People Helping People is a list of charitable causes in our area that need donations or volunteers. The Beacon Journal has not investigated these causes, so donors should verify their worthiness and the tax-deductibility of contributions.

A link to a form for submitting requests to People Helping People can be found at www.ohio.com/charity, along with tips on researching charities and a list of causes already published.

Questions about submitting information? Call Mary Beth Breckenridge, 330-996-3756.

The Peter Maurin Center, 1096 S. Main St., Akron, is a drop-in center where disadvantaged people can stop for coffee, food and someone to listen to their concerns, all at no charge. When available, toiletries are offered to visitors.

The center is seeking donations of cash; one- and two-person tents; sleeping bags; gently used winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves and heavy socks; taxable grocery-store items, such as toilet paper and paper towels; cleaning supplies; and food-storage items, such as sandwich bags and plastic wrap.

The center also is asking for volunteers. Younger volunteers must be at least middle-school age and accompanied by an adult.

For information, visit the center during open hours (noon to 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays), or contact David Churbock at 330-328-3199 or Dchurbock8@aol.com.

Standing Rock Cultural Arts, 257 N. Water St., Kent, OH 44240, builds community through the arts by offering opportunities for children and adults to explore creative pursuits and bring their work to the public.

The organization is seeking donations of money to pay its operating expenses and a new computer with video-editing software, such as Premiere or Final Cut. It also needs volunteers for these duties:

• Working in the gallery.

• Assisting with marketing and publicity.

• Serving as art assistants for New World Children’s Theatre.

• Fundraising.

• Recruiting sponsors for its International Short Film Festival, to be held Jan. 26 at the Kent Stage.

• Grant writing.

• Helping at events.

For information, call Jeff Ingram at 330-673-4970, email info@standingrock.net or visit www.standingrock.net.

Richfield twp.: A village is under construction in this rural patch of suburban Akron.

You probably wouldn’t notice it as you whiz by on Southern Road. But there it is behind the farmhouse of Jim and Laura Fry, a little enclave that looks like something out of the 19th or early 20th century.

This is Stone Garden Farm & Village, a living history museum the Frys are gradually creating on part of his family’s 58-acre farm. It’s home to the Museum of Western Reserve Farms & Equipment, a collection of equipment used in the trades that were typically found in a small community in the mid-19th century.

The project is the passion of Jim Fry, a historian who has moved more than three dozen old buildings to the property in an effort to give people a glimpse into past life in the Western Reserve.

Actually, passion isn’t quite the word. “It’s more of an eccentricity,” he said with a laugh.

The Frys support the project with the sale of food products from their organic farm as well as seasonal items. This time of year they’re selling Christmas trees, along with gifts and decorations handmade by Hinckley residents Jean and Ken Hahn and offered for sale in a circa-1820 barn that serves as the village’s general store.

Some of the trees are harvested from the farm, and others were cut elsewhere in the area, Jim Fry said. Canaan and Fraser fir, white and Scotch pine and blue spruce are available.

The Christmas tree operation and general store are open for the holiday season during daylight hours, seven days a week.

The Frys hope customers will turn their tree-shopping excursion into a walk back in time. Tree shoppers are encouraged to wander the village and peek into the buildings, which are set up as they would have been in the 19th century.

Jim Fry has created most of the village over the last six years from buildings he’s rescued and moved from sites in five counties in northern Ohio. Many of the buildings, like much of the equipment he’s collected, have been donated by families who are happy to see them preserved, he said.

“And they’re just here for people to look at for free, or to use,” he said.

The project grew out of his longtime interest in collecting old farm equipment, an interest fostered by a lifetime in farming and a family with a long history in agriculture in this area.

His passion was fueled by seeing old farms bulldozed and burned to make way for freeways and housing development. “I started collecting it [farm equipment] just to save it,” he said.

His latest project is a blacksmith shop that stood for years in the center of Independence until he dismantled it two years ago. He’s currently rebuilding it with plans to turn it into a general store and to remake the current store into a harness shop.

“This may be the 40th [building],” he said of the crude two-story structure. “I’ve kind of lost track.”

The Frys’ farm is dotted with old buildings. A weaving mill was once an outbuilding on a farm in Medina and now holds old spinning wheels and looms, one of which dates to before the American Revolution. A small wood building from Rittman is equipped with implements for making tinware. A tiny schoolhouse from the Medina County hamlet of Abbeyville displays well-used desks, shelves of old books and a cast iron and tin stove that still works. A post office from Portage County’s Randoph Township is outfitted with a postmaster’s cabinet, a sorting table, postal lock boxes and even telegraph equipment that eventually will be set up so visitors can send messages back and forth.

The barn is crammed with the implements of 19th-century life. Buggies are lined up in the loft. Sleds hang from old beams. A “girls’ room” is filled with equipment a 7-year-old farm girl of the 1800s or early 1900s would have mastered — laundry equipment, clothes irons, rug beaters, sewing machines and more.

More of the Frys’ collection fills another building, an old blacksmith shop that once belonged to a Richfield resident named Mike Hotz and later was used as an AmVets post. Jim Fry removed the plywood that sheathed the interior to uncover evidence of the building’s origins, including ceiling joists studded with nails for hanging horseshoes and painted with numbers indicating horseshoe sizes.

The building represents an uncanny string of serendipitous events. Several times Jim Fry picked up blacksmithing equipment at sales, only to discover from talking to the sellers that the pieces had come from a sale of Hotz’s equipment years ago.

The weirdest coincidence, however, came when he passed an old stagecoach house in Richfield where workers were removing a set of doors. Jim Fry needed doors for the old Hotz building, and he thought these might fit.

They did — perfectly.

He thought that was peculiar until he saw an old picture of his building. Sure enough, there were the doors. Apparently they’d been removed at some time and reclaimed for use in the coach house.

The buildings in the historical village are rough, as they would have been when they were in use. That’s intentional, Jim Fry said.

“It’s not a museum display,” he said as he stood inside the collar shop, where horse collars once were fashioned. “It’s a working shop.”

That’s one of the features that sets Stone Garden Farm & Village apart from other living-history museums: It’s designed to be hands-on. The facilities are open and available to anyone who wants to use them, Jim Fry said, and those craftspeople often invite visitors to try.

Other museums might have a blacksmith demonstrating for visitors, he said. “Here we’d like people to come and be the blacksmith.”

The Frys also offer classes in homesteading and survival skills, such as soap, candle and rug making, animal husbandry, herbal remedies and wild edibles. In addition, a home-schooling group uses the schoolhouse on Tuesdays, and Laura Fry often teaches the children homesteading skills.

Most of the year, the village follows loosely defined hours. It’s open whenever the Frys are home, which is most of the time, Jim Fry said.

Craftspeople who want to use the village’s facilities are urged to call ahead, but other visitors are free to show up and wander around. “We’re always here and we’re always open, except when we’re not,” he said with a grin.

The Frys accept donations and recruit volunteers, but for the most part, the village and museum are labors of love.

“I’ve never been on a vacation. We’ve never bought a new car. We never go to movies,” Jim Fry said. “We spend our money on saving history.”

Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/mbbreck, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckenridge and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.

