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MARCH 2022
MAGAZINE
The Home Improvement EDITION
Supporting Local Farmers & Businesses In Grey County & Beyond
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MASTHEAD EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS HELLO COUNTRY MAGAZINE is the only monthly magazine of its kind focused on life in Grey Highlands and beyond. It’s delivered by Canada Post to homes and farms in Flesherton, Markdale, Priceville, Kimberley, Eugenia, Heathcote, Maxwell, and Singhampton, as well as every business in Grey Highlands. Copies are also available for pickup at selected local businesses. We capture life in Grey Highlands by highlighting the many positive contributions to our community by local farmers, business owners, elected officials, and residents. Hello Country is proudly independent and published from a barn / pick-up truck / stable / home office in beautiful Flesherton, Ontario! From our family to yours, we thank you very much for reading! Single Copy: $1.50. Annual Subscription: $54.00. No part of this publication in any of its forms may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher.
AL Thompson
EXCAVATING LTD.
MICHELLE PATEY Administrator at the Grey Highlands Chamber of Commerce. ROBERT IANTORNO Curious fellow, Resident of Singhampton JEFF WILSON Priceville Resident and Accomplished Cartoonist, Blogtoonist & Illustrator LOUELLA MARTIN Markdale resident and co-owner of Azure Highlands Homestead JONATHAN NHAN Pharmacist, Diabetes Coach, Hypnotist & Co-Founder of Curate and Upgrade ERIC ROBERTSON Lifelong Resident of Grey Highlands & Broker at Grey County Real Estate Inc. ALEXIS BRENNER Massie Resident and Co-Owner of DB Trailblazers TYSON RIER Sales Representative for Huron Tractor in Chatsworth LORRAINE IRWIN Rocklyn Resident and Owner of Pure Music Garlic Products KEVIN ARTHUR LAND Arts Educator and Owner of Speaking Volumes Books & Audio in Flesherton MIKE WIXSON Producer of the Hello Country Podcast & Owner of The Pod Plant
Full Service Excavating Contractor proudly serving Grey Highlands & Area since 1980
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JASON TODOROFF Barrister & Solicitor; and Resident of Holland Centre CINDY MCQUEEN Owner of Wanna Web Design & Grey Highlands Resident HILIARY BREADNER Lifelong Rocklyn Resident and Owner of Hiliary Breadner Graphics
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meandering river, you will fin home that offers both in-tow amenities as well as easy acce nature . For Sale: $589,000
HOUSING UPDATE BY GREY COUNTY REAL ESTATE INC. Well...we’re almost through winter! The snow is slowly disappearing and spring is on its way. As daylight hours grow and we begin to enjoy the extra sunlight, our thoughts typically tend towards renewal; the desire to freshen-up, new ideas and new projects, not just for ourselves but also for our homes. As Realtors® we are often asked which improvements will increase the value of a home and unfortunately there is no magic formula. It all depends on the circumstance and motivation. For example: Are you thinking of selling now and want to know if installing granite counters will result in a higher selling price or do you want to do it for your own pleasure and enjoyment? Having said that, some general rules of thumb when preparing your home for sale: Clean, tidy, declutter, lighten up, keep it neutral and complete all those small tasks in your “to do” jar. If your budget and time allow it then any obvious major items that need updating such as roof, windows, furnace, etc., are a good idea. Similarly, fresh paint and landscaping go a long way in making a home more appealing.
Spring is also a time when we see more properties being listed so if you’re planning 837017 Taylor Dr, Holland Centre to Beautiful sell and would like with advice regarding your home surrounded home10improvements, acres of forest. The we homeat Grey County Real Estate Inc. would be happy features main floor living with an to assist in any way we can. open concept design. For Sale: $949,000
Finally, at long last we seem to be emerging from the pandemic isolation348085 and4thwe look B, Ma Concession raised bungalow forward to renewed vitality The and growth insits on a rolling 1.18 acre property wit our communities. As the saying goes: “Hope pond and long pastoral views Springs Eternal.” of the forest. ERIC ROBERTSON For Sale: $959,000
GREY COUNTY REAL ESTATE INC. www.greycountyrealestate.com MAIN 519-986-2552 STREET EAST
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TABLE OF CONTENTS MARCH 2022 HOUSING UPDATE...p6
Eric Robertson offers advice for your home improvement projects.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE...p8
Papa Country’s rockin’ out these days. See why.
FAMILY MATTERS...p11
Do you know what happens if you die without a will?
CANTER CULTURE...p14
Read the first installment about Life as a Horse Husband.
