Gardening Workshops with Andrew Faust : 6 Saturdays, April through October, 1 to 4 PM

With spring around the corner, I thought this looked fun! ~Kirsten

Gardening Workshops

Details: Gardening Workshops with Andrew Faust at Open Road, a community open space in Manhattan on 11^th Street between 1^st Avenue and Avenue A

Suggested Donation $5 (no one turned away).

Many New Yorkers are interested in learning how to grow at least some of their own food in an urban environment. Workshop teacher Andrew Faust (www.homebiome.com) has studied and gardened extensively with some of the most productive biodynamic and organic farms and communities in the Northeast. He brings a wealth of experience to these workshops on how to grow a range of food, native and perennial plants in a cold climate.

6 Saturdays, April through October, 1 to 4 PM

Sat. April 5: Long-season heirloom vegetables low-tech ways to grow organic heirloom tomatoes and onions from seed. We may have starts to give out. We will recommend heirloom seed sources and explain why heirlooms are stable and secure food crops.

Sat. May 3: Fruit trees and berries in urban landscapes espalier techniques and container gardens for fruits and berries in limited spaces.We will explore biodynamic, chemical free ways to raise super-dwarf peach, apricot and other fruit trees, and blueberries, raspberries, juneberries, bilberries and other fruits.

Sat. July 5: Bio-intensive, organic vegetable growing building deep rich soil in inner city garden plots with hand tools and people power, without fossil fuels or animals. We will discuss composting and soil-building techniques, compost teas and materials for raised beds, and green manure crops and cover cropping.

Sat. August 9: Rainwater in the urban landscape filtering rain water, providing irrigation water without pumping, alleviating flooding and stormwater/sewage treatment plant overflows, and using green roofs with native grasses and wildflowers to increase beneficial pollinators and biodiversity.

Sat. September 6: Indoor and apartment gardening windowbox herbs and greens, mushroom cultivation, and sprouting. Increase your health and vitality with the freshest garnish and greens possible.

Sat. October 11: Cold frames low tech ways to extend your season and have fresh greens like lettuce, chicory, mustard, kale, and bok choi year-round

For more information, please contact Andrew Faust at andrew@homebiome.com.

sponsored by:
Tristate Food Not Lawnswww.tristatefoodnotlawns.org
Open Road www.openroadny.org
Sierra Club NYC Group www.nyc.sierraclub.org

Demand Better - No Impact Man's blog post today

No impact man's post today relates to our topic of discussion for this month's circle (this Thursday!). Here's an excerpt:

"Perhaps people will think I’m too optimistic. But this is for certain: these things can’t be true if no one takes the chance of believing they’re true. Because if we don’t believe they are true, we won’t act as though they’re true. And if we don’t act as though they’re true, they can’t come true. That’s why realism does little but protect the status quo.

Being optimistic, on the other hand, is the most radical political act there is."

Read the whole post here.

In case you have run across his writings previously, I highly recommend his blog - his posts and his readers' comments are thought provoking and interesting!

Circle this Thursday March 13th - Topic: Scarcity and Abundance

We have a Voluntary Simplicity Circle this coming Thursday March 13th, 2008 - 7 to 9 pm, 28 East 35th Street (between Park and Madison Ave. - red door, ring the bell for the gallery) - Open to all interested persons.

Topic for this month's circle: Scarcity and Abundance

Diane and I collaborated over email and this is what came up:

A lot of people are worried about scarcity as the economy continues to slow down and there is talk that we are headed (or are currently in) a recession. The government will be sending out tax rebates to help stimulate the economy by encouraging us to go shopping. The simple living network is protesting this – (see here for full details)

They state:

"The United States cannot spend its way out of its financial difficulties. We do not need a short-term solution for long-term problems. We need fundamental, far-reaching change to a broken and corrupt system. The following are no longer sustainable:

• consumption as an economic solution,
• deficit spending,
• predatory lending,
• unaffordable health care,
• tax cuts for the wealthy, and
• war over oil and religious ideology.

It is difficult to imagine why anyone would help reinforce the behavior of a broken government or stimulate an out of control economy by purchasing more stuff and junk."

Diane was skimming Eckhard Tolle's book, A New Earth. He talks about abundance, stating that, "Abundance comes only to those who already have it.... Both abundance and scarcity are inner states that manifest as your reality."

Looking up “Abundance thinking” online, I found: Practicing Abundance By Monica C. Pilman I recommend reading the whole thing (it’s only three pages). Here is a brief excerpt:

"There’s a kind of thinking that we have probably all engaged in at some time in our lives, and that we were engaged in that morning we were both laid off: scarcity thinking. The three premises of scarcity thinking are: “there isn’t enough”, “more is better”, and “that’s just the way it is.” One of the great problems of scarcity thinking is that many if not most people really don’t know of any other way to think about the world. Scarcity thinking generates intense fear, and anyone living in fear is impoverished, no matter how much money they have. But there is another way: practicing abundance. The three premises of abundance thinking are: “money is like water”, “what you appreciate, appreciates”, and “collaboration creates prosperity.”

