Harrowsmith Radio

This episode  is about how a Moroccan stamp entrepreneur became a fish magnate whose offspring are shipping fresh tuna right to your door. And, we learn about why buffalo milk makes 3 per cent from cows look like skim.  Seafood Crate When Phil Behaim’s father, Marc first came to Canada from Morocco, he sold collectable stamps, stamp tweezers and anything else an avid philatelist could want. Then he got the idea of importing octopus and other sorts of seafood and grew his company into   Inter-Canada Fisheries. Phil, now the CEO of the company along with his brother and sister now run the shop and have turned their attention to delivering fresh seafood right to customer’s doorsteps, no stamps involved. He’s our conversation about that journey. Tenderbuff Henry Koskamp is bullish on buffalo. Not for their meat, but for their milk, porcelain white and fat and flavour-rich  For twenty years he’s breeding and milking buffalo on his Stratford farm to serve a growing cheese market, all without a milk marketing board

This episode is a third generation duck farm and a remarkable multicultural handshake that rocketed the unusual poultry farm to success. Next up, an intimate tour of Price Edward Country, bottomless lake and all. King Cole Ducks Patti Thompson is one of four sisters who run King Cole Ducks near Stouffville, Ontario. That farm has been running for almost 70 years. It was a bit of an oddball at first, ducks just weren’t as popular as beef and chicken in the fifties,  but a few decades later, a wave of Chinese immigration washed upon Canada’s shores and that, and an handshake changed the company forever.   A Tour of Prince Edward County Phillip Norton is an avid photographer and a lover of Prince Edward County. He leads van tours around the kind-of-an-island that juts out into the northeastern part of Lake Ontario near Bellville. I caught up with Phillip between van trips and learned about the alcohol soaked past of that landscape and the wine and locals that set it apart. Here’s that conversation. End NotesWant

This episode is about mushrooms from the edge of Canada and beer from the heart of the nation. First up, Stephanie Lipp co-founder of Gillis Naturals tells us about how she and her partner Leo have launched a mushroom farm in Bonavista Newfoundland. Yes, devoted listeners,  that’s the same place the Newfoundland Salt Company calls home. Next, we learn about how Harrowsmith inspired craft brewing and the dozens of reasons Ottawa is the beer capital of Canada. Stephanie Lipp was an Ontario girl, born and bred, until she met her partner Leo, a Stephenville, Newfoundland lad. The two visited Leo’s hometown, Stephanie fell in love with the province, and when a chance to start a business in the entrepreneur friendly Bonavista, they jumped at the chance. Now their passion is bearing fruiting bodies, in the form of six different types of mushrooms. Who knew that back in 1978 Harrowsmith Magazine just might have kicked off the craft brewing industry in Canada? Shawn McQua did and he wrote about it recently in Harrowsm

This episode takes us down on the farms - first to a sheep farm near Perth where we learn about the capricious rhythms of Mother Nature from a farmer and cello instructor. Next, to Dr. Dolittle of a farm – Caberneigh Farms – jubilant with animals and abuzz with newly hived bees lost in their own dances and rhythms. All in all, a timely podcast that gets us back to our roots. By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listen to it you can subscribe to the print version online at harrowsmithmag.com and you can find Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada. But for now, settle in for the next half hour of Harrowsmith Radio.   Sarah Loten When we last spoke with Sarah Loten of Drover’s Way Farm in Lanark country, she was lamenting the love hate relationship with water that both drowned her tractor and gave life to her crops and livestock. This time out I speak with the veteran farmer and cellist about a elegy to nature’s pace, cadence and rhythm she wrote for Harrowsmith. The

The Rundown This episode is about plays, a fictional farm, heroes and highways. I start off by chatting with Dan Needles, a mainstay for Harrowsmith readers and the author of the WIngfield Farm mediaverse. We touch on turnip-mashing drudges, the parallels between Walt and Dan and how Needles is taking to the boards himself these days. Next up, Mike Hurley tells us about the ambitious charity, the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign, that aims to plant a tree for every man and woman who’s served in Canada’s armed forces. So, one way or another, we’re getting back to roots. End NotesWant more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com. By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer and friend of the 'cast,  David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.  

