Below you will find more information about the following:
TODAY! March 26: Deadline for Earth Day Parade & Celebration Registration
March 29: Foodscapes--Urban Agriculture, Sustainable Design, and Community
Health
April 7: Rain Barrel Workshop!
April 14: 12th Annual Lawrence Earth Day Parade &
Celebration
April 15: Deadline to sign up to be on the Lawrence Food Garden Tour
May 4-6: KAW Council--Prairie Roots: Growing a Sustainable Future
May 12: City of Lawrence Electronic Recycling Event
May 19: 5th Annual Citywide Seed, Bulb, and Plant Exchange
INVITATIONS (DETAILS AT BOTTOM OF THE ANNOUNCEMENTS):
Grow OP corn varieties for Mother Earth News
READ-OUT, SING-OUT, SPEAK-OUT, ACT-OUT, DANCE-OUT FOR
EARTHCARE
THE LAWRENCE COMMUNITY ORCHARD
Community Announcements
Thursdays
at Cottin’s Hardware: 4-6pm
Farmers’ Market: Greens grown by local Market Gardeners and other delights
****************
Monday, March 26
Earth Day Parade & Celebration
Registration Deadline
The 2012 Lawrence Earth Day Parade and Celebration
will be held on Saturday, April 14th. The Parade begins
at 11:00 a.m., with the Earth Day Celebration in South Park following from
11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
If you are interested in being an exhibitor at the
Earth Day Celebration in South Park, please visit http://www.lawrenceks.org/wrr/
KU Environs will be organizing the Parade again this
year. If you are interested in participating in the Earth Day Parade,
please visit http://www.lawrenceks.org/wrr/
For further information, please contact the City’s
Waste Reduction and Recycling Division at 832-3030 or visit www.LawrenceRecycles.org.
**************
Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 7:30pm
Foodscapes: Urban Agriculture,
Sustainable Design & Community Health
Dole Institute of Politics,
2350 Petefish Drive, Lawrence
Foodscapes is an
interdisciplinary program where urban agriculture meets sustainable design and
city planning to help better feed communities and improve health, community
involvement and job opportunities, while working toward an environmentally
progressive way to exist and renew urban living. Expert panelists will explore
the interconnectivity of this growing movement, as well as identify challenges
and successful models. Included on our Guest Panel will be Daniel
Dermitzel of Cultivate KC, Bob Berkebile of BNIM Architecture, Planning and
Design, and Steve Roling of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
Co-sponsored by: KU Chapters of American Institute of
Architecture Students and the American Society of Civil Engineers; Bachelor of
Social Work Student Group, Architectural Engineering Institute, Kansas Public
Radio, the KU Center for Sustainability, The Merc, KU Environs.
**************
Saturday, April 7, 2012, 10am-noon
Rain Barrel Workshop
Douglas County Fairgrounds, Buildings 1&2
Cost: see below
The Sunflower State Professionals are collaborating with Douglas County K-State Research and
Extension,
the Douglas County Conservation District, and the Douglas County Kansas Master Gardeners to host a rain barrel
workshop. This workshop will teach you
how to construct your own rain barrel, as well as how to connect barrels in
series to increase the amount of rain your system can collect.
Cost:
$35 for your first barrel; additional $25 if you want to add a second barrel
RSVP: There are only 40 spots available, so
please call (785) 843-7058 to register. First come, first serve.
A
portion of the proceeds from this workshop will go to help the Sunflower State Professionals, a local chapter of Engineers
Without Borders USA. EWB-USA is
a nonprofit humanitarian organization established to support community-driven
development programs worldwide through partnerships that design and implement
sustainable engineering projects. The Sunflower
State Professionals have just begun a project in
Matasano, Guatemala to improve access to clean water. We hope to use this rain barrel workshop to
help develop similar technologies for the Matasano community in Guatemala,
where water collected from roof tops can be used to irrigate community gardens.
***************
Saturday, April 14
12th Annual Lawrence Earth
Day Parade and Celebration
The 12th Annual Earth Day Celebration in South Park,
hosted by the City’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Division, will be held at
11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 14. The day starts with a parade, hosted by
KU Environs, at 11:00 a.m. on Massachusetts Street from Seventh Street to South
Park. All activities are free and open to the public.
