Green Calgary's Blog

Green Calgary brings summer camps to your own backyard this summer! Green Calgary has developed a new summer program to help bridge the gap between a summer camp and online learning in the new Backyard Science Summer Program! The program has activities, guides, videos, and live sessions to give you a fun-filled week of having your very own summer camp. With hours of content each day and hands-on support from our experienced educators, your child will learn about the science of nature, while having fun outdoors! Green Calgary offers four camps in July and August. Each camp is geared towards a certain grade, though the content for each camp is different, so your child could attend multiple camps. The first camp is the Adventurer Camp for Grades 5-6 and is focused on Bees and Bugs. It runs from July 6 to 10. Find out more and register here... The second camp is the Explorer Camp for Grades 3-4 and is focused on Plants and Nature. It runs from July 20 to 24. Find out more an...

Green Calgary is going to the Calgary Home + Garden Show this weekend to talk to folks about rain barrels, but the show also acts as a reminder that gardening season is just around the corner, if not now. Many gardeners, some in Green Calgary included, garden throughout the winter with things like sprouts, microgreens, and container plants that winter well. However, now tends to be when people planting their gardens from seed start planning their gardens and even starting their seeds. One of the advantages to starting this early is that you can design your garden to take advantage of the whole growing season, with things that bloom early, others that bloom late, and plants that protect your garden from pests while attracting pollinators. The City of Calgary's YardSmart program has some handy tools to get you started . Another reason to get ready early is to make sure you have your water usage laid out. Plants have various water needs, plus watering in shade and in sun is di...

Last fall, I went to a volunteer recruitment event at Bow Valley College. After speaking with dozens of bright, and motivated people about the possibilities of volunteering with Green Calgary, I packed up the booth and, with my coworker Reka, headed to the elevators to take the materials back to the car. Once we had piled all our materials into the elevator car, and the doors began to close, someone called out: "Wait!" We held the doors for someone, and once she'd got onto the elevator, we discovered we were all going to the same parkade level. "What are you doing at the college?" She asked. We were clearly carrying lots of gear. "We were at the volunteer fair," Reka answered for us. The woman then noticed our name tags. "Green Calgary," she asked. We nodded. "You've heard of us?" "Yeah, you came to my daughter's elementary school a long time ago." The elevator came to a stop and we all got off. I divided...