THE EDIBLE LANDSCAPE OF A OUTPORT

Robert Mellin

Abstract This paper presents the remarkably edible landscape of Tilting, Fogo Island, Newfoundland. Tilting is a Cultural Landscape District (Historic Sites and Monuments Board) and a Registered Heritage District (Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and ). Tilting has outstanding extant examples of vernacular architecture relating to Newfoundland's inshore , but Tilting was also a farming community despite its challenging sub-arctic climate and exposed North Atlantic coastal location. There was a delicate sustainable balance in all aspects of life and work in Tilting, as demonstrated through a resource-conserving inshore fishery and through finely tuned agricultural and animal husbandry practices. Tilting's landscape was "literally" edible in a way that is unusual for most rural North American communities today. Animals like cows, horses, sheep, goats, and chickens were free to roam and forage for food and fences were used to keep animals out of gardens and hay meadows. This paper documents this dynamic arrangement and situates local agricultural and animal husbandry practices in the context of other communities and regions in outport Newfoundland. It also describes the recent rural Newfoundland transition from a working landscape to a pleasure landscape.

Keywords: Sustainability, Agriculture, Fishery, Vernacular Architecture, Cultural Landscapes

Aerial photograph, 1965 open house international Vol 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a open house international Vol 96 and typologicalmodesimilar toGlassie'sresearch tioned studyofTilting's folkhousesin astructuralist (Glassie, 1982).Mystudy beganasawell-inten- Northern Irelandcommunity ofBallymenone (Glassie, 1975)aswellhislaterbookonthe his bookonfolkhousinginMiddleVirginia influenced byProfessor HenryGlassie,especially and animalhusbandry. tural linksandalsotheimportanceofagriculture Tilting atfirst,especiallytheintensityofitsIrishcul- am surprisedbyhowmuchIdidnotknowabout methodological prowessImayhavepossessed. itive researchandadvocacyresultsasanyinitial deal ofgoodluckhadasmuchtodowithanypos- ingly never-ending process.With hindsight,agreat community. Thishasbeenalong-term andseem- volunteer workforheritageconservationinthe 1987, andshortlyafterthisIbecameinvolvedwith I firststartedmyfieldworkandresearchonTilting in other communitiesonFogo Island. mal husbandrymoreintensivelythanresidentsin nity. Tilting's residentspursuedagricultureandani- tices arestillpartofpresent-day lifeinthecommu- who firstsettledthere,andmanytraditionalprac- descendents oftheIrishplantersandentrepreneurs and workingaspect.Tilting isstillpopulatedbythe ports inNewfoundlandandLabrador isitsliving other present-day historictownsandfisheriesout- to thepresentday. WhatdistinguishesTilting from Century lowed mainlybytheIrishfromlate-18th tlers arrivedTilting intheearly18thcentury, fol- did notestablishpermanentsettlements.Britishset- the areain17thandearly18thcenturiesbut Newfoundland andLabrador). TheFrench fishedin Registered Heritage District(HeritageFoundation of Sites andMonumentsBoardofCanada)a nated asaCulturalLandscape District(Historic and Labrador: Figure 1).Tilting wasrecentlydesig- easterly-most province(Province ofNewfoundland Newfoundland istheislandportionofCanada's ed justoffthenortheastcoastofNewfoundland. east coastofFogo Island,andFogo Islandislocat- scape ofTilting. Tilting isanoutportonthenorth- This paperpresentstheremarkablyedibleland- 1 A I N N Conversation with Professor HenryGlassie,1986,Philadelphia. N T R O O When Ibeganmyresearch,wasstrongly T D E O U O C N T I M O M N E T H O D O L O G Y Ballymenone. approach," asisevidentinhisstudyof andquasi-phenomenological a "neo-inductive research; awayfromrigorousstructuralismtowards Professor Glassiehasdescribedashiftinhisown embraced ashiftinmyresearchsimilartotheway life thatappearedtobechangingrapidly. Ilater es, andtodemonstrateaconnectionwithwayof the design,construction,anduseofTilting's hous- ic typologicalresearchhelpedmetounderstand local informants.Nevertheless,myinitialsynchron- contextual informationcouldbeobtainedfrom syntax oftheartifactsystemwasnotnecessaryas rigorous structuralistapproachrepresentingthe to realizethatthisfocuswastoonarrow, andthata Mortgage andHousingCorporation).Ilaterbegan to havereceivedascholarshipfromtheCanada proposal focusedonhousing(Iwasveryfortunate in Virginia,mainlybecausemyoriginalresearch long-term, "experiential"approach.For example, ized thatfurtherresearchprogress wouldrequirea fact systemandculturallandscape ofTilting, Ireal- After myinitialattemptsto makesenseofthearti- tools, furniture,andtheuseoflandsea. not onlyTilting's houses,butalsoitsoutbuildings, Figure 1. 1. Figure Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and Newfoundland of Province 1 For me,thisshiftrequiredthatIstudy 97

