At Home on the North Shore - Summer 2021

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SUMMER TO SAVOUR

Summer 2021 Vol. 6 Edition 3 / $4.95

SHOW YOUR NOVA SCOTIAN COLOURS BIG LOVE AT MELMERBY BEACH NORTH SHORE GIN FIZZ

Colour with a Colour with a U is a juried exhibition of 44 art quilts on the theme of diversity and inclusion by Canadian members of SAQA.

Linda Finley 36 Million Stories

Julie Poirier Mathur | Tout un Monde, To Make a Nation

Valerie Wilson | Hockey Boys

Krista Zeghers | Powwow

This exhibition of fine textile and fibre art provides a timely perspective on our Canadian cultural identity.

Open June 28 until October 2, 2021 Museum of Industry | 147 N Foord St, Stellarton, NS | (902) 755-5425 | museumofindustry.novascotia.ca

A SUMMER TO SAVOUR: When the pandemic gives you lemons you make a North Shore Gin Fizz.

Raise your glass and toast the return to the good life in Nova Scotia.

PHOTO BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

athomeonthenorthshore.ca PUBLISHER: Fred Fiander EDITOR: Crystal Murray CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Janet Whitman VP SALES AND MARKETING: Linda Gourlay ART DIRECTOR: Jamie Playfair GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Barbara Raymont PHOTO EDITOR: Steve Smith FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Stephanie Balcom, Marketing Advisor office: 902 420-9943 • cell: 902 292-9584 sbalcom@metroguide.ca Connie Cogan, Marketing Advisor office: 902 420-9943 • cell: 902 499-7467 ccogan@metroguide.ca

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Vol. 6 Edition 3

Inside this issue

Summer 2021

Cover Story

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How a little distillery

imaGINe that!

in northern Nova Scotia became one of Canada’s hot spots for gin

The Inside Story

Healthy At Home

10 The Mystical World of Sea Glass

46 Medalling With My Food 48 Support Your Skin from Within

Where to find some ocean gems

22 Earltown General Store

Departments

The meeting place for lifestyle, dreams, and sourdough bread

27 Looking Back, Moving Forward with Giant Steps

Lessons learned from the life of Anna Swan

Get a good shot of summer entertainment

34 Big Love for the Big Yellow House

Memories in the making at Melmerby Beach

43 Greats Walks of the North Shore

12

Monica Graham has a Senior Moment

The best upcycled gear on the North Shore

16 Off the Wall

Artist Dawn MacNutt on what bends and what endures

18 Thresholds

Show your true Nova Scotian colours

20 Styled by Allison

A change in perspective

50 DIY

Make the trek to the tip of Munroes Island

Set your sails on a sweet little boat

22

The North Shore

9 Editor’s Letter 12 The Stream

32 Entertainment

8 The Library

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CONTRIBUTORS

STEVE SMITH Summer is coming back around, and At Home on the North Shore is back with it. Inside you’ll see my photos of a historic Big Yellow House on Melmerby Beach, and a historic General Store in Earltown, both now in the care of lovely people whose stories you’ll love. It’s always the people that make this magazine special. Stay safe and be well!

MELANIE MOSHER is the author of three books for young readers.

When she’s not writing she likes to walk along the beach in search of sea glass and other treasures.

Her article, “Looking Back, Moving Forward with Giant Steps” explores the life of Anna Swan Bates, a North Shore treasure from the past worth discovering this summer. Learn more about Melanie at melaniemosher.com

TALIA MEADE got a taste for locally distilled spirits when she researched her story ImaGINe That! And found out what makes a little distillery in Northern Nova Scotia one of the hotspots for gin making in Canada.

Talia is a recent University of King’s College journalism graduate. Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Talia has fallen in love with the East Coast and enjoys capturing its beauty through writing and sharing stories of Maritimers.

DEBBI HARVIE has always had a passion for writing. Using the written word to tell the stories of the amazing things that people are doing in our community is something she is very grateful for. With summer being one of her favourite seasons, she took the opportunity to see how people were up-cycling items to create works of art, not only doing their part for the environment, but sharing a piece of joy with others.

JANET WHITMAN Contributing editor Janet Whitman is a city- and nature-loving journalist who divides her time between Halifax and her cottage on the Northumberland Shore, when pandemic restrictions permit. She’s happiest digging in the dirt, picking up a hammer or messing around in the kitchen — she had fun connecting with artist Dawn MacNutt who lives just down the road from her summer haunt in Little Harbour.

SARAH BUTLAND has been embracing change and local talents while staying at home and will continue to celebrate the brilliance and wonder of Pictou County throughout the summer months.

With books by local authors, beaches and trails in our own backyards, and the people who bring joy and laughter virtually, there really is no place like home.

LORI DALING is a lover of everything beautiful indoors and out.

The interior decorator shares her love for where we live. With a few special objects, she shows our true Nova Scotian colours, and creates a sweet little project that sets your imagination adrift.

AMY PUNKÉ For the past seven years Dr. Amy Punké, has been practising as a licensed Naturopathic Doctor on the beautiful North Shore of Nova Scotia. With her earlier education in acute care as a respiratory therapist, Dr. Punké’s health-care training has spanned almost 20 years taking her to Arizona, Toronto and now back to her hometown of New Glasgow.

TRISH JOUDREY is happiest walking trails off the beaten path and writing about her adventures around the world.

Now is the perfect time to explore new trails in our neighbourhood. In this issue, she encounters exquisite beauty and unexpected sightings while hiking along the Northumberland Shore to Munroes Island. When her hiking boots are put away, she writes, plays the piano, or reads stories to her granddaughter. trishjoudreytravels.com

SHELLEY CAMERON-McCARRON is a long-time freelance writer and traveller who enjoys finding unexpected gems along the way, like the Earltown General Store. One of the pleasures of the old general store is never knowing what you may find around the next corner. Plus the nostalgia and community connection are delightful. Shelley is a Cape Breton native now living with her family near Antigonish, N.S.

PHOTO: STEVE SMITH,VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

ALLISON GAUDETT Contributing columnist and owner of a local interior design business, Allison speaks to all things design — from function to finish. “Summer planning for Nova Scotians is still up in the air, inspiring me to shift my perspective on how we as a family will occupy our home and exterior spaces this season.

I encourage you to do the same!”

TRACY STUART You don’t have to venture far to take a culinary journey.

Tracy shares her favourite Greek salad recipe inspired by her summers in the Mediterranean on the international rowing circuit in her column Medalling with my Food. Tracy trained as a whole foods chef and also holds a master of science, bachelor of physical education and is a two-time world champion and Olympic Bronze Medallist in rowing.

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The North Shore

LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT ATLANTIC STAYCATION?

WE’VE FOUND IT!

HOUSE

DINING & DRINKS

This summer, get ready for an unforgettable experience in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. A beautiful waterfront community surrounded by rich history with a modern twist of food, beverage and activities to keep you immersed your entire stay.

With lots to see and do, Thistle Hospitality Group has a weekend of unique experiences curated just for you. Thistle Hospitality is all about human connection, they do just that with their businesses: Founders House Dining & Drinks, Fort View Golf Course, and newly opened pub, The Whiskey Teller. Their pride is sharing an authentic experience that is innovative and comfortable. Now for that staycation, we’ve got it covered.

First stop, let’s hit the golf course. At Fort View, you’ll experience beautiful vistas and rolling hill views from the first tee all the way to the 18th hole where you’ll see the grand view of Fort Anne National Historic Site, the course along with the clubhouse have all been revitalized, renewed and refreshed.

After working up an appetite, stop by and enjoy a drink or meal at the newest addition to Thistle Hospitality Group: The Whiskey Teller.

This pub is serving up custom and innovative cocktails that feature spirits from Still Fired Distillery and wood-fired chicken and ribs perfected by Head Chef, Zachary Blease. The heritage property, built in 1884 has been restored, revealing original features. Relax in the open kitchen concept pub and dine at the intimate chefs table where exposed brick, 18-foot-high ceilings and rich hardwood floors transport you back in time.

Wrap up your first day in Annapolis Royal by taking in a show at King’s Theatre, or live music at The Oqwa'titek Amphitheatre before settling in at one of the town’s uniquely appointed Bed & Breakfast’s. Choose from the grand Queen Ann Inn, the cozy Lark and Loon Inn, The Bailey House Bed & Breakfast, the Garrison House Inn, or take in the hospitality at the newly renovated Carlisle House.

Start day two wandering the Annapolis Royal Farmers and Traders Market located in the center of town or grab a coffee from Sissiboo Coffee Roaster paired with a pastry from Arch & PO Bakery.

Spend the rest of your day meandering the streets of Annapolis Royal visiting some of our favourite attractions. Explore Fort Anne National Historic Site and Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, or stop by one of many art galleries that are sprinkled throughout St. George Street. Take in the views on the board walk that follows the curves of the Annapolis River, then step into the Mad Hatter Wine Bar for a glass of your favourite vino, or grab a pint at Annapolis Brewing Co. Polish off your final evening in Annapolis Royal at the award-winning Founders House Dining & Drinks, known for elevated rural dining—rooted in sea and soil. Chef Chris Pyne will wow you with innovative dishes inspired by the best local and fresh ingredients and paired with the finest selection of Nova Scotia wines creating a special experience that makes the Founders House a favourite favouite for for locals and visitors near and far.

Now that we have it all planned for you, the only thing left is to hop in the car and head to the valley. Who’s in?

THE LIBRARY

Monica Graham

celebrates a Senior Moment A REVIEW BY SARAH BUTLAND

Monica Graham, a public face behind the local Read by the Sea Literary Festival has many more elements that she does not always like to talk about — she writes about them instead. A woman juggling many aspects of life, her newest adventure, as detailed in Senior Moment is one we can all relate to at some point in our lives.

With an aging population, manoeuvring the desires of our eldest family members against what may actually be best for them, Graham did so a whole other province away and just before, some during, the worldwide pandemic we all have our struggles with.

Graham made the trek to Newfoundland just a week before her mother’s 90th birthday to accompany her back to her party in Nova Scotia. This offered Graham a lot more than she bargained for, in the way of discovering just how much more help her mother would need in the near future.

An amusing yet serious account of discovering her mother who looked after so many for decades was experiencing the tables being turned and she was now the one who needed more tending to than she would like. In her book, Graham documented the journey of this tender stage of life along with the practicality of many lists, resources available in the Atlantic region, and tips to help all of us navigate the experience when it is our turn. Graham lived it and wrote about it so that we

The North Shore

could live through it a little bit easier. A helpful guide can be picked up through our local libraries.

With tips on how to prepare well in advance and tricks on dealing with a loved one’s fading memory (it may not be just old age), this book tackles the woes of getting older in a way a lot of us can relate to and chuckle through. Might As Well Laugh, the title of chapter four gives the reader permission to laugh so they don’t hold onto the guilt of chuckling at the first three chapters.

A perfectly edited book published by Nimbus, Senior Moment introduces us to the author’s family in a way that helps us get to know her, as well as our own families, even better.

“Mom’s current situation — coating the chicken in dish detergent, hoarding plastic bags, and repairing furniture with Kleenex — had not yet reached the same level as her father’s. Or had it? It was still easy enough to laugh about it at this point, but when would the situation become a crisis demanding action?” Graham tells it like it is, and the way it is reminds me of Lesley Crewe’s antics from Cape Breton but more real, poignant, and in the end, helpful. Senior Moment is filled with so much humour that is totally relatable but with a lot of guidance and things to think about. A must-read for anyone who has an aging parent or wants to do a little planning for their own future.

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editor’s

LETTER Flowers for the future

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PHOTO BY NORTHOVER PHOTOGRAPHY

I

stepped out onto my front step and inhaled the fragrance of the magenta blossoms on my crab apple trees. There was a scattering of petals that had fallen overnight onto the curve of the paved path that winds under the canopy of flowering branches. They are the last of the trees to bloom on my property as spring resists its transition to summer. I will be sad to see them go.

I needed a moment with those blossoms on that morning.

