Take a trip through Canada's premiere urban park with the Tour de Greenbelt this Saturday September 17th!Rouge Park is so close to downtown Toronto, you’ll forget where you started. The 2011 Tour de Greenbelt has five routes: 12k, 29k, 50k, 75k, and 100k. This Saturday, you have the chance to discover Canada’s premiere near urban wilderness with delicious Greenbelt grown food, contests, kids activities and live music along the way. We’ve even arranged for fabulous weather.

Guest post from Janis Izquierdo, Technical Support Analyst with Scotiabank

At my workplace, we have contributed to many food drives around the holidays, and we have contributed to turkey drives at Thanksgiving. After winning the $250 voucher from the Greenbelt Foundation from NewsTalk 1010, I knew I wanted to donate the prize in a special way -- something a bit more involved than putting the vouchers in an envelope and sending them to a charity. After speaking with members of my department at Scotiabank, we came up with the idea of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner. We’re all very excited to help out with prepping and delivering the meal.

Featured C-Jams: Blueberry Baby, Peaches and Spice...and everything nice, and Grape New Adventures

Yes, I wrote that. I'm embarrassed. Feel free to be embarrassed for me. 

C-Jams - it’s my boyfriend’s terrible pet name for me. He writes it on all of my things and I don't notice until I'm at work in a meeting, or pulling out my keys to open a door. Fun for him, not so fun for me. This weekend however, I embraced the name in a brand new way: I decided to give it away. I made some jam, some C-Jams as they will forevermore be called. Strategically passed on to these unfortunate, delicious jams, I have rid myself of this cringe-inducing nickname...I hope.

Check out a great new video recipe featuring a Greenbelt tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad: www.flavoursofthebiosphere.ca/

Last week, the provincial government quietly announced agreements that will transfer the management of 4,000 acres of provincially-owned land in the greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine from Infrastructure Ontario to area conservation authorities. The agreements are between Infrastructure Ontario and the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. The announcement can be found posted on Oak Ridges-Markham MPP Helena Jaczek’s website.

Burkhard Mausberg, CEO, and Allison Decker, exiting Communications Manager

It’s funny when you know that you’re leaving a place and you’re getting ready for that last day – you think you have all the time in the world, but then suddenly, that last day is here and you’re overwhelmed with the last minute details and wrap up.

That’s how the last few weeks have been for me, anyway.

All photos © Melanie Schade 2011

Sometimes the office life can leave an adventurous and passionate person feeling a little deflated. Working for an environmental NGO like the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, thankfully provides some relief from the nine to five grind.

Trying to put into words what I have learned and how I have progressed as a person these last few months while working at the Foundation, has proven to be quite challenging.  So let me create a rather odd illustration for you.  Imagine a colour wheel with some colours very bright, others dim, some colours missing, and some just starting to appear.  Perhaps this is a very strange and far-fetched analogy; however, I sometimes feel as if I can map out how I feel and what I am passionate about on a colour wheel (or more accurately a table of scattered paint samples).  With every journey and experience I embark on, I am gifted with new colours, shades, and perspectives. 

As a Social Work student, Environmental issues have always been on my radar; however, it was not until getting an internship here at the Foundation that my passion for the environment really began to flourish.  I really did not know what to expect when I got this job. I had no idea how much learning, changing, and growing I was in for.  There is such passion here at the Foundation, and it is truly inspiring to be surrounded by individuals who really believe in what they are doing.  I have adopted that same passion, and can honestly say that I started this journey with a rather ill-defined shade of green on my colour wheel, and I am leaving this job with various bright, bold, and passion-filled greens.

HAMILTON (August 26, 2011): Hamilton Conservation Authority and September Seventh Entertainment Limited are pleased to announce that sunny skies will grace the 2011Greenbelt Harvest Picnic. Water is being provided free of charge to all festival goers for the first ever Greenbelt Harvest Picnic. The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation will also be onsite selling refillable water bottles next to the water station. Festival goers will also be able to fill their own refillable containers (i.e. thermos, cup, etc.).

Communications Director, Julienne Spence buying some delicious, local garlic. 

Ontario’s Greenbelt has a bounty of fresh food and this week I had the opportunity to get out and meet some farmers’. On August 16th, we were at Christie Lake Conservation Area for a press conference announcing the line-up for the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic this coming Saturday, August 27^th.