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A Lifestyle Guide to Ontario Counties
Let’s start at the beginning... Before The County Life, there was Hello Country Magazine. Before that, the Etobicoke Lakeshore Press. That’s a pretty good snapshot of what our lives have been like over the past few years. We’re one of the families who’ve given up the city life for a new, simpler one in the country. I know we’re not alone in this pursuit. The pandemic kicked into high-gear people’s desire for a more simple life - one with more space and further away from other people. We can attest. We made the move in 2019; pre-pandemic. #blessed We sold our bungalow in the quiet, lakeside neighbourhood of Long Branch in South Etobicoke and bought a farm just outside Flesherton. Flesherton? Yes, exactly. We wanted to live outside of a very small town not too, too far from Toronto. At the time, we thought I’d be commuting more since I still had an office in the city. A max, two-hour drive from home to office wasn’t too crazy. I can deal with that. Or so I thought. Just as I was starting to loath the twice and often thrice-weekly trips to and from the city, the pandemic hit. I still remember where I was when Doug Ford announced the first province-wide lockdown. I was on my way to drop our eldest off at March Break camp when the Premier took to the radio. Immediately after the announcement, I turned the truck around, dropped our son off at home, and drove solo to the Foodland in Markdale. I envisioned some apocalyptic scene unfolding as I pulled into the grocery store parking lot. Looting? Fires? Zombies? Nah! Just a bunch of unmasked people (remember those days), doing the same thing I was doing - well, not quite. I was the only one who needed two grocery carts to transport his first lockdown grocery shop from the checkout aisle to the truck. Yep, it’s kind of embarrassing now, but at the time it totally made sense. Two growing boys. A bag of milk a day just for the two-year-old. You get the picture. My cart overfloweth. Then all of a sudden, a woman walked up to me - as if to intervene on what surely looked looting - and said: “I’m a Farmer’s wife. I’ve been a Farmer’s wife for 60 years. We’re prepared.” And then she stood there and looked at me and then looked at my cart and then looked back at me. Oh, snap (I grew up in Scarborough). What do I do now? “I’m totally not prepared,” I said as I lowered my head and shook it slightly. “We’re new here. We just moved up from the city and we’ve got two young boys...yada yada yada... and so, yeah...” I gestured with my hands so as to imply innocence. To which she replied... “We’re prepared.”
And then she smiled at me as she walked away carrying her tiny shopping basket.
on the next page.
By: Jenny Jelen
ROBERT “MUSEUM ROB” IANTORNO
Community and Heritage Curator South Grey Museum, Flesherton
Listen to Museum Rob on the Hello Country Podcast www.hellocountry.ca/podcast “(Newcomers could be) perceived as a threat,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s a threat.” Museum Rob said there is an entire demographic choosing Grey Highlands over any other place in the province. And that should be taken as a good sign. “I think they want to crunch some leaves, and smell some manure,” he said. “There’s a depth to existence here.” That depth comes from the rich existence that began when WK Flesh owned the local mill and acted as the town doctor. A time when WJ MacFarland kept a log book of what was sold in his general store in the ceiling of the shop, detailing each sale in ink and paper. And a time when wealth was determined by the intricacies of the brick work above one’s windows. Through his work with the South Grey Museum, Museum Rob is committed to ensuring everyone in the community knows just how special the region is. “It’s always there,” he said. “Maybe we’re just not looking for it.”
SIDEBAR This summer, a plaque signifying a Heritage Grey Highlands home was stolen off the Oscar Phillips House in Flesherton. Within 72 hours of the community vocalizing its upset over the missing sign, Museum Rob and the South Grey Museum crew had a replacement plaque made and hung next to the house’s noteworthy blue door. The hilltop house, located on Collingwood Street, once belonged to Oscar Phillips. In 1909, Phillips opened a harness-making and shoe repair shop across from his elaborate Second Empire style home. The beautiful home, built to demonstrate wealth, status and sophisticated taste, still boasts original glass in its “perfectly proportioned” windows and doorways, detailed brickwork and a second floor balcony. Heritage Grey Highlands is the heritage committee for the municipality, and operates as a subcommittee of the Museum and Heritage Advisory Committee. A full list of Heritage sites is available at greyhighlands.ca.
Supporting Local Businesses In Grey Highlands
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Photo: Jenny Jelen
ROBERT “MUSEUM ROB” IANTORNO