May 2019 Arowhon Pines, Algonquin
Spring in Algonquin
Dear Friends of Arowhon Pines
Spring in Algonquin is very much worth celebrating! We are witness to the season of change – budding trees, a hundred shades of green, cool sparking lakes and fields of wildflowers. Spring also brings amazing moose viewing opportunities and outstanding birding. There are beavers and otters, fox and deer. It’s cooler and quieter – you might be the only ones on the lakes and trails. If that’s not enticing enough, rates from May 31 (opening day!) to June 20 are the least expensive of the season. We hope that you’ll join us!
Love Theresa, David, Adam and everyone from Arowhon
News to Share Porter Airlines will be flying from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (downtown) to Muskoka Airport, on Thursdays and Mondays, June 27 to September 3rd, 2019. Flight time is about 20 minutes. There you can choose a shuttle bus either to/from the rental car location in Bracebridge (Route 1) or to Algonquin Park (Route 4). Our Garden Blog is live on our website. With guidance from horticulturalist Judith Adam, we’re taking steps to weed out harmful invasives and reclaim our natural gardens. See what indigenous plants we’re using, along with how to use pine needles and leaf litter for successful planting, and much more. We invite you to learn along with us.
Like red wine? We encourage you to try TRIVENTO MALBEC wine from Argentina, available at the LCBO, then enter your name to win a TWO NIGHT STAY FOR TWO PEOPLE at Arowhon Pines! Visit www.escaladecontests.ca for contest rules and enter the code ONPARKS. Good luck!
We will be installing 240 V chargers for electric cars in our parking lot – please let us know when booking if you will be using one.
Special Events at Arowhon / Algonquin
Four days and three nights of painting stunning Algonquin Park, this workshop includes expert guiding to locations and lore of The Tom Thomson Mystery. You’ll paint evergreens, shorelines, wildlife, water and the shifting weather, all in the exotic colour palette of Algonquin Park. We’ll make time for a canoe paddle, a walk in the woods and a swim in the cool lake. Highlights will include a nocturne session, taking advantage of the September full moonlight and a pontoon transport and walk to visit the remote Canoe Lake, thought to be Thomson’s burial place.
Spend an evening around the campfire to hear a unique perspective of the history of Algonquin Park. Explore over 12,000 years of the Park’s natural and cultural heritage. Learn about the living history of the Madaoueskarini Algonquin people, the arrival of European explorers such as David Thomson, chronicle the Park’s value as a great timber resource and the infamous J.R. Booth, the arrival of great artists and adventurers, as well as the recent histories of Algonquin Park. This is a very special story, rich in family history and told from the heart.
Christine is an Omàmìwininì Madaoueskarini Anishinaabekwe (an Algonquin woman whose family is from the headwaters of the Madawaska River) and belongs to the Crane Clan.
She is also a descendant of some of the earliest settlers of the Ottawa and Madawaska Valley whose families cleared rocky farms on the Canadian Shield. Members of her family also built the impressive dining room at Arowhon Pines, amongst other structures, cabins and leaseholds in Algonquin Park.
The Friends of Algonquin Park offer special events for everyone throughout the season including Meet the Researcher, Family Fishing, Loggers Day with live music, etc. Check out their special events calendar here.
The Algonquin Art Centre’s 2019 themed exhibition is “Seasons of Algonquin”. This art show explores the distinctive beauty of Algonquin Park during each of its four seasons and features new landscape and wildlife paintings from some of Canada’s leading wilderness artists. Open June 1st – Oct. 20th.
From the Chef As you know, to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, Donna and I went on an extended trip to southeast Asia, spending three months in Vietnam and Thailand, with a stopover visit to Shanghai. It’s difficult to find words to describe the warm hospitality and humor of the Vietnamese people. Vietnam is very much a land under rapid development, but is still a family based agricultural society away from the urban areas. We often saw 3 or 4 generations of a family going to the beach together, for a fresh seafood lunch straight from the boats and an afternoon of Karaoke! We could not walk past without being invited to lunch - no language skills required - just sing a song! There was a tremendous variety of fresh regional cooking as we worked our way from south to north. Some of the recipes we have brought home are surprising, including one for a corn and river shrimp salad! On tasting it I thought, hmm, we have great corn, we can do this! There is a French pastry connection as well, and I have promised our pastry chefs that I will find better baking butter this year! We have also begun collecting and growing our own wild yeast for sourdough breads this year, based on a pizza we enjoyed in Chaing Mai, Thailand. Thailand and Shanghai were both culinary and cultural experiences too varied and complex to describe in a few words, but I hope to share a few stories when we meet this summer! In the kitchen this year we welcome back Lawrence, Vanessa, Rene, Milo, David, and several others.
Looking forward to a season of wonderful cooking!
David Cooke