B & K Tour du Canada: Day 65: Owen Sound

km today: 90.6
total km: we forget!

We took the scenic route:

Downtown Owen Sound.

We think that these are wild red and orange currants, but we're not quite sure.

Theoretically, the trip could have been done in about 60km, but we found a traffic free bike route

worthy of a detour along Georgian Bay and, also, had business to attend to in Collingwood. We are now with cell phone. The postal worker from Sault Ste Marie came through in successfully forwarding the parcel to one "Bran + Dan Pire." Despite the relay of two e-mails, three phone messages and two phone conversations all of which, we thought, clearly communicated a name and address, things got lost in translation.

The short trip from Collingwood to Eigensinn Farm was capped off with
a scenic rolling ascent.

For those of you who don't know, Eigensinn Farm

is a concept dreamed up by the eccentric, but brilliant mind of Michael Stadtlander,

the acclaimed chef and owner of the property. Other acclaimed chef's and restauranteurs have proclaimed Stadtlander as Canada's most skilled chef - clearly a controversial and easily
disputed title, but the point is that he's good.

His success is made all the more possible by his energizer bunny-like wife, Nobuyo. Coming in at what must be under 5 feet tall, she is a force that matches all of Stadtlander's 6'6 stature. This German/Japanese duo, we've decided, are the John and Yoko of the food world.

Eigensinn, taken from a Herman Hesse novel, means "land of one's own." How to describe Eigensinn Farm? Let's put it this way. If they were to capture Lewis Carroll's vision for Alice and Wonderland on film, this would be the location to do so. The road network alone is such a maze that it inspired an indepth debate among two of Stadtlander's apprentices as to the route to "The Playhouse," our place of residence for the duration of our stay. "Beyond the teepee, after mother of all mothers, past bacchus and the tetanus farmer, before the tree house and on the road just before the fork in the road. Those were the instructions. You may think that "The Playhouse" seems like an odd place to sleep, but the apprentices are staying in
the barn, the stone castle, the attic and the bus. These titles may lead you to be confused and bewildered, so we've tried to capture as many images of the fantastical property as we can.

The bus that he and Nobuyo used to tour Canada during their cooking show that aired on the food network, and also used it to drive to Quadra last year.

A collection of William VanOrdens pieces hanging over the breakfast talbe (a Quadra artist). Can you find Quadra?

The oyster man.

Katie and Tommy chilling in "The Playhouse."

Mother of all mother's toes. The rest of mother of all mother is not quite PG so we've censored a bit.

Instead of taking his bottles to a bottle depot, Stadtlander uses them to line his paths. There must be thousands of bottles lying there, and the pile is constantly growing.

Brandon discovered 1989 Port in our room nestled among the bone candle holders, coffee beans and grinder and bottled water. We were pretty much set up.

The oyster shack.

Stadtlander's own swimming pond. We're pretty sure he probably excavated this himself.

The fridge is under the island in the middle of the kitchen which, you'll notice, is complete with a solid slab of marble, next to which is an entire standing varnished tree that acts as the utensil holder.

The shape of a man constructed of oyster shells.

Pig/barbeque in the middle of the forest.

We stumbled upon this guy lurking behind an apple tree.

Finding "The Playhouse."

The Tetanus Farmer, so called because he's so rusty.

Bacchus, the wine god.

The chickens and the dogs take turns pecking/gnawing at this giant, bloody bone -one of two that greet you at the door.

The inspiration for all of the statues was "The Heaven on Earth Project." The project was inspired by a budhist monk philosophy where they meditate through physical labour to transform their land into a more beautiful area than it began as. One of Stadtlander's mottos is "don't cut down the tree you sit on." He's an environmental activist and, though financially established, is not in the least bit frivolous
with his money. Everything in his home is natural, from the farming and growing of his own food, to the construction of buildings and structures with his own hands, using materials from his own farm to do it all.

The duck palace built entirely from recycled wood taken either from his own farm or his friends. We were told that the only thing they bought during its construction was a bag of nails.

Some of Stadtlander's artistic flare. His creativity is not limited to the plating of his food. This is part of the wall divider/counter between the kitchen and the breakfast room.

Stadtlander's homemade outdoor oven that produces the best bread; chewy and smoky.

To go along with the wood fired oven, this homemade grill churned out an exquisite lunch and two equally fantastic dinners.

Don't get the idea that he's a superhero, doing all of this by himself. His apprentices act as an army of minions, obeying any order Stadtlander gives, whether it's to butcher a duck, shephard the sheep or construct a 20 foot statue made of wine bottles. Stadtlander would never be able to do what he does without the help of his apprentices. He's has about 8 roaming around at any one time and has had about 200 come through in the past. He's developed a one of a kind opportunity. They all live, quite literally, as a family, playfully referring to Nobuyo and Michael as mom and dad, and eating breakfast, lunch and dinner together. In turn, Michael and Nobuyo refer to "the kids" by their ever changing nicknames, never by their real names. One apprentice told us, "we don't have real names anymore, and Chef wouldn't know us by them anyway." These people are completely volunteer. There is absoltely no monetary compensation for the apprentices, who usually come out for 6 months at a time. They simply want to come and learn from the best.

Two of the apprentices, and two of the three forming "team Japan" chatting with Brandy over breakfast.

Unfortunately, Stadtlander and Nobuyo had a previous engagement to attend to the night we arrived. After shoving beers into our hands, they left, leaving us in the care of the apprentices, who had been instructed numerous times to make sure that we were eating constantly. We were happy to oblige. Especially when we discovered that everything was fresh from the garden.