Unique Muskoka Issue 30 August 2021 : simplebooklet.com

2 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 202126Horseback Riding – Connecting with Our Roots and MuskokaArticle by Meghan SmithPhotography by Josianne Masseau e sight of horses in ﬁelds, grazing as the sun and mist rise, is a peaceful image. Seeing horses and riders while driving on quiet roads in the region gives the impression of returning to simpler times, when horse travel was the predominant mode of transport.32Painting Muskoka with Bold Colours and Bright IdeasArticle by Bronwyn BoyerPhotography by Kelly Holinshead Helena Renwick is a Renaissance woman with unstoppable energy. No matter how many diﬀerent hats she wears, there’s one common thread: creativity. Whether she’s painting sets for theatre productions, being a voice in town politics or expressing her talent as a painter, she’s thinking outside the box.Features 11Taming Muskoka’s Fires – What You Can Do to HelpArticle by Matt Driscolle threat of ﬁres is as old as civilization but with increasing human encroachment on natural lands and the volatility of climate change, that threat has been ampliﬁed in recent years. While Muskoka has some mitigating factors that decrease the risk of ﬁres, the threat is a constant during the drier months. Learn what you can do to help.18Canoeing – A Tradition Deeply Rooted in Muskoka’s Earliest Days Article and Photography by Tim Du Vernet Before the days of navigation locks on various branches of the Muskoka watershed, paddlers either had to run the rapids or portage around them. e canoe connects the vision, adventures and challenges of navigating our wilderness waters with the ancients who relied on the canoe for so much more than recreation. ...telling the Muskoka story[32][26][18]

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Departments54What’s HappenedArticle by Matt DriscollMuskoka Chautauqua is marking its 100th anniversary as a tradition in the arts community, a RaceBoat Hall of Fame is proposed in Muskoka Lakes Township, local boatbuilder Stan Hunter is converting wooden boats to electric power, Kathy Varley releases her second book and the Rob Roy returns to Kahshe Lake.58Cottage Country CuisineArticle by Karen WehrsteinPhotography by Tomasz SzumskiWith an abundance of late summer and fall harvests coming from local farms and markets, it’s time to consider ways to jar the joys of summer for enjoyment in the winter. Muskokans oﬀer their suggestions for pickling, sauces and fermentation – all of which are certain to tempt your tastebuds.Our CoverPhotography by Kelly Holinsheade need for a creative outlet drives almost everything artist Helena Renwick does. From being the former point person for the Huntsville BIA to being chair of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts, keeping up with all her roles in the community is a bit dizzying.AUGUST 2021PAINTING MUSKOKAWith bold coloursand bright ideasHEALTHY FORESTS,HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMMUSKOKA DISCOVERYCENTRE SHOWCASESCONFLUENCE OF CULTURESTaming bushfiresHow you can helpOpinion9 Muskoka InsightsBy Don Smith64 Muskoka MomentsBy Dianne TurnbullAll About KitchensCREATE YOUR DREAM SPACE e possibilities are endlessBRACEBRIDGE 3 Gray Road 705.646.0347HUNTSVILLE 4 Centre St. N. 705.789.6161www.allaboutkitchens.ca[58][48]38Showcasing the Conuence of CulturesArticle by J. Patrick Boyer e soon-to-be-completed Misko-Aki: Conﬂuence of Cultures exhibit at Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst is emerging as a potent heritage presentation. Its impact is becoming more salient as national events are playing out and speaks to the importance of the vision behind its creation.48Healthy Forests Are Good for People, the Ecosystem and the EconomyArticle by John ChallisBeyond personal beneﬁts, there is enormous ecological and civic value to green space. Forests improve air quality. ey excel at capturing and storing carbon, the main ingredient of climate change. While Muskoka forests continue to feel the impact of industrialization and other pressures, research is ﬁnding ways that will improve their health.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 5

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46 Ann Street, Bracebridge705-646-9995 | 877-877-3929www.LesBell.caTRUST • INTEGRITY • SERVICEOur local team is here to provide you with personalized insurance solutions. For the coverage your family deserves, call us today.Photograph: Susan SmithYour Home and Cottage Mattress CentreTHE LARGEST SELECTION OF IN-STOCKMATTRESSES IN MUSKOKAMUSKOKACURATED COLLECTION by Marshall Mattress6 Monica Lane, Bracebridge705.646.2557www.mattressesofmuskoka.commbaWayne Judges 705-645-0480Jack Judges 705-646-7424email: judges@muskoka.comQuality workmanship and customer satisfactionfar beyond any written warranty.Restoring Muskoka’s heritage and building new traditions for over 45 yearsDESIGN • CONSTRUCTION • RESTORATIONMuskoka InsightsMoving to fewer COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario and for that matter across the country has brought a renewed sense of optimism. Here, in Muskoka, the ability to once again meet at a restaurant with friends for a leisurely meal and conversation, stroll main street shops or enjoy shared moments of entertainment at theatres and festivals has cautiously opened the door to what the future might be.e sense of relief and hope that has come from a lessening of the pandemic limitations that have been endured for the better part of a year and a half is palpable. While still masked and taking precautions, the public’s feeling of greater freedom has been almost euphoric. e online business experience may have served many well during these diﬃcult times but the ability to meet, chat and be with others in the community is irreplaceable.At a time when many want to celebrate, Muskokans have also had to confront the tragedies of the country’s past. We’ve joined fellow Canadians in feeling the shock and horror that has come from the reporting of mass graves at residential schools where young Indigenous children were buried, often in unmarked graves. Without the support of their families, those who perished most assuredly must have been scared and lonely in their time of greatest need.As much as we may want to rejoice at the gains that have been made from the wrath of the pandemic, it is important we take time to reﬂect, consider our shared past, the challenges facing the Indigenous community today and the ways we can contribute to reconciliation.Increased knowledge provides better understanding on the way to reconciliation and at the Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst, great strides are being made on that journey. In the feature sub-titled Conﬂuence of Cultures, contributor Patrick Boyer explores Muskoka’s Indigenous history and the eﬀorts being made to share that story. It is that coming together of a shared vision which is certain to make this project a contributor to better understanding and reconciliation.Recognizing a part of the shared heritage of Muskoka’s Indigenous community with settlers is the article and photographs from frequent contributor Tim Du Vernet in his feature on canoeing. From the past until today, the canoe has been a stalwart of water transportation in the district.For those who want to discover Muskoka by horseback, writer Meghan Smith shares some of the many ways you can be a part of that experience from lessons to trail rides and from competing to learning the importance of basic horsemanship.If you thought the impact of acid rain was long behind us, you might want to read John Challis’ article on Healthy Forests, why they’re so important and the long-term concerns facing our deciduous trees. Challis highlights the work of respected Muskokan Dr. Norman Yan and his plan for forest renewal.Speaking of forests, climate change and the growing threat it poses for forest ﬁres may be an issue soon on our doorstep but writer Matt Driscoll oﬀers words of advice on how we can be better prepared and what municipalities are doing to be one step ahead.We make an eﬀort in each issue to focus on the work of Muskoka’s arts community and in August, we’re delighted to have writer Bronwyn Boyer tell the story of painter Helena Renwick who brings so much creativity to all she does.Happy reading!August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 9

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Article by Matt DriscollThe threat of wildﬁres is as old as civilization but with increasing human encroachment on natural lands and the volatility of climate change, that threat has been ampliﬁed in recent years.Out-of-control wildﬁres have now become the norm in regions like California and Australia, and the 2016 wildﬁre in Fort McMurray – the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history – serves to illustrate the increased danger.While Muskoka has some mitigating factors that decrease the risk of wildﬁres on the scale of those like Fort McMurray (namely the deciduous forests of the region and the abundance of water bodies), the threat of wildﬁres is a constant during the drier months. According to the region’s ﬁre departments, bushﬁres can occur on a daily basis, and sometimes departments can even be called out to ﬁght multiple ﬁres on the same day.“Most people don’t realize it but forest ﬁres are actually good for the environment. ey can help clear oﬀ dying and diseased trees and slow the spread of invasive species like the emerald ash borer. e problem comes when you add humans into the equation,” says Douglas Holland, the ﬁre prevention oﬃcer for the Township of Muskoka Lakes. “If we want to live in forests, then we need to ﬁnd ways to help mitigate these potential dangers.”Holland spent ﬁve years with the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department before spending the past six years with Muskoka Lakes, and he has a better understanding than most of the brush ﬁre situation in Muskoka. e Muskoka Lakes Fire Top: Increasingly drier periods of weather are causing greater concern for Muskoka’s re departments, sometimes with multiple bushres in one day. Right: Without access to re hydrants in rural areas, Muskoka re departments require trucks that can both carry water and pump it.Photograph: Gravenhurst Fire DepartmentPhotograph: Andy ZeltkalnsAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 11

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12 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021stoneway marble & granite inc.Les and Renata Partyka1295 Muskoka Rd. 118 West, Bracebridge | 705.645.3380 | stoneway.inc@gmail.com705-764-0765 | muskokabarging.com | 1163 Milford Bay Rd, Milford Bay ONBARGING STEEL & CRIB DOCKS SEPTIC SYSTEMS LANDSCAPING ● ●Muskoka Barging●Family run construction company with over 35 years experience operating in the Muskoka Lakes area. No job is too small or too big.Department utilizes 125 volunteer ﬁreﬁghters based out of 10 stations, covering some 781 square kilometres. “When things are busy, we can be getting up to two to three calls per day,” says Holland. “Brush ﬁres in Muskoka mainly happen in the spring before green-up occurs. However, it could stretch well into the summer, if the weather continues to be dry. If it’s a wet spring, we may not get any calls at all.”Operating out of a rural area, like the Township of Muskoka Lakes, can present serious challenges in terms of getting to ﬁres that can only be accessed via oﬀ-road vehicles or on foot. However, the area’s geography and ﬂora can also oﬀer natural barriers to the spread of large forest ﬁres.Holland says the department is typically called out to deal with brush and grass ﬁres as opposed to the massive forest ﬁres encountered in other parts of North America.“We don’t have the same type of forests as they do in northern Alberta or northern Ontario,” says Holland. “While their forests are primarily coniferous, we have more deciduous forests.”Another factor that helps to limit the spread of massive ﬁres is the number of water bodies located within Muskoka. Muskoka contains roughly 1,600 lakes within its borders and some 19 watersheds, which only stop the spread of ﬁres but also oﬀer a ready source of water for ﬁreﬁghters in areas where hydrants are not available.at being said, Muskoka ﬁre departments will call in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to help ﬁght ﬁres if they get out of hand. Such was the case in 2012 when MNRF water bombers had to be Some of Muskoka’s re departments have reboats to reach water-access properties.Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns

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called in to ﬁght a massive ﬁre on Huckleberry Rock in Milford Bay. Although that ﬁre did not result in any injuries or damage to property, it forced the evacuation of some 50 residences in the area.“Although we do see forest ﬁres in the Muskoka area from year to year, Aviation Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) works closely with municipal ﬁre departments to develop ﬁre response agreements,” says Shane McCool, the information oﬃcer with the AFFES (which operates under the umbrella of the MNRF). “ese agreements will often set out geographic boundaries between municipal and provincial forest ﬁre response areas. e agreements also allow our organizations to work together and sometimes share resources needed to suppress a ﬁre quickly. So although we do have our own geographic areas when responding to forest ﬁres, we support each other’s ﬁre response eﬀorts.”Holland says about half of all ﬁres in Ontario are caused by human activity, the other half are caused naturally by lightning. “Every ﬁre suppressed in Ontario receives an investigation to help determine the ﬁre’s cause,” says McCool.A huge factor in limiting the damage caused to property during ﬁres is through prevention and the use of the proper building and landscaping techniques. If a property owner is considering renovations, important changes to the roof like removing cedar shake shingles and replacing them with asphalt shingles can have a major impact on the ﬁre resistance of a structure, says McCool. Moving from single to double pane windows can also increase the heat resistance of your windows and reduce the risk of them failing from the heat of an encroaching forest ﬁre. A big part of the role of reghters is educating the public about issues surrounding res including everything from leaving a re unattended to restrictions on burning, says Bracebridge acting deputy chief/re prevention ocer Mike Peake.The proximity of trees and brush to buildings in Muskoka poses a concern to reghters for the spread of re to adjacent properties and buildings.Photograph: Gravenhurst Fire DepartmentPhotograph: Andy ZeltkalnsAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 13

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14 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021Royal VictoriaRegional Health CentreMuskoka residents who call 9-1-1 with heart attack symptoms may be taken directly to RVH in Barrie· chest discomfort · neck and jaw discomfort · nausea · sweating · shortness of breath · light-headedness An advanced cardiac team is ready and waiting at RVHto deliver specialized care.Always call 9-1-1. Never take yourself, or your loved one, to hospital. NEWKnow the signs:rewiring • alterations • heatingNEVER be left in the DARK or COLD:Call Mike Morrow705.765.3195get a quality home standby generator by GENERACwww.morrow-electric.comServing Muskoka Lakes since 1952 ESA License #: 7000286“Even small changes around your property can have a major impact,” says McCool. “Ensuring that the immediate 1.5 metre area around your structure is free of combustible material, can reduce the ﬁre’s ability to spread to the structure.”Sheathing deck openings, using spark arrestors on chimneys or thinning and pruning conifer trees that fall within 10 to 15 metres of your structure can all help increase resilience to a forest ﬁre, says McCool.Both the local departments and the MNRF are strong advocates of the FireSmart program (www.ﬁresmartcanada.ca) when it comes to prevention techniques. “We really encourage all of our road and lake associations to take a look at the FireSmart Program,” says Doug Holland. “ere’s great advice on how to maintain your property and also potential funding available.” According to FireSmart, the roof is the most vulnerable component of your home. Sparks and burning embers from a wildﬁre can travel long distances and quickly ignite ﬂammable rooﬁng material. A Class A ﬁre-rated roof assembly oﬀers the best protection. Examples of Class A rooﬁng material include clay tile, concrete tile, metal and asphalt shingles.With the exception of the roof, siding material is the structural component most vulnerable to wildﬁre. Combustible debris can accumulate at the vents and openings on your home and be ignited by embers during a wildﬁre.Some types of construction materials, such as vinyl siding, can With vast areas divided by lakes, Muskoka Lakes Fire Department has 10 re stations.Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns

