WWOOFing in Nova Scotia

I've been in Nova Scotia nearly three weeks now - doesn't time fly when you are enjoying yourself! Summer 2009 for me is focused around two projects. The second one, 9 weeks spent crewing a tallship, the Picton Castle' out of Lunenberg, will be covered in another Blog. This Blog is about the first project: 7 weeks of WWOOFing at the 'Horse and Garden' organic farm, near Windsor, in Nova Scotia, Canada. WWOOFing is all about voluntary work on Organic farms or homesteading projects, and is a great way to gain experience, meet people, and generally have fun whilst doing enjoyable hard work. You can read more about WWOOFing at the WWOOF - Canada website.

Fletcher the dog - the original woofer!

The 'Horse and Garden' organic farm is owned and organised by Charlotte Harper. The farm is still in its 'startup phase', so there's a lot to do! When I arrived, there were four other WWOOFers: two from France and two from Canada, but now the French couple have left, so there's just four people on the farm. Two horses, as you might expect from the farm's name, also two black cats, and last but very definitely not least there's Fletcher the dog, who likes nothing better than to chase and retrieve sticks. I think that he even prefers this to eating!

The Minihome - where all the WWOOFers live

The WWOOFers all live in the Minihome, a short walk from the main farm house. We have all the usual modern conveniences, with the exception of a TV, so we can all get a lot of reading and computering done in the evenings. We make our own breakfasts and evening meals, and have a communal lunch provided by Charlotte at the main farmhouse.

View from the Minihome

Sunset from the Minihome - an HDR image

When I first got here, the weather was rather cold and wet, so I was able to get a number of indoor tasks done: panelling out the cellar, erecting steel shelving, and organising the workshop. Once that was done, I made a rather useful 8-door wall-mounted cupboard, mainly from floorboards. Its fixed on the wall now, and provides a lot of vital storage space.

The main house, and some raised vegetable beds

Lately, the weather has improved a lot, and the daytime temperatures have been in the upper 20's. I've been making raised vegetable beds, doing a lot of digging, and planting about 150 feet of onion set beds. My sun tan, which had faded somewhat since India, is now back again, and during the day I have to wear a sun hat.

Rear of the main house

Rear of the main house

I have been practising driving on the wrong side of the road. Not just that, but in a left-hand drive car too, with the gear-shift (wow, I'm talking Canadian!) on the right hand side. It was all very confusing to start with, so I stuck to the smallest of back roads until I got the hang of it. Even then it was confusing, especially the road junctions, which have different road markings and different road signs. It took me a while to decide just who has priority at some junctions, so the cars following would start beeping at me! Pedestrians have priority to vehicles here - wow imagine if they tried that in India ha ha.

Timothy grass, photographed by Timothy

The Gypsum Cliffs, on the edge of the St Croix River

I spent one day in the state capital of Halifax, organising a US tourist visa. Wow is that a complicated process! In all my years of travelling, I think this must be the worst. Harder than Libya, even! Payments must be made beforehand, interviews booked beforehand, and the photographs have to been dimensionally correct to within the nearest 1/8th inch. The visa form is quite thorough, too, with questions such as 'Do you seek to enter the United States to engage in export control violations, subversive or terrorist activities, or any other unlawful purpose? Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization as currently designated by the U.S. Secretary of State? Have you ever participated in persecutions directed by the Nazi government of Germany; or have you ever participated in genocide?'. I answered 'No' to each of those.

Another view of the Minihome, taken in the morning

Main House - view from the front

We made a small expedition to nearby Wolfsville, where the bigger kind of supermarkets and chain stores are. Its very interesting to see what the stock is like compared to stores (look, I'm talking Canadian again!) back in England or Ireland. Generally, I would say that the stock is more extensive, but with much less ethnic food available. In one supermarket that we visited, there were hardly any of the spices that I normally cook with in stock. No tins of mushy peas, either.

Main House - view from the front

One exception to this, though, is a no-frills, no-packaging bulk food retailer: Bulk Barn. They have a huge range of dried goods sold from big bins with perspex lids on - you serve yourself with the quantity you need into a bag. Unlike similar establishments in the UK, they are not aimed exclusively at the poorest of the poor. All the usual things are there, plus spices (or most of them, at least) and some quite astonishing products such as Falafel mix (very useful for thickening things) and, amazingly, Teff, which I can't remember seeing outside of its major consumption area, Ethiopia. I'd love to know just who eats this in the Windsor area, and what they do with it. I can't believe they make Injera - a flat bread that resembles cow stomach, tastes of vinegar, and is something that most travellers to Ethiopia would be glad never to see, or taste, again!

Fletcher the dog, with his usual stick

Well, that's all the news from Nova Scotia for now. Best wishes to all family and friends. Hoping to hear from you all later...

Tractor with disc-harrow