Catamount Earth Institute E-News
Here are two activities for Clean Energy action, a gardening tour, and a film. Last is a nascent Catamount website/blog.
June 19th Free Eco-Driving Workshop, Thetford Hill
SERG invites you to a Free Eco-Driving Workshop with UVM’s Transportation Research Center, this Saturday June 19th at the Thetford Elementary School Parking Lot on Thetford Hill, 9:00 to 11:00 am. Practice eco-driving techniques, road test & measure your vehicle’s emissions with a 5-gas analyzer, get a vehicle check-up, and create a personal eco-driving action plan for reducing fuel consumption. UVM predicts that participants can save 15% on their fuel if they implement the practices taught at this workshop. Space is limited, advance registration is required. Please send an email to afs@finowen.net with the subject line “Driving workshop” or call Alice Stewart at 785.3087. This workshop is sponsored by the Thetford Energy Committee. Directions to the TES parking lot – take exit 14 off I 91, turn left if coming from the south or right if coming from the north onto Rt. 113. Go to top of Thetford Hill and Thetford Elementary School will be on your left.
June 26th Clean Energy Petition, Norwich
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley (UUCUV) has organized a unique petition event in solidarity with the global Hands-Across-the-Sands action. It’s on June 26 from 9 AM-1PM at the UUCUV Meeting House, 320 Route 5 South, which is just a short distance south of and across the street from the Norwich Farmer’s Market. We will hold a large banner near the entrance to Farmer’s Market to direct people toward our action.
Catamount Earth Institute invites you to join us in signing a letter to Congress and the President with your footprint – adults, black for our dependence on oil – children, green for a sustainable future. It will only take five minutes and an (easily cleaned) painted foot! Free cookies and lemonade! The letter, with our footprints (and signatures), which asks for an end to our dependence on fossil fuels, development of clean energy alternatives, and a strong climate bill, will be delivered to our Vermont and New Hampshire members of Congress and to the President.
If you would like to volunteer to help, please contact Claudia Kern at 603-795-4930 or Claudia.anne.kern@gmail.com for more information. Please join us for this signing.
If you’re not available on June 26th, please take a moment and sign a petition at http://action.350.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=319. 350.org is an “international movement (started by Bill McKibben) to stop the climate crisis.” This petition to President Obama and the U.S. Congress states, “We urge you to permanently abandon plans for offshore drilling and stop letting oil companies determine energy policy. Instead, invest in a clean and safe energy future that protects the world from the worst effects of climate change.”
June 26th Garden Tours, Hartland, Hartland Four Corners, West Hartford, Windsor and Hanover
The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program comes to the Upper Valley on June 26 and opens eight gardens to the public in Hartland, Hartland Four Corners, West Hartford, Windsor and Hanover from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to each private garden is $5, or a discounted day pass, $30 for all eight gardens is available at each garden on the day of the tour. Open Days are rain or shine, and no reservations are required. Call 1-888-842-2442, or visit www. opendaysprogram.org for more information and for directions to the gardens.
Included on the tour is Dream Come True Farm (292 Clay Hill Road, Hartland), which was built to attract birds and butterflies, and uses conservation and organic practices to encourage a healthy visiting wildlife population. At Dan and Eleanor Comstock’s Rose Rock Garden (56 Mt. Hunger Road, Hartland) admire views of Mount Moosilauke and Mt. Ascutney. Informal plantings include numerous stone walls with perennials, trees and shrubs as well as hosta and dwarf conifer gardens. The garden of Sylvia Davatz (106 Gilson Road, Hartland) focuses on food and vegetable seed production in extensive beds supported by a passive solar greenhouse, and incorporates permaculture principles into the flowing perennial beds. The gardens at Twin Gables (232 Brownsville Road, Hartland Four Corners) mimic the rolling topography nearby with curvaceous lines in the planting beds, and feature bridges that traverse several natural water channels. Explore the garden of Judy and Guy Roberts (390 Handy Road, West Hartford) which boasts more than 200 mature trees, a birch allée, a large swath of daylilies separating lawn from meadow,and a formal perennial border in the English style. At Cider Hill Gardens and Art Gallery (1747 Hunt Road, Windsor) ecologically grown herbs, perennials, and extensive collections of daylilies, hosta, peonies, and primroses are complemented by the owner’s botanical and landscape paintings. Special highlights of the garden of Richard Drubel (20 Rope Ferry Road, Hanover, NH) include a garden path bordered by lady’s slippers, a terraced slope leading down to Occom Pond, and a trough garden of alpine plants. In addition, don’t miss the Hartland Highlands (Hartland) garden and farmstead, directions to which will be available at each garden.
Thanks to Sylvia Davatz and Pat McGovern for this information.
Monday July 5 – “Blue Gold – World Water Wars, 6:30 Upstairs, Colatina Exit, Bradford, 6:00 order food & drink
Sponsored by the Bradford Conservation Commission. Free and open to the public
Catamount Earth Institute has just started a website and blog. Visit us at http://catamountei.wordpress.com. Vital Communities has a new food blog at http://blog.vitalcommunities.org/.
This Upper Valley Sustainable Living Network update was written by Barbara Duncan, Catamount Earth Institute 802-333-3664 (May-Oct) 603-643-0328 (Nov.-April) barbara.duncan@valley.net http://catamountei.wordpress.com Contact barbara.duncan@valley.net if you do NOT want to receive these occasional updates.
