photo credit: vasta So there is talk in shutting down Riverdale Farm in Toronto as a cost-savings measure (insert reference to gravy here). 2500 of the concerned have taken to Facebook to “Save the Riverdale Farm“. I’m feeling a bit ambivalent about this. On one hand, we have less and less contact with the animals […]
Tag: Toronto
Lightning quick review of Navigon’s Traffic Live add-on for Mobile Navigator
After five days with the add-on, my thoughts. Good: routed me off the DVP (and back on again) to successfully avoid a slow-down; it updated a route “en-route” due to new traffic information. Bad: doesn’t show that the Danforth is closed this weekend for Taste of the Danforth (the image below shows today’s data, Bloor […]
Giant Hogweed vs. Cow Parsnip vs. Water Hemlock vs. Wild Carrot
The Toronto media is ablaze with reports that Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) has been found within the borders of the GTA. Normally, when an invasive species is found, it does not generate this kind of buzz. Why the hubbub? The sap of Giant Hogweed, on the skin, can lead to a severe skin inflammation called […]
The City’s wrong to ban tapping Norway Maples for sap
photo credit: jnthnhys The Toronto Star is reporting that a local plan to tap Norway Maples (Acer platanoides) this spring, collect sap and boil it down into maple syrup has hit a snag (no pun intended) with the proposal to tap the Norway Maples found in city parks: Toronto’s urban forestry department believes that tapping […]
Bedbugs, Toronto and Class
photo credit: liz.novack We don’t have a problem with them in our apartment (thankfully), but because of an interest (I guess somewhat similar to gawking when an emergency vehicle goes by) in where they’re found in Toronto, I discovered the bedbug registry and a map of reported Toronto sightings. Now the usual caveats apply to […]
Black Widow Spiders and Toronto: No Need to Panic
photo credit: snowboard4bradley On July 22nd, 2009, The Toronto Star reported that two Northern Black Widow spiders (Latrodectus variolus) have been found in the GTA within the last year. This shouldn’t be news, as the article itself outlines that these spiders have been found throughout Ontario over the “past decades” but the reporting in the […]