THE COUNTY LIFE...p16
An amusing tale of why Snowmobilers Rock!
COVER STORY... p24
Read the Hello Country Family’s Home Improvement Journey.
CARTOON...p30
Jeff Wilson cleverly captures current affairs. Published By
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PUBLISHER’S NOTE MARCH EDITION Welcome to our March edition!
Photo: Jenny Jelen
I’m listening to Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns ‘N Roses as I type this month’s Publisher’s Note. Why is this relevant, you might ask? It’s indicative of the positive headspace I seem to find myself in these days. I often note that my mood is mirrored by that of my clients. The ones I’ve spoken to recently seem to be confident and hopeful that the end of winter and loosening Covid restrictions will bring brighter days ahead; not just for business, but also for individuals and families and their mental health.
PAPA COUNTRY
Publisher, Hello Country Magazine hellocountrymagazine@gmail.com Instagram: @hellocountrymagazine www.hellocountry.ca
As we endeavour to Support Local at every opportunity and encourage the same of our Readers, March is a wonderful opportunity to do just a little bit more to help our local business community. I know I’ve been feeling a little cabin fever of late, but I look forward to getting out more and seeing some smiles on the faces that have otherwise been covered for so long. I might be premature in saying this, but a guy can dream, right?! On behalf of my family, I’d like to thank you for your readership and for supporting this publication in all its forms. I hope you enjoy this edition,
Roger “Papa Country” Tumminieri
(416) 788-0716
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BLAZING TRAILS DEFINE THE LINE Where is your happy place to hike to? Is it under that beautiful soaring maple that is almost touching the sky with spreading branches creating a cathedral roof of leaves high above the forest floor? Or the outlook above the field with views long beyond the borders of your property? Or maybe it is deep in the heart of your forest where the cluster of mossy rocks have sat watch over the woodland for thousands of years. Some of our clients have a very defined idea of where they want their trails to travel. They know their land and have some favourite spots already circled for us to include in the overall design. For many of our clients, they have a general idea of installing a perimeter trail or know they want to get from spot A to spot B, but they are looking for support and assistance to lay out the most interesting route to achieve these goals. When starting a new project we begin with booking a site visit and studying the satellite images and topographical maps of your land and surrounding area. We look for property lines and wetland areas to avoid, as well as high points and topographical info that will be important for next steps. We want to learn as much about you and how you want to use your land as possible. This is how we begin to create your custom Project Outline. We want to know where on your land you want to travel and the different uses you intend for your trails. There are different design specifications for mountain biking vs equestrian and hiking vs ATV’ing. Most trails lend themselves to mixed uses, though knowing which type of uses from the beginning helps to ensure proper sight lines, turn radii, corridor height, and many other factors that will create the best user experience possible. At this meeting we also lay out your timeline for the project and break it out into phases that suit your timeframe and budget. After the meeting all of the information is put together in your very own custom Project Outline with the design specifications and dreams you have given us to work within. We include for you a draft mapping of the plan with the phases clearly marked, as well as an estimate for each phase. We offer estimates and charge by the hour instead of rigid
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ALEXIS BRENNER quotes as the forest is always full of surprises and sometimes plans need to change on the fly. After the site meeting and getting a thumbs up on the Project Outline, the next step is to start the design and layout process with a good ol’ bushwhackin’ through the landscape we will be working in. As we head into the bush, we are looking for the right line through the slope and terrain as well as interesting spaces to bring the trail through. It is part of the fun to identify new treasures hidden in the trees and help inspire our clients to experience their land in new ways. We travel the route numerous times from both directions to dial in just the right feel, shifting and defining the line for maximum enjoyment. Depending on the scope of the project and property size, we can spend a couple of hours to a full day hiking and surveying the route before flagging out the trail. Only once all of these steps are completed and refined and clients have given the big thumbs up to go forward do we start to cut the trail. Give us a call to start planning for your property dreams.
