East Coast Living Fall 2021

east coast

LIVING Inspiring home life in Atlantic Canada

TEXTILE ARTIST MEGAN SAMMS WEAVES TO THE RHYTHM OF HER

heartbeat

FALL 2021 | $4.95 eastcoastliving.ca

FAMILY, FORAGING, AND FOOD SEAWEED IN THE WALLS CONTAINER GARDENING MADE EASY DISPLAY UNTIL NOVEMBER 23, 2021

The Art of Living

Contemporary Art & Ceramics 5431 Doyle Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia www.studio21.ca | fineart@studio21.ca | @studio21fineart Artists depicted here: Sara Caracristi, Vanessa Cornell, Kizi Spielmann-Rose on the wall.

Debra Kuzyk & Ray Mackie, Heather Waugh-Pitts on the table. Furniture courtesy of 31 Westgate.

contents

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46

13

Texture trends to transcend the seasons

THE LIST

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

10 Trends: Worth their weight

18 People: Megan Samms

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12 Hand Picked: Favourite finds

22 In Depth: Breaking down barriers

Weighted blankets, or gramma’s quilt.

You be the judge

Unique discoveries from around the region

13 Décor: Layer up Textures on trend

15 Décor: Top 10 Tips

Autumn’s hottest design trends

16 Projects: Seaweed in the walls Could an old practice be the future of home insulation?

42 Gardening: Containing the

Newfoundland textile artist on weaving and the reciprocity of the natural world

A Nova Scotian cabinetmaker opens the door to custom design

Editor’s message

Building change, building on tradition

38 Libations: Cheers! Fall’s here!

St. John’s bartender Danny Le shakes up new harvest cocktails

Meet the women building the East Coast

30 In Depth: It’s in her nature

PHOTO: DEBORAH NICHOLSON

Last Look

45 Buying Guide 46 Last look: The sands of time

(and stories)

Bespoke jewelry by P.E.I. artist Jeanette Walker

EATING IN 34 Family, foraging, and food

Chef Stéphane Levac shares the passions that inspire him

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season’s enthusiasm

Keeping the planter colour and interest going well into winter

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Building change,

building on tradition To complement our coverage of the women building the East Coast, Shannon Campbell Webb introduces us to Nova Scotian cabinet maker Carole Burnette, who tells us she “just loves to make things.” See page 30.

And that’s what we do on the East Coast. We have a knack for seeing what nature provides and turning it into something special. A mushroom is just a mushroom until it’s made into something delicious. Ask Chef Stéphane Levac. That connection to the land and knowing what to take and how to give back that is in his nature. He shares a few of his favourite fall recipes, on page 34.

We take a trip to the island of Newfoundland, too, where none of these ideas are breaking news. Writer Connie Boland met textile artist Megan Samms in the Codroy Valley, a part of the province known for its harsh weather.

Megan shares her understanding that we are all part of something bigger. Discover her textile work on page 18: woven in beauty, tradition, and a sense of shelter.

I want one of her blankets to wrap up in on a chilly day this fall, maybe even sipping one of the incredible harvest cocktails that St. John’s bartender Danny Le got his shaker out for, on page 38.

We are makers on the East Coast. It’s in our nature. We just need to make sure that no one is sitting on the other side of the hall like I was, wondering what they’re building over there.

If you are a woman or part of a community that is underrepresented in the trades and looking for a job that fuels your passion, reach out to the apprentice programs in your province, talk to others doing a job that you would like to do, tell people that you have skills and want to work. Make some noise and start building your own future.

PHOTO: SHAWNA NORTHOVER

W

hen I was in junior high, I wish that I had made more noise about transferring out of the home economics class that was pre-determined for the girls. I would have enjoyed the boys’ option, what they then called industrial arts.

I remember sitting at my desk wearing my yellow and white checked apron that I had borrowed from my grandmother, writing notes on the 10 things to remember to be a good hostess, and testing my knowledge of leavening agents, while listening to the sounds of hammers coming from the wood shop across the hall.

The boys seemed to be having a lot more fun and learning something more useful. That was the early ‘80s and I don’t think any amount of pressure would have seen the school board bend its rules and let a girl get her grip on a hand saw.

I doubt my industrial arts projects would have revealed any more genius than the failing grade that I got making biscuits, but I am certain the most basic training in that wood shop during junior high would’ve set me up with a few skills more practical than “how to organize a grocery list.”

Thankfully times have changed. Well, a bit. No longer are kids streamed by gender to courses deemed appropriate by the curriculum advisors. But many young women still don’t feel comfortable exploring their options in what are still, in 2021, considered nontraditional roles.

With the gaping holes in our workforce, which experts have seen coming for many years, it’s time we do more to encourage underrepresented sectors of our population to pursue careers in building and the trades.

Contributing editor Janet Whitman writes “Breaking down barriers” on page 22, and introduces us to five women of varied backgrounds who are making a name for themselves in the construction business.

While researching the story, she learned that only 4% of people on job sites are women. With hundreds of thousands of people working in the construction industry in Canada expected to retire in the next few years, we need a lot of women to add hard hats to their wardrobe.

Crystal Murray, Editor ecl@metroguide.ca EastCoastLiving East Coast Living Magazine

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Newfoundland textile artist Megan Samms finds inspiration in the natural world.

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Online eastcoastliving.ca Find even more images from our photo shoots, blogs posts and more on eastcoastliving.ca.

Missed an issue? Discover back issues of East Coast Living on our website, plus recipes, stories and sneak peeks into upcoming issues of East Coast Living.

Meet our contributors BRUCE MURRAY, VISIONFIRE Photography for “It’s in her nature” Bruce Murray has been creating food and lifestyle photography for more than 20 years in the Maritimes and in his original studio in Vancouver. visionfire.ca @VisionFire

CONNIE BOLAND “The rhythm of a heartbeat” Connie Boland is an award-winning journalist, creative writer, and communications professional living in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. Her work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, and online publications across Canada. Connie was twice a finalist for Atlantic Journalism Awards and received Canadian News Awards for Outstanding Editorial Achievement.

STEVE SMITH Photography for “Family, foraging, and food” and “Breaking down barriers” Steve Smith is a commercial photographer at VisionFire Studios located in Pictou, N.S., shooting for a wide range of clientele throughout Atlantic Canada.

ALEC BRUCE “Seaweed in the walls” Alec Bruce is a writer and editor whose bylines have appeared in national publications in Canada and the United States, including the Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, Canadian Living, and Reader’s Digest. He’s a regular contributor to Atlantic Business Magazine, Saltscapes, and East Coast Living, among others.

DARRELL ROBERTS “Cheers! Fall’s here!”

Darrell Roberts is a recent graduate of the Kings School of Journalism and has returned to his home turf in St. John’s N.L. to write about the things that matter most to him– culture and community.

STÉPHANE LEVAC “Family, foraging, and food” Stéphane Levac is a foraging chef living in the Annapolis Valley. He is currently chef at Oak Island Inn Resort. He is of Indigenous descent and has a passion for photograghy and exploring for fresh local ingredients with his family. You can find Stéphane on season nine of Top Chef Canada. This is Stéphane’s first endeavor as a writer.

TALIA MEADE “Layer up” Talia Meade is a University of King’s College journalism grad originally from Ottawa. She now works in marketing for Cove Kombucha in Halifax, N.S. and loves to write and share stories in her free time. You can find her reading the latest issue of ECL on her back deck with a coffee.

AMEETA VOHRA “The sands of time (and stories)” Ameeta Vohra is a news and sports writer. Her work has been published throughout North America including Halifax Magazine, CBCSports.ca, Star Halifax, CFL, TSN, Featurd, Football Canada, Haligonia.ca, Sportstream. ca and USports. She is a 2020 Atlantic Journalism Awards finalist for Atlantic Magazine: Best Profile Article.

PHOTO: MEGHAN TANSEY WHITTON

PHOTO: STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE

JODI DELONG “Containing the season’s enthusiasm” Jodi DeLong is a gardening fanatic and writer, editor and photographer with Advocate Media.

When not writing, taking photos or editing for Saltscapes, she is usually elbows-deep in potting soil, tending to her gardens in Wolfville Ridge, N.S. She shows how to extend your container gardening season right into the cold months in this issue.

SHANNON WEBB-CAMPBELL “It’s in her nature” Shannon Webb-Campbell is a member of Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation. Her books include: Still No Word (Breakwater 2015), I Am A Body of Land (Book*hug 2019), and Lunar Tides (Book*hug 2022). Shannon is a doctoral student at the University of New Brunswick in the Department of English and the editor of Visual Arts News Magazine. She lives and works in Kjipuktuk/ Halifax.

JANET WHITMAN “Breaking down barriers” Contributing editor Janet Whitman is a city- and nature-loving journalist who divides her time between Halifax and her cottage on the Northumberland Shore. She’s happiest digging in the dirt, picking up a hammer or messing around in the kitchen.

MELANIE MOSHER “Worth their weight” Melanie Mosher is the author of three books for young readers. When she’s not writing, she likes to walk along the trails near her home. She often carries a container, seizing every opportunity to pick wild berries as she goes. melaniemosher.com

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Worth their weight Weight blankets—do they offer hype or the promise of a good night’s sleep?

BY MELANIE MOSHER

T

raditional weighted blankets are filled with tiny plastic or glass beads and range from lightweight to as much as 15 kg. They’re meant to provide a sense of comfort like swaddling or a hug. It’s recommended to use a blanket about 10% of your body weight.

Reported benefits include improved sleep quality, decreased insomnia, relief from symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduction of stress. Scientific evidence on the claims is limited but there is research on Deep Touch Pressure Stimulation (DTP).

DTP includes firm hugs, cuddling, squeezing, compression, or swaddling using hands, massage tools, or products meant to wrap around the body like a blanket or jacket.

It’s a tactile sensation that provides a sense of calm throughout the whole body via a chain reaction in the nervous system. It has been used as therapy for autism, hyperactivity, chronic stress, and mood disorders.

Anecdotal evidence for weighted blankets abounds.

“I love my blanket,” says Judy Boucher, a registered nurse from Bedford, N.S. She makes a scooping motion with her hands to demonstrate being tucked in. “It’s like a cocoon that’s so comfortable.”

