Technology is Not Always Good
We tend to think of technology in terms of the newest laptop or slimmest, Internet-capable phone. What is the connection between technology and food? Technology […]
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No Future for Food, If There is No Future in Food-
From farm to plate, our food travels many miles and touches many hands. My generation saw the traditional farm gobbled up by corporate agri-business and
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Local Food, Local Politics
Food has been in the news. A lot of it has to do with the issue of food security, food safety and the costs of
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It’s not Delivery, it’s Dr. Oetker
It’s happening. Right now. I’m sitting on a high stool in my kitchen, propping my torso up with my elbows. The oven is humming away
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Friends with Benefits
It’s easy to remember the three kinds of symbiosis if you apply them to your past relationships. Parasitism is where one species benefits and the
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Hidden Treasure in a Plastic Container: Geochaching in the Yukon, and around the world
“Okay, it should be near… here… six metres… four metres…” Shane Griffiths says, reading from a display on his iPhone. What we’re looking for, I’m
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Mystery Solved
Last year, on a hike up Vanier Mountain nearby Kusawa Lake, my friend spotted a black and white mountain across the lake. The north side
The Completely Hypothetical Main Event
It’s official. I think I could take John Mayer in a fistfight. Not that I am interested in fighting him, or vice versa, but if
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Class and Confidence: An ode to teachers that inspire
With the start of the school year, my neighbourhood bus stop is abuzz with talk of who has Mrs. So-and-So and what kind of teacher
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Edible Yukon: The Pearl Fishers
Golfers, fighter pilots and magicians all share two honours: being featured prominently in the half dozen VHS tapes we owned when I was a kid,
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Food Forest: Those Aren’t Weeds
Growing a vegetable garden can be an emotional rollercoaster. This gorgeous summer we just enjoyed was good for the veggies, but it was also perfect
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Yukon Roller Girls: Rolling into an Adrenaline Rush
Roller derby is a fast-paced contact sport, mostly for women, where players are known by cheeky monikers such as “Ruff Tuff Creampuff,” and “Fonda Spanks.”
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Back to Homeschool
The first day of school is always fun at my house. We get up at 7 a.m. and have breakfast. Next we have bible time
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Helpers Extraordinaire
A few weeks ago I met a guy from Ontario who asked if it would be possible to help out at the farm. Of course
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Back to School: Public
I go to a school called Robert Service School in Dawson City. I know it’s common, but going back to school is a feeling you
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Take it in stride: A little coaching goes a long way
Coaches help Olympic athletes get to peak performance, and recreational and casual athletes can benefit from a coach in the same way.
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Edible Yukon: Harvesting Joy
In June I patiently await each new plant that emerges from the forest floor along my daily walks. In July, I feast my eyes on
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Wild Berry Picking In Your Own Backyard
Late summer and early autumn is berry-picking time across the Yukon. Low- and high-bush cranberries, soapberries, Saskatoon berries, blueberries, strawberries, cloudberries and raspberries are each
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Soles 4 Souls: Kelowna cobbler collects shoes for people in need around the world
Cobbler Jim Belshaw believes in walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. In fact, he’s made a mission of getting feet around the world into
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Growing a Community
It’s been a good season for growing vegetables in downtown Whitehorse. Gardeners at the Whitehorse Community Garden celebrated their bounty last Wednesday with a potluck
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Mixing Business With Pleasure: Hiking, biking, and skiing in the Research Forest
Apparently forest bathing is big in Japan. It’s viewed as a way to reduce stress, and it has healing effects. We’re lucky to be encircled
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Barnyard Politics: Establishing a pecking order
Recently we noticed some of the turkeys had bloody wings and were being picked on by the others. Often if turkeys don’t have enough feed
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Edible Yukon: Fishing for Moments
Aspiring fisherpersons soon learn that catching and eating are only two of many landmarks in the journey of fishing. While I see fishing as a
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The Times They are a-Changin’
I held out as long as I could. Until last week I had one of the Yukon’s craft-project driver’s licenses. You know the type —
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Trading in High Heels for Steel-Toed Boots
What did you want to be when you were 12 years old? That is the question Yukon Women in Trades and Technology (YWITT) is asking
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Who Wears the Fishing Pants?
