November 7, 2009

Oh Deer!

The autumn leaves – and the leaf peepers who seek them out – have gone for the year, but still, at dusk, there are folks who wander out our way to do some leisurely rubbernecking. They scan the fields and still-green lawns, looking for the herds of white-tailed deer that emerge for some late-day grazing. And rarely are the deer-viewers disappointed. Deer are a common sight on Second Peninsula, and guests in our Nova Scotia vacation rentals don’t even need to leave their porch to watch these graceful creatures.

Early in the morning and just toward dusk, the parade begins: adolescent males in groups of two or three, egging each other on and looking for trouble; mature does with this year’s young, grazing peacefully, with long ears rotating in constant vigil; whole herds of mixed families and mixed generations, moving slowly across the fields and lawns; and the occasional lone buck, warier than the rest. There are times when our fields feel like the set for a Disney movie, and all of the animal extras are on hand for the next scene.

But as idyllic as this all sounds, there are some problems with this Eden-like scene. For one thing, the deer don’t always just graze on grass. Fruit trees, perennial flowers, vegetables, ornamental shrubs, and new saplings are all on the menu for our four-footed friends, and we spend a fair amount of time and energy protecting the plants we don’t want to share.

Cabbage farmers in our area have to be especially vigilant about their fencing because the deer can wreak havoc in a cabbage field in just one night, roaming through the patch taking random bites out of huge numbers of plants, uprooting others, and generally taking a huge toll on an important crop in the Lunenburg area, where sauerkraut is still a favourite dish.

And as lovely as it is for sight-seers to be able to view the deer from their cars, deer and cars don’t mix very well. We, and our neighbours, have learned to allow extra time in the evening when we plan to drive into town. That way we can drive as slowly and cautiously as necessary to avoid any too-close encounters with the deer.

But while there are some downsides to sharing a patch of land with creatures like the deer, the upsides far outweigh the disadvantages, and we still find ourselves pausing to admire the graceful, quiet deer. If they can adapt to life among humans and cars, then we can adapt to inconveniences like fencing the gardens. And visitors who join us on their Nova Scotia family vacations can get a front-row seat to the daily show – the deer are always on stage and ready for an appreciative audience.

October 7, 2009

Biking Second Peninsula

If someone were to ask recreational bicyclists to describe their ideal biking conditions, most would probably come up with something like the following: generally flat or rolling terrain, interesting vistas and changing  views, low vehicular traffic, a paved surface, and fresh air.

That list describes – to a tee – the Second Peninsula Road that leads out to our Nova Scotia vacation rentals. Bicyclists from near and far love the winding rural road that follows Martin Cove out past Silvers Narrow to the pastoral farms at the end of Second Peninsula.

The Second Peninsula Road is so ideal, in fact, that a local group of biking enthusiasts uses part of this road for its weekly time trials on Tuesday evenings throughout the spring, summer, and fall. But most people who bike along this scenic route do so at a much more leisurely pace, taking the time to admire the view.

The scenery along the 10-kilometer (6-mile) route is some of the prettiest you’ll find along the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Great blue herons wade in the shallow waters of the coves, rolling fields and wooded lots flank the road, ospreys fly overhead, deer look up from grazing to inspect passers-by, and wooden schooners cast their reflections on the calm surface of this sheltered waterway.

And in the autumn, the poplars, oaks, red maples, and birches put on a special display of their own, lighting up the roadway with the yellows, reds, and burnished-chestnut hues that this season is known for.

Ask any local about the best time of year to be in Nova Scotia, and most will tell you that September and October are their favourite months. One golden afternoon of pedaling along Second Peninsula Road will show you why.

August 30, 2009

Lettuce, Livelihoods, and Labours of Love

With the early hints of cooler evenings and the subtle decrease in day length, mid-August can jar us into realizing that the end of summer is approaching. But August, September, and October are magical months here in the Maritimes, with plenty of clear, sunny days, and temperatures moderated by the warmed ocean.

Those warm temperatures mean we get an extended gardening season on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, and August is when vegetable gardens and flower gardens really come into their own.

