April's Green TEA Night

After a long and REALLY cold winter an awesome display of new life is just what makes April the perfect month for Earth Month! And here in Caledon we celebrated it in appropriate style. We experienced an amazing Green TEA Environmental Speakers Night on the 16th that drew almost 70 people.

Guest speaker Kate Agosta gave a down-to-earth (pun intended) presentation about alternatives to the traditional grass lawns for those of us who are no longer enthused with watering, fertilizing, aerating, spraying, weeding, overseeding, and then FINALLY mowing down GRASS! Carrole Blakeman gave a real eye-opener of a talk about chemical-ridden cosmetics and, at audience-demand, agreed to do a workshop for us in early June on how to make your own cosmetics with natural ingredients. Take note ladies - this workshop will fill up fast so when you hear the word....register fast!

Paddy Running Horan was on hand to offer up some pesticide and herbicide alternatives now that the Ontario-wide Pesticide Ban is taking effect (as of April 22nd) and 3 wonderful ladies from the Town of Caledon gave us updates about the Ban plus the Bolton Farmers Market and the Town's own Environmental Progress Report. Thank you Noreen Knight, Sandra Dolson and Sara Peckford!

Lastly I want to thank the folks that came out and participated on the Green T-eam for the April 19th MS Walk - we did great! Final figures yet to come but I know we raised somewhere in the vicinity of $600 - not too shabby for a first-time team!

Options Galore!

On Saturday close to 30 people turned up to listen to local landscape design expert Deborah May-Forbes at our first Alternative Lawn Workshop. With a wealth of experience and knowledge at her disposal Deborah shared wonderful insights into alternatives to the traditional grass lawn.

Requiring less time, water, and products than the conventional grass lawn homeowners are increasingly looking at these eco-friendly options and trading in their mowers for items like a bench to relax on in their newly-formed gardens. Indeed, although slightly money and labour intensive at the outset, an alternative lawn ends up giving you a low-cost, low-maintenance, wildlife-friendly space to enjoy for years to come.

So if you missed workshop number one don’t despair. You can join us on October 25th for workshop number two. Deborah will be giving a review of what was covered last week plus additional information and concluding with a question and answer segment so you can get the answers you need. Want to join us? Just give me a shout and I’ll save you a seat patti@greentcaledon.ca