DB TRAILBLAZERS www.dbtrailblazers.ca info@dbtrailblazers.ca Instagram: @dbtrailblazerswildscaping (519) 447-4474
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FAMILY MATTERS IMPORTANCE OF WILLS who died intestate is married, the spouse gets the first $350,000 of the estate. If there is less than $350,000 nothing is given to the children. This applies only to married couples. Common law spouses do not get anything. When you die intestate, the government only gets the estate if no one related to the person steps forward. In addition to having no say in how the estate is disbursed, the cost to administer the estate can be significantly higher. When a person dies intestate, anyone wishing to act as administrator/executor must apply to the court. This can cost many times more than “Does the Government automatically get my the cost of having a will drafted by a lawyer. For money if I die without a will?” those left behind, administering an intestate estate can be a long, stressful, and costly process. People who have a will in place before they die get to direct how and to whom their estate JASON TODOROFF is dispersed. A person who dies without a BARRISTER & SOLICITOR will is said to have died “intestate.” When a 7A Main Street East, Markdale person dies intestate, their estate is dispersed jasontodoroff@gmail.com in accordance with the rules of intestacy. The www.jtlawyer.ca rules of intestacy start with the closest family 519-986-4494 members and works its way outwards to more distant relations. For example. If the person
JASON TODOROFF
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FARM LIFE THE GRAPE FAMILY I am the second oldest of a large family that was raised on a farm and as such, I am well acquainted with the dirt and dust that comes with a large family. My mom tried to be clean, but as a child I rarely felt like it was obsessive or interfered with the things we wanted to do. She mostly drew the line at no animals in the house; a line which I have also adhered to in my own home, for the most part. I don’t consider myself the best or cleanest housekeeper around but I thought I was doing OK. Living on the farm ourselves for the last 1 ½ years has reacquainted me with the dirt and dust of my childhood. Further complicating things, our house has exactly one entrance and long ago, I quit stressing over having the mat inside the front door free of straw and debris. I could apologize to friends if it bothered me, but quite frandkly it doesn’t. To be clear, I do vacuum the steps and entrance a minimum of once a week. You can freely come over without being afraid your foot will disappear into several inches of straw :) So yes, I am well acquainted with dirt in our house, but as I said, I thought I was doing OK at keeping after it. Last week, on a very normal ordinary day, my daughter started a conversation in a very normal ordinary kind of voice: “Mommy, sometimes when I’m using the bathroom, I give names to the spiders I see in there.”
LOUELLA MARTIN about the names again. “Oh,” said Talyia, in such a worried tone, “the Grape family is actually all gone now.” That is just fine, my dear. More than fine actually. But that was definitely the day I was just about ready to hang up my housekeeping hat! Thank-you for allowing us to serve you in this way!!
My eyes bugged. My voice may even have shook a tiny bit. “You what?” “You know, there’s spiders in there and I gave them all names.” ???? “There’s Mr. Grape and Mrs. Grape and their two children, Pan and Pancake; and Peter and Mr. Blueberry and Mrs. Blueberry.”
AZURE HIGHLANDS FAMILY HOMESTEAD 440164 120 Rd, Markdale www.azurehighlandshomestead.com @azurehighlandshomestead
Her sister, Soraya, not to be outdone, named the last one Bathtub Juicy. Today, as I am writing this, I asked the girls 12
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TRACTOR TALK WITH TYSON RIER Now has never been a better time to order your new John Deere Z500 ZTrack Zero Turn Mower. With 0% financing for 36 months it’s never been more affordable to get a new Zero Turn. Backed by up to a 4 year 500 hour warranty you have nothing to worry about. With decks in 48, 54, and 60-inch you can make quick work of mowing the lawn. Zero Turns are the ultimate machine for cutting large areas and around obstacles such as trees and gardens. With rear collection system and mulching options available, the John Deere Z500 series is sure to check many boxes. Stop in today and take one for a spin and have it ready for spring delivery. TYSON RIER Salesman Huron Tractor- Chatsworth 226.668.2063
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HuronTractor.com Offer valid on qualifying purchases made between 01 February 2022 to 02 May 2022. For purchases on your Multi-Use Account. For eligible purchases of goods and services: 1) a minimum monthly payment of $138.89 is required (see example below); and 2) finance/credit charges will begin to accrue immediately on amount financed at 0% per annum. Minimum purchase and finance amount may be required. No down payment required. Monthly statement of account provided. Representative Amount Financed (“RAF”): $5,000, at 0% APR, monthly payment is $138.89 for 36 months, total obligation is $5,000, cost of borrowing based on RAF is $0. Monthly payments and cost of borrowing will vary depending on amount borrowed and down payment. MSRP cash price based on highest priced product in series as of October 1, 2021 is $8,405 (includes delivery, freight, set-up and $50 documentation fee), plus taxes. *Representative amount does not guarantee offer applies. In the event you default on this or any Multi-Use Account transaction, interest on all outstanding balances (including all Special Promotion Transactions) will begin to accrue immediately at 19.75% per annum from the date of default until paid in full, and you will be required to make monthly payments on this transaction equal to 2.5% of the original amounts financed plus interest. Dealers are free to set individual prices. Additional dealer fees may apply. Financing on approved John Deere Financial credit only and dealer participation. See dealer for details. Limited time offer which may not be combined with other offers. Discounts or other incentives may be available for cash purchases. By selecting the purchase financing offer, consumers may be foregoing such discounts and incentives which may result in a higher effective interest rate
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CANTER CULTURE LIFE AS A HORSE HUSBAND
Mama Country with the new love of her life, Kingo I’ve been waiting a long time to write Canter Culture - my take on life as a Horse Husband. Let me set the stage for you... My wife used to ride horses when she was younger (she’s still young), but stopped 10 years ago and never thought she’d get back into it. Now that we live in the country, she’s able to fulfil her lifelong dream of riding again. But not just riding - Eventing! If you’re not familiar with the sport of Eventing, it’s basically like an equestrian triathlon. Horse and Rider compete in three distinct disciplines in a single day. First, you have Dressage (which is like ballet on horseback). Then you have the Jumper round, followed by the Cross Country component where Horse and Rider fly across fields, up and down hills, through water, and over jumps made of hard things that don’t fall when you hit them. Eventers are a different breed. They’re like the rugby players of the horse world - tough as nails and my wife is one of them!