Like everyone else I had talked to in recent days, the pandemic restrictions were really starting to wear on me. I could feel the anxiety of an uncertain summer swirl in my belly and collide with a sadness that had embraced my entire body since hearing the news out of Kamloops, B.C. where the remains of 215 children were discovered on the site of a former Residential School.

Not knowing enough about the rituals of death for our First Nations people, I wondered if their little souls had been in limbo for all those years that their bodies were hidden away to be forgotten by the people who put them there or if there was always a spirit watching over them, waiting until what was left could be reunited with the families who never forgot. As weighty as the sadness is, I was feeling shame like I had never felt before.

That same morning, I browsed through my social media and stopped to read a post made by Chief Andrea Paul of the Pictou Landing First Nation. The story that had shocked our nation was a truth that her people had always known. While it would have been very easy to respond with the vitriol of anger and grief, that morning Andrea was planting the seeds of hope and asking for help. She wanted flowers, 215 pots of flowers, one in the memory of each child who took their last breaths brave but alone.

Those pots now line the main street of the Pictou Landing First Nation community. They start just in front of the school where children were safely back in their classrooms as pandemic restrictions started to ease, trying to make sense of the fate of children just like them from a time not that long ago. The pots of flowers make a rainbow of colour, one after the other they line the sidewalk in front of homes and businesses. A few of the smallest pots are placed at the base of a monument adjacent to the Band office. A place to stop and remember what was taken from them. But instead of an inscription of anger, the words

carved into the monument speak of honour and hope for future generations: “an inspiration for Canadians to learn about the legacy of residential schools.”

We have all struggled with the restrictions of movement and isolation from our families during the days of the pandemic.

And while I respect how challenging this time has been for all of us, it’s a reminder of how many people in our communities will continue with their long history of being isolated by a prejudice that most of us will never fully understand. But not understanding is our call to action, to listen, to learn, to question, and to change.

Now that we are free to move from community to community, consider taking a drive to Pictou Landing First Nation. Park your car and walk the rainbow of flowerpots to acknowledge what was, then go home and plant your own flowers of hope for the future.

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts in this space.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful summer At Home on the North Shore.

Be safe, be kind, be hopeful.

The North Shore

What secrets will your local beach reveal?

BY MELANIE MOSHER

The mystical world of sea glass Sea glass, also known as beach glass, drift glass, mermaid’s tears, and sea pearls, is glass which has been tossed and turned by the ocean waves, wearing off sharp edges, making unique shapes, and creating a frosted appearance. Broken trash which has become eagerly sought-after gems for collectors, artists, and beach walkers.

Our North Shore, a coastline abundant with beaches, is also a worthy source of sea glass. While most collectors are not willing to share their favourite spot, information makes its way to social media and into conversations. Some hot spots include Northport, Pugwash, Cape John, and Chance Harbour.

Any beach has potential for treasures but knowing the history of an area can increase your odds of picking the right location. Was there once a dump nearby that could be a source of glass? Were there ever rum runners in the area who may have dropped their cargo? Did manufacturing companies who made electrical insulators or used glass containers for their product operate nearby? Were ships sailing the waters carrying stoneware or passengers with perfume bottles?

Sea glass comes in many colours, some easier to find than others. The most common are white, once clear glass, green, and brown. Rarer are blues and yellows and the hardest to find are red and orange. Shades can vary depending on the age of the glass or how long it’s been tossed or “cooked” by the sea. Minerals added during the manufacturing process such as manganese in clear glass make it appear lavender when exposed to light.

Knowing a lucky spot for “glassin’” does not always mean success. Like the changing of the beach with each tide, the occurrence of glass can vary. As the tide ebbs and flows, these gems can be dragged back out to sea or hidden deep under the sand. Some collectors, called “diggers,” are willing to sit and search for glass buried below the surface.

Stories from the Seaside Many who comb the beach can recount a tale of finding a favourite treasure. A rare colour, their first piece named for a specific shape such as a marble, jellybean, egg, heart, or square, or a section of pottery with a meaningful inscription. Wendy Brown, a sea glass artist from Amherst, found a small section of an old Hemingray glass insulator with the letters “RAY” still The North Shore

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PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

INSIDE STORY

visible. The name of her late father. A piece she turned into a pendant to wear in his memory. Sharon Nowlan of Pictou, another creator who makes exquisite art from sea glass and other tiny objects discovered on the beach does a little happy dance every time she finds a heart, whether glass or pebble.

And a tiny “L” was discovered on a day another collector was thinking of her grandmother, Lillian, and how she favoured flat smooth beach stones over glass.

Imaginative collectors might contemplate stories for their finds, knowing the sea gives up the glass but the tale of its travels remains a secret, adding to the allure. Was it once a bottle of wine shared by a happy couple, prohibited bounty thrown overboard by bootleggers about to be discovered by the law, a discarded broken dish, or a lost toy of a careless child?

Jewellery makers, artists, and avid collectors use their creativity to come up with new ways to share their discoveries with others or to display them in their home. Creations which become reminders that what once was broken can be mended and turned into something new to enjoy.

Seeking sea glass - a journey of healing Sea glass, like true healing, can be hard to find. If easy, everyone would have it, and that isn’t the case.

You walk, and walk, and walk, thousands of steps.

Sometimes you pass over the same spot again, and again, only to discover it was there, right before your eyes all along but just below the surface.

You can only find sea glass if you’re focused in the present. You cannot look behind you, or too far ahead because you’ll miss it. You must be willing to bend, even get down on your knees sometimes.

It requires acceptance, sometimes you don’t find any at all. You must allow it to show up and realize it comes from a source much bigger than yourself. Be grateful for each piece and never give up the search.

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Crafty creations Wendy Brown, owner of Treasures From The Tides, collects beach glass, pebbles, and driftwood from all over Nova Scotia. She then returns to her home in Amherst and creates whimsical pictures she sells at local markets. “It started when I made a couple as gifts,” says Wendy. “People liked them, and I started getting requests.”

Wendy enhances her glass by adding line drawings and bits of colour. A little acrylic paint for polka dots or a brush of pink on the back of a white piece of sea glass gives the illusion of a glorious find. Seemingly simple designs with heartfelt messages crafted together to make framed art suitable for everyone.

Pebble Art by Sharon Nowlan of Pictou began over twenty years ago. “I had just taken over my parent’s art and frame shop on Water Street,” says Nowlan. “My three-year-old son and I had been to the beach and it was super windy and wavy, and he was nervous of the water. So, he spent his time gathering small stones.

He’d carry them to me and put them in my jean jacket pocket. The next day, I wore my jacket to my studio and ended up with the stones on my work desk. They were so pretty, I started playing around with them to see what I could make.”

Over the years she has found sea glass harder to find and has expanded her sources. “Thankfully sea glass has found a way to find me. I’ll come home to a baggie of finds on my studio doorstep. I have even received large collections in the mail. Some of the more particular colours I have purchased from places all over the world.” Nowlan creates birds, flowers, sailboats, and people, displaying love and emotion with carefully placed beach treasures.

The North Shore

Upcycling is one the hottest trends of 2021.

Meet three eco-conscious creators from the North Shore that are redefining the Three R-s of sustainability.

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

BY DEBBI HARVIE

Making art on purpose Colin Russell was always into art. Since high school, he could be found working on little art projects using items that he would find around his house.

His creativity continued to flourish through his adult years when he got into creating props for cosplay, which is the art of dressing up to portray fictional characters: most often from animated and science fiction.

“I had a business on e-Bay where I would create custom cosplay props for people using things like plumbing parts and car parts,” explains Russell. “It was very successful for about seven years, and then we decided to move here and had a complete lifestyle change.”

Russell and his wife were living in Ontario when they decided they were looking for a slower pace, so they moved to Nova Scotia where they bought a farm and had small animals roaming around.

But Russell’s love for art and creativity followed him, and two years ago he decided to create a workshop where he would have space to work on his projects.

Home of the original X ring est. 1922 fine jewellery | watches | giftware Hours: Mon. - Fri. 9 - 5PM and Sat. 9 - 4PM

239 Main St., Antigonish | (902) 863-1283 | cameronsjewellery.ca The North Shore

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THE STREAM

A tote that used to horse around Suzanne Horne has always been a lover of horses. She likes to say that she takes in and reuses horses. Horne currently has two retired racehorses in her care, one hers and one her daughters; horses that retired from their career as a racehorse. But horses aren’t the only thing Horne reuses.

A seahorse sculpture made from car parts and kitchen utensils.

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

He continued to create pieces of art by repurposing older items and so the name Upcycled seemed fitting for his new business.

“People will give me things like old appliances and I will strip them and use everything I can to save it from going to the landfill, and try to keep all of the parts together for one particular piece.”

Russell’s pieces are all unique but some follow a theme, like fish, or a chameleon on a wrench made from old bike chains. He creates these pieces using different parts of a washing machine and various mediums.

“I have even done some welded sculptures using old car or bike parts,” he notes.

Sometimes when searching for inspiration, Russell will search the internet and YouTube for ideas, but when he’s in the right frame of mind, he can complete two to three pieces in one day.

“For me, inspiration can come from the item I have been given or specific requests. I’ve had people give me an item of sentimental value and ask me to repurpose it into a piece that they can hold on to and cherish.”

He was recently commissioned to make something new from an old wheelchair.

“I love seeing people’s reactions to the different elements that I use and watch them try to figure out where each piece came from,” says Russell.

The art is always a bit of a process for Russell as he is constantly critiquing the work, ensuring that it looks just right.

Russell’s artwork can be seen regularly at the Museum of Industry in Stellarton, the New Glasgow Farmer’s Market, or on his Facebook page Upcycled.

“I find with my pieces it’s very personal, it’s something that the customer needs to see in person and be able to touch and experience in order to make that connection with it.”

Be a Connector.

Grow our community.

Grow our economy.

Visit our website athomeonthenorthshore.ca 13 -

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The Connector Program is a simple but effective referral process that puts new graduates and newcomers in touch with business leaders so they can join our workforce and settle successfully in our community.

It’s no secret, people go where there’s opportunity and the Connector Program helps people identify opportunities and seize them.

Matthew Berrigan mberrigan@northnsconnector.ca (902) 449-1273

An initiative of the Truro Colchester Partnership, Pictou County Regional Enterprise Network, and Cumberland Businesses Connect

The North Shore

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

While preparing the traps for her seventh season of lobster fishing, Garrett noticed all of the old rope just sitting around waiting to be taken to the dump.

During the holiday season in 2018, Horne received a Christmas card from the company in Truro that she purchases her horse feed from.

I thought, “I don’t buy enough feed to get a Christmas card,” she recalls. But when she looked around, she was astounded by the number of empty feed bags lying around the stables.

“They’re such nice, heavy, woven bags and they are so expensive but also very pretty,” notes Horne. “But unfortunately, you can’t send them back to be reused.”

The bags come in a variety of colours depicting pictures of horses, pastures, and the beautiful outdoors.

The North Shore

“That’s when I looked on Pinterest and found the idea for the totes.”

And so Tuffy’s Totes was born.

Horne uses the old feed bags to create reusable tote bags. “I have sewn in the past, but never plastic and I really didn’t know if it could be done,” she recalls.

But with keen ambition and inspiration to guide her, Horne was able to create beautiful, long-lasting, reusable tote bags.

After giving it a shot and working out the kinks, Horne posted her finished product on social media and couldn’t believe the response.

“A friend of mine told me that upcycling was really popular and that I should try

to create more of these bags to sell. So with the help of my friend, we created a Facebook page Tuffy’s Totes and she even made up some business cards for me,” adds Horne.

The Tuffy’s Tote maker now has other horse owners giving her their feed bags to make the totes.

“Any sales from the tote bags go directly back to the care and maintenance of the horses,” she notes.

The tote bags are large and have been put to the test by Horne as well.

“They hold two dozen ears of corn or eight two-litre bottles of pop,” says Horne giving a perspective on the tote sizing.

As her following grows she has expanded on different sources of her materials.

“I’ve had people contact me to create tote bags for them from their dog and cat food bags or sunflower seed bags.”

