SPRING 2020
DESIGNS AND DREAMS The tradition of building Muskoka’s wooden boats Life Experiences are Artist’s Muse
Micklethwaite Photographs Shaped Muskoka
Seeking Answers to the Complexities of the Watershed
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Features 20
Life Experiences are the Muse of Artist Lynda Lynn
Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Kelly Holinshead Lynda Lynn’s body of artistic work is as varied as her own life experiences. From lab technician to retail shop co-owner to real estate agent, every role continues to kindle Lynn’s talent for innovation. And now, childhood memories are the inspiration for her latest project – a children’s book.
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Frank Micklethwaite – Shaping Muskoka’s Identity
Article by J. Patrick Boyer Over a century ago, Frank Micklethwaite’s talent covered the full range of photographic skills. Micklethwaite had a love affair with the district’s blue lakes and rocky shorelines. These natural features formed the backdrop for his photographs that not only captured life in Muskoka but also shaped its future.
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Designs and Dreams Made from Wood
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2 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
Article and Photography by Tim Du Vernet Muskoka’s lakes and rivers have offered opportunities for generations of local boat builders. When internal combustion engines became commonplace and effective in different sizes and power, the design of wooden boats really took off. Turning dreams into fine designs has become a tradition for Muskoka boat builders.
Departments 11
Muskoka Calendar
It’s spring and Muskoka is awakening with lots of events. Seasonal favourites like the Muskoka Maple Festival are a must addition to any calendar. For an extra taste of the maple spring tonic, travel Muskoka on the Maple Trail. From film and music festivals to motivating speakers and outdoor activities, there are lots of events to add to your calendar.
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Cottage Country Cuisine
The first meal of the day is arguably the most important, getting you started off nutritionally and emotionally. Contributor Karen Wehrstein takes readers on a tour of Muskoka and three different choices to get you going in the morning.
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What’s Happened
Lots has happened in Muskoka in the past several months: with funding from the province secured, Andy’s House, a residential hospice, is aiming at a May 4 opening; the Minett Joint Policy Review Steering Committee has submitted its final report; Huntsville is regulating short-term rentals; a local group seeks government support for declaring a climate emergency and after 99 years, Robinson’s General Store in Dorset is for sale.
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SPRING 2020
DESIGNS AND DREAMS The tradition of building Muskoka’s wooden boats
Micklethwaite Photographs Shaped Muskoka
Life Experiences are Artist’s Muse
Seeking Answers to the Complexities of the Watershed
Our Cover
Photograph by Tim Du Vernet Maggie Marin is based on a 1920's Gold Cup hull design that was modified by Peter Breen to accommodate modern power. She calls Lake Rosseau home and is being driven by Bill Ringo, her faithful owner.
Opinion
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By Don Smith
By Nancy Tapley
Muskoka Insights
Muskoka Moments
Features 42
Seeking Answers to the Complexities of the Watershed
Article by Dawn Huddlestone One year after the flood of the century, it has become increasingly clear the interplay between humans and the natural world is complex, particularly when it comes to understanding the Muskoka watershed. Digging into the cause of the flooding makes it clear the answer isn’t a simple one. [50]
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Taking a Gamble on Eggs
Article by Karen Wehrstein Photography by Heather Douglas When Alexandra and Dan Gamble were dreaming of moving to Muskoka, opportunity came knocking in the form of a humble breakfast staple – eggs. In just three years, the young family has turned a 10-acre plot of land into a supplier of eggs to retailers and restaurants from Muskoka to Toronto.
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Author Connects Science and Art
Article by Matt Driscoll Adam Dickinson has spent his career exploring the intersection of the literary and scientific worlds. It's a place few authors venture but it's one that's provided unexpected dividends for the Bracebridge-born and raised Dickinson who is a creative writing professor and author of four books. Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 5
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Muskoka Insights It’s my hope I can leave memories with my family that are keepers. Interestingly in this issue, we have several articles that focus on the past and the making of great memories. One family name that has long been associated with Muskoka is Micklethwaite. Historian and regular contributor Patrick Boyer shares the interesting story of the Micklethwaites, how they photographically captured Muskoka memories over a century ago and their influence on the development of the district. With his authoritative understanding of antique watercraft and his own photographic images, contributor Tim Du Vernet tells of the traditions and history of antique boat designs in Muskoka. Connecting with Muskoka in her own personal way is guest columnist Nancy Tapley, whose family has been introducing guests to Muskoka and making memories for several generations. In Muskoka, we are blessed to be associated with many creative and talented people; some of who live here and others who have roots in the community. We are pleased to tell their stories. Artist Lynda Lynn has created a following with her visual interpretations of her life experiences. Muskoka-raised author Adam Dickinson combines science and writing, and will be sharing his unique take on creativity as a guest speaker, later this spring. From exploring the complexity of the Muskoka watershed system to the entrepreneurial family that has hatched a whole new opportunity with their egg farm, you’ll find lots of other great reading in this issue of Unique Muskoka. Happy reading, embrace the season and make some great memories in the coming year. Photograph: Susan Smith
It’s spring in Muskoka – a time for renewal. As I write this column, the signs of the changing seasons are everywhere. The warming sun is pushing back the snowbanks, the tapping of sap can be heard in the buckets hanging in maple bushes and the waterways are beginning to swirl and bubble with the freshet. Leaving winter behind, it’s a time for moving forward and anticipating the future. Everyone will have their own, very personal memories of this past winter. For my family and me, it was a particularly difficult time. At 95, my mother – the family matriarch – passed away. Mom loved and was loved. While living what some might consider an ordinary life, she was extraordinary in family circles. Caring but determined, it was that sense of life and strength that enabled her to live all of her days independently at home. Much has been written about the measure of one’s life by writers who are much more profound than me. Suffice to say, the ones who have touched me the most are those who eschew wealth and materiality, in favour of friendship, goodwill and caring. My memories of Mom are all good ones. It’s funny how the little things bring life into focus. As my brother and I have been packing up items at Mom’s house, we have stumbled across keepsakes that have brought recollections flooding back. For me, one of the more emotional moments came as I noticed a set of juice glasses – happily decorated but rather insignificant in their appearance. They were meaningful because they symbolized good times – Christmas dinners, birthdays, family get-togethers, times filled with joy – those juice glasses were always there. Family stories, the laughs, the sharing; they heard it all. And yes, they’re keepers. Mom’s passing means one other thing – I am now the oldest member of our family.
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Muskoka Calendar Experience the sweetest golden treat on the Muskoka Maple Trail
There’s no such thing as too much maple syrup. You can experience it for over a month by journeying the Muskoka Maple Trail from now until April 24. Photograph: Huntsville/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce
From now until April 24, you can travel the Muskoka Maple Trail for maple syrup experiences and delights to engage every sense… especially taste. Use the event’s website to get a map and find out what’s being offered, whether it’s sugarbush tours at syrup producers, maple breakfasts, gourmet maple dishes crafted by top-of-theline chefs, maple beer, maple desserts, hot maple beverages or bottles of maple syrup made fresh this spring. Sweeeeeet! muskokamaple.ca
Muskoka Queer Film Festival plans to bring positive visibility to LGBTQI2S life
include presentations on nutrition, fall prevention, long-term care planning, elder abuse, avoiding scams, hearing loss, lifestyle in Muskoka, nutrition, art, music, yoga, NIA and much more. Healthy snacks will be available. Admission is free.
mqff.ca
calendar.huntsville.ca/default/Detail/2020-03-27-1000-
Keep yourself young at the 55+ Adult Healthy & Active Living Expo
Huntsvilles-55-Healthy-Active-Living-Expo
Art show seasons kicks off with MAC Spring Members’ show
If you’re in Muskoka on March 27, older than 55, and looking for fun ways to stay in shape and preserve your health and safety, head to Huntsville’s Active Living Centre. Festivities run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and
Photograph: Aleksei Borovikov
The inaugural celebration of this event is a joint project of Muskoka Pride, Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce, Rene M. Caisse Memorial Theatre and Sanctuary Studios Inc., building on mini-festivals screened by Muskoka Pride during their events. Focus is on uplifting films on the beauty and spirit and challenge of LGBTQI2S life. Happening on March 21 at the Rene Caisse, it starts at 3 p.m. with a series of shorts and one feature. The event then heads to the Sportsplex at 6 p.m. for a
reception where you can sample beer and hobnob with the directors and actors, then returns to the theatre at 7 p.m. for more viewing.
Uplifting films will be the focus of the inaugural Muskoka Queer Film Festival when it launches on March 21 at the Rene M. Caisse Memorial Theatre in Bracebridge.
Most of the best artists and craftspeople in Muskoka are among the 340 members of Muskoka Arts and Crafts, and they’ll demonstrate their techniques and offer their works at the Spring Members’ Art Show on March 27-29 at the Bracebridge Sportsplex. Friday night features a reception with awards and live music by Moonglow. Saturday and Sunday are all about paintings, drawings, sculpture, jewelry, clothes, photography, metalwork, carving, pottery, fibre arts, leatherwork and everything else handmade in Muskoka that you love. http://www.muskokaartsandcrafts.com/ Members’_Show/members’_show.htm
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 11
The Huntsville Festival of Music is an aspiring musician’s dream On April 2 and 3, young and old budding musicians alike will attend both competitive and non-competitive classes for expert coaching from qualified adjudicators and teachers. Those who score highest will get the chance of their dreams: to go onstage, specifically at the Algonquin Theatre in Huntsville on April 5, to perform in the gala Concert of the Stars. Registration for performers is closed but you can still see the concert, which features every instrument including the voice both in solos and ensembles and every mode of music. Presented by the Huntsville Festival of the Arts. huntsvillefestival.ca/featured/huntsville-festival-of-music-
Photograph: Town of Huntsville
coming-in-april-2020/
Huntsville’s Active Living Centre will host the 55+ Adult Healthy & Active Living Expo on March 27. Festivities run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Get your bonnet on at Gravenhurst’s first Easter Bunny Hop To get you into the mood for Easter, Gravenhurst invites you to its inaugural downtown Easter Bunny Hop on April 4, 10 a.m. to noon. Expect the downtown businesses to be dressed up in fine Easter style as they’re competing for a $500 advertising gift certificate. From those same businesses, you can get your Bunny Hop passport stamped, and when it’s full, visit the Opera House for fun Easter activities for the whole family and maybe win an Easter gift
12 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
Photograph: Muskoka Arts & Crafts
Muskoka artisans and craftspeople will demonstrate their techniques and display their works at the Muskoka Arts & Crafts Spring Members’ Art Show, March 27-29, at the Bracebridge Sportsplex. basket. There’ll also be an Easter egg hunt. Wear your most spectacularly-decorated bonnet as there will be a prize for the best. downtowngravenhurst.com/event/downtown-gravenhursteaster-bunny-hop/
Yes, there is a Muskoka architecture: Dave Gillett describes it As part of Muskoka Steamships/Discovery Centre’s Speaker Series, architect Dave Gillett will talk on April 5 about what Muskoka architecture is. He’ll use examples from his own work, that of others and historical imagery. What are the historical influences, what are the key defining features of today’s Muskoka style, what works well in terms of materials and techniques, what are today’s general architectural trends (good, bad and ugly) and how do they affect lakefront design? Come and learn from an expert. realmuskoka.com/discovery-centre/speaker-series/
Kids will be thrilled at Muskoka Heritage Place egg hunt If there is one store in all Huntsville you’d most want to sponsor an Easter egg hunt, it would be the Nutty Chocolatier – and sure enough, they do sponsor the Muskoka Heritage Place’s Community Easter Egg Hunt, happening on Easter Sunday, April 12. The gate opens at 12 noon sharp, children are split into age groups including the very young, and they’ll hunt for
thousands of chocolate eggs hidden all over the Pioneer Village for one hour. If they find a golden egg, they win a prize from the Nutty Chocolatier. Admission is, to quote the website, “Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. $0.00.” muskokaheritageplace.ca/en/visit-and-play/communityeaster-egg-hunt.aspx
Celibate nuns will shake their buns at Huntsville Rotary’s Sister Act Based on the hit movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, this musical is the feel-good, laugh-filled story of a fame-seeking Philadelphia nightclub singer who is forced to hide in a convent after witnessing a murder. Joining the nuns’ choir, she transforms it into a crack disco ensemble, saving the church from financial disaster… but will she blow her cover? Nominated on Broadway for five Tony Awards and featuring music by Alan Menken, this show by all-local talent will have you dancing in the aisles. It runs from April 17-26 with a three-day break at the Algonquin Theatre.
