April 19, 2013
Sharmeen Shahidullah
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Our featured Tree Tender grad this week, Lucy Perri, comes from Scarborough near the Don Valley East – land of the Highland Creek and Taylor Massey Creek. Lucy took the course in May 2010, which helped her realize her desire to revitalize the landscape around her condo and the surrounding areas, and empowered her to advocate on their behalf. When she’s not watching over the trees in her own neighbourhood, Lucy loves to visit the Rouge Valley, and Tommy Thompson and Colonel Danforth parks.
April 17, 2013
Samantha O'Neill
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It’s hard to deny the intimate connection we share with food. I was fortunate enough to develop this relationship as a child. Nothing beats biting into a freshly picked apple or tasting a pear while you’re still in the tree. Perhaps you also grew up with a backyard vegetable garden and were able to prepare your meals with the freshest possible ingredients.
April 16, 2013
Sharmeen Shahidullah
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Being in school isn’t just about academics; it’s also about exercising social skills through interaction with your classmates and team work. Sure, you can read about how to make friends or how to play a sport, but you can’t argue with the fact that participation is the best way to learn these skills. Apart from the obvious examples of learning a sport or making a friend, there’s the stuff you read about in your school books as a kid that you never actually get to do.
April 16, 2013
Jessica Piskorowski
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Earth Day is coming up, and as always, we have big plans to celebrate the urban forest and expand the tree canopy within the city! Our annual tree planting event aims to educate and share the beauty that surrounds us. This Sunday, the LEAF team (comprised of several staff and 25 dedicated volunteers) will celebrate Earth Day Weekend and National Volunteer Week by leading Toronto Hydro employees and their families in planting and mulching over 300 trees and shrubs in Milliken Park.
April 15, 2013
Toronto Hydro
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Taking on a landscaping project this spring? Remember to stay safe around power lines. Despite the chilly temperatures, spring has arrived and, in true Canadian spirit, a little sleet and snow won’t keep us indoors for long. As many of us start to think about gardening and landscaping around the house, it’s important to keep safety top-of-mind.
April 12, 2013
Samantha O'Neill
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As a new intern here at LEAF, I'm quickly learning the ins and outs of LEAF's active role in building and maintaining Toronto's urban forest. My second week in the office is wrapping up, so I'm taking a break to tell you a bit about myself and what brought me to LEAF.
April 11, 2013
Sharmeen Shahidullah
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Next in the series of Tree Tender graduate profiles: I’d like to introduce a team! Meet Teresa Chan, Joe Chan, Maxine Chan, Margaret Calder, Natalia Jakubek, and Audrey Jakubek. This dedicated team of Tree Tender graduates united with a common passion for trees and gardens to transform the view outside their local subway station, Old Mill, into a thriving pocket of biodiversity and LEAF's first Urban Forest Demonstration Garden.
April 03, 2013
Sharmeen Shahidullah
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Last week while browsing through the materials from past events, I came across a box full of Tree Tender graduate profiles. As I began reading these I was fascinated by the diversity of these individuals and their motivations for taking the course - from wanting to start their own local projects to a casual interest in the environment to just a simple passion for trees!
April 03, 2013
Michelle Bourdeau
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As many of you may know, Toronto Hydro is one of LEAF's longest standing sponsors. We have been working together for nearly a decade to protect and improve Toronto's urban forest through our Backyard Tree Planting Program and the annual Leslieville Tree Festival. And every Earth Day we work with Toronto Hydro staff to plant hundreds of trees and shrubs at selected sites across Toronto.
April 01, 2013
Andrea Bake
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If you’ve ever wandered through a Carolinian forest, you’ve probably come across a tree that looked like it just jumped out of Alice and Wonderland. It’s blue. If that’s not weird enough, the bark is perfectly smooth and growing in odd waves all around the trunk, instead of the typical rounded shape you’d expect from a normal tree.