This week, it is the Annapolis Valley Exhibition, established in 1926, in Lawrencetown. Heather and I have fond memories of our boys showing calves and chickens at 4H in the 1980’s.
We visited the Ex. on a quiet Wednesday afternoon. We heard the voice of Phil Milo giving the commentary for participants in the main arena.
Our overall impression, aside from the beautiful hooked rugs and quilts, was less engagement from 4H, less engagement in terms of fruit and vegetable displays.
The Exhibition should be a showcase for agriculture in the Valley; an opportunity for wider public education on new trends in the farming community.
On a different note, this week, I have had conversations about land administration in the Annapolis Valley. I recall the days of collaboration between COGS and the Planning community on the application of GIS. There was the CLICK project, a collaboration between Roger Sturtevant, Eric Melanson and others. The initiative seems to have vanished. Including the data.
I wonder how effectively we are monitoring and managing land use change in the County. The tools exist, and are increasingly accessible to the wider public.
In the words of ESRI, if we want to be ‘valuing place and purpose’ in Annapolis County (or beyond, the Annapolis Valley) it is essential that the educational community engage with the land management community. COGS, the agricultural sector (including the Exhibition), the forestry sector, the mining sector, the fisheries sector need to work together to ‘organize Nature’ ( reference Cohen and Biro).
Acknowledgements
John Wightman suggested that I talk to Roger Sturtevant. Catherine Ortiz at ESRI Press. Heather Stewart shared the Exhibition visit.
References.
Brent Jones, Keith Mann (ed.) 2022. Applying GIS. Land Administration. Valuing Place and Purpose. ESRI Press.
Alice Cohen and Andrew Biro. 2023. Organizing Nature. U of T Press.
Ernest Blair Experiment 