Neighbour Day is June 18th!
Posted on June 16, 2016
It's Neighbour Day this Saturday! How will you celebrate your community spirit? We have some ideas with a "green" theme...
1) Help build/maintain a community garden. Less pavement and more permeable spaces that can soak up rain water, re-charge groundwater and make our communities more beautiful and welcoming are great! Check out our Depave program and book a free workshop to get a project started in your community.
2) Help a neighbour plant a tree. Trees are natural carbon storers, help clean our air, soak up excess rainwater and do a lot more for us and the planet. We lost many trees during snow-tember so the more we can plan on private properties the better. Find native trees that grow well in our climate - you can try Blue Grass Nursery & Garden Centre since they have a wide range of young and more mature trees for your space.
3) Share your knowledge of composting. Are you one of those keen gardeners who has learned to compost from us or Living Soil Solutions? Then you can put that knowledge to work for others and not just your own compost pile! Help teach your neighbours to compost and support their efforts to avoid synthetic fertilizers.
4) Share your knowledge of rain barrels. Are you a pro at installing your rain barrel(s) each year? Help your neighbours get started rain water harvesting and set up with their own barrels. Or get set up with Water Harvesting Canada for you and your neighbour! Once the cold arrives, help them winterize their barrel so they can use their barrels for years to come. We have just 2 sales left for you or your neighbours to pick up those discounted barrels!
5) Liven up the alleyways. Have a back alley that isn't the most attractive? Get your neighbours together to do a bit of a spruce up. You can plant raspberry bushes to creep up garages, tidy up overgrown grass & weeds, and repair/mend/paint fences. Working together with your neighbours, rather than alone, is a great way to foster community spirit and makes the time & work go faster!
6) Share a beer over the fence. Sometimes, it's just a matter of offering a cold beer on a hot day to a neighbour over the fence that can break the ice. And Village Brewery has some great local options to try. And because they don't have any preservatives, you don't want to keep them around too long...which is an added incentive to share them with your neighbours! (of course, drink responsibly or if you or your neighbours don't drink alcohol, try a homemade lemonade instead!)
7) Other Ideas? The City of Calgary provides some great community building event ideas here. Lawn parties, teas, BBQ's & block parties are great fun events - just think about keeping them a bit greener (it will be more affordable and less work than you think!). We have some great DIY ideas for how to do that for your next event or BBQ!
How will you celebrate Neighbour Day? Share your ideas and events on our social media...!