purchased. He’s a 5-year-old Off-the-Track Thoroughbred (OTTB). He’s a big fella, too. 16.2hh. That means he stands 16 hands tall (a hand is 4 inches), plus another 2 inches. That’s a decent height compared to the other horses we have. His name is Kingo. My wife dotes over him day and night. She spends more time outside than any of us. I commend her commitment to caring for Kingo. He’s more than a horse to her...he’s family. So, when our 3-year-old son noticed that Mommy was looking out the window at her horse while he was trying to play with her, he asked her if she loved Kingo more than him. Shocked at the question (and a little embarrassed at being caught gazing at her horse), she replied simply so as to re-assure our little one: “Of course not, sweetie. I love you both the same.” By: Papa Country
We have a new horse that my wife recently 14
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Next, the third and final sled passed us, but this time the driver raised his left fist in the air. He must be so happy, I thought. So, in response, I pumped my fist in the air and yelled with glee: OH, YEAH!!! We continued on our adventure and, to my delight, this kept happening. Every time we passed another sled or group of snowmobilers, they all told me I was #1, flipped me the peace sign, or (and this one is my favourite) pumped their fist in the air like the crew from Jersey Shore!
SNOWMOBILERS ROCK!
It got to the point where I preemptively pumped my fist every time we passed another sled. What an awesome culture.
I’ve never owned a snowmobile. But I do now.
Snowmobilers Rock! Or at least that’s what I thought.
By: Roger Tumminieri
We bought one last winter and I enjoyed booting around the property and along the trail system with our boys. I have to say, the local snowmobile culture here in Grey County is quite, well... exuberant. We could drive for miles without seeing another sled. The quiet solitude and beautiful scenery were intoxicating. I could see how people get hooked on sledding. Finally, a group of three snowmobiles approached. As we passed the first sled, the driver raised his left hand and flipped me the peace sign. I thought: wow, what a chill dude... and super-friendly, too! As the second sled passed, the driver raised his left hand and extended his index finger as if to signal that I was #1. I waived and nodded happily in response. This is great! He must approve of me exposing my sons to the wonderful world of snowmobiling.
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I told this story to my new friend, Duane Bryan from DB Powersports in Markdale, while he was fixing up my sled. I could tell by the look on his face while he was replacing my spark plugs that I wasn’t reading the situation correctly. He politely chuckled and said... “The first sled is telling you that there are two more sleds in his group behind him. The second driver is telling you that there’s one more in their group and the third sled is telling you that he’s the last one. Oh, boy. And here I was thinking that the number one rule of snowmobiling in Ontario was Fun, when in fact, it’s actually Safety. All the more reason why Snowmobilers Rock! Read more stories from The County Life at
www.thecountylife.ca
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HISTORY OF THE INTERNET WORKING FROM
When my husband and I first got married I worked in an IT department for a large insurance company in Mississauga. Part of my job entailed being on call when the batch programs ran overnight, if anything went wrong, I would have to analyze the error and fix it so that the programs could complete overnight. I hated being on call .... all we had was dial-up internet. If anything went wrong, it was up to me to diagnose and fix a broken program or file late at night. The programs had to run; auto & property insurance policies, renewals and claims had to be processed every day. In this day of high-speed everything, millennials may not understand how slow dial-up internet actually was. Imagine walking from Flesherton to Markdale instead of driving. Yes, it was that s..l..o..w! The maximum download speed was 56K or .056 mbps and cost roughly $10 - $20 a month. The beauty of it was if you had a phone line, you could connect your computer to a modem which plugged into the phone line jack. The internet provider would give you a phone number which the modem would ‘call’ to connect your 18
computer to the provider. You could hear the dial tone and the phone number being entered, followed by a series of clicking, beeping and a high-pitched screech. This was called the ‘handshake’ as your computer was identified to the provider and access was allowed. Sometimes you would hear a busy signal and have to ‘call’ again. Once the call was connected, your modem would translate your digital data into an audio signal to be transferred across the phone line to the modem at the receiving end, which translated it back to a digital signal. At the time, I was totally impressed with this technology (I was also impressed with the first video game “Pong” when it came out in the 80s). I could access work, emails and information at home. Websites were static, just basic information and small photos. But as I mentioned, it was really slow, while waiting for a page to load you could easily make a sandwich, throw a load of laundry in the washing machine, and still wait for the web page to load. The other drawback was your phone line was connected to the internet so anyone trying to call you would get a busy signal.
