May 12, 2025 • 47 mins
The natural world offers powerful reminders of its force as Northern Ontario faces rising floodwaters that threaten roads, homes, and infrastructure. Pierre Gagnon joins Jerry Ouellette for a captivating conversation about rural resilience across Canada, sharing firsthand accounts of a region underwater and the delicate balance between community safety and water management.
Pierre paints a vivid picture of his community west of Timmins, where roads normally protected from flooding now sit six inches underwater. With snow still lingering in forest shadows and a sinkhole already claiming a section of highway, locals worry this flood could rival the devastating 1996 event that completely washed out roads. The Ministry of Natural Resources faces tough decisions—open the dams and flood towns, or close them and submerge lakeside properties.
The conversation shifts to Pierre's recent month-long journey to British Columbia's Cortez Island, revealing a fascinating glimpse into another face of rural Canadian life. This coastal community presents striking contrasts: million-dollar vacation homes sit near modest trailers, while residents joke about "shoveling fog off docks." Pierre shares experiences helping his half-brother build a house foundation using massive Pacific Coast timber and repurposed construction materials, demonstrating the resourcefulness that defines life in remote communities.
Throughout their discussion, Jerry and Pierre explore evolving rural industries—from automated logging operations that have consolidated forestry jobs to community-based initiatives that could revitalize small northern towns. They also touch on drone technology for woodlot management, garden planning despite challenging weather, and the continued importance of mining exploration with gold prices exceeding $3,000 per ounce.
Subscribe now to hear more authentic conversations that capture the spirit, challenges, and unexpected joys of life under the canopy. Leave a review to share how these stories of rural resilience have inspired your connection to nature and community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's Favorite
Fishing Show, but now we'rehosting a podcast.
That's right.
Every Thursday, Ang and I willbe right here in your ears
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Now, what are we going to talkabout for two hours every week?
Well, you know there's going tobe a lot of fishing.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
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 2 (00:35):
All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth
and Turk and all the Russianswould go fishing To scientists.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
But now that we're reforesting- and all that, it's
the perfect transmissionenvironment for life To chefs,
If any game isn't cookedproperly marinated, you will
taste it.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you
are.
Outdoor Journal Radio seeks toanswer the questions and tell
the stories of all those whoenjoy being outside.
Find us on Spotify, applePodcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 5 (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 Ouellette and I washonoured to serve as Ontario's
Minister of Natural Resources.
However, my journey into thewoods didn't come from politics.
(01:36):
Rather, it came from my time inthe bush and a mushroom.
In 2015, I was introduced tothe birch-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 life dedicated toimproving the lives of others
through natural means.
But that's not what the show isabout.
My pursuit of the strangemushroom and my passion for the
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld world.
(02:26):
On Outdoor Journal Radio'sUnder the Canopy podcast, I'm
going to take you along with meto see the places, meet the
people that will help you findyour outdoor passion and help
you live a life close to natureand under the canopy.
So join me today for anothergreat episode and hopefully we
can inspire a few more people tolive their lives under the
canopy.
Well, welcome everybody to theProvo podcast.
(02:53):
As always, great day out there.
Normal morning I was out runningmy chocolate lab Ensign Gunner,
checking a bunch of my patches.
Now the stinging nettles comingup.
Good, haven't seen much from mypeppermint plants out in my
wild living apothecary that Ihave out there and I've
transplanted a few patches ofleeks of ramps and two of them
(03:16):
are doing spectacular One's kindof look like it's going to make
it as well, but these patchesprobably won't be able to be
harvested.
But these patches probablywon't be able to be harvested or
take some of the outer thereuntil maybe as much as three,
four years from now before Ieven start looking at taking
anything out of thosetransplanted plants.
But kind of a wet, miserable,poured rain the other day and
(03:38):
it's that time of year you knowApril showers bring May flowers,
but we got a bunch of rain inMay.
Now we have a returning guestwho's becoming regular, which I
very much enjoy.
Welcome to the program, pierre.
Good morning Jerry.
Good morning Pierre, pierreGagnon.
How are things up west ofTimmins?
Speaker 6 (03:59):
We're inundated with water.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
What do you mean by that?
You mean the creeks are runninghigh, or what?
Talk?
Tell us about this.
Speaker 6 (04:06):
Everything's well.
Our little road here, whichusually never floods, is about
six inches underwater.
The dam's wide open at IvanoLake.
Snow loads fill in the bush soit hasn't crested yet.
The highway's about six inchesaway from being flooded.
The road is about six inchesaway from being flooded.
The road was closed to Shaplowfor about five days because of a
(04:30):
sinkhole from the water.
Really, the roads open againnow this morning, so the trucks
are gone through.
But yeah, I don't know what'sgoing to happen the next couple
days.
I'm not going to say biblical,oh I just did.
Anyway, I got did.
But anyway I got the mill goingthere.
We're going to start on the arcthere if it doesn't slow down.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
The, so there was a big flood where it washed out
part of the highway betweenChapleau and Timmins.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
Yeah, just a sinkhole developed.
I guess it was a culvert therethat was compromised a bit.
So it developed a sinkholeright and just made a big hole
in the middle of the road.
So they had to fix that up now.
The last time we had a floodlike this we're still not there
yet, but it was 1996, so 29, 30years and it washed the highway
(05:24):
right out.
The pavement was just hangingthere with nothing underneath it
and it washed out a coupleother creeks on the 101.
So we're not there yet, butit's not looking good, jerry.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
So you said the dam's wide open.
Are they generating any hydrooff this dam?
Speaker 6 (05:44):
No, what happens is there's dams on all the lakes up
here, like Ivano Lake, horwoodLake, and they're like a big
basket for the hydropower downbelow the streams, because all
these streams flow into themetogamy and then I think
there's a dam on there, so theyuse this as a basket to control
the water.
It was done like in I don'tknow, 19 something, 19, 15, 20
(06:09):
maybe.
So yeah, they've updated thedam here a couple years ago,
like put new piers in and stuff,so it's.
But it's wide open right nowand they're just hoping that
they can let enough waterthrough so it doesn't create a
problem.
But the little issue is thatthere's a whole bunch of nice
cottages at the lake and it'salways a battle between the lake
(06:30):
and the town here.
If they open the dam, the towngets flooded.
If they close the dam, the lakegets flooded.
Right, but right now they haveno choice.
They just got to let it go.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Yeah, who makes that decision, pierre the?
Speaker 6 (06:42):
ministry, the ministry, the ministry.
Yeah, they have people thatlook after that sort of thing,
like the MNR Ministry of NaturalResources.
So they have a guy there thatmonitors all that stuff and he
looks at snow load, theretention of water in the forest
, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
Right.
So and when you say now, we'reinto May now and you still got
snow in the bush?
Speaker 6 (07:08):
Yeah, we can't even start the mill up, jerry,
because when all the snow cameoff the roof, like in March, we
just got inundated with thosestorms and there's still snow
around the mill.
And I just went and fixed aroad yesterday, a cottage road
that washed out with a piece ofequipment and I had to remove
(07:28):
the snow bank and there wasstill ice under the snow bank,
so they were not done yet.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Oh yeah, I can recall back when I lived in Crooked
Creek, you know, just south ofStarkville you know, kind of
east of Brownsville, north ofNewtonville.
Anyways, seeing snow in thebush in June.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
Yeah, well, that's what happens.
Everybody thinks.
You know.
They look around their yard, Ofcourse it's exposed to the sun
and the rain, and they say, oh,there's no snow.
But when you go into the deepforest and the cedar swamps like
there's still snow and icethere.
You know, sometimes, sometimes,like you say, right until early
June, you know.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
Yeah, and I recall well, that's what happens.
You get the big rains andwashes in, and if it washes
right into the stream, then itcauses, or the creeks and the
rivers and all that.
Then it causes what you'redealing with right now.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Right.
Well, there's a few people intown.
Their toilets are bubbling,Like they got to keep the lid
closed because every once in awhile the toilet bubbles and it
splashes out of the toilet.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
that's how the system's a little backed up,
we'll say yeah, but you've gotuh central water, you've got uh
water plants in and water pipesconnecting in where you are
right?
Speaker 6 (08:40):
yeah, well, christine's on the local
services board and they'reputting out a memo right now to
try to get people to stopdumping their sump pumps into
the source system, which werecommend they do when it's
normal times but now they'regoing to try to get them to
redirect that water flow, likejust into the street, you know,
okay, because we're justflooding the system.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
I recall when we were in there and Pierre worked with
me when I was Minister ofNatural Resources, he handled
the forestry file for theprovince and one of the things
that I found very interestingwas that the Ministry of Natural
Resources had about 2,800 damsin the province of Ontario that
they had control over, whichwere all basically well, not
(09:23):
basically, they were all forjust flood and water control and
no hydro generation intentionthere at all.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
Right, but I think like this water basket here does
create power at some pointdownstream.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, but places like the dam right there in Folliet.
If they had a water generation,hydro generation stand I mean
they've got the infrastructurethere they could probably
generate enough hydro forFolliette in the area.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
Oh, yeah, well, remember we took a tour of
Chapelleau and they were.
They generated their own power.
I think they said until 1967 orsomething with that dam that
they have there which is notfunctioning anymore.
But I guess Hydro One and thegovernment-to-be decided that it
was more cost-efficient just torun that grid system.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Well, what happens, though so people understand is
the way the grid works is sothey're generating hydro, like
you said, quite a ways down.
They have to run it through thelines to get it to where you
are in Folliet, right, and thenso you're charging all those
lines to get there.
But if you have somethingproduced at Lake Ivanhoe, where
you are, then you don't lose allthat line loss getting up there
(10:35):
, and it really helps boost alot of the grid system as a
whole so that you don't have torun long distance of hydro lines
.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
Yeah, the maintenance is crazy.
I mean, we get our deliverycharges through the roof Like we
might burn.
You know $50 worth of power andour delivery charge is $120.
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Well, they all put that on there.
That's to me it's kind of likea scam.
It's just okay, the flat rateis this, but they try to break
it down.
And now I know, when I shipparcels out they have postage
and then a fuel charge.
Well, it should be all included, in my opinion, but it's just
more ways to generate morerevenue.
Rather than say it's the costof hydro, it's the other things
(11:17):
that add to it.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
Right, well, yeah, anyway, it's just a call part, I
guess, an easy way to chargesomebody more.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Yeah.
So, hey morning glory.
Are you enjoying that tea?
