We had a lot of fun hosting a series of Wednesday Workshops before Christmas, coming up with fun DIY crafts such as making  stockings out of recycled sweaters, cinnamon ornaments, and recipes in a jar.

We will be holding two “handmade holidays” workshops this February. The first is on Wednesday, February 3rd, and the holiday we’re celebrating is the Super Bowl (ok ok, not technically a holiday but it could be). We will be making coasters to be put to use during your Super Bowl Party. The workshop will run from 4-5pm at 158 Eaton St.

The second workshop is the following week, Wednesday February 10th. This time we’re celebrating Valentine’s Day. Come to 158 Eaton St. to make romantic candlesticks out of spindles from old staircases. What a great way to ReUse! The workshop will run from 4-5pm.  For both there is no fee, but a suggested donation of $5.

Hope to see you there!!

Tue, December 29, 6pm – 7pm
Where: 464 Auburn Ave (map)

Click and see Who got ABC Gum, an earring rack, a LOVEly sleeve (don’t ask), a book on home repair, an alien incubator, a mug you can swim in, festive oven mits, a denture kit … these are a few of the not so favorite things folks gave away at our last 2 holiday parties.

Please join us for our little holiday tradition and time to relax and be cozy together.  No one will reveal who gave what, so you don’t have to worry about hurting anyone’s feelins!  Bring some comfort food or a hot toddie concoction and something you want to get rid of!

Bring one dozen; leave with 5 dozen!

Here’s your opportunity to give-get-give for the season:

ReUse those old cookie tins, aluminum pie trays or even your Wegman’s salad/sub take away trays by filling them with holiday goodies!

Bring a dozen or so homemade goodies (cookies, candies, bit size snacks) and take home a bigger assortment to give to your friends, co-workers, family and strangers too. We’ll make some candies and cookies together and enjoy each other’s company. Feel free to bring a bottle of wine or cider.

Friday, December 18th from 5-8pm @ 158 Eaton St.

Other things to share: tissue paper, metallic markers, stickers or holiday themed stamps so that we can decorate the cookie containers.

If you bring your recipe card we’ll consolidate them all for distribution.

And of course, bring the kids!

Hope to see you there, and happy holidays!!

The Buffalo Edition of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” will be aired Sunday, January 24th at 8 pm on Channel 7. And what’s more…they’ve extended it to a 2-hour special!

A network publicist confirmed the air date for the episode, which will highlight the Massachusetts Avenue home that was rebuilt last month for Delores Powell, a Jamaican immigrant, and her four children.

According to the Buffalo News, “The extra hour is expected to highlight the rehabilitation of several West Side homes near the Powell home, as the community rallied to expand the original idea of the program.” GO BUFFALO!

Buffalo ReUse will be planning something special for our big debut, so stay tuned…

For our second handmade gift workshop, we will be making cinnamon-scented ornaments. We will make them in a variety of holiday shapes, and everyone will be able to leave with several ornaments.

This craft workshop will take place Wednesday, December 9th from 4-5 pm at 158 Eaton St. It’s GREAT for the kids!! Like last week, a $5 fee will apply for supplies. Bring your holiday spirit!

This weekend we have a change of plans–we need to switch gears and focus on building our covered addition at the ReSource so that we can store our sinks and tubs and toilets for the winter and not lose our inventory to the elements.

We need lots of folks to help–no skills necessary.  We just need a little muscle and extra hands.  We’ll start things off with a pancake breakfast so that you have energy and motivation to spare!

Saturday we’ll start working at 9am–pancakes available from 8-11. Sunday we’ll start working at 10am. We’ll work until dark.  Please dress in layers–make sure your feet and ears are going to be warm and dry–otherwise you’ll wimp out for sure ; )

Tis the season to reuse! What better way to cut down on expenses this holiday season than to make some of your own presents? That’s where we come in. For the first three Wednesdays in December, we will be holding Handmade Gift Workshops. Each week we will make a different craft item from reused materials. The item of the week will be announced here and in our e-newsie. A small fee will apply to cover the materials we use, and we’ll announce the fee each week too. Of course anyone who’s been to the store knows we have lots of crazy & unique items that can be turned into something new and magical….and if you have any ideas of cool crafts or ways to reuse, go ahead and post them here!!

We’re starting with a pretty easy craft. For our first workshop on December 2nd, we will be making stockings and heating pads from recycled sweaters, shirts, and socks. The fee will be $5 to cover fabrics, rice and beans for inside the heating pads, and tools. The workshop will be from 4-5 pm at 158 Eaton St.

Stay posted for more do-it-yourself holiday ideas, and we hope to see you at one of our winter workshops!!!

I think we’ll all be planting in slickers!
Saturday, November 7th,  9am – 3pm
Meet at 298 Northampton St, Buffalo NY 14208; please do not be late because we will split everyone into street teams!

We have approx. 410 trees reserved for planting in the Masten & Cold Springs Neighborhood that must go in the ground before they die.

