SALVATION ARMY TO HELP WITH FLOOD RELIEF IN BRACEBRIDGE AND HUNTSVILLE
VICTIMS NEED ASSISTANCE TO DEAL WITH THEIR LOSSES
I HAVEN'T HEARD, AS OF YET, WHETHER OR NOT THE SALVATION ARMY, IN GRAVENHURST, WILL BE HELPING TO CO-ORDINATE RELIEF, FOR VICTIMS OF RECENT FLOODING, IN SOUTH MUSKOKA, SUCH AS IN THE SEVERN BRIDGE AREA, WHERE MANY RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN SEVERELY AFFECTED. WE RAN SOME IMAGES TAKEN OF THE AREA, YESTERDAY, AS PHOTOGRAPHED BY FRED SCHULZ. WITH FLOODING IN THE LARGER TOWNS, GETTING MOST OF THE MEDIA ATTENTION, WE WERE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT, WE'VE GOT PARALLEL PROBLEMS IN THIS MUNICIPALITY WITH HIGH WATER…..THAT WASN'T GETTING ANY SERIOUS MENTION, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC, AND OF COURSE THOSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SPRING RUN-OFF CALAMITY. THEY NEED HELP AS WELL.
I HEARD TODAY THAT FLOOD RELIEF CO-ORDINATION WILL BE UNDERTAKEN BY THE SALVATION ARMIES IN BOTH BRACEBRIDGE, AND HUNTSVILLE. THERE ARE QUITE A FEW CITIZENS WHO HAVE BEEN DISPLACED BY THE HIGH WATER FROM THE MUSKOKA RIVER, AND THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED MAJOR DAMAGE AND LOSSES TO THEIR HOMES AND PROPERTY. THIS INCLUDES FOOD IN ADDITION TO LOST CLOTHING AND PERSONAL ITEMS. SOME PROPERTY OWNERS, SUCH AS IN SPRINGDALE PARK, ON HIGHWAY 117, HAVE HAD THEIR HYDRO TURNED OFF FOR MOST OF A WEEK NOW, AND FOOD PROVISIONS REQUIRING REFRIGERATION WOULD BE LOST NOW. THE FLOODING ISSUE, EVEN IN BRACEBRIDGE, HASN'T BEEN GETTING MUCH COVERAGE IN THE NATIONAL MEDIA IN THE PAST FEW DAYS. DESPITE THE FACT THERE IS STILL A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN THE TOWN OF BRACEBRIDGE. IT IS ALSO REPORTED, WATER IS RISING IN LAKE MUSKOKA, AND THIS MAY BECOME THE NEXT SERIOUS ISSUE, TO FOLLOW WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING TO THE NORTH. ANY ASSISTANCE YOU CAN OFFER, WOULD BE APPRECIATED, I'M SURE, BY THE PARTICIPATING SALVATION ARMIES. YOU CAN CONTACT THEM DIRECTLY, TO FIND OUT WHAT IS ON THEIR "NEEDS" LIST, AT PRESENT. IT'S REALLY HARD TO KNOW, AT THIS POINT, JUST HOW MANY OF OUR LOCAL CITIZENS HAVE BEEN SERIOUSLY COMPROMISED BY THE FLOOD WATER, BUT THIS WILL BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD IN THE NEXT WEEK, AS WATER DOES EVENTUALLY RECEDE. THANKS FOR CARING ABOUT THESE FOLKS. IT MUST BE AWFULLY DISTRESSING, TO BE STARING OUT AT A POWERFUL RIVER AT YOUR DOORSTEP, WONDERING WHAT COMES NEXT. SO FAR HOWEVER, THERE HAVE BEEN NO CASUALTIES, AND OF THIS, WE SHOULD ALL BE THANKFUL.
ONE OR TWO MORE WORDS ABOUT COOKERY HERITAGE COLLECTION
I began reading cookbooks this past winter. I know you're probably thinking, "the man's a loon." Actually, I found it pretty interesting reading, about a subject I'm awfully close to…..being of course, "food" and lots of it! I started with a neat little Canadian collection, by well known historian, Dorothy Duncan, and it referenced many of the first of these recipe collections, to be published, even before the arrival of Confederation. I also read numerous other books written about culinary heritage, and I learned a lot about the processed, frozen and canned foods that arrived on store shelves, after the cessation of fighting in the Second World War. I learned how scratch cooking for cakes, was put in a box, so that anyone could successfully bake one. Even a toadstool like me. I read all about the way food manufacturers, and corporations in the food industry, force-fed the North American population on the idea of "TV Dinners" for convenience, of the new age family, where husband and wife now had jobs and a family to look out for……perfect for the development of convenience food.
It marked the beginning of a great and profound change to cooking in the home, and has led us to this point in history, where it can be said with some accuracy, that these corporations are now cooking for us most of the time. The microwave has in many households, actually replaced the stove as the key appliance at meal time. It is stated by many health experts, that convenience food, with too much of what we don't need…..fat, salt and sugar, is injuring our health. The fast food joints, well, they're the result of our harried lifestyles, and the mindset, that we need to race from here to there and back, because everyone else is doing the same thing. Food that travels well, and can be consumed in transit, and out of a bag, is a trillion dollar business, so it's even kicking the microwave out of the way, for numerous meals each week. Gads, what have when been doing to ourselves?