Does Christine still like it?
Oh the tea.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
Yeah yeah, she really liked your last batch of chaga
too, your chaga syrup.
Yeah oh yeah.
Good yeah, I'm drinking mychaga there this morning.
Good Christine's been trying toget into the garden, so I told
her the only thing she should beplanting right now are snow
peas, but anyway, so what do youplan to plant in the garden
(11:54):
this year, Pierre?
Well, last year, jerry, we grewcorn, which is not normal up
here, but we had a nice corncrop, so we had corn.
So she's got seedlings startedin the front of the house there,
good Corn, all kinds of stuff,potatoes, carrots, anyway,
squash.
Christine likes to havecucumbers.
(12:17):
Yep, she's transplanting theasparagus right now, redoing
that, and strawberries.
So yeah, asparagus right now,redoing that, and the
strawberries so.
So yeah, she'll be workingthere this afternoon if it don't
rain too hard.
The the ground never reallyfroze in the garden because it
was so much snow oh, that's nota bad sign.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
No, that's kind of good, that's kind of yeah,
because then the, then the, asit melts, it seeps into the
ground, as opposed to just oncethe ground's frozen, it runs off
and right into the stream.
Right, right but that adds toyour problem.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Yeah, I think it's just so wet right now that
anyway, it does help that theground's not frozen for sure.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
Hey, do you get wild leeks up your way?
Speaker 6 (12:56):
I don't know Jerry.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Yeah, I never really paid attention.
I think so.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
You get those wild hazelnuts which are spectacular.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Yeah, they're so small, though, but the taste is
crazy, eh, oh I just hate them.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
I've told the story before so I went to pick up a
bunch.
We went up to the Chaga pickand camp up my uncle's up, you
know Ranger Lakeway.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Right.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
And Diane and I found all kinds of hazelnut bushes,
marked them out, looked for them.
It's at the end of August andSeptember when they're ripe.
We went up to pick them.
We figured we had enough to geta bushel basket of these little
hazelnuts.
We're going to try a new ChagaHazel blend as a specialty, one
(13:44):
kind of once a year, like whenTimmy's comes out with their
Pumpkin Spice Blend, do the samekind of thing.
But we get up there and nohazelnuts.
I didn't tell you this before.
I think you told me the bearsate them all.
Yeah, we come around the corner.
We're wondering what the heckhappened.
I asked my cousins did you pickall the hazelnuts?
They said what hazelnuts?
I said that's a hazelnut bushright there.
(14:04):
That's one there Really.
I said oh, I guess you didn'tpick them.
So we go out and we them alloff the bush.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
So the bears were eating.
They must have quite the acidin their stomach to be able to
break down this pretty hardshell on there.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Well, not only that, but they kind of got like that
prickly shell Right.
I'm sure they're not takingthat off, they're eating that
whole thing.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Yeah, no, no, they're not peeling them, for sure.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Yeah, so it must be pretty good, and so I got that
drone.
We're good, and so I got thatdrone.
I were out with the boys using.
I got a new drone, just thesame one as you got, and we're
we're learning more and moreabout it.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
Now tell everybody what you use your drone for well
, I kind of use it for layingout roads on our private land
and for to look at my trees,like to see where I'm going to
go harvest some of the biggertrees, because really, like you
know, like I was saying, we welike to leave the smaller ones,
so I go find some of the biggerwhite spruce that we can cut for
the mill and I use a drone tofind those, which saves a lot of
(15:03):
foot footwork.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Yeah, yeah, well, I'm hoping to be able to try and
find chaga with it.
Uh, during the chaga pickingseason.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Hopefully take a look with that it'd be great now,
jerry, before the leaves are outyes, exactly right right.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
So how did the?
Speaker 6 (15:17):
kids like flying that .
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Oh yeah, it was great .
It's a big toy.
It's a big, expensive toy.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
It's just like you, though, pierre.
It took you how long before youfelt comfortable in using it.
It was the same with me.
It's just like do I use this?
Is it going to fall?
Am I going to wreck it?
Am I going to fly it intosomething?
Speaker 6 (15:35):
Well, that's what I'm like.
Yeah, what if I crash it?
There goes my money, you know.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
But once you start to fly it you get comfy and
there's lots on the internet ofwhat to do and what not to do
and how far to go and all thatkind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yeah, when I went on, like Christine said, to check
the YouTube videos on it, that'swhat we did and wow, there was
a lot about utilizing it and itgoes right to your model, if
you're looking for that Right,we got an expert in here Volvo.
He's an Ukrainian guy at therecording studio and he's
expertise in drones.
So he showed me all kind ofstuff and set it all up just
(16:11):
perfectly for us.
Oh, that's cool.
That's cool.
So, yeah, so he's got theavoidance setting on it.
So when you're flying it,there's two settings.
He said don't use the avoidance, because sometimes it doesn't
work.
Use the stop, it's a lot better.
Okay, so, anyway, so he set itall up and I'm gaining more
confidence as time goes on.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
Yeah Well, I tend to fly mine a little too high, Like
you're always scared to hitsomething.
So you know, but then you can'tsee as well.
So anyway, I'm learning, youknow.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Well, there's some differences with the fly zones.
I know where I am.
I can't fly it at my housebecause I'm too close to the
local airport, right, and thenwhen you get outside that they
have height limits, which is 120meters.
Oh, that's yeah, so that's notbad, but that's a height limit
for it because of the fly zonein the area.
Okay, and it was kind of neat.
(17:04):
I was out there and somehow I'mreading the drone and it says
oh, there's a plane coming in,it's going to land in 81 seconds
, and gives you a countdown forthe time the plane's coming in,
which I found very interestingbecause I'm that close to the
airport.
Speaker 6 (17:18):
Right, right, we don't have those issues here,
jerry.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
What?
Mike doesn't have his plane upthere anymore.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
No, no, mike's, his plane's in the barn, I think.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Yeah, we talked about that, where you're water skiing
behind it on boards and allkind of stuff, right?
Speaker 6 (17:33):
Right, right Huh.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Cool.
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Apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your
podcasts.
And now it's time for anothertestimonial, for Chaga Health
and Wellness.
Okay, here we are in Lindsaywith Bill, who's actually.
This gentleman has given bloodover 230 times 233.
233, and that's amazing, andyou've had some success with
(19:09):
Chaga.
Tell us what you're dealingwith and what you did and how
you what you used.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
Well, I had mild high blood pressure.
It wasn't really high, but Iwas on medication for a few
years.
And then I quit drinking coffeeand started drinking this tea,
the combination tea, the greenand the shaga Right, and my
medication was gone.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Your medication's gone, gone and you couldn't give
blood during the other times.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
Yeah, I could, oh, you could I could.
Yeah, yeah, so, but a few timesthe machine kicked me out.
Oh, yeah, so, but now itdoesn't anymore.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
So you think the green tea and the chaga helped
normalize your blood pressures?
Speaker 7 (19:52):
Oh yeah, oh very good , because it wouldn't be just
stopping coffee, it would haveto be something else.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
And that's the only thing.
You did different Yep.
Speaker 7 (19:59):
Well, thank you very much for that my blood pressure
is probably that of a40-year-old man, and I'm 71.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Oh, very good.
Well, that's good to hear.
Thank you very much for that,no problem.
Okay, we interrupt this programto bring you a special offer
(20:25):
from Chaga Health and Wellness.
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 or not, I may have something of
interest to you.
To thank you for listening tothe show, I'm going to make
trying Chaga that much easier bygiving you a dollar off all our
(20:46):
Chaga products at checkout.
All you have to do is head overto our website,
chagahealthandwellnesscom, placea few items in the cart and
check out with the code CANOPY,c-a-n-o-p-y.
If you're new to Chaga, I'dhighly recommend the regular
Chaga tea.
This comes with 15 tea bags perpackage and each bag gives you
(21:09):
around five or six cups of tea.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
Hey, thanks for listening Back to the episode
yeah, I was out west for a wholemonth.
Jerry, it was pretty nice outthere.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Oh, that's what I wanted to talk to you about, the
main thing.
Now tell us about your trip.
Where'd you go?
Speaker 6 (21:24):
first of all, Well, I left here.
I flew from Toronto to Comoxand then Nicholas picked me up
there.
We went to Campbell River, goton the ferry to Quadra Island,
crossed that island, got onanother ferry to Cortez Island,
which is where they are.
So the big ferry ride was about.
(21:46):
The first one was about eight,ten minutes, not very far, and
then the second one was about a40-minute ferry ride.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
That's not bad.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
No, that's not bad, it was just fine.
It was a bit rough.
Some of the cars were gettingsprayed in the front of the
ferry there, but the ferry holds.
I think it was 26 cars, it wasa fairly big boat, yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
But you didn't land in Vancouver.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
No, comox is an international airport so it was
easy for me to go to fly there.
It's small, almost like theTimmins one.
Oh, there, it's small almostlike the Timmins one.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
Oh really, Whereabouts is that?
I didn't even know where thatis in British Columbia.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
It's maybe about a 40-minute drive from where
Campbell River is.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (22:26):
So it's very easy to fly into there.
So I landed in Vancouver, thenI took a small plane called
Intercoastal Airways, I think,which held about 15, folks, a
little prop plane, and then they, they fly up there and you know
, it's just great that's whereevery seat's a window seat and
(22:47):
every seat's an aisle seatthat's right, that's right yeah
yeah, like a beach 19 orsomething like that.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
I don't remember the plane, but it was not a big
plane.
There was a lady sitting nextto me.
She was kind of a little antsyanyway, yeah.
Yeah, she wasn't too comfy andit went well.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Well with you, with Mike and others, flying your
trap line when you were trappingquite a few decades ago.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
You're used to that kind of bush pilot flying right
oh yeah, I mean Mike and I had afew, a few fun experience.
I always do when the situationwas getting a little hairy when
Mike would start grabbing hishat, I'm like, oh, we in trouble
, mike.
No, no, it's all good.
And then you see him grab hishat a couple of times.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
I'm like he's.
Like we got to find a place toland.
I could tell you one trip withme.
I was heading to Kenora and Ihad to take Bearskin Airlines
out of Thunder Bay and it waslate October.
Well, for me, down where wewere, it was still shorts
weather.
So I get to Thunder Bay andthey tell me my luggage hasn't
(24:01):
arrived and they don't knowwhere it is.
But don't worry, it could bethere already.