The Rundown In this episode we combine two natural, literally natural partners, blooms and bees. First up I chat with Terry Caddo, the executive director of Canada Blooms, a venerable gardening show that will soon be celebrating 25 years of gardening glory. Next up, we decode honey jar labels. For almost a quarter century the Canada Blooms show in Toronto has brought gardens, gardening wisdom and gardening supplies and suppliers under one roof for a giant garden celebration. The next one, the 24th, is just a few weeks away as I record this. I talked with the show’s executive director, Terry Caddo about the changing demographic the show attracts and why its a literally, perennial favourite. Buying something as natural as honey should be an easy consumer choice. But, these days, honey labelling makes that choice more complex. Does "Canada’s Favourite", mean it's Canadian honey? Does "Canada #1"? And what does "Graded in Canada" mean? To help sort it out I spoke with Guy Chartier of Bee Maid Honey.   End NotesWa

The Rundown A while back I got to meet one of my heroes, Dr. David Suzuki. He had just published Letters to my Grandchildren, a heartfelt retrospective of his life, learnings and legacy. I got to sit down with him in the David Suzuki Foundation offices to chat about that life. Next, a visit with a different family and a very different life. I chat with Danielle French, the owner of South Pond Farms in the Kawarthas. We talk family, food and the walking of the goats. End NotesWant more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com. By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer and friend of the 'cast,  David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.

The Rundown This episode features a return visit from Harrowsmith’s resident handyman from Manitoulin Island, Steve Maxwell. This time out Steve offers some good, and timely advice about how to keep your house warm in the winter. You can learn more about Steve and his tips at https://baileylineroad.com Next up, another timely topic, bird seed. I visit with Barry Bogel, who runs a bulk seed business on equipment his grandfather would recognize. Ten pounds bags of seeds? That’s for punters.  Barry Bogel’s grandfather bought a farm in Flamborough, Ontario in 1874. Back then he raised bees. These days Barry grows plants for seed. Bird seed, mostly. He runs the operation out of a barn filled with ancient but admirable equipment some of which his grandfather would recognize. Join me on a soundscape tour of Bogel Seeds, where a fifty pound bag of sunflower seeds is small potatoes and the grain silos and feeder tubes loom like benign giants. End NotesWant more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can

  This episode begins with a chat with guerrilla gardener, gardening planner and writer Lorraine Johnson about the bounty that can be had from gardens in every nook, cranny and backyard in our cities. Next up, a seasonal exercise in making good use of holiday leftovers. Harrowsmith food writer Signe Langford, you might remember her from the exploding chestnuts, salvages carcasses, toasts stuffing and murders for a curry. You can learn more about Lorraine's writings at http://www.douglas-mcintyre.com/author/lorraine-johnson-2 End NotesWant more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com. By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer and friend of the 'cast,  David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.

The Rundown In this episode I get the lowdown on one of the most misunderstood and maligned crops in North America, hemp. It’s a delicious breakfast topping, it’s a construction material, it’s great for clothing and plastics! Stop, you’re all right. I speak with hempbassador Marie Eisenmann about the fibre of the future. Next up, food writer and chef Signe Langford tells us all about delicious and dangerous chestnuts and how to weaponize them. Marie Eisenmann is a hempbassador. She and her colleagues evangelize a sorely mistreated and marginalized crop, hemp. While hemp has, for centuries, been a valued crop in Asia and elsewhere on the planet, its relation to marijuana has led to North Americans having a complicated relationship with the fast growing, low maintenance, and non-psychotropic plant. That’s too bad, because, as Marie explains, the prohibitions placed on its cultivation have meant North Americans have lost decades we could have used developing ecologically friendly industries that make use of the

The Rundown We start this episode talking about living off the grid using solar, wind, batteries and a generator with Canada’s handyman and Harrowsmith contributor, Steve Maxwell. Then, on a lighter note, but with no less energy, I speak with Signe Langford, Harrowsmith’s food editor about alternatives to hot chocolate on cold winter evenings, on the grid, or off.  You can learn more about Steve Maxwell at https://baileylineroad.com/ Signe Langford's writings can be found at https://www.signelangford.com End NotesWant more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com. By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer and friend of the 'cast,  David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.  