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melt when exposed to high temperatures, allowing the ﬁre to reach the underlying wall components and penetrate the interior of the building. Stucco, brick, ﬁbre cement boards/panels and poured concrete all oﬀer superior ﬁre resistance.When it comes to yard maintenance, Holland says it’s important to take steps like trimming low-hanging coniferous branches and raking up pine needles.“Essentially clearing out anywhere ﬁre can travel,” he says. East of Muskoka Lakes Township in Bracebridge, the volunteer ﬁre department faces a diﬀerent set of challenges as they incorporate both the urban area, which includes pressurized ﬁre hydrants, and the rural area where water must be collected from lakes, ponds and rivers.“e majority of the time that we’re called out, it’s simply about educating people,” says Mike Peake, the acting deputy chief/ﬁre prevention oﬃcer for the Bracebridge Fire Department. “at could be about the current ﬁre danger rating or letting people know they can’t leave their ﬁres without 705-646-2508excelrailings.caLiving in forested areas requires taking steps to mitigate the threat of res, explains Douglas Holland, re prevention ocer for the Township of Muskoka Lakes. The Muskoka Lakes department is ready with backpacks and an array of equipment to ght bushres.Photograph: Andy ZeltkalnsAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 15

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16 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021GBSContracting Inc.properly extinguishing them. However, it can be a lot more serious. For instance, last year, we were called to ﬁght a 17-acre ﬁre that had started from a garage on Santa’s Village Road.”Peake points out that there is no daytime burning between April 1 and October 31. He encourages everyone to check their municipal open-air burning bylaws, which dictate what and when you can burn. It is also essential to check the ﬁre danger rating before starting any ﬁre, as they can change from day-to-day.“A lot of people don’t realize that the ﬁre danger rating isn’t just an arbitrary decision we make,” says Peake. “It’s essentially a formula that comes from the MNRF and takes into account eight to 10 diﬀerent factors including everything from moisture ratings to temperatures and precipitation.”Although the threat of ﬁres can never be completely eliminated, the more Muskokans educate themselves on the current ﬁre danger conditions and learn to incorporate landscaping and building practices that limit the spread of ﬁres, the more we can limit the potential threat they pose to property and person.While the number of lakes in Muskoka provide a ready source of water to ght res, they also pose a challenge when the properties are accessed by water. Departments like the Township of Muskoka Lakes deploy reboats as part of their strategy to ght res.Photograph: Muskoka Lakes Fire Department

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18 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021Camp Pinecrest has the greatest heritage of canoeing in Muskoka. I say this as a “survivor”, “graduate”, “alumni” or whatever the proper term is for someone who has spent many summers at the 111-year-old camp, near Torrance.ere are other camps in Muskoka and nearby that would argue that claim but paddling in a canoe has always been a central experience at Pinecrest. e canoe and tripping is still a central component of most lakeside camp programs and Camp Pinecrest is probably the most traditional in that respect. Founded in 1910, it still proudly uses and maintains the very ﬁrst canoes ever purchased for camper use. e camp’s logo bears the portaging canoe.While the canvases may have been replaced a few times over the last 100 years, the canoes are put to the test every summer during the annual Pine Crest Games when the Voyageurs are pitted against the Lumberman. A ﬂaming, pivoting “L” or “V” indicates the winning team in the end. Unlike Hollywood’s take on summer camping, one comes away with life-changing experiences. I still have the paddles I carved and painted. ere won’t be a camper, who leaves a dock in a canoe for the rest of their lives, who doesn’t think about canoe craft and paddle craft in all its forms. e camp, which continues to own 650 acres of wilderness property on Gull Lake and Clear Lake, has adapted over the years but the core values of wilderness camping skills remain strong.Summer camps play a big role for serving up the outdoors to city and cottage folk, alike, but the heritage of canoeing has a much older origin. e rivers and lakes of Muskoka were its ﬁrst highways. Paintings by Krieghoﬀ, Verner, Paul Kane and Francis Ann Hopkins romantically portrayed birchbark canoes in many settings. Hopkins completed her iconic works in the 1870s. ese were remarkable images for a woman of the time to have created and they continue to serve as reminders of the intensity and signiﬁcance of the fur trade, water Freighter canoes, built by Peterborough Canoe Company and Lakeeld Canoe Company, could be substantial cras, capable of carrying large loads and taking a small outboard motor.Article and Photography by Tim Du Vernet

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transportation and colonial energy. Shooting the Rapids in a freight canoe has likely appeared in every elementary school history book since the turn of the previous century. e Muskoka Steamships and Discovery Centre (MSDC) in Gravenhurst has an extensive display that focuses on the ancient highways of Muskoka. Canoe lore and romanticism have been furthered by the likes of Bill Mason, Hap Wilson and others. e Canoe: a living tradition, by John Jennings (2002) is a wonderfully comprehensive look at canoes of all kinds and locations. Perhaps one of the most extensive compilations of Indigenous craft was by Edwin Tappan Adney and Howard Chapelle, Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America, published in the 1960s. e freight canoes used by the Hudson’s Bay Co. were an extension of the smaller and lighter birchbark canoes created by Indigenous peoples of Canada. Ben Cousineau, cultural representative for Rama First Nation, near Orillia, explains when the French showed up, they brought their big, heavy, wooden boats. ey quickly learned – through watching Indigenous people – that those boats wouldn’t suﬃce. e light and versatile birchbark canoes, in use for probably thousands of years, were easily navigable and most importantly, able to be portaged. Cousineau also explains that a skilled canoe builder could make one in a fairly short time; thus, they were able to leave canoes if the portage would be too long and simply built another at the next body of water. e French adapted the canoe into the voyageur canoe, capable of transporting many people and just as important to them – many goods and furs for trade.e Wabinaki Chiman is a classic Anishinaabe design that has been copied by many of the big names in canoe building. Patched with bear fat and pine pitch, the repair kit is readily available in our forests. Ron Riddell at the MSDC believes the ﬁrst canvas covered canoe may have been built by a Cree native who used canvas instead of birchbark. Stanley Sarazin of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, near the eastern side of Algonquin Park, made canoes in the same way as his ancestors, using a single tree. “I would look for a tree that I could not quite wrap my arms around,” said Sarazin. Showing me with his arms, it meant a gap of about two feet. In its simplest form, stakes Canoeing races have been a part of community regattas throughout Muskoka for generations where rivalries can result in muscle-straining competition.The rst watercra in Muskoka were canoes made of bark, especially birchbark, by members of Muskoka’s Indigenous community.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 19

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ﬁrst time. When reﬂecting on the diﬀerent routes, Hiley believes the North Bay to Mattawa race would deﬁnitely have been interesting. “A few shallow rocky areas, rough portages and 60k of paddling would probably take a day in a birchbark canoe rather than the sub six hours we would race it,” says Hiley.e milling of wood and tough woven fabrics like canvas, changed the construction of canoes. Among the earliest canoes built in Muskoka by non-Indigenous builders, were plank canoes. It is often diﬃcult to identify the precise origin of the oldest canoes because they were such a commonplace and heavily used watercraft. e “W.C.” Cunningham canoe in the Muskoka Lakes Museum collection was locally built and well documented by Ila Cunningham Commandant. is canoe is a cedar canvas design made using British Columbia cedar by Mac Cunningham in Bala.e museum has a collection of very old canoes including birchbark canoes in its First Nations gallery. e area in Port Carling across from the museum was at one time known as the “Indian Village.” Director/curator Courtney Provan explains that many Indigenous groups have used the area as a camping and ﬁshing grounds. Before the large and small boat locks were built, an uncontrolled ﬂow of rapids connected lakes Rosseau and Joseph with Lake Muskoka. Going fast in a canoe has been a popular pursuit for decades, especially at regattas held in Rosseau, Foot’s Bay and by the Muskoka Lakes Association. Provan explains the story behind Allistair Mackenzie’s unusual Peterborough-built, race-winning canoe and Tickets & Information1-866-687-6667WWW.REALMUSKOKA.COMMUSKOKA WHARF, GRAVENHURSTCRUISE & DISCOVER!CRUISE & DISCOVER!Featuring:Amazing CruisesStunning ExhibitsFamily ActivitiesPrivate EventsRon Riddell, a canoe expert at Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst, explains the details of this Peterborough sailing canoe. Oering the opportunity to utilize wind power in addition to human muscle power for propulsion, it could move quite fast.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 23

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24 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021paddle from pre-1916 are on display at the Muskoka Lakes Museum. is strange looking canoe is completely V-shaped and was paddled with a double-bladed paddle. According to records, after winning too many races, he wasn’t permitted to race. is canoe is strikingly similar in design to the Walter Dean canoe at the MSDC, which was also a specialty racing design and paddled with a double-bladed paddle. Curiously, today, a canoe is seldom paddled in this way. For several years, Will Ruch and Mike Schumaker teamed up as Sundance Canoes to make race-ready canoes for regattas and recreational classes. ese canoes matched the required speciﬁcations for recreational racing while aiming to be light, fast and easily portaged. Will Ruch also specialized in re-canvassing canoes and building new canoes at his shop that was once located on the Joe River. Recognizing the central role of the canoe in Muskoka, Ditchburn Boats, famous for its long deck launches and race winning speed boats, built canoes in its earliest days out of the Ditchburn House in Rosseau. e Muskoka Lakes Museum may have an early and rather crude example of a Ditchburn canoe. is is in contrast to the elegant, planked version at the MSDC where Ron Riddell, unoﬃcial canoe expert, can tell many stories about the variety of canoes on display. One unusual design at the MSDC is a single seater sailing canoe. With no lee-boards or centre board, this very light craft had a rudder and tiller that could be operated by pedals. It must have been very tippy and fast. Another canoe, known as the “courting canoe,” which has seats that reclined, could be paddled by either party. You can just imagine a couple gracefully ﬂoating along a calm stream or shore, one reclined with lace umbrella and perhaps glasses to be ﬁlled with spirits. e canoe, whether it’s made of carbon ﬁbre, canvas or planked, is an icon deeply connected with the history of all Canadians. e canoe connects the vision, adventures and challenges of navigating our wilderness waters with the ancients who relied on the canoe for so much more than recreation.This W.C. Cunningham canvas canoe from the Muskoka Lakes Museum in Port Carling was locally built from British Columbia cedar.

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26 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021CONNECTING WITH OUR ROOTSAND MUSKOKA’S NATURAL BEAUTYArticle by Meghan Smith / Photography by Josianne MasseauMuskoka is ﬁlled with tranquil settings and escapes for young and old alike. Travelling through the area, among the natural beauty of the changing landscapes, farms with white fencing, pastures of cattle and horses stand as a tangible connection to the District’s earliest days of settlemente sight of horses in ﬁelds, grazing as the sun and mist rise, is a peaceful image. Seeing horses and riders while driving on quiet roads in the region gives the impression of returning to simpler times, when horse travel was the predominant mode of transport. Muskoka is host to many farms, a number of which focus their business on equine activities.Winding Fences Farm, located in Windermere, is a 200-acre working farm with a wide array of animals raised on site and crops grown for sale. With her over 50 years of riding experience, Diane Wiber and her husband, Willi, oﬀer guided trail rides through the forest trails, quiet country rounds and farm ﬁelds, as well as on-property camping and outdoor boarding facilities for horses. Before heading out to enjoy the scenic and peaceful trails, Wiber begins the experience by teaching the basics of position for riding western. She ensures riders can control their horse’s movements, like stopping or halting, moving forward at a leisurely pace and turning both left and right. As soon as riders have the basics, the group heads out together for a guided trail ride, continuing to learn