Anyway, so I'm now, I've gotvirtually like shorts on and
easy nice shoes and easy niceshoes.
So I jump in the plane and wehad to go to Fort Francis first.
Well, we're flying out of FortFrancis.
(24:23):
After we landed there, pickedup, dropped off two people and
then it was a beach 19.
Like, like you said, everyseat's an aisle seat, every
seat's a window seat and there'sone other person on the plane
with me.
Anyways, we get out of FortFrancis and we hit the front and
the plane turns sideways,completely sideways, and I'm
looking straight down at thewoman beside me and she's white,
(24:46):
knuckling it in complete panic,and I know the feeling.
It's a little exciting, it's alittle exciting.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Well, that's like they say if you've got time to
spare, fly small air.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
So tell us a bit about the trip.
So what were you doing out inCortez Island?
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Well, nicky bought a property out there he's in a
rental right now and so hestarted to develop his land and
he wanted to start building ahouse out there.
So we went out there andleveled off a piece of ground
and poured a footing, and thenwe uh, built a pony wall and we
(25:26):
were just starting to lay thefloor when I left.
So, uh, he's got a small millout there.
Of course, the problem wastrying to find small enough
trees to fit on his little mill,because it's a manual mill.
Speaker 5 (25:38):
How big of logs will it hold?
Speaker 6 (25:40):
Well, you want to stick to the 20, 22-inch max, 24
max.
You know some of the trees onhis land, the BC fir, are like
five, six feet on the stump.
So we're like, no, we're nottaking those trees, but he
doesn't want to cut those anyway.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
Well, how do you, even how do you handle them with
that, unless you've gotequipment?
Speaker 6 (26:00):
no, you don't, he's not like we.
We ended up cutting like 20inch trees.
Actually, we cut only two treesand we had enough to do the
whole floor.
Really, yeah, because the treesare so long, like we're, we're
getting five, six logs per tree,16-foot logs, five six 16-foot
logs.
Out of a 20-inch on the butttree.
(26:20):
So it was like crazy.
Anyway.
Wow, what kind of trees wereyou cutting?
We cut a hemlock and then a BCfir, so the fir is heavy.
It's not like here, like it'sreally dense, heavy wood, like a
hemlock.
Yeah, even denser, I think.
I'm not sure.
(26:40):
I guess they're probably aboutthe same density, I'm not too
sure.
But yeah, we were just tryingto find trees small enough to
get on his mill.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Yeah, I know when I'm cutting hemlock with my 038
still, that if you don't get thebar just right, you're seeing
sparks coming off the bar withHemlock when I'm cutting it up
Right right.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Anyway, it was special he's putting the floor
on now we got a whole bunch offree wood.
They were building a cottage onthe island.
They call it that.
A lot of people with some moneyout there, jerry.
They had a team of builders inthere.
This is their second year andthey're still not done and this
(27:23):
is a cottage for the daughterwho might show up for a month, a
month and a half this summer.
You know, really they spent Ithink nikki said they spent over
five hundred thousand dollarsjust on the landscaping.
Well, like you said, some gotmoney right.
Oh no, it's crazy.
Well500,000 just on thelandscaping.
Well, like you said, some gotmoney right.
Oh no, it's crazy.
Well, there's people that areon the island that only show up
for like three weeks a month peryear from the States and stuff.
(27:45):
So Ashley does all thegardening.
Nikki's wife has a gardeningthing who two, three girls work
for and they just do gardens forthese folks that when they show
up, their gardens are done,their fruit trees are pruned,
the yard looks good, they caneat vegetables, you know, and
(28:08):
then they leave and then Nickyand Ashley get to pick all the
vegetables that are left over,like carrots, potatoes, whatever
you know and fruit from thetrees.
Speaker 5 (28:14):
So let everybody know who Nicky is to you, so people
understand who Nicky is.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
Nicky is technically my half-brother and then Jose's
out there as well.
I got a half-sister out there.
She does a radio show on CortezIsland radio station every
Saturday night.
It plays Monday morning and soI went out.
I didn't help her, but I wentand watched her do her show,
which was kind of fun, saturdaynight from 9 to 1.
(28:42):
And lots of people show up onthe island to help her out, you
know, or to keep her company.
Let's say they don't help muchbut bring a few beers maybe, I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
So that was kind of fun.
So, is it an organizedcommunity or unorganized out?
Speaker 5 (29:02):
there unorganized.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
You got some people that live in like abandoned
trailers or trailers, and thenyou know you got one extreme to
the other.
You got houses that are worthmillions of dollars and you've
got people living in shacks, youknow.
So, yeah, but yeah, it's kindof nice, like the island.
Maybe there's a in the wintertime, maybe what they call a
winter a couple thousand folkshere, but in the summer it
(29:23):
triples, like you know, and thenlots of people boat up there,
sailboats and you know all kindsof boats.
So how?
Speaker 5 (29:31):
big?
How big is the island?
Speaker 6 (29:33):
maybe 20 miles long, I don't know 15, 20 miles long,
I don't know 15, 20 miles long,four or five miles wide maybe.
Speaker 7 (29:41):
Fairly big.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
Yeah, they've done some logging on the island, like
in the old days.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
Yeah, yeah.
So what else do people do foremployment up there?
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Good, question A lot of.
There's an oyster farm kind ofthing, like when they put
strings into the water.
There's like an oyster place,there's fishing, a lot of guys
fish, a lot of construction onthe Island, like uh, that kind
of stuff.
There's stores on the Island,oh there's all.
There's all kinds of work.
(30:14):
A lot of people are pretty laidback there.
So if you're a worker it's nottoo hard to get work, yeah.
But yeah, it's kind ofdifferent.
There's a lot of pensioned outfolks there too that just don't
do too much.
I was talking to one old guy.
I said what's your job?
(30:36):
He says oh, I was just out onone of the docks shoveling the
fog off the dock.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
he says so the wintertime there, is there any
snow there?
Speaker 6 (30:48):
They might get snow occasionally, like you know,
like a minus five is kind of abig deal, a minus 10.
There is like whoa water.
You know, people's water startsto freeze and stuff, yeah, so
they don't usually get too much.
But it's weird because, like Iwas there just at the end of the
rainy time and, like thethermostat, the thermometer is
(31:10):
kind of stuck on seven.
You know, like you wake up itmight be a plus four, then
during the day it goes to sevenor nine, then back, you know, it
just stays like, it just lookslike it's stuck there, like it's
not.
It doesn't even work.
You know, oh yeah, but thenafter that it dries out, like
Nicky said, it's going to getreally dry.
Speaker 5 (31:28):
So once that rainy season's over, right, yeah, so
when you poured the, when youpour it, so it's just a slab,
it's not a basement that youpoured there.
Speaker 6 (31:36):
No, we just did a footing, jerry.
Okay, yeah, so he's justbuilding like a smaller house
for now.
Then he'll build a bigger housewhen he you know later on, if
he ever gets to it.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
So yeah, so they put rebar in all the pourings and
stuff like that as well.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
He bought a bunch of that for like a hundred bucks
and then that build.
I was telling you about the guy.
Nicky knows the builder, so hesays well, I got a whole bunch
of wood there, that I don't needanymore, we're done with this
wood.
So he says you can come and sortthrough it.
So Nicky's got a pretty bigtruck like a 12 foot deck.
It took us three hours to loadall that free wood Like laminate
(32:18):
beams and plywood and he hadenough plywood to do the pony
wall and the floor and we hadenough two by eights to do the
pony wall.
Like we just so much free freewood Right, and that they didn't
need right, it was just donethis to them, it was just like
you know, they had to hiresomebody to pick it up, right,
(32:38):
so?
Speaker 5 (32:38):
so how did they get all the material in the woods
and all that kind of stuff tothe island and the rebar and
stuff, ferry, ferry.
Everything comes in by ferry,yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
Well, you can hire a barge too, Like if you've got a
big load, like a constructioncompany might hire an off-island
barge, Right, and they'll comein with a whole load of stuff,
you know.
But like everything comes in onthe ferry, there's one day, a
week or one ferry run that's fordangerous goods, Like if
they've got to haul gas or, youknow, propane.
(33:08):
But yeah, the ferry runs I thinkthere's four ferries a day, so
you know, it's not too hard toget back and forth.
And they're going to expand theferry this summer, according to
Jose's partner, to a largerferry.
So yeah, so we'll see whathappens there.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
So is this kind of like that old TV show with Bruno
Gerossi and Relic Beachcombers?
Yeah well, I didn't see Relic.
Speaker 6 (33:32):
Is that the kind of community?
It's kind of like that Yep, Yep, there's lots of you know, yeah
, okay, If you snoop around theisland there's the gas station
that's right on.
You know, like for the boats,and you know there's boats all
over.
Some people live on boats outthere, like in a small sailboat.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
They'll just live on their boat, right?
Yeah, I remember John O'Toole.
His son was living in Hong Kongand he couldn't get a place, so
that's what they did.
They bought a big boat it waslike, from what I recall, quite
large, like a 86-footer orsomething like that that they
never took out and they justlived on the boat, right?
Wow, yeah, so how did the priceof gas compare on the island
(34:13):
compared to the mainland?
Speaker 6 (34:16):
About 20 cents more per liter.
Yeah, yeah, I guess it's 15, 20cents, I think, Right.
So there's a bit of a chargethere.
For sure Most guys when they gooff island they'll load their
cans up.
You know, Right, there's a bitof a charge there.
For sure Most guys when they gooff island they'll load their
cans up.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
you know Right.
And what about electricity?
How do they get electricity tothe island?
They generate it on their ownwith solar and wind.
Speaker 6 (34:35):
There's cables that run under the ocean there, I
guess, to feed the island.
I'm not positive about that,but I think that's the way it
works.
Speaker 5 (34:44):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (34:45):
So that works pretty good.
Other than that, not too muchnews, Jerry.
I'm just waiting to get themill going here.
This weather clears up, so whendo you figure that'll be?
I hope to get it going by themiddle of next week.
I'm working on equipment rightnow, just doing the maintenance
on everything.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
so Right, and when are you coming to get that new
truck of yours?
I already got it.
Well, you didn't tell me that.
How'd you get that?
Speaker 6 (35:10):
Well, pat and Tanya were going down Easter weekend,
so I went down with them onFriday and I drove back home on
Sunday.
Oh, okay, so I bought that usedtruck and it did really well on
the drive home.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
Oh good, because I was going to see if you could
load it up with some cedar logsto square out for me.