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5-km run leads to the best destination in brewery’s RunTOBeer On April 18, you are invited to join Muskoka Brewery’s five-kilometre run through Bracebridge, with a lovely cold pint at the end, plus brewery tour, games and
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Photograph: Muskoka Brewery
raffle. The “TO” in “RunTOBeer” has a special meaning: the brewery has arranged a bus to run from a central location in Toronto to transport fitness-minded but suds-loving Torontonians to this event and back, same day, for a ridiculouslyreasonable price. Pre-ordered food will be available. muskokabrewery.com/our-events-calendar/
Muskoka Maple Festival celebrates Canada’s favourite sweetener The Muskoka Maple Trail culminates on April 25 with the Muskoka Maple Festival on Huntsville’s main street. There will be fun and deliciousness for the whole family to enjoy in the form of: pancake breakfast all day, maple-syrup producers offering their wares, maple-baked goodies, arts and crafts vendors, unique maple gifts, live music, a beer garden, street performers and much more. muskokamaple.ca
14 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
RunTOBeer is Muskoka Brewery’s five-kilometre run through Bracebridge on April 18 that concludes with a brewery tour, games and raffle.
Muskoka Chautauqua presents Po Cholly, Beverlie Robertson and Julian Fauth Muskoka Chautauqua at its forestsurrounded headquarters near Port Carling is offering a spring coffeehouse with blues musicians Po Cholly (vocals and guitar), Beverlie Robertson (vocals and guitar) and Julian Fauth (vocals and piano) on April 25 at 8 p.m. It’s bound to be an intimate and
riveting show. Admission is $10, refreshments by donation. muskokachautauqua.com/event/coffee-house-with-pocholly-beverlie-robertson-julian-fauth
Muskoka Rock Choir pursues happiness in rockin’ harmony The Bracebridge and Huntsville choruses of the Muskoka Rock Choir present their 16th season show, In Pursuit of Happiness, on April 29 at the Algonquin Theatre in
Bracebridge tickets: thecaisse.com/muskoka-rock-choirhappiness.html
Conference offers learning, camaraderie and new ideas to fibre artists The Weavers And Spinners Of Ontario North (WASOON) will host a conference themed Vision at Hidden Valley Resort and Ski Area, May 1-3, drawing local fibre artists but also ones from North Bay, Timmins, Kapuskasing, Val Rita, Sault Ste. Marie, Elliot Lake and Sudbury. They will enjoy
workshops on a variety of fibre arts as well as a welcome reception in the chalet, guest speaker William Hodge, a fashion show and silent auction. The public is welcome to visit the vendors and pick up fibre arts supplies. wasoon.ca/welcome/#
May Marche is back to tease your taste buds The annual Huntsville Festival of the Arts’ May Marche at the Mark O’Meara Grandview Golf Club happens May 2 at 7 p.m. The list of restaurants and beverage producers, who will be there to let you sip and nibble, has not been finalized but a look at the list of previous participants on the event website will give you an idea. Here are just a few: Deerhurst Resort, Tall Trees, 3 Guys And A Stove, Bartlett Lodge, Hidden Valley Resort, Muskoka Brewery, Georgian Bay Spirits, Lake of Bays Brewery and Portevino Wine Bar. Look for great silent auction opportunities as well. Dress code: business casual. huntsvillefestival.ca/event/may-marche
Photograph: Huntsville/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce
Huntsville and April 30 at the Rene Caisse Memorial Theatre in Bracebridge. Accompanied by a professional band, the choir presents its harmonious take on songs by the Beatles, the Bee Gees, Billy Joel, Coldplay, Amy Winehouse, Pharrell Williams and many more. Huntsville tickets: calendar. algonquintheatre.ca/default/Detail/2020-0429-1930-Muskoka-Rock-ChoirIn-thePursuit-of-Happiness
Local producers will have bottled lots of delicious Muskoka maple syrup when the Muskoka Maple Festival is hosted April 25 on the main street in downtown Huntsville.
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 15
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Baysville Community Yard Sale offers thousands of bargains
Photograph: Mary-Lyn Tebby
To the delight of yard sale fans, more than a decade ago, the citizens of Baysville with extra used-but-still-good items lying around wondered why have yard sales on different days when they could have them all at once. Organized by the Baysville Community Group, this year’s mega-sale happens on May 2. Get your yard-sale map from one of several Baysville businesses or at one of the sales, and you’ll know exactly where to go to not miss amazing deals. baysvillecommunitygroup.ca/ baysville-community-yard-sale
Landscapers offer tips that protect the environment Working with Nature to Create Your Perfect Landscape is another great presentation in Muskoka Steamboats/ Discovery Centre’s Speaker Series, featuring Lindsay Fetterley and Northway Gardeners,
705-801-5342
Muskoka spinners and weavers will be joining fibre artists from across northern Ontario when they meet May 1-3 at Hidden Valley Resort and Ski Area. taking place on May 3 at the centre. The presenters will talk about how to plan your landscaping and gardening, taking into account shoreline conservation and restoration, how to use native plants and
fringe planting. Your landscaping and gardening questions on all topics are welcome. discovermuskoka.ca/events/lindsay-fetterleyhorticulturalist-speaker-series/
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Master the Customer Service Experience at 1 p.m. and Entrepreneurship Survival Kit – The Fundamental Must-Haves To Be Successful In Business Today at 7 p.m. These high-energy talks, presented by the Bracebridge, Muskoka Lakes and Gravenhurst Chambers of Commerce, offer Lewis’ characteristic unique perspective on life, in hopes to inspire purpose, productivity and excellence in others.
Strap on your quiver for Dwight’s 3D-Target Archery Tournament Trek through the woods and shoot “3D targets,” meaning realistic-looking foam animals, in this competitive adventure, happening May 3 at 2845 Highway 60, near Dwight. It’s open to all ages and archery types, but you must bring your own equipment. Lunch will be provided at a reasonable price, you get a T-shirt and if you win, you’ll get a cool prize donated by a local business, such as a restaurant gift certificate, golf pass or piece of archery equipment. For more information and to reserve spaces, contact Tanya Grainger at 705 380-1835 or tgrainger@vianet.ca.
gravenhurst.ca/en/explore-and-play/ what_s-on.aspx (scroll down)
Photograph: Daniel Speaks
Great Spring Shows and Concerts Around Muskoka
“T By Daniel” Lewis offers dynamic business presentations Renowned entrepreneur Daniel Lewis, proprietor of T By Daniel, will be visiting Gravenhurst to give two presentations on May 5: The Disney World Effect! – How to
Bracebridge, Muskoka Lakes and Gravenhurst Chambers of Commerce will host entrepreneur Daniel Lewis on May 5 when he shares his secrets to success.
They are far too many to list, so visit the venue websites for acts, artists and dates: Algonquin Theatre (Huntsville): algonquintheatre.ca/en/
Rene Caisse Theatre (Bracebridge): thecaisse.com/
Gravenhurst Opera House: gravenhurst.ca/en/opera/opera.asp
Peter’s Players (Gravenhurst): petersplayers.com
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Lynda Lynn’s mastery of colour and colour theory has led her to teach classes across Ontario for colleges, universities, high schools and to individuals.
20 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
Article by Meghan Smith / Photography by Kelly Holinshead
I
nspiration can come from anywhere at any time. The view from a window, the notes of a song, the words from a radio broadcast or even viewing the organisms living in Muskoka’s lakes under a microscope. For Lynda Lynn, her curiosity and a lifelong dedication to learning new things and embracing ideas has helped her forge her own path through multiple careers. “It’s curiosity,” shares Lynn. “Painting teaches you so much, or it can, about all kinds of things.” Lynn’s body of artistic work is as varied as her own experiences. From circuit layout and design to lab technician to retail shop coowner to real estate agent, every role continues to kindle Lynn’s talent for innovation. One of Lynn’s first jobs in Toronto as an adult was completing circuit layout and design for special services engineering with Bell Canada. She was in charge of putting together specialized
equipment for radio and television broadcasting and shipto-shore communication. “This was before all of the broadcasting was by air,” explains Lynn. “There would be a broadcast at 7 p.m. and everything had to plug in. You had to have all of the wires and everything connected to the telephone system in order to broadcast, so you had to design what they needed and get the order to them in time. It was hectic.” Lynn also worked for Corning Glass when it was located in Bracebridge, starting off in their engineering department, completing the lab setup, including the mechanical drawings of parts and pieces of equipment, and then becoming a lab technician. As a chemical lab technician in a stateof-the-art laboratory, double the size
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 21
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of her current home studio, Lynn would run tests on raw materials to ensure the integrity of the crystal structure and that there were no contaminants. However, while the tests were running, Lynn had little to do, other than wait. “You couldn’t leave but you couldn’t do anything else,” recalls Lynn. “But I had an electron microscope there, so I looked at everything – spit, dust, bug wings, whatever I could find.” As she made the most of her time in the lab, she began bringing her sketchbook to work with her. Sketching the magnified images helped Lynn engage her creativity during an otherwise uneventful day at work. “I’ve done some interesting things,” laughs Lynn. “It’s interesting when I look back at it. Art relates to almost everything.” Some of her early artistic endeavours focussed on sketching and using oil-based paints, as she studied at the Ontario College of Art. As she had a family, when and how she could create had to change. In a small apartment with young children, oils took much longer to dry and Lynn didn’t want to
expose her children to the fumes. Rather than give up her creative pursuits, Lynn switched to watercolour paints. Watercolours dry faster, with little to no odour, allowing her to clean up quickly and focus on her family when necessary. “I really like watercolour. I like oils. I work a lot in acrylic and mixed media. Pastels,” says Lynn. “I really enjoy the back and forth with the different medias. I think one medium gives ideas for the other. I like the switch up. Whatever I’m doing at the time is my favourite, really.” Raising her family, Lynn continued to pursue art in whatever form she could. Lynn took on freelance work, completing sketches for businesses that could be taken in to a printer for offset printing. She designed brochures, calendar and Christmas cards, as it was relatively easy to find a sitter when she had short meetings or needed to complete a rough sketch and could then do the rest of the work at home. Depictions of local churches, people’s homes and cottages and many of the large resorts, such as Paignton House and Tamwood Lodge, are among Lynn’s portfolio.
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22 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
Much of Lynda Lynn’s work is representational, like her depiction of Manitoba Street in Bracebridge during the annual Fire and Ice Festival.
Lynda Lynn’s works are often places or landscapes. A seasonal waterfall (left), just north of Bracebridge, felt like a “fairy land” to Lynn. Signal Hill in Newfoundland (right) is a recognizable mass, often shrouded in fog that sits solid and unchanging. “This was before you could really print photographs, because it was so expensive,” says Lynn. “Those sketches captured an essence of the places at a moment in time.” Much of Lynn’s work is representational, like her depiction of Manitoba Street in Bracebridge during the annual Fire and Ice Festival. Using this style captures the overall picture but allows the artist to manipulate specific parts to create a more balanced composition for the art piece.
“There’s no fine detail,” explains Lynn. “You notice the buildings. You have the shape and the major components of the scene but not all of the details. People don’t notice all of those small details when they’re walking around anyway.” However, Lynn’s work varies across styles, from representational to non-representational to abstract. Non-representational art can start with nothing more than a mark on the page and develop from that into a piece interpreted
differently by every individual who views it, based on their own life experiences. “I like to start with a sense of place, or a sense of feeling about a place,” explains Lynn. From incorporating the words of a CBC broadcast to remembering a feeling while visiting her aunt in California, Lynn’s ability to utilize the principles of colour and design allows her to shift between artistic styles, using the techniques that best capture the feel of the subject matter.
