The Wooden Monkey

Keeping customers alive and healthy is the mission of Wooden Monkey owners Lil MacPherson and Christine Bower. It’s a simple concept, but it rings true for these business owners, who strive to serve local, organic food and are actively protecting the environment from their Grafton Street restaurant in Halifax.

The Wooden Monkey was built on an environmental platform. Just after Hurricane Juan hit Nova Scotia in 2003, owner Lil MacPherson worried the province would lose its self sufficiency when it came to food and food production.

“I was concerned that Nova Scotia was losing grip on its own food systems. If we got cut off because of a disaster or environmental collapse, what would we eat?”

MacPherson said she felt passionate enough about the situation to start her own restaurant.

“I thought, ‘What can I do to fix this?’ I’ve gone to the Farmers Market for 15 years; I’ve worked in the restaurant business all my life. I came up with a vision for a restaurant that serves all local foods. It was a way to demonstrate and show people the ideal way to eat.”

MacPherson enlisted her friend and colleague at a local restaurant, Christine Bower. The two secured a location on Argyle Street and started the restaurant. The menu was built on organic, local foods and featured vegan options and local, free-range meats.

Since the restaurant was established partly in response to Hurricane Juan, the owners used recycled wood from trees knocked down during the hurricane to build the restaurant.

“At first it was just me and Lil and a credit card,” laughs Bower, who manages the financial side of the business. “We were serving, doing the payroll, ordering the food, marketing and hiring. It was quite overwhelming.”

Bower says it was more difficult to find local and organic food in 2004 than it is today. It was expensive for farmers to deliver the food and they were just forming relationships with suppliers. At the same time, customers were not as familiar with the local food movement and healthy food trends.

“People thought we were hippies at first, but that has changed as more people recognize the economic, environmental and health benefits of locally produced foods,” Bower says. “We’re seeing it with the Farmer’s Market expanding, and more people making conscious decisions to support local farmers. We hope everybody continues in this direction.”

Bower says it’s incredibly satisfying to meet the farmers and know what an impact you have on their lives. And it’s a holistic circle.

“If you buy from farmers, then they in turn buy from their local businesses and you’re building the local economy.”

The Wooden Monkey got huge exposure when The Rolling Stones played an outdoor concert in Halifax in 2006. Guitarist Ron Wood and his wife Jo ate dinner at the restaurant, and MacPherson recalls driving all the way from a golf course in Pictou County to meet him in person.

“I went right up, introduced myself and explained the concept behind the restaurant. Ron’s wife was writing a book on organic foods at the time, and Ron was showing me his organic socks. He kept calling me ‘The Monkey Lady.’”

MacPherson went with her brother to the concert and took a homemade organic blueberry pie backstage

“We ended up in their dressing room while they were eating the pie. Charlie Watts came up to me and gave me a big smile. His teeth were completely purple. I suspect they all had to brush their teeth before the concert because of that pie.”

In 2008, The Wooden Monkey moved from its Argyle Street location to a larger location up the hill. The new restaurant is completely renovated with recycled materials and has capacity for double the people, opening the business for weddings, holiday parties and larger events.

“We wanted the restaurant to look like a straw bale home, so the walls are covered in clay, soil and straw. We used environmentally-friendly paints and we built everything with recycled materials, mostly wood that was recovered after Hurricane Juan.”

The stairs leading to the second floor showcase a century old banister from a Shelburne courthouse and downstairs there is a stained glass window from an early 20th century church.

“Just today they were tearing down the Midtown Tavern and I asked to take the sconces with me to use at the restaurant.”

When it comes to the environment, MacPherson is a committed activist. She attended the 2009 Climate Conference in Copenhagen and travelled to Montreal to attend a training session with Al Gore. MacPherson is determined that Nova Scotia is an ideal location to become self sufficient when it comes to food.

“Nova Scotia is the perfect size. We could be huge leaders in this world in the area of environmental conservation. When it comes to local and organic food, we should be screaming for it. This generation is the last one that will have the luxury to choose what food they eat.”

MacPherson and Bower will do everything in their power to make local and organic food popular and to support local farmers and musicians. They see The Wooden Monkey as a community restaurant and open its doors regularly for local musicians to perform.

I felt I had no choice but to open this restaurant,” MacPherson says. “I’m extremely grateful every time I come to work and sit down to a beautiful glass of wine and a delicious meal. I want the restaurant to become a centre of enlightened thinking….and eating.”