Oceanside Wild

11/22/2025

🧡Thanksgiving Grace ~
Lately, I’m having difficulty approaching Thanksgiving with grace. Struggling with the state of our union before we even sit for dinner. So, I attempt to move beyond political battlefields and remember that food can be a healing medicine. I think of my Irish grandmother, who wanted only a wreath of bittersweet at her graveside—“because like life and history, it is both bitter and sweet.” She was also quick to remind us: never forget the sweet. Certainly, this holiday has roots that offer both sweet and bitter cues for reflection. As bittersweet as life can be, I still hold Thanksgiving as a persistent challenge to reach across the table, a reminder to celebrate the sweet. I want to relish life, to learn from history, to remember the millions of deeds that come from love, not hate, and the ordinary acts that bring us together over tables.
Life can be easier when we offer up an appreciative hug, a kind word, a genuine olive branch. Not humble pie, but local parsnips, cider, cheese, and beer. A jar of garden preserves, an old family recipe for cornbread. I’m slowly learning that the stewardship of shared habitat is perhaps best learned communally around a potluck table. Snapping beans in good company. Peeling squash in a stream of sunlight. There is healing that comes from cooking together. Deep nourishment that comes from forging solutions around to the table. Day-to-day living that provides common ground for the seeds of our shared future.
So add an extra leaf to the table. Keep the tradition of breaking bread with the stranger, reserve a place for that relative you struggle, lately, to welcome wholeheartedly. We are all products of our times, and our aunt’s Brussels sprouts. Remember that collards rock. Find the thread. Revisit meaningful recipes, scratch bake in good company, teach a child to knit, make apple butter together. Slather it on. Cut open another pumpkin and sort seeds to roast, and seeds to plant.
Try to grow beyond the familial thicket and graft onto better root stock, when you can. Gathering around groaning tables, we can let veggies and love be the things we serve up in excess. As we peel, chop, and roast, we add ourselves to the mix of countless generations that have pondered, over pumpkin pie, how to grow a better squash and advance civilization. Clasp hands or knead dough, and get back to the earnest work of living. There is still time to plant next year’s garlic, fill our cupboards, share some cordials with kindred spirits, and replenish ourselves for the cold season ahead...
'Thanksgiving Grace' from my book "The Heirloom Gardener - Traditional Plants and Skills for the Modern World" (hardcover or audio) https://www.amazon.com/Heirloom-Gardener-Traditional-Plants-Skills/dp/1604699930/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18IE9KRVYB2L&keywords=john%20forti%20heirloom%20gardener%20book&qid=1637012192&qsid=142-2534266-1903157&sprefix=john%20Forti%2Caps%2C304&sr=8-1&sres=1604699930%2C1635650836%2C0486429784%2C1452145768%2C0760368724%2C1641525096%2CB097L1DXL7%2C076035992X%2CB08W7DMWZ3%2C1571988459%2C1525804618%2C1401324398%2C0988474913%2C1603442138%2C1616895543%2C1603421386&srpt=ABIS_BOOK&fbclid=IwAR1LE0j6IgQv14as_nuKKdx1tt2Nxij6Szwuktt6EmPML-nt4F0c5v4exrc
Thanksgiving Dinner from "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (1970) by Roald Dahl, 🌞illustrated by Donald Chaffin

09/22/2025

Happy Autumn Equinox!
"Solstices and equinoxes mark the four movements in a celestial score. The older I get, the more I aspire to tap into the symphonic song of nature. To harmonize with the flow of seasons, the cycles in our landscapes, and the larger universe...
The autumnal equinox falls between 21 and 24 September, as the Sun heads southward, crossing the celestial equator. In Celtic tradition, this equinox was celebrated as Mabon, which featured the building of an altar laden with harvest fruits and vegetables—an offering to the goddess or mother earth and a cue for people to count their blessings. In the Old and New World, harvest season and cooler temperatures typically led to more foraging, butchering, and baking. Late-harvest grains were made into seasonal breads, cakes, and beer; nuts and late-season fruits were turned into pies, cider, and brandy. Harvest festivals brought people together around a common table to celebrate the abundance of the season, the landscapes they shared, and community.
Gardeners and farmers are perhaps tied to these cycles as much as any of us can be, living in the modern world. And as a gardener still crafting a life and livelihood from the land, I am touched and heartened by our human impulse to mark the seasons together with earthly and celestial rites and rituals that help us celebrate our circles around the Sun.
*(from an essay on seasonality in my "Heirloom Gardener" book) available at your local bookstore or here https://www.amazon.com/dp/1604699930/?bestFormat=true&k=the%20heirloom%20gardener&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-pd-bk-d_k2_1_12_de&crid=VU677TG0LURN&sprefix=the%20heirloom !