The Rundown This episode starts with a sobering conversation with science writer Vanessa Farnsworth about the wildfires that have ravaged the West, including, most recently, California - and in 2017, B.C.. We talk about how human-induced climate change has a lot to answer for and what we can all do to fight the fires, or their consequences, anyway. Next, into to soup, soup bred of compost and stone. Western Wildfires and Human-induced Climate Change A study published in Earth’s Future last year is clear: the fires that ravaged B.C. in 2017 were made terrifyingly worse by human-induced climate change. We made weather worse, whipping up winds, calling down lighting and causing the fires to burn up to 11 times more land than normal. And, things might get worse still. To understand what’s at stake, and what we can do I spoke with a western voice of reason, and a Harrowsmith magazine contributor Vanessa Farnsworth. Things get dark, but we offer hope. Hang in there. Soupalicious How do you make soup from compost an

The Rundown In this episode we talk about the changing role of women in agriculture and the future of the largest agricultural fair in the world. I speak with Iris Meck, the force behind the Advancing Women in Agriculture conference.  And I chat with the CEO of the Royal Agriculture Winter Fair about  produce, horses and, yes, royals. Women and Agriculture Conference Since 2014 The Advancing Women in Agriculture has brought together women from across Canada to share, learn and grow and farmers, producers and entrepreneurs. Over the years it's seen attendees and the agriculture sector itself change dramatically, and, for the better. Part of the change is due to the conference itself. I had a chance to speak with conference organizer, Iris Meck, about the morphing landscape and the challenges of leaning in in a sector that is still steeped in isolation. Royal Winter Fair Intro Just after the First World War a cluster of classically inspired buildings near the waterfront of Lake Ontario. The Royal Coliseum and a

Mark and Ben Cullen, a father and son dynamic duo of gardening expertise, have been guiding home-based horticulture fans for years, decades and now, generations. This time out they team up to guide you to getting the best birds in your backyard this winter. Along the way, they shatter a couple of myths, crack jokes and diss cracked corn.  Craig Daniels works at Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto as a a project manager and scientific writer and editor. So, it’s not surprising that he and his partner, Ben Pakuts took a scientific approach to making cider. They wrote abut the process in Harrowsmith Magazine and in the latest issue of the Harrowsmith Almanac. I spoke with Craig recently about fermentation, cider and the apple strewn path he eschewed a few years back. End NotesWant more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithma

The Rundown When Ken Dam was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma he started getting really serious about the food he was putting in his body. Ken’s fine now, but his quest to eat healthy propelled he and his wife Clare into an adventure of homesteading near Copetown, Ontario. It didn’t go as planned. But, the Dams are still at it, eight years later. They’ve learned a lot, learned what they don’t like and discovered what they’ve come to love. I spoke with Clare about their journey. Aquaponics isn’t a new idea, but it’s one that improving technology has made more and more practical. The idea is simple, take the symboitic relationship between plants and animals on a farm, in soil, and bring it indoors. Now replace the soil with nutrient rich water, cows and pigs with fish and root vegetables with microgreens. That’s aquaponics. Catalina Margulis wrote about the process in Harrowsmith. We chatted about how going wet and vertical might be a life saver where local matters and space is at a premium. End NotesWant mo

