July 2021 – OsteoPraxis on the road

July 21 to 24th …Serpent to Soo

We had grand plans of pulling over and stopping, lookouts…there were plenty…….but nothing pull through…or big enough to be able to tell if we would fit before it was too late to stop..!!!

This is not a highway I/we want to be having to back up a trailer onto cos the stop we picked won’t let us pull forward out of…..soooooo…..a lot of pictures in motion from the cab of the truck result..!!

The iron bridge just outside Iron Bridge…North Huron

It ended up being a longer drive than intended to Serpent River Campground …..our first campground …ever…!!!

Lovely place…..decent showers…hot water..nice people…….overall a positive experience….(wifi was pretty weak….not enough to sort my pictures)……..but overall we would recommend this campground……and it is just off the Trans-Canada.

Just across the road from the campground ….is Annette’s Diner….looks seriously sketchy…but you have to try stuff so we stopped for brekkie on the day we pulled out…..

Annette’s Diner…across the Trans-Canada from the campground

It was pretty good….!!!….we kind of regretted not having their fish dinner as the fisherman walked in with a bag of fresh caught fish…!!!

Elliot Lake

We were here for two days…so we thought a little side trip to Elliot Lake might be in order….20 minutes north of the main highway. From what I knew of it…I have only seen the ads for high end retirement condo’s..so we thought it might have some interesting stores. (Having not really been in a store for…how long now?….I can find the automotive department in Canadian tire pretty interesting browsing…..!!!)

Elliot Lake……its a bare bones little utility town in the middle of nowhere…..(upside it has a Can Tire gas bar..!!)..and seems to have suffered greatly from the economic downturn. Reeeeeally nice people…..love to chat ….eager to help.

Scott suggested……next time we stop in a town with more than one horse….!!!

Back on the road across the north shore of Huron….cos the next two nights were booked at Glenview cottages just north of Sault Ste Marie.

Back on the road….

Warning signs are still for deer…I just noticed that..!!!

Glenview cottages just north of the Soo…second campground, but the first one with 30 amp service..(A/C here we come…!!) which turned out to be a bonus, cos we had mega thunderstorms pretty much the whole time we were here…..and A/C was definitely a benefit ( we have not really felt the need for it up to now..!!)

We were excited to get up in the morning for the Mill Street Farmers market…we love the Kitchener farmers market, and had a blast at the Lions Head market.

It was nice enough, very organised…very expensive…we left without any purchases feeling a little disappointed……made up for it with a breakfast stop….

Great little spot……excellent food……they were slammed busy but it was worth the wait (their waffles with browned butter and locally sourced maple syrup were amazing…!!!😋)

Next stop …Bushplane museum……now this is a treasure …and totally worth a stop ( $13.50 per adult entry fee..)

There’s also an insectarium in the museum…which looked really cool…but was packed with kids, as it should be, the whole time we were there. The staff were pulling giant bugs out of display cases and letting them crawl on kids hands..!!! (😮)

More than just the planes……there is also the history of the area and the bushplane/wildfire connection….which is very topical at the moment with over a 100 wildfires burning in Northern Ontario… Forest Fire Info Map (gov.on.ca)

It poured…poured with rain the whole time we were in here….another reason we were in no hurry to leave….

Next episode is Soo to Wawa….

2nd Camp Cooking post :-Sourdough bread in the BBQ (or the oven )

The finished article…….spent grain sourdough bread.

She’s a beauty…smells and tastes magnificent…!!!

No knead bread became a thing for us some time ago….while we still lived in a house….with a big fridge and a convection oven. What COVID added to the mix was our own sourdough which we started with wild yeast (ie open to the air and whatever yeasts volunteered to join the process ) and supplemented intermittently with the residue from some of the yummiest craft brewed beers. (That lovely little cloudy bit at the bottom of the glass)

The resulting sourdough starter we have…we think is pretty spectacular……..and its active enough that we keep it in the fridge to keep it under some semblance of control.

The recipe we use ..which is a modification of Jim Lahey’s No-knead Bread | Lodge Cast Iron from the Lodge Cast Iron website.

Equipment

You will need a 3 quart cast iron dutch oven to bake the bread. (it can be bigger but your loaf will end up more flattened). Your dish will need to have a lid. This method works by keeping the steam inside the dish as the bread bakes …so it works like a mini bakers oven.

