November 24, 2025 • 37 mins
The woods don’t shout their lessons; they whisper them through blisters, bandages, and the warm glow of a stove that finally wins against the cold. We open with Gunnar, our chocolate lab, whose paw surgery turns into a candid look at corporate vet practices, realistic costs, and the small rituals that keep him healthy—yes, right down to the toothbrush. From there, we step into the birch stands and unpack what years of ethical chaga harvesting have taught us: how to use the right tools, why leaving a live margin matters, and what the mycelium hidden in a birch’s heartwood reveals about this storied fungus.
Gear and grit take center stage as we trade too-hot rubber boots for supportive soles that tame plantar fasciitis across long, leaf-slick miles. We get practical about layers, coveralls over shorts, and the packout details that make a ten-kilometre day feel doable. Back at camp, small comforts roll in hot from the pan: carrots parboiled, then sautéed in butter and garlic; pickled wild leeks with perfect crunch; and hot peppers that find their way onto nearly everything. There’s mischief, too—like swapping mayo in a Hellman’s jar—and a listener testimonial praising chaga cream for fast healing.
The bush has a way of writing plot twists. A nagging arm injury becomes a hospital odyssey and ends with a two-inch sliver finally sliding free—equal parts relief and “you won’t believe this.” We round things out with heat: a log cabin that needs a full day to warm, backup propane to jumpstart the process, and a fireplace insert at home that sips wood while heating the house with help from the furnace fan. We even tease a new chaga mint line and share where to find us at holiday markets.
If you love smart outdoor talk that blends fieldcraft with camp kitchen joy, sustainable foraging, and the real-world fixes that keep a trip on track, you’ll feel at home here. Subscribe, share the show with a friend who lives for the bush, and leave a review with your best camp hack—we might try it on our next run under the canopy.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_08 (00:01):
Hi everybody, I'm Angelo Vallada.
And I'm Pete Bowman.
Now you might know us as thehost of Canada's favorite
fishing show, but now we'rehosting a podcast.
That's right.
Every Thursday, Angela will beright here in your ears,
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Hmm.
Now what are we gonna talk aboutfor two hours every week?
Well, you know there's gonna bea lot of fishing.
SPEAKER_03 (00:22):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
SPEAKER_08 (00:27):
Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
outdoors.
From athletes.
SPEAKER_04 (00:34):
All the other guys would go gun.
Me and guys can turkey, and allthe Russians would go fishing.
SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
It's the perfect transmission environment for my
fish.
SPEAKER_05 (00:47):
Chefs, if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated
for me.
You will taste it.
SPEAKER_08 (00:53):
And whoever else would pick up the phone.
Wherever you are, OutdoorJournal Radio seeks to answer
the questions and tell thestories of all those who enjoy
being outside.
SPEAKER_04 (01:02):
Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
SPEAKER_00 (01:15):
As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons
of our natural world becomeharder and harder to hear, but
they are still available tothose who know where to listen.
I'm Jerry Olette, and I washonored to serve as Ontario's
Minister of Natural Resources.
However, my journey into thewoods didn't come from politics.
(01:37):
Rather, it came from my time inthe bush and a mushroom.
In 2015, I was introduced to thebirch-hungry fungus known as
Chaga, a tree conch withcenturies of medicinal
applications used by indigenouspeoples all over the globe.
After nearly a decade ofharvest, use, testimonials, and
(01:59):
research, my skepticism hasfaded to obsession.
And I now spend my lifededicated to improving the lives
of others through natural means.
But that's not what the show isabout.
My pursuit of this strangemushroom and my passion for the
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld.
(02:20):
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Underthe Canopy podcast, I'm going to
take you along with me to seethe places, meet the people that
will help you find your outdoorpassion and help you live a life
close to nature and under thecanopy.
So join me today for anothergreat episode, and hopefully, we
can inspire a few more people tolive their lives under the
(02:44):
canopy.
Okay.
As always, we want to thank thelisteners, thereabouts, and here
and there and everywhere.
Got any questions?
You know what to do.
Any suggestions for show?
Make it happen.
Let us know.
We'll do what we can.
(03:04):
Anyways, we're giving someupdates on a bunch of different
stuff that we haven't had in awhile.
Now, first we'll talk about uhGunner, the char chocolate lab.
Now, Gunnar's had this problemwith his foot.
It almost looks like an extratoe.
And it's so I took him into thevets, and I briefly talked about
(03:25):
uh how I dislike the corporatebuy-up of all the vets in the
province of Ontario, whereactually one of the um uh I
think it was CBC did a specialon how they're taking it over.
It might have been Marketplaceor something like that.
And they kind of drive me crazybecause some of the stuff
they're coming up with is it'sall about the dollars and cents
and not really about pet care atall, and just how do we make
(03:47):
money?
That's some of the firstquestions I asked you in these
corporate places is uh well whatdog food do you use?
And you know, you oh, we can'tsee your dog uh uh because we
haven't seen it in a year.
So wait a sec.
What where's this coming from?
I mean, the dog used to get sickgoing to see the vet.
Now it's kind of like, oh, youhave to have an annual checkup
now, and it's all about dollarsand cents, anyways.
(04:09):
So I got a good vet, Dr.
Matt, and um took it in, andapparently he gets the some dogs
get a a growth out of a scentgland in their foot.
And this thing's been growing abit, and so we took um Gunner in
to uh get it looked at, and ituh was same as always.
(04:35):
So remember I mentioned justthat about I got the price uh
first before I confirmed, andthen when I went in to get it
done, it was virtually twice asmuch as they said.
I said, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Uh that's not what I was told,so we got the original price
that I agreed to.
Anyways, so this uh growth hadit removed and did the usual
(04:56):
stuff.
So while he was under, got hisnails clipped, and one of the
things that was kind of neat washe didn't have to have his teeth
cleaned because guess what?
We always talk about how I'm inthe washroom.
Now, if I don't close the door,he comes and stands between me
and the sink and looks at me andgives me that chocolate lab look
like what?
I want my teeth brushed.
(05:18):
So I brush his teeth, and thenhe's happy.
But anyway, so right now uh he'sall bandaged up, his foot's all
bandaged up, and I got my motherBaba just being with him because
when we're not there, we gottaput the cone of silence on him
to make sure that uh that uh hedoesn't lick it or chew it or
(05:40):
bite at it and things like that,which is very important.
You know, I gotta tell you, whenI walked into the to the vets,
you drop him off at eighto'clock in the morning, and then
I picked him up at 3 30.
And when I walked in at 3 30,all you could hear was a guess
who?
It was Gunner howling likecrazy, looking for you know who.
(06:01):
And anyway, so we got him backand all good, and he's on an
antibiotic now.
But I also got him on um Chagaas well as an anti-inflammatory.
And uh Chag has been recognizedby Health Canada for dogs, cats,
and horses as well.
And so long as they don't haveover 3.6 grams per day, it's not
a bad thing.
But you should always check withyour uh professional on usage
(06:24):
for for things like Chaga andhow it interacts or potentially.
Because uh there's not a lot ofresearch on it, but as an
anti-inflammatory, and lastnight when I got Gunnar home
from the vets, he was sitting uhthere, and all of a sudden he
just kind of you knew he washurting a bit.
So we take care of him.
(06:46):
But I wanted to talk about someof the stuff.
Now, we did a Chaga pick.
Garrett did a great job, theteam did good.
We've got uh we've got enoughChaga picked for this year and
uh maybe potentially do a littleexpansion to uh our bakery
friends out in uh Edmonton,Alberta, who asked if they could
carry the Chaga, so that's good.
And not only that, but once weget enough, we stop.
(07:08):
But while we're still there, westarted looking and we got it
all marked out for next yearwhere we can start and have a a
good uh section that we'll beable to pick Chaga from and be
able to fill up again for nextyear's uh demands, which is
good.
But some of the things I gottatell you, so boots.
(07:28):
And I had a pair of these bogs.
Bogs, my first pair of bogs wereabsolutely spectacular.
Um I actually wore them out.
So what we did was it were Rollyand Ron cut the bogs down and so
that they're camp kind of campshoes now.
