I wouldn’t ordinarily tell someone to go out and buy a book, but this one is definitely one I think should be added to every household.  It’s a great book for newlyweds or college kids or folks who are starting out on their own.  Why?  The book is full of useful, practical, environmentally friendly tricks and tips for day-to-day house keeping.
It’s a compilation from Reader’s Digest–I know, I know–Yes, that book your gramma has on the little shelf in the bathroom.  But think about all the stuff your gramma knows how to fix and organize and DO.  Think of how we have changed our mentality of thrift to going out and buying convenience or buying all kinds of single purpose tools.  Yet, we already have tons of stuff in our pantries and cupboards and junk drawers that could do a lot more if we only thought differently about their uses.
If you try to read it cover to cover in one setting, you’ll be overwhelmed–there’s over 2300 tips!  Instead, read it a little each night or thumb through it and read whatever bits strike your fancy.  There’s tons of photos, drawings, and sidebars which break up all the concentrated information.  You will be a greener Know-it-All in no time.  It has everything from cleaning to cooking, storage to organizing and repairing– making play-dough and more.  You will save money, buy fewer tools, you will use (and flush) fewer harmful chemicals down the drain, you will be more useful to others and you’ll be richer in experience!  Unfortunately, the library won’t let you keep it forever, so get it used from a used book store instead.

For two years now, I’ve been sharing a little kooky idea to create a fleet of trikes that have the capability to water the newly planted trees, flower beds and planters throughout our neighborhood–using rain water! (see kooky napkin sketch at left).
The necessity of this hit home yesterday as I was driving up Dodge and noticed too many of the new trees look dry and knowing I don’t have an easy way to fix the problem.
We haven’t had much luck getting the Hydro Buffalo idea funded. I thought maybe “if I could just get it started” with a prototype–at least ONE trike, then riding that suped-up trike around could prove to everyone that it’s not just a kooky idea–it’s a GREAT kooky idea! and eventually we’d be able to expand the fleet.

Before you ask–YES, Blue Bike and Riverkeeper are aware of this idea, and we hope our collective audience is excited to help–we’re all in the same boat though. We need one adult trike to get us started! If anyone out there can donate a solid adult trike we can then weld a cart and get this thing rolling.  If you think you can help–please get in touch with Caesandra at volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org or call 716-885-4131

Here’s the other part of the proposal if you are “People who know People”
Read the rest of this entry »

Peter and I visited a few of the Delevan Avenue gardens during the Garden Walk a couple weekends back. We were both super impressed with the gorgeous plants, colors, creative designs and SKILL of the gardeners who shared their beautiful spaces.  We also found a few resourceful urbanites who were sharing their reuse ideas!  One example is Jeff Wilson’s back yard patio space that gave broken granite slabs some knew purpose!  If you click on the photo link you’ll see some other great ideas. I know there are lots of clever examples of reuse in your gardens too; I hope you will share those ideas and photos with all of us.

Many folks in our neighborhood already rely on public transportation or cycling for most of their needs, but some have long awaited Buffalo CarShare’s new truck for those bigger hauls!  Linda, from Grassroots Gardens, used it to pick up and drop off garden materials!
You can come and pet WOLF, CarShare’s big gray F-250 every Tuesday this August from 9am-1pm.  You can sign up as a member of the CarShare and have access to their other vehicles as well.

CarShare staff will be on-hand at Buffalo ReUse’s used building materials store, The ReSource, on Tuesdays from 11-1pm to explain all the details of membership, register you and get you access to a car when you need it.
We’re located at 298 Northampton which is right between Canisius and the Anchor Bar and near the medical corridor.

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!

We get a steady supply of veggie waste from Lex CoOp for our ReDOO compost pile and now we’re getting some coffee grounds from Spot, BUT in order to keep our compost from stinking up the neighborhood we need to keep the right proportion of green and brown filtering layers. That’s where YOU come in.
If you have:

• shredded paper–please don’t bring of stacks of newspapers unless you’re volunteering to shred too–they don’t break down as quickly unshredded
  
• wood chips or sawdust (not from painted or treated wood)
• bagged lawn clippings (as long as it’s not treated with chemicals= no pesticides or weed killer or fertilizers please)

If you have material to drop off, please contact us at the office 716-885-4131 and ask for Brad or Caesandra. The first time you drop off we will show you to the pile and explain the directions and then you’ll be able to come whenever you have material to drop off.