Elevated cooling tray ( or a regular cooling tray on top of a large bowl works. You want to allow air to circulate freely under your fresh hot bread cos nobody likes a soggy bottom.)

Good oven gloves

Recipe.

4 cups of flour ..any kind, we usually do a mix (if you are using something other than white flour don’t use more than 25% of it…or the dough ends up too stiff to rise properly)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar (brown , white , honey or maple syrup..!!)
2 cups (500 mls) water
half a cup of starter ( or 1tsp dry active yeast if you are not doing sourdough)
a handful of coarse cornmeal (or some other kind of seeds to put in the bottom of your dutch oven to stop the dough sticking to the pot.)

NOTE :- You can add a handful of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds…(roasted, unsalted) or any other seeds you fancy…( hemp, chia, poppy seed, sesame seed…)…..or a mix . Other options here would be a quarter cup of 7 grain or 12 grain if you like.

The bread featured also had about a quarter cup of spent grains from the Paris brewery (leftover grains from brewing the beer)

We used the unbleached stone ground flour from Goodness Me……its a bit more expensive but it gives the bread a lovely texture.

We also found this great little spice container from Tupperware…..it has a two part lid that lets the starter breathe…not what it was intended for but it works a treat. I wouldn’t have chosen pink for colour….but it was a thrift store find..!!! …and it works. Most importantly for trailer life….its not glass. When we lived in a house…we just used a regular 500ml mason jar. (ALWAYS put the lid on loosely…..the yeast is fermenting and growing. If the lid is on too tight and it can’t breathe the jar may crack….or explode…!!)

Add the water to the bowl…….(room temperature)

Then add the starter to the water…….and mix it well….

Now add the salt and the sugar and stir well…..

Next we added the spent grains…..but if you don’t have any or are not choosing to use them proceed to adding the flour.

Now we are going to add the flour……4 cups….

Next addition is the seeds or grains if desired…this loaf is getting sunflower seeds (roasted, unsalted)

Now mix it just until all the ingredients are combined.

……and it should look like this…….

Now cover it and leave it in a warm spot for 18 to 24 hours.

Remember to feed your starter……2 to 3 teaspoons of flour and enough water to return it to a thick paste. Lid back on ( Loosely ). If you are using it again next day, leave it out at room temperature otherwise probably best to put it back in the fridge to let it bubble away slowly.

18 to 24 hours later.

Preheat the oven ( or in our case …the barbeque..!!) to 450 degrees C with the dish in the oven as it heats.

Once the oven is at temperature…take your dish out (carefully…it’s hot…!!) and take the lid off…..throw a handful of coarse cornmeal, or some kind of seeds (poppy, sesame, hemp hearts) in to the bottom of the dish to stop the dough sticking.

Then quickly scrape all of the dough out of your bowl and into the dutch oven…..sprinkle some seeds on top……pop the lid back on and back in to the hot oven

Set your timer for 45 minutes….and find something else to do ’til it goes off…!!!

After 45 minutes, take the lid off and leave it for another 5 to 10 minutes to brown the crust.

Now take your wonderful smelling , freshly baked loaf out of the oven and use a metal spatula to scoop it out, wrap it in a tea towel or clean cloth and leave it on an elevated cooling tray until it has cooled.

Don’t be tempted to cut your loaf too soon….it won’t cut well until it has cooled.

Another note with home baked bread……apparently what makes bread go moldy is storing it in plastic……so keep your lovely new loaf either wrapped in cloth, in a linen bread bag, or in a paper bag so the little creature can breathe.

Enjoy.

July 21st Chi Cheemaun ferry

Final day in North Bruce.

We have thoroughly enjoyed being here…met many tremendous people, hiked lots of great trails….and enjoyed a very positive start to this adventure.

First ferry of the morning is 9am…and you have to be there an hour ahead…..( and highway 6 north is being re-surfaced…so extra time..!!!…6 am start for us…..MUCHO earlier than we are used to these days….

We were smart enough to hook the trailer up the night before so all we had to do was pull out…..Cape Chin mosquitos said a fond farewell by eating us alive…..( many bad words were said..I will admit..!!!)

