Episode Summary

Holly sits down with fellow Canadian Craig — creator of the hit podcast Canadian History Ehx, just days before he sets off on the trip of a lifetime: a 17,000-km, 52-day journey across Canada from just outside Edmonton to Nova Scotia, out to BC, and back home again. Along for the ride is his rescue dog Berton, a 102-lb Great Pyrenees/Saint Bernard cross named after Canadian legend Pierre Berton.

They talk dogs, reactive-dog life, the business of building a podcast and social media brand from scratch, the AI experiment that went viral, and what it takes to plan a cross-country trip down to the exact kilometre — sponsor towns, buffer distances, and all.

In This Episode

• Berton is going viral for napping while Craig's deeply researched history posts get a fraction of the engagement
• The reasoning behind a leash and "I'm a rescue, give me space" leash for a reactive 100-lb dog
• Craig's path from computer programmer → community newspapers → podcasting → full-time creator
• Budgeting an 800-km buffer for detours and spontaneous invitations along the route

Links & Follow

• Craig's podcast: Canadian History Ehx
• Craig's book: Canada's Main Street
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cdnhistoryehx/

Episode Summary

Welcome back to Games from the Little Shed! This week Rogan and Holly technically set out to review Spirit Island... and then immediately don't. Instead, buckle up for tech glitches, a Toronto Pride/soccer-mob bridge standoff, a coffee bean that caused an unscheduled 10pm jog, a Nespresso breakup, and a very earnest pitch to become the podcast's first-ever coffee sponsor.

In this episode:

·       The Spirit Island review that never quite happens — Rogan's been buried in a side project and hasn't gamed in weeks

·       Recording chaos: dropped video, mystery "new track" warnings, and a very cute background heart pop-up on Holly's screen

·       Rogan's ongoing beef with FIFA crowds blocking Toronto bridges (vs. Pride Parade energy)

·       The Great Coffee Saga: 416 Coffee, Firebat Roasters, quitting Nespresso, the pour-over vs. French press debate, and a caffeinated coffee bean incident that ended in an impromptu jog

·       A pitch for Porch Dog Coffee as the official sponsor of their upcoming Bruce Trail end-to-end hike (any other Canadian roasters listening — the offer stands)

·       Halifax/Nova Scotia trip recap: Lunenburg bookstores, Mahone Bay, Peggy's Cove, a suspiciously well-connected fish-and-chips stand, and nine escaped hair ties

·       A birthday shoutout, gift-giving anxiety, and an official call for listener mailing addresses (bubble wrap and stickers included)

·       A childhood Monopoly incident involving a flipped board and an actual injury

Thing of the Week:

·       Rogan: Push-up grips + the Expedition 33 vinyl soundtrack

·       Holly: Raspberry Thunder hot fudge ice cream (again) + sponsorship dreams

Got a coffee brand you think should sponsor an end-to-end Bruce Trail hike? Let us know. Also — send us your mailing address for bubble wrap and a sticker. We mean it.

Episode Summary

Holly B. sits down with author, product designer, and self-described chicken-obsessive Paige Cody for a warm, winding chat about anxiety, animals, and the accidental birth of a writing-tools business. Paige opens up about hatching silkie eggs as a way out of social anxiety, how that flock grew into geese, ducks, and a full hobby farm, and how the whole menagerie became the emotional foundation for Story Folk, her novel-planning workbooks, community, and app. Along the way: burnout, boundaries, social media anxiety, and why it's okay to just take a break without announcing it.

In This Episode

• Meet the flock — Poppy the dog, Luna the "Garfield" cat, geese Nimbus & Fable, duck Pepper, and chickens Ruby, Mabel & Cisco (plus a crash course in silkies and pencil ducks)
• From social anxiety to hobby farm — how ordering 12 silkie eggs during a rough season became the first step toward a dream life in the country
• Why the planners exist — Paige's own struggles with ADHD, OCD, and dyslexia, and how her day job as a product designer shaped a genre-specific novel-planning system
• Building Story Folk — the novel planners, the free writer community, and the new Story Folk app built with her husband
• Creating as a couple — Star Trek reruns, café lunch breaks, and building a business alongside your spouse
• Where the animals show up in her work — the true childhood story behind her children's book, My Secret Unicorn
• Social media, honestly — the anxiety of hitting "publish," whether posting actually drives sales, and giving yourself to just disappear for a while (no announcement required)

Where you can find Paige Cody

Website: https://storyfolk.mysharetribe.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/we.are.storyfolk

Episode Summary

Rogan's mid-FIFA-chaos and Holly's fresh off Olympic weightlifting in this quick, punchy catch-up. Holly gives a hometown shoutout to her weightlifting coach and previews an upcoming guest doing a small-town tour across Canada. Rogan vents (respectfully!) about tournament crowds turning his commute into an obstacle course. Plus: Holly debuts her new needle-felting hobby with an adorable (and very Pride Month-appropriate) creation.

