Nova Scotia and New Brunswick: The Acadian Forest

 Canada‘s Maritime provinces, also known as The Atlantic Provinces, are quite distinct from the rest of Canada, and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are distinct from one another.  And something both provinces have in common – besides the Atlantic Ocean and Acadian Forest -  is farmers working the land, fisherman working the sea, and lumber jacks working the woods.

Deutsch: Leuchtturm Peggy’s Point in Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia English: Lighthouse of Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yes, I grew up surrounded by people who worked the land in some way or other.   It meant that instead of structured after-school programs, with specialized instructors, the wide open fields filled with wild flowers, bumble bees and butterflies, and the forest, with all its creepy-crawlies, rodents and, yes, magic – and the sea, with its mysterious tidal pools filled with starfish, mollusks, sea weed – and of course, its awesome power – were my after-school program and play ground.

In my Soundcloud community I’ve come across painter and sound artist Mark Brennan, from Nova Scotia.  Under the name Wild Earth Voices,  Mark puts out videos and field recordings collected in the Acadian Forest.

Here’s a link to a video he narrates, following the forest through the 4 seasons.  He also talks about the endangered ecosystem and disappearing moose – which is hard to imagine as when I was growing up, come hunting season, a moose slung across the back of a car was, although not a common sight, something you’d see.  I like how Mark talks about how his relationship with the forest has shaped him and asks what do we value?  I can relate to that.  Have a look.  This is where I grew up.  Sit back and relax, it’s a slow-moving video, just like the pace of life in that part of the planet!

The Acadian Forest, the story so far from Mark Brennan on Vimeo.

I’ll leave you with another recording from Mark.

I’ve also written a little about growing up in the Maritimes under The Miramichi and I am a Citizen of Planet Earth (I added a bit about Elderbank, Nova Scotia at the end of that post.)

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The Miramichi

Bridge across the Miramichi River in northeastern New Brunswick. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There were other M places: Montreal, Michigan and Musquodoboit – all of which I’m writing about under other letters, so for M I’ve chosen the Miramichi, or Miramichi City as it’s now called.

I lived there in my last year of high school, when I was 17 and again for a couple of years  before moving to Alberta.  I lived with my parents in Loggieville, a small village just outside Chatham, which has now been amalgamated with all the other towns and villages in the area to form Miramichi City.

We lived in the United Church Manse – an enormous house, on an equally enormous property.  Dad planted a big garden, and had to spend hours mowing the lawn.  I had a large bedroom, plus a huge room at the back of the house that was my creative den.  I used to sit there and draw houses with my geometry set.  I wanted to build houses that blended into the surrounding nature.  That was my dream in my last year of high school.  Architecture or Ryerson Polytechnical School to study Mass Media and Communications.

A picture of the Miramichi River, taken near Black Brook in Loggieville. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While living in Loggieville, I went to James M. Hill Memorial School in Chatham, and although we arrived in October and I had to start school a month late, I do remember it as a fun year.  Was active in the drama club and nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the provincial drama competition, and did my first radio broadcast with the radio club.

Because I was an out-of-towner I naturally gravitated to hanging out with the Army Brats who lived at Chatham Air Force Base and am still in touch with many of those people through Facebook.  I’m sorry to say, many remember me better than I do them: there were so many of them, and only 1 of me, so I really appreciate that we have reconnected via Facebook. They hold Miramichi reunions, and always invite me.  It’s great to be considered one of the gang when I lived there such a short while!

Over the years, I’ve reconnected with different friends from the Miramichi.  I crossed paths with one such friend in Red Deer, and also, Victoria.  In fact, for a while she stored a suitcase filled with my childhood mementos and poetry.   I remember giving it to her and knowing that she would safeguard it.  And of course she did, and then one day I picked it up and there it all was, just as I’d left it.

When I first moved to Ottawa, I stayed with a Miramicher and slept on her couch till I found my own place.

Then years later, in Montreal I hooked up with yet another Miramicher, and when I left Montreal for Budapest, he took over my flat.

It’s wonderful to reconnect with people all those years later.  It’s wonderful how our paths cross at different junctures in our life.   A little piece of my home is in each of them, and that makes each of them very precious indeed.

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