I spent a few days scouting PEI barns about a year ago. The call had come in from a commercial production house in Toronto asking for someone to travel around the Island looking for the perfect barn to Star in a Frito Lay Potato Chip TV ad. I think we take our gorgeous barns for granted, but they are a huge part of the rural scenery, from Tignish to Souris, and points between. 

The production company was picky and would send me back out on the hunt, from sunrise to sunset, for about three days. I was beginning to lose hope because the perfect barn had to be located next to a vibrant green PEI potato field, and we were well into October.  Most of the potato fields were long harvested or at least turning brown by this date, although I kept the faith.

All of a sudden, as I passed through the quiet and picturesque community of Fredericton, PEI, I caught the view off to the side, as the sun hit in a stunning evening moment. This amazing red barn stood in command of the terrain with a potato field, still green in colour, nearby. I snapped the  beast of a structure from all angles and rushed to the nearest computer to email the shots to the waiting Torontonians. Success, they love it. They’ll be on the first flight into Charlottetown in the morning to start the job. It looks like I was hired. A group of about ten people flew in the next morning and I greeted them equipped with two huge SUV’s and a couple of assisstants. The hotel rooms had also been booked late the night before and now we headed to Fredericton, PEI after a quick coffee stop. The next three days lacked sleep, but pumped a lot of Toronto dollars into the local PEI economy and the people of Fredericton will be talking about those few days for a long time to come. I also know a lot more about PEI’s unique and colourful barns.

The PEI Hobby Farm Dream

There are so many people living urban lives who, either openly, or very secretly, have the fantasy of living on a small hobby farm in rural PEI. Maybe it’s from watching too many ‘Road to Avonlea’ reruns with Sarah Polley and quietly wishing for a less chaotic way of life, but I know you’re out there. I get calls and emails everyday from people in Alberta or BC or Ontario or Europe asking about small plots around five or so acres with an old farmhouse and a barn and an outbuilding, so they can keep chickens and a few sheep. 

Life in the city is getting a little less safe and maybe just too busy. A lot of people get to a certain point in life and simply want to simplify. Maybe it’s the dream of running a B&B, the desire for clean air, or maybe a wish to stop fighting traffic in the daily commute? It’s understandable though. We weren’t really designed to live in a concrete environment. Some love it, but some need that five acres and a trip back in time. The good news is Prince Edward Island property is still a great deal and coming to PEI is like traveling thirty years in the past.

Get in touch today if you secretly or not so secretly wish to flee the urban chaos for a more simple lifestyle on Canada’s Island Paradise. Affordable hobby farms still exist! I am always happy to talk about PEI with anyone who wishes to learn more about this amazing Island. As far as I’m concerned, It’s Canada’s Island Paradise. Call Hamish any time 902.659.2778.

May 1st is the magic day in my part of Prince Edward Island. That’s the day when the boats set their traps for the first time in the waters in my area of the Northumberland Strait. The local fishermen believe the Northumberland Strait Lobsters just off the PEI shores are where you find the largest and tastiest  Atlantic Lobsters. It seems these lobsters feed mainly on the rock crab, so their diet is incredibly high in protein and the warmth of the local Strait waters in summer also might account for the amazing size of these PEI lobsters.

They fish May and June and then another part of Prince Edward Island has the right to fish lobsters for two months. The Fishery is extremely well regulated in Atlantic Canada. Small ones have to be thrown back, as do certain breeding age females, and any females presently showing eggs.

Hopefully the lobster Industry continues to be well managed and lasts for generations to come. The price fishermen receive per pound on PEI has been incredibly low in the last couple of years, yet the price per pound in most parts of Canada was between 10 and 18 dollars per pound retail. The fishermen in PEI are lucky to get $4.50 per pound from the dealer at the wharf. Considering the cost of diesel fuel, crew, maintenance, there is little left for the hard working lobster men and women who get up at 4:30 each morning to tend the traps.

Check out the short video on this site called, ‘A Day on a Lobster Boat’ to have the experience.

Prince Edward Island has some amazing homes tucked away in quiet coves along the shoreline and this is one of the most unusual beach houses you’re likely to find anywhere in PEI. It’s built on stilts and is located near Souris, PEI, and rents for around $4500 a week to tourists who want serious luxury on one of the most beautiful stretches of beach on the Island. 

The views are spectacular thanks to the stilts (actually, telephone poles) that suspend this sprawling PEI Beach Home in the air. You might want to split the cost with another family or two, but your vacation on PEI will provide memories to last a lifetime, or until you come back.

Check out the video for this PEI home on this site or click on the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0VXivulUJ8

Prince Edward Island offers some exceptional sights after a storm, especially if you cross country ski or show shoe on a backwoods trail like this one in eastern PEI. If you have ever wondered how many hares are hopping around, just count the footprints in the snow as you make your way through the woods. You might not see them, but you know you’re surrounded. Prince Edward Island is paradise, whatever the season.

