The Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum is holding a series of workshops this summer and below is the schedule.

July 23: Discover birch bark and spruce roots. Make a small container, knife holster, or beads.

July 30: Continue birch bark.

Aug 6 & 13: Museum closed

Aug 20: Come gather rushes and cattails at the lake.

Aug 28: Rush or cattail chair seating or make a small container.

Sept 3: Continue with rushes and cattails.

Further workshops will be announced later.

Workshops are held from 1 -3 pm on Saturdays and the cost is usually $15. If you plan to come, please call Ankaret Dean at 613-278-1203 and she will give you a list of tools etc. to bring. The museum is located at 5596 McDonald's Corners Rd. and is open 11am – 3pm on Saturdays from May to October or by appointment. Admission to the museum is free; donations are welcome. Visit ankaretdean.ca  

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

Canada Day is on a Friday this year, so July 2 is a big day for events as well. Not only will the farmers' markets in Verona, Sharbot Lake and McDonalds Corners be open for business as usual, there are many other events scheduled as well.

On the grounds of the Crow Lake Schoolhouse in Crow Lake Village, Primitive Catering is hosting a new event, Lost Trades and Handmades, which is billed as a “gathering of the finest food and products created by hand.”

Dean Fredette, one the principals at Primitive Catering, describes the event as a tribute to the skills of traditional crafters, whether they work with fabric, metal, in the garden or in the kitchen.

Fredette sees an appetite for products that are made by hand by skilled people, and while Primitive Catering is a food company, the same kind of commitment to function and aesthetics is found in a skewer of meat barbequed on an open fire as in the production of fine knives, baskets or any other artisanal product.

In addition to fine food sizzling on the fire pit there will be music by ALAN BRIAN, Alan Kitching on saxophone and clarinet and Brian Roche on guitar and vocals; knives made by Brian Connolly; the Enright Cattle Company; St. Paul United Church Quilts; Dragonfly Herbs; basketmaking demonstrations by Jule Koch; preserves, baked goods, a book sale, and more. The event runs from 12 noon to 7pm.

Meanwhile, 10 kilometres north of Highway 7 on Road 509, down the Gully Road in Mississippi Station, the long-awaited grand opening of the Back Forty Cheese Creamery and Bakeshop will take place from 10 am to 4 pm.

The new home of Back Forty Cheese is on an old farmstead on the Mississippi River. The large drive shed near the farmhouse has been converted into a cheese factory, with an adjoining retail space. Upstairs there is a loft space that is a screen printing studio.

Jenna Fenwick, who runs Jenna Rose Screen printing, and Jeff Fenwick, who makes Back Forty Sheep's milk cheese, have been working on the shed, establishing gardens and feeding a drove of young Berkshire pigs with the whey from the factory.

“We thought it would be nice, in this new location, to set up a storefront that we can open on Saturdays throughout the summer, to let people see how the cheese is made, and all the related activities that make for a sustainable operation,” said Jeff about setting up the shop. “We will be holding tours of the cheese factory and the grounds, and we are having some friends join us as well.”

In addition to five Back Forty cheeses – Flower Station, Bonnechere, Highland Blue, Madawaska, and the newest Back Forty Cheese, Ompah, there will be some fresh cheese available on the 2nd.

Mike McKenzie of Seed to Sausage will be on the barbeque, grilling sausages, and providing meat for Charcuterie plates.

Thanks to a special occasions permit, Stalwart Brewing from Carleton Place will be on hand, serving some of their popular brews plus a new summer beer, which is appropriately named Down by River. Three Dog Winery from Prince Edward County as well as MacKinnon Brothers from Bath will also be represented.

Black Kettle Catering is bringing their popcorn.

And to wash all that food and drink down, Elphin's own Joey Wright, fresh from a year in the countryside near Avignon, no doubt drinking too much Rhone and Rousillon Valley wines and eating much too well, will be performing on guitar, mandolin and banjo.

The Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum, which is founded and curated by Ankaret Dean, held its grand opening on Saturday, May 28.