open house international Vol 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport Robert Mellin Robert Mellin Robert

Figure 2. Aerial photograph, 1965 mapping techniques using aerial photographs that al practices, such as rooking hay, animal hus- I had found to be helpful for other research projects bandry, growing crops, and harvesting turf (peat) could not be used in Tilting as things were con- for fuel. These types of traditional practices are fast stantly changing. Older houses were typically disappearing in Tilting and in other Newfoundland moved when they were sold, and due to the fragili- outports, and I am pleased that locally my book has ty of the architecture and some landscape features recently been described as a "Newfoundland sur- like wooden fences or wooden flakes, what vival manual." If writers like James Howard Kunstler was extant one week could disappear the next. (Kunstler, 2006) are correct, we may once again Understanding the artifact system and the way of need this type of knowledge in order to feed our- life involved piecing things together from small selves when oil gets scarce. fragments of information over a long period of time, as there had already been many physical changes to houses, outbuildings, and the use of the THE LANDSCAPE land when I arrived in Tilting. In this article, I present an overview of Tilting's Tilting has outstanding extant examples of vernacu- edible landscape with new, basic quantitative infor- lar architecture relating to Newfoundland's inshore mation and new maps on land use. For readers fishery, but Tilting was also a farming community who may be interested, detailed descriptions of despite its challenging sub-arctic climate and agricultural and inshore fishing practices are avail- exposed North Atlantic coastal location (Figure 2, able in my book on Tilting (Mellin, 2003), and in aerial photograph, 1965). There was a delicate this regard I was again influenced by Part Five sustainable environmental balance in all aspects of ("Working the Land") of Glassie's book on life and work in Tilting, as demonstrated through a Ballymenone. Glassie presents detailed informa- resource-conserving inshore fishery and through tion, drawings, and photographs of many tradition- finely tuned agricultural and animal husbandry open house international Vol 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol 98 Robert Mellin Robert

Figure 3. House/garden relationship practices (Mellin, 2003). spruce, balsam fir, and pockets of mixed hard- Part of the inspiration for this paper came woods), barrens, and basin bogs that has the from large-scale maps I prepared in early 2007 for warmest summer temperatures and the least rainfall an exhibit on Tilting's vernacular architecture and of any ecoregion on the island of Newfoundland, cultural landscape.2 From these maps, I began to despite its coastal proximity. By the end of the sum- realize that more research should be done on the mer, moisture deficiencies are not uncommon. The detailed mapping of land use. On one of these North Shore Forest sub region has forests similar to large maps (Figure 3, house/garden relationship), I the forests found in the "Central Newfoundland" for- show the relationship between gardens, hay mead- est ecoregion, yet has barrens much like those in ows, and houses. In this roughly 4.6 sq. kilometer the eastern hyperoceanic barrens.3 Soils on Fogo map area, almost all of the activities relating to the Island are "organic fibrisols, a type of soil that means of subsistence can be found, such as ocean occurs in peatlands composed mostly of organic and freshwater fishing, farming, animal husbandry, matter.4 Writers often characterize Fogo Island as a agriculture, foraging, trapping, and hunting (gun- fairly inhospitable place. Donald Holly, an archae- ning). ologist who has done fieldwork in Tilting, wrote: Fogo Island is located in the "North Shore "The northern half of the island is an undulating Forest" ecoregion of the province. This is a narrow plain of exposed bedrock, lichen, and treeless coastal band of boreal forest (black spruce, white bogs. The southern shore, in contrast, is blan-

