10 minute read
DINNER OUT: CUMIN KITCHEN AND DRINKS
season 14
ValleyGhostWalks.com
Valley Ghost Talks
Family-friendly, sit-down shows Thursdays, 7:45 - 9:30pm
July 8 - Western Shoreline, Halls Harbour July 15 - Ridge Stile Park, Wolfville July 22 - Landscape of Grand Pre View Park Bring your own lawn chair, blanket, and bug spray! Starting at $50 for group of 2 (fees & hst included)
VIP Ghost Walks
Private Ghost Walks for your group ursdays: July 1, 29, Aug. 19, Sept. 23, Oct. 21 & 30 Starting at $250+hst, must book at least 14 days in advance From the creators of Le Caveau at Grand Pre Winery comes a brand new casual dining experience. With Chef Jason Lynch creating a phenomenal new menu that is both creative and delicious this new gem promises to be sparkling addition to the culinary landscape in the Valley. Cumin Kitchen and Drinks is located in the new building at 21 Roy Avenue in New Minas. Chef Lynch describes Cumin Kitchen and Drinks as an urban café and eatery based on locally sourced and supportive agriculture with fresh and honest food prepared simply. They offer dine-in, take-out, or take-home and are a licensed establishment offering a wide selection of exquisite Nova Scotian wines. If you are a coffee lover make sure you come in and have one of the many coffee beverages that are made on a lever (manual) espresso machine that is lovingly referred to as “The Beast.”
I had an opportunity to tour the sparkling new kitchen on opening day and got to witness the well-oiled machine that produces the mouthwatering menu choices first hand. The large dining room offers ample room for patrons to maintain social distancing and still enjoy a fantastic dining experience. There is a robust menu full of exciting choices to fit every palate as well as a pasta special each day. I chose the Bolognese. I can say, with no exaggeration, that it was the most delicious Bolognese I’ve ever had. The Mafalde pasta was cooked perfectly and was drenched in a rich meat sauce. Everything was sprinkled with herbs and parmesan cheese and served with a slice of herbed focaccia. I don’t mind telling you that I used that focaccia to swipe up every last drop of that meat sauce. The pasta special of the day was Pad Thai offered in mild, medium, or hot. Again, perfectly cooked pasta mingling with pork belly and tofu made this a great choice too. The bright flavours of peanuts, cilantro, and lime all shared the stage in this fantastic dish.
If you have a chance, treat yourself to Cumin Kitchen and Drinks. I know I’ll be back again soon as I work my way through their exciting menu. Cheers.
Photo courtesty of Scott Campbell
Follow Scott on Instagram@ ScottsGrapevine
I KNOW A PLACE by Ron Lightburn
White Point Beach
Ron Lightburn’s art cards are now available at locations throughout the Annapolis Valley: R.D. Chisholm and the Kings County Museum in Kentville; The Port Pub and Sea Level Brewing in Port Williams; Bent Ridge Winery in Windsor, Wheaton’s in Berwick, Saunders Tartans & Gifts in New Minas, and Endless Shores Books in Bridgetown. thelightburns.com
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), an invasive plant that is present along the Acadia University Woodland Trails (photo courtesy of Samuel Jean).
WHAT’S GROWING AT THE HARRIET IRVING BOTANICAL GARDENS INVASIVE PLANTS
Samuel Jean, Conservation and Education Assistant
I am writing these lines on the International Day for Biological Diversity and I hope that it will inspire landowners, and gardeners especially, to act on a threat to biodiversity: invasive plants.
Invasive plant pulling is part of the daily work at the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens. Despite continuous monitoring, several plant species that are not native to the province and that are known to shade, crowd, and overwhelm native plants find their way into the Gardens. Unlike native plants, invasive plants did not evolve for thousands of years along with the wildlife that is present in our region. As a result, wildlife is not able to use these plants to their full potential. Native bees need native plants. The insects that most terrestrial birds depend on to feed their nestlings need native plants as well. On top of not sustaining wildlife, invasive plants are hard to manage due to their aggressive growth and can have negative impacts on economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and tourism.
Invasive plants came here, and are still getting here, by various paths. Horticulture is one of them. Nowadays recognized as one of the worst invasive plants in the world, Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) was once used as an ornamental plant. Once planted in your garden, an invasive plant is free to produce seeds that can be dispersed by the wind or by birds into natural areas, out of your sight, where they can germinate, grow, reproduce, and disturb the ecosystem. Cuttings and seeds from these plants can also disperse the species by floating down a stream or by hitchhiking to a new garden when you share plant divisions with other gardeners or forget to clean your shoes after hiking in an infested area.
At the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens, we are currently using the 2019 Maine Advisory List of Invasive Plants (maine.gov/dacf/ mnap/features/invasive_plants/invasives. htm) as a guide to determine which species we need to deal with. We encourage you to do some research about the plants that you currently have in your gardens and about the ones that you want to add to it. Remove or avoid the ones that are listed as invasive in nearby jurisdictions. The plants we choose to include in our gardens can have an impact, positive or negative, on the ecosystems that surround them, and we do have complete control over what grows in them. Let’s make our gardens as inviting as possible for wildlife by growing as many native plants as possible.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page over the next few weeks as we will be presenting the invasive plants that we are currently dealing with in the Gardens and other ones that are present in Nova Scotia. If you encounter these plants, feel free to submit your observations through the invasive and potentially invasive plants of Nova Scotia iNaturalist project. For more information about invasive species in Nova Scotia, visit the Nova Scotia Invasive Species Council website: nsinvasives.ca. ❧
BUDGET 2021 SUPPORTS NOVA SCOTIA’S WINE SECTOR
Kody Blois
As your Member of Parliament, I’m proud to champion the robust agriculture sector that exists in Kings-Hants—including our grape and wine sector, which also serves as a tourism destination, generating jobs and supporting our local economy.
