The event runs from 10am to 3 pm, with lots great food on display and for sale by our local culinary geniuses. Kids activities, vermi-composting display and discussion, and about two dozen more interesting (and delicious) things to do and see.

For more information: http://www.merrickville-goes-green.com/MGG-events.html

Cosmetics and personal care products are an often over looked source of exposure to toxic chemicals.

Weaving through the supermarket aisles and trying to discern between product labels promoting natural and pure or organic and environmental can be a stressful task even for the most health conscious Moms and Dads.

Sustainable North Grenville is pleased to announce an evening with make-up artist Lyz Plant from Plant Empire (formerly Pink Ginger) to be held at the branch restaurant on Monday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m. Lyz has been a freelance creative makeup artist in Toronto and has worked with Jay Manuel of America’s Next Top Model, handled makeup duties for the Munk Debates, and for the past 11 years has been a member of the L’Oreal team during Toronto Fashion Week. Lyz is passionate about the beauty and fashion industries and is excited that consumers are starting to demand better labelling and healthier choices. However, she realizes that making healthier choices for your family can be confusing.

Lyz will discuss with attendees:

• What is cosmetic ‘green-washing’ and what should consumers be on the look-out for?
• Which substances should you absolutely avoid and what are their associated risks?
• What alternatives are there for consumers?
• What resources are available to consumers to verify product safety?

A Fun, Free and Informative Evening – Just in Time for Mother’s Day!

Doors open at 6:30, presentation at 7:00 p.m. Buffet by donation and cash bar.

This event is for men and women but to honour Mother’s Day, all women will receive a Safe Cosmetics Wallet Guide (source EWG) and be eligible to win a door prize of a free 60 minute natural make-up consultation with Lyz Plant.

Order Online: www.RainBarrel.ca/ryanswell

By phone: (905) 545-5577 or call Ryan’s Well for more information 258-6832

Sunday, April 22 (Earth Day) 11 am to 3 pm with special guests ‘Junkyard Symphony’ from 3 to 4 pm

North Grenville Municipal Centre, 285 County Road 44, Kemptville, ON

Help us spread the word! Download promotional poster here »

Fun for the whole family

This year’s North Grenville Sustainability Fair promises fun for the whole family with environmental displays, health and wellness tips, and a local food market all under one roof!  Local businesses and organizations will be featuring their products and services in the areas of energy, waste, agriculture, health, recreation, and local/organic food. Live demonstrations and workshops will be available for kids and adults alike.

The ‘Planet Pals’ kid’s area will has a full roster of activities including including face-painting, seed planting, and art activities. Also, new to this year’s line-up is a performance by ‘Junkyard Symphony’:

“Junkyard Symphony strives to promote environmental health and awareness through educational and extraordinary entertainment by reusing old ordinary objects that would otherwise be sadly destined for the junkyard. But to Junkyard Symphony, however, these objects are terrific treasures that can be reused for an even greater purpose…. creating lots of big smiles. In the show, the performers are the conductors while the audience is the symphony so be prepared for a radical ride of rapid rhythms, awesome antics, clownish comedy, terrific tricks, magnificent magic, tons of talent, and plenty of participation!”

Come for lunch and stay the day! Once again the branch organic restaurant will be offering food and beverages to be enjoyed while taking in the offerings and activities of the event.

Celebrate Earth Day 2012 with your community! Have fun learning about environmental action and sustainability, adding health and balance to your life, and about the benefits of wholesome local food.

Sustainability Fair Workshops – At a Glance

Workshop Descriptions

Join Gerrie Baker, aka The Worm Lady, as she demonstrates the power of worm composting.  Learn how easy it is to establish a habitat indoors or outside. See firsthand as worms convert food waste, paper products, lint, hair, fur, feathers and fibers into nutrient rich soil.  These great little earth engineers will supply an endless amount of pH balanced fertilizer that can be used for all stages of plant growth saving you money and many trips to the garden centre.   Ask Gerrie your questions and get the support you want to make your composting process successful.   Bring the children too for a 20 minute entertaining hands on visit with the worms.

