Learn, Grow, Harvest & Eat!: 6-Part Organic Gardening Series

Register now, for a great 6-part organic gardening series sponsored by Green Community Connections and the Thoughtful Living Series (River Forest Park District Foundation and River Forest Library) will be offered by Master Gardener, Debbie Kong, starting on March 3^rd.    Cost for the series will be $120.  Registration online at www.rfparks.org (River Forest Parks website)  Please see attached flyer and share with others. All classes will be on Saturday mornings from 10am-noon.  Please note that we have a break in between the March classes and the April classes.  We will start indoors in March at the Keystone Center, and then move outdoors in April at River Forest United Methodist Church. 

March 3, 10am-noon:  Sowing Seeds: Winter Sowing and Starting Seeds Indoors

Location: The Keystone Center, 7920 Central Avenue, the Keystone Concession Building, River Forest, IL

Get a head start on your garden by winter sowing or starting seeds indoors with grow lights. Learn how easy it is to grow plants from seeds and discover the wide variety of unique heirloom or organic vegetables, fruits, and herb seeds available.

This workshop will teach you how to sow seeds step by step. You’ll learn which seeds to winter sow, how to care for your seedlings, and when to transplant them in to your garden. We’ll also cover Seeds 101, learn about the various types of seeds: heirloom, organic, non-gmo, and hybrids. Get tips, advice, and recommendations on how to grow your favorite plants.Resources and materials will be provided. This is a hands-on workshop. Each participant will take home a winter sown container with seeds ready to grow.

March 10, 10am-noon:  Planning and Maintaining an Edible Organic Garden

Location: The Keystone Center, 7920 Central Avenue, the Keystone Concession Building, River Forest, IL

Grow healthy organic food in your own backyard and save time and money. This is a workshop to help you design your personal garden, get tips, expert advice, and resources for growing and maintaining an edible organic garden with vegetables, herbs and fruits.

This workshop focuses on Square Foot Garden methodology which can yields up to 5 times more produce over traditional gardening methods, uses 80% less space, and saves maintenance time. We’ll also cover how to care for and maintain your garden bed and learn how to deal with insects and pest organically without using harmful chemical. You’ll learn how to choose the right seeds or seedlings to grow in your garden and when to plant and harvest.

During this workshop participants will work on designing a Square Foot Garden Bed.  Resources and materials will be provided.  (Optional seed swap can also be included.)

March 17, 10am-noon:   Composting

Location: The Keystone Center, 7920 Central Avenue, the Keystone Concession Building, River Forest, IL

We’ll take the mystery out of backyard composting and you’ll learn how to take make great compost to grow a healthier garden. Composting is simple and maintaining a compost bin is easy. By making your own compost you’ll enrich the fertility of your soil, save money by not having to buy compost, and keep waste out of the landfills. During this workshop you’ll learn how to trouble shoot potential problems and how to remedy them.

We will also review the various types of compost bins and systems available and examples of some you can build. Resources for purchasing compost bins and project material lists to build your own compost bins will be provided.

April 14, 10am-noon:  Extending the Growing Season: Growing a Spring and Winter Garden

Location: River Forest United Methodist Church, 7970 Lake Street, River Forest, IL

Learn how to extend the growing season and grow food during the spring and winter season. In this hands-on workshop and you’ll learn various methods to build inexpensive low tunnel hoops to grow cold weather crop such as kale, chard, a wide variety of lettuces, and more.

Low tunnels are like having your own greenhouse but at far less the cost of building one. You’ll learn which variety of plants grow best in the cold, when to sow and when to harvest them. With spring and winter gardening you won’t be dealing with insects, it’s low maintenance, and some of the plants are of the cut and come variety yielding longer harvests.

April 21, 10am-noon :  Grow More Food in Less Space

Location: River Forest United Methodist Church, 7970 Lake Street, River Forest, IL

Learn how to double and even triple the produce you can grow in a small garden space. We’ll discuss the various growing methods, which plants produce the largest yields, how to plant your seeds or seedlings, and when to plant and harvest. We’ll be in the learning garden showing you planting techniques and you’ll get some hands on experience on sowing seeds.

