June 11th, 2008 writerspice
Never mind all the questions – where’s it grown, how’s it grown, is it grass-fed or corn? You can leave those at home for this trip to market. Entirely made up of local ecological farmers (many members of the Simcoe County Chapter of Ecological Farmers’ Association of Ontario) the annual Eco-Farmers’ Market is all organic and ecological, all the time.
Now in its fifth season, the market operates on the grounds of Hempola Farms, just north of Barrie (from Highway 400, take the Forbes Road exit or take Highway 93 north from the intersection with Highway 11, just past Barrie. Hempola is at the corner of Highway 93 and Forbes Road).
A bustling collection of health-conscious farmers and shoppers milling around food-laden tables, the market features fresh non-chemically treated vegetables pulled from the ground or plucked from their bushes as soon as they’re ready.
Start with radishes, greens, peas and strawberries or potted perennials ready to be planted and move into tomatoes, carrots, green onions and corn as the summer season moves along. Simcoe County meat farmers also sell healthy and hormone free animal products like grass-fed beef and free-range pork. Dandelion and lavender jellies, herbs, baked goods and cheeses round out this selection of fresh, local, healthy food.
Opening this Friday, June 13th at 3:30 p.m., the market runs until about dusk and continues all summer, until Thanksgiving weekend.
Photo by Julia Manzerova
Posted in Food, Going Green, Simcoe County | No Comments »
June 3rd, 2008 writerspice
Last year I spent some time chatting with a few local farmers to produce an article about the importance and ease of eating from the fields in the county I call home. Called Think Fresh, Eat Locally, the article is in the May/June issue of Simcoe Life magazine.
With my ever-burgeoning interest in growing food and using wild edibles and herbs (my newly-planted veggie garden is sprouting and a batch of mullien from a neighbour’s driveway is drying in the dehydrator as I type), I poured my heart and soul into this piece.
Unfortunately, in the print issue, it ran with the wrong byline.
Although this has never happened to me before, it is a fairly common occurrence for lots of writers (a few colleagues were quick to share their own tales of woe when I released my sorrows in a forum).
But do me a favour. Should you live somewhere within Simcoe County and come across the magazine, take out your pen, cross out the wrong name and write mine in. That would make me feel a whole lot better.
Chef Doug Porter puts together some locally-grown greens at Collingwood’s Simcoe County Restaurant (photo by Lauren Carter)
Posted in Food, Going Green, Issues, Ontario, Recommended, Seasons, Simcoe County, World, Writing Life | No Comments »
February 26th, 2008 writerspice
A hint of spring arrived this Sunday. The sky was blue and the bright sun ate away at our – no exaggeration – six-foot snowbanks. We decided to take advantage of the weather by heading out into one of our local public forests, for a turn around a ski-trail. This plan immensely pleased a certain member of our small family who seems to be getting a bit tired of the epic winter couch naps (poor guy) and the salt-stung paws. Does he not look at least a little pleased:
It’s kind-of hard to see him, but on closer inspection, it becomes evident that his pleasure might be based on the fact that this formerly floor-bound canine has recently learned how to levitate (I think the power is in his tongue)… Now there’s a happy camper.
Posted in Orillia, Seasons, Simcoe County | No Comments »
January 8th, 2008 writerspice
Having returned refreshed from my holiday hiatus, I am ready to atone for the blogger’s sin of disappearing off the face of the earth for over eight days…
With a brand new year comes some freshly published clips to share.
Last winter, when January was white, snowy and damn cold (unlike these days with persistent rain and fog turning the world to a setting suitable for the dreadful Gothic novel stirring in my mind) I bundled up and went dog-sledding for the very first time for Simcoe Life. Here’s the evidence – including pics – to prove it.
This past autumn, I also ventured over to both Collingwood and Wiarton, for stories for Edible Toronto’s latest issue.
Let me know what you think!
