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Events in Truro and Colchester County, NS

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Get your gardens ready!

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Spring is here (we think) and we’re encouraged to social distance at home! Sounds like a great time to get the ol’ lawn and gardens cleaned up! Check out these helpful hints from our friends at Lands Best Friend Landscaping!

Spring Clean Up: Any of the following tasks can be completed provided there is no snow and the ground isn’t too frozen.

  • Clean up flower & shrub beds, Spring prep
    • Cut back last year’s perennials
    • Remove last year’s annuals
    • Clean up & remove leaves and branches
    • Add soil amendments, manures, organic matter, etc. 
    • Cultivate and prep for summer planting if required
    • Mulch beds
  • Shrubs Pruning
    • Remove dead, damaged and diseased branches
    • Remove crossing & rubbing branches
  • Assess tree health
    • Now is a great time to look over your trees. With the leaves being off, you can see damage that has occurred, or maintenance that should be attended 
  • Lawn clean up
    • Rake lawn to remove leaves, sticks and excess thatch
    • Prepare any areas that require over seeding
    • If weather permits, aerate and dethatch
    • It’s a bit cold yet, but get ready for spring liming and fertilizing
  • Spring, Summer or Fall DIY projects
    • With the extra time on your hands, start planning now!
    • If planning a vegetable garden, now is a great time to start seeds in seed trays indoors.

Landscape Projects

If you plan on hiring a landscape professional for your projects, now is a great time to consult with them. Get estimates completed early to beat the spring rush. 

Here are a few tips for hiring landscape contractors:

  • Ask questions – ensure you’re getting what you want
  • Make sure you have a contract that states what you’re paying for
  • Check their credentials, references, websites, social media accounts, client reviews, BBB rating, memberships to professional associations, etc.
  • In addition to company credentials, ensure skilled workers will be completing your project
  • Make sure they carry liability insurance

Easy crafts at home!

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Jane Atkinson of the Colchester East Hants Public Library whipped up these great suggestions for keeping the kids (and adults) busy and creative at home!

At this time we all need help keeping our little ones occupied while isolated from friends and schoolmates. Here are some fun simple crafts and activities that can be made with things you probably
have at home.

  1. Using Up Those Empty Toilet Paper Rolls

Bunny Stencils

  1. Take 3 TP rolls and flatten 2 of them a bit to make an oval shape.
  2. Tape the 3 rolls together with the round one on the bottom with the two oval ones attached like large ears.
  3. Dip the end of this in the paint colour of your choice and press onto a sheet of paper. You’ll see the shape of a bunny’s head.
  4. Use different colours to make a lot of colourful bunnies!
  5. Using a marker or pencil, draw in the eyes nose, mouth and whiskers.
  6. You can colour or paint in grass around the bunny heads to make it look like they are in a field

Napkin Holder

  1. Take a TP roll and cut in half 
  2. Paint it with pretty colours or decorate it all over with markers.
  3. You can add glitter if you have it, or stickers/stick-on gems.
  4. Glue on frilly ribbon or lace – whatever makes them pretty!
  5. Slide a napkin through it and use at the supper table to glam it up!
  1. Cloud Dough (a sensory activity)
    1. Take 4 cups of flour in a large bowl and add ½ cup veg oil. 
    2. Mix until combined and holding together ( you may need to add extra oil depending on the dryness of the flour).
    3. Mold it to make your own creations. 
    4. Can store for one month in a plastic ziplock bag.

            (Another recipe calls for 2 cups cornstarch and about ¼ cup hair conditioner, which smells great!)

  1. Mandela Rocks
    1. In your backyard – or on a social distancing walk – find a smooth stone.
    2. Wash the rock and let it air dry. 
    3. You can paint a base coat with the colour of your choosing, or you can just add the Mandela dots to the natural surface
    4. Paint dots all over the stone using a variety of colours in a certain type of pattern or just do free painting.  It’s your unique creation!
  1. Monster/Animal Heads
    1. Using a cereal box or another type of cardboard box you might have on hand, cut out eyeholes that line up with your eyes when the box is put over your head (you may need an adult’s help with this).
    2. Use paint or markers to make a scary face or an animal face.
    3. Tape on shredded paper to the top of the box for hair or tape on antennae made from extra cardboard pieces.
    4. Have fun creating your own animal or scary monster head!
  1. Bow Tie Pasta Butterflies
    1. Use markers to colour bow tie pasta. Add designs on the pasta to look like colourful insects.
    2. Glue the pasta onto paper.
    3. Use a dark marker add antennae. 
    4. You can draw a scene around the butterflies and have them flying around flowers, etc.
  1. Window Painting
    1. Paint on your windows with washable paint to make a cheerful scene or message for your neighbours.

Studio Fit Family Fun Workout!

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Jennifer McNutt, owner/operator of Studio Fit in Truro has come up with this super fun family workout to get you moving and keep you entertained! Just remember to stay within your neighbourhood!