So when you have to head out ofthe camp and go to the outhouse,
you put these bogs on, andthey're kind of like a low-cut
(07:50):
running shoe now, and your feetdon't get soaking wet from
walking in the wet grass or thesnow or the rain, because we had
a lot of rain up there.
But the new bogs, they were sohot that I couldn't wear them.
I could not wear them all daylong.
They were a bit sloppy too, souh when you're walking, you you
your boots kind of slip, and Igot I got a good blister on my l
(08:12):
left ankle from uh walking.
And you gotta remember, I'm notjust talking about uh hikes uh
from the camp to the outhouse.
I'm talking on average, I'mdoing 10 to 15 kilometers, bush
kilometers a day doing theChagga stuff and being out in
the bush.
So they were a bit uh bit toohot, though, was the key, was
(08:33):
the worst part about it.
They were so hot that I couldn'twear them, I had to get back and
put on my different uh pair ofuh uh boots.
They were kind of a low-cut, uhwell, not a low low-cut boot,
but a high-cut running shoe kindof size with a great support in
the sole.
It's almost as if there was ametal sole in there that uh was
(08:57):
being used as as a support.
So, and I have planner'sfasciitis in my one foot.
Tried like crazy, just abouteverything, but I gotta tell
you, when I'm walking in thesethings, don't notice it, don't
have it, don't see it at all,and it works spectacular.
They're waterproof.
Uh, we got them from Marx, and Ihave to tell you, these things
were fic fantastic.
(09:18):
Great support.
And when you're walking throughthe bush and all of a sudden
you're you're walking throughleaves that have fallen all over
you, you don't know there's ahole there, down you go, right
up to your knee.
That happened a few times asusual.
Or you step on something like arock or a um a slippery branch
underneath the leaves and youslip.
Well, these boots workspectacular.
(09:38):
So that was one of the things.
And some of the other stuff isas the guys think I'm a little
bit crazy like my wife andeverybody else does, but that's
just a norm.
The um the thing I do is I wearshorts, and I mean like regular
shorts.
I'm not talking uh I'm talkinglike uh just a pair of shorts
that you'd wear on a summer day.
(10:00):
And when I and through the campand all around the place, but
when I go out into the bush, Iput a pair of coveralls on.
And the coveralls workspectacular.
And I find uh that I don't gettoo hot and it works fantastic.
And so I can walk greatdistances and don't work up too
much of a sweat.
And now, mind you, I layer up,so I've got a usually a t-shirt,
(10:22):
a sweatshirt, and a lightjacket, and probably a vest on
as well to carry a lot of gearwith as well.
Not only that, but you've got apack to pack to chaga out with
when you're picking chaga, andplus the gear, we have a I've
got a harvest tool.
It's kind of like a hatchet onthe front.
It's about the size of a regularhatchet.
(10:43):
It's got a hatchet face in thefront with a flat back and then
a pinch bar on the top.
So what I do is I take that,I'll go around the chaga, and
then with the the hatchet part,and if need be, I'll take uh one
of the long knives that I haveon my belt and use the back part
to tap it into the chaga, andthen put the pinch bar in part
(11:04):
of it, and then just kind ofpops it off.
Still leave enough chaga on theon the tree to make sure that
it's still going to continue togrow, and we monitor quite a bit
of that.
So I've got a lot of images fromchagas that we picked last year,
the year before, and so on, thatshow that they grow, continue to
grow so long as we leave somechagga on the tree, which we do.
But the more research we do inthis, the more we find out that
(11:27):
the actual chaga is the myceliumof it.
Now, remember we talked, uh youmay not remember, but uh if you
take the components of a fungus,if you compare it to an apple
tree, the roots of an apple treewould compare to the mycelium of
a fungus, and the roots absorbmost of the nutrients, as does
the mycelium.
(11:48):
And then the fruiting body of anapple tree is the apple, which
is actually an extension of thebark.
Didn't know that until we hadthe apple expert on the uh on
the program.
And the fruiting body of a of amushroom would be like the white
button mushroom you see in thegrocery store.
And then the seeds of an appleis how it continues to grow and
(12:10):
and and expand into other areas.
And it's the same with uh thefungus, which is uh spores.
Well, we're finding that themycelium of a chaga is actually
going through the entire tree.
So, and I know Pierre, who I'vehad on the show a couple of
times, he's the guy thatintroduced me into the chaga
business.
He uh does a lot of logging andthings like that.
(12:34):
And he tells me that everysingle one of the chagas, that
uh tree that had a chaga thatthey cut down, the center of it
is all rotten, which would bethe mycelium going through the
center of the tree.
So that's more research thatwe're doing and finding out more
details about it.
But we leave some on and wecontinue to go.
(12:54):
So we've got a good harvest forthis year enough to do some a
little bit of expansion.
We don't try to over harvest,and we know where we're gonna
start next year.
Some of the other stuff, though,is the hand pump.
Now, the hand pump in the camp,we call it the Gifford pump,
because Ray Gifford found thispump, don't know where he got it
from.
And it's got a long arm, it'sabout, oh, I don't know, about
(13:16):
twenty-four, thirty inches tall,with a standard three-foot pump
arm on it, and we draw from thelake, but wasn't drawing.
And so, which usually means thatthe seals are worn out on it.
And my cousin's husband, Chet,who used to build the blast
(13:36):
doors for Algoma Steel and SaultSte.
Marie for the furnaces up there,he's rebuilt it a couple times.
And Chet is going to see if hecan make a couple more seals and
try to rebuild it again so thatwe've got a pump up there.
But there was a lot of differentstuff up there at the camp that
uh happened that we ratherenjoy.
And one of them was uh normallywe Rolly, Roley does the
(13:59):
cooking, he does a great job atit.
And he did something veryspecial this time.
We had a this would be a goodone if you haven't tried it.
So you you peel your carrots,you cut the ends off, and then
you slice them as you wouldnormally, just like little
slivers of about, oh, I don'tknow, what is it, about a
quarter inch thick.
(14:19):
Cut the carrot up, and then putit in a frying pan.
Now, and then what you do is youput water in the frying pan with
the carrots, so that the watergoes about halfway up the uh
carrot, and then you put a lotof butter in.
And then what we do is usuallyabout uh three, four big buds of
(14:41):
c of garlic, cut that up intolittle wee chunks, and put it in
there with it as well.
And then you boil the water,which takes the raw carrot and
just has it el dante.
And once it's the water's boiledoff, you have the butter that's
left, and then you saute thecarrots and the butter and the
(15:02):
garlic.
And they are spectacular.
For those that haven't had triedit, this is a great recipe to
try, and it's something thatyou'd really enjoy.
I I just actually uh when mymother was uh watching uh gunner
to make sure that he doesn'tchew or rip the band-aid off his
foot so I could come and do arecording, I made her up a batch
just to try, and she was like,Wow, is that ever good?
(15:23):
And it's the same thing.
I've made it several times sinceI've been back from the camp
now, and every time, Diane, mywife, she says, Are you gonna
have any more carrots?
I said, No, help yourself.
And guess what?
They're all gone.
They never survive because it'sreally, really good.
So that's uh one of the goodthings that uh camped that we
had that was very enjoyable, anda new recipe that I shared with
(15:46):
you all.
But some of the other stuff wasthat we had um a lot of
different everybody brings up alittle special thing.
So this year, this the leeksthat I pickled in the
springtime, I brought a largejar, and quite frankly, all I
did was I took I had a jar ofpickled eggs that I got from the
(16:06):
store, took the eggs out, leftthe pickle juice there, and then
filled it up with wild leeks andjust the bulbs.
Uh so they're just a little bitpast the bulb so you get the
white of the bulb and then leftit in until the fall.
And I just brought them into therecording studio here, and
everybody tried them, and theyjust love them.
Pickled leeks, did it in thespring, probably pickled them
(16:28):
for the fall.
They were rock hard, fresh, verygood tasting, and very enjoyable
and good for you as well.
But Rowley brought up a bunch ofstuff as well.
So what he brought up was somepickled hot peppers that he
grew.
