How I harvested the first Okanagan-grown truffles

Robert Mohr, a retired surgeon, and his wife, Andrea, spent 17 years trying to grow truffles in the Okanagan. Truffles, which are notoriously hard to grow, had never been successfully harvested in the region before. The couple had to order the right trees, enlist the help of a mycologist from the University of British Columbia, apply for special farming permits and wait at least seven years for the truffles to emerge. It’s an imperfect science, and there was no guarantee of success. But then one day the dogs who are trained to sniff the truffles reported good news.

—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief

For years, the government has adopted a treatment-first approach to the problem, trying to fix the issues that lead to homelessness—alcoholism, drug dependency, mental health struggles, family crises—before helping people find housing. Linda Goodall, the executive director of an emergency shelter in Orillia, Ontario, says that’s backwards thinking. Drawing on her years on the front lines, she says that with somewhere to live, eat, shower and sleep, it’s easier for people to get their lives back on track. She has some radical ideas for how that can be done.

Laeticia Amihere, who is six-foot-three, is the next big thing in women’s basketball. In 2017, she went viral as the first Canadian woman to dunk during a game at an Amateur Athletic Union tournament. She was only 15 when Canada’s national team came calling, and by the end of high school, she had racked up 54 offers from colleges and universities across North America (she picked the University of South Carolina). If Canada’s first WNBA team launches in Toronto, she’d make a fine first signing.

CULTURE PICK
OF THE WEEK

The eighth album from Halifax-based folk singer Jenn Grant may have her name on it, but it’s actually a massive collaboration between 13 Canadian musicians. Recorded remotely during the pandemic, each track on Champagne Problems features at least one guest, including Broken Social Scene founder Kevin Drew and East Coast musician Kim Harris. The latter co-wrote the album’s single, “Judy,” named after her deceased mother, and the lyrics reimagine her parents’ love story. The accompanying music video, which features a group of waitresses with beehive hairdos, was filmed at Halifax staple Johnny’s Snack Bar.

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