For us, the gardens on our property are an important part of our lives. Running Second Paradise Retreat — with its mix of Nova Scotia vacation rentals, our own home, our gardens, fields and woods — is more than just being part of the Nova Scotia ecotourism business. It’s all part of our attempt to live where we work, and work where we live. We try to blend the daily act of living and the making of our livelihood into one.

And the gardens are a key piece of that blend. We try to grow as much of our own produce as time, energy, weather, and space will allow. From breakfast through dinner, items from our gardens, shrubs, and trees fill our bowls and plates. In the summer months we eat fresh lettuce, peas, fennel, beets, mixed greens, green beans, swiss chard, tomatoes, blueberries, sweet potatoes, raspberries, squash, artichokes, and rhubarb. In the fall, we dry apples, and we store potatoes, onions, beets and winter squashes. We also freeze enough blueberries and tomatoes to last through the winter until next year’s garden, while herbs from the herb and flower gardens provide seasonings and medicinal tinctures.

We’ve also experimented with oats and lentils and we’re looking forward to future crops from the fruit and nut trees that we’ve been planting over the years: pears, cherries, a plum tree, persimmon trees, hazelnut bushes, European mulberry, a mulberry tree, and a butternut tree.

All these crops are grown without chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. To supplement the soil, we use an amendment made of composted seaweed, clippings, and table scraps, and Katharina brews various herbal teas to spray on plants to curb insects, fungus, and other damaging agents.

These natural approaches to growing food mean that we and our guests live and play in a healthy, nontoxic environment. And even though all of this gardening sounds like a lot of work – and it is! – it is also a lot of fun, and we love it. The line between work and play is often quite blurry here at Second Paradise Retreat, which is how we like it. Just as we like the fact that making our livelihood off this incredible piece of seaside land is all just part of living a full, home-based life.

June 13, 2009

It’s Lupine Time in Nova Scotia

Spires of deep purple, brilliant white, and various shades of pink line the roadways and cascade down steep banks, their vivid colours heightened by a backdrop of lush foliage.

Each year, from mid-June to early July, these hardy plants put on a colourful show many associate with the Maritimes. In fact, lupines are originally from western North America, but their ability to colonize poor, disturbed soil and their reproduction through prolific seed dispersal have ensured their success here in Nova Scotia.

If you haven’t had a chance to experience the sight of wild lupines in bloom en masse, you’re missing out on one of the finest early-summer botanical events. We are lucky here at Second Paradise: our 4 Nova Scotia vacation homes for rent sit amidst fields and gardens of lupines and other flowers, so we get to enjoy a floral show from early spring to fall.

Over the next weeks and months, we’ll be watching the lupines as their showy spires of colour fade and the fuzzy, seed-bearing pods replace the blossoms – a reminder that these plants are members of the pea family. If you collect the dry pods and scatter the pea-like seeds on disturbed soil in the fall, you’ll be rewarded with a lupine meadow of your own in years to come.

A special hint from Katharina: bring a bouquet of lupines into the house, put them in a vase of water, and wait a couple of hours. The lupines will release a fresh, sweet, lemony smell that tells you summer is here.

May 30, 2009

“Except along the Atlantic coast”                               

There’s a favourite saying among New Englanders and Maritimers that if you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute. And there’s definitely some truth to the proverb because the weather here is certainly less predictable than it is in other parts of the world. People coming to our area for their Nova Scotia family vacations can often experience several seasons’ worth of weather in just a few weeks.

But here along the south shore of Nova Scotia, we could add another weather saying that would be equally true: If you don’t like the weather, walk a kilometer. This may seem ridiculous, but it’s not.

A week or so ago, we had warmer than normal temperatures for two days in a row. The temperature in Lunenburg (and Bridgewater and Mahone Bay) reached a hot 28 degrees Celsius (83 degrees Fahrenheit), and it was even warmer further inland. Yet just two kilometers outside of Lunenburg, on the way to the community of Blue Rocks, the temperature at that exact time registered 14 degrees Celsius (58 degrees Fahrenheit). So if you were too hot in Lunenburg, all you had to do was walk a kilometer or two out on the Lunenburg peninsula, and you could cool off.

