SEPTEMBER 2019
SPECTACULAR SEPTEMBER
Not too hot, not too cold The perfect Muskoka month
Merging Artistic Creativity and Forest Sustainability
Courage, Compassion and Hope – Honouring Family
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...telling the Muskoka story
Departments
Features
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Muskoka Calendar
Muskoka Settlers Adapted to Bush Farming
There’s no need to be stuck indoors in Muskoka during the month of September. From fall fairs to outdoor festivals, there are many ways to be engaged, both as a competitor and an observer. But don’t stop there, from sampling food or enjoying some of the best golf the district has to offer, you’ll find many opportunities to participate. And, for those seeking indoor comforts, consider the annual arts tour or an evening with renowned artist Robert Bateman.
Article by J. Patrick Boyer The notion that bountiful crops were impossible to grow in Muskoka all depended on the farmer, the farm and the produce in question. By adapting to Muskoka’s potential for crops, homesteaders outdistanced farmers from Simcoe to Middlesex counties with bountiful yields that won prizes in provincial competitions.
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Merging Sustainability and Creativity
Article by Meghan Smith Photography by Heather Douglas Against a backdrop of iconic Muskoka trees and lakes, Dan Alonso and Candice Sheriff have merged their creativity and commitment to sustainability to produce furniture and pieces of art, cut from the live edge of slabs of wood. The trees they use have already fallen or have been retrieved from the depths of local lakes.
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What’s Happened
Leading by example, a cottagers' group challenges fellow cottagers to support businesses impacted by flood damage in the spring of this year. The province appoints the Muskoka Watershed Advocacy Group to provide advice on the watershed. Gord Durnan's community work is recognized. There's a new watershed gallery in Dorset and the ASHMuskoka project is updated.
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Experience Muskoka in September [26]
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Cottage Country Cuisine
Just like the great wooden resort lodges of old, Muskoka lamb has more history than current presence. Featured in fine dining rooms and restaurants throughout Muskoka, lamb has a special place on menus. 2 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
Article by Matt Driscoll There are many who claim September is the month when Muskoka shines brightest. The mid-summer heat has dissipated, the bugs have vanished and many of the big crowds have dwindled. From fat biking to camping and from hiking in beautiful colours to a refreshing late season dip in the lake, Muskoka has lots to offer.
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SEPTEMBER 2019
SPECTACULAR SEPTEMBER
Not too hot, not too cold The perfect Muskoka month
Merging Artistic Creativity and Forest Sustainability
Courage, Compassion and Hope – Honouring Family
Our Cover
Photograph by Andy Zeltkalns Participants in the Muskoka River X can experience the challenge of paddling the routes traversed by early canoeists. With three levels of competition, the event can challenge even the most experienced expedition and marathon paddlers.
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Opinion
By Don Smith
By John McTavish
Muskoka Moments
Courage, Compassion and Hope – Honouring a Family Legacy
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Article by Matt Driscoll Photography by Andy Zeltkalns When the future of a modest log church seemed in jeopardy, a group of like-minded residents stepped forward to literally pick the church up and move it. Their actions are an example of the strength of community and the tenacity of Muskoka’s rural residents.
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Muskoka Insights
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Features Rural Church Receives an Unlikely Second Chance
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Article by Meghan Smith Photography by Andy Zeltkalns Every morning, when she arrives in her kitchen, Holocaust survivor Eva Olsson is reminded by the note on her refrigerator to “live one day at a time and make it a masterpiece.” As she approaches her 95th birthday, Olsson lives her mantra by speaking at schools, seniors’ centres, community centres and other institutions.
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Reliving the Climb of the Dorset Towermen
Article by Dawn Huddlestone Today, more than 25,000 sightseers visit the Dorset Tower Park, each year. For those arriving in late September and early October, they can experience the view of fall colours that awaited the early towermen who climbed the lookout to watch for forest fires. September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 5
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…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 Heather Douglas Matt Driscoll Dawn Huddlestone John McTavish 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.
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Muskoka Insights opportunities such as logging and tourism. You can read about their resolve in a feature in this issue of Unique Muskoka by local historian Patrick Boyer. The natural beauty of Muskoka has been a magnet for the arrival of generations of artists, many pushing boundaries and offering new works to the Muskoka experience. Among them are Dan Alonso and Candice Sheriff who have merged a commitment to sustainability into their creations. However, few can compare with the message of courage, compassion and hope that has been shared by Eva Olsson. Moving to Muskoka in 1985 to be close to her family, Olsson’s life has gone through a transformation since her arrival. With the encouragement of her grandchildren, she slowly revealed her story – an experience that not only changed her life but that of countless others. Since first talking to her grandchildren’s classmates, the Holocaust survivor has delivered her compelling talks throughout North America to over 1.5 million people from classrooms to military bases and from penitentiaries to the United Nations. Honouring the legacy that was passed to her by her mother, Olsson has reached out with sound advice that will stay with many for the rest of their lives. There’s much more to read about in this issue of Unique Muskoka – the will of a community to preserve its local church, the story of Muskoka lamb and its inclusion in fine dining, the Dorset towermen and their vantage point overlooking autumn’s splendour, and countless opportunities to enjoy the spectacular month of September. Happy reading… and enjoy September! Photograph: Susan Smith
There was a day when Labour Day arrived in Muskoka that everything ground to a screeching halt. It felt like the vibrancy of summer had been sucked out of the District’s communities by a huge vacuum cleaner. The last big holiday of the summer marked the final weekend that traffic clogged the southbound lanes of highways heading to Toronto and beyond. In the following weeks, there was rarely a boat to be seen on the lakes and Muskokans dared to celebrate with their very own Civic Holiday Weekend in, yes, September. Some 50 years ago, as a newly-arrived resident of Muskoka, I can well remember lazily casting an eye to the beckoning warmth of the sun, wondering if there was some way I could escape the confines of my high school classroom without landing myself in the principal’s office. Volunteering for any extra-curricular activity that allowed me to legitimately take my leave was worthy of consideration. Times change and more people are annually discovering one of Muskoka’s greatest assets – September is the best month of the year. It’s not unusual for daytime temperatures to rival those of the summer and evenings are cool but refreshingly clear. In short, outdoor activities can continue much as they have in the heat of the summer, minus the omnipresent summer bugs that can too often chase less hearty individuals indoors. As someone who moved to Muskoka at a relatively young age, I have a shared understanding with those who have embraced all the District has to offer while at the same contributing something to its ever-changing fabric. Early European settlers brought their knowledge, their tools and their determination to transform the Muskoka wilderness into farms. While some were successful, most used their ingenuity and pioneering spirit to build on other
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146th annual Severn Bridge Fall Fair is fun and educational September is fall fair season in Muskoka, and first up is the Severn Bridge Fall Fair, taking place at the Severn Bridge Fairgrounds on Sept. 7. Approaching a century-and-a-half of annual fall fair fun, this fair has a serious purpose: “to educate visitors about our agricultural heritage, as well as increasing knowledge and appreciation of the rural lifestyle.” But there’s loads of fun, too: the usual vast range of competitions for kids and adults, from crafts to baking to produce, live music, games, face-painting, animal petting and other entertainment for youngsters, a horse show and assorted agricultural displays and vendors. severnfair.org
Muskoka River X tests the endurance of paddling athletes If you’re the sort of person who thinks of a 58-kilometre paddle as a “sprint,” you’re the sort of person who might participate in the epic paddle event Muskoka River X, happening Sept. 13 to 15, based in Huntsville. The 58-km Team Sprint happens on Sept. 14. The Classic, hailed as
muskokariverx.com
152nd Annual Bracebridge Fall Fair and Horse Show has it all Things to see and do at the Bracebridge Fall Fair, Sept. 13 to 15 at the Bracebridge Fairgrounds, are too many to list, but we’ll give it a try. Pancake breakfasts, harvest dinner, live music of various types, midway rides, Griffin Gastropub Beer Garden, tractor pulls, draft horse The Muskoka River X offers paddlers three challenging pull, super dog show, shows for every options. The most demanding is the 233 km Coureur du sort of farm animal, round and square Bois route that follows the path taken by early dancing, giant pumpkin weigh-in, European explorers in Algonquin Park. giant other-vegetables weigh-in, fire department challenges, wood carving demos, beehive demos, weaving demos, spinning demos, pony rides, Rotary car raffle, The Ostrich Guy… and more. Oh yes, and a parade. For decades, Robert Bateman’s intricate bracebridgefair.com hyper-realistic nature paintings have captivated, educated and inspired people from all over the world. Whether it’s the lovingly-detailed feathers of a bird or the tensile, almost-alive form of an animal, we love Bateman’s work. Now’s your chance to meet the artist, as he’ll be visiting the Algonquin Art Centre in Algonquin Park to help fundraise for the Algonquin Wildlife Research Station’s 75th anniversary and talk about his connections with the Park. It happens 6 to 9 p.m., Sept. 14, and includes live music, hors d’oeuvres, refreshments and a special art exhibit. One of the crowd-drawing
Spend an evening with Canadian wildlife artist Robert Bateman
competitions at the Bracebridge Fall Fair and Horse Show is the one that determines the largest pumpkin.
Photograph: Bracebridge Agricultural Society
Kids of all ages are invited to don their best pirate duds, board the good ship Wenonah II and set sail from Muskoka Wharf into adventure on the high seas (or at least high wakes) of Lake Muskoka. The last pirate cruise of the season happens 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 1. By performing special tasks, the good ship’s crew will try once more to wrestle the prestigious Golden Hook award away from Captain Ron Hook, who possibly has some kind of inside connection, as he wins it every time. But maybe this time will be different!
the world’s longest single-day expedition paddling race, features 133 km of rivers and lakes with 20 portages and no outside assistance, to be completed in 24 hours or less. Finally, the Coureur du Bois race, 233 km of routes in Algonquin Park traditional to the Algonquin people and travelled by the first European explorers, is back after a two-year absence, running Sept. 13 to 15.
Photograph: Randy Mitson
Arrr, matey! Pirates swarm Lake Muskoka for one more day
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September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 11
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Photograph: Algonquin Outiftters
The paddles receiving the highest bids in the Algonquin Outfitters Paddle Art Contest auction will be determined the winners. The fundraising auction supports community causes.
Classic rowing race graces Gull Lake
and Queen, bake sales and more. New this year is the Busker Festival: amazing busker acts will entertain you as you gorge.
The Muskoka Fall Classic Regatta will be held at Rotary Gull Lake Park in Gravenhurst on Sept. 14. This is a 3,000-metre head race on a course marked by buoys every 250 metres, with a warm-up distance (from launch to starting line) of the same distance – because for these rowers, that’s just a warm-up! Competitors of all ages and both sexes will participate in different divisions, starting at 9:15 a.m. with the last start at 3:15. You can watch and cheer them on along parts of the shore or on the Highway 11 bridge. For thorough maps, visit the website.