Details

Attraction: Stone Garden Farm & Village

Address: 2891 Southern Road, Richfield Township

What’s there: Reconstructed buildings and displays of tools, farm equipment and other implements from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Christmas trees and hand-crafted decorations and gifts are sold this time of year.

Hours: During the holidays, the village is open during daylight hours, seven days a week. At other times it is open when the owners are home.

Admission: Free

Information: www.ohiofarm
museum.com or 330-659-3507

People Helping People is a list of charitable causes in our area that need donations or volunteers. The Beacon Journal has not investigated these causes, so donors should verify their worthiness and the tax-deductibility of contributions.

A link to a form for submitting requests to People Helping People can be found at www.ohio.com/charity, along with tips on researching charities and a list of causes already published.

Questions about submitting information? Call Mary Beth Breckenridge, 330-996-3756.

Christmas Shoebox Campaign, a project of Akron Girl Scouts and New Horizons Christian Church, is collecting shoeboxes filled with personal hygiene items and small gifts for women, men and children living at area shelters.

Donors are asked to select an age group and gender of a recipient and fill a shoebox with appropriate small items. Hygiene items are the primary need, but a greeting card, toys, games, books, socks, hats or gloves may be added. The donor is asked to wrap the box and lid separately, write the gender and age group on a tag and attach the tag to the lid.

Shoeboxes can be dropped off from noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 1, 8 or 15 at New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, Akron.

A list of suggested items, a breakdown of age groups and other details can be found at www.akrongirlscouts.org.

For more information, contact April Wortman at 330-760-2142 or dentalmom6@yahoo.com.

Fathers and Sons of Northeast Ohio, 19 N. High St., Akron, OH 44308, provides fatherhood education classes to help facilitate reunification of fathers with their minor children; provides mentoring, spiritual support and grief recovery assistance for men who have criminal backgrounds or drug or alcohol abuse; and operates a veterans sober house.

The organization is seeking donations of money, gift cards, Metro bus passes and a passenger vehicle, van or work truck.

For information, contact Stephen E. Rozsa at 330-622-1131 or steve.fsneo@gmail.com, or visit http://fathersandsonsneo.org.

Ohio lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday aimed at regulating large-scale dog-breeding operations with the goal of improving the lives of animals in facilities commonly called “puppy mills.”

Senate Bill 130 has “been in the making for seven years,” said Vicki Deisner, state director of the Midwest region of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The ASPCA has worked continually with Ohio lawmakers over the past six months to get the bill into law.

“There are estimated to be about 4,000 commercial breeding kennels in Ohio,” which was among 22 states with no regulations of its high-volume operations, Deisner said.

Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign the bill into law before the first of the year.

Ohio for the first time will regulate conditions in the large breeding facilities and will force their owners to register the businesses and undergo annual inspections to improve the care and treatment of breeding dogs.

Sen. Jim Hughes, R-Columbus, who sponsored the bill, said it would “seek out breeders who do not maintain a healthy environment for their animals.”

Many times, the life of the animal in the breeding operations is one of sickness and horror, Deisner said.

“It’s like having a beagle in your dishwasher,” she said, referring to the confined space in which many animals spend their entire lives.

Many rescue agencies participated in developing the guidelines for the law, Deisner said.

“There were so many rescues that did support this bill that it really is a significant foundation — a significant beginning to address the puppy mills in this state,” she said.

But the law also contains language that concerns some local animal-rescue operations. Tucked inside is a measure that requires the numerous rescue volunteers who foster unwanted animals to register with the state and face inspection if a complaint is lodged against them.

“People are always afraid that somebody is going to judge them, so if inspectors go into a foster home that is trying to do the right thing and foster dogs, well, hopefully it doesn’t get into that,” said Jen D’Aurelio, executive director of Paws and Prayers animal rescue, based in Cuyahoga Falls.

The agency, which has found homes for more than 5,000 unwanted cats and dogs since D’Aurelio took over as director in 2007, has about 40 volunteers who foster animals in their homes until they can be adopted at events held each weekend at area PetSmart stores.

“We run a legitimate rescue, and we abide by all the laws. If somebody wanted to come in and inspect one of our foster homes, I doubt they would find anything wrong,” D’Aurelio said. “On the other hand, it will make it harder to find fosters because people don’t even want to do home visits when they are adopting a dog.”

Deisner, however, believes the law will have little effect on local rescue groups.

“There are no fees. There are no new standards. They simply have to register,” she said. “Otherwise, it’s business as usual.”

Enforcing standards

The bill also excludes hobby and show breeders, sporting or hunting dog breeders, pet stores and small “backyard” breeders who sell fewer than 60 dogs from fewer than eight litters a year.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture is charged with overseeing the new law. A board will advise the state director of agriculture in developing the standards for the health, caging, grooming and other care of the breeding dogs.

Enforcement of the new regulations will be paid with income from license fees charged to registered breeders, Deisner said. The Department of Agriculture will contract with local veterinarians to conduct inspections annually or when a complaint is filed.

There was a reason the legislation includes rescue organizations as well as breeders, Deisner said.

“Several years ago, the ASPCA came into Ohio and did a rescue in Clark County. We had to intervene and close down a hoarding operation. Sadly, as many as one-quarter of animal hoarders call themselves rescues,” Deisner said.

Local groups weigh in

One of a Kind Pet Rescue, another high-volume Akron adoption agency, uses few foster homes, so the impact of the new law will be minimal — at least for now, said Georjette Thomas, director of organization advancement.

“At present, our foster care program is a very small part of what we do; however, we intend to significantly grow the program in 2013,” Thomas said.

Paws With Pride founder and director Janice Mayfield, who has been involved in animal rescue for 25 years, said her agency re-homes about 200 animals a year using a foster care system.

“If you are a good, legitimate animal rescue, it shouldn’t affect you at all. If someone is doing something they shouldn’t, they should be stopped,” she said.

Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com. The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this report.

The Rev. Robert V. Taylor has a passion for helping people discover their full potential and explore ways they can affect the world.

“Everyone has a story. I invite them to claim their story, share their story and listen to the stories of others. In the process, we begin to discover that humanity is interwoven and intertwined. We begin to discover that we have a responsibility to impact the world with love,” said Taylor, a spiritual protege of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Taylor, who lives in Seattle, will share his story during a special Advent retreat from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio’s Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. The retreat is being offered on the eve of Advent, which marks the new liturgical year for most Christians.

The spiritual season of Advent, which runs from Dec. 2 through Dec. 24, is a time of preparation for Christmas. It typically is observed as a season of prayer, fasting and repentance.

“As we thank God for the coming of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit and anticipate Christ’s final coming at the end of time, we should stop and take stock of our lives,” said Adrienne Clements, Trinity’s adult education coordinator. “[Taylor] is a great person to help set people of the right course as we begin a new church year.”

Taylor, a native of South Africa, was a conscientious objector to apartheid in the 1970s and the first openly gay Episcopal dean in the United States. He is an advocate for the LGBT and HIV communities and the homeless in Seattle and serves as chairman of the New York-based Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation.

Tutu, a retired Anglican bishop who received worldwide acclaim during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid in South Africa, sent Taylor to the United States in 1980 to keep him out of prison for his anti-apartheid activity.