The key to these temperature differences, of course, is the Atlantic Ocean. That huge reservoir of water takes a while to warm up in the spring and an equally long time to cool down in the autumn. So an onshore breeze at this time of year (and through the summer) acts as a big air-conditioner, making the coast cooler than the sometimes very-warm interior.

Here on Second Peninsula, guests in our Nova Scotia vacation rentals get the best of all worlds in the late spring and summer. We enjoy the cooling effect of the Atlantic on steamy summer days, but because we’re tucked back away from the open waters of Mahone Bay, protected by the land masses of Heckman’s Island, Brick Hill, and Fifty Acre Island, we’re warmer than areas on the equivalent shore of the Lunenburg Peninsula.

So as we move from spring into summer, we’ll listen to the provincial weather forecasts with experienced ears. We’ll listen to what the weather will be inland, we’ll listen to the part of the forecast that includes “except along the Atlantic coast,” and then we’ll make adjustments for our own special location. But we also know that if we want to be warmer or cooler, all we have to do is walk a kilometer or two.

May 16, 2009

The Great Garden Experiment

Some folks have vegetable gardening down to a science: they plant the same crops each year, following tried and true methods and a predictable schedule. Not us! We love to experiment in our gardens, trying new vegetables, new varieties, and new methods every year. Last year we decided to try growing lots of  soybeans, and what a successful experiment it was.

The beautiful plants livened up our vegetable garden all summer, and the harvested beans fed us for most of a year. We enjoyed edamame throughout the summer and fall, cooked soybeans during the winter, and sprouted soybeans in the spring.

We also decided to try growing lentils and artichokes in last summer’s garden. The lentil harvest was very satisfying – it’s nice to be able to grow a source of protein to accompany all the vegetables. And lentils are a favourite ingredient of ours in winter soups and stews.

The artichokes are more of a novelty crop – delicious, but not exactly a staple ingredient in our diets. It was fun to watch these members of the thistle family grow and mature, with their long, firm, spiny leaves and their edible buds swelling in the summer heat. We harvested 16 artichokes from our plants – enough for quite a few meals.

We also had bountiful harvest of Jerusalem artichokes. These members of the sunflower family grow easily and look fantastic. They are tall and graceful, with deep-green leaves and stems, and cheerful, bright-yellow flowers.  The underground tubers are the edible part of this plant.

We harvested half of the Jeruselum artichoke plants that were growing around the edge of one of our gardens, and that yielded bags and bins full of the tubers. Katharina made a gourmet dish – Jerusalem artichockes au gratin — that was really delicious. But two hours later we realized why we didn’t see Jeruselem artichokes on any menus or on our neighbours’ tables: the bloating was a clear reminder that some of our gardening experiments would be successful and others would not!

Despite that painful experience, this year we’ll plant Jerusalem artichokes around our gardens again. It still looks great and the deer can munch on it, if they like. And guests who are staying in our Nova Scotia vacation rentals are welcome to see what other gardening experiments we’re trying this summer. There’s bound to be something new and exciting growing in among the tried and true crops.

April 20, 2009

Springtime in the “Big Gym”                       

With warmer spring weather here and thoughts of future beach days running through their minds, many people are heading to the gym to get themselves into bathing-suit shape. Here at Second Paradise Retreat, the onset of spring means that we, too, head to the gym, but it’s a gym – and a workout – of a different sort that keeps us in shape.

Our gymnasium is a large one — 27 acres, to be exact. And throughout the year, wood gathering, splitting, stacking and carrying provide regular exercise, and painting, renovating and cleaning keep many muscles toned. But in the springtime, the gardening and grounds-keeping season begins, and with a full complement of guests in our Nova Scotia vacation rentals, it’s also laundry and housekeeping season.

Many people can easily understand how grounds-keeping activities keep us busy and in shape. But few people consider the muscle-building qualities of the laundry and housekeeping duties that await us. Who needs a weight room or exercise class when you’ve got mountains of laundry to handle?