The totes are for sale through Tuffy’s Totes Facebook page and there is talk of attempting to branch out and try aprons.

“Anything I can do to divert waste from the landfill is great,” she says.

“It just seems so wasteful to throw away such beautiful, heavy bags. Plus, it’s nice to see children’s faces when I have the horse bags in my cart; they always have a big smile.”

Roped into recycling If you’ve been to the New Glasgow Farmer’s Market in the last year, you may have noticed a very colourful, very popular vendor, Atlantic Treasures from LFA-32 — the Lobster Fishing Area in eastern N.S. Gwenda Garrett, the creator of Atlantic Treasures from LFA-32, has a very unique story. Garrett moved to the area from B.C. about eight years ago with a desire to be on the east coast and put her feet in different saltwater.

While following her dream, Garrett met her husband, a lobster fisherman by trade; quite a deviation from the security company Garrett owned in B.C.

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THE STREAM

“I always wanted to go out lobster fishing, and one day I went and just fell in love with it,” she says.

It was that moment that she told her husband that if he wouldn’t take her fishing, she would join another boat.

Having no experience in fishing, it was certainly a learning curve for Garrett, but she loved every minute of it.

One day while she was preparing the traps for her seventh season of lobster fishing, Garrett noticed all of the old rope just sitting around waiting to be taken to the dump.

The rope is used to set and haul the traps in the water, and while it can be made from pretty sturdy material it becomes degraded in the water and has to be replaced.

She recalled seeing a mat that a friend of hers had made from this same type of lobster rope and something clicked.

“I thought that was pretty cool. So last July, after our fishing season ended and we

had to change out the ropes, I asked my friend if I could borrow her mat,” she says.

Garrett studied the mat and researched weaving techniques online and that’s when she also discovered baskets that could be made from the old lobster rope.

She scrounged as much rope as she could and had other local fishermen saving their rope for her to use.

That’s when she set out to create baskets from the used lobster rope.

It’s an interesting process. First, she pressure washes the rope to clean it and then allows it to dry outside. The rope is then woven into the mats or the baskets and naturally comes in very vibrant colours that fade with wear in the ocean, creating the beautiful, pastel colours you see.

The mats are made with roughly 61 to 67 metres of rope while the larger baskets contain approximately 30 metres of rope.

The mats and baskets are experiencing growing popularity, with uses ranging

from gift baskets to Easter baskets. Garrett has even tried her hand at weaving some small door wreaths.

“I was very surprised at how well they sold,” she notes. “I had no expectations going in, I just thought if I am making something that someone likes, then I am happy.”

What really intrigued Garrett was the response she received from the fact that the baskets and mats are made from upcycled material.

“I would say about half of the people who purchase the baskets or mats do so solely because of the fact that they are made from upcycled material.”

While Garrett is taking a break to follow her heart on the ocean, fishing lobster, she will be back to creating her upcycled pieces as soon as her fishing season is done. In the meantime, you can catch her beautiful creations on Instagram under Gwenda Garrett.

AVAILABLE ONLINE AT

TATABREW.COM FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $95 /TATABREW

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OFF the WALL

Little Harbour artist Dawn MacNutt on creating, intuition and doing something a little wild and crazy

BY JANET WHITMAN PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

While music was de rigueur growing up in New Glasgow in the 1940s, Dawn MacNutt was drawn to art. At 12 or 13, she sold Christmas cards doorto-door to pay for lessons.

“There wasn’t anything in school beyond grade one or two, but I was determined,” the now internationally celebrated artist and sculptor recalls from her home in Little Harbour. “Mom was alone and teaching, so I knew if I wanted art lessons, I’d better do something about it.”

MacNutt never imagined making a living as an artist.

At Mount Allison University in the 1950s, she majored in psychology with a minor in fine art.

She got early encouragement from famed Maritime painter Alex Colville, who was teaching at the school, and wondered why she wasn’t enrolled in the fine arts program full time after seeing her work in the studio.

“I didn’t have the confidence,” says MacNutt.

“I was young when I went there.”

Art was a part-time endeavour for the first half of her adult life. From the 1970s through the mid-1990s, her job was three-pronged. She was a mother raising three children, working full time as a social worker and evolving as a weaver and sculptor.

Her first big commission was for the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in the late 1970s, an era when the federal government supported art in public buildings. She wove the 4x3-metre piece,

The beau

The North Shore

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PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

dubbed Aquamarine, on a loom behind her furnace in her 2x2-metre studio in the basement of her Dartmouth home.

Its seven panels, each one 4 metres long and 91 cm wide, were designed to undulate on suspended aluminium rods. Her tiny workspace meant no test run before it was hung in the new building. “I would complete one panel, measure carefully and roll it up,” she says. “By some miracle, it worked.”

The money “wasn’t as big as it is today,” she says. “But it was major. It felt like acceptance.”

The next leap in her career came in the late 1980s, when she was commissioned to do a piece for Alderney Gate, the civic centre complex developer Michael Zatzman was constructing in downtown Dartmouth.

MacNutt imagined they’d want something along the lines of her recent exhibited work of woven copper wire and seagrass. The building’s designer, renowned Halifax architect Roy Willwerth, urged her to do something more. “Roy knew my dream was to recreate weaving for outdoors,” says MacNutt. “He said, ‘Why don’t you go for your dream. Do what you want.’ And so I did.”

The pieces installed at the front of Alderney Gate, called Bronze Kindred Spirits, marked the beginning of the work she’s perhaps best known for today — life-size woven bronze sculptures that can withstand the elements.

“It was an opportunity to present work that is woven and has that feel, but it will endure, unlike bare willow,” says MacNutt. “It was wonderful, a real leap of faith on their part.

They’re still there, pretty much unchanged.”

The pieces are expensive to make. They’re constructed of combustible materials, such as willow branches or old fishermen’s rope, then dipped repeatedly in molten

bronze. “It’s different than normal bronze casting because there are all kinds of entry points for the bronze to go in,” says MacNutt.

In the mid-1990s, with her kids grown, MacNutt decided to pursue art full time. “True to form, of course, the first few years were lean,” she says. “I didn’t jump until I had a year or two of sustenance. It worked.”

She moved back to Pictou County in 2006 after reconnecting with widower Merle Pratt at a Mount A class reunion. The recently married couple was halfway through cleaning out and renovating an old, abandoned home at the back of their property for a studio when they discovered MacNutt’s great, great, great grandfather had built it. “It was a crazy synchronicity,” she says. “I take pleasure in touching the wood and realizing some of the hand-hewn beams were done by my ancestor.”

MacNutt isn’t a perfectionist. “The spirit of the piece or the flow of the piece is more important to me than technique,” she says. “I work a lot more intuitively.”

Her inspiration is what she calls “the beauty of human frailty. We admire perfection. But what we’re drawn to are people’s frailties or vulnerabilities.”

Her main work is semi-abstract and almost always reflects the human form.

MacNutt, 84 in June, is busy archiving her work these days.

“Because of my age, I’m interested in trying to record where things are,” she says.

“Whether I sell my work or not wasn’t an incentive so much as if I could afford to make my work through the years. I just wanted to sell enough to support doing something that was perhaps a little wild and crazy.”

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The North Shore

THRESH LDS NOVA SCOTIA STRONG

BY LORI DALING

There has never been a community that can band together in the time of need like Nova Scotians. We are made of resilience, compassion, and love. We are a province that had stood against great adversity throughout our history. We are made of hardy stock that faces any challenge head-on, looking our storms in the eye and carrying on as one.

So, it is no surprise that when push comes to shove in these trying days, we stand strong, arm in arm to showcase just how tough we are….and of course, we use our creative talents to make things to signify that strength — it’s just who we are!

Here are a few ideas where you can show your true Nova Scotia colours.

PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

Home Sign My Home Mercantile helps you tap into your artistic side with their provincial home sign, available through their website or in-store. Sitting down and getting creative is a great way to deal with all the world is throwing at us.

Order online at myhomemercantile.com

The North Shore

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Our Best N.S.: Adventure Journal Hitting the top sellers lists, this journal lets you document the best aspects of Nova Scotia from our famous beaches to our incredible restaurants and everything in between. This is a great way to track where you’ve been and will help you plan your next road trip, too! Written by the talented Jen Meza, this is a must-have to keep track of your summer bucket list! Stocked by various online retailers and local shops.

Flag Flower Dress up your yard with a pretty flower that exhibits our flag in its heart. Our strength is shown through the fierce roaring lion and our resilience through a daisy, a flower just as hardy as we are.

Available through various makers at your local craft stores and markets. Special thanks to Lorraine Moore-Russell for loaning us this one to share with you.

Nova Scotia Charcuterie Board This charcuterie board showcases just how talented our people are.

Meghan Little of Adept Handmade Home Décor patiently cuts the board, sands then polishes it off with resin work to look just like the waves that hit our shoreline. And in between using it to serve tasty treats, it would make a great display piece, too. Follow Adept Handmade Home Décor on Instagram and Facebook to see what else Meghan is making these days.

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The North Shore

STYLED BY ALLISON

S I X Ways to

Reimagine Your Summer

CHANGE

BY ALLISON GAUDETT

perspecti

C

arefree days filled with drives to the nearest beach to find yourself engulfed by that warm salty sea breeze. A visit to local markets, shops, or the corner pub that has today’s mouthwatering special of a local catch fresh off the boat. Sincere boisterous laughter, vivacious smiles, polite appreciation meet you at every turn. The come-as-you-are gatherings hosted by salt-of-theearth family, neighbours, or a friend-of-a-friend with foot-stomping music setting the tone. The North Shore culture has a way of soaking deep into your soul, leading many to naturally fall into step with its simple, smooth pace. Now that summer is here, we can really hit our stride.

As we head into our second summer of these unusual times, we still need to tweak our happy-go-lucky summer attitudes. In true North Shore fashion, we are seeing our neighbours make lemonade out of some sour situations of late. If you are looking for a little inspiration for a summer that will still see us a little closer to home, then let me share a few of the tricks — some that are tricks of my trade, that I am putting to use to help make this summer at home one for the memory books.

1 Soak in Nature with Intention ‘If you go out in the woods today, you better not go alone…’

— Teddy Bear Picnic Accept that these days are what they are. Instead of longing for summers past I recommend turning this attitude on its head and making the most of this time. Head out for that nature walk with intention. Pack up that lunch for a picnic experience in lieu of the dining table — take along your favourite blanket to sit on even though it’ll get dirty, throw in a change of clothes so those puddles and streams can be a “yes,” and a treat never hurts. Wine in a can is one of my new favourite treats. Just remember to take the recyclables and trash home with you.

SIMPLIFIED ALTERNATIVE: Grab paper and pencil, charcoal, paints, etc., and head out for creative time — independently or with the kids. Nature rubbing crafts could be the inspiration you didn’t know you needed.

The North Shore

PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

2 Forage for Fun Bringing clippings of greenery or wildflowers from the outdoors in is a simple, free way to breathe new life into your décor.

The process of foraging and curating bouquets or sculptural installations with branches can be extremely relaxing.

DESIGNER TIP: Place these arrangements in unexpected, outof-the-norm locations. It is a sincere joy to travel down a hallway, enter a bathroom, or wake early and spy that unexpected pop of life on your nightstand.

3 Interior: Turn Aspiration into Reality I could not begin to count the number of times I have heard “spacious primary bedroom” on a must-have list for a renovation or new construction project. Visions of a lux, curated lounge corner just for them to sit, enjoy a good read, sip that beverage in silence, or simply be. Breaking News: now is the time to turn those aspirations into reality! Curate that space that vibes relaxation, inspiration, ambition, or whatever you need, and enjoy it.

SMALL SPACE NOTE: No excuse not to maximize on the square footage available and enjoy where you live in the moment. Think smaller scale pieces, use vertical space to your advantage, and be conscious of your spatial plan.

4 Exterior: Quite Literally,

Change your Perspective

Backyard summer round two. Whatever green space you have available: front porch sitting, apartment patio living — is starting to feel less than thrilling as a destination these days. I highly recommend a perspective rearrange, just like you would switch a living room layout around once you’re tired of the same ole thing.

Get outside and change up how you see your green spaces.

For us, I’ve moved our hammock, pieces from the patio set, and a few potted plants to an otherwise neglected corner of the yard and instantly it creates a seemingly brand-new destination to use and enjoy, while the sightlines of our house give a fresh perspective.

Patio dining is another favourite switcheroo with a big payoff

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ive

— rather than casual outside dining, elevate the experience by setting a full tablescape and layer in ambient lighting.

SMALL SPACE NOTE: No patio or green space, no problem. Temporarily rearrange your interior to create a beckoning lounge space directly in front of your best window.

5 Push the Boundaries

ABOVE: Need a new view? Move your outdoor furniture to a new location. A quick set up in the driveway makes a perfect place for neighbours to drop by for a quick chat.

BELOW: You don’t have to go far to connect with nature. Most of us have it in our own backyards.

Make the ordinary special with a picnic.

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on Style

This is certainly a time to play things safe with health but not design style. What an opportunity to get creative — wild even — within your four walls and really delve into what your design style is. And hey, if it goes awry you have a bit of time to come up with a remedy.

PRO TIPS: Manipulate your spatial planning and furniture groupings temporarily, it can always get moved back. Step outside your comfort zone with colour selections and applications, and layering unexpected textures, patterns, and palettes. Try a new DIY application such as wallpaper, wainscoting, or paint technique. Post pandemic, you can show off your successes and tell the tale of the fails.

6 Kitchen Party Hoedown Finally, if all else fails to bring you that down home, Maritime summer feeling I am quick to recommend turning up that dial on CFCYs Saturday Night Hoedown or find a Nova Scotia Kitchen Party. I’d venture a guess that you’ll be stomping that foot, even breaking out the Stanky Legg, before long.

Cheers to each of you and may this summer of 2021 on the North Shore be one you remember with fondness. Atypical could just have its own merits after all.

CLIFFS NOTES VERSION: Reimagine. Elevate.

Don’t take things too seriously.

The North Shore

INSIDE STORY

BY SHELLEY CAMERON-MCCARRON PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS In Nova Scotia’s Cobequid Mountains, halfway between Truro and Tatamagouche, Kayla Conoley and Brent Halverson are living a dream — young entrepreneurs running a very oldschool business. The couple are the proprietors of the Earltown General Store, a business serving its community from its perch just off Highway 311, at the crossroads in downtown Earltown, since the 1890s.

Pull open the door to the one-and-a-half storey red-sided general store and it’s like a step back in time. Inside, shelves that groan with beckoning baked goods, have a gingerbread detail work you wouldn’t find today. The floor is “quite wavy,” laughs Kayla, 32, who’s run the store with her partner Brent for the past eight years. “It’s an old building and it’s shifting with the ground.

“The bones of it are still intact. It looks like an old store. It has the original shelves and definitely a nostalgic feel,” she says. “It’s taken on a piecemeal vibe as different parts have been added. It’s a mix of antique, retro, and modern.”

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Lifestyle dreams, freedom to create

(and swoon-worthy sourdough)

found at Earltown General Store 23 -

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The North Shore

Above: It’s vinyl only for the general store playlist.

Below: Brent slices into a loaf of sourdough bread, the store’s hottest commodity.

Right: Customers will find specialty spices and mustards, hand-knit wool socks, local produce and products, jams, jellies, and pickles, as well as a selection of cheese and charcuterie meats, seasonal goodies like local maple syrup, and in-season vegetables sourced from farms just down the road.

And of course, the baked goods.

Kayla, originally from Ottawa, and Brent, who’d spent his adolescence in the area, had met in Halifax, where they were both Nova Scotia College of Art and Design students. Each had dreams of starting their own business and used to bounce ideas off each other. Then, in 2012, Brent’s mother Brenda tipped them off the old general store in Earltown, known then as “Murphy’s,” was for sale.

“We started dreaming about that and what it would be like to move to the country,” says Kayla. “It was just that, a romantic idea at the time.”

The more they thought about it, though, the more it seemed to make sense, economically and personally.

“We both wanted to have more control over our creative vision,” says Kayla. “Having space in our lives to be creative, to be part of a community, and to build something of our own was most exciting.”

In spring 2013, they moved to Earltown to take over the store from Murphy Stonehouse, who’d run it for about 40 years. In fact, in its 130-year history, the general store has only ever had four owners. Each of the first three owners ran it for about four decades apiece.

Kayla, who was just 24 when they took it over and Brent a couple of years older, says it was a turn-key operation. They soon started to make the transition into making the store more of their own, putting their own spin on it, and focusing on local foods.

Inside the approximately 1,300-square-foot main floor, customers find a delightful rabbit’s warren of discovery with The North Shore

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INSIDE STORY

specialty spices and mustards, hand-knit wool socks (some made by Brent’s mom Brenda), and local produce filling shelf space.

There’s beef jerky (a tradition carried over from Murphy’s day), made in the Annapolis Valley, and pepperoni from Brothers in Halifax. They do their own relish, bread-and-butter pickles, mustard pickles (they fly off the shelves), and a large line of small-batch jams, jellies, and marmalade. Customers come too for their selection of cheese and charcuterie meats, seasonal goodies like local maple syrup, and in-season vegetables sourced from farms just down the road.

The old general store’s also a great snack stop, a place to grab a cold drink, chips and bars, or a cup of Earltown Blend coffee from Java Blends. Pre-made sandwiches were popular prepandemic and they’re hoping to ease back into that.

And of course, there are the baked goods — breads, cookies, cakes, and sweets made in-house. When travel was freer pre-pandemic, customers flocked from as far away as New Brunswick, to scoop up armfuls of sourdough bread for their freezers.

Everyone has their favourite bread, Kayla says, but the multi-grain sourdough is a staple, and the brown bread, introduced by Brenda, is from her mother’s recipe, Brent’s grandmother Evelyn’s bread. “It’s something people will say about it, that it’s just like their grandmother’s.

That’s always heartwarming. It’s one of those things that comforts people and makes them feel good.”

They also offer dry goods but are transitioning away from everyday groceries to making more of their in-house products.

“Bread, baked goods, and beef jerky are what everyone comes in for. They come in and have an experience,” says Kayla, who jokes they’re stuck in the 1990s with no cell service. But, she notes, that’s not always a bad thing. “It’s where you can go to take a breath and have a good time in the country.”

This family-owned and operated business has a respected reputation throughout the Maritimes for quality flooring, sales and service and is why we were voted Northeastern Nova Scotia’s BEST FLOORING DEALER two years in a row – 2018 and 2019.

Our 23,000-sq.-ft. showroom on Acadia Avenue in Stellarton offers, by far, the largest selection of flooring and has been recognized as one of the largest and finest flooring showrooms in Atlantic Canada.

For all your flooring and window blind needs, drop into our showroom or visit us online.

mcleansflooring.ca 120 Acadia Ave, Stellarton, NS (902) 755-1290

62 YEARS

THAT’S A LONG TIME!!!

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The North Shore

INSIDE STORY

Located nearly 25 kilometres north of Truro and about the same distance to the village of Tatamagouche, she says people who have never been to the area are charmed to find the store, standing sentinel at the road’s edge. “People are often surprised.

That’s always a good feeling.”

While it’s hard to imagine the Earltown General Store today without its robust bread offerings, Kayla says they never expected to lean so much into the product as they have. It wasn’t really part of their original plan. But she says their vision for the store is everchanging and takes in mind what the community is looking for.

Jumping in as proprietors was a leap of faith, she admits. “It’s a learning curve, and you’ve got to keep on wanting to learn.”

At first, Kayla missed the city, but that soon changed. They have a home with a garden, and room to daydream about space to have a beehive, space for freedom of movement. “I love the skies, the quality of the air,” she says.

And they love the freedom to create new things.

“We’ve made a lot of community connections, and it’s nice knowing the names of the people who come in. We have a fouryear-old now and we’re able to create our own schedule with him.

It’s a nice lifestyle we’ve been building for ourselves.”

When they opened, it was just the two of them working at the store, but pre-pandemic that number had swelled to 11. This summer, they’ll employ about five to six people.

She says they value their staff, the community, and the relationships they’ve built, and they hope to do more community building in the future.

“What excites me now is figuring out what we want to do next, post-pandemic, seeing where things go. It’s an interesting moment to shake things up for yourself and see what we can do next.

“We’re looking forward to trying out some things.”

Stocking the shelves with freshly baked goods. The pandemic restrictions were tough on the business but now they are excited to see what’s next.

Malignant Cove Antigonish, Co., NS

Email Andrew: adelorey@ns.sympatico.ca

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SUMMER 2021

ONLY 100 SEATS AVAILABLE FOR LIVE SHOWS | All Live Shows Subject to NS COVID-19 Gathering Restrictions

FEATURING

GORDIE SAMPSON

PRESENTS

JUL 02

7:30pm

*Shows may be added

Livestream Available

LOBSTER CARNIVAL ROCKS THE DECOSTE THE SHOW

JUL 09

MUST

GO ON

7

GREAT SHOWS

Hosted at the deCoste between Thursday & Sunday

Livestream Available

7:30pm

MATT MINGLEWOOD

DAVE SAMPSON Tickets & Info: www.decostecentre.ca (902) 485-8848 | 1-800-353-5338

Socially distanced seating. | Air conditioned theatre.

99 Water Street, Pictou, NS | Box Office Hours: Tuesday to Thursday 11:30am to 5:00pm

JUL 11

7:30pm

IDE S T U O

R E T AF OW SH

LIMIT OF 50 LE PEOP

A Golden Year of Music Rising star Terra Spencer features classic songs by Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Harry Nilsson, the Rolling Stones, the Carpenters & more.

UNDER THE BIG TOP ALBERT DUNNEWOLD

JUL 15

7:30pm

*Shows may be added

IN CONCERT! Featuring segments from his hit musical Searching for Abegweit

PRESENTS

LENNIE GALLANT

JUL 16

7:30pm

Livestream Available

IDE OUTS

R E T AF OW SH UNDER THE BIG TOP KITCHEN CRIMINALS

*Shows may be added

LIMIT OF 50 LE PEOP

NEWFOUNDLAND’S RUM RAGGED BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!

Tickets & Info: www.decostecentre.ca

JUL 21

7:30pm

*Shows may be added

| (902) 485-8848 | 1-800-353-5338

A Tribute to East Coast artists Ron Hynes Gene MacLellan Hank Snow Stan Rogers Stompin’ Tom Rita MacNeil The Rankin Family Lennie Gallant Gordie Sampson Sarah McLachlan & Shaye

PRESENTS

ATLANTIC BLUE

JUL 23

7:30pm

Livestream Available

*Shows may be added

PRESENTS

RUM RAGGED & CÒIG Livestream Available

25 YEARS! JUL BOOK 24 LAUNCH 7:30pm

Just Between You & Me The April Wine Story

MYLES GOODWIN TRIO

JUL 30

7:30pm

*Shows may be added

Socially distanced seating. | Air conditioned theatre.

99 Water Street, Pictou, NS | Box Office Hours: Tuesday to Thursday 11:30am to 5:00pm

PRESENTS

DAVE GUNNING

CATHERINE MACLELLAN

Livestream Available

FEATURING Maynard Morrison, Bette MacDonald, Jenn Sheppard and Stephen Muise with Rachel Davis & Darren McMullen

AUG 05

7:30pm *Shows may be added

AUG 12

7:30pm *Shows may be added

AUG 19

7:30pm *Shows may be added

Tickets & Info: www.decostecentre.ca (902) 485-8848 | 1-800-353-5338

Socially distanced seating. | Air conditioned theatre.

99 Water Street, Pictou, NS | Box Office Hours: Tuesday to Thursday 11:30am to 5:00pm

INSIDE STORY

Great grand nephew Dale Swan is humbled by the life and experience of his ancestor Anna Swan and believes there is much to learn from her legacy.