There has been tremendous growth in our wine sector since 2007. This is largely in part due to the entrepreneurial spirit of our wine growers and vineyard operators, but also because of the 100% Canadian Excise Exemption. However, this exemption was deemed non-trade compliant by the World Trade Organization following a challenge from Australia in 2018.
In working closely with stakeholders in KingsHants and across the country in the lead-up to the budget, I know an excise exemption replacement program was a top priority to help support our domestic producers. That’s why I’m pleased that Budget 2021 allocates $101 million over the next two years to support wineries in lieu of the required phase out of the Canadian excise exemption in 2022, as per the negotiated settlement between Canada and Australia. The exact details of the program to support Canadian wineries are not yet finalized, but I’m committed to being the voice of the sector locally at the policy table to ensure we get this right.
Budget 2021 also invests $21 million in initiatives and resources to continue removing internal barriers to trade across Canada, which will be beneficial to all sectors involved in inter-provincial trade.
Additionally, I was pleased to see many other investments that will support our wine sector, like investments that will lower credit card merchant fees, make e-commerce easier, and increase jobs.
While I am proud of our government’s efforts, it is you, the reader, who has the most power to help drive our local businesses forward. When thinking about picking up your next bottle of bubbly, think right here in your own backyard—you won’t be disappointed.
ACADIA PERFORMING ARTS SERIES OFFERS THREE VIRTUAL CONCERTS FOR FREE VIEWING
François Côté
This year, for the first time in more than half a century, the Acadia Performing Arts Series did not present live performances in Convocation Hall or Festival Theatre, its two habitual Acadia campus venues. As we all know, the Acadia campus has been off-limits to the general public since the beginning of the pandemic. It even seems unlikely that we will be able to present performances on campus come next fall.
Normally, at this time of year, we would have released a full 2021-22 Series, nicely presented in our glossy booklet. Thousands of copies of this booklet would have been circulating throughout April, and about 250 people might have renewed their yearly subscription by now, but for a second year, in this Covid fog, it won’t be business as usual. We have three postponed events that have been re-scheduled during the 2021-22 season: performances by Michael Kaeshammer, Laila Biali, and Wonderheads Theatre. We hope that these tours will indeed happen, even if we have to present these performances off-campus. But otherwise, we must wait and see. Agents are calling. Obviously, artists and presenters desperately need to start working again, but everything is still so uncertain that we can only make tentative plans and hope that Covid clears up enough in the coming months to allow us to confirm more events in 2021-22. Things will hopefully become clearer come September.
So, at this point, for a second year, we are unable to offer a full Performing Arts Series to our subscribers. However we promise that we will find creative ways, on our own or in collaboration with our area’s other non-profit presenters (Music In Communities, Ross Creek Arts Center, Deep Roots Music Coop), to present great performances.
As our fiscal year recently ended, we would like to share with you some of what we have been doing this year. Like many presenters, we had to go online. We produced a series of virtual concerts for our members. They were performed specifically for our audience, video-recorded from Nashville, Boston, Ontario, and even Mexico. We also supported the Music in Communities production of a hybrid (live/virtual) Christmas concert performed in Wolfville by Measha Brueggergosman. We are also supporting the production of more upcoming MIC events.
We are proud of these performances, co-produced with the artists themselves. We want to share them with a wider audience, so we are making three of our best 2020-21 virtual performances available for anyone to view anytime for free!
1. A performance for the ages from a legendary Nashville studio by pianist and singer A J CROCE (yes, Jim’s son ) and his full band. Croce is a friend of ours, a friend of Wolfville, and a major Grammy-nominated artist in his own right. The best piano playing in Americana music!
2. A solo performance by the amazing ARI HEST, another American artist who’s made many fans in Wolfville, having performed twice at the Deep Roots Festival a dozen years ago.
3. An enchanting performance by Mexican singer/songwriter TANIA CHAN, direct from Oaxaca. A wonderful artist whom I “discovered” in previous travels to this culturally vibrant city in the south of Mexico.
Go to the Performing Arts Series’ Facebook page (facebook. com/Acadia-Performing-Arts-Series-105215191521). There, you will find direct links to all three performances for you to enjoy whenever you want! (Please, click to “follow” us while you’re there. And tell us with emojis or comments that you are watching).
As we long for the day when the live arts industry will be fully reborn, summer is upon us. I’m optimistic that, in beautiful and safe settings, musicians will be playing, actors will be acting, and dancers will dance. We will have many opportunities to support artists and to share in the connection and the vivid memories that live performances create. ❧
ACADIA
SPORTS THERAPY CLINIC INC.
Acadia Arena Complex, Wolfville, N.S. acadiasportstherapy.com • (902) 585-1625
Your safety is ensured with the necessary COVID-19 precautions from the N.S. Health Authority
MANAGEMENT/PREVENTION OF SPORTS/RECREATIONAL INJURIES FOR THE VALLEY COMMUNITY
Congratulations, graduates! I know this year wasn’t how you envisioned your final year, but through this experience, you’ve demonstrated important skills you will carry with you in your next chapter and beyond. I wish you all the best in the days ahead. Congratulations!
KODY BLOIS
