Den Enews

Greetings DEN members,

You are warmly invited to an online presentation on Wednesday, May 1st at 7:00pm to learn about the unique and important Sandy Lake Park, a vital green space at the head of the Bedford Basin and in urgent need of protection from proposed development.

Located in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Sandy Lake is a richly biodiverse area that includes old-growth forest, provides habitat for 15 rare and endangered species, with waters that support the endangered Atlantic Salmon. Despite its ecological importance, the area is under threat from development that would fragment this sensitive landscape. The presentation will explore what’s at stake and highlight the work being done by the Sandy Lake-Sackville River Regional Park Coalition, the Ecology Action Centre, and Our HRM Alliance to protect this special place.

This conversation speaks directly to the Diocesan Environment Network’s mission to care for creation and uphold environmental justice, as protecting Sandy Lake is not only about conserving biodiversity but also about fostering a healthy, equitable relationship with the land and future generations.

The evening’s speaker will be Jillian Ramsay, Sustainable Cities Coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre. Jill leads urban nature programming and policy advocacy across the HRM, with a focus on protecting green spaces and promoting sustainable development.

We hope you’ll join us for this important conversation. Zoom link is below.

Registration for Natural Building EAST is open and filling fast!
Register here for this landmark ecological design forum happening at the Deanery Project May 9th-11th, 2025.

HIGHLIGHTS:
⭐ Panel discussions, presentations, displays
⭐ Hands-on natural building workshops
⭐ Field trips and demonstration sites
⭐ Interdisciplinary collaboration & networking opportunities

This upcoming federal election will determine policies that guide our country during a pivotal time in history. We are living in a media age of noise, disinformation, and algorithms designed to create division, outrage, and individualism that distracts us. This petition is asking for Canadians to show support for the strong environmental and social justice values that unite us. Solutions that protect Canada, our communities, and the planet, include protecting at least 30% of our land and oceans, supporting Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, investing in renewable energy and facilitating access to energy efficiency for low-income families, and implementing a tax on Canada’s billionaires. Send a message to all party leaders saying you will be voting for climate, nature, affordability, and social justice in this federal election.

With the federal election looming, at least one political party is using it to unroll the progress and solutions needed to beat our plastic pollution by bringing back single-use plastic waste. This set us back to disposable plastic straws and grocery bags, which we know harms wildlife and our communities, and ends up as littered toxic waste and microplastics for our oceans and land. Canada produces over 4 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, with half being single-use plastic. Only 8% of our plastic waste is recycled. Send a message saying Canada must move forward by stopping plastic pollution at the source.

Public media and news play a vital role in a democracy by keeping us informed and helping to hold those in power accountable. With Trump threatening annexation and waging economic war, independent public media is needed more than ever. Defunding the CBC would leave millions of people more dependent on right-wing, U.S.-owned media. Already, a U.S. hedge fund owns the biggest news outlet in Canada. Protecting the CBC is vital in preventing the Americanization of our media. Ask federal party leaders Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre to commit to protecting the CBC and public media in Canada.

A Canadian company is bulldozing ahead with plans to bulldoze the ocean floor. The ocean provides us with oxygen to breathe and removes carbon from our air. It is threatened by pollution, overfishing, acidification, and biodiversity loss. Canadian mining companies are at the forefront of destroying this fragile ecosystem we all depend on. The ISA was created in 1994 by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and it’s ratified by more than 165 nations, but not the United States. The Metals Company will apply to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for a permit to mine the deep seabed this summer, but it is also seeking permission from the U.S. government to start deep-sea mining international waters as a potential bypass of the ISA. Please ask your MPs to add their name to the Global Parliamentary Declaration Calling for a Moratorium on Deep Seabed Mining, and to support policies that will protect Canada’s coasts and the international waters that belong to all of us. 

2025 – DEN 15A – Earth Day - For April 22^nd

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grandma was so excited that the next newsletter comes out on Earth Day! What better day for DEN to put out an issue of our e-news!