PEI Ice Fishing

This was February 2009 on one of the coldest PEI days I can remember, which made me feel safe on the ice as I walked with my friend, John, across an inlet of the Northumberland Strait. The Strait averages about sixty feet deep between Nova Scotia and PEI, so it heats up in summer and offers the warmest waters north of the Carolinas, and in winter it can freeze pretty much from province to province. The burgeoning coyote population on PEI got its start when the canids first trotted over the ice one winter from Nova Scotia. Once you have coyotes, you’ll always have coyotes. They are here to stay.

PEI is having an easy winter in 2010 and the ice on the Strait probably isn’t thick enough to hold me, let alone the smelt shack, and the propane heater that makes it possible to stay out a bit longer to try and spear another frying pan load. Nothing beats smelts dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried up to a crisp in a cast iron frying pan. ‘Some good’, as they say on the island.

I love a mild PEI winter and they all seem mild the past number of years. Only January and February seem to have a few biting days, but next year I’ll hope for a quick cold snap, allowing me check in to the ’Smelt Hotel’ for a few days of waiting and watching, until a smelt or two slowly swims towards my bait bundle. At that magic moment I aim my spear and hopefully hit the mark…then head home for breakfast.  

Stratford, PEI

MLS®: 09046588

Price $ 439,900

Prince Edward Island is one of Canada’s most spectacular Islands. Vancouver Island, too, is a beautiful place, but  has become increasingly expensive and populated in recent years. The west coast also boasts the Gulf Islands that sit between Vancouver Island and the mainland. These islands command enormous real estate prices in exchange for a peaceful enough existence. A small farm on Mayne Island was recently advertised in Harrowsmith Country Life Magazine for well over 2.5 Million. Big Bucks! Another unfortunate aspect of the west coast Island lifestyle is that the surrounding waters are incredibly cold for swimming- even in mid-July. That said, the sailing culture of the west coast islands is a great lure. But even the elite can find these prices a bit O.T.T (over the top)!

It is hard to compare Prince Edward Island to Vancouver Island and the other Gulf Islands. They are very different, but the once peaceful, affordable, and underpopulated west coast seems to have lost much of its lustre for those seeking an idyllic seaside lifestyle. A trend is afoot, as BC residents of Vancouver Island, and elsewhere, pack up the car and head east to places like PEI, where one can still find peace, a healthy lifestyle, and affordable real estate, without a burgeoning population. And let’s not forget PEI’s vibrant arts, theatre and culture scene.

PEI deserves the Title of Canada’s Island Paradise for obvious reasons. Although Canada boasts magnificent Islands from coast to coast t coast, Prince Edward Island allows us to revisit a more simple time, when people smiled more and helped their neighbours, and where a young family or retired couple could afford a house near the sea to call home.

http://www.CanadasIslandParadise.com

It looks like it needs a good tune-up, maybe an engine re-build, and a new coat of paint wouldn’t hurt, but I just love it. For some reason Ford named its tractor after the Coronation of a young Queen Elizabeth that year and its unlikely the Queen ever took one for a test ride, but it would have knocked her socks off.

I saw it advertised on-line and went to visit an old hippie who lived in a cool off-grid home. He was downsizing at this point in his life and was looking forward to traveling to warmer climes in his motor home. He was selling all sorts of cool stuff, like a wood lathe, harwood flooring that had been in an old PEI church, a Harley, greenhouses, the 1953 Ford Tractor, and a few other odds and ends. He offered me a coffee, we haggled, and in the end I decided to buy the ancient tractor. They have a great reputation and can be seen on farms all over PEI. There are even clubs where people get together on a monthly basis and talk tractors, parts, and how to maintain them. They’re  supposedly not too complicated to maintain and are known to be cheap to run. These are gas tractors with simple engines and can literally run forever with basic upkeep.

My tractor will go away for a while this winter and receive some much needed fixin’. It seems it needs some new rings, gaskets and valves, probably some brakes, two new tires and a splash of paint. With a bit of luck, it could look something like this…..

PEI is a gorgeous place to live and this November is further proof that we’re living in Canada’s Island Paradise! Some may joke that PEI has its weather challenges outside of typical summer months, although others know better. It could all be part of a great conspiracy to keep this Island Paradise the best kept secret this side of the Rocky Mountains? The cost of living is incredibly reasonable compared to an urban existence and it’s simply a great place to call home.

Maybe it is a conspiracy? That might explain why this brilliant Island remains relatively underpopulated, inexpensive, and peaceful. The problem is, however, that this amazing island attracts visitors for its world class golf, theatre, and music- not to mention- scrumptious lobster and seafood… so how long can you keep all of this quiet, while at the same time market yourself to the much needed tourist traffic? People are beginning to take notice of our attractive way of life, underrated weather patterns, and affordable coastal real estate.

Maybe we just have to accept that PEI will no longer be able to remain some secret paradise and future growth from excited newcomers is inevitable. Hopefully we can ensure that our Island province develops and evolves in a way that can retain all of its glory intact, allowing all Islanders, new and old, to continue to cherish this special place.