The Wild Wood As An Adversary To The Pioneer Character

SEASONS OF THE LILAC 

THE WILD WOODS AS MAGNIFICENT - THE WILD WOODS AS AN ADVERSARY

     "I SLEPT AND DREAMED THAT LIFE WAS BEAUTY; I AWOKE AND FOUND THAT LIFE WAS DUTY."

     THE PASSAGE ABOVE, WAS WRITTEN BY AMERICAN WRITER, ELLEN STURGIS HOOPER.

     A NEIGHBOR OPENED HER DOOR, AT SUNRISE, WALKED OVER THE BACK VERANDAH, DOWN ALONG THE PATIO STONES AGAINST THE GARAGE, STEPPED OUT THROUGH THE FENCE-GATE IN HER HOUSECOAT, AND DECLARED, IN A CLEAR, AND SOMEWHAT LOUD VOICE, "WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!" IT WASN'T A QUESTION. IT WAS A CLEAR ENDORSEMENT OF WHAT NATURE WAS PROVIDING HER, IN ACCEPTABLE CLIMATE, FOR WHATEVER PLANS SHE HAD FOR THE DAY. RATHER, THIS IS WHAT I ASSUMED, BASED ON THE LAW OF AVERAGES, OF PEOPLE MAKING COMMENTS ABOUT THE PREVAILING WEATHER SITUATION. I CONCURRED WITH HER APPROVAL, ALTHOUGH, I'M SURE OUT THERE, SOMEONE WAS HOPING FOR A RAIN SHOWER INSTEAD. WE ALL HAVE OUR PASSIONS, AND OUR DEFINITION OF WHAT MAKES A PERFECT DAY, FOR THE ENTERPRISE, OR LACK OF ONE, WE HAVE PLANNED.

     THIS MORNING THERE WAS A THICK MIST OVER THE MOOR, HERE AT BIRCH HOLLOW. I WAS OVER ON THE EMBANKMENT OF THE BOG, WHEN THE SUN FIRST BEGAN BLEEDING THROUGH THE QUICKLY RISING AND DISIPATING MORNING FOG. IT WAS A STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL SCENE, AND THE SOUND OF THE BABBLING CREEKS, AND TINY CATARACTS SITUATED THROUGHOUT THE LOWLAND, MADE THIS URBAN OASIS, VERY MUCH A THOREAUESQUE WALDEN; WHERE FOR A MOMENT OF PRECIOUS SOLITUDE, THERE WAS NO MAN-MADE INTRUSION. NO RIP-SNORT OF CHAIN SAW, BACK-FIRING LAWNMOWER ENGINE, LEAF BLOWER, DUMP TRUCK, OR EVEN LOUD COFFEE-TIME CONVERSATION. SON ROBERT SHOWED UP WITH HIS CAMERA, TO CAPTURE THE SCENE; THE WAY THE MIST WAS RISING FROM THE GROUND, UP THROUGH THE CAT-TAILS AND TALL FIELD GRASSES, TURNED GOLDEN AS THE BIRCH LEAVES ON THE FAR RIDGE.      IT REMINDED ME OF MY YOUNGER DAYS, SITTING ON A FALLEN LOG, OR DISPLACED CABIN TIMBER, UNFOLDING MY PARCEL WITH A NOTEPAD AND PEN WRAPPED TIGHTLY WITHIN, AND MAKING MY COPIOUS NOTES ABOUT THE AMAZING INTRICACIES OF THESE RURAL PLACES. THE OLD HOMESTEADS, WHERE EMIGRANTS ARRIVED, TO TAME THE PRIMAL FORESTS, FOR THEIR AGRICULTURAL FUTURES. LOOKING OUT OVER THE BOG, THIS MORNING, I GET THE SAME FEELING, AS I DID THEN, THAT WHAT WAS VISIBLE AS THE HOMESTEAD ACREAGE, WAS THIS SIMILAR MIX OF ADVERSE LAND CONDITIONS. BOGS, LOWLANDS AND SWAMPS WERE NOT UNCOMMON ON THESE HOMESTEAD PARCELS, AND VALUABLE, ARABLE FARMLAND, IN MUCH LESS ABUNDANCE, THAN IN MORE SOUTHERLY PARTS OF THE PROVINCE. THIS IS NOT TO SUGGEST, THERE WASN'T DECENT AGRICULTURAL LAND TO BE FOUND IN MUSKOKA, BUT NOT AS IT WOULD BE, IN WHAT WE KNOW TODAY, FOR EXAMPLE, AS THE VAST FERTILE HOLLOW OF THE HOLLAND MARSH. MUSKOKA HAD A NEAR FAIRYLAND SCENERY, AND REPUTATION, THAT GRACED THE PAGES OF MAGAZINES LIKE "PICTURESQUE CANADA," WITH HIGHLY EXAGGERATED ENTRIES INTO BOOKS LIKE "SPORTSMEN'S PARADISE," AND MANY HUNDREDS OF SIMILAR, LATE 1800'S PUBLICATIONS, WITH MASSIVE CIRCULATION TO THOSE EAGER TO EXPERIENCE THE CANADIAN WILDERNESS. BUT WHAT MADE THE REGION SPECTACULAR, AND A HEALTHY RETREAT, FOR THE URBAN WEARY, ADVENTURERS, AND KEEN HUNTERS AND ANGLERS, DID NOT MIRROR, EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOMESTEADING, IN THE AGRICULTURAL SENSE. WHAT LOOKED "PRETTY AS A PICTURE," WAS A RUGGED, HILLY, CONTOURED, TREED, ISOLATED LAKELAND, WITH MANY INHERENT DANGERS, THAT DID HAVE MINOR POTENTIAL FOR AGRICULTURE, IN TERMS OF LIVESTOCK ACCOMMODATION. IT ALSO HAD BEAR AND RATTLESNAKES TO MAKE LIFE INTERESTING.

    THE EMIGRANTS UNFORTUNATELY, DIDN'T HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OF KNOWING THIS TOO FAR IN ADVANCE, OF ACCEPTING THE CLAIMS OF CANADIAN LAND AGENTS WORKING ABROAD, AND AFFORDING THEIR FAMILY'S PASSAGE TO THE LAND OF WIDE-SPREAD OPPORTUNITY. AND MANY ARRIVED IN MUSKOKA, AND RECEIVED A HOMESTEAD ALLOTMENT, THAT IN MANY TOPOGRAPHICAL WAYS, LOOKED LIKE THIS MORNING'S BOG-SCAPE, NOW VISIBLE AS THE FOG LIFTS. IF THIS HAD BEEN A HOMESTEAD, THE FOREST WOULD HAVE BEEN CUT DOWN, THE ROOTS EXCAVATED, AND BURNED AWAY, THE LAND CLEARED OF ROCK AND NATURAL WASTE, AND THEN CULTIVATED FOR THE FIRST YEAR'S CROP. THE CABIN WOULD HAVE BEEN CONSTRUCTED ON THE BANK OF THE BOG, AS WOULD THE OUT-BUILDINGS. THE HOMESTEAD, IF NICK THE GREEK HAD BEEN CALLING THE ODDS, WOULD HAVE RANKED ITS POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS, AT ONE OUT OF A HUNDRED (OR GREATER), AND PROSPER ONLY ENOUGH, TO PROVIDE THE FAMILY WITH MEAGRE PROVISIONS; THE MALES OF THE FAMILY HAVING TO WORK IN THE LUMBER CAMPS, IN THE WINTER, TO UNDER-PIN THE FAILURES OF THE HOMESTEAD ECONOMY. THE ODDS, AS THEY SAY, WERE STACKED FROM THE BEGINNING; BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM A FREE GRANT SETTLEMENT PROGRAM, BASED ON LIES, AND MISREPRESENTATION, AS ITS STANDARD FARE. BUT THEN, HAVING BEEN A FOLLOWER OF THIS BLOG, FOR SOME TIME, YOU ARE AWARE OF MY BIAS, ABOUT THE WAY NUMEROUS LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT, AND EVEN STEAMSHIP LINE AGENTS, OVER-SOLD THE BENEFITS OF GETTING A HUNDRED ACRES OF FREE LAND. WHAT REMAINS, TODAY, IS THAT THIS LARGELY MISUNDERSTOOD, UNDER-RECOGNIZED SETTLEMENT DEBACLE, IN MUSKOKA, REMAINS A HIDDEN, PRECARIOUSLY BALANCED, POLITICAL DISASTER IN WAITING. AN ANALOGY I OFFER, AS A BOOK COLLECTOR, I SEE THE BURIED "URBAN VERSUS RURAL" ISSUE, PERCHED ON A THINLY ANCHORED FOUNDATION. IT WOULD BE LIKE HAVING THREE OF THE BOTTOM BOOKS, OF A FLOOR TO CHEST-HIGH, PILE OF BOOKS, PLACED IN A SERIOUSLY ASKEW FASHION. WEAKENING IT AS THE PILE GETS HIGHER. THE SIDES ARE STRESSED, AND THE BOTTOM WILL PROVE UNRELIABLE. THE FOUNDATION PLATFORM OF THE LARGE STACK, OFFERS THE ILLUSION, THE BOOKS ARE SECURE. THEY MAY APPEAR, AT FIRST GLANCE, TO BE SAFELY STANDING, AND INDEPENDENT, AND LOOK GOOD ENOUGH AT THE TOP, TO MAKE IT SEEM, ALL IS WELL; YET IT IS A DANGEROUS MISCONCEPTION. THESE BOOKS WON'T TOPPLE-OVER! UNLESS OF COURSE, THE FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY, OF APPEARANCE, DULLS THE SENSE OF PROPORTION, AND EVEN MORE BOOKS ARE RECKLESSLY PILED ON TOP. OVER TIME, THE ASKEW BOOKS ON THE BOTTOM, BECOME PRECARIOUS TO THE FUTURE BALANCE, AND EVEN A JOG ACROSS THE FLOOR, BY THE FAMILY PET, COULD SEND THE TOWER OF TEXTS, CAREENING INTO OTHER STACKED BOOKS; AND THE BOOK COLLECTOR IS THUSLY RE-INTRODUCED TO THE DOMINO INFLUENCE HE OR SHE LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN PLAYTIME. A LOT OF BOOKS GET SCATTERED ON THE FLOOR, AND SOME HAVE THEIR COVERS DAMAGED BEYOND REPAIR.

