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Rosmarie to speak in Halifax at the all-new Eco-Show! She'll give three lecture-seminars on the Main Stage of Eco-Logic. They'll run 45 minutes - one hour. Times to be announced.
See story on the right . . . Look for the frog!
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Click the blue link and send a Helping Nature Heal free e-postcard! New cards added!
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'tis the season . . . e-mail's best! |
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It's that time of year! Between March and November, Rosmarie spends long hours on the land - often getting home late - too late to return phone calls.
The best way to reach her is by clicking on the blue link: e-mail.
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2 Countries 1 Forest
See story on the main panel to the right and down . . . |
| Applause for HNH e-news! |
"Thanks for the great update... I love the work that you are doing!!
Great pictures."
Mitchell Hewson, shown above, was the first Registered Horticultural Therapist to practice in Canada.
"What makes Horticultural Therapy unique is that it uses living material, requiring nurturing and care . . . The maturation and life cycle of plants provide plenty of horticulture tasks and related activities to stimulate thought, exercise the body and encourage an awareness of the living, external environment."
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| HNH workshop |
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Last month, Rosmarie led a hat decorating workshop at Second Story Women's Centre. Look to the right and down to see what she's up to this month!
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Nora Whynacht shares one of her favorite photos from Florida - a beautiful Anhinga drying its wings.
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Our hard-working crew takes a well-deserved break: back, from left Tim Cook & Robert Schofield; Front, from left Joel Holland & Greg Lohnes. |
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| Discover the diversity of Heritage Plants!
Seeds of Diversity is Canada's premier Seed Exchange for the passionate gardener.
This is a fine source for information about heritage seeds, seed saving, plant diversity, garden history and your own garden's heritage.
Members collect and share over 1900 varieties of fruits and vegetables. They are a network of gardeners from coast to coast who can help you to make your garden grow better than ever. |
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Last month Rosmarie led a tour of
David Welles property in Feltzen South. She was delighted that,
despite the dreadful heat, there was a good turn out - members of Second Story Women's Centre; the community; Keith Corcoran, a reporter from the Bulletin; as well as a group from Ecology Action Center that made it out from Halifax!
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Nature Canada 2007 Roundtable
"Putting Children back where they belong"
Recreating Intimacy with Nature
Goals:
- Increase awareness of activities that seek to immerse children in the wonder of nature
- make connections between people and groups that are involved in this area
- share resources, skills, ideas, challenges
- identify specific areas and opportunities for collective skills building/sharing
Saturday August 4, 2007 1:30-4:30 pm
The K.C.Irving Centre, Acadia University
Open to anyone working with youth in nature who would like to share their experiences and ideas or anyone interested in listening to the discussion
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| Thanks for reading our e-news! |
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If you'd like to help us grow and have ideas for coming programs, classes and seminars, or a group which would like to learn about a certain facet of gardening and landscaping, please click here and let us know . . . we do appreciate your interest in us!
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 Welcome to August!
For me August is the mid point to the gardening season, the first blooms we enjoyed months ago have now become seeds ready for saving.
While at Windhorse Farm as an intern, Margaret asked me to specialized in one task, I chose seeds as they are fascinating to me. They hold all the magic of a full-grown tree, and the taste of a deep red tomato.
You'll find info on this great hobby in this month's e-news. Collecting Lupins, Chives and other seeds is a time-honored task and one which helps to save the diversity of our Heritage, seeds and seed stock in general.
Be self-sufficient and collect your own seeds. Save them for March when you can pot up your own transplants, or swap them at our 2nd annual Seedy Saturday coming to the Second Story Women's Centre.
Another timely task is cutting back, the hostas are looking a little sad in my yard right now, so I've taken to cutting the long flower stocks right back to the ground. Often folks don't admire the Hosta for its bloom, but rather for its leaf. I challenge everyone to take a bouquet inside and watch the transformation from a hum drum bloom to a beautiful, orchid-like blossom. The flower petals open and turn out, showing off the usually pure white interior. And the smell is delightful, I've got a large bouquet in our living room, why not try giving this under-appreciated flower a new home in a vase ?
The ecologic show is coming up in September, and I encourage you to make a point of coming out to visit our booth, and see the many others in this 1st healthy living home show...
Many of you have seen our new staff, the young men have come a long way through this last month of training. I welcome their energy and strength, as we delve into our 6th year along the South Shore.
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Ecologic - green home show heading to Halifax!
For years I've wanted to showcase some of our projects, methods and skills in a public offering. Somehow the home show format didn't seem to fit our criteria . I'm so pleased The Ecologic Show has finally arrived.
During the winter of '06, Karen Gilmor, Ecologic producer, approached me about my interest in having a green event. I was delighted someone had finally taken the reins - of course we jumped on board.
I have been asked to speak once a day during the three-day event (September 7 - 9). Each time I'll demonstrate or speak or provide hands-on learning. Presently, I'm leaning towards these topics:
- Creating an environmentally friendly landscape
- Got Bugs - Build a Bird Feeder workshop
- Learn how to renovate your landscape into one which is sustainable, healthy and habitat friendly
The main goal of the show," notes the Ecologic brochure, "is to engage attendees through education, and interaction, offering a sense of empowerment to make a difference, ultimately the show will offer the resources to facilitate change." |
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It's seed saving season!