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HOME IN THE 90’S Surprisingly, dial-up internet is still used in remote locations across North America today. . . . . . . . Did I leave you hanging? Waiting for me to finish my dial-up story? Well then, you just experienced dial-up! In this day and age of instant information it’s hard to remember what it was like to have slow internet while working from home. CINDY MCQUEEN
CINDY MCQUEEN
Owner of WANNA WEB DESIGN wannawebdesign.com cindy@wannawebdesign.com
New look, same great service!
David Miles | Financial Advisor Miles Insurance and Investments Inc. 43 Main Sreet West, Markdale, ON, N0C 1H0 T: (519)986-3353 F: (519) 986-3518 40 Main Stret East, Dundalk, ON, N0C 1B0 T: (519)923-2313 F: (519)923-3061
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THE LIFE OF A GARLIC FARMER PART 14 Love the home you have. When Paul and I were looking for farm land in Grey County, it had to have certain features like a barn, suitable farm land and a house that we could move into. The first time Paul viewed it there was a lake in the basement, the second time I came with him and said “we aren’t that desperate.” And the third time I agreed the house just needed someone to love it. A month later at a 4H meeting, all the local women wanted to know what I would do with the kitchen, probably because it was on the market for a long time. Our farm was bought from crown land to James Foy on February 26, 1850. They were an incredible young Irish family who wanted to carve out their future in Canada. When Paul and I bought the farm there had been only one other family since the Foys sold it, but very little work had been done to bring it up to standards. As we stripped the house down to bare bones we discovered 4 layers of original wood siding, beautiful Douglas Fir beams and even the stone cellar walls were still structurally sound. It was decided right then and there that we keep the century home look but just modernize it and I couldn’t have been happier. There was no insulation in the roof, the floor bounced when you walked on it and when the addition was put onto the original house years before us, the beams were put in crooked. We gutted the addition and tore down the drywall to also find mortar and stones in the walls. Needless to say we fixed everything that needed to be done in order for the house to not collapse around us and added antiques to make it homey and welcoming. We added new boards to the barn, gave it a coat of paint and still rent a part of the farm land to our tenant farmer who has been here for many years. The barn hasn’t had cattle for a couple of years now but we raise our meat chickens in the old grain room and built a new chicken coop for our layer chickens on the drive shed. But best of all, Paul built an incredible commercial kitchen on the property so I could continue to produce all the products for Pure Music Garlic.
