The morning sunrise was shining bright as my dogs and I took our morning walk down Cathedral Drive to the broken remains of my touchstone beside the roadway, at the edge of the woods. I note… Read More

I am once again amazed by the beauty and the enduring hardiness of ‘the host of golden daffodils’ blooming again in front of my house at Cathedral Drive Farm. That’s especi… Read More

I found myself thinking of Easter a few moments ago, this Good Friday afternoon; and what came to mind is that it’s a holiday that people of many different cultural and religious t… Read More

Last night on my way home I stopped by Singing Sands to give thanks. If you believe you are a Child of the Earth then you know you cannot hide from anything.You are one with your creator… Read More

On my morning walk at sunrise I noticed a few well-placed clouds and the sun had combined to offer this momentary gentle, and to my eye, lovely image. And as I happened to have my camera… Read More

As I began to look at the on-line news in the very ‘wee hours’ of this morning, The headline of a CBC Radio Canada article soon caught by eye: “Millions of people in Canada… Read More

My shattered touchstone, the sun rising in the background: a different ‘way of being.’The Niagara Escarpment landscape here at Hope Ness and in the Hope Bay Forest Provincial Par… Read More

The lead article in the Washington Post’s ‘Todays Worldview’ about the earth-shattering disaster under way in the world’s greatest democracy should be read and unders… Read More

It may have been August 30 when I first saw the new ‘park boundary’ and ‘no hunting’ signs posted on both sides of Cathedral Drive north of my property at the end of… Read More

In the spring of 2022, I finally put two and two together and decided the time had come to work up the ground in part of the old barnyard to see if that might be a better place to grow veget… Read More

Buddy wonders why the peas aren’t up yet “April is the cruelest month,” T.S. Eliott wrote in the first line of his epic poem, The Waste Land. And so it has been, firs… Read More

The recent Ontario Superior Court decision confirming the Saugeen First Nation’s rightful ownership of the north section of Sauble Beach is in itself an important milestone in Cana… Read More

Kind-hearted RCMP officers welcome refugees to Canada at an irregular border crossing a few years agoFile this under ‘How soon we forget the lessons of shameful history,’ includi… Read More

Not that long ago in a ‘What’s on your mind’ Facebook post I recalled how as a boy many years ago in Toronto I happily walked several blocks along Queen Street West eve… Read More

How long is a moment? I think the assumption has been that it’s not very long at all, a brief and passing thing that comes and goes in little more than the blinking of an eye; and… Read More

“…Dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” That last profoundly mysterious verse from R… Read More

Two essential members of the family on a snow squall warning day But this is mid-November! Even here in Ontario, Canada 90 centimeters of snow in two days in the fall of the year, and mor… Read More

The historic Great Hall of Toronto’s Union Station“Keep your heart and mind open to the possibility of wonder: you never know what the next moment will bring.” Recently… Read More

It’s still there in my list of favorite movies; right up there with Carl Dreyer’s Day of Wrath and The Passion of Joan of Arc, Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Ingmar Bergman… Read More

A row of transplanted ‘volunteer’ squash, hoping for a warm SeptemberAs many of my millions of readers will know, I live in anticipation of the next wonderful and often surprisin… Read More

It’s been 40 years since I came here to help the late Wilma Butchart and her son Cliff bring in the hay from that beautiful back field that reached out to the depth of their old fa… Read More

In these most troubling times, with among other things the world’s first and greatest modern democracy in grave peril, I look daily to my garden for relief and consolation, and hope. I… Read More

Here, just south of the 45th Parallel (halfway to the North Pole) in the upper Great Lakes area of Ontario, Canada, the appearance of rows of little green sprouts of sweet corn in the first… Read More

The view of Hope Bay, with Georgian Bay in the distance, from a Bruce Trail lookout. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard the propane truck backing down the driveway… Read More

The garden, May 2018 On a scale of one to ten this perplexing spring so far in Hope Ness and the rest of southern Ontario isn’t much to complain about when Putin’s bombs and m… Read More