Nicole Greeno, a first responder living in Saint John, N.B., says she bought her blanket during the pandemic when border restrictions kept her from visiting her family in Nova Scotia. “I drag it back and forth from the couch to bed with me. It helps with my anxiety of being alone.”

I think back to my own childhood, waking in the upstairs bedroom of my maternal grandparent’s home. The only source of heat on the second floor was the warm air drifting up through the floor vent from the old wood stove in the kitchen. In the morning, I’d scramble from bed down to the heat of the

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Gramma’s old quilt was the original weighted blanket. Designed more for warmth, the weight of the blanket was just an added bonus. fire. But not before I took time to savour the coziness of the heavy quilt snuggled around me as warm as a hug straight from my grandmother.

The weighted blankets referred to today first appeared in the late 1990s. But what about the heaviness of Grandma’s quilts?

“The simple answer is that antique quilts feel heavier because of the materials they were made from,” says Kelly Hill, wardrobe supervisor at Kings Landing, a living history museum in Prince William, N.B. “In the 19th and early 20th centuries, they only had access to natural materials like cotton and wool.

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Cotton batting is fairly dense compared to synthetics, so even if the weight is the same, it feels heavier because there’s less loftiness and air. Occasionally, quilters would cover old wool blankets, or even other quilts, instead of using plain batting. These are some of the heaviest quilts.”

Was this done for comfort? “I am not sure if the people of the 19th century specifically used heavy blankets for comfort unrelated to warmth,” Hill answers. Keeping in mind it was a time before modern heating and insulation. “But I imagine many would have, appreciated the feeling as we do today.”

TRENDS

Sew your own weighted blanket Required items: Fabric, thread, scissors, straight pins, fabric pencil (or chalk), metre stick, sewing machine, plastic beads, paper wrapping cardboard tube, kitchen scale.

Steps: • With right sides together, sew along the side seams only. Turn right side out and top stitch the two seams.

• Using a metre stick and fabric pencil or chalk, mark a grid on the blanket which will become pockets to hold the beads, allowing even distribution. Mark columns and rows creating squares about 12 cm across the surface or whatever size is evenly divisible on your blanket.

Using a more dense cotton or wool instead of synthetic batting can add extra weight to your quilt.

Today many quilters use synthetic batting in quilts, which is light. But there are still options for heavier materials. “If you wanted to make a quilt with extra weight, I would use a bamboo batting or a bamboo/cotton fibre,” says Suzanne Lane of Quilting B & More in Charlottetown, P.E.I, adding that because the fibre in bamboo is denser, it tends to be heavier.

Other options for weighted blankets are also available. Some knit from heavy materials, including those made from wood pulp or eucalyptus fibres, look like chunky throws. There are even robes with weighted inserts in the collar to ease tension around the neck and shoulders.

Christine LeGrow, owner of Spindrift in St. John’s, N.L., and co-author of Saltwater Gifts, offers helpful hints to anyone wishing to knit or crochet a hefty blanket. “Purchase sufficient yarn with a matching colour number and dye lot number to complete the project. It is best to purchase a couple extra skeins just in case,” she says. “I would suggest the knitter search online for vintage pattern books and leaflets from the 1960s to early 1980s as these throws, bedspreads, and afghans were popular then. Some patterns require bulky-weight yarn or yarn wound double and are a little heavier.”

Whether new or old, hype or fact, weighted blankets are popular. And with options for making your own, perhaps they’re worth a try. What’s to lose? Not sleep! o

• Turn the hems of the unsewn edges in and pin the two pieces of fabric together at the column markings to keep material from shifting. Sew along the vertical lines and across the centre horizontal line only. Sew the other rows afterwards, as you place the beads.

• Divide the total weight of pellets you want to use by the number of pockets you have. Use a kitchen scale to divide the pellets.

The weight of the blanket should be about 10% of the user’s body weight.

• Insert an empty wrapping paper tube into the first column and push it down to the centre seam. Pour in the correct amount of pellets and repeat until each column has been filled.

• Sew the next marked line to close the row of pockets.

Be sure to push any wayward beads out of the way of your needle.

• Continue to fill and sew the rows on both sides of the centre seam, one at a time, until all pockets have beads.

• Sew the top and bottom rows with a ¼ inch seam, making sure the fabric is folded inward.

TABITHACO.CA PICTOU, NS 902.759.7715 HELLO@TABITHACO.CA G Ö e k w @tabithacompany Valérie Leduc Photography

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Hand-picked Favourite finds from summer with a purpose

BY CRYSTAL MURRAY PHOTOS BY TODD LOCKHART, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

I

t was finally time to hit the road this summer. Time to go back to the places that make summer feel like summer. Favourite places like the pages in my favourite book, dog-eared and so good you just have to go back again. There was also a mission for new experiences and to make new favourites. Thank you for that Gros Morne, N.L. Part of the quest was to hand pick something special from my trips to each East Coast province.

Something that had a purpose and something that would find a place in my home this fall.

A wooden bowl from P.E.I. Kiln glass daisies from N.L. A pottery vase from N.B. and a tartan clutch from N.S. Each object hand-picked for a reason and will remind me of my adventures this summer season. o

1

Wooden Bowl made by P.E.I. woodworking hobbyist John Havenga to be filled and refilled with popcorn and movie binges.

2

Kiln Glass made by artist Urve Manuel in Rocky Habour, N.L Daisies have always been my favourite and this little quartet gives inspiration for a bathroom reno.

4

Tartan Clutch

3

Pottery Vase made by N.B. ceramics artist Monique Bujold Brown. There is still lots of time for fall flowers. I will be filling this one with silver dollars and Chinese lanterns.

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found at the New Glasgow Farmers Market near my hometown in Nova Scotia. A perfect little grab and go. Big enough for my cell phone, cards and to tuck my mask when I am out for dinner.

DÉCOR

Layer up Texture trends to transcend the seasons

BY TALIA MEADE

C

lean, white, blank canvases were the norm for a good part of the decade, but 2021 has shifted interior wall design towards texture, moving from traditional minimalist interiors to full-on maximalist.

Texture can be visual like patterns and colours, or it can be tactile, such as fabric and mouldings. “From an aesthetic point of view, I always think adding in texture is a good thing. Whether it’s a pattern or a surface feel or look to it, you can’t go wrong with texture,” says interior designer Deborah Nicholson, who works with clients in Halifax, the Annapolis Valley, and Nova Scotia’s South Shore.

Her advice is to choose a texture that transcends the seasons.

Especially for fixed pieces in your home like a wall covering. Instead of switching out your wallpaper or wall treatments each season, which can not only be expensive but wasteful too, try bringing in texture another way.

“Wallpaper is making a big comeback and adds to elements of design that really only wallpaper can achieve. It adds personality to

a space and gives you an opportunity to express any feeling in your home,” says Virginia Ward, an interior designer based in Fall River, N.S. and owner of Virginia Ann Interiors.

Ward says if you’re still not sold on the wallpaper trend but still want an element of textured walls in your home, there are alternatives. Many companies sell peel-and-stick wall decals, so you can create your own design.

“There’s every pattern known to man out there that you could possibly want,” Ward says. Plus, it’s practically zero commitment which is great for short term and perfect for rentals. Even if you feel like you’re not the most creative or handy person out there, try the decals, they’re easier than you think.

Nicholson always recommends hiring a professional to install wall treatments, at least for the first time. With wallpaper, you can’t do a heavy texture without the risk of peeling, so sticking to light textures like cotton, woven, silk, and polyester are your best options.

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PHOTO: MATTHEW MCMULLEN / VIRGINIA ANN INTERIORS

PHOTO: DEBORAH NICHOLSON DESIGN

Above: Designer Deborah Nicholson loves to use peel-and-stick wallpaper—a perfect way to add a splash of colour and texture without a big commitment. Look for products made with non-toxic materials for a more eco-friendly option.

PHOTO: DEBORAH NICHOLSON DESIGN

The warm wood tones of the cabinet, mirror and botanical print wallpaper give dimension and depth to a bathroom remodel.

Annapolis Valley artist Alex Porter was commissioned to create an original art piece for the panel behind the range in this kitchen in Hunts Point, N.S.

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Nicholson Tip: Adhesive wallpaper doesn’t hold up well in damp environments like the bathroom and kitchen; even a mudroom can be a slippery slope.

Also remember that wallpaper comes with potential dangers.

Nicholson says while some companies specialize in safe and environmentally friendly wallpapers, most are toxic. Whether it’s the vinyl, the adhesive or even the inks and dyes in the paper, all of these elements can have toxins that can seep into your home. Nicholson adds that even mildew can generate behind the adhesive and vinyl, which could lead toxins to develop throughout your home over time.

Panels are another increasingly popular option.

Find wooden frames and staple or stick fabric onto the panels.

Nicolson says that this project would look beautiful on the whole wall, accent walls or as panels. Nicholson adds that attaching the fabric is quite easy since it’s light and can work with double-sided tape. This would complement the look nicely in a front entryway, dining room, or as an accent wall, such as behind a headboard in a bedroom as partial covering on one section.

Nicholson Tip: If you’re going with a fabric wall covering use natural liquid starch for application. Choosing a breathable fabric is also important so you don’t trap moisture.

Going with no pattern is the easiest, says Nicholson. Panels can be mismatched and look interesting and striking on the wall. If you want a pattern, Nicholson suggests going with a small pattern because if they don’t line up perfectly it won’t be as obvious: “Rich jewel tones or dark colours that speak to the fall season could be really lovely in a space.”

Whether you are adding wallpaper, barnboard, shiplap or something else, creating a layered home can be made easy by starting with your walls and building from there, says Lori Bryne, designer at Costandi Designs in Truro, N.S. Grasscloth is a classic wallcovering and can add a warm texture to any space without being overpowering. “I love the colour variation within grasscloth applications, as well as the timeless factor of it,” she says.

The draw of textured wall coverings is that it offers another layer of warmth and texture to a space, says Bryne. “Adding that extra element can take the room to the next level and give dimension,” she says. o

DÉCOR

10

Trending for fall TIPS from two East Coast designers

1. COLOURS Colour is slowly making its way back into the design world-but keep it warm and rich.

Virginia Ward “Neutral tones in our home were a major focal point in design for so long, but now we’re shifting into warmer, richer colour schemes.

