver. The same practice was followed with Max, George’s father. He was Charles Maxwell but went by Max.” “In the diaries, my grandfather was nicknamed ‘Hub’,” explains George. “My great-grandfather wrote in his diary when Hub left Rosseau to go to Mount Forest to marry my grandmother: ‘Hub got on his horse and rode out today.’ Just like that, into the sunset like an old western. Where they

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 57

Photograph: Tomasz Szumski

island that we now live on, came up with Hub as a Channel Island,” shares Topp. nickname, who knows?” “Nothing was on it. There Following a move to Mount were no buildings, other than Forest, George’s family relocated an old boathouse and an to Tennessee and then to outhouse. We used to come Arkansas, as they were involved here and picnic regularly. Over in the cotton business. the years, we’ve built things “My father Oliver and and we now have a small, George’s father Max were quite lovely, cottage.” Other Topp close, more like brothers really,” relatives also own part of Edith says Mary. “Max and Anne Sue Beley holds a family tree that was presented to all of those who attended Island, near Port Carling. came up from Arkansas every the family's 150th anniversary reunion. The family tree was originally prepared The Beley family and all of summer. Max would always be their descendants are dispersed out helping my dad with by Mervin Beley, who pursued heraldry and family history in his spare time. come up this way and build, he subdivided all over Canada, the United States and something.” During George’s first visit to Muskoka, at and sold off land to cottagers on Little Lake England. However, they continue to frequent the age of two, George visited his Aunt Ella Joe, Lake Rosseau and Sucker Lake. Both my Muskoka for remembering the family history Ashdown at Ashdown Corners, about where grandfather Charles and my dad Oliver were and maintaining familial connections. “I live in the house I was born in down the original Oaklands homestead was. involved in the Township of Humphrey Council and the Rosseau Council.” south in Arkansas and I’ve been coming here During a conversation, George’s father, Max, Bob Topp’s father, Ted, was one of four of in the summers, since 1932 when I was two learned that a large piece of property between Dr. Topp’s sons who grew up in Rosseau and years old,” explains George. “Of course, there Ash St. and Oak St. was for sale. “Dad’s sister Birdie looked into it and the Toronto. He married Edith Coate, a member were college years and military years; the four owner wanted $1,000 for the property,” says of another old Muskoka family that arrived years I was in the military I never came. But George. “This was during the Great in 1800s, although they were primarily basically, every summer, all my life.” During the reunion, family members Depression, in 1932, so that was a lot of seasonal residents. The Coate family built a money. Dad said, ‘you go tell her that we’ll number of cottages in the 1880s that are still rented many cottages in Muskoka, from Port kept up in the area today. After several years Carling and Bala, all the way to Huntsville. give her $700’ and she did and she took it.” They split the property so George’s aunt of sharing a cottage with Coate relatives, Ted In many cases, the reunion was the first time these descendants had come to Muskoka. had half and his father had the other half. Topp pursued his own property in the area. “When I was nine, my dad bought the The entire family made a holiday of His aunt, Birdie, built her first place on the experiencing the land their property in the fall of 1932, ancestors settled. with no electricity, just kerosene “It’s a very special place for lamps and a small woodstove. us, our kids and our grand“Pinewood, that’s what this children now,” shares Topp. property is called,” shares “My grandchildren that are George. “The entire property coming up here are fifth was covered in cedars when they generation on both sides. Our bought it, so Aunt Birdie named children are from out west, her side Cedarwood. There were Toronto and England. When about 20 pines on this point at they come here, it’s really the the time, so it became only time they see each other Pinewood.” altogether.” While one branch of the The Beleys and the Topps Beley family secured this new maintain a close relationship, section of land for living and arranging get-togethers regucottaging, the original larly during summers. homestead passed to Charles’ Benjamin and Lucy’s legacy oldest son, Charles Oliver. is the connections of a family “My father stayed in the area that continues to share a love to help his father on the farm,” George Beley stands with his wife Sue and second cousin Mary Beley at Beley for Muskoka and the ties that explains Mary. “Dad was quite Point, overlooking Lake Rosseau. The view is the same as it would have been bring their descendants involved in the logging industry. from Ferncliffe. Mary continues to live on a portion of the property once owned together. When the cottagers started to by her father, her grandfather and her great-grandfather.