PHOTO BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

Looking Back, Moving Forward with

Giant Steps

BY MELANIE MOSHER

HISTORIC PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

A

27 -

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cceptance, tolerance, and living well are lessons learned from the life of Anna Swan Bates, born on August 6, 1846, to Ann and Alexander Swan of Colchester county, Nova Scotia. She was one of thirteen children born to the Swans, who moved to New Annan, N.S., when Anna was young. She was the only one not of average size. At birth she weighed six kilograms (13 pounds), by the age of four she stood 1.4 meters (4’ 6”) and she would reach 2.4 meters (7’ 11”) by adulthood.

Now is the perfect time to revisit her story as a reminder to practice kindness and to move past judgments based on differences.

The story of Anna Swan is a story of perseverance, grace, and kindness.

A young girl from a small village, she travelled the world, became well educated, and married the man she loved. Her romance with Martin von Buren Bates blossomed aboard the ship, City of Brussels, in 1871 while they were crossing the Atlantic to tour in Europe.

The North Shore

INSIDE STORY

Described as “the Nova Scotian Giantess,” Anna was more than a woman of great height. The Anna Swan Museum in the Creamery Square Heritage Centre, Tatamagouche, displays artifacts from Anna’s 41 years and recounts the story of her life. Her great grand-nephew, Dale Swan, volunteers there, and speaks of her fondly. He reminds visitors that Anna wasn’t a “freak,” a term widely used during her life, but a person, a human being of great character. “A real lady,” he says.

“Anna developed into a refined lady wholly devoid of the vulgarity of the ordinary show person.”

— P.T. Barnum

Dale grew up in the same house as his paternal grandfather, Selden Swan, Anna’s nephew. Selden never met the giantess as she had passed before his birth but, being part of a family of storytellers, he knew of her. Dale enjoyed these oral histories and became even more interested in Anna when on a class trip in grade 12 he saw Anna’s shoe on display at the Citadel. Dale The North Shore

went on to become a teacher, something Anna had dreamt of for herself.

When Anna left her home with her customized furniture crafted by her father and the comfort of friends who accepted her differences to attend Normal School in Truro in 1861, to become a teacher, things were different. The furnishings in the average-sized home of her Aunt and the desks at school were uncomfortable. Being constantly questioned or mocked for her appearance, Anna chose to return to New Annan. Her parents encouraged tolerance and urged her to rise above the taunts.

Her maternal Grandmother Graham, from Scotland, agreed, “Stand tall, lass and be proud of your highland ancestry.”

Anna didn’t let the hardships in Truro squelch her dreams. In 1862, she agreed to become part of P.T. Barnum’s American Museum on Broadway in New York, but not to be gawked at or to be the centre of amusement. Those things she’d already encountered. She went because it was good employment to the sum of $23 a week (equivalent to $598 in 2021) plus she was provided living quarters, custom clothes of the finest quality, shoes (size 16 ½), and a horse-drawn carriage, built to fit, so she could see the city. Anna was also provided with a tutor three hours a day so she could continue her studies. She loved literature, and as part of her performances she would give lectures, read poetry, play piano, and perform in plays. Her cheery disposition and many talents were appreciated by onlookers.

“Anna developed into a refined lady wholly devoid of the vulgarity of the ordinary show person,” said P.T. Barnum in a newspaper account (exact publication and date unknown).

Anna made friendships among the members of the museum, never questioning their differences. An article in the local newspaper of Seville, Ohio, recounts Anna and her husband inviting many of these “curiosities,” as they were called by onlookers, to their home for the Christmas holidays. “The conjoined twins, Millie-Christine McKoy, with the stage name of the Two-Headed Nightingale because of their beautiful singing voices, were Anna’s best friends,” says Dale Swan.

When Anna toured the United Kingdom and Europe with Barnum, and later with the W. W. Coles Circus her pleasant demeanour created bonds. She met Queen Victoria on several occasions. Anna’s wedding dress, a present from the Queen, was fabricated from 100 metres of satin and 50 metres of lace.

Martin van Buren Bates, also a giant, and Anna were married in 1871 in London, England. In 1874 the couple returned to North America and settled in Seville, Ohio, building a home designed to accommodate their stature. But not without consideration for average-sized folks. Their dining room table had one end high enough for themselves, the other suitable for regular-sized guests.

Teaching Sunday School became one of Anna’s passions. The children loved to sit in her large lap as she read stories. A local newspaper recounts one Christmas, Anna hired a carpenter to build a giant shoe, reminiscent of the nursery rhyme, which she filled with gifts for the children.

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Anna had two children of her own but unfortunately, both died in infancy. Yearning to understand her grand size, Anna saw many doctors during her life. Answers alluded her, but modern advances deduce her condition was due to a tumour on her pituitary gland. A condition that eventually led to the decline of Anna’s health. She died on August 5, 1888, the day before her forty-second birthday.

Although her life was cut short 133 years ago, Anna’s story is one that continues to be relevant today. A story Dale Swan continues to research, discovering new things. Anna loved being outdoors finding a freedom she didn’t experience inside.

She found solace in the church and it helped her cope with being different.

Through his research Dale also discovered falsehoods. A newspaper reporting details of a fire that broke out at the American Museum in New York, in July of 1865, claims Anna was rescued by a derrick and lowered to the ground amid enthusiastic applause. The fire did happen, but Dale found reliable accounts of those who saw Anna leaving the building down the stairwell with other members of the Museum carrying artifacts they hoped to save from the flames. There has been speculation that P.T. Barnum may be the one who fabricated the story as a publicity stunt.

Dale, now retired from teaching, speaks regularly with students from across Canada and the United States who are completing school projects featuring the history and Anna Swan. He maintains a Facebook Page relating details of Anna’s life, sharing his knowledge with other historians, and communicates often with members of the Seville Historical Society Museum in Seville, Ohio, where Martin and Anna once lived. “Oral histories and the process of finding sources and newto-me stories is fascinating,” says Dale. “I feel that we have established a network of collecting and sharing. The story lives on!”

One thing that is not new, the life of Anna Swan Bates, a lady of virtue from Nova Scotia who dreamt of being a teacher, provides many lessons.

Modern advances in medicine deduce Anna’s condition was due to a tumour on her pituitary gland.

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The North Shore

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Grilled BBQ Lobster Tails in Garlic Butter Thaw the tails in the refrigerator overnight. Using scissors, cut a V-notch on the top of the lobster tail then insert your finger underneath the meat to lift the tail in the V. Place 1 tsp (5 ml) garlic

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butter in the cavity between the spine and the tail meat, and place a bit of garlic butter on the top of the tail. Grill on the top rack of your barbecue and keep basting (indirect heat assuming 450 °F (230 °C) for 5 to 6 minutes). Flip it meat-side down for a few minutes to get grill marks, and finish it flipped back.

Oven-Baked Lobster Tails in Garlic Butter Thaw the tails in the refrigerator overnight. Using scissors, cut a V-notch on the top of the lobster tail then insert your finger underneath the meat to lift the tail in the V. Place 1 tsp (5 ml) garlic butter in the cavity between the spine and the tail meat, and place a bit of garlic butter on the top of the tail. Bake in a 450 °F (230 °C) oven for

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A one-shot summer that hits the mark on smokin’-hot fun

BY SHELLEY CAMERON-MCCARRON volunteer actors as bandits, guards, spies, and production and backstage volunteers. “The response from the community to this project has been fantastic, and we can’t wait to bring it all to life,” says Fuller. FAST is also planning a series of smaller events — presentations of music, dance, and outdoor bicycle puppet theatre. These shows will be a hybrid of small, in-person audiences, livestreaming, and slightly larger outdoor audiences.

A ‘Great Escape’ — with Robin Hood and Festival Antigonish All the world’s a stage, and Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre (FAST) certainly proves that true with exciting plans as they venture outdoors to present Robin Hood: The Great Escape for a three-week run, Aug. 3 to 19.

The repertory theatre is partnering with Keppoch Mountain, in Antigonish’s outskirts, to bring theatre-goers a classic tale al fresco.

“In response to the pandemic, we wanted to ensure that we can bring back live theatre, but do so in a safe and responsible way,” says FAST managing director Reema Fuller. “We are partnering with Keppoch Mountain to produce a safe and action-packed outdoor theatre production.” The show will take place in various locations along Keppoch’s accessible trail (“surrounded by majestic trees and the beautiful sounds of summer”) so that people can watch it in small groups as they travel from scene to scene. “Audience numbers will be capped as per public health guidelines, and there will be lots of room for social distancing as needed.” After the opening scene, medieval characters will lead small groups to watch the story unfold, before gathering for the finale. The promenade-style play will feature some of Nova Scotia’s finest artists and local The North Shore

Tickets and up-to-date information: www.festivalantigonish.ca

the Pictou Lobster Carnival announced they weren’t able to proceed, the deCoste reached out and the two organizations are working on an adaptive version of the carnival with shows planned at the centre July 8 to 10. Greencorn says after reopening last year, the deCoste hosted over 35 shows between August and December, with a comprehensive plan in place.

“All went wonderfully and safely on every level.” In many instances, it was the first time for the artist back on stage and patrons in seats, creating a powerful, rewarding vibe. “We saw it was possible to provide live performances at a reduced scale with safety procedures in place.”

The deCoste also brings back its tented venue on its deck overlooking the harbour, providing space for 50 people for shows and after-shows.

“We’re doing as much as we can safely to give people a live performance experience.”

Tickets and up-to-date information: www.decostecentre.ca

Rum Ragged

Powerful, rewarding performances, community connections “We’re planning to have a busy summer as we did last year,” says Troy Greencorn, executive director at the deCoste Performing Arts Centre in Pictou, which expects to host over 20 shows (many with a livestreamed component) this summer with acts including Lenny Gallant, Rum Ragged, Tara MacLean’s Atlantic Blue, and Myles Goodwin Trio. The centre’s also partnered with several community organizations, working with them to adapt their events so they still happen, in the deCoste’s space. As an example, when

Dave Gunning

Outdoor concerts, more, rock TataFest, Grace Jollymore Four days of open-air concerts will bring diverse, local, top-tier acts to Senator’s Stage, an outdoor stage next to Creamery Square, in Tatamagouche, during TataFest Aug. 26-29. As well, starting June 12, the Grace Jollymore Arts Centre will highlight music, theatre, and comedy

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Theatre, events, and time to relax are still on tap — with adapting the word of year.

Here’s what’s happening in your neck of the woods to keep you laughing, singing, and your toes tapping all summer long.

Jake

Chisholm REALTOR® (902)-921-3832

jake@resultsrealtyatlantic.com

day camp, July 5 to 23, with cast members (auditions are open to youth 10 to 18) honing skills and presenting the junior version of The Music Man. Additionally, Truro native and acclaimed actor Andrew Morrisey returns in August for the 13 season to lead popular drama and musical theatre camps for youth aged seven to 14. What’s more, the Marigold sees Christine Campbell & Blake Johnston slated to perform June 19 with Myles Goodwyn on June 25. The centre looks forward to planning Acadienne Day Aug. 15 in conjunction with École Acadienne, and Karaoke For a Cause on Aug. 20. In this annual event, hosted on the Marigold’s front lawn, participants pay $2 per song with monies going to a local charity. Additionally, the Marigold houses the MMFI art gallery and the Truro Sports Heritage Hall of Fame. “We’re excited we’re open and doing things. We want to do as much as we can for the community,” says executive director Farida Gabbani.

Tickets and up-to-date information: www.marigoldcentre.ca

Whether you’re local or come from away,you’ll find it all

Ticket and up-to-date information: www.gracejollymore.com

at home.

Summer camps, musical fun While the Marigold Cultural Centre in Truro doesn’t normally run a lot of shows in summer, they do offer a range of options, notably children’s theatre camps. Operating with COVID-19 protocols in place, the Marigold Youth Spotlight Theatre will present three weeks of musical theatre 33 -

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moc.citnaltaytlaerstluser.www 4M1 H2B | SN ,wogsalG weN | dR notralletS 153

Saturday nights through summer in this coastal community. Marshall Feit, Grace operations manager, says TataFest plans will see over 30 local performers perform from Thursday’s opening through to Sunday’s breakfast gig.

