Monthly Archives: October 2023

Virtual Option Open to Public for Grow Native! Conference November 8, 2023

Native plant enthusiasts, home gardeners, landowners, stormwater engineers, and landscape, land care, and wildlife professionals are invited to the virtual Grow Native! Professional Member Conference on Wednesday, November 8 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to learn about the benefits of using native plants to create functional, eco-friendly landscapes. The in-person conference will be held at the MU campus and is exclusive to Grow Native! professional members, but a virtual, Zoom option is open to all.

This Grow Native! professional member conference will focus on both the commercial and residential side of native landscaping. Following an introduction from Grow Native! Committee Chair Ronda Burnett, Elliott Deumler of Taylor Creek Restoration Nurseries will present his keynote: “Forces of Nature: How Environmental Changes Impact Demand for Native Plants and Seed.”

Continue reading

Image

They’re Still Cool! Roof Gardens Got A Work Out In Summer 2023

All photos provided by SWT Design.

By Don Corrigan

Roof gardens, designed to increase green space and energy efficiency, got a work out in our red hot summer of 2023. Summer temperatures soared above 100 degrees in St. Louis and beyond. So, how did these roofs do?

“They did well. They did what they are supposed to do,” declared Ted Spaid, the green force behind SWT Design near the northeast corner of the intersection of Big Bend and Laclede Station roads.

Spaid knows what he is talking about. He’s been designing the green, environmental-friendly roofs for several decades. He puts his money where his mouth. The Shrewsbury company has built its own green roof.

Spaid loves it. He hits the roof whenever he can. He and his SWT Design team use it to show off their work to clients. They use it for lunch and coffee breaks. They take pride in how it keeps down energy costs on site.

“This was an exceptionally hot summer around the country, and with climate change, it’s going to get worse,” said Spaid. “This presents a challenge in looking at new materials and new plants for roof designs.

Continue reading

Corrigan Shines Bright At Wine & Trivia Night Event

Don Corrigan ready to autograph his book collection, including his newest penned sensation, “I fart in your general direction!”

By Holly Shanks

It was a warm and humid evening at Blumenhof Winery in Dutzow, MO, as Don Corrigan sat at his little table signing copies of his latest book, “I fart in your general direction! Flatulence in Popular Culture.”

The newest edition in Corrigan’s book collection was recently released by McFarland Publishing. “This exhaustive work breaks new wind on every aspect of abdominal gas in popular culture, from slang expressions to the medical science on flatulence. Philosophical positions on colonic expression are examined, from Confucius, Hume, Voltaire and the existentialists.”

However, Corrigan was not only signing his new book that evening. He came to entertain and was prepared to let one loose as he made his way down the tree lined brick path to the stage.

If you were not in attendance that evening, you missed a unique stage show rarely seen by many audiences – Corrigan’s flatulence themed trivia. He warmed up the crowd by making sure the wine enthusiasts knew they were in it together.

“Political season has started, and the debates are in full swing, but take heart, one thing that’s not partisan and can bring us together is flatulence,” Corrigan said. “Farts are not political. They don’t come from the left cheek or the right cheek, they come from right down the middle!”

Corrigan held the audience captive as the microphone broadcast fart trivia, fart banter, fart jokes, and fart alarms.  Looks of confusion quickly turned to screams of laughter as trivia answers were shouted toward the stage.

After the trivia game ended and the band re-took the stage, Corrigan once again returned to his little table of books. The Bad Company song “Shooting Star” drifted through the air as Corrigan was suddenly swarmed with new and instant fans.

 

“Don’t you, don’t you know, that you are a shooting star…”

 

 

Corrigan will have a special signing for flatulence at the Knox College TKE House in Galesburg, Illinois on the afternoon of Saturday, October 28. This will mark the start of his fraternity house book tour nationally for “I fart in your general direction” at the Knox homecoming weekend.

Don will sign books at the Webster Groves Bookshop from 12:30 to 2:30 on Saturday, November 4. He will be available to discuss souvenirs relay to flatulence.

On November 26, 27, Don will be available at Blumenhof Winery in Dutzow. In addition to signing flatulence books, he will be selling and raffling off unique and festive Christmas flatulence relief gift baskets.

More events will be listed as they materialize. Don’s books can always be ordered by emailing him at: corrigan@timesnewspapers.com.

Image

St. Louis: Atomic City: Radioactive Legacy Continues To Haunt North County Moms Group

By Don Corrigan

There’s a scene in “Oppenheimer,” a recent movie about the making of the atomic bomb, when a woman hanging up laundry outside is warned to take in the sheets. The laundry outside might get contaminated with the impending explosion of the first atomic bomb.

Karen Nichol of North St. Louis County notes that the mothers and residents downwind of the Nevada atomic test site at least got warned about dangerous radioactivity from the atomic bomb development. Not so in St. Louis.

“St. Louis moms did not get any kind of warning about uranium waste processing for the bomb,” said Karen Nichol of Just Moms St. Louis.   “They knew nothing about the careless, reckless, disregard to human life from the federal government that went into the making of the bomb here.

“So many moms to this day still aren’t getting the warning,” added Nichol. “There are people that have gone to great lengths to make sure St. Louis had no warning. There are also still no signs warning kids to stay out of the radioactive Coldwater Creek.”

Continue reading