58 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

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Whats Happened It began its life in the Nevada desert, later moving to Toronto’s Distillery District before surprising passing boaters when it made an appearance on a cottage dock on Lake Muskoka’s Baxter Island. Named Koilos – Greek for hollow – the 14-foot tall, crouching, faceless, stainless steel sculpture turned heads no matter where it went. And now it’s doing the same on Bala’s main street. The sculpture is the creation of artist Michael Christian, and was originally built for the 2007 Burning Man Festival held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. It was recently and proudly adopted by Bala entrepreneur Mike Lovechild, who goes by the name Muskoka Mike, when its most recent owner tired of the attention it received. Lovechild calls the 2,000-pound beast simply a gorgon but locals have dubbed it the Bala Bog Monster. It’s a you-can’t-missit feature of Lovechild’s new The Mystery Diner food truck and art gallery on Muskoka Road 169. Reaction to the new location has been

Photograph: Jen Mulligan

Koilos resurfaces as the Bala Bog Monster

Koilos, the creation of artist Michael Christian, was originally built for the 2007 Burning Man Festival held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. It was recently adopted by Bala entrepreneur Mike Lovechild mixed with some despairing that its unusual appearance doesn’t fit with the Muskoka landscape while others thinking

it’s an interesting addition that will both get people talking and draw them to the town. They aren’t wrong: in the short time it’s been in place, the Bala Bog Monster has already become an attraction for the ubiquitous selfie.

Hospice Muskoka breaks ground on Andy’s House residential hospice

Don Furniss, Brock Napier, Bob Potts, Matt Hanes and Mary Grady take part in the ground breaking for Andy’s House, a residential hospice being built in memory of OPP Constable Andrew Potts who was killed while on duty. 60 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

South and West Muskoka are one step closer to having residential hospice care thanks to two local organizations and the support of seasonal and permanent residents. Andy’s House, named for OPP Constable Andrew Potts who was killed in a car accident in 2005 while on duty, will be located in Port Carling on a 13.4-acre

Historic Woodchester Villa gets new life as event venue Bracebridge celebrated the grand reopening of one of its most historic buildings in July. Woodchester Villa, the former home of

Photograph: Jill Harris, Town of Bracebridge

parcel of land donated by local resident Brock Napier. For more than 15 years, Hospice Muskoka has been developing plans for a residential hospice. The Andy Potts Memorial Foundation, which was created in 2006 to raise funds for community projects in his name, turned its focus to Andy’s House in 2012 to help raise the $2.5 million needed for the project. They are just over 75 per cent of the way to their goal. On June 21, a groundbreaking celebration was held at the future site of Andy’s House. The facility, which will sit adjacent to the Muskoka Community Health Hub, is expected to open in the spring of 2019.

The recently restored Woodchester Villa has been reopened by the Town of Bracebridge as an event centre for hosting smaller gatherings and outdoor activities. Henry J. Bird who founded the Bird Woollen Mill in the 1870s, is a unique, three-storey, octagonal home built in 1882

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disrepair. Restoration of the heritagedesignated building began in 2013 and was completed in 2015. Rather than return it to use as a museum, Bracebridge Council, on the advice of the Woodchester Villa Working Group, has implemented a two-year plan that will return Woodchester Villa to the consciousness of the community through its use as a venue for small events. The space inside the building and its surrounding grounds are the ideal location for small weddings or concerts, artists’ shows, historical re-enactments and farmers’ markets. Longer-term plans for the property include the possibility of an observation deck or two-storey tower so visitors can enjoy views of Bracebridge’s main street.

Muskoka Watershed Council to help Restore Your Muskoka Shore Thanks to funding from the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund, the Muskoka Watershed Council (MWC) has created a new program which offers private waterfront landowners a natural waterfront garden installation including wildflowers and other native plants. The fund focuses on projects which help to protect and restore waterfront areas through shoreline biodiversity and healthy, well-vegetated riparian zones. The MWC Restore Your Muskoka Shore program will work with residents to implement shoreline stewardship practices by providing initial consultation, plants and resources to install them with the help of volunteers. The MWC notes that natural shoreline buffers help to maintain water quality by reducing erosion, filtering out sediments, slowing the flow of water, taking in excess nutrients and processing some of the contaminants that might otherwise enter the water unchecked. They also provide habitat for wildlife such as amphibians, reptiles and fish. The program is being implemented via local lake associations, which were asked to contact the Muskoka Watershed Council to

express interest in participating. Check with your local lake association to see if it is involved.