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more skills during the ride.Searching for a farm that oﬀers trail rides is a common summer and fall activity for cottagers, visitors and locals. Exploring Muskoka via horseback oﬀers a diﬀerent vantage point, with riders often seeing ﬂora and fauna they have not encountered before. For those who venture to Maple Lane Farms for a trail ride, their unique trails run along the edge of their 50-acre cattle pasture, across bridges man-made and natural, through wooded areas and a recently seeded hayﬁeld. Located on Fraserburg Road in Bracebridge, Maple Lane Farms oﬀers a variety of services, including riding lessons, day camps, horse boarding and trail rides. Allison Roswell has owned Maple Lane Farms for six years but has worked and stabled her own horses at the facility for over 25 years. She recalls taking her very ﬁrst horseback riding lesson there as a 5-year-old, owning and boarding her ﬁrst horse at the age of 16 and working at the farm while in her high school years and early 20s. Several of the horses used in Maple Lane’s trail ride program are rescues, Roswell explains. ese horses may have been unsound, which means they have issues that make them unsuitable for competitive riding, but trail riding provides a job they can do comfortably. Instilling in all of their riders that the horses’ care and well-being comes ﬁrst is a focus for Roswell and her coaches at Maple Lane. Riders learn the age, breed and other details of their mount before they ever get on in order to help build a bond between horse and rider. Roswell focuses on horsemanship, teaching riders to properly brush and tack their horse, ground work or handling the horse, such as how to correctly ask the horse to back up when the rider is holding them on the ground. Every week students can expect to learn about diﬀerent skills and disciplines, from jumping to trail, which is a discipline that requires the horse and rider to navigate obstacles, such as riding through water or opening and closing gates while mounted. Roswell’s varied coaching curriculum for students means that, even when it may be too hot to ride, learning new skills and building the bond between horse and rider can continue. Seeing horses while driving on quiet Muskoka roads gives the impression of returning to simpler times, when horse travel was the predominant mode of transport.Engaging in a riding experience is an opportunity to build bonds with the equine partner.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 27

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ere are opportunities for anyone to enjoy the company of horses. Horse-crazy children can enjoy summer day camps, immersing themselves in farm-life for a day or a week. Adults who have fond memories from childhood pony rides or riding competitively as a child can return to a hobby that brings challenges and joy. Lesson programs at riding facilities in Muskoka cater to all sorts of riders, from beginners to competitive to special needs. Lesson horses, each with their own history, personality and quirks, are the key to a great riding school. Jason Milburn, owner of Muskoka Horse Co Inc., comments that a good lesson horse is priceless. Muskoka Horse Co Inc. oﬀers a lesson program, along with boarding and training facilities for English disciplines. Milburn has taught for over 25 years, coaching students at all levels, particularly in the hunter and jumper disciplines. e riding school, or lesson school, is the key focus for Milburn, ensuring students learn the basics in a safe, successful way. Progressing too quickly, without building a strong foundation of equitation, or riding skill and horsemanship, can create challenges for a rider, a horse and their coach. Horseback riding, at any age and any level of experience, is an opportunity to learn more. Horses are large animals. e more time spent among them only solidiﬁes that there is always more to learn, from your horse and your coach or trainer. Engaging in a riding experience is also a chance to build bonds with the equine partner and socially, among fellow barn-goers. While children may clamour eagerly for pony rides and ask for a pony for Christmas, riding is not just for kids. More and more, especially with restrictions on travel, adults are returning to or trying new hobbies for the ﬁrst time. Adults who rode as children or teens are now returning to their passion for horses. Or, for those who never had the occasion to try riding a horse, have time to give it a try.Kelly List, owner of KJ Equestrian Services, has a love for teaching and coaching. With her background in eventing, List is 28 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021MODERN HOME CARPET ONE350 Ecclestone Drive • Bracebridgecarpetonebracebridge.caTAYLOR CARPET ONE30 Cairns Crescent • Huntsvilletaylorcarpetonehuntsville.comHARDWOOD • LAMINATE • VINYL PLANK & TILE • VINYL ROLLS CARPET • CERAMIC • NATURAL STONE & MOREFloors forHome & Cottage705.645.2443705.789.9259While children may clamour eagerly for pony rides, more and more, adults are trying riding for the rst time.

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one-day event or over three or four days, with the combined scoring of each discipline resulting in the ﬁnal standings. e discipline has its roots in cavalry training, testing the mastery of several types of riding for use in battle. For competitive riders, a coach with successful coaching and riding experience in the show ring is invaluable. Having knowledge of the technical aspects of competing, as well as the emotional, physical and mental fortitude necessary to succeed helps coaches to support their students in the show ring. Jeralyn Skinner, owner and head coach of Fox Brook Farm, located on Ziska Road in Bracebridge, has extensive coaching and riding experience in a variety of disciplines. As a full-service boarding and training facility, Skinner focuses her experience on developing comprehensive programs, speciﬁcally geared to the success of each horse and rider at Fox Brook Farm. With indoor and outdoor arenas for riding, Skinner can work with her students year-round to achieve goals and prepare for competition. While most stables are located on 30 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021705.645.4294 TF: 866.645.4294STORE: 228 TAYLOR RD., BRACEBRIDGEOFFICE: 1646 WINHARA RD., GRAVENHURSTSales & Service of MajorPropane Appliances(refrigerators, ranges, fireplaces, furnaces & more)Safe & reliableNo electricity requiredBulk propane deliveryto your home or cottageAppliancesInstilling in riders the care and well-being of horses comes rst is an important part of developing a relationship in the riding partnership.Exploring Muskoka via horseback oers a dierent vantage point, with riders oen seeing ora and fauna they have not encountered before.

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properties of signiﬁcant size, not all oﬀer trail rides to the public. Operations like Fox Brook Farm, KJ Equestrian and Muskoka Horse Co Inc. have pastures and trails available for boarders keeping their horse on the premises. Enjoying the outdoors can connect a rider to both their horse and their surroundings. Horseback riding is less commonly seen as a form of exercise. Whether for pleasure or for competition, anyone who has ridden a horse, one time or many, will agree that the horse is not the only one doing the work. Navigating even a quiet trail takes focus and using arm, leg and core muscles that are activated in few other workoutsHorses are humbling creatures. eir quiet nature can provide comfort and support. However, they can also scare at sudden moves or unexpected loud noises. Being around horses requires a rider to pay close attention to themselves, their actions and their surroundings. However, seeing Muskoka by horseback is a view unlike any other. While the terms hunter, jumper, dressage, eventer, trail and western pleasure may mean little to the average person, those immersed in the horse world can rattle oﬀ every diﬀerence among the disciplines. e similarity? A love of horses and the bond between a horse and rider. When you shop in our store...you’re supporting the work of local artisans, writers, craftspeople and other Muskoka businesses.When you shop in our store...When you shop in our store...When you shop in our store...When you shop in our store...28 MANITOBA STREET, BRACEBRIDGESHOP ONLINEwww.uniquemuskoka.comAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 31

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32 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021Helena Renwick is a Renaissance woman with unstoppable energy. No matter how many diﬀerent hats she wears, there’s one common thread: creativity. Whether she’s painting sets for theatre productions, being a voice in town politics or expressing her talent as a painter, she’s thinking outside the box. Not too many artists can strike a good balance between creativity and business, but Renwick lives in both worlds.After 14 years as general manager of the Huntsville BIA, Renwick stepped down to focus on her bid for town council. “I was so close,” she recalls. “I only lost by 100 votes. So that’s when I made the big decision to return to painting full time. I do miss working with the chamber of commerce and the BIA though, because I still have so much I want to give to this town.”Trying to keep up with all the roles Renwick plays for the Huntsville community is a bit dizzying. She became involved with Hunter’s Bay Radio which gave her another avenue to explore, and she loved being on the radio, interviewing people and learning about them. Among other endeavours, Renwick was president of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts for two years. She and her husband Cameron were also raising three children, which certainly added to the palette of her life. And all the while, she never stopped painting.Article by Bronwyn BoyerPhotography by Kelly HolinsheadHelena Renwick has worn many hats in the community. No matter how many she wears, there’s one common thread: creativity.

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e need for a creative outlet drives almost everything Renwick does. “Painting is my outlet now,” she says, “But before that it was creating events downtown. For me, combining food, music and street art is like combining colours in a painting.” Politics is another way Renwick channels her creative energy, because she comes up with creative solutions most politicians wouldn’t consider. Renwick draws on her experiences as an artist to be an advocate for the vast arts and music community that Huntsville holds. “Art is a reﬂection of our time,” says Renwick. “Art is music, food, theatre and so many diﬀerent things. Huntsville is well-known because of its creative community. e Huntsville Festival of the Arts puts us on the map. It’s so important.”Renwick felt that creative energy of the area the moment she arrived, the same energy the Group of Seven must have tapped. It’s a natural habitat for painters. “As soon as we got here, it felt like home,” she recalls. “It’s a small town with big life, so much inspiration in the rocks, trees and water. e possibilities are endless.” Renwick’s husband Cameron, an orthotist, made the decision to move to Huntsville from Toronto when he realized there were no orthotics clinics between Barrie and Muskoka. His stepfather had a cottage on Bella Lake, so the area was already familiar. “All I knew about it at the time was that it was near Algonquin Park,” Renwick recalls. “But it just felt right.” When she started working at the Algonquin eatre in 2005, it opened the door to all kinds of connections. Algonquin eatre had just opened when Renwick arrived. She started at the box oﬃce and worked her way up to house manager with Karin Terziano, currently the mayor of Huntsville. From there, she joined the chamber of commerce, and then the BIA. But the one thing Renwick can’t seem to go without is working with brushes, canvas and bright, bold colours. “I’ve always been a painter,” says Renwick. “But until now I didn’t have the chance to do it as much. But it gets me in that ‘zone.’ It’s the feeling of the brush in my hand; it’s something I can’t describe, but it feels so natural. I’ll ﬁnd an image that I love and then make it my own. I don’t think about it, I just do it.”Lately, Renwick has been focusing on landscapes and larger paintings. She says she’s still learning what her style is. She thrives on change and experimentation, trying on various subjects and techniques as she goes. She loves to paint trees because they’re always evolving, just like people. We never stop learning and growing.Painting has become Helena Renwick’s current outlet for creativity with her work dominated by bright, bold colours.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 33

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34 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021MUSKOKA’S LUXURY SHOPPING EXPERIENCE 705.762.5757 Main Street Bala 3138 Hwy 169 Bala, ON#gooverboard #comeplayinmyclosetere are many nuances of emotion that are better expressed through colour than words. Renwick uses music as the analogy for explaining the experience of painting. Just like musical notes, diﬀerent colours express diﬀerent emotions. Yellow is the feeling of joy, but there are so many feelings within that feeling. Snow can express endless feelings, because it can have such diﬀerent colours, shades and shadows cast on it. “e longer you look at something, the more it changes,” Renwick says. “When you see something with your mind’s eye instead of your physical eye, you’re reading more than just colours and shapes. It’s just like with people – you think you know a person until you start talking to them on a deeper level, and then you see their true colours.”Renwick tackled the COVID-19 blues with her Self Isolation Portrait Project, a series of portraits painted from photographs. “I love learning about the true energy of a person,” she says. “ere’s so much expression and movement in people’s faces. Just like landscapes, with the way the water ﬂows around the tree roots… it’s all energy.”ere’s something visceral and immediate about the experience of painting. e way the brush moves on the canvas and the palette, how even the most subtle change can make all the diﬀerence. “Sometimes it just ﬂows, and other times it’s a struggle to ﬁnd what you’re trying to say,” she explains. “Like playing music, it depends on the mood, and the depth of the connection between my brush and my brain. “When I’m not thinking about it, that’s when it ﬂows. Sometimes it takes awhile, and I have to push through an ugly phase. I might come out the other side, or I might just give up and start a new piece.”Renwick describes herself as a people person. She gets her energy from having her ﬁnger on the pulse of the town she At a young age, Helena Renwick made puppets, drawings and signs for people driving by. That might be an early inspiration for the paintings in the miniature art gallery at the bottom of her driveway in Huntsville.

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loves, contributing in any way she can. “Having my art downtown has been wonderful,” she says. “I’m not an introvert at all. I love meeting new people and learning from them. And I think I have a talent for politics because I don’t get riled easily when there’s conﬂict. I don’t sweat the small stuﬀ.” Renwick’s parents were immigrants from Amsterdam with no English skills and very little money. ey had family in Calgary, where Renwick was born. Her mother, Lucienne, is a wood carver, still making beautiful carvings in her 80s. Her father Loek was a potter and a talented craftsman who believed in ﬁxing things instead of replacing them. ey encouraged Renwick and her two brothers to be innovative and ﬁnd ways to channel their creative energy. In their house, boredom was the mother of invention. At a young age, Renwick would make puppets, drawings and paint signs for their tree forts and for people driving by. at might be an early inspiration for the miniature art gallery at the bottom of her driveway in Huntsville. “I just wanted to give people walking by something fun and interesting to look at,” she says. When Renwick was seven, her father’s job at Imperial Oil was transferred to Sarnia, where she grew up. en at 18, she moved to Toronto to pursue a degree in ﬁne art; ﬁrst at York University, then later the University of Toronto. In between, she studied theatre production at Ryerson University. Her education gave Renwick the tools she needed to express her creativity. “You have to learn the rules in order to break the rules,” she explains. “Picasso was classically trained but many people didn’t understand cubism, or why he was doing it. It The wood carving in the background was created by Helena Renwick’s mother who is still making beautiful carvings in her 80s.dfs_designWHERE SPACE TAKES SHAPE416.909.0147info@dfsdesign.caCreating beautiful, functional interiors that are a reﬂ ection of your unique style.Serving Muskoka, G.T.A., Niagara & CollingwoodAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 35

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36 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021BATH & KITCHEN SHOWROOMDESIGN. INSTALLATION. REPAIRSERVING ALL OF MUSKOKA279 MANITOBA ST, BRACEBRIDGE705.645.2671KNOWLESPLUMBING.COM @MUSKOKABATHTHE RIOBEL MOMENTI™ COLLECTION AVAILABLE AT KNOWLES PLUMBING!279 Manitoba Street, Bracebridge 705.645.2671 @knowlesplumbing @knowlesplumbing @knowlesplumbingBATH & KITCHEN SHOWROOMSALES•INSTALLATION•REPAIRSERVING ALL OF MUSKOKAknowlesplumbing.comMuskoka’s Bath & Plumbing Centrewas all about creating something new.” During her time in Toronto, Renwick’s love of painting large scale murals was spent at Roy omson Hall, painting sets for theatre productions. Set painting requires an extra skill set because the stage lighting changes colours quite drastically. e spontaneity of movement is vividly felt in Renwick’s work, as well as her life. She doesn’t have to travel far to explore the depths of her imagination. She conjures rushing rivers, serpentine tree roots and striking colours that cause the viewer to step inside the scene for a while and dream. Whatever the endeavour, forward movement and evolution keep her inspired. “I like to create and put on an event, then move on. Finish a painting, sell it, then start the next one. I like change and having new things to learn.” Like a river, inspiration never ﬂows the same way twice. ere’s no telling where Renwick’s creativity will take her, but it will certainly be fruitful. Currently, her paintings are displayed at e Great Vine in Huntsville. The spontaneity of movement is vividly felt in Helena Renwick’s work, as well as her life. Whatever the endeavour, forward movement and evolution keep her inspired.

