Half Magic

10 Things I Love About Goderich.

A handmade purse we bought at the market- Jill Butler fabric.

Gifts of our hands, spelt chocolate chip cookie mix I also bought at the market and they were delicious.

10 things I love about Goderich :

1. The walking bridge over the Maitland river- use to be for the salt mine freight trains but the town converted it.I have a great running route that takes me past all the stately homes and over that bridge. It is breathtaking.

2. Tiger Dunlop- in the museum they have a glass jar that is called one of the Apostles. It was filled with whiskey as were the other Apostles and taken with him everywhere he traveled. The one called Judas was filled with water. His history and the history of the Attawandaron are always in the back of my mind as I explore this town.

3.Celtic Festival being held Aug 7. An amazing gsthering of Celtic artist and a great kids camp where they can learn to play the harp.

4. The markets on the square- actually a hexagon. Keeps the old part of the town thriving especially when it has to compete with Walmart and Boston PIzza.

5. Eating at the Park House while my kids sit on top of cannons or run around the park. Other food delights are the Beanery- my kind if food and I finally tried the infamous Culbert's Bakery and now understand why their donuts are famous. I hate donuts but my mouth is watering thinking about theirs.

6. The Musesum and jail. We can spend hours here, such an excellent display of life and the birth of a town. Even the jail represents a thrill for my kids mainly because of the old dummy slepping up in the top cell- scares the lights out of them everytime. Last time we let them have the phones to listen in but weren't expecting stories about the crazy woman who tried ot saw off her neck with a piece of wood!

7. Reuben Sallows . This photographer is a national treasure. Thank Godhe captured life before the plastic revolution took over. I look at the apple pickers with their wooden ladders, wooden bushels, the cotton clothing and think how little thier impact was on the environment compared to our oil dependent world now. My favourite is of the woman snowshoeing- she is my model feminist. Oh, I do like the old woman trimming her husbands beard.

8. The beach of Lake Huron. We spend hours collecting our own special obsession. I collect rocks with fossils one day but on another smooth round white rocks for painting and on another driftwood. It  usually stays on the beach in a pile. Of course sitting on the beach one gets to view the sun sinking into the lake every evening.

9. Shopping: Irresistables- a little clothing boutique that carries Sandwich, Mexx and Espirit and I seem to hit it everytime there is a sale. I usually hit the shoe store with my kids as it is nice to get service and their foots properly measured. If only they carried leather Mary Janes instead of GEOX. And of course the market always has treasures

10. The Berry farm and Bayfield. I love supoprting local farms, and small business initiatives especially for locally grown and cooked foods such as the Berry farm on Hwy 21 on the way to Bayfield. Bayfield always makes me happy. I love to just browse the shops and the occassional time have lunch at the Little Inn.

The farm

A rare sighting in Goderich- a family owned farm.     The tree farm- the old laneway

I was hoping to take our family wwoofing, farm work vacations, but it was hard to know what farm would be best for a family and not filled with young twenty year olds. So I will continue my research and figure that one out for next year. We did stay at my mother's tree farm, basically 80 acres of forest in their small loft above the garage. It has a composting toilet and we bring in water. We managed two nights before we hightailed it to their cottage. Sleeping and eating together in one room has its challenges but it was so much fun. The kids couldn't get to sleep with us reading. I would tell them to be quiet and go to sleep, there would be silence then a whisper," do you have a 4?", "No, fish. Do you have a 7?" They were playing cards!
The fireflies and the stars were worth every trip to the composting toilet; a sky you would never see in the city. We ate black raspberries and had wonderful hikes. We went to my favourite restaurant, the Port Albert Inn , we explored the jail, the museum and even a cemetary. Goderich is a really lovely town that makes you think, could I live here?
 

The Politics of farming in Goderich:

20 years ago we would have easily found a farm to have a family vacation but more and more of the farms have been bought up by Maple Leaf or other big food industries. The farmhouses are there but a manager lives there. Then there are the closed in pig and chicken barns that you can smell but you never see the livestock which always creeps me out  especially when I dip my toes into the clear, coolness of Lake Huron aware of the water run off from these farms. Despite this the Goderich business association is amazing. Goderich known for its hexagon town center is always hosting events. Every Saturday there is a market, there are antique car shows, kids fest, artist festivals and the huge Celtic Festival. The other amazing aspect of Goderich are its citizens. When the town wanted to open a YMCA they needed to fundraise additional cash and believe me individuals donated $10,000 towards it because they feel this is their town and they invest in it. The salt mine is another interesting feature. Currently they are a mining at depth that is equal to the CN tower. The water breakers to the harbour have sunk down quite a bit and according to locals it is the nature of salt mining. They mine 'streets' but eventually the pillars supporting it will collapse so naturally what is above must cave down.

Summer cottage

Since my husband was  little he has been visiting this old family cottage in Honey Harbour. We take a water taxi over because they have a new boat with an inboard and is much too big for me to drive when I am not sure of the way. But I do drive it and now understand why you need bigger boats on Georgian Bay- the swells are huge and would have washed over our tiny motor boat we had up on Lake Muskoka. The cottage was built in 1906 and much of the original paintings, furnishings and even journals are still there.

The children always create an art gallery for us.

The dining room is my favourite place.

The girls read a journal and created a play based on the events about two cousins, one who would do cannonballs from the boathouse and shoot a rifle and another who was a writer but didn't like the cottage much. The writer dies after childbirth and the cousins takes care of the baby. The girls made themselves cry. It was a beautiful weekend.

My favourite napping spot- every screened in porch needs a swing couch.