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Commissions she receives are often places or landscapes, similar to the first prints she did for cards. While she can work from photographs, her process and her ability to truly capture the feeling of a place is best when she visits in person and can complete her own sketch, from various vantage points. “I prefer to see the place myself, because when you look at something real versus a photograph, it changes the perspective totally,” says Lynn. Over her artistic journey, Lynn has attended courses at the Ontario College of Art, Nipissing University, University of Waterloo, Fleming College, Haliburton School of the Arts and spent countless hours working with and among other artists, collaborating and sharing. Her mastery of colour and colour theory has led Lynn to teach classes across Ontario, for colleges, universities, high schools and to individuals. In 1995, Lynn was a founding member, and a driving force, in the creation of Muskoka Arts and Crafts’ Muskoka School of Art. In 1997, during a painting exhibition held at Scott’s of Muskoka, Lynn paired up with artist Pam Wong of Windsor to complete a piece of artwork. The work inspired Lynn and Wong to “paint in tandem,” working together on one canvas at the same time. Not an easy task for many artists. The resulting paintings are unique, completely different in style from Lynn or Wong’s individual work. Her fearless pursuit of new ideas and
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In her painting Release, Lynda Lynn was capturing the feeling of letting go and falling into a lake in the moonlight, listening to the sound of the water, the bubbles breaking, then the quiet.
techniques led Lynn, along with fellow artists Janice Feist, Wendie Donabie and Pat Whittle, to work with acrylic skins, taking home the most innovative award at the spring Muskoka Arts and Crafts show that year. Most recently, in collaboration with Dr. Norman Yan, also from Bracebridge, Lynn has learned the science of the local lakes and waterways. Below the Surface is Lynn’s artistic exploration of the many creatures within Muskoka’s watershed, keeping the lakes and rivers healthy. Daphnia, diatoms, glass worms, hydra and jellyfish all play a role in Muskoka’s aquatic ecosystems. “I don’t think that people will pay much attention to keeping the water healthy unless they have some idea of what the issue is or why they should do something about it,” explains Lynn. “There is a general lack of respect for the environment by a lot of people.” Growing up in Muskoka, living in the area for most of her adult life, and working as a real estate agent, Lynn has observed the significant changes in Muskoka’s lakes. The way the lakes are used and the shift in the cottages being built on the lakes, including the mandatory
Two of Lynda Lynn’s styles are evident in these works. Foreground, McMurray Morning is the entrancing image Lynn saw one morning while walking in her neighborhood. Background, Daphnia’s Prom Party is the result of collaboration with Dr. Norman Yan and features their mutual interest in the health of the local watershed.
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Receiving her inspiration from life experiences, Lynda Lynn used the words from a CBC broadcast on the war in the Middle East and the images they implied in this painting, The Second Seal. changes from the building code, created a visible difference in the local environment that drove Lynn to want to know more. “As I was growing up, the way people cottaged changed,” shares Lynn. “I was seeing the changes, how quickly and how much it’s changed, not just a little bit. That’s what got me started on water.” Being an avid reader, which Lynn credits to her mother, has led her to her next adventure
– becoming an author and illustrator. Growing up on the prairies, the only book Lynn’s mother owned was an Encyclopedia Britannica, which she read from cover to cover. A gifted writer and poet, her mother always made sure Lynn and her siblings had many books to read growing up. “My mother could think up these poems while at the kitchen sink doing dishes,” says Lynn. “She had such a way with words. I
would love to illustrate poems that she wrote.” Having wanted to write a book or illustrate a story for years, Lynn is currently working with a writer to develop a children’s book, using her newfound knowledge of daphnia and other aquatic life. “Every time I do something, I learn more,” says Lynn, of her artistic journey. It’s an exploration of colour and composition that has many admiring followers.
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Article by J. Patrick Boyer
F
rank Micklethwaite was not the only person taking photographs in Muskoka a century ago but the alignment of three factors catapulted his work into a class of its own. For openers, Micklethwaite’s talent covered the full range of photographic skills. He so mastered artistic composition – including a person to provide scale in landscape shots, showing enthralled spectators following a sports competition at a Muskoka resort and guests artfully arranged across a lakeside hotel’s front steps – that his distinctive work can be identified even when not signed. In the technical department, Micklethwaite dominated competitors by employing the latest in processing, chemistry and innovative techniques, repeatedly winning honours for his exquisitely fine-grained images of people. Another plus was the man’s physical stamina which enabled him to carry his hundred pounds of camera, tripod and heavy glass negative plates to nearly inaccessible Muskoka venues. And, like other photographers of his era, Micklethwaite worked with speed. He’d hand-make glass plates in the morning, keep them dark by carrying them in fabric sleeves, expose them, again keep them in darkness while carrying everything back to the studio, then develop, wash and dry them that same night.
All photos are from the F.W. Micklethwaite Collection, courtesy William F. Micklethwaite, contact: micklethwaite.photos@gmail.com
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On this Muskoka summer day, the man behind the camera is himself photographed while setting up a portrait shot in a picturesque location. Frank Micklethwaite’s flair included the easy elegance of a white summer jacket.
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Before a day’s work was done, the paper prints had to be washed. Performing this essential chore in Lake Rosseau, at the front of the Micklethwaite Studio amidst washed up logging remnants, are Percy Micklethwaite (foreground) and an assistant. Creating five or 10 negatives for a day’s outing was the upper limit, given the weight, effort and time required. The glass plates on which the negative had been recorded would be reused if the photograph turned out poorly – someone moving during a 30-second exposure was all too common. The emulsion was washed off and replenished, then the plate taken to the next shoot. Micklethwaite’s log of images in Muskoka for 1892-1904 suggests he made (or at least kept) about 200 images a summer. In addition to his natural aptitudes, Micklethwaite had mastered specific photography skills under the watchful eye of his father. William Barton Micklethwaite was a printer, stationer and brass founder during his career but photography was his greatest interest and most noteworthy vocation. His wife, Mary, gave birth to their son Frank William on March 13, 1849, at Ashton-under-Lyne in England. They then moved to Ireland and, as a boy, Frank unavoidably apprenticed in both the science and business of photography. Frank’s younger sister Emily also married a photographer. In addition to a fixed studio, Frank’s parents ingeniously put a Micklethwaite studio on wheels to develop their new business. Rather than waiting for customers
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to come, the itinerant photographer explored the countryside capturing scenery and folks at their convenience. Frank happily enlisted in his parent’s enterprising and start-to-finish entrepreneurial ways. When their wagon paused in a locale, fascinating prints of local scenes were displayed, for sale, on its sides. In addition to skill and experience, and because of it, the second factor was that Frank Micklethwaite became famous. After completing his schooling, he’d worked in an architect’s office, then studied art and worked in photography for six years. In 1875, having met and married Torontonian Ruth Hill, he headed to the New World with her, identified on the ship’s manifest as a “photographer.” Micklethwaite quickly became familiar with Toronto, both through his wife’s society circles and by working at the Mail newspaper. After three years, he went into business for himself, opening his own Micklethwaite Studio in downtown Toronto. Frank and Ruth’s three sons – John, Fred, and Percy – would each engage in the family business, bringing to five the number of Micklethwaite photographers in three generations.
Jovial and progressive, Frank Micklethwaite was easy for Torontonians to embrace. Cherishing photography, he became a pioneer in its Canadian development, constantly adopting new methods that kept him at the forefront in creating high-calibre images. For three years running, in the mid-1880s, he won first prize in photography at Toronto’s Industrial Exposition for his bromide enlargement portraits. From 1891 to 1895, he was City of Toronto Official Photographer. Now as Toronto’s best-known photographer, his fame enhanced public interest in being photographed by him. Influential Torontonians, who had summer places in Muskoka, urged him to make photographs of them up north. He’d like it. So in 1887, Micklethwaite arrived in Muskoka to take photographs. “Muskoka, once discovered, is never forgotten” became true for Micklethwaite – and for the countless thousands who would now begin discovering it through his hundreds of compelling images. His love affair with the district’s blue lakes and rocky shorelines would last the rest of his life. Micklethwaite journeyed every summer to his Port Sandfield photography shop, base for Muskoka operations. Inspired by memories of the family’s mobile studio in Ireland, Micklethwaite effectively replicated his boyhood life as
Frank William Micklethwaite
Top: People in Muskoka knew a photograph by Micklethwaite was important so made great efforts to get one. At Port Keewaydin captain and crew hold side-wheeler S.S. Nipissing alongside the island’s short wharf while passengers in full summer dress pose on deck and dock. Middle: Women and an older man see “The Boys” off from Port Sandfield, as Frank Micklethwaite, son Percy and four others head down lakes Rosseau and Muskoka to Bala to the Moon River. Bottom: Frank Micklethwaite discovered early that most people do whatever someone with a camera directs. He evidently instructed this fishing party on the Port Sandfield wharf for this photo-study, which he entitled “Disciples of the Gentle Sport.” Muskoka’s itinerant photographer. He explored the lakes and communities, lugging the cumbersome camera equipment and heavy glass plates, shooting scenery and events as he came upon them: towns, resorts, cottages, regattas, steamboats, swimmers, workers and settlers. Micklethwaite’s records include a receipt for 23 cents, the going-rate for a water taxi from Port Sandfield to the top of Lake Joseph and back. He’d paddle and drive boats on his own, as well. Micklethwaite’s exquisite attention to detail, sense of classy style and artistic whimsy were all being captured on his hundreds of glass plate negatives. He portrayed summer regattas, families in formal dress gathering for dinner, guests arrayed on patios of renowned resorts, a hunting party’s trophy
display of deer carcasses or a fishing group getting a boasting-rights image of their day’s catch. This upward-spiral celebrity phenomenon not only made Muskoka more famous than it already was, but gave a much clearer impression of the place to a wider audience than had ever been the case before. Proud people displayed compelling photographic evidence of their Muskoka experience. Distinctive “Micklethwaites” adorned oakpanelled boardrooms from Chicago to New York, fireplace mantles of plutocrats in Toronto’s Rosedale and Forest Hill mansions, drawing room walls in hundreds of estate homes and, for hundreds of thousands, the pages of North American magazines. In addition to Micklethwaite’s remarkable
skill and widespread fame, the third element was Muskoka, itself. Photographs of Muskoka had a special caché. The venues for Micklethwaite’s extensive Muskoka portfolio defined, with impressive new clarity, an Ontario district already enjoying a magnetic reputation. Micklethwaite photographs from the late 1800s and early 1900s came to epitomize “Muskoka” because they crystallized the romantic yet vague notions people had of the Canadian north. Muskoka was convenient to the south, but hinged into the vast preCambrian hinterland. Savvy about business, Micklethwaite took hundreds of photographs of every major hotel, resort, marina and community in
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Above: It took some work but Frank Micklethwaite got these nine men, eight women, two boys and 19 smallish fish on a line to arrange themselves and their gear, so he could capture the Columbus Camp fishing party at very rugged “Comfort Point” in 1887. Below: Muskoka, the “Picturesque Playground of Canada,” was initially represented by artists’ renditions. These assembled sketches of Round Island on Lake Joseph, a camp on Lake Muskoka and activity on Lake Rosseau are an example. Muskoka. At the time and ever since, these hallmark images have visually supported the publicity needs of those Muskoka heritage enterprises. “It was never just about the architecture,” observes great-grandson William Micklethwaite. “At Summit House, smiling guests are in groupings of 20 to 50 people lounging in sunshine, on the steps or patios, having a happy time.” These became great souvenirs with prints available for purchase. Frank Micklethwaite, the Summit House owner and the guests were all happy because it was win-win-win. Micklethwaite also photographed some individuals who commissioned his work. Together, these photographs provided revenue for the Micklethwaite Studio but they also promoted Muskoka in two significant ways. Families dispatched prints all over the continent, boosting the district’s aura to well-connected and influential circles. To prominent and powerful folk, selfpromotion was generally second-nature. And second, Micklethwaite sent his top picks to Britain to be printed as commercial postcards. These images spread his fame and Muskoka’s atmosphere in superb Micklethwaite-style to audiences in Britain and throughout the Empire.
Entwined with those images, naturally, are the Muskoka adventures of the Micklethwaite family through four generations. When automobiles and road travel became part of the scene, just before the Great War, Micklethwaite not only photographed them,
but travelled from Toronto to Muskoka in them – a two-day journey with rest stops, repairing flat tires and taking photographs. Frank and Ruth, with sons John, Fred and Percy, tented at Port Sandfield, beside the Micklethwaite Muskoka Studio. They enjoyed this so much that when they couldn’t get up to Muskoka, they’d tent on the Toronto Islands. In 1915, in the developing early 20th century trend, they built a cottage beside the Moon River, west of Bala, where Fred’s grandson William Micklethwaite and his wife Kathie Droy reside today. Their west Muskoka century residence, resplendent with heritage, has fittingly become centre for Bill’s all-important project of creating a complete record of Micklethwaite photos. An electronic materials engineer and avid photographer himself, one of the sparks of his project was reading the 1993 coffee table book Micklethwaite’s Muskoka. Thanks to John Denison’s prized work, a great many people became aware of Frank Micklethwaite and his Muskoka photography. Denison’s large format Micklethwaite’s Muskoka, sadly now out of print, portrayed Micklethwaite and how his photographs dramatically evoke the sense of Muskoka in late 1800s and early 1900s eras.