2 Newfoundland Museum, The Rooms, St. John's, but also on the northeastern tip of the Bonavista Peninsula. Newfoundland: September 28, 2007 to January 13, 2008. See the pdf file authored by the Department of Environment "Tilting: Rugged Landscape, Strong People, Fragile and Conservation, Government of Newfoundland and Architecture." It was not possible to fit large-scale maps into Labrador: the format of my book on Tilting. http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/parks/library/pdf/Ecoregions/Island_ 3 The hyperoceanic barrens are to the east of Fogo Island, 3_north_shore_forest%20-%202007.pdf mainly on the northern tip of the straight shore by Lumsden 4 ibid. 99 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol Robert Mellin Robert

Figure 4. The Kinsella Premises on “The Rock” in Tilting. keted by tangled forest and boggy wetlands, no capacity for arable culture or permanent both equally impenetrable. Oral histories pasture. The remaining land contains soils explain this dichotomy in cultural terms. The which are capable of only producing perennial Irish, concentrated primarily in the northern forage crops, but improvement practices are community Tilting, it is said, transformed their feasible... this area has moderately severe limi- new forested home into that of their grassy old tations to the growth of commercial forests."6 one, through extensive clearing. While perhaps true to some extent, the exposed nature of the In this paper, I hope to show that despite the bleak northern shore to wind, sea, and salt spray, has picture painted by these descriptions, with careful also undoubtedly contributed to its barrenness. land conservation many generations of Tilting resi- In addition, the ravages of forest fires, as visible dents defied all odds and thrived for the most part, in several places across the island, cannot be even though there were years of scarcity. ruled out as a contributing factor. Accordingly, Fundamental to an understanding of Tilting's settle- it is likely that a combination of cultural and ment pattern, use of the land, and even the use of environmental factors worked to shape the for- the sea is the concept of the "commons" (see "ani- est-barren landscape dichotomy currently visi- mal husbandry" below). ble on the island."5 In most rural Newfoundland communities today, the character of the landscape is changing Environment Canada's description of the region is from a "working" landscape to a "pleasure" land- equally discouraging: scape. This is reflected in the appearance of neat and level suburban front lawns, and in the demise A variety of conditions are found in this basin, of animal husbandry. Tilting's landscape was a which range from very thin cover to greater "working" landscape that reflected industrial and than 1.5 m with a base of till... The majority of agricultural requirements as well as social relations the land in this area contains soils, which have and local cultural patterns. However, the appear-

5 http://www.nfmuseum.com/977Ho.htm 6 http://map.ns.ec.gc.ca/canal/root/main/station_details_e.asp?envirodat=NF02ZJ0024 open house international Vol 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol 100 Robert Mellin Robert

Figure 5. “Lazy beds” ready for planting in Oliver’s Cove. ance of the town of Tilting as a collective artifact Oliver's Cove) or in Sandy Cove.7 All Tilting's resi- was very important to the residents, as expressed in dents cultivated land in this way. These remote, the painted fronts of the houses, all facing the har- fenced gardens and meadows were individually bour, in contrast to the red ochre stained outbuild- owned, and were usually clustered together with ings. These outbuildings symbolized prosperity in those of other residents. Common land not fenced the era of the salt fishery. In Tilting, most hous- in was used for the common grazing of animals, or es and outbuildings were clustered around the har- for such activities as gunning, trapping, or berry bour in patrilocal family neighbourhoods. These picking. The potable water supply came mainly buildings were constructed for mobility, and when a from Sandy Cove Pond, supplemented by commu- building was sold, it had to be moved, as the land nity wells (there was no piped municipal water sup- was not typically included in the sale. There were ply in Tilting until the early 1990's). Water for gar- often no clear boundaries or fenced-in areas to dens came from Sandy Cove Brook, Oliver's Cove indicate ownership of outbuildings, and each fami- Brook, small ponds near remote gardens, or from ly had many different single-purpose outbuildings rainwater collected from roofs. that were often interspersed with the outbuildings of Tilting's residents had an intimate knowledge neighbours (Figure 4, Kinsella premises). of the land and sea. For example, local knowledge Residents had to live close to their harbour dictates that only nine sheep can be safely sus- fishing premises, as the preparation of salt codfish, tained over the summer on Pigeon Island, the large the mainstay of the fishery, required intensive work island that acts as a breakwater protecting Tilting's in the summer and fall. There were infield and out- outer harbour (Figure 6).8 This is reminiscent of field gardens and hay meadows, but most gardens ways of knowing or describing the land once com- and meadows were located about a ten or fifteen mon in Ireland. "In the west of Ireland to this day a minute walk from the harbour, either in Oliver's farmer measures his land not by the acre but by the Cove (Figure 5, "lazy beds" ready for planting in 'cow's grass'; that is, by its grazing capacity: 'I have

7 It is one kilometer from Greene's Point to Oliver's Cove, 8 My calculations indicate each sheep required approximately and about 1.5km from the west side of Tilting's harbour to 4 hectares, based on the foraging land area and quality Sandy Cove. available on Pigeon Island. 101 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol Robert Mellin Robert

