Help Save The Light House

The future of the iconic lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia is uncertain.

With the federal government divesting itself of lighthouses across the country, this beacon for tens of thousands of tourists every year is effectively up for adoption.

The Nova Scotia government is certainly showing an interest, but preservationists are worried that it’s not acting quickly enough as bureaucrats continue to kick the tires.

“There has not been a petition by any group wishing to take it over,” Barry MacDonald, president of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society (NSLPS), told the Toronto Star Monday.

So the plan is for the NSLPS in partnership with Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia to submit a petition to Ottawa for the Peggy’s Cove lighthouse, built in 1923, as well as any other lighthouses in the province that no one has laid claim to.

MacDonald said his group has identified about 70 that are good candidates for the federal Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act and so far only 14 have been petitioned.

“The process is twofold. First is the actual petition for heritage status for the lighthouse and that’s submitted to Parks Canada . . . and the second part is a business plan, which is submitted to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans,” he said.

But MacDonald said the only reason the preservation society and Heritage Trust are doing that is to buy more time for the province to get its act together.

“It is our hope that the province of Nova Scotia is going to take Peggy’s Cove. There are several reasons for that. It is definitely a provincial icon. I’ve travelled the country in the last couple of years doing lighthouse talks and pretty much everywhere you go everybody knows that lighthouse,” he said, adding it gets about 600,000 visitors a year.

Darlene MacDonald, a spokeswoman for the provincial tourism department, said the province is negotiating with Ottawa “to potentially acquire Peggy’s Point lighthouse” if everything works out.

“We want to make sure that we identify any issues such as environmental clean-up, state of repair, any legal surveys, maintenance, stuff like that. We are making sure that we have that information available,” said MacDonald, who is manager of tourism development for the Nova Scotia Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism.

MacDonald said the deadline for nominating lighthouse properties under the federal protection act is May 29 and added that any Canadian 18 and older can nominate any surplus lighthouse for heritage designation.

For generations, Canada’s lighthouses have guided ships along the country’s expansive coasts and beckoned newcomers to our shores.

Now, nearly 1,000 of them — including the world-renowned Peggy’s Cove lighthouse in Nova Scotia — are in danger of disappearing off the map.

The federal government placed the lighthouses on its surplus list nearly two years ago, saying many of them could be replaced with simpler structures that are less costly and easier to maintain and operate.

Ottawa has offered the surplus lighthouses to interested municipalities, community groups or individuals, but time is running out to save the historic landmarks.

Those interested in preserving a lighthouse have until the end of May to submit petitions with at least 25 signatures. The Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act allows the government to designate some lighthouses as heritage sites.

Peggy’s Cove is one of the jewels of the east coast. Before it is lost to us, or becomes a Starbucks location, let’s all do what we can to save this piece of Canadian history. You can either join me by contacting Ottawa with a signature to save Peggy’s Cove, or you can leave your name and thoughts below in the comment box. I’ll be sure to forward everything you wish to share directly to the government.

Southern Biscuits

Many of our readers my not know this, but Eastern Canada’s Acadians have a lot in common with our American cousins, especially in the southern part of the USA.

The Acadians began as a group of (primarily French) settlers in 17th century Canada. Over the years, they have been subjected to numerous hardships that usually result in the disappearance or assimilation of a culture. The Acadians were able to retain large portions of their identity, even after their homeland was taken and they were exiled. Although some were later incorporated into other cultures and societies, their heritage is still evident in the lives of their descendants.

The Acadians as they settled a new land and created their own culture. The next major chapter in Acadian history is the Grand Derangement … when the Acadians were stripped of their land and exiled. Following this tragic dispersion, the Acadians found themselves in new lands. Although scattered, there still remained large numbers of Acadians in two places. Those who escaped (and returned) to Canada developed their own Acadian culture (in Canada) in several areas. The other major group of Acadians found themselves in Louisiana and became today’s Cajuns.

