CT Green Scene

Students break ground on bird garden in Stamford's Cove Island Park

May 12th

1:00-4:00 pm 

Each spring, billions of birds return to the U.S. on their annual migration from South and Central America to nesting grounds all over North America. To make this trip possible, birds need to find high quality habitat in which to feed and rest at points all along their migration pathway, much like rest areas along a highway. Historically, it was less challenging to find quality stop-over sites but today, as land is steadily urbanized by sprawl and development, birds are finding it harder to find good places to stop and refresh along the way.

 

To increase awareness about migration and help enhance stopover habitat, Audubon Connecticut and the Cove Island Park Conservancy are working with local school students to create a special songbird demonstration garden for the popular playground area in Cove Island Park. The garden, funded by the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, is the first in a series of “Urban Oases” sites being established throughout Connecticut. It is also part of a larger effort by the Cove Island Park Conservancy and Audubon to enhance habitats throughout Cove Island Park, a National Audubon Society designated "Important Bird Area" that is known for its value as a critical stop-over area for birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway.

 

On Saturday, May 12, the two organizations will host a groundbreaking ceremony and an International Migratory Bird Day celebration from 1:00-4:00pm in the park. Free and open to the public, the event will feature live falcons and owls on display, a flying bird show, exhibits, games and statements by Stamford students, elected officials, and the corporate partners who have made the Urban Oases initiative possible.

 

People interested in creating Urban Oases in their yard or other open space area are invited to contact Audubon Connecticut for native plant lists and site specific advice. Visit www.audubonCT.org to learn more or call 203-869-5272 x239.

Flower Remedies: Another Gift From Nature

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

Flower Remedies are an amazing form of alternative medicine. The first flower remedies were created by Dr. Edward Bach in England in the 1930s to help treat the mental side of physical illness.  

Flower Remedies are a form of homeopathy from only flower sources. Homeopathy uses very diluted amounts of substances (such as flower extracts) to help the body heal. The amount of substance left in the medicine is so diluted that it isn’t even traceable, but science has shown for hundreds of years how effective homeopathy is. You can go to the National Center of Homeopathy to learn more about homeopathy and its origins.

Dr. Bach was able to determine that homeopathic forms of certain flowers helped his patients emotionally.  Many alternative doctors feel there is a direct link between mental and physical well-being, thus treating the mental aspect should be a fundamental part of any therapy. That is why Dr. Bach started research in this area.

The modern research supporting flower essences is abundant. One study found significant decreases in stress levels after participants ingested Bach Flower Remedies, another summarized the findings from other studies showing they are effective in treating depression. Further, this study found that people in pain were able to have better mindsets, and therefore were more able to deal with the discomfort. And yet another study found that taking the remedies decreased physical stress from environmental factors such as electromagnetic fields (EMF) and fluorescent lighting.

There are many different forms of flower essences today besides those by Dr. Bach--homeopathy for the mental aspect of health. There are remedies from all over the world-Australia, South Africa and the Himalayas, for example. And another great way to use them, in my opinion, is for your pets. If they have anxiety in general or going in the car, for instance, always keep the emergency remedy, Rescue Remedy, on hand!

COLUMBINES & COLORS: A SPRING AWAKENING CELEBRATION OF FLOWERS AND MEMORIES AT FORT HILL FARMS

Come celebrate the warm spring days and beautiful colors of spring flowers at Fort Hill Farms’ Columbines & Colors event in Thompson on May 14th and 15th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. In addition to the thousands of blooms at the farms’ Quintessential Gardens, nature lovers, photographers and artists from all over are invited to come view and capture the landscapes and celebrate the riot of colors on display. Free guided Garden Tours by Kristin Orr will be given at 9a & 2p each day.

Raising Animals or Tending Your Vegetable Garden: the Importance of Thinking Ecologically

Have you been wondering about your own food purchases in the grocery store?  Do you have questions about organic farming, or how to farm your own vegetable garden as organically as possible?  Would you like to spend an evening that can inform your own choices? Come and hear Mr. Bill Duesing who has a passion for organic farming and is concerned about the state of agriculture around the world-- our food supply.

