April Green Tidings

Join us today, the day before Earth Day, for "Solutions Saturday" at Frontier Cafe in Brunswick. Enjoy a series of short environmental films, then discuss local solutions (see schedule below). Get inspired for positive action on Earth Day!

Mark your calendars for "BayScaping: Protect Casco Bay in Your Own Backyard," our next Sustainable Living Talk at 7 pm on May 10. Read on for more about those events, and other things happening in the world of sustainable living.

Warmly,
Fred Horch, Owner

P.S. Our web site keeps growing! If your travels don't bring you to downtown Brunswick, why not swing by our store online at www.FWHorch.com.

Solutions Saturday: Environmental Film Festival

Saturday, April 21 ~ 11 am to 4:30 pm
Frontier Cafe, Cinema and Gallery
Fort Andross
Brunswick, Maine

11:00 am	Family Focus: Environmental Awareness and Action "The Quest for Dan the Can" -- recycling, etc. Discussion leaders: Sustainable Bowdoin Brunswick Town Councilor Ryan Ewing, NRCM
12:15 pm	Local and Organic Food "The True Cost of Food" -- local, organic farming Discussion leaders: Seth Kroeck, Crystal Spring Farm Brett Thompson, Maine Master Gardener Volunteer
1:30 pm	Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention "Our Children at Risk" -- toxins in the environment "Sam Suds" -- PVC, the poison plastic Discussion leaders: Environmental Health Strategy Center Maine League of Conservation Voters
3:00 pm	Energy and Climate Change "Kilowatt Ours" -- a plan to re-energize America Discussion leaders: Chewonki Hydrogen Energy Center

Sustainable Living Talk, "BayScaping: Protect Casco Bay in Your Own Backyard"
Join us on Thursday, May 10, at 7:00 pm at F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies for "BayScaping: Protect Casco Bay in Your Own Backyard".

Mary will explain Friends of Casco Bay's BayScaping program to help home and business owners find practical ways to reduce dependence on lawn chemicals. BayScaping is a way for homeowners and their yard care services to maintain a healthy landscape without depending on pesticides and fertilizers. Each person will receive a how-to guide, a soil test kit, and a worksheet for designing a low-maintenance, attractive yard that is healthy for families, pets, and Casco Bay.

As Associate Director of Friends of Casco Bay, Cerullo takes the BayScaping message to the public in a talk that allows attendees to ask questions and share their own experiences. She will touch on the six major aspects of the program: building a good foundation, watering, mowing, thatch and soil compaction, fertilizing one's lawn, and pest control.

Free refreshments and informational handouts will also be available.

Our Sustainable Living Talks are on the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 pm at 56 Maine Street in Brunswick.

News from Energyworks

Here's the news from Energywork, our renewable energy partner:

We will be out and about over the next few weeks at several events -- come and see us on April 20 and 21 at the Midcoast Green Collaborative Expo in Damariscotta. In May, Pat Coon will hold several adult ed classes at the Camden Hills Regional High School: Wednesday, May 9 he'll talk about "Steps to Renewable Energy" on the 16th "Going Solar" and on May 23 Pat will talk about "Wind Power". Also we will be at Chewonki's Sustainable Energy Conference on Saturday May 12. In addition, Spring is in the air and we are starting to get busy, we are gearing up for several new Grid Tie PV projects coming up including an 8KW system for a farm in Knox County.

What's Happening in the Local Environmental Scene
On Monday, April 23, the Brunswick Town Council will consider whether Brunswick will join other towns and cities across Maine and across the country in becoming a "Cool Community". So what is a Cool Community? These are cities and towns that have made a commitment to stopping global warming by signing the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement. The Cool Cities campaign helps cities turn their commitments into action by pushing for smart energy solutions.

The Midcoast Sustainable Energy Expo, at the Central Lincoln County YMCA, Damariscotta, on Friday, April 20, from 12:00 - 6:00 pm, and Saturday, April 21, 9:00 - 5:00 pm, will bring together building trades people, energy professionals, and the general public from a geographic area wider than the Damariscotta/ Newcastle region of Midcoast Maine. It will demonstrate affordable energy-efficient construction techniques, demonstrate working examples of renewable energy systems and technologies that local people can install in their homes and businesses.

Lots more is happening around Earth Day on April 22. For more events and information, visit the Earth Day Network.

April 2007 Events

Our next Sustainable Living Talk is tonight! (Yes, it is still happening despite the weather.) Tonight at 7:00 pm at F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies in Brunswick the topic will be "Design and Build Your Own Super-Efficient Home", a talk by Al Heath of Arrowsic.

Al will explain how he and his wife researched, designed, and built a super energy efficient home themselves. Their 2000 square foot house is heated by one cord of wood and 75 gallons of kerosene per year. A solar hot water system provides the majority of their hot water needs. At the talk, Al will share lessons learned during the process, including a list of helpful sources and contractors.

Join us on Saturday, April 21st from 11 am to 4:30 pm at Frontier Cafe, Cinema and Gallery in Brunswick for "Solutions Saturday", an environmental film festival. We'll be showing "The Quest for Dan the Can", a film made by Bowdoin College exploring what happens to garbage and recyclables in Brunswick. In addition, we will be showing "The True Cost of Food," "Our Children at Risk", "Sam Suds", and "Kilowatt Ours". Many thanks to the Sierra Club for providing these films to show, and to the many environmental groups who will be on hand to share information and lead discussions.

And on Sunday, April 29 from 2 pm to 4:30 pm we hope to see you at the Third Annual Clean Energy Fair at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Yarmouth, Maine. For more information about that event, please call the church at 846-9244 or John or Christina Ferland at 781-7307.

F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies is located at 56 Maine Street in downtown Brunswick, Maine.

F.W. Horch Composting Goods & Supplies

Ignore the snow, it is spring (even in Maine)! In time for gardening season, here are some products to get your compost cooking.

• Home Composting Made Easy
  Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for composting in your backyard. Instead of overburdening your local landfill, learn how to turn kitchen scraps, yard trimmings and paper scraps into "black gold" for your lawn and garden. 32 pages, paperback. $2.95

• Kitchen Compost Carrier
  Make your home composting program easier to manage. Perfect for short-term storage of kitchen scraps, this kitchen compost carrier features an optional carbon filter to eliminate odors. Made from 25% recycled plastic. Small (5.8 quart) size, $17.95; Large (9.6 quart) size, $24.95

• Compost Maker Microbes
  Put billions of beneficial organisms to work for you! Dormant until you expose them to air, water and a food source, this blend of microbes will energize soils, composts, and decomposing organic matter. One pound. $10.95

• Envirocycle Composter
  Make batches of rich compost simply by taking this unit for a spin. This conveniently-sized tumbler is perfect for those who want an easy way to turn batches of kitchen scraps into nutrients for vegetables, flowers and houseplants. Featuring a base that collects liquid for "compost tea", the Envirocycle is a great addition to a deck or back yard for anyone who wants a no-hassle, proven system for composting. Available in black or green. $159

• Sun-Mar 200 Composter
  This innovative outdoor composter is based on a brilliant concept: put yard and kitchen waste in one opening, and remove finished compost from another. Inside the unit are two drums: new material enters the outer drum, fills it up, tumbles into the inner drum, then comes out the middle as finished compost. So well-designed it makes you wonder why all composters aren't built his way! $299

• Sun-Mar 400 Composter
  Suitable for handling large volumes of yard waste, the 400 is the larger cousin of the Sun-Mar 200 Garden Composter. Same great features as the Sun-Mar 200, plus a crank to help turn it. $399

• Sunleaves Wormtopia
  Turn your kitchen scraps and yard waste into high quality worm castings with the help of up to 15,000 redworms (sold separately). Worms convert scraps and wastes to castings as they migrate upward to the next tray, while producing nutrient-rich "worm tea" that can be drawn from a spigot mounted on the bottom. $109.50; one pint of Maine-raised red worms, $6.00

• Sun-Mar Composting Toilets
  Choose a Sun-Mar composting toilet when you need to conserve water, minimize your environmental impact, upgrade your outhouse, extend the life of your septic system, or provide sanitary facilities where there is no plumbing. Perfect for seasonal camps; these toilets can freeze solid with no risk of pipes bursting. Composting toilets harness aerobic microbes to oxidize waste, resulting in carbon dioxide, water, and essential plant nutrients and minerals. 95% of the starting material evaporates, and the remainder is an NSF-certified safe soil amendment. Self-contained units start at $1345; we also stock the full line of Sun-Mar supplies.