Category: New thinking

From BC’s Knowledge Network, I watched the first episode of the Art of Japanese Life (Nature). Dr James Fox looks at the Art and history of Japan and learns about brush-painting, block-printing, bonsai-trimming and the Way of Tea. Episode 2 will be available on July 22.

Within the context of Rethinking Tourism, I wondered how we might define ‘the Art of Nova Scotian life’. My starting point was to think in terms of unique voices which describe our landscape, in particular the Annapolis Valley.

For several years, I have been supportive of literary events related to the work of Ernest Buckler. Could we envisage a modern (2020) version of the Mountain and the Valley?

Can we imagine a focus on the Bay of Fundy? Perhaps based on Harry Thurston’s Tidal Life: a Natural history of the Bay of Fundy.

Through my conversations with Sandra Barry, she recommended Elizabeth Bishop’s poem Questions of Travel. This raised the question of a literary focus on the coast around Great Village.

An alternative approach is to consider movement through the landscape. Two books come to mind, both published by Gaspereau Press.

Soren Bondrup-Nielsen writes Merging: Contemplations on Farming and Ecology from Horseback. Kent Thompson writes Getting out of Town by Book and Bike.

’Thompson investigates the role of the bicycle in books ranging from DH Lawrence and HG Wells to Elizabeth Bishop and Ernest Buckler.’

‘Soren Bondrup-Nielsen catalogues the rich biodiversity of his own backyard, exploring the fields, dyke roads and woodland trails that surround his home in the agricultural heartland of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley’.

Later this month, there will be the opportunity to watch Episode 2 (Cities) and Episode 3 (Home) from the Knowledge Network.

Can we imagine a similar series for Nova Scotia or part of Nova Scotia (the Annapolis Valley)?

My interests tend toward books (and literature). What about a broader definition of art — music, painting, crafts? Or ecosystem science, agriculture?

Acknowledgements.

Celes for starting the conversation. Sandra for her comments. Edward for his artistic talent. Heather for encouraging bicycle rides to Middleton and back.

References.

British Columbia’s Knowledge Network.
Elizabeth Bishop poem. Questions of Travel.
Kent Thompson, 2001. Getting out of Town by Book and Bike, Gaspereau Press.
Soren Bondrup-Nielsen, 2014. Merging: Contemplations on Farming and Ecology from Horseback. Gaspereau Press.
Harry Thurston, 1990. Tidal Life: a natural history Of the Bay of Fundy.

This week, I received two emails on the subject of rethinking tourism.

 from Danielle Robinson.
Culturally sustainable wine and food tourism. Key findings from a comparative case study of BC’s South Okanagan Valley and NS’s Annapolis Valley.

from Celes Davar.
Rethinking tourism for the Valley area – a larger more collaborative approach. It’s not about marketing.

Danielle’s key findings offer a summary of her Ph.D thesis research. “The central finding is that food culture as expressed through wine and food tourism is inherent to regional identity and contributes to cultural sustainability in three key ways.

Food- and wine-tourism sustains local food culture.
Food- and wine-tourism sustains local communities.
Transformative food- and wine-tourism supports the development of a more sustainable culture.”

This feeds into the email from Celes, where he asks the question.

“How can we collectively, shape a new direction that is about this region working together, and develop a community economic development strategy that features stories and experiences of agriculture, food and cuisine, the arts and music, different cultures and traditions in relation to the Acadian forest, Annapolis Valley and Bay of Fundy Bioregion? “

Great question. Here are a few preliminary thoughts.

1
we have to tell the story of this Geography.
2
we are inclusive in our definition of the Bioregion. It is not about municipalities. It is not about different cultural groups. There is a long history of use and abuse of this landscape. Where are we today? What is the path forward in the unfolding global context?
3
Celes asks us ‘to conceive of a different direction’. What might this kind of
alternative direction be?
4
Perhaps, we should move away from the term ‘tourist’ and rather think in terms of residents, part-time residents, and guests. We are indeed all residents at a number of different scales.
5
As far as possible, emphasize direct experience with the ecological environment – whether walking, cycling, canoeing, kayaking.
6
Learn as much as possible about the lessons of this landscape. What has been done right? What has proven to be an absolute disaster? What is being done to mitigate previous mistakes?
7
Understand the connectivity between this bioregion and the larger region i.e. the Eastern Seaboard/ Maritimes.
8
Engage multiple generations in the process: elders, parents, children, grandchildren.
9
Be inclusive of all diversity.

My goal is to live as close to the land, and its natural rhythms, as possible in the hope that I can learn to fully appreciate the role of other cultures and other species in this bioregion. I look forward to the ongoing conversation.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to both Danielle and Celes for striking up the conversation. Heather for her concern for other species in the region. Edward added the graphics.

References

Danielle Robinson, Culturally sustainable wine and food tourism
Celes Davar, Rethinking tourism for the Valley area – a larger more collaborative approach.

