January 2007 Green Tidings

Green Tidings from F.W. Horch in Brunswick, Maine. Brrrr, Old Man Winter has finally arrived!

Mark your calendars for "Zero Energy Homes," our next Sustainable Living Talk at 7 pm on February 8, featuring Mike White of Island Carpentry. Come find out how super efficient building and renewable energy systems can bring your home's net energy use to near zero.

Hope you are staying warm!
Fred Horch, Owner

P.S. We are adding products daily to our web site. If the cold weather is keeping you indoors, grab a cup of hot chocolate and visit us online at www.fwhorch.com.

Sustainable Living Talk, "Zero Energy Homes"
Join us on Thursday, February 8, at 7:00 pm at F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies for "Zero Energy Homes", a talk by Mike White of Island Carpentry.

Mike will present a comparison between conventionally built stick framed homes and energy efficient homes built with structural insulated panels to superinsulated standards. He will also describe the renewable energy systems that can be used to achieve near zero net energy use.

Free refreshments and informational handouts will also be available.

If you have attended past talks, please remember that we have moved the store! The new time and place for 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 our renewable energy partner:

Bill Behrens, a partner in Energyworks, was present at the ribbon cutting ceremony at Maple Hill Farm in Hallowell on January 18 where they unveiled their new solar system. Energyworks designed and installed this combined solar hot water and electricity system. The 15 KW photovoltaic system is the largest solar array in the state. For more information visit Energyworks online at www.enworks.net.

Energyworks South, located in the Bayside area of Portland, is looking for a part-time office manager / bookkeeper. This is a great opportunity for someone who is passionate about renewable energy and looking to join a fast-growing company. We are small today but have big plans for the future! Please send an e-mail to phil@energyworksllc.com if you are interested.

If you're planning to go solar in 2007, the winter months are a great time to start talking with Energyworks!

Worms Eat Our (Neighbor's) Garbage
Want to compost all year round in the comfort and convenience of your own home? Have kitchen scraps that you don't want to throw on your compost pile outside? Worms are the answer!

We will be selling worm bins complete with worms starting in April. In the meantime, we'll have a demonstration unit in the store so you can see how "vermicomposting" works. We'll be feeding our worms scraps from Morning Glory next door -- only the finest for them -- plus our store's junk mail!

Vermicomposting is a system in which worms eat and digest scraps, turning them into a rich soil amendment. A worm bin can be tucked in any closet or under a kitchen sink. Any warm and dark place will do. In addition to kitchen scraps, worms like to eat junk mail. You put kitchen scraps in the worm bin, then cover them with shredded paper (credit card offers are especially delicious!).

Worm bins fully stocked with voracious worms will go on sale in mid-April for $25 a bin. We also have a deluxe "Wormtopia" available for $109.50. If you have been a "fair-weather" composter, consider giving vermicomposting a try. You'll have an easy and fast way to make great compost no matter how cold it gets outside.

And if the thought of harvesting your worm's compost makes you squeamish, we're planning a "worm exchange" day this summer. We'll invite people who have extra worms and people who want worms to meet at the store. Let us find a home for all your extra worms so you'll have room for another year of composting action.

The Sunrise Guide
Looking for a fundraiser for your school or community group that also raises awareness about sustainability issues?

The SunriseGuide is a brand new coupon book and resource guide for healthy & sustainable living in southern Maine. We’ve been selling guides here in the store since December, and you can also buy them online on our web site. They are also available for sale as a fundraiser where your school or community group keeps $8-$10 from each book sold (they retail for $20). For example, The Friends School in Portland sold them for three weeks in December and raised just under $2,500. The Bridge School in New Gloucester also sold them in December and raised $1,100.

The SunriseGuide is packed with 130 coupons (worth more than $4,500) from natural food stores, farm stands, CSA’s, home energy auditors, yoga classes, restaurants that feature local and organic ingredients, and green building stores -- including three coupons to our store! It’s also got a significant resources section that compiles useful info to support a sustainable lifestyle in southern Maine -- a list of the available tax incentives, locations of farmer’s markets, alternative transportation resources, recipes for natural cleaners and more.

For more info, check them out at www.thesunriseguide.com or call 221-3450.

What's Happening in the Local Environmental Scene
The Brunswick Sustainability Group met at Curtis Memorial Library on Monday, January 29. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 26. For more information about this group, visit the store or drop me an email. A listserve for the group has been set up and a web site is in the works.

Winning green home designs are on display in the Environmental Studies Common Room, Adams Hall, Bowdoin College from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, Jan. 22 - Feb. 5. The winning designs are from the Mainestream Green Housing Design Contest, organized by MaineHousing. The green housing design contest required designers to submit plans for homes that are affordable, at least 1,000 square feet in size, and incorporate the Green Building Standards that MaineHousing adopted. Details at http://tinyurl.com/2waoue

A temperature of 67 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday, January 6, was the highest temperature ever recorded in Portland during January, beating the old record of 64 degrees set in 1950. The average high temperature for December 2006 was a record 43.3 degrees. The year 2006 was the warmest year on record for Portland, with an average monthly temperature of 48.5 versus a normal average of 45.7. Every month of 2006 had above normal average temperature, except August which was 0.3 degrees below normal. The temperature never got below zero for the entire year.

Friends of Merrymeeting Bay will host a talk called "Native Americans of the Merrymeeting Bay Region" by Kerry Hardy of Merryspring Nature Center, on Wednesday, Feb 14 at 7 pm at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. For more information, visit their web site at www.friendsofmerrymeetingbay.org