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Today these “FWM” black-and-white images endure as the single best photographic resource for what Muskoka was like. The inimitable Micklethwaite-style that first catapulted him to fame is seen in every photograph. They clearly and artistically capture the reality, elegance and adventure of a bygone Muskoka era. What also makes these photographs rare, and hence Micklethwaite’s Muskoka such a treasure, is that virtually all his Toronto photography plates were destroyed, reused or made into greenhouse glass roofs or even used as the 8 x 10 inch windowpanes in the 1915 Moon River cottage, one with traces of somebody’s image still on it to this day. Thirty years ago when Denison investigated National Archives holdings in Ottawa, he discovered to his astonished delight dozens of wooden boxes loaded with the heavy glass plates of Micklethwaite Muskoka negatives, generally untouched since they arrived. More sleuthing in Toronto and Muskoka newspaper morgues and other archival records filled out the story for Denison’s landmark book. The realism and documentary-like authenticity of its photographs blend with excerpts from contemporary published accounts and Denison’s breezy direct writing style. “There’s something magical about holding a slice of history in your hands,” he says of his love for old photographs. Gazing at people frozen in time in a black-and-white Micklethwaite regatta scene at Port Sandfield made him at one with “ladies in big flowery
hats and long white muslin dresses that whispered in the summer breeze, and men in blue blazers and cream trousers on the emerald-green grass.” He savoured a scene “clear, artistic and brimming with presence.” As a boy, in the basement of his widowed grandmother Ellen Micklethwaite’s Toronto home, Bill Micklethwaite had studied with rapt interest hundreds of these glass plates of Muskoka images, taken by his greatgrandfather Frank and grandfather Fred. John Denison obtained 240 prints from these glass plates at the National Archives, from which he selected 144 appearing in his book. He also got another 16 photo-prints and a photocopy of the 55-page alphabetic log of photos Frank Micklethwaite, himself, prepared around 1905. Knowing the importance of these heritage materials, Denison has contributed them all to Bill Micklethwaite’s invaluable project. Bill hopes publicity about his centralized scanning and cataloguing project will alert other people to contact him at micklethwaite. photos@gmail.com about “other unknown Micklethwaite photographs” in hopes they too can be recaptured. He now has over one thousand Micklethwaite images digitized and transcribed into his digital archive. Some 3,600 Micklethwaite photos are catalogued in the National Archives, accompanied by 66,000 descriptive items – most being a page entry from Frank Micklethwaite’s notebook. The project is as vast as it is vital to Canadian heritage, and nobody else could bring to it
From Gravenhurst, the Micklethwaites became steamship passengers to Bala, then aboard Captain Frank Tooke’s steam launch continued down the Moon River to their cottage. Built by Fred on the rocky promontory during the Great War, he used glass photography plates as windowpanes. Fred’s grandson Bill Micklethwaite and wife Kathie Droy reside here today.
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such background knowledge as William Barton Micklethwaite’s great-great-grandson and photographer. The influence Micklethwaite photos have had on peoples’ image of Muskoka is greater than imagined. First, it gave such a pronounced definition to the district that disciples have followed it ever since. Secondly, folks frequently see photographs in books and magazine articles, on walls and mantles, without realizing they are Micklethwaite images reproduced without credit to their originator because publishers and website content providers no longer know the provenance of the compelling image they’re keen to use as an illustration. Public perceptions of Muskoka today are thus still being defined, directly and indirectly, by photographs of F.W. Micklethwaite. There are plenty. Frank William Micklethwaite and his middle son, Frederick William Micklethwaite, worked together for three busy decades from the turn of the last century to 1929 when Frank died. Each signed their photographs using their same first initials “F.W.” Those who’d posed before their camera knew which Micklethwaite took it, but to others, Micklethwaite is legendary as a prolific worker blessed with longevity. Micklethwaite photographs speak to us so poignantly because, for decades, they’ve been prized images uniquely portraying what Muskoka is like. Choice of subject, how it is framed within its surroundings, developed and presented, all separate the artist from the mere technician. It was to Muskoka’s enduring benefit that the Micklethwaite family were not technicians but master artists of their craft.
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S
ince the days of the Egyptians and Vikings, boat design has challenged builders for over 4,000 years. In Muskoka, lakes and rivers have offered recreational and commercial opportunities for generations of boat builders. The rowboats of Muskoka weren’t quite the longboats of the Vikings but they were certainly essential in the early days of water travel. Ditchburn’s earliest rowboats came out the top floor window of their first facility
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in Rosseau. All the boat builders of Port Carling built rowboats that were fairly similar. They were ribbed with lapstrake construction, and the seats further supported the hull. A 14-foot rowboat is easily rowed by one person while the 16-foot or 18-foot length could be rowed by two people. They are very seaworthy and could be rowed quite comfortably at a moderate speed across the lake. Installing a small single or two-cylinder
engine into a rowboat created a Dispro, of which several thousand were eventually built, beginning in 1915, in Port Carling. It is certainly more comfortable and usually convenient to travel in shelter and with a power source. The first engines were external combustion steam or naphtha powered. This technology evolved to common use and there are many examples of the early steam launches still operating on the lakes.
Left: Rainbow I is the remarkable recreation of the 1920 Ditchburn design by George Crouch, a famous naval architect responsible for many winning race boats. It proved that race-worthy designs can also make great pleasurecraft. Top: Unlike furniture, restoring wooden boats involves dealing with curves in all directions. Above: A restoration shop has to be able to rotate boats to easily work on the hull or the decks.
Many were converted to gasoline and now electric engines are becoming a popular alternative for cabin launches. From a modern context, these boats look quaint, slow and primitive. Before there was much of a boat building industry in Muskoka, the earliest cabin launches were brought to the region via rail. This is why so many of them are very narrow for their length. They were limited by the width of the tunnels and rail system. Early launches were pointed at both ends
and often mirrored hull designs of sailboats. They look ever so dramatic with a transom that seems to disappear into the water. There is a period elegance and fluidity to design that is ever appealing. Lightning, a custom-built race boat based on turn-of-the-century styles, is a particularly good example of this. She was built by Greavette Boats for Cameron Peck, whose summer cottage was on Lake of Bays. She is now in a private collection in the United
States. This hull was a replica built specifically to be powered by an early Standard Engine. Water transportation was critical to the development of Muskoka and served as the earliest highways of the region. When internal combustion engines became commonplace and effective in different sizes and power, the design of wooden boats really took off. Hotel livery boats, service launches and the Muskoka steamships were the working vessels of the lakes.
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 37
There is a lot of structural woodwork under the skin of a boat that is designed to keep it stiff under punishing pounding from waves. Many of the livery boats continue to run in private collections, now. They were relatively simple craft, built with steamed ribs, moderate horsepower and lots of seating. With knife-edged cutwaters, they offered a smooth and elegant ride. These early displacement hulls travelled through the water and depended on hull length for speed and stability. Engine power matured to the point where boats could travel at entertaining speeds, enough for racing and competition. Motorboat racing in Muskoka became quite competitive and circuit races were established in Foot’s Bay, Port Carling and Gravenhurst, in particular. Some of the biggest names in Canadian motorboat racing history got their start in Muskoka. Greavette Boats, Minett-Shields and Ditchburn built sport runabouts and internationally competitive challengers. Harry Greening, Harold Wilson and Chas. Wheaton are names that have been well documented on race ledgers. At one point in Muskoka, well before the days of personal watercraft, the little sea flea was a common sight. Easily made by a father and son team from a sheet of plywood, this little craft could skim across the water with a mere 10 horsepower engine on the transom. If sponsons were added, they became a threepoint hydroplane. Add a racing version of a 35 horsepower Mercury outboard and you’ve got some real speed. These little boats would go well over 60 mph. Hit a decent wave and you’d have even more fun. The sea flea is still well loved in Muskoka, especially by the Muskoka Sea Flea Club that continues the passion with an annual gathering and an active website. Check out their website for more details about the event. It takes a great hull design and a powerful engine to make a boat go fast. Nautical engineers and boat builders quickly discovered strategies that reduced the wetted surface of the hull allowing a boat to go faster over the water, rather than having to plow through it. The Americans John Hacker and George Crouch were considered to be the best naval engineers of the 1920s and into the 1930s, when boat racing was gathering speed. Many of the designs of the sport runabouts in Muskoka followed the themes of these American engineers. Rainbow 1, designed by Crouch and built by Ditchburn in the early 1920s, was considered the ultimate gentleman’s sport boat. It could win races one day and be cruising the next. A few years later, Ditchburn used steps in their “Viking” hulled boats to increase speed. Harry Greening pushed the concept of steps in another direction, by constructing a “lap strake” boat, with the laps running horizontally, rather than lengthwise. His race winning Rainbow IV was disqualified, because the rules prohibited “steps” and the laps were seen as a variation of a stepped hull. By the 1930s, boats were designed that could rise up on the water by planing and running on sponsons or similar strategies. Minett-Shields was licensed to build Ventnor sponson racers. These competed at the Duke of York races in England among other venues. The famous
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were quite uniform. Again, Canadian bandleader, Guy due to the small numbers, Lombardo, drove a U.S. built many of the boats in Muskoka Ventnor hull to the checkered were custom orders, with flag. Shadow II, a Minett-Shields features specifically requested built Ventnor, originally owned by the intended owners. by Chas Wheaton is still on Lake Greavette attempted to Joseph and powered by a big build and market a “production” Hispano-Suiza aircraft engine. boat in the early 1930s by The Miss Canada III, considered partnering with Dart boats one of the best handling race from the U.S. A few examples boats of her era, lifted up on exist but the concept wouldn’t “knuckles” that flared from the float. hull to gain her speed. The custom nature of many Not everything was about boats of Muskoka also meant speed. For everyday boaters, they were not necessarily better who needed space and comfort designed than their U.S. more than speed, the boat counterparts, but were better builders of Port Carling and built and finished. The Gravenhurst built utility boats outstanding craftsmanship of up until the mid 1950s. It was Clark Wooden Boats is one of many shops in Muskoka that specialize in Minett and Ditchburn boats, only until the last versions of the restoring wooden boats in Gravenhurst, Port Carling, Bracebridge and Milford Bay areas. that was consistently superior V-8 powered Duke utilities of the early 1960s that frames were used. Steam from centre drive to forward drive, this to the U.S. built counterparts, was a key characteristic that helped maintain their bent ribbed construction was still going design lasted many decades in construction. Greavette transitioned to modern planing allure. strong in the Playmate, the Sea Bird and While many Muskoka designs, such as the Greavette utilities. Boats with ribbed hull designs with their plywood “Flash” construction tend to flex more and provide a inboard/outboards. They are still considered 18 to 21 foot sport runabouts, can be to be fine riding boats with good performance attributed to John Hacker, others were more compliant ride. created from the hands of Muskoka boat This design cannot handle much power as and a bit of style from the wood materials. In most industries, such as the automobile builders by more ancient methods. A halfa result and the utilities were quickly outmatched by fibreglass boats of the 1960s. industry, the lowest end of the spectrum will hull model is shaped according to the eye of The Duke Playmate is like the VW Bug of the benefit from a trickle-down of technology the builder. Based on little or no science and water. The design was little more than a from the most sophisticated models. In instead coming from experience and squared-off rowboat with a small four-cycle Muskoka, where numbers of boats built was experimentation, the full-scale version would engine installed. With some minor variations, quite small by comparison, design features be built. A few of these half-hull models still
The 18 foot and 21 foot sports runabouts designed by John Hacker were built by Minett-Shields and Greavette Boats in the early 1930's.