A scene from Ballad of a Soldier: a mother says goodbye.I suppose this may not be the best time to say anything good about Russia and the Russian people. But no sooner do I write that than I… Read More

Donald Trump (DT), the well-known pathological liar and former President of the U.S.A. who tried but failed to overthrow its democracy has blamed President Joe Biden for Russian dictator Vla… Read More

Readers of this blog may recall that I have often written proudly about Canada as a wonderful example to a troubled world of a country where a great diversity of people of many cultural back… Read More

Sir Alan ‘Tommy’ Lascelles Finding a good book, or books, to read is one way to survive these frigid January days of a Canadian winter. The one I recently purchased on-line ha… Read More

Yes, indeed, the snow was coming down heavily when the propane truck showed up early this morning. And none too soon either: the tanks were getting low, and to be on the safe side, I had tur… Read More

The garden at rest, January 2, 2022No sooner has the New Year arrived than thoughts about gardening come up like newly-sprouted seed… Read More

I understand the risk in posting the link below, of it possibly being misunderstood by some south of the border who would wrongly claim for their own that great moment in American history. F… Read More

Grey and misty this Christmas morning, as we walked to the touchstone down Cathedral Drive. In the woods over to the west, one of the family of ravens that lives there was calling persistent… Read More

Rising more or less at first light, the beloved ritual of morning coffee and quiet reflection duly observed, the online morning news perused – the Tiananmen Pillar of Shame unceremonio… Read More

Hope is the most precious … I was going to say ‘commodity.’ But that primarily refers to a raw material or agricultural product that is ‘bought and sold.’ I… Read More

The out-of-court settlement just reached by Bruce County and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) is the latest indication SON’s long-standing land claim is heading toward similar, land-tr… Read More

“My God, he’s been here before!” So said my father when he first set eyes on me, just brought home from the hospital, when I happened to open my eyes just as he looked d… Read More

Potatoes and glyphosate were on my mind this morning as the dogs and I walked down Cathedral Drive to the touchstone. That may come as no surprise in the worldwide community of Finding Ho… Read More

So, it has happened: that inevitable Canadian morning that says in no uncertain terms, winter has arrived and for the next five months or more, and the season of necessity is in control our… Read More

Morning walks down Cathedral Drive had become routine; something I had to give myself a little push to keep doing, because the dogs needed a walk, and so did I. And because the touchstone, t… Read More

Civilization and the social stability it provides, allowing human beings to live their lives in peace and pursue their plans and dreams can never be taken for granted. Recent modern history… Read More

A view of Lion’s Head Harbour. To see the lion’s head, look to the left and slightly above the lighthouse(A note first to my thousands, if not millions of global readers of this… Read More

What a perfectly glorious autumn morning it was as we, the dogs and I, left the house for our after-breakfast walk down Cathedral Drive to the Touchstone: The air was still, barely a… Read More

Just when things were starting to look dark and dreary, I was called to go over to the raspberry batch and receive a rare treat and a blessing: late season raspberries in Hope Ness, Onta… Read More

Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan Yesterday, the people of the United States of America, and countless other people around the world, remembered the shocking horrors of the 9/1… Read More

Ah, there’s nothing like listening to the last movement of Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony, the Pathetique, to remind me that the tragic sense of life has always been with me. That… Read More

The decisions to start referring to the Bruce Peninsula as the Saugeen Peninsula, and to soon begin formal public consultations possibly leading to a name change for the Bruce Peninsula… Read More

The Grotto, one of the most popular destinations at the Bruce Peninsula National ParkCalling it a “small, but important change,” Parks Canada has changed… Read More

Aussie contemplates his next move.It’s taken me a long time, way too long, considering how little time we have to live on this precious little jewel of a planet, to fully appreciate th… Read More

Distant thunder rumbling, Approaching, ominous and foreboding, Rain falling, wave after wave. On such a morning Some would call this Not a good day. But others, myself incl… Read More

Rows of garlic, their protective, winter blanket of straw removed, will easily survive cool spring days With the growing popularity of home gardening there must be a lot of people on a st… Read More

My recent discovery of the creative, literary works of late 19th Century, American author Kate Chopin, most notably her novel, The Awakening, has been a deeply moving and continuously though… Read More

