Shared Ground Amanda Bostlund

This episode is a compilation of segments of hopeful, local stories from some previous Shared Ground conversations, as well as an update about the newly formed Lichen Camp, which protects an area of old growth forest at Goldsmith Lake in Annapolis County, within the Kespukwitk District of Mi’kma’ki. 
You’ll hear wisdom and inspiration from Katherine Barrett, Shawn Feener, Teresa Quilty, Nina Newington, Rob Bright as well as several forest protectors at the Last Hope Camp. 
Following are the full episodes from which these segments originated (in order of appearance)
Inspiration from a Community Food Forest
Save Our Old Forests: A Conversation with Rob Bright
Forest Protection and Community Care with Nina Newington
Celebration and Reflection; onward to Last Hope Campaign!
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Ne'ata'q Food Forest website , facebook page
Save Our Old Forests (SOOF) website , Facebook and Instagram
hashtag #saveouroldforests
Friends of Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area on Facebook
Interview on CBC Info Morning with Nina Newington about Lichen Camp 
Some upcoming Earth Day events (2024):
April 20:
Build compost and soil from yard waste at Ne'ata'q, The Food Forest in Lunenburg
April 21: 
SOOF Soup Sunday & Earth Day Celebration in Centrelea
Citizen Science Workshop (Part 1) @ The Wooden Monkey in Halifax
Find all upcoming SOOF events here
Note from Nina regarding support for Lichen Camp and Goldsmith Lake:
We welcome campers, visitors and donations. Please email lichencamp AT...

Better with Bees is a student-run club focused on urban environmental sustainability at Charles P. Allen High School in Bedford, within the Sipekne'katik district of Mi'kma'ki.
In the words of Topsy Olatunji, a student member of Better with Bees: “Our project centers on involving the Mi'kmaw community in establishing a healing garden and a Wabanaki pollinator garden, topics I will delve into deeper in the episode. We aim to educate and cultivate environmental awareness on local bee populations and pollinators in our ecosystem.”
And from teacher Christopher Hall: “In the spring of 2022, Charles P. Allen High School (CPA) was approached by Alvéole, an urban beekeeping company, to house a beehive at the school. This beehive inspired the work that CPA’s Better With Bees does as a community change maker. Working with students we have developed a plan to not only make tangible impacts on climate change, but also to showcase a native species garden. By building a Wabanaki pollinator garden surrounding a Mi’kmaq Medicine Garden, we hope to demonstrate that gardening with native species is a beautiful urban possibility.”
Shared Ground host Amanda Bostlund was excited to speak with three of the many people involved in Better with Bees during Helping Nature Heal's 18th Seedy Saturday event in Bridgewater this February. Here's a bit about them, in order of appearance.
Topsy Olatunji is a proud member of The Better with Bees club at Charles P. Allen High School. As a member of both the media team and website subcommittee, she is consistently engrossed in their mission to promote sustainability within the urban environment.
Christopher Hall has been on staff at Charles P. Allen High School for 19 of his 26 years of teaching. Using both the academic setting and extracurricular activities, he is able to encourage students to draw on their strengths in the pursuit of meaningful goals.
Khaled Al-Sakkaf is a Grade 12 IB student who is deeply invested in the intersection of environmental sustainability. Currently, on Fridays, he devotes his time and skills to the Better with Bees Meadow Project, serving on the technology and data team. Through his involvement, he aims to harness his skills to drive positive change and sustainability initiatives. His commitment to volunteering reflects his belief in the power of innovation to address environmental challenges and create a better future for our planet.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Better with Bees website Instagram YoutubeThe United Nations Sustainable Development Goals From  Sackville Rivers: “The Legend of the Petroglyph at Bedford Basin” RE3 conference Alvéole https://www.alveole.buzz/Ne’ata’q Food Forest at the Bluenose Academy in Lunenburg  https://foodforestatbluenose.ca/Cortado Tasting Room  on FacebookThe She Shed
Other Shared Ground episodes mentioned:...

In this conversation with Josh of South Spore Mushrooms, we hear more about his mushroom-growing adventures, both indoors and outdoors, as well as a bit about mushroom hunting, and his favourite ways to cook mushrooms.
Josh Clark began building the business of South Spore Mushrooms two years ago. He also works off-shore as a chef, and plays in the Celtic punk band, Black Matilda. He and his wife and their three kids (who sometimes help with South Spore Mushrooms!) live in Blockhouse, Nova Scotia.
To hear more about South Spore Mushrooms, check out the previous episode (#23), of an interview from CVCR.
Find the South Spore Facebook page here
EPISODE RESOURES:
Fantastic Fungi documentary 
Paul Stamets 
What The Fungus Mushrooms
Local mushroom producers mentioned:
Feeney’s Fungi  
Fancy’s Fungi (vends at the Bridgewater market)
Josh’s favourite ways to cooks mushrooms:
Sautee with shallots and butter (or olive oil or butter+tallow) and
a) with caraway, raw honey and salt OR b) with garlic and sherry
Supplies and equipment mentioned:
Autoclave, Unicorn grow bags, laminar flow hood, Martha tent
~ To support Shared Ground -- Thank you!! ~