Deborah Nicholson “We’re moving away from robins’ eggs bluey-grey colours and moving towards warmer, darker colours.”

completely transcends factory-made goods. It’s like we instinctively know that someone’s put in creative thought and energy, and we feel it.”

7. REPURPOSE YOUR HOME Shop your home you will be surprised by all the great finds!

Virginia Ward “You don’t have to buy new things. Instead, switch around those everyday staple items like chairs and throw pillows and try them out in new spaces with new uses.”

2. SIMPLIFYING OUR SPACES The urge to be connected with the space around us has been amplified by the pandemic.

Deborah Nicholson “There is such a need for selfnurturing and self-care because we spend so much time in our homes. Less clutter, more utilizing our environment for function.

Connecting with the world around us as Marie Kondo has taught us, is huge. The simple rule is that things in your home should make you feel good.”

3. COZY UP YOUR SPACE Get ready to cuddle in for those Netflix nights.

Virginia Ward “The next time you have to go shopping for fall pieces, looking for anything you want to cuddle up with is a great place to start. A cozy blanket to drape over your sofa, or pretty much anything that is going to make you want to snuggle into your space and feel comfortable.”

4. TEXTURE, TEXTURE, TEXTURE Deborah Nicholson “You can add texture through fabrics and paints in different elements of your home - not just on the wall. Adding in layers of colour and textures will add that autumn warmth and cozy feeling.”

PHOTO: DEBORAH NICHOLSON

5. ARTWORK

8. PAINT One of the quickest and most cost-efficient ways to transform a room is with a coat of paint.

Virginia Ward “Paint is an easy and inexpensive way to jazz up your space for fall. Try painting a powder room, an accent wall or just scroll on Pinterest and look at inspo where rooms have a paint feature.”

9. MOULDINGS Frame mouldings on walls can add another dimension and a feel of almost an old world to your home.

Virginia Ward “Old homes have that beautiful architecture and attention to detail that is sometimes lacking in our homes now.”

10. BECOME A PLANT PARENT Bring nature inside. Some of those plants on the patio that you watered all summer can transition to the indoors. Enhancing any room with a little green is a huge trend that is likely here to stay, even for pared down décor. Designers all agree that nothing freshens up a room more than a few lush plants. o

Artwork is low commitment and a very easy element to transition into the season. Deborah Nicolson “Go to local artist sales and markets to find artists and weavers who work with textiles. Why not support somebody local and get a one-ofa-kind piece at the same time?”

6. GO LOCAL Natural, handmade and local is where it’s at.

Deborah Nicholson “There’s something about handmade that

Hand-crafted hooked rug toss cushion.

Original artwork by Joanne Gates FALL 2021

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In Europe, the centuries old tradition of seaweed thatching is now being utilized by the building industry as a sustainable material for insulating. Could it make a comeback here? Kathryn Larsen an architectural technologist in Denmark is changing the perceptions about seaweed insulation. She shared her images of the Seaweed Pavilion she designed where people can take a seat and think about the rot and flame resistant properties of the eco-friendly material.

Seaweed in the walls Could an old practice be the future of home insulation?

BY ALEC BRUCE

P

atrick Crabbe, a housing specialist who works in Bedford, N.S., is trying to be patient.

“Like I said, I don’t think that’s actually a thing,” he says.

I persist. “But it was … you know … once upon a time. I mean not too long ago, people would go down to the beach and scoop it up by the bucketful, right? Right?”

I was vaguely aware that I sounded strange. The week before, faced with an encroaching Halifax winter and increasingly decrepit attic, I had decided to find a cheap and environmentally responsible solution to my insulation problem. My neighbour, who once owned a hardware store, suggested seaweed. He said it was all the rage back in the 1930s (that other time when nobody had any money) when my house was built.

“People would haul it up to their homes or cottages or shacks or whatever and stuff it into their walls,” I tell Crabbe. “Presto … instant insulation … free … courtesy of Mother Nature.”

He’s diplomatic. “Maybe, like, on a very unique, residential scale,” he says, which I believe translates as: There’s nothing special about insulating your home, you fool, especially nowadays … Now, please go away.

Of course, he’s right.

Given concerns about climate change and affordable housing, the federal government’s Canada Greener Homes Grant is providing 700,000 bursaries of $5,000 each to homeowners who want to make their

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places more energy wise. Trades have been meeting demand both for polyurethane spray foam and more ecologically hospitable alternatives, including: wool, denim, bark, and cork batting and panels.

In Atlantic Canada, our environmentally friendly preferences still tend to run in the mainstream. Efficiency Nova Scotia, for example, lists rolls and loose fill made of recycled fiberglass and powdered basalt among the most popular choices. Companies here also offer a castor oil-based spray foam called lcynene.

Costs and R-values (heat transfer rates) vary. Insulating my attic with fiberglass batting, for example, might set me back $2.50 a square foot (including labour) and improve my overall energy efficiency by 25%. If, however, I went for lcynene (“ice-uh-neen”)—a 35-year-old Mississauga invention now under the wing of a Quebec-based building supplier—I might retain a bit more heat for a bit more money.

As for wool, denim, bark, and cork?

“What I am aware of for a potential alternative insulating material here is wood fibre,” says Crabbe, who is national mass timber manager for Bird Construction and the former program director of the Maritime Lumber Bureau. “This would be quite attractive in Nova Scotia (where) there is a lot of chip waste for making paper … (But) we have no manufacturers of this, and it’s really only in its infancy in Europe.”

Fair enough. But here’s what isn’t: seaweed.

In a 2013 article for Wired magazine, contributor Joe Flaherty explains why a particular algae-covered house in Denmark was “the world’s coziest sushi roll.” Noting that the cottage on the island of Læsø in the North Sea “draws its unique feature not from scientific advance, but from the era of Viking sagas,” he described “the array of cylindrical, seaweed-stuffed ‘pillows’ on the façade” and the plant-infused walls.

According to the project’s manager, Jørgen Søndermark: “The idea is to revive interest for the unique tradition of seaweed thatching and in a broader sense re-introduce overlooked or disregarded organic materials at a time where low-carbon solutions are much called for.”

He isn’t alone.

Due south, near the Mediterranean Sea, Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology has been converting little globs of dead seaweed, called Neptune balls, into useable insulation.

According to a 2013 report in New Atlas magazine, the material is “mold-resistant, almost completely non-flammable, won’t rot, and doesn’t require the addition of any other … It can also absorb water vapor and release it again, without compromising its own insulation value.”

What’s more, neither endeavour was an experimental lark. Both had business plans, private investors and government money behind them. After all, nobody ever dreamed that a bunch of interlocking plastic blocks would one day become the biggest thing in

global toy land. But as the seaweed house’s lead architect Søren Nielsen said, “There is a reason that Lego is a Danish invention.”

Still, if they can do it, why can’t we? In fact, there’s precedent for this on the Canadian East Coast.

According to a Maclean’s article, published in 1947, “Since the autumn of 1945, when the industry was revived after a lapse of 15 years, 45 tons of Seafelt [seaweed] have gone out of [a] plant at Sable River, N.S., each month. Nowhere else in Canada is this type of insulation made. Few Canadians know that it is the oldest type of commercial insulator in the world, and one of the most efficient. Most of it has been grabbed up in the Maritimes, but when production increases, it will be available to the rest of Canada.”

Could seaweed be the comeback kid of home insulation … again?

Crabbe and undoubtedly scores of others who know far better than I about these things would argue that you’d need infrastructure, machinery, innovation capacity, and all that jazz to make it work. So, no, it’s not actually a thing.

But I can’t stop thinking about that hole in my attic (and my budget) and all that lovely, free seaweed just gathering flies along Atlantic Canada’s various ocean playgrounds.

“You do know I was pulling your leg,” my neighbour smiled after I reported the results of my research. “But you can borrow my truck if you want.” o

902-499-1323 Jarrett@reddoorrealty.ca reddoorrealty.ca

Our off season is so very on.

PHOTO: KATHRYN LARSEN

PHOTO: KELLY HUDSON

In Atlantic Canada, our environmentally friendly preferences still tend to run in the mainstream

Sweaters on, White Pointers! These dazzling fall days may be shorter, but that means evenings designed for star gazing, live entertainment, and bonding around the bonfire. Watch for exciting new accommodation popping up this fall.

(Think glamping and tree hugging!)

whitepoint.com

Ancient techniques may be the future of plant-friendly home building.

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PEOPLE

The rhythm of a

heartbeat Textile artist Megan Samms on weaving and the reciprocity of the natural world

BY CONNIE BOLAND PHOTOS BY KIRSTEN POPE

M

egan Samms married her partner in a sheltered cove yellow with daffodils. The textile artist returns often to that field planted by her great-great-great grandmother, on occasion tenderly retrieving bulbs for her own garden.

“Yesterday, I moved three bulbs,” the Indigenous artist, clothmaker and owner of Live Textiles says during an interview from her home in the west coast of Newfoundland’s Codroy Valley. “I dug them up with my fingers and carefully carried them home.”

Lessons passed from generation to generation.

Megan’s work is guided by elu’j, a word meaning to make things that are animate, or of use. Live textiles are naturally dyed, handwoven and finished in her studio in rural Ktaqmkuk at the Katalisk Sipu, near the house in which she grew up, learned to spin yarns, and knit them together.

The ebb and flow of seasons past, present, and future set the pace.

Megan grows and forages plant dyes from the rich soil in her garden and the woods near her home. Her loom moves with the rhythm of a heartbeat, creating functional pieces meant for everyday use.

“I was raised with the understanding that we are all a part of something much bigger than ourselves,” Megan says. “We are so embedded in nature

that I don’t think of it as a place or being separate from the day-to-day. I visit the plants in all seasons to see how they are doing and to stay connected. I’m not just extracting; it’s a reciprocal relationship.

My work is inherently a part of the natural world.”

The self-taught weaver perfected her craft while working with Alberta Wildfire as a lookout observer. Megan set up her loom in the two-room cabin that was her home for half the year. She returned to Millville with partner Ash Hall in 2020. Her online business was growing steadily, and she saw opportunity in the province’s flourishing craft industry.

Millville is named for once active sawmills and a wool mill. There are long roots of textile work and weaving in the Codroy Valley. Mi’kmaw were known for basketry, and eventually, hand weaving on looms, a tool that allows efficient production of work and a means to make a living in a creative, ecologically sustainable way.

Megan integrates usefulness, beauty, tradition, and a sense of shelter in living cloth. Live textiles are produced on wooden floor looms, with natural and organic fibre and plant dyes. Un-weavable fabric is repurposed into useful items in the studio, or used by other craftspeople.

Spent dyestuff is composted. Rainwater is used in the washing and dye process.

Above: Megan Samms in the greenhouse on her property. The textile artist grows and forages to make her own plant dyes.

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Above left: A life-long dream: Megan Samms and partner Ash Hall envision a community-based studio, workspace and place to house community art events in scenic Codroy Valley, Newfoundland and Labrador.

PHOTO: MEGAN SAMMS

Above right: The gentle movement of the loom, like the beating of a heart, creating sustainability.

Live textiles are naturally dyed, hand woven, and finished in Megan’s studio. Each piece is part of larger story.

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“My colours and patterns are inspired by nature, time spent on the land, and the ideal functions of each piece,” Megan explains. “Everything I produce is meant to be versatile. I use sustainably produced materials to create fabric that, I hope, will last hundreds of years.

“I held a 250-year-old blanket in my hands,” she adds. “I felt its life, the love and care that went into it. I hope the blankets I make will last that long.”

Her mother, Renée Samms, expertly finishes her daughter’s one-of-a kind pieces. Megan and Ash are committed to giving back to the region that Megan comes from and that welcomed her partner with open arms.

The two own Katalisk Sipu Gardens, a mixed mini farm and apothecary.

They raise honeybees and chickens. They organize seasonal, communitydriven Makers & Gardeners Markets.

In the future, they hope to fulfill a long-time dream. The Loom Shed will be an off-grid, community-based studio, workspace, and place to house community art events. It will become a learning hub for people interested in textile arts, and an artist in residence space in 2022. Live Textiles will sponsor a textile artist for one to three months. The sponsors anticipate organizing a show to provide the participant with an opportunity to display and sell their work. A partnership with the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador is adding to their artist library, making books available to the community. Megan is also working with a textile studio, Edmonton-based Gather Textiles, to supply yarn to the artist. Megan and Ash have spent part of their summer building a greenhouse and honey house.

Textiles are a labour-intensive craft. Collaboration is important in the small community of handweavers. “In the textile world everyone

PEOPLE

Above: Megan works in natural fabrics and natural light. Her loom becomes a part of the journey, creating textiles to be used for generations.

Left: Cut from the loom: washed, pressed and ready to be sent out into the world.

PHOTO: MEGAN SAMMS

Below: Staying connected to the land. Megan and her partner are building a greenhouse so they can keep their hands connected to the earth in all seasons.

is supportive of each other because there aren’t that many of us,” Megan says. “For some reason, textiles are not as highly appreciated or valued as some of the other crafts, and yet there is no less work or craftspersonship involved.

“It’s important to understand the agricultural nature of textiles,” she adds. “I encourage people to support Canadian hand-woven textiles and to purchase hand-woven pieces wisely. It’s something you will have for generations.”

Megan is a juried and exhibiting member of the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the provincial representative and vice president of the Guild of Canadian Weavers.

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BREAKING DOWN

BARRIERS Meet the women building the East Coast

BY JANET WHITMAN

W

hen it comes to careers with a hammer, voltmeter, and other tools of the construction industry, women are woefully underrepresented.

But their success and mentorship is key as Atlantic Canada and the rest of the country face a looming labour shortage, with tens of thousands of Baby Boomers in the skilled trades ready to retire.

Programs have been popping up around the region to entice more women, a largely untapped market. They represent only around 4% of the skilled trades, a level that’s been largely unchanged over the past 25 years.

Newfoundland and Labrador showed how incentives can work as the province geared up for a building boom. Wage subsidies, diversity quotas and the creation of provincially backed Office to Advance Women Apprentices 12 years ago boosted the percentage of women

working in the skilled trades to 14% from 3%. The group has since expanded with outposts in each of the Atlantic provinces and beyond.

Beyond filling a labour gap, women gain the opportunity to work in what are typically solid, steady jobs with good wages and benefits.

Karen Walsh, executive director of the Newfoundland branch of the Office to Advance Women, says her group provides a support system not only to help women find careers in the skilled trades, but stay in them. “That’s the missing link,” she says. “Some contractors have never had a female onsite and have 30, 40, 50 guys. We help to ensure the contractor is going to have a comfort level, washrooms, all of these things.”

We caught up with some of the busiest builders on the East Coast who really know what it means to climb the ladder to success in the construction business.

Fourth-year millwright apprentices Della Ryan, Casandra Whalen and Amanda Reese are getting the support from programming offered by the Office to Advance Women Apprentices. With offices in all four Atlantic provinces, the organizations mission is to identify the barriers and track and measure the success of skilled construction tradeswomen in the region.

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IN DEPTH

Architects Shallyn Murray and Silva Stojak at their Charlottetown, P.E.I. firm Nine Yards. today, something that looks more at community design and things that are outside the box for architects.”

Stojak adds, “Deep down, as Shallyn says, we are very different than engineers. We have these artistic urges to do something that will change our surroundings and make it better.”

The name for the new business was inspired by the expression “the whole nine yards” and represents their commitment to explore all facets of design.

Stojak and Murray see networking as an important way to help women and other underrepresented people.

Murray launched the P.E.I. chapter of Building Equality in Architecture Atlantic, an independent organization supporting equality and diversity in the profession.

At the chapter’s first meeting, a young architect from Russia approached them. “It was an example of how these connections work,” says Stojak. “She said she’d like to see how an architectural office works in Canada. Since then, she’s been working with us and is working towards her education and being a full-fledged architect in Canada.”

Murray says opportunities for women in architecture and construction seem to be improving.

“There are 50 men and one woman on the site of my current project,” she says. “Before that I saw none.”

The Urban Beehive project, which Shallyn Murray and Silvia Stojak designed, is housed in Charlottetown’s largest urban garden: the PEI Farm Centre.

It’s a functional public art project that educates on the importance of pollinators in the sustainability of communities.

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PHOTO: TAMZIN GILLIS

The two owners of Charlottetown, P.E.I.’s Nine Yards Studio have never felt boxed in by their gender in their architectural careers, but they know the doors aren’t always open for other women.

While women represent half of all architecture students, less than 20% end up working in the field.

What Silva Stojak and Shallyn Murray show is a way to build a career in the profession.

“We’re trying to encourage a whole new generation of women,” says Stojak.

Murray says the majority of the 14 workers at their architecture and design studio are women. “It wasn’t by design. It just evolved naturally over the last four years since we started Nine Yards,” she says. “Maybe as women leaders we attract females.”

Stojak grew up in the former Yugoslavia, where it wasn’t unusual for women to pursue careers considered non-traditional in the West.

She knew she wanted to be an architect from the age of 10 after going to a library, opening a glossy magazine and seeing an image of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house perched over a Pennsylvania waterfall.

Her gender wasn’t an issue finding work when she graduated with an architecture degree from the University of Sarajevo in 1987. The problem was a shortage of jobs. She moved to Canada with her husband and ended up in a program for new immigrants that included a work placement. “I was very lucky to get with a firm that was very patient and very open to my bad language skills,” she says. “Without that support, I would have quit. It seemed like such a big hill to climb.”

Murray studied engineering like her dad, but switched to architecture.

“I was missing that creative piece,” she says.

She did a co-op work term at the architecture firm where Stojak worked and joined fulltime after she graduated from Dalhousie University and returned home to the island.

The duo decided to go out on their own after an afterhours gig creating the Urban Beehive Project, a community educational project in Charlottetown’s largest urban garden that’s designed to highlight the importance of pollinators.

“That bonded us a little bit more and excited us in ways that we hadn’t really experienced,” says Murray. “It’s something that instigated this new branch into what we are

PHOTO: TAMZIN GILLIS

PHOTO: KASSONDRA BARRY PHOTOGRAPHY

NINE YARDS

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TAYLOR GOULD Taylor Gould always liked hands-on learning growing up in Nova Scotia’s Membertou First Nation, but felt pressure to go to university.

She graduated with a bachelor of arts with a major in sociology from Cape Breton University.

“I was looking into those careers and realized I didn’t really want to do any of that,” she says. “I just didn’t want to stay in an office all day.”

Inspired by a few friends, she started looking into the trades.

She stumbled into bricklaying. It was partly a process of elimination after going on the Nova Scotia Community College’s website a few times and ticking the boxes on the various trades. Some had waitlists of three years. Some required certain high school classes that Gould hadn’t taken.

Others had aspects that didn’t appeal to her.

“At the end, every time I did it, bricklayer was the only one left,” she says. “I took a chance and ended up loving it and being pretty good at it.”

She says many people were shocked when she told them her plan.

“I worked as a cashier before attending school and a lot of my repeat customers were older men. When I told them I would be leaving the store to pursue bricklaying I was met with a lot of funny faces,” she says. “They said things like ‘You know you need muscle for that?’ I was roughly 112 pounds at the time. Or people said things like, ‘You have a university degree, you’re too smart for that,’ which unfortunately is a very closeminded way of thinking.”

Gould was the only woman among the seven students in the preapprenticeship program she started in September 2019 and is now the only woman in her new job with Darim Masonry Ltd. “They never made me feel like being a girl is a problem,” she says.

“They’re really supportive. They don’t say, ‘Oh, you can’t do that because you’re a girl.’ They give me the same jobs as they give the guys.”

She says the crew members are eager to help and make sure she gets plenty of time on the tools to learn brick-laying skills.

“Even the older guys that they say are kind of set in their ways, they’ve been wonderful to me the whole time.”

There’s no such thing as a typical day, she says. “We do such a wide variety of stuff.”

