Harrowsmith Radio

The Rundown In this episode, I chat with Andrew Barnsley, an executive producer of the Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek. We discuss how and why small-town Canada has found a place in the hearts of audiences around the world. Next up, is a walking tour of the historical kitchen garden of Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario. We learn about how two acres of produce sustained the family of Sir Allan Napier McNab a Premier of the United Canadas in the mid-1800s. So huge gardens and small towns all in one episode. 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. Up Schitt’s Creek The comedy series Schitt’s Creek is a sitcom phenom. Over its six seasons, the show, set in the fictional small Ontario town of Schitt’s Creek, hard by the bigger smaller town of Elmsdale, attracted a pass

The Rundown In this episode, we learn how COVID and a fortuitous canoe trip led to an affordable housing expert and an architect buying and giving fresh purpose to a 135-year-old grist mill in Paisley, Ontario. Next, how cities and citizens can make their communities more friendly for birds, and why that makes sense for urban sustainability. So birds and flours all in one episode. 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. The Reborn Grist Mill When COVID hit, Graham and Emma Cubitt wanted to get outside and away from it all. For the affordable housing expert and architect, that meant an August 2020 canoeing on the Saugeen and Teeswater Rivers, just east of Lake Huron near the little town of Paisley, Ontario. That trip, in turn, led them to discover the old Stark mil

In this episode, I chat with world traveller and advocate for tossing your bucket list Heather Greenwood Davis about how to think about and tackle travel now that restrictions are being lifted, and maybe, just maybe we can start returning to the new normal. Next up cookbook author Claire Tansey tells us how to get dinner ready faster than a trip to your favourite frozen food aisle and back. So jet planes, and fast cooking all in this episode. The COVID Departure Lounge In 2011 Heather Greenwood Davis was a successful but miserable litigation lawyer in Toronto. She’d dreamed of travelling the world with her husband Ish and her two sons, Ethan and Cameron. A one year window opened up on that dream and the unhappy Greenwood Davis, family in tow, leapt out of it. What she learned in that year-long journey, about living for now and not deferring your dreams, can serve us well now as we contemplate travel into a world very different from the one we left behind when we shut our doors and donned our masks. You can l

The Rundown In this episode, I chat with pioneering tech consultant, keynote speaker, and proud PEIer, Amber MacArthur, AmberMac to her friends. I talk to her about how she turned a 140-year-old Charlottetown house into an eco-friendly smarthome showcase. A showcase sporting 38 lightbulbs you can talk to. Next up, former food stylist and chef Christine Tizzard explains how to shop, cook and dine with zero-waste. Is there a banana peel bread in your future? So, smart appliances and smart eating all in one episode. 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. The 140-year-old Smart Home - Amber MacArthur Amber MacArthur has been helping Canadians and corporations understand technology and social media for decades now. But, she grew up in a decidedly untechy PEI. She’s liv

The Rundown In this episode we learn how some burdens, the ones that bring us together in the physical world, can be good burdens. I chat with author Christina Crook about her new book all about just that. Next up, a beautiful cookbook that centres around the seasons, family and a kitchen table. We coming together, all the time, on this audio outing. The Good Burdens of Christina Crook Christina Crook is an author, workshop leader and speaker. She’s also worried that as a species we fail to thrive if we don’t connect. If we don’t take on, as the title of her new book suggests, “Good Burdens” Those are the tasks that bring us together not isolate and divide us the way Crook thinks social media does. I talked to her about good burdens and connections. Here’s our conversation. Trish Magwood’s New Table Chef and entrepreneur Trish Magwood also has a new book out. Hers is about bringing family together around the dining table. The book is a beautiful celebration of good, local, seasonal food and essential ingred

The Rundown In this episode, we meet up with Canada’s favourite Internet dad, Stuart Reynolds, or as you might know him, Brittlestar - the comedic nemesis of Covidiots everywhere. Next up, that jovial jill-of-all-trades Karen Bertelsen explains why making, fixing, and cooking stuff yourself is good for the planet. So, funny people with a purpose in this episode. By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listening 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. Brittlestar  Stuart Reynolds (aka Brittlestar) got famous six seconds at a time on the once-popular short video sharing platform, Vine. But these days Brittlestar - more about the name later - has won the hearts of YouTube watchers with his deadpan takes on mask-wearing and taking a humourous jab at folks who don’t want to get one. We talk about his musical, and Sc