Host Holly B. sits down with author, podcaster, and animal lover Zoe Michaels for a warm and candid conversation about pet loss, creative healing, and the unexpected ways our furry companions shape our stories. Zoe shares the heartbreaking journey of losing her beloved Norwegian Elkhound Luna to lymphoma, and how adopting Moses, a Scooby-Doo-esque mastiff mix in need of rehoming, helped two souls mend each other. The episode also dives into Zoe's eclectic writing life, her music-inspired fiction, and her brand-new medical history podcast.

Pet Loss & the Decision to Adopt Again

–       Luna's sudden death from lymphoma at age 6 — Zoe's first adult dog

–       The choice to adopt Moses: a grieving family's rehomed dog, also in need of healing

Time, Grief & the Nature of Healing

–       Holly shares her own 'soul dog' Chance and how time doesn't close the wound — it lessens the space

–       Ian the cat: 13 years, pre-planned grief by adopting Orlando & Dawn beforehand

–       Debate: is anticipatory grief easier than sudden loss?

How Pets Fuel Creativity

–       Not always a direct link — sometimes it's just the relaxation they bring

–       Zoe imagined a Fiddler on the Roof-style duet between Moses & Luna

–       Animals give permission to slow down and let the mind wander

Zoe's Writing World

–       The Seventh Minute — fantasy series, born from not being able to afford a vacation ("Calgon, take me away")

–       The Echoed Mind — sci-fi dystopia

–       Love, Lies & Piña Coladas — clean romance inspired by Rupert Holmes' 'Escape'

–       Fractured Shadows — prequel to The Echoed Mind

–       Next project TBD: Brandy love-triangle romance OR Indigenous time-travel story inspired by Kenny Loggins

Zoe's New Medical History Podcast

–       Inspired by Paul Harvey's storytelling style

–       Episodes about celebrities whose medical crises changed history

How to connect with Zoe

Website: https://zoeymichaels.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zoeymichaelsbooks 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeymichaelsbooks

In this cozy, wide-ranging conversation, host Holly B. and co-host Rogan sit down with award-winning Christian fiction author and artist Ruth A. Douthitt. Ruth, who writes suspense, women's inspirational, and fantasy fiction from her home base in Arizona, opens up about life as a prolific author having just completed her twenty-seventh book. And, as a mental health advocate, Ruth understands how animals like dogs and cats can help us cope with grief and loss.

The discussion explores the surprising role her rescue dog Bambi has played in supporting her creativity, especially while coping with grief. Ruth and the hosts dig into her artistic process, her enduring love of dragons and fantasy worlds, and how she balances writing, illustrating, teaching, and marketing as a working author. It's a heartfelt look at where creativity, healing, and intrinsic motivation intersect.

•       How Ruth's rescue dog Bambi supports her emotional well-being and creative routine

•       Coping with grief through creativity — staying busy versus withdrawing

•       Reaching her twenty-seventh book and building a sustainable writing rhythm

•       Her artistic process, blending traditional drawing with digital tools

•       Why dragons fascinate her as a paradox of beauty and fierceness

•       The influence of her siblings and early inspirations like King Arthur and Sleeping Beauty

•       Treating animals as intelligent beings, on and off the page

•       Teaching writing workshops on world-building and cozy mysteries

•       Marketing strategies for authors, from festivals to social media

•       Upcoming projects, including a new coloring book and a motivational book

•       Why intrinsic motivation matters more than external rewards for a creative career

Check out Ruth A. Douthitt's podcast: A Writer's Day

Facebook: Author, Ruth Douthitt 

Instagram: @author_ra_douthitt 

Episode Summary

Holly and Rogan sit down with Emily Gardner, the talented, wool-obsessed artist behind The Flannel Couch, to explore how a lifetime spent in the forests of Northern Ontario shaped her unique needle-felting practice, her whimsical animal creations, and an upcoming book that’s been quietly brewing at the back of her studio.

