{"id":7956,"date":"2015-12-03T08:11:51","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T13:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=7956"},"modified":"2018-10-01T13:23:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:23:00","slug":"nature-man-recalls-life-in-the-big-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/nature-man-recalls-life-in-the-big-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature man recalls life in the big open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at <\/strong><\/em>laura.maclean@doppleronline.ca<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Harry Brown\u2019s life has been one enriched by the great outdoors.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s slept outside in a shelter he made in -40C weather, sipped pine needle tea and knows all about wild edible plants. Brown tracked the local weather for decades, tapped 200 maple trees and made 30 gallons of maple syrup annually. He used to facilitate a nature program and, for the admiration of all creatures, he learned taxidermy. He loves to give back to the community through volunteer work. The list goes on and on.<\/p>\n

<\/broadstreet-zone><\/strong><\/div>\n

Brown has always used Mother Earth as a playground. He knows that these days people, especially children, are plugged into the world of technology and don\u2019t get out to play as often as they should. But when he was raising his kids that\u2019s what his family did. Quality family time was usually spent outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up with a love for the outdoors and I wanted to give them a chance to have respect for the outdoors\u2026 so they would be able to do as much as they can with that in their own life. I think being outside teaches kids a lot of different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I called Brown to see if he would be interested in being profiled, I wasn\u2019t sure he remembered me. I\u2019ve known him for a long time. He stuffed and mounted my then 9-year-old brother\u2019s 22-pound pike pulled from Lake Vernon. I tell Brown my brother didn\u2019t swim in the lake for many years after that catch. And then he laughs a little. Good, I think to myself. A successful icebreaker.<\/p>\n

I knew he was the kind of guy who had a deep appreciation for nature. Back in my early days of reporting I did a story on him being Huntsville\u2019s own weather man. For decades, he tracked the local weather filling countless notebooks with a daily recording of the temperature, highs and lows, and measured the amount of precipitation whether that was snow or rain. It was just something he did as a pastime. He\u2019s given it up now, though. About two years ago, he moved from his Ravenscliffe Road home where thousands of memories were built with his wife, who passed away several years ago, and their two children. He lives in an apartment in town now. It\u2019s a bit easier for him because he\u2019s getting older.<\/p>\n\n\t\t