There is a competitive spirit in our house. Every season my wife Heather and I bicker about the size and amount of fish we will
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A Charming Guide Down Nature’s Path
Beverley Gray knows plants. They’ve intrigued her since early childhood and she has since accomplished a lot in the name of greenery. Gray opened her
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Free Fun Centre
The little heritage building beside the river in Whitehorse might be sardine-packed with kids if the sign out front said Free Fun Centre instead of
Edible Yukon: Feast of Flower
Have you ever been transfixed by northern lights soaring in shimmering skirts of greens and blues? Watched mountain peaks glowing in the sun’s last rays?
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No Need to Feel the World is Dour, If You Have a Tasty Beer in a Well-earned Shower
If you can satiate yourself with simple pleasures, your chance at a happy life increases. If, for example, a well-timed cupcake can make your day,
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Cycling to Inspire
British Columbia teen Saskia Vaisey writes in her blog, “A human connection is the most powerful way to affect people.” She is one of four
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Everything Old is Beautiful Again
Stuff’s got to be old to make it worthwhile for Tara Hale to hit the pavement bright and early every weekend. Hale and her sister
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Seeking the perfect tomato for Northern summers
My grandfather’s backyard was a gardener’s dream. Flat as a postage stamp, with deep, rich soil and daylong exposure to intense southwestern Ontario sunshine. My
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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Sneeziness
One of my crosses to bear is hay fever, an allergic reaction to pollen that emerges in the early-summer and crescendos to the point where
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The Hurt Clocker
Perhaps Whitehorse’s most stately landmark is the S.S. Klondike, perched on the shore of the Yukon River. But for sheer bizarreness you can’t beat my
Tiring the Kids Out: Frog Mountain Music Festival features plenty to keep kids busy on July 27
Frog Mountain Music Festival’s third annual event will feature a diverse program of activities to tire out the youngsters.
Where are the Bees?
With summer comes the sound of songbirds and the hum of insects. Often insects are seen as nuisances — pests that need bug dope to
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The Scream of Summer
It’s always the same. The temperature rises above 20°C and suddenly we’re all screaming for ice cream. What is it about summer that makes us
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Our Northern Summer Invasion: Having a good, old, time with Whitehorse’s RV’ers
It’s Saturday night in Whitehorse and Rose Vegter is wearing a satiny, layered, Klondike dress and feathered headpiece, drinking a beer next to her RV.
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Puffballs, Boletes, Meadow Mushrooms, Oh My!
Contrary to popular belief, mushroom hunting does not have the risk factor of Russian roulette. In fact, with a little knowledge and some common sense,
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Family on Wheels
I have always been impressed by cyclists on the Alaska Highway. You know the ones I mean — bikes loaded down, their grimaced, sweating faces
Big Love for Tiny Houses
The Tiny House movement is happening around the world, including the Yukon. Mount Lorne residents Laird Herbert and Kim Melton estimate there are at least
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Take It In Stride: Running to your Own Beat
I used to need music — a strong beat, pick-me-up songs — just to finish a run. It helped push away the difficulty of learning
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Beginner’s Luck
We pulled into Frenchman Lake campground late at night to find it full. The day was like every other Friday, too busy to take care
A ‘higher’ standard of Llving
Some friends of mine have a beautiful home in Hidden Valley. From their hot tub on the back deck, they can bathe in the tranquillity
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Solitude Begins at the Path to Nowhere
Silence. Not a really awkward silence, not like when you feel you’re going to implode if you don’t say something to fill the void. No,
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Taking on the Winter Cold
It would seem that winter is here in full force, bringing icy cold temperatures that chill you to the bone, unless you are prepared for
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New Toys and a Lunar Eclipse