Music dinner cruise features supergroup tribute, Quebecois blues
srrc2016.wixsite.com/srrc/muskoka-fall-classic
Macaroni Festival celebrates the humble pasta Building on last year’s successful first event, the Macaroni Festival is back again in downtown Huntsville this year, celebrating the fact the Strano Pasta Factory was built in 1913 on the spot where the Huntsville Town Hall sits 106 years later. It happens on Sept. 14, and to fully participate, you buy a card that entitles you to taste macaroni samples prepared in different imaginative ways by local eateries, then vote for your favourite. There’s also macaroni art, a Macaroni King
This year’s Fall Music Dinner Cruise will feature the Travelling Milburys, playing tribute to the Travelling Wilburys, the super-group comprised of George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan that put out many hits in the 80s and 90s. Also performing onboard is the Justin Saladino Band, an up-and-coming guitardriven blues/rock group out of Montreal who’ve impressed audiences at some very prestigious jazz and blues festivals. The four-hour show and dinner takes place aboard the Wenonah II, steaming out of Muskoka Wharf on Sept.14. petersplayers.com/event_post/2019-fall-music-dinner-cruise
Help choose the winners in the Algonquin Outfitters Paddle Art Contest The Algonquin Outfitters Paddle Art Contest, in which contestants were challenged to create a work of art incorporating a canoe paddle, closed on
August 31. Here’s how the winners will be chosen: the paddles will be auctioned off online between Sept. 15 and 29, plus at a live event at the Algonquin Theatre on Sept. 27. Funds go to several arts institutions including the Algonquin Art Centre and the Town of Huntsville’s public art fund. The paddles that go for the highest amounts are the winners. See the website for more info and to bid! algonquinoutfitters.com/contest/algonquin-outfitterspaddle-art-contest/
Fall in Love with Algonquin Photography Workshop Because you’re probably already in love with Algonquin Park (who isn’t?) but can always learn more and improve your photographic skills, consider this workshop adventure happening Sept. 18 to 20, during the likely peak of the autumn colours. Photographer extraordinaire Helen E. Grose will once again lead students of all skill levels to the Park’s most photogenic vistas for shooting landscapes and wildlife, then return to base (the Mad Musher Restaurant and Riverside Rooms in Whitney). It starts with classroom learning, and then goes on to in-field instruction and “back of the camera” critique in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. madmusher.com/fall-in-love-with-algonquin.html
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 13
Photograph: Andy Potts Memorial Golf Tournament
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The 13th annual Andy Potts Memorial Golf Tournament takes place at the Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club in Port Carling, Ontario on Sept. 19 with a shotgun start at 11 a.m. The whole package includes 18 holes, golf cart, lunch, dinner, silent auction and awards with CTV Sports anchor Lance Brown acting as MC. All proceeds go to Andy’s House – Hospice Muskoka, a hospice currently under construction in Port Carling, as well as other local charities. “Awesome hole-in-one prizes” are promised, so polish that drive! andypottsmemorialfoundation.com/andys-golf-event-details
Pick a pumpkin and launch a potato at the Fall Harvest Festival Community Living South Muskoka presents the annual Fall Harvest Festival at Morrison Meadows near Bracebridge, Sept. 20 to 22. This entirely-accessible event has fun for young and old alike: rides on haywagons and caterpillar tractors, a field maze, a three-wheel bike track, a potatolauncher, hiking trails, face painting, crafts, pumpkin-picking (one free pumpkin per family), scavenger hunt, face-painting, vendors, snack bar and much more. Look also for special guest appearances. morrisonmeadows.com/?page_id=64
The Huntsville Fall Fair happens Sept. 20 to 22 at the Huntsville Fair Grounds. As well as the traditional midway rides, there’ll be animals to pet, live music to enjoy, giant pumpkins and other contest entries and winners to admire. Maybe best of all is the Western Horse Show happening on the Saturday, Sept. 21. Riders dressed in proper cowboy attire will show off their impressive equine skills in a wide variety of contests such as barrel racing, flag racing, egg and spoon racing (yes, on horseback) and Extreme Cowboy. huntsvillefallfair.com
Attention foodies: it doesn’t get better than What’s Cooking Bracebridge The sixth annual What’s Cooking Bracebridge Food & Drink Festival returns for another delicious run Sept. 27 to 29,
centred in downtown eateries with live music on Friday night then shifting to the Silver Bridge on Saturday for cooking demos, drink pairings with regional craft beverages, live music, interactive cooking table and culinary secrets from local food and cocktail professionals, celebrity chefs and some of Canada’s bestselling cookbook authors. Sunday morning features a forest hike led by Laura Gilmour of Wild Muskoka Botanicals, who’ll show you which plants are edible and medicinal. https://www.bracebridge.ca/en/explore/ what-s-cooking-bracebridge-.aspx
Culture Days happen all over Ontario, but are best in Muskoka Sept. 28 to 29 are Ontario’s Culture Days, when folks across the province celebrate all things cultural and creative. In Huntsville on Saturday, Barry (Bazza) Hayward leads a drumming circle by
Photograph: Town of Bracebridge
Huntsville Fall Fair features equestrian spectacle
What’s Cooking Bracebridge is now in its sixth year and features a wide array of events from food and drink pairings to sessions with celebrity chefs. Algonquin Theatre 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., START: Save Turtles At Risk Today is at Muskoka Heritage Place 11 to 3, painter
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September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 15
Ken Biggs is “Artist on the Street” outside Muskoka Reflections and musician Briar Summers is outside The Topiary, both from 1 to 4 p.m. Meanwhile the Muskoka Lakes Museum in Port Carling invites you to try time travelling at the museum (into the past, we think), for the full Culture Days weekend. culturedays.ca
Photograph: Paul Bennett
It’s nothing but the best art at the Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour
Abstract expressionist paintings by Wendy Moses in her Alexandra Luke Gallery are one of the featured attractions on the Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour.
Some years ago the Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour – the first ever artists’ and artisans’ studio tour – became so popular that it had to expand to two weekends, the first of which falls in September this year (Sept. 28 to 29; the second is October 5 to 6). Drive through forests aflame with fall colours to visit Muskoka’s best creative minds in their natural habitats: their studios, freely accessible just for this tour so you can talk to them and buy their works.
Visit the website to download the brochure or get it from any of the studios – a must as it lists all the participants and provides a map of all their locations. muskokaautumnstudiotour.com
Great September Shows and Concerts Around Muskoka As usual, they’re too many to list, so visit the venue websites for acts, artists and dates: Algonquin Theatre (Huntsville): algonquintheatre.ca/en
Huntsville Festival of the Arts: huntsvillefestival.ca/whats-on/summer-festival
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
Lake of Bays Brewery: lakeofbaysbrewing.ca/summer-2019-music-saturdays-thebrewery/
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MUSKOKA SETTLERS ADAPTED TO BUSH FARMING
Photograph: Muskoka Discovery Centre Archives
by changing just about everything
A well-developed pioneer farm at Utterson includes rock outcrops, piles of stones and stumps – all challenges for an early farmer – as well as many log barns, grazing cattle, a sturdy fence protecting the board-and-batten farmhouse, wagon teams and farm hands.
Article by J. Patrick Boyer
F
or centuries, Muskoka has sustained people whose relationship with the land and evolving farming practices are a testament to human adaptability. For a period to the 1860s, for instance, the face of Muskoka farming was communal. Families dwelling in log homes near water cultivated beans, squash, corn, potatoes and other crops in surrounding clearings, following traditional practices with seeds, planting, watering and
harvesting. They added meat from nearby forests, fish from adjacent waters. Shallow lakes rimmed with “wild rice” bushes they harvested from canoes, storing the abundant grain for winter eating. Other bushes and ground plants yielded berries enjoyed in season, and also dried for winter. These holistic practices for farming and sustaining life, embedded in Ojibwe culture, meant sharing with each other and with nature what the Creator of both made
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 19
Photograph: Barbara Patterson, Huntsville
As logs smouldered at the left, this Huntsville area farmer with his team of horses ploughs rich soil for planting. Frank Paterson, the Huntsville-based representative of Ontario’s Department of Agriculture, known to farmers simply as Muskoka’s Ag. Rep., took this photograph to illustrate good plowing technique in north Muskoka. possible. Farming, food preparation, hunting and fishing followed methods transmitted through teaching and doing, from generation to generation. The Obajewanung villagers alongside the Baisong Rapids, and other Ojibwe families at island farms on the adjacent lakes, adapted with change. When iron and steel tools became available through trade, they were
20 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
incorporated into traditional practices. When the government forcibly relocated them in the 1860s from ideal Muskoka lands to Georgian Bay, they adapted their practices to rocky and less hospitable Parry Island, persevering against the elements and, ultimately, overcoming debilitating government controls that impeded farming. The settlers displacing the Ojibwe were
also government pawns. They arrived in Muskoka along government-built colonization roads to claim “free” land the government offered as incentive to move into the territory and “owned” a rectangle of it marked out by government surveyors. After 1868, they acquired ownership doing what the government required of them, under the Free Grant and Homestead Act, by cutting
Above: Thomas McMurray’s book provided homesteaders coming to claim free Muskoka farm spreads with practical pointers on “bush farming.” Right: An early cheese factory in Port Sydney.