Restrictions lifted, ATVs now allowed in Port Sydney’s core Until this year, ATV users wanting to travel into or through Port Sydney were out of luck: off-road vehicles were prohibited on streets in the village’s urban core. Thanks to a request by local residents who simply wanted to be able to take their ATVs to get to Port Sydney’s restaurants and services, both the Town of Huntsville and the District of Muskoka have lifted their restrictions on off-road vehicles on the streets under their respective jurisdictions. It closes a gap in Muskoka’s ATV trail system, allowing users travelling from other parts of the region to continue their trips uninterrupted. ATV use is still prohibited in the core of nearby Huntsville but there are some who would like to see that bylaw changed as well.

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Vegetarian and loving it: Muskoka chefs prove it can be delish Article by Karen Wehrstein / Photography by Tomas Szumski I confess. I am an unrepentant carnivore. I love meat – all types, in every meal. Maybe it’s an ancestral-memory, cavewoman sort of thing. But at the same time, I don’t much buy the stereotype of vegetarian cuisine as tasteless and boring. The art of cuisine is all in the seasoning and preparation, and any central ingredient, if expertly accoutered, can be sublime. Vegetarians and vegans celebrate, and carnivores, be open-minded enough to explore: I have some examples. We go first to The Old Station in downtown Bracebridge, which has a good selection of vegetarian dishes. Look for the circled “V” on the menu, or “GF” for gluten-free. Bracebridge native Chef John Cooper entered the business in an untypical way, namely: “I got it into my head that it would be a good idea to get a philosophy degree.” Heading to the University of Toronto, he funded his tuition by working in a restaurant kitchen. Eventually, he says, “It occurred to me that I was making a lot more money cooking than philosophizing.” When his wife became pregnant, he left the hectic 100-hour-per-week Toronto restaurant scene to return with her to Muskoka. “I’m very very happy, here,” he says of The Old Station. “I have a lot of creative freedom, the money’s fine, the people are great and I live 400 yards up the street. I can sit on a skateboard on Taylor Road and roll here in about 25 seconds.” Oven Roasted Pepper Squash, the vegetarian recipe Cooper is sharing with us, was passed down from The Old Station’s previous chef, MacKenzie Taylor, and has been a mainstay on the menu for seven

64 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

Chef John Cooper of the The Old Station in downtown Bracebridge includes a number of vegetarian options on his menu including oven roasted pepper squash which is his featured recipe in this issue of Unique Muskoka. years, undergoing several tweakings: the addition of pesto sauce and parsnip crisps, for instance, and the subtraction of grape tomatoes. Cooper says he’s never had a negative comment, and he won’t get one from me, either. The dish arrives as a tower of colourful morsels and hits the palate as a delightfully self-contradictory mix of flavours and textures – from the sweetness of the vinegar and squash to the intensity of the peppers and nuttiness of the rice, and from the softness of the cheese to the crispiness of the parsnip frites.

Oven Roasted Pepper Squash John Cooper, The Old Station

Ingredients 2 cups basmati rice ½ cup wild rice 1 teaspoon turmeric 2 large bell pepper, julienned 1 red onion, sliced 2 cups baby spinach 4 oz pesto sauce 4 large pepper squash 12 oz goat’s cheese One parsnip 1 cup balsamic vinegar Baby greens to garnish Olive oil Salt White wine

Recipes Method • This recipe is best prepared in its constituent parts and assembled just before serving. • Reduce balsamic vinegar over medium low heat by two thirds or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about two hours). Set aside. • Peel parsnip, then shave it with a vegetable peeler. Heat a centimeter of oil in a medium pan and fry shaved parsnips to a light brown colour. Drain on paper towel and set aside. • Combine wild rice, basmati, turmeric and a litre of well-seasoned water in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to low. Add basmati after 15 minutes. Simmer until all liquids are absorbed (approximately 25 minutes.) Set aside. • Split pepper squash through the core, scoop

out seeds and discard. Rub flesh with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place squash flesh side up on a baking sheet and roast at 350°F for 40 minutes or until soft to the touch. • In a hot pan, saute bell peppers, onion and baby spinach with olive oil and a little salt. When the spinach has wilted, toss with pesto sauce and a splash of white wine. • Place a bed of baby greens on each plate, then assemble squash with rice and vegetables on top. Finish with goat’s cheese, parsnip crisps and a light drizzle of balsamic reduction. Serves eight.