… In my opinion, scarcity thinking is at the root of economic injustice. The first premise of scarcity, that “there isn’t enough” causes some to think that it is okay to marginalize certain people economically, because if there isn’t enough for everyone then some people have to end up on the short end of the stick. “More is better”, scarcity premise number two, causes many to believe that people who have more must somehow be better. The third premise of scarcity – “that’s just the way it is” says that this can’t be changed and things are hopeless. Rising above the fears generated by scarcity thinking and practicing abundance instead isn’t easy. Even in a rich society like ours, not everyone is rich, and it is very easy to give in to “there’s not enough”, “more is better”, and “that’s just the way it is.” Even the best of people sometimes find themselves caught up in scarcity fears, and make decisions that do not properly nurture the things most important in their lives, or find reasons to forgo collaborating with others so that together they can generate abundance."

(FYI – she takes these three principles of scarcity and abundance thinking from Lynne Twist’s book “The Soul of Money”)

Questions to think about for this month’s circle:

• What would happen to our economy, our world if we did make a "planetary shift" and changed the way the economy is structured?
• Is this something that is possible?
• What would that look like?
• What do we fear will happen?
• What do we hope will happen?
• When do we bring "scarcity thinking" into our own lives?
• How do we each bring "abundance thinking" into our own lives?

I hope to see you all there! Kirsten

Garrison Institute, 13 April, forum on Truth Force

Gandhi’s familiar quote ‘to live simply so other may simply live’ has guided many of us, in linking simplicity to living our values. Exploring spirit and ecology in our region, the Garrison Institute is offering a free public forum on Gandhi's concept of Satyagraha or "truth force":

“Gandhi's example inspired the 20th century's most effective social change movements. Can it now inspire us to confront and transform climate change? Satyagraha: Gandhi's "truth force" in the Age of Climate Change will explore this question, April 13, 7 pm, at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street.

“Participants include A. T. Ariyaratne, founder of Sri Lanka's Sarvodaya movement; John Francis, United Nations Environment Program Ambassador, founder of Planet Walk; Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi's grandson and biographer; Philip Glass performing excerpts from his opera, "Satyagraha;" Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest; Odetta; Billy Parish, founder, Climate Campaign and co-founder, Energy Action Coalition; Sulak Sivaraksa, founder of the Thailand Spirit in Education movement; and Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-founder/co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology.

“As Philip Glass's opera Satyagraha opens at the Metropolitan Opera (www.metopera.org), we will explore Gandhi's satyagraha, its links with Thoreau's civil disobedience, Emerson's self-reliance, and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s agape, and the relevance of this thought lineage to our time.

“The event is free and open to the public and can accommodate 1000 people. Please see further details at www.garrisoninstitute.org.”

FYI: Two events about food this weekend - Edible Brooklyn and Closing the Food Gap

FYI:

Reading: Mark Winne "Closing the Food Gap"
Friday, March 7th @ 7PM - Free
Bluestockings Bookstore

In "Closing the Food Gap," food activist and journalist Mark Winne reports how access to healthy and affordable food has widened in the U.S. since the 1960's. Looking at community gardens, food banks, farmers' markets and food policy, Winne offers a realistic vision for getting locally produced, healthy food onto everyone's table.

http://www.bluestockings.com/events.html

Bluestockings is a radical bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan at 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington.

And

The 27th Annual Making Brooklyn Bloom - Edible NYC: Green it! Grow it! Eat it!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Palm House - 1000 Washington Avenue

Featured Panel:
From Seed to Table: Building a Healthy Food System

* Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap
* Karen Washington, NYC Community Garden Activist
* Kimberly Vargas, Added Value Senior Youth Participant

Free Admission to Botanical Gardens with FLYER

See here for more details: http://www.bbg.org/vis2/2008/mbb/

Go Green Expo in NYC

I was looking at events on the Responsible Purchasing Network when I saw that we are getting the first annual Go Green Expo. They are touting it as "NYC's Premier Eco-Friendly Trade Show." It seems to be a very mainstream event - they are getting an impressive list of speakers and exhibitors.

Tickets are only $10 for one day or $15 for both days. Children under the age of 12 and senior citizens get in for free. It also says that:

Guests who bring their Con Edison utility bill with them to the event can sign up on-site for WIND Power from ConEdison Solutions- supplied by Community Energy, Inc. Each guest who makes the switch to ConEdison Solutions WIND Power will enjoy FREE admission that day to New York’s Go Green Expo 2008.

Looks like fun - Let me know if any of you plan on going, and maybe we can meet up!

Here are the details:

who should attend? Everyone interested in learning about environmentally friendly goods & services for use in modern everyday living.

when? Saturday, April 26th • 10am - 6pm - Sunday, April 27th • 10am - 3pm

where? New York City • Hilton New York • 53rd Street at 6th Avenue

why? To learn how green alternatives can positively change the way you impact the environment. Each of our small changes make a big impact.

what will you see?
• Over 200 Booths / Exhibits • Interactive Seminars / Speeches
• Film Presentations
• Eco-Fashion Show
• Green Marketplace
• Demonstrations & hands on activities