With that in mind it seems only reasonable to share possibly one of my favourite recipes as sung by a favourite artist of mine, a fellow named Seasick Steve from Mississippi USA.

Not only are southern fried biscuits distinctly southern American, but they also have their roots to here in Canada.

Also, when was the last time you’ve ever heard a recipe sound this down home good?

That’s right…never. Listen to the song for the recipe

Thanks Steve.

Why Fox Hollow Magazine?

For those of you have read, followed and ‘liked’ any of our Fox Hollow Magazine articles so far, we want to say a robust east coast Canada thank you. Frankly in just a very short time the readership has exploded and has exceeded all expectations.

The truth of its origin is that we started it as a wing of our rental home in Fox Hollow New Brunswick. We figured that it would be a handy tool for our guests to use while they stayed in Fox Hollow to use as a resource to find great activities, tourism spots, down home recipes and daily road trip suggestions to check out while they were here, or thinking about visiting New Brunswick. It came to be because although as many of you have already read, there is a wealth of amazing things about New Brunswick to experience, but as we searched for them online, we never found one true page that boiled them all down into one online destination for visitors to easily find and explore.

Our ongoing goal for Fox Hollow Magazine is to continue to grow and add more articles as a lifestyle resource destination for our readers. Due to the overwhelming support and interest in it, we have dedicated ourselves to bringing you the very best of not only the popular attractions the east coast has to offer, but also the many hidden gems. We do all of this because we want to share with as many people as possible this incredible place where we have built a home from the ground up where we are going to live out the rest of our lives.

With that in mind we recently had an idea.

Now that spring is upon us we’ve decided to offer a discounted rate on our home for weekly vacation rental for our readers as a thank you for the continued support.

What we are doing is this. If you were to refer to our About Fox Hollow page on this blog, or go directly to the Fox Hollow website you will find a complete glossary of information on our home and usual rates.

We’re putting this out for our readers to enjoy a discount between now and June 15th and after Labour Day of this year.

If you’re interested in further booking information please feel free to contact us at floormancan@sympatico.ca and be sure to mention that you are a reader of the blog.

Again, we just want to very sincerely say that to all of our readers we’ll continue to do our very best for you. We’re glad you like it and please look forward to the next article. As a bit of a spoiler alert, it’s probably the best St Patricks Day recipe and meal that you will find.

Cheers!

Lobster Salad with Metaxa Brandy

If you’re anything like me, then you woke up this morning of March 11 2012 and wondered if the recent solar storm had played havoc with all of the clocks. My lap top said one thing, my stove said another and the time on my cell phone disagreed with them all.

It took a couple of cups of strong black Americano before I realized that I didn’t have to spend my Sunday preparing for the end of mankind due to all technology on earth being wiped out, because daylight saving time had arrived and that can mean only one thing: Spring is here!

Okay so actually it means two things. Spring has sprung and therefore that also means that now it’s time to start thinking about lovely fresh spring and summer food.

Since Maritime lobster is pretty much a staple of any great dining experience you’ll ever have in a life time, here is one of my favorites. I forget where exactly I found it, but it’s a perfect spring and summer meal that you can easily enjoy at home, or toss into the boot of your car and have for a picnic while you are out exploring some of the east coast scenery.

Lobster Salad with Metaxa Brandy

Ingredients
One 3 to 4 pound lobster, preferably female
1 bottle of white wine
1 onion
1 rib of celery
sea salt, for boiling the lobster
1 head endive, coarsely chopped
5 spring onions, finely chopped
1 small head radicchio, the heart only, finely chopped
2 baby fennel, finely chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
4 sprigs dill, for garnish
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (75 ml)
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (45 ml)
5 tablespoons Metaxa brandy (7 stars) (75 ml)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (2 ml)
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt, preferably fleur de sel (10 ml)
1 cup red wine vinegar (250 ml)

