No. 33: SONG FOR A WARM FRIDAY EVENING IN BOBCAYGEON

No. 33: SCHOOL PROJECT

Back in March Humber College journalism student Jacquie Schifano came up to the farm to do a story on me and my magazine Coupe for her school's magazine. Here’s the story and its sprinkled with a smattering of nice pics (by student Wendy Mach) of the farmhouse.

No. 32: HOMEGROWN MAPLE SYRUP

We have just three maple trees within a quick walk from the house. But they're big maples with a combined circumference of about 30 feet. This year I thought I'd try tapping them and try my hand at making some maple syrup. I had watched old timers make maple syrup when I was a little kid at our cottage in Baysville and I remembered the basics of the process. I also did some online research and got advice from some local guys who had boiled down their fair share of sap. From start to finish it was a pretty big process, a lot of work, a lot of fun and, once I tasted the end result, completely worth it.

I couldn't resist designing up a quick label.

I drilled 2 taps per tree. Trees this size could probably handle 3 or 4 taps.

When the sap gets running at top speed we're talking maybe 40 drops per minute. I was collecting between 6 to 12 litres a day and the sap was really beginning to pile up around the farm. Sap in the fridge, sap in the freezer, sap stored in 6 gallon water jugs outside in the snow . . . . It takes 40 to 50 litres of sap to make just 1 litre of maple syrup so you can never really have enough tree plasma.

I boiled the sap down over a 2 day period over a wood fire. Earlier this winter I had cleared out a small stand of dead cedars so there was no shortage of good easy burning wood at hand. The cedar gave the syrup an incredible smoky and unique flavour and I think it even enhanced its colour.

These 2 bottles represent the result of 18 days of sap collecting and 2 days of fire stoking and boiling. Best stuff I've ever had.

No. 31: TIME IT WAS, AND WHAT A TIME IT WAS . . .

Last night at a local auction I purchased a cardboard box full of odds and ends. Mostly junk to be honest. What grabbed my eye in the bottom of the box was a cool old Westclox electric wall clock from the 1950s. The auction was about to begin and I had just enough time to hurriedly flip through a large photo album in the box. It’s not rare to come across discarded family albums at estate auctions. They’re usually being discarded for a reason. But after just a few pages of the more than 150 incredible photos I knew this one was special. When I got home I sat down with the book and poured over more than 40 years of an anonymous family’s humble and rich history. And I couldn't help but be a little saddened at the thought of this family record no longer the property the people that made it up. 

In an age where the traditional family photo album is all but extinct replaced by laptop folders full of digital photos and Facebook posts this album is an amazing testament to their power and beauty. I bought the cardboard box for two dollars.

No. 30: ENJOY THE SILENCE

No. 29: WINTER WEEDS + TIRED TREES

No. 28: HOW TO GIVE YOUR FAVOURITE PAIR OF LEVIS THAT ANNOYING STORE-BOUGHT WRECKED UP LOOK. THE HARD WAY.

STEP 1: Position yourself in the midst of a tangled stand of dead cedar trees in 18 inches of snow.

STEP 2: Fire up the ol’ chain saw.

STEP 3: Begin to saw down said stand of dead cedars.

STEP 4: Hold chain saw precariously in one hand while directing the fall of the trees with the other.

STEP 5: Get careless with said chain saw and let it ever so lightly brush against the side of your thigh pant-leg.

STEP 6: After a fruitless but terrifying wait for blood to begin to gush from said leg you've now got yourself a pair of jeans with annoying store-bought-looking holes in them. Enjoy!

No. 27: GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD

No. 26: KING OF “LOUNGE”

Here’s a little blast of summer just before the dog days of winter really take hold.

Last June I found a vintage 35mm slide viewer at a yard sale still in its original box. Also crammed in the box were three collections of slides dating from 1967 to 71. The star of the slideshow was most definitely this guy. Almost always photographed in his signature white cap and shades the man epitomizes ease and leisure. No mowing the lawn, washing the car or pulling weeds for this cat.

No. 25: VINTAGE CANADIAN PACKAGING

Here's a little collection of vintage packaging — all of it from Canada — that I've picked up in the neighbourhood. Some beautiful examples of hand rendered and hand set type.

This is an amazing repair kit package (I'd say late 1930s, early 40s) issued by the iconic Canadian company Canadian Tire. I found this in an old auto garage that was changing hands and clearing out their very old inventory. I love how the package states it's for use on among other things, hot water bottles and football bladders. Back in the day if your football or hot water bottle sprang a leak you fixed it. Today? The rubber patch is still inside the box.

No. 24: MY (KINDA) TOWN

I admit it, before stumbling upon the amazing SALOON photo (below) I’d never heard of the border town called Douglas, Arizona. But the more I read and saw about town the more I knew I had to get there some day.

Douglas is situated in Cochise County. Its history revolves around mining, ranching, and gunfighting. Cochise County was home to a bunch of historical heroes, rogues and wranglers such as Geronimo (the Geronimo Memorial, the site of his 1886 surrender is in Skeleton Canyon just outside Douglas), Cochise, Thornton Wilder, John Slaughter, Wyatt Earp, and Doc Holliday and their tales played out, sometimes violently, across the tapestry of the county's grasslands and deserts.

Gotta get to my namesake town some day. Some day.

No. 23: BACK PORCH

No. 22: MONTREAL, PART DEUX

Inspired by a “corned beef sandwiches” story just posted over at ACL I thought I’d post this shot (this was my ‘medium fat’ order) and spread a little Montréal smoked meat love. A few weeks ago we were in Montréal for the weekend. I hadn't been there in a couple years and hadn’t eaten at Schwartz’s in many years. This iconic time machine of an eatery never disappoints. Their smoked meat is sublime.

No. 21: OLD SCHOOL

I just picked up this very old schoolhouse desk at auction. It’s a primitive double-seater from the 1800s. This is a great piece but I feel for the kids that after milking the cows, feeding the chickens, and bringing in the firewood then walking 5 miles to school — in the snow! — would have to sit at this thing all day. Good to see a few of the old-time kids had some “rebel” in them.