Speaker 6 (35:30):
Oh no, you missed the boat, jerry.
Mm-hmm.
Again, jeepers.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
Yes, yeah Well, I'm just going to have to use my
Alaskan chainsaw mill and cutthem all off.
That's it.
That's it Is Garrett still outwest.
Yeah, yeah, he's Calgary.
He's working in Calgary now.
He'll be there for the summer.
So well, I don't think.
I think the camp jobs haven'tquite opened up yet in
(35:59):
Saskatchewan, and as soon asthey do there, he'll head out to
Saskatchewan.
So he can get two weeks 10 to12.
Well, I think they got rulesout there.
You can't work more than 10hours a day.
So he'll work two weeks 10hours a day and then get a week
off and then back and forth.
Oh yeah, cool.
Speaker 6 (36:19):
That's good.
Speaker 5 (36:20):
So, yeah, he's kind of looking forward to that.
He likes those camp jobs at hisage and Garrett, as you know,
he likes to keep busy workingRight.
That's good which is not a badthing.
I'm sure the money is good.
Yeah, yeah.
So he'll keep going, and yougot a lot of orders for your
mill already.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
Yeah, there's a bunch of people waiting to build in
town here, but there's just toomuch.
You know there's still waterand stuff, but it's all going to
start up.
I'm just worried.
They're middle of May.
There's about three garagesgoing up.
I think there's a house.
So yeah, we'll be busy once weget going and you've got logs
cut already.
I have a load of logs right now.
But my bush road washed out theother day because Interfor was
(37:02):
up there.
The company what's Interfor?
That's the local company out ofTimmins.
So they were logging up my roadand they kind of crushed a
culvert near the back end, aboutmaybe half a kilometer from
where my gate is.
They crushed the culvert, theytore it out, put another one in
(37:25):
and I was there the other dayand the culvert's sticking up in
the air and the water's flowingover the road.
So I in touch with them andthey said, oh, no, we're gonna
fix it, we're gonna fix it.
So I said, well, uh, there's nouse going up there right now
because there's just watereverywhere.
Speaker 5 (37:40):
So but uh, so what's Inter4 cutting?
Speaker 6 (37:44):
uh, they were just cutting regular SPF like spruce
pine fir.
But they were up there yearsago and uh it was.
They were too late in the yearto cut the swamps, so they went
back this winter to cut theswamps that they had left.
So I'm anxious to go see ifthey cut up to my property line
or not.
Right, they're back to thedrone.
I'll go fly the drone around.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
So what mill do they supply?
They supply the Timmons millwith that wood.
And what are they making at theTimmons mill?
Speaker 6 (38:13):
Regular dimensional wood Jerry, 2x4, 2x6, 2x8, you
know.
Speaker 5 (38:18):
Yeah, so SPS, spruce, pine, fir, dimensional stuff.
Speaker 6 (38:22):
Right nothing special Volume stuff.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
What other mills they got in Timmons.
Is there any veneer mills ornot in timmons directly.
Speaker 6 (38:32):
There's one in cochrane that does poplar
plywood I don't know how they'redoing.
And then there's a smaller millin timmons as well, called
little john um.
We toured that years ago so, uh, he passed away.
Speaker 5 (38:45):
Now somebody else took that over and he does a lot
of specialty stuff to ship downsouth, like, uh, crane decking,
all that, all that kind ofstuff right, so that's what you
say down south, you mean southpart ontario or down south of
the states no, down south tolike toronto all right, so I
don't know what that cranedecking is used for.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
I don't really get it , but uh, I think like a lot of
those big cranes and stuff needdecks, or a lot of the equipment
has to walk on decks and stuff.
Speaker 5 (39:12):
So yes, well, I know that.
I spoke with the policy advisor, rebecca for the minister of
forestry and they're having thebig concerns with this tariffs
coming in, because what'shappening now is a lot of the
stuff that would head to thestates are coming into ontario,
are going to be heavily taxed,oh wow.
And so, yeah, that's going tois a lot of the stuff that would
head to the.
States or coming into Ontarioare going to be heavily taxed
and so, yeah, that's going tohave a big impact.
(39:34):
But I tried to.
My suggestion to them was look,we've got a lot of places like
your mill, and you mentioned abunch of these other mills out
there that a lot of retailersdon't even know of their
existence.
So if we could develop abuyer-seller network so people
know where to get wood, and samething with people looking mills
, looking for wood Like youmentioned, you were selling the
(39:54):
Mennonites as well.
Speaker 6 (39:56):
Yeah, last year we did cedar to them.
So I don't know.
I didn't sell them any cedarthis year because I was busy
with the ice roads and thengoing out west.
But yeah, well, gaetan just gotin up here, you know him.
Yeah, gaetan just got in uphere, you know him.
Yeah, gaetan Mallette yeah, sohe was a forestry guy and
Peary's taken over the NorthernMines and Development, so I
(40:18):
might throw a few things at themjust to make people mad a
little bit.
Yeah, there's a nice area ofoversized spruce on the highway
there.
I was going to go and maybeapply for a permit to do a
selective cut there.
I know Interfor is not going tobe too keen on that, but too bad
(40:40):
for them, right?
It's just good to let them knowthat there's other people still
alive in the province.
There's no more small guys leftup here.
We're the only little guys left, so they got rid of everybody.
Speaker 5 (40:51):
Well, we tried to do something rather unique that the
industry didn't really like andthe ministry as a bureaucracy
didn't really understand.
We tried to bring in the horselogging, remember.
Speaker 6 (41:02):
Right.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
Yeah, because horse logging essentially it's very
soft-touch logging and veryspecific logs.
Speaker 6 (41:10):
Right.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Yeah, so yeah, some of the the small opportunities,
because that used to be thenumber one employer in Folliette
where you were.
Was the forest industry justsmall players at one time, right
?
Speaker 6 (41:21):
Yeah, well, when automation came in, like you
know, like the buncher and the,the whole thing, kind of, yeah,
no more hand crews, like no morecut and skid crews, that all
went by the wayside.
So you know the way, there usedto be 20 crews.
Now there's only maybe two, youknow.
So it really affectedeverything.
But there there was neverreally was a lot of.
(41:44):
There was a lot of small guysdoing small cuts, like Unpoplar
and Birch and stuff.
So that's all gone.
And there was a few small millsaround, like us, but they're
all gone as well.
So the only reason we're doingwhat we're doing is because we
have our own private land.
Speaker 5 (42:01):
Well, and part of it, Pierre, was a lot of the big
industries.
They're in there for profitreasons industries.
They're in there for profitreasons, so their focus is their
business aspect, where a lot ofthe communities like yours and
other communities around aremore about a community aspect,
and that's where we broughtforward, remember, the community
(42:22):
forest program.
Speaker 6 (42:23):
We planted that seed in Tomogami.
Speaker 5 (42:27):
Tell us about it.
Speaker 6 (42:27):
Pierre, well, yeah, we went and met with the Native
group and suggested that theyput together a community-based
forestry system, which they hadin Bancroft at the time, and we
didn't tell anybody where wewere going and the bureaucrats
or the ministry was not tooimpressed with us.
And I just heard about a yearago that that community-based
(42:50):
forestry system in Tomagami gotput in place.
So we planted the seed and ittook 20 years for it to prosper.
Speaker 5 (42:57):
Now, essentially what happened, just so people
understand, is that thecommunity now has some say in
who gets to cut and how much andhow the allocation goes, so
that they can generateemployment in that community.
That was the design right.
Speaker 6 (43:10):
Right, yeah, it's a better system.
And then, if somebody comes upwith a good idea to build a
factory creating chairs, andthey need, you know, 200 cubic
meters over the year, or athousand.
Well, the town can get togetherand say, no, we want those
people there, whereas right nowthere is no system to implement
that, you know.
Speaker 5 (43:29):
Whereas right now there is no system to implement
that.
You know, yeah, and quitefrankly, possibly this could be
potentially one of the ways thatcould generate employment in
small communities which, as I'vesaid for decades, pierre, you
know, the forest and the miningindustry are the lifeblood of
Northern Ontario.
Speaker 6 (43:45):
Yes, for sure, the mining sector has really gone
nuts and lots of people doingthose you know, seven days on,
seven days off, kind of jobs.
Speaker 5 (43:55):
Well, look at the price of gold over $3,000 an
ounce now.
Right, that's right, that'sright.
So you got any gold explorationgoing on in your area.
Speaker 6 (44:03):
Well, we just spent the winter there.
They were running drills.
So they're looking for gold?
I don't think they.
I don't know if they found any,you'll never hear about it.
You know they keep everythingpretty hush-hush, of course,
yeah, yeah, but you never know.
You never know.
Speaker 5 (44:19):
Interesting, right Interesting.
So what else are on the plansfor this year, pierre?
Speaker 6 (44:23):
Nothing.
Get the mill going.
A little bit of work for PhilipAround.
Get the mill going.
A little bit of work forPhillip at the round.
There's a few other.
Speaker 5 (44:30):
What kind of work?
What kind of work?
Speaker 6 (44:33):
Probably some MTO work and then maybe some
excavator work.
We still have the excavatorthat we leased last winter still
in Phillip's yard, so there'sanother little job coming up, I
think.
Right, anyway, I'm just anxiousto get the mill going for now.
Speaker 5 (44:50):
Yeah, MTO stands for Ministry of Transportation.
Speaker 6 (44:52):
Yeah well, right now I just yesterday I went and
fixed a washout.
They're just waiting.
They're kind of on pins andneedles.
Which road's going to wash outnext?
That kind of thing.
Right, with all the floods andthe rainwater that are coming
through.
Right the culverts, just someculverts, just let go and yada,
yada.
So, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 5 (45:14):
All right, very good, Pierre.
As always, it's a pleasuretalking and getting an update of
what's happening in your partof the province and now the
country out to BC and everythingelse.
Very interesting, as always.
Speaker 6 (45:25):
All right, Terry.
Well, we'll let you go andhopefully you'll take a couple
days and you and Diane can comeand catch some fish at the
cottage.
Speaker 5 (45:34):
That sounds good, Pierre.
Speaker 6 (45:35):
I know Diane really enjoyed catching that pike.
Speaker 5 (45:40):
Oh, and not only that , but they were great eating
after you showed us the properway to clean them out, that's
perfect, All right.
Jerry.
Okay, Pierre.
As always, it's greatinformation and more
understanding of what happens ina lot of parts of the country
and the province out there underthe canopy.