would be a ticket to personal self-sufficiency. Settlers loathe hypocritical and exploitative fees Loggers had already begun moving like irregular armies through Muskoka’s deep pine forests. For 10,000 years, since the last ice age, these woods smoothly carpeted the Canadian Shield’s rugged rocks and ravines. Everywhere on these clear-cut lands, thin soils began eroding. Newly exposed bedrock blinked at sunlight for the first time in millennia. Into the 1870s, loggers felled the giant white pines by axe, for although the concept of a crosscut saw was known, improvements in blade design and construction were needed before saws could be used with success. When that day arrived, pairs of men would saw all day, one at each end of the blade, cutting high enough to not bend, sparing their backs. Since logging in winter was not only Photograph: Ryan Kidd, The Newcomers
Photograph: Boyer Family Archives
away the trees, building a home and cultivating the land. This new wave of settlers hoped to cash in on a promise the government and its immigration agents were aggressively promoting through speeches, advertisements in American and British newspapers, and the booklet Emigration to Canada: The Province of Ontario, distributed widely in 1869 to publicize Muskoka’s glowing agricultural prospects. Prospective homesteaders, like people today buying lottery tickets, fanaticized how their 100 acres of “free” land
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 21
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Photograph: Boyer Family Archives
This scene of a Muskoka log burning bee with 14 men, two teams of oxen, a tangled field of heavy logs and two smoking fires was created by James L. Weston, A.C.A., in the 1870s. The May 1880 issue of Canadian Illustrated News published this steel engraving from the Weston work. free of blackflies but atop several feet of snow, that left Muskoka thick with solid, pitchfilled stumps three or four feet high which lasted for decades, some still visible in sections of Muskoka, today. Homesteaders and loggers hacked out countless clearings across Muskoka’s forested landscape. The place was piled with logs, littered in slash and dotted by brush piles. Logs awaited winter roads when teams of horses could pull them to rivers, to float downstream in spring to saw mills where the water’s plunging power had been harnessed to spin the circular saw blade and make needed lumber. Homesteaders used their first several 100 logs to build a cabin, barn, shed and outhouse. The other logs were surplus. Georgian Bay Lumber Company and other lumbering concerns created a market for these logs by paying homesteaders $1 per thousand feet for logs dumped on the river but helpful only to settlers close to a logging road or river. However, the Free Grant and Homestead Act stipulated all pine trees on a settler’s property belonged to the Crown. Government foresters roamed Muskoka counting all stumps to levy royalty fees, trees cut by homesteaders the same as pine timber taken by lumber contractors. To government, a stump was a stump was a stump. Prized revenue from the hinterland was extracted
from the irate settlers. Their land might be free but not what was on it. Such a contradictory government policy was one thing struggling homesteaders were loathe to accept. Their bitterness over this unexpected financial imposition erupted into a “timber dues protest.” They impressed upon A.P. Cockburn, Muskoka’s representative in Ontario’s legislature and a major lumberman himself, they were not logging companies levelling virgin stands of white pine, pocketing money and leaving a clear-cut wasteland like he and other lumber barons. As pioneer settlers, they were working hard to clear trees for farms, as required by government to qualify for their “free” land. Imposing stumpage fees, they said, was both hypocritical and exploitative. Destroying Muskoka crops of white pine The legislature amended the Act to resolve the standoff. All pines would remain Crown property but royalties for felling them no longer applied, if a settler clearing his land used the wood for a dwelling, fencing or fuel. That gave settlers something they could accept. Hundreds of Muskoka homesteaders used the “fuel” loophole by burning their logs. In a staggering waste of exceptional wood, another consequence of government policy, log burning became standard practice for homesteaders anxious to begin farming. Large
burns proved a quick “solution,” and not only for splendid logs. Everything else – from the slash, brush and chips, to deadwood on the forest floor – would be incinerated, too. A “burn” was no campfire but a blast furnace with intense heat that took on a combustion force of its own, a firestorm. Creating one took real know-how. Like barn raising, a burn required help of experienced neighbours. They piled up tree trunks like a loosely built log cabin, creating rows of hollow squares in the clearing. They threw inside all nearby easy-burning softwood slash, mostly pine, hemlock, and cedar. Other boughs and winter-dried branches from hardwoods, such as maple and oak, were piled on top of these squares, like roofs. In the twilight, the clearing now resembled a primitive village. Next, they arranged more of the brush into windrows between the log structures, using treetops, lighter boughs and underbrush. They found a place for everything, mixing evergreen and hardwood so the burn would catch in the dry needles and then take hold in the solid wood. The piles also had to be loose enough, and set cross-wise, so the wind could fan the flames. Veteran homesteaders, impassive and waiting, said nothing – hoping to enjoy a spectacle. Sections of Muskoka had been heavily burned over by rampaging forest fires and that was a feared consequence of the
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 23
Photograph: Muskoka Discovery Centre
Bracebridge grew, was all taken up except for five of the most marginal lots.
Horses pulled their weight alright, but many Muskoka farmers preferred oxen. Getting a load of summer hay off their field, these two farmers pose for posterity, stumps in the field beside them. “burn.” After an hour or more, a forceful explosion swooshed upward with a roaring blast. The updraft turned the entire clearing into a single, noisy inferno. Flames raced high into the sky, burning embers and black chunks of wood ascending with them, as if shot from a cannon. For hours the noise and heat roared from the opening in the forest. At dusk the biggest charred logs were still smouldering. Another Muskoka homesteader was a giant step closer to having a field to plant. For many, without stump-filled clearings burned out, first plantings were around the stumps, using pointed sticks as tools to open the ground for seeds. Farmers kept busy harvesting boulders Many homesteaders used more durable oxen rather than horses for the strenuous work of expanding their fields, removing stumps and tilling ground. Most then had to adapt to another hurdle. Cramped farm fields, cleared of forests and free of stumps, next began to sprout rocks. Seasonal ploughing and winter’s frost worked boulders to the surface. Homesteaders spent time harvesting, not vegetables but stones. Their horses pulled, not wagons loaded with hay to sell to a livery stable, but
24 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
stone-boats loaded with rocks to the edge of their fields. Field stone became a handy building material – piled up as barriers at the perimeter of fields, for walls of root cellars and wells, and constructing barn foundations. But many settlers had a surfeit of large stones and the effort hauling them off the field was so great they made mounds throughout their fields, a series of rock pile islands. On some farms after several years, these piles resembled taunting grave markers, monuments in the burial ground of a homesteader’s earlier aspirations. Those who persisted just quipped, if asked what crops they had, “I’m growing stones!” Pioneers’ hard work and heartbreak suggested to some that Muskoka should never have been promoted for agricultural development but the late 1800s was hard for those settling the Prairies where buffalo grass roots tangled for six feet down, or dry sections of Australia which withered every crop. Thomas McMurray, who promoted Muskoka settlement, offered settlers “practical experience” guidance, but it was for what he plainly called “bush farming” – and they came. Muskoka was filling with pioneer farmers. By 1877, Macaulay Township, out of which
Adapting well to “bush farming” realities The notion that bountiful crops were impossible in Muskoka all depended on the farmer, the farm and the produce in question. Muskoka suffered from a narrow idea of what constituted “agricultural production.” By adapting to Muskoka’s potential for crops, homesteaders outdistanced farmers from Simcoe to Middlesex counties with bountiful yields of maple sugar, maple syrup, wool, lamb and mutton, tan bark, logs, and mixedfarm production of vegetables, fruits, chickens, eggs, pork, and milk products, including butter and cheese. Formation of agricultural societies in Severn Bridge, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Baysville, Huntsville and Rosseau helped develop better strains of crops, newer techniques in animal husbandry and improved yields. Their fall fairs, by establishing well-attended public venues for farmers to display their animals and produce, and farm wives their baking and sewing, encouraged higher quality produce and better bred livestock. Fostering competition, the fairs also advanced household arts in baking, pickling, making preserves, churning butter, sewing, quilting and knitting. Muskoka Agricultural Society officers displayed prize-winning produce from fairs in all sections of the district at Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition, Ottawa’s Central Canada Exhibition, and fairs at Owen Sound and Barrie. “It was difficult,” wrote agricultural society president James Boyer to his wife Hannah from Toronto, “to make some of the CNE visitors believe that grapes (Lindley or Rogers No. 9), some bunches of which weighed 1¼ pounds each, were grown in the open air of Muskoka.” One of the samples of wheat grown on light, sandy soil in Macaulay was sold at the CNE’s close to an American for $1, “a very good price.” “Our Duchess apples are not beaten by any that are exhibited prizes. Both the Globe and the Mail wanted to be paid to puff our exhibit, but we refused to pay them one cent.” Muskokans would not adapt to hardbitten reporters, either.
MERGING SUSTAINABILITY
and creativity Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Heather Douglas
With the Muskoka landscape as a backdrop, Dan Alonso and Candice Sheriff have merged creativity and commitment to sustainability as the root of their lifestyle. Their way of life has blossomed into Live Edge Forest. For nine years, Alonso planted trees across Canada. During this experience, he saw slash burning occur in British Columbia and Ontario, with all of the “garbage” trees cut down, piled up and burned.
26 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
“After all of my planting, I couldn’t understand why they were doing that,” shares Alonso, co-owner and artistic craftsman of Live Edge Forest. “I thought maybe I should start a mulching company where I could just get the free wood and start mulching. But that was kind of the seed that started Live Edge Forest. Instead of cutting the forest down, I wanted to work with trees that were already down.”
Alonso, originally from Toronto, began crafting charcuterie boards four years ago, in London. At one of the first large shows Alonso attended to sell his craft, he met Sheriff. Originally from Oshawa, Sheriff, a graphic designer, was running the event “She was the first person to buy one of the boards at the show, actually,” laughs Alonso. “Candice has a design background. So, when she jumped on board, we started making different furniture and custom things that people would ask us to make.” Harvesting new materials from the forest goes against what Alonso and Sheriff believe and want to achieve with their artistry. Trees that have fallen from natural causes are plentiful. Live Edge Forest strives to recycle and make useful trees that are already discarded. “People will call us all the time or tell us ‘we have a tree to come down’,” comments Sheriff. “It’s great that people think of us… but we don’t actually take trees down and process them.” “I’ve planted over a million trees in my life,” states Alonso. “I don’t want to be a part of taking any down.” The natural surroundings of Muskoka have been, and continue to be, the inspiration for tourists to visit the region, people to relocate to the area and artists to share their interpretation of the landscape. For Sheriff and Alonso, visiting just wasn’t enough. “I grew up going to a camp in Dorset, from five years old, all the way to 19,” shares Alonso. “We’ve been visiting here to camp, even in the winter, for years. On Candice’s 30th birthday, we joked that we should move up to Muskoka because we liked it so much and then a year later, we did.” “Live edge” refers to the outer part of a tree, minus the bark. Creating furniture or art pieces with a live edge involves cutting the log into slabs. The entire slab is used, with only the bark removed, leaving the natural edge of the wood to shine through.
Dan Alonso (opposite page) and Candice Sheriff (above) have maintained a philosophy of sustainability as they produce creative live edge works from fallen trees and reclaimed logs. Below: A “river clock” reflects the love Alonso and Sheriff have for water. Every one of their creations allows Sheriff and Alonso to expand their designs. What began as simple charcuterie boards has grown to include river tables, customized with sand or stone, doors inlaid with rocks collected from across Canada and even custom fire tables. “At first, we were really big into the branding and design side,” explains Sheriff, who is also a yoga instructor. “We would silk screen our own T-shirts and do our designs. All over my yoga studio, we would just lay everything out.” The creative designs and offerings of LEF have continued to evolve along with activities Sheriff and Alonso enjoy as part of their own lifestyle. For one of Alonso’s birthdays, they created a canoe board; a charcuterie board featuring glass holders that attach to the side of a canoe to enjoy while on a paddling adventure. Any
items they see use for in their lives, they produce from reclaimed wood. “Since we moved up here, three years ago, we really started morphing more into artistic and functional art,” explains Sheriff. “That’s when we started mixing stonework with wood and then bringing other elements, like rivers, into our tables. We’re adding nature into everything really.” Adding inlays to charcuterie boards and tables remind Sheriff and Alonso of the bodies of water and landscapes they continue to explore canoeing and camping across Muskoka. “Often we get inspiration from the wood itself,” says Sheriff. “We’ll see a piece and think ‘what if we did this with it’. We get a lot of inspiration from our surroundings, up here, too. We love the water. We love hiking and camping. I’d say nature is our biggest inspiration.” Sheriff’s yoga practice even inspired the creation of their sister company, Mantus Yoga. Using the wood shavings and cut-offs from their LEF designs – to create meditation benches, yoga blocks and even meditation pillows – allows Sheriff and Alonso to use
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 27
Photograph: Dan Alonso
Functional art results when wood recovered from the depths of Muskoka lakes is combined with stones collected by Dan Alonso and Candice Sheriff from trips across Canada to create a coffee table. entire trees, with virtually no waste. “We thought the pillows might be prickly with the shavings as the filling,” explains Sheriff. “They’re not at all, though. We add lavender and they’re perfect pillows for
meditating. They are very grounding.” While the majority of the material used by LEF is sourced from already fallen trees, the team are always looking for additional ways to incorporate materials that would otherwise
be waste. In recent months, Alonso and Sheriff have partnered with Dianne Hoegler and Jed Smuck of Deep Water Wood to add another offering to their repertoire. Deep Water Wood specializes in marine
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exploration, recovery and the processing of logs retrieved from the depths of Muskoka lakes and surrounding bodies of water. The timbers are hundreds of years old, felled by axe in the 1800s, moved from the forest to the lakes and rivers for milling. The timbers never made it to their destination, sinking to the bottom of the lakes. The old growth timbers are a variety of types of wood: maple, birch, ash and even oak. It is unknown how long exactly they have been submerged and how old they actually are. Deep Water Wood’s ability to reclaim the exceptional logs and process them has allowed Live Edge Forest to work with wood unlike anything they can find on land. “Working with Deep Water Wood has been a pretty cool collaboration,” says Sheriff. “They’re just around the corner in Windermere. It’s such a special piece of local history. It adds another layer to our story, of sustainability and being locally sourced.” “We don’t cut anything down to profit,” explains Alonso. “The deep water wood collection is so different and special. It’s very dense and the grain is so tight. It’s preserved Dan Alonso uses a raw knife to remove bark and prepare a slab of wood.
