Spring Means Seedlings, Sprouts and Sustainability at Local Farms

Whether they are in the city or country, there are places near home where you can find fresh produce—or get seedlings to grow your own.

To every thing there is a season—and we are in the season of planting. Despite the frost warnings this week, May is the time when many plants take root. And not far behind are the early harvests. There are a number of local farms that provide a variety of seedlings and sprouts, produce, and other products as the growing season progresses. Some are out in the country, while others are urban farms. (Check out the video in this article's media gallery of Garden Dreams Urban Farm & Nursery in Wilkinsburg.) According to the LocalHarvest.org website, most produce in the United States is picked 4-7 days before being placed on supermarket shelves and is shipped for an average of 1,500 miles before being sold. Fortunately for Dormont and Brookline …

• Videos (1)

Ways to Go Greener Near Dormont-Brookline

Here's a list of some places to take items that should not be sent to landfills or placed at the curb.

Although Earth Day is officially April 22, it's not too early for residents of Dormont Borough and Brookline to begin to look at ways to be more environmentally friendly. The following is a list of items, provided in part by the Allegheny County Health Department, that should not be in landfills and generally aren't collected through municipal recycling. Listed below those items are places at which those items can be disposed/recycled. Appliances Tube City, West Mifflin Borough Appliance Warehouse, South Side Local Goodwill Stores may also accept some small appliances. Automotive Oils PetroMax, Collier Township Batteries Batteries Plus, Castle Shannon Borough Pennsylvania Resources Council, South Side Batteries, Automobile Batteries Plus, …

•  3 Comments
• Photos (1)

Ed M

7:12 am on Friday, April 19, 2013

Batteries Plus charges to recycle batteries. Here is a good like as well http://www.zerowastepgh.org/ZW-PRC-hardtorecycle.html#resources   more ›

Police Planning DUI Patrols in the South Hills

Numerous police departments from across the South Hills are planning to participate in roving DUI patrols this weekend.

Numerous police departments from across the South Hills are planning to participate in roving DUI patrols Friday night and early Saturday morning. Police officers from Bridgeville, Scott, Heidelberg, Collier, South Fayette, Mt. Lebanon, Castle Shannon, Baldwin Township, Dormont and Green Tree will be out on patrol looking for impaired drivers. However, there will not be any stationary checkpoints on any roads throughout the night, police said. This event is in conjunction with the Mt Lebanon Area DUI Task Force and funded through the Pennsylvania DUI Association with grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

•  3 Comments
• Photos (1)

Mike Jones

11:55 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I don't think so. These police departments are part of the DUI Task Force but patrol in their own communities where they have jurisdiction.   more ›

Nutbrown’s Christmas Tree Farm Tradition Continues

Find out where in Collier Township you can pick out a tree and cut it down for Christmas.

Nutbrown’s Christmas Tree Farm in Collier Township, one of the only places around where you can choose and chop down your own tree, is open again for the holiday season. The tree farm is drawing a crowd with unseasonably warm weather over the weekend. Henry Nutbrown, who owns the 12-acre farm along McMichael Road with his wife, Sue, said he’ll take this warmer weather even though most of the customers are pining for the white stuff. “Everybody comes out and says they wish we had a little snow. Not me,” Nutbrown told Chartiers Valley Patch. “I’ll take some snow on the 24th of December. It can snow as much as it wants then.” The farm, which Nutbrown’s parents purchased in 1939, has been selling Christmas trees since the late 1960s. It has …

• Photos (3)

Jewelry Thieves Target Trader Jack’s Vendors

Collier Township police are warning vendors at Trader Jack’s Flea Market to keep a close eye on their merchandise after two jewelry thefts in four weekends.

Pittsburgh Botanic Garden Breaks Ground on New Entrance

The site near Settlers Cabin Park broke ground on the entrance that workers hope will help make the gardens a tourist attraction for the area.

The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden near Settlers Cabin Park broke ground on a grand new entrance that workers there hope will help make the gardens a tourist attraction for the area. The new entrance, which includes six acres donated from Allegheny County, will allow the botanical garden to build a barn and administration office. The 460-acre site has been a vision for 14 years, but was nearly wiped out by the devastating rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan in 2004. It washed away soil and made acid mine drainage a big problem in the area. “So many of the low-lying areas were damaged,” said Kitty Vagley, director of development for the botanical garden. “Our property was, too.” But the northern 60 acres weren’t damaged, so the focus …

• Photos (5)

Origin of Flag Day Has Local Roots

Collier Township, considered the Home of Flag Day, will hold it's annual ceremony Sunday at 1 p.m.

The symbolism behind Flag Day goes beyond typical patriotism for people living in Collier Township. That’s because many consider Rennerdale the “Home of Flag Day” after prominent resident William T. Kerr lobbied for it to become a national holiday. Kerr lived in the township from 1911 to 1928, all while overseeing the Flag Day Association of western Pennsylvania. The self-proclaimed "Father of Flag Day" started the group in 1888 and worked as the association’s president for 50 years. What began as “Flag Week” in the early 1900s  soon became something more when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed in 1916 that Flag Day would be celebrated on June 14. But it was years later when President Harry Truman officially made it a national holiday in …

• Photos (1)

Elderly Motorist Crashes Into Kmart

Castle Shannon man was driving in the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center when he crashed into the big box retailer.

An elderly motorist who apparently failed at least two driving tests in the past month crashed into the front of Kmart. Collier police said Eugene Falvo, 83, of Castle Shannon, drove straight into the big box retailer in Chartiers Valley Shopping Center shortly before 8 a.m. Friday. Witnesses told police the man never used the brakes or tried to turn away from the concrete exterior. He was confused and disoriented when police arrived on the scene. “He had no idea where he was,” Collier police Officer Bill Oslick said. “He was confused.” He said Falvo was taken by ambulance to St. Clair Hospital with minor injures. Police said the man had failed an eye test and two driving tests in the past month and was supposed to be re-tested again. …

• Photos (5)

Christmas Tree Farm a Family Tradition

Collier farm gives people the option to cut down their own Christmas trees.

When Henry Nutbrown’s parents wanted to make some extra money to put him and his two siblings through college, they had three choices on their small farm: Breed chinchillas, sell earthworms or grow Christmas trees. “I’m eternally grateful my mother decided Christmas trees over the earthworms and chinchillas,” Nutbrown said of his family farm’s tradition. Emmanuel and Mary Nutbrown moved to the Collier Township farm in 1939 from Carnegie to try something different. They planted 100 Scotch pine seedlings in single rows on the small farm in 1958 and continued planting over the next decade before they could sell their first tree. Unfortunately by then, Henry Nutbrown and his older sister had already graduated college. “But it was our start …

• Photos (3)