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 39
launches were the only option to exist. The Port Carling library a summer recreation experience has a half hull of Miss with booming shoreline industries Muskoka, built by John involved in building boats and Matheson and a half-hull summer palaces. model served Gary Clark as a The wooden boat industry in starting point in the Muskoka still thrives but at a reconstruction of Rainbow I. much reduced scale. New boats, The boat building industry reconstructions and restorations did benefit hugely from emerge from the shops in developments in automobiles Gravenhurst, Port Carling and and even aircraft power. Bracebridge every year. Butson Stylistic trends in wooden Boats continues generations of and fibreglass boats followed boat building tradition. Gary those of the auto industry Clark and Paul Brackley in and many of the chrome Top: Restorations in one of Muskoka's boat shops can include anything from the wheel housing of a big lakes cruiser to a canvas covered canoe. Gravenhurst restore all manner fittings mimicked autoAbove: Jack Law and Lorraine Human discovered Lucelle, a turn-of-the-century of craft. Mike Windsor runs a mobiles. When fibreglass canopy launch, at the bottom of the lake. Law carefully restored her to shop in Gravenhurst and he boats really took hold in the spectacular beauty. specializes in computer designing 1960s, streamlining was all the rage. Automobiles with fins and jet end of the wars and they were modified for of boats. Stan Hunter in Milford Bay also taillights were in vogue. This carried over to use in race boats. In fact, when these boats restores a variety of wooden boats, perhaps boats as well. Looking cute and dated, these start up, they sound like vintage aircraft, with specializing in cost-effective repairs of features have a nostalgic charm from a the clatter of valves and drumming pistons. utilities. So the craft is very much alive and, no, they By the 1940s, the Allison V1710, a favourite modern eye. Many of the engines powering boats were racing engine, was designed to generate 1,000 don’t build them like they used to, just better. New materials for bonding, better machinery, nautical conversions of auto-based engines. horsepower. The history of wooden boating in Muskoka computerization, extensive experience and Race boats benefitted from progress in aircraft power, when large numbers of light and connects developments in technology, history to draw from, the skills and techniques powerful engines were needed for airplanes in commerce and culture. This lakeland paradise have never been better. As long as the passion the First World War and Second World War. transitioned from a landlocked hinterland for wooden boats continues, the skills are A surplus of these engines was available at the where human powered craft and simple there to support it.
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42 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
I
Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
and Management Initiative to look at risks to advisory group will deliver its report this t’s complicated. The interplay between humans and the watershed, flooding among them. A $1 year. McNeil’s report was released in October the natural world is complex – the subtle million pilot project announced in 2019 will (and not-so-subtle) actions of one can have provide municipalities that qualify for 2019. In his review, he noted weather played far-reaching implications for the other in Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance a significant part in the flooding: colder(MDRA) funding with up to an additional than-average temperatures throughout the ways sometimes unanticipated. One need look no further than the flooding 15 per cent beyond the estimated cost of preceding winter and early spring, limited thaw, a deeper-than-average events of recent years in Muskoka – floods of rebuilding damaged public infrastructure in winter the century in both 2013 and 2019 – to see an effort to make it more resilient in extreme snowpack, and both rapid snow melt and significant rain in the just how complex that spring. dynamic can be. He also determined that On the surface, it appears “nothing points to human simple: water levels rise in error or the negligent the spring as snow melts operation of water control and rain falls, flooding structures as the cause of sometimes occurs due to the flooding… Measures that excess flow, and then taken by water managers the water recedes once again everywhere were effective until the next year, save for in reducing the magnitude weather anomalies like a of flooding and associated heavy deluge in a summer damages throughout the storm. drainage basins.” But start to dig into the McNeil reiterated what cause of the flooding, and may have come as a surprise you very quickly find the to some residents: that answer isn’t a simple one. dams operated both by There’s the complexity of the Ministry of the Muskoka watershed for Natural Resources starters: its drainage basin Left: When water levels hit record levels in 2019, upstream waters flooded over and Forestry comprises about 5,100 the top of the dam at Bracebridge Falls. Above: A flood of the century in 2013, followed by another in 2019, resulted in many roads being closed to vehicular (MNRF) and square kilometres, several traffic throughout Muskoka but didn’t stop paddlers from checking their mailbox private operators hundred lakes and from a canoe. throughout the system tributaries, and contains to prevent flooding. “... constriction points – both natural and weather events. One example is raising roads do not help manmade – that restrict the volume of water to improve overland flow of water, as might (D)ams are not flood control structures and have helped Beaumont Drive in Bracebridge have very limited capacity to store or hold that can pass through those areas. Add in human developments built over which had to be built up, in the middle of back flood waters, as they have little to no the years – parking lots and roads, the 2019 flood, to allow stranded residents to lake or reservoir capacity,” he wrote. “As a result, in a large volume, rapid runoff flood, subdivisions and commercial areas – that pass. Reviews have been initiated: following the the dams have limited capacity to reduce reduce the available ground surface for absorbing meltwater and rainwater. Often most recent round of severe flooding across peak water levels. The greater the flood event, wetlands, which are known for their capacity the province in 2019, Ontario’s Minister of the less ability the MNRF/dam operators to retain water, are being lost to the desire for Natural Resources and Forestry, John have to mitigate the impacts.” His recommendations for the Muskoka buildable land. And then there’s the effect of Yakabuski, named Doug McNeil as special climate change, which can cause greater advisor on flooding, with the task of region included a call for the Ministry of precipitation and a faster melt during the conducting an independent review of the Environment, Conservation and Parks spring freshet, as well as increasingly extreme flood events and flood management in the (MECP) to “consider whether to encourage province. And less than a month later, the the municipalities to establish a conservation weather events. Governments at all levels have taken Muskoka Watershed Advisory Group was authority or request the Ministry of appointed – its members will provide advice Municipal Affairs and Housing to restrict notice. There have been funding announcements: and recommendations to help protect and development in the floodplains,” as well as in August 2018, the province committed to a conserve the Muskoka Watershed and “use the results of the Muskoka Watershed $5 million Muskoka Watershed Conservation support economic growth in the region. This Conservation and Management Initiative to
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 43
Photographs: Town of Bracebridge
Reservists from the Canadian Armed Forces were called into action in Muskoka during the flood of 2019. Among others things they helped with clean up. inform any potential future amendments to the Muskoka River Water Management Plan.” MPP for Parry Sound-Muskoka, Norm Miller, said that given the circumstances in 2019, “I’m not sure that anything last year would have made a difference.” He says he has heard from the Township of Muskoka Lakes, in particular, about the need for changes to the Muskoka River Water Management Plan (MRWMP). On behalf of
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When volunteers became overwhelmed, Reservists from the Canadian Armed Forces assisted with sandbagging operations in south Muskoka in 2019.
the Township, Miller had requested a meeting with the ministers of both the MNRF and the MECP about their concerns, a meeting that had not yet taken place at time of publication. On the subject of climate change, Kevin Boyle, climate change co-ordinator, District of Muskoka, says, “if you look at the Muskoka Watershed Council’s 2016 Planning for Climate Change Report, the indications are that basically it follows similar
patterns to most of Ontario which is warmer, wetter, wilder. “(By 2050) we will have about 10 per cent more precipitation on average, but that precipitation won’t fall evenly so it’ll probably be an increase of 17 per cent more precipitation in the months between November and April, when we already have challenges managing water, of course, and then we’ll have a bit of a drier sort of July/ August period,” says Boyle.
Photographs: Andy Zeltkalns
Several flooding events in the past 10 years throughout the Muskoka watershed have left property owners stranded for extended periods of time.
Extensive damage to property with items carried off by rising floodwaters posed major challenges during flooding events in 2013 and 2019.
“An analysis would indicate that we’re sort of wild cards just because we’re really not things like chairs or paddleboards, especially likely to slowly have more and more great at predicting weather.” on a river that would have current that could challenges dealing with precipitation in the From a standpoint of mitigation, one of carry it away. freshet,” he continues. “We could potentially the most important things to do is to not “Whenever we do have a flood event, see an increase in flooding moving forward, build in a flood plain in the first place, there’s all sorts of stuff that ends up in the RIOBEL COLLECTION but of course it’s extremely hard to predictTHE observes Boyle, MOMENTI™ who points to the recent river that can lead to jams at the dams, in AVAILABLE AT KNOWLES PLUMBING! flooding on a year-to-year basis. Basically it’s flood plain mapping as an important tool in addition to losing your material,” Boyle says. controlled by three factors: amount of identifying areas that are vulnerable t “If you think that your house or your precipitation, water equivalent in snow pack, flooding. cottage might flood, remove valuables from and temperature. We can measure water He also encourages property owners to your basement or your main floor, or at least equivalent in snow pack; the other two are clean up their property in the fall and remove stack them up. Look at turning off your
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Urban areas were not left unscathed when floodwaters peaked during the 100-year flood in 2019. Many businesses in the downtown core of Huntsville were inundated when the North Muskoka River crested above its banks. project we can do that would prevent flooding in Muskoka.” The Muskoka Watershed Council (MWC) also believes that changes need to be made to the way the watershed is managed but that the MRWMP isn’t enough. In a Feb. 18, 2020 letter to the Muskoka Watershed Advisory Group, MWC chair Geoff Ross wrote that “revising the Province’s Muskoka River Water Management Plan alone will not assist in mitigating the causes of flooding and identifying innovative, comprehensive watershed management
Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
power before the freshet. And consider not leaving your boat in your boathouse over the winter.” Individual property owners can take actions that will help he big picture. “On a larger scale,” says Boyle, “protecting our wetlands, naturalizing your shorelines to increase the lag time for runoff to try to sequester as much water as possible, and planting trees, those are things that are longterm but easier things that we can do to slow or control some of the flooding. But we’re not at the point now where we have one
Despite the force of the spring run-off, flotsam carried from flooded upstream properties on the Muskoka River is trapped at the snowmobile bridge above High Falls.
options. More specifically, a watershed hydrology initiative, in the context of a comprehensive watershed strategy, will provide broad insight and potential solutions for greater flood resiliency.” The organization prepared a white paper, “The Case for Integrated Watershed Management in Muskoka” – authored by Peter Sale, Kevin Trimble, Richard Lammers, Christy Doyle, Geoff Ross, Norman Yan and Patricia Arney – that outlines how such a strategy could be implemented. “The Muskoka River Water Management Plan is restricted in scope and responds primarily to river flows, snow pack and lake levels,” Ross wrote in his letter, “while a broader watershed strategy should include assessing our built and natural infrastructure (including but not limited to wetlands, headwater tributaries, and forest resources) to fully understand and, in turn, to effectively manage the impacts of flooding and to identify necessary actions to ensure the ecological and economic health of Muskoka, and beyond, for years to come.” An integrated management program would be built on the most current watershed data available, including the flood plain mapping recently completed by the District of Muskoka and consultants from Hatch Ltd. and funded, in part, through the
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 47
Photograph: Susan Smith
When the call went out for assistance with sandbagging, countless from across Muskoka and beyond step forward to fill bags and deliver them to flooded waterfront properties.
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National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP). The flood plain mapping project aimed to identify areas across Muskoka that are at risk of seasonal flooding. According to the District of Muskoka website, “the goal is to have more information to assist with emergency management plans and help inform planning policies… Flood plain mapping is also critical to support informed decisions and investments to reduce the impacts of flooding in our communities. Development in these areas can result in damage to properties if flooding or erosion occurs, and in extreme cases could result in loss of life.” Integrated watershed management would also consider the impact of climate change, the extent of which is a somewhat unknown variable. “One consequence is that over future decades, climate change will exacerbate the seasonality and extent of water flow by directly altering patterns of precipitation, evaporation and transpiration, as well as by
radically altering soil moisture, and waterholding capacity of wetlands,” note the MWC whitepaper’s authors. “We should seek ways to maximize our use of available natural capital in managing the flow of water through the watershed. These issues reveal an immediate problem. We lack a sufficiently detailed understanding of how natural capital affects flow from place to place across this watershed, and how climate change may modify these regulating processes.” Which makes measures to address climate change all the more important. MPP Miller says his government is working on it. “The government has started the first-ever province-wide evaluation of preparedness for climate change,” he said. “And, of course, we do have a made-in-Ontario environment plan, which has a number of different actions with the goal of reducing our emissions and Ontario is doing pretty well. And that’s mainly the result of one decision, and that was this decision started by a Conservative government and followed up by the Liberal government to shut down all the coal-fired
electricity-generating stations. So Ontario has reduced greenhouse gases by 22 per cent at this point in time.” At the municipal level, lessons have been learned that will make a difference for the future. “(Last year) we had sand bags when required, we closed appropriate roads when required, we sent our volunteer fire department in to see who was in jeopardy and who wasn’t in jeopardy,” says Township of Muskoka Lakes Mayor Phil Harding. “We’ve never had a flood of this magnitude, so there’s always a little bit of new learning every time you go through a new situation. I truly believe that in Muskoka Lakes we managed it efficiently and effectively for the public. Nobody likes their road being closed, but we did what we could. Where possible on a couple of the roads we added some aggregate to raise the road surface a little bit – even six inches helped. “The bottom line is, you’re never stopping water,” says Harding. “If it rains, if it snows, that water is coming through the system and nothing’s going to stop it. Our own staff are now better versed at looking further north in the system versus just in the south. That’s a better predictive model and generally speaking, it takes eight to 10 days for that water (that originates in Algonquin Park) to clear through the entire watershed. As with most things, there is a need for balance in the Muskoka Watershed, taking into consideration what are at times competing interests. Perhaps Sale et al. say it best: “As development increases in the coming years, it will be vital that land use planning take full account of natural capital if we wish to sustain our environment, quality of life, and vibrant tourist and recreational economy. It has long been recognized that Muskoka’s rich natural environment is a major driver of our economy, providing opportunities for healthful outdoor recreation and tourism throughout the year, so wishing to retain that is the obvious correct way forward. “Our challenge over the next several decades will be to provide for needed development and enable population growth, while retaining this amazing natural environment and the quality of life we all enjoy.”
