Editor's column - August 2026
As I’m writing this, the air in Blyth is covered in the yellow haze of wildfire smoke from Northern Ontario wildfires over 1,000 kilometres away.
I held my breath to cross the road for some incredible Fabhaus coffee. The owner says Ontario’s air quality is the worst in the world at the moment.
Even worse than India, she said.
I remember India’s air quality well, it always smelled like chai and spices, at least in the places I travelled.
But what the yellow sky really reminds me of is South Korea, where I lived for a few years. Every year in March and April, the country is enveloped in a cloud of fine dust that blows from China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. They call it hwangsa (황사), which means “yellow sand.” For weeks, people stay in their homes, only venturing out in masks. A layer of dust accumulates on every surface.
These yellow skies remind me of how much we are all connected and how silly our borders are – that we all share the same water and air.
This issue is jam-packed with stories that remind us how connected we are and what we can learn from each other.
Jeff Tribe wrote about Simon Mighty and Recordo Gray, two Jamaican men who are working at Ardiel Acres this summer. It is the 60th anniversary of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) that has held up Ontario’s horticulture industry. Through this program, ties run deep between Jamaica and Canada especially.
And Mark Nonkes has a great story about Richard Rola. Richard is from the Philippines, coming here through the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and now lives in Dashwood, where he is living his best life - along with his family.
As readers know, I love all the diversity coming to rural Ontario. It means we don’t have to travel so far for global cuisine, for one. But it also gives us a unique opportunity to make friends with people from other cultures and perspectives. We get some of the benefits of travelling without having to spend the money on (currently very expensive!) plane tickets.
Still, not all new Canadians are having a peachy time fitting into our rural communities. There are misconceptions and racism, we know. It will take time, but I have hope. There are programs like Everyone Belongs initiative that was recently funded in Grey-Bruce.
I really love that quote I popped in the Ruralite page — "Do you know what a foreign accent is? It's a sign of bravery." - Amy Chua
When I lived in South Korea, I studied the language with much the same enthusiasm that I do anything (which is a lot). I got to an intermediate level and was selected to give a speech in front of an auditorium full of people. Now, I love public speaking, but doing it in Korean is next level – I was so nervous. I just can’t have witty repartee with an audience while only knowing a small fraction of the language’s vocabulary. I had to rely on my non-verbals.
I got so much encouragement and support from Koreans in my language learning. They were just so impressed at my effort. I learned words in a dialect from my island along the south coast and could speak Korean with a southern accent that would have Koreans from Seoul falling off their chairs laughing. (And hey, check out the 2024 documentary The Last of the Sea Women on Apple TV and you’ll get a sense of where I lived - and how I spoke - for two years.)
Koreans loved to help me with Korean. I can’t imagine that is the experience of newcomers here, speaking English as a second (or third, or fourth) language. But I wish it would be. There’s nothing more humbling than having to communicate in a new language, so I hope we have grace with our new neighbours!
Other fond memories from my south island of Korea were the array of fresh seafood. The relatively calm waters around the islands meant it was great for growing abalone and other yummy (and not so yummy) mollusks. Hetty Stuart (welcome back Hetty!) has a great story about a family farming scallops from her trip out to the east coast in this issue.
All this thinking about Korea really makes me wish I could take some time off and go back for a visit! ◊