     IN TERMS OF HOW OUR MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS SEE THEIR BUSINESS OF THE DAY, THE PRIORITY CONCERN IS THAT THEY HAVE MONEY AVAILABLE TO COVER PROMISED, ESSENTIAL SERVICES TO CONSTITUENTS. THEY KNOW THAT, OF ALL THE TAX PAYING CONSTITUENTS, THE COTTAGE COMMUNITY IS PROBABLY PAYING THE MOST FOR THE PRIVILEGE, OF OWNING WATERFRONT PROPERTY, IN THIS INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN VACATION LAND. I HATE THIS DESCRIPTION, BUT IT'S A FACT OF LIFE HERE. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL TAXATION IS A BIG DEAL, AS IS URBAN AREA TAX REVENUE. IN TERMS OF TAXES TO BE HARVESTED, THE RURAL REGION OF OUR MUNICIPALITIES, IS A LESSER RESOURCE, (THEY MIGHT NOT THINK THIS IS A BARGAIN) BECAUSE OF THE SMALLER POPULATION. THESE RURAL RESIDENTS AREN'T ON SEWER AND WATER, AND THEREFORE, CAN'T BE TAXED FOR HAVING "SERVICED" RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL LOTS. THERE ARE RUMBLINGS NOW AND AGAIN, ABOUT HAVING THE RURAL RESIDENTS SHOULDER SOME OF THESE SERVICE EXPENSE BURDENS, ESPECIALLY AS URBAN NEEDS GROW, BUT EACH TIME THE ISSUE EVEN SLIGHTLY THE RIPPLES THIS WAY, IT ATTRACTS AN ALMOST INSTANT, AGGRESSIVE RESPONSE BACK. NO WAY, SO GO AWAY!

     GETTING BACK TO THE ASKEW BOOKS, ON THE BOTTOM OF MY STACK OF READING MATERIAL. I MIGHT PRESENTLY HAVE, ONE OR TWO STACKS NEAR MY LIVING ROOM CHAIR, WHICH MAKES MY WIFE VERY ANGRY. THE ASTUTE BOOK SCULPTOR, TO PROTECT HIS COLLECTION FROM TOPPLING, WOULD FIRST, CORRECT THE POORLY PILED BOOKS ON THE BOTTOM. IT WOULDN'T MATTER THAT THEY WERE ADEQUATELY SUPPORTING THE PILE, EVEN HOLDING FIRM, MANY, MANY TEXTS. IT WOULD JUST SEEM, THE RIGHT THING TO DO, IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE, ANTIQUE BOOKS WERE BEING STORED IN A SAFE MANNER. (MOST BOOK COLLECTORS WILL DO THIS, BUT NEVER OFFER THIS AS A CONFESSIONAL OF PAST BAD BEHAVIOUR). CALL IT PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE. YET, FROM FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE, I HAVE NEGLECTED THESE SITUATIONS MANY TIMES, AND HAVE LIVED WITH THE FALL-OUT, OF HAVING MY PRIZED BOOKS DAMAGED FROM IMPACT OF A CONSIDERABLE FALL, AND SUBSEQUENT CRUNCH, WITH OTHER BOOKS. FIRST, AS SUZANNE POINTS OUT TO ME, THAT'S WHY BOOK SHELVES WERE CREATED. AND SECONDLY, WHY, IF WE HAVE TO LIVE WITH BOOKS, OR ANYTHING ELSE SMALL, AND OF VOLUME, THAT REQUIRES A SOLID PLATFORM TO BUILD "UP", THAT THOSE ASKEW BOOKS I MENTIONED, SHOULD, AT ALL EXPENSE OF TIME AND EFFORT, BE CORRECTED. TO BE AT THE SAME ANGLE OF PLACEMENT, AS ALL THE OTHERS. STILL, THERE IS A HEIGHT LIMIT, WHICH I HAVE EXCEEDED MANY TIMES. BUT THERE IS ALWAYS CONSEQUENCE.

     THE NAGGING PROBLEM IN MUSKOKA, AS I'M SURE WITH MANY OTHER NORTHERN AREAS, SETTLED WITH A SIMILAR FREE LAND GRANT OFFERING, IN THE MID 1800'S, IS THAT THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH RURAL OCCUPATION, AND RESIDENCY, CORRESPOND TO THE ANALOGY SITUATION, OF MY ASKEW BOOK PILES. I'M WILLING TO BET, THAT A MAJORITY OF MUNICIPAL COUNCIL HOPEFULS, RUNNING FOR ELECTION, OR RE-ELECTION, WITH THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA, LATER IN OCTOBER, OF THIS YEAR, WOULD FIND WHAT I HAVE JUST WRITTEN, QUITE OUT OF ORDER, AND RIDICULOUS. HOW COULD AN 1850'S, TO 1870'S (EVEN TO THE 1880'S), INEFFICIENCY, AND GENUINELY BAD START IN THE HOME DISTRICT, INFLUENCE THE POLITICS OF CONTEMPORARY TIMES? THE CROP OF HOMESTEADERS, BEING GENERALLY POOR SOULS, BROUGHT AS URBAN REFUGEES, FROM THE URBAN AREAS OF COUNTRIES OVERSEAS, TO SETTLE THE OPEN LAND OF CANADA, (PARTLY TO STOP THE AMERICAN AGGRESSION FOR BROADER BORDERS), HOW SHOULD THEY HAVE FARED? THE SOCIAL / CULTURAL INFLUENCES OVER MANY GENERATIONS, HAVE CREATED, WHAT I BELIEVE, IS A CLEARLY "ASKEW" WAY OF DEALING WITH RURAL CONSTITUENTS GENERALLY. WHILE COUNCILLORS MAY POINT TO PLANNING DOCUMENTS AND POLICY DECISIONS, THEY'VE HAMMERED OUT, AS MITIGATION ATTEMPTS TO DEAL WITH INEQUALITIES, AIMED AT IMPROVING LIFE FOR RURAL DWELLERS, IT'S STILL NOT BASED ON THE GENUINE INTEREST, IN HOW THE PILED UP POLICIES AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS, FOR ALL OF THESE YEARS, HAVE CREATED AN UNSTABLE PLATFORM, ON WHICH TO BUILD ANYTHING. THIS WILL GENERATE PROBLEMS SOONER OR LATER, AND THE FIRST AND MAJOR ISSUE, IS GOING TO BE FUTURE TAXATION INCREASES, BECAUSE THE MUNICIPALITIES WILL NEED MORE REVENUE. AND WELL, THE RURAL RESIDENTS ARE THE LOW HANGING FRUIT.

