Toronto Blog Posts

Written by Dorcas Beaton, member of Metropolitan United Church.

Native species garden

Submitted by the following members of Islington United Church, Toronto: Lorraine McCarthy, Steve Tower and Randee Marquez, Communications Ministry Specialist.

Thanks to the grant from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, Islington United Church was able to create two new native plant garden spaces: a sun-shade garden and a full-sun garden. Here is an overview of the stages of preparation of the spaces, followed by the planting and progression of each garden area.

Creating a plan	Planted!

By Kathleen Davies of St. Cuthbert's Leaside Anglican Church, Toronto.

What a difference a year makes! Our expanded pollinator gardens at St. Cuthbert’s Leaside exploded in this, its second season. Except…so did the weeds.  

Garden Angel volunteers. Photo credit: Kathleen Davies

 Guest post by Sarah Murley, Green Team Co-Leader.

Our Gardens

Our church has always had congregants who love gardening and planting at home, and two years ago we took the plunge to start gardening at church.

Our vision for Wellspring is to have an abundant food and native plants garden that invites and welcomes our neighbours onto our grounds. We want to make our space inviting and fulfilling for human beings, as well as butterflies, birds and wildlife. 

Growing food will feed human stomachs, and growing native plants will feed pollinators and encourage biodiversity within North York. Our property also houses a beehive, which we have enjoyed the past 2 years. Thanks to our TD Friends of the Environment Grant, we were able to expand our existing garden with native plants, and give the bees more to feast on.

Guest blog by Kathleen Davies, garden team member

Hope

It seems that every year at St. Cuthbert’s Leaside Anglican Church a new garden “springs up.”  As we began a second planting season under Covid restrictions, our gardening team needed a little inspiration. Motivated by Communities in Bloom Canada’s pronouncement that YELLOW is the garden colour of 2021, we created a HOPE planter.   It joyfully sits on St. Cuthbert’s front steps for all the community to see.  Our message of HOPE inspired more than our own gardeners…photos of our planter have been shared online and in community news!

Energy efficiency work pays forward for Eglinton St. Georges’ United Church at no cost!

Eglinton St. George's United (ESG Toronto) received $50,700 funding this summer, in order to improve energy efficiency at their building. The total cost of the project was paid for by the funds received. The project is part of an 18-year ongoing greening journey at ESG.  

Shaarei Shomayim Garden

By Nicole Toledano

What am amazing garden we have thanks to the funding we received! Our beautiful garden is located right under our Torah scroll design, a symbol of our religion and our faith.

We would like to thank TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and Scotts Canada, and Faith & the Common Good for introducing us to this beautiful and successful garden project.

Energy Benchmarking Program: Impact and Sustainability

by Donna Lang – September 24, 2020 

Faith & the Common Good’s (FCG) three-year-long Energy Benchmarking Program for the GTHA has come to an end. As Project Manager and Toronto Animator for the program, I greatly enjoyed working with our team of talented animators from Halton/Oakville, Hamilton, and York Region. Together, we surpassed our target of 100 faith communities (FC) for the grant period 2017-2020, with 103 participating congregations. 

  Site map of participating FC.