Off the Grid in St. Margaret's Bay

I knew that my neiighbours Andrea and Shawn Redmond had built themselves a house way back from the road a few years ago. But when I heard it was also off the grid, and that they were raising chickens, goats and pigs, I wanted to get out there and talk to them.

Shawn does handyman and construction work, and Andrea is a painter (as in artist, not house painter) who also boards dogs. Shawn built most of the house, which is powered by solar panels and a 1-kilowatt wind turbine. In addition to the livestock they have now, they're hoping to add Scottish highland cattle, which are hardy and spend their winters outdoors.

Out of my visit came a five-minute radio documentary for CBC Radio's Information Morning in mainland Nova Scotia. You can listen to it here (in mp3 format).

Scott Pelton's Young Naturalists Club

Every summer, Scott Pelton runs a day camp out of his boathouse on St. Margaret's Bay. He calls the place the Boathouse Institute of Oceanography.

Scott is like a big kid -- still completely captivated by the Bay and its ecological diversity. And he shares that passion with the kids.

I visited the camp during its last session of the summer, and put together a five-minute radio documentary. It is in mp3 format, and you can listen to it here.

My interview with Bruce Kirby

Bruce Kirby is a sailing legend. A former Montreal Star editor, he's designed more than 60 sailboats, including the Laser -- probably the world's most popular racing boat.

Kirby was here in St. Margaret's Bay (where I live, near Halifax) for the 2009 Nautel World Laser Championships last week. I interviewed him for a report I did on the event for CBC Radio One's Information Morning.

We talked about why the Laser is so popular, the rock star treatment Kirby (now 80) gets whenever he attends sailing events, and his current sailing activities. He struck me as a modest guy, still genuinely surprised by the success of the Laser.

I only got to use a tiny bit of the interview in my radio piece. You can listen to the rest here (it's an mp3 that runs about 7 minutes).