Dress Code:
Please plan for MUD and rain: sneaker/boots, rain poncho, hats, LAYERS, hoodie, water bottle, gloves.
Since we’ll be lending out some of our tools to other groups, it would help if you bring an iron rake, shovel, a blade or hand pruners.

Please eat a hearty breakfast!
We may be able to provide donated snacks; however, we will work continuously until 3pm and enjoy a potluck together–followed by a group massage (not feet, just shoulders).  You’re welcome to bring a pan of brownies, a carrot cake, a tater tot casserole, shepherd’s pie, pasta salad or a crock pot of anything that will dribble down the fronts of our shirts.

Together with over a hundred volunteers, Buffalo ReUse has already planted more than 450 trees in the Masten and Cold Springs Neighborhoods.
We will add another 400 trees to the 23 blocks around our store.  The weather can be muddy and the day is hectic, but it’s lots of fun.  We split folks up into teams–2 teams per street.
The holes are dug by a machine! We use an auger to dig the holes and that makes it so much easier!  It is still a lot of work though.  We’ll make sure the holes are pre-dug and each hole gets a tree.  Your job will be to take out dead trees, replace them with living trees, stake the trees and pickup any refuse nearby.
We will need to recruit about 50-75 people for the day–so if each of you bring a friend or 2 we will be all set, but we’ll also continue meeting new people and inviting them to assist between now and November.  Kids are welcome to help, but children under 14yrs must be accompanied by an adult.

6 NOV, Friday (tree pickup) We will arrange to bring our trucks/trailers and pick up all the trees, stakes and equipment from Re-Tree WNY at the City Garage.  Meet us at 8am, 1126 Seneca and help sort and pile trees.  All trees are bagged and labeled by species.  They’re very light.  One person can carry 2-3 trees without much trouble.  We’ll need about 5 people that morning to pick up, unload and sort our order.  If you’re available Friday morning, just show up!
7 NOV, Saturday (planting & potluck) See the photos and you’ll get an idea of what it’s like.
We could use some help from folks who don’t want to get their hands dirty and organize the FOOD.

Thanks for volunteering; you are helping us, ReTREE WNY, the environment and the City of Buffalo in one swoop!

We wanted to share this message from Grassroots Gardens with you.  New friends of Buffalo ReUse may not be aware that we’ve been collaborating with GGB for more than a year now to facilitate 22 new greenspace projects throughout Buffalo.  The link will take you to before&after photos.  Together, our goal has been to demonstrate the various options for vacant lot transformation.  The collaboration is funded, in part, by The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo other grant money and your time and donations to both organizations.  We are so grateful for your support in implementing some of the successful ideas we’ve seen across the country.  We join Kirk and GGB in asking you to support Grassroots fundraiser so that we can continue: transforming more vacant lots in the city, get you more fresh vegetables and create safe places for you and your kids to enjoy working the soil, vegetables and flowers right in your own neighborhoods.

From Kirk:
I write to you as a lover of Buffalo.  If you would’ve asked me how I felt about Buffalo about five years ago the answer would have been different.  I love Buffalo because the people in this city are so amazingly thoughtful, hard working and compassionate.  Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo allows Buffalonians a chance to take back the land that has gone fallow due to demolition and abandonment and bring it back to productive use by creating community gardens.

These gardens provide beauty and a source of food in the neighborhoods that need it most.  Grassroots Gardens Vice President Gail Graham, is a great example of a hard working Buffalonian that cares about his community.  He along with the Fargo Estate Neighborhood Association started their garden about 8 years ago and it has brought the community together.  This garden was so successful that about 2 years ago Linda Muscarella started Serenity Garden (right down the street from Gail’s!) which took back a long blighted lot, in this lot they grow food and beautiful flowers.  Our gardeners are the inspiration that keeps us moving forward!!!

Grassroots Gardens works to ensure that hardworking Buffalonians are able to access vacant land and bring it back to life, but we need your help to make this happen. On Thursday November 5th from 5:30-8:30pm Grassroots Gardens will hold it’s 3rd annual “Harvest Celebration” at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum at 453 Porter Avenue (former Plymouth Methodist Church)  This event is a fundraiser to help our gardeners do the important work of reclaiming Buffalo.  The event features beer, wine and cider, and appetizers from some of Buffalo’s best restaurants, and only costs $25.00 if you are a Grassroots Gardens Member, or $30.00 if you are not.

I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Best,
Kirk Laubenstein
Grassroots Gardens
Board Chair

Yes it’s true, one of the many aspects of Buffalo ReUse is our FREE monthly workshops on gardening and home repair. Didn’t know that? Well, we would like to know that you didn’t know (and we would like to know some other things as well). We want to figure out which workshops you’d like to see in the future and when is the best time to host these workshops for you.

Please, take a few minutes  to fill out our Workshop Wonders Survey. Your input is greatly appreciated! We want to make our selection of FREE workshops as  convenient for you and as helpful as possible.

Click here to take the survey! And don’t forget to check the Buffalo ReUse website or the store for our monthly workshop calendars!