DEN Enews

Did you ever think Nova Scotia would see a drought when we are normally blessed with so much rain? Remember those summers we groaned when it seemed to only rain on the weekends? Or those early spring days when you prayed for the warmth of the sun without those rain clouds hanging around? Now we rejoice with every drop of moisture and pray it is falling abundantly over the wildfires.

Some of us will be facing mandatory water restrictions this week. After a month of voluntarily using so little and spreading every drop of collected rain or dehumidifier water around the most thirsty plants and trees, this editor despairs our collective efforts were not enough. Our parched earth needs so much more. Some of you are watching your wells with increased anxiety. We know rain will come someday. After all we do live by the ocean but may it not be disastrous downpours.

So how bad is the drought aka rain deficit?

Here are some water conservation tips from Halifax Water.

https://www.halifaxwater.ca/reducing-your-water-wastewater-use

Top ways to reduce water use/wastewater discharge in the bathroom:

• If it's yellow, let it mellow. Depending on the efficiency of your toilet, each flush uses between 6 to 26 litres of water.

• Shorten your showers. Cut back on the frequency and length of showers.

• Turn off the tap when you don't need it. Turn the tap off when you are brushing your teeth, shaving, washing your face, etc. To see how much water this saves, plug the drain and see just how much water collects in the sink.

• Install a dual flush toilet. Using less water for liquid waste will save water.

• Install low flow shower heads/faucets

Inside Your Home

• Install low flow appliances.

• Regularly check for and repair any leaks.

• Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes.

• Don't use more dishes than you need - more dishes means more water.

• Reuse cooking water from pasta or vegetables. Let it cool down and use it to water plants rather than pouring it down the drain.

• Save leftover ice. Let the ice melt and use to to water plants in your home or outside.

Outside Your Home

• Catch rainwater in barrels for use later in your garden. Editor’s Note: Use the water from your dehumidifier

• Water plants early in the morning to prevent evaporation.

• Using mulch as a ground cover in flower beds.

• Planting native vegetation that require little watering. Editor’s Note: Consider planting a drought garden using silver or fleshy leafed plants like lavender, lamb’s ear, perennial alyssum, sages and sedums. A quick search of drought tolerant plants will yield plenty to satisfy you.

• Sweeping driveways and walkways, never use water to clean driveways/walkways.

• Keeping swimming pools covered when not in use.

• Turning off your hose when washing your car.  Turn the hose on to rinse only.

• Allowing your lawn to go dormant (brown) during drought periods.  It will recover after a good rainfall.

• Adjusting any automatic watering systems to be active early in the morning or late in the evening and to water vegetation only. Try to prevent spraying water on driveways and/or walkways.

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If you just need to relax in some good new, skip down to Grandma’s Going Green. Claudia always finds a way to make this editor smile and her fog fence is performing exactly as it was designed!

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East Link:  Wild Nova Scotia - Healthy Forests

Season 3, Episode 8 of East Link’s Wild Nova Scotia program explores what makes a healthy forest and the important of protecting these ecosystems.  Host Zoe D’Amato heads into the forests and interviews Mike Lancaster, Jonathan Riley and Nina Newington.  

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The Council of Canadians is hosting a national webinar on September 16. The webinar will feature anti-poverty organizer John Clarke, peace activist Rachel Small, professor and researcher Shiri Pasternak and labour organizer Mostafa Henaway.

The discussion will be a way to take stock of the political moment as we prepare for a Canada-wide “Draw the Line” day of action on September 20. 

• What: National Webinar – “Billionaires VS. All of Us”  

• When: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 
  4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET / 8pm AT / 8:30pm NT

• Where: Zoom  Click on the link below to register:

A new report was released last week stating that wildfires are reversing progress on air quality in Canada. But this isn’t inevitable. We know the cause — fossil fuels are driving climate change and intensifying wildfires. And we know the 

solution: stop building new fossil fuel projects. Our Liberal government are launching the "Major Projects Office" soon — and the head of TMX, one of the most controversial pipeline projects in Canada’s history — is now in charge of deciding what our future looks like. Now more than ever, our federal leaders need to be reminded that our health and lives matter more than fossil fuels. Please email the Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson and your MP and let them know: people don’t want more fossil fuel projects, we want breathable air.

