Perfect Winter Weekend? Yeah, I’d say add a little yoga practice, mix in a little adventure on the winter trails and top it all off with some of Gregor’s fine northern cuisines – Edge style.  We put it all together and call it Downward Dog Sledding.  It’s the perfect excuse to get up to the edge of Algonquin Park this winter…… btw, you might think about Yoga and the Zen of Winter as a nice back up plan – coming in March!

Ever plan a summer vacation with your kids without having your kids on THE vacation?

Our new partnership with Hockey Opportunity Camp makes that possible. Now the kids can get the vacation they want while attending summer camp in the same area as the parents are enjoying a holiday with other adults.

Northern Edge Algonquin and Hockey Opportunity Camp have partnered to offer the ideal Northern Ontario Summer Family Vacation that is customized to the specific needs of different members of the family.

Both Northern Edge Algonquin and Hockey Opportunity Camp (HOC) have been providing their customers with unique Northern Ontario experiences for many years. The only difference is that each experience meets the needs of two very different clients. Hockey Opportunity Camp offers camp programs for male and female campers from age 7-16 and Northern Edge Algonquin offers holidays and retreats designed for single adults, couples and friends.

HOC Camp Director Kevin McLaughlin explains that ”after seeing the beauty of Northern Ontario and hearing the positive experiences from their kids, we have received many requests from our parents to develop an adult camp, but are not equipped to do so. That is why we look forward to offering our parents a taste of the same experience with programs and amenities that suit their needs much better.”

Co-founder of Northern Edge Algonquin Todd Lucier says, “A lot of parents we meet tell us that a visit to the Edge has been on their bucket list for years, but because of family commitments in the summer they haven’t been able to visit. With such a great option available for their kids to have a great camp experience, it only made sense to tailor our offerings to mesh with one another.”

The family vacation can look something like this….
After dropping the kids off at camp on Sunday for a week, parents can take a scenic 35 km drive along the “old Almaguin Railway” to Algonquin Park to start their own three, four or seven day outdoor retreat or adventure experience.

While at camp, kids can look forward to participating in one of three main programs, picking the option that best suits the camp experience they want.

• Hockey Training Program with Camp/Sport Activity Options,
• Water Ski Program with Camp/Sport Activity Options, or
• Traditional Camp Program highlighting all Camp/Sport Activity Options.

Parents pick the holiday that fits in with their adventure preference. Equally diverse options for parents include;

• Full week of activities including a guided canoe trip in Algonquin Park, nature retreat stay with a variety of outdoor options including yoga, mountain biking, canoeing, sea kayaking.
• 4 Day/3 Night Canoe Trip in Algonquin Park starting with candle-light dinner, or
• 3 Day/2 Night Pick-Up Package where parents take a few days of self-indulgence including experiencing the Algonquin Park landscape and local cuisine before picking up the kids at camp.

With such great opportunities for each family member to get the summer holiday they crave, the only question that needs answering is, “Who will have the best stories to share when it’s time to head home?”

For more information on each of the programs listed above or to book your ideal summer family vacation, visit http://learnhockey.com/parents/northern-edge-algonquin or http://www.northernedgealgonquin.com/hockey-opportunity-camp.html

Win a $500 gift certificate for Northern Edge Algonquin. Guess when Kawawaymog Lake, Algonquin Park will be ice free and win! Contest closes at Midnight April 4, 2011. Ties will be broken by earliest entry. Four second place prizes will win a colourful Northern Edge Algonquin t-shirt or stainless steel coffee mug. Enter once a day, as often as you wish. Ice Out will be determined at the earliest moment any Northern Edge Algonquin team member notices that there are no visible ice sheets on the lake.

It was inspiring to read this post from Angela Dollar about her recent stay at Northern Edge Algonquin.

http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/travelpurpose/2010/10/03/canadian-eco-haven-northern-edge-algonquin/

I love the first few sentences:

“I want to tell you about a very special place. The kind of place where you can let go of everything – your time, your stress, your expectations – and just relax and exist. A place where breathing might be the most important thing you do all day.”

Thanks Angela.

These wolves are feeding on a deer near the Algonquin Park visitor centre.  It is interesting that the dominant wolf is enjoying his solitary meal while the others watch and wait their turn.   It’s interesting to watch the second dominant wolf confirm his place with one other wolf at right.

Our Wolf Howl Canoe Trips in Algonquin Park give guests an opportunity to experience the spine tingling howls of the Nahma Lake wolf pack.

We have a bunch of great new trips and retreats including the reintroduction of a couple of great river trips and sea kayaking trips on Georgian Bay, as well we’ve got a bunch of new Yoga retreats and yoga adventures on a brand spankin’ new look to our Web site.