Come to South Park and visit the Recycle Cycle made
from reclaimed materials and learn about recycling. Eat lunch at one of
our locally-owned mobile food vendors and add your plates, napkins, and food
scraps to the composting bins. There will be live music and children’s
activities. Attendees can also learn from exhibits about waste reduction,
recycling, composting, energy conservation, land preservation, wildlife and
habitat preservation, and more.
The Earth Day Celebration will feature: April Showers
to Water Towers: A Water Festival for Douglas County hosted by the City’s
Stormwater Division, Garden and tree ID tours hosted by the City’s Parks and
Recreation Department and Alternative fuel fleet vehicles on display.
The Lawrence Transit System will offer free rides on
the T all day Saturday, April 14, providing the experience and benefits of
public transportation on all fixed routes.
For further information, please contact the City’s
Waste Reduction and Recycling Division at 832-3030 or visit www.LawrenceRecycles.org
***********************
Deadline April 15, 2012
Lawrence Food Garden Tour is Looking for Gardens!
For this year’s free tour June 2.
The fourth annual Lawrence Food Garden Tour is looking
for gardens to be on this year’s tour. We need personal gardens,
community gardens, school gardens and commercial gardens. We especially
are looking for small space gardens and gardens that show innovative/unusual
designs. Do you have a garden and like to talk to people about
gardening? Want to share your enthusiasm for delicious, home grown
food? You could be on the tour!
To qualify you must 1.)Have been gardening where you
are for at least a year (does not apply to community gardens), 2.)Be willing to
talk to people about your garden during the tour 3.)Be in the Lawrence city
limits. The tour is scheduled for June 2 with two time slots (9AM-noon
and 5-8PM). Most gardens are open during both time slots, but
exceptions can be made if needed. If you want to share your garden or you
know someone who would – send an email to Caryl Hale at Caryl1221@gmail.com before April
15th. There is a limited number of tour stops and gardens will
be added on a first-come, first-added basis.
Also, if you would like to help organize or do some of
the prep work for the tour, please email Caryl Hale who looks forward to
working with you all this year!
Caryl Hale
****************
Friday-Sunday, May 4-6, 2012
Prairie Roots: Growing a Sustainable Future
YMCA, Camp Hammond http://kawcouncil.wordpress.
"Over the years, the Spring Kaw is one of those
events where you leave feeling recharged; where you leave looking at things in
new ways or remembering things that you forgot that you knew."
--Ken Lassman, author of Seasons & Cycles and Wild
Douglas County.
KAW Council Invites Attendees for Educational Weekend
Campout:
Prairie Roots: Growing a Sustainable Future
Spend a weekend exploring native prairies and
woodlands, camping with family, learning about the area’s bioregion and
watershed with the Kansas Area Watershed (KAW) Council. The event will be held
at the YMCA Camp Hammond, located between Lawrence and Topeka, Kan., May 4
through 6, with options for cabin rental or tent camping.
The event will offer presentations in both out- and
indoor settings, including: an edible and medicinal prairie plant walk, a
workshop on grafting fruit trees, a discussion on how to better understand bees
and other area pollinators, and a star walk. There will be additional space for
a seed-start swap, a beach and lake with canoes available for use, and
campfires with singing and storytelling.
Featured presenters Stephanie Mills, bioregional
author and activist, and Gene and Joyce Marshall, bioregional founders and
organizers, will tie together the weekend’s learning and community-building. There
will also be two keynote presentations, Prairie Roots: A Bioregional Homecoming
and How Bioregionalism Changed Our Lives.
Registration is $40 to $45 per adult, and $20 to $25
per child, with a special family rate. This price includes camping space for
two nights and six meals. Attendees are encouraged to bring groceries to share
and to assist in food preparation/cleanup as part of the event’s goal of
fostering community and keeping costs low.
To register to attend, read a full schedule and learn
more about the history of the Spring Kaw, visit
www.kawcouncil.wordpress.com/
Interested groups and local organizations can become a
co-sponsor of the Spring Kaw 30. There will be space set aside for all
co-sponsors to share their work with the event’s attendees. Find out more
information at www.kawcouncil.wordpress.com.-
The Kansas Area Watershed Council is the second oldest
bioregional organization in the U.S., founded in 1982. The KAW is a group
formed to foster greater community among those concerned about the ecological
health of the prairie region and its inhabitants, and is committed to growing
the kind of community that can keep unfolding and growing through many
generations. Every spring since its inception, the council has held the KAW
Spring gathering, now in its 30th year.