Deep within the towering stands of old forests, herds of caribou walk across the mossy understory looking for food. Once a dominant species in these landscapes, southern mountain caribou are now on the frontline of the extinction crisis in British Columbia. Right now, over 5,000 hectares of endangered caribou habitat are on the chopping block, and the B.C. government could approve logging in these rare old growth stands at any moment. These forests aren’t just essential for caribou – they’re part of one of the last remaining inland temperate rainforests on Earth.Home to centuries-old trees, diverse wildlife, and irreplaceable biodiversity,their loss is felt far beyond B.C.

Will you help to apply pressure on B.C. Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar by signing this petition?

More than half a million hectares of pristine Amazon rainforest has been chopped down to make way for industrial cattle ranches in Brazil. That's 700,000 football fields of land! And French supermarket giant Casino is buying this meat. Indigenous Forest Defenders are taking Casino to court and demanding reparations for human rights violations and environmental damage, but the trial doesn’t start till next year. The Amazon rainforest and Indigenous communities can’t wait that long for the deforestation to stop. That’s where we come in. If we can create a massive public outcry, and the risk of consumer backlash and falling sales, Casino will have no choice but to act now. New supply chain research has been able to link cattle raised on the illegally deforested land directly to slaughterhouses run by the notorious JBS, which supplies beef to the Casino Group. JBS is known for stealing Indigenous land, bribery, forced labour allegations and also illegally destroying swathes of Amazon rainforest. We can’t let these massive corporations get away with this. Please sign this petition demanding Casino stop selling beef that’s come from illegally deforested Amazon. Eko were successful in getting Quebec's public pension fund manager to stop investing in JBS after they exposed its role in destroying the Amazon rainforest and many of us helped by signing the petition. Let’s do it again and stop Casino from profiting from Amazon deforestation.

Forest elephants are gentle, intelligent beings who form lifelong family bonds, and even mourn their dead. But their populations in Africa have already declined by 90% because of illegal poaching that turns their beautiful tusks into art and jewellery. 20,000 African elephants are illegally killed each year for their tusks. There is a global ban on ivory trade BUT some countries want it overturned! In just a few months world leaders will gather at the Endangered Species Convention and the ivory ban is on the agenda. To make sure it’s kept in place let's build a massive wave of public pressure and show them that millions want to protect elephants. Instead of enabling legal ivory trading, conservation efforts should be going towards protecting endangered elephant populations, tackling habitat loss and planning for human and elephant co-existence. These solutions would also provide jobs for locals and create sustainable tourism opportunities. Please sign the petition.

Indigenous Forest Defenders put their bodies on the line to blockade encroaching palm oil plantations in the beautiful Ulu Belaga forest in Malaysian Borneo. Then, they were hauled into the police station and forced to sign documents agreeing to their own arrest. It’s an outrageous act designed to intimidate and silence locals just trying to protect their land from being destroyed by giant palm oil company Sin Heng Chan. Indigenous Kenyah and Penan communities depend on the Ulu Belaga forest for their livelihoods. It’s a source of traditional medicines, rattan, wood and palm hearts. The pristine river that runs through it provides fish to eat.  Sin Heng Chan’s Urun palm oil plantation is sustainably certified which is meant to ensure that there has been no new deforestation since December 2019. But satellite data and footage from drones (that Ekō members chipped in for) shows that almost 700 football fields worth of forest were destroyed between September 2023 and December 2024 and it isn't slowing down. One local described the sound of trees being cut down as the “sound of death”. Villagers have been fighting back against the deforestation of their native forest – signing an open letter to the government and corporation calling on them to remove their land from the plantation license. And the mounting pressure resulted in a Malaysian Senator calling for a stop to the plantation’s deforestation activities. Now, let’s really turn up the heat and back in what local communities and the Senator are calling for. Please Add your name to the petition and help protect the Ulu Belaga forest.

End of Summer

I promise I’m not trying to be a killjoy, but summer is slipping away and autumn is right around the corner. Fall only gets a bad rap because winter insists on tagging along after it. And even though I’ve never been best friends with the cold, this year I don’t seem to mind as much. Oddly enough, I feel optimistic, like no matter what winter throws our way, we’ll manage just fine. Why do I feel that way? Well, maybe because of family.