In the high season (mid-June to mid-September), Katharina does 22 loads of laundry per week. Since we dry all of our laundry on clotheslines, this means that each week Katharina lugs 22 mounds of wet laundry down to the clothesline, stretches up 2 meters to hang all the sheets, towels, rugs and duvet covers, and then stretches up again to remove the dry laundry and bring it back up to the office for folding, sorting and storing. Each load of wet laundry weighs about 13.5 kg, and each load of line-dried laundry weighs about 8.5 kg.

So during those 13 weeks of the high season, Katharina lugs about 297 kg (653 lbs) of wet laundry per week down to the clothesline, and 187 kg (411 lbs) of dry laundry back up to the office. That’s more than a half ton of laundry being carried each week or 6.5 tons over the course of the summer season.

Right now, in the shoulder season, we’re just in spring training, handling a little less than half that amount of laundry per week. By mid-June, those laundry-toting muscles should be fully toned and ready to handle all the sheets and towels our guests use during their Nova Scotia family vacations.

So when people ask what gym we go to and how we stay so fit, we point to the woods, the gardens, and — yes — the clothesline and say, “There’s our gym.”

March 26, 2009

From Ship to Shore

Driving through Lunenburg the other day, we couldn’t help but notice that some of the tourists seem to be back in town. They’re easy to spot: cameras slung around their necks, open maps in hand, and looks of confusion or distraction on their faces as they pause on the street corners and in the crosswalks (where they are often surprised to find that cars actually give pedestrians the right of way).

It may seem to some that this is an odd time to visit the Maritimes, when cool winds still blow off the Atlantic and spring snowstorms still occasionally pay unwelcome visits. But the town of Lunenburg is interesting year-round, especially for those with an eye for beautiful architecture, and on these early spring days, when the sun is shining warmly but it’s too cool for a walk on the beach, a walking tour of Lunenburg is the perfect way to spend a day or two of your Nova Scotia family vacation.

The history of Lunenburg and its architecture is well documented, but in brief, the same master skills that built large sea-going wooden vessels were used onshore to build grand, solid, eye-catching homes that still exist today. As a matter of fact, two-thirds of the buildings that currently remain in Old Town Lunenburg date from the nineteenth century. A handful (about 8) date back to the eighteenth century.

There are lots of outstanding architectural features to notice on these buildings, but the detail that literally stands out on many of the homes is the Lunenburg Bump, a modification of the Scottish five-sided dormer. Master builders of the nineteenth century, many of whom were also master shipwrights, incorporated innovative versions of this architectural feature to add grandeur and space to new and remodeled homes. As a matter of fact, there seems to have been some competition involved to see who could design and build the grandest and finest Lunenburg Bump.

Today, many of these fine homes are being renovated, and the same care and craftsmanship that was used in their original construction is on display today. And not coincidentally, the last names of many of the modern ship builders and house builders are the same as those in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries - skills and surnames have been passed down from generation to generation.

A walk along Lunenburg’s waterfront will show that there’s still a strong ship to shore connection in this community. A heritage carpentry shop is located right on the waterfront, boats are still being built in a number of businesses, and high school and college students are still being given a chance to learn the crafts that will serve them well at sea, on shore, and in life.

So this spring we invite you to use our Nova Scotia vacation rentals as a base camp while you explore the town of Lunenburg, its famous Bumps, and its active waterfront.

March 9, 2009

From Bog to Biscotti           

It’s been a long winter, here in Nova Scotia, with lots of cold weather, enough snow to make it a real winter, and enough ice and freezing rain to drive us indoors for days on end. And now March is here with its rollercoaster ride of temperature changes: there are warm days that let us know that spring is on the way, and frigid days with changing precipitation that let us know that spring isn’t officially here for another few weeks.

On the days when bad weather pins us down in our home, that’s the time for domestic activities, and that’s when Katharina starts baking. We’re lucky enough to live near a commercial cranberry bog, run by an energetic young couple making a real go of their agricultural enterprise in tough economic times. They produce a wide range of cranberry products, from raw fresh cranberries, to frozen and dried cranberries, to juices and spreads. And while we could pick our own wild cranberries on the nearby barrens and in local bogs and dry them in our kachelofen, it’s a lot easier to start a baking project with berries from Terra Beata cranberry farm.