(Author’s note: This is a chapter from a work in progress, about an very old man who undertakes an extraordinary journey home to the pioneer farm where he was born, and lived, until a… Read More

Speaking plainly of this brilliant morning, The sun rising in a clear sky, The lingering snow yearning, I fancy, for its melting touch, We walk Cathedral Drive to the rock Whe… Read More

There was a profound stillness in the air this sunrise, mid-March morning as we walked to my prayerful touchstone beside Cathedral Drive, the dogs and I, doing what we do every morning of ev… Read More

As the headline suggests, I soon had a welcoming, friendly, attitude toward the mating pair of ravens who found a home in my 125-year-old bank barn a couple of years ago. The barn was… Read More

(Note: this is a guest post from Tibor Csincsa, of Holland Centre, Grey County, Ontario, Canada. Tibor is a long-time beekeeper who has travelled the world teaching beekeeping, giving worksh… Read More

Though it’s late in coming, there’s nothing like the onset of something that resembles a good, old-fashioned Canada winter to test the myths and realities of growing old. Let&rs… Read More

The surge in growth of home gardening and small-scale commercial gardening catering to a local market that began last year is continuing at an “unprecedented” rate for the 202… Read More

I was surprised recently to find a copy of the Epoch Times newspaper in my mailbox here in my secluded, little corner of the world on the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada. Why me? I&rsquo… Read More

“Keep your hands on that plow, hold on.” — The refrain from an old American gospel/folk song The wonderful thing about the annual celebration of the arrival of a New Ye… Read More

In the garden with granddaughter JordenNot that long ago a people now often referred to in Canada as ‘First Nation’ used to walk freely for ages on the 5.9 acres (2.4 hectares) o… Read More

Sauble Beach is a major summer tourist destination in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. It stretches for 11 kilometres along the Lake Huron’s eastern shoreline south o… Read More

They keep coming, day after day, those calls from scammers and spoofers looking to steal our money, identity, or otherwise cause you and I and millions of other Canadians anxiety, hardship… Read More

Twenty years ago, when I was still a staff reporter at the local, daily newspaper, I interviewed a professor of agriculture at the University of Guelph. At the end of the interview about… Read More

My garlic bedded down under a blanket of straw mulch for the winterAll garden crops are hopeful: you prepare the soil carefully, make sure the temperature is warm enough for germination… Read More

(Not much has changed since I first published this two years ago in a lot of ways. Old age continues to creep up on me, but I give myself a push and go outside to plant some garlic, or othe… Read More

I saw it again this morning as the dogs and I came back from our after-breakfast walk. Had it been watching us from above, I wonder only now? We had just turned down into our long driveway a… Read More

Speak to me of Love, And I will tell you a story that never ends. Speak to me of Love, And I will tell you how it doesn’t matter, How much you say she has aged, And her beauty faded… Read More

Rows of flowering potato plants, July 1, 2020. Those are staked tomato plants in the foreground. The humble potato has its moment of floral glory. Two types of well-sprouted tubers I planted… Read More

A well-mulched, healthy garlic crop in Hope Ness after a difficult winter and cold spring. A good crop in Ontario, Canada for challenging times. Two rows of peas on the left are coming along… Read More

There’s snow peas in there somewhere, under the snow. What’s with the weather? Here in southern Ontario, Canada, in The Great Lakes region of North America, as we approach mid-Ma… Read More

I’m Canadian, eh. And a modest market gardener, living and working in a sparsely populated rural area. So, I guess I’m more culturally obsessed with the weather than a lot of pe… Read More

Far be it from me to traffic in dangerously unrealistic comments and other false hopes about the current Coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis. But for what it’s worth, regarding the lifting… Read More

An image from The Virgin Spring Another old friend has died; and I daresay the friend of many others my age whose lives were enriched, and affected thoughtfully and spiritually by watching t… Read More

A concept image of Ontario Power Generation’s DGR for the permanent storage of low and intermediate-radioactive waste at the Bruce Nuclear Site What are they doing now at Ontario Power… Read More

