From October 15 to 17, Lene Rasmussen, a master basketmaker from Wainfleet, Ont., gave two workshops on weaving with natural, unprocessed willow at the MERA (McDonalds Corners/Elphin Recreation and Arts) schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners. Rasmussen taught a two-day workshop on making a willow purse/handbag on Saturday and Sunday, and a one-day workshop to make garden globes on Monday. She grew all the willow that was used in the workshops and the participants were especially excited by the range of colors that were available for them to incorporate into their baskets. No dyes were used; the colors are all natural and come from the different varieties of willow.

For many of the students it was their first ever attempt at making a willow basket and it was a testament to Rasmussen’s ability as a teacher that they all left with finished baskets, complete with leather straps.

Rasmussen is dedicated to “re-introducing a very old craft”, the craft of willow basketry, which she finds both exciting and satisfying. She has established a business named Lakeshore Willows, where she grows about 30 different varieties of the plant and gives workshops, not only in making baskets but also in making structures such as living willow fences, huts, play tunnels etc.

For more information visit www.lakeshorewillows.com

Cape Breton fiddler Anita MacDonald and piper Ben Miller make a musically explosive combination which might just be the next big thing from that storied island. Their four-piece band, which includes Tyson Chen on piano and Zakk Cormier on guitar, will be coming to MERA in McDonalds Corners on Sunday October 30 for an evening concert and afternoon workshops for musicians interested in learning Cape Breton styles.

MERA is fortunate to be able to present this up-and-coming group who are bringing Scottish Gaelic musical tradition into the twenty-first century with respect, energy and a delightful stage presence. The Sunday, Oct 30 program at MERA is as follows:

2 - 4 pm: Workshops for interested musicians (cost: $30/person)

- Fiddle and pipe tune playing, Cape Breton style (combined group), intermediate to advanced level

-Accompaniment styles from strong beginner to advanced player on keyboard, guitar or other stringed instrument (bring your own)

7 pm: Ben Miller and Anita MacDonald concert, with Tyson Chen and Zakk Cormier MERA hall (cost: $20 advance/25 door/$15 for registered workshop participants)

For more information on this program, contact Bill Cameron at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.benandanita.com. Tickets for the concert and workshops can be purchased online at www.ticketsplease.ca. MERA Schoolhouse is at 974 Concession 9A, McDonalds Corners and full info about this busy community arts centre is at www.meraschoolhouse.org.

A Company of Fools are the actors, and the McDonalds Corners Farmers’ Market are your hosts on Wednesday, July 20 for a summer evening’s “torchlight Shakespeare” entertainment featuring duelling knights, dastardly pirates, proper princesses, promiscuous prostitutes, an ancient goddess and not one but two shipwrecks! How could the Fools have waited so long to tell the thrilling tale of Pericles, Prince of Tyre! When our hero discovers a dark secret about the evil king of Antioch, Pericles is forced to flee for his life. So begins an epic voyage that takes him across several seas to far off lands where he discovers adventure, love and just maybe what life is all about. Don’t miss this exciting, fast-paced escapade set in a mythical world. Fun for the entire family!

Join us Wednesday, July 20 at MERA, the old schoolhouse in McDonald’s Corners (974 Concession 9A). A Company of Fools is an Ottawa-based troupe who combine physical theatre techniques of clown, mask and puppetry with the classical text. For this outdoor show, bring a lawn chair or blanket, bug spray and a sense of humour. Pass-the-hat donations are collected at the end of the performance and can be submitted in the form of cash or cheque ($20 per adult suggested).

To enjoy a full “dinner-and-theatre” evening, arrive at 5:30 when the McDonalds Corners Farmers’ Market vendors offer a variety of savories and sweets for sale. Bring your own plates and cutlery. The performance starts promptly at 7 p.m.

