It is that time of year when the wildflowers start showing their beautiful flowers. There are also some plants one needs to be mindful of when out on the trails. Today I thought I would post about some of the plants and flowers one might find on Ontario trails. Some of these you can even find at your local nursery to add to your garden.
The white trillium is the Ontario provincial flower. These flowers have recently opened in some areas and are getting ready to open in other areas. They create a beautiful blanket in the forest this time of year. You may also spot the dark purple ones as well when out and about.
One of my favourites is the star flower which typically blooms between May and June.
Another personal favourite is the bunch berry. This produces a nice white flower in the summer and in the fall it may have little red berries in place of the flower. You will find these in wooded areas and near bogs.
>One plant I have seen quite a bit near our place and wondered for some time what it was is the may apple. It is one of the first plants to come up in the spring. You will generally see these in a wooded area. The flowers it produces are generally not visible as they appear under the leaves. It is a small white flower that will appear. Many of the plants will not flower each year.
>Mustard garlic is another hearty wild plant that makes a fairly early showing. This is an invasive species that is not native to North America. You can identify mustard garlic quite often before you see it by the garlic smell in the air. It will produce a white flower every other year.
The marsh marigold is a nice bright yellow in the spring. It is a welcome bit of colour after the winter months. You will find these on the edge of streams and rivers, in marsh areas and areas that were once marsh.
Some plants to watch out for on the trails are:
Blood root, this is now up and can give you a scab like sore on your skin if touched.
Poison ivy can leave you very itchy and create a rash. This is identifiable by its three leaves.
Poison oak is another 3 leaf plant and will create a similar reaction as poison ivy.
What is your favourite wildflower? Have fun trying to identify some of these out on the trails.
Friday ended up being a quiet day for Paige and I with lots of snuggled and singing. I think Paige might be teething again (this time the front top 2 teeth). We missed our stroller walk since Paige was napping and I didn’t want to wake her to go since she didn’t nap so well this week. We did however get up to Ganaraska to pick up our tree order. We had enough cedars to put in a 2nd row of cedars on the south side of the house. We also planted a double row hedge of Shadblow Serviceberry at the front south corner of the property to give us privacy in a few years during the summer months since we like to set up the pool on the south side of the house. We did end up with some leftover serviceberry which one of our neighbours was willing to take off our hands.
A remarkable occasion that was marked on Friday was my grandparents 67 anniversary. We often wonder if we will even be around for our 67th anniversary, or if around would we have our wits about us to even realize we had made it to this anniversary!
Saturday was a cool, but sunny day so Paige and I headed into Toronto with Dave in the afternoon after getting the lawn cut and the whipper snipping done in the morning. Dave had a baseball practice with the rec league he is playing with this year near Riverdale Farm. I hadn’t been, but had heard about it, so thought it would be a great opportunity to check it out with Paige. We wandered around the farm and checked out the chicks in the barn. I am not sure Paige knew what to make of the sheep or the cow she had a very quizzical look on her face when I was showing her these animals.
She would jump and be very interested in the chickens every time one would walk near the stroller. The gardens were beautiful with all of the tulips and daffodils out so we spent some time looking at the flowers as well.
After a while of wandering the farm we headed down to the ball diamonds to watch some baseball. It was definitely much cooler by the ball diamonds. We stuck around for a bit before heading back to the car.
We had thought we would maybe stop at The Shops At Don Mills to wander and maybe grab something to eat, but Paige was napping so we decided to keep heading in the direction of home and stop if we saw an interesting place. We ended up passing by Frankie Tomatto’s. Every time we pass this place it is busy and so we thought we would check it out. It is an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet. The restaurant is currently undergoing much needed renovations to update it and expand the restaurant. We were quite surprised at the quality of the food and both enjoyed our meals. There was nothing that we would advise against. If you like garlic and Italian food, then this is a place to check out.
Sunday turned out to be a nice sunny day. It felt quite cool in the morning and there had been a heavy frost the night before. The gardening seminar that was to happen, I had to cancel as it was down to 3 of us Sunday morning (people backed out overnight) making the cost prohibitive to the 3 of us left.
So with nothing planned for the day, we figured a hike was in order. We took a drive out to Long Sault Conservation Area. We were looking for the Eastern entrance and must have missed it so we ended up taking a drive down roads (they didn’t look like roads, sand and lots of bumps through the woods, but they did have stop signs, etc) where we passed a conservation area that was supposed to have opened fall of 2009 but had a no trespassing sign. After about 45 minutes of driving down a couple of these “roads” we decided to head back to the main entrance and just check out one of those trails. It was a very busy spot.
It appeared that most people hike the Cottontail Rabbit Trail, so we decided to check out one of the quieter trails and went with the Barred Owl Trail. It is a 2.9 km Advanced trail. We found this to be a nice easy hike with a fairly flat trail. Even though it is quite flat it does provide nice scenery. We are not really sure why this was deemed an advanced trail (maybe the distance). It was a nice hike and the trilliums are just getting ready to open, so by this week-end I am sure they will be putting on a nice display. There is a little picnic area at the beginning of the trails. Some of these trails do meet up with the ORTA (Oak Ridges Trail Association) trail system for a portion of them.
One thing to watch for on these trails is Bloodroot, we noticed it right near the trails edge in a few places so do be careful when out on the trails that you don’t walk through this. I have heard it mentioned on a few trails in the Durham Region now.
We were home shortly after lunch time so we had plenty of time to hang out in the yard and try and get some yard work done. We added forest compost to the raised vegetable beds and mixed it in before planting a few of our seeds for this year. We planted our onion seeds, sweet peas and snap peas as well as buttercrunch lettuce and mixed greens. We are trying new seeds this year that are Organic so we will see how they do. Once the weather warms up we have a variety of other seeds to add.
Even with these cool temperatures the gardens are doing quite well, although many of my herbs have yet to make a showing so we may have to replant many of them this year. The only one to show has been the lemon balm and of course my lavenders. The strawberries and rhubarb have more than doubled their size in the past couple of days between the rain last week then the sunny days and some more rain again today, they could be rather large plants this year, so hopefully the strawberries will also be plentiful.
While we worked in the garden Paige had a great time playing on her blanket by the vegetable gardens and visiting with one of our neighbours.
Hopefully the rain keeps up for a few days this week to ensure that the trees are well watered since the ground was pretty dry when we were digging it up to plant the trees. It would be nice if they could get themselves well established before the warm dry weather arrives.
Is there a trail you would recommend up checking out in the Durham region or within an hours drive?
Do you plant a vegetable garden in your yard? What do you grow? Do you have any tips and tricks?
Paige is definitely keeping me busy this week. Saturday was the Great Cloth Diaper Change and we attended the event in Toronto at the Green Parent Show. To be honest I was a little disappointed in the turnout at the event since Toronto is such a large city and this was also feeding from the surrounding communities. There were 42 qualifying babies at the event. Paige had so much fun up on the stage while we were waiting for the countdown. She was having a great time scooting around and visiting with the other babies. I picked up a couple fun toys and some chalk for Paige at the show. Spoke to some great mom’s as well as the editor and publisher of Eco Parent. They were great to speak to and gave me some good information. I am really looking forward to reading the debut issue which I picked up at the show since there are a number of outdoor articles.
Can you spot Paige at the back?
Over the week-end we did some work in the yard and planted white Trilliums on either side of the stairs we built last year going down our ravine. Last year Tessa mowed down on all but one of the few trilliums we planted, so this year we are keeping a close eye on her in hopes that she doesn’t get any of them!
We also picked out our kitchen tap and picked up our sink this week-end. We can’t wait to see our kitchen when we get it all finished. It is just a matter of waiting right now for the weather to improve so we can get on with painting. We chose to go with an oiled bronze finish for the tap so now we have selected the faucet we can decide on hardware.
With Monday being a rainy day, I decided to let Paige do some more finger painting. This time I put some paint in little containers that she could dip her hand into. She loved it.
We were back to swimming this week and Paige was having a great time. &We used the mats this week to try and teach the little ones flutter kick. Paige wasn’t so into having to do the flutter kick but loved being able to move herself and the mat down the pool. We also worked on showing them how to get out of the pool by going through the movements with them. Paige quite enjoyed jumping off the edge of the deck afterwards.
The weather has been very odd here this week – one day snow and hail and then yesterday was quite nice. We started our morning at the dentist where Paige was chatting up a storm and couldn’t resist showing off her amber necklace every time someone new came into the room. Since the weather was nice we decided to take advantage of it and spent the better part of the afternoon on the back deck and playing in the swing. Paige loves to scoot everywhere on her bum these days so I let her sit on the deck where she could check things out.
It is another grey and rainy day here today. Thank goodness for all of this rain since we definitely needed it. Paige and I are off to check out a new music & movement program this afternoon. It sounds like it could be a great deal of fun and the little ones get a musical instrument at the class to take home as well.
Tomorrow we have our weekly stroller walk, this time we are walking in a different spot so it will be nice to see somewhere new. Afterwards Paige and I need to head to Port Hope to pick up our tree order (25 cedars & 25 serviceberry) to plant in the yard. These were ordered through Ganaraska Conservation Areasince they were selling them as a fundraiser. I think Saturday will be pretty busy planting all of these trees.
Really looking forward to Sunday when we are hosting a “Learn to Grow Your Own Vegetables” seminar at our place being put on by The Backyard Urban Farm Co.There are 5 of us attending, so looking forward to learning some new skills which will hopefully make it easier this year and maybe more plentiful? Hopefully we have some decent weather for this since it will be all outside.
On another note, I have a guest post up about hiking with your little one. You can check it out at
Did any of you attend the Great Cloth Diaper change? If so where did you attend? What did you do to celebrate Earth Day? Do you grow your own vegetables in your yard? I would love to hear from all of you.
It can be a bit overwhelming once you make the decision to cloth diaper. There are so many different types and brands out there to decide from. The best thing to do first is go to an actual store that sells cloth diapers and talk to them and see what the different types look and feel like and how they work. From there you can decide on the type of cloth diaper you would like to go with. Some like to have a variety of styles, I prefer to stick to pretty much one style that was about ease and convenience so that I could get my husband on board.
Types of Diapers
AIO (All-in-ones) These are cloth diapers that are just that, they have everything you need all in one. They are the closest thing you can get to a disposable. There is nothing to stuff or pull apart, no pins and no covers. You just put the diaper on and take it off once wet and throw in your diaper pail or wet sack until wash day. The exterior layer of these diapers is either waterproof or water resistant. Pros Easy on and off system (generally hook & loop aka velcro) No need for covers or pins Generally a trim fit Cons They take a long time to dry Not as easy to adjust absorbency Most expensive option
AI2 (All-in-two) Very similar to AIO’s except the absorbent insert either snaps in or lays in the centre of the outer shell. These can be an economical option since the outer layer can be used multiple times throughout the day while only the insert is changed out. The cover is either waterproof or water resistant. Pros Easy on and off system No need for pins Generally a trim fit Able to adjust absorbency to suit needs Don’t require the same number of covers as inserts Cons More expensive than flats
Pocket Diapers They are just as the name says, they have a pocket that you stuff your absorbent inserts into. Once they are stuffed some brands do not require un-stuffing for washing, so another great choice when trying to get your husband on board with cloth diapering. These come in both hook and loop and snap options. The exterior layer is either waterproof or water resistant. Each time the diaper is changed, all of it is changed – cover and insert. Pros Easy on and off system No need for pins or additional covers Generally a trim fit Can get these in a One Size fits all Able to adjust absorbency to suit needs Some can be used like an AI2 Cons One of the more expensive options The inserts generally need to be unstuffed for washing which can be gross for some parents
Hybrids These are one of the most popular options. These are generally a waterproof or water resistant cover which can be used with disposable inserts or cloth inserts. Insert is laid on top of the outer cover like an AI2. Pros Easy on and off system No need for pins or additional covers Generally a trim fit Able to adjust absorbency to suit needs Daycare friendly No un-stuffing required Cons Waste is still generated – albeit a much lesser amount Difficult to adjust absorbency with disposable inserts
Fitted Diaper These are similar to AIO’s, but do not have a waterproof layer so they usually require a cover of some sort. These are popular for people looking for organic materials and more absorbent diapers. Pros Easy on and off system No need for pins The cover can be reused throughout the day if it is clean Cons Not as daddy friendly since it requires a diaper and cover
Prefolds/Flats These are the traditional diapers most people think of when they think cloth diapering. They are the most economical choice and require some type of fastener and cover. Pros Can be made at home easily out of any large piece of material (ie receiving blanket if needed) Economical Can be hand washed much easier than the others Easily adjust to fit any size baby or child Do not need a cover for each flat as it can be reused throughout the day if clean Cons Require a cover and pins or fasteners Much bulkier than some of the other options
Which style of diaper do you prefer and why? I would love to hear more pros and cons to these options and why you chose the one you did. Do you have a favourite brand? We chose to go with pocket diapers due to the ease of putting them on and taking them off and they tend to dry relatively quickly on the line. We get a great fit with these too.
It has been one of those weeks. You know the weeks where you are kind of lazy, don’t really accomplish anything, but wonder where the time went.
Last Friday we were supposed to head out for a walk with our usual Friday group, but Paige had other ideas. Her two bottom teeth decided to make an appearance that morning and so once they were through I had my hands full with a real little fuss bucket. I am sure the cold was not helping matters. So Paige and I spent the day snuggling on the couch while I sang the same song (Rose Rose – a campfire song I learned in Brownies) over and over for hours and rocked her. It was about 1:00 am before she settled down enough to sleep.
The week-end was spent waiting for the rain to arrive that they kept calling for and we need, but alas it never came. So we headed out for a shorter hike at Heber Down Conservation Area where Paige decided she needed to be in the carrier rather than the stroller which was fine with me. She had a nice nap while we walked around and Tessa (our Golden Retriever) had a chance to play in the pond with some kids.
The earlier part of the week was quiet with daily stroller walks up the road and still no signs of rain. We really need to get some rain since things are already so dry. I am concerned what this means for the summer and our well.
Yesterday was a big day for Paige. She woke up with a new skill (clapping her hands together) and couldn’t wait to show me. Then at lunch she got to use a fork to eat her frozen mango with and she was quite proud of herself with that.
Since Paige and I were starting to feel somewhat better we headed off to the zoo for the afternoon to watch the animals. Paige was really enjoying her time at the zoo and interacting with some of the animals. She loved the Great Barrier Reef pavilion and watching all of the fish (I am sure we could have spent an hour there). She also had fun watching the turtles and the gorillas.
Watching the animals
After the zoo it was a quick stop into the office to talk to somebody quickly which ended up being a longer visit since everyone wanted to have a quick chat and snuggle with Paige. Paige was quite happy to be the centre of attention.
Today we had a great day outside. We walked to the end of the road and back checking out some of the plants that are coming up and a visit with some of the neighbours, a nap out in the yard and then lunch on the porch before a bit of play time in the swing before heading in for an afternoon nap.
Once Paige was up from her afternoon nap she was raring to go and scooting on her bum all over the place. The stairs from our dining room to our family room caught her eye and she was over there in a flash, but not for the reasons you might think. She wanted to get over to them to bang on them and feel the hardwood with her toes. Paige also discovered that they make a great seat.
Well if we don’t get the rain they are calling for tomorrow we will most likely head out for a hike on one of the local trails since the stroller group is not walking tomorrow. Hoping the rain arrives tomorrow, but it would be nice if it held out until after we got a hike in.
With this being Real Diaper Week I thought this is the best time to start writing about cloth diapering as I had mentioned I would do before.
There are many reasons people choose cloth diapering – environmental, cost, chemical exposure, sensitive baby, etc. Real Diaper Association has a great number of facts on their site which I recommend reading. Here are just a few facts to pique your interest.
A baby will go through approximately 5,000-6,000 diapers in the first 2 years. This amounts to a large amount of waste sitting in landfills as it is estimated it will take anywhere from 250-500 years to decompose. And it is not just the waste sitting in landfills but the waste generated in their production and the use of natural resources. A disposable diaper uses 2 times the amount of water to produce than it takes to wash a cloth diaper.
Cloth diapering in the long run will cost a great deal less, although it may seem more expensive at the onset. We have spent approximately $400 for all of our cloth diapers which will be reused many times for our daughter and should we choose to have another child we will already have the diapers. Standard disposables are roughly $.40/diaper and compostable/”eco friendly” disposables are $.70-$.80/diaper. Over a diapering lifetime per child it will cost you roughly $2,000-$2,400 for standard diapers and $3,500-$4,800 for “eco-friendly” disposables. Cloth diapering can cost less than what we have spent and it can cost considerably more depending on types of diapers and brands chosen. It would be great in Canada if our food banks were able to provide cloth diapers to their families in need rather than disposables since a pack of cloth diapers would go much further. There have been some recent articles circulating the internet about low income families drying out disposable diapers to reuse them as they can’t afford to buy more.
Cloth diapers are made with natural fibres, while disposable diapers are made with synthetic materials and plastics as well as fragrances and chemicals to make them look and smell nice. Some of the chemicals in disposables have been known to cause allergic reactions in some little ones.
It is said that cloth diapered babies will potty train sooner, I am not sure about this one as some of the cloth can feel pretty dry to the baby while the insert is soaked.
Everyone chooses what works best for them. We chose to cloth diaper for environmental reasons as well as the cost factor. I also think they look pretty darn cute on our little one, especially under her skirts and dresses come summer. The only problem now is I think I may have an addiction to fluff! And yes my husband is very pro cloth now as well (and yes he does change diapers!).
It has been a fairly quiet week around here, but Paige has kept me busy. She has been having a fussy week (thinking this is due to teething – she was moaning lots and rather restless in her sleep last night).
Tuesday was our second swimming class and Paige once again had a blast. This week we put the little ones in PFD’s for the class. Paige loved it since it gave her some independence in the pool. She swam 3 full lengths of the pool on her back without help. Paige was just itching to swim lengths every time we were doing other activities. We also worked on having the little ones jump off the side of the pool so that in the event they were to fall off a dock or out of a boat they wouldn’t be too scared. My daughter is a real water baby.
Wednesday Paige had a play date with her older cousin Jack. Jack was very excited to see her when we walked in the door and I think Paige was happy to have another little one to play with. We let them play for a little bit before heading out for a short walk with all of the kids.
After lunch we then headed down for Paige to have a visit with her Great Nanna & Great Grandpa. She was being a little fussy at first, but once she got comfortable there she was crawling all over the place and chatting up a storm. Paige is very lucky as she will have the opportunity to know all of her great grandparents.
Yesterday my vehicle was in the shop for an oil change and to have my winter tires removed. We weren’t sure how long it would take, so Paige, Tessa and I went for a long walk to the end of our road across the concession road and down the following road. Only catch was, I thought that we would be able to get all the way down to the highway on the next road over, but with it being a road that has now been closed they have created a rather large drop off. So we had to turn around just before the highway and walk the loop back (this was roughly a 10.5 km walk). Thank goodness I had put Paige in the stroller since I hadn’t planned to go on such a long walk. It is amazing the things you notice when you are walking as opposed to driving. We stopped to watch the horses on the one farm for a bit on our way back and then stopped to watch the ducks in the pond at the end of our road. Paige had a nice nap and was in a slightly better mood when we got home. I think all of that fresh air helped.
After recovering a little from our walk, we walked over to pick up the vehicle and headed down to Vandermeer Nursery to find out what to do about our lawn (the grubs and skunks have made a real mess of it already, and we ended up with a fair amount of crab grass during the “drought” last summer). After speaking with someone there we decided to fertilize with a combination fertilizer and corn gluten mix. Then in 6 weeks we will need to top dress and put down seed on all of the dead spots. I was amazed to see all of the plants they already have out at the nursery. The trilliums were already blooming at the nursery so I guess we missed getting some more for the yard this year (Tessa ate all but one of the ones I planted last year). We did pick up a couple herbs as well which I will keep inside in one of our windows until it warms up a little. I love having a good selection of herbs in the garden.
On another note, I ordered 2 custom cloth diapers from Love Earth Love Cloth and the print choices were finalized this week. It was so hard to only order 2 when I saw all of the cute fabric choices and the reviews on these diapers are good. One of them is going to have a ruffle bum which I think will be so cute for the summer under Paige’s dresses and skirts.
This is the back side of the diaper (won’t it be cute?)
Today we are off for a stroller walk with the group we usually walk with on Fridays. Today we are going to do a waterfront path instead of the one we usually do. The stroller walk is generally around 5km or a little more so I would imagine today will be the same. The weather is supposed to be very nice today, so I don’t think we will need the storm cover on the stroller.
Well off to get the diapers on the line.
It is a quiet week-end around here for Easter. We are celebrating with just the 3 of us since the rest of the family is either celebrating with the other side or are away. We are enjoying the family time together.
Friday we continued our visit with my brother Fraser, how wife Meghan and their son Callum. Paige and Callum seemed to be having a great time rolling around on the carpet and playing together.
After the little ones had some play time and were fed we headed out for a hike. We decided we would check out a new trail. Our first choice for new trails to try was so busy that cars were parked quite a ways down the street, so we decided to skip that one and headed further up the road to a different trail. The trail we chose – North Walker Woods , didn’t have much to look at and was fairly flat. It was great for chatting and catching up on, but if you are looking for scenic then this is not the one for you. The little ones enjoyed being out on the trails. Callum stayed awake the entire time, while Paige took the opportunity to nap.
After hiking we stopped at Hy Hope Farm to pick up some grass fed beef and pickles to make hamburgers for lunch. We frequent this farm since it is close by and the food is good. The best time to go is when the bread is being made and then pick up a fresh loaf that is still warm.
Yesterday was very productive around here. We picked up 1 yard of mulch and got the cedar hedge, front, south side and back gardens mulched. As well we aerated the lawn. Once we were down with our lawn we made our way down to one of the neighbours to help them aerate their lawn. We then headed to a third neighbours house to visit, and see their gardens and pond while they aerated their lawn.
We finished off the evening with local fish and chips and a snuggle with Paige on the couch.
Today we will clean up some more of the gardens and figure out how much more mulch we will need for the remaining gardens and possibly transplant a few plants if the rain holds off. The sun is shining right now, but they are calling for rain this afternoon.
The Great Cloth Diaper change will be taking place on April 21. They are attempting to break the world record for the most cloth diapers changed at one time. In 2011 the record was set with 5,026 diapers at 127 locations in 5 countries. There were actually 203 locations that participated with 6,363 participants from 10 countries but not all locations qualified for the Guinness World Record. It is also a great way to let people know about cloth diapering. This is actually only the second year for the event, but wouldn’t it be great to see 7,000 cloth diapers being changed at the same time?
There are currently events scheduled in 15 countries for this date. Have you signed up? Where will you be participating?
I registered this week-end for the Toronto event being hosted by the Laundry Tarts at the Green Parents Show. It was a toss up for me whether to attend the event in Peterborough or the one in Toronto as they are roughly the same distance for me, however the fact that the Toronto one is tied in with the Green Parents Show which was hoping to attend as well it seemed like the perfect fit.
It was a busy active week in this house. Wednesday was a great walk at the zoo, it was at a good pace and we tackled the hill that goes down to the Canadian section. We walked all areas of the zoo and did the hill with a break before the hill and managed to complete it in just over 1.5 hours. There is always great conversation with these ladies. Paige napped the whole time, so I didn’t stick around after to see the animals with Paige since she was still sleeping.
Keeping a steady pace up the hill
Paige was having a great time this week in evenings playing in her swing with daddy in the back yard. It is her favourite thing to do.
Paige is reaching that age where she enjoys playing on her own for large period of times. She will roll around on the ground, crawl a little bit and just hang out on the living room carpet. It is great so I can get a few things done around the house while she entertains herself.
Yesterday was another great hike with another mom, hiking the Countryside Preserve trail in Uxbridge. We managed to get a little lost and ended up hiking a loop in Durham Forest as well. It was a good hike with great conversation. Maybe that was our problem – too much conversation and too little paying attention to where we are going! We were out for just over 2 hours. The little ones did great and didn’t really fuss at all. Paige took a nap at one point in her pack.
We then stopped in at Vince’s Market for some groceries where Paige put on a show for everyone in the store, chatting and singing away in the cart.
My brother and his wife came over for the night with their little one Callum for a visit and to spend the night. The littles ones played for a little bit, we skyped with my parents and then it was time for bed for them. Once they went to bed we made some pizzas and sat around and had a visit before we all headed to bed.
Paige so happy to see her cousin Callum
Today looks like a good day for a hike-sun is shining and it is supposed to go up to 11oC today. I think we will all head out for a hike together once everyone is up and that way my brother Fraser and his wife Meghan can try Callum out in the new pack they got yesterday.
