I've been meaning to write this, but fall is a very busy time for an 'almost nursery', as I'm learning. The incredible people of Pollinate / Polliniser Aylmer, who made this happen, already know about it, so it's been waiting patiently on the back of my mind, behind some last minute planting projects, and life. … Continue reading Everything you ever wanted to know about the Butterflyway Aylmer (2025 edition)
Category: Landscaping
Aylmer Butterflyway Stop #11 – Centre Allimentaire Aylmer
Yesterday Pollinate Aylmer completed stop #11 on the Aylmer Butterflyway, at the Aylmer Food Bank (Centre Allimentaire Aylmer). You can read the details of how we built it, and the plants we planted, but more importantly, we are hoping our community can help. We are looking for dozens, even hundreds, of crochet squares and flowers, to cover up the flimsy fence of the foodbank.
Making a Tiny Forest, the Miyawaki way
We bought our new home for the possibilities, projects and experiments it afforded us, in the quiet of the countryside just outside the city limits, but where school buses still stop to pickup our 3 kids en route to 3 different schools. Here, our neighbour walks her horse up and down our street to graze … Continue reading Making a Tiny Forest, the Miyawaki way
A purpose-built (future) rain garden
I've been quiet. It's a great feeling, because we've been so busy outside this first spring in our new place, with so many ideas and discoveries and projects, and dirty hands with mud-crusted nails, and if you know me you know that means I am happy. We finally got around to starting one project both … Continue reading A purpose-built (future) rain garden
A groomed garden bed approach to killing my lawn to build pollinator habitat
The quick pollinator shade garden I made last week is doing great. I think I may have cooked some of the really early spring bloomers by waiting so late to plant them, but they are rebounding and will come back next year. Today I checked on them and found a couple of patches of Virginia … Continue reading A groomed garden bed approach to killing my lawn to build pollinator habitat
Native shade garden in a day
So I did a thing today. It was a pretty big thing as it was the first time I've planted anything in our new place. As you may recall, or maybe you have no idea and that's okay too, we moved late last fall, and I brought divisions of a lot of my plants with … Continue reading Native shade garden in a day
The Greenhouse Build
This thing... sigh. It's been a lot, of everything. Hard work, obsession, learning opportunities, constraints, symbolism, acceptance, and so many other feelings and emotions I'm just now starting to digest and process. Two days after we moved in, I had some crushed stone delivered and built a flat base for the greenhouse The base is … Continue reading The Greenhouse Build
How Local is Localeaf?
Every plant we sell is grown locally, from seed, by us, on our own property, here in Aylmer. Most of our seeds are ethically harvested from our own extensive gardens, in Aylmer, or from our cottage in Blue Sea. These are the plants we can claim are truly 100% Localeaf. A patch of what was … Continue reading How Local is Localeaf?
Free Native Seed Packs: Planting Instructions
Native flower mixes packaged by the kids and given out at various markets in Aylmer. It has made my heart happy reaching so many people with our free native seed packs this year. Here is the list of all the native flower seeds included in each of our free packs. We get a lot of … Continue reading Free Native Seed Packs: Planting Instructions
New Home… New Views… New Projects…
We have moved. I've been meaning to write about our new place but it's been a hectic month. I'm not even sure how to start. This is the view from my bedroom window as I write this sipping coffee propped up in bed on what feels like the first lazy morning I remember. There is … Continue reading New Home… New Views… New Projects…