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e 3,000-square foot, $850,000 Indigenous display will occupy upper-level space in the exhibit hall, now reaching advanced stages of construction. Two other stellar features being housed there are Wanda III, the century-old Eaton Family steamer now part of the Muskoka Steamship’s ﬂeet, in a custom-built slip beﬁtting her status; and Landscape Forged a Nation, a ground-level 5,000-square foot, $1.1 million exhibit about the land’s imprint on the social, cultural and economic life of Muskokans. e common element in all three is making the past part of the present, in the belief that a new way forward through convergence and fresh approaches is not only possible but highly desirable. e exhibit hall structure extends from the shore into Muskoka Bay, an arm of Lake Muskoka long central to regional history. Here was the “carrying place” or portage between central Muskoka’s watershed and the Severn River, used by Indigenous travellers connecting to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, or travelling north from lakes Ontario, Simcoe and Couchiching. Here hummed more than a dozen sawmills, busily turning the adjacent town into “Saw Dust City.” Here, the Grand Trunk Railway’s terminal conveyed vacationers from the south to steamships for their summer estates and Muskoka’s lakeside resorts. Here is the home port of R.M.S. Segwun, North America’s last operating steamship.e 12,000-square foot building took shape as a large crane, positioned at the waterfront, swung massive, laminated timber beams into position. Gary Williams of Timber Systems Ltd. took strong interest in the heavy timber design, working with Architect Trevor McIvor to ensure plenty of exposed wood for a contemporary-yet-rustic Muskoka look. John Miller, president of Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre, has skillfully piloted both Wanda III’s electriﬁcation and construction of the Gravenhurst facility’s 50-per cent expansion in size to 37,000-square feet through hazardous shoals, while simultaneously maintaining regular operations through COVID constraints. He now “looks forward to the day we open our outstanding additions to the Discovery Centre.”e lower-level gallery, Landscape Forged a Nation, will entertain, inform and engage visitors as they discover Muskoka’s life and culture from a peoples’ perspective and within an overarching environmental theme. is large exhibit’s story-telling approach will encompass settlement, agriculture, urbanization, leisure, tourism, cultural activity, community life and industry. Landscape Forged a Nation is about conﬂuence, too – being designed to prompt cross-cultural awareness.“e open concept gallery plan will allow visitors to circulate freely,” explains Catherine King, a Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre board member focused on visitor experience, “exploring and taking in content at their own pace.” Haley Sharpe Design, a world-leading exhibit designing ﬁrm, won the competition to apply its award-winning collaborative and creative approach.e adjacent slip for Wanda III will help preserve a vessel of remarkable history. Pride of the prominent Eaton family at their Lake Rosseau summer estate, she Councillor Nemke Quarrington of the Chippewas of Rama, fanning the burning elements with an eagle feather to keep it alight, presents the smudge bowl before John Miller, president of the Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre, while Rama Councillor Tracey Snache looks on.Photograph: Lord Cultural ResourcesThe woman walking the curving blue line is “canoeing” the River of Time into the many sequential exhibits, up to the present, of the future entrance to the Misko-Aki exhibit in the Muskoka Discovery Centre. Le: This classic birchbark canoe, a remarkably versatile invention of people native to North America, is now in Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre’s priceless collection of heritage watercra. Photograph: Andrew FearmanAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 39

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40 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021was built in Toronto by Polson Iron Works during the First World War to be the fastest yacht in Muskoka and launched in early spring 1917 in these very Muskoka Bay waters. In 1930 she was purchased by Huntsville’s C.O. Shaw for his north Muskoka steamer ﬂeet, operating from 1931 to 1949 on Lake of Bays at his internationally renowned Bigwin Inn resort carrying many more prestigious people, including two future queens of e Netherlands. rough the 1950s to 1993, Wanda III had other Lake of Bays’ owners, including Sandy ompson, who devoted himself to her care, before she was purchased by Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre to sail alongside the Segwun and Wenonah II. On August 25, 1996, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and his wife Aline oﬃciated at her rededication ceremony . However, to meet today’s code requirements and to operate as a vessel when steam era machine parts and qualiﬁed engineers have now simmered into history required another venture into renewable heritage. Again, as a form of conﬂuence, Wanda III’s design and craftsmanship is being merged with present-day technology. Her steam engine being replaced by an electric motor that preserves the vessel’s visual appeal and aesthetic atmosphere of times past.Her 1917 engine will now be a signiﬁcant steam age artifact in one of the centre’s new exhibits. Muskoka Steamship & Discovery Centre had already pioneered such convergence when commissioning Wenonah II: a ﬁne replica of steam era ships in all respects – except for her modern diesel engine. Gary Getson, the intensely devoted chair of Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre, expresses pride in the past half-century’s accomplishments yet asserts, “To be sustainable, we need to be relevant at all times.” at insight launched the current venture of creating these radically refreshing and highly relevant displays of Canadian heritage – as shaped in Muskoka. e threshold requirement for pulling this oﬀ was a well-grounded relationship between First Nations and Muskoka Discovery Centre. Establishing a collaborative partnership took time. Over the past dozen years, the Chippewas of Rama participated with the centre in celebrating an annual canoe day. is relationship “fostered increasing trust over the last seven years,” recalls Ben Cousineau, the community’s researcher and archivist, as additional cultural information in Chippewa archives was shared with Discovery Centre operations manager Ann Curley. is led to a small ﬁsh weir exhibit and augmented exhibits about Muskoka’s hunting and ﬁshing grounds. Such incremental collaboration not only enhanced Indigenous presence at the centre and ensured that authentic stories were being told, it established threads of trust and collegiality.In the past two years, this relationship blossomed to create a unique Canadian exhibit on Indigenous heritage. A July 11, 2019, morning meeting at the centre enabled Chief Rodney Noganosh and members of the Rama Council to study the popular state-of-the-art Watershed Wonders exhibit, which already included First Nation components. en discussion turned to creating a new centrepiece Indigenous exhibit, a goal of those leading the centre. However, it became abruptly clear that, despite prior collaboration on one-oﬀ projects, the next step together should entail something important but nevertheless on a smaller scale – a sort of pilot project through which the relationship could truly be tested, and mutual trust earned.at September, Getson wrote Chief Noganosh reiterating the Discovery Centre’s vision of being a microcosm of Canadian experience – as reﬂected in Muskoka’s authentic story. “It is therefore essential that the Indigenous experience be included and properly presented to achieve that objective. Top: This unique image of Wanda III, built in 1917 for the Eaton Family by Polson Iron Works in Toronto to be the fastest steam yacht on Muskoka’s lakes, reveals her trim water-slicing hull design. Above: President of Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre John Miller board the Wanda III aer her much-delayed boathouse has become reality.Photographs: Jordan Waines

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As we have emphasized all along, we believe that the content for these stories needs to be under your control.” So the next step became a new Water Is Life exhibit, added at the entrance to the existing Watershed Wonders gallery, to portray Indigenous relationships with water from a First Nation perspective and reframe a visitor’s experience. Content was prepared by Ben Cousineau on behalf of the Chippewa community, and design was carried out, in partnership with other First Nation contributors, by Sunniva Geuer. Her prior work relating Indigenous heritage is featured in museums and galleries across Canada. As this work was proceeding, Getson, McGraw, and Patrick Boyer again met with Rama First Nation Council at the invitation of Chief Noganosh on September 10, 2019 to review possibilities for the proposed larger exhibit. By July 23, 2020, Chief Noganosh and ﬁve of Rama’s councillors returned to the Discovery Centre to view the completed Water Is Life exhibit and then tour the site for the proposed Misko-Aki centre. By this date, an instinctive consensus had emerged that this major undertaking would be more than worthwhile. With the state of aﬀairs in Canada, it was now deemed essential. “You would be hard-pressed to ﬁnd the kind of relationship anywhere across the country like we have with our friends in Muskoka,” Chief Ted Williams recently said, acknowledging the strong trust and healthy collaboration which had been fostered, including directly between himself and Getson.at same July day on the ﬂoor of the emerging structure, Elder Mark Douglas conducted a smudging ritual so the new building – and its purpose of telling Muskoka’s oldest story from a First Nations’ perspective – would be untroubled by negative energy. e transformative smudging ritual removes negative energy, enabling a fresh start. Smudge is created by burning one or more of sage, cedar, sweetgrass and tobacco – each a gift from Earth. Elders once prohibited photographing a smudging because taking pictures intrudes on the ceremony, distracts from its solemnity and creates images others could use and abuse. Just as the Misko-Aki exhibit itself will reveal much that is new to non-Indigenous people, Elder Mark Douglas allowed photos to be taken of this historic smudging ceremony. All present formed a circle and, one by one, the smudge bowl was presented before each person by Councillor Nemke Quarrington of the Chippewas of Rama. Bathing in the gentle smudge, by moving hands to direct it toward head and face, one could transcend the physical act by experiencing a ceremonial, spiritual cleansing. Progress on the building steadily continues. In December 2020 Indigenous leaders Williams of the Chippewas of Rama, Wahta Mohawk Chief Philip Franks and Wasauksing First Nation Councillor Vince Chechock, representing diﬀerent First Nation content-providers for Misko-Aki, saw ﬁrst-hand the construction progress of the new venue, and with their Discovery Centre partners contemplated design possibilities for the Indigenous exhibit site. rough the winter, defying conditions that normally stop construction, a bank of propane heaters pumped hot air through the enclosed building to allow work to progress and the poured concrete ﬂoors to cure, maintaining schedule for openings in 2022 and 2023. An interesting point of departure was the question of time. First Nations have long referred to beginnings in “the mists of time” or “since time immemorial” – meaning outside memory. Archeological artefacts in Muskoka, speciﬁcally those on Beausoleil Island, disclose Indigenous occupation dating back up to 7,000 years. So the Indigenous exhibit has to embrace far more history than a presentation of Euro-Canadian settlement, which got underway in Muskoka – a mere 170 years ago. Yet because the new exhibit Popular with visitors of all ages at Muskoka Discovery Centre, the interactive Watershed Wonders gallery incorporated, from its inception, signicant First Nation components. Here young visitors at the state-of-the-art exhibit learn about habitat and underwater marine life in Muskoka’s.Photographs: Andrew FearmanAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 41

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42 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021hall is considerably smaller than a football stadium, Misko-Aki curators and researchers have to select only key highlights for this exhibit. From the early archaic period after the ice sheets retreated northward, through the woodland era and forward to colonial intrusions, treaty making and contemporary times, the storytelling will reveal how Misko-Aki became a vital area in turns for the Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee and Métis. Muskoka’s engaging landscape aesthetics, life-sustaining natural resources and navigable waterways in all directions combined to make it a hub for Indigenous gathering and engagement, a venue where dramatic yet little-known histories unfolded.e “conﬂuence of cultures” is thus not only an ideal concept for presenting this larger Muskoka story, but it is also an ancient attribute of this district. Archeologist Brian Ross, who headed the decades-long Parks Canada dig on Beausoleil Island in Muskoka’s Georgian Bay Township, examined pottery artefacts showing “people from one group were integrating with another group, exchanging ideas and trying another’s pottery designs on their own. We see traits from one culture intermixed with another on the same vessel, so it’s deﬁnitely transitional. is exchange and interaction of ideas conﬁrms that there were distinctly diﬀerent peoples gathering here on Beausoleil Island.” As First Peoples canoed great distances to summer in Muskoka and beneﬁt from exchanges of gifts and in trade, convergence was occurring here – thousands of years ago.Next, for exhibit designers, is determining how many First Nations actually have current or ancestral connections to Muskoka. e 2012 report by Archeological Services Inc. for the District of Muskoka conﬁrmed eight such communities: Wahta Mohawks, Moose Deer Point First Nation, Beausoleil First Nation of Christian Island, Chippewas of Mnjikanning (Rama), Georgian Island First Nation, Wasauksing First Nation, the Huron-Wendat peoples and the Moon River Métis Council.Today’s provincial and municipal boundaries are irrelevant to much of this Muskoka regional history. Over extended time and for diﬀerent reasons, these nations migrated. When the Wendat people ﬁrst occupied the area around lakes Couchiching and Simcoe, some 5,000 years ago, they inherited the ﬁsh-harvesting weirs already built at the narrows between the two lakes. e structures had been built by a prior First Nation whose identity remains uncertain – so there was even a ninth, now ghostlike, aboriginal nation on lands now part of greater Muskoka. When the Wendat were driven out of their central Ontario territory by Iroquois warriors in the mid-1600s, the southern lands were occupied by Iroquoian peoples, while Anishinabeg tribes from further north gradually inhabited the northerly part of the former Wendat lands. ese Anishinabeg (or Ojibwe) people would in time become the various First Nation communities of Moose A delicate engineering operation was required to remove Wanda III’s 1917 steam engine. The original engine, having served so well for so long, will be an added heritage exhibit at the Muskoka Discovery Centre. Photograph: Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre28 MANITOBA STREETBRACEBRIDGE | 705-637-0204INTRODUCINGCanadian-MadeShop Onlineuniquemuskoka.comor In-StoreAPPAREL