The hobby of astronomy has always been an art form of simplicity and function. Let’s face it, when starting out in astronomy, the task of
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Tennis moves indoors
The tennis season in the Yukon is too short … so it has moved indoors. To help get the word out, Tennis Yukon is holding
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Fun Fusion Fitness
BY LILLIAN STRAUSS The sceptic in me thought “blending nine movement forms into one system? I have not mastered one form, let alone nine.” But
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He Wants to Leave This World When He Leaves This World
I’d like to be shot into space. Allow me to clarify: when I shuffle off my mortal coil, I’d like that coil to be shoved
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Comedian Taking It to the Fringe
This year I will completely, absolutely and wholeheartedly do my best to not start my articles with hyperbole! Indeed, for an opening joke, I chose
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Something old, new, borrowed for Rendezvous
“Forty-four and so much more” is more than just a slogan around the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous offices as it prepares its 44th winter carnival. Executive
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A church for the rest of us
I wish there was a church for atheists. Yeeeaaaahh, that’s going to need some explaining: I see church as a place of fellowship and a
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Breathing New Life Into the Depressed
All our emotions coexist with each other. Anger and anxiety often coexists with depression. We’ve all experienced the sensations of an accelerated heartbeat, a rise
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April Skies and Eager Eyes
April is the month of great change in the Yukon night sky. It is a time when the constellation of Orion is no longer high
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Perils of an Eclipse and Mountains of Surprise
I have always found that the hobby of astronomy is filled with unexpected surprises. Some are good and some are bad. Take for example the
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Messier Madness and Super Clusters
Spring is on the way and that means it is time once again for the Messier Marathon. What is the Messier Marathon you ask? The
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When Did the Chinese Start Making Beer?
In perusing past entries on the Brookston Beer Bulletin blog site, www.brookstonbeerbulletin.com (a terrific forum for learning about all things beer-related), we came across a
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The Atheist Doth Protest Too Much
I’ve come to realize that atheism sure ain’t that sexy. When you compare all the trappings and incentives that other belief systems have, we come
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Canada’s Dismally Depleted Air Farce
Attention CBC Television fans: Stop watching Royal Canadian Air Farce! Please. I’ve long felt the need to clearly and confidently state, with the utmost of
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Fit ‘n’ Healthy: A Real Book for Real Girls
There is a new book out there that I am so very excited about. So excited that I have been checking the bookstore shelves for
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Hopping for a good cause
Mollie Fraser (from the left), Jenna Fahr and Hannah Pederson are practising for the big day, March 25, when they will hop as many times
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The world watches as winter burns
For nine years, Burning Away the Winter Blues was a grassroots event that allowed Yukoners to come together at the Spring Equinox as a torch-wielding
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Copper Haul Twister League Finale
With longer sunny days and mercury rising above zero, thoughts are turning to the restful, lazy days of summer when dogs bask in the sun
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The Swamp Sisters Did It!
Every adventure race I’ve done, whether the outcome has been what I had hoped for or not, has transformed the experience into a life lesson
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Distinguished Guests & Distinguished Night Skies
Is the Yukon the best place for amateur astronomers? And how can I experience and discover the vast night sky? Let’s take these questions and
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The Disappearing Yukon Night Sky
The month of April is at a close and, as May begins, great changes are taking place high overhead in the amazing Yukon Night Skies.
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Rubba Dub Dub, the Dog’s in the Tub
Learn how to bathe a dog effectively, making bath time enjoyable for both you and your furry friend with simple tips.