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will work best.” Sheriff’s favourite work to date was a custom piece for Northern Edge Algonquin, a retreat in Algonquin Park. The large tabletop was crafted from walnut, in the shape of a tree with intricate branch designs and inlays. “Dan actually had a broken hand at the time,” comments Sheriff. “I did all of the design, all of the routering, all of the inlays with stone and sand. The A piece of English walnut featuring a hand-cut piece of azuria glass owners had collected special is used to create a lakeside side table. items to inlay, like sand from itself even better under water. It’s beautiful to St. Andrews in Scotland. It was very special to complete such a big piece.” work with.” Alonso and Sheriff’s first major installation Wood, whether deep water wood or trees already fallen on land, has to be slabbed and of functional art was at Muskoka Brewery kiln dried to six to eight per cent moisture with the redesign of the taproom to feature before LEF can begin their journey to produce large tables, 24 stools and heaps of Muskoka functional art. Local friends who own character. Since then, Live Edge Forest can be portable saw mills are often called on to found in shops in southern Ontario and process found wood for the couple. While across Muskoka. “We just love being surrounded by forest,” they do plane, sand and finish all of the wood they use, Alonso and Sheriff prefer to focus says Alonso. “Being up here is so peaceful and on the artistry and design, and stay away from inspirational. Nothing compares to the beauty of Muskoka.” processing. Every piece of furniture designed and “There are so many things we could make,” says Alonso. “That’s why we are focusing on crafted by Live Edge Forest is embossed with a custom, because then we don’t have to decide pewter coin featuring the logo. Smaller pieces sport a burned in version of the brand, clearly and narrow it down.” The duo allows the wood they collect to letting everyone know that, small or large, guide the pieces they create. When they bring each work of art is hand-made, sustainable slabs back to their workshop, they plane the and recycled. Santa’s Village approached LEF recently as wood to make it flat. Depending on the creation, they may route shapes or designs the attraction embarked on a renovation. Pine into the wood or simply sand and finish the trees from the property that had fallen had been slabbed and drying for wood with beeswax. Custom dining tables, coffee tables, clocks, several years. They wanted vases, jewelry and even bow ties, are all items to outfit a restaurant in Alonso and Sheriff craft in their home studio the theme park with a in Port Carling. Even their custom orders give bar counter, tables them significant freedom to allow the wood and chairs, to shine. using the “A lot of the time, clients give us a general idea or dimensions for a custom piece but that’s as far as they go,” comments Alonso. “Then they ask us what we think
30 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
wood from the property. “We don’t normally work with soft woods, like pine, because it will easily dent and scratch,” says Sheriff. “We made an exception for that project, though. It was wood from the property and for us to use it and keep it there on site felt right.” The brand motto “We design. We create. We share.” conveys Sheriff and Alonso’s lifestyle and outlook as much as it conveys their hope for each of their art pieces. “We’re about sharing. That’s our lifestyle,” says Alonso. “We really enjoy food and drinks and sharing that with people. We’d love to include a section on our website about some of our favourite pairings.” Extending a step further, Sheriff and Alonso have recently partnered with local businesses to offer workshops that merge their love of food, drinks and sharing. “We talk about food and drink pairings, and everyone crafts their own board,” explains Sheriff. “We teach them how to sand with the different grains and finish it properly. Then we end it with a big spread for everyone to enjoy and taste.” Sheriff and Alonso enjoy sharing their lifestyle with friends, family and anyone who wants to be involved. Even more importantly, they work together every step of the way through their process. Every piece of functional art they create is crafted by them sharing ideas, designs, work and inspiration through the entire process. Live Edge Forest is built on sustainability. Alonso and Sheriff are building their continued success on partnership.
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Article by Matt Driscoll
M
uskoka offers beauty and exhilaration 12 months of the year but many would argue September is when the area shines brightest. The mid-summer heat has dissipated, the bugs have vanished and many of the big crowds have dwindled. Nonetheless, the water and the daytime temperatures will still typically remain warm well into October.
32 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
The beautiful foliage the region has become famous for is starting to emerge and the timing is perfect for an outdoor adventure – whether by land or water. “We’re always trying to encourage people to come visit during the early autumn,” says Randy Mitson, marketing manager with Algonquin Outfitters. “In the shoulder season, you can experience everything you
can during the summer, just without as much congestion.” Algonquin Outfitters rents hundreds of bikes and watercraft from a dozen locations in the Muskoka and Algonquin Park area, including stores in Bracebridge, Huntsville and Port Carling. During the busy summer months, virtually all of their stock is rented out days
Photograph: Algonquin Outfitters
IN SEPTEMBER Spectacular weather and lots of activities Fat biking has become a popular fall activity in Muskoka, as it allows cyclists to hit the trails and tackle most terrains with relative ease.
and weeks in advance but by September, customers have a number of options to choose from. Fat biking has become an extremely popular fall activity, says Mitson, as it allows cyclists to hit the trails and tackle any terrain with relative ease, including rocky ground, gravel and sand. “It’s certainly something that’s been on an upward trend,” he says. The number of hikers and cyclists has also dropped considerably by
the fall, making it more conducive to cycling without running into big crowds. In recent years pack biking has increased in popularity as a fall activity as well. “Essentially that entails cycling for multiple days and taking all of your supplies with you,” says Mitson. “It used to be primarily done by road but they’ve created packing systems that are all confined within the frame of the bike. That allows cyclists to go off-road without worrying about their
packs getting snagged on tree branches or things like that.” Camping is ideal as biting bugs are finished for the year, there is less company at local campgrounds and the weather is typically only a few degrees lower than summer during the warmer part of the day. However, at night, the temperature swings can be quite a bit more severe than during the summer, so campers should prepare accordingly.
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 33
“You’re going to want to make sure you pack some warm clothes and a proper sleeping bag because the temperature can drop down quite a bit in September,” says Mitson. September showers can also be a touch on the chilly side, so remember to carry some waterproof gear. The lakes and waterways will often stay warm enough for swimming, well into the fall, says Mitson and Algonquin Outfitters will often rent out watercraft deep into the autumn. In late September, the chlorophyll begins to drain from maple leaves and the other pigments start to show their colours. The result is the explosion of fall colour that Muskoka has become famous for. “What I always try to help people understand is the fall colours don’t just happen on one weekend,” says Mitson. “People often hear media reports in the city that they should go on this day or this weekend, and it just doesn’t work like that.
34 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
The colours can go for a couple of weeks between north and south Muskoka and by the time they see the colours changing in the city - they’re often gone entirely from Muskoka.” Those looking to experience the early fall colours have no shortage of options, if they decide to go for a hike. Dorset Fire Tower is one of the most popular destinations in Muskoka during the autumn colour explosion. Situated on a ridge overlooking the Lake of Bays, the fire tower itself is 100 feet high and 465 feet in total above the lake. Visitors and locals have been making the trek up Huckleberry Rock in Milford Bay (between Bracebridge and Port Carling) for more than a century. Hikers can take a seat on a rock formation that is one of the oldest on the planet and enjoy the sunset over Lake Muskoka. Just north of Gravenhurst off Highway 169, the Walker’s Point Lookout remained a hidden gem for years. Recently renovated by
Photograph: Algonquin Outfitters
Camping in September can be ideal with no bugs and many opportunities to find uncrowded campsites.
When the summer rush is over, there is a greater availability of canoe rentals at many businesses supplying canoeists “September is definitely canoeing season,” says Ashley Blix, the manager of the Muskoka Paddle Shack. “The dog days of summer are gone and you can paddle without the extreme heat and humidity. Plus, a canoe lets you pack everything you need for those cooler nights and extended trips, like larger tents, stoves and coolers.” Portages with a canoe become much easier when the heat dies down and most of the big crowds have typically vacated the area. “The drop in volume is the number one reason why people enjoy paddling in September,” says Blix. “There are more campsites to choose from and more parking available. We often find September’s the time
Photographs: Algonquin Outfitters
the Township of Muskoka Lakes, the one km lookout trail, known locally as Berry Mountain, provides another stunning view over Lake Muskoka. In Gravenhurst, visitors to the Hahne Farm Trail can walk along the edge of a granite ridge as they look out over the marshlands below and on to Silver Lake. Starting out from the trailhead on Bethune Drive, the trails offers loops that range from 2 to 5 km, winding through a mix of hard and softwood forest. While stand up paddleboards and kayaks are a hot commodity all summer at the Muskoka Paddle Shack, during September the canoe is king.
While nights may be cool, there are many days in September that are perfect for exploring local waterways.
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September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 35
Photograph: Algonquin Outfitters
In the fall, cool nights result in a change in leaf chlorophyll that creates an explosion of colour, making a hike on local trails a beautiful experience.
that locals come to get a canoe and paddle in their own backyard.” Blix says September is a great time for paddlers to head to some of the spots that can be crowded during the summer months. While canoe rentals and sales see the biggest bump in September, stand up paddleboards remain popular into the fall. The risk of violent storms dramatically decreases with the drop in heat and humidity, and there are tranquil days to be found on Muskoka’s lakes and rivers. Fishing is also a popular activity in the early fall and many of the Paddle Shack’s rentals are to visiting anglers. “It’s a great time of year to fish,” says Blix. “The water is a little bit cleaner and cooler, and there are a lot of people who say that makes the fish taste better in September.” Just outside Bala, Muskoka Lakes Farm and Winery (formerly Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh) is now open for business all year round but September is when things really start heating up. Several years ago, more than 3,000 blueberry bushes were planted on site.