This hands on workshop will help you plan a garden for larger yields and give you easy, practical, and time saving advice on how to care and maintain a high yield edible organic garden.

April 28, 10am-noon:  Edible Container Gardening

Location: River Forest United Methodist Church, 7970 Lake Street, River Forest, IL

Container gardening is the easiest and fastest way to grow food. If you don’t have a garden, have limited gardening space, or poor soil, you can still grow an organic garden. You’ll learn how to make containers out of common recycled materials and get advice on which plants do best in containers. Learn how to grow your favorite foods including strawberries, tomatoes, watermelons, peas, cucumbers and beans. Each CAN be grown in 5 gallon bucket!

This hands-on workshop will show you how to make a basic SIP (Sub-Irrigated-Planters) aka Earthbox® out of common recycled materials. SIPs are low maintenance, conserve water and are a sustainable way to grow healthy organic food.

Meet Debbie Kong --

Debbie Kong is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, and Junior Master Gardener educator.

Passionate about cooking and eating healthful food, she started her own organic garden to teach her daughter how to eat better and help her understand where food comes from. Debbie has worked on an organic farm and a sustainable aquaponics farm, and taught gardening in the Chicago Public Schools. She volunteers at many local community gardens and enjoys teaching gardening to adults, families, and children.

Debbie considers herself an experimental gardener and likes designing new ways to grow more food in less space. She has even been successful at growing a winter garden in Chicago.

She graduated from UIC with a B.A. in Communication Design and is a User Experience/Information Architect and Art Director. When not in the garden, she is a co-blogger at greenroofgrowers.blogspot.com and can also be found at The Singing Seed on Facebook.

You can reach Debbie at  Kongsterville@gmail.com.

Related Post & Photos:

Winter Garden Trial http://www.greenroofgrowers.blogspot.com/2012/01/winter-garden-trial.html

Coming Soon! Residential Food Scrap Collection in South OP

Submitted by Karen Rozmus and Gary Cuneen Starting, April 2012, the Village of Oak Park is moving ahead with the collection of food scraps from residences as part of a pilot program to divert more material from landfill and achieve community greenhouse gas emission and waste reduction goals.  The Village of Oak Park in collaboration with PlanItGreen and SEOPCO will host three community forums in South Oak Park that will provide residents with information on the Village’s new residential food scrap collection pilot program targeted for April 2012 and seek input on implementation.  The forums, listed below, will also provide brief updates on PlanItGreen OPRF Sustainability Plan implementation and ways to get involved. Upcoming forums are:

South Oak Park Residential Food Scrap Program Forum #2 Monday, February 13, 2012 7:00-8:30pm Lincoln Elementary School 1111 S. Grove, Oak Park

South Oak Park Residential Food Scrap Program Forum #3 Thursday, February 16, 2012 7:00-8:30pm Ascension Catholic School, Pine Room 601 Van Buren, Oak Park

For more information contact act@sevengenerationsahead.org.

South Oak Park Residential Food Scrap Program Forum #1 Wednesday, February 8, 2012 7:00-8:30pm Irving Elementary School 1125 S. Cuyler, Oak Park

South Oak Park Residential Food Scrap Program Forum #2 Monday, February 13, 2012 7:00-8:30pm Lincoln Elementary School 1111 S. Grove, Oak Park

South Oak Park Residential Food Scrap Program Forum #3 Thursday, February 16, 2012 7:00-8:30pm Ascension Catholic School, Pine Room 601 Van Buren, Oak Park

--------------------------------

Related Article:

For a (slightly dated) overview of what other cities and towns around the U.S. are doing see http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/001992.html

Congregations to Pilot Strategies to Reduce Energy, Waste, Water

Submitted by James Babcock The congregations of Oak Park and River Forest have been invited to participate in a pilot program to begin implementing the PlanItGreen Sustainability Plan. Many of us in the faith community were very active in the development of this plan which was formally adopted in June, 2011. Now is our opportunity to continue to show leadership in the community by putting the plan into action.  To support this work in congregations, the Interfaith Green Network, along with PlanItGreen consultants from Seven Generations Ahead and Delta Institute, will host a Benchmarking Workshop, March 5, 2012, 7-8:30 pm, Oak Park Main Library, Veterans Room, 2^nd Floor.Participating congregations will work collaboratively on the three topic areas of Energy, Water, and Waste. The first step is for each congregation to accurately record recent usage—to determine in a unified way benchmarks against which future performance can be measured. The next step is for each congregation to identify steps to reduce use of energy and water, and to reduce the amount of waste that goes into the landfill. This will be an opportunity both to save money over time and to become better stewards of earth’s resources.

