Uniquely “Canadian” Guided Experiences offered in Lanark County
Nature Sound Bathing
Wilderness expert Chad Clifford will guide you through forest trails to a hidden paradise, where you will rest in a hammock and hear the symphony of nature, amplified using special technology. Starting at $35 per person. Request to Book
Chad’s website is ChadClifford.me
Forgage for Mushrooms
Steev Morgan is a fungus enthusiast, home mushroom cultivator, and general mycophile. Learn how you can grow gourmet and medicinal mushrooms on logs, stumps, straw, farm “waste”, or just about anything. Find out about some ways that our fungal friends can help us with problems like soil remediation where chemicals have been spilled or artificial amendments have killed the soil, help forests recover after logging, and help utilize unused biomass on the farm. At the same time these practices can generate additional value for landscapers, farmers, gardeners and landowners. Request to Book
Steev’s Website is called MyConosis
Tend to the Honey
Beekeeper Paul Lacelle has been tending hives on his property near Carleton Place for over 20 years. He offers workshops for both new and experienced beekeepers, and recently opened a shop. Each August, his Summer Field Day attracts more than 100 beekeepers for workshops and hive inspections. Introductory Beekeeping workshops are offered each Sunday afternoon throughout the beekeeping season. $50 (subject to change without notice) Request to Book
Offered by Lacelle’s Apairy
Build an ultra-light Canoe
Canoe builder Brent Kirkham was making a living by designing commercial interiors when he found himself with a block of free time and decided to build a canoe. A lifelong paddler and carpenter, Brent has refined a building style that involves cold molding cedar strips over a boat form and sheathing it in fiberglass and epoxy to produce a very light, durable and visually stunning canoe.” He now teaches three- and five-day workshops suited to all levels. “A first-time builder has a good sh
ot at building the boat of their dreams,” he says.
- 3-day Workshop $250 per person
- 5-day Workshop $425 per person
(prices subject to change without notice) Request a Booking
Offered by Kirk’s Canoe’s
Frame a Barn
After completing the heritage carpentry course at the Perth Campus of Algonquin College, Jason Gibson worked for a company that dismantled heritage barns, then started a timber framing company. He now also offers one-week courses to teach groups of 10 to 12 people the basics of the trade. “It’s become quite popular.” In an interesting twist, the company has raised over $34,000 for charity since 2006 by selling the students’ finished frames.
$950 to $1050 +HST for the week-long course
(subject to change without notice) Request a Booking
Offered by Gibson Timer Frames
Create a Puppet
“I started building puppets when I was a kid,” says Noreen Young. After attending art college in Toronto, she worked as a professional television puppeteer and producer for CBC, TVO and the Family Channel before launching Almonte’s Puppets Up! festival from 2005 to 2016. As well as coordinating the weekend-long festival, with its 250 volunteers, she also offers puppet-making workshops for small groups.
- Full day workshop, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Foam hand puppet
$30 per person, including all materials. Maximum 20 persons (subject to change without notice)
- Three-day workshop, Latex head puppet
$85 per person, including all materials. Maximum 8 persons.
Design a Floral Masterpiece
Using local sourced materials, Sylvia van Oort will share her 21 years of growing & arranging cut flowers with you and your friends in the newly constructed design studio building. Walk through the fields of flowers, arrange cut flowers, enjoy wreath making, dried flower display or creating your own seasonal centerpieces.
$20 to $30 per person (minimum 5 people) (subject to change without notice)
Sylvia’s Plant Place http://www.sylviasplantplace.ca/
Knit or Felt a Craft
Almost all of Canada’s wool is collected, graded and sold through the Canadian Cooperative Wool Growers in Carleton Place, housed in a former railway roadhouse. Today, the co-op offers knitting and felting classes. If you call ahead, you can tour the building to watch graders at work. And during the annual Lambs Down Park Festival in June, you can watch sheep being shorn.
$30-40 per person. (subject to change without notice)
2-3 hour workshop. Min of 5 people and maximum 15.
2 weeks notice required. Sessions are now being booked for March 2017.
Offered by the Canadian Cooperative Wool Growers at the Real Wool Shop
Tell a Story
Historian Susan Code McDougall can trace her Lanark County heritage back seven generations. As well as writing books about local history and teaching at the Perth Campus of Algonquin College, she guides ghost walks each Halloween for the Perth Museum and leads other guided tours.
$10 per adult, $5 per child (subject to change without notice)
60 to 90 minute tour. Group rates available (minimum 4 people or $40).
Forest Tours
Come Wander… Laurie Clark will take you on a forest walk and tour in the Lanark Highlands. As a nature connection mentor she will guide your through the forest as well as offer additional touring options: A visit to Lanark Highlands Basket Museum or attend an Indigenous Arts workshop with Algonquin Artist, Two Bears.
To organize a Forest Walk, a visit to Lanark Highlands’ Basket Museum, or to participate in an Indigenous Arts workshop, contact Laurie at: Lanarkhighlandsnatureconnection.com.
75$ per forest walking group per hour (subject to change without notice)
Available through Lanark Highlands Nature Connection
Eat Like a Canadian | Catch & Cook Ontario Fish
Fishing guide Sebastian Kowalczuk has fished all over the world, and has been featured on Sportsnet, WFN, the Sportsman Channel and Ontario Outdoors magazine. With its wide range of species, including pike, crappie, lake trout, bass and walleye, his home base of Lanark County can compete with the best, he says. “There’s so much you could do within an hour’s drive. You could probably fish six lakes in a day.” Guests fly in fro
m as far away as Washington state for Cottage Fishing Adventure’s full-day guided outings. Catch guaranteed!
$395 full-day including shore lunch (subject to change without notice) Request to Book
Offered by Cottage Fishing Adventures