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August 28 and 29, 2021 • 10 am to 5 pmThis year meet all 15 artists in ONE LOCATION atartistsofthelimberlost.ca2295 Hwy 60 between Limberlost Rd. and Tally-Ho Winter Park Rd. near Huntsville, OntarioHillside FarmHillside FarmHillside FarmHillside FarmDeer Point, Christian Island, Georgina Island, Wasauksing and Mnjikanning (Rama). e last-mentioned community, interchangeably known as the Chippewas of Rama, use the name Mnjikaning (Anishinaabemowin for “the place of the ﬁsh fence”) to identify themselves as keepers of North America’s oldest known ﬁsh weirs. e Chippewas are custodians of a heritage at least 6,000 years old. “Our ﬁsh weirs existed before the Egyptian pyramids were even built,” observes Chief Ted Williams. One of the oldest human developments in Canada, the Mnjikaning Fish Weirs are an oﬃcial Canadian Heritage site – as is Beausoleil Island. A third element to address in designing Misko-Aki is the status of First Nations today. In the exhibit, thousands of years of Indigenous history will lead up to how the saga continues to evolve as First Nations retain a vibrant presence in this region. In 2019, a succinct statement by the Ogemawahj Tribal Council, pertaining to Indigenous communities connected with greater Muskoka, expressed what this contemporary “conﬂuence of cultures” means: “We have a unique way of life, but also live in much the same way as members of neighbouring communities. Although we have special traditions, we generally eat, learn, shop and play in much the same way as other Canadians in southern Ontario. ere are many cultural groups that make up the fabric of Canada. We are one of those groups, but we have our own place in that fabric. We are one of the First Nations in this country and take great pride in that unique and special status. We consider ourselves to be forward-thinking and are proud of the steps we have taken to make sure we control our own aﬀairs.”Drawing all these elements into coherent and cohesive unity, for a state-of-the-art exhibit to engage and educate those who visit Muskoka Discovery Centre, is a team of Indigenous scholars and historians under the leadership of Waha:tsa Tim Johnson. A Mohawk member of the Six Nations near Brantford, Johnson for more than a decade oversaw upgrading of program and exhibition facilities at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. and its branch museum in New York City. His legendary programing and exhibiting talents, along with those of the design and construction team he leads for Misko-Aki, are enthusiastically focused on the Muskoka story. is team has been active for months now. It boasts experts in Indigenous exhibition development and museum management, Indigenous studies scholars, cultural and Indigenous language specialists, elders, artists and designers, many representing Indigenous peoples whose ancestors inhabited Misko-Aki. In short, Muskoka Discovery Centre has positioned itself at the leading edge of Indigenous museology, aligned with best practices, working to provide greater Muskoka with a profound expression of reconciliation in action.“Dealing with a region where several diverse Indigenous peoples inhabited and traversed the land, featuring a layered narrative of peace, punctuated by conﬂict and returning to peace, makes for a fascinating journey,” says Johnson, summarizing what a future visitor will experience when moving through the chronologic sequences of Misko-Aki. “Alongside that,” he emphasizes, “are the ever-present Indigenous values and Now framing the approach to the Watershed Wonders Gallery at Muskoka Discovery Centre is the additional Indigenous exhibit Water Is Life, installed in 2020.Representing 100+ Canadian Artists & Artisansoxtonguecraftcabin.com Sue Tupy, Big Red 54" x 48" acrylic Scott Barnim Pottery1073 Fox Point RdDwight, Lake of Bays705.635.1602Photograph: Andrew FearmanAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 43

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44 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021philosophies of being thankful for the natural world.” is remarkable story, he adds, is “geographically ﬁxed and involves the complex stories of Indigenous presence extending back thousands of years, through inhabitation by the Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabek, and Haudenosaunee peoples, up to the present.” Equally important for giving authentic local voice to First Nations heritage is a powerhouse Indigenous Advisory Circle whose communities have current and historical ties to Greater Muskoka which will be featured in Misko-Aki. Participants are Mark Biidaanakwad [Cloud Approaching] Douglas (Anishinaabe), Ben Cousineau (Anishinaabe), Jean-Philippe ivierge (Wendat), Karihwakéron Tim ompson (Mohawk), Gayadowehs LuAnn Hill-MacDonald (Mohawk), Erin Hadaway (Métis), and B. Jeﬀ Myiingan (Anishinabe.) eir cultural and historical knowledge, combined with strong ties to their communities and nations, make contributions by these authorities invaluable to the interpretive planning stages. Advisory Circle participant Karihwakéron ompson, a widely respected member of the Wahta Mohawk community, believes Misko-Aki “oﬀers the potential to build greater awareness and understanding about thousands of years of Indigenous history in the Muskoka region, to learn more about Indigenous world views and cultural practices, and how our identities as Indigenous people have persevered to the present day.” Indigenous people, especially youth, will be proud to see and learn more about their nations and heritage. Special features will engage children on ﬁeld trips. Families that share cultural experiences will depart Misko-Aki with much to discuss about the realities of Indigenous experience in Canada. So will Muskoka vacationers from abroad.Emphasis will be also given to the district’s distinctive landscape and how it drew Indigenous peoples and became a hub for gatherings, trading and cross-cultural interaction. In telling all this from Indigenous perspectives, a further goal is “to deliver an authentic experience, rooted in the original stories, environment, images, and objects of the Indigenous peoples of Misko-Aki.” Exceedingly well-focused and thematically interwoven, this exhibit will show ways Indigenous peoples have sustainably used greater Muskoka’s natural resources, “to Rick McGraw, chair of Muskoka Discovery Centre’s revitalization committee, and John Klinck, chair of the District of Muskoka, review progress at the worksite and discuss next steps.Photograph: Andrew FearmanCOMFORTABLE FASHION28 MANITOBA STREET, BRACEBRIDGE | 705-637-0204SHOP ONLINEwww.uniquemuskoka.com

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When a power outage strikes, SOMMERS RESIDENTIAL GENERATORSensure that your home or cottage automatically stays powered on.ECRA / ESA 7002295 • TSSA 000365522A full range of generators that can be custom built to suit your home or cottage’s speciﬁc needs, so you’ll always have standby power ready.705.765.0600 • www.sitelectric.com • Port CarlingMUSKOKA • PARRY SOUNDYour Source For All Your Electrical, HVAC,Backup Power And Home Automation Needs.inspire others to be responsible environmental stewards.” It will celebrate the inventiveness, creativity and strength of the region’s Indigenous populations when encountering colonization and encroachment by European settlers. Exhibits speciﬁcally appealing to children will feature hands-on activity and minds-on experience. As beﬁts a democratic society, visitors will go beyond passive consumption of information into the realm of participation, encouraged to contribute and to actively engage in experiences. Visitors will travel through time, as in a voyage by canoe through history, from “time immemorial” to the present, with a view to the future. Along this journey they will discover how Indigenous peoples travelled, hunted, lived, thought and cared for themselves and the land through countless centuries. Johnson describes the Discovery Centre’s work-in-progress as “exceptional,” creating a tangible expression of Indigenous heritage on the very ground where it took place. “Not only does it showcase how local people take up a national challenge,” he points out, “but also how local governments make themselves partners in this new national endeavour.”Muskoka’s District Government itself, like Muskoka Discovery Centre, displayed leadership by embracing this national mission even before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. e District developed one of Ontario’s ﬁrst archeological master plans for local government. A quarter-century ago it established a joint-notiﬁcation protocol with Moose Deer Point First Nation. By 2011, that principle was extended when the District and all local Indigenous communities formalized consultation as part of oﬃcial plan reviews. On December 30, 2019, key members of the collaborative eort to establish an Indigenous exhibit of national importance at Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst gathered to assess progress.Photograph: Sandy LockhartAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 45

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46 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021At that time, Muskoka District also commissioned a comprehensive report from Archeological Services Inc. on Indigenous history and archeological evidence of First Nations presence in the District, the project headed by Dr. Robert MacDonald, a leading authority whose close familiarity with Muskoka’s Indigenous heritage from that experience now makes him a pivotal member of Tim Johnson’s Misko-Aki team. In 2019, based on the information about Muskoka’s Indigenous realities in his seminal 2012 document, and keen to expand First Nation participation in local decisions which impact the entire community, the District next created the “Muskoka Area Indigenous Leadership Table.” is forum enables representatives of the District’s Indigenous communities and municipal representatives to meet and inform one another twice a year, hosted in rotation by the communities. At its November 14, 2019 gathering in Rama Community Hall, for instance, an update on the new Indigenous heritage exhibit at Muskoka Discovery Centre was presented to everyone at the Indigenous Leadership Table.As both meeting place and clearing house, this unique forum is already strengthening relations between Muskoka’s seven municipalities and eight Indigenous communities. “To date,” explains District Chair John Klinck, “the Muskoka Area Indigenous Leadership Table has endorsed several positive actions building stronger relationships and honouring the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.” ese range from Indigenous awareness training for municipal elected representatives and staﬀ, to establishing best practices for consultation protocols and shared-service agreements. In 2021, this spirit of collaboration moved Muskoka District Council to unanimously vote $175,000 in support of Misko-Aki. Eﬀorts to raise $7.4 million for the complete revitalization program tap public bodies, private concerns, family trusts and individuals, all of whom increasingly recognize Muskoka Discovery Centre’s pioneering leadership in Truth and Reconciliation. Philip Franks, Chief of the Wahta Mohawks in Muskoka, places Misko-Aki in the context Canadians reeling from 2021’s revelations that residential schools taught Indigenous children to dislike themselves for who they were, and cemeteries with unmarked graves treated as crime scenes. “e Muskoka Discovery Centre and the Misko-Aki project now in progress is an example of recognizing the history of Muskoka and, very importantly, the inclusion of not only the historical presence of Indigenous people but that of our culture,” says Chief Franks. “Such an endeavour will go far to assist in bringing to light aspects of our lives that often go unnoticed in the mainstream society. As we once again mourn the eﬀect of the residential school system in Canada, the realization for many of the horriﬁc method used to take the Indian out of the child has created broad and much-needed conversation for many through the country. “People often ask, ‘What can we do?’ It is very long road; there is not just one answer. What Misko-Aki will do is address something that has been missing in Canada, primarily but not limited to the education system. Creating a true awareness is not conﬁned to our schools. An awareness of Indigenous people and our accomplishments, despite a clash of two cultures, is so very important at this time. I am pleased and appreciate that the vision of Muskoka Discovery Centre is inclusive of Indigenous people in the past and today, and that this began prior to the latest developments with the recent revelations about children with no markings on their ﬁnal resting place.”“Misko-Aki is an example,” says Karihwakéron ompson, also a member of the Wahta Mohawk community, “of how we can work together in a good way. Perhaps it is a starting point to strengthen relationships between Indigenous peoples and all who value the sustainability of the land and waters and the preservation of all life of the region.” “Now more than ever it is imperative that Indigenous stories be told by Indigenous people,” says District Chair Klinck, “and the Muskoka Discovery Centre aims to provide the space for Indigenous communities to share their history, heritage, culture, and truth.” e head of Muskoka’s government sees both Water Is Life and the forthcoming Misko-Aki as ways of ensuring that district residents and visitors “can ﬁnally, and fully, understand the struggles and contributions of Indigenous people in Muskoka and beyond. is groundbreaking exhibit will move Muskoka toward meaningful reconciliation and help strengthen our communities.” James Bartleman, raised in Port Carling and a member of the Chippewas of Rama, was in Canada’s foreign service as ambassador to many countries. Ontario’s ﬁrst Indigenous Lieutenant-Governor, he ardently supports these eﬀorts to unveil and present the realities of First Nation experiences. On the importance of Misko-Aki and Life Is Water portraying Indigenous culture and experience, Bartleman states: “ese groundbreaking initiatives, by presenting Truth, will enable Reconciliation – an historic goal for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike.”ese new exhibits embody Muskoka Steamships & Discovery Centre’s quest to be an ever more vibrant and relevant cultural centre – not just a Muskoka attraction, but a compelling destination in our province and country, linked globally through its rapidly expanding presence in cyberspace. Preserving and extending Muskoka’s rich marine and land history, and presenting Muskoka’s diverse cultural and natural heritage through heightened recognition of the district’s deep Indigenous foundations, it provides leadership by example in a speciﬁc locale which is a microcosm of the nation.James Bartleman, a member of the Chippewa community at Rama, raised in Port Carling, and Ontario’s rst Indigenous Lieutenant-Governor, is ardent in his support for Misko-Aki.Photograph: Ofce of the Lieutenant-Governor