 Chives
When the flower head is dry and the seeds are black, they are ready for picking, the seeds should simply fall out of their papery pouches.
Cutting Back will ensure a fresh set of greens spring up to give you another season of fresh chives for eating and a second bloom later in the fall, for more colour in the garden and another set of seed saving.
Lupins
Lupins can be picked green and spread in the garden to ripen and set root, or they can be picked dry and taken indoors to package for next spring.
Hostas
 Cutting back should be performed on all hosta stems that have lost their flowers. When we do this it makes the plant stronger by diverting seed-producing energy back into the plant, focusing on the root system.
Garlic
When your garlic begins to produce "scapes" it is time to produce cloves in your garlic below the ground. By cutting off the scapes, you are transferring the growth energy from the seeds to the bulbous root below, activating the clove building action. Many garlic plants will produce 6-10 cloves per bulb if cutting back is done, otherwise you'll end up with just an onion shaped garlic bulb, no cloves...
Honesty plants
 These honesty plant seeds are not quite ready for picking. The fleshy skin needs to age further and become papery before we pick for seed saving
Seed saving is a great way to learn more about your plants, it is very interesting to discover how each plant differs in their seed dispersal mechanism, share your new found knowledge with a young person and ensure the hobby lasts, check out the Seeds of Diversity website for lots of great info . . . |
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Two Countries, One Forest
 Two Countries, One Forest (2C1Forest) is an international organization dedicated to using landscape conservation to protect and maintain the Northern Appalachian/Acadian ecoregion, which includes 33-million hectares (80-million acres) and forests spanning the eastern edge of North America.
The ecosystem
The Northern Appalachian/Acadian ecoregion is unique, and uniquely challenged: we know of nowhere else in the world where so much forest is located so close to so many people.
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Garden Landscape - a look at August
Wednesday August 8: Chester Working Group, Nova Scotia Nature Trust, invites Rosmarie to their Annual Cocktail Party - this time to celebrate the group's recent
successes with the Mahone Bay Islands. HNH to be acknowledged for their support through Rosmarie's leadership of the Clay Island tour.
Thursday August 16: Rosmarie is off to spend time with her mom who will be visiting from Ontario!
Thursday August 23: Meet Rosmarie's Mom at her Rain-or-Shine Open Garden - that's the Helping Nature Heal property's garden! There will be a Tour, Seasonal Bouquet Making Workshop (made with what's ready and fresh) and a fine salad as usual.
5 - 8 pm at 671 LaHave Street, Bridgewater (across from Ben's Bakery and Farmer's Co-Op - plenty of parking!).
Wednesday August 22: Rosmarie will be attending her first Second Story Women's Centre board meeting.
Thursday August 30: Hands-on Dividing Perennials Workshop to be held in Mahone Bay at the home of Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase. The group will work with bee balm, day lilies, globe thistle, oregano, daisy type flowers and hostas. At the end of the session they can take home one of their divisions. Don't forget to bring a shovel or gardening fork! 5:30 - 8 pm
Please register for HNH Thursday Night Programs by calling 543-1315 or 640-3044.
SSWC programs are free and open to all women. Coed programs are advertised as such or say, "Everyone is welcome". Minimal childcare and transportation subsidies are available. |
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Nova Scotia still spraying herbicides on forests
Every year, roughly 10,000 hectares are sprayed with chemical herbicides in Nova Scotia. Taxpayers are, unwittingly, helping to pay for this.
Applications to spray the herbicides Vision, Vision Max, and Vantage (the active ingredient in all three products is glyphosate) on Nova Scotia's forests are currently under review by Nova Scotia's department of Environment and Labour.
Quebec has banned herbicide spraying on all Crown lands. Let's follow their lead. You can act now to stop needless spraying of herbicides!
For more information and links, visit the HNH website - please click here.
"With your help, we can ban herbicide spraying in Nova Scotia this summer.... and forever. Thank you for your time and your concern."
Gretchen Fitzgerald, Director,
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Before & After HNH . . .
"I want to thank you properly and tell you once more how pleased I am with the patio and gardens. I can't get over what you and your crew accomplished in one day. The transformation executed so efficiently by Helping Nature Heal is just amazing. The finished project is even better than I had imagined it would be and is very much in keeping with the style of the house. The little stone table is a perfect finishing touch.
"Since I began having work done on the house this has, without a doubt, been the best value for money. A great investment and a joy to behold.
"Congratulations to all on a job very well done and thank you so much."
- Janice Blain
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Botanical Beauty Photo Contest
Categories:
- children ages 5 - 12
- youth ages 13 - 18
- adult age 19 - 99
Top 3 photos will be published in the Advertiser newspaper. The grand prize winner will receive a complimentary one-hour teaching session with professional photographer Oliver Childs of Gallery 32 in Hantsport.
Limit 3 entries per person
e/m (1 MB maximum) botanicalgardens@acadiau.ca
contest closes August 17
The gardens are open daily 7:30 am - sunset
For more information contact: Emily Reid or Nicole Oliver 585-1933
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