Have a gander at all that’s new at Northern Edge Algonquin.com

With the relaunch of Globe and Mail.com, came a neat surprise when we found our photo adorning the bottom left corner! Featured in the print edition of the Wednesday, May 20th edition of the Globe and Mail we were delighted to be featured among some terrific global destinations that are bringing a sense of romance and style to experiences in nature.

Want to go Glamping? Join us at the Edge and pamper yourself with food and experiences, or head into the park with Alexis and his team of talented guides for a rich encounter with nature.

Camping + Glamour = Glamping

So amazing and inspiring to see the emergence of spring, to feel the pulse of the earth increase it’s rhythm through growth, longer days and the return of bird song. To watch this process occur here, the Northern Edge Algonquin has evoked a well of ideas and new creation that must move forward.

Within our retreat based yoga practice there is a place within that we can access stillness, sink in and listen. What does the body speak of? What is your body story and how might we honor the old story and create a new one. As the old layers fall away we are left with a blank canvas in which to experiment with movement and stillness. I believe we have only possibilities and I hope you can join me this summer for our Yoga Intensive from August 27-30, to dive in deeper to your authentic self, to uncover or increase your life purpose and share in the splendor of nature, it’s rhythm and our innate connection to it! As always we invite you to join us for our Quest for Balance: Yoga and Sea Kayaking Retreat. New this year, we’re offering folks the opportunity to get the great Edge Experience while staying on a raised wooden platform under a large protective tarp, in your own tent. Consider our other comfy accomodations as well (above).

Latino Feel with “Gregor’s Food Trail & Tales”

The Edge kitchen is run very much like any home kitchen where care and attention are found at the top of the ingredients list. Of course this is the case in terms of making things from scratch, but what I want to highlight here is the way leftovers fit into the culinary equation.

In particular, this is a story of how some leftovers figured fairly prominently in the last meal of an Edge program. This is also a story of why when guests ask me for a recipe, I can’t really share any details … although I truly wish I could.

To read more about Greg’s tasty meal from or last Basic Shamanism program click here.

Rattle Making in 11 Shorts Steps

You will need the following basic materials to complete this project, but obviously if you wish to decorate your Rattle you will need various additional materials to do so. We will look at decoration at the end of this article.

1. Rawhide, large enough for 2 sides
2. Cord
3. Fine sand
4. Stick of approx.’ 11″ length and 1″ dia’.
5. Araldite glue. (optional)
6. Strong thread
7. Pebbles to put inside the Rattle

1. Soak your hide it in cold water until it becomes floppy, then lay it out flat somewhere to dry sufficient to be able to draw on it with a pencil. Put these shapes back into the water to soak.
2. Take your handle and shape it. Use a craft knife for this, and sand it down if you want a fully smooth finish.
3. You could varnish or wax it at this point.
4. Take your two rawhide shapes from the water and sew them together, edge to edge. Don’t sew up the neck- the narrow end, as that is where the handle will go, and in through which you will stuff the sand shortly to shape the head. Use a good strong thread for this- either waxed cobblers thread, or strong button thread.
5. Once you have the head sewn together, it has become a bag with a narrow opening like a balloon. Pour sand into the head, and stuff the sand into the head, force it to ‘inflate’. As you do so it will form into the shape that you need. Then stand it neck up, somewhere warm to dry out.
6. Once it is sufficiently hard and dry pour the sand out.
7. Put pebbles into the head, insert your thumb into the hole to keep the pebbles in, and experiment with shaking the Rattle to hear what sound it makes. Pour these pebbles out and keep them to one side ready for use.
8. Stand the head in a cup of water, so that only the neck is in the water as you want to make the neck flexible, but not soak the rest of the head and deform its shape. Once the neck is sufficiently flexible to be pliable, put your saved pebbles back in, then put the head-neck over the handle.
9. Once the neck of the rattle head dries apply araldite to the joint.
10. Once the head is on the handle, and while it’s still wet, bind the cord around the neck as tightly as you can.
11. Put your Rattle somewhere to dry for a couple of days

A Story of “Why He Has no Recipes to Share This Time”…

The Edge Kitchen is run very much like any home kitchen where care and attention are found at the top of the ingredients list. Of course this is the case in terms of making things from scratch, but what I want to highlight here is the way leftovers fit into the culinary equation.

In particular, this is a story of how some leftovers figured fairly prominently in the last meal of an Edge program. This is also a story of why when guests ask me for a recipe, I can’t always share any details … although I truly wish I could.

While a particular theme (say, East European) or seasonal ingredient (say, our backyard maple syrup) underlies the idea of a meal, what I actually cook is based on a combination of what’s fresh in the fridge/pantry, our guests dietary concerns and what’s leftover from previous meals served over the weekend. Todd credits me with being fairly astute at “longitudinal meal planning,” however, for most of my time cooking at the Edge this process plays out like “Oh boy … what am I going to do with all these extra peppers?”

