Shared Ground

This episode is a compilation of segments of hopeful, local stories from some previous Shared Ground conversations, as well as an update about the newly formed Lichen Camp, which protects an area of old growth forest at Goldsmith Lake in Annapolis County, within the Kespukwitk District of Mi’kma’ki.  You’ll hear wisdom and inspiration from Katherine Barrett, Shawn Feener, Teresa Quilty, Nina...

Better with Bees is a student-run club focused on urban environmental sustainability at Charles P. Allen High School in Bedford, within the Sipekne'katik district of Mi'kma'ki. In the words of Topsy Olatunji, a student member of Better with Bees: “Our project centers on involving the Mi'kmaw community in establishing a healing garden and a Wabanaki pollinator garden, topics I will delve into deepe...

In this conversation with Josh of South Spore Mushrooms, we hear more about his mushroom-growing adventures, both indoors and outdoors, as well as a bit about mushroom hunting, and his favourite ways to cook mushrooms. Josh Clark began building the business of South Spore Mushrooms two years ago. He also works off-shore as a chef, and plays in the Celtic punk band, Black Matilda. He and his wife a...

Hear how South Spore Mushrooms (based on the South Shore) began, including the entertaining story of how Josh Clark found the equipment he got started with, and why he and his family wanted to get into this exciting adventure of growing mushrooms. Currently they are producing various species of mushroom indoors. Josh shares some of his challenges, considerations and experiments, as well as how he...

This episode is a compilation of short segments of some previous Shared Ground conversations! It includes wisdom and inspiration from Shawn Feener, Nina Newington, Diane Obed, Rosmarie Lohnes, Rob Bright, Kim Thomson, Dr. Jenn MacLatchy, and Bob Bancroft  Following are the full episodes from which these segments originated (in order of appearance) Meeting Mi'kmaw Knowledge Holder Shawn F...

A carbon-sequestering art and research installation, the Sky Pillar at the Deanery Project was designed with architecture students from Dalhousie University. As Executive Director Kim Thompson puts it, the Sky Pillar is "a bridge to the night", and was created as an anchor to the Deanery’s annual SeaLight SkyLight festival. Kim says, “We’re trying to get people outdoors, connecting with natur...

So many people have come together through the Save Our Old Forests campaign, started in Annapolis County, within Mi'kma'ki. The folks behind it have recently hosted a successful music festival to raise awareness and funds, and to provide connection, support and inspiration for all those who care about the trees and animals in our Wabanaki Acadian forests. In this special SOOFstock episode, meet so...

Join us for a conversation about Ne’ata’q, The Food Forest at Bluenose Academy in Lunenburg/E'se'katik (in Nova Scotia, within Mi'kma'ki). Outisde this P-9 public school is an area where the grass has been replaced with a forest-to-be; with plants that will help one another, provide learning and delight for the children, and bring so many people from the local community together while sharing indi...

On a mild summer's evening, Pat Wiggin met for Shared Ground to give us a window into the world of forestry on private lands in Nova Scotia (within Mi'kma'ki). Discussed in this episode are some of the programs that exist to support people and forest ecosystems, and the exciting emerging option of working forest easements (through the Nova Scotia Working Woodlands Trust). Also, hear thoughts on Fo...

Nestled in a forested, sheltered cove of the Atlantic Ocean, is the Deanery Project, an environmental arts and education centre that hosts many intriguing buildings, workshops, projects, and art installations. It is located in Lower Ship Harbour, on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore of Mi'kma'ki. Visitors and students come here to experience creative natural building techniques, to learn about permacult...

At the Deanery Project this spring, I met with Dr. Jenn MacLatchy (she/they), who is an artist, a kayak instructor, and researcher of settler descent living in Mi’kma’ki. Her doctoral research was focused on using arts-based methods to engage with waste, weeds, and wastelands to form a settler method for decolonizing relationship with land and tending to liveable post-Anthropocene futures. In this...

During this episode, we meet with wildlife biologist, writer, and media communicator, Bob Bancroft. He is a wealth of information about ecology, forest health, and what has been going wrong in forestry systems, as well as methods that help in the face of climate change, benefit nature and forestry, too. We learn what is possible when one “tickles the forest” with a view to management for wildlife...

