Under the Canopy

A college campus isn’t where most people picture the future of farming, but that’s exactly why this conversation surprised us. We’re joined by Kelly O’Brien, Associate Dean at Durham College, to talk about how their urban farms in Whitby and Ajax operate like living labs for sustainable agriculture, food security, and workforce development. Kelly walks us through what’s actually on these sites: ma...

You probably don’t think about gravel until a dump truck slows traffic or a new pit proposal sparks a neighbourhood fight, but the truth is bigger: your roads, sidewalks, schools, hospitals, and even the concrete under your feet all begin as stone, sand, and gravel. We connect those dots with Sharon Armstrong, executive director of the Ontario Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association, and unpack why ag...

Cheese gets called “simple food” right up until you hear what actually goes into making it. We start with a bit of real life under the canopy, from sore muscles and gravel work to staying sharp outdoors after close calls with coyotes. Then we pivot into a full-on, listener-friendly breakdown of artisan cheese, because there’s a lot more happening in that wedge than most of us realise.  Haley from...

A rebar job should be about steel, skill, and showing up on time, right? We learned it can also be about trust at a level most people never see. Garrett joins me for a real-world update on life, work, and fatherhood, then walks through what it looks like to apply for access at Darlington OPG, where nuclear power plant security screening can take months and digs into years of travel history, identi...

Tea talk gets weird fast: “orange pekoe has orange,” green tea is always low caffeine, and tea bags are loaded with microplastics. We wanted real answers, so we brought back tea industry veteran John Snell to help us separate myth from chemistry and hype from what’s actually happening in the leaf. From Sri Lanka to India, East Africa, China, and Vietnam, John explains how tea terroir works, why mo...

Cold drinks dominate the world, but most people still treat tea like it only belongs in a mug. We go the other direction and get specific: how we make Chaga cold brew that actually tastes good, how long we steep it, and how you can do it at home without turning it into a science project. You’ll hear the two blends we’ve been sampling at events, including a green tea and matcha option, plus Ruby G,...

You can grow a great garden and still lose a crop if you miss one invisible detail. We get into that reality with garlic, where a listener question opens the door to the unglamorous stuff that actually decides your harvest: nematodes, leek moth, and what “clean seed” really means when you plant year after year. Bev, our master gardener guest, breaks down what to watch for on garlic scapes, why reg...

Fresh mushrooms don’t have to be a grocery store gamble. We’re talking with Corey from Mushrooms of the Valley, tucked near the Madawaska River in Ontario’s Hastings Highlands, about what it really takes to grow gourmet mushrooms at home and why a simple sawdust block can turn into a legit harvest on your kitchen counter. We get specific about the mushrooms he’s growing and selling: pink oyster mu...

Smoke in the air has a way of snapping our attention back to the natural world. We start with what it feels like when wildfire haze rolls in, then zoom out to the less obvious forces that shape forest health every day, the kind you might notice first as a few “mystery” conifers turning brick red along the road or at the edge of your camp.  I’m joined by David Dutkiewicz from the Ontario Invasive S...

Your spruce trees look fine one week, then the needles fade to rusty red and the worry sets in. We’ve been seeing the same thing around cottage country, so we called someone who lives in the details of Ontario forest health: David Dutkiewicz, an entomology technician who’s spent years identifying forest insects and supporting monitoring work across the province. Together, we sort out what those co...

A bear can erase an entire beekeeping season overnight. A single plant choice can change how many butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees show up in your yard for months. We follow those two realities into a wide-ranging outdoor conversation that stays grounded in practical detail, real stories, and the kind of “small things” that quietly shape a life outside. We talk with Master Gardener Bev about bu...

A tiny newborn can turn the strongest routine into a brand-new adventure, and that’s exactly where we start. I sit down with my son Garrett to celebrate the arrival of baby Gritten, unpack the story behind his one-of-a-kind name, and talk honestly about those early weeks that are equal parts joy, exhaustion, and awe. We also get into the parts new parents don’t always expect, like postpartum emoti...

