Firehall Fest a Smashing Sunfilled Success - Old Ottawa South

Page 16 The th OSCAR - OUR 36 YEAR
JUL/AUG 2008
A HARD DAY’S PLAY
When You Really Think About It, Gardening Is Weird
By Mary P.
Why do you have a garden
on your porch, Mary?”
The children are very
impressed by the range of flowers
sheltering under the slatted chairs on
the porch. Each one has had to stop
and hunker down on their way in the
front door, check out the colours.
“Those flowers are on my porch
for a while, but soon I’m going to put
them in the garden. Will that be fun?”
“You has a garden?” Astute
kid. Knows the difference between
“garden” and “arid wasteland”.
“Well, maybe I don’t have one
just yet, sweetie, but once I fill it up
with these plants, I will!”
The children mill about as I
prepare. Spade, hose, manure (cow;
it was cheaper than sheep; is there
a difference?), little plastic pots of
flowers. Since it is a very small plot,
the tots are not allowed in. Five
toddlers would trample every bloom
in my four-to-six square metres in
about 90 seconds. Instead, I have all
sorts of kid-friendly activities planned
for them. They will fetch and carry,
toss vegetable debris into the bin for
recycling. Lucky us, here in Ottawa:
we have curbside yard waste collection
throughout spring, summer, and fall.
They will watch and comment and
question…
They will ride the ride-on cars
and cover my driveway with chalk
art. Mary’s kinda boring, after all.
She’s just digging holes. They do
that three times a week at the park.
And she doesn’t even have any sand
toys. Where are the buckets and the
tractors? Grown-ups make everything
boring…
Me, I’m having a great time,
though what with my surprisingly long
fingernails it’s clear that gardening
gloves will be my next horticultural
investment… (Where did those nails
come from, anyway? Yay for calcium
supplements!)
I dig the three trenches into which
I’m going to place the daisies at the
recommended 8-inch intervals. (I
figured three trenches were easier to
dig than 18 separate holes.)
The bag of manure lies in the drive,
where the children ride and chalk. I
give it a whack with the pointed tip of
the spade. Such unorthodox behaviour
draws the tots like flies to … manure.
(The uncomposted stuff, unlike the
dark and odour-free version in the
bag.) I am immersed in a swirling
cloud of curious tots and questions.
“Why are you hitting the bag with
the shovel?”
“Did you gots to dig a hole in the
bag, Mary?”
“What’s in the bag?”
“What is ma-nooowa?”
*blink**blink**blink*
“POO??!?!?”“EEEEEWWWW
!!!” Anna is practically falling over,
she’s laughing so hard. The other four
are merely dumbfounded.
“You gots poo in that bag?”
“Where did the poo come
from?”“You BOUGHT POO?
From the STORE???”*blink*
(Timmy)*blink* (Nigel)*blink*
(Malli)*blink* (Emily)BWAH-
A H A H A H A H A H A H A A A A … .
(Anna)
“Why is there poo in a bag?”
“Who put their poo in the bag?”
..“COWS?“*blink**blink**blink**b
link*BWAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAH
AHAaaa…
Nigel is the first to recover from
the shock, and comments sagely.
“Milk comes from cows. And poo.
Cows make milk and poo.”
Indeed. Mary continues. The
interrogation continues.
“Why are you picking it up?”
“Is you picking up POO in your
HANDS???”
“It’s clean poo?!?!”
“Why are you putting it in the
/CNW/ -
hole?”
“PLANTS EAT POO?”
THIS is the most interesting thing
I have done in WEEKS. Mary is
playing with poo. With her bare hands.
It doesn’t look like poo, granted. It
doesn’t smell like it, either. Maybe
cows make funny poo? But Mary is
playing with POO!
We shall overlook the fact —
because the tots obviously have —
that I deal with the real, uncomposted
human variety several times a day,
also with my bare hands. Well, okay.
With at least one layer of baby wipe
between me and it, but, you know.
Mary and poo, we go way back.
But today, Mary is picking up
COW POO in her BARE HANDS
and putting in the GARDEN for the
FLOWERS TO EAT.
If that’s not really weird, what is?
Weird, and really, really
interesting.
At the end of the day, the parents
are bombarded with largely incoherent
stories about Mary! COW POO! POO
IN A BAG! flowers EAT POO! POO
inna hole! POO from a store!
Oh, and we planted some flowers,
too.
POO! POO! POO!
Cosmetic Pesticides
Ban Act Passed
A
province-wide ban on the sale and use of pesticides is one step
closer with the passage of the Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act by the
Ontario legislature, on Jume 18..
Over the summer, the government will consult on the specifics of the
ban:
- The products to be banned from sale
- The ingredients to be banned from use
- The rules around exceptions for agriculture, forestry and golf
courses, with conditions.
The province will also develop rules for other exceptions, such as
fighting West Nile virus, for example, and other health or safety issues.
Once the ban is fully in place, it will take the place of existing
municipal pesticide by-laws, bringing consistency across the province and
protecting Ontarians regardless of where they live. The provincial law,
unlike municipal by-laws, bans the sale of cosmetic pesticides, not just
their use.
It also sets out the rules for the transportation, storage and disposal of
pesticides, requirements that municipal by-laws cannot control.
The ban should take effect in spring 2009.
The Ontario College of Family Physicians was delighted with the
passing of Bill 64.
The ministry received 6,940 submissions in response to a January
18 Environmental Registry posting that outlined the government’s intent
to introduce legislation that would ban the cosmetic use of pesticides.”
About 90 per cent of comments reviewed were supportive.
See additional information on the ban and green gardening
(http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/en/land/pesticides/index.php) on the ministry’s
website.