“It was compulsory for me to serve in the all-white military. You could go to prison for life for refusing to serve,” Taylor said. “I could not find it within myself to contribute to the oppression of people, so I made a decision to go jail. But my encounter with Archbishop Tutu set me on a different course.”

A graduate of Rhodes University in South Africa, Taylor completed his graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

Taylor’s local retreat, called Imagination & Voice Rebirthed in You, will include presentations, reflection exercises and meditation time.

Taylor also will lead a discussion of his book, A New Way to Be Human: 7 Spiritual Pathways to Becoming Fully Alive, at 10 a.m. Sunday at Trinity Cathedral. A book signing is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at Joseph-Beth Gift Shop in the Miller Family Pavilion at the Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave.

Cost for the retreat, which includes lunch, is $30. To register, call 216-774-0418 or email aclements@dohio.org.

For more information about Taylor, go to www.robertvtaylor.com.

“We have so many encounters each day that can potentially change the course of our lives. When we recognize the love, compassion and sacredness of every human being, goodness and kindness are possible,” Taylor said. “When we come to a place where we discover who we are, we can determine how we can each leave a footprint of compassion in the world.”

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.

People Helping People is a list of charitable causes in our area that need donations or volunteers. The Beacon Journal has not investigated these causes, so donors should verify their worthiness and the tax-deductibility of contributions.

A link to a form for submitting requests to People Helping People can be found at www.ohio.com/charity, along with tips on researching charities and a list of causes already published.

Questions about submitting information? Call Mary Beth Breckenridge, 330-996-3756.

Park Little Shepherd Preschool, 2308 24th St. SW, Akron, OH 44314, makes low- or no-cost preschool available to children and provides families with support and encouragement in a Christian environment.

The preschool is seeking monetary donations to keep its Subsidized Sliding Scale Tuition Assistance Program available to as many families as possible. It is also seeking donations of craft materials, used ink cartridges, Acme Community Cash Back receipts, Labels for Education, old cellphones and Box Tops for Education.

For information, call 330-745-8950 or email parkls@sbcglobal.net.

Akron Children’s Hospital’s Reach Out and Read Program is collecting new books for children ages 6 months to 5 years at Barnes and Noble, 4015 Medina Road in the Montrose area of Bath Township.

Books are distributed to the hospital’s pediatrics primary care offices and Locust Pediatric Group to give to children during well-child visits. As part of the program, pediatricians and nurses encourage parents to read to children regularly to boost speech and language skills and to help prepare the children for school.

For information, contact Karen Carbaugh at 330-543-8068 or kcarbaugh@chmca.org.

First Book - Greater Akron, 691 Shook Road, Akron, OH 44319, is an all-volunteer organization that gives new books to impoverished children and students from birth to age 18. It is seeking donations of money or books, as well as volunteers. The group meets one evening a month.

For information, email Chuck Bell at chuckbell3096@hotmail.com or visit www.firstbook.org/greaterakron.

Grace Church is branching out to include a campus in Medina.

The church, which attracts about 4,000 worshippers to its eight weekend services at campuses in Norton and Bath Township, will launch a new Medina East campus on Sunday at 2325 Medina Road. Services at the former plastics molding factory will begin at 9 and 10:45 a.m.

“Our hope is to build a congregation here while renovating the building at the same time,” said Tony Livigni, Medina East campus pastor. “We have remodeled enough space in the building for a temporary worship area and classrooms. We hope to transform the big bay area into the permanent auditorium for worship within the next year or so.”

The Medina East campus is the result of a merger between Grace Church of greater Akron and the former Shepherd’s Grace in Medina.

“They asked us to come alongside them because their congregation was small and they wanted to redeem the resources that people in their congregation have given to the Lord. They were willing to give up their building to be part of a new work and we saw it as an opportunity to reach more people for the Lord,” said the Rev. Jeff Bogue, senior pastor.

Grace Church is part of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, based in Winona Lake, Ind. It began in the mid-1940s as a Bible study and formed as a congregation in 1958. Two years later, the congregation moved to its first church building, at the site of its Norton campus, 3970 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road.

The worship space at the Norton campus, which is led by the Rev. Dan Gregory, was heavily damaged by an electrical fire in January 2011. The congregation moved back into its refurbished auditorium on Nov. 25.

The Bath campus was formed in the fall of 1999, when the Norton church and the former Fairlawn Grace Brethren church agreed to merge and become one church on two campuses. Its location at 754 Ghent Road is the former home of the Fairlawn church.

In October, Grace Church purchased the former St. Luke’s Episcopal Church at 565 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road, where it plans to open its Montrose campus in the next 18 months. Bogue said plans for the Montrose property will include more than a million dollars in renovations. That project is not expected to start until work at the East Medina campus is completed.

Sunday’s opening at the Medina campus is characterized as a “soft opening,” which will allow staff to get organized, visitors to become familiar with the church and congregants to become more familiar with the community it will serve.

A grand opening at the Medina campus is expected to be planned for next spring, after an estimated $2 million renovation project is finished at the 20,000-square-foot building that sits on 18 acres.

Livigni, 32, said he is excited about leading the new campus. He expects to start with 150 to 200 people, including some who currently attend services at the Bath campus. The temporary auditorium at the Medina East campus can seat about 150 people. Plans for the permanent auditorium include seating for at least 350 worshippers.

Livigni, an Akron native, was part of the congregation at Fairlawn Grace Brethren when it merged with Grace Church. Shortly after the churches came together, he left for school at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. When he returned home in 2004, he began volunteering at the church. He joined the staff a year later, working in college ministry.

“It’s been amazing to see how the little church that I once belonged to has grown and become more alive. I look forward to that story being retold here in Medina,” Livigni said. “It’s becoming our legacy to join with smaller congregations who want to keep reaching people for God and to become one family that reaches out to meet the needs of the people in our community.”

Bogue said that Grace Church is always interested in joining with smaller congregations to effectively minister to people at a community level.

“We are not interested in constructing mammoth buildings. Our philosophy is to be rooted in a community. We never want to have more than 500 people in a service and our plan includes a pastor at each campus,” Bogue said. “Our passion is to reach people with the good news of Jesus. We believe we have an effective system that lets us capture all of the benefits of a megachurch while attending to the specific needs of smaller communities.”

The Norton campus offers services at 8:30, 10 and 11:30 a.m. on Sundays. The Bath campus has services at 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 8:45, 10:15 and 11:45 a.m. on Sundays. Grace also has church plants in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood and Strongsville.

Although each campus has its own personality, shaped by the pastor and the community it serves, Grace has a casual, come as you are atmosphere. Worship music is typically provided by a live band. A café and age-specific activities for children and youth are available.

The church is part of the Brethren tradition which maintains the basic beliefs of Christianity and emphasizes peace, simplicity and the equality of believers. Brethren often describe themselves based on what they do rather than what they believe, subscribing to the biblical principle that “faith without works is dead.”

The Brethren Church is one of the historic peace churches, along with Mennonites, Amish and Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Because the Brethren label is not easy to define and tends to create confusion, leaders of the local church intentionally drop it in their name, referring to it simply as Grace Church of Greater Akron.

More information about Grace can be found at www.graceohio.org or by calling 330-666-8341 or 330-825-6291

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.