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During the summer months, Gamble Farm sells eggs and other products right at the farm store, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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aking a chance on raising farm fresh eggs has paid off for Alexandra and Dan Gamble. Four years ago, the couple was operating a printing and display business in Queensville. They recognized they were in a declining
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industry and, as outdoors-loving people, they dreamed of moving to Muskoka. When she was a child, Alexandra’s family had owned a cottage on Harp Lake near Huntsville. Opportunity knocked in the form of a
humble breakfast staple in every Canadian household. “We had some chickens at our old place, started selling the eggs, and they went really well,” Alexandra recalls. “We realized there’s a market for farm fresh eggs.” Being experienced entrepreneurs, they did their research, wrote a business plan and carefully chose a 10-acre, mostly-forested lot on South Mary Lake Road in the village of Port Sydney. “It’s flat, had two cleared acres, had the house and all the outbuildings that we needed to get started, and was within good proximity to schools,” says the mother of one son, Jackson, aged eight. One outbuilding was perfect for a chicken coop, the other for a packaging shop. So, three years ago, the family made its move and the Gamble Farm was born. All wasn’t easy at first, especially since part of the plan was to grow vegetables. “We soon realized it’s very difficult, with the short season, bugs and poor soil,” Alexandra explains. However, when the Gambles introduced their eggs into a couple of local stores, they started to sell very well. “It just kind of took off.” Now the family has 100 heritage-breed laying hens on-site as well as satellite flocks at other farms in Muskoka, and Gamble Farm eggs are sold all the way along the Highway 11/400 corridor from Novar to Toronto, including larger communities such as Orillia, Barrie, Bradford and Newmarket. The Toronto business originated with Torontonian cottagers who, after becoming familiar with the Gamble brand during their Muskoka sojourns, asked where they could get them in the big city. Muskoka stores that stock them are too many to list – check the farm’s website – but include both health-food stores and supermarkets. Gamble eggs are also used by chefs at Riverwalk in Bracebridge, Bartlett Lodge in Algonquin Park, Muskoka Lakes Golf Course and Windermere House. During the summer, you can buy eggs and other products right at the farm store, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., from June (check the website for the exact date) until Labour Day. You can also get the vegetables that the Gambles have managed to grow by enriching their veggie garden’s soil:
Alexandra and Dan Gamble wrote a business plan and carefully chose a 10-acre plot of land in Port Sydney when they decided to launch their egg-producing enterprise. tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, lettuce, radishes, hot and sweet peppers, sweet corn, squash, kale, spinach, peas, beans, and various herbs. You can get meat they’ve raised. You can also purchase goods from other local farms such as ice cream, honey, maple syrup, berries in season, preserves, and more. As well as regular eggs, the Gambles sell duck and quail eggs. Eggs are collected from the chicken coop daily, then sorted by size, handled for abnormalities and washed. They are shipped to all stores weekly in rented refrigerated trucks, though that will change when the Gambles purchase their own refrigerated truck in the near future, saving money and expanding their market geographically. Doing all this work are Alexandra and Dan,
themselves, plus two part-time employees in winter and three in summer. “One of the employees is my mother,” Alexandra says, appreciatively. “She’s been a massive help to this business. She came and worked for us for free until I could afford to pay her. When family steps up and does that because they believe in you and your business, it’s pretty amazing.” Another family member who steps up is eight-year-old Jackson. “If there’s something he wants to do, we set it up for him,” says his proud mom. “He had a pet duck over the summer, and he collects eggs.” The Gambles’ farming philosophy is natural permaculture: avoiding chemicals and going sustainable by making the farm its
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 51
Gamble Farm now has 100 heritage-breed laying hens on-site as well as satellite flocks at other farms in Muskoka to sustain its expanding customer list. own micro-ecosystem, as farmers have done since time immemorial. “We’re not certified organic as it’s so much red tape,” Alexandra notes. “For instance, to be certified, I couldn’t feed the birds the leftover vegetable matter. We’ve opted out at this point. But we don’t use pesticides or fertilizers,
and our feed is non-GMO and certified organic.” Soil is enriched with composted manure from the chickens and other farm animals. Leftover vegetable matter and garden waste is fed to the birds, which also aid in garden pest control during the growing season. The forest
surrounding the farm provides habitat for birds, bats, bees and other insects that benefit both crops and livestock. Chickens are raised free-run, giving the eggs that free-run colour and flavour, and the Gambles plan soon to add hogs. “They root up old gardens and their manure helps in the
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soil,” Alexandra explains. “If you can create this system where everything feeds off each other, especially on a small scale, that’s how you can make it affordable and sustainable.” Yes, they plan to sell pork. The fact that husband and wife both have strong business backgrounds has been invaluable to their success, she says. “We knew how to market our product, about retail and profit margins and all of that stuff. Small-scale farming is sustainable but, as well as understanding farming, you have to be business-minded. We keep really tight records, which give us a big picture of which aspect of the farm makes money and which is about feeding back into it, so we can evaluate what we want to do and what we don’t want to do. Without really intricate record-keeping, it’s a bit of a crapshoot.” The Gambles support local food security charities by donating portions of their sales proceeds on a quarterly basis. “There’s a special label on the eggs,” Alexandra explains. “We’ve had a huge amount of support in Muskoka, as the stores will buy extra and make them more visible, and media coverage helps.” The
In addition to eggs, Gamble Farm has added farm-grown vegetables, enriched with the natural fertilizers from its property, to the products sold at the store.
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beneficiaries are The Table soup kitchen and food bank in Huntsville, and the Manna Food Bank in Bracebridge. Future charitable plans include designating part of their property a community garden, where food can be grown and donated to people in need. What else is next for the Gamble clan? “We are looking at continuing to grow our business, work with other farms with our satellite flocks,” Alexandra says. “The more we can grow the brand and work with other local farms, the more people we can employ. It’s building the business in Muskoka.” Once used to indoor work environments, how do she and Dan like their new lifestyle? “It’s very labour intensive. It’s not a 9 to 5 type of job,” Alexandra muses. “There are ebbs and flows to it. During the slower months, you have time to reflect and plan, but from April to September, I can’t even formulate a sentence. You’re working from sun up to sun down during busy season.” That includes a lot of time doing management and planning. But overall they are happy. “We love it and wouldn’t have it any other way,” she enthuses.
During the slower months, Alexandra Gamble says she has time to reflect and plan, but from April to September, she is working from sun up to sun down. “We love it and wouldn’t have it any other way,” she enthuses.
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dam Dickinson has spent his career exploring the intersection of the literary and scientific worlds. It’s a place few authors venture but it’s one that’s provided unexpected dividends for the Bracebridge born and raised Dickinson. The author of four books of poetry, Dickinson is also a creative writing professor at Brock University. His work has been nominated for multiple awards including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. He’s also been a finalist for the CBC Poetry Prize and his work has been translated into Chinese, Dutch, Norwegian and Polish. On May 1 Dickinson will be back in Bracebridge to take part in the Canadian
Federation of University Women (CFUW) Author’s Night at the Rene Caisse Theatre. In addition to fielding questions from the audience, Dickinson will be discussing his latest book Anatomic. The poems of Anatomic emerged from biomonitoring and microbiome testing Dickinson conducted on himself in a laboratory. Dickinson drew blood, collected urine and swabbed bacteria to measure the precise chemical and microbial diversity of his body. “We write our environment but our environment also writes us,” says Dickinson. “I’m interested in my metabolism but I’m also interested in global metabolism.”
Photograph: Erin Knight
Bracebridge born and raised author Adam Dickinson’s latest book, Anatomic, emerged from biomonitoring and microbiome testing.
For his next work, Dickinson has been studying the effects of heat on the human body and its ability to create art. “I wanted to find out what you can do with heat and how to write with heat,” he says. “To do that, we did lab work which heated up my body temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius.” To raise his temperature, Dickinson conducted a series of experiments. Monitored in a laboratory, Dickinson wore a suit with piped in hot water and covered himself with a thermal blanket heating himself up slowly over five hours. In another experiment Dickinson would ride a stationary bike for an hour in high heat and humidity while his heart rate and blood pressure were monitored. Although the testing was not dangerous due to the controlled environment, Dickinson says it was rather Thermal imaging done on himself was part of the testing author Adam Dickinson did as he researched for his latest book. uncomfortable. Photograph: Gary Hodges
Dickinson’s work led him to discover that the “petro-culture” has become a part of our being in the form of pesticides, flame retardants and other substances. Structured like the hormones some of these synthetic chemicals mimic in our bodies, the poems in Anatomic link aspects of Dickinson’s life like diet, lifestyle and geography with historical details such as spills, poisonings and military applications to show how permeable our bodies are to the environment.
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Photograph: Bill Dickinson
Author Adam Dickinson, wife Erin Knight, children Millicent and Marigold Dickinson, along with family pet April, are regular visitors to Muskoka. Dickinson will be the guest speaker at the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Author’s Night on May 1.
“I couldn’t wait for it to be over,” he says. “There’s a feeling of confinement and panic that comes with it.” Dickinson says it took him a full day to recover from the experiments, during which time he worked on his poetry as he had also done during the study. “When I was on the bike I would exercise for 20 minutes and then write for 15 minutes. Then I wrote immediately after and I’m still writing,” he says. “I wanted to see what physiological and cognitive changes would occur.” Dickinson says the results were fascinating and he was actually quite pleased with the material he produced during the experiment. He says his work is also a study of the effects of climate change on the world’s population generally. “We are now living in a warmer world and I’m interested in what effect that will have on us,” says Dickinson. “There is a limit to the temperature that humans can live in and we’re already reaching it in some places.” Dickinson comes by his love of all things scientific naturally. Both of his parents were
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teachers at Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School, and his father helped with environmental research for the University of Toronto. “He was involved in the early tracking of Monarch butterflies and some of my earliest memories are of catching the butterflies for his research,” says Dickinson. “We did a lot of camping and canoeing growing up in Muskoka. We would actually travel through central Ontario as a family, teaching canoe safety lessons. We would tip the canoe and my parents would come out and save us. I think we were essentially paid in free camping but we had a lot of fun.” Wendee Cameron of the CFUW has known Adam Dickinson and his family since he was about five years old. “He’s very passionate about Muskoka and his research is fascinating,” says Cameron. “I think it’s very interesting that he’s flipped this whole idea around. He’s not so much looking at what we’re doing to our environment as what our environment is doing to us.” This will be the 22nd year that the CFUW has hosted an Author’s Night in Muskoka and they’re encouraging all members of the general public to come out and join them. “I’m not really a big poetry reader but the way he puts it is so fascinating,” says Cameron. “He takes science and art and he’s able to approach them from a completely different angle.” Tickets are available at the Renee Caisse box office and online.