It’s important that people do not just leave bags, pails or piles of material at the curb or in front of the piles. We do not want people to mistake the compost as a garbage heap and risk upsetting our neighborhood. We also don’t want the place to look like we’re dumping garbage around because then other people will just dump real garbage everywhere!
Until the City gets a real compost system in place, like they have in other municipalities, this can be an alternative to dumping organic material into the waste stream.  We use the material to augment the soil in the veggie gardens.

We have a compost

By the way, in the fall we’ll be needing lots of leaves…

Did you know there is a community garden on the roof of the Broadway Market?

Image taken by Chris Byrd for Broadway Fillmore Alive

Check out these images from Broadway Fillmore Alive and this video from the Buffalo News.

The garden plots atop the Market were made available to the public for free. Community members are growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers in raised beds that were built by WNY Americorps. The plots are blossoming quite nicely, especially since they have top notch exposure to sun and rain.

To celebrate this innovative gardening adventure, the Market is throwing a little shindig. Join rooftop gardeners and market goers for a relaxing evening among the church steeples – Wednesday June 30, 5pm. It’s bring your own beverage and a dish to pass. They will provide the hot dogs and hamburgers.

If you can’t make it Wednesday, stop by anytime during regular shopping hours. The garden is open to the public – just ask a security guard how to get up there! There are benches for resting and even a few tables for snacking.

A message from Jason Crane, executive director of the New York Bicycling Coalition (and Green Options Buffalo):
New York State’s ‘Complete Streets’ Bill Is In Jeopardy—We Need Your Help!

TAKE ACTION:
We’re asking you to make one phone call, with a one-sentence appeal: “Please amend the ‘complete streets’ bill (Assembly Bill 8587-a) so that it matches the version passed in the Senate on June 17.”
Assemblyman David Gantt’s contact info:
District Office: 585-454-3670
Albany Office: 518-455-5606
GanttD {at} assembly.state.ny(.)us

(June 22, 2010) — In Albany, bicycling advocates are working overtime to help assure the passage of a Complete Streets law—sweeping legislation that will create more livable, bikeable and walkable communities across the state. This proposed law would direct the state Department of Transportation to consider bicycle and pedestrian accommodations in the planning and development of state, county, and local roads and other transportation facilities. NYBC is working closing with the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, AARP and other groups to get this legislation passed.

On June 17, the Senate passed the bill 53-3. Unfortunately, Assemblyman David Gantt of Rochester has amended the Assembly version of the bill in a way that would render the legislation nearly useless. Assemblyman Gantt’s amended bill covers only state roads, meaning that more than 90% of the roads in New York State would not be covered by the law. Additionally, of the 21 most dangerous roads in the state, as defined in a recent study by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, only 6 would be covered under Assemblyman Gantt’s amended version of the law.

The only way to get this process back on track is if we can get bicycling advocates — particularly those in Rochester, where Assembly Gantt is based — to make their voices heard!
Thank you for supporting Complete Streets in New York State!
Sincerely,
Jason Crane
Executive Director
New York Bicycling Coalition

From our friend Megan McNally:

Hello!

As many of you know, I will be heading out of Buffalo mid July on a journey around the US. My first obligation is to be out in Taos, New Mexico in August to learn about building earthships, totally sustainable structures that are off the grid and built from used materials (tires, glass bottles, etc)! Eventually I will find myself in Vermont in October interning for Yestermorrow Design and Build School for 6 months, a school that teaches anything from drafting to timberframing to welding to straw bale building. Along the way I am stopping in targeted cities to interview awesome people, businesses and organizations, learning about cool ideas being implemented in this giant country (can you imagine my future gas bills??? Eek!).

In any event, I am writing to invite you to my blog that I am starting. It is titled “Stops Along the Way: Buffalo and Back Again.” Realistically, I don’t know how long it will take me to get back to Buffalo…maybe years, or maybe only 8 months, but I thought it fairly apt. I want to share with you the people I meet who GET IT and offer up some cool ideas that I think are worthwhile to mention. Don’t worry, for those of you not interested in this type of stuff, I’m sure there will be plenty of silly anecdotes about me getting lost or doing something totally crazy that will really make you laugh.

The address for the blog is followingthetide.blogspot.com…because that’s what I’m gonna try to do. I have generic plans because I want to have the ability to change plans at the last minute. To stay an extra day somewhere, to leave early, to get SO lost that I discover something insanely amazing.

Hope you’ll follow me on my journey! If you’d like a postcard at some point, please forward your address.

Love,

Megan