A North Grenville Celebration – Ceilidhs Style
Dancing for All Ages
Presented by the Maplewood Ceilidh Band

Ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which involves playingGaelic folk music and dancing. This lively celebration will be sure to get visitors of all ages on their feet dancing and singing to the sounds of the Maplewood Ceilidh Band. The only skill you need to bring is enthusiasm. The dances come in all shapes and sizes and the great thing about Ceilidh dances is that all ages can do it together: parents with children, children with grandparents. You can do it…yes, you can!”

Planning Your Organic Garden
Hands-On Demonstration to Help You Build Your Pest Resistant Garden
Telsing Andrews, Canadian Organic Growers

Join Telsing Andrews from the Canadian Organic Growers Association for an engaging and interactive gardening session that will help you prepare for this summer’s season.  Parents and children will have an opportunity to learn how to build a beautiful pest resistant organic garden through hands-on demonstrations.

Preserving Your Harvest
The Art and Science behind Vegetable and Fruit Dehydration
Don Mercer, Food Science, University of Guelph Kemptville Campus

The dehydration of fruit and vegetables is one of the oldest forms of food preservation techniques which allowed food to last much longer than their fresh counterparts. Today, dehydration  lowers the cost of packaging, storing and transportation making it a nutritious and affordable way to preserve food. Improvements in home dehydrators makes this ancient form of fruit and vegetable preservation accessible to everyone. Join Don as he explains the art and the science behind fruit and vegetable dehydration.

The North Grenville Sustainability Fair is a local, not-for-profit event:

•Admission is free.

•Exhibitors include many local non-profit organizations.

If you are interested in volunteering for this event, or would like to be an exhibitor please contact Clare Weissflog (c2nlt2@sympatico.ca) or Chris Turnbull (chris.cturnbul@gmail.com).     .

Sustainable North Grenville is open to everyone—no membership required. An optional buffet and coffee, tea and sweets are available by donation, plus a cash bar.  Join us for a relaxed, informative evening on Monday, March 12th at 6.45pm at the branch restaurant. We look forward to seeing you there!

At Sustainable North Grenville, our mission is to foster a resilient community that meets the social, cultural and economic needs of its residents now and for the future, while preserving the environment’s ability to support it.

To us, a sustainable community requires the balance of environmental, social equity and economic demands – the “three pillars” of sustainability.

Here’s your chance to show others what a sustainable community means to you!

SNG invites budding videographers to participate in our first-ever student video contest. Be creative, get your voice heard, and most importantly have fun!

All videos submitted should be no longer than 3 minutes in duration. To submit a video first post it to YouTube™. Make sure that you have your parent’s permission first! Submit the link to our judges by filling out a form linked from the ‘Enter Challenge’ link above.

Prizes

Four prizes will be awarded for the following:

1st place: $75 for the winning video submission.
2nd place: $50
3rd place: $25

Viewer’s Choice – $25
Promote your sustainability themed video and get your friends and family to ‘like’ it on YouTube™. The video with the most ‘likes’ by April 17, 2012 will win the ‘Viewer’s Choice’ award.

Winners will be announced and featured (played) at the North Grenville Sustainability Festival on April 22, 2012. Winners will also be notified via email shortly thereafter.

Judging Criteria

A panel of judges will determine the award winners based on understanding of the sustainability themed/topic, the clear expression of ideas, production values, originality and creativity.

Examples of sustainability themed videos can be seen here. 

TERMS & CONDITIONS

OFFICIAL RULES

1. Submission: Entry Period runs from February 13th, 2012 to April 10, 2012 at 11:59pm EST.

2. Eligibility: This Competition is open to any student between 13 to 18 years of age within North Grenville.

3. Video Entries Requirements: Entries submitted must not exceed a maximum of 3 minutes in duration and must comply with all YouTube™ guidelines (*ask your parents before posting to YouTube™).

4. Viewer’s Choice winners will not be excluded from winning judged prizes.

5. In the event of a Viewers’s Choice tie, a winner will be declared at the sole discretion of Sustainable North Grenville.