And he does his for uh, well, hedid brought eggs as well, and he
(16:49):
he'll put these hot peppers inwith his eggs, and they'll have
hot eggs, and believe me, has tobe Hellman's.
If you bring Hellman'smayonnaise to the camp, and then
he takes the pickled eggs, putsthe Hellman's on top, and then
usually a a slice of uh a hotpepper in with the egg, and it's
spectacular.
(17:10):
But here's a little secret everyyear I go out and buy a small
jar of a different brand of uhmayonnaise.
And then what I do is I takethat Hellman's jar, I empty that
out, and I fill it with theregular mayonnaise from a
different company, and he neverknows, and he thinks it's
(17:31):
Hellman's every single year.
Surprise, Rolly, it's not.
And just guess what?
Just something you can enjoy.
So we have these um hot peppersand hot pickled eggs, but they
only take about two weeks for uhthe way Roly does it.
And he just takes uh picklingvinegar, some spices, throws
some garlic in as well with theeggs, and then he'll throw the
(17:53):
hot peppers in, like jalapenos,and depends on how hot you want
them.
But he has a he grows a wideselection of hot peppers.
And one of the other favoritesthat we ran out of this year,
and my son Josh says, Hey, weran out of the hot banana
peppers.
Because we put those things oneverything.
And when I say everything, Imean everything.
(18:16):
Peanut butter and jam in themorning, peanut butter, hot
banana peppers, and jam.
No hotness to it all, it's justa great flavor and something
that we enjoy.
And we have it in the morning.
Same thing in the camp, justabout every morning.
We have usually uh beans, uh, wehave sliced potatoes, eggs,
(18:38):
toast, and bacon.
And what I do is I get theprecooked bacon to make it a lot
easier in camp.
So I mentioned about the uhpaper plates and the wooden
spoons and forks and knives andthat just to make it easier so
there's less work to do becauseit's always a hassle to get
people to try and clean upafterwards, take their turn.
(18:59):
So we don't have the paperplates, and you get the good
ones, as well as the uh thecutlery.
It all goes into the burn pileand we just burn it later on.
But yeah, so the the the bananapeppers with everything are just
spectacular and very, veryenjoyable.
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SPEAKER_00 (20:39):
Okay, we've got Rob from Hamilton here, who's had
some success with the Chagacream.
Rob, can you tell us about it?
SPEAKER_06 (20:46):
Yeah, I've uh used it on blemishes, cuts, uh just
basically all around healing.
Uh anything, anything kind ofblemish, it speeds it up really
quick.
Speeds the healing box up.
Uh the healing boxes reallywell.
It leaves no marks and itdoesn't stain or pit.
(21:06):
Thanks, Rob.
Appreciate that.
You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00 (21:15):
We interrupt this program to bring you a special
offer from Chaga Health andWellness.
If you've listened this far andyou're still wondering about
this strange mushroom that Ikeep talking about and whether
you would benefit from it ornot, I may have something of
interest to you.
To thank you for listening tothe show, I'm going to make
(21:35):
trying Chaga that much easier bygiving you a dollar off all our
Chaga products at checkout.
All you have to do is head overto our website, Chaga Health and
Wellness.com, place a few itemsin the cart, and check out with
the code CANIPY, C-A-N-O-P-Y.
If you're new to Chaga, I'dhighly recommend the regular
(21:57):
Chaga tea.
This comes with 15 tea bags perpackage, and each bag gives you
around five or six cups of tea.
Hey, thanks for listening.
Back to the episode.
Now, some of the uh the otherthings was was while we were at
camp, I had uh an issue that Imentioned, and I'm gonna go over
(22:18):
it back again.
So what happened was on Octoberthe third, I picked up a a uh a
maple skid.
The skid shifted in my arm.
My arm stayed the same, but thethe meat on my arm kind of
pulled away.
Anyway, so it was uh about twoweeks, three weeks later when
(22:39):
I'm getting ready to go to camp.
And the darn thing's nothealing.
So I go to the clinic, they doan x-ray and an ultrasound, and
they say, I think there'ssomething in there.
I said, I can't tell.
I said, Okay, well, whatever.
And so then they uh call melater that afternoon and said,
Look, you gotta go up to thehospital and get it looked at up
(22:59):
there.
So I go up to the hospital.
I sit there for several hoursnow, and they're looking, and
they do an ultrasound there, andthey say, I think there's
something in there.
Well, okay, what are we gonna doabout it?
Well, I don't know.
I think we'll just treat it asuh an infection.
So they gave me a bunch ofantibiotics.
So I head up to the the camp upnorth, the Jagopican camp and
(23:24):
thereabouts.
And about a week into it, all ofa sudden my arm, it looks like
there's a huge goose egg about asize of a marble sticking up on
my arm.
And everybody's oh, you gotta goget that looked at.
That could be bad.
You could you could all kind ofproblems like you know, i i it
it it it's it's so anyways, allright, all right.
(23:47):
So we go in and it's about youknow a couple hours there and
back to go into the hospital.
So I go to the hospital and theylook at it and they go, Yeah, we
gotta deal with that.
So they take an ultrasound.
He says, There's something inthere.
Anyways, okay.
I'm waiting for find out, sowhat do we do?
So he says, Well, they send in asurgeon and he's cutting in
(24:10):
there, he says, I'm gonna cutinto your arm, see if I can get
that out of there.
Anyway, so at least to get ridof the inflammation and that.
So he's cutting away on my arm.
And I don't know, somebodylooked at it and said, Oh,
that's like 10, 12 stitches atleast, the cut that's there.
Um, afterwards, and I I he'scutting away and he's cutting
(24:32):
in, and he's fairly deep now,like the the depth of the head
of the scalpel.
And I look at him and I say, Yourealize I can feel all that
cutting through my skin.
Oh, geez, you know, it'sfreezing.
We gotta get that freezing takencare of.
All right, so hang on.
So then we uh do the freezingand wait until it takes effect,
and then afterwards he says,Well, I can't find anything, so
(24:56):
I'm gonna uh cut a littledeeper.
So he's cutting away.
Don't feel a darn thing now.
But it was kind of like a testof of male maleness to see, all
right, go ahead, keep cutting.
Am I supposed to feel this?
Am I not supposed to feel this?
And I'm feeling this, and my armis just like anyways.
(25:16):
So he's cutting deeper.
He says, I can't find anythingin there.
No, I said, okay.
He says, Well, tell you what, umI'm gonna leave it open.
I'm not gonna stitch it closed.
I'm gonna let it heal from theinside out this time.
All right, well, you're theexpert.
So let's go ahead.
So he sends in the nurse to tapeme up.
(25:37):
She puts on this this bandagethat that won't stick because I
got fluids all over me.
You know, the uh the the thestuff they put on to kill all
the bacteria, whether it'salcohol or what and everything
else.
It's not sticking to my arm.
So then she tapes a gauze to myarm, and she's got a tape so
(26:00):
tight every time I move my arm,I'm ripping hairs out of my arm,
and it's not a pleasant feeling.
So she says, Look, you've got tochange that gauze.
And I said, Well, is there youknow a band-aid that you're able
to supply him?
She says, I can give you one.
So she gives me this band-aidplus more antibiotics.
So I head up to the localdrugstore in the up north, and
(26:22):
I'm waiting there, and I says,Uh, do you have any of these
specific bandages?
Because these bandages don't ripthe hair off your arm, but they
they hold very well and keepthings in place.
Anyway, so uh no, I don't thinkso.
Uh talk to the pharmacist.
So I talked to the pharmacistand I said, Well, well, let's
look.
And I said, Well, I can read itjust the same as you are.
(26:44):
Uh, do you know of anything?
No, no, all these ones, they arenot very good.
But try this place down the roadat a medical supply store.
So I head down.
I says, All right, sure.
So I'll go down to the medicaluh store.
And I said, Do you have thisthis bandage that they gave me
at the hospital because it wasgreat?
(27:05):
And uh they said, uh nope, nope.
Uh we have ones like that.
And I said, Oh, okay, well,whereabouts are they?
Can I see them?
No, no, we keep those in theback.
I said, Oh, well, how much arethey?
Ten bandages was over$80.
I said, What?