Figure 6. Cyril McGrath taking his sheep to Pigeon Island. the grass of ten cows.' (Evans, E., 1977:38)." In These buildings were constructed either from wood Tilting, the transmission of knowledge of the land- harvested on Fogo Island, or from materials and scape and seascape from generation to generation components recycled from older houses and out- has recently been disrupted by demographic shifts, buildings. Locally made furniture was often con- and these shifts are presently being experienced in structed using recycled materials from houses and all rural areas in Newfoundland and Labrador. outbuildings. Many tools were locally made, and Young people are moving away from outport com- most residents had basic carpentry skills. munities in record numbers. Although they may occasionally return to visit, they do not engage in seasonal work activities with the frequency or inten- AGRICULTURE sity of their parents and grandparents. At one time, Tilting's residents knew hundreds of place names on To the first-time visitor, Tilting's landscape appears the land and sea that represented affiliations, or like a rocky, barren, and exposed coastal land- corresponded to events, work, and other activities scape that could not sustain agriculture. However, that took place at certain locations (Mellin, 2003). there is a surprisingly high proportion of fenced-in Knowledge of the land and sea related land area devoted to agriculture. The soil of arable strongly to seasonal activity patterns that involved land in the protected coves of Sandy Cove and excursions for such things as berry picking, harvest- Oliver's Cove was built up over many generations. ing wood, shoal fishing, sealing, and gunning. The In addition to concentrations of gardens and hay cognitive territory of the community was extended meadows in these major coves, there were gardens by sea with trap berth and shoal fishing locations, closer to houses, especially in locations like and by land with summer paths and winter slide Greene's Point. The gardens on Greene's Point paths for harvesting wood by horse and slide. would have been subject to regular salt spray from Tilting's houses and outbuildings conformed the ocean, and they were also vulnerable to high to limited variations of single structural bay typolo- seas. Some gardens requiring a long walk were gies for small wooden buildings (Mellin, 2003). remote and scattered, either along the coast or in open house international Vol 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol 102 forest areas. identical shape all over England through the cen- Fences used for gardens and hay meadows turies from its appearance until its replacement with in Tilting were woven-type riddle fences, picket the modern system of farming (Dahlman, fences, and longer fences. Thousands of pickets 1977:16)." Cole writes, "it would be a mistake to and longers were harvested on Fogo Island for the suppose that commonfield agriculture is an obso- Mellin Robert construction of these fences, and they had to be lete institution with no contemporary relevance. rebuilt every 15-20 years or so. More than 300 Variations on the open field system persist today in fenced gardens are shown on Figure 3, and the many parts of the world, including the mountains of total length of the fencing is over 35 kilometers. Japan and Switzerland, the Himalayas, Vietnam, Vegetable gardens were cultivated using well- and the Andean mountain regions of Peru and drained lazy beds. There were subterranean stor- Bolivia (Cole, 2002:116)." age buildings for agriculture, such as root cellars In Tilting, even if individuals or The Crown (storage of root crops) and cabbage houses claimed ownership of unfenced land, animals like (Mellin, 2003). Hay was stored either in the lofts of horses, cows, sheep (in the hundreds), and goats stables near houses, or in remote hay houses locat- were free to graze on this land. Near the houses, ed in hay meadows. Hay was cut using scythes, chickens were often permitted to roam free. While placed in piles called "pooks," and carried to sta- cows would usually stay fairly close to home, hors- bles by "horse and wheels" or hauled manually in es, used mainly in the winter for work on the slide "linnets (nets). paths for hauling wood for construction and fire- In certain "non-arable" areas near the com- wood, often congregated in large herds and munity, berry picking was an important activity on roamed the entirety of Fogo Island in late spring, commons areas in late summer and fall, and resi- summer, and fall, thriving by foraging on indige- dents relied on the berry harvest. Bakeapples were nous vegetation. A time-consuming daily chore that the first berries to come into season in late August, was often the responsibility of the women in the and these were found in marshy areas. Bakeapples community was "cow chasing," and some cows had were followed by blueberries in early September a propensity to practically disappear when it was (making blueberry wine was a Tilting tradition), and time for milking. blueberries were followed by partridgeberries in late Regulations restricting common grazing were September. Marshberries could be gathered in implemented in the late 1980's in Tilting. The rea- October and sometimes even in November. Plants sons were twofold: the provincial government in non-arable areas were also harvested for medi- threatened to cut off funding for municipal infra- cinal and other purposes. Jim McGrath told me his structure to any community that refused to pass mother Gladys sent him to Henan's Hill to cut these regulations, and some Tilting residents began juniper plants, and these were used to make juniper to feel that open grazing was a nuisance. The main beer. complaint was about roaming horses destroying landscaping in fenced-in, ornamental front yards in front of new houses. The horses were very clever ANIMAL HUSBANDRY getting into