Want to know what is really great about the cold weather of winter? Ice Cream! For you softies who live in the city all year long, ice cream may not be what you think of when it is minus 25 outside. But here in the bush, life is tough. We can only have ice cream […]

This is a wonderful time of year to be in the bush. The last of the colours are dangling in the treetops. The morning frost seems to stay in the air all day long, giving it a clean, fresh feel. The only thing I'm a little sad about is the migration of the loons. Over […]

Wild mushrooms are late in coming this year, but they are making up for lost time by coming out in abundance. Could be the hot, dry summer we had that slowed them down. Now the cool, damp September just past has set everything right again. October promises to be a time of bountiful harvest. This […]

Everyday Rituals & Celebrations Here is a favourite quote from my kitchen blackboard: “God gives you on a daily basis an unlimited amount of electrons to create your life with, and you are always free to create it in any way you want.” (Telos: Aurelia Louise Jones) These days, as we all know, life is requiring […]

September arrives in a shower...and the showers continue through the month.  This year, it will still take a lot of showers to make up for the hot, dry summer. Meanwhile, the mushrooms rejoice, the maples begin to dress in red and yellow for the last dance of the year. I picked up my mushroom basket, […]

Early June, quiet morning. A gentle rain taps on the maple leaves outside my window Rain! How we need it! We’ve had a few days of rain in the past two weeks, but not nearly enough to wet the forest floor. Let it rain some more! Forest fires are springing up everywhere. A couple of […]

The water needs our help before it is destroyed. Through some back room deals, a devastating change has been made to the Fisheries Act that now allows mining companies to dump mine tailings waste into pristine lakes across the country. This happened in 2002, both in the U.S. and Canada, from intense pressure exerted by […]

Black flies love bananas. Black flies especially like to sip the blood of people who eat bananas. Why should black flies love bananas? Clearly, this fruit is foreign to the northern Ontario landscape. Well ask yourself, why do you like bananas? Despite the fact that you have never in your life seen a wild banana […]

In his book, Principles of Dowsing, Dennis Wheatley says “dowsing can be simply defined as a skill to detect invisible targets.” And Raymond C. Willey, one of the founders of the American Society of Dowsers, described dowsing as an “exercise of a human faculty, which allows one to obtain information in a manner beyond the […]

Nobody had been on the ice for a week, maybe two. Except for us. We were on the ice every day…until Tuesday. Tuesday morning the ice was fine!  The overnight temperature dipped to –6, and the ice was hard as a rock. OK, hard as a soft rock. I could whack it with my pole […]

I invite you to participate in a new dream for humanity, one in which all of us can live in harmony, truth and love. In this dream, people of all religions and philosophies are not just welcome, but respected. It doesn’t matter whether you believe in Christ, Moses, Allah, Brahma, Buddha, or any other being […]

Looks like sugaring season is going to come early this year!  Mmmmaple! We ski along a lovely forest trail two kilometres to where the sugar maples grow. As I climb the last, long winding hill to the sugar bush, I can hear water rushing along under the snow. Here and there the stream has washed […]

Updated January 3, 2022 Mostly I am a homebody. Why wouldn’t I be? I live in a cozy little cottage in the forest, with a big beautiful lake for my front yard. If I didn’t have so much work to do — painting window frames, replacing the dock the ice took out, repairing the roof […]

Statistics show that we have done a poor job of nurturing healthy relationships with our partners. According to John Gottman, the chance of a first marriage ending in divorce in the United States over a forty-year period is 67%. Divorce rates are slightly lower in Canada, but why are the numbers so high? Answer: We […]

With our hectic modern lifestyles, increased environmental toxicity, and gradual disconnect from nature's cycles, it is no wonder that Sepia Officinalis is often called upon by the homeopathic practitioner. Derived from cuttlefish ink, Sepia has a broad range of action over the female organism, and is one of Samuel Hahnemann's greatest contributions to the homeopathic […]

If you have an immaculate weed-free garden, you are missing out on some of the best vegetables ever grown! If you are relaxed enough to let a few weeds find a bit of sunshine between the tomatoes, you are in luck! Chances are very good that the weeds in your garden are good to eat. […]