Hear how South Spore Mushrooms (based on the South Shore) began, including the entertaining story of how Josh Clark found the equipment he got started with, and why he and his family wanted to get into this exciting adventure of growing mushrooms. Currently they are producing various species of mushroom indoors. Josh shares some of his challenges, considerations and experiments, as well as how he is incorporating the value of environmental sustainability, into his business. 
Josh Clark began building the business of South Spore Mushrooms two years ago. He also works off-shore as a chef, and plays in the Celtic punk band, Black Matilda. He and his wife and their three kids (who sometimes help with South Spore Mushrooms!) live in Blockhouse, Nova Scotia.
The main interview of this episode is from Coastal Villages Community Radio (CVCR) show “On These Shores” with host Sarah Tingley, recorded live on May 20th, 2023.
Find the South Spore Facebook page here
You may also like to check out the next episode (#24) where Amanda gets an update on Josh’s interesting endeavours and learns more about his plans for outdoor cultivation.

This episode is a compilation of short segments of some previous Shared Ground conversations!
It includes wisdom and inspiration from Shawn Feener, Nina Newington, Diane Obed, Rosmarie Lohnes, Rob Bright, Kim Thomson, Dr. Jenn MacLatchy, and Bob Bancroft 
Following are the full episodes from which these segments originated (in order of appearance)
Meeting Mi'kmaw Knowledge Holder Shawn Feener
A 3-pronged approach to sustainability with Rosmarie Lohnes
Forest Protection and Community Care with Nina Newington
Save Our Old Forests: A Conversation with Rob Bright
Managing for Healthy Forests with Bob Bancroft
Decolonization and Healing with Diane Obed
The Sky Pillar, A Bridge to the Night

A carbon-sequestering art and research installation, the Sky Pillar at the Deanery Project was designed with architecture students from Dalhousie University. As Executive Director Kim Thompson puts it, the Sky Pillar is "a bridge to the night", and was created as an anchor to the Deanery’s annual SeaLight SkyLight festival. Kim says, “We’re trying to get people outdoors, connecting with nature, at night, which isn’t something we always do in our century”.
Listen to this conversation with Kim Thompson and Dr. Jenn MacLatchy as they talk about how the Sky Pillar came to be and how it brings together art and science, land and sky.
This installation sparks an interest and understanding in night time wonders and gives an interesting angle from which to view our place in space, to think about navigation, and to connect to the seasons.
Tune in also to discover the relationship of the Sky Pillar to bioluminescence, Japanese Knotweed, and biochar! 
(And a bonus: a luminescent fungi chat.)
The Deanery Project is nestled in a forested, sheltered cove of the Atlantic Ocean. It is an environmental arts and education centre that hosts many intriguing buildings, workshops, projects, and art installations. It is located in Lower Ship Harbour, on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore of Mi'kma'ki. Visitors and students come here to experience creative natural building techniques, to learn about permaculture, to help out on the land, discover community, practice citizen science, collaborate on an art installation, and/or to join a group for one of the wide-ranging programs. Here, one can find everything from a solar wood kiln to to retreat facilities. In response to the challenges of our times, the Deanery is also a convening space and living laboratory; for research and for building capacity for communities.
Kim Thompson is Executive Director of the Deanery Project. She imparts her love for learning, art, social justice and sustainability into everything she does and is passionate about nature, family, natural building, art, traditional skills and community. An adjunct instructor with the School of Architecture since 1998, Kim is deeply committed to creating experiential, educational opportunities for pre and post secondary students at the Deanery, and welcomes anyone interested to learn and become involved with the variety of things going on there.
Dr. Jenn MacLatchy (she/they), is an artist, a kayak instructor, and researcher of settler descent living in Mi’kma’ki. Her doctoral research was focused on using arts-based methods to engage with waste, weeds, and wastelands to form a settler method for decolonizing relationship with land and tending to liveable post-Anthropocene futures. (Episode 16 of Shared Ground is about this)
(You may also like to check out Episode 17: An Intro to the Deanery Project)
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Find out more about the Deanery Project at
Thedeaneryproject.com
https://www.facebook.com/deaneryproject
https://www.instagram.com/deaneryproject/
Open houses are on the 1st Sunday of each month
To discuss an idea; a potential art residency, a science research project or something with youth, contact Kim at 902-845-1888 or email thedeaneryproject@gmail.com
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