Story and photos by Sarah Vance - I used to take a lot of selfies, but then I started noticing the natural environment around me. You could say the change was incremental — beginning with the flight patterns of birds; the sounds of a muskrat excavating the shoreline, and the arrival of migrating ducks on a York River stop-over. I mean, have you ever noticed a Pine Grosbeak fanning its plumage in the sunlight? In November, when my girls and I found a flock of eight of these magnificent birds landing on the crabapple tree outside of our kitchen window, the change took hold.

By James Kerr - There isn’t a food that I attach more sentimentality to than ice cream. I have treasured childhood memories of “going for ice cream.” I fondly remember every part of these excursions — piling into a car headed for Empire Cheese or Reid’s Dairy, feeling the ice cream’s sugary run-off dripping down my six-year old hand, and the gleeful race against the sun’s heat as I struggled to lick my dessert before it melted. Growing up on a local dairy farm, I always took pride in knowing that our milk that we sent to Reid’s Dairy helped to create this wonderful, magical, summer treat.

By Angela Hawn - With summer in the air, it’s time to start thinking about dining al fresco, and enjoying the great outdoors for as long as possible. Canadians are good at this: we who dress in layers far longer than residents of most other countries know a good thing when it’s happening. Fast to strip off our woolies and game to brave t-shirt and shorts garb even when there’s still a chill in the air, (or mosquitos and/or blackflies hovering in our midst) we love to eat outside whenever possible.

By Vic Schukov- Born in Wallbridge on the same land he lives on, Alex McNaught is unquestionably an authority on the village’s rich history. Laughing he said “People ask me why I call it the Forgotten Little Village of Wallbridge. I ask them, ‘Do you know where it is?’ They say, ‘No.’ ”