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Good morning, Muskoka! Here’s your delicious local breakfast Article by Karen Wehrstein / Photography by Tomasz Szumski The first meal of the day is arguably the most important, getting you started off nutritionally and emotionally. And, oh, there are some fine ones available in Muskoka, from the sublimely simple to the exquisite haute cuisine. Swig your coffee and off we go, from south to north. We’ll start at Bethune’s Bistro in downtown Gravenhurst, a modest and homey but historic establishment. Locals say it was a restaurant at the start of the 20th century. According to its current owners, in the 40s, it was Vincent’s and Muskoka Coffee Shop, in the 50s and 60s it was the Steak & Pasta House, then Basil’s, then Uptown. Current owners Bei Bei and her son, Zan Xu, gave it its current name, in honour of the Gravenhurst native revered by the Chinese, Dr. Norman Bethune. They celebrated their first anniversary by offering all dishes at 1940s prices, such as Salisbury steak for 65 cents. Originally from Shanghai, the family moved to Canada 30 years ago, when Zan Xu was seven. Bei owned a series of restaurants in and around Toronto, and cooked multiple cuisines including Greek as well as her native recipes. In 2014, mother and son were tipped off by a meat supplier about the amount of bacon ordered by a small restaurant in Gravenhurst, and, seeing
60 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
the potential, they bought it. “We didn’t know why such a little town was so busy in the summer,” says Xu. “We opened right after Labour Day, thinking we’d pace things.” They received their baptism of fire from the crowds coming to enjoy the fall colours. “I’m in Canada for 30 years,”
says Bei, “And it was first time I feel I’m home. In Mississauga, no one says ‘hi.’ Here, everybody knows everybody.” Once, when her aged mother wandered onto the railway tracks, an anonymous saviour, who clearly knew who she was, steered her back to the restaurant, requiring no thanks. Bei’s cooking philosophy is simple: keep it simple and keep the price down. People who don’t own 3,000-squarefoot cottages will be able to afford breakfast here, and can have it all day. The Bistro opens 7:30 a.m. all year and closes at 8 p.m. for the summer, closing times varying in winter. Classic breakfasts like eggs and bacon dominate the menu, but it wanders a bit with Eggs Florentine, Hawaiian omelet and Greek omelet, the item for which Bei gave us her recipe. It grew, of course, out of the Greek influence on her cooking.
Bei Bei of Gravenhurst’s Bethune’s Bistro, who owned a number of Toronto restaurants before arriving in Muskoka, says her omelet grew out of the Greek influence on her cooking.
Greek Omelette Bei Bei, Bethune’s Bistro
Ingredients 3 eggs 10 grams (2 Tbsp, measured sliced) black olives, diced 30 grams (6 tsp) tomatoes, diced 20 grams (4 Tbsp) Spanish onions, diced 30 grams (6 tsp) feta cheese Salt & pepper to taste 1-2 Tbsp olive oil (enough to coat your frying pan)
Method • Beat eggs together with other ingredients, except the feta cheese, vigorously until mixture is light and fluffy. • Coat frying pan surface with oil, place on medium heat. • When it is hot, add mixture. • When bottom is solid, flip. Add feta. • When whole omelette is solid, fold in half with cheese inside. • Serve with home fries (diced potatoes fried in bacon fat, sprinkled with seasoning salt to taste) and toast. Serves one.
This is one of those dishes in which seasoning is minimal, allowing the natural flavours of the ingredients to create a mélange that is actually quite delicate. Don’t coat it with salt and/or pepper before you dig in, even if that’s what you always do, because you’ll want to taste how beautifully eggs, tomatoes, Spanish onions and just a few olive slices combine. When cooking it, follow Bei Bei’s example: “The best recipe for cooking is passion. You cook for someone you love.” Next, we head up to downtown Bracebridge and the Main St. Delicatessen, founded in 2013 by Jovan and Paul Milidoni. It opens at 9 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays for brunches with a menu that goes well beyond the traditional. Weekdays, the deli opens at 11 a.m. The couple combines four ethnicities in their immediate ancestries: Jovan’s father was Israeli and her mother was Spanish, while Paul’s parents were Italian and Ukrainian. Husband and wife were both classically trained, starting at George Brown in Toronto.
“We met almost 13 years ago,” Jovan reminisces. “I said ‘I want to open a restaurant,’ but he was against, he’d owned one previously. I said ‘Let’s open up a deli, that’s all I want.’ He said ‘If it means I get to marry you, fine’.” Exhausted mentally and physically by working with a major Toronto catering company, the couple was also searching for a better life. “He said, ‘I know a real estate agent in Bracebridge, let’s go for a drive’,” Jovan recalls. “He took me to Bracebridge, we circled the town and he asked me ‘Could you live here?’” Her answer was “yes,” so the Milidonis made the move in 2013, gutting the previous location with the help of her father, a contractor. In April of last year, they moved to their current Manitoba St. location, an historic building they have renovated in the spirit of the time, with a modestly-elegant red and black colour scheme. Since I’m writing about Muskoka breakfasts, they’re sharing a key component of their recipe for “The Muskokan,” a popular breakfast item, building on Eggs Benedict/Florentine. It uses a garlic/ onion-enhanced bagel as the base, smoked salmon for the meat, and adds goat cheese
Jovan and Paul Milidoni of Main St. Delicatessen in Bracebridge were searching for a better life when they moved to Muskoka. The secret to their Eggs Benedict/Florentine is layering flavours.
Hollandaise Sauce Jovan Milidoni, Main St. Delicatessen
Ingredients
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1/4 cup unsalted butter 2 eggs salt
Method • Separate eggs and place yolks in a medium mixing bowl. Be sure not to include any egg whites. • In a small saucepan, slowly melt butter. • While whisking the egg yolks rapidly, slowly drizzle in butter, in a steady stream (sauce should double in volume). • Season with a pinch of salt. Warning: yes, this recipe is ridiculously simple, but don’t try it without reading the… Chef ’s Tips It’s very tricky, Milidoni cautions, as multiple things can go wrong. Using a clean stainless steel bowl to mix the sauce is ideal. Even a drop of egg white will destroy the sauce; it won’t thicken. For a full-flavoured deep Hollandaise, melt the butter until it starts to smell nutty, and small bubbles and brown bits start to appear. Take it a bit too far and you have burnt Hollandaise, with a bitter flavour. and caramelized onions to the traditional poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce and spinach. A garnish of orange slices completes the presentation. “It’s a dish you want to enjoy in Muskoka, because there’s water all around, and that makes you crave fish,” says Jovan; hence the name. “Layering flavours – that’s what it’s all about,” enthuses Jovan. I see what she means when I take a bite. The multifarious flavours match brilliantly, creating a delicious riot on your taste buds, the super-rich Hollandaise adding decadence without heaviness. Cooking, she says, is a business you have to love, feel and be passionate about. “You have to live
When adding the butter to the yolks, it needs to be a nice steady stream, not too fast, not too slow. It’s a two-person job, or you can use a cloth to grip the bowl in your other arm. Whisk vigorously: too fast or too slow will make the mixture separate. Don’t stop until all the butter is in. The butter is actually cooking the egg yolks. Hollandaise is one of the five “mother sauces” in French cuisine, meaning you can add any flavour to it. Lemon juice is standard, but also try: smoked paprika, fresh dill, sriracha to Thai it up, cilantro to Mex it up, etc. Adding tarragon, shallots and red wine makes it into a Béarnaise sauce, which goes well with roast beef, e.g. on roast beef sandwich with arugula. Try Hollandaise on: poached salmon or trout; shrimp or other seafood; any fish grilled; asparagus (add a little lemon to the sauce and grate some Parmesan on top) Try it as a fondue: keep Hollandaise nice and warm, and dip cooked veggies into it: pearl onions, mini Yukon Gold potatoes, braised Brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes, mini portabello or cremini mussels… wine pairing, ice-cold Riesling. (Note: Here Jovan was riffing…! You could be the first to actually try this.)
and breathe food. I love it. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing than cooking.” Paul throws his ingredient into the conversation: “It’s all art.” The final leg of our breakfast tour brings us to Eclipse, the most upscale restaurant at Deerhurst Resort, near Huntsville. It offers brunch every day, including a not-to-bemissed enhanced one on Sundays. In charge of it is Hayley Ness, the resort’s Chef de Cuisine of Banquets. Born in Toronto, Ness started working in kitchens at the young age of 16 – then attended George Brown in her late teens, heading to Humber in her 20s. Now she’s just one final exam away from
Cedar-planked salmon is a tradition in the Eclipse dining room at Huntsville’s Deerhurst Resort.
earning her Culinary Chef du Cuisine certification. Her resume is star-studded with establishments such as the Royal York Hotel, Toronto Congress Centre, International Centre, The Four Seasons Centre for the Arts, The Sony Centre, Evergreen Brickworks and Hilton Hotels and Resorts, and the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Ness was drawn to Muskoka partly for the love of her husband-to-be, Chad Beattie, who she met here – and partly for having always loved the area. “Huntsville is such a beautiful, peaceful place,” she says. Naturally, she felt Deerhurst was the place to work, and landed her job two and a half years ago. To give back to the community, she donates her time and expertise every month to local food banks. Because we simply cannot do breakfasts as a theme without including maple syrup somewhere, Ness has shared her recipe for Deerhurst Maple Glazed Cedar Planked Salmon, which features prominently in the aforementioned Sunday brunch. Cedar-planked salmon is an Eclipse tradition, she says. “I just wanted to change the recipe to be something that inspired me. I’m always trying to develop recipes and make them better.” She likes to marinate fish overnight, and the triple-citrus marinade she uses
features maple syrup tapped from Deerhurst’s own sugarbush. The lengthy marination fills the melt-inyour-mouth salmon with the marinade’s complex mix of flavours. The whole presentation is as Ness likes to make them, “colourful and beautiful” with the multicoloured cherry tomatoes, red onions and living green sprouts on top. Delicious hardly begins to describe the full effect. Why does she use pink peppercorns instead of black? “I find the pink to be a lot brighter in flavour,” Ness explains. “They’re both very earthy but the black peppercorn is a little bit sharper and a little bit more earthy. If you crack black ones, it’s too strong.” P.S.: Cottage Country Cuisine aficionados might recall a recipe in the May 2017 Unique Muskoka for Canada 150 Breakfast Poutine, by then Deerhurst Executive Chef David Bakker – a totally outside-the-box concoction of “fries” made of slivers of French toast, “cheese” made of fresh berries and whipped cream, and maple-cream “gravy”. Well, guess what: three years later, this throw-your-dietright-out-the-window breakfast, lovingly created for a national anniversary, is still on the Eclipse menu. (And in our archive at uniquemuskoka.com if you want to make it yourself.) Chef ’s tip from this one, for old times’ sake: when tossing your French toast in cinnamon sugar, add a soupçon of salt. Ah, breakfast. Homey or gourmet, savoury or sweet, it tastes best in Muskoka.
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 63
Deerhurst Maple Glazed Cedar Planked Salmon Hayley Ness, Eclipse, Deerhurst Resort
Preparation Time: 30 minutes day before, 1:20 on day of serving
Ingredients 1 side of Atlantic salmon: 3-4 lbs. deboned, cut into 2.5 oz. portions 1 cup maple syrup ½ cup smooth Dijon mustard ¾ cup orange juice ¾ cup lemon juice Zest and juice of 1 lime 2 Tbsp pink peppercorns cracked in half 2 Tbsp kosher salt 6 Tbsp vegetable oil 1 bulb fennel 1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes ¼ red onion ½ bunch (a little more than you’d get in a package from a store) chives, finely sliced 1 container of pea tendrils trimmed from soil (if unavailable, any other living sprout can substitute; she gets hers from Four Seasons Greens) Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
Method • Remove the skin from the side of salmon, then cut the salmon straight down the centre and then portion horizontally into 2½ oz. portions and put into a 2-inch deep baking dish. • Put orange juice, ½ cup of the lemon juice, lime juice, zest and pink peppercorns into a pot and bring to a boil and then lower heat to reduce marinade by half. Once reduced by half, cool to room temperature and then whisk in maple syrup. • Put Dijon mustard in a mixing bowl and whisk in the maple and citrus reduction. Then using a pastry brush coat the salmon with the marinade and marinate overnight in the fridge. • The next day soak the cedar planks for one hour and pull the salmon in the marinade out of the fridge. We soak it for an hour so it absorbs water then treat it with vegetable oil. • Preheat the oven to 425 F and put the salmon pieces on the cedar planks, spacing them 1 inch apart from each other. • Cut off the top of the fennel bulb and then cut the bulb into quarters. Cut out the core of each piece and then julienne the bulb. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and julienne the red onion. • Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a frying pan on high heat and then sauté fennel for 2 minutes to soften slightly. Add red onion and sauté another 2 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes, the remaining ¼ cup of lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté 1
minute. Remove into a bowl and keep warm. • Place portions of salmon on planks onto a baking sheet, season with kosher salt and place into the centre of the oven for 9-10 minutes until fully cooked. (Know your oven: if it’s not fully cooked in 10 minutes, put it back in for another four.) Remove from oven and top with the fennel salsa, then the cut chives, then the trimmed pea tendrils. Serve and enjoy! Serves 10-12. Chef ’s Tips: Cedar Planking So why bother placing a dish on a cedar plank to bake it, rather than just a pan? “The cedar infuses the cedar flavour into the baked dish,” says Ness. “As it sits in marinade, it absorbs, so some of the cedar flavour is absorbed into the dish.” Your plank should be about 6 inches wide. You can just hit a lumber store department and buy lengths of 1 x 6 cedar: just make sure it’s 100 per cent natural, not pressure-treated or otherwise chemically altered. At home, sand the plank smooth, then season it with olive oil. Always soak the plank for an hour before using it; that way the wood is moist and so produces more of the cedar flavour. After use, thoroughly wash and disinfect the plank. It’s dishwasher safe. Treat it with oil occasionally. Cared for properly, your plank will last for a couple of years.