09/07/2025

💡Did you know? Just five giant corporations control 80% of the grocery industry in Canada.

This creates a massive bottleneck in our food system, where the interests of farmers and consumers often come second to corporate profits.

But there is a powerful, community-oriented alternative.

The Cape Breton Food Hub is more than a store; it’s a network. We replace the bottleneck with a direct connection between you and over 60 local producers. We are a system built on relationships, not boardrooms, and we are accountable to our community.

Every dollar you spend is a vote for the kind of food system you want. You can choose to reject corporate greed and instead, invest directly in Cape Breton farmers. Shop the Hub Online or In-store.

08/12/2025

We know this stretch of drought is weighing heavy on a lot of folks. For many, it’s not just inconvenient—it’s scary.

Feed and water are already becoming a worry on many farms, and the questions about what comes next are getting louder.

While we wish we had something to say that could change the weather, what we can say is this: if you’re feeling stretched thin, distracted, short-tempered, or overwhelmed, you're not the only one. These are real and valid responses to a tough situation.

You don’t have to bottle it up or power through on your own.

💬 Talk to someone you trust. Even just saying “it’s rough right now” can ease the weight.

🤝 Check in on your neighbours. None of us are in this alone.

📞 If you would like to access expert advice, there’s also professional support out there, and it’s okay to reach for it.

(Farm Family Support Line: 1-833-754-3692)

07/27/2025

Oceanside Wild infused sea salts now available online and in-store - cayenne, dill, garlic scape, herbes de provence, kombu, Mediterranean, mesquite, rosemary, sugar kelp.

It's the perfect weekend to plan your meals and stock up on local goodness!

Our online store is open and stocked with incredible products from over 60 Cape Breton producers.

Whether you're looking for fresh greens for a salad, pasture-raised meat for the BBQ, or freshly baked bread, you can find it all in one place.

The ordering window is open now, but it closes Monday at 7 PM sharp! Get your order in this weekend to ensure you don't miss out on the freshest food for the week ahead.

Ready to shop? Visit: https://loom.ly/-os3Euo

07/21/2025

On this rainy day, sugar kelp and kombu are freshly harvested. Here is the frilly sugar kelp, rinsed and ready to dry. It dries a beautiful deep green. Packed with mineral nutrition it makes a lovely 'sea-soning' for chowders, soups and broths.
From Friday we will have packs of dried strips of each for sale through Pan Cape Breton Food Hub Co-op, online and in-store.

07/19/2025

Here at the Hub, we love locally grown and made products; we find the food tastes better, it is better for the environment, and it is a hub for community. We are really lucky to have amazing producers from all over the Island use the Hub to connect communities with their products - we love them all!
As the growing season draws closer, we want to introduce our community of Producers to you, so you can love local as much as us!
Each week, we will share a producer (or two!) that is offering items through the Hub. See what they have to offer, try some of their products, and get to know This Week’s Local - Oceanside Wild Fine Foods!

07/13/2025

At Oceanside Wild we are a designated ARK. This means that we practise Acts of Restorative Kindness.
To find out more about this wonderful international initiative, visit www.wearetheark.org.

Here at Oceanside Wild on the rugged Atlantic coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Summer is finally here after our long cool, foggy and windy Spring wait. The ocean temperature is still only 14 degrees C but soon we will be swimming in the sea. Bruno has a leap on us, dipping in the bullfrog-filled pond, the spring peepers having ceased their symphony.
We have left the extensive oceanside habitat around us purposely wild, mowing the grass around the house only once every two years for the wildflowers to regenerate. Bald eagles, gulls, crows vie over territory and the flotillas of ducks and Canada geese are now fledging their young, ready for an enchanting life in the pond, along the seashore and on the wing, foraging for bugs, small fish, seaweed and other wild plant food. The pollinators feed on the over fifty types of native wildflower counted. As butterfly ranger for the David Suzuki Foundation, we are part of Louisbourg Butterfly Pathway, providing foraging habitat for our precious butterflies, bees, and countless other pollinators.