Huron County Backyard Ecosystems

10/11/2026

One thing I’m especially thankful for this year is having local people and businesses who genuinely care about the same things this little project is trying to accomplish. 🌱

If you missed my earlier post, Kyle Haccius and The Branch & Berry Permaculture stepped up in a big way to help us finish off the 2026 campaign with an amazing grand prize.

That means a lot to me.

It’s one thing to have a good idea or a mission you care about. It’s another thing entirely to have people in your own community willing to support it, donate their time and expertise, and help make it possible.

I’m also just really thankful that we have local options for this kind of work.

I hired Kyle and his team myself this year to help install new native plant beds on our property, and they exceeded my expectations. The work was done carefully and professionally, everything I wanted preserved was treated thoughtfully, and they even took care of a few little unrelated messes around the property while they were there.

The price was fantastic too, and I’m already hoping to have them back for another project.

So this Thanksgiving, I’m feeling very grateful that people like Kyle are doing this work locally — and even more grateful that he cared enough about this mission to step in and support our community with such a generous prize.

Sometimes something not working out really does lead you exactly where you were supposed to end up. 💚🌿

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone — and thank you to everyone who has planted, shared, donated, encouraged someone else, or supported in any way this year.

10/06/2026

As another growing season comes to an end, making it a great time to gather seeds for the Huron County Library's Seed Library!

To learn more about seed saving and how to donate them to the library, visit: https://www.huroncountylibrary.ca/seed-library/

10/06/2026

Shout out to my Huron East followers! What an easy way to

Ready to plant something that gives back? 🌱

Huron East residents can take part in the Tree Power Program and purchase native trees selected to support shade, cleaner air, greener spaces, and long-term energy conservation.

Trees are available for $20 each and can be purchased online at: https://abcashop.ca/product/tree-power-huron-east/

Tree pickup:
📆 Saturday, October 17, 2026.
🕘 9 AM to 11 AM.
📍 Town Hall parking lot in Seaforth, at the corner of Victoria St. and Gouinlock St.

Let’s grow a greener together. 🌳

Order your trees by Thursday, October 15, 2026 (while supplies last).

Details: www.huroneast.com/treepower

10/06/2026

Invasive species of plants negatively impact tourism and recreation. Learn how in this article by Bayfield residents Renee Sandelowsky and Helen Varekamp: https://www.abca.ca/post/?ID=1704

10/06/2026

10/04/2026

A little humble update about our FINAL draw of 2026. 🌱

Our original grand prize couldn’t be confirmed, so I reached out to someone who has been a great friend and ally in this mission — Kyle Haccius of The Branch and Berry Permaculture. Honestly, I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t ask him from the outset, because this prize feels like such a perfect fit.

I always say that sometimes when something doesn’t work out… it turns out it really DID work out.

We’re extending the FINAL draw to October 23rd — my birthday! 😜🎂

🌿 GRAND PRIZE 🌿

Kyle is generously offering TWO seasonal 2-hour consultations with The Branch & Berry:

🌱 SPRING SESSION
• What your garden needs — and what YOU want from it
• Garden scout
• Native species identification
• Invasive species identification
• Resource integration, including local nurseries, OWSL, VASCAN and more
• Winter-sown native plant seedlings — details TBD

🌱 SUMMER SESSION
• Native species identification, including summer bloomers
• Harvesting spring seeds
• Preparing seeds for storage or donation
• Plant splitting
• Hedging and topiary tutorial
• Indigenous awareness and acknowledgement
• Drought-tolerant plants
• Adapting your garden to a changing climate

If the winner decides they’d like even more help afterward, additional work can also be booked through The Branch & Berry, Landscapes and Labour division at standard rates.

To enter:

🌿 Plant a new native plant anywhere in Huron County in 2026
🌿 Take a photo
🌿 Share it publicly and tag Huron County Backyard Ecosystems /

One plant counts.

Kyle, thank you for stepping up and supporting this grassroots project in such a generous way. 🌱💚

Final draw: October 23rd!

09/09/2026

🌱 It’s native seed collecting season!

This is the time of year when I start watching the native plants in my garden a little more closely. We have an opportunity to save a small amount and help those plants find their way into even more Huron County gardens next year.

If you have straight-species native plants from a reputable source, consider collecting roughly 10% of the available seed, while leaving the rest where it belongs. Seed heads provide important food and habitat for wildlife through the fall and winter, so we want to take only a small share. 💚

Native seed can be dropped off at any branch of the Huron County Library, or at the Little Free Native Seed Library at 40 Gordon Street in Clinton — whichever is more convenient.

One of the places those donated seeds will go this year is into our native plant winter sowing kits.

Last winter was our pilot year. We made just 8 kits, with each kit containing approximately 100 seeds — 20 seeds from each of five different native plant species. The potential impact of something that small is actually pretty remarkable.

If, for example, 80% of those 100 seeds successfully germinated, that would be 80 new native plants from one kit. 🌱

Now imagine the person who received that kit kept 20 plants for their own garden and shared three groups of 20 with friends, family or neighbours. That one little kit could mean: 80 new native plants in 4 native plant gardens.

And last year we gave away eight kits. That works out to a potential 640 native plants growing in 32 gardens. And this year I'm excited to announce there will be many more kits!

Every seed donated helps us assemble them. Every kit helps another person get started. And every plant that eventually grows from those seeds brings us another step closer to our goal of adding 60,000 native plants per year across Huron County.

That number sounds enormous until you start doing the math. We don’t need one person to plant 60,000 plants. We need thousands of people planting a few — and then sharing what those plants produce. 💚

09/03/2026

I had such a great time at the Annual Turtle Release at Morrison Dam. The rain held off just long enough! I'm in awe watching the staff at ABCA and Huron Stewardship Council successfully pull off all the many projects that they have on the go every year.

Thanks to everyone who stopped and had conversations about caterpillars, butterflies, native plants and all the other parts of our native ecosystem!

09/01/2026

🎉 Congratulations to our August photo draw winner, Kaeleigh Vanderloop!

And a huge thank you to everyone who entered this month. Every photo represents someone in Huron County who chose to do their 'little bit of good' — planting something native, creating habitat, supporting pollinators, and helping rebuild the ecosystem right where they live. 🌿

One person planting one native plant might seem like a small thing. But when people all across our county start doing it together, those small actions add up to something much bigger.

That’s what is all about. And thank you SO much to our August Sponsor for their generous prize donation! Please continue to support our amazing Native Plant Nurseries every chance you get! Don't forget about purchasing gift cards, which helps our nurseries AND encourages even more native plants to be planted!💚

Stay tuned… because we have ONE draw left for 2026!

📸 September 30th is the final photo draw of the year — and it’s the GRAND PRIZE!

If you’ve planted a native plant anywhere in Huron County this year, the hard part is already done. Take a photo, tag us, and help show everyone else what’s possible when a whole county starts planting it forward. 🌱