They said, uh can I see them atleast?
(27:28):
She's and the person there is uhhe says, I think maybe I can I
can uh take a deal with thebandage ripping hair off rather
than deal with that.
And they said, look, try thisplace up the road, another
medical place that carriesstuff.
So I tried there.
Ten bandages, the exact same onethe hospital supplies, six
dollars and forty-nine cents forten.
(27:49):
So guess what I picked up.
Anyway, so use the bandages, andI started to run out and
figured, well, we have storeslike that back in Oshawa where
I'm front, so I'll just pick upsome more there.
So I go into the two down hereand they don't carry them.
I said, Oh, I guess this storedoesn't all the stores don't
carry the same line.
Nope.
(28:10):
And I said, Oh.
So I left the bandage on insteadof changing it every day, it was
every two, three days, because Ionly had a couple left.
And the very last bandage I had,I take the bandage off, and
there is this thing sticking outof my arm about a quarter of an
inch.
I know, what the heck is that?
I'm looking at it and I'mpushing on it.
(28:31):
It's not like you know how youget uh a um a heeled section
that looks like a you know bloodthat's uh a scab that's kind of
peeled away.
That's not that, and I can feelit and I'm moving the darn
thing.
Anyway, so I grab a pair oftweezers and I said, Diane, can
you pull this out for me?
Because I think that's that'sthe thing coming out.
(28:53):
Well, she pulled it out and itwas over two inches long, and it
was about the thickness, it wasa sliver, and about the
thickness of a wooden match, aheavy wooden match.
So I'm there trying to to dealwith this, and and and it's just
like, holy mackerel, thatthing's keep coming and keep
coming and keep coming.
Well, we pulled it out and lefta little hole in there, but uh
(29:17):
it's healed up well now and it'sall better.
But it was better to be safethan sorry, so headed into into
town, the hospital, but itwasn't until I pulled the last
bandage off that it it somehowforced its way out of my arm.
So that was pretty good.
Uh and it was a good camp.
We got lots of stuff.
(29:37):
And some of the other stuff nowis um the other things that camp
was because uh I'm gluten free,and I talked to a lot of people,
and and I've had otherindividuals that uh, such as uh
the master gardener on who is uhwhose belief is that a
glyphosphate that they theyspray on wheat is the actual
cause for peat until they have agluten intolerance, and that's
(29:59):
why in E.
Europe they don't have thoseissues because they don't spray
that on their weed out there.
Whether it's true or not, Idon't know.
Not a doctor can't give medicaladvice, but it was certainly an
interesting concept to thinkabout.
But we have a lot of gluten-freestuff.
So we have gluten-free peanutbutter, I have gluten-free
bread.
And there, if you you gotta shoparound for bread for gluten-free
(30:20):
stuff, because I gotta tell you,some of the stuff is like eating
sawdust.
And it's just disgusting.
But there are a couple of reallygood ones out there, and it
takes a little while to get intothe routine of going gluten-free
to what to look forward to andwhat's half decent.
But we had gluten-free pasta acouple of nights, and it was it
was very good.
And same with the bread, andthen all of a sudden everybody's
(30:41):
eating my gluten-free bread,even though I bought them
specialty bread.
And uh with, of course, peanutbutter and hot banana pepper
rings.
And not only that, but uh therewas a lot of other stuff that we
just try and focus on keepinggluten-free, and all you do is
check the cans.
So it was kind of interesting toto have the gluten-free bread,
(31:02):
the gluten-free peanut butter.
There's actually one brand outthere that has gluten-free
peanut butter.
And when you read the uhingredients in the other peanut
butter, it doesn't appear to beany any wheat in there at all.
But uh this one says gluten-freeon it, whether it's just a
marketing tool or not, don'tknow, but it's certainly
something that uh I pick up whenI can.
(31:23):
And we had that, and we gothrough quite a bit of peanut
butter in camp.
But I'm gonna say that uh someof the stuff now now at my place
down in southern Ontario, kindof between Bancroft and
Halliburton, we put in a woodstove there and they did a great
job.
And we were back up on theweekend uh with a crew, Roley
(31:45):
and my son Josh.
And Roley showed up early to getthe wood stove going because it
was minus 10 that night.
And I built a log cabin forthose that don't know.
It's all heavy logs, cut thelogs by hand, hauled them out
with uh ATV as a skitter, peeledthem all with drawing knives,
got it all together, and it'sit's it's a log cabin.
(32:08):
I don't know if I'd recommend alog cabin because it's a heck of
a lot of maintenance.
And unless you're wanting to dothe maintenance on an annual
basis as a labor of love, uhwell, there's other things as
well with it, but that's anotherstory.
So Rowley went up, he got thewood stove going, which we just
got installed in uh September.
(32:31):
September or the first week ofOctober.
I think it was the first week ofOctober, and two hours later, he
still can see his breath whenhe's breathing.
Well the log cabin, and it'sbig, it was fine upstairs
because there's a loft up therewhere there's a couple of
bedrooms up there.
Upstairs was fine, but I don'thave fans yet uh on the ceiling
(32:54):
fans to circulate the airaround.
But it took about 24 hours toheat all those logs up in the
camp so that it was half decent.
So with that, uh I think in thefuture, if we're going up there
during cold periods of time, wegotta get up there first thing
in the morning, get that stovegoing.
And we have support heat aswell.
I have a small salamander Mr.
(33:15):
Heater that I can't remember howmany BTUs is like 20,000 BTUs
that hooks to a 30-pound propanetank.
We have that as a backup.
And then another one as wellthat uh we use to kind of get
things going.
And once it heated up though, itwasn't too bad once the logs
were warm because you've got toget that coldness out of there.
But after 24 hours, it was fine.
(33:36):
Now, one of the other thingsthat I had talked about before
was I got a I had a fireplaceinsert installed in my house as
opposed to the fireplace.
And what happened was the firebricks were starting to crack
and wear, because I had a firejust about every night.
I love having that cracklingfire and just the the warmth
from it and everything that goeswith it.
Well it was either rebuild thefireplace again or put an insert
(34:00):
in.
So I thought and the guy I getto come down and do the uh clean
the fireplace, you know, hesaid, you know, take a look at
an insert.
So we've talked about it and putan insert in and it works
spectacular.
I hardly use any wood at all.
But the heat that it gives off,I every day that I've been
(34:21):
there, I don't have the heatgoing, uh like the the the
furnace going, because there'senough heat coming off that
insert to heat basically thewhole house, and all I do is
turn the circulating fan on thefurnace and it circulates the uh
the air through the house and itworks spectacular.
Hardly burns any wood at all, Ican tell you.
I'll put uh three logs, youknow, that you could kind of
(34:43):
basically, if you touched yourfingertips to your fingertips
about that size, in, and that'lllast six, eight hours.
And when you get up in themorning, it's still hot, and
there's hot cools in there, andI just throw a couple of pieces
of kindling on or small wood,and they catch pretty quick and
keeps the whole place extremelywarm.
It works fantastic.
(35:04):
Yeah, so it worked pretty good,and that one I would highly
recommend that if you take alook, take a look at an in's
fireplace inserter because theywork spectacular.
Now, one other thing is thatwith the Chaga, we've got a new
line just starting up, and ifyou're interested, it's it's
going to be a Chaga mint flavor.
(35:25):
And we're coming into the seasonnow, or if you check, I'll have
to start posting, but I'll bedoing a bunch of Christmas shows
and talks and things like that.
And if people are interested,they can reach out to us or get
in touch with us, and we canprovide them with some
information.
But it was just a bit of anupdate on some of the stuff that
that happened with uh the camp,the fireplaces, the wood stoves,
(35:49):
and everything that's happeningwith uh my best friend Gunner,
because he's uh my ensign, mychocolate lab Ensign Gunner.
He's my buddy, and it wasconcerning, I tell you, I didn't
sleep the night that I had totake him in the next day.
But he is my my bestest offriends, and it was good to see
he's on the men, andeverything's good there.
But just to something a littlebit different to talk about on
(36:11):
this week's podcast out thereunder the canopy.