Here’s a recipe from Katharina’s kitchen — a great fusion of traditional Italian baking with a special Nova Scotia ingredient. If you come join us on your Nova Scotia family vacation, you can kayak across the bay for your own tour of the Terra Beata cranberry farm. But until then, here’s a taste of the Maritimes that you can create in your kitchen, no matter where you are:

Traditional Italian–Nova Scotian biscotti 

1 cup (145 grams) dried cranberries
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs and extracts together. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until blended (about 30 seconds).  Gradually add the egg mixture, and beat until a dough forms, adding cranberries about halfway through. With floured hands, divide the dough in half.  On a lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough into a log about 10 inches (25 cm) long and 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Transfer logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the logs about 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until firm to the touch (logs will spread during baking). Remove from oven, and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.

Transfer logs to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut the logs into slices 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick on the diagonal.  Arrange evenly on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake another 10 minutes or until firm to the touch.  Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 40 biscotti.

Enjoy with hot tea.

February 19, 2009

Our Feathered Friends

The winter landscape here in Nova Scotia can seem a bit lifeless: the deciduous trees are bare, the gardens look barren and forlorn, and the main spot of continuous colour is the deep green of the native spruce trees. As we walk around our property, between our house and our four Nova Scotia vacation rentals, we see tracks indicating activity — deer, squirrel, rabbit, fox — but the creatures making the tracks are, for the most part, out of sight.

The exception to this stillness and lifelessness is the hub of activity that surrounds the bird feeders outside our kitchen windows. Here is the stage for an intricate play with many characters.

The gold finches and blue jays are the flashy stars, with colourful costumes that catch the eye. The gold finches cluster around the Niger seed feeder, cloaking the feeder with the dull yellow of the female and the brilliant, almost-neon yellow of the male. The blue jays are more drawn to the sunflower seeds, greedily gulping down multiple seeds at a single visit, all while strutting around bossily, making the most of their size and seeming to flaunt their handsome coats. Blue is a rarity in nature, and the jays really stand out in this winter scene – a welcome and startling flash of colour.

Starlings are like a huge supporting cast of villains and urchins in a Dickens play, sweeping on stage and pushing the other actors to the periphery while they hold forth. They descend on the feeders in huge noisy flocks, scattering the other birds. These European introductions have a reputation for being pests because of the large flocks they travel in and because of the way they dominate the scene when they’re present, but if you can get past their annoying traits, there’s a lot to admire in these characters. When the sun catches their feathers just right, the iridescence of their plumage is breath taking. And the range of vocalizations that starlings make is very impressive. They whistle, make watery gurgling sounds, and imitate a wide range of other birds in a show of mimicry that even the most accomplished impersonator would admire.

But the king of the drama at our feeders, the true diva that upstages all other characters, is the northern flicker. When this large, oddly costumed bird is on the scene, all of the other birds stay away, allowing this member of the woodpecker family to do its solo. For those of you who have never seen a northern flicker, with its swooping roller-coaster flight pattern, bright red neck patch and strongly spotted body, you’re in for a treat. Flickers are considered uncommon winter visitors here in Nova Scotia (though they’re quite common during the summer breeding season) so we consider ourselves lucky to have them with us during these late-winter months. They’re welcome on our stage anytime.

And if you’re looking into Nova Scotia Eco-Tourism, consider a stay with us in our vacation homes. We’ll happily share the pageantry that nature provides year-round here at Second Paradise Retreat.
 

December 19, 2008

Seeing the forest and the trees

As some folks head off to the local U-cut or a corner stand to pick out a Christmas tree, we’ll be walking through our fields to our 10-acre patch of forest, where we’ll pick out a little balsam fir that will stand in our living room for a few weeks around Christmas, bearing the ornaments we’ve made and collected over our years here at Second Paradise Retreat. We love walking along our woods roads, thinking back to what the forest looked like when we bought the property 10 years ago and comparing that to what we see in front of us now.

Many people would say they prefer how the woods looked then, before a series of hurricanes and strong storms toppled the big spruce trees with their shallow root systems, but we take the long-range view of our woods, and we literally see the forest for the trees: we envision what sort of healthy forest will emerge from the fallen spruces, and we’re excited by the new generation of fir and spruce growing on this site.