The final meal of the last Basic Shamanism program is a prime example. When planning Sunday’s lunch a few days before the program began I was hoping to balance the globally far-flung flavors of Latino cooking with –for the most part– provincially produced goods. By the time I started cooking on Sunday morning, the dishes I had planned based on this general Latino theme were further influenced by an extra roasted chicken, two left-over accompaniments, and a bunch of Ontario green house peppers that where twice as large as expected.

For the broth with sweet peas: I love to stuff local free-range chickens with coarsely chopped garlic, onions and leek tops (and of course fresh parsley, rosemary and sage if you where able to keep them in doors over the Winter like we were). I then rub the outside of the birds with a combo of coarse sea salt, black pepper, paprika and “salt-free spike” and put them in a hot oven (breast up) to crisp the skin, flipping them to crisp the back, and then roasting them covered so the “stuffing” steams the meat off the bones. Given the place of the roasted chicken on the weekend menu, it was not a long step to take when making soup for Sunday’s lunch. After the roasted chicken was carved and served for Saturday’s dinner I just put the carcasses (and “stuffing”) in a pot, added a few more onions, carrots, covered with water and simmered for a few hours. I discarded all the solids and added organic sweet peas (frozen) and we had simple soup to hopefully balance the stronger flavors of the quesadilla.

For the Quesadilla filling: Like almost all my entrees, caramelized onions form the backbone around which I add combinations of herbs and spices to build flavor. For this dish, I sautéed diced cooking onions in olive oil and sea salt until they developed a dark brown color, I then added diced leeks and garlic. Once they softened, I moved everything to the outside of the pan, added a small pat of butter and toasted cumin, paprika, dried cilantro, oregano and chili powder until a little smoke appeared. I then added the left over roasted chicken, and deglazed the pan with a can of diced tomatoes and some of the stock I was preparing for the soup. I just let everything simmer until the liquid evaporated (about an hour).

For the toppings: Matt did the food shop for the program based on a list I prepared … how was I to know that the peppers were going to be twice the size as I expected. Given that these peppers where grown in Ontario greenhouses, (and I’m in the midst of preparing our gardens) I just could not resist making a fresh salsa loaded with peppers in anticipation of what we will grow at the Edge and what is going to be available at the local market later in the summer. For the salsa, I diced fresh (greenhouse) tomatoes, mixed them with a little sea salt and put them in a colander to drain. In a large bowl, I mixed olive oil (3 parts), apple cider vinegar (1 part), a shot of maple syrup, diced garlic, dried cilantro and oregano. To this I added diced red and yellow peppers and a small red onion (finely chopped). Once the tomatoes were drained, I added them to the pepper mix (the reserved liquid went into the chicken mixture). I let this all marinate for about an hour. About twenty minutes before serving, I pressed 2 fresh lemons into the mix and added a large handful of finely diced chives (from the garden) and flat-leaf parsley (we were able to keep in containers over the winter). The final quesadilla topping was a combination of a fresh chive-garlic sour cream served on Friday night (to accompany the baked potatoes which we had with maple sap braised pork roasts) and a cucumber-yogurt-scallion salad served at the previous days lunch. Both accompaniments were blended until smooth and creamy in a food processor (it was a sunny day … high solar power).

Putting it all together…

Building the Quesadillas was just a matter of baking organic Canadian corn tortillas on a cookie sheet until just crisp, covering the tortilla with the chicken mixture, topping that with some 2 year old cheddar (made a few hours north of the Edge) and broiling until the cheese melted.  Guests where then invited to top the quesadilla with the sweet pepper salsa and the creamy cucumber-chive dressing.  It seemed to go over fairly well.

The lunch bell rang at 12:30, I decided what I was going to make about 3 hours before that, and in between I was just in the moment… I wish I could share more about how much? and for how long? I just never paused to measure, my cooking is about those 3 hours, and the 3 hours before the previous meal, and digging gardens, and dealing with generators … and that’s why I don’t have any “recipes.”

Cheers, Gregor

Spring is in the air up here in Algonquin country and there are signs of the changing of the seasons around every corner.   The Crows and Gulls have returned and I’ve been watching the Ravens gathering nesting material for quite some time now.     Makes me wonder how the Owls are doing and if there young have hatched yet?     Owls are early nesters and the young are in the nest even when there is still snow on the ground.     Amazing and powerful birds!    This morning I crossed the lake with my ice skates and had a great time skating close to shore where the ice was smooth and solid.     This is perhaps the last time that I will get to enjoy this experience and it was an incredible amount of fun!     It is a really cool feeling to skate on a frozen lake with such an expansive view.     I’ve included a video here of my morning skate for you to enjoy.      Anyways we are busy planning for the upcoming season here at Northern Edge and our first canoe trip of the season is fast approaching in a little over a month.   The Nipissing River Trip promises to be an exhilarating and exciting paddle across Algonquin Park.     One of my favorite rivers to canoe.    There’s still space on this trip, please visit the website for more information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivNstmGIwaU