Green Gift Guide: Give the gift of conservation!

Cait and Kyle White may be sheep farmers, but they're taking a lion's approach when it comes to sustainability.

Earlier this year, the owners of Milkhouse Farm & Dairy in Smiths Falls not only kicked off construction on two acres' worth of new wetlands, but also installed new livestock exclusion fencing, completed a Nutrient Management Plan, began work on a manure storage facility, are replacing their aging well and plan to decommission their existing well.

It's not very often a 50-acre swath of provincially-significant wetland becomes available in the City of Ottawa – but when it does, the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation is keen to protect it. 

The Foundation accepted the substantial section of Manion Corners Wetland this fall from siblings Paul Lackner and Colleen Green, who decided their family's natural property – lovingly referred to as "the farm" – belonged in a land trust for perpetual protection. 

On a hot summer day on Baxter Beach, some interesting activity can be spotted across the Rideau River: a brightly-clad person coming and going off a dock, mysterious buckets lifted into a blue-roofed pontoon, flags fluttering in the wind.

It's nearing 1 p.m. and kids in the know are keeping a watchful eye. They can sense it's almost time, and excitement is growing.

Then: distant revving wafts across the water, and a ripple runs through the children. Suddenly every kid is on their feet, craning their necks, watching as the infamous Ice Cream Float putters its way across the water to the beach. 

"He's coming!" they shout as they race to their parents, hands outstretched, looking for toonies and loonies. They scramble to be first in line at the designated parking spot, tossing their shoes indiscriminately across the sand to prepare for their watery walk.