TRADITIONS
After meeting at Algonquin College, where they studied heritage carpentry and joinery, Quentin Navarre and Amy Webster started collecting wood-working tools and began experimenting with building furniture using traditional methods. Their business, Wild Wood Design and Build, is housed in a spacious workshop in Perth where they build furniture in the traditional style to last for hundreds of years.
The couple also specializes in heritage restoration and carpentry, specifically custom woodworking such as trim, mouldings and doors, as well as architectural details. Visit wildwoodperth.com for special events that include classes and workshops to learn about heritage furniture construction, and how to build your own.
ALIVE IN THE HIVE
Do you love honey? Are you concerned about the plight of the honeybee? If you are interested in learning about saving honeybees and protecting pollinators, visit a working honey farm and taste the variety of honey produced by honeybees in the Ottawa area. You will discover how honey is made and the importance of bees and pollinators.
Matt and Marianne Gee started Gees Bees after they discovered honeybees living in the wall of their first home, and they’ve been teaching people about bees and beekeeping ever since. Take a self-guided walking tour of their eight-acre farm or book a VIP BEE experience. Put on a bee suit, lift the lid off a humming hive, and explore the inner workings of a beehive. Honeybee lovers can also opt to participate in the community hive-share program where you purchase a share of a beehive at the start of the season and receive a year’s supply of local raw honey (12 500 g jars).
The Host a Hive program gives hotels, restaurants, golf courses, retirement residences, and businesses of all kinds an opportunity to have a honeybee hive on their property to produce honey while all of the work of caring for the honeybees is dealt with. Hardcore bee lovers can participate in an introductory beekeeping workshop to learn about the art and science of apiculture. For more information, check out Gees Bees at geesbees.ca
RICH SOUNDS
Riverwood Acoustics is a small company based in Renfrew Ontario that makes premium wireless speakers from reclaimed old-growth timber. Long ago, the logging industry was an economic cornerstone of the Ottawa Valley and the Ottawa River is rich resource of old-growth timber. Perfectly preserved at the bottom of the river, these logs are a source of wood that is stronger, denser and tighter-grained than the timber of today.
Ben Sherman and his partners have paired the unmatched quality and beauty of old-growth timer with masterfully designed audio components and industrial design to produce “The Hudson,” a unique wooden speaker system. This painstakingly-engineered speaker takes full advantage of the tonal quality of the reclaimed wood to produce a speaker of acoustic superiority, tested by professional musicians who demand audio excellence. They are available at riverwoodacoustics.com. and at Dala Décor, 1790 Woodward Dr.
