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Preview: Growing Sense adds gardening to AMI’s stable of original programs

Here in Southern Ontario, it appears winter is over. Squirrels are bounding all over the place, birds are waking me up and the crocuses in my front garden are in bloom. With the first day of spring officially arriving on March 20, AMI-tv is marking the occasion with the debut of its latest series, Growing Sense.

Airing Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on AMI-tv, each of Growing Sense‘s 10 episodes follow novice gardener Milena Khazanavicius and veteran ecological landscaper Rosmarie Lohnes as they build and tend an accessible garden plot in Halifax’s Common Roots Urban Farm. 

“I believe that when we heal the earth, we heal ourselves,” Lohnes says in the show’s opening credits. It’s sage advice. Viewers are first introduced to Khazanavicius, who once worked as a floral designer with dreams of opening her own shop before losing her sight at the age of 22. She and seeing eye dog Lewis hit up a local Halifax flower shop to nab some herbs for her balcony boxes. It’s at this store we learn Khazanavicius’ life story and the pleasure she derives from the smells and textures of flowers and plants. 

Lohnes, meanwhile, outlines her tale. The daughter of a miner who worked in Northern Ontario, childhoods were spent camping in the woods where she developed her “superpower.” Now she’s founded Helping Nature Heal, which restores sustainable ecosystems and connects people with nature.

The pair, introduced months ago, reunite with a bold plan: fill a community garden plot with plants and vegetables designed to reconnect Khazanavicius with her passion for plants while giving her food to augment her fixed income. Khazanavicius’ first challenge? Getting there.

Featuring integrated described video, Growing Sense is a wonderful addition to AMI’s quickly growing stable of original programming that is blind or partially sighted viewers but enjoyable by all.

Growing Sense airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on AMI-tv.

Image courtesy of AMI.

 

 

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Brojects: Built for the Weekend creates epic items for cottage owners

I’m not a very handy guy. Yeah, I can drill a hole in a wall to hang a picture, re-screen a porch door, patch small-ish holes and paint a room, but that’s pretty much it. So it’s been a ton of fun to watch and marvel at Kevin and Andrew Buckles as they create wild items for their cottage.

After two seasons of the original series Brojects—which saw the siblings making things like a combined dock/bowling alley—and then a season inside with Brojects: In the House as they souped up a former Masonic Lodge, the boys are back making outlandish items for their cottage neighbours.

Bowing Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Cottage Life—the specialty channel is available in a free preview—Brojects: Built for the Weekend hits the road for six instalments as the Buckles’ meet up with cottage owners, assess their needs and then build something cool. The challenge? To complete a project within a week … the time between visits by the property owners.

“We had definitely built as much stuff as we could at our family cottage,” Kevin says on the line from Nova Scotia. “But we had talked about it from the very beginning, being able to get out on the road and see cottages.” A Facebook post asked folks to audition their properties for consideration; Andrew says they picked interesting stories and locations that wouldn’t be too challenging for filming. It’s one thing to be in a large city with easy access to power, supplies and facilities. It’s another to be situated on a small lake, relying on generators, a shortage of electrical plugs and weather to contend with.

Rain and wind threatened to wreak havoc in Thursday’s debut as Kevin and Andrew worked to rebuild and trick out a family’s dilapidated deck. Not content to just update what was there, the Buckles’ formulate a unique way for everyone to swim without the threat of leeches, an easier way to load into a canoe, a place to create art and a fishing station. As fascinating as the projects are, what makes Brojects: Built for the Weekend (and their past series) such an entertaining program is the back and forth between Kevin and Andrew. Verbal jabs are the norm, making for a light-hearted and fun franchise. Kevin says the idea for Brojects came about with them sitting around at their own cottage, fixing and improving the endless things that go with it. A partnership with Blue Ant Media soon followed.

“I think the timing was perfect,” Andrew recalls. “I think Blue Ant Media was looking for some Canadian content for Cottage Life and we came on the scene doing DIY projects at our cottage.”

Upcoming episodes of Brojects: Built for the Weekend include a double-decker party raft, a micro A-frame glamping cabin, a floating playground and a boat-themed outdoor kitchen.

“The ideas just kind of evolve,” Kevin says of their inspiration. “I don’t look at something and say, ‘That’s going to have a fishing station on it.’ We did interviews with the families beforehand and asked them what they wanted. That was our guideline, but it just all comes together as it comes together.”

Brojects: Built for the Weekend airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Cottage Life.

Images courtesy of Blue Ant Media.

 

 

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Season 6 of Hit the Ice skates on to APTN

Last month, APTN debuted an excellent new documentary series from Nish Media called Skindigenous. Now Nish returns to APTN with the sixth season of Hit the Ice.

This 15-episode season of Hit the Ice, returning Saturday at noon ET on APTN, once again focuses on Indigenous midget and junior hockey players from across the country. The goal of these 16- to 18-year-olds? To showcase their skills in front of scouts from the Canadian Hockey League and U.S. universities in hopes of landing a spot on one of those teams. The squad’s head coach? Ex-NHL coach and player John Chabot—a member of the Kitigan Zibi First Nation—who played with the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, coached and assistant-coached for the New York Islanders and coached in the QMJHL.

Saturday’s return catches up with players as they undertake the first of a gruelling 14-day training camp at the Jonathan Toews Community Centre in Winnipeg. The open tryouts attract boys from across the country, including Tobias Commanda-Odjick, Cody Savey, Taylor Redmond and Corbin Mariash.

As for Chabot and his team of coaches, their aim is to get the players out of their comfort zone and see how they react. What’s supposed to be a light skate gets serious pretty quickly as the coaches lay down ground rules that set the tone for the rest of the day.

