Thursday, March 13, 2008

Local Environmental Scene -- What's Happening

MaineEnvironmentalNews has launched a great new environmental news site for Maine. Check it out www.MaineEnviroNews.com

Wednesday, March 19 -- 2008 Maine Water Conference, 7:30am-4:00pm, Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, Maine. The Maine Water Conference was founded in 1994 by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research at the University of Maine as an annual forum for water resource professionals, researchers, consultants, citizens, students, regulators, and planners to exchange information and present new findings on water resource issues in Maine. For more information, visit www.umaine.edu/waterresearch/mwc/

Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22 -- F.W. Horch's first annual Spring Green Sale. Here's your chance to buy green and save some green! Save on all close-outs and overstock items, and get a sneak peek at the new products we'll be bringing in for the spring and summer. 56 Maine Street, Brunswick. 729-4050.

Saturday, March 22 -- Bicycle Film and Auction Fundraiser, 11am - 1pm, Eveningstar Cinema. To raise funds for the upcoming Brunswick Bike Fair, the Brunswick Sustainability Group is screening the film Return of the Scorcher and holding a silent auction. This half-hour documentary looks at bike culture and bike lifestyles around the world, with beautiful and inspiring scenes of bike use filmed in China, The Netherlands, Denmark, and the U.S. After the film screening, we will be auctioning entertainment items, including movie tickets from the Eveningstar Cinema, sustainable living goods from FW Horch, landscaping design services, gift certificates from area restaurants, and more!

Monday, March 24 -- Monthly Brunswick Sustainability Group meeting. 7-8:30 pm in the Morrell meeting room at Curtis Library in Brunswick.

Monday, March 25 -- Cool Cities: Film and Discussion Series, part 1: 'Toast' (on oil dependance) and 'The True Cost of Food' (on sustainable agriculture). 7-8:30pm Topsham Public Library. The Sierra Club and Maine Partners for Cool Communities, Topsham Conservation Commission, Topsham’s Future and the Topsham Public Library will sponsor this series designed to provoke discussion about grass roots efforts to protect the environment. Contact Helen Tomer at the Topsham Public Library at 725-1727 FMI.

Wednesday, March 26 -- Vanessa Levesque, the Natural Resources Planner for the Town of Brunswick, is looking for 30 volunteers to help with a mapping survey of vernal pools in the Brunswick area this spring. The data will be key in planning -- both to help plan development that is near these features and to help target conservation efforts to high priority areas. There will be a two hour training session for volunteers on Wed. March 26th in the early evening (most likely starting at 6pm), food provided. If you're interested, please email Vanessa at vlevesque@brunswickme.org.

Thursday, April 3 -- The Governor's Energy Efficiency Summit: Revitalizing Maine's Business and Energy Climate, in the Augusta Civic Center, Augusta. For more information, visit www.maine.gov/governor/baldacci/policy/EnergySummit.html

Saturday, April 5 -- 'Eat Locally, Act Globally', a talk by Wendy Holm, from 10:30-12pm at the Curtis Memorial Library. Holm is an agronomist from British Columbia and leads trips to Cuba to bring together farmers and chefs to learn from each other about sustainable agriculture. See www.brunswicktrinidad.org or email tlphillips@suscom-maine.net FMI.

Saturday April 26 -- Brunswick Bike Fair, 11 am - 2 pm, Downtown Mall. The Brunswick Sustainability Group invites you to take part in a Bike Fair in Brunswick. The goals of the Bike Fair are to encourage attendees to view bicycling as a viable means of transportation in and around our community, to motivate people to get on their bikes, and to celebrate current bikers. Our hope is that the fair, through gear and safety demonstrations, group rides, and information by a number of organizations, will motivate people to view and ride bicycles as more than just a form of exercise but as an effective and efficient form of transportation. BSG Bike Events Contact: Maggie Soulman, ecosquirrel@hotmail.com, 617.512-0437.

Spring Green Sale

Don't miss our Spring Green Sale--our only sale of the year!

Save 10% - 50% on seasonal and clearance items
Friday, March 21 9:30 - 7 pm
Saturday, March 22 9:30 - 6 pm

Books 10% - 50% savings
50 watt solar kit $580 $290
AustinAir air purifier floor model $445 $222.50
American Pride paint 50% savings
DC lighting and equipment 50% savings
Holiday LED lighting 25% savings
Earthworm Castings 10% savings
Ice melt 10% savings
Draft stoppers 25% savings
Camping water filters 25% savings
Pest control 25% savings
Rechargeable batter chargers 25% savings
Natural wood finishes 10% - 50% savings
Selected spring cleaning supplies 10% savings
Clearance items 50%+ savings

... and lots more!

Save money and help us make room for all the great new products we're finding!

New Products: JoraComposters, Push Lawn Mowers, & more!

We are continuing to bring in new products, with our focus now on spring. Yes, it's really coming! Here are the new products you can find now on our web site:

  • JoraComposters
    We finally have an answer for those of you who want to compost outdoors all winter long here in Maine! The JK 125 Insulated Composter (and its larger sibling, the JK 270) were designed in Sweden to enable composting all year long, even in the winter of a cold climate. It has two separate compartments for composting. While one is fully composting, you fill the second compartment. By the time you've filled the second compartment ,the first will be ready to empty and add to your garden or green space. Because of the insulation and high heat achieved during decomposition, meat and fish can also be successfully composted in the JoraComposter.
  • Sunlawn Push Reel Mower
    Mow your lawn quietly, without any gasoline, and give yourself some exercise as well. The Sunlawn LMM-40 Push Reel Mower is one of Sunlawn's lightest, quietest and easiest to maneuver mowers. A perfect way to sustainably care for your lawn.
  • Neuton Battery-Powered Lawn Mower
    If you have a small lawn, why hassle with a gas mower? Enjoy a whole new experience with the battery-powered Neuton Mower. No hard pull-starts, no gas or oil, and no fumes or loud noise.

Earthworm Castings - Sustainable Living Tip for March 2008

Earthworm castings are a gentle, slow-release, natural fertilizer that works especially well for seedlings. Mix 1 part castings to 3 parts potting soil to start seeds, or line the bottom and sides of seed furrows with 1"-2" of castings to give your little plants a healthy head start.

More to know about Earthworm Castings

  1. Unlike synthetic fertilizers, which require the unsustainable consumption of petroleum for their production, worm castings rely on worms and soil micro-organisms, resources that are plentiful and renewable.
  2. You can make your own worm castings from kitchen scraps. In a few months, worms in a bin can turn twenty parts kitchen scraps into 1 part castings.
  3. Worms eat about half their weight a day; the more worms you have, the more waste they can consume.
  4. The best type of worms to use for indoor worms bins are red wigglers (Eisenia foetida).
  5. In warmer weather, you can grow worms outside. They will multiply happily between 60 and 85 degrees, but most will not survive at temperatures below 40 degrees.
  6. If you need worm castings sooner than you can make them, you can purchase them. A little goes a long way!
  7. "Finished" worm castings that are ready for use as fertilizer have a pleasant, earthy smell.
  8. For a highly effective liquid fertilizer, soak 1 part worm castings in 3 parts water for 24 hours. Stir well, then use to water fruiting, flowering, or difficult-to-access potted plants.
  9. Unlike synthetic fertilizers, worm castings do not lead to run-off pollution because the nitrogen in them is mostly water insoluble.
  10. In our store in Brunswick we sell worm castings, breeder packs of red wigglers, worm bins, and books about how to raise your own worms.
Interested in starting a worm bin to make your own worm castings? Worms Eat My Garbage is an essential resource.