The Strawberry Moon Celebration went so well that we have decided to do it again! Join us this Saturday at 8pm. We will teach you how to make beignets with a black raspberry sauce, taste test some Lake Effect Ice Cream, and watch a movie under the stars. Remember to bring a chair and a friend!!

The August Movie Night will be Friday, the 27th and we’ll make treats with fresh blueberries!

I just thought i’d share with all of you this ReSourceful Project that one of our loyal supporters came up with.

In it the Kancar family used a mantle that was purchased from our ReSource and built a spectacular wall around it as you can see from the pictures below.  They are in order of the steps that happened.  The first one is just a picture of the mantel while it was in the ReSource.  The last picture is the final piece.

I would like to be able to consistently share projects like this that were tackled with materials that have come from the ReSource.  Anytime you make something out of materials from our store I would like to hear all about it! You can email me at scott {at} buffaloreuse(.)org.  I will then post these neat and creative projects on our blog for all to see regularly.

I also encourage you to check out the families website, Czar of the Woods Farm to find out more about this project.

Governance for a NEW New York
The Coalition for Economic Justice to host State Senate Candidates Forum

What: An opportunity for the Buffalo public to interface directly with the State Senate Candidates in Erie County (58th, 59th, 60th and 61st districts) and to seek insight regarding candidates’ plans for the state.
When: Thursday July 29th, 2010 at 5:30p.m
Where: Allen Hall Theatre University at Buffalo – South Campus
Who: Coalition for Economic Justice, State Senate Candidates, Community, Faith, and Labor Leaders.
Why: The elections for State Senate will be held on November 2nd. CEJ seeks to promote opportunities for citizens to meet and learn more about the candidates that will directly affect the residents of Erie County and its communities. This forum will provide concerned citizens with a chance to hear directly from the candidates and to foster a dialogue between community members and elected officials.

The Coalition for Economic Justice and our allies are interested in how the candidates plan on addressing some of the major issues impacting the greater Buffalo area: sound economic growth and development, public accountability for government and enterprise, and providing good jobs to residents.

Dear Friends and Colleagues.

Come celebrate the launch of MicroBiz Buffalo’s new web incubator program!

On Friday, August 6th from 6pm-11pm MicroBiz Buffalo is hosting a Business and Baseball Bash at 237 Main St. Buffalo NY. Enjoy an exclusive view overlooking Coca-Cola field’s Friday’s night Bisons game and witness the spectacular fireworks.

All support of the event provides resources for local emerging entrepreneurs. Help build a strong economy in Western New York. Invest Locally!

See the Bisons from a new angle and learn more about MicroBiz Buffalo and its mission to connect local entrepreneurs to resources.

Find more details as the event approaches or learn more about what is going on at our facebook page or at www.microbizbuffalo.org.

Jerry
–
Jerry Turcotte,
Executive Director

MicroBiz Buffalo
Helping Buffalo Work, One Entrepreneur at a Time
237 Main Street – Suite 1200
Buffalo, New York 14203
www.microbizbuffalo.org

You are probably seeing more and more rain barrels popping up in gardens, driveways, and backyards — if you haven’t found one for yourself yet, look no further.

And if you do not yet know: rain barrels can make a huge impact on our local ecology by conserving rain water, slowing water runoff, and preventing pollution and debris from being carried into our waterways and municipal systems.  Installing a rain barrel allows you to catch clean, untreated water that has fallen from the sky and hold it there until you need it — taking a bit of the burden off your tapwater, and the municipalities that make it.  If everyone in the city did this, think of the difference that could be made!!!

You will most likely see rain barrels all over if you are out and about for Buffalo’s Garden Walk this weekend, so if you get jealous and have the urge to keep up with the Joneses (or just want to water your garden or wash your car), you can get yourself a rainbarrel from our store at 298 Northampton for just $30.

Please don’t get me wrong, we love the Garden Walk–I love anything that gets people out into the sidewalks and talking to one another about color and veggies and sunshine. And I realize that with 355 gardens on the Walk–it makes it difficult to map a larger area; however, there are many gardens east of Main Street that I think are worth visiting–namely those in our neighborhood:

• Our Rain Garden at the corner of Northampton & Michigan is very new! It was installed by National Grid employees as a corporate service project this past Earth Day 2010. The garden was designed by Matthew Dore of Buffalo Horticulture. Matt regraded the vacant double lot to guide rain water into the middle (like a shower drain) where a pergola was built surrounded by blueberry bushes. The lot also features a privacy fence using reclaimed flooring. The perennial flower beds have a backdrop of foundation stone.  Planters built from reclaimed hemlock floor joists double as seating along the sidewalk.
  Keep traveling down Northampton and
• You’ll discover a Bee Sanctuary which was once a vacant lot, but is now a warm blanket of yellow, amber, and bronze with summer wild flowers. (In the spring the lot was dotted with blues, pinks and purples). The wild flowers are native to the North East and are helping to fortify a sagging urban bee population.
• Our Children’s Vinery is truly unique!  It has an apple tree and six arbors supporting a variety of pole beans, melon, squash, tomatoes, eggplant and chard.  We have Mobile Victory Gardens donated by artist, Stella Maars which are growing herbs and pumpkins.  We’re just adding a teepee of morning glories.  We have experimental containers for growing potatoes and a strawberry patch which has delighted people of all ages!
• The Patchwork Garden is also a sight–50 different beds which neighbors, volunteers and groups have adopted!  Folks plant whatever they want in this community garden and they enjoy having a place to grow their own food and relax.  We host events like movie nights, cooking demos, art, performances and free gardening workshops in the garden.
• Just around the corner there is another style of community garden, The Cold Spring Community Garden on Southampton and Masten, managed by Dan Ash and Jessica Lang.  Their garden is a site where five houses once stood, but now there is an 8foot wall of tomatoes, several rows of vegetables and raspberry vines.  There are also fruit trees which will mature into a mixed bowl of cherries, plums, peaches, pears and apples!  Volunteers and neighbors work in the garden and are able to eat what they harvest.

Thousands of volunteer hours have gone into building these gardens and the whole reason is so people can come and enjoy them. We hope you’ll visit them soon.  Over the next 2years we hope that Northampton will showcase greenspace development and neighborhood stabilization.  It will be like a red carpet–only greener!  If you have questions or would like to get involved, please stop by our table at the Garden Walk/Talk this weekend!

… and boogie until you FALL DOWN–that’s double dare from Mira!

a little gnosh, a lotta cool drinks and SUPER STEAMY GROOVES, by Fudgychewy.

Join ReUse at Mickey’s Bar and dance the night away at the Mickiewicz Adam Library

Friday, July 30, 2010
8:00pm – 11:30pm (maybe later)
612 Fillmore, Buffalo

Listen to some Fudgychewy grooves here.

We’re pre-selling tickets via our website/paypal and our store for $5
Please print your Paypal receipt

Your hard earned sweat and coin goes toward ReUse’s Community Programs–our free workshops for home repair and gardening, the tool library, the veggie gardens, street blitzes, neighborhood beautification and more–which helps us DO MORE!

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS: We need folks to work the door, work the drinks, kitchen help and cleanup.  Please email Danielle–volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org

This upcoming Saturday, the 17th of July,  Kenmore residents are encouraged to drop off reusable materials, such as appliances, windows and doors at a Buffalo ReUse truck situated near the Kenmore municipal building at Delaware Avenue and Delaware Road.  It should also be noted that all donations are tax deductible.

For a list of items that we accept check out the  donate material section of our website.

We are also always continuing  to add to our inventory within our tool lending library, so if you have any tools laying around, bring them on down.

For a list of  tools that we are in need of check out the  donate tool section of our tool library website.

Rather than being thrown out, the items will be taken to either our Buffalo ReUse store on Northampton Street in Buffalo, which resells high quality building materials to home owners at a low cost, or inventoried into our tool library that is located on Eaton Street.

This will be the second of five Saturday drop-offs that have been scheduled in conjunction with the Kenmore Farmers’ Market.  They will be held from 9 a.m. to noon.   Mark your calenders with the remaining three Saturdays.  Aug. 21, Sept. 18 and Oct. 16. Ours is!

By donating your materials or tools to us you are allowing us to move forward with our mission.  The money generated from the store’s sales helps fund some of our other programs, including the community gardens and our deconstruction and salvaging teams.

Looking to Volunteer?  Like to garden?  Look no further!

Grassroots Gardens has put out the call for volunteers to help at a few community gardens around Buffalo — now is your chance to get involved and get your hands dirty!  Join us on the following workdays to make these community gardens more wonderful than they already are:

7/17: The Cottage District Community Garden is looking for some muscle and a few extra hands to help out with a project at their garden at 10AM on  Saturday, July 17th @ 60 York St (between Normal and Plymouth).  They’re looking for at least five people, but more is always merrier.

7/31: Also, on Saturday, July 31st at 10AM the Community Garden at 20 Orton Place will need as many volunteers as they can get–they are going to be taking down / moving materials and replanting the gardens.

Come help out!!!!

We hope you’ll join Michael Gainer and others as we share really inspiring examples of community building and neighborhood improvement efforts from around the country–even some from other countries!

This is an opportunity to throw off the cynicism and see how regular people lead the way in creating thriving neighborhoods.  You are the best person to start making a difference because you know your neighborhood and the kind of neighborhood where you want to live.

Gracious Hostess, Prish Moran, is allowing us to meet with you at her cafe, Sweet_ness7 –from 6-8pm Tuesday, July 20th.  We really hope you can make some time to be inspired–bring a friend or a new face!