Emerald standard of lawn is not encouragedand planting pumpkins because the fields were fingers crossed for rain soon.Continued from page 1The emerald standard of lawns is so saturated. Now its incredibly dry, said Lambrick has talked to colleagues whove four millimetres.not encouraged...Grass is very resil-Hughes, adding that farms misting station has had to decide whether to water their straw-The rest of Halton has received an average of ient. It's not dying, it's only goingbecome a hot spot on the property.berries or apples. All crops can do with a 6 mm so Oakville is especially dry.Peter Lambrick of Lambrick Farms in drink.dormant.Basit said without significant rainfall in the Milton echoed the same sentiment.He said hes surprised that the early crop next two to four weeks, Halton will enter a I was at the doctors office this morning has held up well, but suspects later crops, drought situation.Hassaan Basit, director of communicationand I just heard someone say, I really feel sorry including corn, will begin to suffer if theres no Until now, the Region hasnt issued any water Conservation Haltonfor the farmers. Its nice to know people under-rain soon.conservation warnings, which Basit said is stand that we are so weather dependant, he Haltons historical average for rain in July is largely attributed to general water conscious-said.76.1 mm so far the region has seen six mm ness throughout the province.Farmers throughout the region have their for the month.Theres been a tremendous amount of For a list of cooling stations visit www.halton.awareness generated around water conserva-ca/heatalert.tion. Thats triggered a change in peoples mind-The picture is not pretty just to the north for set. Theres a conservation attitude to water local Halton farmers.when we always perceived we had an abun-In 31 years, Bert Andrews, owner of pick-you-dance."own berries farm Andrews Scenic Acres, could Still, Basit is advising residents to refrain only remember three or four summers when he from washing their cars and driveways and to let has had to irrigate the sweet corn on his Halton their grass go yellow.Hills farm.The emerald standard of lawns is not encour-This is one of those summers.agedGrass is very resilient. Its not dying, its Were not quite keeping up with watering only going dormant, he said, adding that one and of course were concerned that the quantity inch of water a week is more than enough for of water will be down soon, said Andrews.lawns. Even not doing that is okay. Quite frankly, we want to encourage irrigat-Halton Region has set up cooling stations ing right around the clock, but that costs more throughout Halton and is advising the elderly, fuel and more labour.children, and those with chronic heart and lung Andrews said Ontarios relentless heat disease to say indoors.wave has hurt his business in more ways than Becky Jazz, a health and environment spe-one. Summer camp and daycare tours sched-cialist with the Region, said even those who are uled for this week have been cancelled, as obese, have poor circulation or are suffering residents are encouraged to limit their time from a sun burn are at a greater risk of feeling outdoors.the effects of the sun.Over at Miltons Springridge Farm, Amy Its just adding additional stress on the Hughes says its the first year the family farm has body, she said.had to water the pumpkin crop.Last summer the Region issued four heat Shes expecting smaller, denser pumpkins alerts covering a total of 12 days. Yesterdays heat this fall, due to a lack of rain.alert was the fourth of this season which has It has been an extreme spring and summer. covered nine days so far.We were very late getting raspberries in the field IMPRESSIONSLIMITED SPACE is available for September 2011. Dont miss out!nment.To book a tour, please contact our Admissions Departmentat admissions@hsc.on.ca or 905-389-1367 ext. 160.JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN AND MONTESSORI TO GRADE 12www.hsc.on.ca | 905-389-1367 | 299 Fennell Ave. West, HamiltonYour local Tim Hortons is happy to bring you Tim Hortons Free Swim complimentary swimming time at your local pool. For a schedule of timesand locations, drop by your local Oakville Tim Hortons restauraunt. Tim Hortons, 20109 Friday, July 22, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER www.insideHALTON.com