In this episode we discover the incredible variety of folks, produce, places, and methods involved in urban gardening in Toronto in a new documentary by Jamie Day Fleck called In My Backyard. Next up, a decades-long waiting game played with hazelnuts, farmers, and science. In My Backyard Jamie Day Fleck is a documentary filmmaker and an avid backyard (and soon front yard garden). Her passion for gardening, a well-timed pregnancy, and her film-making chops lead her to make a fascinating documentary about other folks, like her in Toronto who grew plants, well, just about anywhere they could find space. The documentary is called In My Backyard. You can learn more about it at https://www.fleckpro.com I spoke with Jamie about her film and the importance of urban gardening for the soul and the planet. Here’s our conversation. The Nutella Waiting Game GrimoNut Nurseries https://www.grimonut.com/ pioneered growing nut trees in Ontario almost 50 years ago. One of the species they produce is the hazel tree. I spoke wit

The Rundown In this episode Emm Gryner who rocketed from a chicken farm to singing backup for David Bowie talks about how singers, and the rest of us, can uncover the voices we’ve got inside us. Next up, Ilona Daniel, Harrowsmith’s relatively new food editor explains how Anne of Green Gables and a father named Gilbert changed her life.  Emm Gryner - Uncovering Your Voice Emm Gryner’s new book, The Healing Power of Singing, is, yes, a practical guide to becoming a strong singer and making it in the music business. But, it’s more than that. The book is full of poignant stories of the triumphs and heartbreaks in Gryner’s own life, and the idea of uncovering your voice, putting yourself in the path of opportunity and finding strong mentors is advice we all could use whether we sound like Sinatra or not. Not, in my case. Here’s my conversation with Emm all about voice. Ilona Daniel - A New Food Editor is Served Ilona Daniel has only been Harrowsmith Magazine’s food editor for a new months. I got to speak with

The Rundown In this episode a visit with that self-proclaimed culinary charlatan, Bob Blumer, whose new book teaches us all how to make bombs, flavour bombs that is. Speaking of making, our go-to DIY guy Steve Maxell is back, this time to explain why MIG welding is the glue gun of the future. So, bombs and welds all in this episode. Bob Blumer and Flavourbombs Bob Blumer didn’t start out life as a chef. He went to Western for business, sold heavy metal t-shirts at concerts, managed Canadian indie music queen Jane Sibery and through a surreal cookbook for his sister, tumbled into a rollicking, rock and roll journey into extreme cuisine. In his latest book, Flavourbomb he explains how to dial the savoury, sweet, bitter, sour and umami of everyday dishes right past 11 in full on Spinal Tap style.  Steve Maxell and MIG Welding Steve Maxell wants everyone to fall in love with MIG welding. MIG welding? It stands for Metal Inert Gas welding. It’s a simple form of electrical welding you can get into for a few hu

The Rundown In this episode, we spend a little time under a virtual umbrella with Harrowsmith’s go-to weatherman, Mark Sirois. Mark’s been doing long-range forecasting for the Harrowsmith Almanac and extreme weather prediction for Southern Quebec for years. Now a modern home weather station has empowered him to think big and broad. Next up Alberta farmer Leona Staples on how entrepreneurship and innovation have kept her farm alive and adapting for generations.  Mark Sirois and Predicting Weather By day Mark Sirois is a Quebec-based senior manager for IBM Canada. But his five-to-nine side hustle is predicting extreme weather for Southern Quebec. And, he also does long-range forecasting for all of Canada for the Harrowsmith Almanac. The self-taught meteorologist started prognosticating when he was a teenager with just a weather radio and an atlas. But, as he explains in this interview, the advent of high-tech, no-moving-parts weather stations has completely changed the game for him and he’s ready to up his gam