More information about the Company of Fools and their full schedule can be found at fools.ca and directions to MERA at meraschoolhouse.org. For vendor information call Kristine Swaren at 613-278-1226

Looking for something creative and enjoyable for your children or grandchildren this summer? Consider enrolling them in MERA’s 12th annual Arts Camp for Kids for children ages seven to 12 (or 13) at the heritage MERA Schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners. The camp will take place Monday, July 25 to Friday, July 29 from 9am to 3pm each day. On the Friday, there will be a vernissage for parents and grandparents to come and see what the children accomplished all week.

Artist and Camp Director, Jo Bali, of Jackalope Farm and Eco-Art-Studio, and former volunteer children's program director at Stewart Park Festival, joins MERA again this year. The children will create an art project every day using a different medium with eco-friendly materials. Games and other activities are also built into the day’s routine.

The MERA camp is moderately priced at $160 for MERA members and $180 for non-members, and includes all art supplies. Children should bring sunscreen, lunch, a hat and snacks. Wear clothes that can get dirty! To register, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Marilyn Barnett 613-259-2269 and leave a message. Go to www.meraschoolhouse.org for further details.

Saturday, May 28, from 11-3, will see the opening of a new museum in McDonalds Corners in Lanark Highlands to celebrate the world of basketry. Located in a 1930's stable, the Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum houses a collection of over 200 items, a basketry library, and a loft for workshops. Adjacent to the stable is a garden with plants that are used for baskets, such as sweet grass, winter wheat, willow, rushes and birch.

In addition to baskets, the collection includes a variety of other items made using basketry techniques: mats, toys, a bee skep and even a small boat, or coracle. All the exhibits are made from materials that can be found locally. After one display of Indigenous basketry, each display is focused around one kind of material: willow, cedar, birch, pine needles, cattails and rush. Another display includes the rest of the fourteen different materials.

The curator of the Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum is Ankaret Dean, who has been teaching basketry, and making and collecting baskets since 1975. She moved to the highlands in the early 1990s to raise sheep and bees on a farm in Elphin. Five years ago, she moved into the old doctor's house in the village of McDonalds Corners, and fell in love with the old stable where the doctor’s horse and carriage were housed.

Dean would like the museum to be more than a display. "I don't want visitors just to look at things. I want them to learn about the bounty of natural materials we have in our environment and to discover the pleasure of making simple baskets and useful items.” On May 28 at the Grand Opening of the museum, visitors will have an opportunity to make beads using birch bark.

The museum will be open all summer on Saturdays from 11 o'clock until 3 o'clock from May until October to coincide with the McDonalds Corners Farmers Market on the MERA Schoolhouse Grounds. Workshops will be arranged during the summer: the schedule currently includes workshops on using cedar bark during the month of June. Information on future workshops can be found on the website below.

The museum is located in McDonalds Corners on 5596 McDonalds Corners Road. Parking is very limited, and visitors are advised to park close by on the road opposite at the MERA Schoolhouse where the McDonalds Corners Farmers Market is held on Saturdays. Admission is by donation. See www.ankaretdean.ca for further information.

There is likely no individual better able to inspire those interested in Canada's far north, and in particular the Northwest Passage, as singer/song writer David Newland. Newland has traveled extensively to both as a Zodiac driver and presenter with Adventure Canada, a travel company that offers travelers a chance to cruise to Canada's far north and experience the magic of its unique landscape and inhabitants.

Newland gave a special presentation titled “The Northwest Passage in Story and Song” at the MERA Schoolhouse in McDonald's Corners on March 13. In the first section of his show he spoke of the history of Canada's far north and how many British explorers who traveled there in an effort to find the Northwest Passage, the quickest way to the Far East, met their demise.

His knowledge and understanding of the place's controversial history is apparent and he peppered his factual presentation with maps and photos of the land and the people who were living there long before British explorers began making expeditions there. “This show places my journeys in context and helps to share some of what we as Canadians draw on when we think about the Northwest Passage and what it means to us,” Newland said when interviewed at the show.

Being a guy who can drive a Zodiac, sing and write songs and who is also comfortable making presentations is what landed him this truly unique line of work. “Someone said he just needed a folk singer who could travel easily, drive boats, perform songs and make presentations - and that is how I ended up here.”