PAUL & LORRAINE IRWIN our house with her grownup daughters and introduced herself as the last Foy family member born and raised on the farm. I for one cannot say the amount of pride I felt when she walked through the house and around the property to reminisce with stories and beautiful memories of her family growing up here. We all love our home that’s new and old and how it blended the Foy and Irwin family together, and hope it’s kept that way for more many generations to come. LORRAINE IRWIN Lorraine Irwin is a mother, a wife, a theatre buff and the owner of Pure Music Garlic Products. She makes all of her gourmet garlic products using Organic Garlic grown on their farm (Boars Rock Farm). Check out her ad on Page 7. PURE MUSIC GARLIC PRODUCTS puremusicgarlic@gmail.com puremusicgarlic.com @puremusicgarlic (519) 942-5410 BOARS ROCK FARM 136407 Grey Road 12, Grey Highlands boarsrockfarm.ca @boarsrockfarm
It was this past summer, a lovely lady came to 20
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t a y a d o t s r u Get yo 15 Main St. W., Markdale
WELLNESS ENVIRONMENT Logical Levels for Personal Change: Environment There are many theories of creating a change in your life. I’d like to share with you one of my favourite models at looking at and understanding where change needs to happen to make it meaningful and real in your life. Over the next couple of months, I’ll introduce each level of this model, called Logical Levels, and use the condition of diabetes as an example. We’ll start from the bottom and work our way up! Logical Levels is a model for personal development, created by Robert Dilts. When considering a personal change, understanding these levels and their interactions with the change you are hoping to make can help guide your development. The levels in this model, from bottom to top, are: 1) Environment; 2) Behaviours; 3) Capabilities; 4) Beliefs and Values; 5) Identity; 6) Purpose. The lower levels of this model are the ones that are more easily affected or changed, but may have a correspondingly minor effect on the overall change you wish to make. The environment around the change that you want to make includes the physical space, objects in the environment, and people that you interact with. How does this apply to a condition like diabetes? For people who are living with diabetes, their bodies have an impaired processing of sugar that is taken in through the diet. The Diabetes Canada guidelines recommend lifestyle change as a foundation for diabetes management. This includes diet and exercise modifications. How can your environment affect lifestyle changes such as these? Consider the types of food that you have in your house at this very moment. You may know exactly where the “bad” foods are kept. A change that you can make to this environment, is to remove these foods from your space. You may also consider what equipment or space 22
JONATHAN NHAN you have set aside for exercise at home. If you created a space specifically for exercise and acquired equipment to use for this purpose, would it make it more likely that you would exercise? Expand your concept of environment to include the places that you find yourself at most often. This can include your usual route through the supermarket. Change how you walk through the grocery store and notice what new and different foods you may encounter. Do you often find yourself at fast food restaurants? Making the choice to find food from better sources may help you eat better. Finally, do you make it a habit to be in an environment that is conducive to exercise (i.e. a gym)? This would increase the likelihood of physical activity. Just as easily as it is to consider different ways that you can change your environment, it may be just as easy to think of all the ways that you can circumvent these environmental changes. Simply put, it’s easy to change your environment, but that change is easy to revert back to its original state. Even with that understanding, sometimes a change is environment a good catalyst to further changes higher up. How would changing your environment in a positive way have an immediate impact on your behaviour? Find Jon at jnthn.ca
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Jonathan Nhan Co-Founder, Curate and Upgrade
CHAMBER HOME IMPROVEMENT Are you thinking of making some changes to your home? You’re certainly not alone. Many of us have been spending a lot of time in our homes over the last two years, and we’ve discovered things that bug us, that just don’t work for us anymore, that need updating, that would be better enjoyed if… Some things you’ll be comfortable doing yourself. Think carefully about those items. Are you really, really sure you can do it? If you’re 100% certain, then go for it! If you’re a maybe, then think about the cost of it going wrong, and the cost of then having to hire someone to fix the mess you’ve made. Consider the potential downside to arrive at a reasonable decision.
you’ll find locally. Ask your neighbours for recommendations. Call or email the Chamber, or visit our online business directory, which you’ll soon be getting a printed copy of in the mail. Finally, the Chamber will be hosting the Grey Highlands Home & Garden Show in Flesherton on April 30 to May 1, and you’ll be able to meet a broad spectrum of potential suppliers for your project(s). MICHELLE PATEY
GREY HIGHLANDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 13 Toronto St S, Markdale greyhighlandschamber@gmail.com www.greyhighlandschamber.com 519-986-4612
If you’re going to seek out a contractor, be it a general contractor, plumber, electrician, painter, or roofer, I have a few suggestions for you: (1) plan ahead – these folks are tremendously busy and some are booking into the fall already; and (2) align yourself with people you trust to do the job right. How do you find those people? You might be surprised by the wealth of service suppliers
WELBECK HOME BUILDING CENTRE 522598 Welbeck Road, R.R. #2 Durham, ON N0G 1R0 T: (519) 369-2144 building@welbecksawmill.com tools@welbecksawmill.com @welbeckhbc
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COVER STORY OUR HOME IMPROVEMENT Mama Country and I both grew up in Scarborough. We actually went to the same high school. She likes to say that I’m “significantly older” than her; so we never dated until later in life. After we were married, we made some life goals for ourselves. It was a dream of ours to one day live in the country and own horses. So when we decided to pull the chute on city life and buy a farm in Grey County, we went full speed ahead on our dream to own an equestrian property.
The work begins.
