Information About Your Stay at Milk Lake
Enjoying the land
Milk Lake has abundant wildlife—families of crows, deer, and blue jays; fox, porcupine, and hummingbirds; bald eagles, hawks, loons, ducks, a wide variety of songbirds, dragonflies, and insects.
Safety
- Local hospital
- There is a regional hospital in Bridgewater, about fifteen minutes away, which can handle all kinds of normal emergencies.
- Dry season and fire bans
- In very dry summer weather, Nova Scotia occasionally issues bans on outdoor fires; we ask that retreatants exercise caution when going outside for a cigarette (smoking is not allowed in the cabins or the barn).
- Insects and ticks
- April, May and June, depending on the weather, are the normal season for biting insects, including mosquitoes, black flies and ticks. Normal precautions should be taken to avoid being bitten, especially by those with allergies.
- Information on ticks and precautions
- The most common tick at Milk Lake is the brown-legged wood tick; however, black-legged deer ticks have occasionally been identified. Deer ticks can potentially carry Lyme disease, although infected ticks are rare in Nova Scotia. Nevertheless, we mow the meadows at Milk Lake to reduce the likelihood of picking up a tick while you are out walking.
- If you plan to do a lot of walking in long grass and the woods, it is recommended that you wear long pants tucked into socks and a long-sleeved shirt, and that you check your clothing and body for ticks immediately after you return to your cabin.
Communications and Wi-Fi Access
During retreat many decide to have limited or no communications from retreat. If you choose, wi-fi in some areas of Milk Lake gives retreatants the option of responding to important emails or connecting to an online meditation or study program, that they may be participating in while on retreat.
- Accessible from Buddhalocana cabin and the Barn Office (available to all retreatants).
- Not accessible from the other retreat cabins.