Highlights include Catherine McClellan and Atlantic artists on Friday, while BIPOC artists headline Saturday night, serving up great R&B and hip hop. “We wanted to make the festival more diverse, and we’ve been able to highlight some amateur, but high-quality artists,” says Feit, who notes this alcohol-free event — open to all ages — will present great entertainment. “We try to offer high-quality urban performances in rural Nova Scotia. Rural Nova Scotia deserves easy access to highquality performances.” Among TataFest’s acts are Waants; Gianna Lauren; Isaac Vallentin; Cameron Hawes; Catherine McClellan; Keeper E.; Voodoo Sometimes; Kurtis Eugene; Yohvn Blvck; Wolf Castle; Lyra Davis Chieffy; and Hillsburn. At the Grace, Saturday night shows start June 3 with EMCA-nominated Rube and Rake, and follow weekly with Kurtis Eugene and Quoth the Raven; JP Cormier; Dave Gunning; a Comedy Night with Matt Baker; David Francey; and Troubling Joy Outdoor Theatre Production. The Grace also presents visual arts at the Ice House Gallery.

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The North Shore

INSIDE STORY

FAR LEFT: The Seaside Hotel was purchased as a private home in 1914.

The new owners repositioned the house to its present location and built a car port that also incorporated the addition of another room on the second storey.

MIDDLE: Sunbathers at “the Merb.”

ABOVE: The front porch in the 1960s.

The North Shore

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BIG LOVE FOR THE

BIG YELLOW HOUSE

BY CRYSTAL MURRAY PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

The Melmerby Beach cottage that never loses its charm It was a serendipitous return to Nova Scotia for Carolyn Beatty and her husband Barrie Saxton. They walked back over the threshold of their summer cottage at Melmerby Beach, Pictou County in mid-April just two days before the province locked down with heightened pandemic restrictions tighter than a lid on a tin of lobster. If they hadn’t made a break from their long, isolated winter in their Toronto condo when they did, they would still be there.

“I thought if we were going to continue to Zoom with the kids and grandkids we might as well do it from Nova Scotia than from our condo. So, we packed up the car and got on the road,” says Carolyn almost a month after getting “settled” back into their summer home perched high on a bank looking over the long stretch of sand that is Melmerby Beach.

Forty-five years have passed since Carolyn first laid eyes on the cottage that would become one of the great love affairs of her life. The first glimpse of the yellow cottage trimmed with blue shutters on each seasonal return has never lost its lustre.

“I fell in love with this house the moment I saw it,” remembers Carolyn of her first trip to the tight-knit little cottage community at “the Merb.”

“My husband at the time and I were interested in a cottage in Nova Scotia and when I saw this property, I was desperate to buy it,” she explains.

And in 1976 she did.

Carolyn and her family became the fifth owners of a property with an interesting pedigree dating back to its first life as a hotel built by Donald Keith. His family farmed the original land grant issued by the British government in 1783.

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“It’s hard to imagine today that someone would be given, free of charge Big Island or a large part of Merigomish Harbour,” says Barrie Saxton, Carolyn’s husband who was as intrigued by the history as Carolyn was infatuated with the historic summer home known by many in the area as the Big Yellow House.

Barrie, who came into Carolyn’s life 36 years ago says that he was instantly charmed by the house just as anyone else who had ever spent any time there; including Carolyn’s three, nowadult sons, Timothy, Colin, and Adam.

Picking up bits and pieces of its storied past during his summers at the beach Barrie started to dig a little deeper into the history of the cottage and has curated a collection of photographs, first-hand accounts from guests that had been passed down through the generations, and newspaper clippings that tell the tale.

In his history, Barrie tells the story of The Seaside Hotel built before the idea of a summer cottage became aspirational.

“In those days there were virtually no privately owned cottages along the shore. “However, there were many people in New Glasgow and neighbouring communities who could afford to take a vacation at the beach,” writes Barrie in his account of the early days of the hotel.

The hotel opened on July 1st, 1895, smack in the middle of the era known as the Gay Nineties, when people were starting to release themselves from some of the rigid attitudes of the Victorian era. In the quest for a little more frivolity and fun, the hotel that boasted to have their own giant waterslide became an instant attraction to people living in the nearby towns who would travel to the beach by steamer and horse and carriage.

The North Shore

INSIDE STORY

LEFT: Carolyn in her sitting room that opens to the dining area and kitchen.

RIGHT: One of the joys of living by the water is the view changing by the hour. Barrie says he will keep painting until he perfects the water rippling over the canvas.

BELOW: Barrie steals a kiss from Carolyn.

Behind them a weathered spruce tree that they are always happy to see standing on their shore line when they return from Toronto each year.

Barrie found newspaper reports confirming the existence of the 21-metre wooden slide that launched guests from a second-storey balcony down the bank and into the ocean.

According to the reports sharing the news of the novel hotel amenities, “It was a marine toboggan slide ending in the water which creates all kinds of amusements.”

There is nothing left of the slide today and many of the stories about what took place at The Seaside Hotel have gone to the grave with the people who once donned their bathing costumes to slide into the sea and danced the night way in what is now Carolyn and Barrie’s living room.

As people got the bug to spend more time at the beach, the first cottages around what is now Kings Head and Melmerby started to dot the shoreline, and business at The Seaside Hotel started to ebb away. The hotel was then purchased as a private summer home passing through several hands until it found Carolyn.

In the summer of 2020, Carolyn and Barrie walked me through the rooms and hallways of the Big Yellow House. It didn’t take a lot of imagination to conjure the days when their home was a bustling hotel. The hardwood floors worn and warped in places

from the wear and tear of the people who loved the place as much as Carolyn and Barrie have for the last several decades.

It sits differently on the landscape today from its original build.

When it was purchased as a private home in the early 1900s the owners had picked up the structure and turned it 90 degrees. The second-storey balcony that was once the launching pad for the slide no longer faces the ocean and looks east. The door to that same balcony was replaced with a window in the late 1990s when Carolyn decided it was time for some major renovations.

More than two decades later Carolyn’s design choices are still standing up. Despite the passage of time, the ordeal of the renovation is fresh in her mind, perhaps due to the fastidious organization it took to manage the reno from across the ocean in a time before email and text messages.

Not long after Carolyn and Barrie married, Barrie’s work took them overseas to India. He was an educational consultant with the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. Carolyn, also an educator, accompanied Barrie on his travels and eventually picked up work of her own. It was during this time that Carolyn developed another love affair — with the culture of South Asia. She became

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ah! Summer 2021 - 36

enamoured with textiles, in particular Kilim rugs when she was doing work in Pakistan, and the cotton Shyam Ahuja fabrics of India known for their fine hand-loomed qualities, colours, and patterns.

On her trips home to Canada, Carolyn would fill her suitcases with rugs and fabrics. The summer before the reno began, Carolyn returned from India and spent months at the Big Yellow House immersed in décor magazines, developing her vision for updates that would stay true to the architectural elements and writing copious notes for her contractor to follow in her absence. She also measured every nook and cranny, and piece of furniture, taking those details back to India.

While she was there, she had cushion covers made from the fine fabrics that she found on her weekly trips to the markets. It was both a costeffective way to source fabrics for the renovation happening back in Nova Scotia with a little nostalgia woven in with the idea of bringing a little bit of their life in India back to the beach.

“I even had duplicates of many of the covers made knowing that someday they would wear out and I would want replacements,” says Carolyn when she shows me the coverings on the swinging couch that hangs in the cheerful sunroom and plentiful cushions placed on various chairs and lounges.

I took 25 Kilims home to Canada with me,” says Carolyn laughing as she thinks about her tower of suitcases and bags at the airport stuffed with the heavy wool rugs.

While some were gifts and found a home in their Toronto condo, many of the

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suntime@eastlink.ca | www.suntime.ca | (902) 396-3387 The North Shore

INSIDE STORY

intricately woven textiles with bold patterns that reflected the different geographic regions of where they were produced now scatter the hardwood floors throughout the cottage. They barely show the wear of the 20-plus years since the couple returned from their travels abroad.

Carolyn says that if she was doing the renovation today it would likely be a little different from her plan in 1997 but she is still very content with the redesign of the kitchen and the installation of a large

window that gives her a great view of the beach. She also opened the space between for flow. The sitting room has become one of Carolyn’s favourite places to sit for a chat with friends.

Walking back to the sunroom with paned glass windows that stretch across the entire length of the cottage, Barrie takes a seat in front of a table where a small easel, canvases, and paints wait for him.

“Welcome to my studio,” says Barrie as he opens his arms out in the direction of the

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beach. Several partially painted canvases lean against the window.

“When you live in Pictou County you paint a lot of water and trees. I am still trying to get the water to ripple on the canvas,” he says with a chuckle.

Continuing with the tour Barrie shared that he had always hoped to find a hidden secret of a bordello or secret gambling joint but it seems that despite the shenanigans with the slide he is certain that Victorian mores prevailed at the Seaside Hotel, and

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ah! Summer 2021 - 38

black stockings and black bathing suits were haute couture.

“One historical item I did find in a back storage room was a large brass porthole which I subsequently confirmed was from the sailing ship Melmerby after which the beach was named. I now have it mounted on a wall,” says Barrie.

Stepping outside to a large deck that they had constructed during the renovation in the place where an old shower house used to stand, Carolyn and Barrie pose for a photograph. They ask to set the photo up so a favoured tree will be in the picture.

The tree looks like it has seen better days.

Ravaged by the wind and surviving several hurricanes in the years that Carolyn owned the property the tree has become a bit of a bellwether of how well their property is holding its own against the elements and erosion.

Barrie leans in to kiss his wife on the cheek. It’s obvious that besides the Big Yellow House there has been another great love in Carolyn’s life.

Like the grand days at The Seaside Hotel, it doesn’t take much imagination to conjure the fun that Carolyn and Barrie have shared during their years at Melmerby Beach. From their days chasing three little boys with wet sandy feet to today anxiously awaiting the time when they can welcome their grandchildren back to the beach and the recent addition of a very busy but adorable King Charles Spaniel puppy named Cooper, they continue to write their own story that has become another colourful chapter in the story of the Big Yellow House. Now if they would just consider building another waterslide.

LEFT: The living room was once the party room where hotel guests played games danced the night away.

ABOVE: Kilim rugs purchased when the couple lived and worked in India and Pakistan cover the floors in almost every room weaving the different chapters of their life together into one story.

RIGHT: The original fireplace with a peek out to the kitchen.

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Jake Chisholm REALTOR®

Michelle MacDougall

OFFICE MANAGER REALTOR®

351 Stellarton Rd. New Glasgow, NS, B2H 1M4 | (902)-752-7227 The North Shore

COVER STORY

ImaGINe That!

BY TALIA MEADE PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

How one of Nova Scotia’s North Shore distilleries is becoming a leading gin hotspot in Canada.

The North Shore

R

aging Crow Distillery in North River, N.S. might be named after the several crows cawing around the distillery, but we’ve come to find out they’re not the only ones raging about the booze.

When it was announced that Raging Crow’s Spruce Tip Gin had won the Best in Class Gold Medal with Distinction during the virtual ceremony for the Canadian Artisan Spirit Awards, distillery president Jill Linquist was asleep.

“The great moment of reveal, we kind of missed,” laughs Linquist.

Linquist was only watching the awards stream until the medals were announced. “We received a bronze medal, high-fiving each other thinking, ‘This is great, yay we won a medal’ and then we flipped over to watch curling,” says Linquist who had been watching the awards with her husband.

She had no idea the big awards were coming, so when her sister sent a text the next morning saying Raging Crow had been mentioned again, Linquist was thrilled.

“We submitted six spirits and we won six awards,” says Linquist. Including the Highly Commended Whiskey Spirit Award.

The Spruce Tip Gin is a personal favourite of Linquist’s and it’s also their most popular. “We’re most proud of that because it’s so different — it’s a really soft gin, I call it the gin for people who don’t like gin,” Linquist says. A few years ago, Linquist saw an article on spruce tip simple syrup.

