Free Seeds! The Cape Breton Regional Library’s Seed Library is back by popular demand. The program offers free vegetable seeds to “encourage community members to start their own vegetable gardens and provide fresh, healthy food for their families and neighbours.” It was launched in 2020 to great success: within two-and-a-halfRead...
There’s a passage in Lachlan MacKinnon’s book, Closing Sysco: Industrial Decline in Atlantic Canada’s Steel City, in which a former steelworker, Adrian Murphy, describes what it’s like to visit Open Hearth Park, the greenspace that’s replaced the plant in the heart of Sydney: I was there a couple of times withRead More
I have debated sending a letter for a few months now. I had honestly concluded that no one, literally no one, cares about these children. Then last week, a friend sent me the CBC story, “Overhaul to NS foster care system long overdue say some former foster parents,” by TarynRead More
Editor’s Note: We’re dipping into Michelle Smith’s archives to provide timely tips for gardeners. What to do this week This week, I have been trying to get a jump on the perennial weeds. My soil has dried up a bit with the sun and warmth we have had theseRead...
During today’s COVID-19 Update, Dr. Robert Strang and Premier Iain Rankin announced a province-wide shutdown or circuit breaker that will go into effect as of 8:00 AM tomorrow (Wednesday, April 28) and remain in place until at least May 12. “We are in a race between the variant and theRead More
The third wave is here and I thought it might be a good idea to bring together all the information I’ve been tweeting out piecemeal about COVID these past few days. Given the admirable job Tim Bousquet at the Examiner does covering the briefings — and the daily press releasesRead More
Wrong side of the tracks? I was walking home from the grocery store the other evening and as I passed the site of the former train station on Dodd Street, I remembered a tidbit of information I’d picked up during CBRM council’s special meeting on March 31, the one heldRead More
Hail to the chief Robert Walsh, erstwhile acting chief of the Cape Breton Regional Police Service (CBRPS) has been named chief. I’m filing that under “O” for “Of course.” On the plus side, if they ever launch a Family Feud: Municipal Edition, we’re ready. Something’s brewing We’re getting ourRead More
I‘ve been learning about Appalachia (beginning with how to pronounce it) through a variety of means lately and what keeps jumping out at me are the similarities between that region and our own (by which I mean, variously, Cape Breton, the Maritimes and the Atlantic Provinces). These similarities include theRead More
Ralph Surette’s April 3rd column in the Chronicle Herald hopes to convince us (especially those of us who are over the hill?) that now that a revised MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) law has passed, a large portion of our population, “the frail, the elderly, the poor and terminally ill”Read More