Subjects covered at the workshop include:

--detailed instructions on how to collect the data

--relevant strategies on how to achieve our goals for energy, waste and water reduction

--hands-on training

--we will break out into small congregation teams to discuss next steps and pledges for annual energy, water, and waste reduction

--we will share experiences with other congregations and gain encouragement and inspiration from our collective actions

Congregations are encouraged to have a team a 2-5 representatives at the workshop including faith leaders, trustees, members of environmental/stewardship committees, business managers, building and grounds committee members, and all others who understand the sacredness of the Earth and who feel called to exercise their responsibility for its protection.

Please join us and share this invitation with others in your congregation! To register or for more information email sallystovall@gmail.com.

Loan & Grant Opportunities for Building Energy Improvements

Submitted by Tammie Grossman, Housing Programs Manager, Village of Oak Park Attention Multi-Family buildings with four or more units:  the Village of Oak Park is accepting applications for the Multi-Family Housing Incentives matching grant program.   Applicants may apply for grants of up to $10,000 to improve common building elements including energy related improvements or individual units. Grants must be matched 2:1 by the owner. For details, e-mail the Housing Programs Division at housing@oak-park.us or call 708.358.5410.  Note:  The Residence Corporation funded some of their energy improvements under this program as well as the Energy Savers Program.

Get single-family rehab loans from the Village of Oak Park to restore your home.  Apply now and finish construction before the cold weather arrives.  No interest loans of up to $25,000 for single-family houses are made to correct health and safety issues and building code violations. We will also replace inefficient furnaces and boilers and install energy efficient windows. No monthly payments.  Loans are repayable after twenty years or when the property is transferred. For details, e-mail the Housing Programs Division at housing@oak-park.us or call 708.358.5410.

Attention Multi-Family building owners with 7 or less units:  The Village is accepting applications for its Small Rental Rehab Program. Forgivable loans of up to $5,000 per unit are available for rehab, and an additional $2,500 per unit may be available for qualified energy upgrades. For details, e-mail the Housing Programs Division at housing@oak-park.us or call 708.358.5410.

Green Home Experts Announces Grand Re-opening at their New Location

Green Home Experts' recent move to a new location at 811 S Boulevard, 1/2 block west of Oak Park Avenue, has allowed the store to expand and diversify its merchandise.  GHE owner, Maria Onesta Moran, is inviting customers to help celebrate this milestone with a "Grand Re-opening" event on Friday & Saturday, February 24th and 25th. They will be open 10am-5pm on both days. Green Home Experts' new neighbors, The Perfect Dinner, is serving appetizers 11am-1pm on Friday and 11am-2pm on Saturday. They'll be showcasing their new design showroom and expanded offering of eco-lifestyle products.

You are invited to come and bring your friends for a bite to eat, giveaways, and to tour Green Home Experts' new home.

Free Exploration Station for Kids at the Oak Park Conservatory

 

Every Saturday morning, September – May, from 10:00 a.m. to noon and school holidays.  It’s FREE!

Docents help children and others learn through interactive displays and games in the showrooms.

New topics every month.  Here are the topics for February - May 2012:

• February topic: “Chocolate” Chocolate grows on trees.  Look at the cacao tree in the Conservatory. Then learn now chocolate is extracted from the cacao pods and becomes the product we eat.
• March topic:  “Birds” Birds have many different kinds of feet and beaks.  Why?  Some birds can fly long distances.  Others can hardly fly at all.  Learn lots about birds.
• April topic:  “Sugar! Sugar! How Sweet It Is!” Sugar in the sugar bowl comes from sugar cane or sugar beets.  But what about honey, molasses, raisins or maple syrup?  Learn more about all kinds of sugar.
• May topic:  “Flowers & Pollinators” How important are bees and bats?  What is pollen?  How does pollen get transferred from one flower to the other?  Just how do bees see?  Learn more about all of this in May.