August version: • Atlantic salmon with pineapple/mango/ Next we go to Port Sydney, and Pine • Coconut shrimp with Lake of Bays beer orange salsa served on bed of basmati rice Lodge Muskoka, owned since March of last batter with steamed asparagus and cauliflower year by Jim Szeman, who left a high-level • Pine Lodge Muskoka Salad: organic • Apple brie-stuffed pork tenderloin with career in philanthropy to do something spring mix with dried cranberries, fresh pesto and garlic mashed potatoes entirely different. The lodge’s restaurant has blueberries, Best Ever nuts, and feta cheese • Home-made Bailey’s cheesecake been renamed JIMMY Z’s, and Szeman is in homemade balsamic fig vinaigrette Vegetarians, Szeman notes, often full of innovative ideas to make it special. substitute one meat dish So, for instance, every above with Vegetarian Paella, Tuesday night there’s all-youwhich is the recipe his chef, can-eat pasta, and anyone who Kevin Dupuis, is sharing does not touch their cellphone with us. for the entire night is entered “You always need into a draw for prizes. something for vegetarians,” Wednesday night is Date he says. “I was flipping Night, and the restaurant through a magazine one day, provides free childcare by got inspired and decided to a licensed provider do a vegetarian paella.” upstairs. Saturday, it’s live entertainment and Paella is a classic rice dish, music trivia by usually done with seafood table-teams. and or chicken. This version On the last replaces the meat with tasty Saturday of each vegetables and is simplified month, it’s Chef ’s in the sense that it can be Table: A Taste of cooked on your stovetop, Muskoka – a rather than requiring baking strongly-locavore, as paella typically does. It also employs a tomato sauce five-course feast with beer As the new owner of Pine Lodge Muskoka, Jim Szeman has introduced of Dupuis’s creation, which and wine sampling. The fare innovative menu items to the lodge’s restaurant, JIMMY Z’s, including is ridiculously easy to make. changes monthly, but here is the vegetarian paella.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 65

Paella is a classic rice dish. The version featured at JIMMY Z’s in Port Sydney replaces meat with tasty vegetables and the addition of basil pesto. Experience everything Muskoka has to offer in a refreshingly affordable and revitalized environment. Pine Lodge Muskoka offers 10 guest rooms and 4 suites with over 2,000 sq/ft. of dining and lounge space that caters to a variety of unique meetings, events, retreats and weddings. pinelodgemuskoka.com

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“Basil pesto,” he says, “has everything you need, the herbs, the garlic, the seasonings.” After tasting it, I can’t argue. For our final dish, we’ll swing back south again, to Mexico. The little slice of Mexico that happens to reside in Bracebridge, that is, in the form of the restaurant El Pueblito. Co-owners Mike and Marlenne Ricard met when he was on holiday in Cancun and she – a native of Mexico City – was working at a time-share. When other friends happened not to show up to a get-together, the two ended up there by themselves. “It was awkward,” Mike recalls. Every awkward moment should end this way; they fell in love. That was 10 years ago. In Bracebridge, they first tried running a fine dining establishment, but found Muskoka’s fine dining demographic too small in winter. Besides, Marlenne says, “It was a little uptight for me.” Prospective patrons would ask if they could bring their kids, and never wear workboots. Having considered doing Mexican all along, they went ahead, to great success. “Summers are crazy like for everyone else,” she says. “Winters are amazing, too. People know Mexican food is not going to be expensive – it’s going to be flavourful, it’s going to be fun.” There’s even salsa dancing once a month. El Pueblito’s décor reflects this fun motif with lots of light, bright lime-green walls and art everywhere that is a riot of bright colours, most by exuberant local painter

Wendy Moses. Frida Kahlo’s monobrowed gaze seizes you from one corner. The ceiling is bedecked with glittery upside-down sombreros, the kind mariachi bands wear.

