(i8 .S'm'r‘cxs on {/It’ Edge 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     was unsuitable for growing potatoes, grain or most other 
     
     vegetables. As this land was often covered with 
     
     blueberries, a group of landowners decided to form a 
     
     blueberry co-op for buying equipment and for marketing 
     
     the berries. This was a long-term project; it takes ten to 
     
     twelve years to bring a field into production. Originally 
     
     there was no market 
     
     for fresh berries, so 
     
     they were canned at 
     
     T1 gnish Fisheries. The 
     
     Co-op began in the 
     
     mid—sixties and has 
     
     beensellingfreshand 
     
     frozen blueberries for 
     
     many years now. 
     
    
   
   
    
          
     
    
   
   
    
     Blueberry pickers, circa 1999 
     
    
   
   
    
     (Photo courtesy of Lianne Ryan, Tignish) 
     
    
   
   
    
     But not every possible co—op project was accepted 
     
     in Tignish. For instance, in the mid- to late sixties, groups 
     
     of people who wanted to own their own new homes were 
     
     being encouraged by the provincial government to form 
     
     “sweat equity” housing co-ops; all members helped to 
     
     build all of the houses and the co—op dissolved when 
     
     construction was complete. This idea did not catch on in 
     
     Tignish to any extent, perhaps because men had always 
     
     built their own houses with help from relatives and 
     
     friends. No housing co-ops were formed in the sixties 
     
     and only one in the seventies. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Next to the co—op movement, all other factors of 
     
     any importance in the area’s life fade into insignificance. 
     
     Not that they were small or made no difference to the