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Sidetracked by Saturn
The sky is clear and I do not have to work tomorrow. At about 6 p.m., I put my gear out and start to get
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The power of Joy’s words
“Just words?” It is a rhetorical question Senator Barack Obama asked of Senator Hillary Clinton when she criticized his “flowery” speeches. The point was made
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The Beer Police are Heroes
A new initiative in the UK’s Somerset County this summer will ensure that beer drinkers are not getting hosed at their favourite watering holes. Trading
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Support Your Local Scientist
I love science. From government-sponsored labs to guys in their basements trying to rig together a personal jet pack, I must send a shout out
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A Spring Hike
I have been on several day hikes this spring, and spring was very marginal this year. Winter just didn’t want to let go. On the
Global Warming Affects Beer Production … OK, Now It’s Serious
Just the other day while I watching the store here at the Yukon Brewing Company, I had a customer look outside our windows while I
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The #1 and #2 Issues of Being in Boat for 12 Hours
How do you go to the bathroom in a canoe with eight other people in it, without stopping the boat? And I am not talking
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May is the dirtiest month
As I behold my 18th spring in the Yukon, I have been spared the anxiety and frustration of previous disappointments that are collectively known as
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The Good, The Bad and the Ugly-Affording Choices
In this new era of hyper-consumerism, there has become a culture of expectation. It is an expectation that not only can your money buy the
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Canadian Humour Lives Between Internal and External
Watching Extras will make you a better person. Well, maybe not, but if you took the time to watch Ricky Gervais’ comedic opus from start
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Homecoming: An Old Friend Returns
My friend Mike Bertrand was in town for the 21st Annual Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournament on June 15. Mike, son of Annette and legendary
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Playing Politics With Beer
News out of Birmingham, Alabama this month has a local consumer lobby group calling for a boycott of all Anheuser-Busch products in the Birmingham/Jefferson County
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PHantastic Soil
It is a good idea to find out a bit about your garden before planting anything in it. What will grow in a plot of
Paradigm shift slips on a plastic bag
“Paper or plastic?” has become a cliché for those no-win decisions we must make everyday: plastic is an oil-based product that chokes wildlife and is
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Help Your Plants Find the Light
Light is the main requirement for your seedlings once they have emerged from the soil whether they are flowers, vegetables or herbs. Having a sunny
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Organic Gardens Live and Breathe Naturally
When it comes to organic gardening, many gardeners are not exactly sure of the definition. Beyond the avoidance of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides on their
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The Art of Timing: Planting by the Moon
The “art of good timing” is the age-old belief in lunar rhythms. In the old days, people would plan their daily life, from health and
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Hardy Choice for Low-Maintenance Indoor Gardens
When you are looking for a tough indoor plant, sanseveria trifasciata (or more commonly called snake plant) is a hardy choice. These sturdy plants are
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Fundraising Fun avec Vin
About a year ago, I worked with Yukon Artists @ Work on a project called “Canvas Confidential,” a fundraiser to help Yukon artists if illness
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A Never Ending Quest: Beyond Nutrition
In the winter of 2010 I began my studies with the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition out of Ontario. I was compelled to begin learning
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At Home, In a Pub, In Berlin
Neighbourhood pubs are a European invention. A place where neighbours meet, after work for a glass of suds, in the early evening for a game
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Let Your Freak Flag Fly
The Solstice: What is is and things to do I admit it. I’m a freak. In the morning, instead of checking Facebook, I check an
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The Magic and the Mystery: Spending Friday nights at Titan could lead to fame and fortune
by Max Leighton For Whitehorse gamers, the Friday night Magic card tournament at Titan Gaming & Collectibles is an institution, a chance to meet and
Time to Get Out
When I got my Nintendo I didn’t think it would have any impact on children’s lives. Twenty-three years later the computer age has brought some
The Wild Abundance of Food
It’s only recently that most people have forgotten how to forage for food. For thousands of years, First Nations communities across Canada lived on food
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Tooting our Horn of Plenty
For most normal people, an ideal vacation destination includes delicious food experiences. Like in Italy, for example, you can see the art and architecture while
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Better Late than Never: How planting in the Yukon can be a challenge.
The peas were up before we finished planting the garden this year. We like to plant most of our seeds as soon as we can
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The Most Scrumptious Pastry on the Planet
Our love affair with the most scrumptious pastry on the planet began in an unlikely place – Old Crow. One dark night, during the tenth
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Yukon Supergroup, Dandelion Wreath, Says Goodbye
“The Last Potluck. Catchy isn’t it?” The man behind the cluttered desk utters this phrase while framing an invisible marquee with his hands. “I wish
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Saluting those crazy enough to lead
As I watched Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama duke it out in the United States, I found I was getting more and more jealous of
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When we find ourselves in the place Just Right
Ravens are laughing outside my window as I write this. The sun came up at 5:30. A river runs through my city and mountains to
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