Earthday Tree Planting 2018

Teach Your Children Well

Devon has been planting trees and learning about Nature since he was a baby!  His first Earthday event was as a spectator, since it’s hard for a 7 month old to hold a shovel, but since then, he has been very active at all the tree planting events we have attended!!

 

Earthday 2015

Earthday 2016

Spring 2017

We have attended tree planting events all over the city of London…

… and a few flower planting events at his school.  At the school events, it was his teacher and I who put the plans together.

Last year, I taught Devon how to be a Guerrilla Gardener!!  That’s when you plant flowers in ditches or parks without telling anyone! LOL!!!  We dug up some Day Lilies from our own flower gardens, rode our bikes to a nearby park and planted the flowers along the sides of a staircase surrounded by boring grass!!!  Now there’s more colour!

This year, Devon has already helped me with three other Guerrilla Gardening adventures!!!

It’s been a wonderful experience watching Devon grow up with a love for Nature and how he thinks about our Earth.

Just yesterday, he finished a homework assignment that was all about the 3 R’s!  He had to make a list and share how he Reuses and Reduces and Recycles.  This is what he had to share with his class…

Reduce

1)      Turn off the lights when you leave a room

2)      When you are done washing your hands, turn the water off

3)      Reduce air pollution by walking or riding your bike

Reuse

1)      We reuse yogurt containers so we can freeze berries

2)      In my lunch I reuse my juice container

3)      We donate old toys and clothes to charities

Recycle

1)      We recycle all of our food containers

2)      We recycle dead tree leaves into mulch for our flower gardens

3)      We recycle our food scraps into compost for our vegetable gardens

Devon loves going to our local library and getting DVDs!  On the Friday before this year’s Earthday event, Devon told me, “because it’s going to be Earthday soon, I’m going to find DVDs about our Earth!”  He selected a Magic School Bus DVD with three different episodes that were all about bees and how important they are.  He selected another DVD that was about animals that live in Africa and his final choice was a Disney DVD all about our oceans.  I actually watched this one with him and I was amazed with the camera angles and interesting footage that was used in the film!  Very impressive!!  I think that Devon has watched that DVD about 8 times in the last week!  He loves it, too!!!

Over the last year, Devon has been spending a lot more time with his friends.  Parents and I have organized many play dates, tobogganing adventures, tubing days and other fun events.  So it came as no surprise when Devon asked me if his friend Owen could join us at this year’s Earthday event!

This is how our day went…

 

First things first - Face Painting!

The Transformation!!

A very cool raptors demonstration!

Meeting up with friends

As you can see, there was a lot going on at the event and Devon and Owen had a blast!!!!

We ended our day at a special Earthday family dinner in a vegan restaurant in the Wortley Village!  Plant Matters was putting on a fundraiser for TREA (Thames Regional Ecological Association).  It was nice to get out as family, enjoy a wonderful meal, meet up with several friends and support a local environmental group all at the same time!!

I hope that this story and these photos have inspired you to realize how important it is to teach our children about the things that really matter – like trees, clean air and water – and how much fun it can be to get involved in making your community a healthier place!

Happy Earthday 2018 Everyone!!!!

Jim Kogelheide

2018