Newland, who currently lives in Cobourg, saved the musical portion of the show for its second half. He played guitar ukelele and harmonica and was joined by a three-piece band who backed him up beautifully, with Saskia Tomkins playing strings, Oisin Hannigan on various percussive instruments, and Steafan Hannigan on flutes, whistles and other instruments. They performed a number of original songs inspired fby Newland’s northern travels, songs like “Musk Ox Stew”, and “Under Forever Skies”. The latter tells of the “ghosts of men who came to plunder".

The foursome played one upbeat and cheeky tune called “What Ho! The Arctic!” and they showed their musical diversity with a calypso-inspired tune titled “Beechy Island”, for which Newland displayed a slide of the beach where three sailors from Franklin's famed expedition are buried. They died during their first winter there.

Newland is a seasoned and passionate performer and his passion for the north and its people comes through strongly in this show.

Newland's in between banter further opened listeners’ eyes to the magic that only Canada's far north can inspire. “If I had to use one word only to describe the place, I would say it would have to be 'scale' ...when you get to the Arctic, words begin to fail, words like sublime and awesome, often used these days to describe a brand of hot chocolate or a certain skate board move. In the Arctic these words aspire once again to their old ancient meanings.” For more information visit “The Northwest Passage in Story and Song” on Facebook.

Newland's show at MERA may very well have inspired a few listeners to consider adding an adventure in Canada's far north to their bucket list.

On February 27, the MERA schoolhouse was abuzz with local growers looking ahead to spring as they swapped seeds at the annual McDonalds Corners Farmers’ Market Seed Swap.

The event, now in its fifth year, was organized by Kristine Swaren of Blue Chicory Garden farm and local grower Linda Harvey. It attracted a plethora of local growers looking for something new to plant while offering up their own seeds for others to try out. On hand were a wide variety of heritage tomato, bean and squash seeds.

New this year were cuttings taken from the former MERA willow labyrinth. The labyrinth was removed from the grounds last year, but cuttings were saved and grown out by Linda Harvey and others. The willow, salix purpurea, is particularly suitable for basket making. As the MERA legend goes, it was initially brought to the area from Ireland in the form of a basket that was then taken apart and planted. The species, which has become naturalized around the Great Lakes, is not invasive and is easy to grow. Harvey said that MERA often offers basket-making workshops.

Swaren and Harvey were also promoting Seeds of Diversity, a not-for-profit Canadian seed organization that is always aiming to renew and expand their Canadian Seed Library. The library houses a collection of seeds to back up the work of the organization’s members and Canadian heritage seed companies by storing samples of Canadian seeds and prioritizing rare and locally adapted varieties. These seeds are made available to future gardeners and farmers.

Every year, Seeds of Diversity chooses one vegetable crop or family to focus on for their seed library grow-outs, and they have named 2016 “The Year of the Tomato”. Through a generous donation from the Dan McMurray collection of the Creston Seed Bank in British Columbia, which included 839 varieties of tomato seeds, Seeds of Diversity is offering heritage tomato seeds through their Great Tomato Project. They are asking that half of the seeds that are grown be collected and sent back to the organization to be frozen in storage in their library. (Anyone interested can visit growers@seeds.ca or contact Kristine Swaren at 613-278-1226).

Harvey and Swaren are hoping to start a cooperative seed-saving initiative in McDonalds Corners. “I see it not necessarily as a seed bank but more as a list of people who are growing different things so we can know who has what seeds, and perhaps also create an online database to let growers in the area know what is available and where”, Harvey said.

The seeds up for grabs on Saturday were constantly changing as growers arrived. There was one packet of particular interest, which contained seeds from the Hopi Indian pale grey squash. Swaren was given them two years ago from Seeds of Diversity. She said that it was the last packet of such seed that existed in the country. “It is a great storage winter squash that makes awesome soups”.

There were also a number of crossed varieties of pole beans. One variety, which was named after the local farm where it grew, was the “Abundare” pole bean from Catherine Smith's farm on McNaughton Road near Maberly. “These beans were one of the first plants that we grew when we bought the farm and no matter the weather, they are prolific, delicious and abundant beans that come up year after year”, said Catherine.

Also on hand were a number of flower seeds including hollyhocks, poppies, dahlias, calla lilies and more.

Summing up the importance of saving heritage seed, Swaren said, “It's really important for independent growers to keep the heritage varieties alive to promote genetic diversity, since a lot of the commercial seed catalogues are offering fewer heritage seed varieties”.

Judging by the buzz at the Seed Swap, it looks as though many growers can hardly wait to get their hands in the dirt, and local gardens should prove diverse and prolific this growing season.

Winter months in Canada's north are the perfect time for locals to brave the cold and get together to share a meal, especially when the proceeds go to a local community cause. At the MERA schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners, that tradition is the popular foodie fundraiser, Around the World on a Dinner Plate, which takes place four times in the winter, twice each in the months of February and March. Local volunteers prepare an exotic meal, usually for about 40 diners, who pay $15 a plate. The meal is often inspired by a far-flung country to which the chefs may have recently traveled.

On February 19, chefs Lyndal and Michael Neelin took the lead in the kitchen, with the help of Jan and Steve Griffiths. The Neelins, who have never been to Lebanon, were inspired by their frequent foodie forays into the city of Ottawa. They are big fans of the many Lebanese restaurants there.

“We love Lebanese food, and eat it all of the time when we are Ottawa doing errands,” Lyndal said on Friday night at MERA, where she and her team were preparing the meal. “It's fast, tasty, healthy and inexpensive.”

The menu included kafta kabobs made with a mixture of ground beef and fresh herbs and spices; grape leaves stuffed with rice, lentils, chick peas, tomato and mint; a tabouleh salad that featured bulgur, parsley, and cilantro; plus ample sides of hummus and baba ghanouj. A green salad known as fatoush, made with lettuce and considerable amounts of fresh mint and parsley, plus red onions and cucumber, and dressed with traditional olive oil, honey and lemon juice, was also served. The meal was accompanied with pita bread known as manakish, which is rubbed with a spice mixture known as za'atar, a blend of dried thyme, sesame seeds and sumac.

Dessert is enjoyed courtesy of the diners, who are asked to contribute a potluck sweet for all to share. While the chef(s) at these events will sometimes dress in costume, or read an appropriate themed story, the Neelins brought with them some Lebanese music for the diners to enjoy.

The first event, which was held earlier this month, was a hearty men's themed dinner and in March the events will continue with German and Irish-themed meals. Past meals have included Japanese, Ethiopian, French Canadian, Australian and more. The usually sold out events continue to bring together food lovers for a hearty evening of exotic food and fundraising.

The McDonalds Corners Farmers’ Market invites you to bring seeds and friends on Saturday, February 27, 10 am to 2 pm, to the MERA Schoolhouse – and take home different seeds and new friendships!

Here’s what we’ll be doing: 10 am to 2 pm – drop in to swap seeds. Bring seeds - the ones you saved from last year's garden or the left-overs (commercial or saved) that you didn't plant. Bring containers (small bottles or envelopes, plus labels and markers) for the new-to-you seeds that you’ll take home.

10:30 am – Linda Harvey will lead a discussion group “Seed Saving - Not Just for the Third World” We need to take responsibility for preserving the plants we cherish and the rich diversity that is ours. Find out how to get quality seed from your plants and why this is important.

