If you have been discouraged by the town’s decision to spray toxic herbicides on many kms of our rural roadsides to control Wild Parsnip, despite so much expert advice that there are better, healthier, planet enhancing ways to go, you have a chance to help prove it!
Next Saturday : May 18 , 9 am show up at Indian Creek Orchards farm on Sugarbush Rd with some work gloves and a shovel or rake and you can help with the next work bee to prepare and plant test plots of native plants for a pilot project to determine the best way to crowd out the spread of Wild Parsnip. This while enhancing the roadsides for the health of pollination insects which is so imperative!
All welcome!
Last Saturday, the first work bee was convened under the direction of Scott Sigurdson , of Indian Creek Orchards organic CSA farm. It was so fun to be able to contribute to this inspiring project instead of just feeling discouraged with more spraying slated for this year, knowing how dangerous and unnecessary it is.
(You can read many pieces written for this news site describing the dangers of this herbicide spraying in our township…maybe most urgent is the herbicide slated for use has the ability to get into the water table. Not good! )
Anyway: enough has been written on this to no avail. But now there is a chance , thanks to Scott’s inspiring initiative and direction to prove that planting native species along the roadsides can crowd out and stop the spread of this invasive plant while making it a better place for us all including our important pollinating insects!
Scott has devised a plan to test 9 different plantings along 2 kms of Sugar Bush Rd ( just off Cedarhill Rd near his farm at 919 Sugarbush Rd).
It was wonderful to see a group of about 20 folks assemble in all ages from 3 months old ( BTW: that participant was a total slacker and slept in her stroller the wholetime! ) to lots of grandparents . I was inspired to see some younger folks there! It would be exciting to see more young people out learning about and helping with this important project! This is the way of the future now that herbicides are slowly starting to be banned around the world for their increasing damage to our planet’s precious, badly threatened biodiversity .
When there is a life enhancing solution to a seemingly difficult problem, like our need to control Wild Parsnip, we need to support it whole heartedly!
Even if you can’t wield a shovel, and you just bring over a snack or some water( dare I suggest lemonade?) : that would be great! You’d be a part of an important project! I write this with a bit of a sore, old, creaky back, being ancient and out of shape, but I wouldn’t have missed being with that wonderful group of would-be farmers, shovelling and spreading wheelbarrows of composted horse manure for anything! It was so fun meeting new and old friends working on something so inspiring! Thanks Scott, for your creative energy in spearheading this!
See you next Saturday ( even though my own yard needs attention, I know where I’ll be! )
If you need prompting to understand why your help is so important: Check out Sir David Attenborough’s new Netflix series “ Our Planet”.. <image1.jpeg>I I wager you won’t get through part 3 without pulling out your work gloves and getting onboard with this ( and many other great projects to help our planet on-going everywhere!)
Chandler Swain, Blakeney On.