Thanks, Pierre, Sounds good.
Speaker 6 (45:56):
Over and out.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to
build one of Canada's mosticonic fishing lodges?
I'm your host, steve Nitzwicky,and you'll find out about that
and a whole lot more on theOutdoor Journal Radio Network's
newest podcast, diaries of aLodge Owner.
But this podcast will be morethan that.
Every week on Diaries of aLodge Owner, I'm going to
(46:39):
introduce you to a ton of greatpeople, share their stories of
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Speaker 1 (46:50):
Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along
trying to figure out how tocatch a bass and we both decided
one day we were going to be ontelevision doing a fishing show.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in
all those bass in the summertime, but that might be for more
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Speaker 5 (47:07):
You so confidently.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
You said hey, pat, have you ever eaten a drum?
Find Diaries of a Lodge Ownernow on Spotify, apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcast.
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's Favorite
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That's right.
Every Thursday, Ang and I willbe right here in your ears
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Now, what are we going to talkabout for two hours every week?
Well, you know there's going tobe a lot of fishing.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
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Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
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Speaker 3 (00:41):
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Outdoor Journal Radio seeks toanswer the questions and tell
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Find us on Spotify, applePodcasts or wherever you get
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Speaker 5 (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 Ouellette and I washonoured to serve as Ontario's
Minister of Natural Resources.
However, my journey into thewoods didn't come from politics.
(01:36):
Rather, it came from my time inthe bush and a mushroom.
In 2015, I was introduced tothe birch-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 life dedicated toimproving the lives of others
through natural means.
But that's not what the show isabout.
My pursuit of the strangemushroom and my passion for the
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld world.
(02:26):
On Outdoor Journal Radio'sUnder the Canopy podcast, I'm
going to take you along with meto see the places, meet the
people that will help you findyour outdoor passion and help
you live a life close to natureand under the canopy.
So join me today for anothergreat episode and hopefully we
can inspire a few more people tolive their lives under the
canopy.
Well, welcome everybody to theProvo podcast.
(02:53):
As always, great day out there.
Normal morning I was out runningmy chocolate lab Ensign Gunner,
checking a bunch of my patches.
Now the stinging nettles comingup.
Good, haven't seen much from mypeppermint plants out in my
wild living apothecary that Ihave out there and I've
transplanted a few patches ofleeks of ramps and two of them
(03:16):
are doing spectacular One's kindof look like it's going to make
it as well, but these patchesprobably won't be able to be
harvested.
But these patches probablywon't be able to be harvested or
take some of the outer thereuntil maybe as much as three,
four years from now before Ieven start looking at taking
anything out of thosetransplanted plants.
But kind of a wet, miserable,poured rain the other day and
(03:38):
it's that time of year you knowApril showers bring May flowers,
but we got a bunch of rain inMay.
Now we have a returning guestwho's becoming regular, which I
very much enjoy.
Welcome to the program, pierre.
Good morning Jerry.
Good morning Pierre, pierreGagnon.
How are things up west ofTimmins?
Speaker 6 (03:59):
We're inundated with water.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
What do you mean by that?
You mean the creeks are runninghigh, or what?
Talk?
Tell us about this.
Speaker 6 (04:06):
Everything's well.
Our little road here, whichusually never floods, is about
six inches underwater.
The dam's wide open at IvanoLake.
Snow loads fill in the bush soit hasn't crested yet.
The highway's about six inchesaway from being flooded.
The road is about six inchesaway from being flooded.
The road was closed to Shaplowfor about five days because of a
(04:30):
sinkhole from the water.
Really, the roads open againnow this morning, so the trucks
are gone through.
But yeah, I don't know what'sgoing to happen the next couple
days.
I'm not going to say biblical,oh I just did.
Anyway, I got did.
But anyway I got the mill goingthere.
We're going to start on the arcthere if it doesn't slow down.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
The, so there was a big flood where it washed out
part of the highway betweenChapleau and Timmins.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
Yeah, just a sinkhole developed.
I guess it was a culvert therethat was compromised a bit.
So it developed a sinkholeright and just made a big hole
in the middle of the road.
So they had to fix that up now.
The last time we had a floodlike this we're still not there
yet, but it was 1996, so 29, 30years and it washed the highway
(05:24):
right out.
The pavement was just hangingthere with nothing underneath it
and it washed out a coupleother creeks on the 101.
So we're not there yet, butit's not looking good, jerry.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
So you said the dam's wide open.
Are they generating any hydrooff this dam?
Speaker 6 (05:44):
No, what happens is there's dams on all the lakes up
here, like Ivano Lake, horwoodLake, and they're like a big
basket for the hydropower downbelow the streams, because all
these streams flow into themetogamy and then I think
there's a dam on there, so theyuse this as a basket to control
the water.
It was done like in I don'tknow, 19 something, 19, 15, 20
(06:09):
maybe.
So yeah, they've updated thedam here a couple years ago,
like put new piers in and stuff,so it's.
But it's wide open right nowand they're just hoping that
they can let enough waterthrough so it doesn't create a
problem.
But the little issue is thatthere's a whole bunch of nice
cottages at the lake and it'salways a battle between the lake
(06:30):
and the town here.
If they open the dam, the towngets flooded.
If they close the dam, the lakegets flooded.
Right, but right now they haveno choice.
They just got to let it go.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Yeah, who makes that decision, pierre the?
Speaker 6 (06:42):
ministry, the ministry, the ministry.
Yeah, they have people thatlook after that sort of thing,
like the MNR Ministry of NaturalResources.
So they have a guy there thatmonitors all that stuff and he
looks at snow load, theretention of water in the forest
, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
Right.
So and when you say now, we'reinto May now and you still got
snow in the bush?
Speaker 6 (07:08):
Yeah, we can't even start the mill up, jerry,
because when all the snow cameoff the roof, like in March, we
just got inundated with thosestorms and there's still snow
around the mill.
And I just went and fixed aroad yesterday, a cottage road
that washed out with a piece ofequipment and I had to remove
(07:28):
the snow bank and there wasstill ice under the snow bank,
so they were not done yet.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Oh yeah, I can recall back when I lived in Crooked
Creek, you know, just south ofStarkville you know, kind of
east of Brownsville, north ofNewtonville.
Anyways, seeing snow in thebush in June.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
Yeah, well, that's what happens.
Everybody thinks.
You know.
They look around their yard, Ofcourse it's exposed to the sun
and the rain, and they say, oh,there's no snow.
But when you go into the deepforest and the cedar swamps like
there's still snow and icethere.
You know, sometimes, sometimes,like you say, right until early
June, you know.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
Yeah, and I recall well, that's what happens.
You get the big rains andwashes in, and if it washes
right into the stream, then itcauses, or the creeks and the
rivers and all that.
Then it causes what you'redealing with right now.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Right.
Well, there's a few people intown.
Their toilets are bubbling,Like they got to keep the lid
closed because every once in awhile the toilet bubbles and it
splashes out of the toilet.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
that's how the system's a little backed up,
we'll say yeah, but you've gotuh central water, you've got uh
water plants in and water pipesconnecting in where you are
right?
Speaker 6 (08:40):
yeah, well, christine's on the local
services board and they'reputting out a memo right now to
try to get people to stopdumping their sump pumps into
the source system, which werecommend they do when it's
normal times but now they'regoing to try to get them to
redirect that water flow, likejust into the street, you know,
okay, because we're justflooding the system.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
I recall when we were in there and Pierre worked with
me when I was Minister ofNatural Resources, he handled
the forestry file for theprovince and one of the things
that I found very interestingwas that the Ministry of Natural
Resources had about 2,800 damsin the province of Ontario that
they had control over, whichwere all basically well, not
(09:23):
basically, they were all forjust flood and water control and
no hydro generation intentionthere at all.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
Right, but I think like this water basket here does
create power at some pointdownstream.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, but places like the dam right there in Folliet.
If they had a water generation,hydro generation stand I mean
they've got the infrastructurethere they could probably
generate enough hydro forFolliette in the area.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
Oh, yeah, well, remember we took a tour of
Chapelleau and they were.
They generated their own power.
I think they said until 1967 orsomething with that dam that
they have there which is notfunctioning anymore.
But I guess Hydro One and thegovernment-to-be decided that it
was more cost-efficient just torun that grid system.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Well, what happens, though so people understand is
the way the grid works is sothey're generating hydro, like
you said, quite a ways down.
They have to run it through thelines to get it to where you
are in Folliet, right, and thenso you're charging all those
lines to get there.
But if you have somethingproduced at Lake Ivanhoe, where
you are, then you don't lose allthat line loss getting up there
(10:35):
, and it really helps boost alot of the grid system as a
whole so that you don't have torun long distance of hydro lines
.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
Yeah, the maintenance is crazy.
I mean, we get our deliverycharges through the roof Like we
might burn.
You know $50 worth of power andour delivery charge is $120.
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Well, they all put that on there.
That's to me it's kind of likea scam.
It's just okay, the flat rateis this, but they try to break
it down.
And now I know, when I shipparcels out they have postage
and then a fuel charge.
Well, it should be all included, in my opinion, but it's just
more ways to generate morerevenue.
Rather than say it's the costof hydro, it's the other things
(11:17):
that add to it.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
Right, well, yeah, anyway, it's just a call part, I
guess, an easy way to chargesomebody more.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Yeah.
So, hey morning glory.
Are you enjoying that tea?
Does Christine still like it?
Oh the tea.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
Yeah yeah, she really liked your last batch of chaga
too, your chaga syrup.
Yeah oh yeah.
Good yeah, I'm drinking mychaga there this morning.
Good Christine's been trying toget into the garden, so I told
her the only thing she should beplanting right now are snow
peas, but anyway, so what do youplan to plant in the garden
(11:54):
this year, Pierre?
Well, last year, jerry, we grewcorn, which is not normal up
here, but we had a nice corncrop, so we had corn.
So she's got seedlings startedin the front of the house there,
good Corn, all kinds of stuff,potatoes, carrots, anyway,
squash.
Christine likes to havecucumbers.
(12:17):
Yep, she's transplanting theasparagus right now, redoing
that, and strawberries.
So yeah, asparagus right now,redoing that, and the
strawberries so.
So yeah, she'll be workingthere this afternoon if it don't
rain too hard.