As part of the Libraries town-wide read of the book Eating Animals, Mr. Bill Duesing, the Executive Director of the Connecticut chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut, will speak on Tuesday, March 15 at 7:00 PM about the need to think ecologically about our food supply. He will give an illustrated talk and show some of the healthy connections growers and consumers are creating in Connecticut and beyond. He will also talk about animal agriculture and its effects in Connecticut and throughout the country.

Both organic farmer and author, Mr. Duesing has been raising animals in Oxford, CT since 1972 and exploring how to eat since long before that. In addition to his position at NOFA, Mr. Duesing also serves as the President of the Community Farm of Simsbury and is a Board Member of the Connecticut Farmland Trust. Mr. Duesing is a graduate of Yale University.

In an interview Mr. Duesing said, “I will provide a middle ground between the vegan view and existing industrial agriculture. I've thought a lot about animals … have raised goats and cows, pigs, turkeys and chickens for eggs and meat on my farm in Oxford.  I agree that most of the animal agriculture practiced in this country is horrendous. It is very bad for the environment, for the farmers, for the animals and for human health. However, animals are a part of nature and most ecosystems and are also a part of many sustainable and organic farms.”  

Bound to be both an informative and interesting evening, all are invited to attend. Please call the Fairfield Public Library at (203) 256-3160 to register, or you can register online at the Library’s website:  www.fairfieldpubliclibrary.org.

Image courtesy of VictoryVegetableGardens.com.

GVI: Where are they now?

by Eileen Weber

Last May, I wrote an article about the Westport Green Village Initiative (GVI) that was making headway by spreading their sustainable word to other towns like Ridgefield and Fairfield. With grassroots movements in community gardens, recycling, energy and water conservation and a very green message, their hope was to grow an idea from the ground up one town at a time.

That concept started with one Westport businessman, Dan Levinson. He has been the catalyst for the GVIs in the area. Claire Carlson in Ridgefield shared his vision and she has taken that town by storm. With a film series and lectures at the town library and the Aldrich Museum as well as organic gardens in the school system, she has single-handedly started a green movement in that section of Fairfield County.

The hope was that Fairfield would follow in Ridgefield’s footsteps. But unfortunately, it never did. A town that has organic gardens in almost every school in the district couldn’t seem to get it together to create their own GVI system. When Levinson questioned this, he was told the politics in the town were too stiff. He was left with the strong impression that he should look elsewhere.

Where the Tomato Plant Sleeps, the Late Blight Creeps

by Amanda DeMatto

Imagine having to pay five bucks for a pound of tomatoes. Or having to eat sweet potato fries or turnip tots when what you’re really hankering for is the good old-fashioned crinkle-cut French fries. 

Imagining life without tomatoes and potatoes hit a little too close to home last summer. Among the array of crimson peppers and forest green arugula that adorned John Gorzynski’s stand at the Union Square farmers’ market in Manhattan last summer, something was conspicuously missing.  “I lost all of my potatoes this year,” he said behind somber blue eyes and a bushy gray beard. 

The same fungal pathogen responsible for the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s devastated potato and tomato crops throughout all eleven states of the Northeast last summer. It’s called late blight. And in all of Gorzynski’s 39 years of farming in Sullivan County, NY, he’s never seen it so ruthless.

Late blight has already been detected on tomato plants in Connecticut this month. The looming possibility of another outbreak has roused some state government officials to draft and implement preventive strategies lest the cataclysm repeats itself.

Organic Hope

by Eileen Weber

One of the things I remember most about summer was the garden my dad always lovingly tended. Cherry tomatoes. Sugar snap peas. Zucchini. Three different kinds of lettuce. And red currants that dazzled in the sunlight like little jewels hanging off the vine.

I never considered myself a gardener, but I’ve always appreciated the concept. This summer, I heard about a garden project for Operation Hope. A group of volunteers would plant vegetables and herbs for the Operation Hope Pantry. It’s a new take on an old concept: Feed the hungry, but make the food fresh.