Boiling water for chaga tea sounds simple, but it sparks a surprisingly big question: are we helping extraction, or hurting the good stuff? We dig into why we put “boiling” on the packaging, what many chaga studies actually do when they prepare extracts, and how to think about the common claim that higher heat might reduce certain properties. If you care about functional mushrooms, chaga benefits,...

A spray plane over a cutover can spark instant outrage, but the real story sits in the details: what’s being sprayed, why it’s used, what gets protected, and what trade-offs we’re actually making. We start with a listener-driven question on Chaga tea extraction temperature and how to navigate conflicting claims you’ll see online, including why some articles warn against heat while many studies ext...

The modern world feels like steel and glass, but it actually starts with something far less glamorous: stone, sand, and gravel. We sit down with Sharon Armstrong, Executive Director of the Ontario Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association, to unpack the “hidden in plain sight” resource that becomes our roads, sidewalks, bridges, hospitals, schools, and homes, and why most of us only notice it when a gra...

A kid points at a tree and says, “What is that?” and suddenly you’re talking about pollination, fungi, water, carbon, and how a forest quietly runs like a living system. We head to Millbrook Elementary School for a hands-on walk with grade three classes, turning a simple outdoor classroom tour into a practical lesson in forest ecology and Ontario nature. We start with trees you can name right away...

A good garden doesn’t start with a miracle fertilizer. It starts with smarter structure, better soil, and a few hard-earned lessons from people who grow things for real. We’re recording from the Lindsay Thursday Market at Wilson Fields and talking raised garden beds with Master Gardener extraordinaire Bev Delonardo. We dig into the advantages that actually matter: raised beds warming up earlier fo...

Lake Ontario used to hold one of the largest freshwater Atlantic salmon populations anywhere on Earth and then, within a single century, it was gone. That disappearance wasn’t a mystery or “just nature.” It was the predictable outcome of overfishing, dams that blocked spawning runs, pollution, and deforestation that warmed and destabilised the coldwater streams salmon depend on.  We’re on location...

Your dog is your best buddy, so tick season hits differently when the prices jump and the risks feel real. We start with a listener-driven problem: how to protect our dogs from ticks and Lyme disease without getting gouged, including why some owners are ordering the exact same branded tick medication from Australia for far less than local monthly pricing. From there, the conversation widens into t...

We talk with Vince from the Invasive Species Centre about how emerald ash borer is driving black ash toward endangered status in Ontario and what it means for wetlands, forests, and people. We also share practical ways to prevent the spread of invasive species and how listeners can help map and preserve black ash through seed collection and citizen science.  • Vince’s path from criminology to envi...

Spring doesn’t wait, and neither do ramps. When the forest floor finally opens up before the leaves fill in, wild leeks and ramps hit their short Ontario season and they are one of the most flavourful foods you can forage. We talk through where ramps grow, how to harvest them without wiping out the patch, and why a simple “three-shovel rule” can keep these colonies alive for future generations. If...

Southern Ontario is cutting grass while northern Ontario is still buried under feet of snow and that isn’t just a fun weather story. It’s a real window into what it costs to live, work, and build a life under the canopy when your “driveway” is an unplowed bush road and spring breakup can decide whether you move equipment, harvest wood, or even worry about flooding. I’m joined by Pierre for a wide-...

The world keeps getting louder, but the outdoors still teaches if you slow down enough to listen. We’re back with a spring check-in that starts on the highway and ends in the bush: I share what it was like driving across Canada with my son Garrett, watching winter tighten its grip the farther east we went, and coming home to the small, funny routines that make a life close to nature feel real (inc...

Yellow sap in your bucket can feel like a panic moment, and it’s exactly the kind of mystery we love digging into. We sit down with Jeff Wagner of Wagner Maple Products, a working Ontario maple syrup producer, to sort out what’s normal, what’s a warning sign, and what’s really happening inside the tree when winter and spring don’t behave the way they used to. We talk through the on-the-ground real...

A two-day drive across Canada will teach you more about weather, planning, and patience than any motivational quote ever could. We pick up right after a sprint of travel and shows, then hit the road from Calgary back to Ontario, watching storms on the map and making real-time calls on when to push, when to stop, and how to find gas stations that are actually open in the middle of the night. From M...