Directions
Lobster Salad with Metaxa Brandy
Place lobster in large bowl or pot and pour over the wine. Let the lobster get drunk. Alternatively, just add wine for some of the water in the cooking liquid for the lobster.
Fill a large stockpot, ¾ full of water. Make sure to have a fitted lid to the pot ready. Add onion, celery and season generously with salt. Bring to a boil. Add the lobster, head first, to boiling water, cover pot immediately with lid and boil for 5 minutes. Remove lid, pour vinegar and cook for another 5 minutes.
Remove lobster from stockpot. Let lobster cool slightly so easy to handle. With a large, sharp knife, carefully split lobster tale lengthwise and crack the claws. Try to keep the lobster shells as intact as possible and reserve shells for garnishing, if desired.
Under the broiler or on a hot grill cook the lobster for another 5 minutes. Let cool slightly so easy to handle. Remove lobster meat from shell. Slice tail into bite size pieces. Chop the claw meat. Transfer lobster pieces to a large bowl.
Add the endive, spring onions, small radicchio, fennel and dill to the lobster. Toss gently. Finish with olive oil, lemon juice and Metaxa Brandy. Season with fleur de sel and white pepper. Place it in the middle of a serving platter, garnishing with the lobster half shells and dill sprigs.

Serve warm to room temperature.

New Brunswick Wine and Vineyards

As we continue to share and explore some of the east coast treasures that we here at Fox Hollow Magazine enjoy, it seems that it would be very incomplete without a nod to the romance and refinement or New Brunswick wines and vineyards.

Hopefully you enjoyed our article about the many great east coast breweries that you can explore during your stay with us, but if wine is more suitable to your palate or you’re in the mood for a change then here are several great tips for the wine lover and food lover.

For the past 21 years New Brunswick has hosted the World Wine & Food Expo. It is a multi-day event where you can sample some of the best wines from not only Atlantic Canada, but from around the world. There are also celebrity chefs from The Food Network that you can meet as well as Grand Tasting sessions.

My personal favorite part of the expo is not only the amazing sensory overload that any foodie and wine lover will enjoy, but their commitment to charity as well. According to their website they are very involved with The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and specifically a program called El Sistema and you can see them perform for the BBC on YouTube here. It truly is an amazing story and unbelievably great story about these wonderfully talented kids.

In case you aren’t visiting us Fox Hollow during the time of the World Wine & Food Expo, but still want to try some of our popular New Brunswick wines then you may also want to try a wine tour while you’re here. You will find some of the best cottage wineries in all of Canada that are also nestled in some of the most scenic and beautiful countryside the easy coast has to offer. You can make either make a day of it by contacting any of the wineries of your choosing, or you might even decide to do a road trip while you’re visiting and visit them all. Not all of these vineyards have websites, but here is a list of some of our favorites along with contact information:

Belleisle Vineyards

Springfield Kings Co, NB, Canada
(506) 485-8846
New Brunswick
Description: This is the newest winery in the province which opened on Oct 3 2003. Under the trade name of Gillis of Belleisle Wineyard & Winery, the winery is managed by Carey Gillis and operated by her parents Rod and Judy Gillis. It is located on a hill overlooking the Belleisle Valley, a very beautiful part of the lower Saint John river watershed. Built with old world charm the winery also has a reception hall. They are concentrating on growing 3 grape varieties, plus an assortment of other fruit. They currently have two wines in production.

Ferme Bourgeois Farms

Memramcook, NB, Canada
(506) 750-2325
New Brunswick
Description: Located in Pré-d’en-Haut, just outside Moncton, New Brunswick, Belliveau Orchards and Bourgeois Farms invite you to discover the region it has called home since 1932. We invite you to visit our wine cellar and enjoy the fruits of our labour. We are open year round but suggest you call ahead for store hours.

Gagetown Cider Company

Gagetown, NB, Canada
(506) 488-2147
New Brunswick
Description: Nestled into the bank of a bend in the Saint John River, Gagetown Cider Company is a branch of Stirling Farms, NB, owned by Blair and Brenda Stirling. Blair is a 3 rd generation fruit grower, whose family owns the large Stirling Farms operation in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Blair came to New Brunswick in 1976 to run the operation in Gagetown and married Brenda, a Fredericton native. They retail 15 different products including a unique apple “iced” wine, all available at their retail store on the farm site.

