Think globally, act locally with ECA's "Dig Into Spring" event in celebration of Earth Day

The Eastown Community Association invites you to “Dig into Spring” on April 18 from 1-4 p.m. in celebration of Earth Day 2015. All are invited to join the Eastown community for a series of workshops at the Wilcox Park Shelter, covering the topics of gardening techniques, sustainable foraging, and rain barrels, all taught by community experts.

Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day in which communities worldwide could demonstrate support for environmental protection – to “Think Globally and Act Locally.” Forty-five years later, the message hasn’t changed. Earth Day is meant to emphasize that individuals can take action in their daily activities in order to reduce global energy consumption and shrink carbon footprints.  

Collective actions can affect our natural environment, so act locally this Earth Day! On Saturday, April 18, the Eastown Community Association (ECA) will host “Dig Into Spring” at the Wilcox Park Shelter, in celebration of Earth Day. Workshops are lined up in order to give participants techniques that they can use to become more sustainable. The schedule of workshops is as follows:

1 p.m. – Spring Gardening 101 with Levi Gardner. This workshop will focus on the basics of soil preparation and fertility, planting considerations, and a few strategies for irrigation. Levi is an urban farmer in Grand Rapids, MI. He is the founder of Urban Roots Farm, a company that provides both consulting services for community and educational market gardens in in addition to building and installing urban foodscapes in the city.

2 p.m. – Spring Foraging Walk with Lisa Rose. The focus will be on the identification and traditional uses of early spring native and invasive plants for food and folk medicine. Tips on sustainable harvesting, cooking and making herbal preparations will be shared. The class will be led in and around the edges of Wilcox Park– a location that is for demonstration only, as foraging is not permitted in the park. Wear suitable footwear – the park may be wet in some places and the group will go off the path. To learn more, check out Rose’s botanical website.

3 p.m. – Rain Barrels with Ondrea Spychalski. Rain barrels have been proven an effective and easy strategy for managing community storm water issues and improving water quality. Through its rain barrel education programs, West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC) provides low-cost rain barrels to the West Michigan community as a means of addressing water conservation and pollution issues in West Michigan.