Tips from today's Edmonton Journal

Two things I learned in today's Gardening section:

Steven Biggs says "buying new soil every time it gets hard is like buying a new car every time yours runs out of gas." A brilliant analogy I will use often. Compost, after all, is the fuel that drive plant growth. With Second Nature available at $6 per 30 litre bag, the price at the pump is just 50 cents per litre!

Thomas Christopher gives this wonderful tip about reducing your lawn's carbon footprint: "Once you start mowing do not back up or make turns so tight they require slowing down. Let your mower decide the shape of your lawn and when you are done mowing remove the areas that were not cut." Elimiating little corners and areas we need to go over again and again, either with the mower or whipper, greatly reduces our energy consumption.

May Outreach Activities Blossom!

Since we graduated our 2011 class, requests for master composter/recycler volunteers have skyrocketed! This weekend will be the third one where we have had at least three outreach events happening at the same time. On both Saturday and Sunday, volunteers are at the Muttart Conservatory promoting composting and grasscycling to visitors to the Annual Plant Sale.

On Saturday we are at City Hall for the Biodiversity Day Event where there will be live music, a puppet show, presentations, workshops and booths. Also, Saturday is the North Glenora Reuse Fair.

On Sunday, besides being at the Muttart Conservatory, we are also at Primavera at Santa Maria Goretti Centre and at the Sherbrooke Stalk Exchange. All three places have plants, seeds, information booths that will help you get ready for the upcoming growing season!

Thanks to all our busy volunteers for helping make these things happen! Even if you are not volunteering, plan to drop by and enjoy one or more of these events!

Master Naturalist Program

Apply by April 30!

A successful initiative to beat the Tax Man blues

Hi everybody, I set up this display on Mar 13 at the Fuzhou Association of Alberta. This services centre was open Fridays and Sunday mornings in March for income tax claims.

I talked with people when I went there on Sunday mornings. I might talk with ten people or more. When I was there, I noticed most people would like to have a (quick) look at my display while they were waiting. They seemed only interested in recycling, and showed a general knowledge about recycling; for composting, needless to say, know less and not interested. They usually didn't like to ask questions.

When I engaged some people in conversation, they then began to ask some waste management questions, i.e. where they are supposed to bring batteries, etc.. I met a teacher who teaches Chinese in a school, she was interested and took some pamphlets and Michael Recycle Magnets to share with her students.

Because I work Friday I didn't have chance to visit my display that day, but I was told that many people showed up. There were several small workshops and activities going on in the same place on other days, so there was quite a lot of people traffic over there.

I am confident many people visited my display as 30 recycling bags were all gone, and so were half of the fridge magnets and some pamphlets. I heard Omni Television went there to shoot and interview people for tax event one day. I guess there over 250 people have been to the office in the past month which doesn't include income Tax volunteers.

Well, I guess that's all about my event. Thank you all for your support. Have a good day!

JingJing

2011 Master Composter/Recycler Class started yesterday!

32 Volunteers and 5 Waste Management Staff met and began their learning journey last night, Thursday April 7th, 2011 at Grant MacEwan University as the 21st Master Composter class in Edmonton. During the introduction exercise, students were happily surprised to find the same enthusiasm and passion for learning more about composting and waste reduction in so many others. Experience in composting ranged from those who were already successful at it to those who wanted to know more. Some had experiences composting abroad, others in their backyards, or in vermicomposting bins. Most of the apartment dwellers were excited about the possibility of helping others in their complexes learn to recycle better. The Waste Management History Show provided lots of colourful pictures and information and kept the class alert and in some cases, laughing. The next class will be Saturday and down at the Fort. Snow on the composting centre's deck nor frozen bins won't deter this hardy group of potential composter "masters". Thank goodness the day will be sunny in the afternoon for the Compost Speed Dating exercise!