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36 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
Photograph: Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery
There are many opportunities for unique Muskoka experiences including a tour of the cranberry bogs in Bala, the community that has built a provincial festival around the little red berry. Although the harvest is finished by September, this year there’s a blues festival planned and there will still be plenty of jams and preserves at the store located on the premises. Then it’s on to the main attraction, the harvesting of the cranberries, which starts at the end of September. “It is a very busy time for us,” says JeanAnn Baranik, the retail and customer experience manager at the farm and winery. “We open the store right up, so people can get a behind the scenes look at how the process works.” The number of staff on site jumps from 10 regular full-time workers to 50, as the berries are plucked from the bog and sorted. There are wagon tours, wine tastings and the cranberry plunge, where visitors can put on a pair of hip waders and then climb into the bog with the bright red floating berries. “The cranberry plunge is extremely popular – we’ve had wedding proposals and birth announcements in there. Everyone wants to get their picture taken with the cranberries,” says Baranik. There are also plenty of events to experience in September. The Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour, which begins on Sept. 28, combines Muskoka’s unparalleled natural beauty with the beauty
created by the region’s most talented artists. The tour is planned to coincide with the explosion of colour that marks autumn in Muskoka. Fall fairs run throughout the region in September, including the annual shows in Bracebridge (Sept. 13 to15), Huntsville (Sept. 20-22) and Severn Bridge (Sept. 7). The year’s harvest is picked and the best are put on display for a chance to win top prize. There are also midway rides, tractor pulls and animal displays to engage guests of all ages. September is prime time for golf, as the fairways often regain their lush spring form and the tee times are abundant. The searing heat has departed and the fall colours are nipping at the edges of the fairway. Taking a cruise among the fiery colours of early fall is an experience like no other. Sailing out of their home port at the Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst, the Wenonah II and the RMS Segwun steamship (built in 1907) ply the waters of Lake Muskoka through September. Further north, the 109-year-old SS Bigwin gives guests a glimpse of fall on beautiful Lake of Bays. With such an abundance of ways to get out and experience September, it’s no wonder that so many Muskokans consider it to be the most spectacular month of the year.
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 37
RURAL CHURCH
Receives an Unlikely Second Chance Article by Matt Driscoll / Photography by Andy Zeltkalns
A
s an example of the strength of community and the tenacity of Muskoka’s rural residents above all, the story of St. Peter’s Rocksborough Church is one of legacy and rebirth. Last year, when the future of the modest log church seemed in jeopardy, a group of like-minded residents stepped forward to literally pick the church up and move it to a new home at the Bracebridge Fairgrounds. “It’s been a very rocky road to get here but we couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out,” says Vicki White, whose family was instrumental in the construction of the church in the early 1930s. “The best part is that now that it’s been relocated it’s going to continue to be used. A church has to be more than just memories – it has to be a working church.” That was part of the reason that White and her family decided to get in touch with Muskoka Pioneer Power when they were informed by the Diocese of Algoma that St. Peter’s Rocksborough would need to be closed in its original location, just east of Bracebridge on Fraserburg Road. “It was a very sad day when they were informed that the diocese decided that it had to be closed,” says Barb Dawson, a founding member of Muskoka Pioneer Power. “The Anglican Church found that it was just too much money to operate and not enough people.” It wasn’t always the case, as St. Peter’s Rocksborough was once a hub of the community. Several dozen people packed into the church for its
38 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
Above: Historic St. Peter's Rocksborough church was moved from its original location to the Muskoka Pioneer Power display at Bracebridge Fairgrounds by a group of community volunteers. Right: Eleanor Bowers (left) had had a long-time desire to have a church built on the original site of St. Peter's Rocksborough church. She is joined in this photo by relatives Mary Jane White and Lillie White. Far Right: Founding members of St. Peter's Rocksborough church in an undated photo are: John and May White, Kate and William Dixon, Kathleen Kingshott, and Mary and Herb (Sr.) Shire.
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 39
Historic photographs: Vicki White
opening service on October 17, 1933. The roots of St. Peter’s Rocksborough church are intertwined with those of the families who called the area home for generations. “Granny Bowers had always wanted a church on that rock,” says Vicki White, referring to her great-great-grandmother Eleanor Bowers, who was born in 1846 and was one of the original residents of the area. The church, referred to as St. Peter's Rocksborough, and the neighbouring Rocksborough Road take their names from the Rt. Rev. Rocksborough Remington Smith, the first bishop of the Diocese of Algoma to be elected by the people of the diocese. Smith was bishop at the time the church was opened. At that time, brothers from the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (often referred to as the Cowley Fathers or the SSJE) would travel, frequently on foot, from
The rustic interior of St. Peter’s Church and its prominent location, atop a hill off the Fraserburg Rd., made it a popular location for small weddings, popular for wedding photographs.
Bracebridge to many of the smaller churches in the region to conduct services and offer communion to parishioners. “There wasn’t much travel by car in those days, so the Cowley fathers would do everything on foot or by horse,” says Rev. Kelly Baetz of St. Thomas’ Anglican Church in Bracebridge, which has always been closely aligned with St. Peter’s Rocksborough. “The Cowley Fathers are actually a huge part of why there are so many small churches in the Bracebridge area. One example is St. Peter’s Rocksborough, but others are St. Paul’s in Uffington and St. Stephen’s in Vankoughnet.” The SSJE was founded in 1866 at Cowley, Oxford, England by Father Richard Meux Benson, a priest in the Church of England and Father Charles Chapman Grafton. The SSJE was founded in Canada by Roland Palmer SSJE as a daughter house of the congregation in
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Members of St. Peter’s Church Rocksborough gathered in the nearby field of the Shire family, church members, for a summer church picnic in 1936. Tom and Elizabeth Kingshott (top) and Ethel and Les Leeder (bottom) were among the founding families of the church. THE RIOBEL MOMENTI™ COLLECTION Cambridge, Massachusetts. The first Mission Father Palmer from the Cowley Fathers AVAILABLE AT KNOWLES PLUMBING! House was established in Emsdale in 1927 coming out to perform services.” says Vicki and the following year, they moved to White. “They had a print shop out there (in Bracebridge where they were situated until Bracebridge) where they would print the Easter 1983, when they moved to Hamilton. church pamphlets. “As a kid I& remember Father BATH KI TC H EThornton N SHandOW “The R OSisters O Mof St. John the Divine would DESIGN. INSTALLATION. REPAIR S E RVING ALL OF MU SKOKA 279 MA N ITOBA ST, BRAC EBR ID G E
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also come out and have sales there. I actually still have a plaster cross in my bedroom that was made out there.” Not in the best of health in her later years, Eleanor Bowers expressed the wish to see a church constructed. She felt it could function as a religious and social core of the community. Although Bowers never lived to see the first ceremony take place at St. Peter’s Rocksborough, work was well underway at the time of her passing and Vicki White says she was told it was a source of great joy for her in her final months. A nearby log cabin was torn down and the wood reused in the church, and large flat slabs of granite were used as a foundation. Ron Leeder of Muskoka Pioneer Power, whose family was also one of the founders of St. Peter’s Rocksborough, says other boards must have been taken from a barn, as there are still visible marks from where horses have chewed at the wood. The Leeders, Shires, Kingshotts, Whites and Dixons were all founding families of the church and Vicki White can recall vividly many ceremonies taking place in the building. “All of my cousins and I were baptized in that church,” she says. “I remember they would pay the kids 10 or 20 cents to build a fire before services, so the building would be warm by the time everyone arrived.” The services were weekly, then bi-weekly, and then less frequent as the congregation diminished. “In the late 90s, we got a call from the church saying they were thinking of closing,” recalls White. “People in the area were very upset and we started raising funds. It went extremely well and it paid for everything right up until a couple of years ago.”
Nonetheless, the decision was ultimately made in 2017 that the church would be deconsecrated and closed. “I understand that they just didn’t want all of these little churches all over the place,” says White. “I think it was very difficult for everyone – not just our church.” Word of the impending closure circulated until it reached the ears of Ron Leeder and Barb Dawson at Muskoka Pioneer Power. “They locked the doors in June of 2018 and they were going to destroy the building,” says Dawson. “They didn’t want it vandalized and I can understand that.” Eventually, the idea came together to physically lift the church and move it 4.4 km down the road to the Muskoka Pioneer Power village at J.D. Lang Park (the Bracebridge Fairgrounds). “This was a huge project,” says Dawson. “It’s incredible how everyone came together. We received donation after donation. Basically, everything we needed to do this was donated.” That included Wes Finch and Sons, and Dave and Tammy Comeau from Dave Comeau House and Cottage Raising, who actually moved the building. “I know they’ve lifted plenty of houses but I don’t know if they’ve ever taken one down the road like that,” says Dawson. And so, on June 8, 2019, the small church was hoisted from its granite perch and transported over the course of roughly an hour and a half to its new home at the fairgrounds. “We’re just so pleased and grateful,” says White. “There are already weddings booked, so this is really a best-case scenario. This church was so important to us, so to know that it will still be used and that we can continue to visit it is an incredible result.”
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COURAGE, COMPASSION and HOPE Honouring a family legacy Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Andy Zeltkalns
T
he lessons we learn as and make the best of it. Be children can alter the grateful for living in a decisions we make country like Canada. People throughout our lives. Who we complain because they don’t choose to be as individuals is know any different. But I impacted by our childhood. do.” Courage, compassion for The guidance Olsson took human life and never to give from her mother was up hope are three lessons Eva tragically tested in 1944. The Olsson learned from her family was still recovering mother and still lives by from the loss of Olsson’s today. oldest sister that January. The “I live by the legacy my Nazis arrived in Olsson’s Mom passed on,” shares hometown and her entire Olsson, a Holocaust survivor, family was taken by boxcar public speaker and Muskoka to the Auschwitz-Birkenau resident. “If she’d given up concentration camp. Her hope, I wouldn’t be sitting mother and father, her sister’s here.” three children, her brother, Eva Olsson has received a number of recognitions for the powerful messages she has Every morning, when she his wife and child, her other delivered. Granddaughter Ali admires one of her recognitions. arrives in her kitchen, Olsson sister, her husband and child is reminded by the note on her refrigerator to community centres and other institutions. and more extended family only lived until “live one day at a time and make it a Her goal? Eliminate hate by sharing her May 1944. masterpiece.” As she approaches her 95th path to forgiveness. “As we got out of the train, I was holding birthday, this October, Olsson lives her mantra “It’s been a journey of 75 years,” says my sister’s oldest daughter’s hand and my by speaking at schools, seniors’ centres, Olsson. “You have to deal with it every day mom had the other two girls,” recalls Olsson.