I was browsing through my copy of the periodical Bruce Peninsula Press recently when a brief item from the Municipality of the Northern Bruce Peninsula, December 9, 2019, council meeting ca… Read More

At 5:20 pm on December 13, 2019 a large area on the Bruce Peninsula was shaken by what was initially reported as a small earthquake by Natural Resources Canada, which monitors seismic activi… Read More

At the end of Cathedral Drive about the same time the Earth moved The “blast’ that took place in the Hope Bay area north of Wiarton on Friday, December 13 is now solely in the ha… Read More

The tremor from a blast north of Wiarton was felt as far as Lion’s Head Officials of two Ontario ministries that oversee operations of pits and quarries in Ontario are investigating an… Read More

In the 40 years since I first came to live in Hope Ness I’ve seen, heard, and felt a lot of memorable natural occurrences: a few specially intense, zero-visibility blizzards; the sky t… Read More

Planting potatoes with granddaughter Mirabella (beautiful miracle), May 2, 2016. Photo by daughter, Lila Marie. And a good one it is. When one reaches the pre-boomer age I’m at now, it… Read More

The official municipal flag of the city of Lethbridge, Alberta, a version of the flag American whiskey traders flew over Fort Whoop-up before 1874 Winter has come relatively early here at Ho… Read More

Hope Ness, late October, 2019. The heart cries out with joy at the sight of such a tree. A hard frost covered ground-level Hope Ness this morning as the dogs and I went for our early-morning… Read More

“The man who invented time was a fool.” Dan, circa 1961, the village cafe, Toronto Waiting A few dark grapes, some cheese, a bit of bread; An ear, or more, of just-picked sweet c… Read More

The origins of that now very relevant and ironic old saying are not clear,  though it’s known in English as “the Chinese curse.” However, no actual Chinese source has… Read More

Indulge me, dear Reader (cap deliberate), for I am about to complain for the umpteenth time about climate change, and specifically its disruptive effect on that engine of weather in these pa… Read More

It’s been a couple of years since I first published this. Posts have a relatively short shelf-life, so to speak. They get some little attention, or more, for a while; then they lapse i… Read More

This old apple tree has seen better days, but none better than this, if one takes into consideration its defiant struggle to stay alive, and much, much more. I call it heroic, glorious, the… Read More

Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral before the fire The burning of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, Monday night in Paris, is indeed much more than the nearly complete destruction of an important bu… Read More

For a lot of years I’ve been growing vegetables at several locations on the peninsula between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay in southern Ontario, Canada. I’ve grown accustomed to b… Read More

I look out my window and watch the winter storm blow in and get steadily worse. I don’t have to go on-line to check if the roads are closed: that’s obvious enough. The line of th… Read More

I hear spring flowers and blossoms are starting to bloom in Victoria, on Canada’s Pacific Ocean, west coast. But everywhere else in this country, known for its long, cold, snowy winte… Read More

A stoat, or ermine, caught in my live trap, soon to be released back into nature I got quite a surprise when I checked the live-trap this morning in the basement cold room where I store prod… Read More

January 1, 2019, Hope Ness, Canada. The sun trying to break through the clouds before sunset I am dismayed by the current, troubled relations between Canada and the People’s Republic o… Read More

After Sunset, 5:00 pm, in Hope Ness, Canada, December 15, 2018 Sunset comes early in Hope Ness, Canada a week away from the winter solstice. If I don’t feed and walk the dogs before su… Read More

Buddy woke me up early this morning with barking that tells me he’s picked up on something around or near the farm. My thoughts were of critters from the woods come to feast on the co… Read More

Another cloudy day in late October with the front field to cultivate before it starts to rain, as forecast. I’m out beside Mr. Massey Too, checking his fluid levels before connecting… Read More

With the sun now fallen below the equator, the mornings have come later with seeming haste over the past several weeks, as if anxious to move the season along toward winter. It will come so… Read More

How well I remember my first sweet corn experience. I was a young boy of the inner city, invited out on a picnic by a country friend and his family. Two fresh-picked, unhusked cobs of sweet… Read More