     THERE IS NO WAY OF GIVING RESTITUTION NOW, FOR ALL THE WRONGS THAT WERE COMMITTED BY THE OFFICIALS OF THIS HOMESTEAD PERIOD. THERE IS NO WAY OF MAKING IT UP TO SURVIVING FAMILIES, OF THESE COURAGEOUS HOMESTEADERS, WHO SUFFERED GREATLY, BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT MISTRUTHS, THAT LED THEM TO A REGION GENERALLY UNSUITED FOR FARMING. MANY FOUND THIS OUT, TOO LATE, AND EITHER PERISHED THE RESULT OF STARVATION, FROZE TO DEATH, DIED OR WERE INJURED IN LOGGING CAMP, AND RIVER DRIVE ACCIDENTS, OR PERISHED WELL BEFORE THEIR TIME, DUE TO EXHAUSTION. URBAN REFUGEES, YOU SEE, WERE AN AFFORDABLE MEANS TO AN END. THE LAND WAS SETTLED. HOMESTEAD GARDENS, WHILE SMALL, DID PRODUCE A HARVEST. PIONEERS, THROUGH GREAT AMBITION AND FAITH, MADE THE BEST OF THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES. THEY FOUND WAYS TO EARN MONEY, AND TRADE FOR PROVISIONS, FOR SERVICES RENDERED. THEY WENT OFF TO THE LOGGING CAMPS TO EARN EXTRA FUNDS, FOR HOMESTEAD SURVIVAL. THEY CATERED TO THE BUDDING TOURIST ECONOMY, PROVIDING WOOD FOR BUILDING RESORTS AND COTTAGES, AND FRESH PRODUCE, WHEN IT WAS AVAILABLE, AND IN ABUNDANCE, TO THIS SAME EXPANDING INDUSTRY. THEY EVEN CAME TO WORK FOR HOTELIERS, AS GROUNDSKEEPERS, AND COOKS. THE HOMESTEADERS HAD A HELL OF A BIG ROLE TO PLAY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOURIST INDUSTRY IN MUSKOKA, BUT YOU WILL HAVE A HARD TIME FINDING THIS INFORMATION OUT, READING THROUGH LOCAL HISTORIES. I KNOW, BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE HOMESTEAD PERIOD OF MUSKOKA HISTORY FOR A LONG TIME, AND SPENT AN EQUAL PROPORTION OF RESEARCH TIME, WANDERING AROUND THE ABANDONED PIONEER ENCAMPMENTS OF THIS DISTRICT, INVESTIGATING THE TRUTHFUL PROFILE, OF WHAT IT REALLY MEANT TO BE A PIONEER. WITHOUT THE SENTIMENTAL, NOSTALGIA CRAP ATTACHED. IT SURE WASN'T GLAMOROUS. BUT IT WAS FULL OF HARDSHIP AND SUFFERING.

     THIS TRUTHFULNESS, OF HOW WE GOT TO THIS LEVEL IN OUR HISTORY, REPRESENTS THE ASKEW BOOKS, MENTIONED EARLIER. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE IS STILL CONSIDERABLE MISTRUST, BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL RESIDENTS, AND POLITICAL BIAS, AS RELATES TO TAX DOLLAR COLLECTING, AND ALLOCATION TO FINANCE IMPROVEMENTS, BASED ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE URBAN AND RURAL ECONOMIC CLIMATE. I HAVE BEEN AT THE CENTRE OF THESE DISCUSSIONS, MANY TIMES, WHEN I WAS COVERING LOCAL MUNICIPAL COUNCILS. NOT ONCE, DID ANY COUNCILLOR, OR PLANNING STAFF, MEMBER, THINK IT WORTHWHILE, TO CONSULT WITH A REGIONAL HISTORIAN; WHO JUST MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SHED SOME LIGHT, ON WHY, HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER, THERE IS STILL A DEEP RIFT BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN DWELLERS. ASKEW BOOKS, REALLY DOESN'T PROPERLY ADDRESS, HOW SERIOUS THIS ISSUE WILL BECOME, TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW, WHEN WHAT IS NOW HINTERLAND, AND WHAT MAKES MUSKOKA ATTRACTIVE TO OUR VISITORS, BECOMES MORE HEAVILY DEVELOPED, AND INITIATES CHANGES IN LAND USE POLICIES. CAN IT ALL COME DOWN TO THE WRONGS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, AND THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, FOR LIEING TO EMIGRANTS, ABOUT THE GREAT LAND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE COLONY? IN MY MIND, WITH WHAT I KNOW, YES INDEED. IT GOES ALL THE WAY BACK, AND THE ONLY REAL REGRET, IS THAT HISTORIANS OF THIS REGION, HAVEN'T BANDED TOGETHER LONG BEFORE NOW, TO FORCE MUNICIPAL REPRESENTATIVES TO FACE HISTORICAL REALITIES; INSTEAD OF FOBBING-THEM-OFF, AS OLD NEWS WITHOUT ANY HINGE TO THE FUTURE. I SHOULD HAVE EMBARKED ON THIS PROJECT A LOT SOONER, BECAUSE TODAY, IT IS A FAR MORE BURDENSOME, COMPLICATED PATH BACK, TO FIX EVERYTHING THAT IS ASKEW. YET EVERYTHING THAT IS MISUNDERSTOOD, AND OR, TAKEN FOR GRANTED, CAN BECOME THE DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES OF IMBALANCE, AND "THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE."

     THE FIRST STEP AT RECONCILIATION, IS TO FORM COMMITTEES, WITH CONSTITUENT PARTICIPATION, TO ADDRESS RURAL ISSUES, PAST AND PRESENT. IT WOULDN'T FIX EVERYTHING UP, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW, THAT STATUS QUO IN THIS REGARD, WAS THE FIRST ASKEW SITUATION TO BE RECTIFIED. GIVING THE RURAL RESIDENTS A VOICE, BEYOND THEIR COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE, IS GOOD FOR THE WHOLE MUNICIPALITY. TRYING TO CONVINCE COUNCILS TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY? NICK THE GREEK MIGHT HAVE PUT "MILLION TO ONE ODDS" ON THIS KIND OF SUMMIT EVER HAPPENING. SUFFICE THAT STUBBORN HISTORICAL-TYPES, LIKE ME, ARE WILLING TO PUT IT ON PUBLIC RECORD, AS BEING A WRONG OF HISTORY, THAT CONTINUES TO CORRUPT RELATIONS TO THIS DAY. ME THINKS, SOME BELIEVE IT IS JUST AS EASY, IN TERMS OF A RESOLUTION, TO JUST KEEP ON PICKING-UP WHAT TOPPLES OVER, AND STARTING THE SAME WAY, WITH THE VERY NEXT REALIGNMENT. LIKE PUTTING SHINGLES ON A ROTTEN ROOF STRUCTURE. IT HAPPENS, AND LIVING CONSEQUENCE FREE, JUST ISN'T POSSIBLE, FOREVER.

     THIS BRINGS ME TO THE POINT OF THE PAST FIVE BLOGS, AND THE TWO PREAMBLES BEFORE THEM. STUDYING MUSKOKA HOMESTEADS AND THE PIONEER PERIOD IN MUSKOKA, HAS BEEN MY CHOICE OF HERITAGE PROJECTS, DATING BACK TO THE MID 1970'S. IT HAS INFLUENCED MY WORK AND COLLECTING INTERESTS IN THE ANTIQUE PROFESSION, AND VERY MUCH THE SAME, IN MY CHOICE OF WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. IT IS ALWAYS MY BACKGR0UND STIMULUS, FOR NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS WITH A VERY OLD THEME. I LOVE IT. I THRIVE ON THE STUDY OF THIS PERIOD IN OUR HISTORY. AND NOT JUST IN MUSKOKA. EACH FORAY TURNS UP NEW INFORMATION, AND EACH NEW RESOURCE, LIKE AN ORIGINAL PIONEER JOURNAL OR DIARY, SHEDS A GLOW OF ILLUMINATION, LIKE MY OLD OIL LAMPS FROM THE SAME PERIOD, ON OTHER AREAS OF STUDY I'VE NEGLECTED OR MISSED ALTOGETHER. I HAVE TIME, IN MOST OF THESE CASES, TO MAKE AMENDS, AND INFILL WHERE IT IS NEEDED. THE REWARD FOR PURSUING THIS, IS THAT ONE DAY, PUBLIC RECORD OF THIS PART OF HISTORY, WILL BETTER ASSIST FUTURE HISTORIANS, AND MAYBE EVEN MUNICIPAL POLITICIANS.

