Travel & Culture

The Cycle of Life

The Cycle of Life

Yvonne Bambrick has been on a bike since she was a baby. On the back of her father's bike, a few decades back. But now she gets around Toronto under her own steam, and in her own words. Bambrick is the author of the Urban Cycling Survival Guide. It's an introduction...

The Espresso Institute of North America

The Espresso Institute of North America

The little, blue Dymo label on the metal door belies what's just behind it. But in an nondescript alley in mid-town Toronto, a former tool and die shop has been transformed into the Espresso Institute of North America. The institute is the work of Ezra Braves, a...

Horses Are My Therapy

Horses Are My Therapy

Dr. J. David Richardson is a Viking with a heart of gold. The retired Dundas, Ontario family doctor now runs Christieview Farm, just outside of Hamilton, Ontario. And, he's using his rural perch, on the lip of the Christie Conversation Area, to help folks recover from...

5 Tips For Making It Through a Canadian Winter

5 Tips For Making It Through a Canadian Winter

Winter is here, and for too many Canadians that means a lot of time spent being inactive inside. While we humans may not hibernate per se, nothing seems more natural on a cold winter’s night than to bundle up inside with a good book or in front of the TV, with a...

One Of A Kind, The Recycled and the Strange

One Of A Kind, The Recycled and the Strange

We dropped by the One of a Kind Show and Sale in Toronto this week. We were looking for artists and craftspeople who were doing something a little different or making good use of recycled material. We found them. From a former pig farmer who now does cycle sculptures...

The Birdseed Man of Safari Road

The Birdseed Man of Safari Road

Back in 1874 Barry Bogle's ancestors farmed the land of Safari Road just to get by. Now a sixth generation does the same to keep the birds of Hamilton thriving through the winter. High in the rafters of Barry Bogle's wild birdseed barn is an old rack lifter. It's a...

What’s Killing Our Country Bees?

What’s Killing Our Country Bees?

Though not native to North America, the diminutive honeybee has become an important aspect of this continent’s agriculture and biodiversity. And now this species is facing some serious threats. Apis mellifera is also known as the western honeybee and European...

Cow Comfort Farm

Cow Comfort Farm

If you were a cow, you could do far worse than find yourself at the Joe Loewith & Sons dairy farm in Lynden, Ontario. The 100-acre property is as close to a bovine spa as you can get. The 850 herd of Summitholm Holsteins are fed a careful diet of high nutrient...

The Seeds of Survival

The Seeds of Survival

You wouldn’t expect the survival of the world food supply would depend on a hole in the ground 1,300 km from the North Pole. Deep inside a mountain on the island of Spitsbergen, Norway is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The last line of defence in edible plant species...

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