Company favours sound ecological practices

By Patty Mintz



Picture a property where plants, birds and other beneficial forms of nature co-exist in an attractive, harmonious, sustainable environment free from chemical applications.

Sound too good to be true?

If fact, it’s like a dream come true for Sarah MacDonald, the founder and owner of Ground Breakers Environmental Landscape and Design, who views landscaping as an art form. “My goal is to provide an alternative to chemical applications without compromising the landscape’s beauty and health,” she says.

MacDonald learned her trade through study and practice. She obtained a Bachelor of Technology in Environmental Horticulture from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro in 2004 and fine-tuned her skills while working at Maple Hill Farm in west Berwick. “They were a big inspiration for me.”

The 27-year-old from Black Rock didn’t start off with dreams of working long hours in overalls and rubber boots. At one point she took an office administration course, picturing an inside job in downtown Halifax, “but it just wasn’t for me,” she says.

After graduation from NSAC, she says, “I started to feel a focus in my life, which was the environmental aspect of landscaping.”

MacDonald started small, taking on customers through word of mouth, then things grew.

“Last year, I decided to put a name to it all.”

Running Ground Breakers single-handed has been no easy matter. That’s why MacDonald breathes a little easier now that she has hired a crew of two.

So far, customers who want maintenance work done on their property have been her bread and butter, but as the company grows, MacDonald envisions more work in which she can use her creativity and commitment to environmental stewardship.

“My ideal is to start creating more sustainable landscapes. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate thing. It can be something as small as a natural stone walkway,” or a bat house.

“We work to make sure everything is connected. A bird house or bat house will decrease the amount of (harmful) insects. Right now, we’re in the process of making bat houses.”

MacDonald believes the public is growing increasingly aware of the advantages of sustainable landscapes. As opposed to great swaths of lawn kept free of dandelions and other weeds by routine chemical applications and requiring the use of fossil fuel fed mowers to keep it in trim, sustainable landscaping incorporates native species such as ferns, wintergreen and ground cover dogwood; it encourages planting companionably; growing things that attract birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators; and ‘just saying no’ to chemical pesticides, insecticides and synthetic fertilizers.

MacDonald enjoys projects like the one on which she is currently working.

“The property was completely excavated due to septic work. The homeowner had a picture of a naturalized garden so together we’re working to create pathways with soft lines and curves. With some new soil and only a few new plants the front yard will be transformed into a meandering, naturalized setting.”

In the past, chemicals played a part in traditional landscaping. Today, sound ecological practices are more in vogue, which is a great relief to MacDonald and other young entrepreneurs who want to help protect the earth and break a path of environmental awareness in the landscape industry.