Virginia Williams is only 9, but she’s already a champion gardener.

Virginia, a fourth-grader at Arrowhead School in Copley Township, was recently honored by the Gardeners of Greater Akron as the winner of its Big Pumpkin and Giant Sunflower Contest.

She won for growing a pumpkin that weighed 23 pounds and a sunflower that measured 8 feet tall at the bend, with a seed head that was more than 18 inches across. Besides caring for the plants, Virginia recorded weather data and information about their growth in her garden journal.

She is the daughter of Michael and Heather Williams of Copley.

The annual competition is sponsored nationally by the Gardeners of America/Men’s Garden Clubs of America.

Gardeners of Greater Akron also presented beautification awards to Portage Country Club for its grounds, gardens and landscaping; Akron resident Aretha McReynolds and her family for their flowers and vegetable garden; and Sam and Lora Morlan of Wadsworth for their gardens.

Storm relief donation

Crate and Barrel will celebrate its 50th anniversary next week by donating a portion of its sales to help people affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The retailer has pledged to contribute $5 from every online and in-store purchase made Friday to Rebuilding Together, up to $250,000. Rebuilding Together is a nonprofit organization that rebuilds the homes and lives of American homeowners in need.

The donation is part of Crate and Barrel’s promise to donate at least $1.5 million to the organization over three years.

Rug cleaning hot line

Rug Doctor is helping to keep carpets looking their best for the holidays.

Through Feb. 1, the carpet-cleaning company is sponsoring a holiday hot line with information on removing a range of carpet stains. The hot line is at 800-RUG DOCTOR (800-784-3628). Choose option 5 and then wait for a customer service representative.

Events, programs

• Gifty Knits and Christmas Crochet Drop-in Workshop, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, Brunswick Library, 3649 Center Road. Yarn-crafting tips and gift ideas. Beginners welcome. www.mcdl.info or 330-273-4150.

• Brunswick Kiwanis Christmas Craft Fair, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, Brunswick Recreation Center, 3637 Center Road. Free admission.

• Holiday Home Tour, 1-5 p.m. today, starting at the Canton Garden Center, 1615 Stadium Park Drive NW. Tour of six homes in Canton’s West Park neighborhood. $10 for one person or $15 for two. Proceeds support the holiday light display at Stadium Park. www.westparkneighborhood.org.

• Holiday Arts & Crafts Show, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, E.J. Thomas Hall, 198 Hill St., University of Akron campus. $4.50; seniors $4; 12 and younger free. Free parking. www.ejthomashall.com.

• Holiday House, noon to 4 p.m. today and Sunday, 1117 Forest Drive, Wooster. Midcentury modern home is decorated for the holidays. Tickets $10 ($9 with a Buehler’s Advantage Card), available at Buehler’s stores in Wayne County. Event benefits Every Woman’s House.

• Carrousel of Crafts, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Wadsworth Middle School, 150 Silvercreek Road. More than 100 crafters, food, entertainment. 12 and older $3; 65 and older $2. Sponsored by the Wadsworth Newcomers Club. Proceeds benefit area charities. www.carrouselofcrafts.com or 330-730-4273.

• Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Tangier, 532 W. Market St., Akron. Juried show of handmade items by more than 100 artists and crafters. Admission and parking are free. Part of the proceeds will benefit Jade’s No-Kill Rescue animal rescue facility. www.avantgardeshows.com.

• Holiday Home Tour, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Medina. Tour of five historical homes and two other buildings decorated for the season. Sponsored by the Medina Community Design Committee. $20. Tickets available in advance at all Buehler’s and Project: Learn BookShelf stores in Medina County, Miss Molly’s Tea Room and the Medina County Visitors and Convention Bureau. On Sunday, tickets are available at the Western Reserve Bank drive-through at 4015 Medina Road (11:55 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. only); United Church of Christ, Congregational on the northeast corner of the town square; or Munson House, 141 Prospect St. Proceeds benefit the design committee and its work for community beautification and preservation. 330-725-7516 or enblamb@frontier.com.

• Sugar Plum Tour, 2-5:30 p.m. Sunday, starting at Angel Falls Coffee Co., 792 W. Market St., Akron. Self-guided tour of five homes decorated for the holidays. $25. Proceeds benefit the Akron Community Foundation’s Gay Community Endowment Fund. www.sugarplumtour.org.

• Book Lover’s Book Mark, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Highland Library, 4160 Ridge Road, Granger Township, Medina County. Youth ages 11 to 18 can make a bookmark anytime while supplies last. www.mcdl.info, 330-278-4271 or 330-239-2674.

• Knitty Gritters meeting, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Lake Community Branch of Stark County District Library, 11955 Market Ave. N, Lake Township. Instructions for beginning knitters. 330-877-9975.

• Card Making, 6 p.m. Monday, Brunswick Library, 3649 Center Road. Create 10 cards. $10. Registration: www.mcdl.info or 330-273-4150.

• Knitting and Crocheting Circle meeting, 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Brunswick Library, 3649 Center Road. Registration: 330-273-4150.

• Holiday Fairy Garden Workshop, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Graf Growers Garden Center, 1015 White Pond Drive, Copley Township. Create a fairy garden in a pot brought from home or purchased at the garden center. Class is free, but customers buy plants and accessories. Potting soil will be provided. Registration: 330-836-2727.

• Warm Up Akron meeting, 2 p.m. Thursday, Danbury of North Canton, 181 Applegrove St. NE. Members knit or crochet squares that are used to make afghans for needy people in the Akron area. Information: 330-699-3252 or http://warmupakron.webs.com.

• Needlework Circle meeting, 6 p.m. Thursdays, Seville Library, North Center Street. 330-769-2852.

• Winter Barn Sale, Thursday through Dec. 9, Portage Trail Barn, 151 Portage Trail Extension W, Cuyahoga Falls. Handmade and repurposed items. Hours: 3-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 8 and 9. www.PortageTrailBarn.com.

• Hook & Needle Club meeting, 10:30 a.m. Friday, Buckeye Library, 6625 Wolff Road, York Township, Medina County. People of all ages and skill levels welcome. Registration: 330-725-4415.

• Lounge, 5-10 p.m. Friday, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, 11400 Euclid Ave. Sale of contemporary furniture and home accents, demonstrations, music, cash bar. Members free; others $10. www.MOCAcleveland.org.

• Guided Bird Walk, 9-11 a.m. Dec. 8, Secrest Arboretum, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster Township. Meet at Seaman Orientation Plaza. Free. cochran.7@osu.edu, 330-464-2148 or http://secrest.osu.edu.

• Knitting and Crocheting Circle meeting, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 8, Highland Library, 4160 Ridge Road, Granger Township, Medina County. Registration and supply list: 330-278-4271 or 330-239-2674.

• Holiday tours, 1-4 p.m. Saturdays through Dec. 22, Perkins Stone Mansion, 550 Copley Road, Akron. $6, seniors $4, students $2, members free. www.summithistory.org.

• Holiday Memories, through Dec. 30, Hower House, 60 Fir Hill, Akron. Victorian mansion is decorated to reflect memories of holidays past. Self-guided tours noon to 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays; guided and group tours by appointment. Closed Dec. 24-26. $8; 65 and older $6; students $2; children 6 and younger free with adult. 330-972-6909 or www.uakron.edu/howerhse.