11:30 am – join the Seeds of Diversity’s Great Tomato Grow-out this summer. Kristine Swaren will review the objectives and requirements for participating

10 am to 2 pm – stick around to swap gardening tips, coordinate catalog orders, say hi to old and new friends.
There are no seed vendors at our event – the seeds are all priceless, as we try to live the principles of sharing and free seed supply. Bring your seeds prepackaged or in a container so other folks can help themselves to a few. Label them! Include a photo if possible; how old they are; growing instructions; any info that would be helpful to another grower.
Sally Andrews from the Farmers’ Market will have yummy treats for sale in the kitchen - coffee, tea, sweets, chili and cornbread…

For more information please visit the McDonalds Corners Farmers’ Market page on Facebook, or the MERA website at www.meraschoolhouse.org or contact Kristine, 613-278-1226, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Fiber artist, felt maker and designer Zoë Emily Lianga's show at the MERA school house opened with a well-attended vernissage on February 5, and those who have an interest in felt will be fascinated by the diverse work of this talented artist.

The show, titled “Zoë Emily”, includes a wide assortment of felt wall hangings, wearable clothing and functional and decorative objects, all created with Lianga's keen eye for design, function and pure aesthetics.

Lianga grew up in Brooke Valley and now lives and works from her studio in Perth. Surprisingly she has only been felting for the last three years. A former student of fashion design who specialized in sewing, pattern making and haute couture, she learned the art of felting while on a trip to New Zealand. At a chance gallery stop she fell in love with the work of felt artist Raewyn Penrose, who happily shared her felt-making knowledge with Lianga.

When Lianga returned to Canada she decided to go “all in” with felt and has since dedicated her life to it. “Being able now to build my own fabrics from fibers is just so exciting and it’s opened up this whole new world where I can combine my pattern-making skills with my felt-making and create my designs from the ground up,” she said.

Her wearable art includes shawls, cowls, vests, and coats, some of which are so amazingly intricate and soft to the touch (the cowls especially) that they seem magically spun from mother of pearl. It's as though the pearly and opalescent surface of shells were whipped up in some kind of cotton-candy-like spinning machine and spun into a magically soft and shiny fiber.

Lianga creates these fabrics from scratch through a process called wet felting. She starts with the finest and softest of wools, including merino from New Zealand, alpaca sourced locally and from Peru, camel from China and yak from Nepal, all obtained from highly reputable sellers. Into these she mixes raw silk and other plant-based fibers. She begins each piece with raw wool that has been washed and carded. She next breaks it up into small individual wisps and lays them out into fine uniform sheets, building up the thickness of the layers. Her thinner cowls require just two layers whereas her heavier garments are comprised of five. The final layer is where the art happens. Lianga designs the top surface with patterns and shapes in colorful blends, then soap and water are applied to the piece, which is “worked over”, meaning it is vigorously rubbed, rolled and kneaded until all the fibers interlock, resulting in a single uniform piece.

Lianga's surfaces are exquisite. Her designs, mostly abstracts, harken back to her love of mathematics but some are more image-based and one cowl seems to depict a silhouetted tree landscape.

The colors are subtle and rich, with the silk adding that intrinsic shimmer, allowing the hues to change depending on the degree of reflected light or shade. Also of note are her felted flowers, which she makes in many varieties. The petals she treats as a painter might, with each changing in color from base to tip and with tiny felted balls hanging from the thin individual stamens.

Equally appealing are her functional felted and quilted bags, soft ovoid-like forms that are happily free standing and whose colors and patterning are well considered, creating a functional object that begs as much to be used as it does to be seen. Her large pillows are also dazzling; one catches the eye with its swirling blue and orange bulls-eye pattern. The show included a number of impressive large felted wall hangings that show that Lianga has an inherent sense of composition and aesthetic abilities. Her “Triangles” combines thin lines and bigger swathes of triangular-shaped forms that hang together in a perfectly balanced and yet tense composition. Some of her newer works lie in these larger hung pieces, like the triptych titled “ The Trio of Profiles”, which is comprised of three smaller quilted pieces in subtler shades, showing various silhouetted human forms. The first has one alone; the second two together; and the third has many. This new work has Lianga exploring a new technique, pre-felting, which is a two-step process. The imagery suggests that she seems to be moving away from geometric patterns and towards recognizable stylized imagery that tells a personal story.

