Under the Canopy

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...

A grouse doesn’t need a “perfect wilderness” to thrive. It needs the right kind of forest, at the right stage, with the right cover in the right places. From the Toronto Sportsman Show, we sit down with Derek from the Rough Grouse Society of Canada to talk about what ruffed grouse habitat really is, why early successional forest is disappearing in parts of Ontario, and how practical habitat restor...

Quiet lessons from the outdoors are still there, but you have to choose to hear them, and sometimes that starts with something as simple as getting on a bike. We open with a bit of real life seasonal talk, storms rolling through, a dog who still wants his walk, and a maple sap season that is not behaving. Then we shift into a topic that can change how you see the province: cycle tourism in Ontario...

Counting wildlife sounds like a spreadsheet problem until you try doing it over millions of hectares of bush, broken habitat, bad weather, and animals that do not want to be seen. We sit down with Bruce Ranta, a former Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources biologist, to pull back the curtain on how population estimates really get made and why “the number” is often a best-guess built from multiple...

Ready to turn late-winter restlessness into a real plan for spring? We dig into the choices that matter right now: how to secure fruit trees and berry bushes before they’re gone, which seeds actually germinate, and the simple gear that keeps young plants sturdy instead of leggy. With Adrian Lee of Van Belle Flowers, we get specific about pre-booked inventory, the best time to place custom orders,...

Spring is waking up the woods, and we’re right there with it—clearing a new footpath at first light, dialling in a wood stove that keeps the house comfortable on two small splits, and chasing the first hard runs of maple sap with a sled full of buckets. Along the way, we swap a dog-grooming hack that actually works, unpack why “too-dry” firewood can warp your stove, and learn from a bird expert wh...

We trace the first hints of spring from fresh snow and maple taps to a deep dive on bird communication with Dr Megan Gall, a sensory ecologist who studies how sound shapes behavior. Practical tips help you build healthier feeders, steward water, and use tech without stressing wildlife. • decoding chickadee A, B, C, D notes and what D means • alarm vs mobbing calls and when each is used • woodpecke...

Frost bites, dogs sprint, and the stove hums while we chase warmth, clarity, and good judgment. That’s the energy today as we trade real-world winter tactics, laugh through a peanut-butter nail trim hack, and dig into the thorny question of who to trust for health advice. We open with community notes and family updates, then pivot into the surprising economics of a fireplace insert that turns trip...

When the ground moves, stories surface—about how faults fail, why small quakes ripple across provinces, and how a few seconds of warning can change outcomes. We sit down with seismologist Marika from Earthquakes Canada to translate seismic science into everyday clarity and practical steps that keep people safer. We start with the core mechanics: stress, friction, and sudden slip along faults that...

A six-foot flightless bird doesn’t just change your pastures—it changes your business model. We sit down with an Ontario rancher who started with a simple idea in the early ’90s and built a resilient operation around emus and rheas, turning a niche into a livelihood with smart pivots, careful breeding, and products people actually want. From green, three-layer eggs prized by carvers to low-fat red...

Wood heat hums, snowbanks rise, and the small rituals of winter living turn into hard-won wisdom: how to stretch a stack of deadwood, read a stove thermometer, and keep the creosote at bay. From there we pivot to what the cold teaches our bodies—aching wrists from repetitive work, the quiet power of a good adjustment, and the simple chemistry of vitamin D, hydration, and chaga for clearer mornings...

A bluebird thaw turned blizzard overnight, and that whiplash becomes a guide to living smarter in winter. We start at the wood pile—why ironwood carries the night, how to plan heat days ahead, and where all that ash can actually help your yard and icy trails. Then the road widens: a check-in from Alberta where plus-four feels like spring, crews gear up for 24-hour shifts repairing Calgary’s aging...