La Ferme Maury
[Winery info]
Saint-Edouard-De-Kent, NB, Canada
(506) 743-5347
New Brunswick
Description: Serge Maury is New Brunswick’s first true commercial grape winemaker. His fruit farm and vineyards are located in a sheltered microclimate just off the Northumberland Strait and close to the Bouctouche Dunes Ecological Preserve. Serge is originally from Paris, France, and 9 years ago he and his wife Denise Boucher purchased the dairy farm that is now their home. Serge planted his first vines in 1996; created his first wines in cooperation with Winegarden Estate; and has been selling his wines since April 2000. Cuvée St.- Édouard is his premier dry red wine, but they have 4 other fruit wines. La Ferme Maury was the first cooperative cottage winery in New Brunswick. The family also runs a thriving campground onsite
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Tierney Point Winery

Pennfield, NB, Canada
(506) 755-6942
New Brunswick
Description: Located between Saint John and St. Stephen, Hawkins Farms was started by Rupert Hawkins in 1932. Since then Rupert's son, Ken Hawkins, and Ken's sons Doug and Russ, have built one of New Brunswick's major fruit enterprises specializing in blueberry and cranberry production. The 4th generation of the Hawkins' family are now in the business. Ken and Hugh, Doug's sons, are working on the farm and Ken and his wife Serri opened a fruit winery in July 2001. They have created 4 blueberry and cranberry fruit wines, and a special ‘strawberry-rhubarb" wine. Call 506-755-6942 for store hours.

Tuddenham Farms

St Stephen, NB, Canada
(506) 466-1840
New Brunswick
Description: Oak Bay is less than 10kms from St. Stephen and Fred and Janet Tuddenham, sons Todd and Troy, and daughter Tanis, operate a large blueberry and Christmas tree farm just off the main highway, plus a very successful farm market in the summer. Janet's grandfather, Sanford Newell, started a blueberry business in 1923. His son Carl expanded the business and Janet, Carl's daughter, has carried on the family involvement. Janet had always made blueberry wine, and in July of 2001, her hobby became a cottage winery operated by her son Todd.

Winegarden Estate

Baie Verte, NB, Canada
(506) 538-7405
New Brunswick
Description: Underlying many of the cottage wines produced in New Brunswick is the talent and expertise of Werner and Roswitha Rosswog of Baie Verte, outside Port Elgin. Together with their daughters Elke and Christina and son Steffan they opened Rosswog Farm Distillery in May of 1992. When the cottage winery program came into being in 1999, the Rosswog family worked cooperatively with Gagetown Cider to produce the first apple wines. They have also been essential to the success of Ferme Maury, Tierney Point Winery and Tuddenham Farms. In 1998, Rosswog Farm was incorporated as Winegarden Estate Ltd. and in 2002 they celebrated their 10th anniversary and grand opening of their new farm shop and warehouse. They carry a selection of over 50 wines and liqueurs.

What’s On Tap

“He was a wise man who invented beer.”
~Plato

Beer is one of the world’s oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9500 BC, when cereal was first farmed, and is recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Archaeologists speculate that beer was instrumental in the formation of civilisations. It is also the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, and the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea.

It’s also really tasty.

Now that the history lesson is over, I think we should all celebrate our new-found knowledge with a pint of some of east coast Canada’s best beer.

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”
~Benjamin Franklin

If you are somebody who enjoys beer, then you will find that New Brunswick and indeed the whole east coast of Canada takes their beer very seriously. And by seriously I mean that it’s a lot of fun.

Most Canadians and many American visitors are already at least aware of our two major breweries. There is Alexander Kieth’s which is located in Nova Scotia, and New Brunswicks own Moosehead beer.