“So, I saw that, and thought it would be fun to play around with. We had just started work in the distillery and I thought, ‘wait a second, that might be fun to distill with,’” as she explains the origins of one of the favourite flavour profiles.

Linquist says, “It’s just flavoured vodka. The minute you add juniper to vodka, it becomes gin.”

Spruce tips felt like a natural fit for their brand. The spruce tips are handpicked on the distillery property and around their cottage on Earltown Lake during prime season in the spring when the buds are green. Raging Crow uses more than 11 pounds of spruce tips for every batch of Spruce Tip Gin. “Who knew I’d be making booze, I mean really,” says Linquist when she thinks about her former career as a dietician.

Five years ago, Linquist and her husband came across a small distillery while on a wine tour in the Okanagan. The couple had already owned a hobby vineyard, but it was on the tour that they realized distilleries don’t have as many challenges as vineyards where weather conditions and pests can wreak havoc.

ah! Summer 2021 - 40

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It became a quick success and Linquist began couriering packages of 100-millilitre bottles across the country for employees to make their own cocktails.

WHAT’S NEXT IN THE BARREL?

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

In lazy hazy days of August last year, Linquist and her North River Road team (a very large crane might have been involved as well) hoisted a crow’s nest up onto a eight-metre-long pole and placed a barrel full of rum on top. Another person was up on a ladder guiding the barrel into place and bolting the cradle to the pole. This tense moment lasted until they knew the cradle was securely in place, Linquist says.

Soon to be Crow’s Nest Rum, the barrel now sits overlooking the distillery, expanding and contracting with the unpredictable Nova Scotia weather. Barrels lose about five percent of their contents each year, but with this one being outside in the elements, Linquist isn’t sure how much will be left. Although, she does know that the flavour will make up for it when the barrel is ready to be taken down after a year of nesting.

Raging Crow is feathering its nest with additional product lines and is in the process of distilling tequila, but like their famous bourbon, Can’t Call it B**rbon, they can’t quite call it tequila either, since it’s not from Mexico. Linquist says that she’s almost finished filling the first barrel. Hopefully, by next year, Raging Crow can submit their tequila, Can’t Call it Teq**la to the 2022 Artisan Distiller Awards.

“The goal really is just to keep things small, manageable, and hands-on,” she says. Raging Crow will continue to play around and come up with new flavours and collaborate with local breweries and businesses.

“The North Shore can really be a food and beverage destination that the rest of the province, or even Atlantic Canada, should explore,” says Linquist who is thrilled that her little distillery in North River, Colchester County is better than she ever could have imagined.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

“With a distillery, you’re dealing with a finished product,” she says.

The little distillery inspired Linquist to go back home and do some research. Distilleries have become viable businesses and she saw an opportunity for another craft distillery in Nova Scotia and Raging Crow took flight.

Linquist’s previous education and career were a perfect flight path for her new passion of distilling. “I was working for food companies and was just looking to do something different,” she says. Her nutrition degree, which included courses in food science as well as chemistry courses, came in handy when distilling and blending. Distilling is now her full-time job and full-time passion.

This young distillery is only two-and-a-half years old but this year alone they have already doubled their production.

Gin wasn’t the only thing that helped bring attention to this North Shore distillery. When COVID-19 hit, Raging Crow saw an opportunity to help. They started making hand sanitizer and supplying it to several first responders on the North Shore.

“I think because we stepped up to support and supply that need, the community really responded. There’s a lot of people that weren’t even aware we existed until that point,” says Linquist adding that it’s one of those industries that has seen growth this past year. People aren’t going out to consume cocktails in restaurants and bars, so they’re doing it at home, she says.

“We’re thrilled with the response that we’ve had so far from the local community,” she says.

Linquist says that wherever they can support other local producers, they do. Whether it’s sourcing the honey from the local beekeeper, the coffee roaster, or the maple shack that’s just five minutes down the road, Linquist believes it’s what sets them apart.

“I think people want to support what’s in their own backyard,” she says.

In December of last year, Raging Crow started virtual happy hours for companies unable to have national conventions.

The North Shore

COVER STORY

Summer cocktails that are all the rage!

RECIPES BY JILL LINQUIST

North Shore Gin Fizz

Haskap Gin Cocktail

2 oz 1 oz ¾ oz 1 3 ½ oz

1 ½ oz Raging Crow Haskap Gin ½ oz Raging Crow Honey Liqueur 3 ½ oz cranberry juice

Raging Crow Caw-Caw-Phany Gin lemon juice, freshly squeezed Raging Crow Honey Liqueur egg white club soda lemon jest for garnish

• Add the gin, lemon juice, honey liqueur, and egg white to a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for about 15 seconds. This is called dry shaking.

• Add three or four ice cubes and shake vigorously until well chilled • Strain into a glass and top with club soda which will cause even more foam • Garnish with a lemon zest

The North Shore

Combine gin, honey liqueur, and cranberry juice in a small glass and add ice.

Spruce Tip Gin and Tonic 1 ½ oz Raging Crow Spruce Tip Gin 200 ml bottle of Fever Tree tonic water

lemon zest for garnish Combine gin and tonic water in a glass and add ice.

Garnish with a lemon zest.

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HEALTHY AT HOME

The treasures of Munroes Island

BY TRISH JOUDREY

Wondering where your walks will take you this summer. You don’t have to wander far Sponsored by

Great walks of the

North Shore

I

’ve hiked trails all over Nova Scotia and experienced impressive shorelines. Munroes Island walk is exceptional among them. For most people, the walk at Caribou Provincial Park is a short jaunt, a mile or so up the shore. But continue another five kilometres to the tip of Munroes Island, you will be rewarded with not only a workout but a hike that will be etched in your memory. And here is why.

Situated 11 kilometres north of Pictou, Munroes Island, renamed from Doctor Island in 1976, juts out into the Northumberland Strait like a fist with a beckoning finger.

What intrigued me was that the entire 10-kilometre walk out-and-back was directly on the shoreline. The journey to the picturesque tip of Munroes Island turned out to be more than just a walk. It was an adventure. What would be around the next bend? What would I see in the lagoons and hidden stretches along this remote and protected wilderness area?

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ah! Summer 2021

PHOTO BY MIKE BYRNE

The beginning felt like a quest. “Go to Caribou Provincial Park, walk to the grassy knoll at the top of the park, descend the stairs, and you will hit the beach,” said Gary Rankin, an avid hiking enthusiast living in Pictou. “Turn left, and just follow the beach. But time it,” he added. “You will want to aim for low tide so your walk to Munroes Island won’t be a wet one.”

Following Gary’s advice, I arrived at the park at 2:00 pm, four hours before low tide, allowing enough time to walk in both directions without worrying about wet feet. With my backpack brimming with binoculars, camera, snacks, water, rain jacket, and sunblock, I was ready for anything. I set off down the stairs and headed left.

Two walkers, Fay Marshall and Millie Hoffe from Pictou were just finishing their walk, so I stopped to ask if they had been to Munroes Island.

The North Shore

HEALTHY AT HOME

PHOTO BY TRISH JOUDREY

PHOTO BY CRYSTAL MURRAY

PHOTO BY MIKE BYRNE

The North Shore

“Oh no, we don’t walk that far,” laughed Millie, “But we do walk here every day.

Today is Fay’s birthday so we had to celebrate it in our favourite place.”

Full of curiosity, I started down the long expanse of reddish sandy shoreline stretching out about 1.5 kilometres ahead.

Not another walker in sight. It was just me and the beach treasures in the sand, large surf clamshells, grandfather lobster claws, crab skeletons, and razor clams. The warm sea waters of the Northumberland Strait, the warmest north of the Carolinas, creates this flourishing environment for sea life.

Upon leaving the sandy isthmus called Little Caribou Spit, an outcropping of iron-rich, reddish rocks heralded my arrival to the island. Munroes Island, a farm until the 1940s, has now become a favourite place for birding enthusiasts, nature lovers, and wilderness walkers. True to the guidebook’s promise, I saw a bald eagle soar over the calm receding waters while about twenty-five Red-Crested Mergansers in their winter colours swam close to shore. Noticing a bird watcher carrying a tripod along the kelp banks, I stopped to ask what he saw.

“Great day today,” he replied while assembling his tripod. “You saw the Red-Crested Mergansers back there?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Have you seen anything else?”

“Well, I come here regularly to log birds.

Today, apart from the Mergansers, I’ve had great sightings; Black Ducks, Long-Tailed Ducks, and a Bald Eagle.”

With today’s particularly clear air, I glimpsed the large head of a solitary seal

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bopping up behind the ducks. Focusing my binoculars past the seal, the hidden jewel, Pictou Island, lying 7.5 kilometres offshore, came into view. A few white houses, not often seen so distinctly, dotted its southern coastline.

After resuming my walk, the beach narrowed to a sliver around the second bend where an eroded cliff caused a number of coniferous trees to lean precariously over its banks. Others had fallen onto the shore in front of me.

Previous tides had left seaweed markers at the foot of the cliff, clearly indicating this would be a wet slog at high tide. But today my challenge was not to keep dry, it was hopping over the rocks exposed from the low tide. An easy feat for my nimble, trusty hiking boots.

A pristine, marshy lagoon, framed in marram grass, lay just before the final stretch. This quiet, secluded area is a sanctuary for birds and ducks, far away from the noise and people of the mainland.

Here, the sand changed from reddish to a soft light brown, and the coniferous trees were replaced with barren bleached trunks and skeletal branches, looking more like a windswept desert from a Sci-Fi scene than the North Shore.

The image that has been etched in my memory is the final one. The tip of the beckoning finger surrounded on three sides with clear, deep blue water gently lapping on the fine yellow sand. The ferry to P.E.I. rested at the Caribou pier across the channel. The red and white lighthouse, originally operated by light-keeper Alexander Munroe in 1867, stood alone and silent at the tip of Caribou Island.

Low tide had uncovered a virgin shoreline, imprinting my tracks to a log where I plunked myself down to savour this unique spot. A spot I appreciated even more after walking five kilometres and navigating through the rocky bits along this exceptional coastline filled with pristine beauty. Oh, and of course, at low tide.

Essential Tips for Summer Hiking 1. Drink water in 15-20 minute intervals while walking.

Hydrate days before and days after long walks.

2. Choose socks and shoes that permit ventilation to avoid blisters. Pack an extra pair of socks.

3. Bring snacks to maintain energy: dried fruit, apricots, dates.

4. Protect nose and ears from the sun. Sunscreen with 20% Zinc Oxide 5. Pack an energy gel or electrolyte drink for long hikes and hot conditions.

Freshen up for summer with new wardrobe essentials from Take it Outside.

Favourite items for outdoor, active and everyday lifestyle. Apparel, footwear, gear & accessories. Take it Outside helps elevate life’s adventures.

www.takeitoutside.ca OPEN for in-person shopping at 65 Inglis Place, Truro and 196 Hector Gate, Dartmouth Crossing Personal shopping appointments available � Virtual shopping � Curbside pick up 45 -

ah! Summer 2021

The North Shore

appeal MEDITERRANEAN

BY TRACY STUART

MEDALLING WITH MY FOOD Tracy is an Olympic medallist and has a Chef’s Diploma from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts.

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HEALTHY AT HOME

C

an you think back to a time in your life when you experienced a food that was different than the traditional food you grew up with? It happened to me during my second summer of university at Acadia. I applied for a summer job at The Kitchen Door, which was a small, mainly takeaway bistro, that served Italian and Mediterraneanstyle food. I had no experience whatsoever with this type of cuisine aside from basics like spaghetti (which they didn’t serve).

That summer I experienced a whole new world of food and flavour that I immediately fell in love with. Pesto, sundried tomatoes, olives, certain pastas like orzo and tortellini, along with different grains like couscous and farro became a staple in my diet.

