Have You Met…Melinda Zytaruk?

Baysville has always been Melinda Zytaruk’s happy place, ever since she was a toddler visiting her grandparents’ home on Echo Lake. Even after living and travelling many places around the world, Muskoka was the place that felt most like home,  and she moved to Baysville permanently in 2008. 

Melinda’s entire career has been based around environmental, community, social, and economic sustainability, and she’s been the General Manager of Fourth Pig Green & Natural Construction, a worker cooperative, since 2007 and the CEO of Tooketree Passive Homes since 2015. With a Master’s in Environmental Studies, Melinda is Certified Passive House Builder, a Founder & board member of the Lake of Bays Renewable Energy Coop, a member of the Lake of Bays Community Economic Advisory Committee, Climate Action Muskoka, and the District of Muskoka’s New Leaf Community Working Group.

While Fourth Pig was renovating the West End Food Co-op in Huntsville, Melinda was part of the conversations surrounding the founding of the Parkdale Community Land Trust, and in 2016, she worked with a team of community members to propose a Community Land Trust proposal for Sabrina Park in Huntsville. 

Although that particular proposal wasn’t successful, it sparked an interest. Like-minded community members, including Huntsville Mayor Nancy Alcock, put the land trust idea back on the table in the District of Muskoka’s 2019 Housing and Homelessness Task Force. Melinda and Suzanne Martineau were both part of the original community land trust working group, and were later joined by Christopher Jordan-Stephens and Tyler Ellis, formally establishing the Muskoka Community Land Trust in 2021. 

As you’d expect, Melinda loves the outdoors, spending almost every weekend kayaking, gardening, and swimming in the summer, and cross-country skiing in the winter. She is grateful to be raising her 9 year old son here, and sees the beauty of Muskoka as a tremendous gift.