Local Adventure #3: The most fun you can have at a water treatment plant

It was one of those Saturday mornings when I woke up with no plans and no obligations. While it sounds like bliss, for me it causes great anxiety – how will I seize this day? What stories will I have for my colleagues on Monday morning? I have to make this Saturday epically great!

While sipping my morning coffee I flipped through my three-day-old issue of The Grid and was happy to read that it was Doors Open Toronto weekend. Suddenly I knew what I would do with my day of freedom: The R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant.

Each year, the city of Toronto opens the doors of many hallowed and elegant buildings, so that interested citizens can be reminded that this city actually has some pretty cool stuff.  And each year, I have some sort of commitment that prevents me from taking part. So after a brief stop at the Beach location of Menchies (green tea and raspberry foryo with gummy bears and Reese’s Pieces), J. and I strolled up the hill to a beautiful Art Deco building, overlooking the calm, expansive waters of Lake Ontario.

The R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant was designed in 1929 and opened in 1944. In these days of gravy trains and cuts to services many would deem essential, it’s hard to believe that a public utility could be designed with such care and built with such lavish materials. While I fancied that our predecessors simply had more respect for beauty, it turns out that not everyone supported the expenditure. I learned all this from the helpful pamphlet handed to me by a Doors Open volunteer. I also learned that it was common for pre-World War II water filtration plants in North America to be built in this style. I suppose both the beauty of water and the importance of making it drinkable inspired some finesse in the architecture.

With high expectations, we entered the humble doors of the plant. My first instinct was to blow through, looking for “specialness”, and if I didn’t find it, scoff and huff and puff. If Nucky Thompson and Al Capone weren’t lounging in the halls, I would be sourly disappointed.

Photo by Michael Chrisman, torontoist.com

But on closer inspection I realized – the Deco is in the details. When was the last time, in Canada, you walked into a government building, or event a restaurant, with round-arched windows? When was the last time you saw a marble and bronze clock in an industrial space? It occurred to me that the beauty of the building was in its subtlety. It didn’t need to try be to elegant; it just needed to be solid and refined and easy to look at.

And I didn’t need to try so hard to have epic, adventurous days. I just needed to browse through my local weekly, find something cool and open my mind.

Local Adventure #2: Hiking the Spirit Rock Trail

The phrase "Take only pictures" really hit home for me when I was hiking the Spirit Rock Trail, located near Wiarton (yes, home of Willy the Weather-Predicting Groundhog). I should have known better than to piss off Mother Nature by trying to shoplift some of her goods.

It all started harmlessly enough. The Spirit Rock Trail begins with ruins of a mansion called The Corran, built by Sir John McNeill in the late 1800s. It must have been an awe-inspiring sight in those days, and truly, it still is.

The ruins of The Corran

I'm not sure if there are many other ruins like the Corran in Canada, but as a city girl, I'm used to seeing decay that's, um, more urban in nature.

As the trail progressed we reached a delightful spiral staircase that took us down to the shores of Colpoy's Bay.

Colpoy's Bay was serene and beautiful, with patches of turquoise water where the bay deepens.

The calm waters of Colpoy's Bay

While the serenity was somewhat interrupted by the malicious buzzing of horseflies, the trail is generally a pleasant and easy hike.

Spirit Rock Trail is named after a First Nations legend about a maiden who leapt from a rocky cliff overlooking the bay. After being kidnapped by an enemy tribe, she fell in love with one of the tribesmen. He was killed, she was rejected by her family, and without options, ended her life with the fateful jump.

The Legend of Spirit Rock

My trials and tribulations are nothing compared to the maiden's, but the hike was not without some drama. I had decided to collect some birch logs for a crafty project I'll probably never end up doing. I was feeling quite resourceful and woodsy carrying my birch logs in a canvas shopping bag, when I felt a tingling sensation spreading from my bag-carrying hand up my wrist. I looked down and saw thousands, no, millions* of ants crawling out of one of the logs and up my arm. They were furious. They amassed in a chocolate sprinkle-like formation, and after freezing in terror for several seconds, I threw the bag o' logs into a grove of poison ivy. My friends stood watching me dance around, shrieking, until the last of the little critters had been brushed off my person.

So there you have it: take only pictures. 


*Blatant exaggeration for storytelling purposes, but still, it was horrifying.

Local Adventure #1: The Owen Sound Farmers' Market

I can't think of a better way to kick off a summer of local adventuring than going to a farmers' market. Local? Check. Adventure? Yup. If, like me, you equate food shopping with going to a big box supermarket where you can mindlessly comb the isles and not talk to a soul, a farmers' market really does become a world of adventure.

Perusing the Owen Sound Farmers' Market

I admit to a few farmers' market fails in the past. After resolving to buy more local produce, I'd trudge to the market with my canvas bags, a tinge of self-righteousness and no idea what the heck I wanted to buy. I'd end up leaving with a bushel of lettuce, a pastry of some sort and an urge to walk the sanitized, pre-packaged isles of Loblaws.

But not this time. If you're a farmers' market newbie, July is one of the best times of year to pop your locally-grown, seasonal cherry. The produce is plentiful and the weather is idyllic. The Owen Sound Farmers' Market is a great place to experience the sights, smells and tastes of an authentic market (beware of imposter markets that merely present non-local produce in a farmers' market-esque venues). 

Based in an agricultural heartland, the Owen Sound Farmers' Market is the real deal. It's a great place to meet local farmers and get freshly-harvested food. 

Here are a few tips to make the most of your farmers' market experience:


1. Have an idea of what's in season. My goal was to get strawberries. Those small and sweet, ripe and red little jewels you can only buy in July. The strawberries that actually taste like strawberries.

Delightfully ripe Ontario strawberries

2. Don't be afraid to try something new. I bought a pound of ground beef from a farmer who raised grass-fed highland cows. Mixed with some rosemary, salt and pepper, it made a great burger. 

3. Talk to people. These days, there's something magical about knowing the people who produce the eggs you buy. It's a nice change of pace from dashing in and out of the supermarket. 

Irresistible baked goods

 Have you been to any great farmers' markets? Any tips to share?