Who’s This Clown?
Is one of the most devastating insults, because not only does it imply that the person in question is a clown, but not even one of the better known clowns.
-The Internet
Hi, I’m Erik. I bought this place after a long time of planning and searching and some very good fortune. I’ve owned the property since 2019, just before the world shut down for 2.5 years and have always had the goal of opening a place where people could come and hopefully feel the wonder and peace that being in the woods brings me.
In that goal is a kind of implied need to keep the place low key. I’m happy to prioritize experience over profit if I’m still able to keep the doors open and take a vacation myself from time to time. Money has never been my main motivator, and I see no reason for that to change now.
I work in film and TV as a sound recordist and boom operator. I love the work, but it has begun to take its toll on my body and I can’t do the hours anymore. Before film and TV I was a bartender/server/busboy/cook, worked on fishing boats as an observer for a company contracted by DFO collecting biological and catch information, a carpenter and handyman, beginning my working life as a door to door flower salesperson at age 14 where they would drop us off in front of buildings at Jane and Finch in Toronto and wish us luck.
My dream for BKS is to share a unique experience that highlights, and learns to work within wild spaces rather than trying to cut down and tame them. Let’s be honest, that never works anyway. To quote Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park ”Nature, uhh, Finds A Way”. The natural world has always been a draw for me, as well as a love of travel and discovering new and interesting things around where I live.
I also LOVE to cook I don’t know that I’m brilliant at it, but I’ve taught myself how to do it pretty well, and love to do things like curing my own meats, making everything into a pickle, learning how to use foraged foods, baking delicate pastries and delicious comfort foods, and plan to keep learning. One of my biggest dilemmas in opening this place is ‘do I make it a B&B style so I can make people food and hopefully put my love of it into the meals, or provide them with ingredients and inspiration so they can have that for themselves?’ Honestly, as I write this, less than 6 months before I’m set to open, with my plan pretty set, I’m still undecided.
To quote my own first blog post, “All this to say, I am fucking STOKED for the future and seeing how this goes and I look forward to meet you all when you visit.”