Join Clifford Paul at East Bay Sand Bar in Unama'ki (also known as Cape Breton in Nova Scotia). Clifford refers to this beautiful place on the Bras D'or Lakes as the shorelines of his ancestors. Throughout this episode, Clifford illuminates ways in which Mi'kmaw traditional knowledge and Western scientific knowledge can be woven together through what is known as two-eyed-seeing, or Etuaptmumk. Eld...

During the Save Our Old Forests campaign launch, Bob Bancroft was one of the excellent speakers. This episode features a slightly shortened version of his passionate talk, along with a brief overview of this inspiring campaign, which launched in the spring of 2023 in Bridgetown in Nova Scotia (within Mi'kma'ki). Bob Bancroft is a wildlife biologist, writer, and media communicator. For 48 years he...

During the Save Our Old Forests campaign launch, forest ecologist Donna Crossland was one of the excellent speakers. This episode features a slightly shortened version of her heart-felt and informative talk, along with a brief overview of this inspiring campaign, which launched in the spring of 2023 in Bridgetown in Nova Scotia (within Mi'kma'ki). Donna Crossland's primary focus is on protecting h...

On March 25th, a campaign launched in Bridgetown in Nova Scotia (within Mi'kma'ki) called Save Our Old Forests (SOOF). As is written in their excellent pamphlet: "Saving old forests in Annapolis County is something we can do locally that will have a global effect." and "We need to protect the best of what is left, for the health of nature, yes, but for our health, too, and for the health of our ec...

During the waning of the Berry Ripening Moon, as it is called in the Mi’kmaw culture, I had the pleasure and honour of meeting Shawn Feener.  In this episode, Shawn introduces the moons of this time of year and how they relate to understanding animals and plants throughout the seasons, and about some of the relationships in the forest. He also talks about the importance of school students lea...

Curious to hear from someone who worked for Lands and Forestry (DNRR) for 22 years? This conversation with Peter Romkey touches on the Christmas tree industry, the early days of glyphosate use in the Cape Breton Highlands, some natural history, and Peter’s idea for a specific incentive for private landowners. We hear about what he thinks should change in forestry and why the future could look...

Join us for the story of a canoe “marathon”, completed in less than a day, in which four Nova Scotians traveled from one side of the province to the other, and why they did it.  During this episode, consider the many reasons why folks including Mike Lancaster are dedicated to an Ingram River Wilderness Area, and how wilderness areas support a wide range of recreational uses. Hear why land-lev...

Most of us are wanting to better support Indigenous people on the lands we now also call home. We want to learn and understand more about the connections between current ecological catastrophes and colonization, and about coming into right relationship with the land and the first peoples of the land. Join us for this conversation about the lifelong journey of living respectfully within Mi’kma’ki,...

I spent this Summer Solstice at the Last Hope Camp, located by Beal’s Brook in the Kespukwitk district of Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq people.  A special celebration was happening to mark the solstice, Indigenous People’s Day in Canada, and a victory for the protection of this forest.  Extinction Rebellion and others had been based in this...

Join me for a talk with Soren Bondrup-Nielsen about the effects of a mechanistic worldview. This wide-ranging conversation includes topics of teaching conservation in a holistic way, his involvement in the court case to protect species-at-risk in Nova Scotia, the effect current forestry has on the the composition of our forests, and how ultimately, the economic system is at the root of many of our...

In this conversation, you will hear from Rosmarie Lohnes, who runs an ecological landscaping business based in Bridgewater, in Mi'kma'ki' (Nova Scotia). Rosmarie began her company, Helping Nature Heal, twenty years ago. She has a B.A. in Conservation and Environmental Studies from York University and has also studied Architectural Design, Horticulture as Therapy, Ecological Landscape Design, Shore...

Join Frances Anderson and I in the woods in Southwestern Nova Scotia with a couple of hand lenses. We spend a fascinating morning of lichen discovery in an area of forest on the South Shore of Minamkeak Lake near Bridgewater.  Former librarian Frances Anderson began studying lichens in 2000. Since then she has explored thousands of kilometers of back woods in Nova Scotia, discovered lichen sp...

Some time after my first trip to Last Hope Camp (Episode 1),  I made the journey there again to this small forest slated for logging in Annapolis County, in the Kespukwitk district of Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia). Hear about why so many people are dedicating energy and resources to saving this forest, which is the home of several at-risk species, including the mainland moose. This time, you will h...