For more information about events and programs at the Oak Park Conservatory, click here.

Triton College Launches Sustainability Center

Our local community college has launched its Sustainability Center.  The center has developed a Web page and is working on outreach to campus and community groups and collaboration with other community colleges on state-wide projects.  Among other initiatives, the Center will sponsor the Greening the Campus Committee, expand Triton's Greening Your Curriculum program, coordinate Sustainability Month activities, and help enlarge Triton's recycling program. In the immediate future, the Center is co-sponsoring a min-conference for educators called Leave No Child Inside, on the educational and emotional benefits of outdoor education, on campus on February 8.  (Click here for more information.)

The Center's Coordinator is Oak Park resident, Adrian Fisher, who is a veteran adjunct instructor at Triton and has a long history of environmental advocacy.  Biology instructor Joe Beuchel will serve as consultant and liaison to the Illinois Green Economy Network, which provided funds to help launch the center.  The center is located in the B building, room 113A.  The phone number is 708 456-0300 ext. 3848.  Fisher can be reached at afisher@triton.edu, and Beuchel at jbeuchel@triton.edu.

Triton has also joined the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), which aims to unite and coordinate campus sustainability efforts regionally and nationally.

Neighbors working together to reduce their carbon footprint

Green Blocks rain barrel

A discussion with Dorie Blesoff and Margot McMahon written by Amy Boruta

Turn your block into a "green block"

Do you swear by your rain barrel or push mower and find yourself encouraging your neighbors to use one as well?  You may be interested in turning your block into a ‘green block’.  Dorie Blesoff and her neighbors had these conversations and began to turn their block green in 2006.  The green block is a group of neighbors who work together to reduce their carbon footprint, in specific ways, over time.  Dorie Blesoff and Margot McMahon share their experience with reducing their carbon footprint one block at a time.

During a Block Party in August 2006, Dorie and a small group of neighbors sat around late at night commenting on how much the movie "Inconvenient Truth" had impacted them.   Dorie explained that the question soon arose,  "What will we do about the fact our lifestyles are largely driving the huge carbon footprint made by the US?”

Build momentum through establishing seasonal projects

Dorie and her neighbors were active in the 1970's around environmental issues and they never lost their concern.  They committed to researching, thinking, meeting and coming up with ideas for their block.  They visited Green Technology Center, Green Depot, became familiar with Green Home Experts, and attended Green Tuesdays at the Library.

green block rickshaw

Soon their monthly meetings grew to 8 households and built momentum through establishing seasonal projects and providing additional green education.  Since 2006, the block focuses around several areas:  Zero Waste Block Parties, raising gardens in the summer (and Margot in the winter), encouraging their kids to think of ways to reduce carbon footprints and continuing to network with other organizations in the Village.

Block level initiatives intersect with village-level initiatives to speed change

Every single household participates in some way to reduce their carbon footprints.  One might raise their own garden, another might mow the lawn with a push mower, another might can their own tomatoes, several might have compost bins, another might walk with their kids to the Farmer's Market in the summer, etc.  They contribute some of their successes to the Village of Oak Park.  Margot stated, “we are delighted to be a part of Oak Park that has met this grass roots movement with LEED certified buildings, brick streets, renewable sourced electric supply, support of a comprehensive village-wide plan to change.”  They feel that their original concept of changing one block then another, then the whole village to reduce their carbon footprint has happened in a few short years because of the bottom up movement intersecting with the Village's top down movement.  Margot feels that other towns can use our Village as an example of a community on various levels changing quickly.  It is what the ‘green block’ envisioned years ago and while the process has no end, they believe that huge strides have taken place.

Green Block show-n-tell

The ‘green block’ recruits more participation through regular emails to the neighbors as well as word of mouth at block parties and their social gatherings on the block.  The ‘green block’ continues to encourage the wider community to participate in this initiative as well.  Residents of the ‘green block’ can be found attending many events to share their story through their show-n-tell book. They also share their Household Survey, which is distributed each year at the August Block Party, to show what has been improved.  The ‘green block’ residents view networking with others in Oak Park and River Forest as important to share new ideas.

