Urban Girls' Farmstand open through October

Farmstand

Tuesdays, through October

2pm - 6pm

The Schuylkill Center Farm Stand is now offering fruits and vegetables grown at The Schuylkill Center farm by the Urban Girls Produce farmers. The produce is seasonal and the varieties are abundant. The Schuylkill Center Farmstand is open every Tuesday, from July 28 through October. Bags and boxes are available but in the spirit of sustainability please bring your own shopping bag if possible. Visit the Schuylkill Center Farmstand at our main building, and let us add a little something to your shopping basket!

For more information, or for a weekly list of available produce: Farmstand

Energy Workshops for Older Homes

September 9 6:30 PM
Energy Efficiency in Older Houses

Presented by:
The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia
and The Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust

In Collaboration with:
The Historical Society of Tacony
Tacony Civic Association
Tacony Community Development Corporation
Historic Germantown
Historic RittenhouseTown
The Germantown Historical Society
The Chestnut Hill Historical Society

The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia is pleased to announce the next in our ongoing series of workshops for owners, and aspiring owners, of historic homes. Attendees will have a great opportunity to learn about the best practices for the restoration and maintenance of older and historic homes.

These workshops are free and open to the public, but reservations are required.

Reservation/ information: Contact Patrick Hauck, Director of Neighborhood Preservation Programs, 215-546-1146 x4 or patrick@preservatio nalliance. com.

Location
6742 Torresdale Avenue
Philadelphia, PA

Weird Waste Day in Mt. Airy

Mt Airy Business Association & Valley Green Bank Sponsor

Weird Waste Day

As a service to the community the Mt. Airy Business Association in conjunction with Valley Green Bank invite everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to properly dispose of all unwanted electronics, including televisions, computers, printers, hard-drives, monitors, vcrs, radios, video games, transformers, and even batteries! Bring your weird waste to the Valley Green Bank parking lot on Sept 26th between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. and we’ll make sure that it gets responsibly recycled.

Cost to you is $0.32 per pound.

We have engaged, IRN, a recycling network that helps businesses and institutions find the most responsible, efficient and cost effective way to recycle all materials . All products are hand dismantled and shredded. Each item is directed to the right end market and recycled safely, in full compliance with all environmental regulations.

Kim Miller

Executive Director

Mt. Airy Business Association

7208 Germantown Avenue, Suite 7

Philadelphia, PA 19119

www.mtairybiz.com

Office: 215-242-0777

Cell: 215-681-1471

Edible Landscape Festival

Down to Earth Opening Reception and Edible Landscape Festival
Saturday September 12, 2009
2pm -6pm
www.schuylkillcenter.org
Down to Earth: Artists Create Edible Landscapes is an exhibition that
highlights the growing focus and emergence of “green” principles and
sustainability in relationship to food, art, design and agriculture. Guest curator
Amy Lipton, Co-Director of New York’s ecoartspace, selected six artists and
artist teams who are working to create socially engaging interventions in the
landscape related to food and agriculture, creating an aesthetic and cultural link
between art and farming.
After the artists formally introduce their work, visitors will have the opportunity
to meet the Edible Landscapes artists at this family friendly event! The Edible
Landscapes Festival will include an artists’ talk and tour, activities for all ages
led by the artists, as well as hay rides, a composting station, a guided edible
plants trail walk, and much more!
Reception/Festival Highlights
Artists’ talks and tours of the Garden Installations
2:30pm – 3:45pm
Hayrides to The Schuylkill Center’s Organic Farm
4pm – 6pm
Edible Plants Hike
5pm – 6pm
Ongoing Activities
2pm – 6pm
Composting Demonstration
Beekeeping Demonstration by local beekeeper Joe Duffy
Farmstand featuring organic produce from The Schuylkill Center’s Market
Garden Farm
Location: The Down to Earth Exhibitions and Edible Landscapes Festival will be
held at The Schuylkill Center’s Second Site, located at the corner of Port Royal
Avenue and Hagy’s Mill Road, Philadelphia, PA 19128. For directions, please
visit our website at www.schuylkillcenter.org.
Support: Down To Earth: Artists Create Edible Landscapes is supported by The
William Penn Foundation, and an award from The National Endowment for
the Arts.
Media Contact: Lisa Sonneborn / Communications Manager
The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
Tel. 215.482.7300 x 139
Cel. 215.284.4045
Email: lsonneborn@schuylkillcenter.org
www.schuylkillcenter.org

It's the GreenFest!!

GreenFest Philly is just around the corner!

The 4th Annual GreenFest Philly is just a couple weeks away! Join us on Sunday, September 13 from 11am to 6pm at 2nd and South Streets in Philadelphia. Over 200 exhibitors and 25,000 visitors will fill the streets to learn & share how fun it is to be green! EXHIBITOR SPACE is still available. For more information please follow this link: Exhibitor Application

Calling Artists and Volunteers! GreenFest Philly needs your help! Volunteer shifts are available on September 13th from 6am to 8pm and we can use all the hands we can get so bring a friend or put together a group. Visit our web site & fill out the application today! Individual Volunteer Application Group Volunteer Application We're also still accepting applications for our Green Film Festival and Eco-Fashion Show.