Goodbye Cape Chin..a wee bit sad because its been fun…

Chi Cheemaun translates to Big Canoe , I’m told…

We got in the queue…and yes…we were easily the biggest rig there this morning….

The ticket gates are not that wide……came pretty close to taking out one of the concrete bollards….yikes..!!!

Beautiful day to be on the lake……

They pack ’em in pretty tight….!!!

The RV in front of us…..!!!!

I was pretty sure he was going to be scraping the wall on the way off….but no…….unscathed..!!!

More entertainment on the boat was some of the incomprehensible signage…!!!

Coming off the other side……wow what a landscape…….and magnificent drive……and if you want to see it…you will have to drive it…..LOL.

Its narrow, its hilly ( and then some) and there is not really anywhere one can pull off with a 30 ft rig….!!! Hence…few pictures….

Looooooooong straight (but not flat google…!!) road.

Little Current ( yes there is such a place….look it up on tripadvisor…!!!). The main attraction in little current is the swing bridge…..aka long narrow iron bridge only wide enough for one lane of traffic at a time……

And then more driving…..hilly, winding…..not great surface roads….and again…..no real opportunity to pull over with the rig attached. So we had to pass on some of the real beauty spots of Manitoulin….so we will have to come back to this spot…..

North, north then left turn onto the Trans Canada highway….

When you see, read or think the words “Trans-Canada highway”….it conjures a picture of a big , wide , flat multi lane highway does it not…..

The reality……is quite different……its a bit like the devils beeftub road…for those who know it…….only much much longer…..!!!

Entertaining driving……..

To our landing spot for the night at Serpent River campground…….lovely spot…..nice campground…..

I will have to add the pictures later…..my terrible internet connection in the Soo is making it difficult to upload pictures.

Lion’s Head Farmers market

We have been to this market every Saturday for about 7 weeks now. Many of them were assisting at the Paris Brew/Tagwerk beer stall….but we have become quite accustomed to having the green crepe from Crepetown for breakfast, egg pies from Tina the baker lady, veggies from Pierce at the Easy farm and generally shooting the breeze with the very lovely friendly vendors at this market……highly recommend it if you are in the area on a Saturday morning 9 am ’til noon.

Paris Brew/Tagwerk

Paris Brew/Tagwerk beers. If you have not had their beer yet you need to hurry over to Wincey Mill in Paris…..or stop in at the Lions Head farmers market on Saturday morning. Bright flavour, clean tasting beers….I’d like to say I have a favourite….but I like them all…!!

Random Ranch Alpacas

Yes, I know….trust me to find the lady with the lovely yarn.

This quite lovely lady is Random Ranch Alpacas……….(http://www.randomranchalpacas.com)

I admit I had to buy some….and having started to knit with it…I had to go back and buy some more. Her alpaca yarn is sumptuous, wonderful to knit with…it’s buttery and smooth in your hands as you ( I !) work.

Crepetown

I’m really going to miss this green crepe…..I kept telling the lady, I almost bought the market morning crepe quite a few times….but at the last minute always defaulted to the delicious green one…..mmMMMMMMmmmm…

Tina the baking lady

The baking lady, Tina, I’m not sure if her stall actually has a name….cos I’m usually just staring at the baked goods on her counter, and praying that the person in front of me doesn’t buy the last candied ginger scone..(to die for…!!)……and those little egg tarts….mmmmmmMMMMmmmm….

The Easy Farm

Pierce the veggie guy…(hope I’m spelling it right…I went for the Pierce Brosnan spelling ’cause he’s quite the handsome guy.😃)…….his salad greens are the freshest and tastiest I have seen/eaten in a very long time…we had to buy extra on Saturday b/c we won’t be here for next market…..totally impressed by the quality of his produce.

Natural Soaps & Body Products

Who knew that I would need any more soap (Joanne S…you know who you are..!!😂)

But this lady…we first found her on the road to Dyers Bay (yes the day I barely survived!!!) She has a campers soap with citronella…..seemed like a great idea (re Bruce bugs.!)..so we bought some…it smells really good actually….

She has some really interesting and glorious smelling products

Maple Syrup guy

He has maple sugar for sale….I made pancakes with it……oh boy…why did I not know about this stuff before…!!!!

Three Trees Art

These are the guys we found on East Road the day we biked to St Margaret’s Chapel.