I had intended to review, “A Sense of Humus” but Heather was looking for some light reading this week. Her review suggests that it will be a worthwhile read.

Meanwhile, I went to the bookcase and found “Beginning Again: People and Nature in the New  Millennium” by David Ehrenfeld. While written in 1993, looking towards 2000, it holds true in 2020, looking towards a post-COVID world.

I think it was Tuesday. I was preparing the bed to transplant some tomato plants from the greenhouse and discovered a common toad.

Ehrenfeld’s second essay is titled ‘The Roots of Prophecy: Orwell and Nature”.

What was Nature to George Orwell?

Ehrenfeld lists three qualities:

• honesty
• reliability/continuity/durability/resilience
• beauty and serenity

He also makes reference to Orwell’s thoughts on the common toad’. For example,

“At any rate, Spring is here, even in London N1 and they can’t stop you enjoying it. This is a satisfying reflection. How many a time have I stood watching the toads mating, or a pair of hares having a boxing match in the young corn, and thought of all the important persons who would stop me enjoying this if they could. But luckily they can’t. So long as you are not actually ill, hungry, frightened or immured in a prison or a holiday camp, spring is still spring. The atom bombs are piling up at the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun, and neither dictators nor bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it”. p.6

Here is my second observation. Heather feeds the kitchen vegetable waste to her worms in the basement. We use the worm castings to add to our soil in the greenhouse. One of the by-products from the worm humus is that it is full of tomato seeds. The seeds and skins are separated in the making of tomato sauce. Those are the tomato plants which I transplanted into the garden, under the watchful eye of the common toad.

This raises a larger question. What are the memories of earlier lives and events that build up the human humus? Time to read Bertha Damon.

(It is interesting to note that George Orwell was born in 1903 and died in 1950, aged 47 years. He saw the end of the Second World War).

Returning to Ehrenfeld:

“If this alternative way of living grows and prospers, I doubt that it will do so by some master plan or protocol…..

“Nature will have entered their lives at an early age and will remain as a source of joy and as a measure of their best and worst efforts. They will welcome the challenge that Orwell hoped for, a simpler, harder world in which machines, like their inventors, are understood to be limited. They will devote their first energies to the places where they live. They will come to authority not by violence but by their evident ability to replace a crumbling system with something better’.” p.193

Acknowledgements

Heather for her commitment to life and Nature. Edward for his collaboration and creativity. Jane for starting this conversation.

References

David Ehrenfeld, 1993. Beginning Again: People and Nature in the New Millennium. Oxford University Press.
George Orwell, 2010. Some Thoughts on the Common Toad. PenguinRandomHouse Books. Great Ideas #99.
Bertha Damon, 1943. A Sense of Humus. Simon & Schuster.

Peter, my brother, sent me the link ‘On Confinement’ from the Book of Life. There is also a reference to Xavier de Maistre ‘A Journey Round my Room‘, written in 1790. At this time, we are all learning from the School of Life.

In response to the conversation between Janice Stein and Jane Jacobs, I received the following astute observations from Willy Hunter.

“Citizenship is a part-time job for us all. Some people express it via social works, and other’s via committee work, and others by being elected. Some people get to do it more or less in their jobs. Like teachers and nurses etc..

Forgiveness is actually for the forgiver and service is for the server “

This week, we have tried to maintain our fitness regime through snowshoeing and walking. Unfortunately, the private gym at FE (Fitness Experience) in Middleton has been closed down. Similarly, the province has closed parks and trails. From Cathy, my personal trainer, I am beginning to understand my body. Now, I need to understand my mind. That seems to be one of the premises of The School of Life. Interestingly, there are several School of Life sites in Europe, but none in North America.

Emergence Magazine is offering a set of activities for the online community: a monthly book club, contributor conversations, biweekly Nature Writing course, and a facilitated workshop on the theme of vulnerability.

Before today’s snowfall (Tuesday) I was able to spend time clearing multiflora rose from the hedgerows. It was remarkable to see how different species grow together. Their form dictated by their interaction e.g. deadly nightshade, high bush cranberry. We continue to prune in the orchard, as well as topping the conifers which reach towards the overhead power lines. Today, for the first time, we were able to snowshoe down through the property.

Postscript

My favourite book on the coffee table is Arne and Carlos. 2017. Field Guide to Knitted Birds. Trafalgar Square Books.

Acknowledgements

Willy Hunter for the OK to quote from his email. Cathy Bruce West for her Healthy Bodies advice. Peter Maher for the link to The Book of Life. Heather for her companionship and custodian of the pruning instruments. Edward Wedler for his graphics contributions

References

On Confinement from The Book of Life.
Xavier de Maistre. A Journey Round my Room.
The School of Life. theschooloflife.com
Emergence Magazine. March 24,2020. Contributor Conversations, Book Club, Nature Writing Course, Embracing Vulnerability and Connection. New podcast released every Tuesday.