It could be laying brick or stone. Other days it’s waterproofing a building or acid washing the brick to get the excess mortar off. She also does

Taylor Gould studied sociology but decided she couldn’t imagine spending her days in an office. She decided to look into the trades and, by chance, ended up pursuing bricklaying.

demolition, erecting and dismantling staging and chipping stones with a hammer and chisel.

“It can be very, very strenuous on your body,” she says. “It’s really tough getting used to in the first little bit.”

Then there’s the weather.

“There are some days when you’re in the boiling hot sun or the cold winter wind,” she says. “Some days we don’t have work because of rain.

You got up and got ready to go to work and then you get a phone call and you got out of bed for nothing.”

Gould says one of her favourite things about the job is that she’s always learning something new.

“Some days I show up to a job site and get to do things that I’ve never done before or sometimes never even heard of,” she says. “Also, it’s very rewarding if you build a wall and you get to look at the finished product and know that you had a part in it.”

Representation of Indigenous Canadians and women in Canada’s construction and maintenance workforce (2018) • One in 50 women currently earn a living in construction, compared to one in 77 women 40 years ago.

• Between 1976 and 2017, women’s employment in construction has grown 273% and their share of employment in the industry has grown 81%. Recent history, however, suggests that women’s share of employment in construction has remained relatively unchanged over the past 25 years.

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• The construction industry workforce consists of about 12% women and 88% men – Most women in construction tend to work in off-site occupations such as business administration, management, sales, etc.

– Over 76% of women working in the construction industry work in office support occupations for construction establishments.

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– So, while women make up about 12% of construction employment, their share of on-site occupations (skilled trades such as carpenters, bricklayers, boilermakers, etc.) employment is only about 4%.

Women in off-site occupations account for nearly 40% of the off-site workforce.

Source: BuildForce Canada

IN DEPTH

Ferguson enlisted her younger sister Chrissy Guitard to help find out what went wrong with previous programs aimed at wooing women.

“Ten years ago, you might have gone from a cashier situation into a plumbing man’s world. It was a big jump. A lot of them quit within the first week.” says Guitard, who’s program coordinator at SheBuilds. “One thing we’re really focused on changing this time around is, you go to the course, get comfortable with skills and then, from day one, be sent out to a variety of job sites.”

The women learn the basics—tools, safety, first aid, math—but also essential workplace skills such as self-esteem, self-confidence, and how to combat negative comments, she says. “Whatever it may be, it’s how to build yourself up to know that you belong there.”

The confidence boost makes the women more likely to stick with it, she says.

The first SheBuild crew had ten women and one man. “We completely flipped the dynamic so much so that the guy was nervous to come in the room,” says Guitard. “For the first time, he’s been outnumbered.”

Ferguson and Guitard say they haven’t experienced obstacles on worksites common to many other women working in construction, most likely because they started out in management roles.

PHOTO: ANGIE FORBES

When Donna Ferguson graduated from community college 32 years ago, she knew of five women working in the construction industry in New Brunswick.

“It was a couple of inspectors, an engineer, and a survey technician in Miramichi,” says the Moncton, N.B.-based general contractor. “Fast forward to now and we still get picked out really easily on the site.”

To try to change that, she launched SheBuilds Communities for Life and partnered with the local community college for a 14-week carpentry boot camp for women.

The first class, a group of seven women ranging in age from 20 to mid40s, were hired by Ferguson the day they graduated, and put to work on a renovation.

“There was no easing into this. It was two weeks of reroofing during the hottest weeks we could find,” she says. “It was the worst job possible to start, the hardest one. But they did it.”

Ferguson started putting together the framework for SheBuilds a few years ago. “I’m getting long in the tooth,” she says. “I knew I wasn’t going to retire. I love construction.”

A self-described “community builder at heart,” she saw two needs: more tradespeople and more affordable housing. Women, who account for less than 4% of the trades, are a huge untapped market.

PHOTO: ANGIE FORBES

PHOTO: NOVA SCOTIA APPRENTICESHIP AGENCY

SHEBUILDS

During her 32 years in the trades, Donna Ferguson has seen the number of women grow dramatically.

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25 Riverside Drive Charlottetown, P.E.I. C1A 9R9 (902) 894-5536 www.MetroPEI.com

METRO

Why We Need More Women in the Trades

14.2% • According to a 2016 report by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, in 2012, women accounted for only 14.2% of all registrations in the trades

Viewed to be the best

1–12% • Nearly half of Red Seal trades have no visible minority women, and the other half only between one and 12%

82,000 • BuildForce July Report anticipates that more than 257,000 construction workers will retire by 2029, and even accounting for modest post-COVID-19 growth and the entry of young workers into the industry, the organization forecasts a shortfall of nearly 82,000 workers by 2029

Ferguson was an inspector in the early years of her career. “It was different than graduating with a toolbelt and hammer and trying to fit in,” she says.

Guitard started out in design 19 years ago and switched to site supervisor. “It was always modelled through my older sister that construction was an option,” says Guitard.

“You’re always going to be noticed on site. It’s how you react to the reaction. The best way to put it is, ‘Yeah, we’re females in construction.

Yeah, I know, it’s cool.’”

The inaugural boot camp generated 150 inquiries, 50 applications and lots of comments like, ‘Where was this when I was young?’

A new class is coming in January.

Ferguson says the program can be replicated at any community college with a workshop.

She’d like to see it catch on.

“These are good paying jobs,” she says.

“Construction is one of the best ways to get pay equity because a lot of it is piecemeal. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female. Can you do the job? Then do the job and you get paid accordingly.”

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PHOTO: KASSONDRA BARRY PHOTOGRAPHY

IN DEPTH

N.L. electrician Jojo Greeley takes what she has learned from her experience working as a woman in the trades and is now mentoring through the Office to Advance Women Apprentices.

JOANN GREELEY When Joann (Jojo) Greeley decided to go back to school 16 years ago to become an electrician, she remembers getting a lot of, “Oh honey, you don’t want to do this.”

The 16 guys in her class had no trouble getting work. She couldn’t even get an interview—until she changed her resume to the gender-neutral Jo Greeley.

She had to scrounge to rack up the thousands of hours of apprentice time needed to become a journey electrician. The reluctance to hire a woman meant it took her six years, two more than the typical four years for her male classmates.

At one point, while working at a building supply store to make ends meet, she spotted a man with an electricity company logo emblazoned on the back of his jacket. “I called him by the name on his jacket and he turned around. I said, ‘I need a job.’”

He ended up hiring her.

“With my tenacity, I just never give up,” she says. “I had notebooks full of the companies I contacted. I was working hard to get my hours. I wasn’t sitting home hoping someone would call me.”

Greeley decided to become an electrician at the age of 35 after moving

back home to St. John’s after several years in Ontario, where she worked in an office in sales.

Newfoundland and Labrador was putting a push on for women to get into the trades as the province geared up for a series of megaprojects.

A quota was established for women hires on government-funded projects.

The effort ended up with women accounting for around 14% of jobs in the skilled trades, compared to less than 4% for the rest of Canada and the other Atlantic provinces.

Greeley says the Office to Advance Women Apprentices, a then newly created agency backed by the province to help support women in the skilled trades, was a big help.

She’s started working with the group as a mentor to advocate for women working in the trades. She’d like to see hiring quotas for women on all federally funded construction projects across Canada.

“When we have a more critical mass of 18% or 20% of women working on sites, that completely changes the culture,” she says. “Guys don’t get hired on merit. They get hired because of who they know. So it should make no difference to get hired because you’re a woman.”

“When we have a more critical mass of 18% or 20% of women working on sites, that completely changes the culture”

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EMILY RENDELL Designer-turned-custom home builder Emily Rendell never gets questioned about her design skills, despite having no formal training.

Construction, which she studied after high school, is another matter.

“It has taken years of me being onsite in Nova Scotia earning the respect of the trades and the people around me for me to get where I am now,” she says.

Rendell’s mix of modern and traditional East Coast styles caught the attention of Atlantic Canadians in 2015 when she was asked to do the interior design for a cottage for a hospital home lottery.

She started out in the business in 2001, using her computer design skills to produce drawings for industrial designs. She taught herself 3D software and got a gig as head designer on a new line for cast iron stoves for Napoleon Fireplaces.

Designing homes for clients was a side gig. Somewhere along the line, she developed a flair for interior design.

The job with the Nova Scotia’s QEII Hospital lottery showed Rendell was bringing more to the table than a typical interior designer. She designed the interior from scratch and ended up running the trades. “There was encouragement from QEII people, saying, ‘Emily, you might as well be doing this on your own,’” she recalls. “And there were people in the industry supporting me going off on my own because they knew that I was doing it anyway.”

She launched her boutique home-building business in Hammonds Plains, N.S. a year and a half ago. Combined with her design business, Eye

PHOTO: STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

for Style Design, she’s now able to provide complete custom homes from initial concept through to the final build.

Rendell is the first woman to be enlisted as a builder for the QEII’s home lottery. They asked her to do a house and cottage and two more this summer. She’s flat out with other projects around the province as the pandemic inspires a building boom.

Rendell still gets pegged as the designer when she’s on the job.

“If there’s a new trade on site to do a quote, I’ll usually have my project manager with me,” she says. “They’ll always talk to him. I’ve had him turn to them and say, ‘You have to talk to my boss. She’s right here.’”

She rarely runs into women in construction. But she gets lots of calls from women thinking about going into the trades. “One friend told me her daughter sees what I’m doing and wants to do the same when she grows up,” she says.

Rendell’s guidance counsellor was aghast when she opted to forgo university. “It was an impulsive decision. I was supposed to be a doctor or engineer,” she says. “I was a little rebellious.”

She graduated with a diploma in architectural technology.

Thinking back now, Rendell says her father, a businessman and handy DIYer, was an important influence. “I was always with my dad building something or rearranging my room or creating things out of boxes. It’s funny how this was the direction I was supposed to take, even though I didn’t know it at the time.” o

Home builder Emily Rendell sees her projects from the initial concept through to the finished details of construction.