Dharma farmer

We bought some fresh garlic to give it the olive oil treatment (preserving garlic).

Wow it was nice stuff…..

Jordan Wood Turning

I’m a real sucker for these hand turned bowls…I just wish I could justify buying on for the trailer…..

Big Mama’s

Spicy sauces R her……

The Bread Basket

You gotta be there early, she sells out quick….

…….and then….on the way home, we saw an open sign on the Bison Builders farm on East Road……

Lovely man at the farm….I know that I keep saying it…but we have met soooo many truly lovely people so far……

I thought the two guys there were brothers…..but turns out they were father son…..super nice guys……bought the summer sausage and some pepperettes…will report on them along the way…!!!

This was our last trip to the Lions Head farmers market…we are pulling out north on Wednesday…taking the Chi Cheemaun over to Manitoulin and then on up around Lake Superior…I will miss this market and the great people here….we might have to come back some time….but ’til then….here’s to the next adventure……

July 16th, Beginning in stile…..!!!

Just down the road from our current home, there is a spot on the road we pass, where, hikers park at the side of the road to access the Bruce.

So it seemed like a good idea to do a hike we could walk to instead of driving ….it was hard to find maps…Alltrails didn’t seem to have it listed….and the Bruce maps require a subscription to access them……fortunately tho…they often post them at the access points.

Of course this is not the one form where we accessed….but it is the map of the section we hiked.

We actually accessed where the P for parking is….

There is a stile with a sign telling you not to disturb the farm animals……when we crossed the stile…we stepped into a meadow populated by a large number of very large black cows…..who immediately all turned to look at us……and then start walking towards us…….

This may have been slightly more alarming than the bear incident…!!!

……and of course they don’t look nearly as intimidating in the pictures….but they followed us across the field and watched us go off in to the forest…(yes…I know …they probs just thought we were there to feed them……it was still a bit unnerving…!!!

Off in to the forest we go…..to find some unexpected little delights in the trees….

Wildlife that was not listed in any of the guides……but I don’t think they were dangerous..!!!

This day….on the mysteriously labelled ‘un-named trail’…….it was a slightly foggy, kind of overcast day which made the forest feel just a little more ‘magical’…or maybe it was the tone set by the gnomes.

I’m realising as I look through the pictures that we did a lot less big scenery shots today….and many more little details………it’s such a beautiful place…..

I tried…and failed to get pictures of the strange little bugs we were up against today….as we walked through the trees…there were funny little caterpillars worm thingies…(and they were yucky) hanging from single strands of silk…as you walk through them…you feel the whispery creepy silk across your skin…and then there are all these little inchworm things on your shirt and hat………it required the acquisition of a stick to wave in front to catch most of them before they were on you….I’m pretty sure they were harmless….but creepy…!!!

More fungi…….apologies for the multiple pictures…but they were sooo cool….

The un-named trail now has a name…!!!

…and more fungi……

…..and then…in the middle of nowhere there is this MCM house….and the path was almost photoshopped fake looking…..

If someone has the story on this I’d love to hear it…!!!

……late in the afternoon now…the mosquitos were starting to gather…and all of a sudden we emerge from the forest…and we are back at the farm at Cape Chin….

July 12th ..Emily comes to visit..😊

We had the great pleasure of greeting our first guest in the airstream. Our favourite Emily drove up to spend the day with us out on the trails. I hope she enjoyed it as much as we did.

It was a beautiful day….high of 24 degrees, unlike the horrific high 30’s plus humidity in Southern Ontario. We proposed the Dyers Bay South to Devils monument trail. This took us back to the rock with the rope that we stopped at on our previous trip to the Devils Monument……(our first experience on the Georgian Bluffs…..and pre-hiking boot purchase stage…!!!)

Dyers Bay to Devils monument, North Buce.

This image was taken from the free version of the Alltrails app , https://www.alltrails.com/?ref=header ……I’m seriously thinking about subscribing to it for the three bucks and change per month. This may become a future post……anyone who has any experience of it…would love to hear from you……

So…back to Dyers Bay we go…and I would have to say…Emily was suitably impressed by some of the inclines along the google mostly flat road…(re attempted wificide….. https://osteopraxisontheroad.movie/2021/07/02/june-30th-dyers-bay-bike-ride-aka-failed-attempt-at-wificide/ )

Emily’s Inukshuk…!!

