Matthew Higginson's posts

A bird of prey with it’s claws full. A bandit looking for breakfast. These incredible photos were sent to us by one of our long-standing volunteers. Jocelyn, who calls Parkdale home, says she sees all kinds of animals scurrying around while she's working in her naturalized garden.

Each year the Green Living Show provides a great opportunity to get to know all things green going on in and around Toronto. We are excited to join some other incredible groups to talk about the health benefits of the towering canopy in our urban areas.

This week ads went up along transit lines and will run for the next month. The message? "You could really use a tree." What a simple line - but it really captures the spirit of what we do at LEAF. When I first saw these I loved the humour, and the fact that we could use it to help tell our story. They speak to the issues we face and that Toronto's urban forest can really use a hand.

Salt. It's on our tables, in our food and on our sidewalks. It has been linked to high-blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in us; discoloured leaves and sparse foliage in our canopies overhead. And as pressure grows to get Canadians to ease up on our intake, it may also be time to put our trees on a low-sodium diet.

Toyin Coker and I sit across from each other at a chess table in the park outside the Wychwood Barns. It’s a sunny afternoon and a few birds fly overhead in the cool, late November air. I ask her to describe herself in a word. She floats a few, “natural mentor...gardener...I guess you could say a kind of community builder." I'm not totally convinced those encompass all that she is. We're here to talk permaculture. And if there's one thing I'm sure of, its that she is a woman who has realized her dream.