Post Carbon London (Ontario)

Bayham shows off
Port Burwell to host a sustainability "show and tell"

Vienna, Ontario — It's show and tell time in Port Burwell as Seedy Saturday organizers plan to showcase local talent in the new sustainable economy while swapping seeds, trading knowledge, and thirsting for spring.
On Saturday February 23rd, at Trinity Parish Hall in Port Burwell, a number of Bayham and Norfolk residents will get together to show off their businesses and activities geared toward both sustainability and building a local economy. Topics at the all-day event called Get Ready--Get Local, will range from Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) to low-energy living, recognizing the value of some plants we commonly regard as weeds, and the many things in between.
Bryan Gilvesy, who raises Texas longhorn cattle near Courtland, will be on hand with Dave Reid, Stewardship Coordinator for the Norfolk Land Stewardship Council, to discuss ALUS. ALUS is a new farmer-led conservation program that pays farmers (up to $150 / acre / year) to convert marginal farmland to natural areas that provide cleaner air and water, create healthy watersheds, and enhance wildlife habitat.
Gilvesy's YU Ranch, a former tobacco farm near Courtland, is a demonstration farm for the ALUS program in Norfolk.
Also speaking will be Mat Redsell, a Port Burwell entrepreneur. He recently sought and obtained temporary zoning approval for a 70-foot wind turbine. The Municipality of Bayham had already established itself as a political leader in support of renewable technologies and energy with one of Ontario's first and largest windfarms. Redsell will speak about his efforts at sustainable living using alternative energy including solar, wind, and bio-diesel.
Additional speakers include Ron Allensen, who has created a huge bird and butterfly habitat along the shore of Lake Erie; Christine Dennis, an internationally renowned Medical Herbalist, the managing editor for the Canadian Journal of Herbalism (CJH), and she writes the regular kids column Growing Kids the Natural Way; Paul Donelan who, with his wife Laura, operates Dancing Creek, an outdoor education centre in Vienna; John Montgomery with the Enviro-Action Committee of the Anglican Diocese of Huron; and Bev Wagar who has organized a buying club for Port Burwell and area.
Seedy Saturday is part of a series of independent local events which have sprung up across the country in the past twelve years. Seedy Saturdays are public events, for the betterment of the local gardening community, organized and operated by volunteers.
They bring together home gardeners, seed savers, native plant collectors, agriculture conservation groups, and community gardeners as well as local seed companies that sell open-pollinated varieties of vegetables, fruits, flowers, grains and herbs.
Admission to the Port Burwell event is by donation, with proceeds going to Seeds of Diversity, a charitable organization dedicated to the conservation, documentation and use of public-domain non-hybrid plants of Canadian significance.
Participants will be able to purchase a lunch prepared from locally available products and with proceeds to Trinity Anglican Church.
The event is being organized by local citizens in partnership with Port Burwell Trinity Anglican Church.
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For more information:
Web Site: www.mygreengarden.ca/getlocal/ Bev Wagar, organizer: 519-874-1227