these yards. But there was also no tol- erance for the droppings of other animals like Until the late 1980's, Tilting's landscape was once sheep and cows. What looked like a landscape of "literally" edible in a way that was most unusual grassy areas that was maintained by a fulltime team elsewhere in North America. In Tilting, fences were of gardeners has gone wild in recent years without used to keep animals out of vegetable gardens and grazing animals. hay meadows. All land outside these fenced areas A few of Tilting's residents have tried to main- was part of the commons for fairly unrestricted tain animal husbandry traditions, but it has been communal grazing of animals. This pattern, known difficult for them. Some residents loudly complain also as "commonage" or the "open field system," when sheep escape fenced areas, but complaints was not exclusive to Tilting and until the mid-19th are not so loud when local dogs break in and kill Century was once present in most rural sheep. Some residents like Cyril and Neil McGrath Newfoundland communities. Regarding the open have had to take their sheep to nearby islands for field system in England, Dahlman writes "the system the summer. Little Fogo worked well for this pur- never was an unchanging and monolithic entity: pose, but in recent years coyotes on these islands there never was an open field system that had an have killed sheep. However, Pigeon Island is still 103 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol used for grazing sheep. ning.10 The sea was an extension of the "commons" in Tilting. Cole has written about common property THE FISHERY regimes governing fishing rights on the Camlik Robert Mellin Robert lagoon and at Alanya on the Mediterranean Sea. As was typical of many other fishing villages in the He describes system for drawing lots for fishing sites province, the inshore fishery was pursued in differ- that is similar to the way lots for cod trap fishing ent ways in different seasons. When fish were plen- berths were once drawn in Tilting (Cole, 2002: tiful in summer, traditional cod traps made of 119). barked cotton linnet were used along shore and Freshwater fishing took place in Sandy Cove each location or "berth" had a name. In the fall of Pond (mud trout) and Sandy Cove Brook (sea trout). the year, the inshore fishery was pursued slightly fur- Eels could be caught in Henan's Brook, a small ther offshore on the "eastern ground," shoals within brook that ran through the Gulch under a wooden a few kilometers of shore where handlining and bridge for the road. This brook no longer flows for fish was used. Extensive wooden plat- today due to beaver dams (beavers were not native forms called "flakes," located next to out- to Fogo Island) and also due to water and sewer buildings along the shoreline of the harbour, were infrastructure.11 The eels would migrate from the used to dry salted codfish for market. Some of the harbour to the pond in the spring of the year, and senior residents in Tilting told me that the French they would return to the ocean in the fall. once dried codfish on carefully placed small stones on the ground.9 In addition to the codfishery, other species were harvested as part of the inshore fish- SEALING, GUNNING, AND TRAPPING ery such as lobster, and these could often be easily caught in Tilting's inner and outer harbour. Some In Tilting, the seashore and inshore was used for ocean fish were caught for bait or harvested for fer- sealing and gunning. Gunning refers to hunting for tilizer, such as capelin and lance. There were other birds with rifles, usually salt-water ducks that pitched species of fish that were available to fishers involved in the coves. Favourite gunning locations were at with the traditional inshore fishery, but until the cod- Oliver's Cove Head, Long Point, The Garrison on fish became scarce in the late 1980's, not much Greene's Point near Mike Greene's house (Jim attention was paid to these. The harbour also con- McGrath told me Mike would often shoot ducks fly- tains one of the few areas where clams can be har- ing over his property: his was the house furthest out vested, and American soldiers stationed in nearby on the point), Careless Point, Wild Cove, and Sandy Cove during World War II dug for clams in Sandy Cove. In Sandy Cove, Jack Reardon often the eastern part of the inner harbour. Subsequently, shot ducks from his . Gazes, temporary the inner harbour became polluted when residents structures built to camouflage the gunners, were changed from outhouses to septic tanks (septic sys- semicircular structures made of stone. In winter, on tems without properly installed drain fields). sheets of ice along the shoreline called ballicatters, Pollution has abated in recent years with the com- gunners used axes to cut out pieces of ice that were pletion of the town's sewer system that has an out- used to build semi-circular gazes. fall east of Greene's Point. In the forests near Tilting, rabbits were plen- Each shoal on the fall fishing ground had a tiful, and rabbit snaring was often done on Tate's name, and shoal locations were established by ref- Hill (known as Tate's). Neil McGrath still snares rab- erence to known landmarks. Fishermen knew the bits there. The Long Country, a bit further away from topography of the sea floor in intimate detail the community along one of the main slide paths, through propriosensitivity, the feel of a hook and was also used for rabbit snaring. Jim McGrath's line as it touched bottom, and distances were criti- grandfather William Broders was one of the best- cal. A few yards one side or the other of an under- known trappers in Tilting, often catching foxes by sea topographical feature meant quite a difference The Fox's Rock. Some Tilting residents presently for successful fishing. Making things more complex, snare beavers for their pelts. you also had to know which way the tide was run-