************************
Saturday, May 12, 9am-1pm
City of Lawrence Electronic Recycling
Event
Free State High School, north parking lot, 4700
Overland Drive
The city will host an electronic recycling event at
the north parking lot of Free State High School on May 12. Items accepted
for recycling include Computers, Monitors, Printers, Copiers, Scanners, Fax
Machines, Televisions, Video and Audio Equipment, Household Batteries, Microwaves
and other Small Appliances, Cell Phones and other Hand Held Devices.
Items NOT accepted: Large Appliances (refrigerators,
AC units, dehumidifiers) and Household Hazardous Waste (fluorescent light
bulbs, compressed gas cylinders, etc.).
There is a $10 recycling fee per computer monitor and
a $15 recycling fee per television. There is no recycling fee for other
electronic equipment.
For further information, please contact the City’s
Waste Reduction and Recycling Division at 832-3030 or visit www.LawrenceRecycles.org
May 19, 2012, 9am-noon
5th Annual Citywide Seed, Plan,
and Bulb Exchange
The
Discovery Center, 4750 Troost, KCMO
Free event open to all area gardeners. Bring
all items properly labeled and everyone just goes shopping for FREE!
Please no invasives or weedy type items. It is Native Prairie Plant Day
at the Center so they will be giving out seedling as well. Questions:
Dayna 816-356-9892
**************
INVITATIONS
GROW OP CORN VARIETIES
Dear Mother Earth News subscribers living near Topeka,
As you probably know, the editorial offices of Mother
Earth News are located in Topeka. We are writing to ask if you would help us
with a research project this year. We need some folks to grow small blocks of
sweet corn, harvest it, and then ship it to locations we'll specify. Each block
should be at least 5-by-5-foot, and we'll provide the seeds and details on how
to harvest the corn (at just the right point, when it's ready to eat).
These will be unusual varieties: red or blue in
color and open-pollinated (OP). We will be organizing tasting sessions and
running tests on each variety. We hope to confirm that colored, OP sweet corns
are more nutritious than modern hybrids, which are often high in sugar but
short on true corn flavor.
If you garden or farm organically and would like to
volunteer to grow one or more blocks of these sweet corn varieties, please
reply "yes" to this email and include your mailing address. We will
be in touch with you when we have more details to share.
Cheryl Long, Editor in Chief
Mother Earth News
1503 SW 42nd St.
Topeka, KS 66609
P.S. We are not offering payment for this help, but
we'll cover all related costs (such as for seeds and shipping).
READ-OUT, SING-OUT, SPEAK-OUT, ACT-OUT, DANCE-OUT FOR
EARTHCARE
PLEASE JOIN US
Oread Friends Meeting is sponsoring the fifth annual
Read-Out, Sing-Out, Speak-Out, Act-Out, Dance-Out for Earthcare with EARTH DAY.
We begin at 9:00 AM, Saturday, April 14 in South Park and continue until 4:00
PM. (we’ll take an hour out between 11:00AM and noon for the Earth Day Parade).
We invite anyone—old and young, alone or in groups—to read, sing, speak, act,
dance, make music, or perform in any way to sign up for a 10-minute
participation in this marathon event to protect and to celebrate our relationship
with the Earth.
Please send your information to Beth Schultz (eschultz@ku.edueschul
******************************
NAME: ______________________________ PHONE (Land or
Cell): ___________
EMAIL:_______________
Your Probable Activity (reading, speaking, singing,
acting, making music, or performing in any other way). Indicate approximately
how many people will be involved:
______________________________
Your Preferred Times between 9:00AM and 4:00PM (give
three preferred hours and AM or PM). If your event must be longer than 10
minutes, indicate how long it will be, and we will try to compensate. Looking
forward to seeing you!
1________________________2
________________________3_____
THE LAWRENCE COMMUNITY ORCHARD
Lawrencians are growing into the joys and practicalities of
urban farming and gardening. As Lawrence urban farming and gardening
become ever more popular, so too are home orchards. Trees, berries, and
herbs require watering, weeding, and pruning; but they are less resource and
labor intensive than most annual crops. That, coupled with their
perennial nature, makes them ideal for providing the multiple functions of
producing food and as plants for landscaping, wind breaks,
shade, and living fences. You can now help Lawrence Fruit Tree Project (LFTP)
take steps to create a beautiful park setting featuring productive and useful
perennial plants.
Lawrence
Community Orchard is a project of the LFTP.