The Rundown In this episode we go deep into Canada’s beef industry with a young woman who grew up on an Ontario beef farm,  consults to the government about Canadian agriculture, is a politician herself, and can covert vegans to meat-eating on social media. Next up, an elegiac and informative meditation on that most prosaic of feeds, hay. Both interviews are food, for thought. Amanda Brodhagen and Cattle Tales  Amanda Brodhagen has been around beef since birth. She grew up on a cattle farm near Stratford, Ontario. There she developed a love for her animals and for the rich pasture eco-system on which they grazed and which they shared with a variety of natural species. Today Amanda is a proud advocate for the beef industry, an agri-food consultant to the government, and a politician herself. She’s a rural councilor in the Township of Perth East in Ontario. I spoke with Amanda recently about her life with cattle, the challenges the industry faces, and the need for diversity and innovation if the industry is to

The Rundown In this episode we meet the woman behind a remarkable Canadian documentary, “First We Eat”. Suzanne Crocker takes us behind the scenes of a film she made about the transformative year when she inspired her family to eat totally local for twelve months. In Dawson City, hard by the Artic Circle, through the winter.  Next up, Ontario farmer Ken Dam talks about going whole hog, eating pork from nose to tail as a way of honouring the animal. So, eating honourably and locally all in this episode. Suzanne Crocker, First We Eat Dawson City, Yukon is a northern community of 1,500 people. 97 per cent of the food for those folks is trucked in from thousands of kilometers away.Retired doctor, filmmaker and mother Suzanne Crocker wanted to see what would happen if she and her family could eat completely closer to home for a year - no salt, no coffee no oranges or chocolate. Her coaxing resulted in an at-first resistant family eating only eating local produce, foragings fish and livestock for a year, through a

The Rundown In this episode a visit with an environmental non-profit that has weathered political, social, and ecological storms and shifts. Earth Day has been around since the Guess Who’s American Woman topped the Billboard charts and the hole in the ozone layer wasn’t even on our radar screen. In the distant 70s. Earth Day Canada was born in the 90s and has been growing and adapting ever since. I chat with the organization’s director about its legacy and longevity. Next up, I talk to our resident astronomer, light pollution Don Quixote and engineer Robert Dick about how we might farm in the future, on Mars. So, legacy and legumes on the red planet all on this episode. Earth Day Canada Earth Day, as a movement and an event, was born in the heady cauldron of peace protests, concern for the environment, and an Apollo 8 photo of earthrise on the Moon. That image helped launch an ecological consciousness that the nascent Earth Day organization latched onto. Since the 90s Earth Day Canada has continued to preserv

The Rundown In this episode we go all-in on planting, planting gardens that are gyms, therapy, and workplaces that don't take a lot of work. And planting that attracts pollinators, our little at-risk insect pals that do all the heavy lifting when plants want to have sex, with a middle man.  Elizabeth Peirce and Grow Hope Elizabeth Peirce is an award-winning author, a mom, and an avid and frugal gardener in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In her new book, Grow Hope, she brings a fresh take on starting a garden from scratch, kitchen scraps, and ingenuity. She sees gardens as gyms, workplaces, and classrooms. And also as a place to toss your banana peels and bicycle box cardboard.  You can learn more about Elizabeth and her book here. Pollinator Partnership Canada Pollinator Partnership Canada is a non-profit that aims to protect and promote pollinators and their ecosystems through conservation, education, and research. I had a chance to talk with the organization’s director, Vickie Wojcik about our pollinator pals, and t

The Rundown In this episode, you’ll hear the remarkable story of the Farmerettes, a brigade of young Ontario women who saved the crops of Southern Ontario during World War II. You may not have heard of the Farmerettes, I know I hadn’t until prepared for this interview, but it’s a story you won’t forget.  Next up our intergenerational gardening gurus Mark and Ben Cullen give us some tips on why waiting for May 24 to plant is a mug’s game. So two stories about getting back into the good earth. By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listening 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. The Farmerettes In 1939 the stain of the Second World War spread across The Atlantic to Canada, pulling Canadian men and women overseas to fight. In Southern Ontario that meant fertile farmlands and orchards would be soon would soon be