Edward Wedler and I were both instructors at COGS in the 1980s. Edward was teaching Remote Sensing. I was teaching GIS. Eventually, the uncertainty of contract employment forced us to move on. Edward and his wife, Anne, purchased The Inside Story in Greenwood. Heather and I disappeared, with family, to Indonesia, California and beyond. And yet, we still managed to keep in touch.

Edward and Anne both have a passion for Plein Air Art. This takes place in Nova Scotia from Spring to Fall and Florida in the Winter.

With the changing technologies, Edward has kept on top of the new online mapping tools. This allows him to map the location of Plein Air sites. Currently, he is trying to engage COGS in the links between Google and his online Plein Air maps. Again, opening up the possibility of collaboration between the college and the community.

Edward and Anne belong to six plein air art groups; three in Nova Scotia. Each year Edward publishes “paint-out” locations (50+ sites) for the season (PAAAV and PAAHRM).

He has also created a map at tinyurl.com/PleinAirMap to keep artists, art-lovers and tourists connected — locally, nationally and internationally. He uses Google products as these are more readily accessible to him and to the art community. The map currently has 5,000+ map views. Google also has loose connections between its many Google Drive products (eg Sheets, Forms, Calendars, Maps) that lend themselves to exciting R&D opportunities for an Innovation Hub. He feels that, with greater community college collaboration, students would gain by technical exposure to and training with Google Maps and related tools. The community would gain through local, shared incubator-projects in an Innovation Hub.  The Hub would gain by scaling locally-developed solutions and building intellectual property.

Mapping Art can also be seen as the Art of Cartography. There is an excellent local example in the Valley. Marcel Morin, COGS graduate, has established the business, Lost Art Cartography.

For myself, mapping the landscape is fundamental to any decisions related to land use. It continues to astound me that the Municipality of Annapolis County does not avail itself of the resources at COGS to make ‘evidence-based’ decisions on land use planning in the county, on behalf of its citizens. This is relevant to Forestry, Agriculture and any climate change strategy.

Yet another reason for the ‘community’ to be actively involved in the research and development agenda at the Innovation Hub in Lawrencetown (I noticed today that we are seeing the framework for the new multi-storey structure). The clock is ticking……..

Footnote

In retirement, many elders find their passion in the arts, science or a combination of the two. Edward and I appear to be examples of this growing trend.

Acknowledgements

Edward for his passion for both art and technology.

References

Plein Air painting sites.
Marcel Morin. Lost Art Cartography.

My previous blog described Heather Stewart’s experience of the Kings Transit system. It generated significant interest. Heather had more comments after Friday. I will try to summarize them below.
1) if you decide to come home early from your meeting in Annapolis Royal, you are restricted to a two hour time window because the buses run every two hours.

2) the bus schedule in Annapolis Royal is different if you are heading east or west.
For example:
4E Champlain Seniors, Guardian Drugs, Wharf and Farmers Market, Annapolis Royal Fire Department, Granville Family Services.

4W Granville Family Services, Foodland/SaveEasy, St. George St, Historic Gardens, Annapolis  Community Health Centre, Champlain Seniors.

How do you know where the bus stops are located ? Do residents know where the bus stops are ? Are they marked? Are there any bus shelters?

3) on the bus, you are subject to the behaviour of the other passengers, who may be experiencing personal issues. If you drive your own car, then you are in your own bubble.

Another observation is that the bus travels on Hwy #1.  If you live on Hwy #201, there are limited number of bridges over the Annapolis River. e.g. Lawrencetown, Paradise, Bridgetown, Annapolis Royal. Also, what service is available if you live on the Bay of Fundy Shore?

In response to my earlier blog, I received the following  Guardian link to the situation in England. There, too, there are limited bus routes in rural areas.

Could we not adapt the ArrivaClick application to suit the geography of  Annapolis County? Sounds like an excellent project for the COGS Innovation Hub.

This weekend, we stopped in Truro on our way to New Glasgow. At the NovelTea Bookstore Cafe, I picked up, for $5.00, B.W.Powe’s book Towards a Canada of Light. At the end he offers seven Coda. Here are three:

May the ability to see a future keep us bold.

May the ability to perceive patterns that are yet to be fully realized keep us directed in our hearts and minds.

May the ability to communicate and face facts, and yet to dream new dreams and to imagine fuller lives, give us the sweet strength we need.

Acknowledgements

Heather for braving the unknowns of rural  bus travel in Annapolis County. To Peter Maher for the Guardian link. Edward for finding the time to add graphics.

Reference

L Hanley, “When the Bus Ride to Your Destination is Just a Click Away” TheGuardian.com, 19 Feb 2020.
B.W.Powe. 2006. Towards a Canada of Light. Thomas Allen Publishers.