On Nov. 28 at the MERA Christmas Fair in McDonalds Corners, over 200 holiday shoppers had a plethora of hand-crafted gift items to help them shorten their gift lists, thanks to the close to 20 artisans who took part in the event. The annual fundraiser fair has been going on for over a decade and Marilyn Barnett, chair of the MERA board of directors, said it continues to gain in popularity.

The entire schoolhouse was filled with artisan displays that included pottery, woven items, jewelry, chocolates, body products, paintings, home-made jams and jellies, candles, knit ware, felted items, wooden cutting boards and much more. Shoppers also could snack on a selection of yummy treats and beverages courtesy of Michael Barnett, who runs MERA's Wizards Cafe.

New this year were raffles for an award-winning quilt, which was won by Conner Gabriel, and a rug made by famed MERA maven Ankaret Dean, won by Michael Park. Every artist also donated an item of their making to a special MERA gift bag raffle, which shoppers gobbled up for the price of a $2 ticket. The MERA weavers and potters also donated the proceeds from their creations to the MERA pot and the potters also donated their bowls to the annual Empty Bowls fundraiser.

New to the show this year was rug hooker Wendy Milne from Killaloe, Ontario who was selling rugs and wall hangings, most done in landscape motifs or geometric patterns. Milne's landscape rugs are inspired by the nature that surrounds her home in Killaloe and pieces like “Up the Opeongo Line”, a richly colored and beautifully composed landscape, is based on the old colonization road, where her home is located.

Milne also makes unique decorative pieces, the newest of which are smaller hooked pieces that depict leaves, flowers, trees and animals. She mounts them in ceramic frames that she makes herself at a friend's pottery studio.

Milne uses primarily recycled wool from old clothing and blankets that she buys at thrift stores and some of which she hand dyes herself. The red jacket she was wearing at the show was one she said she would eventually use in one of her creations, if she found herself in need of a bright red. Milne does not limit herself to wool alone and her line of scarves, which she calls Scruffies, were inspired by the idea that if “my mother and Keith Richards ever got together to produce a line of scarves- these would be them.” The scarves are made from recycled cotton t-shirts which Milne cuts into strips, weaves and then knits together.

Milne said she enjoys the tactile nature of rug hooking and initially took it up as a way to de-stress. She also loves the fact that she can take her work with her where she goes. Milne, who used to teach Environmental and Women's Studies at Trent University, now divides her time between rug hooking and writing and she is currently in the process of writing a book about rug hooking. “It's not a how-to book but more a book about why people love to hook rugs.”

Organizers of the Blue Jeans Classical Concert series at the MERA schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners are delighting fans with big ears for classical music in their second series of concerts. The main hall at MERA offers up an intimate and acoustically pleasing space that makes it the perfect venue to listen to small, top-notch classical ensembles, and judging by the sold out performance at the second concert in this year's series, there is indeed a captive audience who appreciate classical music played by highly accomplished musicians.

On November 10 the trio, Capriccio, comprised of Rick Tersteeg (cello), Tony Stuart (clarinet), and Val Leavitt on piano charmed the crowd from start to finish with their eclectic program. They began with their lengthiest piece (over 30 minutes long), Louise Farrenc's Trio in E flat major, a piece in four movements that demonstrated the capable playing of all three players and allowed each of them many individual opportunities to shine. The first movement was light and lively with all three players volleying back and forth a memorable theme that sounded like a spring garden of delight. The second movement was reminiscent at times of themes from an old Victorian music box and gave Val on the piano a chance to show her off her chops in some very rapid-fire and demanding piano sections.

It was my first time ever hearing a cello/clarinet/piano trio and the cello and clarinet together sound perfectly matched in their low, mellow oval-like tonality. Like butter and honey, each are delicious alone but together concoct a unique flavor even more delectable. The third movement of Farrenc's piece was brisk and lively and the piece as whole was very dense and demanding musically. At times it was hard to believe that only three musicians were playing. The fourth movement ramped up the volume and speed in a suspenseful and often aggressive movement that flitted back and fourth between the beatific and the horrifying.

Next and with the desire to give Val on piano a much deserved break, Tersteeg delighted the crowd with the Prelude from Bach's Suite #1, a piece easily recognizable as one of the most popular pieces of cello music ever written, one that demonstrated both Bach's genius and Tersteeg's prowess as a soloist. Stuart next took his moment in the limelight with the less known but highly entertaining Suite From the Victorian Kitchen Garden, a piece for clarinet and piano written in five movements of varying lengths and one that demonstrated Stuart's impressive ability as a soloist.

In the second half of the concert the trio played a piece by famed Canadian composer John Williams, who composed the sound track for Harry Potter and other famous films .They played the concert arrangement of the music Williams wrote for the film "The Terminal", in which the clarinet plays the main theme for the film's main character Victor. The piece has a klezmer-sounding feel and is loaded with many minor key changes; it was an enjoyable foray into the more modern compositions written for lead clarinet.

The trio also played "The Swan", from Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals", a piece that opens with a gorgeous cello line. One of the most memorable pieces was their final offering, a very early Beethoven piece that he wrote as teenager. It was originally written for violin but Capriccio has transposed it for clarinet. The piece brought the audience to its feet in an overwhelming standing ovation.

The final concert in the Blue Jeans Classical Concert series will be a performance on Sunday December 8 at 2pm by the duo Athenais, with Virginia Dunsby on taverso and Richard Maurel on viola da gamba. Tickets are available at 613-485-6434 or www.ticketsplease.ca.