But how does one transform an organic hobby farm into an organic hobby farm with horses?
us with the right folks, our dreams of horse ownership and farm life were starting to become a reality.
The first step was to ask around for help, but we didn’t know anybody. We had no friends yet. Well, just one; Reuben McCallum.
Truth be told, we had already purchased a few horses and were boarding them at a facility in West Grey. I was learning to ride for the first time, while Mama Country was getting back into the swing of things after a 10-year hiatus. The cost of boarding was reasonable, but we had the space on our 13-acre property so my inner Sicilian kept whispering (screaming and hand gesturing), “We have to bring our horses here as soon as possible!”
Reuben represented us during our home purchase and became a trusted resource and friend once the deal was done. He helped to guide us when we’d ask questions we never thought we’d ask, like: “How do you build a riding ring?” Or, “Who can build paddock fencing with electric wires?” Or, “Where can we find a run-in for our horses?” Thanks to Reuben and his ability to connect
The Plan: Build 3 paddocks (one with a run-in) and a riding ring.
The riding ring coming to life. 24
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EXPERIENCE The Timeline: Finish the paddocks and ring by the end of May 2020 (we moved here in November 2019).
By: Papa Country
ring was complete. Almost.
Al and Ian stuck around a bit longer even after the bulldozer, excavator and dump trucks were gone. We had decided to Our first call was to Al Thompson. He and remove the grass from one of the paddocks his son, Ian, own Al Thompson Excavating (now known as the Pony Paddock), because (I’m not sure where they got the name) Cedar (our Pony) could founder if he ate and were recommended to us by Reuben. too much grass. What? Founder? That’s Al came by our property to check out our what I said. Apparently, ponies can become plan, get the lay of the land (literally), and lamanitic (the not-so-scientific version of prepare a quote for us. We felt his quote diabetes for horses) from the sugars in the was fair and went ahead and hired them to grass. Who’d have thought? A horse that build our riding arena. Mama Country was couldn’t eat grass. getting excited!
Paddocks are almost finished I’ll never forget the sight of a dump truck hauling an excavator rolling up to our barn laneway. It was something I’d never seen before. Odd for an Italian guy, you’re thinking. Next, the bulldozer was dropped off. We now lived on a construction site. You should have seen the looks on our boys’ faces. Both of whom love playing with toy construction vehicles. Now they had the real thing right in front of them. And away they went. The bulldozer moved the earth to level out the land for the riding ring, the excavator loaded it into the dump truck which hauled it away. Load after load. The ring was coming to life. Then came the sand.
It’s worth noting that Al and Ian Thompson completed the job on time and 100% on budget - not a penny more than their original quote. We didn’t know it at the time, but the ring was designed and built in such a way so as to drain water from rain and snow out of the ring - no puddling for the horses to navigate. It still functions beautifully. But what is a riding ring without fences? And what is an equestrian property without paddocks? And what is a paddock without a run-in?
We relied on our new neighbours, Jeff Russell and Anna McCarthy, for advice on who could build paddock fencing. They mentioned a fellow by the name of Paul Frey. Paul had built some fencing for one Our riding ring is a fair size. Which is great of their family members and came highly when you’re in there riding around on a recommended. horse, but costly when you factor in the number of truckloads of sand that had to Now, I had never spoken to a Mennonite be hauled in. Load after load. The riding Continued on page 26 Independent Publisher of Print Magazines & Podcasts
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COVER STORY CONTINUED
Paul Frey lines up a fence post. before this point, so you can imagine my delight when I reached Paul by phone. He was jolly and direct. Not a lot of small talk. His accent sounded like a mix of Irish and Jamaican. A pleasant fellow, indeed. He came by the farm, walked the property with me and measured out the distance of the paddock fencing that Mama Country and I had sketched out on paper before marking the corners and fence lines with sticks we found lying around in an old wood pile. We decided to hire Paul to build our paddocks, but time was ticking. We had to get everything built before the end of May. The weather proved to be problematic at times delaying his start, but Paul’s crew finally hit the ground running (literally, his guys actually ran from A to B to get the job done). I’ve never seen people work harder. I was amazed at their efficiency...and their accents.
We did a bit of research to find a good price on a run-in. We ended up going with a 10ft x 20ft because we envisioned acquiring more horses in the future. “Horses are like potato chips,” we were told. “You can’t own just one.” We ordered our run-in from Henry Brubacher of Brubacher’s Harness Supplies in Wallenstein. A jovial fellow who turns out to be quite handy at mending and customizing saddles. It arrived on a flatbed in advance of our fencing and became the central figure of our back 40 prior to the paddocks being built. We had a minor issue with it, but Henry was quick to remedy it with the help of our neighbour up the road, Daniel Bauman who arrived in a horsedrawn buggy to save the day. We could officially move our horses home!