44 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
Eva Olsson, who speaks to audiences from public school children to adults, shapes her talks to reflect the age of the group. “A prisoner came over and in the language we spoke, Yiddish, he said ‘give the child to an older woman.’ He didn’t tell me why.” The prisoner repeated his message twice more and Olsson took heed, realizing that he knew something they did not. At 19, unmarried, not pregnant and with no child holding her hand, Olsson was sent to the right, to the work camp. The rest of her family was sent to the left, to the gas chambers. “Had I not let go of her hand, I would have been sent to the left,” says Olsson. “Just like my sister and sister-in-law, all of the young mothers went to the left. How do you say ‘thank you’ to someone when you’ve never seen their face before or after?” Olsson and her youngest sister were the only members of her family to survive the Holocaust, freed by British and Canadian troops in 1945. She relocated to Sweden and there she met and married her husband, Rude Olsson. “Once in a while, we make good choices,” laughs Olsson. “I was blessed that I had a very caring, compassionate husband, who suggested we come here as tourists for six months, 68 years ago, to see if we’d like it. We both really loved Canada. That’s why we stayed.” Olsson and her husband moved from
Sweden to Montreal in 1951 with $20 in their pocket. Rude was an engineer and found work at Canadair making 85 cents an hour. As the Korean War came to an end in 1954, thousands of people were laid off, Rude included. “We were just about to go back to Sweden because there was no way we could live,” says Olsson. “I was pregnant with twins. Rude
Numerous photo albums tell the story of Eva’s life from her early days through her many speaking engagements.
applied for a job at the suggestion of a friend and three days later, the engineering company hired him. They made him sign a contract that he was willing to be transferred and we moved to Toronto.” Unexpectedly, Rude died when Olsson was 39, with a 10-year-old son, Jan. There was no widow’s pension and Olsson, with no formal education or job prospects, had to find a way to survive and look after her son. She rented two rooms in her home to create an income. There will always be challenges to face and a new location does not preclude the old challenges from surfacing. Olsson crossed an ocean and hoped to forget her experiences during the war. Instead, she continued to have nightmares and flashbacks for years until she broke her silence. “Wherever you go, you’re going to take yourself with you,” says Olsson. “I brought myself with me – my brain, my thoughts, my being. So, how can you forget? You’re going to face challenges no matter where you are, so work them out.” Olsson moved to Muskoka in 1985 to stay close to her family, shortly after her son had moved to the area for his teaching career. She enjoyed 15 years of babysitting her grandchildren and watching them grow. Her grandchildren are responsible for opening the
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 45
Photograph: Submitted by Eva Olsson
Eva Olsson has given over 3,900 presentations to an estimated one and a half million people since she first started delivering her message in 1996. door for Olsson to break her silence. Her grandson, at age six, came home from school and as he came up the driveway, asked Olsson how her mom had died. She quickly told him he was too young and to ask again when he was older. A few weeks later, he turned seven and when he arrived home from school, he professed that he was older now and could be told. Unsure how to talk about the gas chambers at AuschwitzBirkenau and what was too much to share, Olsson explained that a lot of people were put into a room and poison was put in. “We were in the family room. He came over and sat down beside me and said ‘I’m sorry you’re so sad’,” remembers Olsson. A few years later, Olsson’s oldest granddaughter came home from school at twelve with an assignment on the war. She interviewed her grandmother and after submitting the project, Olsson was asked to visit her granddaughter’s class to speak about her experiences. “After 50 years of silence, I was scared to speak,” shares Olsson. “I was scared of bullies. I’d never had the words come out before. But you have to get rid of that fear. It gave me the opportunity to heal. Because silence didn’t heal me.” Since 1996, Olsson has been speaking at schools, military bases and other community spaces, sharing her life story and her compassion. Olsson has given over 3,900 presentations to over one and a half million audience members. She’s been to the United Nations, twice, and was inducted into the Order of Ontario in 2008. She has travelled across Canada and in the United States,
46 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
delivering her message of peace and understanding. “Wherever they call me to go, I go,” laughs Olsson. “I’m healthy. Age should not be in my way.” Olsson has developed a three-level program to deliver her message based on the audience: modified for elementary school, general for high school and a level for teachers and above. Among her speaking engagements, Olsson makes time to visit seniors’ centres and community groups to share and to meet people. Eliminating hate is the fundamental lesson in Olsson’s teaching. “Children take to school what they learn at home,” states Olsson. “We have a responsibility to our children. Send them to school the way you want to see them as adults. The teacher can’t fix it. It’s our responsibility.” When Olsson presented at Ohio State Prison, over 1,800 people were in attendance. Only 300 people were allowed into the hall and the rest watched a televised version. During her three-hour presentation, Olsson
Books and CDs capture Eva’s story and allow her to reach a larger audience than touched by her talks.
recalls two comments from audience members that stay with her to this day. “One man said ‘If I would have heard you before, I wouldn’t be in here’,” recalls Olsson. “The choices we make take us to where we are at. The other asked me ‘who’s going to tell us when your generation is gone?’.” Choice is the hallmark of the human condition. During World War II, millions of people were killed for their religious beliefs, appearance and other attributes, because the Nazis deemed them unworthy. However, Bulgaria and Denmark refused to allow the Nazis to remove Jewish people from their country during the war. “Why?” says Olsson. “Because they had compassion and they were not going to be bystanders.” Speaking about her own painful memories, the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and connecting to relevant themes in today’s society, Olsson delivers the value of love and acceptance, rather than hate and rejection. “How will these children ever know the power of hate?” says Olsson. “It’s not just something that happened 75 years ago. Or 80 years ago. It’s still happening, today.” The connection of the audience to Olsson’s subject matter is evident in over 16,000 letters she has received, to date. Often sharing their newfound understanding or a personal experience they have been silent about; the letters are full of emotion and give a measure of success to Olsson’s endeavour. The comments Olsson receives are a testament to the power of her message. “The feedback that I get tells me ‘yes, I need to be out there’,” says Olsson. “I’ve said it to my son, many, many times. If I wouldn’t get the kind of feedback that I get, I would take off my running shoes.” Concerned by the rise of hate and racism around the world,
You were placed as a beautiful chrysanthemum upon a field of darkness. No light, support or nutrition may enter the realm. They all prayed for your fail and misery as you continued to blossom. They stepped on you, pulled at you, tore you apart but you were firmly placed in the soil with pure ambition to grow. Five petals of yours swiftly departed causing them to think they had finally torn you down. The next day you had the appearance of defeat although a new, bright, green leaf emerged named Hope. “How does she grow in darkness?
Olsson continues to schedule speaking engagements, well beyond her upcoming 95th birthday. Presenting allows her to keep her family’s spirit alive, years after their death, and gives students a personal understanding of the events of World War II. Textbooks, discussions and general research provide background without actively connecting the implications of choosing hate or indifference. “It’s not about I or me, it’s about we,” comments Olsson. “Only we, as one people, can achieve peace and have the courage and the strength to eliminate hate.” Bullying is an epidemic in schools today. When she asks an audience who has been bullied, almost every hand goes up. Olsson believes one of her own greatest achievements is the ability to help even one child be successful – not successful in monetary terms but successful as a human being. “Being successful doesn’t mean you’re going to live in a big house or you’re going to drive a fancy car,” explains Olsson. “Those kinds of successes you can have and then lose the next minute. But being successful as a human being, how you treat your friends, nobody can take it away from you. Not even the Nazis.” Olsson boldly returned to Europe in
2007. She visited her hometown of Szatmar, Hungary, among other places, and walked streets filled with devastating memories. However, Olsson couldn’t carry out the Jewish tradition of placing a small stone at the grave of family members after visiting as an act of remembrance. “I don’t have a grave to visit for the rest of my family,” says Olsson. “I don’t know where the bulldozer put their bones or where the wind blew their ashes.” Olsson is certain there is a reason why she survived. Her gift and willingness to share her story after years of silence provides her family with an ongoing legacy. Presenting to people of all different backgrounds, across Canada, allows Olsson to advocate the power of love and positive shared values. “What being Canadian means to me is accepting the values that this country represents,” says Olsson. “You consider yourself a Canadian?” she asks. “Then you must show people that you are by your behaviour. What does that mean? No hate. No bullying.” As her birthday draws near, Olsson’s only plans are to spend time with family in Muskoka and continue standing for love and acceptance. Every day counts, even when you’ve already created a masterpiece.
How does she grow out of the epitome of hate?” they questioned. She bloomed and rose from the fire spread beneath her to spread a message of love, By not finding satisfaction in hate.
Alaa El Moussawi
Following a presentation at Woodroffe High School in Ottawa, Eva Olsson received an email from the Canada & World Studies teacher sharing this poem about Olssen, written by 15-year-old Alaa El Moussawi.
Granddaughter Ali and son Jan enjoy some time with Eva Olsson as she takes time from her busy schedule. September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 47
r a l u c a t c e p S w e i V
Article by Dawn Huddlestone
W
hen Muskoka’s landscape dons its vibrant fall coat, cloaked in dazzling reds, oranges and yellows, it’s a spectacular sight from just about any vantage point. But there are few locations that can rival the view from the Dorset Scenic Lookout Tower. For more than 50 years, visitors have enjoyed a 360-degree
48 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
view of 860 square kilometres of sparkling lakes and vibrant foliage from its observation deck, a full 142 metres (465 feet) above Lake of Bays. The tower was built in 1967 and was an immediate hit with residents and tourists, alike, with 11,000 visiting in that first season. It’s a fascination that has only increased in the decades since.
A carpet of many colours, as far as the eye can see, and a bird’s-eye view of Dorset await those who climb the Dorset Scenic Lookout Tower in autumn
Today, more than 25,000 people visit the tower park each year, from local families and groups from area camps to organized car clubs and out-of-country visitors. On a single day in the fall, the site can be visited by as many as 600 vehicles as well as another 700 people who choose to walk up to the tower park instead. While there, they can climb up to the tower’s observation deck, enjoy the view from other
Photograph: Explorers' Edge
AWAITS THOSE WHO RELIVE THE CLIMB OF THE DORSET TOWERMEN
lookout points, and pause to have a picnic lunch or grab a snack from the gift shop – which also features local artisans. “It’s a really different type of tourist attraction,” says Susie Ament, the Dorset Scenic Lookout Tower Co-ordinator for the Township of Algonquin Highlands. “And it also has quite a historical factor to it and people really enjoy that, too.”
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Looking west, Lake of Bays stretches out as the view from the Dorset Scenic Lookout Tower. Although the tower resembles those that at one time dotted the landscape to watch for signs of wildfires, it was built specifically as a lookout with a nod to the history of the fire tower – and others like it – that once occupied the site. In 1928, a fire lookout tower was built at the top of the ‘mountain’ in Dorset. It stood 25 metres tall – a full five metres shorter than today’s scenic lookout tower. Towermen, who worked on contract in shifts during the fire season – from April to October 6 – accessed the deck by climbing a ladder up the side of the structure. (Today’s tower has a less heart-stopping series of stairs, 118 in all.) During dry conditions, the towerman would stay in the tower all day. On rainy days, he would cut portages or keep the phone line – which was strung through trees from the Dorset office of Ontario Lands and Forests to the area fire towers – cleared of brush. It might have been a lonely job, if not for those phone lines and
the later VHF, or very high frequency radio, that replaced it in the 1950s. Although their main purpose was to report fires, the towermen sometimes used the lines to communicate with one another. According to the Dorset Heritage Museum, the towerman that most people remember was its last: Ferg McGuire. “Towermen were encouraged to have a hobby, woodcarving, musical instruments, or reading,” the museum website recounts. “Ferg used to talk to the towerman at Oxtongue Lake, Tom Paris, …(and) the towerman at St. Nora Lake, Hugh Lester, had a hobby of playing the guitar. It was not uncommon for Hugh to broadcast a live music show over the radio to Tom and Ferg.” McGuire climbed down from the tower for the last time at the end of the season in 1961, the year the tower was taken out of service. It was dismantled and parts of it can be seen in the exhibit at the Algonquin Park Visitor Centre.
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Those who climb the scenic lookout tower today can get an appreciation for both the history – imagining what it might have been like to spend day after day as a towerman stationed high above the trees – and for the expanse of wilderness that still exists. “The only even remotely urban sighting that you can see up there is the little town of Dorset. The rest is all forest and lakes,” says Ament. “A lot of our out-of-country visitors are totally impressed with the vastness of our wilderness.” The tower is an icon for Dorset and the surrounding area, she adds, and visitors who come for the view have a positive economic impact for the surrounding restaurants, retailers, marinas and lodging. The township is working on historical and geographical interpretive signs to provide visitors with more information about the original purpose of the site.
