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Huron Expositor, 2001-06-20, Page 22 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, Jun 20, 2001 News Community gardens project growing in Seaforth By Susan Hundsrtmark Expositor Staff A 20 by three-foot plot, planted with lettuce, onions, spinach, peas and radishes, is the first of several vegetable gardens that will be planted this spring at Seaforth Public School and at Seaforth's new drop-in centre on Goderich Street. Funded through the Earth Friendly Gardens project, which has created 50 organic gardens at elementary schools over the past four years in Huron and Perth Counties, the Seaforth gardens are planned to expose children to the experience of growing food. "Just because you live in rural Ontario, it does not follow that you know much about how to grow food," says coordinator Lynda Rotteau. "We've found consistently through this project that children don't make the connection that food comes out of the ground." Even at rural schools, Rotteau says she's run across a Grade 8 girl who asked if she had to put her hands in the dirt to transplant tomato plants. And Grade 3 teacher Bill Farnell, of Seaforth Public School, says a young sttident recently shared that she didn't need to plant carrots since her family got theirs out of a can. "It was a bit surprising being at a semi - rural school. Maybe getting back to Mother Nature isn't a bad idea," he says. While the three gardens planned for Seaforth Public School will mesh with curriculum, particularly at a Grade 3 level, the garden at Our Place, the Rural Response for Health Children Drop-in Centre in Seaforth is one of two intergenerational community gardens planned for Huron County this year. Rotteau says the intergenerational garden pilot projects, the second being in Goderich, aim to bring seniors, with their often vast knowledge of gardening, together with children. "There are a lot of seniors in apartments with no land to grow a garden but with a great deal of knowledge about gardening. Seniors will also say they don't have any use for all the food they'd harvest but there are eight food banks in the county that can always use fresh produce," says Rotteau. She hopes that community members of all ages will come together to get involved in the intergenerational garden so that events such as summer barbecues, fall harvest dinners and spring planning sessions can take place. So far, however, only a few people have called for information about the Seaforth garden. "The phone has been pretty silent from Seaforth. We want people to know there's no cost to getting involved and you get to keep the food. All we're asking for is a little bit of labour," she says. Rotteau hopes she can interest some Grade 9 and 10 students, who must volunteer 40 hours of community service for school, in helping out with the community garden this summer. "Gardening is not complicated but it could he daunting if you've never done it before," she says. Along with understanding where food comes from, Rotteau hopes children will learn about good nutrition, the importance of keeping the Earth healthy and the practical skills involved in growing fruits and vegetables. "Even if these kids end up living in an apartment in Toronto, they'll be able to grow tomatoes on the balcony," she says. Farnell, who's heading the garden project at Seaforth Public School, says his class has planted the early spring garden already in hopes of harvesting the ingredients of a salad before the end of the school year in June. Another late spring garden is planned to be planted during the next few weeks, along with a pioneer garden to fit into the pioneer section of the Grade 3 curriculum. The school gardens received a $500 grant from the Earth Friendly Gardens project. The pioneer garden, which will include vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants, will use a traditional native planting of corn, beans and squash. Crossing guard Mary Van Loon, who is an avid gardener, has been helping the Grade 3 Quoted 'Just because you live in rural Ontario, it does not follow that you know much about how to grow food,' -- Lynda Rotteau, community garden project coordinator. class. "1 couldn't do it without Mary. Thanks to her and some Grade 8 muscle, we put in wheelbarrows of soil and a bale of peat moss before planting the early spring garden," he says. To keep the late spring garden growing throughout the summer, Farnell says 10 families will be enlisted .to volunteer to water and weed the garden for one week each over the summer holidays. Any crop that is ready to harvest will go to the family that is tending the garden that week. "We're going to send a letter home to the entire school community to try and get people involved. We'd also like to start a composting project, planting bulbs and perennials from seed and to naturalize a lot of the school grounds but we need more people," he says. Another element of the gardening project involves setting up a garden club for all the students of the school, which will be run by Kindergarten teacher Cindy Van Voort. "We want to have it going before classes end in June and we want to purchase a set of hand tools, a spade, shovel and hoe and gardening gloves," says Farnell. Not a high level of shallow wells in county are unsafe but risk remains high From Page 1 shallow wells there were not a high number exceeding the Ontario drinking water regulations. Eighty-six per cent of the 5,600 wells in Huron County tap the bedrock aquifer and provide good potable water. Brown said people that have shallow wells need to know that their supply is vulnerable and that they should take precautions around their water supply. Gary Davidson, Huron County planning and development director, said "Education is the hest vehicle. We don't have to abiliiy to tell