• Deck the Hall, through Dec. 30, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, 714 N. Portage Path, Akron. Music-theme holiday decorations in the Manor House, lighted grounds, entertainment and visits with Mr. Jingeling. Open 5-8 p.m. today, Sunday, Thursday, Friday and Dec. 8-9, 13-23 and 26-30. Members, $13.50 for adults and $5.50 for youth; others, $17 for adults and $7 for youth. 5 and younger admitted free. Tickets available at the door or in advance at 330-836-5533 or www.stanhywet.org.

• Glow, through Dec. 31, Cleveland Botanical Garden, 11030 East Blvd. Holiday plantings, trees and decorations, along with entertainment, a gingerbread house display and a Garden Express train ride. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays; and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays except Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. $12, children 3 to 12 $6.50, members and younger children free. 216-721-1600 or www.cbgarden.org.

Submit notices of classes, programs and events two weeks in advance to mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com or Home and Garden News, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309-0640. Please include name and phone number. All events must be open to the public.

Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/mbbreck, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckenridge and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.

Gather ’round, children, and I will tell you the story of the Christmas potato.

It started as a Thanksgiving potato, really. It showed up about 15 years ago in a batch of raw potatoes — maybe dug from a garden, maybe bought from a store. I really can’t remember.

The important thing was that this potato caught the attention of my cousin’s daughters, who were adolescents at the time. The potato had a little knob attached, which they thought made it look like a turkey with a head. So, being creative types, they dressed it with paper feathers and a wattle and used it to decorate our family’s Thanksgiving table.

We all thought that was pretty funny, because — well, because we’re easily amused, and I don’t even think wine was involved. Someone probably took a picture of it. But we just figured that potato would be hash browns the next day.

We were wrong.

A month later, the family gathered again. In the midst of our annual white elephant exchange — a famously raucous event — my Uncle Ted opened the present he had chosen from a pile in the middle of the room. Inside he found the potato, this time outfitted in a little felt Santa suit, with craft-store googly eyes and a cotton-ball beard.

It had grown a few sprouts in the ensuing month and was looking a little wrinkly, so this time we figured it would probably go to that big recycling bin in the sky.

We were wrong.

The potato resurfaced a few months later for my sister’s 50th birthday, withered and clad in a teeny bikini. (This was not meant as a reflection of either my sister’s appearance or her choice of swimming apparel.) Then the following Christmas it made its way back to the gift exchange, its shriveled form swathed in white and topped with a tinsel halo.

How ­— or more importantly, why — that potato survived more than a year remains a mystery to me. I’m fairly certain it’s gone now, although I’m still not above giving the sniff test to any presents I choose in the white elephant exchange.

It’s not the first time an item has made repeated appearances in my family’s gift-giving. An enormous brassiere my aunt received when she retired as a department-store foundations saleswoman made several hilarious encores. So did a cousin’s maternity bathing suit, some oversize underwear and a pair of shiny pink pleather pants.

(Warning to my family: I know where the latter resides. You just never know when it might reappear.)

I can’t tell you what I got for any of those Christmases, but I remember those gifts clearly. And the laughs they prompted created memories that are among the most precious gifts I’ve ever received.

I’m pretty sure other families or groups of friends have similar gifts that get passed around repeatedly — a 20-year-old fruitcake, maybe, or a creepy singing Christmas tree.

I’d like to hear about yours. I’ll compile my favorite stories of continually regifted gifts and share them in the Dec. 22 home section.

You can submit your story by email at mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com or by mail at this address: Mary Beth Breckenridge, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309-0640.

Be sure to include your name, the town where you live and a phone number where I can reach you during the day, just in case I have questions.

Deadline is Dec. 15.

Just think: Maybe your family’s story will make it into the paper, in an article suitable for framing.

And you can wrap that up and start passing it around.

Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/mbbreck, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckenridge and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.

Blooming plants make great gifts, especially for a busy hostess or that hard-to-buy-for relative who just doesn’t need any more “stuff.” At Friday’s Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute holiday plant sale for staff, I purchased assorted poinsettias and a few Christmas cacti for friends and co-workers.

With some care, these holiday plants can continue to look great into the New Year. Here are some tips to care for some of the most common holiday plants.

Poinsettias

The showy bracts that make poinsettias so attractive will retain their color for weeks, making poinsettias a good choice to brighten up the indoors well into January. High indoor temperatures will shorten a poinsettia’s life, so choose a location with daytime temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees and a nighttime temperature of about 55 degrees. Plants can be moved into a cooler room at night if needed.

Water poinsettias when the soil is just dry, and don’t allow excess water to sit in the foil covering the pot. Both excessive watering and under-watering can cause poinsettia leaves to drop prematurely.

Amaryllis

These bulbs are grown for their large, lily-like flowers. Hybrids are available in red, white, pink, salmon, some with stripes or double petals.

The unusual cybister hybrids have narrow, pointed petals with a more tropical look. Amaryllis bulbs usually come ready-to-plant in boxed “kits.” If you purchase this kind of kit, be sure the container has drain holes in it; if not, add a few holes before planting the bulb.

If you’ve purchased just the bulb, plant it in a container two inches larger than the diameter of the bulb. The bulb should be placed so that the top two-thirds sits above the soil line. Keep the soil barely moist, and place the pot in a cool room until leaves or a flower bud appears. Once this happens, move the plant to a warmer room, and water it regularly.

After the flowers have faded, remove the flower stalk and feed with a diluted fertilizer through the summer. Gradually begin to withhold water to encourage the bulb to become dormant. After the leaves die back, store the bulb dry, in its pot, at about 55 degrees for eight weeks. Begin watering lightly until the plant is actively growing.

Amaryllis bulbs are often difficult to bring into flower the second year, but may bloom in subsequent years once roots have become re-established.

Paperwhites

These nonhardy daffodils are forced for their showy flowers. To keep paperwhites from flopping, force them in a very bright location in cool temperatures. With less light, the stems will continue to stretch in the search for light.

Paperwhites can be forced in pebbles and water, or in soil. Bulbs grown in soil tend to be more compact and less likely to topple over. Many people find the fragrance of paperwhites to be disagreeable (something like a naughty cat), so site them accordingly.

Cyclamen

Cyclamen produce bright pink, white or red flowers held upright over dark green, heart-shaped leaves. This is the ideal plant for the energy-conscious gardener: cyclamen thrive in cool environments, ideally between 50 and 65 degrees.

Cyclamen flowers are long-lasting, with individual flowers sometimes lasting for three or four weeks, provided temperatures are low. Warm temperatures and dry air will reduce the health and shorten the life of cyclamens. These plants perform best when kept moderately moist, and don’t recover well if allowed to dry out.

Holiday cacti

Commonly called Christmas cacti, these plants are easy to grow and the easiest of all holiday plants to bring into bloom again next year.

Christmas cactus prefers bright light and moist soil when in bloom, with temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees. After flowering, allow the soil to dry out between waterings. This plant benefits from monthly fertilization from spring through summer. In autumn, bring plants into a cool room (50 – 65 degrees) that receives only natural light to encourage flower production.

In general, all of these blooming plants need at least six hours of bright light each day. Keep them out of both warm and cold drafts, and don’t allow the soil to dry out completely. Pull plants back from windows so the leaves don’t touch window panes. With some care and attention, these holiday plants can thrive for weeks to come.

Plant sale

The ATI student sale is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. Besides poinsettias and Christmas cactus, students will be selling B&B evergreen trees, greenery bundles and fresh wreaths, swags and centerpieces. The sale is in Halterman Hall and the adjacent greenhouse on the ATI campus: 1328 Dover Road, Wooster.

Denise Ellsworth directs the honeybee and native pollinator education program for the Ohio State University. If you have questions about caring for your garden, contact her at 330-263-3700 or click on the Ask Denise link on her blog at www.osugarden.com.

Q: I have two windows that had a black substance on them. I treated them with a water/bleach mixture, then sanded, re-stained and re-varnished. A year later both windows have more mold on them. How do I find a reputable company to test and clean this for me?

— Teresa Kozma, Tallmadge

A: First of all, not all black mold is highly toxic, and it’s unlikely the mold around your windows is. Unless someone in your household is sensitive to mold, professional remediation might not be required.

Second, I urge you to investigate why mold is growing on those windows in the first place. Most likely the windows aren’t sealed properly, causing condensation to form on the glass in winter. Water from the condensation can promote growth of mold on the wood.

If you have storm windows, their weep holes may be clogged and can’t let moisture drain away.

It’s also possible your house isn’t ventilated well enough or the humidity is too high. But if either of those were the case, you’d probably have problems with all your windows, not just two of them.

Before you call in a mold expert, I urge you to have an energy audit done on the house to pinpoint air leaks and other energy-wasting issues. Dominion East Ohio and Ohio Edison offer discounted audits to their customers for $50 and $100, respectively. Information on Dominion’s audits is at http://tinyurl.com/dominionaudit, or call 877-287-3416. Information on Ohio Edison’s audits is at http://energysaveohio.com, and you can schedule one at 888-243-6808.

If you still want to pursue mold removal, you can find professionals in the Yellow Pages under “mold remediation” or “mold testing & consulting.” Jeffrey May, a noted mold-investigation specialist from Cambridge, Mass., recommends looking for a remediator who’s certified by ACGIH Professional Learning Center in Cincinnati; the Indoor Air Quality Association in Rockville, Md.; MidAtlantic Environmental Hygiene Resource Center in Cherry Hill, N.J.; or Restoration Consultants in Sacramento, Calif.

Have a question about home maintenance, decorating or gardening? Akron Beacon Journal home writer Mary Beth Breckenridge will find answers for the queries that are chosen to appear in the paper. To submit a question, call her at 330-996-3756, or send email to mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. Be sure to include your full name, your town and your phone number or email address.

Green: This isn’t your usual wrapping-paper-and-candy fundraiser.

Horticulture students at Portage Lakes Career Center have been putting their skills to work since late summer to grow poinsettias, which the students are now selling to raise money for their academic program.

Recently, the two greenhouses on the school’s grounds were awash in the reds, whites and pinks of approximately 800 plants awaiting the annual sale, which started this week. The greenhouses are open to customers during school hours for the first-come, first-served sale.

The project has long been an annual undertaking for the center’s plant, landscape and turf management program. The sale helps pay for field trips, sending students to competitions, equipment, supplies and other expenses that benefit the students, said the program’s instructor, Ryan McMichael.

But it’s not just a money maker. “This is basically a laboratory,” he said.

The project gives students practical experience in various aspects of greenhouse work and builds a work ethic, McMichael explained. They learn the bottom line can suffer if plants aren’t watered properly, if pests go unaddressed, if prices are too high or too low.

This year’s fundraiser started back in February, when students used data from last year’s sale and information about new varieties to determine the types and numbers of poinsettias to order for this year. They also figured the costs associated with growing the plants and used that information to set prices, McMichael said.

Then in late August, tiny plant starts about the size of an index finger arrived from the grower, Barco Sons Inc. near Medina. The students spent three or four days transplanting them into larger pots in preparation for nurturing them to maturity.

“From there it’s the students’ responsibility to maintain them, care for them,” McMichael said. That process involves not just watering and fertilizing the plants, but identifying pests, calculating fertilizer and pesticide ratios and treating plants that show signs of insect or disease damage.

White flies were their biggest nemesis, McMichael said, and they also did battle with fungus gnats and a little bit of root rot. The students try to minimize pesticide use, but “in a greenhouse setup it’s hard to go completely chemical-free,” he said.

Although the seniors handle most of the business aspects of the sale, all nine of the juniors and seniors in the program are involved in raising the plants.

One of the biggest challenges, McMichael said, is controlling light. The school parking lot adjacent to the greenhouses needs to be lighted at night for safety, but that could be the ruin of a light-sensitive poinsettia crop.

So the students spent their first days of the school year hanging black fabric inside the greenhouses to block the parking lot lights and allow the poinsettias to get the 12 hours of darkness they require for their first few months.

“We’re up and down ladders, and we’re moving. … Kids get tired of it pretty quick,” McMichael said with a laugh.

Sometimes pieces of fabric would fall, requiring the students to maneuver around tables filled with hundreds of plants so they could rehang the fabric. Eventually the fabric had to come back down to give the plants the additional light they need to produce flower buds, a process that prompts the bracts to turn from green to their signature colors.

Despite all the work, senior Logan Vincent, 17, found the process rewarding. “You can see the beauty kind of coming out,” said Vincent, who lives in the Manchester area of New Franklin.

Senior Dillon Siers said he was proud of the results of the work he and his fellow students put into the project, including building tables to replace the old benches that used to hold the plants.

“We don’t just buy them and sell them [the plants],” said Siers, 17, of Springfield Township. “We have to take care of them.”

Six varieties of poinsettias are available — red, white, pink and a peachy color called cinnamon, as well as a marbled white and pink poinsettia and a white plant with unusual curled foliage called Winter Rose White. A seventh variety, the speckled poinsettia Jingle Bells, sold out early from advance orders.

McMichael said the students offer only natural-color poinsettias, not the painted poinsettias some retailers sell.

The poinsettia sale isn’t the only experience the students get in commercial growing. They already have flower bulbs chilling in preparation for raising Easter lilies, tulips, daffodils and hyacinths to sell in March.

And later in the school year they’ll raise flats of annuals and hanging flower baskets for sale at spring planting time. They’re currently planning which seeds and cuttings to order for the spring sale, and they’ll start planting after winter break, McMichael said.

He said the plant-growing experience, along with the other knowledge the students gain in the program, is intended to prepare them to work in the greenhouse industry or pursue college degrees in areas such as greenhouse management or plant science.

And in the process, they’re making the world just a little more cheerful.

Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/mbbreck, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckenridge and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.

Rust-Oleum’s new Tile Transformations kit lets you update the look of outdated bathroom and kitchen tile.

The kit contains an epoxy coating that creates a stone look. The process involves three steps — preparing the surface, applying a texturized bond coat and then applying a stone-like finish.