Posted in Ontario, Simcoe County, Writing Life | No Comments »
December 5th, 2007 writerspice
When I was a kid growing up in Northern Ontario, getting a Christmas tree often involved bumping down some icy back road, breaking trail into the forest and cutting one down. That might make some environmentalists cringe, but not as much as plastic. The verdict has long been out and it’s pretty clear. Buy real.
Plastic trees have a lot of strikes against them. They’re made from petroleum products, will never, ever decompose, are mass produced in what must be somewhat unsavoury conditions in overseas factories, use lots of fossil fuels just to get here and, simply, do not smell as nice.
Real trees, on the other hand, have more than just that bewitching aroma. They also provide oxygen, local jobs (five to six million are grown in Canada) and are biodegradable. In my town, discarded Christmas trees are mulched at the landfill, a product then sold back to gardeners in the warmer months.
Besides, getting a real tree can be a great reason for a family outing. And if you’re lucky enough to live in one of the regions now fully embraced by snow, the experience this year will be truly traditional. At tree farms around my area, the work horses won’t have to drag their jingling sleighs through the mud and that much-needed hot chocolate will steam in the crisp, cold air.
In Central Ontario, Drysdale’s, near Alliston, is the big draw, with 400 acres of balsam, pine, fir and spruce trees. With wagon rides, face painting and other activities, it’s so popular that Santa even drops by with the Mrs. on December weekends.
But there are lots of other tree farms to choose from. Close to Orillia, Gillespie U-Cut is down a rolling country road in rural Oro-Medonte while Hawkins Tree Farm (705-325-0277), near Casino Rama, sells Scotch Pine.
And for the ultimate in earth-friendly accessorizing in your living room, as Forest Ethics suggests, buy a potted tree that can be replanted later or purchase one from an organic farm that doesn’t use pesticides like Orchard Hill Farm in St. Thomas, Ontario.
Posted in Going Green, Seasons, Simcoe County | 3 Comments »
December 3rd, 2007 writerspice
Last year, my family went for a walk on Christmas Day. The grass was green. The sky was blue. Halfway down the road to the park, I took off my jacket. With predictions for the coldest winter in fifteen years, it’s pretty clear we won’t be doing that this year. “A good old fashioned Canadian winter,” is how one newscaster described what’s happening with the weather these days, not only in my part of the world, but across the country. Snow, snow and, oh, yeah, some snow. It’s more like the deep heart of winter than late fall. This picture is what we woke up to this morning, with buses shut down and schools closed.
In Wasaga Beach, Ontario, another town in Simcoe County, this weekend was a bit more like the middle level of hell than any winter wonderland. On Friday, most of the arcade of historic buildings along the longest freshwater beach in the world were consumed by fire. Ankle deep in white sand, these wooden storefronts and snackbars were a relic of the easygoing past of Georgian Bay’s Wasaga Beach. Built in the 1930s, many were already faced with possible demolition. A developer has been buying them up, armed with a plan to turn the whole area into a mock New Orleans. Thankfully, the city has not given consent.
These kinds of developments really bug me. Travellers crave authenticity and so resorts and tourist towns give it to them – creating false ‘villages’ and ‘small towns’ at the expense of their own history and heritage. Case in point: Collingwood, where the historic downtown is often overshadowed by Blue Mountain’s faux alpine village. Many people simple stay in the Village and don’t even venture into the first historically-designated downtown in Ontario.
Several people have lost their businesses in Wasaga Beach but the community has also lost a little bit of itself. The wonderfully ramshackle arcade area where sunbathers bought hot-dogs and ice cream cones in their bare feet will never be the same. No matter what sort of fresh face they put on the area, that summer memory is sadly long gone.
Posted in Ontario, Simcoe County | No Comments »
November 11th, 2007 writerspice
Yesterday J. and I went over to Collingwood for the day. On the way home, we stopped at the Edenvale Conservation Area and watched as the setting sun turned the Nottawasaga River into a lovely portrait of the identical world.
