Brummet's Conscious Blog

Seeds of Diversity : offers many guides for gardeners from the Seed Finder &   Seed Exchange , listings for  Seedy Saturday events, prevent seed variety extinction, and Community Seed Grow-outs projects . Over   150  Seedy Saturday  events (seed exchange events)  raised nearly 81% of their 2026 fundraising goal for these events before the new year began!  © Brummet Media Group  Seeds.ca/donate  “Last year, Seeds of Diversity' s seed savers grew and exchanged over 3350 different varieties of heritage vegetable, grain, flower, and herb seeds.  We gathered samples of the rarest varieties to back up in our seed collection, because 2090 of those were not available from any seed company in Canada.  We donated over 3400 packets of rare seeds to Seedy Saturdays/Sundays and seed swaps across the country.”  Are you looking for sources of Canadian seeds for your garden next year? This index of all the garden vegetable seeds in Canada...

Have a passion for butterflies? How about birds? Or photo contests? Well this event might be for you !  Join in the fun at the Texas Butterfly Festival (USA) Oct 26 - 29th 2024, where you may spot some of the 250 varieties of butterflies, or 300 varieties of birds.  Learn more:  https://texasbutterflyfestival.com/ ~~~     Follow & Find Books:   on Amazon Visit:   Drum It With Brummet Blog Subscribe:   Brummet Media​ YouTube Channel​  ​ ~~~

Pollinator Week Canada 2024 June 17 - 23 Pollinator Week is a project that was started  by Pollinator Partnerships Canada in 2007 and soon grew to become an international event with National Pollinator Week events happening across the planet.  Learn about pollinators, citizen science and back yard or school projects... promote pollinator health by spreading the word and planting gardens.  Scan for online webinars, in person gatherings, garden tours and farm tours... there is a lot going on! Visit  https://pollinatorpartnership.ca/ to download their toolkits, participate in projects and discover tons of resources and organizations. And don't forget to learn how to preserve those amazing summer harvests produced by local small farmers! Check out this cookbook: From One Small Garden - Over 300 Delicious Nutritious Recipes . 

Planting for positive change is a real passion of ours.  Not only can we grow food that is harvested at it's peak nutritional level, with amazing flavour, and... for free - but we also reduce the environmental impact of our menu plan.  Add some flowering annuals, trees, shrubs and a wildflower or two - This will attract more pollinators who will ensure that you get a great harvest.  These plants provide food, shelter and habitat for a number of very important and beautiful creatures.  As you expand the plantings and potted plants a great number of bees of all shapes and sizes will start appearing.  What was that that just fluttered by? O how beautiful!  Witness the butterflies, sphynx moths, evening moths and tiny birds that are now dropping into your yard for a welcome respite.  Sound like an amazing experience? Well it is... and we have done it here on our property.  It wasn't long before my interest renewed in itentifying them,learning their na...

Explaining Garden Terms Have you ever noticed how happy gardeners tend to be? Perhaps this comes from communing with nature, sharing nutrient-rich harvests with others, or knowing that every increased amount of food-producing greenery helps battle the environmental problems our world faces. For Dave and I, gardening– a.k.a. playing in the dirt - is just that. Play time, time for meditation and to listen to the birds. Yet, gardening can mean so much more. About 25 years ago our family became members of Canada's Heritage Seed Program - now known as Seeds of Diversity Canada - and have never looked back. This organization works with hundreds of seed-saving groups, government departments, individual gardeners and farmers all over the world to preserve a vast global seed bank. We have been proud to help save several varieties from extinction, forever, through our donations and activities for this organization.  In various discussions over the years we have noticed that there is a lot ...

Kudo's to the amazing work this one organization, and all their awesome volunteers, accomplished in 2019!! Pollinator Partnership Canada 's Year in Review! - planted over 6000 native flowers, grasses and shrubs with over 1000 students from 16 different schools - successfully concluded a two-year project across Ontario that saw the creation of 49 new monarch habitat sites, including school gardens, natural areas restorations, and 20 farms - conducted over 20 outreach events in Ontario, British Columbia, and Newfoundland informing the public about the importance of pollinators and ways to help them - developed and launched the Canadian School Garden and Curriculum Kit - presented case studies at the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s workshop on Pollinator Habitat Restoration on Rights-of-Way in Ottawa - launched the Youth Pollinator Leadership Team in Victoria, BC - established 2 pollinator gardens in the City of Victoria in Community Gardens, along with educati...

Sustainable Gardens   Only a few generations ago every little valley, every little hillside had its own plant varieties. When people migrated they often took their family's seeds with them. Today, when our elders move into retirement homes or discontinue gardening due to physical restraints, much of their plantings are allowed to die out. Without realizing it we are losing varieties on a regular basis. These unique seeds are becoming rare and will eventually face extinction if we fail to keep them alive and growing. Two surveys between 1900 and 1981 revealed that 7,000 fewer apple varieties were grown within that time period in North America. Yet even now, after losing so much diversity there are estimated to be around 2,000 varieties of beans and 6,000 kinds of tomatoes. Every single one has a particular history, a particular DNA sequence, and a particular set of nutrients, colour, shape, size and texture. For example, tomatoes variants offer red, pink, yellow, orange, ...

Kudos !! BirmingHam Eastside EcoGardens now offers: - community garden beds - medicinal herbs - an orchard - a beautiful flower meadow for the pollinators - trails for people  - trash cans - Birdbaths, bird and bat houses and water features  This is a great example of using public spaces for the greatest overall good.  Because of these efforts, visitors today spot all kinds of wildlife from hawks to frogs and numerous birds.  Check out this site if you have time:  www.beecommunity.weebly.com   ~~ Visit the Brummet's @:  http://BrummetMedia.ca ~~  

You've likely heard me talk about greening buildings, yards, balconies etc. on the radio show, or read posts about it here or in our Trash Talk book series... Today I'd like to share a few thoughts on how planting a little green can save you a lot of green - cold hard cash.  First - landscaping can increase the value of your home by 15-20%! This works best when you are considering curb appeal, planting for privacy and also diversity. Mature landscapes or those a few years old are much more likely to drive up the value of your home. Simply installing a patio area and entrance area with interesting plants can increase the value of your home by 4-12%! It really is that easy.  As you've heard me talk about on the radio show, you can use plants to increase the energy efficiency of your home. If you plant deciduous trees (those that drop leaves in the fall) on the south and west sides of your home - shade will be created, keeping the home cooler i...