It is made possible by the City of Lawrence Common Ground Program. The Common Ground Program
was launched this year with the intent of leasing city land to individuals or
groups for the creation of community gardens and market farms. The LFTP will lease the site at the eastern
end of Garfield St. bordering the Burroughs Creek Rail Trail in the East
Lawrence Neighborhood. The site will evolve over the next several years
into an ecological orchard with a park-like atmosphere. The site will
produce nutritious foods and serve as a perennial food gardening demonstration
and educational space for the greater community.
How You Can Help
We are forming a volunteer
team to accomplish the ongoing tasks of creating and maintaining this public
orchard. In March, we will begin preparing planting holes, and later planting
trees on the site. We will need trees planted, wood chip mulch delivered, help
making signs, etc. Summer care includes mowing and watering. If you
are interested in having an important role in Lawrence Community Orchard send
us an email lawrencefruittreeproject
We will
have a volunteer team meeting in early March. We’ll announce the date
soon.
We are
accepting monetary and material donations to help make public fruit a
reality. If you are interested in donating please contact us at the
following address:
Here
are some materials that we are looking for:
-
millable-sized (10-20” diameter, 6’+ long) osage orange logs for construction
of park benches and a kiosk
- t-posts
(sturdy metal stakes)
- large
quantities of wood mulch
- push
lawn mower or a volunteer to mow throughout the season
- hoses
- garden
shovels, hard rakes, bypass pruners
- a
donation of $25 would buy a fruit or nut tree that will, throughout it’s lifetime,
give back many times over
Thank
you!
IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE IN KANSAS
Rachel Register hopes to found a local chapter of the
Izaak Walton League of America. The IWLA is a national non-profit service
organization concerned with conserving natural resources and educating local
communities. It currently has no presence in Kansas. (For more information on
IWLA and its mission statement, visit http://www.iwla.org/index.php?
APPRENTICESHIP OPPORTUNITY
Vajra
Farm, LLC and Kaw PermacultureTM are requesting apprenticeship
applications for the Spring and Summer of 2011.
Vajra Farm is a 45 acre
botanical sanctuary and permaculture training site located 17 minutes north of
Lawrence, KS. We have been providing apprenticeship opportunities since 2000.
We are
seeking individuals who are looking for hands-on experience in broad-acre
permaculture, including focus on no-till polyculture vegetable production,
creation of plant guilds, forest gardens, viticulture and cultivation of
medicinal herbs. Applicants should have a basic knowledge of permaculture
principles and want to expand their knowledge and skill levels. Kaw
PermacultureTM, the educational arm of Vajra Farm LLC, offers classroom
training toward a Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) through the Kansas
Permaculture Institute. On-site apprenticeship training can be used
toward fulfilling requirements for this certification.
Projects
planned for this season include the following:
- planning, planting and
maintenance of our raised bed, no-till organic gardens
- planting and
maintenance of our food forests
- building trellises for our vineyards
- grape
vine and fruit tree pruning
- assembling and erecting our greenhouse.
- completion
of an herb spiral garden
- building a greywater lagoon
The
apprenticeship is a work-training agreement with a 3 and 6 months commitment of
6 – 10 hours a week. Training will be provided by Steve Moring, and other KPI
PDC graduates. Steve is certified Permaculture Design Teacher and Consultant.
For more information see World Wide Permaculture Network.
For an
apprenticeship flier, application and PDC course offering announcement, please
contact Steve Moring, Director
Kansas Permaculture Institute
at
785-691-7305
THE LIGHT
CENTER SEEKS COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Welcoming
new community members to share living space at The Light Center retreat center
on 35 acres near Baldwin City, KS. Seeking people with interest and
knowledge of organic growing of plants,animals and community. Three bedrooms in
the old farmhouse available immediately. $350/room or $1050 for whole
house (inclusive of utilities) Contact us for more info or to see the space: 785 255 4583 or info@lightcenter.info
The Light
Center functions under the umbrella of the Worldwide Unity Ministries and
welcomes diversity.
******************************
LSN is an all-volunteer
organization
dedicated to learning how to live
lightly and sustainably.
Sustainability requires that we restore biodiversity and environmental
health, strengthen relationships within and among human communities, insist on
democratic decision-making at all levels of governance, insure social and
economic equity for all, promote peaceful conflict resolution, and reorient our
aims from growth to stability and justice. It means living within our means
today and protecting the interests of future generations. LSN supports the
efforts of individuals and organizations that work toward these goals.
Send announcement of your sustainability-related events to
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