Wild Roots

We finally managed to discuss privacy and anonymity with our hosts here at Wild Roots, and with the go ahead from them we can tell you a little bit more about where we are and what life is like here.

Wild Roots is located between Whycocomagh and Mabou, Inverness County, Cape Breton.  Short history lesson: Cape Breton was inhabited first by Mi'kmaq, while the first permanent European settlements were built by the French who named the island Ile Royale. The French also built the Fortress of Louisbourg which is one of Emily's favourite sites in the area. Ile Royale was eventually given to Britain in some treaty or another, and Irish and Scottish settlers began to arrive. The biggest immigration of Scots (50,000) occurred between 1800 and 1850 during the Highland Clearances in Scotland (basically, Scots got kicked off their land so rich people could farm more sheep).

Place names in Cape Breton are a good mix of French (Cheticamp), English (Port Hawkesbury), Mi'kmaq (Eskasoni) and Gaelic (Whycocomagh). Many of the road signs we pass indicate names of communities in both English and Gaelic, the latter of which is still the first language of some of the older generation on the island. At a potluck last night, we were able to listen to Gaelic being spoken around the table and learned that while Gaelic as a first language is dying out, there is an avid community of younger learners who are determined to keep it alive. At the high school in Mabou they even have signage in Gaelic, and when we commented on it everyone responded with pride about the strong link Cape Bretoners have to their roots. We don't think the language or the culture is going to disappear anytime soon.

This is the view from the front yard of Wild Roots (we helped stack those woodpiles, just saying). It's a gorgeous piece of land, and we promise we'll photograph it better soon. The gardens are extensive and include a good sized greenhouse, and there are four chickens who live in a swanky yellow chicken tractor. Keeping us company every day are the two cats, Buddy and Dulcie, who are like yin and yang. Buddy is a big tuxedo-patterned tomcat who purrs like a motorboat and lives for snuggling. Dulcie is a tiny mackerel tabby who is almost always hunting, whether it's flies or the small rodents she leaves on the step every morning. We hardly see Dulcie during the day but Buddy follows us everywhere, supervising our work in the garden, following us on our walks, and pushing his way between us to cuddle wherever we are sitting (or sleeping).

Buddy Big-Paws

Dulcie in her regular spot

We spend our time here helping out in the garden (e.g., digging potatoes, preparing for market, spreading hay) and entertaining Felix, Thom and Jane's 15 month old son. Saturday was one of our busier days, with potato digging in the morning, an hour and a half walk with Felix in the afternoon, then a potluck AND an open house/kitchen party in the evening. The potluck was delicious, with everyone contributing something unique and usually homegrown, including dandelion wine and rose wine. Both were new to us and a real treat :) From Wild Roots we brought a loaf of cornmeal raspberry bread and a honeydew melon. The open house we attended afterwards was for a new B&B in the area...and this being Cape Breton, everyone already knows the owner so the whole community turned up. We met a lot of new people and Moragh experienced her first ever kitchen party style music making (they even had someone on Irish flute)!

Sunday is Mabou Market day, and we loaded up the cars with vegetables and the baby and drove to the high school, where the market is held in the winter time. We're told the winter market is much smaller than it is during the summer but we were still impressed with the variety of tables and wares. We met a wooden spoon maker, a leatherworker, German bakers (we tried the soft pretzel - to die for), knitters, wool spinners, silk dyers, a man selling Garrison beer and Annapolis Valley wine, a jewelry artist, and more. There was even someone selling fancy coffee drinks, and we indulged in a pumpkin spice latte far to superior to any Starbucks we've tried. We were also gifted a CD from a duo performing live music, Andy and Ariana - they sing, beatbox, and play violin, guitar, drum and soprano sax nearly simultaneously. Worth checking out!


I'll leave you with some more pictures of the kitties...because who doesn't love kitties?

Dulcie, waiting for flies.

Buddy sat and cried in the middle of the road  because he wanted to come on our walk.