Spring Contributors

Johanna Bernhardt

Johanna Bernhardt has been writing features for In The Hills since 2012 on topics including the arts and social services. She says she “feels so honoured to capture stories of local residents who pour their hearts into their work and demonstrate the profound difference one person can make in a community.” In her newest story, “It Takes a Virtual Village,” Johanna dove into the meaningful work community organizations are doing to support new parents as they navigate uncertainty and isolation during the pandemic – an especially difficult task with community centres and other gathering spots closed for the better part of a year.

Johanna lives in Orangeville and homeschools her two treasures, Fynn and Eily. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading a book or in a nearby forest, practising slow, intentional living. You can see more of her reflections on self-love, gentle parenting, and everyday magic at manymerrymoons.com.

Tony Jenkins

For four decades Anthony Jenkins’ editorial cartoons, illustrations and caricatures delighted the readers of The Globe and Mail. Relocating from Toronto eight years ago, he now paints, writes and draws in Mono. He also plays local seniors’ hockey (which he wrote about in In The Hills in winter 2017), keeps bees (summer 2017) and spies on wildlife with trail cams (spring 2020) dotted around the 17 acres he calls home with wife, Kathryn, and dog, Maggie. If he wins a Nobel Prize, you’ll likely read about it here, he says.

Listening to World War II big band music recently brought to mind Anthony’s United Kingdom forebears’ need for hope and fortitude, echoing our own during the current pandemic. It inspired his latest piece, “Some Sunny Day” (page 53), in which he interviews six locals across a spectrum of age and endeavour about their own hopes for if and when “normal” returns.

Kim van Oosterom

A freelance graphic designer, Kim van Oosterom started art directing In The Hills in the spring of 1999; incredibly, this is her 89th issue. Each has been a unique pleasure to design. Many columns touch on her interests, but her favourite just might be the puzzle page.

Inspired by what she’d learned of the area, Kim moved with her husband, Andrew, from Toronto to a remote hilltop cabin in Mulmur in 2016. A nature enthusiast, she loves to explore the nearby trails and catalogue the flora and fauna around their home, from stoneflies to bald eagles.

In her youth, Kim’s family regularly drove out west (canvas popup in tow) to visit family in the summers, thereby instilling in her a love for travel. Someday soon she and her husband hope to hit the road again, pulling their little teardrop trailer across the country to visit friends and family and continue exploring the Canadian wilds – between issues of In The Hills of course!