A Serendipitous Reunion, Fruitful Visit: Discovering Research in Nova Scotia’s Valley
An unexpected encounter with a hometown musician leads to a rewarding journey through Canada’s small fruit research with Dr. Beatrice Amyotte at AAFC Kentville.
We arrived in Wolfville, N.S., as restaurants were about to close. We were hungy. Walking into the first pub still serving food, we noticed a sign that read, “Caleb Vallelly. Live in the Window. Every Thursday 7-10.”
If the sign hadn’t included his picture, I might not have believed it. “Caleb Vallelly!” I exclaimed.
Sitting on the patio near the entrance, the pub owner overheard me. “You know him?” he asked.
“Caleb Vallelly is from my hometown of Winkler, Manitoba,” I replied, still in disbelief.
What were the odds? Wolfville, N.S., is a small place. Winkler, Manitoba, is a small place.
The owner, thrilled at the coincidence, was eager to see Caleb’s reaction when he spotted my wife and me halfway through his set. It was a quiet Thursday at the Kings Arms Common. He would notice us. Sure enough, mid-song, Caleb paused, grinned, and let out an excited/astonished “what?!” before continuing the set.
Toban and Jamie Dyck (left and right of centre) stumble upon Caleb Vallelly, the frontperson for the band Colrain and someone they know from Winkler, Manitoba, performing at the Kings Arms Commons in Wolfvillle, Nova Scotia.
This surreal and serendipitous encounter began what turned out to be a lovely and productive work trip to a warm, welcoming, and picturesque federal research facility where we spent a couple of days with Dr. Beatrice Amyotte.
Dr. Amyotte is an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) research scientist specializing in Small Fruit Germplasm Development. She works out of the AAFC Kentville research station. Kentville, N.S., and the neighbouring town of Wolfville (home of Acadia University) are small, historic, intentionally quant, and forested seaside communities nestled in what locals call the valley. Signs for bed and breakfasts, vineyards, historic markers, and scenic detours dot the one paved road that runs between them.
If I was able to grow fruit on my farm, I would. Furthermore, if I were a fruit grower, I would not hesitate to develop a relationship with Dr. Amyotte, whose enthusiasm and aptitude for talking about research and extending its results to farmers, students, and the public never waned during the many hours my colleague Ashley and I spent with her.
We took photos. Then we took more photos. Dr. Amyotte had to pose and pose again. And then the outside light would change, and we’d take another swath of pictures. The video portion of our trip followed a similar course – i.e., lots of it, lots of repeat interviews (just to be safe), and in many different locations throughout the facility.
If you’ve ever taken photographs or shot video for a client, it’s easy to foreshadow sitting in the editing room and finding strange objects in the subject’s background, an odd hum from an hvac system, or some other imperfections you didn’t catch during the shoot. So, we grabbed enough content to account for this.
I am excited to share videos and pictures telling the story of Dr. Amyotte’s commitment to research and to fruit growers.
Dr. Beatrice Amyotte is doing interesting things at AAFC Kentville. Stay tuned and we’ll show you.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to Dr. Amyotte, AAFC Kentville, and the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada for welcoming Burr Forest Group and providing access to this vital research. Stay tuned—there’s much more to come!