Last year's event in Annapolis Royal attracted 2,000 hungry picnic-goers who were celebrating the chance to eat local.  Don't miss this amazing opportunity on Sunday, August 24, to meet some of our region's best growers and producers, large and small.  This year, wine is also on the menu!

If you're a reader of the Calgary Herald, you may have noticed an article in yesterday's paper with this headline.

Many thanks to writer Kim Gray, who attended our Test Drive the Community event in Calgary last month, and has clearly fallen under the spell of Nova Scotia.

It's not at all unusual that people find themselves a new home here after just one visit.  They see the beauty of our region, experience our gentle climate, and quickly realize how our real estate offers great value for money.

Nova Scotia's wine industry continues to make its mark upon the national stage.  With a total of 28 awards from the All Canadian Wine Competition held recently in Ontario, the Annapolis Valley continues to show incredibly well.

What does mean for us?

Being known as a wine region carries with it a certain prestige, a cache that may be recession proof.  With Bear River Vineyards doing record business again this year -- their second year open to the public -- and with three or four more vineyards due to open as wineries by 2011, Bear River has the potential to redefine regional tourism.

Peggy Noonan is one of my favorite writers, and as I sit here writing this digital post, I acknowledge with a good amount of irony that I have a newspaper publisher to thank for the introduction to her work.

As a former speechwriter to Reagan and Bush Sr., Peggy Noonan is responsible for some of the most memorable political lines of the era: "a thousand points of light", "a kinder, gentler nation", and lots more.  She later served as a consultant to what I believe to be one of the best television programs ever produced, "The West Wing," and continues to write books and articles for the New York Times, along with many other publications.

One of her recent pieces talked about the social and psychological effects of the faltering economy.  When she asked an unnamed Wall Street giant for advice on securing one's future, he replied in an entirely unexpected way:  "Everyone should try to own a house, he said, no matter how big or small, but it has to have some land, on which you should learn how to grow things."

One of our great local newspapers recently published an article entitled 'Inspired by magnolias,' by Annapolis Royal gardener, teacher and flower arranger extraordinaire Lorraine Beswick. Despite our current winter landscape, this piece is so beautifully written as to make the reader believe that spring is, indeed, in the air ... or at least on the horizon.

Apparently, magnolias don't just grow anywhere but, like peaches and grapes, they do grow here in Annapolis Digby. Our climate is one of the few in Canada that is conducive to producing such beauties. Makes me think our tag line could easily have been, 'Grow it here.'

Maybe it's time for a magnolia festival in Annapolis Royal ... let us know what you think!

Expecting a cold blast of air when I opened the door this morning, I was instead greeted by a breaktakingly warm breeze.  It's 16 C degrees here in Annapolis Digby.

...just one more reason to move to Annapolis Digby!

Here it is, November 7th, and it is a lovely 19 degrees Celsius in this part of the world.  Our gentle climate is just another reason to consider living and working here in Annapolis Digby!

Being on the same latitude as Bordeaux, France, we're one of the few grape-growing regions in Canada. Most certainly, we're the most favourably priced, offering vital, unpolluted land here, perfect for organic farming and viticulture.

If you would like to speak with us about viticulture and farming opportunies here in Annapolis Digby, please contact Economic Development Officer Joy O'Neill.  We also invite you to check out our Test Drive the Community Program on our homepage.