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Article by John Challis / Photography by Andy ZeltkalnsA few years ago, Kristie Virgoe went for a walk in the forest with her husband and a few friends. It was a walk ﬁlled with trepidation, a ﬁrst attempt to see whether time in the woods would help with her husband’s severe depression. He’d been coping with black periods for years, and medication was only a patch to resolve his worst impulses. Virgoe, a lifelong environmental professional and past executive director of Muskoka Conservancy, had trained in forest therapy. A growing body of science is showing how forests can alleviate stress, reduce blood pressure, boost immune system strength and just improve mood. Even doctors have begun prescribing forest walks for everything from treating hypertension to hasten surgery recovery.e practice of forest therapy involves long periods of time among the trees, walking slowly or sitting — simply waiting, as Virgoe says, for the brain to stop overworking and the body to start feeling. While they walked, Virgoe asked her husband if he’d like to sit on his own for a while by a river. He was apprehensive, feeling an urge to simply walk straight into the river. But she left him sitting on a rock for close to half an hour, contemplating. And something changed.“He said he realized the forest was telling him that it wasn’t his time,” Virgoe recalled. “at he needed to stop and take stock.” at may sound familiar. A lot of us have been retreating to the woods to escape the anxiety of the pandemic. With the spectre of COVID-19, Virgoe says, 48 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021

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“it became very clear how important forest therapy has been to our community. COVID has sent a lot of folks looking for an escape, a way of feeling a connection again.”Muskoka Conservancy’s Scott Young conﬁrms there has been a substantial increase in visits to their land trust trails. “We’ve picked up some buzz from our social media,” says Young. “We’ve seen it on wildlife cameras, and we’ve seen more footprints and snowshoe pack than ever.” Beyond the personal, there is enormous ecological and civic value to green space. Forests improve air quality. ey excel at capturing and storing carbon, the main ingredient behind climate change. Stands of green space around commercial and residential areas reduce runoﬀ from rainfall or snow melt. Trees are natural air conditioners, cooling hot summer air by as much as 10 degrees.Muskoka is fortunate to have an abundance of forests. Within the Muskoka River watershed (an area that is actually larger than the District Municipality of Muskoka), forests cover some 2,550 square kilometres. Volume alone is not a measure of forest health, however. In fact, it’s been known for years that Muskoka’s forests are not in peak condition. Forest transpiration rates are estimated to be 20 per cent lower than those in forests to the south of us. Transpiration is the process that draws water from the ground, through roots, up the cambium layer in the trunk and out to leaves, where it evaporates back into the air. It’s crucial for the feeding of nutrients to trees and their robust growth.e cause is something out of the distant past: acid rain. Into the late 1980s, acid rain leached nutrients, including calcium, from soil and water. Most living things in water and on land need calcium for cell growth, building bone or shell or exoskeleton. ere has never been much calcium in the rock of the Canadian Shield, so acid rain’s impact was severe. Industrial sources of acid rain have been reduced but Muskoka has remained calcium starved since. Dr. Norm Yan, who built an international reputation studying zooplankton in Muskoka’s lakes, says there has been, on average, a 25-per cent decline in calcium levels in the water. As much as half of the lakes in the district, particularly those in the north, now have calcium levels below the threshold required to maintain stable aquatic ecosystems. It isn’t shutting trees down, but it’s reducing their eﬃciency, a process Yan has referred to as “ecological osteoporosis.”is isn’t exclusive to Muskoka. In fact research has been going on throughout North America to determine ways of restoring calcium to forest habitats. In New Hampshire, more than 20 years of research has gone into their acid-rain stressed ecosystems. New Hampshire’s experiments with calcium deposits over forests, using helicopters, showed decades of forest decline could be reversed.Yan wondered what other, cost-eﬀective solutions might restore calcium to Muskoka’s forests. He hit on a brilliant option: wood ash. Since burned wood concentrates calcium stored in trees, it followed that putting it back on the forest ﬂoor would send it back to living trees. e Ash Muskoka project, organized by Friends of the Muskoka Watershed, has attracted substantial funding from a variety of sources. Academic support has come from several universities. Volunteers have been donating ash from their woodstoves for several years, and it’s being scattered by more volunteers. Local maple syrup producers oﬀered up their lots for initial trials, since sugar maple has the highest calcium demands of local tree species. More recently, a full-scale research eﬀort began at Camp Big Canoe using four diﬀerent plots of forest. ere, and at the sugar bush sites, various quantities of ash — at doses of two, four, six and eight tonnes per Background Photograph: Muskoka ConservancyDr. Norm Yan, who built an international reputation studying zooplankton in Muskoka’s lakes, says there has been, on average, a 25-per cent decline in calcium levels in the water. Working with others, Yan sees great hope in a plan to replace the calcium loss with wood ash.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 49

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hectare — are being scattered to learn what produces optimal results. While studying and analysis needs to be completed, the early results are exciting. Calcium from the ash is making its way into the soil. Maple seedlings have shown a 50 per cent increase of calcium in their stems and roots. e acidity in the soil was reduced by a factor of 10. Preliminary analysis of foliage showed an increase in calcium concentrations. Most intriguing was the sap production in a few maples that were tapped this spring. Where ash was deposited, the trees produced 70 per cent more sap than the trees in the control plot. Dr. Yan is guarded about the results, especially the sap production. He says many other factors must be eliminated before it can be conﬁdently asserted the ash is improving forest health. Nonetheless, the evidence is suggesting what he’d been forecasting: that the transpiration rates of the forest could be raised by 20 per cent – that same deﬁcit when compared to limestone-rich Southern Ontario forests – if calcium levels are restored. He is optimistic it will take about two tonnes of ash per hectare, applied just once, to completely restore the calcium to its natural levels in the soil. If those estimates are proved accurate, there becomes a more daunting challenge ahead: how to restore calcium to 2,550 square kilometres of forest in Muskoka. To seek large-scale assistance, Yan and the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed turned to Westwind Forest Stewardship. Most of the forest in Muskoka is privately owned, and since Westwind only manages Crown forests, its ability to help directly is limited, Westwind’s general manager Barry Davidson says. But, he says, they are throwing their weight behind funding applications, and working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to address regulations that might create barriers to wood ash application in Crown forests. ey’ve also supported government research, with a wood ash application study in a tract of Crown forest near Dorset. He adds that they can help with logistics as well – “some mechanical means to get the sheer volume of ash that’s required for larger areas.” 50 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021Burned wood concentrates calcium stored in trees. Putting it back on the forest oor sends it back to living trees.Hospice MuskokaCome Learn How You Can Help, Come Explore Who You Were Meant to BeFor more information, call 705-646-1697 or check out www.hospicemuskoka.comYour $300 “Buy a Brick” donation will fund:One bed, for one resident for one day at Andy’s House.Hospice Muskoka provides compassionate end of life care and support to individuals and their families, free of charge.DONATE TODAY www.hospicemuskoka.com 705.646.169790% OF CANADIANS WISH TO DIE IN A PLACE THAT FEELS LIKE HOME, BUT 75% DIE IN HOSPITAL.

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Tom Clark, a consulting ecologist with Westwind, says that they are working hand-in-hand with the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed in a new application for funds from the federal Climate Action and Awareness Fund. A forest that’s 20 per cent more robust will capture substantially more carbon, the main ingredient in greenhouse gas. It’s more eﬀective than planting more trees, he says. “If we can help our big trees to grow fast now, they will sequester a lot more carbon sooner than trees that we’re putting in the ground now. So, this is a much more targeted and eﬀective way of sequestering carbon.”All this research into forests is also of great interest to those who are concerned about Muskoka’s spring ﬂooding. e Muskoka Watershed Advisory Group was mandated following the spring 2019 ﬂoods to reduce the severity of spring ﬂooding in Muskoka, and “support the economic growth of the region.” is spring the province approved $4.25 million to bring the advisory group’s integrated watershed management plan into action. Forests have immense water needs. In e Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben noted that a tree needs 300 litres of water to make a kilogram of wood; a square kilometre of forest consumes about 2,509 cubic metres of water — an Olympic swimming pool’s worth — in a summer. Wohlleben was writing about European forests, but it’s a good reference point. And it suggests how much water Muskoka Cottage Developments Inc. muskokabuilds.com with its sister company Ensō Innōvations Inc. enso-designs.com recently joined forces with Baysville’s Tooketree Passive Homes tooketree.com to be able to offer Muskokans sustainable, passive, and net-zero builds manufactured right here in Muskoka. Tooketree Passive Homes manufactures S.E.E.D (Sustainable, Ecological, Efcient, Durable) Building Systems to create energy-efcient, sustainable homes that meet Canada’s highest and most rigorous health and environmental standards.A NEW PARTNERSHIP HAS FORMED THE BEDROCKFOR A REVOLUTIONARY BRAND OF MADE-IN-MUSKOKA ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE COTTAGES AND HOMES.Muskoka Cottage Developments Inc. and Tooketree Passive Homes with the help of Ensō Innōvations Inc. plan innovative projects and their unique approach uses cutting-edge computational techniques that take advantage of articial intelligence, parametric design, simulation and optimization to evaluate thousands of possible design solutions, nding the right balance of trade-offs.” says Joshua Dias CEO, Muskoka Cottage Developments Inc. & Ensō Innōvations Inc. Because of the capacity of this newly formed partnership, they are also one of the only builders available to get started immediately for your one stop design/build home and cottage projects this summer. Together they are working to make buildings renewable and affordable by embracing principles of the circular economy.Cottage rendering provided byEnso Innovations Inc.The Ash Muskoka project, organized by Friends of the Muskoka Watershed, has attracted many volunteers who have been processing donated wood ash.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 51

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Muskoka’s forests consume. Chris Cragg of the Muskoka Watershed Council authored a report last year showing that half of the precipitation that falls on Muskoka in the warm months either evaporates or is absorbed by plants and trees. It’s then sent back to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration.Although some authorities are uncertain about the impact of a calcium-enriched forest on spring ﬂooding, Cragg is upbeat. He feels there could be signiﬁcant control of ﬂows with healthier forests, particularly upstream around the sub-watersheds of the north and south branches of the Muskoka River. “Slowing down the rate at which water gets into the upper lakes and then transfers into Lake Muskoka does produce water management beneﬁts due to timing,” he states. “e upper lakes, due to shorter ﬂow paths, respond faster to melt and rain events and ﬂow into Lake Muskoka.” Faster ﬂows tend to defeat the storage capacity created by drawing down water levels before spring melt. More signiﬁcant is the risk of losing forest. In his report, Cragg noted the runoﬀ from forested areas ranges from ﬁve to 20 per cent of the total during a rainfall event. In developed areas, as much as 80 per cent runs into ditches, storm sewers – or homes. Some municipalities in southern Ontario are now facing legal headaches after expanding their ﬂoodplains, partially because of climate change but also from forest lost to improperly planned development. Muskoka isn’t facing that trouble yet, but historically, construction has been allowed to proceed in areas that are ﬂood prone. Flooding is a natural part of the Muskoka watershed and was taking place long before waterfront homes and resorts were built. New development that removes forest may put existing waterfront structures in greater peril.Provincial funding for the integrated watershed management plan does not target forest recovery but MWAG chair Mardi Witzel notes there are funds to create a “natural capital inventory.” Witzel says the group sees this “as a foundational requirement for integrated watershed management – to catalogue and characterize the natural assets in the watershed.” Witzel adds she’s hopeful that more funds from the province may contribute to forest health in future as part of the overall strategy to keep the watershed ecosystem, and the economy that depends on it, vibrant and healthy. Landowners have a role to play, Cragg says. Re-naturalizing shorelines, adding trees and shrubs to lawns, even using rain barrels to catch runoﬀ from roofs, all contribute. And municipalities can help by encouraging green rooftops and permeable paved surfaces. For all that we know trees can do for humans and ecology, there remains a lot that is unknown. Science is just beginning to uncover the unique relationships between fungi and tree roots that are vital to the nutrition of both fungi and tree. e role of chemicals that trees send into the air is only partially understood. As understanding grows, perhaps in the future, authorities and governments may be able to think of trees and forests as something more than board feet. 52 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021While more studying and analysis needs to be completed on recent wood ash projects, the early results are exciting with signicant increases in maple sap production.Detailed records will provide insights on the impact of calcium replenishment in Muskoka forests.