In many ways, just so you know, (but I'm sure you can figure it out anyway), our desire to open a cookery heritage reference collection, for fun and a little profit, may also be our failing. At a time when the kitchen stove is a second class appliance, and processed foods have become a staple, for millions of folks who have, for all intents and purposes, given up scratch cooking, for anything more than the occasional fried eggs, and a little bacon on a Sunday morning. It may be the wrong time to re-introduce some old fashion ideas, about home cooking and its traditions. Maybe we will have several thousands cookbooks that no one will be interested in, and possibly, our collection of old and out-of-print books won't wow a single patron….or convince even one customer, to follow a handwritten recipe from the 1880's, to make a basic chocolate scratch cake…..the way a great-great grandmother might have, on an old cookstove. Maybe we're delusional, thinking that we can inspire folks to over-haul their kitchens, and clear the clutter off their old electric or gas stoves, that they haven't used in years. Possibly we are the kind of romantics, who will build up this collection, only to haul it all home one day, as a sort of unfortunate reminder of the bad investments you can make in the antique trade.
Today I read Suzanne an interesting article from the newspaper, about a representative from the Agricultural sector, of this fine province, asking the Ministry of Education to re-adopt the Home Economics programs of once, for our high school students today…..some who have no cooking experience whatsoever…..which remains this way right up to graduation. Suzanne was a career Home Economics teacher, back in the good old days, when yes, they did instruct their students on how to prepare a healthy meal. Then the brain trust, decided to revamp the program, and call it Family Studies, with a greatly reduced emphasis on food, and cooking essentials; and today, in many schools, this program has all but disappeared. Yet I hear time and again how the education system in this province is doing so well, with much credit going to the government of the day. "Horse-hockey" I say. Our youth need to know how to cook to survive. As is unfortunately the case, many of their parents at home, also don't know how to cook properly and safely….and rely on microwave ovens to heat packaged convenience foods. Maybe if the only thing we do, is surround ourselves with the wonderful heritage cookery from a distant time and place, it will be worth the effort and expense it has taken so far, to develop this interesting legacy collection.
The theme behind our resource collection, will be dedicated to the traditions of the kitchen…..the way it was….and the way it still is in our house. We're not big on gourmet foods in our house. Suzanne, carrying some of her teaching into the household, has raised our family on the foundations set out by Canada's Food Guide. Nothing fancy. Good healthy grub. Fruits and vegetables at the forefront. Even when we were broke, which was most of the time, as young parents, with a booming mortgage, Suzanne could make a hardy soup out of discounted vegetables with a beef or chicken broth, that with a big chunk of her fresh bread, kept us from going hungry. It was food preparation as it had been passed down to her, from her mother, Harriett, that she picked up from her mother's farm kitchen in the Village of Ufford, in the present Township of Muskoka Lakes. Even when she was canning in the fall of the year, Suzanne used to have her fondest memories, of how she had worked so many days with her mother, in Windermere, canning provisions for the long winter season. I have to admit, that being in the house during chutney making time, was a constant allure….even days later, as the glorious aroma hung around. I was the official sampler. There were the pickled carrots, beans, peaches, strawberry jams, and salsa. My God, it was beastly being near that kitchen at canning time. I wanted it all.
What I have just described, is what our cookbook collection and resources will herald for us, as we make it a public presentation. Without apology, it will draw on our family's passion for cookery traditions, and will be characterized by our own desire to have heavy representation, in our collection, of recipes, many handwritten, that do go back to the homestead era of our region, and our province. We will eventually have ample Canadiana included in this collection, which we hope will become of national significance one day…….such that a museum may wish to carry on where we have left off. Above all, it will reflect our long-time interest in antiques and collectables, and we will certainly carry-on with the normal hunt and gather, of a general inventory of old stuff, for as long as we can…….and have the space permitting, for its display.
I was able to purchase four more vintage and specialty cookbooks today for Suzanne, and she welcomed them into her budding collection. As I've noted previously, she has the privilege, in this sector of the business, to select precisely the books she wants to have in her permanent collection, and ones she believes are of the quality, to be sold through our shop. She is a fussy cook, and I love that about her. She loves to cook, we Curries like to eat, and we hope this new venture, is going to feel as home-spun, as it has been in its manifestation here at Birch Hollow.
As a sidebar to this story……beyond the cookbook finds this morning, I was also able to purchase three beautiful landscape paintings, done by my former barber, in Bracebridge. I found them in a second hand shop, and one of them, may actually be one that I watched being painted, while in Bill Anderson's barber shop, in the corner of the former "Patterson Hotel," on Manitoba Street. In my childhood vintage, back in the mid to late 1960's, I used to visit Bill's corner barber shop once every two weeks, and while he worked on my hair, he would often stop and make an addition to his art work, upon an easel in front, and then stop to make a pot of tea. He needed his tea to paint and to cut hair. He was an outstanding landscape artist, and I will get images to share on this blog, for early next week. In Bracebridge, during those fascinating years, we had a painting barber, with Bill, an artist pharmacist, Robert Everett, and a painting gas jockey, being Ross Smith, at Ted Smith's Uptown Garage. Gads, no wonder I love art. I was surrounded by it, back then, even getting my cough syrup.
Thanks for joining me again today. I always enjoy when friends drop by for a visit. Us writer-kind get lonely in this professional solitude of creativity. See you again soon. Drive carefully out there.
To read my Muskoka as Walden blog go to http://muskokaaswaldenpond.blogspot.ca/
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