MUST PITCH IN
Earth Day 2022 is coming up! Mark April 22 down for DIY garbage clean-up of community streets, parks and walkways. Get out there! It’s also a chance to consider other ways to promote healthy living habits that can protect and preserve our environment, like using cloth bags for shopping, sharing excess things with friends and neighbours, and letting your curly hair airdry naturally! Ever tried a rain barrel that collects the rainwater that flows off your roof, storing it for later use?
Ganaraska Regional Conservation Authority (GRCA)
Rain Barrel Sale
March 22 to May 7
rainbarrel.ca or grca.on.ca
Celebrate the outdoors with a virtual field trip or an in-person hike.
Find a Provincial Park near you!
ontarioparks.com/park
MUST GROW
Gardens bring people together, whether it’s admiring the blooms or digging into a new community beautification project. As the world opens up again, it’s time to join a garden club for friendship and inspiration. You’ll meet fellow plant-lovers, learn some tips to help bees and butterflies thrive, and tend some local gardens. (There might be tea and cake, too!) The Stirling and District Horticultural Society is marking its 125th anniversary this year with a flower festival in July that includes a garden tour and demonstrations. Club membership comes with a 2022 yearbook and a pack of anniversary marigolds.
See the links here for gardens and conservation areas.
gardenclubsofontario.ca/ontario-links.html
MUST COLLABORATE
Kickstart your creative side with a workshop in songwriting, painting, crafting or making your own personalized oracle card deck for selfdiscovery. Trying something new is a way to flex your brain and make you happy! The new County Arts Lab in the Armoury Building in downtown Picton is a unique and welcoming space for accessible arts education, collaborative ventures and an “art for well-being” outreach program to help people who are socially isolated. Art and culture can transform communities.
Prince Edward County Arts Council
countyarts.ca
Need more arts around the region?
Campbellford’s Westben Digital Concerts by performer and resident composers: westben.ca
A tribute to country music legend Patsy Cline, “A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline,” at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope: capitoltheatre.com
Wine, food and live music by PEC’s Masha Nazina at Karlo Estates Winery in Wellington: visitpec.ca
MUST DISCOVER
Entice the kids off their iPads and into the great outdoors with a sensory experience that also doubles as a stealth learning activity for spring – a scavenger hunt! What better way to enhance a neighbourhood walk than by listening for birds chirping, touching tree bark and new grass, and looking for plants poking through the soil as the Earth wakes up? CBC has done all the legwork, with a printable list and cute illustrations that are perfect for pre-readers, too. Bring a clipboard and a finely sharpened pencil to check off your finds and a basket to collect things like rocks, feathers and pine cones. Grab the kids and head outdoors to smell that fresh air.
Download the printable spring scavenger hunt at cbc.ca/parents/play/
MUST REFRESH
Warm breezes are an invitation to open the windows and let the season shine. Spring is full of new beginnings, so make it an opportunity to clear those mental cobwebs and freshen up your must-do list. Take note of your accomplishments – as in, getting through the dark days of the pandemic! – and pat yourself on the back. Make plans and set some new goals.
For expert motivation, listen to the audio book of Resilient, How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness by Rick Hanson and Forrest Hanson.
MUST INSPIRE
Hollywood’s brightest female screen stars in the 1920s and 1930s were proudly Canadian, dominating box-office earnings and winning three of the first four Best Actress Oscars ever awarded. Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer and Marie Dressler were the Who’s Who of silent and early talking films. Now Dressler House Museum, housed in the Ontario cottage at 212 King St. W. in Cobourg where Dressler was born, has reopened as the Canadian Women in Film Museum. The idea of the interactive experience is to showcase women’s historic influence on the industry and encourage and encourage young women to dream big.