“The project seems like it is something that should have been started (or at least thought of) a long time ago,” said Amanda Leslie, a volunteer who is a junior at George Washington University currently teaching English on the island of Mauritius, “because in my head it's sort of a 'duh', slap your forehead kind of moment putting two and two together of bringing food directly to people who need it and also using it as an education tool.”

The idea started with a petite woman in a wide-brimmed hat and a Scottish accent. A landscaper by trade, Eleanor Fraser wanted to do something valuable for the community. She put the word out and about a dozen volunteers—from college students to professionals—signed up to help, including myself.

But getting the project off the ground wasn’t so easy. Fraser managed to get a plot from the Town of Fairfield in a designated garden area. But many of the plots are overgrown with weeds or simply fallow. Unfortunately, a number of people will sign up for the plots with the intention of planting, but never do.

“I have a real problem with the plots not being used,” said Fran McDonough, a volunteer who helped Fraser get donations of dirt and mulch for the garden. She said she made a few phone calls and “talked to the right people.”

“The gardens aren’t as well organized as they are in other towns,” said Fraser. “Other neighboring towns send out a letter each year. If you don’t respond, it goes to the next person on the list. Fairfield doesn’t have that.”

You Gonna Eat That?

by Eileen Weber

Ever feel like there are just too many tomatoes and not enough time? Come August, there will be plenty of backyard gardeners who would agree with that statement. And that’s where food trading comes in. Home growers are sharing their produce in a free trade system online and in communities across the country. 

According to an article in The New York Times on June 10th, there are a growing number of participants in food trading. The concept is based on the fact that “it’s a shame to let fruit go to waste” and “neighborhood fruit tastes best when it’s free.” Well, really, doesn’t everything taste better when it’s free?

Among others, the article listed web sites like VeggieTrader.com and NeighborhoodFruit.com as a place for traders to post what they have in exchange for what they want.

If you, like the founders of Veggie Trader, had excess lemons from your lemon tree, wouldn’t it be nice to see someone else make use of them? You could trade those lemons for, say, herbs or zucchini. You get to give what you have more of and take what you have less of. It’s a win-win.

In the New England area, Brian Alcorn, Founder of the Vermont Garden Exchange, wrote that many times a gardener has too much to use himself and doesn’t have the time to preserve the excess.

“The idea is to open it up so that you can trade anything,” said Alcorn, who founded the site with his wife. “You could even trade a cord of wood if that’s what you had. I just don’t want it to become an online grocery store. That’s not what it’s about.”

Lynn Seigel-Boettner, Founder and Organizer of the Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns chapters, agrees. “It’s more than just sharing food. It’s about bringing a community together and connecting people. We’ve forgotten how to do that.”

Edible School Gardens

by Eileen Weber

We have an epidemic. No, it doesn’t involve an incurable virus or Dustin Hoffman in a Hazmat suit à la Outbreak. However, it does involve kids, their parents, and the schools they attend.

Edible school gardens are growing at a rapid pace. Increasingly, school districts are making the gardens part of their curriculum. The Edible School Gardens Workshop at the Unitarian Church in Westport, sponsored in part by the Westport Green Village Initiative in partnership with Amy Kalafa, founder of Two Angry Moms, featured an expert panel of school garden organizers. With a room filled almost to capacity this morning, parents, farmers, gardeners, and school officials alike listened intently about how to start one in their own school system.

Dorothy Mullen, founder of the Riverside Elementary School gardens in Princeton, NJ, discussed how she got the project underway in her district. Only a few weeks post-9/11 in November 2001, she wanted to make a change in the school lunch system by introducing fresh food.

She noted how nutrition positively or negatively affects the body. “The brain is the most sensitive organ to poor nutrition,” she said. At the very least, kids can have a loss in concentration that prevents learning. “When the brain is out fuel,” she said, “we can’t learn correctly.”

Mullen, who is also an addiction counselor, said she started small by taking kids on a walking tour to her backyard garden. Then, the concept grew. She wanted to take it to the school. This was one way to instill the benefits of nutrition. She pointed out that, with a garden, there is a teaching opportunity for other subjects: science, math, food and nutrition, and art. From an environmental perspective, conservation in composting and water usage is a valuable lesson as well.