June Green Tidings

Green tidings to you and yours on a glorious summer Maine day!

On long June days full of sun, I like to think about our customers who are harnessing abundant, reliable and clean solar energy for hot showers, dish washing and laundry. Might you be among them next summer?

If you'd like to stop running your boiler or hot water heater all summer long -- or if you'd just like to know more about what's affordable with today's technology -- please join us at 7 pm on Thursday, July 12, for our next Sustainable Living Talk: "Design and Build Your Own Solar Hot Water System".

Read on for more about that and other happenings in the world of sustainable living.

Warmly,
Fred Horch, Founder

P.S. Our store is open Tuesday through Saturday, but our web site is open for business all the time online at www.FWHorch.com.
Design and Build Your Own Solar Hot Water System

Join us for "Design and Build Your Own Solar Hot Water System", our next Sustainable Living Talk from 7:00 to 8:30 pm on Thursday, July 12th.

We will discuss the state of the art in solar hot water systems. Solar hot water systems are clean, quiet and affordable. You get all the hot water you need without pollution or a fuel bill. Within a few years, solar hot water systems are likely to be standard for new construction, but today they are ahead of the mainstream in the United States.

Any building that has a sunny roof and indoor plumbing is a candidate for a solar hot water system. With the sign off of a qualified solar installer, the state of Maine pays a rebate up to $1,250 for each system installed. For structures with direct solar exposures, solar hot water systems are the most efficient way to provide domestic hot water.

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

News from Energyworks

Here's the news from Energyworks, our renewable energy partner.

Energyworks North, out of Liberty, Maine, writes:

Summer is here at last and yet it seems to still be 'heating season.' We have been installing about one wood boiler a week! We are also seeing great interest in the new Skystream wind turbine; we have three projects underway and several others in the works. So, we'll carry on this summer installing Solar PV and Solar Hot water one house at a time!

We have also been making some simple boiler upgrades that are proving to save quite a bit of fuel for our clients. Give us a call to find out if these upgrades can save you money. 207/589.4171

Product News

We are now carrying milk paint in our store. Environmentally safe and non-toxic, it comes as a powder. You just add water to mix. There is a slight milky odor when it is applied, but it is completely odorless when dry. The paint is safe for children's furniture and toys, and can also be used for interiors of homes of people who are allergic to latex paints.

No Wet Car Wax is a new product for cleaning and waxing cars without using water. Just apply using a mist applicator with two clean cloths. Not only do you save water, but you also keep dirty runoff out of our rivers and lakes. Makes a great gift for any car buff in your life. This stuff really works!

For gardeners and anyone with houseplants, we are now carrying Earthworm Castings. These are one of the best organic fertilizers available. They are especially good for containers or houseplants, to replace soil nutrients and rejuvenate potting soil. Feed your soil to grow great plants!

We're making it easier to compost with the Biobag line of compostable bags. These innovative corn-based bags look like plastic, but compost when exposed to the proper temperature, moisture and organisms in your compost pile or bin. You can line your compost pail with these bags, and just take out the compost like you would the trash! Keeps down odors and eliminates the need to clean out the compost bucket.

What's Happening in the Local Environmental Scene

Saturday, July 7, 2007 from 7-9 pm. Join the Natural Resources Council of Maine and Frontier Cafe, Cinema and Gallery in Brunswick for a "Live Earth" global concert.

Running from 12 noon-12 midnight, the Frontier Cafe will be airing Live Earth concerts from around the globe in its cinema space. Starting at 7:00 pm, NRCM staff will be on hand to join you with a special message from Al Gore, just before the prime time American concerts kick off.

Admission to the event is free and open to the public. Don't miss out! For more information, contact Ryan Ewing at NRCM: 800-287-2345 ext 243 or ryan@nrcm.org.

Maine Bike Rally, July 6-8 in Yarmouth. Join bicyclists from across Maine, New England and beyond for a weekend of biking, camping, music food and fun! For more info, visit www.bikemaine.org/mainebikerally/

Composting Clinic at Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick, Sat. July 21, 11-noon. I'll show you how to make great compost. Call us here (207) 729-4050 for more info.

'Green Space' tent at the Yarmouth Clam Festival: Sunday, July 22 from 8 - 4. See displays of local alternative energy and energy-efficient products. Contact Ami Robbins at afrob2@maine.rr.com for more info.

June 2007 Events

Could your next car be electric? Please join us tomorrow, Thursday, June 14, at 6:00 pm at F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies in Brunswick for "Meet the Electric Car: Test Drive and Discussion", featuring two "Neighborhood Electric Vehicles" -- the Miles Automotive ZX40 four-door mini-SUV model and the two-door sporty Zenn Car.

The cars will be available for test drives starting at 6:00 pm. Afterwards, Bill Drinkwater and Kal Rogers will lead a discussion.

Bill is the Director of EVMaine.org, a web site for electric vehicle enthusiasts in Maine. He has built and worked on many of his own vehicles and has worked on implementing ultra-safe materials for the automotive industry. He calls himself an "adventurer" having traveled extensively and worked as a cable car welder, an art gallery owner/artist and a gold miner.

Kal is the marketing director for Maine Electric Vehicles. Until recently he was a "sales activist" for Maine's Air America Radio affiliate, 870 The Voice. He has worked with progressive alternative businesses and organizations for more than 20 years with highlights as co-founder of Mad Horse Theater Company in Portland, founder of "The InnerGuide" publication, Chair of the Maine Peace Campaign (Peace Action Maine) as well as his time helping to keep Air America on the air here in Maine.

Alternative Energy Days at Mount Washington

Join us this weekend, June 17 and 18, on Mount Washington in New Hampshire for "Mt. Washington Alternative Energy Days," an exhibition featuring alternative energy experts and vendors. The highlight of the event will be the Alternative Vehicle Regatta.

The history of alternative energy on the Mt. Washington Auto Road began the late 1970’s with an Alternative Vehicle Regatta that featured a wide variety of alternative fuel vehicles testing their worthiness on the Auto Road. Because of mixed success of the homemade vehicles and declining interest, the Alternative Vehicle Regatta was last held in 1979. With the growing public consciousness of global warming, the Mt. Washington Auto Road has decided bring back the Alternative Vehicle Regatta as part of this new event to be held in the Glen at the base of Mt. Washington.

Summer Focus: Composting Goods & Supplies

Feed your garden with home-grown compost! We have the information and equipment you need to be successful this season making natural fertilizer from your kitchen and yard waste.

• 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.

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