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PHOTO: STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

IN DEPTH

INDUSTRY

FEMALE Persons %

MALE Persons %

TOTAL Persons %

Women’s share of total employment, %

New Brunswick Construction

2,800

100.0

22,000

100.0

24,800

100.0

On-site

622

22.2

18,141

82.5

18,871

76.1

11.3 3.3

Off-site

2,178

77.8

3,859

17.5

5,929

23.9

36.7

Nova Scotia Construction

3,100

100.0

28,500

100.0

31,600

100.0

9.8

On-site

711

22.9

24,051

84.4

24,617

77.9

2.9

Off-site

2,389

77.1

4,449

15.6

6.983

22.1

34.2

Newfoundland and Labrador Construction

2,400

100.0

18,300

100.0

20,700

100.0

11.6

On-site

715

29.8

15,381

84.0

16,193

78.2

4.4

Off-site

1,685

70.2

2,919

16.0

4,507

21.8

37.4

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It’s in her nature A Nova Scotian cabinetmaker opens the door to custom design

BY SHANNON WEBB-CAMPBELL PHOTOS BY BRUCE MURRAY, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

T

he natural world inspires cabinetmaker Carole Burnett.

Working out of her home studio in Boutlier’s Point, N.S., she catches glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean through a wall of green trees in the summer. In winter, the view opens to capture the islands of St. Margaret’s Bay, stretching all the way towards Peggy’s Cove.

But being surrounded by nature wasn’t always the case for the selfemployed woodworker and owner of Island View Designs.

She got her start in Toronto.

After years of working in non-profits, Burnett went back to school in her early 30s at Humber College, where she studied to become a cabinetmaker.

Once she graduated from the one-year program, Burnett was hired as the technician at Humber College and worked on building projects, maintaining the machines, and mentoring students.

Her move to Nova Scotia came in 2003, when her partner was hired at Halifax’s Mount Saint Vincent University as a librarian.

The couple sold their small house in East End Toronto and started hunting for a house outside of Halifax, where Burnett could turn a garage or shop into her studio without having to rent a space. The couple fell in love with a historic fixer-upper in Boutlier’s Point.

“When we moved here, I found out about the Hubbard’s farmer’s market and got a table. I took pictures of my work, and made personal connections with people,” says Burnett. “I didn’t have a big portfolio at the time because I was working for the college. But people would come to the farmers’ market and ask if I could make them specific things. They took a leap of faith.”

After 20 years of custom design work, she tries to keep her prices fair, and her vision adaptable. Island View Designs generates most of its business through referrals, typically from architects, builders or previous clients. Burnett works closely with her clients, as she knows it’s expensive to have something customized.

“I am very flexible. I don’t work to any particular style. I like the variety. I may be doing a coffee table or kitchen. I need that variety.

You have to really think through. I have developed many skills.”

Part of Burnett’s process is avoiding trends. Travelling and looking at books also provide inspiration. Her partner is always bringing home art books on furniture designs over the ages.

“Furniture is well-documented. I love being outdoors. I like asymmetry. I like movement. We travel a lot,” says Burnett. “You’ll be somewhere in South America and you’ll see something that catches your eye. I take a picture and file it away. I don’t look around a lot at

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Burnett built the curio cabinet of walnut to house the client’s replica weapon and memorabilia collection. It has a grid structure to mount the swords on lucite dowels and magnets giving the appearance they’re floating in the cabinet.

my contemporaries. I like to be influenced by the world around me.

You can feel trends in furniture.”

Furniture trends come and go. In Burnett’s career, she’s seen the popularity of shaker table and craftsman style move towards rustic and reclaimed material, and then circle back to mid-century modern (her favourite), and move from big live edge slab tables to now slabs filled with epoxy.

“Each trend never completely fades out and some styles are classic, but I feel that focussing only on a trending look as a builder is dangerous. You can get pigeonholed,” she says. “I personally love designing one-of-a-kind pieces ... I think we need to draw upon the classic and take inspiration from all those styles so the piece you create can remain relevant over time.”

Burnett holds her own in a male-dominated industry. Her confidence is one thing, but being a woman is actually a benefit in

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“I enjoy making a coffee table as much as I enjoy making a kitchen. I like to build stuff, I like to make things” the industry when dealing with clients and homeowners where women make a majority of household decisions.

“It’s very rarely from the male’s side. The women I deal with are more comfortable working with me to help create their design,” she says. “Often, we pay more attention to detail. It’s very stressful building or buying a house. Clients are happy to see me come on site.

It’s just easier and lighter.”

While Burnett believes in creating a timeless product, she wants to please her Island View Design clients. Whether she’s making a solid wood dining table with wood from a client’s grandfather’s property, or assembling barn doors from an old barn, she aims to create heirlooms to pass down through the generations.

These days, she is examining her next steps, as financial stability comes from building larger projects (for example, she designed and built Pavia Café and Gallery in Herring Cove, plus the coffee shop’s former location in the Halifax Central Library), but intends to do more custom furniture design. Her work was once showcased in a contemporary furniture exhibition at Halifax’s Mary E. Black Gallery.

“I love the design part. I like interior design. I am in my early 50s, so it’s more challenging to do big jobs. I’m looking at the next stage of my career,” says Burnett. “Where do I go from building kitchens? I do one or two a year. You have to do them to stay in business. But what’s my next step? How do I get back into furniture making, which is less physically taxing? I like architecture.”

While she contemplates where her business will go next, as her 50-something body can’t quite do what it used to, Burnett has ripped off the front of her 160-year-old house, which she describes as in desperate need of repair.

“I have not stopped since the pandemic started. It has been relentless with work, and juggling delays and timelines. I am pretty

The wine rack was a great use of an odd space at the end of a small hallway. It was the client’s idea to transform the space into wine storage where they could sort both bottles by the case, one-off bottles, and different size bottles such as ice wine and magnums.

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small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. I will go weeks without an email. I could not believe it. I was completely overwhelmed.”

Despite being flat out, she spent the summer reshingling and working on her own home before she starts a busy fall with two kitchen jobs. “I enjoy making a coffee table as much as I enjoy making a kitchen,” she says. “I like to build stuff. I like to make things.” Burnett firmly believes design and woodworking is for everyone.

“In terms of getting started, I think you need to not be afraid of it. You just need to try. See something you could make and try to do it. Don’t be afraid if you cut a piece of wood too short. A good cabinetmaker is someone who knows how to fix their own mistakes.” o

telling halifax stories unravelhalifax.ca

Family, foraging, and food The things that keep me connected to my true self

BY CHEF STÉPHANE LEVAC PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

I

grew up in Sturgeon Falls, a small francophone community in Northern Ontario. Food was never on my radar.

We were a busy sports family, whether that was hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer, and lots of basketball in high school.

Meals were always on the go, something quick and convenient. I never had that luxury of having big family gatherings with proper home-cooked meals or something that inspired me to lead me to where I am today.

I was adopted at an early age. I’m of Indigenous descent. I’m a chef, forager, photographer, father, and ambassador of all things related to where I live today, which is the beautiful Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia.

My passion for cooking happened when I was living in Ottawa.

This is where I met my wife, my life partner, and mother of my child, Sarah Morrison.

Sarah had long been in the food industry when we met, and I was living across the street from where she worked in the Byward Market.

I thought that I would, or at least attempt, to impress her by cooking a meal that I had back home and bringing it to her during one of her shifts.

I think it worked, because from that day forward we have been partners and “foodies.”

We did everything together—cooked, indulged in wine, entertained friends, dined out. To this day, she claims that she is the reason behind my career as a chef and I will give her that.

Our son was born in Ottawa on July 1, 2011. Within six months, we decided that we needed more support from family, so we moved to Sarah’s hometown of Wolfville, N.S. Having been in the gaming industry in Ottawa, I didn’t really know what I was going to do for work when we got here. I quickly had options and took a job as a butcher, something very different what anything I had done before, but it was the beginning of an entirely new career and my passion for cooking took off. I did some work with a local vineyard and started a small catering business with Sarah we called Frais Catering.

“Frais” is fresh in French. We always tried to source our ingredients locally. Over the years we developed many relationships with local producers and while we closed the catering business those relationships still exist today.

I always say that my favourite part about this industry is the conversations that are had behind closed doors and not what you see on social media. I’ve learned so much over the years through these

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conversations that no money could buy, and for that I am forever grateful for these people that I proudly call friends.

Today, I’m the restaurant chef at Oak Island Resort on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. I forage as much as I can and try to incorporate some of these elements in my dishes I can’t help myself from sharing the knowledge and experience and to teach what I have learned. I don’t claim to be an expert by any means, but I feel like I’ve done enough that I can send people in the right direction.

During the pandemic, we’ve spent a lot of time foraging together as a family. It’s satisfying, and the experience has great value; not in the sense of dollar signs but more about getting us outside and away from our tech devices.

We exercise physically and exercise our knowledge of how things work based on seasons and weather. I like to think of it as a healthy lifestyle and a sustainable one at that.

COVID-19 got me thinking more about this.

Why do we need to have ingredients shipped to us from different countries? Why can’t we lower emissions by focusing on what’s around us locally? Why are small businesses struggling so badly to the point of closure?

We need to get out of the mindset of things we want vs the things we need. For me, that’s locally grown food. High quality products from local producers that we can be proud of because they come from right here in our own backyard. The sights and destinations of this province that we take for granted.

Get out and discover what is yours and ours, have those conversations with your local farmers etc. Mark my words that you will be surprised not only by what Nova Scotia has to offer but Atlantic Canada as a whole.

I have created four simple recipes using some of the finest local ingredients available in my community from foraging, visiting local farms, and from my local farmers markets. With fresh ingredients you can make anything delicious and beautiful. Enjoy.

EATING IN

Wild Mushroom Toast 4 servings INGREDIENTS 6 tbsp. olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling 4 ¾-inch-thick slices countrystyle bread 1 clove garlic minced kosher salt 2 tbsp. unsalted butter 12 ounces of chanterelles or some of your favourite mushrooms coarsely chopped

Since competing on season nine of Top Chef Canada, Stéphane Levac says that many new opportunities have opened up to him.

Above: On location at Longspell Point Farm in Kingsport, N.S.

1 medium shallot, finely chopped 4 tbsp. dry white wine 1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream 1 tbsp. locally made Dijon mustard (I like to use Chef Jason Lynch’s from Gasperaux) 1 tsp. chopped lemon thyme Freshly ground black pepper Asiago cheese such as Ciro’s

PREPARATION 1. Heat 3 tbsp. of oil in a medium skillet over medium-high. Add garlic, swirl around and cook for about 20 seconds (do not brown).