“And the rest was easy,” said no horse owner When all was said and done, Paul Frey’s crew ever. had all 3 paddocks built and our riding ring fenced off, plus all the requisite gates, and a hitching post installed before our deadline. 26
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Mama Country and the Boys enjoy a pony ride on Cedar. Independent Publisher of Print Magazines & Podcasts
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THE ARTS FLESHERTON CALLING
Filming of Wolf Dog in Markdale 1958 The year 1958 was a great year for film releases: Orson Welles’ low-budget masterpiece “Touch of Evil”, Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, and Richard Brook’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” were in the mix. If you preferred to catch your flicks at the local drive-in, you would have seen such sci-fi classics as “The Fly” or “The Blob”. It was also the year that “Wolf Dog”, a movie filmed in the Markdale area, was released. The movie tells the story of a parolee (Jim Davis) and his wife and son (Allison Hayes, Tony Brown) who buy a cattle ranch so that he might begin a new life. His efforts to do so are thwarted by an unscrupulous neighbouring rancher, played by Canadian character actor Austin Willis, who wants the land for himself. I first heard about the film from my friend John Butler, who introduced me to Jeff Wilson, a cartoonist and film historian, who single-handedly kept the film alive for the present generation to see. In the late fifties Normandie Productions, a branch of an American television production company was operating in Canada, shooting series such as “Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans”, “Cannonball”, and “Tugboat Annie” in Mimico and Pickering. I can recall all these shows running as reruns during rainy afternoons at my summer cottage when I was a child. The owner, Arthur Gottlieb, green-lit a low-budget film project to be shot in the summer of 1957 in a rural community north of Toronto. The director would be Sam Newfield, widely considered to be the most prolific director working in the industry. His immense output would be the envy of any professional, since it was believed he had made over 300 films since the beginning of his career in the silent era. His output was so extensive that he had to direct under three different names. Unfortunately, quantity does not necessarily mean quality, and Sam shot the films quickly, often in less than a week, largely because of the paltry amount he was paid. Another veteran, Russian-born Louis Stevens wrote the script. He had recently penned three of the “Hawkeye” episodes, so immediacy must have offered Gottlieb an affordable solution.
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Markdale was abuzz that summer of 1957. Ron Wyvell was there for much of the shooting, having discovered it by accident after coming into town on his bike and deciding to stick around for the fun. He even, along with other locals, had the opportunity to work as an extra in the film. Stars Jim Davis (later of “Dallas” fame”) and Allison Hayes (best known for the cult classic “The Attack of the 50-Foot Woman”) gave the community a Hollywood feel, and the experience was memorable for all the residents who were a part of it. The year after “Wolf Dog” came out, it had a brief run in Owen Sound and subsequently, forgotten everywhere. Jeff Wilson was not even born when “Wolf Dog” was made, but his mother was one of the extras, and the story of its production was a source of interest for him his entire life. Even though the only complete copy known to exist is in the Library of Congress (there are partial copies in the National Archives of Canada), he has put together a complete film by inserting lower quality generations of the missing reels so the viewer can get a sense of what the original looked like. A copy of this film is available through the Grey Highlands Public Library in Markdale. He has even set up a Facebook page, “Wolf Dog”, 1958 (The Movie Made in Markdale) and has also made the film available for screening on Youtube. With the movie safely rescued from obscurity, one wonders about the prospect of another feature being nproduced in Grey Highlands. With the abundance of talent in our area, it should not be a stretch to imagine such an occurrence. “Wolf Dog II”, anyone?
SPEAKING VOLUMES BOOKS & AUDIO 12 Toronto Road, Flesherton kevinarthurland@gmail.com kevinarthurland.ca
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GREYCOUNTYREALESTATE.COM 494233 BAPTIST CHURCH Road, West Grey Classic family farm, worked by the same family for over a century. 182 acres with 75 acres workable, loam soil, fenced pastures, mix woodlands, Traverston Creek and two ponds.
The four bedroom and two bath home with front and back porch is cozy and spacious. There is also a 35 x 60 shed and 80 x 75 barn (2009) that is used for cattle.
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MAIN STREET EAST MARKDALE 519-986-2552
This farm is brimming with diverse possibilities, whether you're looking for somewhere to create your own homestead or wanting to expand your current farm operation.
$2,499,000