This episode of Harrowsmith Radio is about extraordinary vegetables, wild weather and the water it brings with it. First up, we head to the east coast, the outskirts of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to be exact. There we meet Niki Jabbour. Niki’s a bestselling gardening writer and author of Veggie Garden Remix. She's discovered hundreds of vegetables beyond the rank and file tomatoes, lettuces and squash and other produce you might have already tucked into the soil of your garden. Ground cherries and snake gourds for everyone! Next, we head to Perth County and chat with sheep farmer Sarah Loten. She's had to cope with the  wild, wet weather that has been playing merry hell with a sheep farm.  End NotesWant more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. And, you can read Vanessa's story on ticks in the Spring issue of Harrowsmith Magazine. It's on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com. By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, comp

Adam Koziol - Earthgen International Adam Koziol used to be an ad man in Toronto. Then he and a friend got a crazy idea of growing mahogany trees with superpowers roots in the Caribbean. Over the years that idea morphed into something even more fantastic, growing truffles from the roots of hazelnut and oak trees in Ontario. Working with Spanish scientists Adam has inoculated young trees with the stuff that truffles are made from. He’s sold those trees to over thirty growers in Ontario who now are counting down the years to a possible truffle windfall. I visited Adam on his farm, and the headquarters for Earthgen International, near Dunville, Ontario to talk about his fantastic fungus factory. Kathleen Gailas I speak with Kathleen Galias is a pharmacist who, with her husband, Patrick Hazen, have started Open Hazelnut Farm in Guelph. They're just shy of four years away from a potential truffle crop.   Extra Learn more about Earthgen  Learn more about Kathleen Galias and Patrick Hazen Market Predictions About Tr

This episode of Harrowsmith Radio is all about the gardens and their value to our minds, bodies, spirits and communities. First up, I speak with Mitchell Hewson, a veteran horticultural therapist who use the growth, resilience and hope of renewal gardens offer as a balm on the troubled minds and bodies of those in need of rebirth. Next, I catch up with Heather Phaneuf, who fills us in on how to start a community garden in a lot near you.  Mitchell Hewson Horitcultural Therapy is used as a treatment tool to develop a relationship with clients to improve their cognitive, social, behavioural and spiritual well being. At institutions like the Homewood Health Centre in Guelph, Ontario, it encourage clients to engage in the natural world. Mitchell Hewson started the horticultural therapy program at Homewood. Now retired, he continues to teach his discipline online to students around the world. He encourages his students to help their clients think about new ways of life and self-care, offer them rehabilitation and

The RundownThis episode of Harrowsmith Radio is about hydroponics, subtropical fruit in Canada and the stars in the winter sky. We begin on the opposite coast from last episode. Last time we visited a salt maker in Bonavista, Newfoundland. This time we travel to Salt Spring Island off the coast of British Columbia. There we find Jane Squier, who’s nurturing a citrus grove under glass (well, poly, really). Next we look up, way up, and ask Harrowsmith’s resident astronomer, Rob Dick why it is that the night sky in winter looks so clear?  Jane SquierJane Squier has learned that when life hands you a greenhouse you make lemons, and limes and lettuce and basil and, well, all manner of hydroponic produce. Jane started hydroponic gardening in Calgary, back when hydroponics was just a wacky idea and an article in Harrowsmith, she used for inspiration to build a thriving greens business based on the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT for short). These days Jane has a 6,000 square foot green house on Salt Spring Island.  She

Some of you listening may not be that familiar with Harrowsmith. While this is a podcast, Harrowsmith began as a groundbreaking Canadian magazine. It came to life on the kitchen table of James Lawrence in Camden East, Ontario in 1976. Back then it didn’t seem likely that his vision of a national magazine on the virtues of getting back to the land would last.  But before long Harrowsmith took off, quickly attracting legions of fans. Tapping into an urban desire to move to the country, the magazine also appealed to dyed-in-the wool ruralites. What Canada got was its magazine to promote green living and a country lifestyle. It also got the venerable Harrowsmith Almanac. Over its 46-year history the Harrowsmith name became synonymous with Canadians living sustainably. In this podcast we proudly continue the spirit of James Lawrence’s vision of sharing useful information for country dwellers and anyone seeking to tread a little more lightly upon the earth. In this episode of Harrowsmith Radio we go just about as f