The new museum is possibly the only museum in the world to focus on the techniques of using natural materials to make baskets. While most museums have basketry collections, they are only part of their larger collections. The baskets themselves are not the focus except as valuable historical artifacts due to their roles in the lives of people in the past.

There are a handful of other basketry museums in the world, but their focus is usually on the finished baskets.

The Lanark Highlands Basketry Museum is unique in that it focuses on the techniques and materials of basketmaking rather than on the baskets, and specifically on basketmaking with natural materials that can be gathered locally.

This focus is a natural outgrowth of Ankaret Dean’s life-long love of nature and on preserving ancient skills that are in danger of being lost.

“My purpose in creating the museum is to encourage people to use natural materials. We need to know more about our environment. People have no idea that they can do so much with the things that grow all around them,” she said. “The materials are so versatile and these skills will be lost if we don’t use them. And if we don’t know about them we can’t use them”

She stressed that, “People won’t see rows and rows of baskets when they come – this is a basketry museum [focusing on the processes], not a basket museum.”

Ankaret has had a long and varied career in too many areas to recount. She has been interested in basketry since about 1975, and her fascination with the craft led her to found a basketry guild, the Basketry Network; to publish the only Canadian basketry magazine, the Basketry Express; and to organize several basketry conferences. She has exhibited widely and has taught probably over a hundred workshops. Although she specialized in basketry and willow sculpture, she is also a textile artist, a weaver, a Master Gardener, a writer, a farmer, beekeeper and a passionate community activist. The latter interest led her to be one of the founders of the arts organization, MERA (McDonalds Corners Elphin Recreation & Arts), and she has been the driving force and inspiration for many community events.

Basketry is the oldest of all crafts, and while it has suffered a decline in the last 100 years as plastics became more common, it is the only craft that has never yielded to technology. No one has ever invented a basketmaking machine, and every single basket in the world today is still made by hand, in much the same way and with the same simple tools as for thousands of years.

However, because the overwhelming majority of baskets are made of natural materials, they deteriorate quickly. The “ephemeral nature of natural fibres” is one of the reasons why Ankaret has always dedicated so much time and energy to document the processes of using them. As editor of the Basketry Express, she compiled several volumes of articles from the magazine and titled them: “The Best of the Basketry Express”. These books are now virtually the only source of information for some of the materials and processes.

Fifteen different local materials are highlighted at the museum, including birch bark, cedar bark, willow, rushes, cattails, sweetgrass and black ash, and they are used in items that range from two-inch miniature baskets to bee skeps to coracles. To supplement the displays, Ankaret has also prepared extensive videos explaining how and when to harvest and prepare the materials.

The new basketry museum may be small but it is mighty. It contains over 200 exhibits and is beautifully housed in a 1930s stable that has been renovated into a light-filled, attractive space. The baskets are displayed on rustic shelves made of birch and cedar, and the gardens contain many of the plants used in basketry

Ankaret doesn’t want people to come to the museum just once to look at the baskets, but to come back and experience the joy of making baskets and other simple items from natural materials. At the opening on Saturday, visitors were able to make necklaces of birch bark beads, and Ankaret has several hands-on workshops planned for the future.

On June 4 & 11, visitors will be shown how to prepare cedar bark. Bring an apron, sharp knives and scissors. There will be a $5 fee. On June 18 & 25, visitors will be taught how to use their prepared cedar strips to make a basket. There will be a $15 fee. Visitors need only attend one session for preparing the cedar and one to make a basket.

The museum is located in McDonalds Corners at 5596 McDonalds Corners Road and will be open every Saturday from 11 am to 3pm, May to October, or by appointment. Admission is by donation. The museum would welcome volunteers to help man it during its open hours, and anyone who has basketry knowledge would be welcome to demonstrate their skills.

Visit www.ankaretdean.ca or call 613-278-1203 for further information.

Photos: Joanne Fisher shows Hanne and Robert Quigley how to make birch bark beads

Mayor of Lanark Highlands, Brian Stewart, congratulates Ankaret Dean at the museum opening

Ankaret Dean with a rush mat made on a loom

Ankaret Dean with a cedar bark canoe bailer.

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.