Working in batches, fry bread for about 2 minutes per side. Transfer bread to a plate; wipe out skillet.

2. Heat butter and 3 tbsp. oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the mushrooms are golden brown and slightly crisp, 6–8 minutes. Add wine and cook until evaporated. Add crème fraîche and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened but still silky 3–5 minutes. Stir in lemon thyme and then remove from heat; season with salt and pepper.

3. Divide mushroom mixture among toasts and grate some asiago over top.

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Chorizo Corn Chowder 6-8 servings INGREDIENTS 7 ears of corn, husked, silks removed 2 tbsp. olive oil 4 local chorizo sausages 1 medium onion, diced

Smoked Salmon and Fennel Salad 6 servings INGREDIENTS 4 ounces sliced bacon, cut into ½ inch strips 1 bulb fennel halved and cored Pinch of salt 2 tbsp. olive oil 1 3 cup diced shallot 1 tsp. garlic, minced 1 tsp. white pepper 1 3 cup white wine 1 egg yolk 3 tbsp. water

1 tbsp. lemon juice 1 cup canola oil 8 cups of salad greens 12 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half 1 apple, cored, thinly sliced and cut into triangles ½ cucumber, cut into ¼ inch slices and halved into half moons 6 ounces hot smoked salmon, torn into pieces Nasturtium for garnish

PREPARATION 1. Cook the bacon in a small skillet over medium-high heat until crispy, about 7-9 minutes. Drain and set the bacon aside on a paper towel to cool.

2. Thinly slice one half of the fennel bulb on a mandolin and set in a small bowl. Sprinkle ½ a tsp. of salt and set aside for 20-30 minutes. Then rinse the fennel under cold water, pat it dry, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Cut the remaining fennel into a small dice. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fennel, shallot, garlic, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. white pepper. Cook until translucent, stirring once in a while, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the white wine to the skillet and cook until the liquid has been absorbed, about two minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

4. Combine the egg yolk, water, lemon juice, ½ tsp. salt, the remaining white pepper and sauteed fennel to a blender. Process until smooth. Slowly add 1 cup of canola oil until emulsified and set aside.

5. Combine remaining ingredients including the cooked bacon in a mixing bowl and toss. Divide amongst six plates or serve family style and dress with the fennel dressing. Add nasturtium for garnish and serve with lemon wedges.

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1 ½ pounds baby red potatoes, cut into ½ inch pieces 3 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves 4 cups good quality chicken stock 2 ½-3 cups 10% cream 1 tbsp. cayenne pepper Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION 1. With a sharp knife, cut corn kernels off of the ears of corn. Use the back of your knife to scrape along the ears, pressing out as much corn milk as possible. Depending on the size of the cobs, you should have about 7 cups of corn with corn milk. Puree 3 cups of corn and set the rest aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Remove sausage from casing, add loose sausage meat to the hot skillet and cook through, about 7 minutes.

Remove sausage from the skillet and set aside, reserving oil.

3. In a large, heavy bottomed pot, heat 2 tbsp. of chorizo-infused olive oil.

Add diced onion and cook until translucent. Add potatoes and thyme.

Cook for one minute. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are cooked, about 15-20 minutes.

4. Add 3 cups of corn puree and cream to the pot. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, then add cayenne pepper and cooked chorizo sausage. Season with salt and pepper. *Serve with spicy croutons. *Note: There will be a thick layer of fat and oil on the chowder after it cools. Skim the oil into a bowl, rip crusty bread into pieces and toss with the oil. Lay the bread onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°F and serve as a garish for the chowder.

EATING IN

Blackberry and Bay Leaf Tart with Blue Cheese 6-8 servings Custard & Cornmeal Crust INGREDIENTS For the dough 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 3 cup finely stone-ground white cornmeal 1 ½ tsp. kosher salt 2 tsp. sugar 1 cup butter, cut into small dice and chilled ¼ cup ice-cold vodka (lots of local distillery’s making great vodka) ¼ cup ice water

For the filling 1 cup sugar Two ¼-ounce envelopes unflavored gelatin 3 ounces blue cheese 2 ¼ cups sour cream 6 tbsp. plus 1 ½ tsp. pure maple syrup 1 ½ cups heavy cream For the sauce 2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries ¼ cup of sugar Zest and juice of half a lemon 1 or 2 fresh bay leaves (go forage for your own) 1 tbsp. water

PREPARATION 1. For the dough, place flour, cornmeal, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add chilled butter, and pulse to cut butter into flour. With the processor running, pour in vodka, then drizzle in ice water just until the dough starts to clump. Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl.

Gently press into a ball. Cut the dough in half, wrap each piece in plastic wrap and pat into a disk. Refrigerate at least half an hour or overnight.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, blue cheese and gelatin. Stir in ¾ cup of cold water and let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin. In a large bowl, whisk the sour cream with 1 ½ teaspoons of maple syrup. Bring the sugar, cheese and gelatin mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, until the cheese has melted, sugar and gelatin dissolve. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the heavy cream until frothy on top. While whisking constantly, slowly drizzle the heavy cream mixture through a fine mesh sieve into the sour cream, whisk until fully incorporated.

3. Make the sauce by incorporating all the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, discard bay leaf and set aside.

4. To roll out the dough: take dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to soften slightly for easy rolling. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into an 11-inch circle, then place gently into a 9-inch tart pan. You can do this by flouring a rolling pan and rolling the dough loosely around it, then unrolling it into the pan.

Brush away any excess flour on the surface. With a sharp knife, trim the edges of the pastry to fit the tart pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

To bake the crust: preheat oven to 375°F and place rack in the centre. Press parchment paper or aluminum foil tightly against the crust, covering the edges to prevent them from burning. Fill with pie weights. Bake crust for 20 minutes, until foil no longer sticks to the dough. Transfer crust to a wire rack and remove weights and foil.

5. Once the tart shell has cooled down, pour blue cheese custard in, making sure to not go over the edges. Refrigerate tart for 3-4 hours. For serving, take the tart out of the pan and cut desired slices with a sharp knife. Pour some of the blackberry sauce on the tart and serve. o FALL 2021

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LIBATIONS

Cheers!

Fall’s here!

St. John’s bartender Danny Le shares the ethos behind his new harvest cocktails

BY DARRELL ROBERTS PHOTOS BY TOBIAS ROMANIUK

C “

hinched” is Newfoundland slang for full, and Chinched Restaurant and Deli in St. John’s earns the name. Over the past 11 years, the restaurant has become well-known for its locally sourced ingredients and nose-to-tail approach to dining.

Michelle LeBlanc and Shaun Hussey own the restaurant. It’s a prime spot in the city for high-quality charcuterie. Chinched puts the same level of care and detail into its cocktail menu, which LeBlanc says has come “leaps and bounds” since bar manager Danny Le joined the team earlier this year.

Le is a veteran St. John’s bartender with a passion for elevating the dining experience through cocktails.

His approach to devising beverage recipes is rooted in bartending fundamentals.

“Just understanding those flavours and nuances and to be able to understand the identity of the drinks is very, very important,” he says.

He used this ethos while developing a selection of fall cocktails for Chinched. There’s no pumpkin spice here – Le avoids autumn cliches while creating beverages that evoke feelings of warmth and coziness on a chilly day.

“My idea of fall was cream, spice; really homey flavours that bring you back to the idea of fall,” he says.

Homemade mulled spice syrup and a black currant liqueur put a twist on the Bramble, while matcha spruces up a coconut daquiri. The sweet, rich flavour of Vietnamese coffee inspires the third cocktail.

Le says he designed the aroma and visuals of the drinks to complement the flavours and make the dining experience more exciting.

“I didn’t want to just do the baseline form,” he said.

“I wanted to do something that would be fun.”

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Scotia Stone Products Limited is a highly regarded Nova Scotia brand, that has been in operation since 2007.

We source our product from our own quarry, with craftsmanship in its manufacturing of high-quality slate products for commercial and residential use.

Natural stone can make your projects more prominent and exquisite due to its high quality, beauty, and durability. Our one-of-a-kind products can take your project to the next level.

Our products are used using a network of dealers across Atlantic Canada.

Please visit our website to find a dealer nearest you or contact us for more information Holly Norman General Manager • 902-440-2358 • hnscotiastone@outlook.com

WWW.SCOTIASTONE.CA

*Projects designed and installed by Bricks and Stones Landscape Design— West Northfield NS

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LIBATIONS

A new twist on fall flavours Don’t roll up the patios or put away the deck furniture yet, there is still time to enjoy a cocktail alfresco. Just throw on a sweater and mix up one of these harvest cocktails crafted by St. John’s, N.L. mixologist Danny Le and toast the best flavours of autumn.

Salted caramel espresso 1 oz Sailor Jerry’s spiced rum ½ oz Baileys 1 oz coffee concentrate ¼ oz home-made caramel cream syrup Shaken with ice and fine strained into a coupe glass with a caramel rim and flakes of coffee salt.

Toasted coconut daiquiri 1 ¼ oz Bacardi Superior white rum ½ oz Godiva white chocolate liqueur 1 ¼ oz matcha and coconut milk syrup ½ oz lime juice.

Mulled bramble 1 ½ oz Bombay Sapphire gin 1 oz lemon juice ¾ oz mulled spice syrup

Garnished with half the coupe covered with toasted coconut. Finish with a floret.

Shake ingredients with ice and pour through a Hawthorne strainer over a glass of crushed ice. Top with ½ oz crème de cassis o

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Containing the season’s enthusiasm Keeping the planter colour and interest going well into winter STORY AND PHOTOS BY JODI DELONG

utumn sneaks up on us.

The days get shorter, the sun rises later and sets earlier. The air is gloriously warm most days, and cooler at night. The vegetable garden has been profuse, and we’ve canned, frozen, dehydrated, and enjoyed its bounty. There’s still some bloom and colour from perennials, shrubs, grasses and some annuals. Yet, many aren’t ready to stop enjoying our gardens, both in-ground and in containers.