My love affair with Mediterranean food deepened as I spent multiple summers in Italy during my time on the international rowing circuit. No matter where I was or how many years had passed there was one recipe that I kept coming back to time and time again. Carol DeMatteis, the head chef, and owner of The Kitchen Door, had no idea how much of a gift that summer was to me. I have literally made her Greek Salad recipe hundreds of times over the years and it is one that I will hand down to my children, for sure. When made with the freshest ingredients, this salad is not only appealing to the eye but also to the tastebuds of all ages. It is a perfect side to serve with just about any clean protein that you cook up on the BBQ, or it can stand alone as a quick lunch on the go.

One of the big principles of health-supportive meal preparation is that we eat from the rainbow. Dr. Mark Hyman in his cookbook, FOOD What the Heck Should We Eat, advises us to eat an assortment of colourful plants on a daily basis and you’ll reap the benefits of numerous phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals that support optimal health. Our food contains information that our bodies use to heal; my rule of thumb is to always have at least two different colours of vegetables on the plate at every meal. There is no question that this recipe has got you covered. Delicious and nutritious, you can’t beat it.

The original recipe that I’d written down is long gone, so this is mostly a free-wheeling meal, but I have done my best to put numbers to it. However, feel free to change any of the quantities to suit your taste. From The Kitchen Door to my kitchen, and now to yours, enjoy!

Greek Salad

Serves 4 | Preparation time: 10 minutes

1 English Cucumber, quartered and deseeded, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 Tomatoes, quartered and deseeded, cut into 1-inch chunks

½ Sweet Pepper of any colour, deseeded, cut into 1-inch chunks

¼ Red Onion (or red cabbage for non-onion lovers), thinly sliced Preparation ½ cup Kalamata Olives, pitted 1. Cut all vegetables in like-sized, ¼ cup Feta Cheese, diced bite-sized chunks.

1 Tbsp Extra-virgin Olive Oil 2. Add the olives and feta cheese Juice of ½ lemon freshly squeezed 3. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice 1 Tbsp Dried Oregano 4. Season with oregano, salt, and

1 tsp Salt (or to taste) pepper to taste

½ tsp Pepper 47 -

ah! Summer 2021

The North Shore

HEALTHY AT HOME

Boost your body’s natural UV defence

BY DR. AMY PUNKÉ

support your skin from within

The North Shore

t

he sun has finally arrived in Nova Scotia and it’s just what the doctor ordered! I have noticed an increase in energy in a lot of my patients, moods are starting to improve, and skin complaints (such as eczema, acne, and psoriasis) are reduced. There are many wonderful things about the sun, but of course, we still must be careful.

As I sit down to write this, I am reminded that May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. According to Health Canada, skin cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in this country. With one in six Canadians diagnosed with skin cancer every year, and more than 85,000 cases seen annually by healthcare providers, I thought it was worth talking about.

I remember when I was a kid growing up in Australia in the 80s, sun protection was always part of our day: we weren’t allowed to play outside at lunchtime unless we were wearing a hat that had a flap on the back that covered our necks, and we would all run around with brightly coloured strips of zinc oxide painted on our noses so we wouldn’t get a sunburn.

We thought we were being proactive and protecting ourselves from the sun by buying a bottle of sunscreen. However, a lot of research is coming out warning us that, with certain products, we may be doing more harm than good.

Fortunately, the EWG (Environmental Working Group) has launched a “Sun Safety” campaign in partnership with dermatologists and sunscreen companies. The campaign aims “to make sun safety as essential as seat belts.” The EWG states, “Much blame falls on poor-quality sunscreens and misleading sunscreen advertising that leads people to believe, wrongly, that their products protect their skin from too much sun.”

It may seem counterintuitive, but we should avoid sunscreens with a high SPF. SPF, short for “sun protection factor,” only offers protection against UVB radiation which burns the skin. The EWG reports that SPF does not protect your skin from the sun’s UVA rays. UVA rays penetrate deep into the skin, suppress the immune system, accelerate skin aging, and may increase your risk of developing skin cancer. Products with extremely high SPFs may protect against sunburn but can leave skin exposed to damaging UVA rays. The EWG recommends that consumers avoid products labelled with anything higher than SPF 50 and reapply sunscreen often, regardless of SPF. When buying a sunscreen, avoid the ingredients, oxybenzone, octinoxate, octisalate, octocrylene, and homosalate. These are

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chemicals that help absorb UV rays and are contained in more than half of sunscreens on the market. These chemicals have been shown to be toxic when absorbed through the skin and enter the bloodstream. They have also been linked to hormone disruption in women.

While we are all familiar with the importance of sunscreen, wearing hats, and avoiding the sun during the hottest time of the day, here are few other tips I recommend to not only protect your skin in the summer but to support your health all year round.

Support your skin’s natural barrier, AKA the epidermal barrier. The outermost layer of our skin, the epidermis, is our first line of defence to the external environment and, therefore, is crucial for skin health. Our bodies in their innate wisdom, are constantly maturing and shedding this outer layer of skin cells. Once, this outer layer was just thought to be dead skin cells serving no biological function. We now know that these cells are, in fact, live tissue that performs protective and adaptive physiological functions. These cells are critical in preventing aging, infection, acne, protecting our skin from the sun, and dehydration.

Unfortunately, this outer layer of skin cells has been blamed for wrinkles, uneven skin tone, acne, and dull, lifeless skin. This is the reason exfoliating with scrubs and acids/chemical peels and dermabrasion are so popular. However, over-exfoliating can leave your skin more vulnerable to UV damage from the sun. To support your skin’s natural cycle of shedding, exfoliating should occur no more than once every three to four weeks.

Rather than frequent exfoliating, it would be a wiser plan to support skin health from within. A diet rich in omega essential fatty acids (found in fish, raw nuts, and seeds) and antioxidants (dark leafy greens and other brightly coloured fruits and veggies) have been shown to increase the body’s “natural UV protection.” A study published last year in the Journal of Natural Health Product Research showed that ingesting photoprotective natural compounds through diet or supplementation (i.e., fish oil and other potent antioxidants) showed a reduction in UV-induced cell death by increasing cellular antioxidant capacity and reducing the inflammatory response (aka, an increase in the skin’s UV-resistance).

We need to have fun in the sun. We also need to be informed about how to have that fun without causing ourselves harm. This summer, be mindful of the power of sunlight, be grateful for all the benefits the sun brings while remaining ever mindful of its effects on your skin.

THE NATURE OF

Naturopathic Medicine Dr. Amy Punké is a member in good standing with the Nova Scotia Association of Naturopathic Doctors (NSAND) and the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors (CAND). Licensed with the College of Naturopathic Doctors of Alberta (CNDA).

Download your free sunscreen guide from EWG at: www.ewg.org/sunscreen/

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ah! Summer 2021

The North Shore

BY LORI DALING PHOTO BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

Dreaming of warm, sunny summer days on the water?

Collecting driftwood is always a fun way to enjoy the beach weather. But what do you do with all the driftwood you collect? Why not make yourself a sailboat to help you remember these lazy hazy days long after summer has come and gone?

If you happen to hoard fabric as well as driftwood, this is a great way to use some of those scraps up, too.

SUPPLIES

STEP 1. Drill a hole in the middle of

STEP 6. Iron interfacing onto your

Long, flat piece of driftwood for the boat

the flat piece — the base of your boat.

fabrics and trim leaving enough of an

Tall, skinny, round piece of driftwood

STEP 2. Dry fit the mast into the hole

edge to fold over.

for the mast

to be sure the hole is the right size.

STEP 7. Iron over edges and sew

2 different fabrics

STEP 3. Add eyelets on the top and

into place.

Iron-on interfacing

bottom of either side of the mast and

STEP 8. Hand stitch corners of sails

6 small eye hooks

one on each end of the boat.

into the eyelets.

Thread and needle

STEP 4. Glue the mast into the hole

STEP 9. Cut a triangle out of

Sewing machine

and let dry while you make your sails.

cardboard and glue to the top of

Scissors

STEP 5. Trace out two triangles

the mast.

Iron and ironing board

on the interfacing that will fit the

STEP 10. Sail away on summer

Drill and drill bit the size of your mast

triangular spacing between the eyelets

memories!

Glue

and cut out.

Cardboard The North Shore

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Message from Lenore Zann, Member of Parliament, Cumberland-Colchester

SUPPORTING EACH OTHER IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF WHO WE ARE AS CANADIANS. Covid 19 Vaccination!

Thank you Dr. Linda Ferguson at the Fundy Trail Mall Clinic.

I am proud to bring supports for more accessibility through the Enabling Accessibility Fund.

Congratulations to the Municipality of the County of Colchester for receiving $100,000, the Village of Bible Hill $75,927, the Rath Eastlink Community Centre $41,278 and Factory 58 Holding Inc. $100,000.

Lenore Zann, Member of Parliament In the House of Commons, Ottawa

$2.84 million in Supports for Health, Long Term Care and Education!

Glad to secure funding for energy efficiency and safety for hospitals, long term care and schools through the Dept. of Infrastructure and Communities. $792,000 for Colchester East Hants Centre, $400,000 for Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre and $215,876 for the Willow Lodge long term care centre in Tatamagouche, $72,000 for Parrsboro Elementary, $264,000 for Amherst Regional High, $252,000 for E.B. Chandler Junior High, $68,000 for Cyrus Eaton Elementary, $520,000 For Valley Elementary and $252,000 for Hilden Elementary.

Safe driving on the roads this season, and motorists please watch for bikes!

Photo: Blessing of the Bikes (Pre-Covid) Al Roland (with Lenore)

Lenore visits Truro senior Art Deveau.

(Pre-Covid) Hold the course Cumberland Colchester! Look after each other now by staying put and soon we will enjoy a warm summer – together!

Lenore with Les Jeux Acadie at Truro Acadian School (Pre-Covid)

The spirit of the entrepreneur is alive and well in Ernest Korankye, founder, president and CEO of Asante Logistics Group in Truro. Asante Logistics Group benefited from our Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Program, as well as accessing the $60,000 in interest-free loans provided to small businesses and non-profits to cover operating costs during the pandemic.

Photo: Lenore outside with Ernest Korankye

Kwe! Congratulations to Ulnooweg Development Group of Millbrook First Nations for being a vibrant force helping Atlantic Canadian Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses attain their goals.

They have received $857,000 in Federal funding to bring ocean based indigenous businesses together with the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) and Upswing Solutions, to build and grow viable industries while ensuring the sustainability of our ocean environments.

Wela’lioq Lenore is pictured with Chris Googoo, COO, Ulnooweg Development Group

Bass River, Bay of Fundy

While Covid-19 is not over, the Government of Canada remains steadfast in our commitment to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to protect you and your family.

This includes:

• Getting a VACCINATION to every Canadian

• Working with Nova Scotia to ensure a stronger HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

• Building a solid ECONOMY that is more fair and inclusive • Supporting women and families with accessible CHILDCARE • Making SENIORS a priority

• Protecting the environment and acting on CLIMATE CHANGE Let’s build back a healthier, safer, and greener Canada!

RBC Dominion Securities Inc.

Strength that you can count on in extraordinary times My team and I will help bring clarity to your financial situation by delivering personalized wealth management services and solutions.

We work with high-net-worth clients across Northern Nova Scotia to build, protect, and transfer their wealth.

To learn more about our team, and how we can help you gain peace of mind during these uncertain times, contact us today.

Blair Carter, CFP Vice-President and Wealth Advisor blair.carter@rbc.com 902-893-2518 Jon David Fitzpatrick Administrative Assistant jondavid.fitzpatrick@rbc.com 902-832-5722 Michelle Mills-Wood Associate michelle.mills-wood@rbc.com 902-421-8335

105A Walker St. Truro, Nova Scotia, B2N 4B1 blaircarter.ca

RBC Dominion Securities Inc.* and Royal Bank of Canada are separate corporate entities which are affiliated. *Member-Canadian Investor Protection Fund. RBC Dominion Securities Inc. is a member company of RBC Wealth Management, a business segment of Royal Bank of Canada. ® Registered trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. © RBC Dominion Securities Inc. 2020. All rights reserved. 20_90270_AEC_002