SPEAKER_07 (36:42):
I'm your host, Steve Nidswiki, and you'll find out
about that and a whole lot moreon the Outdoor Journal Radio
Network's newest podcast,Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
But this podcast will be morethan that.
Every week on Diaries of a LodgeOwner, I'm going to introduce
you to a ton of great people,share their stories of our
(37:04):
trials, tribulations, andinspirations, learn and have
plenty of laughs along the way.
SPEAKER_09 (37:10):
Meanwhile, we're sitting there popping along
trying to figure out how tocatch a bass.
And we both decided one day wewere going to be on television
doing a fishing show.
SPEAKER_04 (37:20):
My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in
on those bass in the summertime,but that's might be more fishing
than it was punchy.
SPEAKER_07 (37:28):
You so confidently said, Hey Pat, have you ever
eaten a drink?
Find Diaries of a Lodge Ownernow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get yourpodcast.
Hi everybody, I'm Angelo Vallada.
And I'm Pete Bowman.
Now you might know us as thehost of Canada's favorite
fishing show, but now we'rehosting a podcast.
That's right.
Every Thursday, Angela will beright here in your ears,
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Hmm.
Now what are we gonna talk aboutfor two hours every week?
Well, you know there's gonna bea lot of fishing.
SPEAKER_03 (00:22):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
SPEAKER_08 (00:27):
Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
outdoors.
From athletes.
SPEAKER_04 (00:34):
All the other guys would go gun.
Me and guys can turkey, and allthe Russians would go fishing.
SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
It's the perfect transmission environment for my
fish.
SPEAKER_05 (00:47):
Chefs, if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated
for me.
You will taste it.
SPEAKER_08 (00:53):
And whoever else would pick up the phone.
Wherever you are, OutdoorJournal Radio seeks to answer
the questions and tell thestories of all those who enjoy
being outside.
SPEAKER_04 (01:02):
Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
SPEAKER_00 (01:15):
As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons
of our natural world becomeharder and harder to hear, but
they are still available tothose who know where to listen.
I'm Jerry Olette, and I washonored to serve as Ontario's
Minister of Natural Resources.
However, my journey into thewoods didn't come from politics.
(01:37):
Rather, it came from my time inthe bush and a mushroom.
In 2015, I was introduced to thebirch-hungry fungus known as
Chaga, a tree conch withcenturies of medicinal
applications used by indigenouspeoples all over the globe.
After nearly a decade ofharvest, use, testimonials, and
(01:59):
research, my skepticism hasfaded to obsession.
And I now spend my lifededicated to improving the lives
of others through natural means.
But that's not what the show isabout.
My pursuit of this strangemushroom and my passion for the
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld.
(02:20):
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Underthe Canopy podcast, I'm going to
take you along with me to seethe places, meet the people that
will help you find your outdoorpassion and help you live a life
close to nature and under thecanopy.
So join me today for anothergreat episode, and hopefully, we
can inspire a few more people tolive their lives under the
(02:44):
canopy.
Okay.
As always, we want to thank thelisteners, thereabouts, and here
and there and everywhere.
Got any questions?
You know what to do.
Any suggestions for show?
Make it happen.
Let us know.
We'll do what we can.
(03:04):
Anyways, we're giving someupdates on a bunch of different
stuff that we haven't had in awhile.
Now, first we'll talk about uhGunner, the char chocolate lab.
Now, Gunnar's had this problemwith his foot.
It almost looks like an extratoe.
And it's so I took him into thevets, and I briefly talked about
(03:25):
uh how I dislike the corporatebuy-up of all the vets in the
province of Ontario, whereactually one of the um uh I
think it was CBC did a specialon how they're taking it over.
It might have been Marketplaceor something like that.
And they kind of drive me crazybecause some of the stuff
they're coming up with is it'sall about the dollars and cents
and not really about pet care atall, and just how do we make
(03:47):
money?
That's some of the firstquestions I asked you in these
corporate places is uh well whatdog food do you use?
And you know, you oh, we can'tsee your dog uh uh because we
haven't seen it in a year.
So wait a sec.
What where's this coming from?
I mean, the dog used to get sickgoing to see the vet.
Now it's kind of like, oh, youhave to have an annual checkup
now, and it's all about dollarsand cents, anyways.
(04:09):
So I got a good vet, Dr.
Matt, and um took it in, andapparently he gets the some dogs
get a a growth out of a scentgland in their foot.
And this thing's been growing abit, and so we took um Gunner in
to uh get it looked at, and ituh was same as always.
(04:35):
So remember I mentioned justthat about I got the price uh
first before I confirmed, andthen when I went in to get it
done, it was virtually twice asmuch as they said.
I said, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Uh that's not what I was told,so we got the original price
that I agreed to.
Anyways, so this uh growth hadit removed and did the usual
(04:56):
stuff.
So while he was under, got hisnails clipped, and one of the
things that was kind of neat washe didn't have to have his teeth
cleaned because guess what?
We always talk about how I'm inthe washroom.
Now, if I don't close the door,he comes and stands between me
and the sink and looks at me andgives me that chocolate lab look
like what?
I want my teeth brushed.
(05:18):
So I brush his teeth, and thenhe's happy.
But anyway, so right now uh he'sall bandaged up, his foot's all
bandaged up, and I got my motherBaba just being with him because
when we're not there, we gottaput the cone of silence on him
to make sure that uh that uh hedoesn't lick it or chew it or
(05:40):
bite at it and things like that,which is very important.
You know, I gotta tell you, whenI walked into the to the vets,
you drop him off at eighto'clock in the morning, and then
I picked him up at 3 30.
And when I walked in at 3 30,all you could hear was a guess
who?
It was Gunner howling likecrazy, looking for you know who.
(06:01):
And anyway, so we got him backand all good, and he's on an
antibiotic now.
But I also got him on um Chagaas well as an anti-inflammatory.
And uh Chag has been recognizedby Health Canada for dogs, cats,
and horses as well.
And so long as they don't haveover 3.6 grams per day, it's not
a bad thing.
But you should always check withyour uh professional on usage
(06:24):
for for things like Chaga andhow it interacts or potentially.
Because uh there's not a lot ofresearch on it, but as an
anti-inflammatory, and lastnight when I got Gunnar home
from the vets, he was sitting uhthere, and all of a sudden he
just kind of you knew he washurting a bit.
So we take care of him.
(06:46):
But I wanted to talk about someof the stuff.
Now, we did a Chaga pick.
Garrett did a great job, theteam did good.
We've got uh we've got enoughChaga picked for this year and
uh maybe potentially do a littleexpansion to uh our bakery
friends out in uh Edmonton,Alberta, who asked if they could
carry the Chaga, so that's good.
And not only that, but once weget enough, we stop.
(07:08):
But while we're still there, westarted looking and we got it
all marked out for next yearwhere we can start and have a a
good uh section that we'll beable to pick Chaga from and be
able to fill up again for nextyear's uh demands, which is
good.
But some of the things I gottatell you, so boots.
(07:28):
And I had a pair of these bogs.
Bogs, my first pair of bogs wereabsolutely spectacular.
Um I actually wore them out.
So what we did was it were Rollyand Ron cut the bogs down and so
that they're camp kind of campshoes now.
So when you have to head out ofthe camp and go to the outhouse,
you put these bogs on, andthey're kind of like a low-cut
(07:50):
running shoe now, and your feetdon't get soaking wet from
walking in the wet grass or thesnow or the rain, because we had
a lot of rain up there.
But the new bogs, they were sohot that I couldn't wear them.
I could not wear them all daylong.
They were a bit sloppy too, souh when you're walking, you you
your boots kind of slip, and Igot I got a good blister on my l
(08:12):
left ankle from uh walking.
And you gotta remember, I'm notjust talking about uh hikes uh
from the camp to the outhouse.
I'm talking on average, I'mdoing 10 to 15 kilometers, bush
kilometers a day doing theChagga stuff and being out in
the bush.
So they were a bit uh bit toohot, though, was the key, was
(08:33):
the worst part about it.
They were so hot that I couldn'twear them, I had to get back and
put on my different uh pair ofuh uh boots.
They were kind of a low-cut, uhwell, not a low low-cut boot,
but a high-cut running shoe kindof size with a great support in
the sole.
It's almost as if there was ametal sole in there that uh was
(08:57):
being used as as a support.
So, and I have planner'sfasciitis in my one foot.
Tried like crazy, just abouteverything, but I gotta tell
you, when I'm walking in thesethings, don't notice it, don't
have it, don't see it at all,and it works spectacular.
They're waterproof.
Uh, we got them from Marx, and Ihave to tell you, these things
were fic fantastic.
(09:18):
Great support.
And when you're walking throughthe bush and all of a sudden
you're you're walking throughleaves that have fallen all over
you, you don't know there's ahole there, down you go, right
up to your knee.
That happened a few times asusual.
Or you step on something like arock or a um a slippery branch
underneath the leaves and youslip.
Well, these boots workspectacular.
(09:38):
So that was one of the things.
And some of the other stuff isas the guys think I'm a little
bit crazy like my wife andeverybody else does, but that's
just a norm.
The um the thing I do is I wearshorts, and I mean like regular
shorts.
I'm not talking uh I'm talkinglike uh just a pair of shorts
that you'd wear on a summer day.
(10:00):
And when I and through the campand all around the place, but
when I go out into the bush, Iput a pair of coveralls on.
And the coveralls workspectacular.
And I find uh that I don't gettoo hot and it works fantastic.
And so I can walk greatdistances and don't work up too
much of a sweat.
And now, mind you, I layer up,so I've got a usually a t-shirt,
(10:22):
a sweatshirt, and a lightjacket, and probably a vest on
as well to carry a lot of gearwith as well.
Not only that, but you've got apack to pack to chaga out with
when you're picking chaga, andplus the gear, we have a I've
got a harvest tool.
It's kind of like a hatchet onthe front.
It's about the size of a regularhatchet.
(10:43):
It's got a hatchet face in thefront with a flat back and then
a pinch bar on the top.
So what I do is I take that,I'll go around the chaga, and
then with the the hatchet part,and if need be, I'll take uh one
of the long knives that I haveon my belt and use the back part
to tap it into the chaga, andthen put the pinch bar in part
(11:04):
of it, and then just kind ofpops it off.
Still leave enough chaga on theon the tree to make sure that
it's still going to continue togrow, and we monitor quite a bit
of that.
So I've got a lot of images fromchagas that we picked last year,
the year before, and so on, thatshow that they grow, continue to
grow so long as we leave somechagga on the tree, which we do.
But the more research we do inthis, the more we find out that
(11:27):
the actual chaga is the myceliumof it.
Now, remember we talked, uh youmay not remember, but uh if you
take the components of a fungus,if you compare it to an apple
tree, the roots of an apple treewould compare to the mycelium of
a fungus, and the roots absorbmost of the nutrients, as does
the mycelium.
(11:48):
And then the fruiting body of anapple tree is the apple, which
is actually an extension of thebark.
Didn't know that until we hadthe apple expert on the uh on
the program.
And the fruiting body of a of amushroom would be like the white
button mushroom you see in thegrocery store.
And then the seeds of an appleis how it continues to grow and
(12:10):
and and expand into other areas.
And it's the same with uh thefungus, which is uh spores.
Well, we're finding that themycelium of a chaga is actually
going through the entire tree.
So, and I know Pierre, who I'vehad on the show a couple of
times, he's the guy thatintroduced me into the chaga
business.
He uh does a lot of logging andthings like that.
(12:34):
And he tells me that everysingle one of the chagas, that
uh tree that had a chaga thatthey cut down, the center of it
is all rotten, which would bethe mycelium going through the
center of the tree.
So that's more research thatwe're doing and finding out more
details about it.
But we leave some on and wecontinue to go.
(12:54):
So we've got a good harvest forthis year enough to do some a
little bit of expansion.
We don't try to over harvest,and we know where we're gonna
start next year.
Some of the other stuff, though,is the hand pump.
Now, the hand pump in the camp,we call it the Gifford pump,
because Ray Gifford found thispump, don't know where he got it
from.
And it's got a long arm, it'sabout, oh, I don't know, about
(13:16):
twenty-four, thirty inches tall,with a standard three-foot pump
arm on it, and we draw from thelake, but wasn't drawing.
And so, which usually means thatthe seals are worn out on it.
And my cousin's husband, Chet,who used to build the blast
(13:36):
doors for Algoma Steel and SaultSte.
Marie for the furnaces up there,he's rebuilt it a couple times.
And Chet is going to see if hecan make a couple more seals and
try to rebuild it again so thatwe've got a pump up there.
But there was a lot of differentstuff up there at the camp that
uh happened that we ratherenjoy.
And one of them was uh normallywe Rolly, Roley does the
(13:59):
cooking, he does a great job atit.
And he did something veryspecial this time.
We had a this would be a goodone if you haven't tried it.
So you you peel your carrots,you cut the ends off, and then
you slice them as you wouldnormally, just like little
slivers of about, oh, I don'tknow, what is it, about a
quarter inch thick.
(14:19):
Cut the carrot up, and then putit in a frying pan.
Now, and then what you do is youput water in the frying pan with
the carrots, so that the watergoes about halfway up the uh
carrot, and then you put a lotof butter in.
And then what we do is usuallyabout uh three, four big buds of
(14:41):
c of garlic, cut that up intolittle wee chunks, and put it in
there with it as well.
And then you boil the water,which takes the raw carrot and
just has it el dante.
And once it's the water's boiledoff, you have the butter that's
left, and then you saute thecarrots and the butter and the
(15:02):
garlic.
And they are spectacular.
For those that haven't had triedit, this is a great recipe to
try, and it's something thatyou'd really enjoy.
I I just actually uh when mymother was uh watching uh gunner
to make sure that he doesn'tchew or rip the band-aid off his
foot so I could come and do arecording, I made her up a batch
just to try, and she was like,Wow, is that ever good?
(15:23):
And it's the same thing.
I've made it several times sinceI've been back from the camp
now, and every time, Diane, mywife, she says, Are you gonna
have any more carrots?
I said, No, help yourself.
And guess what?
They're all gone.
They never survive because it'sreally, really good.
So that's uh one of the goodthings that uh camped that we
had that was very enjoyable, anda new recipe that I shared with
(15:46):
you all.
But some of the other stuff wasthat we had um a lot of
different everybody brings up alittle special thing.
So this year, this the leeksthat I pickled in the
springtime, I brought a largejar, and quite frankly, all I
did was I took I had a jar ofpickled eggs that I got from the
(16:06):
store, took the eggs out, leftthe pickle juice there, and then
filled it up with wild leeks andjust the bulbs.
Uh so they're just a little bitpast the bulb so you get the
white of the bulb and then leftit in until the fall.
And I just brought them into therecording studio here, and
everybody tried them, and theyjust love them.
Pickled leeks, did it in thespring, probably pickled them
(16:28):
for the fall.
They were rock hard, fresh, verygood tasting, and very enjoyable
and good for you as well.
But Rowley brought up a bunch ofstuff as well.
So what he brought up was somepickled hot peppers that he
grew.
And he does his for uh, well, hedid brought eggs as well, and he
(16:49):
he'll put these hot peppers inwith his eggs, and they'll have
hot eggs, and believe me, has tobe Hellman's.
If you bring Hellman'smayonnaise to the camp, and then
he takes the pickled eggs, putsthe Hellman's on top, and then
usually a a slice of uh a hotpepper in with the egg, and it's
spectacular.
(17:10):
But here's a little secret everyyear I go out and buy a small
jar of a different brand of uhmayonnaise.
And then what I do is I takethat Hellman's jar, I empty that
out, and I fill it with theregular mayonnaise from a
different company, and he neverknows, and he thinks it's
(17:31):
Hellman's every single year.
Surprise, Rolly, it's not.
And just guess what?
Just something you can enjoy.
So we have these um hot peppersand hot pickled eggs, but they
only take about two weeks for uhthe way Roly does it.
And he just takes uh picklingvinegar, some spices, throws
some garlic in as well with theeggs, and then he'll throw the
(17:53):
hot peppers in, like jalapenos,and depends on how hot you want
them.