Then back up to the Bruce Trail.

There were a few nerve wracking (for me) stops along the cliff edge….

She’s such a brat……love her dearly…!!!

We couldnt figure out how the kayaks managed to get into the water here….beautiful shot tho……

Devils Monument again…….this time we went all the way down to the shore…..to the spot where we had seen the kayaks further back…….its truly beautiful….tho a little busier..ie there were other humans there…!!!

and of course…the rock that we stopped at the last time…!!!

OOOOOoooo…another side trail….promising glacial potholes….how are we supposed to resist…….sign says its 730 meters…….if you were walking on a flat road…that would not be far……..

There were many cries of “are we there yet?”……mostly from me….!!!!

You don’t really get the sense of scale from the photographs…….its hard to imagine something so big and perfectly round and smooth being formed naturally…..impressive…

Back to the last unrelenting hike (slog!) to the truck.

What you don’t really get from the pictures……is that its not just the challenging bits we take pictures of…..the trail is unrelentingly challenging all the way…..hence the 3.2 km/h pace…..certainly on the peninsula portions of the Bruce that we have experienced…..thats what makes it so much fun….!!!

Time for a plunge in the lake……guy in the water said it was about 67F……it was brisk is all I will say…….

11th July Barrow bay and Gilhespy side trail.

This was a great one………this one was a recommendation from a local. We likely would not have found it without direction. The GPS was totally confused…couldn’t find it….but that may also be due to the seriously sketchy network connection (or lack thereof..) that exists up here.

Be warned this is going to be a long one with lots of pictures….it was a terrific day out..!!!

We set of on what promised to be a 10k+ hike with a couple of side trails thrown in to the mix….Nice little free parking lot ( bonus)…and the hike starts out on the road……..and then heads off in the direction of the coast….

Nice easy terrain…( or so we thought ) the first couple of kilometers were nice and flat…almost a groomed trail.

very different again…..

There are a couple of side trails on this section, The John Appleton and the Beth Gilhespy side trail that join together to make a more interesting loop.

Once we got in to the foresty bit, it became a lot more interesting….thankfully the local mosquito population seemed to be having a bit of a holiday today…..Either that or the new bug repellent lotion I bought at Can Tire works better than the old stuff…..!!!!

We had a couple of days of heavy rain so I was hoping to find some fungi about…

I was not to be disappointed.

And some interesting natural sights along the way……

………and then……..we get to the Beth Gilhespy side trail……which…on reviewing the description after the fact…….does say that it has a ‘challenging element’…………….

AAAAAaaaaargh…!! 47 steps down……( I counted them on the way back up.. .!!! )

….and then……

Well…..you just have to give it a go ….don’t you…!!!

Its definitely a bit of a challenge,,,,,,but great fun……our legs were definitely a bit on the wobbly side when we made it back up…!!!

And even after that there was still a bit of scrambling round cliff faces….not too many pictures…because by that time we were on tired legs and a bit more concerned about falling off…..

Oh boy we were tired at the end of this one…….and it looks sooooo unimpressive as a workout…!!!

So we trudged back in to Barrow Bay…..

…and then……we realised why Barrow Bay is so difficult to find………

July 9th St Margaret’s chapel, Cape Chin

St Margaret’s chapel, we drive by it every time we go into town, or go anywhere actually. Its just over 7km from our current location…so we decided to bike over to it for a closer look. ( St. Margaret’s Chapel (Cape Chin) – All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go – Updated 2021 (Cape Chin, Ontario) – Tripadvisor )

Pretty little church that is never locked apparently.

Lovely little place…..not necessarily the kind of place you would drive up here to see….but if you are in the area its most certainly worth the side trip to include it in your day. ( bonus…not just the church is open…but there is also an accessible washroom/outhouse onsite).

The stained glass windows all depict local flowers.

We stopped in at a local artists gallery on East Road just for a look….quite lovely prints and cards….lovely spot…

Since one of the themes of this part of the trip seems to be the varied terrains of this part of the country…I could not resist taking some pictures of the rock formations along the road on the way home. Some of them look (I think) like manmade brick walls…..(plus it gave me the excuse to stop for a couple of rests on the road home….don’t tell Scott….!!!!)