     I AM SO SMITTEN BY THE STUDY OF THE HOMESTEAD PERIOD, THAT IT DOES, SUBLTY, AND AT TIMES PROFOUNDLY, AFFECT MOST OTHER WRITING I ENGAGE IN, INCLUDING MANY OF THE LANDSCAPE PIECES I ENJOY PENNING FOR SHEER RECREATION. READERS WILL ALWAYS BE ABLE TO DETECT THIS SENSITIVITY, WHEN GOING THROUGH THESE EDITORIAL PIECES. IT MAY BE UNDERSTOOD, THEN, THAT IT HAS BEEN A CAREER INFILTRATION, AND NOT JUST A PASSING FANCY OF A GOOD STORY-LEAD, THAT KEEPS ME ON, WHAT FOR SOME, MAY APPEAR, THE SAME DOG-EARRED PAGE; A SORT OF STALEMATE OF CREATIVITY. I NEVER SEE IT THIS WAY, BUT POSSIBLY IT'S TRUE. I BELIEVE THERE IS A LOT MORE TO THE HOMESTEAD CHRONICLE TO GARNER, THAT WILL BENEFIT FUTURE GROWTH, AND STRENGTHEN REGIONAL IDENTITY; THAT FRANKLY, IS BEING EASILY MANIPULATED BY THE NEW VESTED INTEREST, MAKING RIDICULOUS CUT-OUTS OF THE MUSKOKA LIFESTYLE, TO SUPPORT THEIR INDUSTRY OBJECTIVES. PROFIT. THIS IS WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO, ONCE AGAIN! I HATE WHEN THESE LIBERTIES ARE TAKEN, AND I DON'T CARE WHETHER THE PROPONENTS OF THIS BULL-CRAP APPRECIATE MY INTERVENTIONS OR NOT. THERE HAS ALREADY BEEN DAMAGE CAUSED BY UNTRUTHS AND MISREPRESENTATIONS, SUCH THAT THEY HAVE ACTUALLY BECOME DEEPLY IMBEDDED IN OUR SOCIAL / CULTURAL IDENTITY. I'M REFERRING TO THE WHOLE HOMESTEAD DEBACLE. I SIMPLY CAN'T REMAIN QUIET, OR PRINT-RESTRICTED, WHEN THESE FOR-PROFIT BASTARDIZATIONS OF OUR HERITAGE, ARE MADE ON THE BACKS, OF ALL THOSE WHO WERE THE TRUE PROGRESSIVES, OF THE BACKWOODS MUSKOKA EXPERIENCE. YUP, IT'S THAT IMPORTANT.

A DISCUSSION WITH AN AUTHOR ABOUT THE DARK - LIGHT SIDES OF NATURAL EXPERIENCE

     Muskoka author Robert Rea, although he would find this hard to believe, brought me around to a new way of thinking about nature. Seeing as my preoccupation with the settlement years of district history, intimately involved nature for nature's sake, I never worried too much about the durability of my knowledge of both homestead realities, and the dynamic of the four seasons, on the settlers' ability to survive. I didn't expect to be challenged, to re-think my understanding of pioneer emotions, as related to how nature was interpreted by these brave souls. The chosen land, for their prosperity. The evil terrain of constant misfortune. I knew the basics. I was writing about it frequently, for publications, and it was up for debate with my colleagues. And then, by happenstance, Robert Rea asked if I could edit through his novel, "View to the North," and beyond making corrections where required, offering some advice on the publishing game, and how he might be able to market the text if he followed the course of self-publication. I'm not going to analyze the story that unfolds, in a rural / cottage setting near Bracebridge, other than to highlight the undertow of these perceptions of nature; which as the story reveals, affects the way some of the characters respond, individually, and in a neighborhood, family collective. I began asking about this under-current, that virtually creates a buried character, of nature itself, brandishing what nature can, on the environs. We got into a minor squabble about this, because I felt it incumbent to defend what I had been promoting for decades, about the man versus nature conflict in those homestead survival scenarios.

    Robert, the son of Phyllis Rea, a former guidance department secretary, at Bracebridge High School (circa early 1970's) who helped in so many ways, get me through my courses of study, and into university, was challenging some of my most accepted, anchored opinions, about what role nature was playing, beyond its obvious trump cards; of harsh, long winters, late frosts, early frosts, beating-down storms, floods, lightning ignited fires, deep snow, deep frost in the soil, until late in the spring, and oh so much more, beyond the pretty face of days like the one we're having today in Muskoka. He, in several profound ways, in what was actually a very short conversation, gave nature a much more definable identity, that I had never thought about in those terms. Much as the devil within a dramatic scenario. A soft, gentle nature, with the evil horns and hell fire of the devil. The homesteaders, would have been most vulnerable in this way; taking the gentleness as a sign, a gift from God, to advance their homestead; the wicked storm, that ripped the roof off their cabins, and destroyed their crops, the strong hand of evil unfettered.

     What he brought into his story, was the conflicted situation, that, to his characters in the novel, nature was both the hero and the villain, but never truly benign; a friend as an enemy. Interwoven, and dependent on the confluences with humankind. As a sunny day might make most of us feel contented, and positive, there are others who feel it is the exact opposite, in sensory perception, at the parallel peak of experience. The same, as on a day of inclement weather, one voyeur feels upbeat at the dull, darkened environs, while the other, who had felt giddy in the sunshine, comes to be depressed by the grip of bad weather. This isn't new by any means, and philosophers a thousand years ago, had figured out the way weather and nature affected human emotions. I had just never applied this, to the study of the homesteaders of the late 1850's onward, and how depression and positivism collided constantly, like logs in a river jam. First of all, the emigrants were not aware of just how intimate they would have to become with the nature as it presented on the North American continent. The settlers were not farmers in Britain and Europe, yet they were recruited to be farmers, in a hostile environment; and largely because they weren't aware what obstacles stood in the way, of actually succeeding on the frontier, as new farmers. Instead of looking out their windows at an urban landscape, they looked out from their cabin doorway, and saw a wild and isolated environment, with many inherent dangers. What was the mental health profile, of these ill-prepared, city weary, poor emigrants, when handed the rights to a property that grew trees, rock and water, but would never attain much else as a farmstead, other than to extend basic provisions of fruit, vegetables, and hay for assorted livestock. How did they battle the depression of being isolated, and being so far removed from their former lifestyle and family? One family member may have been keen to emigrate, but not all were convinced. How did these reluctant homesteaders, cope with the burdens of isolation and hardship, which was day to day, without much in the way of reprieve. Many never benefitted from improvement of circumstances. They either died, or abandoned their farmsteads.

     Robert Rea fascinated me, because beyond the normal, expected connections, and relations between characters, in his novel, nature would become a key player, however invisible, in the actions and reactions of good neighbors and old friends. It might be said, that this is an obvious situation. I would agree. But how easily it is forgotten, in this context. We say, when asked about the weather, "It's raining outside." Or, "It's damn hot," or "Damn cold!" "Yup, it's nice and sunny," and within a second or two, "Oh look, it's started to rain again." All very rudimentary and anticipated of the human interaction with weather; with nature. But framing it, as a homesteader, some much more reluctant to be on the Muskoka frontier, could well have experienced nature as both friend and adversary in a far more intimate manner. In other words, it was an entity. Not just the seasons of the year, and hours of the day. Nature had a definable character, if not an imagined face, like story book artists portray the strained face of the "North Wind," and the growl of "Winter."

     I don't think that Robert Rea believed me, when I told him much later, that I had benefitted a great deal, from our impasse about nature, and its influences, and that in re-thinking the situation, had changed what I believed was, for me anyway, etched in stone. Not that we were far apart, from the beginning, but just in the way I looked at the environment / nature, as a more abstract influence; without ever considering it whittled down to what someone else, might interpret its interventions, as being positive or entirely negative. How could I understand the pioneers, if I didn't respect their interpretations of nature; their leaning on the Bible to give them strength to endure what they believed, were life and death battles with the elements. Good nature, bad nature.

     He might suggest, after reading this explanation, that I took it way beyond what he was trying to achieve for his story. But that's the way philosophies broaden and deepen, based on interpretation, and usefulness to explain what to that point, seemed to hard to satisfy in mind. Nature can make people crazy. Nature can make people happy. Nature can grow things, and kill things, without warning, and delight us with its warmth, one minute, and sweep us away in its bluster, seconds later. We are invigorated and inspired by nature, and sent scurrying for cover, when its wrath is unclenched. We are of nature's ilk. We are as much the undertow, as we are the offspring, and the harvest. It's all in the interpretation. It is all in the philosophy. It is all around us.

     "Though love repine, and reason chafe, There came a voice without reply - 'Tis man's perdition to be safe. When for the truth he ought to die." (Emerson, in New England)

     Thank you so much for visiting with me today. It's always a pleasure. I mean this sincerely.