Vegetarian Paella

Kevin Dupuis, JIMMY Z’s

Ingredients 2 zucchinis 1 green pepper, julienned 1 red onion, julienned 4 mushrooms, sliced ½ a crown of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces ¼ a cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces 1½ cups tomato sauce 1½ cups cooked rice

To make the tomato sauce 1 can diced tomatoes 2 Tbsp basil pesto • Add pesto to diced tomatoes, bring to boil then simmer for ten minutes. • Sauté all the vegetables over medium heat until cooked, add tomato sauce and rice, and mix. Serves two. *Please note: Paella can also include a small amount of saffron.

Uptight couldn’t be further away. The menu currently features eight choices for vegetarians including six for vegans, drawing a strong vegan/vegetarian clientele. As well, about 90 per cent of the menu is gluten-free. The Ricards prefer to make ingredients from scratch, rather than buy them; “You can taste that freshness,” Marlenne says. The dish Mike and Marlenne are giving us is called Huaraches, which means “sandal,” because its base is a flatbread in the shape of a sandal. “The recipe is from my mom, and myself,” says Marlenne. “Mostly my mom. It’s a meat dish but we’re making it vegetarian.” Carnivores sneaking in on this article, take note: “Originally you put on chicken or beef.” But the key to this dish is the huarache itself, the salsa poured over it, and the made-in-your-own-kitchen cheese. “As they say in Mexico,” Marlenne enthuses, “Buen probecho!” P.S.: If you’re vegan, vegetarian or just interested in vegetarian food, you might want to attend Muskoka Veg Fest, happening Aug. 11 at River Mill Park in Huntsville. Visit Mike and Marlenne Ricard of El Pueblito in Bracebridge currently feature eight choices for muskokavegfest.com for details. vegetarians on their Mexican menu including six for vegans.

August 2018 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 67

Huaraches

Marlenne Ricard, El Pueblito

Ingredients ½ cup Maseca flour 1/3 cup warm water ½ teaspoon salt ¼ cup canola oil

stoneway

Method

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• Add all ingredients except the oil together, mix thoroughly for two minutes until it forms a soft dough. If dough feels dry, add teaspoons of water, one by one, mixing between each addition. • Cut two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap, about 5 x 9 inches. • Divide the dough into three balls, then roll each one into an oblong piece about 5 inches long. • Put the dough onto one of the wax paper pieces, and cover it with the other. Using a tortilla press or rolling pin, press the dough out till it reaches the end of the wax paper. • In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium to low heat. Fry each huarache for approximately 2-3 minutes per side. Pat dry on paper towel.

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1 Spanish onion, cut into 8 wedges 4 tomatillos 2 jalapeno pepper 3 cloves garlic 1 cup fresh cilantro (packed uncut into measuring cup) 2 teaspoons salt 2 cups water

Method • Heat pan over medium heat. Add onions, jalapenos and tomatillos to pan and do not move them for at least 3-4 minutes, or until they are browning where they are in contact with the pan. Add garlic. Turn the ingredients and brown other side. Turn one more time, add the cilantro, then turn off the heat and let the pan cool down for a few minutes. Add salt and water, bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Let cool and puree with a blender. Yield: ½ litre.

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Queso Fresco Ingredients 1 litre 1percent milk 3 teaspoons salt ½ cup white or cider vinegar

Method Add milk and salt to a pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, quickly add the vinegar, and stir. The milk will curdle. This is what you want! Let stand for 5 - 10 minutes, to cool down. Carefully pour through a fine strainer, let drain for 10 minutes. Once cool, crumble the cheese with your hands. Yield: two cups.