The the ground never reallyfroze in the garden because it
was so much snow oh, that's nota bad sign.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
No, that's kind of good, that's kind of yeah,
because then the, then the, asit melts, it seeps into the
ground, as opposed to just oncethe ground's frozen, it runs off
and right into the stream.
Right, right but that adds toyour problem.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Yeah, I think it's just so wet right now that
anyway, it does help that theground's not frozen for sure.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
Hey, do you get wild leeks up your way?
Speaker 6 (12:56):
I don't know Jerry.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Yeah, I never really paid attention.
I think so.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
You get those wild hazelnuts which are spectacular.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Yeah, they're so small, though, but the taste is
crazy, eh, oh I just hate them.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
I've told the story before so I went to pick up a
bunch.
We went up to the Chaga pickand camp up my uncle's up, you
know Ranger Lakeway.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Right.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
And Diane and I found all kinds of hazelnut bushes,
marked them out, looked for them.
It's at the end of August andSeptember when they're ripe.
We went up to pick them.
We figured we had enough to geta bushel basket of these little
hazelnuts.
We're going to try a new ChagaHazel blend as a specialty, one
(13:44):
kind of once a year, like whenTimmy's comes out with their
Pumpkin Spice Blend, do the samekind of thing.
But we get up there and nohazelnuts.
I didn't tell you this before.
I think you told me the bearsate them all.
Yeah, we come around the corner.
We're wondering what the heckhappened.
I asked my cousins did you pickall the hazelnuts?
They said what hazelnuts?
I said that's a hazelnut bushright there.
(14:04):
That's one there Really.
I said oh, I guess you didn'tpick them.
So we go out and we them alloff the bush.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
So the bears were eating.
They must have quite the acidin their stomach to be able to
break down this pretty hardshell on there.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Well, not only that, but they kind of got like that
prickly shell Right.
I'm sure they're not takingthat off, they're eating that
whole thing.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Yeah, no, no, they're not peeling them, for sure.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Yeah, so it must be pretty good, and so I got that
drone.
We're good, and so I got thatdrone.
I were out with the boys using.
I got a new drone, just thesame one as you got, and we're
we're learning more and moreabout it.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
Now tell everybody what you use your drone for well
, I kind of use it for layingout roads on our private land
and for to look at my trees,like to see where I'm going to
go harvest some of the biggertrees, because really, like you
know, like I was saying, we welike to leave the smaller ones,
so I go find some of the biggerwhite spruce that we can cut for
the mill and I use a drone tofind those, which saves a lot of
(15:03):
foot footwork.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Yeah, yeah, well, I'm hoping to be able to try and
find chaga with it.
Uh, during the chaga pickingseason.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Hopefully take a look with that it'd be great now,
jerry, before the leaves are outyes, exactly right right.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
So how did the?
Speaker 6 (15:17):
kids like flying that .
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Oh yeah, it was great .
It's a big toy.
It's a big, expensive toy.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
It's just like you, though, pierre.
It took you how long before youfelt comfortable in using it.
It was the same with me.
It's just like do I use this?
Is it going to fall?
Am I going to wreck it?
Am I going to fly it intosomething?
Speaker 6 (15:35):
Well, that's what I'm like.
Yeah, what if I crash it?
There goes my money, you know.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
But once you start to fly it you get comfy and
there's lots on the internet ofwhat to do and what not to do
and how far to go and all thatkind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yeah, when I went on, like Christine said, to check
the YouTube videos on it, that'swhat we did and wow, there was
a lot about utilizing it and itgoes right to your model, if
you're looking for that Right,we got an expert in here Volvo.
He's an Ukrainian guy at therecording studio and he's
expertise in drones.
So he showed me all kind ofstuff and set it all up just
(16:11):
perfectly for us.
Oh, that's cool.
That's cool.
So, yeah, so he's got theavoidance setting on it.
So when you're flying it,there's two settings.
He said don't use the avoidance, because sometimes it doesn't
work.
Use the stop, it's a lot better.
Okay, so, anyway, so he set itall up and I'm gaining more
confidence as time goes on.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
Yeah Well, I tend to fly mine a little too high, Like
you're always scared to hitsomething.
So you know, but then you can'tsee as well.
So anyway, I'm learning, youknow.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Well, there's some differences with the fly zones.
I know where I am.
I can't fly it at my housebecause I'm too close to the
local airport, right, and thenwhen you get outside that they
have height limits, which is 120meters.
Oh, that's yeah, so that's notbad, but that's a height limit
for it because of the fly zonein the area.
Okay, and it was kind of neat.
(17:04):
I was out there and somehow I'mreading the drone and it says
oh, there's a plane coming in,it's going to land in 81 seconds
, and gives you a countdown forthe time the plane's coming in,
which I found very interestingbecause I'm that close to the
airport.
Speaker 6 (17:18):
Right, right, we don't have those issues here,
jerry.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
What?
Mike doesn't have his plane upthere anymore.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
No, no, mike's, his plane's in the barn, I think.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Yeah, we talked about that, where you're water skiing
behind it on boards and allkind of stuff, right?
Speaker 6 (17:33):
Right, right Huh.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Cool.
Back in 2016, Frank and I had avision To amass the single
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Speaker 4 (17:50):
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Apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your
podcasts.
And now it's time for anothertestimonial, for Chaga Health
and Wellness.
Okay, here we are in Lindsaywith Bill, who's actually.
This gentleman has given bloodover 230 times 233.
233, and that's amazing, andyou've had some success with
(19:09):
Chaga.
Tell us what you're dealingwith and what you did and how
you what you used.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
Well, I had mild high blood pressure.
It wasn't really high, but Iwas on medication for a few
years.
And then I quit drinking coffeeand started drinking this tea,
the combination tea, the greenand the shaga Right, and my
medication was gone.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Your medication's gone, gone and you couldn't give
blood during the other times.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
Yeah, I could, oh, you could I could.
Yeah, yeah, so, but a few timesthe machine kicked me out.
Oh, yeah, so, but now itdoesn't anymore.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
So you think the green tea and the chaga helped
normalize your blood pressures?
Speaker 7 (19:52):
Oh yeah, oh very good , because it wouldn't be just
stopping coffee, it would haveto be something else.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
And that's the only thing.
You did different Yep.
Speaker 7 (19:59):
Well, thank you very much for that my blood pressure
is probably that of a40-year-old man, and I'm 71.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Oh, very good.
Well, that's good to hear.
Thank you very much for that,no problem.
Okay, we interrupt this programto bring you a special offer
(20:25):
from Chaga Health and Wellness.
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 or not, I may have something of
interest to you.
To thank you for listening tothe show, I'm going to make
trying Chaga that much easier bygiving you a dollar off all our
(20:46):
Chaga products at checkout.
All you have to do is head overto our website,
chagahealthandwellnesscom, placea few items in the cart and
check out with the code CANOPY,c-a-n-o-p-y.
If you're new to Chaga, I'dhighly recommend the regular
Chaga tea.
This comes with 15 tea bags perpackage and each bag gives you
(21:09):
around five or six cups of tea.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
Hey, thanks for listening Back to the episode
yeah, I was out west for a wholemonth.
Jerry, it was pretty nice outthere.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Oh, that's what I wanted to talk to you about, the
main thing.
Now tell us about your trip.
Where'd you go?
Speaker 6 (21:24):
first of all, Well, I left here.
I flew from Toronto to Comoxand then Nicholas picked me up
there.
We went to Campbell River, goton the ferry to Quadra Island,
crossed that island, got onanother ferry to Cortez Island,
which is where they are.
So the big ferry ride was about.
(21:46):
The first one was about eight,ten minutes, not very far, and
then the second one was about a40-minute ferry ride.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
That's not bad.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
No, that's not bad, it was just fine.
It was a bit rough.
Some of the cars were gettingsprayed in the front of the
ferry there, but the ferry holds.
I think it was 26 cars, it wasa fairly big boat, yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
But you didn't land in Vancouver.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
No, comox is an international airport so it was
easy for me to go to fly there.
It's small, almost like theTimmins one.
Oh, there, it's small almostlike the Timmins one.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
Oh really, Whereabouts is that?
I didn't even know where thatis in British Columbia.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
It's maybe about a 40-minute drive from where
Campbell River is.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (22:26):
So it's very easy to fly into there.
So I landed in Vancouver, thenI took a small plane called
Intercoastal Airways, I think,which held about 15, folks, a
little prop plane, and then they, they fly up there and you know
, it's just great that's whereevery seat's a window seat and
(22:47):
every seat's an aisle seatthat's right, that's right yeah
yeah, like a beach 19 orsomething like that.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
I don't remember the plane, but it was not a big
plane.
There was a lady sitting nextto me.
She was kind of a little antsyanyway, yeah.
Yeah, she wasn't too comfy andit went well.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Well with you, with Mike and others, flying your
trap line when you were trappingquite a few decades ago.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
You're used to that kind of bush pilot flying right
oh yeah, I mean Mike and I had afew, a few fun experience.
I always do when the situationwas getting a little hairy when
Mike would start grabbing hishat, I'm like, oh, we in trouble
, mike.
No, no, it's all good.
And then you see him grab hishat a couple of times.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
I'm like he's.
Like we got to find a place toland.
I could tell you one trip withme.
I was heading to Kenora and Ihad to take Bearskin Airlines
out of Thunder Bay and it waslate October.
Well, for me, down where wewere, it was still shorts
weather.
So I get to Thunder Bay andthey tell me my luggage hasn't
(24:01):
arrived and they don't knowwhere it is.
But don't worry, it could bethere already.
Anyway, so I'm now, I've gotvirtually like shorts on and
easy nice shoes and easy niceshoes.
So I jump in the plane and wehad to go to Fort Francis first.
Well, we're flying out of FortFrancis.
(24:23):
After we landed there, pickedup, dropped off two people and
then it was a beach 19.
Like, like you said, everyseat's an aisle seat, every
seat's a window seat and there'sone other person on the plane
with me.
Anyways, we get out of FortFrancis and we hit the front and
the plane turns sideways,completely sideways, and I'm
looking straight down at thewoman beside me and she's white,
(24:46):
knuckling it in complete panic,and I know the feeling.
It's a little exciting, it's alittle exciting.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Well, that's like they say if you've got time to
spare, fly small air.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
So tell us a bit about the trip.
So what were you doing out inCortez Island?
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Well, nicky bought a property out there he's in a
rental right now and so hestarted to develop his land and
he wanted to start building ahouse out there.