Visit meraschoolhouse.org

Those interested in natural alternatives to building got an eyeful on October 6 as three area homeowners opened their doors to the public. The homes were stops on the Ontario Natural Building Coalition’s (formerly the Ontario Straw Bale Building Coalition) annual tour, which took place in regions of Ontario and Quebec. The goal of the tour is to give the public a chance to tour one-of-a-kind custom homes that use innovative, energy saving and sustainable building methods and materials.

I toured two homes, one of which was the straw bale/timber frame home of Bruce Bailey located near Maberly on the Old Brooke Road. The home was designed by Geoff Hodgins and built in 2005 by Bruce's son, Kris Bailey. The 2500 square foot home includes a straw bale studio with a planted green roof and was styled after an old barn. It was constructed with three straw bale walls and is framed with exposed reclaimed timbers. It has a large south-facing glass wall in the main living space for passive solar heat, and the primary heat source is a large wood boiler that fuels the radiant floor heating system throughout the home. There is also a small interior stack wall in the open concept living room that is the home's central focus. A study and kitchen branch off of the living room.

A main central staircase leads up to a similar open concept second floor with bedrooms and bathrooms branching off of it. Bruce, who along with son Kris led the tours, said “ The basic notion in building in this way is recognizing the fact that we have to be more thoughtful about the amount of non-renewable resources that we use.” Bruce said he loves living in the house, loves sharing it with others and he particularly enjoys its openness, especially the different types of light that enter it at different times of the day. The round features typical of straw bale construction are another feature that he ranks high. Other interesting features in the home include a butternut post in the study, as well as the copious amounts of natural reclaimed materials, like the hardwood flooring and wooden doors and trim, which all were salvaged from an old house in Ottawa that was being torn down.

The home took Kris Bailey a year to build and was the first building project for his eco-building company called Dwellings. To date he has completed seven other homes after graduating from the Heritage Carpentry program at Algonquin College in Perth. He explained his basic philosophy when it comes to building: “It is a tendency towards utilizing natural materials and recycling and reusing whenever possible and whenever it makes sense but also trying to build for comfort and beauty as well. It's having a familiarity and comfort with the materials that are going into a home that make it special for the home owner. The timbers in this house, for example come from a barn in Glen Tay.”

The house was originally built off grid and later acquired hydro to avoid the use of a generator. Currently Kris is building homes using straw bale panels, a newer kind of natural straw material that is also becoming popular with eco builders. What is Kris' advice to those considering building in natural and alternative ways? “People should not be daunted. It's no longer a scary thing. It's becoming more familiar and common and there are a lot of resources out there and a lot of people who have experience and can help.”

The second home I toured was the business home, studio and garden of Ross and Kathryn Elliott, owners of Homesol Building Solutions. The company works with builders to create super energy-efficient homes and buildings that in Katherine's words “go way beyond the building code.” The couple, who admit to having “a serious green building habit”, recently completed one of their own personal projects - the vegetarian café attached to their renovated farm home. The 900 square foot café is called “Lively Up” and took them three years to complete. It was constructed using an insulated concrete form (ICF), which Katherine described as “Lego for big boys”. It has radiant in-floor heating heated by a Swedish wood/gasification boiler and a geothermal heat pump as a back up system. The walls are clay and the floor marmoleum. The café counter is made with silestone, an artificial quartz material made solely from recycled materials. The café includes an upper floor that houses their Bowmana's Boutique, where they sell all natural and recycled clothes.

The café earned a LEED Canada for Homes Gold certification and is rated R2000. It also earned an Energy Star rating as well and it is as beautiful to look at as it is energy saving and efficient. It seats 30 and houses a large film screen and audio visual system, which makes it a great space for holding special community events. Behind the café sits the Elliotts’ former residence, a 700 square foot straw bale building, a curvy, story-book-like abode that will become the office for the couple’s soon to be launched design/build business called 4syte Design/Build. The business will open in 2014 and will serve clients looking to construct super energy-efficient and sustainable homes and buildings. The building was designed around huge old maple trees on the site. Ross later told me that they are able to heat the café, home, straw bale office/studio and greenhouse using about one single bush cord of wood.

Behind the café is the 1500 square foot greenhouse, which has a soap bubble insulating system that traps soap bubbles between plastic sheets and which earned its Energy Guide 90 rating. Katherine also created “edible landscape features” all over the property.

For those who did not make it out to the tour, the Lively Café, located at 981 Concession Road 11 in McDonalds Corners is a must see and is open regularly throughout the week.

Advertised as the “The Biggest Little Fair In Lanark County”, the annual McDonalds Corners Fair attracted old style fair lovers in what never fails to be a delightful experience for all ages. Along with the numerous animal showings and competitions, (horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, rabbits, and poultry galore) plus the main hall brimming with countless entries of veggies, baked goods, crafts, quilts, art and photography, it is the laid back and old style friendly feel that keeps people coming back to this gem of a fair year after year.

This year organizers took suggestions from last year's fair visitors and included a number of brand new categories like fascinators and wood crafts as well as many new painting, drawing and sewing categories for the more modern crafty types. Maple syrup and honey makers also were invited to enter their sweet sauce and this year cattle showings were brought back after a decade-long absence. Ten vendors attended this year, up from just six last year and numerous kids' games were also added.

Fair treasurer Mary Kirkham said that entries in a number of categories were up as a result of increasing advertising. “We basically revamped the whole book and a lot of the categories based on what people wanted and on what people like to make these days."

Local musicians the Long Sault Trio peppered the grounds with their down homey sounds. At the end of day close to 300 people dined on the turkey supper put on by the McDonalds Corners Agricultural Society. Kirkham said the goal of the fair is to bring pride to the community while showing visitors the value of living a traditional agricultural based country life.