Lucknow Sentinel, 2009-06-17, Page 5Giving back to nature is a great idea!
"I think it'll be raspberries this year," I said to
our. neighbor.
"What was it last year?" he asked.
"Well, it was raspberries last year, too, but this
time they'll be in a better spot!". •
I have a simple, one way relationship with
nature. I give it loads of black compost. I
cultivate. I hoe (oh, do I hoe). I irrigate. I
fertilize. In return, I get nothing.
Actually, that's a lie. I get clumps. Clumps.
Clumps of grass in my yard. Clumps of dirt
where my vegetables should be growing.
Clumps of leaves in my eaves. Clumps.'
I can remember at our last house, my
wife was trying to grow some impatiens
without much luck. Our neighbor had
bunches of them growing like weeds in her yard.
"There must be a secret," I thought, figuring
that you must first go through years of impatiens
growing, including being an impatiens apprentice
and journeyman before you can begin to under-
stand the complexities of the plant.
"You have to water them," she said, looking and
gesturing at us as if we didn't speak English or
something. "Every day."
Then she stared at us until she was sure we
understood.
When I was 16, I decided to become an entre-
preneur (mostly at my father's insistence).
"There's money to be made in pickles," he said,
and soon I was loaded down with seeds, tools and
a contract from Bicks. Now the plan was to plant,
fertilize and water the seed. Their job was to
grow and produce gherkins (the size of my finger)
and I would sell them by the bag full and make
thousands of dollars. •
Here is what really happened:
I planted the seeds in our "back 40," away from
all water sources. I planted them in CLAY.
This soil type actually constipates fruit -bear-
ing plants. Thus, instead of bringing a truck
load of cucumbers to the processing plant
every day, I brought a half a bag, once,
throughout the whole summer. There we
were, all the farmers, lined up to
unload our produce - eighteen pick-
up trucks and our car. Imagine, if
you will, the burley laborers lured
by Bicks to unload truck after truck
of cucumbers. When the truck ahead
of us was done unloading, I hoppedout of the car
and tossed my half bag onto the dock where
"Billy Bob" was standing, then waited to make
sure they had my name and address fog payment.
The real reason I only made $1.62 that summer
wasn't only that I had relatively few cucumbers,
but also that every one of them was mutated,
shriveled and as crooked as a dog's hind leg.
These, I decided, were "stewing cucumbers."
So, with that in mind, we planted raspberries in
the spot our real estate agent said was perfect for
a garden. After our first summer, we realized that
spot was "perfect for a garden" like Pisa was per-
fect for tower construction. Apparently plants
don't do well in the shadow of a fence, a shed and
eighteen maple trees.
Maybe next year I'll forego the vegetables ,and
focus on maple syrup.
What will become of Lucknow's trash
Dear Editor,
It was Thursday. Garbage
detectives were on duty. They
take their job very seriously. Not
an envelope or cigarette package
misses their sharp investigation.
On Friday, we have non -col-
lected garbage bags on our
streets. Heaven for raccoons, free
meals with a little effort. Thank
goodness we do not : have black
bears going around. But the mes-
sage will soon spread to Northern
Ontario, go to Lucknow - free
meals every Friday morning.
Blue boxes accept #1 but if it is
a cookie tray, it is a no -no; #6 are
completely forbidden;. #1 and #5
are not accepted when it is a
'wide mouth plastic tub'. What is
a wide mouth plastic tub? What
are we doing for people with
reduced vision? Passing 60 years
of age, it is not so much the
vision that is reduced, it is only
their arms that are too short. It is
hard to read the numbers. The
solution: drop all plastic (cookie
trays, containers where you got
lectures and all the other contain-
ers that are a #1) in the blue box.
The blue box detectives will
leave the items. You will then
have to haul these items to the
collection place in Lucknow. If
you can not haul to the pick-up
place, store it in your garage. If
you are . living in an • partment,
clean a closet for storage. In a
couple of years there will be a
solution.
A solution is to put those non-
collectible items in ,the 'privacy
bag'. The accepted size is 20 x 22
inches. Our bureaucrats got the
bag to be 40 x 45 centimetres.
Converting 20 x 22 inches to
centimetres is actually 50.8 x
55.8. It is a generous privacy
bag. Was there somebody hiding
the metric converter?
We have gone from having two
blue boxes to having four. We
have a garbage bag for things
that do not belong in any of the
blue boxes or in our garbage bag.
We have to haul those things to a
special bin. We spend hours
looking for numbers and compar-
ing with blue box list and cutting
windows out from envelopes.
Cutting • 'windows' for busi-
nesses in Lucknow could be a
good summer job for students.
As far as I am informed,
Lucknow is a part of the
Township of Huron -Kinloss.
Property owners in Lucknow pay
property tax as all others in
Huron -Kinloss. We pay in
Canadian dollars, for now. So
why the difference 100 metres
from my house? They can use
black,green or red bags and do
not have to sort paper, envelopes
and cookie trays.
A deal was made years ago for
Lucknow when Lucknow 'was
"the Village of Lucknow". We
have had an amalgamation. Why
is Lucknow _ still a separate
"island" in Huron -moss?
If there are problems with land
fill sites, fix the problem. In
Lucknow we want the same serv-
ice as rest of the township. If the
township has negotiated a con-
tract that makes Lucknow an
island in Huron -Kinloss, it is
time to change the contract. We
pay for roads, schools and gener-
al maintenance etc in the
Township of Huron -Kinloss. In
other words, Lucknow supports
citizens living outside of
Lucknow. It is my understanding
that paper is a no -no in the clear
bag and many other refuse.
Township of Huron -Kinloss
made a deal with the garbage col-
lecting company and Huron Land
Fill Site. Our township saved
some money. How much was
saved? It must be the time when
citizens outside of Lucknow help
out so Lucknow gets an equal
garbage service.
What will be next? Shall we
wash our paper towels and paper
tissues before we discharge them
to the blue box?
Jann S. Nielsen,
Lucknow
Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - Page 5
Photo by Garit Reid'
Liliana Wilder and her three -yearn old son Thomas got the toys
_out and had some fun at the Ontario Ear#yYears program that is
held in the multipurpose •room of the Lucknow and District
Sports Complex.
Rating:
9
1:3
5
s
9
9
4
s 1
3
5
8
1
9
4
5.
1
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