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54 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021Muskoka Chautauqua marks 100 yearsFor 100 years, Chautauqua has brought cultural enlightenment, education and the arts to rural areas in Canada and now Muskoka Chautauqua is ready to celebrate. is year marks a century since the incorporation of the Canadian Chautauqua Institution and Muskoka Chautauqua plans to mark the occasion with a summer arts and culture festival in Windermere from August 6th to the 15th. “It’s still pretty similar to the way it was 100 years ago, near where it all started at Windermere House,” says Gayle Dempsey, who runs Chautauqua with Gary Froude. “At that time, we were just emerging from a pandemic and ready for the Roaring Twenties, and I feel like we’re ready for the Roaring Twenties again.”Chautauqua’s goal is to provide accessible, best-in-class, year-round arts, culture and heritage programming to residents and visitors of the Muskoka region, surrounded by nature on the shores of Lake Rosseau. Muskoka Chautauqua’s activities always ramp up during the summer months but this year, the centennial makes the occasion extra special.e line-up includes a visit from jazz artist e Morgan Childs Lakeside Quartet, the annual authors’ panel, the Hot Docs video documentary series amid many other planned activities.“It should be just amazing,” says Froude. “We should have the Toronto All-Star Big Band playing on the shore by Windermere House. at will be a boat-in event where people can pay what they want.”From an outdoor art gallery to a pop-up theatre in the woods, this year’s version of Chautauqua will likely resemble that of the original celebrations.Tobin Island on Lake Rosseau was the setting of the ﬁrst Chautauqua.e current iteration of Muskoka Chautauqua grew out of the Muskoka Lakes Music Festival, which began in 1997. Out of a need to expand beyond musical oﬀerings and upon the discovery of the historical Chautauqua in Muskoka, a multidisciplinary arts community was formed.Dempsey and Froude say they’re grateful for the ﬁnancial support of FedNor and the province, as well as local groups like Explorers Edge, Muskoka Tourism and the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce.Muskoka Lakes set to host Canadian RaceBoat Hall of Fame e Township of Muskoka Lakes could be the site of the Canadian RaceBoat Hall of Fame.e organization recently put a request in front of the Township for a zoning amendment and building permit to build a 16,000 square foot Hall of Fame. e building will be on the property where McMaster’s Muskoka Fine Foods is located, oﬀ Muskoka Road 118 between Bracebridge and Port Carling.“is project has been a long time in the making,” said Murray Walker, Hall of Fame co-founder, along with Jamie Smith. “We have been searching for the perfect location and the team to make a truly world-class attraction, and we have found it ... in Muskoka.”Organizers say the Hall of Fame will preserve and showcase the history of Canadian Power Boat Racing. It will display famous race boats. It will tell the stories of their drivers and builders, not only from Muskoka but from all of Canada. Whats HappenedGayle Dempsey and Gary Froude, who have been the driving force behind the resurrection of Muskoka Chautauqua, along with board chair Glad Bryce, are ready to celebrate the organization’s 100th anniversary. The line-up at this year’s Muskoka Chautauqua includes a variety of oerings.Photograph: Muskoka ChautauquaPhotograph: Muskoka Chautauqua

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Photograph: Tomasz SzumskiVintage hydroplanes from sea ﬂeas to the Miss Supertest III will be on display, alongside their engines, famous trophies, racing artifacts and model race boats, all staged against a backdrop of boat racing murals. e museum will also incorporate classic boat racing ﬁlms over the past century and guests will be able to experience hydroplane simulation using Hydro Sim software, which will allow them to virtually sit in a race boat viewing their race on a big screen TV.Miss Supertest III will be the cornerstone of the Hall of Fame. Building on the success of Muskoka’s Rainbow and Miss Canada hydroplanes, Miss Supertest III won the world championship Harmsworth Cup in 1959, 1960 and 1961, a three-peat unequalled by any boat or country, ever. Miss Supertest III is already in Muskoka awaiting her new home. e museum will also host Muskoka boat builders and the drivers of Ditchburn, Greavette and Minett-Shields race boats that made Muskoka and Canada famous by setting 24-hr speed and distance records (Rainbow IV in 1925), world championships (the Miss Canadas in 1934, 1935 and 1939) and straightaway speed records. World Champion drivers Harry Greening, Lorna and Harold Wilson, Art Ashbury and Norm Wood all came from Muskoka. Port Carling’s Muskoka Lakes Association staged Canada’s ﬁrst powerboat races in the early 1920s. Bala, Foot’s Bay, Port Carling, Huntsville and Gravenhurst have hosted American and Canadian racing association-sanctioned events from the 1930s through the 1980s with Gull Lake Park hosting many inboard and outboard National Championship races. e Hall of Fame will support its mandate by accommodating guests at weddings, reunions and business meetings.Organizers say the Hall of Fame will be built using the latest environmentally-friendly construction materials, the newest stormwater management guidance and dark sky technology. Organizers say the project costs will be funded by private investment and a national fundraising program. ey estimate beneﬁts at more than $2.25M annually for the local community.e Hall of Fame project has support from Muskoka Tourism, Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce, e Canadian Boating Federation, e Antique & Classic Boat Society, e Ontario Power Boat Racing Association, the Toronto Outboard Racing Club, Muskoka Sea Flea and the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce.“is is a great way to honour our boat building heritage,” said Norah Fountain of the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce. “It’s also going to provide a much-needed venue space and have a number of economic beneﬁts.” Muskoka Lakes Township Council has yet to make a decision on the rezoning.Local boatbuilder embraces electricYou might see some of Stan Hunter’s latest work on the lakes this summer but you aren’t likely to hear it.e well-known Muskoka lakes boat- Well-known Muskoka lakes boat builder Stan Hunter has shied his attention to the electrication of gasoline powered classic and antique watercra.LARGEST SELECTION OF TILLEY HATS IN MUSKOKATHERE’S A TILLEY FOR EVERY OCCASION28 MANITOBA STREETBRACEBRIDGE | 705-637-0204SHOP ONLINEwww.uniquemuskoka.comAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 55

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56 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021builder has shifted his attention to the electriﬁcation of gasoline powered classic watercraft.“Electric motors have been in existence for 121 years but now the battery technology is advancing on a monthly basis,” says Hunter. “My fascination was to take the boats I enjoy, make them electric and ﬁnd the horizon of what’s possible.”Hunter has now completed work on three Duke Playmates and one 22-foot Giesler freighter canoe. He has plans in the works to get started on a ﬁfth watercraft. is time he plans to turn his attention to the legendary Disappearing Propeller Motor Boat (or Dispro), two of which have already been electriﬁed by others using Hunter’s methods.“You can go as far and as fast with an electric motor as you could before but not both at the same time,” says Hunter. at being said Hunter says the technology is advancing so rapidly that the bounds of what’s possible are constantly changing just as the cost continues to decrease.“It’s been a success, so far,” he says. “It’s really just spread by word of mouth. ey’re unique and all of the neighbours notice when someone has one.”His boats have gone to the Haliburton area and to Algonquin Park, including the freighter canoe which is going to Bartlett Lodge and will be used to shuttle guests.Resurrected Roby Roy II takes maiden voyageNearly a century after she was scuttled, the Roby Roy II was back and sailing Kahshe Lake, earlier this month.On July 3, the completely restored watercraft set oﬀ for a ceremonial cruise accompanied by a congratulatory ﬂotilla, and to the waves and cheers of supporters from their docks around the lake.e Rob Roy II has a long and storied relationship with Kahshe Lake.In 1911, the working steamboat Rob Roy arrived overland from Sparrow Lake to begin 13 years of service on Kahshe. It was scuttled in 1924 on a beach on the northside of Deep Bay near the old Rattan Mill and farmhouse. Later on, 200 acres were purchased by John Witbeck, who then subdivided it into shoreline lots. e Rob Roy was beached on the shoreline of what is now known as 1059 Witbeck Rd. at property was purchased by George Lindsay in 1994. “John showed us the location and we found a small section of the metal transom and a large bolt,” says Lindsay. “We subsequently were able to obtain copies of two photos from Barb and Vern Taylor, with Owindia (Housey’s Rapids area) in the background.” Cliﬀ Fitchett, a local Housey’s Rapids contractor, wanted to build a replica. In 2018 he contracted a builder out of Virginia to provide the hull and working steam, which he picked up in October 2019. Over the following winter, Fitchett built the deck, cabin and all the ﬁnishing detail. His daughter worked with Flags Unlimited to reproduce the exact ﬂag ﬂown from the original Rob Roy. In the fall of 2021, Fitchett launched on Kahshe for a short, successful sea trial. Photo by Susan LindsayAuthor brings Treasured Islands 2 to Muskoka shelves Author Kathy Varley has just released her second volume of stories encapsulating the quirks and the joys of island living in Muskoka. Treasured Islands 2: Generations of Muskoka Memories is a follow up to Treasured Islands with Generations of Muskoka Memories, which was released last year.e compilation was written by 18 diﬀerent authors who are all current or former island cottage residents.“It’s all about islands because as island cottagers we face diﬀerent challenges and experiences than mainland cottagers,” says Varley. “Weather and water conditions impact us very diﬀerently. Still with decades or in some cases more than a century of history there are also many similarities.” From dining room protocols to morning chores, the stories shed light on Muskoka island life for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.Varley is herself a Muskoka island cottager, having spent more than 30 years at Wellesley Island, which her husband’s family has owned since 1879.“e theme throughout the stories is that each and every island is the owner’s very own piece of paradise,” she says. “Many islanders consider themselves to simply be stewards or caretakers of the island and privileged to enjoy island life.”e book will be available at Unique Muskoka or Windermere General store or by emailing boatkathyv@gmail.com.The Rob Roy II has a long and storied relationship with Kahshe Lake. The resurrected cra took its inaugural cruise, last fall.By Matt DriscollPhotograph: Susan Lindsay

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Affordable housing in our community.According to the District of Muskoka, a home priced at less than $435,000 is affordable. As of June 1st, the year over year median pricein Bracebridge increased by 38.3% from $390,000 to $539,500; in Gravenhurst by 34.7% from $383,200 to $516,000; and inHuntsville by 40.5% from $391,548 to $550,000. This means that the number of affordable homes in Muskoka is zero. We aim tochange that. With your support, we're building two energy-efficient, universally accessible homes in Bala in 2022. And a stronger futurefor families and our community through affordable housing. the number of affordable homesin Muskoka to support, go to www.habitatgatewaynorth.com/donationsAffordable housing in our community.According to the District of Muskoka, a home priced at less than $435,000 is affordable. As of June 1st, the year over year median pricein Bracebridge increased by 38.3% from $390,000 to $539,500; in Gravenhurst by 34.7% from $383,200 to $516,000; and inHuntsville by 40.5% from $391,548 to $550,000. This means that the number of affordable homes in Muskoka is zero. We aim tochange that. With your support, we're building two energy-efficient, universally accessible homes in Bala in 2022. And a stronger futurefor families and our community through affordable housing. the number of affordable homesin Muskoka to support, go to www.habitatgatewaynorth.com/donations

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Jarring up summer for joy in winter with pickles, sauces and fermentsArticle by Karen Wehrstein / Photography by Tomasz Szumski 58 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021Facing a harvest-season abundance of fruit and vegetables but bored with all the same old same old uses? (Zucchini daiquiris, anyone?) In this issue, we’re going to explore some very new and diﬀerent culinary ideas.We’ll start with Laura Hanson of e Saucy Muskokan in Gravenhurst, a business that bubbles over with her exuberant personality, its neon pink and orange brand colours, its sassy website and its general joie de vivre.Originally from Burlington, Hanson has been working in hospitality for 22 years. She was inspired to move to somewhere more rural after a vacation in Costa Rica where she was struck by the local people’s appreciation of nature. “e whole town shuts down to watch the sunset,” she reminisces. Moving to Bracebridge in 2016, she landed employment as the event manager at the JW Marriott e Rosseau Muskoka, then married builder Daryl Portch and became pregnant with twins.Life seemed perfect until Portch was caught in the collapse of the half-constructed new Minden ﬁre hall due to a freak gust on November 21, 2017. “e entire right side of his body was shattered,” says Hanson, who left her job to provide him care. Full recovery took a long time but the town rallied around the young family. “e amount of support I had from a community where I’d been for one year was amazing,” she gratefully recalls.Hanson worked in event operations at Santa’s Village and then at catering with chef and multiple restaurant owner David Friesen and one of his chefs, Alison Young. Hanson gave birth to her youngest child about a month before COVID-19 hit, which actually allowed her to prepare to launch her new business with the help of Friesen and Young. “I’m lucky I’ve had bosses who are helping make one of my dreams come true,” she says. e Saucy Muskokan went public on May 21, just in time for Laura Hanson’s philosophy is as health-conscious as it is avour-conscious, rejecting the commercial approach of putting both salt and sugar into every sauce.

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the re-opening of the Gravenhurst Farmers Market, where it was a hit.e four core products of e Saucy Muskokan are its pasta sauce, pizza sauce, Muskokan harissa and mango curry, but Hanson promises diﬀerent items weekly. at includes pickles with diﬀerent vegetables, pesto, tofu pesto and more.Hanson’s philosophy is as health-conscious as it is ﬂavour-conscious, rejecting the commercial approach of putting both salt and sugar, not to mention artiﬁcial ingredients, into every sauce. e origin of her pizza sauce: “My kids didn’t want any vegetables on their pizza. I wanted to add as many vegetables as I could, so they’d be eating their veggies as they ate their ‘cheese pizza’. ere’s already salt in the cheese and the prosciutto; add more and you’re just ruining it.”Attention, people on low-sodium diets: Hanson might pile on the herbs and spices, but the recipe she has given us has not one grain of salt in it. “I’m trying to prove to people that there’s really, really good ﬂavour in ingredients without salt.”You can get Saucy Muskokan products through its website, at the Gravenhurst Farmers Market on Sundays and at Saucy Muskoka “Pop-up Markets” at Friesen’s e Oven (where Hanson also does all her cooking). Don’t forget to bring back your jars. “Reduce, reuse, recycle!”Food is medicine.at’s a core premise of the Muskoka North Good Food Co-op in Huntsville, along with democracy, locavorism and not working to make any one particular person or small group of people rich. e Co-op’s holistic/egalitarian philosophy is being warmly embraced with member/owner households now numbering in the 1,600s, up from 950 when we featured the Co-op in this space two years ago. Its organic, free-range, largely local and artiﬁcial-ingredient-free wares may be expensive but people who just shop there feel it’s totally worth it.“We believe strongly that food is medicine,” says Kelli Ebbs, a key leader at the Co-op (they aren’t much for formal job titles). “If you’re going to be eating, you Muskokan Pizza SauceLaura HansonIngredients3 lbs of tomatoes, chopped1 lb onions, diced1 tbsp of butter or olive oil½ lb artichoke hearts 1 big handful spinach1 green onion (use white and green parts, chopped) 1 big handful of green beans 6 garlic cloves1 tbsp dried oregano 2 tbsp local honey or maple syrupRed chili ﬂakes to taste for heat.Method• Put all ingredients except the last four in a tall stock pot and set to a simmer. e tomatoes will break down after one hour; as soon as you see that happen, take pot oﬀ heat. Let sit and add spices and your preferred sweetness.• Once everything has cooled, blend to preferred texture of sauce. Once blended, put back in the stock pot, raise to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes.Saucy Muskokan’s Tips#1 thing: under-salt everything.“I personally love my sauce chunky.”Recommended pizza dough: sourdough from e Oven.Fermentation expert and gardener Jemma Schrauwen likes the wellness benets of fermented products being rich in probiotic bacteria and enzymes.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 59

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60 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021might as well make it worth it. A lot of people don’t eat real food.”With the addition of fermentation expert and gardener Jemma Schrauwen to the staﬀ, the Co-op has expanded its oﬀerings of fermented foods, whose wellness beneﬁts arise from their being rich in probiotic bacteria and enzymes. Ebbs points out that whether they’re in the form of yoghurt, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, keﬁr or alcohol, ingesting fermented items really is already familiar to many people. As well as all of the above except alcohol, the Co-op oﬀers kombucha (in many ﬂavours), salsa, kimchi, mustard, fermented beets and other veggies in innumerable combinations and tonics such as “Fire Cider,” a kick-butt concoction of horse radish, ginger, garlic and certain herbs that has to be tasted to be believed.“I got on a really big health kick a couple of years ago, just to take control of my health,” says Schrauwen. Born in Toronto, raised partly in Orillia, she lived in Vancouver for ﬁve years, then moved in with her father in Huntsville two years ago, and joined the Co-op a year and a half ago. Along the way she began a relationship with Alex Richardson, who has long sold ferments as a weekend sideline. “He’ll ferment anything – blueberries, mushrooms, all sorts of funky stuﬀ. He inspires me,” Schrauwen lovingly says.Now she always has multiple batches of ferments on the go, plus her year-end ritual of fermenting excess produce she has grown in the Co-op garden. e trick, she says, is “having the conﬁdence and being excited and being willing to try things and know they won’t always work and that’s okay,” she says.Her typical brine recipe is 1 tbsp salt, 1 cup of water. Eyes, nose and tongue are the crucial ferment-inspection tools: “A wine, beer or cider-like taste is good, cheesy mouldy not so good, white and yeast is good stuﬀ growing… anything getting fuzzy and growing spores and fur is not.” Google for pics to learn. Oh and – you can consult with her. “When workshops are back, we’ll do them.”When you enter Algonquin Park, regular Muskoka turns into pure wilderness: no cottages or boats, just vast stands of trees, pristine lakeshores and often-seen wildlife. Far inside the park, crossing to Bartlett’s Lodge on one of its ferries is like passing into another world. It’s so quiet that the quietude seems sacred, colours seem more vivid and the soul can’t help but be at peace.Another part of the heaven of staying at Bartlett’s is the ﬁrst course of the four-course dinner, a Lacto-Fermented Mixed Pickles Muskoka North Good Food Co-opIngredients3 tbsp iodine-free sea salt, pickling salt, or kosher salt (iodine inhibits fermentation)1 quart spring, distilled or ﬁltered water (chlorine inhibits fermentation)1 cup small cauliﬂower ﬂorets (rinse all veggies in non-chlorinated water)1 cup carrot chunks or slices6 garlic scapes (when in season)1 cup celery chunks or slices1 cup red bell pepper chunks or slices1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled (or more - to taste)1 bay leaf½ tsp coriander seeds¼ tsp black peppercorns1 to 2 grape leaves, kale fronds, or collard leaves (optional, to help keep pickles crisp)Method• Combine the salt and water in a measuring cup and stir until the salt is dissolved. (You can heat the water ﬁrst to make the salt easier to dissolve, but it’s not necessary. Let it come to room temperature before making the pickles.)• Place the remaining ingredients in a large sterilized (covered by boiling water for 10 minutes) jar (a half-gallon mason jar works well). Pour the salt water over the vegetables, leaving at least one inch of headspace (air) at the top of the jar. Cover vegetables with a thick green leaf.• Cover the jar tightly and let it stand at room temperature. About once a day, open the jar to taste the pickles and release gases produced during fermentation. If any mould or scum has formed on the top, skim it oﬀ. (If using a jar ﬁtted with an airlock, you don’t need to “burp” it; just open occasionally to taste.)• When the pickles taste to your liking, transfer the jar to the refrigerator. ey will continue to ferment very slowly, but cold storage will largely halt fermentation. (Schrauwen: “It’s still alive but suspended.”)Yield: Serves 8Prep time: 10 minutesWill last a month or longer, refrigerated.Fermenter’s Tipse vegetables must be kept underwater. “You have to be careful, which is why people have fancy airlock lids,” says Schrauwen. “I like to ﬁll a Ziploc sandwich bag with water and put it on top; the water’s weight holds it down and ﬁlls in the spaces. You can get a really good seal that way.”

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30-year tradition at a lodge more than a century old: the cheese and charcuterie plate, comprised of two imported cheeses, two house-made chutneys or jams, two meats and two house-made pickles, all changed up daily and served with crostini, and created by chef Rob Huﬀ.Born in Brantford, Huﬀ started cooking at restaurants there in his teens, took cuisine at George Brown then worked under “some really great chefs” at Whistler, BC, the Empress Hotel in Victoria and other much-desired destinations. Moving to Paris – Ontario, that is – in 1997, he worked his own restaurant (“seafood and ﬁsh, from-scratch kitchen, nice wine list”) for 10 years, then completely changed scenes, cooking for an outﬁtting camp in Temagami, to regain the joy of being outdoors in the wildness he had known as a child. After a six-year return to city living in Las Vegas working for Marriott, he was hired by Bartlett four years ago. “It’s the best of both worlds.” Like Hanson, he admires his bosses, Kim and Marilyn Smith. “She makes two to four pies every day, six months a year, every year,” he boasts.“We pickle everything – carrots, beets, daikon, cucumbers – and everything except the cheese is made in-house. Your basic recipes are two to one vinegar to water, or three to one, depending on how much acid you want in your pickle. What I call your savoury ﬂavours come from ingredients like mustard seed, fennel seed, coriander seed, bay leaves and peppercorns, when you bring it to a simmer to extract the ﬂavours. ose are basically spices that accommodate the acidy brine. ey are a little diﬀerent from what your home cook would do.”ey certainly are. On the plate of delectable I get to nibble, the tastes of the two pickles, the jam and the chutney almost defy my powers of description. e delicate pickled cauliﬂower has a gossamer overlay of sweet against the sour; the pickled yellow peppers’ stronger ﬂavour is fattened out by the vinegar and meets its match with mustard seed, bay leaves and fennel seed. Combine peach with thyme in a chutney, why not – they complement each other in a funky, oblique, jaw-dropping way. But my favourite is the red onion jam. With two apple ingredients, it could almost be called apple jam but these, combined with the onions, create a warm, almost meaty, semi-sweet taste. I put some on top of the duck and chicken paté (a recipe Huﬀ absolutely will not divulge) on a crust, took a bite and thought I would die. “Cooked fruit can be sweet or savoury,” Chef Rob Hu says the coolest thing about chutneys and jams is they are pretty simple and easy to make, but the results will appeal to your tastebuds.August 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 61

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www.budgetpropaneontario.com Budget Propane Sales & Service705.687.5608 Toll Free 1.888.405.7777Serving: Muskoka • Gravenhurst • Haliburton • Barrie • Simcoe CountyWe’ll take care of your propane needs for your home, coage, or business.BRACEBRIDGE GENERATION LTD.Water Power Generating a Cleaner EnvironmentInterested in more information or a free tour? www.bracebridgegeneration.comsays Huﬀ. “ey all have their own little identity. I very much do it by feel rather than a recipe. I have some expectation of how ﬂavours will taste and then it’s trial and error. I do research – read books and internet blogs – you can never learn enough.” Maybe the coolest thing about the chutney and the jam is they are pretty simple and easy to make, as you will see.Pickle, ferment and sauce away – you’ll be happier and healthier for it.Peach Thyme Chutney Rob HuffIngredients4 cups peaches, peeled, pitted and diced¼ cup diced white onion1 tbsp ground cumin2 tbsp honey1 tbsp fresh thyme, ﬁnely chopped1 tbsp white sugar¼ cup orange juicePinch of saltMethod• Saute onions and thyme until soft.• Add remaining ingredients and simmer on low heat for one hour, mix lightly with hand blender or food processor. Let cool and place in fridge.Red Onion Jam Rob HuffIngredients3 red onions½ cup white sugar1 cup apple cider vinegar½ cup apple juicePinch each of salt and pepperMethod• Peel and cut onions into half, add all ingredients together in a pot and simmer slowly, covered, for one hour or until liquid is reduced.• Let cool and puree in blender or food processor, place covered container in fridge.28 MANITOBA STREET, BRACEBRIDGEAvailable atSUSTAINABILITY IS WOVEN INTO EVERY FIBRE OF NOMADIX TOWELSAugust 2021 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 63

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64 UNIQUE MUSKOKA August 2021While waitressing at Windermere House in 1965 to earn university tuition, I said “Yes!” to the invitation “Do you want to go for a ride in a big boat?” at simple act led to a lifelong love aﬀair with the handsome launchman, Ian, driving boats for Wigwassan Lodge at the time.en in 1969, he asked another fateful question: “Hey, do you want a party shack?” And, I said, “Yes!” So we dismantled Timothy Eaton’s soon-to-be-demolished 16 foot by 20-foot log cabin built in Windermere in 1902, moved the logs by truck to Echo Point on the Indian River near Port Carling and reconstructed it. en we got married.By 1971, Muskoka had captured our young souls completely, leading us to make the move from urban Toronto to the outskirts of Bracebridge. So began a lifelong love aﬀair with Muskoka’s natural beauty.Our initial 20 years in Bracebridge were full with busy careers, raising children and becoming involved in community environmental organizations. I worked on volunteer committees for Muskoka Lakes Trails and Muskoka Heritage Foundation (later Muskoka Conservancy).Getting outside each day, hiking, biking and skiing, was and still remains the focus of our discretionary time. Our children were fortunate to grow up surrounded by forest, ﬁelds and ravines where they would regularly disappear for hours with the neighbourhood gang of kids. us they developed skills, conﬁdence and a spirit of teamwork in the great outdoors. eir relatively unfettered freedom in the midst of nature might not align with today’s parenting guidelines, but everybody survived, and our children are now passing on those skills to their oﬀspring.irty years ago, we dismantled and reconstructed (this time with professional help) another log building from Bracebridge to provide a permanent home on Echo Point. Living on the water year round is a privilege, allowing me to indulge my rowing and kayaking passions. Rowing a carbon-ﬁbre single shell early morning, the light splash of the oars captured in matching whirlpools, listening to the bubbles of the sun-speckled wake – the sensations bring a feeling of interconnectedness and peace with the natural world. Currently, we are introducing our ﬁve grandchildren to the joys of nature. Backcountry canoe trips with them have only two rules: have fun and leave no trace. eir interaction with animals is wonderful to see. ey watch in awe as dragonﬂies ﬂy complex aeronautical manoeuvres. Instead of being repulsed by the prehistoric-looking large snapping turtles that visit our campsite to say hello, they react with curious interest and fascination. On a warm summer evening, they sleep outdoors to catch a glimpse of the northern lights. Our hope is that by imbuing sustainability values in the grandkids, Muskoka’s environmental future will be assured. But I am not totally conﬁdent!Insatiable demand for Muskoka property continues in large part because the natural environment is relatively healthy, thanks to respectful environmental practices that have evolved over the last half-century. Yet, shoreline development now too often results in landscaping that removes natural vegetation and blasting for buildings that dominate the shoreline. A property deed should not bestow a right to transform the land! Deference to property rights could ultimately threaten the very environmental health we treasure. e combined threats of climate change, loss of biodiversity and commodiﬁcation of the land are threatening nature’s resilience. Land ownership should mean we are stewards of the land, with a responsibility to tread gently leaving it intact and healthy for future generations. Nature lives here permanently. We’re just visiting!In May 1970, Crosby Stills Nash & Young released Teach Your Children and it was a hit, with this line: “You who are on the road must have a code that you can live by.” In 2021 in Muskoka, the critical question is: “are we teaching our children well with an environmental code that they can live by?” Time will tell…. Dianne Turnbull taught high school in Toronto, then Gravenhurst, before her two children were born in the ‘70s. In the ‘80s she launched her own sales business. An adventurous, free-spirited, passionate lover of the outdoors, she is now teaching grandchildren reciprocity and respect for Muskoka’s natural beauty.Muskoka MomentsBy Dianne TurnbullMy Muskoka love affairPhotograph: Scott Turnbull

Unique Muskoka Issue 30 August 2021

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