But he has a he grows a wideselection of hot peppers.
And one of the other favoritesthat we ran out of this year,
and my son Josh says, Hey, weran out of the hot banana
peppers.
Because we put those things oneverything.
And when I say everything, Imean everything.
(18:16):
Peanut butter and jam in themorning, peanut butter, hot
banana peppers, and jam.
No hotness to it all, it's justa great flavor and something
that we enjoy.
And we have it in the morning.
Same thing in the camp, justabout every morning.
We have usually uh beans, uh, wehave sliced potatoes, eggs,
(18:38):
toast, and bacon.
And what I do is I get theprecooked bacon to make it a lot
easier in camp.
So I mentioned about the uhpaper plates and the wooden
spoons and forks and knives andthat just to make it easier so
there's less work to do becauseit's always a hassle to get
people to try and clean upafterwards, take their turn.
(18:59):
So we don't have the paperplates, and you get the good
ones, as well as the uh thecutlery.
It all goes into the burn pileand we just burn it later on.
But yeah, so the the the bananapeppers with everything are just
spectacular and very, veryenjoyable.
SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
Back in 2016, Frank and I had a vision to amass the
single largest database of muskyangling education material
anywhere in the world.
SPEAKER_01 (19:32):
Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this
amazing community and share itwith passionate anglers just
like you.
SPEAKER_02 (19:39):
Thus, the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly
grew to become one of the topfishing podcasts in North
America.
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Step into the world of angling adventures and
embrace the thrill of the catchwith the Ugly Pike Podcast.
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after the infamous fish of10,000 casts.
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SPEAKER_01 (20:18):
Tight lines, everyone.
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Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts.
SPEAKER_00 (20:39):
Okay, we've got Rob from Hamilton here, who's had
some success with the Chagacream.
Rob, can you tell us about it?
SPEAKER_06 (20:46):
Yeah, I've uh used it on blemishes, cuts, uh just
basically all around healing.
Uh anything, anything kind ofblemish, it speeds it up really
quick.
Speeds the healing box up.
Uh the healing boxes reallywell.
It leaves no marks and itdoesn't stain or pit.
(21:06):
Thanks, Rob.
Appreciate that.
You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00 (21:15):
We interrupt this program to bring you a special
offer from Chaga Health andWellness.
If you've listened this far andyou're still wondering about
this strange mushroom that Ikeep talking about and whether
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interest to you.
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Chaga tea.
This comes with 15 tea bags perpackage, and each bag gives you
around five or six cups of tea.
Hey, thanks for listening.
Back to the episode.
Now, some of the uh the otherthings was was while we were at
camp, I had uh an issue that Imentioned, and I'm gonna go over
(22:18):
it back again.
So what happened was on Octoberthe third, I picked up a a uh a
maple skid.
The skid shifted in my arm.
My arm stayed the same, but thethe meat on my arm kind of
pulled away.
Anyway, so it was uh about twoweeks, three weeks later when
(22:39):
I'm getting ready to go to camp.
And the darn thing's nothealing.
So I go to the clinic, they doan x-ray and an ultrasound, and
they say, I think there'ssomething in there.
I said, I can't tell.
I said, Okay, well, whatever.
And so then they uh call melater that afternoon and said,
Look, you gotta go up to thehospital and get it looked at up
(22:59):
there.
So I go up to the hospital.
I sit there for several hoursnow, and they're looking, and
they do an ultrasound there, andthey say, I think there's
something in there.
Well, okay, what are we gonna doabout it?
Well, I don't know.
I think we'll just treat it asuh an infection.
So they gave me a bunch ofantibiotics.
So I head up to the the camp upnorth, the Jagopican camp and
(23:24):
thereabouts.
And about a week into it, all ofa sudden my arm, it looks like
there's a huge goose egg about asize of a marble sticking up on
my arm.
And everybody's oh, you gotta goget that looked at.
That could be bad.
You could you could all kind ofproblems like you know, i i it
it it it's it's so anyways, allright, all right.
(23:47):
So we go in and it's about youknow a couple hours there and
back to go into the hospital.
So I go to the hospital and theylook at it and they go, Yeah, we
gotta deal with that.
So they take an ultrasound.
He says, There's something inthere.
Anyways, okay.
I'm waiting for find out, sowhat do we do?
So he says, Well, they send in asurgeon and he's cutting in
(24:10):
there, he says, I'm gonna cutinto your arm, see if I can get
that out of there.
Anyway, so at least to get ridof the inflammation and that.
So he's cutting away on my arm.
And I don't know, somebodylooked at it and said, Oh,
that's like 10, 12 stitches atleast, the cut that's there.
Um, afterwards, and I I he'scutting away and he's cutting
(24:32):
in, and he's fairly deep now,like the the depth of the head
of the scalpel.
And I look at him and I say, Yourealize I can feel all that
cutting through my skin.
Oh, geez, you know, it'sfreezing.
We gotta get that freezing takencare of.
All right, so hang on.
So then we uh do the freezingand wait until it takes effect,
and then afterwards he says,Well, I can't find anything, so
(24:56):
I'm gonna uh cut a littledeeper.
So he's cutting away.
Don't feel a darn thing now.
But it was kind of like a testof of male maleness to see, all
right, go ahead, keep cutting.
Am I supposed to feel this?
Am I not supposed to feel this?
And I'm feeling this, and my armis just like anyways.
(25:16):
So he's cutting deeper.
He says, I can't find anythingin there.
No, I said, okay.
He says, Well, tell you what, umI'm gonna leave it open.
I'm not gonna stitch it closed.
I'm gonna let it heal from theinside out this time.
All right, well, you're theexpert.
So let's go ahead.
So he sends in the nurse to tapeme up.
(25:37):
She puts on this this bandagethat that won't stick because I
got fluids all over me.
You know, the uh the the thestuff they put on to kill all
the bacteria, whether it'salcohol or what and everything
else.
It's not sticking to my arm.
So then she tapes a gauze to myarm, and she's got a tape so
(26:00):
tight every time I move my arm,I'm ripping hairs out of my arm,
and it's not a pleasant feeling.
So she says, Look, you've got tochange that gauze.
And I said, Well, is there youknow a band-aid that you're able
to supply him?
She says, I can give you one.
So she gives me this band-aidplus more antibiotics.
So I head up to the localdrugstore in the up north, and
(26:22):
I'm waiting there, and I says,Uh, do you have any of these
specific bandages?
Because these bandages don't ripthe hair off your arm, but they
they hold very well and keepthings in place.
Anyway, so uh no, I don't thinkso.
Uh talk to the pharmacist.
So I talked to the pharmacistand I said, Well, well, let's
look.
And I said, Well, I can read itjust the same as you are.
(26:44):
Uh, do you know of anything?
No, no, all these ones, they arenot very good.
But try this place down the roadat a medical supply store.
So I head down.
I says, All right, sure.
So I'll go down to the medicaluh store.
And I said, Do you have thisthis bandage that they gave me
at the hospital because it wasgreat?
(27:05):
And uh they said, uh nope, nope.
Uh we have ones like that.
And I said, Oh, okay, well,whereabouts are they?
Can I see them?
No, no, we keep those in theback.
I said, Oh, well, how much arethey?
Ten bandages was over$80.
I said, What?
They said, uh can I see them atleast?
(27:28):
She's and the person there is uhhe says, I think maybe I can I
can uh take a deal with thebandage ripping hair off rather
than deal with that.
And they said, look, try thisplace up the road, another
medical place that carriesstuff.
So I tried there.
Ten bandages, the exact same onethe hospital supplies, six
dollars and forty-nine cents forten.
(27:49):
So guess what I picked up.
Anyway, so use the bandages, andI started to run out and
figured, well, we have storeslike that back in Oshawa where
I'm front, so I'll just pick upsome more there.
So I go into the two down hereand they don't carry them.
I said, Oh, I guess this storedoesn't all the stores don't
carry the same line.
Nope.
(28:10):
And I said, Oh.
So I left the bandage on insteadof changing it every day, it was
every two, three days, because Ionly had a couple left.