THE HOMESTEAD KITCHEN, THE COOK - AND SOME 1897 COOKERY WISDOM YOU MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN

SURVIVAL DEPENDED ON THE CAPABILITIES OF THE HOME COOK TO STRETCH PROVISIONS

     "EMIGRATION TO THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO - (BRITISH PUBLICATION AIMED AT POTENTIAL SETTLERS) - OUR BRITISH AND OLD COUNTRY READERS, NO DOUBT, ARE AWARE THAT THERE IS SUCH A COUNTRY AS CANADA, ALTHOUGH WHERE IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS LIKE,  MANY OF THEM DO NOT KNOW, EXCEPT BY LOOKING AT A MAP OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. TO ALL SUCH WHO MAY DESIRE TO MEND THEIR PRESENT POSITION, TO BECOME FREEHOLDERS, INSTEAD OF LEASEHOLDERS, OR ANNUAL TENANTS, TO OWN A FARM OF THEIR OWN, INSTEAD OF SITTING UNDER THE SHADOW OF WILL OF A LANDLORD, TO THOSE WHO CANNOT GET LEASES WHATEVER THEIR IMPROVEMENTS MAY BE, AND WHO, IN SHORT, FEEL TOO INDEPENDENT FOR THEIR PRESENT POSITION, WE SAY UNHESITATINGLY, 'COME TO CANADA,' AND COME TO THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, CANADA. TAKE SHIPPING TO QUEBEC OR MONTREAL, THEN TAKE THE GRAND TRUNK RAILROAD FOR TORONTO, AND FROM TORONTO SET OUT ON THE IMMEDIATE EXPLORATION FOR A NEW HOME." KEEP IN MIND, A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF SETTLERS COULD NOT READ, LET ALONE UNDERSTAND DETAILS OF MAP READING. AND YES INDEED, IT IS TRUE, THAT BOTH ILLITERACY AND LANGUAGE BARRIERS (EG. ICELANDERS) CREATED HUGE OPPORTUNITIES, FOR THESE IMMIGRANTS TO BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF....FROM BEGINNING OF THEIR OVERSEAS JOURNEY, TO CANADA, AND INTO THE HEART OF MUSKOKA. RIPPED OFF FOR AN ENTIRE JOURNEY.

    AND HOW COULD ANY POOR SOUL RESIST A LINE LIKE THIS: "ONTARIO HAS ALL SOILS, AND ALL SORTS OF SITUATIONS AVAILABLE. TO THE POOR MAN THE FREE GRANTS ARE OPEN, AND ALTHOUGH THE FOREST IS HARD TO CLEAR, YET WHEN THE SETTLER FEELS THAT EVERY STROKE OF HIS AXE IS A BLOW TOWARD INDEPENDENCE, THE LABOUR BECOMES LIGHT AND PLEASANT." THIS WAS PUBLISHED IN THE LATE 1860'S, IN ENGLAND, AND IT WAS THE PLAN, AS ENCOURAGED BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF CANADA AND ONTARIO, TO GET AS MANY IMMIGRANTS TO THE OPEN LANDS OF THE COUNTRY AS POSSIBLE.  THERE WAS A TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY TO JUSTIFY, TO FINANCE AND TO BUILD, AND A NEWLY POPULATED LANDSCAPE, SEA TO SEA, WAS JUSTIFICATION FOR ALL KINDS OF CAPITAL SPECULATION......(JUST IN CASE THE AMERICANS WERE PLANNING ANOTHER ATTACK, LIKE THE WAR OF 1812, THERE WOULD BE SETTLERS TO JOIN MILITIAS, TO HOLD BACK THE FOE....WITH PITCHFORKS AND AXES)  THOSE GETTING MONEY FROM PUSHING THE IMMIGRATION PROJECT, INCLUDING THE STEAMSHIP AND RAIL LINES, ALL BENEFITTING FROM THE TRANSPORTATION BOOM, ATTACHED TO THE GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES,  HAD NO REAL INTEREST IN WHETHER OR NOT THE PROGRAM WAS ATTRACTING THE RIGHT OR WRONG KIND OF PEOPLE, TO HOMESTEAD AN UNCOMPROMISING, WILD FRONTIER.

      IT WAS ONE HELL OF AN EXPERIMENT, AND MANY LIVES WERE LOST AS A RESULT. THERE WERE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SETTLERS, WHO SHOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT EUROPE, ARRIVING IN CANADA HAVING ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE FELLING GIANT PINE, OR RUNNING FARMSTEADS. THE GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO, BELIEVED (AND IT IS STATED INA LATER AGRICULTURAL COMMISSION REPORT, RELEASED IN THE 1880'S) THAT BY THE 1880'S, THE HOMESTEAD GRANT EXPERIMENT HAD SUCCEEDED.....AND IT WAS ACKNOWLEDGED, LIKE SOLDIERS LOST IN WAR,  THERE WOULD BE CASUALTIES OF THE EFFORT......AND BY THEIR OWN SURVEY, TWO DECADES LATER,  DISCOVERED THAT THERE HAD BEEN WHAT CAN ONLY BE CONSIDERED,  A FIGURE NOT EXCEEDING WHAT HAD BEEN ANTICIPATED, AS "ACCEPTABLE LOSS." THERE WERE BOUND TO BE FAILURES AND LOSS OF LIFE, AS A RESULT, OF SUCH A MASSIVE PROGRAM OF SETTLING, WHAT SOME IMMIGRANTS SAW AS A LITERAL, HJOPELESS BARRENS.  OF COURSE THEY DON'T WORD IT PRECISELY THIS WAY, BUT WHAT DOES THAT MATTER. THEY WANTED TO PROVE THAT SETTLERS WOULD MAKE DO WITH WHAT POOR LAND THEY WERE AWARDED, AND IF THEY COULD ACHIEVE EVEN MODEST HOMESTEAD SUCCESS, IT WAS A WORTHY TEMPLATE, FOR THE OPENING UP OF EVEN MORE COMPROMISED TOPOGRAPHY, FURTHER NORTH AND WEST.

     THERE IS NO SENSITIVITY OR INTEREST IN ANY CALCULATION OF PERCENTAGES, DOCUMENTING THOSE SETTLERS WHO REMAINED ON THEIR FREE GRANT LAND, AS COMPARED TO THOSE WHO WERE FORCED TO ABANDON THEIR PROPERTIES OR STARVE TO DEATH. HOW MANY DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF COMING TO CANADA, AND MUSKOKA SPECIFICALLY. SOME NEVER MADE IT OFF THE BOATS ALIVE, TRUTH BE KNOWN. HONESTLY, IT'S WHY WE HAVE SUCH A POOR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE PIONEERING PERIOD MEANT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TRUE MUSKOKA LIFESTYLE, FROM THE BEGINNING. IT WAS BRUTAL. THIS MUST BE UNDERSTOOD. SO WHEN I PAY MY SINCERE RESPECT, AS AN HISTORIAN, TO THOSE BRAVE SOULS, WHO STUCK IT OUT, AND LIVED TO RAISE FAMILIES ON THE SAME PROPERTY, OVER MANY GENERATIONS, I DO SO AS ONE WHO IS COMMITTED TO NEVER, EVER  ALLOW THEIR STORY TO BE MINIMIZED OR OBSCURED, BY OTHER MORE POPULAR, TRENDY HISTORIES, TAKING CENTRE STAGE THESE DAYS, IN OUR REGION.

     FOR ONE THING, I HAVE A GREAT AND UNFALTERING RESPECT FOR THE HOMESTEAD COOKS, WHO KEPT THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS FED.....THE BEST THEY COULD, WITH THE FEW FINANCIAL RESOURCES THEY WERE ABLE TO MUSTER. POOR IN EUROPE, POOR AND DESTITUTE IN MUSKOKA. MY IDEA OF A MUSKOKA THANKSGIVING, IS TO HONOR THESE STALWART PIONEERS WITH A WEE PRAYER OF THANKS, FOR GIVING US THE MUSKOKA WE CELEBRATE TODAY.

     I DEDICATE THIS BLOG, AND THE REST OF THE THANKSGIVING-WEEK COLUMNS, IN TRIBUTE OF OUR TRUE FOUNDING MOTHERS AND FATHERS...WHO KEPT THE HOME FIRES BURNING....AND A POT OF STEW SIMMERING THROUGH THE HOMESTEAD CHRONICLE. OUR PICTURESQUE, QUAINT LITTLE CEMETERIES, AT CROSSROAD  CHURCHYARDS, AND TUCKED BENEATH MAPLE AND PINE CANOPIES,  CONTAIN THE TOMBSTONES OF OUR BUILDERS...OUR UNSUNG LEADERS.....COMPRISING THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CANADA. THE NATION BUILDERS WE HAVE NEGLECTED FOR LONG AND LONG.