1. High Knees Up & Down The Driveway (1X) 

2. Bear Crawl Up Any Hill (run back down) you pick the size of hill 😉 

3. 25x Jumping Jacks Buy a silver, Blk or red vehicle 

4. Hold Plank 30secs from knees or toes on the sidewalk out front of your home or apartment 

5. Find a fire hydrant and do fire hydrants 10x per leg next to it (dog peeing on a fire hydrant is your help) now smile and laugh we all need it 🙂 

6. Burpees 10x by an animal 

7. Must walk or run up 50 stairs (you can keep running up and down your house stairs until you reach 50x 

8. 25x squats while you sing a song 

9. 25x standing pushups off a tree 

10. 20x crunches on your front lawn 

11. 15x squat jumps next to a family member that is at least 2m away. 

12. Lastly do any yoga pose and hold it for 30secs. 

Make sure and take pictures and tag us so we can see you have done it and to spread some smiles 🙂 @studiofit

Happy FUN!!!

Branching Out… to Community

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Written by Guest Contributor, Sam Madore

CMHA Colchester East Hants celebrates its new home and the donors who helped make it happen.

There is nothing like seeing a community of people coming together for a good cause. There is a collective feeling of goodness and an overall understanding that what they are supporting is the right thing to do.

When the folks at the Colchester East Hants Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) began fundraising for their new building in downtown Truro, they knew that they couldn’t do it alone. They knew they would need the support of like-minded people in the community to help spread the word. People who got it. People who understood the impact and importance of having space in the center of town, where anyone could walk through the doors and feel comfortable and welcome to work toward improving their mental wellness. People who could help to tell their story. 

And that’s where branching out came from as a tagline for their building campaign. The need to branch out to those folks in the area who could help to spread the word. And then the need to reach further out in the community to find businesses and organizations that could help to financially support the vision of bringing the building to life. Branching out to the community to turn the CMHA vision into a reality.

In most places, there tends to be a lot of asks that come into businesses and organizations. Truro and Colchester over the last couple of years have been no exception. There have been a lot of asks. Lots of worthy fundraisers, capital campaigns, events…

And it is quite remarkable to watch what often happens in these situations… the love simply gets spread around. The people within these businesses do what they can to help out as much as they can with all of the organizations that will help their community thrive. They connect to the stories, they see the value and vision that each initiative will bring to their community. They get it.

When CMHA unveiled their donor wall and showed gratitude to all of their donors from the community – people who helped to support their branching out campaign to date – the room was full of people who got it. They connected to the story of CMHA. They saw the value that this new building will bring to their employees, their families, their neighbors, themselves. They showed their love in a big way.

The donor wall itself is something that belongs in an art exhibit. On theme with the concept of branching out, the wall is a tree of intricate bark and branches, designed in wood by local artist Rob MacCormack. Each leaf on the tree represents a generous organization that has, in some way, connected to CMHA’s story… That everyone has a connection to mental health.

And there is still room to add more leaves. More opportunity to support this cause that connects us all. 

Knowing our community as I do, I know there is more love to give.

Local Holiday Floral Shops

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We reached out to local greenhouses and flower shops to showcase upcoming workshops and products for the upcoming holiday season!

Forest Glen Greenhouse is a family-owned and operated farm since 1985. Its located in Brookfield, which is just outside Truro heading towards Halifax. This family farm is a wholesale operation that supplies Annuals, Veggies & Herbs, Perennials, Fall Mums and Poinsettias to local stores such as the Atlantic Superstores and The Home Depots.

Once a year, they open their doors to the public for their annual Poinsettia Open House. It’s a popular event that brings people of all ages to take in the nostalgic feel of wandering through the hundreds of blooming flowers and 30 carefully decorated Christmas Trees. A very popular spot for some fancy pics too!

Be sure to attend their Open House this weekend, November 22-24 from 10 am – 4:30 pm. And what a perfect kick-off to your Festive Christmas season by supporting a locally owned family farm.

You can find Forest Glen Greenhouse Ltd. on Instagram at @forestglen.ca and online at www.forestglen.ca

Jean’s Flowers and Gifts is locally owned and operated and has been serving the Truro area for 32 years. Carrying a beautiful assortment of fresh flowers daily, their shop is a “Feast Your Eyes” store, especially this time of year! In the shop, you can also find giftware, decorating items as well as treats and sweets to make gift giving easy!

Jean’s Flowers has its annual “Visions of Christmas” Open House, which happens this year on Thursday, December 5th and Friday, December 6th from 9 am to 8 pm where they offer 20% off their entire collection. During this time, you can also sample the mulling mix sold in-store as well as some of their coveted dips and chocolate treats.

A new feature this year is the addition of a Fireplace! They will be decorating it and changing the look often, so be sure to stop in for some inspiration and theme ideas to jazz up your own. While you’re in, you can also bring home one of their made in-store, centerpieces! Actually, take two! One for someone else…oh, and they can deliver one locally too!

So whether you’re looking for a single flower, a bouquet, centerpiece or a unique gift idea…Jeans Flowers and Gifts has you covered! They’ll even tie your bow! Find and follow them on Instagram @jeansflowers_ or here on Facebook, and online at www.jeansflowersandgifts.ca