Lest you think we haven’t been working on the house, an update… Our crew finished the dry wall last week and the professional plasterers have been in
mudding the walls, putting the final coat on Tuesday morning. We did take Monday afternoon off because it rained and we
couldn’t do anything inside the house until the plastering was completed. A sunny Tuesday saw us back at work priming and painting the doors and all the woodwork before it is installed. Many hands make fast work. Lack of running water makes for messy hands – hence no photos to share.
Instead I’ll share a couple of photos/tidbits about some of the women on PEI. On the northwestern coast is the little village of
Miminegash. Folks earn a living by farming, fishing and harvesting Irish moss from the sea with big work horses. The video we saw of the harvest makes you appreciate what hard, cold, wet & dangerous work it is. By the way, Irish moss is used to make
carrageenan, a natural gel used as a thickener in everything from ice cream to toothpaste. Until recently they provided about a third of the worldwide demand. Then another plant was discovered in the Pacific that did the same thing and was easily farmed. Suddenly, this income stream is rapidly disappearing. To help, the women of the community formed a cooperative and opened The Seaweed Pie (sort of a sponge cake with a gelatin topping)
Café and added a room telling Irish Moss. Now they’re also looking at developing their own products using the Irish Moss – their lotion is GREAT! And so is their food! Unfortunately, this year has added another obstacle – increased gas prices and lack of much else in that part of PEI other than a pretty coastal drive has meant a marked decrease in tourist business. We did our bit.
PEI raises some of the best oysters in the world (10 million) and while it’s not an “r” month, you can still buy them locally. The best we’
ve had so far were in Stanley Bridge at a restaurant owned by one of the oyster “farmers”. And just up the road from there is the Sterling Women’s Institute Community Hall that hosts ceilidhs (pronounced k-lee – my theory is if you’re the first person to spell a word, then the spelling is right; otherwise how could you possibly get that pronunciation from that spelling?!). Anyway, ceilidhs are local music nights and the women at this institute host 5 a week during the summer. The Ross Family performed the night we went - terrific bluegrass. Now for the women… There are 100 chapters of the Sterling Women’s Institute across the island (the institute was founded in Ontario over 100 years ago). Thirty-five years ago the government asked them to “clean up” the island. As the women said, if you want something done right, they’re the people to ask. They’
ve done a GREAT job too! We have yet to pass any place where there’s junk in the yard – everyplace is well cared for and tended. Way to go PEI women!!!
Instead I’ll share a couple of photos/tidbits about some of the women on PEI. On the northwestern coast is the little village of Miminegash. Folks earn a living by farming, fishing and harvesting Irish moss from the sea with big work horses. The video we saw of the harvest makes you appreciate what hard, cold, wet & dangerous work it is. By the way, Irish moss is used to make carrageenan, a natural gel used as a thickener in everything from ice cream to toothpaste. Until recently they provided about a third of the worldwide demand. Then another plant was discovered in the Pacific that did the same thing and was easily farmed. Suddenly, this income stream is rapidly disappearing. To help, the women of the community formed a cooperative and opened The Seaweed Pie (sort of a sponge cake with a gelatin topping) Café and added a room telling Irish Moss. Now they’re also looking at developing their own products using the Irish Moss – their lotion is GREAT! And so is their food! Unfortunately, this year has added another obstacle – increased gas prices and lack of much else in that part of PEI other than a pretty coastal drive has meant a marked decrease in tourist business. We did our bit.
PEI raises some of the best oysters in the world (10 million) and while it’s not an “r” month, you can still buy them locally. The best we’ve had so far were in Stanley Bridge at a restaurant owned by one of the oyster “farmers”. And just up the road from there is the Sterling Women’s Institute Community Hall that hosts ceilidhs (pronounced k-lee – my theory is if you’re the first person to spell a word, then the spelling is right; otherwise how could you possibly get that pronunciation from that spelling?!). Anyway, ceilidhs are local music nights and the women at this institute host 5 a week during the summer. The Ross Family performed the night we went - terrific bluegrass. Now for the women… There are 100 chapters of the Sterling Women’s Institute across the island (the institute was founded in Ontario over 100 years ago). Thirty-five years ago the government asked them to “clean up” the island. As the women said, if you want something done right, they’re the people to ask. They’ve done a GREAT job too! We have yet to pass any place where there’s junk in the yard – everyplace is well cared for and tended. Way to go PEI women!!!