     THERE ARE ENOUGH STORIES, TALES AND LORE, OF PIONEER HARDSHIP, TO FILL A SUBSTANTIAL AND RATHER INTERESTING VOLUME OF LOCAL HISTORY. I'M THINKING ABOUT IT FOR A PROJECT SOME TIME DOWN THE ROAD. ONE AREA OF SUFFERING AND CORRESPONDING RESOURCEFULNESS (JUST TO SURVIVE ANOTHER DAY), OF WHICH I AM ESPECIALLY INTERESTED, IS OUR REGIONAL COOKERY HERITAGE; PARTICULARLY AS REGARDS THE PIONEER AND MOST ACTIVE FARMING PERIOD IN MUSKOKA.....EVEN STRETCHING INTO THE MODERN ERA. I AM A FRUSTRATED WANT-TO-BE FARMER, SO I LOOK FORWARD TO ANY OPPORTUNITY TO DELVE INTO FARM HISTORIES IN ONTARIO AND CANADA.       THE UNSUNG HEROES OF HISTORY, (IN MUSKOKA, FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS STORY) WERE THE HOMESTEAD, FARM AND CAMP COOKS, WHO OFTEN HAD TO WORK, AND MAKE DO, WITH VERY POOR AND MEAGER RESOURCES, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT AND PROVISIONS, IN ORDER TO KEEP THEIR FAMILIES FROM STARVING TO DEATH. AND MAKE NO MISTAKE, THERE WERE SETTLERS WHO DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF BEING MALNOURISHED, AND SUSCEPTIBLE TO RELATED ILLNESSES. EQUALLY, ALTHOUGH YOU'D BE HARD PRESSED TO GET STATISTICS TO PROVE IT, FOOD POISONING TOOK ITS SHARE OF LIVES AS WELL. KEEPING FOOD FROM SPOILING, WAS A MAJOR DILEMMA IN THE EARLY DAYS, BEFORE ICE STORAGE WAS IMPROVED AND MADE MORE CONVENIENT FOR HOME USE.

    SETTLERS BY PRECARIOUS TRIAL AND ERROR, HAD TO LEARN THROUGH BASIC IMMERSION AND EXPERIENCE, IN THE WOODLANDS, WHAT NATURAL FLORA AND FAUNA WAS EDIBLE, AND WHAT, FOR EXAMPLE, COULD PROVE TO BE FATAL IF CONSUMED. FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT TYPE OF MUSHROOM WAS EDIBLE, AND WHAT WAS POISONOUS TO HUMANS. WHICH AMOUNTED TO A "DEATH-WISH," IF ONE MADE THE MISTAKE OF MISIDENTIFICATION. I HAVE READ PIONEER ACCOUNTS OF THOSE WHO BECAME MORTALLY ILL, AFTER CONSUMING POISONOUS MUSHROOMS, OUT OF IGNORANCE AND HUNGER, AND THE DEATH WAS A LONG, PAINFULL, GUT-WRENCHING DEMISE. DESPARATION OFTEN LED TO EXPERIMENTATION, AND SICKNESS WAS THE RESULT OF NOT LISTENING, TO THE SAGE ADVICE OF OTHER NEIGHBOR SETTLERS....WHO MAY HAVE MADE THE SAME MISTAKES, AND SURVIVED, WHEN THEY FIRST ARRIVED IN THE VAST PRIMAL FORESTS OF MUSKOKA.

     I'VE READ JOURNAL ACCOUNTS, REPORTING THAT EVEN BY LATE NOVEMBER, PROVISIONS WHICH WERE SUPPOSED TO LAST UNTIL SPRING, HAD DIMINISHED TO ONLY A SMALL QUANTITY OF VEGETABLES, ESPECIALLY VERSATILE POTATOES; AND I THINK IT WAS IN THE JOURNAL PENNED BY HARRIET KING, IN THE "DIARY OF AN IMMIGRANT WOMAN," THAT SHE DESCRIBES HER CONSTERNATION, WHEN AT CHRISTMAS, DURING A BRUTAL SNOWSTORM, AN ACQUAINTANCE ARRIVED AT THEIR CABIN DURING DINNER, AND THE SMALL, SIMPLE SUPPER, HAD TO BE DIVIDED TO FEED EVERYONE AROUND THE HARVEST TABLE. THERE ARE STORIES TOLD OF SETTLERS MAKING TEA, AND COFFEE FACSIMILES, FROM TREE BARK AND GRASSES. WHAT WE DON'T ALWAYS RECOGNIZE, IS THAT MUSKOKA, WHILE RICH IN WILDLIFE, COULD NOT PROVIDE ENOUGH WILD GAME TO FEED ALL THE SETTLERS, ALL OF THE TIME. I'VE TALKED TO MANY MUSEUM GROUPS, DURING HERITAGE LECTURES, ABOUT THIS FOOD SHORTAGE, AND MANY JUST CAN'T ACCEPT THAT THERE COULD HAVE BEEN ANY REASON TO DIE OF STARVATION, WHEN THERE WERE FISH TO CATCH, DEER TO SHOOT, AND BEAR, MOOSE AND BEAVER WAITING THEIR TURN FOR HARVEST. THERE IS A STORY CONTAINED IN THOMAS MCMURRAY'S 1870'S BOOK, "MUSKOKA AND PARRY SOUND," THAT REFERS TO "ROAST BEAVER," BEING SERVED AT THE END OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD "WOOL PICKING BEE."

     EVEN THE ALGONQUINS, ONLY USED THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA, AS A SUMMER HUNTING GROUND AND ENCAMPMENT, BUT COULD NOT SUSTAIN THEMSELVES YEAR ROUND, TO MAKE THE REGION A PERMANENT LOCATION; MUCH AS THE HURONS DID TO THE SOUTH. THE PROBLEM MORE SO, WAS THAT MANY OF THE SETTLERS WHO ARRIVED HERE, FROM THE LATE 1850'S, AND THROUGH THE FREE LAND GRANT AND HOMESTEAD ACT PERIOD, WERE FROM URBAN AREAS OF EUROPE, AND HAD VERY LITTLE EXPERIENCE IN WILDERNESS SURVIVAL. AS WELL, THEY WEREN'T FARMERS IN EUROPE, AND NOT FAMILIAR WITH LOG HOUSE CONSTRUCTION, CUTTING TREES, MILLING THEM FOR HOME USE AND FURNITURE MAKING, LET ALONE PULLING UP STUMPS BY HAND (BY HORSE OR OXEN LATER ON) TO CREATE THE FARM PLOTS THAT WOULD PRODUCE ANY KIND OF TANGIBLE HARVEST, AT THE END OF THE SHORT GROWING SEASON. SO THEY HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO COUNT ON THE KINDNESS OF MORE ESTABLISHED NEIGHBORS, THE GENEROSITY OF CHURCH CONGREGATIONS, EARLY FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND KIN FOLK, DOING BETTER THAN THEY WERE, AT THAT TIME. OF COURSE THIS COMMUNITY SHARING WAS LIMITED AS WELL, BECAUSE, SO MANY OF THIS CLASS OF HOMESTEAD SETTLER, IN THOSE FRONTIER-OPENING DAYS, FACED THE SAME DAY TO DAY DRUDGERY, AND HEARTACHE, OF BATTLING THE ELEMENTS AND THEIR OWN FETTERING TITHE OF POVERTY.