Hit the Ice is not only an opportunity for Indigenous youths to snag a place on a Canadian Hockey League team or at a U.S. university but the chance for viewers to gain some real insight into what it takes to be a hockey player in this country. It was a real education for this former summer soccer player to see the extensive drills, long hours and off-ice conditioning needed to break into an elite team. Kudos to the producers for including the office discussion between the coaches; their explanation and breakdown of not only the practices themselves but individual players’ strengths made for one heck of a great first of 15 episodes.

Hit the Ice airs Saturdays at noon ET on APTN.

Images courtesy of Jeff Griffin.

 

 

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Amazing Race Canada, Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Amazing Race Canada’s Julie and Lowell inspire in AMI’s Mind Set Go

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The mind is a powerful thing. It can inspire you to seek the most powerful and healthy version of yourself or propel on to a downward slide of negativity.

Debuting Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET on AMI-tv, Mind Set Go takes the latter and aims for the former with help from The Amazing Race Canada finalists Julie and Lowell Taylor and Canadian Paralympians. The eight-episode season features everyday folks struggling to overcome the negative thoughts that lead to obesity via a three-month system of diet, exercise and support to get them on the path to health and personal wellness. Serving as certified health and fitness coaches and confidantes are the Taylors, who millions saw competing in Season 4 of The Amazing Race Canada; Lowell is legally blind due to retinitis pigmentosa. The pair plays an integral part in helping the contestants shed weight and negative thoughts.

Gio strives to reach his goal

“AMI was very interested in our story,” Julie says on the line from Lethbridge, Alta. “Our relationship, our teamwork and the fact that Lowell is visually impaired worked. We realized that we have something special that can reach a broader audience.” The journey begins with Gio. One of the original members of The Canadian Tenors, Gio stopped singing professionally over a decade ago and fell into a depression he fed with food. Now he’s ready to get healthy. It’s not easy. After a pep talk and weigh-in with Julie and Lowell, Gio begins his transformative journey.

The road to self-worth includes a bike ride with Michelle Salt. The one-time fitness model lost her right leg in a motorcycle accident but found drive and a zest for life as part of Canada’s Paralympic Snowboard Team. Salt listens to Gio before putting him on a bike and challenging him to keep up and pedals away. As she says, the only thing holding Gio back from success is his mind.

AMI This Week’s Victoria Nolan

“We often talk to people who are patients about this,” Lowell says. “If you believe you can’t you’re right. If you believe you can, you’re also right. If we let those bully voices inside of our head, that becomes the limiting belief. That becomes the thing that pulls us away, to withdraw, to stop living.”

“I don’t even think people identify that that is what’s holding them back,” Julie continues. “It becomes so internalized that they haven’t even identified that. Bringing it to light is so important.” Future episodes of Mind Set Go showcase Canadian Paralympians and athletes in Maya Jonas, Josh Cassidy, Summer Mortimer, Ness Murby, Greg Westlake and AMI This Week co-host Victoria Nolan.

Mind Set Go airs Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET on AMI-tv.

Images courtesy of AMI.

 

 

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Train lovers rejoice! Rocky Mountain Railroad chugs on to Discovery Canada

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All aboard! Discovery’s Rocky Mountain Railroad is pulling out of the station, and you don’t want to miss this fun ride when it debuts Monday, March 5, at 10 p.m. ET on the specialty channel.

Produced by Cineflix Productions (Mayday) and Windfall Films in association with Discovery Canada, the documentary series features the folks and machinery of the Canadian Pacific Railway and Ontario Northland railway. Cameras capture how crews keep the nation’s critical freight and passenger trains rolling during the winter months by battling deadly avalanches, monster icicles, steep rockslides and dangerous wildlife.

I was particularly interested in the passenger angle of Rocky Mountain Railroad. My dad’s side of the family is from Cochrane, Ont., a stop on the Ontario Northland route and starting and end points for the Polar Bear Express train to Moosonee. I’ve always dreamed of riding the Polar Bear Express; I figure this show will keep that hunger sated until I can do the real thing. So, how does Rocky Mountain Railroad stack up to, say, Mighty Trains?

Quite well, in fact. Though I appreciate learning about trains and their crews in other countries, I’m a proud Canadian and as such love a program that focuses solely on us. Like Highway Thru Hell does for key roadways in the western parts of this country, Rocky Mountain Railroad does for the ribbon of steel by celebrating and spotlighting the machinery and humans that keep the rail lines open in the winter. Built more than 135 years ago and stretching 5,000 km across Canada, the Canadian Pacific Railway is a lifeline of fuel, freight and food that cannot be cut.

In Monday’s debut, steep grades and a lot of snow in Revelstoke, B.C., serve up a challenge for those charged with keeping the tracks clear. It’s fascinating to watch the snowplow crews do their work. Conductor Jim and engineer Jordy are hauling $50 million worth of freight from Vancouver—that had been on a massive ship from overseas—through an avalanche zone that’s just received lots of fresh snow, while a removal crew tackles giant ice columns at Eagle Pass that could spell disaster for passing trains. Viewers will learn a lot about avalanches in Episode 1, as well as what’s done to prevent them from taking out a train.

Meanwhile, Ontario Northland ships crucial materials to isolated communities in the north of the province in punishingly cold temperatures. On this stretch of rail, the train will stop and ship anything if you flag them down. In the case of George, it means filling an entire car with firewood for delivery to Moose Factory, Ont., where burning wood is the only economical option to keep warm.

If you’re a train fanatic, you’ll love Rocky Mountain Railroad. And even if you’re not, it’s an engrossing and informative look at the people and trains who keep things moving in some of the most dangerous places in the country.

Rocky Mountain Railroad airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

 

 

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