And the very last bandage I had,I take the bandage off, and
there is this thing sticking outof my arm about a quarter of an
inch.
I know, what the heck is that?
I'm looking at it and I'mpushing on it.
(28:31):
It's not like you know how youget uh a um a heeled section
that looks like a you know bloodthat's uh a scab that's kind of
peeled away.
That's not that, and I can feelit and I'm moving the darn
thing.
Anyway, so I grab a pair oftweezers and I said, Diane, can
you pull this out for me?
Because I think that's that'sthe thing coming out.
(28:53):
Well, she pulled it out and itwas over two inches long, and it
was about the thickness, it wasa sliver, and about the
thickness of a wooden match, aheavy wooden match.
So I'm there trying to to dealwith this, and and and it's just
like, holy mackerel, thatthing's keep coming and keep
coming and keep coming.
Well, we pulled it out and lefta little hole in there, but uh
(29:17):
it's healed up well now and it'sall better.
But it was better to be safethan sorry, so headed into into
town, the hospital, but itwasn't until I pulled the last
bandage off that it it somehowforced its way out of my arm.
So that was pretty good.
Uh and it was a good camp.
We got lots of stuff.
(29:37):
And some of the other stuff nowis um the other things that camp
was because uh I'm gluten free,and I talked to a lot of people,
and and I've had otherindividuals that uh, such as uh
the master gardener on who is uhwhose belief is that a
glyphosphate that they theyspray on wheat is the actual
cause for peat until they have agluten intolerance, and that's
(29:59):
why in E.
Europe they don't have thoseissues because they don't spray
that on their weed out there.
Whether it's true or not, Idon't know.
Not a doctor can't give medicaladvice, but it was certainly an
interesting concept to thinkabout.
But we have a lot of gluten-freestuff.
So we have gluten-free peanutbutter, I have gluten-free
bread.
And there, if you you gotta shoparound for bread for gluten-free
(30:20):
stuff, because I gotta tell you,some of the stuff is like eating
sawdust.
And it's just disgusting.
But there are a couple of reallygood ones out there, and it
takes a little while to get intothe routine of going gluten-free
to what to look forward to andwhat's half decent.
But we had gluten-free pasta acouple of nights, and it was it
was very good.
And same with the bread, andthen all of a sudden everybody's
(30:41):
eating my gluten-free bread,even though I bought them
specialty bread.
And uh with, of course, peanutbutter and hot banana pepper
rings.
And not only that, but uh therewas a lot of other stuff that we
just try and focus on keepinggluten-free, and all you do is
check the cans.
So it was kind of interesting toto have the gluten-free bread,
(31:02):
the gluten-free peanut butter.
There's actually one brand outthere that has gluten-free
peanut butter.
And when you read the uhingredients in the other peanut
butter, it doesn't appear to beany any wheat in there at all.
But uh this one says gluten-freeon it, whether it's just a
marketing tool or not, don'tknow, but it's certainly
something that uh I pick up whenI can.
(31:23):
And we had that, and we gothrough quite a bit of peanut
butter in camp.
But I'm gonna say that uh someof the stuff now now at my place
down in southern Ontario, kindof between Bancroft and
Halliburton, we put in a woodstove there and they did a great
job.
And we were back up on theweekend uh with a crew, Roley
(31:45):
and my son Josh.
And Roley showed up early to getthe wood stove going because it
was minus 10 that night.
And I built a log cabin forthose that don't know.
It's all heavy logs, cut thelogs by hand, hauled them out
with uh ATV as a skitter, peeledthem all with drawing knives,
got it all together, and it'sit's it's a log cabin.
(32:08):
I don't know if I'd recommend alog cabin because it's a heck of
a lot of maintenance.
And unless you're wanting to dothe maintenance on an annual
basis as a labor of love, uhwell, there's other things as
well with it, but that's anotherstory.
So Rowley went up, he got thewood stove going, which we just
got installed in uh September.
(32:31):
September or the first week ofOctober.
I think it was the first week ofOctober, and two hours later, he
still can see his breath whenhe's breathing.
Well the log cabin, and it'sbig, it was fine upstairs
because there's a loft up therewhere there's a couple of
bedrooms up there.
Upstairs was fine, but I don'thave fans yet uh on the ceiling
(32:54):
fans to circulate the airaround.
But it took about 24 hours toheat all those logs up in the
camp so that it was half decent.
So with that, uh I think in thefuture, if we're going up there
during cold periods of time, wegotta get up there first thing
in the morning, get that stovegoing.
And we have support heat aswell.
I have a small salamander Mr.
(33:15):
Heater that I can't remember howmany BTUs is like 20,000 BTUs
that hooks to a 30-pound propanetank.
We have that as a backup.
And then another one as wellthat uh we use to kind of get
things going.
And once it heated up though, itwasn't too bad once the logs
were warm because you've got toget that coldness out of there.
But after 24 hours, it was fine.
(33:36):
Now, one of the other thingsthat I had talked about before
was I got a I had a fireplaceinsert installed in my house as
opposed to the fireplace.
And what happened was the firebricks were starting to crack
and wear, because I had a firejust about every night.
I love having that cracklingfire and just the the warmth
from it and everything that goeswith it.
Well it was either rebuild thefireplace again or put an insert
(34:00):
in.
So I thought and the guy I getto come down and do the uh clean
the fireplace, you know, hesaid, you know, take a look at
an insert.
So we've talked about it and putan insert in and it works
spectacular.
I hardly use any wood at all.
But the heat that it gives off,I every day that I've been
(34:21):
there, I don't have the heatgoing, uh like the the the
furnace going, because there'senough heat coming off that
insert to heat basically thewhole house, and all I do is
turn the circulating fan on thefurnace and it circulates the uh
the air through the house and itworks spectacular.
Hardly burns any wood at all, Ican tell you.
I'll put uh three logs, youknow, that you could kind of
(34:43):
basically, if you touched yourfingertips to your fingertips
about that size, in, and that'lllast six, eight hours.
And when you get up in themorning, it's still hot, and
there's hot cools in there, andI just throw a couple of pieces
of kindling on or small wood,and they catch pretty quick and
keeps the whole place extremelywarm.
It works fantastic.
(35:04):
Yeah, so it worked pretty good,and that one I would highly
recommend that if you take alook, take a look at an in's
fireplace inserter because theywork spectacular.
Now, one other thing is thatwith the Chaga, we've got a new
line just starting up, and ifyou're interested, it's it's
going to be a Chaga mint flavor.
(35:25):
And we're coming into the seasonnow, or if you check, I'll have
to start posting, but I'll bedoing a bunch of Christmas shows
and talks and things like that.
And if people are interested,they can reach out to us or get
in touch with us, and we canprovide them with some
information.
But it was just a bit of anupdate on some of the stuff that
that happened with uh the camp,the fireplaces, the wood stoves,
(35:49):
and everything that's happeningwith uh my best friend Gunner,
because he's uh my ensign, mychocolate lab Ensign Gunner.
He's my buddy, and it wasconcerning, I tell you, I didn't
sleep the night that I had totake him in the next day.
But he is my my bestest offriends, and it was good to see
he's on the men, andeverything's good there.
But just to something a littlebit different to talk about on
(36:11):
this week's podcast out thereunder the canopy.
SPEAKER_07 (36:42):
I'm your host, Steve Nidswiki, and you'll find out
about that and a whole lot moreon the Outdoor Journal Radio
Network's newest podcast,Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
But this podcast will be morethan that.
Every week on Diaries of a LodgeOwner, I'm going to introduce
you to a ton of great people,share their stories of our
(37:04):
trials, tribulations, andinspirations, learn and have
plenty of laughs along the way.
SPEAKER_09 (37:10):
Meanwhile, we're sitting there popping along
trying to figure out how tocatch a bass.
And we both decided one day wewere going to be on television
doing a fishing show.
SPEAKER_04 (37:20):
My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in
on those bass in the summertime,but that's might be more fishing
than it was punchy.
SPEAKER_07 (37:28):
You so confidently said, Hey Pat, have you ever
eaten a drink?
Find Diaries of a Lodge Ownernow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get yourpodcast.
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