To assemble the dish “We like to serve it with a hot mixture of spice-roasted red onions, zucchini, tomato, stewed onion, jalapeno, and turtle beans – the refried beans can be brown, black or white,” says Marlenne. From a

can is acceptable. “Then garnish it with shredded lettuce, sliced radishes and avocado.” This is the version I tried and it is delish. Again, an amazing mix of colours, flavours and textures that dance the cha-cha-cha with each other across your tongue. “Although,” Marlenne adds, “you could

add a huge variety of other ingredients or garnishes to the dish, and change it up as you want. Some other variations could be: herb and spice roasted squash, roasted root vegetables, braised fennel, steamed cauliflower… etc.” (Don’t tell anyone: I’m going to sneak in some meat.)

Hospice Muskoka is pleased to announce

“THE TUNING FORK”

An enhanced program for children and youth to deal with grief & loss! Just as a tuning fork is used to find the perfect pitch, children need to explore different activities to find what resonates with them personally. Thanks to the support of United Way Simcoe Muskoka, Hospice Muskoka will be offering three separate programs over the next year. Volunteer Youth Grief Facilitators are needed. Training is provided free of charge. For more information, please contact Caroline Cox 705-646-1697 or tuningfork.hm@gmail.com

www.hospicemuskoka.com 70 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

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Muskoka Moments

The Muskoka cottage that unified a family By Kent Phillips In the beginning, it wasn’t my choice to come to Muskoka but when I was two years old, my parents brought me to a cottage on Lake Joseph for a summer holiday. In 1946, my father purchased a cottage in Port Carling on the Indian River, near the mouth of Lake Rosseau. It was named Kenpegal, a combination of all of our Muskoka is more than cottaging for Kent Phillips and his family. For Phillips, who both lives and cottages in Muskoka, it first names, a popular way provides a relaxing way of life, not available in the hustle and bustle of the city. of naming at that time. expose them to a lifestyle unsurpassed in the his summers with us at the cottage. He also Every Sunday morning, we would pack a world. had a practice in Welland. He would work picnic lunch, hop in our launch and travel Claire, my oldest grandchild, can’t wait to mornings and play golf or do cottage repairs up Lake Rosseau to find a picnic spot on an move out to the cottage on the last day of in the afternoon. My mother always was island or mainland shore that was school. And so, the magnetic attraction to entertaining friends and the cottage was a uninhabited. We would anchor our launch beehive of activity that involved a lot of card our cottage continues. What a pleasure to just off shore. Then, we would swim, dive games and crokinole every day, without fail. see it all happen as it did with me and my and have our lunch. My father always wore children. Our only problem is: how do we We all consider ourselves very fortunate a captain’s cap and my mother always fit everybody into the old cottage as our to have spent many summers at the cottage. brought the picnic basket with a tablecloth numbers grow? It’s not a bad problem to It remains my favourite place to be. When to spread over a flat spot on the rocks. have really… my wife Susie and I travel abroad, we look During childhood, I was excited to drive forward to returning to Muskoka knowing a five-horsepower Johnson on a woodie, up Born and raised in Welland Ontario, Kent it is the best place in the world. When we and down the river, along with my summer cross the border into Canada, we feel a sense Phillips graduated from University of Western friends who also had similar boats. Gas was Ontario Medical School in 1968. He began 50 cents a gallon and Briar’s Dairy delivered of relief and homecoming. But Muskoka is more than just cottaging. his practice in Bracebridge in 1971 with the the milk in glass bottles to our cottage. Archdekin Medical Group and is still active in It provides a relaxing way of life, not Over time, our cottage expanded to available in the hustle and bustle of city life. his practice. Working as a coroner since 1980, include two Panabodes and a cabin at Phillips was president of the medical staff at It’s a place where natural habitats are water’s edge, below the old original 1906 South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in 1981, important, a place where people are very cottage up the hill. My sisters and brother, president of the Rotary Club of Bracebridge in friendly, a place where outdoor activity can along with their kids, spent time at the 1985 and a Fellow of the College of Family be maximized and a place to raise a family. cottage as well as our family. The benefit of Practice in 2011. Married in 1972 to All of our children wish to live permanently that was we all came to know each other Susanne Miles, they have three children – in Muskoka and two of the three do so. As quite well. It unified the family at large. Sarah, Kristie and Kip – and six our family expands – we now have six My father opened a dental practice in grandchildren. Port Carling in 1950, allowing him to spend grandchildren – we have the opportunity to

72 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2018

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