The Rundown  This episode is about the 5 Hs. First, there’s the H in healthing.ca, a website that amplifies the voices of those living with diseases and disorders and who are looking for options for healthy lifestyles. The next of the five are four H’s are in the 4-H club of Canada …. So, five Hs, six, if you count Harrowsmith, which we do. Lisa Machado and healthing.com Lisa Machado is the executive producer of healthing.ca. And that relatively new website is partnering with Harrowsmith to share evidence-based health and wellness information with our readers, while Harrowsmith shares content about healthy lifestyles. Lisa herself knows all about the desire to live well. She lives with a rare form of blood cancer, a disease that caused her to set aside her life as a financial journalist and head up a unique site that amplifies the voices of those living with diseases and disorders. I talked with Lisa about her plans for the site and its healthy relationship with Harrowsmith.  Stephanie Nagelschmitz and the 4H

The Rundown This episode takes us on an arctic journey where we explore the life and words of a remarkable Canadian, children’s author and storyteller  Michael Kusugak. Next, the story of how thousands of farmers across the country have assisted the Canada Food Bank to ensure food security for all Canadians and help defeat hunger even in the darkest times.  Michael Kusugak and the Power of Stories Michael Kusugak grew up in Repulse Bay, almost a stone’s throw from the Arctic Circle. As a child he lived a traditional Inuit life, travelling the tundra, snow and sea ice of Hudson’s Bay with his extended family and hearing, from his grandmother and other elders the stories of his people. Michael was one of the first Inuit to write those stories down and share them in books and in person with thousands of Canadian children, and adults. I had the pleasure of speaking with Michael about his life, the power of stories and a way of life dear to his heart. Kirstin Beardsley on Food Banks Canada and Farmers Kirstin Bear

The Rundown This episode is about native plants and a mode of transportation that couldn’t be more homegrown in this country if it tried - the canoe. First up, Mark Cullen, our perennial, and annuals, gardening experts fills us in on how native plants benefit gardens, birds, bees and well, the environment in general. Next up James Raffan of the Canadian Canoe Museum explains the lowly watercraft speaks to us as old and new Canadians alike. From coneflowers to canoes, all in one episode.   Mark Cullen on Native Plants Mark Cullen has been a fan of native plants for years now. They’re a favourite of indigenous bird and pollinator species, take advantage local conditions and help keep ecosystems in check. He chatted with me about some of his favourite native varieties and we disagree about lawns. Here’s that conversation. James Raffan on Canada and Canoes James Raffan, the director of external relations for the Canadian Canoe Museum, knows how deep the relationship between Canada and the canoe goes. He’s an auth

This episode is about hens and hops. First up, we head out to Port Hope and learn raising urban chickens, not just for the eggs, but for the companionship.  Next, Ben Cullen, the youngest generation of the Cullen garden dynasty, tells us about hops as an ornamental. They’re not just for IPAs any more. Signe Langford on Raising Chickens Signe Langford is a cook, a book author, a gardener and a lover of all things chicken. She grew up with hens and then, years later, rediscovered their wonders as an urban chicken activist in Toronto, bylaws be damned. These days she has four hens, she calls them her girls, in Port Hope, Ontario, another community not so keen on the practise. But Langford is devoted to her girls, not just for the eggs, but for their beauty, personalities and friendship.  Ben Cullen on Hops as a Hedge Ben Cullen and his father Mark wrote about hops as an ornamental in the 2020 edition of the Harrowsmith Almanac. So, I wanted to catch up with Ben to get the lowdown on how a key ingredient in beer

The Rundown This episode is about what plants, especially native plants, can teach us about thriving in adversity. We also discover an unlikely Japanese garden in Lethbridge and a B.C. winery where sacred geometry, a pyramid and a reverence for the earth has nurtured award winning vintages. 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. Lyndon Penner Lyndon Penner is an Alberta-based garden designer, CBC plant pundit, author and sometimes garden tour guide. One of the gardens he’s helped visitors explore is the remarkable Nikka Yuko garden in Lethbridge, Alberta. The authentic Japanese garden, only one of four in Canada, was a Centennial project for the good folks of Lethbridge. It celebrates the friendship between Canada and Japan. But, because it also substitutes some n