The answer? Refresh your container plantings. If you’ve been deadheading, cutting back, and fertilizing faithfully, you still have plants in bloom. But sometimes we get busy, and the petunias get leggy, and the million bells are down to dozen-bells, and some annuals have set seed and given up. Come that first frost, tender annuals like nasturtiums will turn to compost. Time to refresh and enhance with other choices that will last through the fall—and even beyond.

Container planting 101 There are three main components for container planting: thrillers, spillers, and fillers, and you can use these throughout the gardening season, with a little modification according to time of year.

Thrillers are the eye-catching plants like canna lily, dahlia, ornamental millet, gaura, or any other showy plant—taller than many, and with that wow factor.

Spillers are the cascading types of plants: trailing verbenas, lobelias, petunias, thunbergia (brown-eyed Susan vine), calibrachoas, portulaca, among others. These create a vertical downward look, or you can train them to grow upwards for more of a thriller effect.

Fillers are all those delightful plants that we stuff into our planters to give them that full look: including foliage plants like coleus and

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components. Buy the best quality medium you can afford, preferably one that includes compost, perlite or vermiculate for better drainage, and slow-release fertilizer. If you’re using a large container, make sure you have it placed where you want it, as containers filled with soil and plants can get heavy.

Fall colour choices

A selection of choices for autumn planters: hardy ornamental kale, sedum, pansies plus some more tender coleus, with accent spikes from a peacock willow in the centre.

Persian shield, heliotrope, marigolds, pansies, nasturtiums, African daisies, and more.

Before you plant, select your containers and fill them with good quality potting mix. The joy of containers is that you can use pretty much anything as a planter—from shoes and skates to ornate glazed urns, to cast iron tea pots, kettles, wooden barrels, or trugs. The containers must have drainage holes, or you can set a slightly smaller pot with drainage holes into your ornate planter.

It’s fine to buy premixed potting medium for your planters—not everyone has the time or energy to mix up batches of various FALL 2021

• Ornamental kales and cabbage are completely irresistible, with their lacy foliage and bright colours. They will also look great well into winter.

• Annual grasses are eye-catching delights, boasting variegated or richly hued foliage (including burgundy, bronze, silvery blue, and more) and of course showy flowerheads.

Among the most popular are fountain grasses like Fireworks, but also look for ornamental millets, “hair” grasses, and others.

• Fall-flowering beauties include quintessential chrysanthemums in a rainbow of hues, plus asters, upright sedums, and pansies.

• Did you know you can grow late-blooming perennials in containers? (See page 44). You can either treat them as annuals and let them go to sleep when the rest of the plants do, or else overwinter them in the container and grow on next year.

• You may find you have enough seed heads of some garden plants, such as echinacea and baptisia, or perennial grasses, to incorporate into planters for fall and winter. Branches of berries from native shrubs such as northern bayberry and Canada holly, or colourful rosehips also work well.

• The holiday season grows nearer, and who says you can’t start your décor outdoors a little earlier? Evergreen boughs are always popular, but don’t forget twigs from red stemmed dogwoods, twisted hazel, peacock willow, even pruned branches from lilacs.

GARDENING

Time to refresh and enhance your containers with other choices that will last through the fall–and even beyond

Clockwise from top left: grasses, perennials and vines in a large container; a windowbox of colourful perennial succulents; a huge glazed urn with seasonal décor; containers of mixed perennials offer colour on a deck.

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You can also buy long-lasting sprays of magnolia leaves, eucalyptus, euonymus and others if you don’t have enough of your own to harvest.

For the adventurous gardener: year-round perennials in containers Roxanna Boers is a graphic designer and gardener from the Halifax region (and part of the East Coast Living team). She excels at something that many gardeners have never tried: growing perennials in containers.

“Container gardening with perennials is very practical,” she explains. “It offers an alternative for space, environment and budget constraints.

I do love the longevity of colour provided by potted annuals, but you need to buy them every year, which gets expensive, and it takes a while to grow them to any size, especially if you don’t have great light or heat. By the time your little garden starts to look good, summer is over and it’s time to clean up.”

Perennials bush out early and stay that way, she adds. “And they get bigger with every year. If you have evergreen types or interesting grasses, then you also have winter interest.

With nothing but containers you can create a year-round outdoor garden almost anywhere: patio, deck, rooftop.”

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Roxanna’s tips: • Choose plants that are one or two zones hardier than your regular zone. Plants face harsher conditions and are less insulated when grown in pots. Most of us in the region are hardiness zone 5 or 6, so look for plants that are hardy to zone 3 or 4.

• Look for plants that can tolerate a range of temperatures and not sulk if conditions get a little wet or dry. Some

FALL 2021

good choices include dwarf evergreens, coral bells, hostas, sempervivums (hens and chicks), dwarf rhododendrons, patio peonies, dwarf lilacs, astilbes, sedums, groundcovers like silver thyme or creeping Jenny, hardy grasses, and more.

• The bigger and deeper the container you use, the better, regardless of what you plant. Large containers don’t dry out as quickly, and the plants don’t get as stressed, so it shouldn’t matter if you can’t water for a day or two. In cold weather, the extra soil in the pots helps protect roots from temperature fluctuations.

• While it might be tempting to use beautiful glazed ceramic pots, not all of those are frost-resistant, and many don’t have drainage holes. One idea is to plant a large synthetic container (with drainage holes) and set it inside your ornamental pot for the growing months. Stay away from painted or coated plastics as winter will damage that finish. Terra cotta (clay) pots aren’t suitable for winter use in our region.

• Relax. If a plant dies, it isn’t the end of the world. There is always next year! o

BUYING GUIDE

Buying guide Now that you’ve seen all the quality products and services available in Atlantic Canada, here’s a guide to help you find them for your own home.

Attica (p. 40) attica.ca

HanStone Canada (p. 26) Hanstone.ca

Scotia Stone Ltd. (p. 40) scotiastone.ca

Bosch/bsh Home Appliances Inc (p. 4) venmar.ca

Interhab Homes (p. 28) interhabs.ns.ca

Studio 21 Fine Art (p. 2) studio21.ca

East Coast Living (p. 6) eastcoastliving.ca

Kubota (p. 48) kubota.ca

Sunspace (p. 44) sunspacesunrooms.com

Egg Farmers of Nova Scotia (p. 45) Nsegg.ca

Lake City Woodworkers (p. 7) lakecitywoodworkers.com

TABITHA & CO (p. 11) tabithaco.ca

Farmers Market of Nova Scotia Coop (p. 7) farmersmarketsnovascotia.ca

Metro Building Supplies (p. 26) metropei.com

White Point Beach Resort (p.17) whitepoint.com

Glubes Sound Studio (p. 47) Glubes.ca

Nimbus Publishing (p. 8) nimbus.ca

Unravel Halifax Magazine (p. 33) Unravelhalifax.ca

Habermehl Contracting (p. 8) habermehl.ca

Red Door Realty (p. 17) reddoorrealty.ca

come crack yolks with us! @EggFarmersOfNS FALL 2021

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LAST LOOK

The sands of time (and stories) Bespoke jewelry by P.E.I. artist Jeanette Walker

BY AMEETA VOHRA

Repurposing vintage and heirloom jewelry leads to custom pieces with meaning and sentiment.

Sand casting creates a textured design in statement jewelry inspired by waves and swirling water.

I

n the 1980s, Jeanette Walker made white go-go dresses with fluorescent colours for her friends to wear when clubbing in Toronto. When the blue lights shined, the colours of the dresses would show up.

Realizing something was missing, Walker used the same fluorescent paint to create unique polymer piranha earrings for her friends to wear as part of the outfit. While she bartended at one of the clubs, people noticed her earrings and asked her to start selling them.

To hone her skills, Walker enrolled in the jewelry program at Toronto’s George Brown College for three years. She was destined to create jewelry: her uncle was a jeweler in Ottawa, while her grandfather made copper plates from sheets.

“I’m a very creative person,” she says. “Even when I was young, I was always like, sewing my clothes, making my pottery, and I just love to make things. I don’t need a lot of tools. I use very primitive tools.”

Walker began her jewelry business by selling pieces with creature themes including pigs, snakes, cows and fish in many different places in Toronto. After 20 years in the city, she moved to P.E.I. and turned her barnyard shack into a studio. As her business grew, she outgrew her space, requiring her to move into bigger ones.

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While she no longer has a walk-in storefront, Walker has transformed her business into an online shop, working from home recycling people’s old jewelry. What is unique about her jewelry is she uses the traditional and labour-intensive art form of sand casting. While it’s slow and challenging at times, she loves using it for clients from widowers to brides.

“I’ll take their wedding sets; usually, their husband’s wedding band is included in that, and I’ll melt it all down,” she says. “I’ll use the gold and make them something new for their right hand, and if they want to use the diamonds. For my bridal, I do the same thing. It’s an heirloom redesign. If a young couple is getting married, they put the word out to their family. And usually, like an aunt will have an earring and they’ve lost the other earring. They’ll donate that to the project, and more grandparents will donate heirloom gold and diamonds. So it’s revamping all of the family jewels to create their wedding bands and engagement ring.”

One unique concept of Walker’s business is FALL 2021

the opportunity for customers to send sand from their favourite ocean beach to create a “uniquely yours” texture. It matches her jewelry’s seaside character.

“It’s inspired by the ocean, the beach, so there’s a lot of waves, swirling water, references and motifs,” she says. “Then, the same casting.

When I cast the gold, the entire piece is covered with a sand texture, so I remove a lot of the texture to refine it but then leave that texture in the recessed areas. It’s a beautiful contrast between the sand and the sea.”

Part of her success has come from her trialby-error approach, experimenting with sand casting and beachcombing.

“Some of those failures turned into really interesting-looking pieces,” she says. “That’s how I went from very sad, simple forms to the more elaborate sand castings. It’s been years of experimentation; I always have a dog in my life, and we’ll go to the beach. And as we’re walking along the beach, I’ll pick up interesting shells or pebbles or all kinds of different finds. I’ll press the shell into the sand, make an impression, remove the shell. and then I pour the molten metal in, and it fills the reservoir.”

“There’s a lot of happy moments and there’s always tears when I hand over the piece of jewelry. I design jewelry that’s going to last forever.” o

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