It didn’t weird Dr Suzanne Simard out, when I told her I talk to trees. Dr Simard is a professor of forest ecology with UBC and the researcher behind the viral TED talk that introduced the general public to the idea that trees communicate with other trees, and share information, carbon, energy, in collaboration with…
How an unlikely couple of craft cider makers started Squamish’s Northyards Cider Co
This is one of the best dharma (finding your calling) stories ever. It was a treat to connect with Alison and Kathleen of Northyards Cider, to hear how they came to start a craft cidery in Squamish. I definitely need to do more thorough research in the tasting room, though. In the meantime, this story…
Crowning a “junk” tree with overdue appreciation
“What’s this?” asked my clutter-resistant husband, observing the giant mason jar of oily plant matter on the counter. “Ohh, it’s medicine! It’s called Balm of Gilead,” I explained. “Oh. But what is it?” “Cottonwood tips in oil.” “Hmm. And what’s it good for treating?” he asked, in an impressively neutral manner, eyes scanning to the…
Craft cider: here’s to a drink that literally grows on trees
“You know that rule in skiing or biking where you don’t look at the tree you’re trying to avoid?” says Kathleen van der Ree, one half of Squamish’s Northyards Cider Co (and a partner with law firm Race and Co “on the side”.) Having grown up in a family of restauranteurs, van der Ree spent…
Where wonder takes up residence
There is a place where you don’t need words to make deep deep sense of the world. Kera Willis’ Mountain Horse School is a gateway to that place. Kera Willis has a secret agenda. In any of her students – whether they’re a child coming under the guise of taking horse-riding lessons or attending a…
Coming down from Treeline
Can a quiet and deeply thoughtful piece of film provoke radical action? Jordan Manley’s Treeline makes the case. This morning, on my way home from the school bus-stop, I detoured via a small patch of Douglas-Fir – the grandfather tree, called Srap7ul, in Ucwalmictws, the language of the Lil’wat Nation, meaning “something standing upright.” I found a…
Breath technology: the promise of a sober high
Edward Dangerfield admits that he’s a little bit intense, probably in the way that many Whistler folk are. Type A. Overachiever. Dive in. Go deep. He’s working on that. He’s been exploring his pathologies and life path since getting caught in an avalanche and completely burning out from the restaurant business in 2014. “I totally…
Picture this: vision boards as a way to cut and paste your way to a clearer sense of your deep desires
To the publishers, art directors and editors who work so hard to put great magazines together, I’m sorry. I spent Sunday night deconstructing your work in the most primitive way. (Rip, tear, cut.) And I loved it. I didn’t think I could, when I first heard about vision boarding – a kind of personal insight…
The Maker’s Medicine
In praise of Slow Booze: drinking more mindfully might be as easy as swapping mass-produced plonk for hand-crafted, small batch beverages. And PS Happy 10thanniversary, Pemberton Distillery. The best drink I had over the festive season was a small plastic glass of port-wine, infused with herbs and hawthorn berries that yoga teacher Natalie Rousseau…
Coding for Greatness
I’d just finished reading The Culture Code,a book by Daniel Coyle about the culture of great groups, when I drove through the night, blasting Mofro, up the snowy winding pass to Crystal Mountain in Washington. Pemberton skier Susan Medville, a freeskier and mountain woman originally based in Crested Butte, had invited me to join a…