Seed Share 2025 is almost finished. It appears close to 2900 wildflower pollinator seed packets have or will be given out by mid June.

One of our last giveaways was to the local Baptist church. They have the biggest Sunday School around here so I wanted to include those children. They were so pleased we thought of them. That surprised Grandma. Denominations have more in common than differences these days so why not reach out to the church that still has a large Sunday School?

We saved enough seed packets for our first, HOPEFULLY ANNUAL, Seed and Plant Exchange being held on the side of the Blandford Community Centre near our community gardens on May 10^th, 10 to 1PM. We call it an exchange hoping others may bring plants or seeds. We also ask new gardeners to drop by for info and pick up some free seeds. Look at this neat poster our Carolanne Broome made.

Just to let you all know, West Coast Seeds has a donation page. Any non profit can fill out a form requesting a donation. They tell me it is a box of 200 seed packets and they ask for $20 shipping from British Columbia. Check out their page at https://www.westcoastseeds.com/pages/seed-donations

The Canexel Enviro Day happens on June 7 from 9 to 12 AM.in East River (Exit 7 off the 103) For anyone who has not been there before, this is a great day to be with like minded folks and get free bags of topsoil or mulch. The hardboard plant turns it’s waste into compost from which they make mulch, the new seafood compost, Black Earth and a few more. They ask for a donation to the food bank for an entrance fee. There are gardening clubs and other enviro groups around the room. Canexel will show how they make their composts and I believe they still give tours of their site. Guest speakers come in every 45 minutes.

My favorite is “The Wheel of Dirt”. You enter a draw, the big wheel spins and you could win more, you guessed it, dirt (topsoil and mulch). You are given a ticket when you arrive (for each person) and this translates into 2 bags of soil or mulch per ticket. One year we took 2 grandkids to educate them a bit and they each got a ticket. Poor little car could barely chug home with all the soil.

Saturday, April 12^th, the Lions Club and the Parish of Blandford got together to assemble our 250 planting kits. We had a great time!

Is your group having an enviro event? Never hurts to let us know. Grandma would love to come if within driving distance.

Happy Spring all!

Ba, Ba, Black Sheep!

Yes, Easter will be past when you get this but really, when are not sheep and lambs a good craft.

This is so easy. You will need wooden clothes pins, a black marker or paint to color the legs and head black and small balls of white and black yarn.

Paint the tops of the clothespins black. Cut a kidney-shaped cardboard piece, paint one end black for the head, clip on the legs, and wind yarn around the

cardboard to make a sheep. Add googly eyes if desired."

"Grandma couldn't cook alone until she was 10. Her mom felt she'd cook plenty in life. At 9¾, her mom lost a pregnancy, and Grandma's 'helping' turned into 'feeding the men' as her mom recovered. Then I understood why she wanted me to wait."

Grandma loves the plain white cake she first baked. Now, she makes two small 8x8 cakes, freezes one, and cuts the other into squares after icing and sprinkles. The 1960s recipe uses oil and sugar, but margarine and honey can be substitutes.

Vanilla Cake

Prep two eight-inch cake pans for a 350 oven.

Ingredients

3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

(dash salt if you use it)

1 cup oil

1 ½ cups sugar

4 eggs

3 tsp. vanilla

1 cup milk

In one bowl combine eggs, vanilla and sugar. Beat them till fluffy. Add in the oil and whisk till combined

Add the baking powder to one of the cups of flour and mix into the sugar mixture alternating with the milk.

Pour into two cake pans. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes for the first check but expect 25 minutes. Great iced or use as a base with berries and cream over it.

 In Remembrance and in honour of Pope Francis and his impact on the world:

Canticle of the Creatures

All praise be yours, My Lord
through all that you have made.

And first my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day...
How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;
In the heavens you have made them, bright and precious and fair.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air...

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,
So useful, lowly, precious and pure.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you brighten up the night...

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother,
Who feeds us...and produces various fruits
With colored flowers and herbs...

Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks,
And serve him with great humility.

- Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi