Up Schitt's Creek and a Walk in a Historic Garden
Harrowsmith Radio
The Rundown In this episode, I chat with Andrew Barnsley, an executive producer of the Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek. We discuss how and why small-town Canada has found a place in the hearts of audiences around the world. Next up, is a walking tour of the historical kitchen garden of Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario. We learn about how two acres of produce sustained the family of Sir Allan Napier McNab a Premier of the United Canadas in the mid-1800s. So huge gardens and small towns all in one episode. By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listen to it you can...
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A Reborn Mill and the Sustainability of Birds
Harrowsmith Radio
The Rundown In this episode, we learn how COVID and a fortuitous canoe trip led to an affordable housing expert and an architect buying and giving fresh purpose to a 135-year-old grist mill in Paisley, Ontario. Next, how cities and citizens can make their communities more friendly for birds, and why that makes sense for urban sustainability. So birds and flours all in one episode. By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listen to it you can subscribe to the print version online at and you can find Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada. But for now,...
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The COVID Departure Lounge
Harrowsmith Radio
In this episode, I chat with world traveller and advocate for tossing your bucket list Heather Greenwood Davis about how to think about and tackle travel now that restrictions are being lifted, and maybe, just maybe we can start returning to the new normal. Next up cookbook author Claire Tansey tells us how to get dinner ready faster than a trip to your favourite frozen food aisle and back. So jet planes, and fast cooking all in this episode. The COVID Departure Lounge In 2011 Heather Greenwood Davis was a successful but miserable litigation lawyer in Toronto. She’d dreamed of travelling...
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This Old Smart House and Banana Peel Bread
Harrowsmith Radio
The Rundown In this episode, I chat with pioneering tech consultant, keynote speaker, and proud PEIer, Amber MacArthur, AmberMac to her friends. I talk to her about how she turned a 140-year-old Charlottetown house into an eco-friendly smarthome showcase. A showcase sporting 38 lightbulbs you can talk to. Next up, former food stylist and chef Christine Tizzard explains how to shop, cook and dine with zero-waste. Is there a banana peel bread in your future? So, smart appliances and smart eating all in one episode. By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listen to it you...
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Good Burdens and a New Table
Harrowsmith Radio
In this episode we learn how some burdens, the ones that bring us together in the physical world, can be good burdens. I chat with author Christina Crook about her new book all about just that. Next up, a beautiful cookbook that centres around the seasons, family and a kitchen table. We coming together, all the time, on this audio outing.
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Brittlestar and the DIY Tomboy
Harrowsmith Radio
In this episode, we meet up with Canada’s favourite Internet dad, Stuart Reynolds, or as you might know him, Brittlestar - the comedic nemesis of Covidiots everywhere. Next up, that jovial jill-of-all-trades Karen Bertelsen explains why making, fixing, and cooking stuff yourself is good for the planet.
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An Urban Gardening Doc and the Nutella Waiting Game
Harrowsmith Radio
In this episode we discover the incredible variety of folks, produce, places, and methods involved in urban gardening in Toronto in a new documentary by Jamie Day Fleck called In My Backyard. Next up, a decades-long waiting game played with hazelnuts, farmers, and science.
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Emm Gryner, the Uncovered Voice and Harrowsmith's Food Editor
Harrowsmith Radio
In this episode Emm Gryner who rocketed from a chicken farm to singing backup for David Bowie talks about how singers, and the rest of us, can uncover the voices we’ve got inside us. Next up, Ilona Daniel, Harrowsmith’s relatively new food editor explains how Anne of Green Gables and a father named Gilbert changed her life.
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The Rock 'n' Roll Chef and the Smartphone of Welding
Harrowsmith Radio
In this episode a visit with that self-proclaimed culinary charlatan, Bob Blumer, whose new book teaches us all how to make bombs, flavour bombs that is. Speaking of making, our go-to DIY guy Steve Maxell is back, this time to explain why MIG welding is the glue gun of the future.
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The Weather Wizard and the Jungle Farm Queen
Harrowsmith Radio
n this episode, we spend a little time under a virtual umbrella with Harrowsmith’s go-to weatherman, Mark Sirois. Mark’s been doing long-range forecasting for the Harrowsmith Almanac and extreme weather prediction for Southern Quebec for years. Now a modern home weather station has empowered him to think big and broad. Next up Alberta farmer Leona Staples on how entrepreneurship and innovation have kept her farm alive and adapting for generations.
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In this episode, you’ll hear the remarkable story of the Farmerettes, a brigade of young Ontario women who saved the crops of Southern Ontario during World War II. You may not have heard of the Farmerettes, I know I hadn’t until prepared for this interview, but it’s a story you won’t forget.
Next up our intergenerational gardening gurus Mark and Ben Cullen give us some tips on why waiting for May 24 to plant is a mug’s game. So two stories about getting back into the good earth.
By the way, if you want to read Harrowsmith Magazine instead of listening to it you can subscribe to the print version online at harrowsmithmag.com and you can find Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada. But for now, settle in for the next half hour of Harrowsmith Radio.
The Farmerettes
In 1939 the stain of the Second World War spread across The Atlantic to Canada, pulling Canadian men and women overseas to fight. In Southern Ontario that meant fertile farmlands and orchards would be soon would soon be swollen and laden with fruits and vegetables that would rot while able farmhands were fighting Germany. Fortunately, that summer and until 1952 over 20,000 high school girls from Ontario and Quebec enlisted in a homegrown brigade called the Farmerettes. Lured with a promise of sunshine, adventure, and exclusion from final exams, they left their homes and took trains, boats, and bicycles to become newly minted farmers in the fields of gold and green. They stayed in converted sheds and barns, become close friends, smoked corncob pipes, fell in love, and even fell in with good-natured motorcycle gangs. And, they saved the crops and fed the troops. Bonnie Sitter and Shirleyan English have documented the story of the Farmerettes in a wonderful book called “Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz - Memories of Ontario Farmerettes". The book contains letters the Farmerettes sent home to anxious parents and is packed with evocative black and white photographs. And, it was a photograph that Bonnie Sitter found in her late husband’s photo album that started her on her path to harvest Farmerettes tales.
You can buy a copy of the book here.
Early Planting with the Cullens
You might think in the earliest days of spring, that you’ve got plenty of time before you have to turn your hand to gardening. But, you would be wrong. Yes, May 24 may seem a long way off but there is plenty you can do now, and score early garden bounty in the process. And, here to give us the details are those early birds Mark and Ben Cullen. Get more great gardening advice from this duo at markcullen.com.
End Notes
Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. You can find Harrowsmith magazine at selected newsstands across Canada. Or, you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.
By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer, and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.