So we went out there andleveled off a piece of ground
and poured a footing, and thenwe uh, built a pony wall and we
(25:26):
were just starting to lay thefloor when I left.
So, uh, he's got a small millout there.
Of course, the problem wastrying to find small enough
trees to fit on his little mill,because it's a manual mill.
Speaker 5 (25:38):
How big of logs will it hold?
Speaker 6 (25:40):
Well, you want to stick to the 20, 22-inch max, 24
max.
You know some of the trees onhis land, the BC fir, are like
five, six feet on the stump.
So we're like, no, we're nottaking those trees, but he
doesn't want to cut those anyway.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
Well, how do you, even how do you handle them with
that, unless you've gotequipment?
Speaker 6 (26:00):
no, you don't, he's not like we.
We ended up cutting like 20inch trees.
Actually, we cut only two treesand we had enough to do the
whole floor.
Really, yeah, because the treesare so long, like we're, we're
getting five, six logs per tree,16-foot logs, five six 16-foot
logs.
Out of a 20-inch on the butttree.
(26:20):
So it was like crazy.
Anyway.
Wow, what kind of trees wereyou cutting?
We cut a hemlock and then a BCfir, so the fir is heavy.
It's not like here, like it'sreally dense, heavy wood, like a
hemlock.
Yeah, even denser, I think.
I'm not sure.
(26:40):
I guess they're probably aboutthe same density, I'm not too
sure.
But yeah, we were just tryingto find trees small enough to
get on his mill.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Yeah, I know when I'm cutting hemlock with my 038
still, that if you don't get thebar just right, you're seeing
sparks coming off the bar withHemlock when I'm cutting it up
Right right.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Anyway, it was special he's putting the floor
on now we got a whole bunch offree wood.
They were building a cottage onthe island.
They call it that.
A lot of people with some moneyout there, jerry.
They had a team of builders inthere.
This is their second year andthey're still not done and this
(27:23):
is a cottage for the daughterwho might show up for a month, a
month and a half this summer.
You know, really they spent Ithink nikki said they spent over
five hundred thousand dollarsjust on the landscaping.
Well, like you said, some gotmoney right.
Oh no, it's crazy.
Well500,000 just on thelandscaping.
Well, like you said, some gotmoney right.
Oh no, it's crazy.
Well, there's people that areon the island that only show up
for like three weeks a month peryear from the States and stuff.
(27:45):
So Ashley does all thegardening.
Nikki's wife has a gardeningthing who two, three girls work
for and they just do gardens forthese folks that when they show
up, their gardens are done,their fruit trees are pruned,
the yard looks good, they caneat vegetables, you know, and
(28:08):
then they leave and then Nickyand Ashley get to pick all the
vegetables that are left over,like carrots, potatoes, whatever
you know and fruit from thetrees.
Speaker 5 (28:14):
So let everybody know who Nicky is to you, so people
understand who Nicky is.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
Nicky is technically my half-brother and then Jose's
out there as well.
I got a half-sister out there.
She does a radio show on CortezIsland radio station every
Saturday night.
It plays Monday morning and soI went out.
I didn't help her, but I wentand watched her do her show,
which was kind of fun, saturdaynight from 9 to 1.
(28:42):
And lots of people show up onthe island to help her out, you
know, or to keep her company.
Let's say they don't help muchbut bring a few beers maybe, I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
So that was kind of fun.
So, is it an organizedcommunity or unorganized out?
Speaker 5 (29:02):
there unorganized.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
You got some people that live in like abandoned
trailers or trailers, and thenyou know you got one extreme to
the other.
You got houses that are worthmillions of dollars and you've
got people living in shacks, youknow.
So, yeah, but yeah, it's kindof nice, like the island.
Maybe there's a in the wintertime, maybe what they call a
winter a couple thousand folkshere, but in the summer it
(29:23):
triples, like you know, and thenlots of people boat up there,
sailboats and you know all kindsof boats.
So how?
Speaker 5 (29:31):
big?
How big is the island?
Speaker 6 (29:33):
maybe 20 miles long, I don't know 15, 20 miles long,
I don't know 15, 20 miles long,four or five miles wide maybe.
Speaker 7 (29:41):
Fairly big.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
Yeah, they've done some logging on the island, like
in the old days.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
Yeah, yeah.
So what else do people do foremployment up there?
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Good, question A lot of.
There's an oyster farm kind ofthing, like when they put
strings into the water.
There's like an oyster place,there's fishing, a lot of guys
fish, a lot of construction onthe Island, like uh, that kind
of stuff.
There's stores on the Island,oh there's all.
There's all kinds of work.
(30:14):
A lot of people are pretty laidback there.
So if you're a worker it's nottoo hard to get work, yeah.
But yeah, it's kind ofdifferent.
There's a lot of pensioned outfolks there too that just don't
do too much.
I was talking to one old guy.
I said what's your job?
(30:36):
He says oh, I was just out onone of the docks shoveling the
fog off the dock.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
he says so the wintertime there, is there any
snow there?
Speaker 6 (30:48):
They might get snow occasionally, like you know,
like a minus five is kind of abig deal, a minus 10.
There is like whoa water.
You know, people's water startsto freeze and stuff, yeah, so
they don't usually get too much.
But it's weird because, like Iwas there just at the end of the
rainy time and, like thethermostat, the thermometer is
(31:10):
kind of stuck on seven.
You know, like you wake up itmight be a plus four, then
during the day it goes to sevenor nine, then back, you know, it
just stays like, it just lookslike it's stuck there, like it's
not.
It doesn't even work.
You know, oh yeah, but thenafter that it dries out, like
Nicky said, it's going to getreally dry.
Speaker 5 (31:28):
So once that rainy season's over, right, yeah, so
when you poured the, when youpour it, so it's just a slab,
it's not a basement that youpoured there.
Speaker 6 (31:36):
No, we just did a footing, jerry.
Okay, yeah, so he's justbuilding like a smaller house
for now.
Then he'll build a bigger housewhen he you know later on, if
he ever gets to it.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
So yeah, so they put rebar in all the pourings and
stuff like that as well.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
He bought a bunch of that for like a hundred bucks
and then that build.
I was telling you about the guy.
Nicky knows the builder, so hesays well, I got a whole bunch
of wood there, that I don't needanymore, we're done with this
wood.
So he says you can come and sortthrough it.
So Nicky's got a pretty bigtruck like a 12 foot deck.
It took us three hours to loadall that free wood Like laminate
(32:18):
beams and plywood and he hadenough plywood to do the pony
wall and the floor and we hadenough two by eights to do the
pony wall.
Like we just so much free freewood Right, and that they didn't
need right, it was just donethis to them, it was just like
you know, they had to hiresomebody to pick it up, right,
(32:38):
so?
Speaker 5 (32:38):
so how did they get all the material in the woods
and all that kind of stuff tothe island and the rebar and
stuff, ferry, ferry.
Everything comes in by ferry,yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
Well, you can hire a barge too, Like if you've got a
big load, like a constructioncompany might hire an off-island
barge, Right, and they'll comein with a whole load of stuff,
you know.
But like everything comes in onthe ferry, there's one day, a
week or one ferry run that's fordangerous goods, Like if
they've got to haul gas or, youknow, propane.
(33:08):
But yeah, the ferry runs I thinkthere's four ferries a day, so
you know, it's not too hard toget back and forth.
And they're going to expand theferry this summer, according to
Jose's partner, to a largerferry.
So yeah, so we'll see whathappens there.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
So is this kind of like that old TV show with Bruno
Gerossi and Relic Beachcombers?
Yeah well, I didn't see Relic.
Speaker 6 (33:32):
Is that the kind of community?
It's kind of like that Yep, Yep, there's lots of you know, yeah
, okay, If you snoop around theisland there's the gas station
that's right on.
You know, like for the boats,and you know there's boats all
over.
Some people live on boats outthere, like in a small sailboat.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
They'll just live on their boat, right?
Yeah, I remember John O'Toole.
His son was living in Hong Kongand he couldn't get a place, so
that's what they did.
They bought a big boat it waslike, from what I recall, quite
large, like a 86-footer orsomething like that that they
never took out and they justlived on the boat, right?
Wow, yeah, so how did the priceof gas compare on the island
(34:13):
compared to the mainland?
Speaker 6 (34:16):
About 20 cents more per liter.
Yeah, yeah, I guess it's 15, 20cents, I think, Right.
So there's a bit of a chargethere.
For sure Most guys when they gooff island they'll load their
cans up.
You know, Right, there's a bitof a charge there.
For sure Most guys when they gooff island they'll load their
cans up.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
you know Right.
And what about electricity?
How do they get electricity tothe island?
They generate it on their ownwith solar and wind.
Speaker 6 (34:35):
There's cables that run under the ocean there, I
guess, to feed the island.
I'm not positive about that,but I think that's the way it
works.
Speaker 5 (34:44):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (34:45):
So that works pretty good.
Other than that, not too muchnews, Jerry.
I'm just waiting to get themill going here.
This weather clears up, so whendo you figure that'll be?
I hope to get it going by themiddle of next week.
I'm working on equipment rightnow, just doing the maintenance
on everything.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
so Right, and when are you coming to get that new
truck of yours?
I already got it.
Well, you didn't tell me that.
How'd you get that?
Speaker 6 (35:10):
Well, pat and Tanya were going down Easter weekend,
so I went down with them onFriday and I drove back home on
Sunday.
Oh, okay, so I bought that usedtruck and it did really well on
the drive home.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
Oh good, because I was going to see if you could
load it up with some cedar logsto square out for me.
Speaker 6 (35:30):
Oh no, you missed the boat, jerry.
Mm-hmm.
Again, jeepers.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
Yes, yeah Well, I'm just going to have to use my
Alaskan chainsaw mill and cutthem all off.
That's it.
That's it Is Garrett still outwest.
Yeah, yeah, he's Calgary.
He's working in Calgary now.
He'll be there for the summer.
So well, I don't think.
I think the camp jobs haven'tquite opened up yet in
(35:59):
Saskatchewan, and as soon asthey do there, he'll head out to
Saskatchewan.
So he can get two weeks 10 to12.
Well, I think they got rulesout there.
You can't work more than 10hours a day.
So he'll work two weeks 10hours a day and then get a week
off and then back and forth.
Oh yeah, cool.
Speaker 6 (36:19):
That's good.
Speaker 5 (36:20):
So, yeah, he's kind of looking forward to that.