Alexander Keith’s brewery founded in 1820 in Halifax, Nova Scotia making it one of the oldest commercial breweries in all of North America. It was founded by Alexander Keith who emigrated from Scotland in 1817 and was mayor of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a Conservative member of the provincial legislature. In April 2011, Alexander Keith’s began selling beer in the United States after nearly two centuries of being available in Canada alone.

Moosehead is Canada’s oldest independent brewery, located in Saint John, New Brunswick. The brewery was founded in 1867 by Susannah Oland and is still operated by the Oland family today.

“I would give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety.”
~Shakespeare to Henry V

It’s not just the breweries themselves that are here for the beer lovers to enjoy either. We also have a yearly beer the Atlantic Beer Festival in Moncton New Brunswick where 50 breweries from Canada and beyond will offer samples of over 120 beers. Come and taste beers from many countries and regions, including our own Atlantic producers.

Both micro-breweries and commercial breweries will present beer samples and entertainment but the emphasis is independant, family-owned breweries. Beers will come from the Maritimes, Ontario, Quebec, USA, Germany.

“From man’s sweat and God’s love, beer came into the world.”
~Saint Arnold of Metz, The patron Saint of Brewers

So there you have it. If you are staying as a guest at our Fox Hollow vacation home, or visiting the east coast and are looking to try out a few of our regional beers then have we got you covered. There is something for everyone here from the person who enjoys a beer with some beautifully fresh New Brunswick seafood all the way to people who want to stop in and enjoy some of our Maritimes beers and brew pubs

Canadian Pie

It’s a well-known fact that most people of the people who have ever visited Canada are convinced that we’re all obsessed with maple syrup.

They think that every Canadian person everywhere who has ever lived spends the entire year tobogganing down hills while clutching our pails in search of the goopy sugary stuff, while only taking the occasional break so that we can watch hockey and make a vastly superior beer.

Naturally none of this is true, at least the part about the maple syrup. It is however an easy assumption for visitors to make though. It’s everywhere in Canada. As the saying goes, it literally grows on, or more accurately in trees. Since all you really need is a fire a spigot, a bucket and a few other things and a person can make it all on their own, it’s pretty easy to understand why we have so much of it here. It’s also fairly safe to assume that because we are the worlds thirds largest producer of maple syrup that we have a few really great ways to use it in delicious recipes, and here’s a great one:

Here is also a recipe for Maple Syrup Pie:

INGREDIENTS
Pastry dough, (your favourite receipe or frozen)
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup pure maple syrup (preferably dark amber)
2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
PREPERATION:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll out dough into an 11-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin and fit into an 8-inch (3-cup) glass pie plate. Trim excess dough and crimp edges decoratively.

Whisk together brown sugar and eggs until creamy. Add cream, syrup, and butter, then whisk until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell.

Bake pie in lower third of oven until pastry is golden and filling is puffed and looks dry but still trembles, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool on a rack to room temperature (filling will set as pie cools).

Cooks’ note:• If you don’t have an 8-inch pie plate, substitute a 9-inch tart pan and prebake crust before baking with fillin

Accompaniment:crème fraîche or unsweetened whipped cream

Annabel’s Acadian Meat Pie

Here is a great down home artery clogger!! It is as simple as it is to make the aroma and taste you never forget. Still very popular all through Atlantic Canada, and yet made with ingredients that you can find all across Canada. A perfect taste of the east coast that goes great with a cold New Brunswick Moosehead beer.

6 slices of bacon
1 lb. lean ground pork
1/2 lb. lean ground veal
1 small onion chopped fine
1/2 cup boiling water
1 clove of minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon sage
pinch of cloves
1 cup mashed potatoes

Begin by cutting the bacon into small bits and cook. Add other meats and onion and cook until brown. Add water and spices. Simmer for 45 min. Remove from heat and blend in mashed potatoes to meat, and cool dish for one hour. Prepare enough pie pastry for 2, 8 inch pie crusts. Place pastry in bottom of pie pan. Add ingredients. Place pie crust on top and flutt the edges. Brush on egg whites and place in oven at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, and then lower to 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Nom Nom Nom Nom

One of life’s cruel jokes is that as I write this piece about east coast seafood, the mecca of all that is fishing and beautiful dining I am nowhere near any of it. In fact, as of the writing of this blog I am sitting in Toronto Canada staring at some menu selections and looking at pictures of fresh lobster with my mouth-watering and me thinking of every possible way to be on a plane within the hour so I can make it there in time for lunch.