The finish is durable enough for use in areas with prolonged water exposure, such as showers, tubs, kitchen backsplashes and ceramic tile countertops.

Each kit covers 50 square feet and contains most of the necessary supplies.

The product is available at Home Depot. Suggested retail price is $119.99.

— Mary Beth Breckenridge

If Valerie Keener needed confirmation that her efforts to bring joy to special needs students are successful, she got it a few weeks ago when her teammate, a 2-year-old boxer named Heidi, approached a young girl in one of the classrooms. As the child petted the dog, Heidi leaned over and licked her on the cheek. The little girl, who is non-verbal, began kicking her feet and squealing in obvious delight.

“Within myself, I had been questioning if our visits were having any impact on the children,” said Keener of Cuyahoga Falls who has been visiting area classrooms once a week since early October.

Although most of the children in the class don’t speak, their enjoyment rang through loud and clear as Keener and Heidi, a trained Thera-Pits team, were leaving. The children became animated in their effort to express their goodbyes, Keener said.

“As I closed the door behind me, I couldn’t stop the tears nor erase the grin that was on my face,” she said.

Keener said she visits area classrooms as an emissary of the Cleveland-based Thera-Pits program, a group of registered therapy dogs that works with children in U.S. schools. Thera-Pits brings dogs and children together through alternative learning programs.

Chris Hughes, a dog trainer and co-founder of the program currently operating in Cleveland schools, began the program to try to stamp out the stigma attached to dogs that are branded pit bulls, Kenner said.

Not all the dogs in the program are pit bulls, but they have all passed their Canine Good Citizen test and are registered therapy dogs through Therapy Dogs International. The program has 35 teams operating in Cuyahoga County.

Kenner, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than seven years ago, said she recently got involved in the program because she wanted to make a positive contribution to society. She thought the sweet-tempered Heidi could help her.

When Keener bought Heidi from a backyard breeder two years ago, the dog was obviously underweight, filled with intestinal parasites and lacked the necessary social skills needed to succeed as a pet.

“So, while we purchased her it was in large part a rescue because she needed out of where she was,” she said.

At the time, Keener thought Heidi could be a companion to her grandson who was born 12 weeks prematurely. She said she thought that as the pair grew, the dog could help her grandson overcome some of the obstacles preemies can face. Fortunately, her grandson’s early arrival proved to have no adverse effects on the child who is now 2 years old.

That good fortune left Keener looking for a way to put the sweet-tempered canine’s talents to good use. After passing three behavior training classes from beginner to advanced at PetSmart, Heidi sailed through her Canine Good Citizen test. She advanced to Hughes’ Thera-Pits program when Heidi passed her Therapy Dog International certification.

At present, Keener and Heidi visit two schools each week and have a waiting list of requests for service from several schools.

Keener’s goal is to get more people and their dogs involved in the program in Summit County.

“Any breed dog can be a therapy dog. It has nothing to do with the breed, only their temperament, personality and training,” she said, adding that the program is in need of new teams and an adult dog trainer who is qualified to evaluate dogs that would make good candidates for the Therapy Dog International certification.

“That’s what we really need to move this program forward in this area,” she said.

Anyone interested in participating in the program can contact Kenner at her email address: lady_christa_39@yahoo.com.

Other animals in the news:

Pet Photo Night With Santa— Furry and feathered friends can have photos taken with Santa 6:30-8 p.m. Sunday at Santa’s home at Summit Mall near Dillard’s North. Cost for photo packages is $19.95-$24.95.

Trunk Show — The Akron Zoo will host a trunk show from 4 to 7:30 p.m. next Saturday with vendors featuring jewelry, art, photos, and other merchandise. The event, with free admission and parking, will take place inside the zoo’s Welcome Center at the entrance to the zoo, 500 Edgewood Ave.

Happy Hour for Happy Trails — Fundraiser for Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary at Pickwick & Frolic on East Fourth Street, Cleveland. The event will feature local television and radio celebrity bartenders and Patrick Bordeleau from the Lake Erie Monsters Hockey Team and Jordan Norwood of the Cleveland Browns. There will be raffles and an auction featuring tickets to several professional Cleveland sport teams’ games. All proceeds benefit Happy Trails that rescues and rehabilitates abused and neglected farm animals. Information, visit: http://happytrailsfarm.org/pickwick-and-frolic-and-cleveland-sports-host-a-happy-hour-for-happy-trails-on-dec-12th.

Breakfast with Santa at the RainForest — 8-9:30 a.m. Dec. 15, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 3900 Wildlife Way. Event will feature a breakfast buffet and Get Close animal encounter, face painting, cookie decorating, crafts and Santa. $22.50, $18.50 for children and includes admission to the zoo. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 216-635-3306. Also at the Cleveland zoo: December Days at the Zoo from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 17-30 (closed Christmas Day) includes crafts, cookie decorating and live music. Children can visit with Santa and get pictures taken inside Wolf Wilderness from Dec. 17-24. There will be a Santa Shop, a fair-trade gift shop.

Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.

Now is not the time of year for sowing, unless it’s sowing an idea: As the weather turns colder and the landscape becomes washed in grays and browns, imagine a retreat, an oasis of lush greenery and brightly colored flowers suffused in warm, moist air.

A greenhouse.

Home or “hobby” greenhouses run the gamut from lavish, Victorian-style conservatories to primitive structures cobbled together from discarded window frames. Each creates its own oasis. Even my coldframe — nothing more than a large wooden box with a clear plastic cover — hints of the tropics each time its cover is opened.

For most of us, the greenhouse of our dreams would be a spacious conservatory, cozy for its abundance of lush, tropical greenery, with enough space among the 6-foot-long banana leaves and fragrant citrus blossoms to accommodate a small dining table and chairs.

But let’s float back down to reality. That greenhouse is beyond many a gardener’s budget, and it’s hard in these environmentally aware times to justify heating a space enough to keep tropical plants happy in winter. Fuel needs rise dramatically with each degree you ratchet up greenhouse temperature.

Then again, newer greenhouse coverings, coupled with innovative methods of storing excess heat generated on sunny days, can go a long way to dampening heat losses.

Before letting your imagination run away with you though, consider whether you’d prefer your greenhouse to be free-standing or attached to your home.

A free-standing structure offers the most flexibility in design and siting, and is bathed in light from all four sides. Also, there’s no need to integrate it with house design, or for it to look anything prettier than just functional.

An attached greenhouse requires more attention to style but it does have some advantages. Cozied up against your home, an attached greenhouse loses less heat. It can tap the heat-storing capacity of the home’s wall where it is attached, especially if that wall is masonry, and can even tap into the home’s heating system.

On sunny winter days, excess heat generated in the greenhouse can be vented into your home. That moist heat is a lot more comfortable than the dry heat of home heating systems, although some caution is needed against venting too much moisture into your home.

And getting back to that table and chairs that might be squeezed into your greenhouse: How likely are you to trudge across the snow with brunch to your free-standing greenhouse? If you have a wall facing in a direction that gets enough light for the plants you want to grow, the attached greenhouse is the one most likely to provide living space as well as functional space.

Deciding on the greenhouse’s size and what plants it will house also can help determine heating needs. No need to get into other details just yet.

Let your imagination roam.