     IN THE 1897 BOOK, "STEPPING STONES TO HAPPINESS," BY HARRIET PRESCOTT SPOFFORD, WHICH BY THE WAY, WAS PURCHASED FROM AN ESTATE OF AN ORIGINAL PIONEER FAMILY, THERE IS A WELL WORN CHAPTER OF THE VICTORIAN SELF-HELP BOOK, REGARDING COOKERY INSTRUCTION. IT DOES HAVE A MORE URBAN FLAVOR TO IT, THAN IF A SIMILAR SECTION HAD BEEN INCLUDED IN THOMAS MCMURRAY'S BOOK, FOR EXAMPLE; WHICH IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN, TO TRULY BE OF ASSISTANCE TO THE SETTLER CLASS. IN 1897 THE MARKET FOR MRS SPOFFORD'S BOOK WAS OBVIOUSLY THE URBAN HOUSE-WIFE, ALTHOUGH ITS INCLUSION OF HOME ECONOMY, UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES, DID APPEAL TO THE HOMESTEAD COOKS AS WELL. THE ONLY THING STANDING IN THE WAY, WAS HAVING ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY THE BOOK IN THE FIRST PLACE. DUE TO ITS CHRISTIAN THEME, OF LIVING HEALTHY AND CONTENTED, IN GOD'S GARDEN, SOME FAMILIES DECIDED IT WAS MORE IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE TEXT, THAN FACE THE BLEAK FUTURE WITHOUT. I EXPECT THIS COOKERY CHAPTER WAS VERY WELL USED BY THE HOMESTEAD COOK. I DETECT SOME SMUDGES OF GREASE AND JUICES, FROM VENISON OR RABBIT; BASS OR TROUT; FRESHLY MADE BUTTER FROM THE SINGLE COW, GRAZING IN A MODEST PASTURE.

     "BUT THERE ARE VARIOUS OTHER WAYS IN WHICH THE ENGLISHWOMAN CAN GIVE US LESSONS IN ECONOMY. IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT NOTHING IS WASTED UNDER HER CARE. EVEN HER STALE BEER IS SAVED TO RINSE HER BRONZES IN, TO BOIL WITH OTHER MATERIAL AND MAKE HER OLD PLATE LOOK LIKE NEW, AND TO CLEAN HER SOILED BLACK SILKS; AND THE LEMONS WHOSE OUTER SKIN HAS BEEN GRATED OFF, AND WHOSE JUICE HAS BEEN SQUEEZED OUT, IF THEY ARE NOT LAID ASIDE TO BOIL IN ANY COMPOUND, ARE GIVEN TO THE COOK TO CLEAN HER SAUCEPAN. IF SHE KEEPS FOWL, EVERY EGG BROUGHT IN IS DATED WITH A PENCIL, AND THOSE OF THE EARLIER DATE ARE USED FIRST; IF THERE ARE ANY TO BE SPARED, SHE LAYS THEM BY FOR WINTER PROVISION, USUALLY BY PASSING OVER THEM A CAMEL'S HAIR PENCIL, DIPPED IN OIL, WHICH HERMETICALLY SEALS AND PRESERVES THEIR CONTENTS; AND WHERE SHE USES ONLY THE WHITES IN ONE DISH, SHE CONTRIVES ANOTHER IN WHICH SHE SHALL USE THE YOLKS. IF THE BREAD HAS BECOME DRY, SHE DOES NOT IMMEDIATELY THROW IT TO THE HENS OR DEDICATE IT TO A PUDDING; SHE DIPS THE LOAF IN HOT WATER, AND SETS IT IN THE OVEN, AND FINDS IT SUFFICIENTLY FRESH FOR FAMILY USE. NOR DOES SHE OFTEN INDULGE IN THE DOUBTFUL LUXURY OF BAKER'S BREAD, SINCE SHE HAS LEARNED THAT SHE THEREBY LOSES IN BREAD, JUST THE WEIGHT OF THE WATER USED IN COMPOUNDING IT, BESIDES RUNNING THE RISK OF DELETERIOUS INGREDIENTS. AND WHEN THE BREAD IS REALLY DRIED PAST FRESHENING, THEN IT ANSWERS FOR STUFFING, IS GRATED FOR CRUMBS, OR IS SOAKED WITH MILK AND BEATEN EGGS FOR PUDDINGS; NONE OF IT IS THROWN AWAY.

     "SHE IS EQUALLY ECONOMICAL CONCERNING THE HAM; WHEN NO MORE SLICES CAN BE CUT FROM THE BONE, THERE IS YET A SMALL QUANTITY OF DRY MEAT UPON IT THAT WOULD SEEM TO MOST OF OUR HOUSEKEEPERS AS SOMETHING RATHER WORTHLESS. NOT SO TO THIS GOOD WOMEN; IT IS DRIED A LITTLE FURTHER, AND THEN GRATED FROM THE BONE, AND PUT AWAY IN JARS, TO BE TAKEN OUT AND SEASONED ON REQUIREMENT FOR ENRICHMENT OF OMELETS, FOR SPREADING UPON SAVORY DISHES OF TOAST WHICH MAKE A NICE ADDITION TO BREAKFAST OR LUNCH; FOR STUFFING OLIVES AND MAKING SANDWICHES, AFTER WHICH GRATING THE BONE SERVES TO FLAVOR SOUP. IN THE SAME WAY SHE GRATES HER CHEESE THAT IS TOO DRY OR NEAR THE RIND, USING IT AFTERWARD AS A RELISH, OR AS A DRESSING TO MACARONI OR OTHER SUBSTANCE. ALL BONES, MEANWHILE, AS WELL AS THE HAM BONE, ARE OBJECTS OF CARE WITH HER, OR WITH THE SERVANTS, WHOM SHE HAS TRAINED TO HER WILL, AND ARE REGULARLY BOILED DOWN TO ADD THE RESULT TO THE STOCK POT FOR GRAVIES AND SOUPS, BY WHICH MEANS SHE PROCURES THE LATTER, AT ALMOST NO COST AT ALL. WHENEVER SHE HAS A FEW SLICES OF HETEROGENOUS COLD MEATS, SHE HAS COUNTLESS PALATABLE WAYS OF USING THEM; DEVILED, BROILED IN BATTER, SCALLOPED, MINCED INTO CROQUETTES OR MAYONNAISE."

    MRS SPOFFORD WRITES, IN HER ADVISORY TO COOKS IN TRAINING, "AS A GENERAL, ALTHOUGH NOT UNIVERSAL THING, AMONG OURSELVES, WHEN THESE STRAY BITS OF BONES ARE NOT THROWN AWAY, THEY ARE GIVEN AWAY; BUT THE LATTER IS NOT THE ENGLISH WOMAN'S IDEA OF CHARITY; SHE HOLDS THAT THE POOR, UNACCUSTOMED TO DAINTY FOOD, FIND A COARSER KIND QUITE AS AGREEABLE AS THE LEAVINGS OF HER TABLE; SHE PREPARES ESPECIALLY FOR THEM, SAVING ALL LIQUORS (LIQUID) IN WHICH THE MEATS HAVE BEEN BOILED, AS A BASE FOR BROTHS OF BARLEY AND PEAS, THAT ARE REGULARLY DISPENSED, WITH TEA LEAVES AND COFFEE GROUNDS DRIVED OVER, AND FROM WHICH A SECOND DRAUGHT CAN BE MADE, WITH OATMEAL, VEGETABLES AND DRIPPING. DRIPPING, BY THE WAY, FORMS NO INCONSIDERABLE ITEM IN THIS SORT OF ECONOMY; IT IS SKIMMED FROM EVERY POT AND SAVED FROM EVERY PAN, AND WHEN A SUFFICIENT QUANTITY ACCUMULATES IT IS CLARIFIED BY POURING BOILING WATER UPON IT, MIXING IT WELL, AND PUTTING IT BY TO 'SET'THE SEDIMENT, GOING TO THE BOTTOM WHEN COLD, LEAVING A HARD CLEAN CAKE, WHICH IS USEFUL ON DOMESTIC OCCASIONS, WHERE BUTTER OR LARD WOULD BE USED, AS THE 'SHORTENING' OF MEAT PIE CRUSTS AND GINGERBREAD, AND FOR COMMON BASTING AND FRYING."