9 This may be similar to the "graves" used by the French in 10 Interview with Arthur Ludlow, Joe Batt's Arm, 2006. places like St. Pierre and Miquelon. 11 Conversation with Jim McGrath, November, 2007. open house international Vol 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol 104 CONCLUSIONS animal. Since, however, the effects of overgrazing are shared by all the herdsmen, the negative utility The "delicate sustainable environmental balance" I for any particular decision-making herdsman is referred to in the introduction relates to the dynam- only a fraction of - 1. ics of the individual vs. the collective in all spheres Mellin Robert of activity found in Tilting: harvesting, production, Adding together the component partial utilities, the consumption, land stewardship, and social behav- rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible iour. This issue relates to basic principles expressed course for him to pursue is to add another animal in a prescient and seminal sustainability essay writ- to his herd. And another.... But this is the conclusion ten in 1968 by Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the reached by each and every rational herdsman shar- Commons." As there were indeed commons in ing a commons. Therein is the tragedy. Each man Tilting, these commons provide a literal example of is locked into a system that compels him to increase Hardin's analogy: his herd without limit -- in a world that is limited. "The rebuttal to the invisible hand in population Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, control is to be found in a scenario first each pursuing his own best interest in a society that sketched in a little-known Pamphlet in 1833 by believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom a mathematical amateur named William in a commons brings ruin to all (Garret, 1968: Forster Lloyd (1794-1852). We may well call it 1243-1248)." "the tragedy of the commons," using the word Had he passed some time in Tilting during "tragedy" as the philosopher Whitehead used it: the years before common grazing was banned, "The essence of dramatic tragedy is not unhap- Hardin may have encountered herdsmen whose piness. It resides in the solemnity of the rationality was tempered by limits to freedom and remorseless working of things." He then goes by the ethics of egalitarianism and cooperation. In on to say, "This inevitableness of destiny can Tilting, these ethics extended to other spheres of only be illustrated in terms of human life by inci- endeavour besides management of the commons. dents which in fact involve unhappiness. For it Hardin's understanding of Whitehead's "tragedy" is only by them that the futility of escape can be refers to the inexorable momentum of an artifact made evident in the drama." The tragedy of the system that is out of balance and out of control, a commons develops in this way. Picture a pas- world where "negative utility" is rarely manifested in ture open to all. It is to be expected that each a local, practical demonstration. Tilting is, if noth- herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as pos- ing, else, a practical demonstration of the conse- sible on the commons. Such an arrangement quences of the behaviour of individuals in an envi- may work reasonably satisfactorily for centuries ronment where cooperation was required in order because tribal wars, poaching, and disease to survive. When I interviewed senior residents in keep the numbers of both man and beast well Tilting many years ago, their stories often ended below the carrying capacity of the land. Finally, with a moral about care for the land, recycling, however, comes the day of reckoning, that is, helping others in need, and ingenuity when faced the day when the long-desired goal of social with limited resources: words of wisdom that seem stability becomes a reality. At this point, the particularly relevant today. inherent logic of the commons remorselessly generates tragedy. As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximize his gain. Explicitly or implicitly, more or less consciously, he asks, REFERENCES "What is the utility to me of adding one more animal to my herd?" This utility has one nega- COLE D. H. 2002, Pollution and Property, Cambridge tive and one positive component: University Press, Cambridge, UK.

1) The positive component is a function of EVANS, ESTYN. 1977, “Peasant Beliefs,” in CASEY Daniel the increment of one animal. Since the herdsman J., RHODES R. E. (eds.) Views of the Irish Peasantry, receives all the proceeds from the sale of the addi- Archon Books, Hamden. tional animal, the positive utility is nearly + 1. 2) The negative component is a function of GARRETT H. 1968, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” the additional overgrazing created by one more Science, 162: 1243-1248. 105 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol GLASSIE H. 1975, Folk Housing in Middle Virginia: A Structural Analysis of Historic Artifacts, The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, USA.

Robert Mellin Robert GLASSIE H. 1982, Passing the Time in Ballymenone, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, USA.

KUNSTLER J. H. 2006, The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, Grove Press, New York, USA.

MELLIN R. 2003, Tilting: House Launching, Slide Hauling, Potato Trenching, and Other Tales from a Newfoundland , Princeton Architectural Press, New York, USA.

Author’s Address: Robert Mellin Associate professor School of Architecture, McGill University Room 201, Macdonald-Harrington Building 815 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6 Canada [email protected] open house international Vol 34, No.2, June 2009 The Edible Landscape of a Newfoundland Outport open house international Vol 106