Inspiring one another

Dorie is most proud of how many people on the block participate in some way. Margot added, “We came together to inspire each other to change faster in reducing oil dependency and CO2 emissions enabling the earth to heal”.  The ‘green block’ encourages others to find a community in their neighborhood, faith-based organization, or book group to support faster individual lifestyle change to lower carbon footprint.  The neighbors have supported each other in changing faster than any individual would have on their own.  “It's not about buying solar panels or purchasing things to 'go green’ but about walking more, shopping locally, growing backyard gardens and retaining water from run off,” Margot adds, “we are about simplifying our lives and reducing our energy use to help the climate change.”

Make it easy to try new things with a support system

At times it is difficult to maintain the momentum and find new ways for people to be involved.  Dorie would suggest that others start small, focus on new projects each season, and make things easy for people to try new approaches with a support system.

Dorie lists ideas for those interested in implementing this ‘green block’ initiative:

• Rain barrels to water lawns

• Push mower or electric mower

• Mulch leaves in fall instead of raking them for pick-up

• Buy local and organic food from Farmer's Market or CSA or Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks

• Zero Waste Block Parties twice a year

• Gardens with native plants and/or vegetables

• Shop at Farmer's Markets - summer and winter

• Walk, ride bikes, use the el - instead of cars

• Rehab using green materials and building techniques

• Fix up faulty insulation

• Plant new trees

• Install a compost bin and/or worm bin

If you would like to learn more about the ‘green block’ or the zero-waste block party, you can contact Dorie Blesoff at dorieblesoff1@comcast.net or Margot McMahon at mmcm310@comcast.net.

Oak Park Water Conservation Forum - Tuesday, Jan. 31, 7-9 p.m.

Water rates expected to increase significantly

As you may know, water rates are set to hike by a significant amount in the next few years (projections are 50% increase over the next 3 years).  The Village is creating a water conservation plan for residents and businesses with the help of CMAP, our regional planning agency

People interested in working on water conservation strategies are invited to attend this upcoming forum with CMAP.  There will be a chance to weigh in on and suggest strategies related to water conservation including those listed in the PlanItGreen plan.  If you plan to attend, please RSVP to K.C. Poulos at  708.358.5778 or  kcpoulos@oak-park.us.

 The forum is set for Tuesday, January 31^st,  7-9 p.m. at Village Hall, Room 101.

Oak Park gets its water from the Chicago Water Dept - directly from Lake Michigan through the filtration plant near Navy Pier. The Bureau of Water Supply provides just under one billion gallons of water a day to Chicago and neighboring suburban communities. Raw water is enters the crib about 2-miles out in the lake and is sent to one of two purification plants where the water is treated and impurities removed. The water then flows by gravity to 12 pumping stations strategically located throughout Chicago. At the pumping stations the water is elevated to grid mains and pressurized. This allows the water to be delivered to homes and business throughout Chicagoland.

For more information on the Chicago Water Department, link to the website: http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/water.html

Leading the Way in Environmental Stewardship

Submitted by Cynthia Vasquez Rush Oak Park Hospital is one of three hostiptals in Illinois and the only building in Oak Park with the Energy Star rating

For the third year in a row, Rush Oak Park Hospital has been awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star rating in recognition of superior energy performance.

As an Energy Star building, Rush Oak Park Hospital uses 35 percent less energy and generates 35 percent fewer greenhouse emissions than similar buildings across the nation.

"Receiving the Energy Star rating again is a huge accomplishment," says James Kaese, V.P., Administrative Services.  "I am very proud that in each of the last three years we have continued to improve energy efficiency, especially considering that our building is 104 years old.  We could not have done it without the cooperation of our staff, especially our Facilities team."

That team has used a number of innovative tactics to significantly reduce energy consumption in the past three years, including switching light vendors, reinvesting in energy-efficient lighting, and training staff to stagger the startup of equipment and to extinguish lights when not in use.

The hospital's Environmental Stewardship Committee also has focused on increasing staff involvement, recruiting new environmental "stewards," taking the lead on several recycling programs and communicating "green" accomplishments and tips to staff, patients and visitors.

For more information, contact Emily Dogostino in Marketing and Communications at 708-660-3644.