About Emily Gardner

•       Needle felting artist and founder of The Flannel Couch brand

•       Background in photography, corporate leadership, sewing, and textile arts

•       Self-described Aquarius with too many ideas — and proud of it

Key Takeaways

•       Art that flows from lived experience resonates more deeply than work copied from references

•       Meditative creative practices (felting, writing, photography) are a form of accessible mental wellness

•       Small Northern Ontario communities deserve and respond to creative arts programming

•       Authenticity over perfection: embrace the happy accidents

Where you can find Emily

The Flannel Couch

https://www.instagram.com/theflannelcouch/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075888466818

What do theme parks, a Jack Russell mix named Birtie, and a drag queen career have in common? They're all part of Ryan Allen's wildly creative worldview — and this episode is packed with all of it.

Ryan is the founder of Little Birdie Consulting, and he brings 20 years of live experience design from Disney, Holland America Line, and Carowinds to a surprisingly simple thesis: the best leaders aren't managers; they're hosts. In this conversation, he and Holly wander through dog DNA tests, the secret power of a chief cuteness officer, why creativity has nothing to do with painting, and why asking Chef Priscilla for mac and cheese might be the greatest leadership move of all time.

·       Meet Birdie — Ryan's rescue Jack Russell/pit mix, chief cuteness officer, and the heart behind the Little Birdie brand. (Yes, she crashes the recording. Yes, it's adorable.)

·       From theme parks to consulting — How 20 years at Disney, Holland America Line, and Carowinds shaped Ryan's approach to guest experience — and why he's now bringing those lessons to law firms, accounting offices, and chambers of commerce.

·       The State Line Celebration — One of Ryan's proudest creative producer moments: an entire event built around a theme park that literally straddles two states.

·       Everyone is creative — Ryan's passionate case for why creativity isn't just painting and drawing. The accountant obsessing over spreadsheets? Creative. The warehouse manager who reinvents logistics? Also creative.

·       Leaders as hosts — Why the best executive Ryan ever worked for was eating lunch in the employee cafeteria with frontline ride operators — and what that means for anyone who manages people.

·       The joy revolution — Both Holly and Ryan get real about the trap of chasing social media metrics, and why coming back to why you started is the only reset that actually works.

·       🌐 Little Birdie Consulting: littlebirdieconsulting.com

·       🎙️ The Little Birdie Podcast — one word per episode, rooted in leadership, hospitality, and creativity

If this episode gave you a little push to say the C-word (creative), walk the park with someone instead of sending an email, or just smile at a dog photo on LinkedIn — Ryan would consider that a win.

Follow Ryan on social media and catch Birdie's weekly memo. And if you're a chamber of commerce, a theme park, or honestly anyone who interacts with other humans — give Little Birdie Consulting a look.

This week Rogan and Holly B. stagger back from 80 kms on the Bruce Trail — blistered, ticked, and somehow already planning to do it all again. They decompress over electrolytes, pickled cherry tomatoes, and the eternal question of summer flannel. Plus: a frank conversation about renting in expensive cities, spite as self-advocacy, and why Wednesday puns are a sacred work ritual.

Episode Summary

Holly chats with author J.M. Shaw as they cover a range of topics including weather, pet influence on creativity, writing process, and emotional connection to movies. Jennifer's love for writing and creativity is evident throughout the conversation, and the influence of her dog, Glamour, on her creative process is a key theme.

J. M. Shaw is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction who lives in Alberta with her husband and two young children. She’s been writing since childhood, building worlds from raw imagination

and quiet observation, but it took years before she found the courage to share them. For Shaw, storytelling has always been more than a passion. It’s a compass. A sanctuary. A way to make sense of the chaos.

Episode Highlights

·       Love for writing and creativity

·       Influence of pets on creativity Self-care and relaxation for writers

·       Navigating the challenges of self-publishing

·       The process of editing and re-releasing books

Where to find J.M. Shaw’s work

www.jmshawauthor.com

https://www.facebook.com/jmshawauthor

https://www.instagram.com/jmshaw_author