He likes those camp jobs at hisage and Garrett, as you know,
he likes to keep busy workingRight.
That's good which is not a badthing.
I'm sure the money is good.
Yeah, yeah.
So he'll keep going, and yougot a lot of orders for your
mill already.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
Yeah, there's a bunch of people waiting to build in
town here, but there's just toomuch.
You know there's still waterand stuff, but it's all going to
start up.
I'm just worried.
They're middle of May.
There's about three garagesgoing up.
I think there's a house.
So yeah, we'll be busy once weget going and you've got logs
cut already.
I have a load of logs right now.
But my bush road washed out theother day because Interfor was
(37:02):
up there.
The company what's Interfor?
That's the local company out ofTimmins.
So they were logging up my roadand they kind of crushed a
culvert near the back end, aboutmaybe half a kilometer from
where my gate is.
They crushed the culvert, theytore it out, put another one in
(37:25):
and I was there the other dayand the culvert's sticking up in
the air and the water's flowingover the road.
So I in touch with them andthey said, oh, no, we're gonna
fix it, we're gonna fix it.
So I said, well, uh, there's nouse going up there right now
because there's just watereverywhere.
Speaker 5 (37:40):
So but uh, so what's Inter4 cutting?
Speaker 6 (37:44):
uh, they were just cutting regular SPF like spruce
pine fir.
But they were up there yearsago and uh it was.
They were too late in the yearto cut the swamps, so they went
back this winter to cut theswamps that they had left.
So I'm anxious to go see ifthey cut up to my property line
or not.
Right, they're back to thedrone.
I'll go fly the drone around.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
So what mill do they supply?
They supply the Timmons millwith that wood.
And what are they making at theTimmons mill?
Speaker 6 (38:13):
Regular dimensional wood Jerry, 2x4, 2x6, 2x8, you
know.
Speaker 5 (38:18):
Yeah, so SPS, spruce, pine, fir, dimensional stuff.
Speaker 6 (38:22):
Right nothing special Volume stuff.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
What other mills they got in Timmons.
Is there any veneer mills ornot in timmons directly.
Speaker 6 (38:32):
There's one in cochrane that does poplar
plywood I don't know how they'redoing.
And then there's a smaller millin timmons as well, called
little john um.
We toured that years ago so, uh, he passed away.
Speaker 5 (38:45):
Now somebody else took that over and he does a lot
of specialty stuff to ship downsouth, like, uh, crane decking,
all that, all that kind ofstuff right, so that's what you
say down south, you mean southpart ontario or down south of
the states no, down south tolike toronto all right, so I
don't know what that cranedecking is used for.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
I don't really get it , but uh, I think like a lot of
those big cranes and stuff needdecks, or a lot of the equipment
has to walk on decks and stuff.
Speaker 5 (39:12):
So yes, well, I know that.
I spoke with the policy advisor, rebecca for the minister of
forestry and they're having thebig concerns with this tariffs
coming in, because what'shappening now is a lot of the
stuff that would head to thestates are coming into ontario,
are going to be heavily taxed,oh wow.
And so, yeah, that's going tois a lot of the stuff that would
head to the.
States or coming into Ontarioare going to be heavily taxed
and so, yeah, that's going tohave a big impact.
(39:34):
But I tried to.
My suggestion to them was look,we've got a lot of places like
your mill, and you mentioned abunch of these other mills out
there that a lot of retailersdon't even know of their
existence.
So if we could develop abuyer-seller network so people
know where to get wood, and samething with people looking mills
, looking for wood Like youmentioned, you were selling the
(39:54):
Mennonites as well.
Speaker 6 (39:56):
Yeah, last year we did cedar to them.
So I don't know.
I didn't sell them any cedarthis year because I was busy
with the ice roads and thengoing out west.
But yeah, well, gaetan just gotin up here, you know him.
Yeah, gaetan just got in uphere, you know him.
Yeah, gaetan Mallette yeah, sohe was a forestry guy and
Peary's taken over the NorthernMines and Development, so I
(40:18):
might throw a few things at themjust to make people mad a
little bit.
Yeah, there's a nice area ofoversized spruce on the highway
there.
I was going to go and maybeapply for a permit to do a
selective cut there.
I know Interfor is not going tobe too keen on that, but too bad
(40:40):
for them, right?
It's just good to let them knowthat there's other people still
alive in the province.
There's no more small guys leftup here.
We're the only little guys left, so they got rid of everybody.
Speaker 5 (40:51):
Well, we tried to do something rather unique that the
industry didn't really like andthe ministry as a bureaucracy
didn't really understand.
We tried to bring in the horselogging, remember.
Speaker 6 (41:02):
Right.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
Yeah, because horse logging essentially it's very
soft-touch logging and veryspecific logs.
Speaker 6 (41:10):
Right.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Yeah, so yeah, some of the the small opportunities,
because that used to be thenumber one employer in Folliette
where you were.
Was the forest industry justsmall players at one time, right
?
Speaker 6 (41:21):
Yeah, well, when automation came in, like you
know, like the buncher and the,the whole thing, kind of, yeah,
no more hand crews, like no morecut and skid crews, that all
went by the wayside.
So you know the way, there usedto be 20 crews.
Now there's only maybe two, youknow.
So it really affectedeverything.
But there there was neverreally was a lot of.
(41:44):
There was a lot of small guysdoing small cuts, like Unpoplar
and Birch and stuff.
So that's all gone.
And there was a few small millsaround, like us, but they're
all gone as well.
So the only reason we're doingwhat we're doing is because we
have our own private land.
Speaker 5 (42:01):
Well, and part of it, Pierre, was a lot of the big
industries.
They're in there for profitreasons industries.
They're in there for profitreasons, so their focus is their
business aspect, where a lot ofthe communities like yours and
other communities around aremore about a community aspect,
and that's where we broughtforward, remember, the community
(42:22):
forest program.
Speaker 6 (42:23):
We planted that seed in Tomogami.
Speaker 5 (42:27):
Tell us about it.
Speaker 6 (42:27):
Pierre, well, yeah, we went and met with the Native
group and suggested that theyput together a community-based
forestry system, which they hadin Bancroft at the time, and we
didn't tell anybody where wewere going and the bureaucrats
or the ministry was not tooimpressed with us.
And I just heard about a yearago that that community-based
(42:50):
forestry system in Tomagami gotput in place.
So we planted the seed and ittook 20 years for it to prosper.
Speaker 5 (42:57):
Now, essentially what happened, just so people
understand, is that thecommunity now has some say in
who gets to cut and how much andhow the allocation goes, so
that they can generateemployment in that community.
That was the design right.
Speaker 6 (43:10):
Right, yeah, it's a better system.
And then, if somebody comes upwith a good idea to build a
factory creating chairs, andthey need, you know, 200 cubic
meters over the year, or athousand.
Well, the town can get togetherand say, no, we want those
people there, whereas right nowthere is no system to implement
that, you know.
Speaker 5 (43:29):
Whereas right now there is no system to implement
that.
You know, yeah, and quitefrankly, possibly this could be
potentially one of the ways thatcould generate employment in
small communities which, as I'vesaid for decades, pierre, you
know, the forest and the miningindustry are the lifeblood of
Northern Ontario.
Speaker 6 (43:45):
Yes, for sure, the mining sector has really gone
nuts and lots of people doingthose you know, seven days on,
seven days off, kind of jobs.
Speaker 5 (43:55):
Well, look at the price of gold over $3,000 an
ounce now.
Right, that's right, that'sright.
So you got any gold explorationgoing on in your area.
Speaker 6 (44:03):
Well, we just spent the winter there.
They were running drills.
So they're looking for gold?
I don't think they.
I don't know if they found any,you'll never hear about it.
You know they keep everythingpretty hush-hush, of course,
yeah, yeah, but you never know.
You never know.
Speaker 5 (44:19):
Interesting, right Interesting.
So what else are on the plansfor this year, pierre?
Speaker 6 (44:23):
Nothing.
Get the mill going.
A little bit of work for PhilipAround.
Get the mill going.
A little bit of work forPhillip at the round.
There's a few other.
Speaker 5 (44:30):
What kind of work?
What kind of work?
Speaker 6 (44:33):
Probably some MTO work and then maybe some
excavator work.
We still have the excavatorthat we leased last winter still
in Phillip's yard, so there'sanother little job coming up, I
think.
Right, anyway, I'm just anxiousto get the mill going for now.
Speaker 5 (44:50):
Yeah, MTO stands for Ministry of Transportation.
Speaker 6 (44:52):
Yeah well, right now I just yesterday I went and
fixed a washout.
They're just waiting.
They're kind of on pins andneedles.
Which road's going to wash outnext?
That kind of thing.
Right, with all the floods andthe rainwater that are coming
through.
Right the culverts, just someculverts, just let go and yada,
yada.
So, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 5 (45:14):
All right, very good, Pierre.
As always, it's a pleasuretalking and getting an update of
what's happening in your partof the province and now the
country out to BC and everythingelse.
Very interesting, as always.
Speaker 6 (45:25):
All right, Terry.
Well, we'll let you go andhopefully you'll take a couple
days and you and Diane can comeand catch some fish at the
cottage.
Speaker 5 (45:34):
That sounds good, Pierre.
Speaker 6 (45:35):
I know Diane really enjoyed catching that pike.
Speaker 5 (45:40):
Oh, and not only that , but they were great eating
after you showed us the properway to clean them out, that's
perfect, All right.
Jerry.
Okay, Pierre.
As always, it's greatinformation and more
understanding of what happens ina lot of parts of the country
and the province out there underthe canopy.
Thanks, Pierre, Sounds good.
Speaker 6 (45:56):
Over and out.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to
build one of Canada's mosticonic fishing lodges?
I'm your host, steve Nitzwicky,and you'll find out about that
and a whole lot more on theOutdoor Journal Radio Network's
newest podcast, diaries of aLodge Owner.
But this podcast will be morethan that.
Every week on Diaries of aLodge Owner, I'm going to
(46:39):
introduce you to a ton of greatpeople, share their stories of
our trials, tribulations andinspirations, learn and have
plenty of laughs along the way.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along
trying to figure out how tocatch a bass and we both decided
one day we were going to be ontelevision doing a fishing show.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in
all those bass in the summertime, but that might be for more
fishing than it was punching.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
You so confidently.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
You said hey, pat, have you ever eaten a drum?
Find Diaries of a Lodge Ownernow on Spotify, apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcast.
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