Discover our first BESIDE destination in Lanaudière
Ideas and tools for living better, more slowly, and more sustainably.
Whether it’s for a few hours, a few days, or a full week, everyone needs dedicated time to reflect. This guide will help you plan a personal creative retreat in the city or in nature.
A walk in nature can help us understand and predict the weather, if we take the time to observe the signs. Molly and Edouard, an Anishinaabe couple from Pikogan, share their story and advice for learning the “heart of weather.”
The digital platforms we rely on for connection and self-improvement are invariably built on point systems. But do we really want to play life like a game?
Has the new year got you thinking about ways to live better? Here are 10 simple winter activities that will help you feel energized and inspired this season.
Small talk can be painful. Toronto poet Lee Suksi wanted to ask questions that would spark real connections. Here's what they learned.
Adelle Tarzibachi and her company, Les Filles Fattoush, pay homage to her native Syria. Learn to cook a traditional Syrian dish for the holidays.
The floral designer Leah Gibson shares how she draws inspiration from nature for her arrangements. Step one: look closely at the world around you.
Quilt maker Marilyn B. Armand shows us how to give our old fabrics a second life, drawing on the know-how of several generations of grandmothers.
Rest just isn’t part of Claude Beaudry’s vocabulary. The busy octogenarian shares some of his know-how and teaches us how to cord wood.
Illustrator Florence Rivest teaches us about the value of contemplation—both for drawing, and for becoming more grounded in our environment.
Want to start foraging for mushrooms this fall? You have to find them first. Three expert forayers from Québec, Ontario, and New York share their tips and tricks.
The Laporte-Poiriers bought a small farm and learned new farmers’ lessons the hard way. Here are some of their tips for starting your own farm project.
Sumac is easy to forage and a delicious addition to many recipes. Here are some tips and tricks to get started.
Four Besiders share their tips for increasing your enjoyment and reducing the chances of mishaps outdoors.
Emile Forest and Philippe Asselin, co-founders of Nouveaux Voisins, invite us to put away the lawn mower and envision a garden dedicated to biodiversity.
The Montréal-based mindfulness facilitator Joanna Chevalier shares a guide for embracing active listening in your relationships.
Multidisciplinary artist Jessica Lynn Wiebe shares her love of hydrotherapy and offers advice to those who crave the mental and physical benefits of a very chilly swim.
On the land at the BESIDE Habitat Lanaudière project, there’s no shortage of sugar maples. But not just anyone can be a maple syrup producer — a lesson we learned the hard way last year. This time, we called on Pierre Forget’s expertise, and he taught us the basics of sweet success.
If you love keeping houseplants, you might be ready to attempt the next level of indoor gardening: maintaining a miniature rainforest under glass.
It’s time to get serious about playing in the snow.
What if your cash could do more than sit in the bank? What if, by investing, you could create positive outcomes beyond growing your savings? Marie Charles Pelletier offers a guide to help you master responsible investing, along with busting some myths.
Outdoor guide Guillaume Rivest gives us a few simple tips to reconnect with the forest.
For years, Toronto-based photographer Lauren Kolyn has collaborated with artist Jason Logan, who creates natural inks with pigments foraged from around the city.
Journalist Guillaume Rivest explains why fried chicken is not a viable food option for wild animals.
Juliette Leblanc encourages us to open our eyes and ears to the avian world around us — and promises it will make us happier.
Home funeral advocates want to reclaim natural after-death care from the modern funeral industry, and more and more people are following their lead.
Besiders share the setbacks and successes from their pandemic-era DIY adventures.
Ariane Paré-Le Gal, owner of Gourmet Sauvage, offers a new way to fully taste Canadian territory.
Guillaume Rivest guides us outside our comfort zones with an introduction to winter camping.
Sébastien Blondeau, creator of the podcast Café Normal, shows us what’s beyond our morning cup of comfort.
Loimulohi is a rugged delicacy that’s perfect for an evening of outdoor winter cookery.
Brush up on these five skills to make local meals on the fly and off the books.
BESIDE co-founder Eliane Cadieux provides an introduction to a new, but ancient, seasonal tradition.
When the Heiltsuk people had the opportunity to build a wellness centre in their territory, they turned to their own people and their own culture to define what the word means for them. Launched this summer, the Kunsoot Wellness Centre offers a lesson in how to take a more rooted and honest approach to well-being.
How slow tech can help us make room for nature and creativity during lockdown.
Before we all develop premature cataracts from staring at our screens, our colleague Marie Charles has proposed a short games guide to help relieve our quarantine fatigue.
Extremely long nature videos won’t satisfy our need for the outdoors, but they just might fill the gap until your next excursion outside.
All you need to know to do your own spring tune-up.
BESIDE passes on the knowledge (and the stories) of Québécois seniors over the age of 80.
To help ease our “coronanxiety,” collaborator Catherine Lefebvre teaches the art of slow fermentation.
Ten tips to help transform your isolation into something meaningful.
Traveling in the age of carbon credits, geolocalization, and the climate crisis.
Between Australia's wildfires, the IPCC, and Greta's speeches, these past months have left us in need of a new emotional vocabulary.
The Amish don’t hate technology — they’re just very choosy. We could all stand to learn from their approach.
The eco-horror genre in cinema shows us how we really feel about nature. And it isn’t pretty.
When we think of traditions, we tend to imagine a set of customs that are transmitted generationally from the distant past into the living present, perhaps growing further removed from their original meaning with each new iteration.
Some handy advice for novice fishermen who wish to take the plunge.
Now available