Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2024 i Cottage Life

IN MID-JUNE, the Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners Associations was celebrating: the group had removed its one millionth invasive trapdoor snail from lakes and rivers in the Haliburton Highlands. The CHA achieved this milestone thanks to the efforts of nearly 400 local volunteers, says Paul MacInnes, the chair of the CHA. Trapdoor snails, also known as mystery snails, have been an invasive species in Canada since the 1930s. They look like garden snails, but have darker shells; can grow up to about five centimetres; and live in fresh water. The snails feed on nutrients that are essential for native species, can spread diseases to other aquatic wildlife, and reproduce rapidly. One snail can give birth to more than 100 baby snails per year. These snails appeared in Haliburton in 2013.…

NOT ENOUGH SPACE in your cottage workshop to spread out for big projects? The Bora Centipede Workbench is a combination sawhorse and support bench that’s lightweight and extremely compact, providing easy setup and storage. Because it’s so portable, you can take the workbench to the project, not the other way around—very handy when you’re building something for the dock or the bunkie. Centipede models vary in size and weight limits: The 4' by 6' base is a good all-around choice, supports 2,400 kg, and is available in-store and online at tool retailers for about $270 (including a carrying case, clamps, and 2x4 holders). Even the 4' by 8' size (which supports 2,700 kg) folds down to a footprint of about one square foot. The multiple steel struts in the base…

“WE LOVE THE country, we love Prince Edward County, let’s look for a place there.’ ” Frank Park and his wife, Tracey, were first charmed by the bucolic slice of eastern Ontario when they visited in the early 1990s, for years attending an annual summer party at a friend’s farmhouse in Bloomfield, Ont. Nearly two decades later, the partying stopped, but Frank and Tracey were hooked on cottaging in The County. As an architect, Frank was keen on buying a vacant plot rather than an already constructed cottage. “We wanted a blank slate; to start fresh,” he says. After two years of searching (with their kids Ethan and Jade in tow, then nine and seven, respectively) they purchased an unserviced, two-acre property in North Marysburgh, Ont., in 2015. “We didn’t…

WENDY COLE WAS in her office in Kalispell, Mont., in December 2021 when a colleague told her that a man was at the front desk with an unusual request. He’d found a radio collar in the bush a short drive west of town, and he wanted to get it back to its owner. By its size, he figured it must have once been fitted on a wolf. It was that hunch that brought him to Cole’s office. She is a wolf and carnivore biologist who works for the Montana state government. She made her way out to the front entrance and got her first look at the collar. It was old, she guessed: its pale webbing was frayed and worn, and it was a VHF (very high frequency) radio collar,…

IF YOU’RE A long-time reader of this magazine, you’re no doubt familiar with the byline “Max Burns.” He wrote for CL’s first issue in 1988 and then steadily throughout the next few decades. Outboards and outhouses, pumps and plumbing, septic systems and snowmobiles, floating and fixed docks: summer and winter, Max explained how things at the cottage worked, and how to fix them when they didn’t—always with a hefty dose of humour. He researched the hell out of every subject, digesting its minutiae and then turning it into an article that would allow even the most non-technical person (hello!) to feel confident she could stop a leak or winterize an outboard. Max was a wizard at explaining complicated stuff in a fun, understandable way. Each topic deserved the same exacting…

AT THE BEGINNING of 2022, Maduni and Nicholas de Freitas decided it was time to start cottage hunting. The Pickering, Ont.-based couple had always dreamed of owning a cottage by the water, and now they finally had the savings to make that dream a reality. With their two kids Ziya and Noah in tow, a budget of $800,000, and a list of features they’d need to qualify for their mortgage—a four-season property with central heating and a UV water-filtration system—the de Freitases began their search. Coming from a large family, Nicholas wanted at least three bedrooms to host aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Flat land would be easier for younger and older family members to navigate; a sandy beach was ideal for the kids. The de Freitases figured they’d need…

THE HEAT IS ON In July, Environment and Climate Change Canada released results from its new Rapid Extreme Weather Event Attribution system. The pilot system, developed earlier this year, compared temperature data from before the Industrial Revolution to present-day information to determine whether climate change has increased the likelihood of heat waves. The ECCC analyzed high June temperatures in different regions in Canada; to the shock of, well, no one, the scientists concluded that “human-caused climate change made these heat waves much more likely”—up to 10 times more likely. ALL IT DOES IS WIN The federal government is devoting more than $2 million over the next two years to support Lake Winnipeg and its basin. Flashback alert: in 2013, the international non-profit Global Nature Fund named Lake Winnipeg the world’s…

