last evening i returned from 3 days in jackson's arm. i'm involved in a project and will talk about that tomorrow. jackson's arm is a 2 hour drive from corner brook and situated in white bay. 20 years ago i drove there to catch the boat to harbour deep (a community that has since, sadly, been abandonned). jackson's arm i imagine is a typical small rural newfoundland community. oozing with charm. postcard pretty.
the people i met are amazingly industrious. the woodpiles are neatly stacked and ready for the coming cold. the men were out hunting for their moose. the fish drying on the lines. for hundreds of years, communities like jackson's arm were self-sufficient. gardens and livestock. wisdom for how to make or mend or cure almost anything. the knowledge (held by the oldest residents) is still there but will soon be lost. the project i'm involved in is a small step in trying to get that back.
5 comments:
Very poignant Shawn....difficult questions and equally difficult answers, I imagine. Can golden rod and a spindle be one of the answers? Fingers crossed!
bonjour shawn, j'arrive d'un voyage de 8 jours sur la côte ouest de terre-neuve, de port-aux-basques à goose cove. nous ne sommes pas allés mon mari et moi à jackson'arm, mais j'ai vu plusieurs villages confrontés aux mêmes défis: trouver des moyens de vivre dans des endroits si magnifiques après que les activités traditionnelles (qui ont mené à l'établissement des populations) aient disparues. nous avons fait un très beau voyage.
What a beautiful spot! Hopefully it will be populated for years and generations to come.
It's so sad that the old ways are slowly disappearing with the elderly people of these small villages. I don't know the answer.... the young people want to leave and have a "better" life, but what could be better than living is such a beautiful place?
I hope these kind of places can survive...posts like yours do indeed help.
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