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS: From sustainable living tips to environmentally conscious fun for the whole family, there will be something for everyone at this year's GreenFest! Eco-Fashion Show Clothing Swap Green Film Festival featuring FOOD, INC. Kids' activities Live Music & Entertainment Local Produce Bike Valet Vegetarian, Vegan, Organic and Free-Range Food Food Symposium Yoga

Call For Plastics! Please bring your unrecylable plastics (#3, 4, 5, 6 & 7), aluminum foil, milk cartons, styrene egg cartons, etc. that would otherwise be recyclable, but are not in Philadelphia. Please check out this list of goodies that we need to create recycled art with help from the Dumpster Divers!

Food The theme of this year's event is sustainable FOOD. Highlighting everything from ORGANIC to BUYING LOCALLY to having a vegetarian or FREE-RANGE diet, this year's event will allow us to educate others on the importance of supporting our local farmers' markets as well as how to make more conscious decisions at the grocery store. Come and try some of the eco-friendly foods available and learn about the impact our food choices have on the environment. Find out how easy it is for you to grow your own food- even if you are living in a studio apartment in Center City! Come and learn the truth about food from the green leaders in the Organic Food Industry at our Food Symposium.

ADOPT A RECYCLING STATION! $50.00 Donation Hand-made Recycling Stations will be located throughout the festival to teach everyone how to separate trash from compostables and recyclables. Show your support by putting your name on a Recycling Station today. Let's show Philly how easy event recycling can be!

WHY BUY LOCAL?

Recently my husband and I were invited to a friends house for a Vermont cheese and wine tasting. It was a perfect summer evening for backyard dining and the setting was a foodie's fantasy. Surrounded by a bamboo grove, 12 hardcore Slow Food devotees, bowls of heirloom tomatoes, wines including mead and cheese, glorious cheese--my favorite food group. The variety and quality of the nearly local Vermont fromages rivaled anything I have eaten in Europe giving new meaning to "Made in America" and "Locally Grown". These are becoming the mantras in dealing with the challenges of fossil fuel dependency and Global Warming. And it begins with food.
Locally Grown is the new organic. Not that there is anything wrong with organic which is defined as fruits and veggies grown without chemical pesticides and insecticides. In the meat world hormone free, free range and grass fed are the equivalent and in the sea world wild caught fish trumps farm raised. After all, Organic is the way all food was raised and grown before the 20th century. While organic has become increasingly popular in the past decade, some of the standards have veered away from its original ideals. In addition, organic labeling is an expense many small farmers cannot afford. Some local Lancaster farmers employ organic methods but market their products as pesticide free. The wildly popular Saturday morning Winston Rd. Farmers Market has such farmers. They are often available to answer questions about their farming methods. Customers like the fact that they are supporting local businesses, getting a fresh products and helping to reduce the energy consumption involved in shipping.
Energy consumption is something to consider as well as a country's farming standards. A crate of tomatoes shipped from Holland consumes a tremendous amount of energy to get here. Asparagus grown in Central America? If I am warned not to drink the water in a particular country, why would I eat the veggies that were drinking that very water?
Locally grown has become extremely popular as people consider their food source more thoughtfully. And it's much easier to do this in the summer in the Northeast when produce is so abundant. Last week, on our way to Maine, we stopped at farm stands and quaint little towns from Kennebunkport to Cambridge and Salem to Portland. "Buy Local" was the common theme in promoting these communities and they appeared to be thriving. Supporting local businesses, particularly independently owned that craft their own products, results in more money kept in the local economy. Good for the community and good for the earth-win win.

RECYCLING RATE AT AN ALL TIME HIGH

RECYCLING RATE AT AN ALL TIME HIGH		VOLUME III, ISSUE XV Podcast Listen to the PennFuture podcast at http://www.pennfuturepodcast.org/ Includes interviews with Urban Sustainability Forum speakers and more! Questions or Comments? Email Christine at:knapp@pennfuture.org or call 215-545-9692 Don't forget to visit our website at: http://www.nextgreatcity.org/
Next Great City applauds the City of Philadelphia and you for making big strides in recycling. According to the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, residential recycling in Philadelphia has reached an all time record with a 46 percent increase in household recycling over the last year. For fiscal year 2009 (July 2008 June 2009) the Streets Department collected 75,060 tons of waste from Philadelphia households, a 23,734 ton increase from last year. The average household with City collection recycled 278 pounds of their waste last year, 88 pounds more than in the previous year. The diversion rate, the amount of residential waste that ends up in recycling compared to trash, is now nearly 12-1/2 percent, an increase of over 5 percent since Mayor Nutter took office in January 2008. This amounts to saving of nearly $5,000,000 in avoided landfill costs.