I HAVE A confession. I am both a disorganized workshop hoarder—with numerous bins labeled “to be filed”—and a highly organized storage master when needed. One secret to my organized side is a French cleat wall storage system—it’s strong, easy to build, and highly customizable. You can hang tools, shelves, cabinets, and storage containers, then move things around as your needs change. French cleats operate on a simple premise. Long wood cleats with one edge cut at 45° are mounted on the wall, and shorter cleats are attached to whatever you want to hang. Match the long cleats to the space you have available, but cut them long enough to be screwed into at least two wall studs for maximum strength. In my little cottage workshop, that’s easy—the studs are exposed.…

WHEN I WAS a kid, it wasn’t uncommon for there to be 30 or more people at our cottage to celebrate Thanksgiving. We ate, huddled elbow-to-elbow, among a labyrinth of rickety tables, carefully arranged on unreliable—at best!—folding chairs. The holiday wasn’t always comfortable, but it was always memorable. Some of my favourite memories, in fact. This had something to do with the food. Everyone brought their A-game dish. There were many delicious salads and sides, and enough potatoes that, laid end to end, they’d probably stretch all the way back to Ireland. There was pie galore, most often prepared by my grandmother, who was a pastry legend. As the mother of 11 children, she knew of cooking for a crowd. Amazingly, she only needed about one square foot of her…

FRANK PARK AND Tracey MacDonald have owned their Prince Edward County cottage (featured on p. 49) since 2018, but they’ve been exploring the area for much longer. Here are a few of their favourite places to visit. For a cold cider there’s The County Cider Company in Waupoos, Ont. “We can bike there from our cottage, and we often do,” says Tracey. For some culture the duo recommends Mad Dog Gallery in Picton, Ont. A triptych painting from the gallery by local painter Celia Sage hangs in their cottage living room. For a glass of vino the pair love the Hillier, Ont., establishment Hinterland Wine Company. “They make delicious sparkling wine,” says Frank. For more info: visitthecounty.com…

CYNTHIA HAM-CHI, a self-described “city girl learning how to use tools,” says there’s nothing to fear when it comes to using a scroll saw. “I’d recommend anybody try it. It’s not as scary as it seems,” she says. “Just make sure your hair is tied back.” She first used the tool to make an intricate bracket to support a hummingbird feeder at her inlaws’ cottage on Wahwashkesh Lake, Ont. In 2022, Cynthia started woodworking by pitching-in with her husband and father-in-law on cottage projects. None of them knew how to use a scroll saw, but Cynthia decided she wanted to learn—without their help. “I’m going to figure this one out on my own,” she said at the time. She watched internet videos for guidance and designed a cutting pattern based…

UNLESS YOU’VE BUILT a new cottage or done major renovations, you may not realize just how dramatically Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI) breakers have changed the electrical trade over the past decade. Most house fires caused by electricity start with an arc fault—essentially, current jumping across a gap in a circuit. Arc faults are usually caused by damaged, stressed, or loose wiring. AFCIs are highly sensitive breakers that constantly monitor an electrical circuit, protecting you from electrical fires. GFCI breakers, on the other hand, trip when electricity takes an unexpected detour into the ground and could electrocute you. To be code compliant, most new 120-volt circuits with a 20- or 15-amp receptacle need AFCI protection. The few exceptions include some kitchen receptacles (counter, island, and fridge), bathroom sink receptacles, and…

AS WE BUILT our new home in cottage country, my husband, Robin, a healthy 30-something, often joked with visitors to our construction site that he planned to “die in this house.” In addition to planning features for our golden years—wheelchair-accessible doors and showers—we chose building materials that we hoped would “see us out.” This was only somewhat ambitious. “The average lifespan of a house ranges from 50 to 100 years,” says Russell Richman, a professor of building science at Toronto Metropolitan University. Much like our own longevity, a building’s life can be extended by making good choices: thoughtful design, quality workmanship, regular maintenance, and durable building materials. Building for the long run can not only save you money and time on replacement and repairs, but it also has lasting environmental…