6. Team entries are allowed, however, only one prize will be awarded for each winning video.

7. Limit of one entry per student or team.

8. Entries will be accepted in English only.

9. By submitting an entry, you agree to let SNG use it in future promotion material.

Download Official Rules »

Enter Challenge »

Put on your thinking caps, and join us at the Branch Restaurant on
 February 13th at 6:45pm. We’ll be entertaining you with an array of 
short video clips, interspersed with games of trivia that relate to 
issues of sustainability in North Grenville and beyond. Bring your friends and form a team, or play for prizes individually!

As usual, a buffet, coffee, tea and sweets will be on offer by 
donation.

Attention Students! SNG Video Challenge Launch
Get inspired by the numerous video shorts that will be highlighted at SNG’s “Video Shorts and Trivia Night”. On February 13th, join us for an evening of fun, and learn more about our upcoming student video challenge!

Please join the United Counties at one of the upcoming community workshops between January 24 and 26 that will create a vision for a sustainable future in Leeds Grenville! You can participate at the workshops and online at www.leedsgrenville.com/icsp and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LeedsGrenvilleICSP

Registration begins each evening at 6:30 p.m. with sessions running from 7 – 9 p.m.

Dates and Locations

January 24
Westport / Rideau Lakes
North Crosby Community Centre - 
875 8th Concession Road, North Crosby

January 24
Gananoque / Leeds and the Thousand Islands
Firehall Theatre
 – 185 South Street, Gananoque

January 25
North Grenville / Merrickville-Wolford
Merrickville Community Centre – 
106 Read Street, Merrickville

January 25
Front of Yonge / Athens
Front of Yonge Community Hall
 – 76 County Road 5 South, Mallorytown

January 26
Augusta / Prescott / Edwardsburgh / Cardinal
South Edwardsburgh Community Centre
 – 24 Sutton Drive, Johnstown

January 26
Elizabethtown-Kitley
Cedar Valley Golf & Country Club
 – 7041 County Road 29, Forthton

For more information please visit www.leedsgrenville.com/icsp

Canada’s cherished healthcare system currently faces many challenges. Millions of Canadians do not have access to a family doctor, and healthcare currently gobbles up nearly half of the provincial budget in Ontario. Chronic disease has reached epidemic proportions, with rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer on the rise. Yet, our current healthcare model repeatedly fails to deal with these problems effectively, despite the billions spent. Antibiotics are swiftly losing effectiveness against resistant bacteria, and pandemics like swine flu revealed just how ill prepared our governments are to deal with an outbreak of serious infectious disease. Juxtaposing these realities against the backdrop of an aging population, budgetary restraint and climate change, is our healthcare system sustainable?

Is there a more sustainable model for healthcare? How can we as a community help each other live healthier lives and prevent illness, rather than just reacting to it? What is the role for traditional healing methods such as herbal medicine and nutrition in preventing and treating disease? What are the untapped economic opportunities that a new approach could offer the residents of North Grenville?

In this talk, Dr. Shawn Yakimovich, ND reviews the challenges facing the current system, and looks at the opportunities for positive change that this crisis presents to our community. Shawn is a naturopathic doctor who lives and practices in Kemptville. He brings a unique perspective to the healthcare discussion, based on his background in human nutrition and naturopathic medical practice.

Shawn will outline how naturopathic principles create a medical paradigm that is rational, preventative, holistic and responsive to community needs. Such a system requires us to be good stewards of our environment and is therefore both dependent on, and supportive of sustainable ecological, agricultural and economic practices. He believes unique opportunities exist in our local community that can make North Grenville a model community when it comes to the health of our residents and our environment.

Enjoy some friendly bidding (we hope!… no wrestling allowed!) and get some great ideas for spending your gift-giving dollars locally. Monies raised will support the 2012 Sustainability Fair on April 22nd, 2012.
There will be a buffet, coffee, tea and sweets on offer by donation, as well as a cash bar.

Please join us on Monday, December 12th at the branch restaurant. Doors open at 6:30PM. Admission is free.  

For more information or to learn how to get involved please contact info@sustainablenorthgrenville.ca