March brings thoughts of spring

Make Earth-friendly choices when working outdoors

Recent warm weather leaves no doubt that spring is on its way. Even though the first day of spring is March 20, the birds are singing to remind us that winter is transitioning to spring, and that means preparations. While planning gardens and other activities for your homes, consider making sustainable choices.

The Earth sustains us and all living things with all its resources. When we think of the four R’s – recycle, reduce, reuse and respect the Earth – let’s be good stewards of our planet and celebrate spring.

Below are two March events and other things to consider during this transition month before April activities:

World Water Day, March 22

March 22 is the World Water Day, which gives us a time to reflect on our use and overuse of this natural resource. You can teach children and yourself that water is a precious commodity by thinking about where the water comes from when you turn on the faucet.

Water is filtrated and pumped from deep within the ground and is only recharged through slight cracks and fissures through waterways and ground water infiltration. Although we may look around and think we have plenty of water, only a very small amount of water actually gets to the deep aquifers that supply water to the communities within the county.

What can we do to save this resource? One thing is to change common habits that we do each day. You should turn off the water while brushing your teeth. Other little changes that go a long way include showering for a few minutes less each day, making laundry day efficient and using the dishwasher only when you have a full racks.

Teach your children as well, as they will shape the course of our world. There is more information on the worldwaterday.org website.

Earth Hour, March 27

Each year in March, the World Wildlife Foundation observes an Earth hour in which people, businesses and governments worldwide turn off all of the lights in homes or offices for one hour starting at 8:30 p.m. in their respective region.

Earth Hour originated in 2007 in Australia and was created to help all of us consider our impact on nature and how little efforts from all of us make a huge difference. Some communities in the past have had activities, but as we are currently encouraged to practice social distancing, WWF has directed that activities be done in small groups with masks and social distancing or at home with your family.

WWF has created an educational video that will be highlighted on social media on March 27. Watching this video is important to us as adults and for children as we all gain a better understanding of our impacts to the earth and how to become more environmentally responsible.

At home, you can do many things that will enhance this for your family. Some ideas are to have snacks and play games by candlelight, read stories by flashlight, camp out in your living room or paint pictures with glow-in-the-dark paints. There are many other ideas that you can get from the website at earthhour.org.

Spring seedlings

These sunny days that we have experienced inspire all of us to think about planting our gardens. To prepare for that planting season, now is the time to get ready to plant seeds in your home garden.

According to the Chicago Botanic Garden, some varieties, such as broccoli, may be started the first week of March as seedlings. Tomatoes can be started around March 15. The Chicago Botanic Garden advises to start with clean, sanitized seedling pots that may be watered from the bottom. Using sterile seed starting mix, plant healthy seeds in an area that receives a lot of light, perhaps a southern exposure.

As your seedlings grow, you may need to rotate the tray or pots to prevent the plant from curving toward the light and becoming leggy or weak. Seedlings may need water each day as the medium or soil is porous and does dry out easily.

Once the frost warnings have left our area, it’s important to follow a planting schedule for good yields. The University of Illinois Extension Vegetable Garden Guide is a great resource that lists the best times to plant seedlings in Illinois.

Home solar arrays

Many residents are getting solar panels installed on their homes, barns and detached accessory buildings. These systems provide sustainable energy from the sun to provide electricity and heat water for homes.

There are many questions that people have regarding these systems and whether or not the initial cost is something that, as homeowners, you are willing to invest in. ComEd provides a lot of information on these systems on its website. ComEd also has provided a calculator at comed.com/smartenergy/mygreenpowerconnection to help its customers easily determine whether this is the right decision. After you provide your address, the website will bring up an aerial view of your roof from 2017. The calculator then provides a summary report that will include the estimated upfront costs, costs after incentives and what the payback period will be for the solar array.

Robins?

If some of you have seen or heard robins in the area, it is true that even though it is before March 20, some are already here. The point for us, besides that robins don’t have a calendar, is that the winters in our area have gotten milder. In addition, we provide many safe areas for them, and there is an abundance of food and water that makes coming back early and, in some rare cases, staying through the winter feasible for the robins. Check out Kane County’s Audubon Spring Bird Count data for interesting information on our spring friends the robins.

We thank you, Grundy County, for all of your participation in the worldwide events that take place this month and for all you do to protect and enhance our community and planet. If there are any questions that I may help you with, please contact me at 815-941-3229 or by email at hmiller@grundyco.org. Happy spring and stay green.

• Heidi Miller is the director of the Grundy County Land Use Department.