We’re lucky in that department, even if most of them live at a “safe” distance (close enough when really needed, far enough not to trip over every day). They occasionally joined us for Sunday meals and also stayed with us for an entire week during the summer. Maybe it was Em’s declaration that all she needed for school was “just” a hundred dollars for sneakers, or Ben’s endless hunt for sea glass and hermit crabs. Maybe it was the meals, the conversations, or the fact that Grandma learned how to ride an e-bike and even went kayaking again. Whatever it was, we still haven’t come down from the emotional high of that visit.

Friends, too, showed up for the best and the hardest moments. We had our summer party, but they were also right there when Lorn had her stroke. Some called, but others stopped us in person to ask after her. One morning it took Jazz and I four separate conversations before we made it down to the wharf for our walk. That’s the kind of community you can lean on when the days get shorter.

And then there’s the neighbour I helped make pickles for the first time. She was absolutely delighted, amazed she could actually put food away for winter. And when Lorn had a rough day this week, a jar of homemade chicken soup magically appeared at our door with a message saying how much fun she had making and bottling it. That’s community at its best, pickles, soup, and kindness in jars.

Our little village even pulled off a miracle. The community centre roof project was in danger of going bust when the costs skyrocketed beyond what we could raise. Out of nowhere, a new resident found a roofing company willing to repair rather than replace the whole thing. Suddenly, we weren’t just on budget, we were under budget. Who saw that coming?

Even my garden played along. While others lugged buckets of water through the drought, my fog fence quietly kept things green, even on the days or weeks I didn’t wander out. And speaking of green things, have you noticed? There are flowers everywhere this year. I suspect a few guerrilla gardeners have been out scratching soil, dropping seeds, covering them up, and strolling away whistling. Whatever the case, the blooms are proof of a little secret rebellion. Even the little Share library had an assortment of books I wanted to read.

Of course, we all worried about the wildfires. The smoke from the Valley has been so thick some mornings that I can’t even step outside without coughing. (And I am hundreds of miles away) My shiny new campfire pit, which I put together the day before the ban, will just have to wait a bit longer. Timing, is everything.

Every season brings its mix of good and bad. It’s the same old half-full, half-empty glass question. Listen to the news too much and you’ll be convinced the sky is falling. Spend time with friends and you’ll hear at least one funny or hopeful story. Me, I’ll take the friends. That old Dylan line, “I get by with a little help from my friends”, still rings true.

So here’s to summer, and on we go to fall. This year Grandma gets to make her first autumn (and maybe Halloween) display under the brand-new sunroof. I can’t wait to see it glowing.

This reel below is the best Thanksgiving message I have seen in years. Hold control key down and click the link. Let’s do a little something like this.

(20+) Facebook

Something to eat

This is the time of year I love my slow cooker. Fill that pot in the morning, turn it on and forget about it till supper. Still too hot to cook large meals on a stove top but a slow cooker keeps the house cool and the tummies full. For this you need cooked chicken or turkey (even think of a rotisserie chicken if you don’t have cooked poultry frozen). Add more than what I suggest. Now why not ask that neighbour or friend to drop in for a bowl.

Poultry Rice Soup

2 onions

2-4 carrots in coins, rectangles, etc.

2 stalks celery (or half a tin of shredded celery

2 cloves garlic

Any leftover or a tin of peas, beans, corn etc. Soup is sort of clean the fridge day meal.

Poultry seasoning, thyme, etc.

1-2 cups rice, according to if you use 8 or more cups of water or broth

Throw it all together and get it simmering a couple hours. Let the house fill with the smell

If you have time, make a loaf of fresh bread. This one is fast

Small Batch Bread

1 cup milk (or water)

2 spoons of butter

2 spoons of yeast

2 spoons of sugar

A dash of salt

3 cups of flour.

Mix. May need a bit more flour to make a firm ball. Knead. Shape into bread buns immediately or even make two longest loaves on a cookie sheet. Put the towel over it and forget about it for a couple hours. Bake 350 for about 25 minutes. Just enough bread for supper, especially if the molasses bottle comes out to help with desert.

A pot of tea and you are ready for company. Enjoy.

How are You Conserving water? We would love to hear from you?

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