     "SOME HOUSEKEEPERS, TO BE SURE, WHO ARE ABLE TO LIVE MORE SUMPTUOUSLY, ABANDON THIS TO THE COOK, BY WHOM IT IS CLAIMED AS A PREQUISITE, AND VALUED AS AN EQUIVALENT OF LARGE EXTRA WAGES. BEYOND THIS SYSTEM OF SAVING ON A SMALL SCALE AND DOING IT SO REGULARLY, AND SO PRECISELY THAT IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE; AND IS DONE WITH AS LITTLE EXTRA THOUGHT, AS THERE IS GIVEN TO THE PARING OF THE POTATOES. THE ENGLISH HOUSEKEEPER GOES FURTHER, IN DEALING OUT TO HER SERVANTS THE WEEK'S ALLOWANCE OF SUGAR, RICE, FLOUR, COFFEE, AND OTHER OTHER HOUSEHOLD PROVISION, THAT IS KEPT IN QUANTITY, AND REQUIRING AN ACCOUNT OF IT ALL TO BE RENDERED, THE THING HAVING BEN BROUGHT TO SUCH A FINE POINT, THAT SHE KNOWS THE EXACT AMOUNT OF EACH ARTICLE REQUISITE FOR HER FAMILY, ALLOWING SO MUCH TO EACH INDIVIDUAL, AND THAT QUANTITY BEING SUFFICIENT, AS SHE KNOWS BY EXPERIENCE; TWO OUNCES FOR TEA, FOR INSTANCE, BEING REGARDED AS A WEEK'S SUPPLY FOR EACH SINGLE INDIVIDUAL, ONE HALF POUND OF SUGAR, THREE AND ONE HALF POUNDS OF MEAT FOR A WOMAN, AND FIVE AND A QUARTER FOR A MAN - FACTS WHICH THE HOUSEKEEPER PROBABLY LEARNED FROM HER MOTHER, AND FROM HER MOTHER BEFORE HER - KNOWING MOREOVER, THAT THE GREATER VARIETY OF FOOD OFFERED, DIMINISHES THE QUANTITY OF THE SIMPLER KINDS REQUIRED. ALL OF THESE STORES SHE SETS DOWN IN HER HOUSEKEEPING BOOK AS SHE GIVES THEM OUT, AND SHE DOES NOT FAIL ON THE NEXT DISPENSING DAY TO CONSULT HER DATES, AND IF ANYTHING BE LEFT OVER IN THE COOK'S HANDS, NOT ACCOUNTED FOR, TO SUBTRACT THAT FROM THE AMOUNT TO BE NEWLY ISSUED. AND IN ENGLAND SERVANTS EXPECT THIS, SO FAR FROM BEING INDIGNANT WITH IT, THEY WOULD FEEL AS IF THERE WERE NO GUIDING HAND BEHIND THEM, WERE IT LEFT UNDONE, AND THEY GIVEN THEIR HEAD IN AN OVERFLOWING STORE-ROOM, AS SERVANTS ARE WITH US. IN FACT, THERE IS NO SAVING WHICH THE HOUSEWIFE ACROSS THE WATER, CONSIDERS TOO SMALL TO PRACTICE, OR AS BENEATH HER DIGNITY; AND WHEN WE SHALL HAVE FOLLOWED HER EXAMPLE IN HER PET ECONOMIES, MORE GENERALLY THAN WE FOLLOW IT AT PRESENT, WE SHALL HAVE MORE RIGHT AND MORE ABILITY TO INDULGE OURSELVES IN OUR PET EXTRAVAGANCES OTHERWISE."

     AS FOR THE HOMEMAKER, "THE CHIEF OF THE HOUSEHOLD CARES, IS ALWAYS THE COOK. SHE IS VERY SELDOM IN THE ORDINARY FAMILY, OR IN THAT OF NARROW MEANS, WHAT SHE SHOULD BE, AND HER SHORTCOMINGS DO A GREAT DEAL TO BRING ABOUT THE CHANGES FROM THE BLACK BIRD TO THE GRAY. THERE IS NO ONE WAY TO OVERCOME INCOMPETENCY THAT I HAVE OFTEN WONDERED WAS NOT MORE GENERALLY PURSUED. THERE EXISTS NOW IN MOST OF OUR LARGE CITIES GOOD AND EFFECTIVE TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR SERVANTS OF ALL CLASSES AND CAPACITIES, AND, BESIDES THESE, VARIOUS PERSONS OF SKILL AND RENOWN IN CULINARY MATTERS ADVERTISE LESSONS IN COOKERY; STANDING READY, ON CERTAIN AFTERNOONS OF THE WEEK, TO IMPART TO THE CLASS OF THE HOUR ALL THAT THEY KNOW ON THE SUBJECT, EVEN ANNOUNCING IN THEIR ADVERTISEMENTS THE DISHES TO BE PREPARED THAT DAY - FIFTY CENTS ADMISSION, AND SOMETIMES NOT SO MUCH."

     ALTHOUGH THIS PIECE, BY THE CLEVER MRS. SPOFFORD, WAS WRITTEN MUCH LATER THAN THE ACTUAL HOMESTEAD GRANT PERIOD, OF SETTLEMENT IN MUSKOKA, IT STILL WOUND UP IN THE LATER FARMSTEADS OF THIS PART OF ONTARIO. AS FOR GETTING COOKING INSTRUCTIONS, I WOULD IMAGINE THAT THE OPPORTUNITIES IN THIS AREA, IN 1897 WERE SLIM TO NONE....AND IT WAS THE GOOD GRACES OF KIND NEIGHBORS AND FAMILY, WHO EDUCATED ONE ANOTHER ABOUT COOKERY QUANTITIES AND QUALITIES....HANDED-DOWN ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF MODEST PROVISIONS.

     WHEN I USED TO WANDER THROUGH THE REGION, LOOKING FOR HOMESTEAD SITES TO EXPLORE, I ALWAYS GOT A LITTLE HEARTSICK, WHEN I'D FIND MYSELF STANDING IN THE PATHETIC, LATE-LIFE REMAINS, OF THE FARMSTEAD KITCHEN; LOOKING SO EMPTY AND UNSTORIED, WHEN QUITE THE OPPOSITE HELD TRUE. I OFTEN GOT MY BEST FEATURE STORY IDEAS, HOVERING IN THE RUINS, EXAMINING THE REMAINS OF OLD CUPBOARDS, AND CABINETS, BROKEN DISHES AND THREE LEGGED HARVEST TABLES, THEN TOPPLED OVER; THE OLD NEWSPAPERS UNDER THE FLOOR SURFACING, DATING THE TIME PERIOD OF THAT PARTICULAR HOME IMPROVEMENT. THERE WOULD BE TYPICAL SIGNS OF WILDLIFE HABITATION, POSSIBLY A PORCUPINE THAT HAD BEEN GNAWING AT THE CHAIR LEGS, SQUIRRELS AND CHIPMUNKS NOW CALLING THE RUINS HOME. YET I COULD VISUALIZE THE HOMEMAKER WORKING AWAY IN THIS KITCHEN, WITH THE LARGE, NOW-GLASSLESS WINDOW, LOOKING OUT ONTO THE GROWN-OVER GARDEN AND PASTURE; WITH THE REMAINS OF FARM BUILDINGS NO LONGER UPRIGHT. DESPITE WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE, AND WHAT CARNAGE HAD OCCURRED, SINCE ITS ABANDONMENT, SO MANY OF THESE OLD RUINS HELD CLOSE TO THE REMAINING HEARTH, THAT STRANGELY FAMILIAR AURA, AND HOLLOW ECHO, OF FAMILY HISTORY, FROM ALL THOSE WHO ONCE DWELLED WITHIN;....THOSE WHO JOYFULLY, IN GOOD CHEER, CELEBRATED SPECIAL OCCASIONS AND HOLIDAYS TOGETHER; WHO HELD ONTO EACH OTHER DURING PERIODS OF ILLNESS AND SUDDEN DEATH; PEOPLE WHO LOVED AND

WERE LOVED, AMALGAMATED WITH SO MANY HOPES, ASPIRATIONS, AND SUCCESSES; THE SORROW OF FAILURE AND LOSS, MIXED WITH THE HAPPINESS AND CONTENTMENT, DURING A FINE MEAL WITH FAMILY AND NEIGHBORS, WHERE THIS OLD PINE TABLE WAS "GROANING" FROM THE WEIGHT OF EDIBLE BOUNTY. A GOOD HARVEST. OF ALL THE ROOMS IN THE OLD FARMSTEAD, IT IS THE KITCHEN THAT I AM COMPELLED TO DAWDLE. THE ROOM I FIND MOST HAUNTED; THE PART OF THE HOUSE THE RESIDENT SPIRITS WANT THIS INTRUDER TO KNOW MORE ABOUT, AS IF IT, OR THEY, KNOW MY INTENTION IS TO WRITE ABOUT IT.....GIVING IT, AT LONG LAST, AN HISTORICAL RELEVANCE; SO FAR DENIED, EXCEPT IN LIVES LIVED; THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN RAISED FROM THESE HUMBLE QUARTERS, HERE IN THE MUSKOKA HEARTLAND. IT IS THE ROOM I LOOK BACK INTO, ON THE WAY OUT, SWEARING SOMEONE WAS WATCHING ME FROM WITHIN....BUT NEVER CAUSING AN AIR OF ILL EASE FOR THE INTRUDER. I MIGHT STOP FOR A MOMENT, ONCE OUTSIDE, AND LOOK BACK, EXPECTING TO SEE A FACE IN THE WINDOW, WHERE THE KITCHEN WAS, BUT ALAS, THERE IS ONLY THE DARK VOID OF AN HISTORIAN'S WISHFUL THINKING.