PAN newsletter AUG 2026

meganashworth
13 minutes ago
3 min read

Lots of great gatherings for learning and celebration happening this summer!

Photo is of me & PAN member Jess, enjoying manning the barbeque and earth oven last Saturday at the Deanery Project’s Sealight Skylight festival. This annual event celebrates the light of the sea (bioluminescence) and the sky (meteor showers and other celestial events) with a day of music, speakers, art, science exhibits and activities. Was a beautiful time as usual.

I have to admit that my desire to build an earth oven on my land is growing.. I see a workparty/workshop in how to build a cob oven in my little space’s future! Such an easy way to cook outdoors with no electricity.. makes great pizza!

Local Prosperity 2026 wrapped up recently in Tatamagouche. This event connected organizations and individuals who share a common interest in building community wealth and relocalization, for 4 days of keynote speakers, workshops, upskilling & live music. This is something I plan to attend next year!

Save Our Old Forest’s SOOFstock is coming up tomorrow at Beaver Creek Vineyard in Lawrencetown, NS. This family friendly day has a market, kids corner, live music, and a Forest Walk and Forest Talk with Nina Newington and Donna Crossland. Sounds like a good day.

Sima’s Roots & Fruits is once again organizing tours of food forests around NB. Looks to be some great ones lined up, including Andrew and Anna Mathis of Oasis Farmery In Durham Bridge tomorrow.. were that I lived closer! I would love to geek out with fellow plant nerds on these tours. You can check them all out here and see if there is one happening near you. I am looking to line up a similar offering for NS. There are as many ways to design a food forest as there are people, and seeing these in action can be so inspiring. So please, if you have a food forest in Nova Scotia you’d like to offer a tour of please be in touch and I will start figuring out logistics to launch these tours next summer.

Two of my favourite permies are offering in-person permaculture courses starting this September. Charles Williams of Earth Activist Training will meet with students every other Monday in Halifax, and Raina McDonald of Backroad Farm and Forge will be doing monthly sessions in Truro. Both are offering modules that can be done individually or taken as a whole to earn a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC). Both streams will converge for a weekend in May of hands on learning and tours of permaculture projects. Check out all the details and registration info here. These courses are great places to make friends and valuable connections with like-minded people.. Charles’s PDC in 2018 was where I met Raina:)

Two more quick shares before I sign off..

The Annapolis Royal market this weekend will be an extra special one with makers there from the Medway Community Forest Co-operative. Just learning about this cooperative but that sounds like a great idea that could be replicated to help better use more of our crown land throughout these provinces. Check out all the different vendors by clicking on the poster below.

And then this relay concert, a fundraiser for LEAP, happening next friday in Halifax. I’m planning to pop in at some point to see Raina actually, as she is a big supporter of this cause and is planning to be there:)