people to drill deep wells (if thcy have a shallow well)," said Davidson. Once the county determines the baseline water quality it will be used to comparatively see if there are changes in the water supply. There were six clusters of 30 wells each that were used in the study located throughout the county. All of the wells tested were domestic wells, and most were served by one house. Homeowners who participated in the study were interviewed about their wells and a broad questionnaire was filled in with their answers. These questionnares will be looked at by the epidemiologist at the health unit. Questions covered the age of the well, construction, condition of the well, frequency of bacteriological testing and maintenance. Golder and Associates recommended that the detailed statistics and OPlovince of Ontario Savings Office offers 3 Bond options you can bank on 0 Step -Up Bond Variable -Rate Bond Fixed -Rate Bond Until June 21, 2001, the Province of Ontario Savings Office is offering Ontario Savings Bonds which give you another chance to invest in a strong and diverse economy. Ontario Savings Bonds are affordable, flexible and best of all, secure, because every dollar invested, including principal and interest, is backed by the province. Ontario Savings Bonds offer three tailored options at a wide range of rates to fit your investment needs: the 5 -year Step -Up Bond with competitive annual interest rates that increase between years one to five; the 7 -year Variable -Rate Bond at a new competitive rate set every six months; and a 3 -.year Fixed -Rate Bond which offers one competitive rate until maturity. Buy Ontario Savings Bonds and you can enjoy prosperity and financial security. Bonds are available for a limited time only, just until June 21, 2001. Call 1-888-283-8333 or visit your Province of Ontario Savings Office today. Province of Ontario Savings Office 49 Main Street S., Seaforth, Ontario NOL IWO Telephone (519) 627.0210 2 0 0 1 S t R I t S • Q Ontario questionnaire data he used develop a groundwater for public education protection strategy with the purposes. They also participation of the recommended establishing municipalities and sentinel wells and start communal wells and testing them semi-annually vulnerable shallow aquifers. under a monitoring The groundwater program. protection strategy would The county should also include definitions of community consultation and awareness. identification of potential contamination sources, water quality monitoring, data management, emergency preparedness, and contingency plans. Ten times more manure produced in area watershed than rest of Canada. From Page 1 bylaw before becoming part of Huron East in January and a second bylaw was passed this spring by Huron East council for McKillop and Grey Ward, the other two rural municipalities that became part of Huron East. Fisher pointed out the Ashfield, now part of Township Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh decided to come up with its own bylaw but has extended its own interim bylaws for a year to get this done. However, that municipality's current interim bylaw is being challenged in both the courts and with the Ontario Municipal Board which affects how quickly the municipality must have a bylaw in place. Fisher said Huron East could extend its two bylaws by a year to give it time to come up with its own more formal bylaw or one through the county. Tousaw pointed out the pla ning department has been hoping to get help and information from the provincial government which is also studying the manure management situation. However, he has had little success and said there is an immediate need to have bylaws in place that they can't afford to wait on the province. The county has been studying manure usage in Huron County for more than a year now and presented a report of their work to council. He said there is still work to do to figure out what appropriate levels of manure are within safe standards for health and the environment. There is debate on whether or not one animal unit or two per acre are appropriate. Four breeder hogs or one dairy cross are equal to one animal unit. Tousaw said Grey and Howick are currently close to being "full" when it comes to the number of permissible intensive livestock operations. However, he said, "If we can handle manure well and properly, there is plenty of room for livestock expansion in the county." The lakeshore areas of Huron County have been the most controversial as cottages have fought the expansion of livestock operations based on concerns about the impact runoff from the spread of manure has on the water quality in Lake Huron. But Tousaw said McKillop and Grey have had more livestock expansion than areas along the Lakeshore. Statistically across the county, he said. "We have had a new barn come into production every 10 days in the county for the past five years." He said hog production gets the most attention in the manure issue because hog farming generates 75 per cent of all the building permits and produces the most manure. Tousaw said the barn production statistics and one from Statistics Canada, are the most surprising --the the Maitland Valley watershed produces 10 times more manure per hectare than the rest of Canada. "This helps explain why it is such an issue in Huron County and why it needs to be addressed," he said. ‘1•ti �• • We have everything you need, including • Annuals • Hanging Baskets • Perennials • Hostas Nursery Stock • Potted Containers • Geraniums & more! EMMA 'S 5096 SALE on Selected Nursery Stock Returns! IN GREENHOUSE SPECIALS NOW ON! WE'VE BEEN GROWING YOUR STRAWBERRIES FOR 19 YEARS. ck Your Own or PiReady Picked STRAWBERRIES Please call for crop You may pick m your oum containers as we sell the pound. Supervised children welcome but no pets please. Weather permitting. r�, 44;