6 Friday, April 13, 2018 brooklintowncrier.com Last week I think many of us felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. The storm that literally blew into town wreaked havoc. For those now in the throes of replacing your shingles, I feel for you. I've been there. In January of 2016, I woke to what sounded like a ticking bomb in my bedroom closet. After rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I realized I was listening to the winter thaw dripping in through my roof. Replacing a roof in an emergency situation is not fun. Some residents lost trees. One in Ashburn sadly witnessed a 150 year old maple land across her driveway. Durham Regional councillors were tweeting from their council meeting on Rossland Road to stay away as the roof was behaving like a wave and it wasn't safe to be near the building. Holiday saved us? The one saving grace was the municipal holiday on the Monday of Easter weekend. It meant our recycling bins shouldn't have been out until the next day. Unfortunately, many people didn't get that memo. While driving through, Brooklin I was attacked by a piece of cardboard that popped up out of nowhere and plastered my windshield. Thankfully it fell right back off again, but my heart stopped for a few beats. This got my attention! It also made me think about why people missed the timing of pick up. Most of the flying debris could have been avoided. The Town shares the message in its town page advertising that goes in Whitby This Week, SNAP, and The Brooklin Town Crier. Whitby's great app We also have a wonderful app that will send notifications to your phone and computer each week and tell you not only the day before pick up but also what exactly is being picked up that week. It's called the Whitby Waste Buddy app and is available on the Google Play store or Apple App Store. It's incredibly helpful to keep track of waste day pick up. The other on-line feature you really need to check out is Whitby Waste Wizard. You can find it here. whitby.ca/en/residents/waste-wizard.asp All you need to do is type what it is you're throwing away and the directory will tell you if it's garbage, brown bag, green bin or recycling. One of the comments I've heard time and again is that we don't have enough garbage pick up. I am in a family of five grown people and I often have a hard time filling two bags of garbage every two weeks. I know I don't have babies in diapers so that counts for some of the difference. However, I wonder what people are throwing away that could be green bin, brown bag or recycling. If you use the correct receptacle, you shouldn't have much more than soft plastics in your garbage bags. While I've taken a wind storm to demonstrate what we can all do better in our waste pick up, it is all tied together. Our weather patterns are changing. What impact are we humans having on our planet? If we can take a positive out of the storm last week, maybe it should be seen as a reminder that we can all do our part for a better planet. Pitch-In coming On the same note, the 16th Annual Pitch-In Brooklin is set for April 21st, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m and is hosted by the B.A.M. Lions Club. Get out your rubber boots and help clean up some of the debris created by the storm. You can pitch in in any of our local parks. If interested in sponsoring this event or being a park captain, please e-mail: Michael_argue@hotmail.com. See you out there. Our Councillor's Report by Rhonda Mulcahy North Ward Councillor, Town of Whitby mulcahyr@whitby.ca There's No Place Like... Cleaning Up Home Forget the robins. The true harbinger of spring in my garden is the witch hazel which also indicates when I should start watching the asparagus patch to see those first delicious spears. Some years, the witch hazel has bloomed in late February which means I have my asparagus by mid April. Here we are and the witch hazel is just now in full bloom. She's been sputtering along since late March but has never really put on that show of deep red blooms that tell me spring approaches. The asparagus may not show up till Mother's Day. Meanwhile, on the other side of the backyard, Mother Nature is putting on quite a show of strength. Two years ago, I renovated the lawn, spreading grass seed and planting a mess of crocus. The new lawn was a disaster. Never buy inexpensive grass seed! Last fall, that grass died. I rototilled the area so it could be levelled and sodded. The sod was heavy duty stuff with a dense layer of soil and roots. It was difficult to cut to fit the corners. Blooming crocus Guess what! Now those little abused crocus bulbs have managed to push through the thick layer of dormant grass and are blooming beautifully in the new lawn. In the basement, where I have more control than Mother Nature, many seed varieties are happily germinating in anticipation of spring's arrival. The fast growing, early vegetables, like Chinese cabbage (napa), pak choi and cauliflower have already been transplanted from the seeding cells to larger cell packs that will nurture them until they make their way to the garden. This week is tomato week. I planted a few earlier to try to grow large transplants that might give us ripe tomatoes in July. But the main crop will find the warm moist soil this week. Other warm crops such as peppers, eggplant and a new variety of marigold are slower to grow and were seeded last week. The heat mat that warms the soil in the seeding trays and the fluorescent tubes that provide enough light to produce short healthy seedlings have been spinning the hydro meter for a few weeks. When asked if I save money growing my own vegetables, I assure people I do, but I may overlook the hydro meter and just account for obvious things like seeds and fertilizer. Of course there's no labour cost because time spent gardening is both exercise and therapy and should be recorded on the plus side of the ledger. New sod's needs I have a list of gardening activities for the first warm, windless day. New sod needs early spring fertilizer so buy a bag of Mark's Choice extra iron spring formula to help grass green up quickly. There's a new product this spring for tired lawns: grass seed mixed with fertilizer. While it does its magic, a couple of trees will need pruning. In a perfect world, I'd have planted trees that wouldn't grow so large as to shade the gardens, but that would have required much more thought. So I use pruners and loppers in late winter or early spring and attempt to trim the trees to my, not their, desired size. Just another of my little disagreements with Mother Nature! Spring's early tasks Blooming in Brooklin By Ken Brown Station Gallery Event Supports Original Artwork Join Station Gallery on Thurs., April 26, 6-10 pm, for the 25th anniversary of Drawing for Art. This signature spring fundraiser puts original artwork into the hands of ticket holders and raises funds for Station Gallery to continue to bring creativity and inspiration to our community through exhibition and educational programming. Ticket holders pick an artwork to take when their ticket is drawn. They'll select from over 120 original artworks donated by artists from Durham Region and beyond. The in-gallery preview displayed from April 3 to April 26 offers an opportunity to view the art and to have a sneak peek at the choices on event night. A $250 Drawing for Art ticket admits two people and includes one artwork selection. Tickets are limited and available through Station Gallery's e-shop at stationgallery.ca. Local businesses interested in becoming an event partner invested in building our creative community, please contact Station Gallery at 905-668-4185. Station Gallery Event Supports Original Artwork