For the remainder of the 2019 season, the Dorset Scenic Lookout Tower is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Sunday, September 15, and then daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Thursday, October 31. In November, the tower switches to a weekend-only schedule and will remain open, weather permitting, until November 17. A vehicle entrance to the Dorset Scenic Lookout Tower is located on Highway 35, just to the north of the village of Dorset. Visitors can get to the tower one of three ways: drive up to the tower park, leave a vehicle at the base of the mountain and walk up the road to the park, or hike the trail from behind the Dorset Heritage Museum to the top of the mountain. Ament says the most common comment staff hear from visitors is they didn’t know such a unique tourist attraction existed, where you can climb a tower to see the view. And what a view it is.
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Whats Happened
When Fairhaven Island cottagers decided to assist businesses hit by spring flooding, they chose Sunset Cruises, operators of the Peerless II, to show their support.
Fairhaven Island group challenges others to support businesses impacted by flooding Although the waters receded several months ago, the impacts of flooding in the spring of 2019 are still being felt. “While things are back to normal weather-wise in beautiful Muskoka and other stories now grab our attention, many are still dealing with the structural and financial aftermath of either damage or a slow start to the high season,” said Fairhaven Island resident Max Jackson. In an effort to help local businesses recover, Jackson and other residents of Fairhaven Island decided on an innovative solution: targeted patronage at a local business when they might not otherwise be busy. They chose to support the Peerless II, the boat owned by Sunset Cruises that often passes close to Fairhaven. The boat had been damaged by a fallen tree and its homeport on the Muskoka River had been washed away. They chartered it for the night of July 26 and also raised more than $1,100 for the Peerless II, said Jackson. “We had a great time, perfect weather, and were able to embark from our front dock which is a descendant of the old Fairhaven Island Wharf,” he said, adding
54 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
that the islanders encourage other cottage groups to follow their lead. “We sent out the challenge to half a dozen or so other ‘cottage groups’ and, sadly, got no responses – a bit surprising.” It’s not too late to take on the challenge, though. The Fairhaven islanders suggest other targeted patronage efforts during off-peak times, shopping locally and making food bank donations. They also recommend passing the hat at each patronage event to give businesses something extra to help make up for a tough spring.
Province appoints Muskoka Watershed Advisory Group members In August, Jeff Yurek, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, announced the nine people who have been appointed to the Muskoka Watershed Advisory Group. They are tasked with providing advice and recommendations to Yurek to help protect and conserve the Muskoka Watershed and support the economic growth of the region. “The new advisory group will be a valuable resource for people and municipalities in the region that depend on effective watershed management as more
development and flooding events occur,” he said in a media release. Members of the group (with selected credentials from their bios) are chair, Mardi Witzel, who serves on a number of committees at the KidsAbility Foundation, part of the KidsAbility Centre for Child Development, and on the new property development committee and the nominating committee at the Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club; Chris Cragg, who chairs the environment committee of the Muskoka Lakes Association, is a member of the Muskoka Watershed Council and is on the advisory council for the Muskoka Steamship & Discovery Center; Don Smith, a district councillor for the Town of Bracebridge and District of Muskoka, and publisher and editor of Unique Muskoka; John Beaucage, a member of Wasauksing First Nation and chair of the First Nation Market Housing Fund; John Miller, president of Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre; Julie Cayley, a professional agrologist and the executive director of the Severn Sound Environmental Association; Kevin Trimble, a senior ecologist and chair of the Muskoka Watershed Council; Norman Yan, a senior research scholar and professor emeritus at York University and chair of the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed; and Patricia Arney, a member of the Muskoka Watershed Council and the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce. “I am very pleased to participate in this new initiative focused on promoting and protecting the health of the Muskoka Watershed,” said Witzel. “A number of environmental impacts underscore the need for a more comprehensive approach to watershed management, including recent and frequent flooding, increased development pressure, increasing nutrient loads and water quality concerns. “This is a very timely initiative and I look forward to working with the many individuals and organizations who are already engaged in efforts relating to the environmental and economic well-being of the Muskoka Watershed.”
Gord Durnan receives honorary degree from Nipissing University
New watershed gallery opens at Lake of Bays Marine Museum
Gravenhurst resident Gord Durnan has a long history of community service. Following a career in healthcare philanthropy and charitable management, including many years as the managing director of the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation until his retirement in 2005, he served on multiple boards, helped to establish the Muskoka Community Foundation, and was a member and chair of the Board of Governors at Nipissing University. Durnan was recently recognized for his commitment to community with an honorary degree from Nipissing University. “I am here in front of you in total amazement that your university and my university, Nipissing, has granted me an honorary doctorate for a lifetime of doing what I love,” he began as he shared wisdom learned during his 50 years of professional and volunteer experience with School of Nursing graduates. Among his advice was encouragement to “be community builders and look out for those who are less fortunate. Offer friendship and encouragement so that they may grow with dignity and participate in our society as equals. We all need each other.” Durnan’s degree was conferred during the school’s convocation on June 12.
Photograph: Johanne Stewart
How often do you think about where the water flowing from your taps comes from? Through a new watershed gallery in Lake of Bays, a group of local organizations hopes to inspire everyone to think more A gallery that includes an interactive 30-minute video about Muskoka’s watershed and the environment has opened in Dorset. about it, what impact our actions have, and how we can Dr. Shakira Azan of the Friends of the all help to preserve this precious resource. Muskoka Watershed shared those statistics On June 19, the Lake of Bays Marine at the organization’s recent AGM, and what Museum and Navigation Society (home port its initiative, ASHMuskoka, hopes to do of the SS Bigwin), the Andrew Daniels Fish about the issue. Stewardship Foundation, the Friends of the In short, over the next three years, Muskoka Watershed and the Lake of Bays ASHMuskoka will be testing a solution to Heritage Foundation celebrated the grand local “ecological osteoporosis”: the wood ash opening of the gallery, located upstairs at the from the woodstoves and fireplaces of museum in Dorset. Muskoka homes and cottages. It aims to The gallery includes an interactive collect 100 tonnes of wood ash by year three 30-minute video about Muskoka’s watershed of the project that will be spread at three and the environment, a virtual reality sugar bush sites – in Bracebridge, Utterson sandbox where visitors can change the and Huntsville – to determine the doses of landscape, make it rain and create flood ash needed to replenish calcium and to zones, details about Glenn Vickery’s 210 km prove its benefits to the forests. swim around Lake of Bays to raise awareness Since January 15, more than 300 ash for shoreline preservation and information collectors have signed up and 2,100 kg of on the ASHMuskoka project. wood ash has been collected. The program The museum is located at 1090 Main requires a continuous supply of wood ash Street in Dorset. for distribution this fall and throughout the
Photograph: Brendan O'Connor
ASHMuskoka project gaining momentum
Gord Durnan (seated) received a honourary degree from Nipissing University.
Calcium is important for both animals and plants, and that includes the trees of Muskoka’s magnificent forests and the creatures that call its lakes home. But the Muskoka watershed has lost about 0.5 tonnes of calcium per hectare due to acid rain – which limits the ability of some forests to grow and capture carbon – and the average calcium levels in Muskoka lakes have fallen by more than 25 per cent in the last four decades.
next three years, and is collecting the ash through periodic ash drives. At the same time, the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed is seeking Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks approvals, in particular for transport and spreading of the ash – currently the ministry treats non-industrial wood ash as “other waste,” believing that it could have negative effects on the environment. The Friends also needs to secure a building where 100,000 kg of ash can be stored. For more information visit ashmuskoka. ca or email ashmuskoka@fotmw.org to get a bucket or can so you can start collecting your ash to help Muskoka’s trees.
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 55
Cooking lamb like a pro Article by Karen Wehrstein / Photography by Tomasz Szumski
Ian and Shannon Daines of Falkenridge Farms, near Bracebridge, are part of an artisanal farming program that allows them to sell to local grocery stores and at farmers’ markets. Among meats, lamb has a special place. Nothing else tastes like lamb. Accoutrements customary with lamb, such as mint sauce, do not necessarily work on other meats. Just like the great wooden resort lodges of old, Muskoka lamb has more history than current presence. In the late 1800s, it was served in those lodges and shipped as far away as the U.S. Likewise, the wool from local sheep was frequently sold to the Bird
56 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
Woollen Mills in Bracebridge. However, these products were superseded by cheaper ones from elsewhere after transportation was improved, and the sheep farmers moved on. While local lamb can now be sourced at outlets such as Muskoka North Good Food Co-op, there isn’t enough for restaurants to make it their steady supply. “The money is in chicken and pork,” says Ian Daines, co-owner with his wife Shannon of Falkenridge Farm near Bracebridge. For them, money is also in other work: refinishing antiques for him, teaching math at
The Story of Muskoka Lamb Bracebridge Muskoka Lakes Secondary School for her. But they pride themselves on the genetically-modified-organism-free, pastured meat they raise, including lamb. “We started raising animals for our own consumption because we wanted to know what was in our food,” says Ian, who bought the 50-acre farm with Shannon in 2006. “A friend suggested we take some chickens to market and they were received really well.” The Daines entered an artisanal farming program, designed for niche markets: with limited amounts of produce, this class of farmers is permitted to sell to local grocery stores and at farmers’ markets. Having expanded from chickens to turkeys to sheep to pigs and to cows, the
Mint Sauce
Ian Daines, Falkenridge Farm
• Strip mint leaves off stems and finely chop. • Put 1/4 cup chopped mint leaves in a 1 cup glass measuring cup. • Add 1/4 cup boiling water. • Let stand 5 minutes. • Stir in 1 tablespoon of your choice of maple syrup or honey. Add more (or don’t) to taste. • Let cool (5 more minutes or so). • Add 1-2 tbsp vinegar (we prefer unrefined, unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar • Add salt and pepper to taste. Use to baste lamb in final few minutes of cooking, drizzle over meat prior to serving, and remainder is for dipping! (Makes enough for two servings). Will keep for weeks. Farmer’s Tip For Chocolate Mint Sauce: start with chocolate mint.
