Story and photos by Michelle Annette Tremblay - The Land Between is the only area in the province with exposed rock barrens, and also has the highest concentration of lakes. We have an abundance of lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands; swamps, fens, bogs, and marshes. With all this water and plant diversity comes an explosion of animal and insect diversity. The Land Between hosts flora and fauna from both the north and the south, living side by side. There are also species living here that you won't find anywhere else in the world, including the five-lined skink, Ontario's only native lizard. 

Story and photos by Brendan Troy
Moose are synonymous with winter. Their lengthy limbs aid them through feet of snow and hold them high to reach nutritious twigs. These Canadian giraffes can survive the toughest winters and look comfortable in any snowy scene. Often feeding along roadways...

By John Hopkins
It seems like these days longevity in the music business is measured in years, perhaps months, but certainly not decades. Yet in 2018 Belleville’s own Commodores Orchestra will celebrate nine decades of swinging. It is an impressive achievement for any musical collection, but especially for a group that not only grew and thrived through the big band era of the 1940s, but has also managed to keep the music alive through the lean years as well.

By Barry Penhale
Guardians of Canada’s history warrant a big vote of appreciation for the countless ways our war dead have been remembered. Honouring those men and women in the armed forces who gave their all is evident in the built memorials across Hastings County and by the annual November 11 Remembrance Day services.

By John Hopkins
So picture this. You’ve stepped out on a limb and organized a classical and jazz music festival in the village of Stirling, and during a break in the action Guido Basso appears backstage and asks if he can sit-in with the jazz band, the John Sherwood Trio. Yup, that Guido Basso, internationally-acclaimed horn player and recipient of the Order of Canada.

Story and photos by Sarah Vance
During live edge milling the bark is left intact and the natural lines of the tree are preserved. Then the wood is sanded and hand polished, so as to highlight every knot and ligament in the cut. Each live edge slab is a unique and artisanal ‘slice in a tree’s life’ - which is then manufactured into functional art and furniture."I can build several tables from the same tree, but no two tables will be the same," says Hennessey.

By Sarah Vance
David B. Milne first came to Bancroft with his canoe and camping supplies on the I B & O Railway in 1947. He was already recognized as one of Canada’s greatest artists. He had exhibited alongside Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Braque and Duchamp and the American modernists at the famous Armory Show in New York in 1913 yet he was still little known to the Canadian general public.

By Barry Penhale
Settled in the 1830s, the community on Stoco Lake now known as Tweed was originally called Hungerford Mills, named after the township. Later renamed after the Tweed River in southeastern Scotland, the settlement was incorporated as a village in 1891. Tweed was a bustling place when I first began visiting during the 1950s...

Story and photos by Lindi Pierce

In the early years of tourism, the 1920s to 1950s, a special breed of tourist destination flourished like the summer harvest. Cottage resorts sprouted up along the lakeshore on family farms, a kind of additional crop on sometimes cash-poor farms. There's a tradition of tourist homes or guest lodges - farm wives opening their dining room for home cooked meals and the spare bedroom for a guest or two, farmers building small cabins for much-needed summer tourist accommodation. The tourist homes felt comfortable because they were homes, and guests became like family. 

Story and photos by Sarah Vance

Misty mornings begin before dawn for the many small-enterprise farmers who tend agricultural outposts in and around Hastings County, as dew lingers on the crops at sunrise. For some, morning arrives with the call of a rooster as eggs are collected from nesting hutches and rabbits are penned into the hatch of a pick-up truck for the journey to the Maynooth Farmer’s Market.

Story and photos by Robert Ferguson

This is a story about great loss and a subsequent remarkable recovery. It is a story of hardship and perseverance, tragedy and triumph. It is a factual account of how dedicated conservationists, led by one distinguished man, brought one of our most magnificent birds back from the brink of almost certain extinction. 

Story and photos by Sarah Vance

Ingrid’s garden is a vibrant collage of hostas, daffodils, phlox and orchids, carved out of the Canadian Shield wilderness. The banks of Lavallee Lake are where Ingrid gathers the canvases needed for her driftwood sculptures and where many pieces will eventually find a home.