Until recently, saving energy meant spending money. But programs that combine energy savings that save money are now common across the county. The Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge is a non-profit initiative involving 14 communities in Connecticut, made possible by the U.S. Department of Energy, that helps consumers save energy, which in turn, helps them save money.
Learn more about the Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge on GreenTowns.
GreenTowns Food Advisor, Glen Colello
Documentary review
Cinema Village on New York City’s east side hosted, (7/9-7/14), the documentary by Kristin Canty, “Farmageddon: The Unseen War on Family Farms”.
This documentary is for those that care about what they eat and drink and overall Food Security and Freedom. Do you know where your food comes from? Who grew or produced your food and drink? Does it matter to you if your chicken breast came from a chicken that never saw the light of day, ate food they were not meant to eat or were in a large room with 5,000 other beak-less chickens until slaughter? How about your milk coming from cows that are injected with growth hormones and medications to allow them the stay in a continued state of pregnancy in order to deliver more milk than cows should? Then that milk goes into a vat with milk from hundreds of other cows, get pasteurized, homogenized, synthetic vitamins and minerals are added back in and cartoned, then trucked many many miles? For most of fairfield county eating factory farmed meat and processed dairy is the norm. “Hey if the food wasn’t safe then the FDA would do something about it. Right?
Well Kristin found out that the FDA is doing something about food safety! They are organizing raids and harassing food and milk producers all over the country. They are coming in with swat teams, inspectors and sheriffs with search warrants, of course. Are they raiding the dairy farms of “Dean Foods” the countries largest dairy or Tyson Foods, the largest meat producer in the world? No, this movie documents the raids on many small family owned farms, costing taxpayers millions! Why?? The other side was not open to discuss this question in the movie. My version of why is that less family farms equals more profit for the Corporations. The 2005 sales of $26 billion for Tyson foods must improve every year to satisfy shareholders. The big picture of Food Security is under attack. “Farmageddon” spews this all over the big screen for everybody to see.
It may create a tear or two along with some create anger as was shared in the Q & A after with Kristin, that is okay if we the people act. If we begin to wake up to corporation controlled government and their agenda, there is still time to full heartly support local farms and use the only thing we have that the corporations care about, money! Use your money on real food and real “raw milk”.
Kristin Canty, mother of four, learned that raw milk could help one of her sons suffering from multiple allergy and asthma when medications were not working. She added in raw milk and watched him drastically improve. Because of what she learned about small family owned farms getting raided, she acted out and created this movie. You do not have to make a movie to make a difference, your next purchase, your next conversion, your next decision of what to put into your mouth is the best place to start.
Glen Colello
Co-owner of Catch A Healthy Habit Cafe
39 Unquowa Rd Fairfield (203)292-8190
Daphne Dixon, Director, GreenTowns
I was lucky enough to go through the Master Gardener program at the Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens in Stamford, Connecticut in 2007. Going through the program changed the way I looked at gardening, and not only gave me a true appreciation for the effect that home gardeners have on the environment, but also taught me the importance of native plants and the very important habitats they create.
Washington State University, started the Master Gardener program in 1972 as a response to overwhelming requests for horticulture information. The specialized program was developed with a two-part training program, including classes and required volunteer community outreach hours. That standard remains and today every state has a Master Gardener program. Typically, there is a registration fee to cover the cost of educational materials, about 40-60 hours of volunteer service and class instruction in a wide range of horticulture and related areas including entomology, soil, vegetables, woody landscape plants, integrated pest management, plant pathology, organic gardening and more. In most states, training is offered in several county extension offices in the fall and winter months. After completion of the classes, students become Master Gardener interns. After a final exam and completion of the volunteer outreach service commitment in their community, interns become Master Gardeners.
Over the last four years, I have taken what I have learned and am transitioning my yard into a mainly native landscape. The benefits are many. The lawn and perennials require minimal water, the native species bring many birds into the yard, and I have eliminated the need for pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The yard is low maintenance and supports native habitats.
Although it requires some patience, especially in an East Coast climate, and I still have more to do, it has been well worth the effort.
Daphne
To find the Master Gardener program in your town, visit GreenTowns, enter your town, locate and click on the Master Gardener initiative located on the right of the page under Local Initiatives.
Marina Marchese, GreenTowns’ Advisor
Marina Marchese is a true renaissance woman: an entrepreneur, an author, a designer, a beekeeper, a honey sommelier and an advocate for purity in products. She is the visionary behind Red Bee® Artisanal Honey and Rossape sustainable skin care. A former career as an international designer, led Marina to China where she was introduced to the healing way of the honeybee. Compelled by this ancient wisdom, Marina returned to launch a revolutionary collection of limited harvest single-origin honeys and the purest sustainable skin care products that would change the course of her life. Today, Red Bee® Honey sells artisanal honey to celebrity chefs, restaurants, cheese and artisan food shops all over the country. Marina’s Red Bee Apiary was the subject of an award winning video by YAHOO. For more information on booking Marina Marchese as a speaker.
Marina’s philosophy is that every bottle of her own artisanal honey is a gourmet worthy food that can be tasted and evaluated similar to wine, each with its unique flavor profile determined by the nectar from the flowers visited by the honeybees. The unsung fact is that the essence of a honey is dictated by the terroir (pronounced tair wahr) from the French word for earth, describing the unique combination of geographic location, climate, soil and temperature that give each honey its complex composition and individual personality. As in wine making, terroir dramatically affects the flavor profiles of the honeys produced.
Working from the charming red cottages that were once the home of celebrity ballerina and author Gelsey Kirkland, dancing partner of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Marina carries on this creative spirit at Red Bee, her boutique honeybee farm. Committed to a sustainable lifestyle, Red Bee boast a edible landscape including a vegetable and herb garden, chickens and honeybees on premises. A complete collection of skin care, soaps and body products are handcrafted in small batches using exclusively plant based ingredients each week. Marina’s Red Bee ® products truly are an unparalleled labor of love and promise uncompromising integrity.
Marina is certified by the American Apitherapy Society, has trained as a Honey Judge at the University of Georgia, studied honey tasting and cheese pairing in Montalcino and is the president of the Back Yard Beekeepers Association in CT. She is the author of Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper and a graduate of The School of Visual Arts in New York City. When not tending her Italian honeybees, Marina eats, dreams, talks and writes about artisanal honey.
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