Posted in Pretty Pictures, Simcoe County | No Comments »
October 21st, 2007 writerspice
Shredded pork and pickled onion on a homemade tortilla might not sound like much but the succulent treat made my favourites list during today’s tastings at several restaurants in Collingwood, Ontario. A traditional dish from the Yucatan, the tiny tapa was served alongside a subtly sweet drink made mostly of strawberry pulp. Savoured while sitting in a cushy lounge chair, it was a dish I could have eaten a lot more of and a place I plan to go back to.
This was Frida’s Mexican Tapas Bistro, a restaurant that opened this past September and one of ten stops on the Autumn Restaurant Walking Tour, an enjoyable stroll (or stumble, depending on how you respond to the variety of drinks) to ten venues in the city’s historic downtown.
We started at Dags & Willow, a gourmet food shop with a selection of over 100 cheeses, fine olive oils, truffle honey, smoked trout and other items. There, another quick bite of heaven: grapes rolled in cream cheese and roquefort and encrusted with pecans.
But my very favourite stop was in an old house, off Huronia Street. Walking into Brunello at 27 on fourth is like entering a friend’s home. Intimate seating is arranged in what would have once been the parlour and back dining area of the Victorian home. There, we ate a sausage ravioli in a tangy tomato sauce, creamy with cheeses. The accompanying bruschetta sang with the flavours of olive oil, fresh tomatoes, chunks of cucumber and cheese.
Like the whole tasty day, this treat was but a brief introduction to all the available eating that downtown Collingwood has to offer.
Posted in Food, Simcoe County | No Comments »
October 17th, 2007 writerspice
I love a good scare. When I was a kid my parents went to town designing a haunted house for my first Hallowe’en party. They brought my blindfolded friends through our pitch-black storage/wood room, guiding their hands into bowls of cold, cooked spaghetti (brains) and peeled grapes (eyeballs). The punch was a frothy green goo. I loved it!
With said attraction to the sinister, it’s a drag that I’ll miss the Scream Shack, a haunted house out in the Oro-Medonte countryside that is the highlight of the year for surrounding school kids. Every year I aim to go and something always comes up. This time it’s a few things – each of them a great option for anyone looking for weekend entertainment in Orillia and area.
Moonshine Theatre’s third event Moving Parts: Original 10-Minute Plays opens tomorrow night, until October 20th. Starting at 7:30 pm in the intimate Studio Theatre at the Orillia Opera House, the evening features seven shorts by local writers Andy McTavish, S.C. Pinney, Travis Shilling, and Lauren Carter (me).
This is only the second play I’ve ever written and it’s been inspiring, challenging and exciting to put it on the paper and see it come to life, expertly acted by local Janet-Lynne Durnford. Andy also sets himself on the stage, along with Jason Mills (my better half). With music, humour, absurdity and social commentary, the evening promises to entertain and give viewers a lot to think about as they enjoy trumpet and smooth vocals during the weekend’s 17th annual Orillia Jazz Festival.
On Sunday, the day after we close, and following a potentially raucous cast party, Jason and I are heading to Collingwood for the city’s Autumn Restaurant Walking Tour to taste our way through ten different venues, including a country inn and a local vineyard (who knew?).
A busy weekend before I head off bright and early Monday morning for a press trip to take in some art in southern Michigan.
Photo by Michael Bird TX
Posted in Orillia, Simcoe County | 1 Comment »
October 1st, 2007 writerspice
The world is so beautiful right now. The trees are just beginning to burn with autumn colour and some of the fields are the same shade as creamed honey.
Today I was lucky enough to get out on the road and spend some time soaking in the early oranges and ambers. It could have been a useless day – both appointments in Midland and Penetanguishene came to naught – but I found myself wandering the back roads, ambling down a gravel avenue to find a blueberry farm that plays a part in a story I’m working on.
And this is what I saw, just past the boundary marking Tay Township.
In the driver’s seat, I breathed a deep, thankful breath for the beauty of this corner of the earth where I’m lucky enough to live.
Posted in Simcoe County | No Comments »
