Ok, go.

Time to get this blog going. A few good things happened to me today. First, a friend asked me about my balcony garden. Well, two construction workers were sandblasting, I think, the concrete when I came into my livingspace today. Shortly after I moved into my new house I was locked in from the outside. The balcony garden is therefore non-existent, but at least I live in a well-maintained building. I hope that they will move to the next riser soon so that I can reclaim my space with native plants and vegetables. Secondly, a fellow project collaborator thanked me for my persistence. We're working on a really cool project that will be unveiled in June. This helped me remember that I am good at getting things going and keeping them rolling. Sometimes I can stall a little before starting. I like to think things through, after all. And I am a recovering perfectionist so sometimes I have a hard time putting my ideas out into the world. On the other hand, I've been thinking about this blog every day lately and I just need to start. Thirdly, I ran another really great Creating a Beautiful Garden with Native Plants workshop. While we were packing up I told my coworker that this was my favourite part of my job. It's true and I find a lot of inspiration from teaching and meeting people interested in learning about native plants in the urban landscape. Participants always ask great questions about where to find good resources and I need a place to send them.

So here we are. This blog is sure to evolve as I move forward. I had started assembling a binder (yeah right) of all of the useful resources, journal articles, and information I was coming across. In less than a week it was impossible to open the binder and at least one small tree had been sacrificed. So, I've decided to bring my resource collection into modern, paperless times and link to all the useful things. That is where the idea for this blog started. I also have big plans for book reviews, event promotions, and, since I've maintained a travel blog in the past, I will most likely write about some of the places I visit in this new city; places related to greenspaces, native plant gardens, and nature, of course. I also like the idea of having a place to practice communicating ecological principles to the general public, hopefully I'll receive some thought-provoking feedback along the way.

Currently, I am the Healthy Yards Stewardship Coordinator for Toronto and Region Conservation. I'm also, very recently, a board member of the North American Native Plant Society. Both of these roles will overlap with many of the ideas that I may present here. Can't help it. I think about this sort of thing all of the time and I notice it wherever I go. I'll probably even mention many of the projects I am working on because a large part of community stewardship is just getting the word out about what we are up to. However, all of the opinions presented throughout this blog are mine alone.

Urban stewardship, land conservation, ecological restoration, and incorporating nature into our developed landscape are very important topics to me. And since I've had 70 hits based solely on creating the title of this blog, I think that these topics are interesting to you too. Please let me know if you find these resources useful, if you try any of these tips, if you disagree with any of these ideas. I want to be part of this conversation.