Spring 2021

Harrowsmith

Make, Grow, Sustain, Share

Harrowsmith3 min read
Our Contributors
AMANDA BULMAN is a chef, writer, filmmaker and standup comic from Prince Edward Island. Her first cookbook will be released sometime this year, but she isn’t allowed to say too much more because there are still some pesky contractual details to be wo
Harrowsmith2 min read
Thinking Outside the Nest Box
I think we’re all ready to open our windows wide and breathe in a new season! The sound of snowplows will soon be replaced with the purr of lawn mowers, and I’m so happy to see the return of robins with beaks full of nesting material. I’m reminded th
Harrowsmith1 min read
Harrowsmith
Publisher Yolanda Thornton yolanda@moongate.ca 416-930-1664 Editor-in-Chief Jules Torti jules@moongate.ca Editor, Summer and Winter Editions Catalina Margulis catalina@moongate.ca Home and Farm Editor Steve Maxwell Food Editor Signe Langford Gar
Harrowsmith3 min read
Mailbox
I was enjoying a good read of the 2021 Almanac when I came upon the description of false Solomon’s seal (Say What?). I wondered why you didn’t mention that this plant is edible, then I thought you might not be aware of this information. My family has
Harrowsmith5 min read
A CUP OF coffee WITH A LOCAL
Sitting down for a virtual cup of coffee with singer-songwriter Leela Gilday was essential for an issue dedicated to the North. Gilday, a member of the Dene Nation, was born in the Northwest Territories. Her family is from Délįnę, a community on the
Harrowsmith2 min read
Where Next?
We live our life by directions. I’m not talking about 5-year plans and Italian wedding soup recipes, but they guide us too. I mean north, west, south and east. We fly south in the winter and head north in the summer. We buy houses with southern expos
Harrowsmith4 min read
Say What?
ballycatters In Catherine Bush’s novel Blaze Island, she describes ballycatters as “big pans of ice rafted at shore” with “blue-green edges sharp as knives.” Conversely, “slob ice” (also featured in Bush’s book) “lies like a slushy skin over the wate
Harrowsmith6 min read
Oh Deer!
All gardeners have experienced a troublesome pest. From rabbits eating your lettuce to mosquitoes feasting on your neck, you are bound to encounter pests while outside in your garden. Here is our short list of the most effective controls for select p
Harrowsmith4 min readArchitecture
Native Plants
Canadians are planting native plants in record numbers, for good reason. First, they are low maintenance. Think about it: Native plants existed here before European settlement, and they have evolved through millennia to the specific conditions of our
Harrowsmith2 min readArchitecture
Native & Natural: Where to Find Seeds and Plants in Canada
Seed-sourced natives are still largely a niche in gardening. The North American Native Plant Society (NANPS) is a great place to start if you are interested in getting involved in this area of horticulture. Worth following online, NANPS hosts excursi
Harrowsmith4 min read
If These Greenhouse Walls Could Talk
“I’ll trade you my Clarence the Raven painting if you help relocate the greenhouse,” I proposed to my artsy carpenter friend, Warren. He had been renovating a house down the road and discovered an old, dilapidated greenhouse in the back. Warren and I
Harrowsmith2 min readArchitecture
Field Notes From The 2020 Gardening Season
If we didn’t share our trade secrets or garden flops and successes, where would we be? Sharing gardening knowledge is generational, historical, scientific and just plain nice. We decided to canvas the Harrowsmith team and our social media followers,
Harrowsmith5 min read
It’s An Eastern Bluebird Day!
If you’ve ever seen an eastern bluebird up close, you’ll understand the attraction of building houses for them. These delicate songbirds have striking blue feathers, unlike any other you’ll see in nature, and they need our help. Bluebird populations
Harrowsmith4 min read
Woodland Harvest Mountain Farm
Woodland Harvest Mountain Farm sings out gratitude from our Appalachian roots as we expand our reach to folks around the world. Since hosting work traders, students, women’s groups, LGBTQ+ folks, kids’ camps, veterans for peace, volunteers and commun
Harrowsmith4 min read
THE GREAT Powassan & area FARMSTAND TOUR
Since 1989, my career has allowed me to live in wonderful places across Ontario, but no matter where I was, I’ve always had an affinity for where I started. When the global pandemic made working from home real for me, I made a beeline for the Near No
Harrowsmith5 min readArchitecture
Veranda Life
Canadians everywhere love their decks, but traditional deck design leaves a lot to be desired in a way you might not have considered before. Offering no protection from sun and rain, the average deck also does nothing to shield windows and doors from
Harrowsmith3 min read
The Upside Of Downsizing
I was downsizing when it happened. There comes a time when “stuff” has to be sorted and sometimes discarded. Photographs were on the purging list, and I decided to look over albums and loose photos belonging to Conrad, my late husband. He grew up on
Harrowsmith4 min read
Summer Of ’41
Excerpt adapted with permission from Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: Memories of Ontario Farmerettes by Shirleyan English and Bonnie Sitter My sister, Helen, and I had heard about the government-sponsored Farmerettes program at school and decided we wan
Harrowsmith5 min read
Sticky Situation
I grew up in Hudson Heights, a small Quebec town, in a big oxblood-red house, its edges softened by wild grapevines and its foundation surrounded by cedars, ostrich ferns and huge hydrangeas. In late April, masses of tiny blue flowers (Scilla siberic
Harrowsmith1 min read
I’d Tap That!
Sugar maples yield one of the highest sugar content and sap flows, and that’s why they are everyone’s favourite for tapping, but several other maples, birches, the Juglansnut family, alders, linden, elm, hickory and sycamore trees are also coursing w
Harrowsmith4 min read
Beating Around the Sugar Bush
Maybe it starts in February, on that magical day when we look up at the sun and feel its warmth on our faces for the first time in months. Perhaps it comes a little later, when the geese return to our skies and mark the change in seasons. But the one
Harrowsmith1 min read
Dandelion Root Coffee
1 tsp cinnamon1/2 tsp ground cardamomVery clean dandelion roots, dried Scrub roots really well. You can soak the roots in buckets of cold water, but attacking with vigour and a good clean mushroom brush will work well too. Cut the roots into pieces
Harrowsmith3 min read
Fireweed Shoots and Nettle Pesto
There are parts of the world where people are experiencing spring right now. I’m jealous of everyone living in these far-off places. Here in Newfoundland, we’re still in the depths of mid-winter. Lately, I find myself cursing the good people who stop
Harrowsmith2 min readRegional & Ethnic
Nettle Pesto
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup blanched, chopped nettles2 heaping tbsp toasted sunflower seeds (pine nuts are traditional, but in this economy that feels like lunacy)4 garlic clovesSalt2 tbsp grated Parmesan or aged CheddarHigh-quality olive oil (I hate to be a
Harrowsmith8 min read
Why We Love YUKON
I write this knowing that we are not alone. The pandemic disrupted everyone’s travel plans, near and far. In 2020, a trip to a local coffee shop became just as risky as visiting Uganda. Malaria and marauding hippos aside, an invisible virus halted ev
Harrowsmith4 min read
Big Bear, Polaris And Finding True North
For almost everyone, the stars of the night sky are simply ornamentation to be glimpsed during a late-evening walk. Studying the night sky more deeply leads to the subject of astronomy, which most people may consider too esoteric. Somewhere in betwee
Harrowsmith7 min read
Northern Exposure
If you’ve ever entertained the idea of being a Jeopardy! contestant, consider this feature as part of your preparation in the All Things North category. A quick visit to jeopardy.com offers resources like a prep centre and practice tests to evaluate
Harrowsmith5 min read
Bookshelf
You can actually feel and smell all of Newfoundland in Catherine Bush’s nail-biter novel Blaze Island. Though the isle in her book is fictional, it’s wholly inspired by the partridge berries, roasting eider and rotting kelp of The Rock. Grab a scratc
Harrowsmith3 min read
Fighting Isolation On The Sideroad
I once read a letter from the saddleback preacher who ministered to the pioneers of our community in the early years of settlement. He complained how difficult it was to give comfort to his isolated parishioners through the long, hard winters because
Harrowsmith5 min read
THINGS WE Love
Love it or loathe it, painting is a distinct part of our lives. While the room renewal is instant, the stiff-neck aftermath reminds us that we need to be certain of our paint colour choices to prevent a redo. Jill Torrance and Emily Kinread, the savv

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