The show runs until the end of February and is open to the public on Wednesdays from1-4pm and Thursdays from 11 am-2:30 pm. The MERA Schoolhouse is located at 974 Concession Road 9A in McDonalds Corners. For more information visit www.zoeemily.ca

Fiber artist, felt maker and designer Zoë Emily Lianga's show at the MERA school house opened with a well-attended vernissage on February 5, and those who have an interest in felt will be fascinated by the diverse work of this talented artist.

The show, titled “Zoë Emily”, includes a wide assortment of felt wall hangings, wearable clothing and functional and decorative objects, all created with Lianga's keen eye for design, function and pure aesthetics.

Lianga grew up in Brooke Valley and now lives and works from her studio in Perth. Surprisingly she has only been felting for the last three years. A former student of fashion design who specialized in sewing, pattern making and haute couture, she learned the art of felting while on a trip to New Zealand. Specifically, it was at a chance gallery stop that she fell in love with the work of felt artist Raewyn Penrose, who happily shared her felt-making knowledge with Lianga.

When Lianga returned to Canada she decided to go “all in” with felt and has since dedicated her life to it. “Being able now to build my own fabrics from fibers is just so exciting and it’s opened up this whole new world where I can combine my pattern-making skills with my felt-making and create my designs from the ground up,” she said.

Her wearable art includes shawls, cowls, vests, and coats, some of which are so amazingly intricate and soft to the touch (the cowls especially) that they seem magically spun from mother of pearl. It's as though the pearly and opalescent surface of shells were whipped up in some kind of cotton-candy-like spinning machine and spun into a magically soft and shiny fiber.

Lianga creates these fabrics from scratch through a process called wet felting. She starts with the finest and softest of wools, including merino from New Zealand, alpaca sourced locally and from Peru, camel from China and yak from Nepal, all obtained from highly reputable sellers. Into these she mixes raw silk and other plant-based fibers. She begins each piece with raw wool that has been washed and carded. She next breaks it up into small individual wisps and lays them out into fine uniform sheets, building up the thickness of the layers. Her thinner cowls require just two layers whereas her heavier garments are comprised of five. The final layer is where the art happens. Lianga designs the top surface with patterns and shapes in colorful blends, then soap and water are applied to the piece, which is “worked over”, meaning it is vigorously rubbed, rolled and kneaded until all the fibers interlock, resulting in a single uniform piece.

Lianga's surfaces are exquisite. Her designs, mostly abstracts, harken back to her love of mathematics but some are more image-based and one cowl seems to depict a silhouetted tree landscape.

The colors are subtle and rich, with the silk adding that intrinsic shimmer, allowing the hues to change depending on the degree of reflected light or shade. Also of note are her felted flowers, which she makes in many varieties. The petals she treats as a painter might, with each changing in color from base to tip and with tiny felted balls hanging from the thin individual stamens.

Equally appealing are her functional felted and quilted bags, soft ovoid-like forms that are happily free standing and whose colors and patterning are well considered, creating a functional object that begs as much to be used as it does to be seen. Her large pillows are also dazzling; one catches the eye with its swirling blue and orange bulls-eye pattern. The show included a number of impressive large felted wall hangings that show that Lianga has an inherent sense of composition and aesthetic abilities. Her “Triangles” combines thin lines and bigger swathes of triangular-shaped forms that hang together in a perfectly balanced and yet tense composition. Some of her newer works lie in these larger hung pieces, like the triptych titled “ The Trio of Profiles”, which is comprised of three smaller quilted pieces in subtler shades, showing various silhouetted human forms. The first has one alone; the second two together; and the third has many. This new work has Lianga exploring a new technique, pre-felting, which is a two-step process. The imagery suggests that she seems to be moving away from geometric patterns and towards recognizable stylized imagery that tells a personal story.

The show runs until the end of February and is open to the public on Wednesdays from1-4pm and Thursdays from 11 am-2:30 pm. The MERA Schoolhouse is located at 974 Concession Road 9A in McDonalds Corners. For more information visit www.zoeemily.ca