Catamount Earth Institute June E-Newsletter
In this issue:
Upcoming Discussion Courses
Mega Menu for the Future this fall 2010 & winter 2011
Upper Valley Sustainability Events Calendar
Three Tomatoes Memorable Meals
Summer Course Groups:
Course: Menu for the Future
Where: Canaan Town Library
When: Wednesdays, August 4 – Sept 8, evening
Cost: Books may be borrowed or purchased for $21
More info. and to register: Librarian Amy Thurber, 603-523-9650, athurber43@yahoo.com
Course: Menu for the Future
Where: Hartland Public Library
When: Wednesdays, August 18 – Sept. 22, evening
Cost: Books may be borrowed or purchased for $21
More info. and to register: Librarian Mary Danko, 802-436-2476, hardlanddir@vermontel.net
More information on all the Northwest Earth Institute courses see www.nwei.org.
To start a course contact: Barbara Duncan: 802-333-3664 or barbara.duncanATvalley.net
See workplace programs and higher education for use of the courses in these two specific areas.
Mega Menu for the Future Project:
Keep in mind’s Catamount Earth Institute’s plan to start at least a dozen Menu for the Future: Sustainable Food Systems discussion courses this fall and winter. Might you convene a group in your town, workplace, faith community, or with gardening friends? Contact barbara.duncan@valley.net for more information.
Upper Valley Sustainability Events Calendar
(All events are free unless noted otherwise)
June 1-4, Champlain College, Burlington, Gross National Happiness Conference
Sorry about the late posting. See http://gnhusa.org/ for this first ever conference. It features many stellar speakers on living well including: Vicki Robin, author of Your Money or Your Life, Bill McKibben, and John deGraaf, author and producer of Affluenza.
Thursday, June 3, first of the season Lebanon Farmers Market, 4-7 on the Green
Saturday, June 5, 10am – 3pm, Trek to Taste
Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, VT -Directions
Celebrate local food and local trails.
9 area Farm to School programs with their farm projects and food samples.
Guided walks at 10:30 am and 12 noon.
Wood fired pizza by the Woodstock HS Farm to School program.
Make a walking stick, decorate a nature collage.
Ice Cream social and live music at 1:00 pm.
Visit the Mt. Tom Farmers Market.
Saturday, June 5, 10am-11:30am, Growing and Using Herbs, Cedar Circle Farm, E. Thetford
Join us in the Sensory Herb Garden at Cedar Circle Farm with Cat Buxton, Experienced Gardener and the Farm’s Education Director, and special guest Didi Pershouse, founder of the Center For Sustainable Medicine in Thetford.
Learn the basics of how to manage and grow an herb garden of any size. We’ll discuss the many culinary and medicinal uses of herbs.
$20/person Register in advance at the farm or online at www.cedarcirclefarm.org
Thursday, June 5 4-5:30pm and Saturday, June 10 10-11:30am
Workshop on training, staking and pruning your garden plants for stablitiy, disease control and optimal fruit production. Led by Cedar Circle Farm’s Assistant Field Manager, Megan Baxter and Farm Educator and experienced gardener, Cat Buxton. This class includes a mini tour of our tomato houses where we will learn how the farm manages tomatoes.
$20/person Register in advance at the farm or online at www.cedarcirclefarm.org
Tours of Hardwick Vermont (“The Town That Food Saved”) area farms and the Center for an Agricultural Economy. Tours are led by Tom Stearns, head of High Mowing Organic Seeds. They run from 10am-4pm.
Dates: June 17, July 15, Aug. 19, Sept. 16, Oct. 21
Cost: $50. Register at one week in advance at registration form.
Weatherization Skillshops: Skillshop participants will learn the core fundamentals and hands-on techniques needed to improve building efficiency on their own, including background on building science, how-to demonstrations, and hands-on skill building. The weatherization skillshop consists of three distinct modules: air-sealing and insulating attics, air-sealing windows and doors, and air-sealing and insulating basements. Participants will learn how to choose the right energy saving products and tools for basic projects and how to safely and effectively use materials.
Cost: $150 – includes $100 in weatherization tools, supplies, and resources – and lunch. Workshops are all-day
Sponsor: Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC)
Info. and registration: www.weatherizationskillshop.com or Laurie Fielder at 802 476-2093 x116.
Closest workshops:
June 12 Barre Technical Center, Barre
June 19 St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury
June 26 River Valley Technical Center, Springfield
Sept. 25 River Bend Career and Technical Center, Bradford
Three Tomatoes Memorable Meals
When the Upper Valley Localvores had our first Localvore Challenge in 2006 we wanted Challenge participants to be able to eat local food at local restaurants. We sought out restaurants and asked about their use of local foods. Three Tomatoes was and is one of the leading restaurants in serving locally grown foods. Pat Mc Govern lists 23 farms and producer supplying Three Tomatoes. She invites diners to write a story about a memorable meal at 3 T’s. Every month gardener Henry Homeyer selects his favorite story . . . and the author of the chosen story gets two free entrees at Three Tomatoes. Have you had a memorable meal you might write about? Send your story (about 250 words) to <henry.homeyer@comcast.net>
Thanks to Localvore Pat McGovern, Peter Allison of Upper Valley Farm to School Network, and Paul Markowitz of Central Vermont Community Action Council for their news.
If you’d like to receive their news directly please contact them at:
mcgovern.patricia@gmail.com, http://www.uvfts.org/, paul@markowitzvt.com
This Upper Valley Sustainable Living Network update was written by Barbara Duncan, Catamount Earth Institute
603-643-0328 (Nov.-April) 802-333-3664 (May-Oct) barbara.duncan@valley.net www.nwei.org
Contact barbara.duncan@valley.net if you do NOT want to receive these occasional updates.