Hayley Ness is Deerhurst Resort’s Chef de Cuisine of Banquets. The triple-citrus marinade she uses features maple syrup tapped from Deerhurst’s own sugarbush.
64 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
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Whats Happened For 99 years, Robinson’s General Store has been providing a range of goods to the Dorset community. Several generations of the same family and 14 additions later, they’ve decided it’s time to sell. The sprawling store and its upstairs living quarters, along with the adjacent plaza that houses an LCBO, a bank and a real estate office as well as a nearby land lease – five acres in total – are on the market for $6 million. “We priced it to sell,” says Brad Robinson, adding that they have about five interested potential buyers but nothing firmed up yet. Robinson took over the store from his father, Harry, at just 20 years old. He had been poised to take a job with the Hudson’s Bay Company, but his dad suggested he stay and they’d expand the store. They kept expanding as the business demanded it, going from a mere 75 feet by 25 feet, then to about 15,000 square feet, today. “I couldn’t have had a better life,” he says. He almost sold the store, once. That was almost 25 years ago and now his daughter, Joanne, who moved to Dorset in 1991 with her family to take on running the store, is ready to do the same. Robinson laughs as he recounts the conversation with his daughter and her husband, Willie Hatton: “Joanne said, ‘Father, you phoned me when you were 58 years-old and you said that you were thinking about selling the store because you were working night and day.’ And then she said, ‘I’m 58 years-old.’” He has continued working in the store all these years, but now says simply, “I’m ready.” He plans to enjoy some time at the cottage, something he hasn’t had much opportunity to do. The Robinson family hopes whoever the new owners are they will take good care of the store’s 10 year-round employees as well as the seasonal staff that bring that total to about 60 in the summer months, as well as
66 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
Robinson’s General Store in Dorset is for sale
After 99 years of being a family-run business, Robinson’s General Store in Dorset is for sale. Brad Robinson took over operation of the store when he was 20. its many loyal customers. Learn more about Robinson’s General Store at robinsonsgeneralstore.ca.
Andy’s House - residential hospice to open this spring In 2005, OPP officer Andy Potts was killed while en route to a call when his cruiser hit a moose. His partner, Matt Hanes, was seriously injured in the same accident. In Andy’s memory, the Andy Potts Memorial Foundation was created to help those in need in south and west Muskoka communities and in 2012, the foundation partnered with Hospice Muskoka with the long-term goal of a residential hospice to serve those communities. That dream will become a reality this year. Construction of Andy’s House began in January 2019. It is part of the Brock and Willa Wellness Centre, which overlooks the Indian River in Port Carling. The project has received support from the District of Muskoka, the local community
and some “very generous donors,” says Sandra Winspear, executive director at Hospice Muskoka. On February 5, Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller also announced the Ontario government will provide $315,000 in annual funding to open and help operate the first three hospice beds at the facility. Those funds will cover 50 to 60 per cent of the operating costs, so there is still a heavy need for community support, says Winspear. Andy’s House is tentatively scheduled to open its first three end-of-life beds on May 4. “Over the years, we plan to expand on that as funding becomes available,” says Winspear. “We’re looking at a combination of services. Andy’s House will not just be a residential hospice for individualized care but it will be a hospice palliative care hub of services.” Hospice Muskoka has been serving south and west Muskoka with community-based hospice services – visiting hospice volunteers and grief and bereavement programs – since 1995.
“We’re so excited because this will be a comprehensive hospice palliative care community hub,” says Winspear. “We want to be recognized for how life continues until you die. Andy’s House will belong to the community and there will be programs for children and youth and adults and seniors and people who are dying – people at all stages.” Hospice Muskoka and Andy’s House welcome new volunteers, and Winspear also wants the community to know that anyone can drop in to the facility, no matter what their need is. “We want it to be someplace where people feel comfortable.” For more information, visit hospicemuskoka.com
Huntsville regulates short-term rentals
Photograph: Office of Norm Miller
Late last year, the Town of Huntsville approved a bylaw to regulate short-term rental accommodations within the municipality. Short-term rental of residences wasn’t permitted within the municipality but that didn’t stop an increasing number of property
owners from renting rooms or homes for short periods of time through online platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. Town staff estimated that there are 375 short-term rental listings in Huntsville. Under the bylaw, property owners who want to rent on a short-term basis will be required to apply for a license. The licensing fee for a primary residence is $250 for the first year, with a renewal fee of $125 per year. For a secondary residence, those amounts rise to $500 and $250, respectively. In order to address past complaints regarding the conduct of short-term renters, the Town has also included a three-strike system within the bylaw. Any property that receives three complaints about issues like noise, parking, garbage or an over-capacity building within a six-month period risks losing its short-term rental license. Property owners have the ability to appeal a decision, and measures are in place to ensure hosts are not unfairly targeted. Operators of short-term accommodation rentals are also subject to Huntsville’s relatively new municipal accommodation tax, which requires them to charge an additional fee of four per cent. Funds raised
Norm Miller, MPP, is joined by Sandra Winspear and Mary Grady of Hospice Muskoka, along with other dignitaries, for the announcement of $315,000 in provincial funding to support the operation of the new facility.
through the tax are used to promote and develop tourism within Huntsville. Learn more at myhuntsville.ca.
Local group calling for declaration of climate emergency Members of Climate Action Muskoka (CAM), a non-partisan group of people concerned about climate change in Muskoka, believe the time is now for the District and its municipalities to declare a “climate emergency.” CAM members Linda Mathers, Melinda Zytaruk, Sue McKenzie and Len Ring have developed a declaration of climate emergency resolution. The group plans to present it to the councils throughout the region and is looking for community groups, organizations, businesses and leaders in the community to endorse the resolution. Among the actions included in the resolution are the immediate declaration of a climate emergency; development of a climate action plan “to reduce corporate and community greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), which includes the identification of firm, ambitious targets with a goal of greater than 50 (per cent) reduction of GHG emissions by 2030 and reaching zero GHG emissions by 2050”; and establishment of a community working group to provide input to the climate action plan as well as participate in its review and updates as climate science evolves. Learn more about Climate Action Muskoka and the declaration at climateactionmuskoka.org.
Minett committee releases final report The Minett Joint Policy Review Steering Committee was appointed by the Township of Muskoka Lakes and the District of Muskoka to review and make recommendations about official plan policies related to the resort village of Minett. Continued on page 71
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 67
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In January, the committee presented its final recommendations to the Township of Muskoka Lakes Committee of the Whole. After acknowledging in his report that both the District and Township official plans provide an “effective regulatory regime in Minett,” committee chair James Lewis wrote that “members also feel strongly that there does need to be a higher standard expected of those interested in developing in Minett… "Any new development should have a lighter environmental footprint and be designed in a way that is mindful of the impacts that climate change will bring to Muskoka over the coming decades. Any new development must also work with Minett’s topography, vegetation and within the capacity of the environment to absorb any impacts.” The committee could not come to a consensus in several areas, including the level of residential development and the degree of density. “The committee’s majority recommendation for Minett is that any resort development should occur with a minimal residential component. Those that support a limited residential approach to development believe that limited residential development is more in keeping with the historic character of the area,” Lewis wrote. The committee recommended density limits in specific areas of Minett but Lewis noted some members felt those recommendations were too generous while others felt they were too low to allow the viable, long-term operation of resorts. The report can be found at muskokalakes.civicweb.net in the agenda for the special Committee of the Whole meeting on January 24, 2020.
– By Dawn Huddlestone
Spring 2020 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 71
Muskoka Moments
Sharing and protecting Muskoka My Muskoka moments are all tangled up with place, sharing that space with the animals that have lived here and introducing people to this magic. We have lived on this property, 600 acres of mostly wilderness called Bondi, since my grandparents came in 1905. They tried to pry a farm out of the Canadian Shield rock, and celebrate musical theatre on the front porch (grandpa was with Gilbert & Sullivan in England and Australia). My parents branched out more into tourism than farming, but still maintained the two. You have to diversify to live here. So, my Muskoka has always included the happy voices of kids dock jumping, running barefoot, learning. We learned to water-ski, behind a 10 horsepower boat. We also learned to find the quiet places where the creatures are. Hiking in the woods with Dad, learning the trees – which were best for winter fuel, which housed owls, raccoons, which sheltered deer in winter. Our back fields now home a Frisbee golf course alongside the horses’ cross-country fences, a wolf den and a spruce bog, rife with pitcher plants and other treasures. You can find lots of blueberries here, along with wild sage and tiny sweet strawberries. I take kids hiking here, loving their reactions when they find such delights near the old apple tree planted by a settler over a century past. It still bears apples and attracts bears that announce their presence with broken branches and scat. There’s a wonder on people’s faces when we find beech trees, the base heavy with nuts, the trunks marked by bear claws. Those trees are going now, falling to beech blight. I wonder what the animals will eat then? Along the resort’s many ski and hiking trails, we hunt for mushrooms, ferns that grew when dinosaurs roamed, the remains of fences that once marked open fields now
72 UNIQUE MUSKOKA Spring 2020
Photograph: Kelly Holinsheads
By Nancy Tapley
returned to forest. From our lookout trail, you can see the Dorset tower across the sweep of forest and lake. I try to bring people to the wild but more softly than my Dad, who once draped a bearskin over a sawhorse outside the tent where the boys were sleeping. I still recall the yell, and the dash back to the cottage that would have made an Olympian proud. Now it is more about showing them who else shared the space. The local wolf pack will often honour me by answering my call, out on the lawn with guests from around the world, shivering with delight in the clear night. I trace constellations with a laser pointer, stars they can never see from the over lit and over built cities. When the next summer comes around, and they can remember how to find Draco, the Andromeda Galaxy, it is a bigger thrill for me than perhaps it should be. I teach about owls and their calls – and the owls’ reply. The temperature according to crickets. Where loons nest and how vulnerable they are. This
is lore that should be for everyone, but is increasingly rare. Like discovering that a fresh laid hen egg is warm to the touch – you would be surprised how many adults are taken aback by that. My Muskoka is about the silent places. Deer in the morning mist. Kayaks on a river finding waterlilies, otters, where the beaver is building. Putting up birdhouses for the swallows that return like clockwork but are decreasing in number. Long may they fly. The first loon of spring is a benediction. Butterflies, milkweed – the need for both. Bees in the garden, so drunk with pollen you can pet them. Water so clear you can see all the way down to where the snapping turtle rests. The tracks of fox. Yes, people have always crowded to this place, turning the lake into a playground but my Muskoka is about teaching them to see, love and appreciate the lives with whom we share this land. We are seeing and making many changes to this fantastic place. My prayer is that we always keep space and welcome for the wild that also calls this place home.
As a lifelong Muskoka girl, Nancy Tapley shares the management of Bondi Village Resort with her brother, sister-in-law and the next generation. Also sharing the property are horses, chickens, two bad cats and one wonderful dog, which alerts her to everything, includingempty bird feeders. As deputy mayor of the Township of Lake of Bays, Nancy has worked hard to bring in policies to protect the shorelines and preserve the qualities that brought people to Muskoka in the first place. Chair of the heritage advisory committee, she is kept in touch with the area’s unique history w hile her brother’s innovations and solar arrays keep her in touch with the future as she just tries to hold a course that keeps the wild here.
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