I keep noticing something when I talk to people around the Valley. There's this quiet hunger for something that's hard to name exactly, but when you start describing it, people nod. They want to get outside more. They want to learn things with their hands. They want to know their neighbours. And somewhere underneath all of that, I think what they really want is to feel like they belong somewhere again.
That's what True North Society is trying to be. A place where that feeling is possible.
Community isn't something you find. It's something you build, one meetup at a time.
Where This Came From
I've been thinking about this for a while, and honestly, a lot of it came into focus during and after COVID. I think a lot of us noticed how isolated we'd become, and the pandemic just made that harder to ignore. We were already drifting apart before any of that happened, and when things opened back up, I don't think we automatically snapped back to what we had before. A lot of people are still figuring out how to reconnect, and I think some of the old ways of doing that just aren't there anymore.
At the same time, I kept seeing people talk about wanting a more analog life. Parents wanting to get their kids away from screens and give them some of what we had growing up, just being outside, exploring, learning things that felt real and immediate. And I felt that too. I love being outdoors and I love learning skills that actually connect you to the world around you, things like rigging a tarp or starting a fire without a lighter or reading the land on a hike. But it's more fun with other people, and more meaningful when you're sharing it.
So I thought, what if we just started showing up? What if we picked a spot and said, come out, let's do something together, and see who comes?
What We Actually Do
True North Society is built around regular outdoor meetups here in the Annapolis Valley. The idea is to keep it simple and welcoming, so there's no gear requirement, no experience level, nothing that would make someone feel like they don't belong. We work on skills together, things like fire starting, navigation, shelter building, knots, and we go on hikes, and we spend time outside in a way that's a little slower and more intentional than just passing through a trail.
You don't need any outdoor experience to come out. If you've never tied a bowline or read a topo map, even better. That's exactly the kind of thing we want to explore together.
The skills are really just the hook. What I'm hoping we actually build is something underneath them, people who know each other, who show up for each other, and who have a shared thing that pulls them together on a regular basis. That's what community looks like in practice, at least in my mind. It's not a concept, it's a habit.
What I'm Hoping This Becomes
I think True North Society has the potential to be a really good thing for a lot of people here. Not just for adults who want to get outside more, but for families, for young people who are growing up a bit more disconnected than we did, and for anyone who's moved to the Valley and hasn't quite found their people yet.
I'd love to see it grow into something that has a real rhythm to it. Consistent meetups, a growing group of people who keep coming back, maybe eventually some longer events or multi-day things as the group gets more comfortable together. I want it to be the kind of thing where someone shows up for the first time a little nervous, and leaves feeling like they want to come back. That's the measure for me.
I also think there's something worth preserving in these skills. A lot of the knowledge that people used to pass down naturally, through family, through community, through just being around people who knew how to do things, that's gotten a lot thinner. I'm not trying to be dramatic about it, but I do think there's value in keeping it alive and making it accessible, and in doing that together rather than just watching videos alone at home.
If any of this sounds like something you've been looking for, or even just something you're a little curious about, I'd really encourage you to come out to one of our events. You don't have to be sure it's for you. Just show up and see. That's how most good things start.