Daines now supply Muskoka North Good Food Co-op and The Great Vine in Huntsville, Northern Produce in Bracebridge, the Baysville Country Store and Willmott’s in Beaumaris. They expect to add four more in fall. Some restaurants are interested, as well. The Daines are happy to conform to strict labelling and record-keeping requirements. On each package label, a square code contains information on where the animal came from, what it was fed and where it was slaughtered. A farmer must keep a vial of the current feed for a year in case of random inspection. The Daines keep feed records going
back 10 years. They started raising lamb about 10 years ago and fondly remember Calvin, the “February surprise lamb” from the time they kept a ram. “I was going out to check on the chickens or ducks,” recalls Shannon, “when I heard a tiny ‘baaa.’ They were still outside. I grabbed it up in a blanket and raced down to the house.” Mama ewe and little lamb both survived. As raisers of lamb, do the Daines have a mint sauce recipe? Of course, they do. Preparing lamb for your plate is the job of Richard Lalonde, chef and co-owner with his wife Julie of Crossroads Restaurant in Rosseau. In case you don’t know, they opened a gourmet shop across the road last summer, where from May to October you can buy food such as antipasto platters and grilled salmon prepared to the Crossroads’ standard, to go. The restaurant, blessedly, is open all year, six days a week in summer, five in winter, and serves braised lamb shank in winter— “it makes you feel warm inside,” Lalonde explains – and loin rack in summer. To be exact, at least right now: Herb and Dijon Crusted Rack of Lamb. “It’s very French, with the Dijon and the bread on it,” says the chef, who started at age 15 washing dishes in his hometown of Rigaud, Quebec, then trained in Montreal. “But Greek, with the lemon. It’s all working well together.” I have to concur. The presentation is colour co-ordinated from a pallet of yellow, green and purple herbs and veggies foiling the red of the lamb. The crust is salty but in a sophisticated way. The lemon risotto is just lemony enough to make your taste buds jump up and say “Hello!” This is not a dish for the faint of heart. Many strong flavours all dance in your mouth. The Australian lamb, procured specifically for its tastiness, is actually among the most delicate of them; succulent, tender and juicy. A sprinkle of goat cheese
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Quebec-style roasted rack of lamb is as tasty as it is colourful in its presentation.
enriches the whole package. We have obtained the recipe for the central aspect: roasted rack of lamb, Quebec-style. At Deerhurst Resort, Gus Gulmar works as Chef du cuisine for three restaurants: the
Compass Bar and Grill, the Maple Pub and Patio, and the Antler Steakhouse, which has on its menu a dish introduced this year and entitled Lamb Two Ways. I’ll explain why after a tour of the
well-travelled Gulmar’s background. Originally from Miskolc, the fourth-largest city in Hungary, he studied cooking in Budapest and worked in various parts of Europe, then spent some years in the
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Quebec-Roasted Rack of Lamb Richard Lalonde, Crossroads
Ingredients 2 racks of lamb, 1 to 1½ pounds each 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs, made using food processor (use gluten-free bread if desired) ¼ cup fresh herbs: thyme, oregano, mint and rosemary (more rosemary than the others; “We want that flavour to be more pronounced”) ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp freshly-ground pepper ¼ tsp melted butter 1 clove garlic, crushed
Method • Mix the breadcrumbs, herbs, salt and pepper in a small bowl. • Sear lamb racks, fatty side down, over medium heat on the grill for 5 minutes. Remove from grill. • Spread 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard over
southern U.S.A. Starting in 2003, Gulmar was a culinary snowbird for four years, summering at Deerhurst, wintering in Florida or South Carolina. Then, upon meeting his wife Rebecca, who is of El Salvadorean origin and now works as a chef at Compass, he moved to Canada permanently. He actually followed in the footsteps of his grandparents, who left Hungary in 1956 and had a cottage in Powassan. “Deerhurst is a great learning experience for young chefs,” Gulmar says. “You can try everything, and we have Rory as our mentor.” He is referring, of course, to Deerhurst stalwart Chef Rory Golden.
the seared, fatty side of each rack. Sprinkle the bread crumb/herb mixture over the mustard-covered fatty side. • Combine garlic and melted butter and drizzle over the breadcrumbs. • Finish in oven at 350° F, fatty side facing up, and continue cooking for 20 minutes over medium heat until medium rare (internal temperature 145° F). • Rest for 10 minutes. Wine pairing: “Anything powerful,” e.g., American Cabernet-Savignon, Australian Shiraz, Italian Tuscan. Chef ’s Tips “Resting time is very important. Rest it for 10 minutes, wrapped in foil. When it cools down, the meat kind of relaxes, retains the juice.” This is true of any piece of meat, Lalonde says, especially red meat. “I’d rather have a rested steak cold than lose all the juice.”
Chef Richard Lalonde has chosen a Quebec-style lamb recipe for his feature recipe. Something Gulmar likes to do with his staff: have them come to the restaurant as a guest, food paid for, drinks on their own dime, once a month – “to see how it feels to receive,” he says. His culinary philosophy emphasizes freshness, presentation (“colours are important”), innovation and audience participation beyond merely eating. For instance, he serves an heirloom tomato soup with a shot of beet soup separately – so you can add as much as you want. Or – and I got to participate in this utter decadence – a chocolate cheesecake to die
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for is served with a wee pipette, with which you drizzle it with… are you ready? Bailey’s Irish Cream. To test diner reaction, Gulmar looks at the plates as they are brought back from the tables to see how clean they are. “If the same items come back, we have to fix things.” So why Lamb Two Ways? “We are always looking at how we can we make a dish more interesting, do it different ways. I was always like that,” says Gulmar. A generous spoonful of onion puree is swashed deftly across an oval plate. On one end of it is placed a goodly helping of braised lamb sirloin; on the other, a roast rack of lamb. Vegetables and herbs are artistically arranged between. “It is one of the popular dishes,” Gulmar says “I expect to serve it 110 times tonight.” He uses Australian lamb in winter, Canadian lamb in summer – usually from Alberta or Manitoba, as Ontario lamb is hard to come by. The dish, as served, is a study in colour with fresh herb garnishes matching the vegetables. To the tongue, it is a symphony of tension between sweet and savoury; the onion puree creating that effect all by itself as a base for the whole show. The sirloin is scrumptiously fatty, the rack more virtuously lean. Space constraints limit us to the two lamb preparations only. For chef Gus Gulmar (above), his culinary philosophy emphasizes freshness, presentation, innovation For the record, I left my plate very clean. and audience participation.
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 61
Braised Lamb Sirloin Ingredients
2 lbs Lamb Sirloin 1 Tbsp fresh thyme 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 6 garlic cloves 3 Tbsp kosher salt and black pepper Braising liquid 1/2 cup olive oil 2 cups large diced onions 1 cup large diced carrots 1 cup large diced celery 2 cups of red wine of your choice (that’s the best part :) 1 litre of veal or beef stock 2 pieces of fresh bay leaf
• Take the lamb out of the fridge an hour before preparing, to reach room temperature. • Heat a large frying pan over high heat, add oil and a minute later add lamb sirloin and sear until browned and caramelized.
• Transfer the lamb to a roasting pan. Add the mirepoix (onion, carrots, celery) to the frying pan, caramelize until golden brown (about 10 minutes; you can also add 2 Tbsp tomato paste if desired). • Add the wine and garlic cloves, deglaze for about 5 minutes over moderate heat. (This adds the residue of the pan from searing the sirloin and adds more flavour to your braising liquid.) • Add the herbs, salt and pepper, bay leaves and veal or beef stock. Pour the braising liquid on the sirloin and cover it tightly with aluminum foil. • Preheat oven to 325° F and braise until it’s tender (about three hours). • Take the rack of lamb out of the fridge an hour before your lamb sirloin is done, and roast it uncovered for about 15-20 min. or until it reaches the internal temperature 120° F (medium rare).
• Let it rest for about five minutes, before serving. (That way the moisture inside will cool down and finish cooking the meat.)
Chef ’s Tips Why should you use kosher salt? “We like to use kosher salt because it has a flaky texture and it doesn’t dissolve as quickly as table salt, so it’s better to sprinkle on meat and also it handles better for measuring when you pick it up with your fingers. Overall the kosher salt is more pure than table salt.” Bring your rack of lamb up to room temp for 30 or even 45 minutes before cooking. “It makes it cook a bit a faster, and it’s more tender and has more texture as well.”
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Roasted Canadian Rack of Lamb Gus Gulmar, Antler Steakhouse
Ingredients 1 8-bone rack of lamb trimmed and Frenched 2 Tbsp minced garlic 2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary and thyme in equal portions 1 tsp kosher salt 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper 2 Tbsp olive oil 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
Method • In a large bowl combine the garlic, fresh herbs, salt, black pepper and mustard together with olive oil at the end to moisten the rub. Set aside. • Preheat a skillet or cast iron pan, add 2 Tbsp olive oil and sear the rack of lamb for about 3-4 minutes on high heat until it’s golden brown. • Place on baking tray and rub it with the herb and mustard rub. (Serves 4, takes 45 minutes to make)
September 2019 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 63
Muskoka Moments
Stagestruck in Muskoka By John McTavish Back in 1977, I was the minister of Bracebridge United Church. That fall, our congregation mounted a five-night run of the Broadway musical Godspell. The young people in the church and community were happy to audition for roles but no one wanted the role of Jesus. Girls weren’t playing the part in those days, and the guys shied away from the role on account of all the lines that had to be memorized. Besides, the guys soon realized that Jesus’s disciples had the best comic moments in the show. Our director, Ted Duff, suggested that I take the lead role. I was a mediocre singer and worse dancer, but a decent enough actor. In any case, I accepted the challenge. A representative of the Bracebridge Examiner came to our opening night performance and took a picture of me in action, wearing of course Godspell’s traditional Jesus outfit: blue and yellow Superman shirt, red clown-like stripped pants along with my Afro haircut. I really did look more like an actor than a lowly minister. Still, I had my ministerial duties to perform during the week. In fact, after the opening night performance, my wife informed me that a young woman in a nearby town, whom I had known from our high school days in Toronto, had fallen victim to postpartum depression and died by her own hand. Her husband had just called asking me to take the funeral. Of course, I agreed, and in fact visited the husband that night. The funeral was held on Friday, two days later. I remember coming home from the afternoon service feeling sad and completely
64 UNIQUE MUSKOKA September 2019
exhausted. Fortunately, I had a chance to lie down for an hour or so before the evening performance. “Oh no, you can’t lie down yet,” my wife said. “There are a couple kids over at the church waiting to speak to you. They want to close the show down.” “They want to – what?” “Close the show down. They think the picture in the paper showing Jesus in a clown outfit proves that Godspell is sacrilegious.” “Good Lord,” I said. Yet I knew I had to talk to these kids. However ridiculous their criticism, they could easily do a lot of damage. Hide some of our props. Fiddle with the sound equipment. Who knows what kind of angry mischief they might get into. So I went over to the church and met the two boys, and ended up explaining that by dressing Jesus up in clown-like stripped pants and a Superman shirt, Godspell is not engaging in anything that could be described as sacrilegious. It’s just a way of bringing out Jesus’ charismatic child-like spirit in a stage production.
I actually seemed to be making some progress, at least with one of the kids. But the other boy wasn’t so sure. “All right,” he finally said. “We’ll let you do the show.” I liked that: We’ll let you do the show. Then he added: “But only if you put Jesus in a bathrobe.” “I’m afraid that’s not my decision to make,” I calmly explained. “But I’ll see what the director thinks of it.” This seemed to mollify them and they soon left the church, allowing me to go home and get a little rest before the performance that night. However, on the following night, just before our final Saturday performance, the two young soldiers for the Lord returned, marching up and down the sidewalk before show time, carrying placards that read: “Jesus Christ – Saviour, Lord, King, but not Clown.” This was okay. In fact, it gave us all a good laugh. The following week, the Examiner ran a cartoon by Cathy Nicholson that showed picketers brandishing signs during one of our performances of Godspell. The signs read: “No! No! That’s Not the Way It Was.” And “No Way Close!” And “No! No!” The caption underneath read, “But isn’t good news still good news, no matter how it’s told?” Our sentiments exactly.
John McTavish was the minister of Bracebridge United Church from 1975 to 1982. He lives today in Huntsville. The old clown outfit is hiding in a trunk in his basement.
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