When we first bought this property 10 years ago, with an eye toward starting a Nova Scotia vacation rentals business, the woodland was dominated by 60-year-old spruces that had grown up in pastures and agricultural fields abandoned in the 1940s. The trees were tall, even-aged, and closely packed, with no new generation of trees growing in the understory. This was far from the ideal forest of mixed ages and species that foresters use as a model.

Now most of the tall spruces have been felled: the majority of them have been brought down by strong winds, while some of the “leaners” have been felled by a friend who works in our woods just for the fun of it. Some of the fallen spruces are left to decompose, giving up their nutrients and bulk to the next generation of trees.

But many of the fallen spruces are put to other good uses here at Second Paradise Retreat. Our house, two of our Nova Scotia rental cottages (the loft and the yellow cottage), and the office and laundry building are all heated exclusively by wood, and our forest easily yields the 7 cords of firewood we burn in kachelofens each year. We also have many of the spruces sawn out on a portable sawmill, giving us native lumber for the various building projects here at Second Paradise. As a matter of fact, since 2003 (after Hurricane Juan) we haven’t bought any construction lumber, despite the fact that we’ve built a sauna, a barn, a small outbuilding, several decks, and made repairs on the farmhouse. Our lumber is about as local as you can get!

So while this transition forest isn’t a classic beauty in many people’s eyes, we see it through a long-range lens, recognizing that we can manage the new growth that is emerging, and we can help get the forest on track to becoming a mixed-aged stand of prominently fir and spruce, with some tamarack, birch, and poplar thrown in for diversity. And if we play our cards right, despite what nature throws our way, the woods will provide firewood, lumber, and enjoyment for us, our guests, and generations to come, while providing rich habitat for native plants and animals.

Meanwhile, in the shorter term, we’re off to cut a Christmas tree.

December 8, 2008

Edible Ornaments

In these weeks leading up to the winter solstice, when the green has fled the landscape and nature seems committed to a palette of grey, brown, and beige, one’s eyes become starved for light and colour. That’s why many of us brighten our houses and yards with strings of Christmas lights, giant red bows, green wreaths, and decorated trees. But there are also some ornaments that nature provides: the vestiges of this year’s apple crop. Here and there around our Nova Scotia vacation rental property and along the roadways, we still catch flashes of red and yellow among the brown, bare branches — a bright reminder of this year’s ample fruit crop.

This was a particularly productive year for many fruit trees and berry bushes. We had a beautiful spring in 2008, with lots of clear days that were perfect for the pollinating insects that fly from flower to flower, doing the important work that will start an apple or a berry on its way to maturity.

As the summer and the fall progressed, the apple trees of Nova Scotia put on a wonderful show, with flashes of red, green, and pale-yellow visible between toothed leaves, and clusters of plump, ripening fruit weighing down the branches in a display of almost ridiculous productivity.

And then, one sunny day in October, we dragged out the second-hand cider press that we bought three years ago, and, with the help and company of friends, we started pressing this year’s apples into cider — all 100 liters of it! Each year, we store jars of cider in a box freezer and pull out a couple of liters at a time as needed, enjoying our home-grown, home-pressed cider into the new year.

Cider makers always tell you to use a mixture of apples for each batch of cider to get a richer, more interesting flavour. We certainly don’t have any trouble coming up with variety! We have two small orchards here on our property on Second Peninsula, plus there are the untamed apple trees that dot the landscape: around the edges of fields, in the middle of shrubs in reverting meadows, and even in the woods. Some of these wild trees produce the biggest and tastiest fruit. We gather the apples from our orchards and fill our pockets when we go for walks, collecting the ripening fruit until we have enough for a pressing — so variety is built into our cider.

Now, as the cold days close in, the winter solstice approaches, and 2008 comes to an end, we raise a glass of amber-rose cider in celebration of another year here at Second Paradise Retreat, where old friends and neighbours gather and where new friends are made each year as people come to visit from all over the world, stopping with us for awhile on their Nova Scotia family vacations.