Celebrating the Oak Ridges Moraine

This past Sunday Garrett and I volunteered at a huge celebration of the Oak Ridges Moraine – one of the most important landscapes in southern Ontario. Save the Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM) Coalition, Earthroots, Ontario Nature and EcoSpark invited people from across southern Ontario to Purple Woods Conservation Area in Oshawa, Ontario for a day of hiking, country music and good food.

I’d never been to this conservation area before and it was beautiful there. Great views of the Oak Ridges Moraine in all its fall glory. I’d love to come back next winter for their Purple Woods Maple Syrup Festival.

The day started with a guided hike through the beautiful terrain.

Then everyone came back to the Purple Woods Heritage Hall for a delicious BBQ lunch.

It was such a lovely fall day, with the doors wide open to enjoy the amazing views.

The decor was simple – gingham table clothes, mini pumpkins, pumpkin arrangements and mason jars full of wildflowers picked from our neighbours’ yard.

Garrett and I were in charge of manning the bar. It was so much fun to hang out together and take orders. If our day jobs don’t work out, we now have a backup plan!

My mom works for STORM and has been working so hard on this event for months, so we were glad to be able to share in the day with her and show our support for a great cause.  Long time readers may remember that I helped out for STORM’s 20th anniversary event on a heritage train and made 160+ boxed lunches. I had a blast at the last one that when we heard about this event, we both volunteered right away.

We were serving up a variety of local wines and beers from Mill St Brewery, Red Falcon Brewery, Ocala Wintery and Willow Springs Winery.

 My dad and Garrett’s parents came to join us for the day.

One of my favourite parts of the day, was the tribute to renowned environmental activist Bill Lishman (aka Father Goose). He is an inventor and artist, who is famous for using his ultralight aircraft to help geese migrate. Do you remember the Oscar nominated movie Fly Away Home with Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels? The film was based on Lishman and his book Father Goose. I love that movie growing up, so it was really exciting to meet him in real life.

 

In honour of all his hard work, he was given a stone to add to the heritage pathway in his name, as well as a maple tree planted in the forest.

The afternoon continued with a set by local band Northern Roads…

…followed by rising country music star, Lindsay Broughton.

A big thank you to all the hard working staff and volunteers that made it such a successful event. We had a blast helping out and can’t wait for the next one!