Florist Edle Catharina Norman believes you can find beauty in your own backyard, even in winter.

She uses materials found in nature this time of year to create the holiday floral designs featured in her new book, Beautiful Winter. Some are enhanced by flowers and greenery available at florist shops.

Norman provides instructions for wreaths, garlands, Christmas tree decorations, centerpieces and other seasonal accents. Most are simple to create, so you’ll still have time for all that shopping and baking.

Beautiful Winter comes from Sellers Publishing and sells for $15.95 in softcover.

— Mary Beth Breckenridge

There have been plenty of folks snickering about this front-page story from the Chapel Hill News:

“CARRBORO — Roy Mars was peeing in his compost last weekend — it adds nitrogen — when he looked up and saw something streak across the sky.”

The story written by Mark Schultz was about a UFO sighting in North Carolina. But the buzz about the article wasn’t because of the spaceships; it was the peeing in the compost part that gave readers a good laugh.

Really? Anyone who has been gardening for a while knows that peeing in the compost is the thing to do.

Uric acid speeds up the compost process and gets you to the end product faster. Even the National Trust in England provides “pee bales” in strategic places in public gardens and parks that the male horticulture staff can use.

While it is a great compost activator, peeing in the actual garden is still being explored — at least by my son, who fried a few boxwoods with his continual visits a few years back. It’s the repeat visits, I believe, that did them in, as my calls to move down the hedge row went unheeded.

PopScience says urine is a high-quality plant food rich with nitrogen, potassium and phosphate, much like any all-around organic fertilizer is. And it’s free.

Scientists in Finland reported a four-fold increase in tomato crops fed with urine and wood ash. (Wood ash in Southern California gardens is not a good idea with our alkaline soils.)

Anecdotal reports in the rose-growing community say urine does wonders for these beauties. And the Washington Post reported the fantastic results urine had on cabbage crops.

The National Geographic says, “Researchers estimate a single person could supply enough urine to fertilize roughly 6,300 tomato plants a year — yielding some 2.4 tons of tomatoes.”

Chris Roy from Orange County Farm Supply in Orange, Calif., said he has heard that peeing on the plumerias leads to fantastic plants. “I would aim for the root zone,” Roy said. “Urea can burn plant tissues.”

Like anything in the fertilizer aisle, the key is not using too much.

“You’re going to get a lot of green growth,” Roy said. “Urea is mostly nitrogen.”

As far as compost goes, urine serves as the green component in the green-to-brown ratio. The ideal mix for fast compost is 50 percent brown to 50 percent green. You have to watch the pile. If you’ve got too much nitrogen, you’ll know because it will smell.

Peeing directly in the garden is different. Goveganic.net says once or twice a month per plant is plenty. And keep moving. Not into the front yard though, or you can wind up in the slammer on indecency charges.

The backyard is all yours.

Portage Lakes Career Center’s poinsettia sale is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays except Tuesday at the school, 4401 Shriver Road, Green.

Plants are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Prices are $6.50 for a 6½-inch pot and $17 for an 8½-inch pot. Orders of 10 or more poinsettias can be held until Dec. 19.

For information, call Ryan McMichael at 330-896-8295 or email rmcmichael@plcc.edu.

The images and memories of the holiday season are sometimes a source of sadness for Adriane Clayton.

“I lost my mother three years ago in February, and her birthday is a week before Christmas,” Clayton said. “It’s really difficult around the holidays because I really miss her.”

Clayton is among a countless number of people who sometimes dread the approach of the season that seems to mandate joy with its brightly wrapped packages, holiday parties, upbeat carols and visits from family and friends.

To help those who are struggling with grief, loneliness and hopelessness, a number of congregations and organizations offer special worship services, classes, seminars and support groups.

Two years ago, the Rev. Maureen Webber and the Stephen Ministries group at Bath United Church of Christ began offering a Blue Christmas service for people experiencing loss. The service is traditionally offered on the longest night of the year (the winter solstice) Dec. 21. This year, there will be two services at 2 and 7 p.m. The church is located at 3980 Bath Road in Bath Township.

“This service is for people with any kind of loss: divorce, loss of job, loss of independence and, of course, loss of a loved one,” said Webber, associate minister of pastoral care at the Bath church. “Our goal is to help people find a sense of comfort and to validate their feelings. We want them to know that there is someone who cares and that God is with them, even if they don’t feel joy.”

Services include readings, hymns, prayers and an opportunity for those in attendance to light a candle in memory of a loved one, if they choose.

Stephen Ministries’ congregations typically offer programs around the holidays to help the hurting.

The lay ministry provides trained caregivers to give one-on-one help to people who are hurting, lonely or going through a life crisis. Founded in 1975, the program is now in 11,000 congregations, representing more than 160 denominations.

An Advent Remembrance Service, now in its eighth year, will be offered at 7:30 p.m. Sunday by the Stephen Ministries group at Northampton United Methodist Church, 852 W. Bath Road in Cuyahoga Falls. The service includes a candlelight ceremony, the hanging of ornaments on a tree, brief messages from those who have lost loved ones and refreshments.

In Green, the Journey to Peace Bereavement Support Ministry at Queen of Heaven Catholic Church sponsored a two-session program before Thanksgiving to help people prepare for coping with loss during the holidays. The ministry was established to provide information and spiritual and emotional support for those who are grieving.

Like the Stephen Ministries groups, the bereavement support ministry offers sessions throughout the year. A six-week series of classes will be offered in April.

More information can be found at www.queenofheavenparish.org or by calling 330-896-2345.

“Everyone grieves in their own way and in their own time. We want to help people understand that it’s OK to take as long as they need,” said Sue Lyons, who leads Queen of Heaven’s support group. “We recognize that the holidays are especially difficult.

“People expect you to celebrate, even if you don’t feel like celebrating. We try to help people recognize that they can say ‘no’ and that they can express that they need some time alone.”

Nonreligious options

Outreach to those who are grieving and struggling with loss is not limited to religiously affiliated groups.

The Minority Behavioral Health Group, in West Akron, has been partnering with churches and community organizations for the past 15 years to provide workshops and seminars to help people cope with stress during the holidays.

The agency, at 1293 Copley Road, provides culturally specific counseling and education and prevention programs. It is facilitating a program called “How to Deal with Sadness During the Holidays” at 6:30 p.m. on Mondays through Dec. 17 at East Akron Community House, 550 S. Arlington St.

The community center’s program includes two facilitators — a cleric and a therapist — who give participants guidance on how to cope during the holidays.

“There are a number of things that cause stress, sadness and anxiety during the holidays. It can be the loss of a loved one, stress that comes from working, shopping and all the other responsibilities that people are dealing with at this time of year,” said the Rev. Jeffrey Dennis, executive director of the counseling center and senior pastor at Mount Calvary Baptist Church. “Our goal is to help people with tips on how to cope and to help connect them with resources available in the community.”

Clayton, who serves as executive and operations coordinator at East Akron Community House, said she encourages anyone experiencing low spirits during the holiday season to attend. Each session is facilitated by different presenters.

“I rely on my faith to get me through and I find comfort in knowing that my mom had a strong relationship with God,” Clayton said. “But it’s still difficult. I’m open to suggestions about ways to help with the pain of missing her.”

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.