Preserving your garlic.

We started doing this when we started regularly going to local farmers markets and finding an abundance of top quality fresh produce.

Its a lot of work up front, but a great way to extend the possibilities when you are faced with gorgeous quality garlic at the farmers markets, or roadside vegetable stands ( or if you are lucky enough to have it growing in your backyard..).

Then…when you are busy in the kitchen producing gourmet food…..the work has been done to be sure you have the best ingredients at your fingertips ready to use (without resorting to commercially produced, questionably sourced staples)

We do this in two ways.

We roast large quantities of garlic (either local Amish, Spanish, or California). We have found (to our taste) that Mexican and Chinese is very bitter.
We crush it and preserve it in good quality olive oil. This is ideal for the trailer where we have limited space for storage and don’t always have access to fresh produce, but would prefer not to compromise on the quality of the food we eat.

Roasted Garlic

We were very lucky last year to be able to buy a large quantity of local garlic from an Amish farmer. (We bought about 30 pounds…!!)

We ( and when I say we….I mean Scott….!!!) roast the garlic in the slow cooker.

These bulbs were large, as you can see, 18 fit in the bottom of our slow cooker ( which was a 6 quart Ninja).

Cut the top off the bulbs and arrange them on the bottom of the slow cooker. Paint a little bit of olive oil on the top of each bulb, and sprinkle a little bit of rosemary (or herb of your preference).

Add 1 cup of cold water to the bottom of the slow cooker.

What Scott always did was then picked out the little cut tops of the cloves and put them in a glass bowl and covered them …to two thirds full of olive oil, with a little bit of herb added also. (seemed like a better idea than discarding them…!!!) and sit it on top of the bulbs in the slow cooker.

Lid on and cook for 4 to 5 hours on low. You can tell when they are done because all of a sudden you have this wonderful roasted garlic smell wafting through the house.

Now it has to cool…….so turn it off and if you have a back porch or somewhere outside secure from animals…..let it cool because the next thing you have to do is handle it.

The next bit is the laborious bit. PUT SOME GLOVES ON…!!! …..and carefully peel the paper off the cloves….we stack them , but don’t pack them too tightly or you will never be able to separate them….into boxes that then go in the freezer.

The little bits…!!

They get pureed and frozen in ice cube trays.

These little cubes are marvelous in soup…….or totally decadent mixed in to cream cheese or goat cheese……( I know this because……YUM..!!)

So any time we need garlic for a recipe we either use the cloves of roasted, or the crushed in oil…..makes life simpler ….and yummier.

Crushed garlic.

We have tried any different garlic tools……and this is by far our favourite. It is both easy to use and easy to clean.

This method uses 8 to 12 bulbs of fresh garlic. Peeled and then crushed.

Yield is about two cups of finished crushed garlic

The freshly crushed garlic is transferred into a box and mixed with olive oil until you cant get any more olive oil in. The garlic needs to be covered in the oil but no pooling of oil on the top.

This mix now sits in the fridge its better to leave it for about a month before using, this will soften the harshness of the garlic without sacrificing the flavour.

When a recipe calls for garlic I would substitute about a teaspoon of this crushed garlic per clove

July 2nd..return to the scene of the crime. Dyers Bay side trail

Canada Day, July first was a recovery day from the slightly challenging bike ride……..but the 2nd …we decided to drive back over to Dyers Bay ( with lots of oooooo’s and aaaaaahhh’s at the “undulations” in the road along the way.)

We had spotted another couple of side trails off the Bruce trail….so the mission for the day was Juniper Flats. The variation in terrains from one section to the next is both fascinating, and quite exciting…….it might take a very long time to get bored of the various walks and hikes in this area.

Warning……there will be lots of pictures in this post…..both because of the encouragement I have been receiving with some very positive feedback (thank you..)..and how fantastically beautiful the landscape is.

Starting off at the Bruce trail access 100 yards up the road from Dyers Bay.

Bruce leads onto the side trail. Another interesting aspect of these trails….aside from the challenging surface underfoot……is how winding the trail often is…..you cant see the next bit til you walk forward another 5 feet……and very often you stop and look up….momentarily convinced you have strayed from the path…..and see another ..very well placed blue or white flash ahead of you.