Actually, as I sit here this morning in this large city I have just about every reason on earth to want to get out of here and enjoy some time on the east coast. It’s loud, it’s crowded and almost everyone I have seen today has a bad case of the February blues all over their face. Mostly though when I really think about it, I’m really very hungry.

Fishing is one of the region’s major industries so naturally you can go anywhere for an excellent meal at a restaurant, or to visit a local shop to buy some to prepare at home. You will find clams, mussels, salmon, haddock, halibut, shrimp and perhaps the most popular – scallops and lobster.

Bay of Fundy lobster is considered by many to be the best-tasting lobster in the world. The Bay’s cold waters contribute to the quality of the meat, while the lobster’s Fundy diet gives the meat its special flavour Here are a few suggestions of places for you to check out for excellent Fundy seafood:

St. Andrews, New Brunswick

Restaurants: Harbourfront Restaurant, The Gables, Europa
Enroute from St. Andrews to Saint John

Smoke Salmon: Follow the signs off the highway to Oven Head Salmon Smokers or Wolfhead Salmon Smokers.
Take away: Ossie’s Take-out
Sit-in: Comeau’s Restaurnat
Saint John, New Brunswick

Restaurants: Billy’s Seafood, Grannan’s Seafood, Steamer’s Lobster Company
Take away: Lord’s Lobster
Fresh seafood: Billy’s Seafood, Lord’s Lobster
St. Martins, New Brunswick

Restaurants: Cave View Restaurant, Seaside Restaurant, Tidal Watch Inn
Alma, New Brunswick

Take away: Fundy Takeout
Fresh seafood: Butland’s Seafood
Moncton, New Brunswick

Restaurants: Catch 22 Lobster Bar, Fisherman’s Paradise
Fresh seafood: Moncton Fish Market
Halls Harbour, Nova Scotia

Lobster in the Rough – Halls Harbour Lobster Pound & Restaurant
Digby, Nova Scotia

Restaurants: The Fundy Restaurant, Captain’s Cabin, Shoreline Restaurant

You know, after looking at the website for Fundy Lobster I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out. I think I need to call a travel agent and book a flight back to Fundy immediately. I’m only going to pack my camera and a knife and a fork because I’ve got some serious eating to do today.

A whale of a picture

“Wow.”

You hear that word a lot here.

Simply put, this place is a photographers personal heaven so rather than trying to explain it, here is why:

See what we mean?

Taking a trip (or trips) while your here to do some photography is a great way to see the bay and all of the riches it has to offer. It’s not only an excellent reason to come visit us, but you’ll be taking home some astounding images to post on your own blog, or share with your friends on Facebook.

Here are a few suggestions from The Bay of Fundy website for places to check out with your camera

Sunset over the Algonquin Resort in St. Andrews, NB
Fishing weirs among the Fundy Isles, NB
Roosevelt’s Cottage on Campobello Island, NB
High, low and slack tide at Reversing Rapids in Saint John, NB
Historic Trinity Royal Preservation area in Saint John, NB
Twin covered bridges in St. Martins, NB
Fall Foliage on the Fundy Trail, NB
Dickson Falls in Fundy National Park, NB
Towering sea cliff near Parrsboro, NS
The gardens surrounding Grand Pre National Historic Site in NS
Cape Split in Nova Scotia
Apple Blossoms in Kentville, NS
Historic Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal, NS
Scallop fleet in Digby, NS
Balancing Rock in Tiverton, NS

Now tell us that some pictures of your own won’t look great on your Pintrest page.