This is a busy week in sustainability, we have an exciting lineup for our Backyard Conservation series as well as fantastic visitors from Dubuque; we hope you will consider coming to our workshops and presentations.

This Thursday and Friday Candace Eudaley – the Regional Economic Development and Sustainability Coordinator for the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) – will be visiting Fairfield to meet with members of the community at Greendrinks on Thursday, noon at Revelations; and addressing the Green Business Council on Friday, noon at the Extension Office. Candace oversees the Petal Project and Buyer/Supplier based in Dubuque. The Petal Project is a green business certification project for Eastern Iowa that is growing quickly. Buyer/Supplier is an innovative program that links local and regional businesses to help keep businesses purchasing and providing services locally. Both programs have grown over 100% in the last year, and have proven to be potential partners for our sustainable efforts in Fairfield.

Friday and Saturday have first-class workshops going on, all free to the public. Friday morning, at 10am, members from COSC will be delivering a workshop on Green Roof Design – followed up with a free lunch and an afternoon workshop on Stormwater Runoff Management (1-4pm). These workshops are in the Extension Activities building on the Fairgrounds. Registration is necessary, the workshops are FREE. To Register, contact Leslie Berckes at at (515) 707-2787 or Leslie@icosc.com . At 7pm, in the same location, Wayne Petersen will be presenting a fabulous workshop on Building your own Rain Garden. This extensive and informative workshop will have a hands-on follow up on Saturday morning at 9am as we install a rain garden at John Revolinski’s home located at 705 North Court Street.

It looks to be a gorgeous week and weekend, we hope to see you at the Extension office, Revelations, and John’s home! Contact Scott Timm at stimm@iastate.edu for more details.

I don’t believe I’ve ranted on Fairfield Voice yet, so be aware, this IS a rant. However, it’s one that effects most everyone in our fine little town…

It’s Spring! The birds are chirping, bulbs are blooming and temperatures have finally reached the point where you just want to be outdoors.

What that means to me, is Spring cleaning. Although I did a lot of Fall clean-up, there are still plenty of leaves in my flower beds that need to be raked out. And here is where the rant begins…

I raked a bunch last weekend and used up the last of my Waste Management sanctioned lawn and leaf bags which, apparently, are only carried by Hy-Vee. So I went to Hy-Vee and found that they were out of the bags. I was told that they would have more by this weekend, which wasn’t horrible, just a little inconvenient.

So now it’s this weekend. I called over to Hy-Vee, only to discover that they still do not have any bags, and worse yet, they don’t even know when they will get any.

As the great philosopher Popeye once opined “That’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more!”

I don’t even know what to do about this. My garden is growing and I can almost guarantee that within the next week, it will be thick with new growth and still full of waste. Surely some of it is good for the garden, but not all of it. Oh, and not to mention all of those little maple trees that are growing that, if not picked now, will be like trying to pull a post set in concrete out of the ground.

Surely, I could get it all done and put it in the trash can. But that wouldn’t be very environmentally friendly, now would it? Not to mention the fact that Waste Management won’t take the trash if there is lawn waste in it.

Then there are the big green plastic “Hefty” bags that work way better than the paper ones but since they aren’t reyclable, won’t be picked up by Waste Management either.

So what is a citizen to do? Oh yes, I guess I can burn my leaves, but as I commented on a blog post on this site a few months ago, I’m not really into that. I’d simply like to rake, bag, and recycle. (Oh, I neglected to mention that I tried calling Waste Management but since it is Saturday, the office is closed.)

Am I the only one with this problem or as a relatively new resident is there another way to do this that I am unaware of?

Guess I’ll spend this sunny day curled up around my laptop with tax receipts and Turbo Tax, which I have to do anyway.

But I’d sure rather spend some time in the garden…

Fourteen organizations are working together in Fairfield during the months of March, April and May to provide free, quality programming and resources for backyard projects in sustainability. “These workshops and organized sales focus on sustainable efforts that community members can incorporate into their everyday lives and techniques they can utilize to improve their backyard landscapes,” says Scott Timm, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Fairfield.

Gardening workshops, given by local residents on how to attract birds and create habitat, develop edible landscapes and incorporate permaculture techniques, increase and identify pollinators, and strategies for composting will help residents get out of their homes and hands dirty this spring. The City of Fairfield and ISU Extension are also hosting a one day sale of high-quality, City-approved, Earth Machine composters for an amazing price of only $46 (first come, first served, April 24th); and the second annual Edible Cityscape sale by the Sustainable Living Coalition will expand its sale this year to berry bushes and a larger variety of fruit trees at extremely low prices. ($5-$15, May). In addition, the Jefferson County Conservation Board has scheduled a prairie burn, weather permitting, for next week.

Groups and speakers will be visiting from out of town presenting on sustainable topics as well. Russ Tell, from the DNR, will hold a workshop on how to identify wells and cisterns on your property – and either utilize them for gardening or safely deal with them. The team from COSC will be running workshops on green roof design and storm water runoff. Wayne Peterson and members from IDALS will present a workshop on rain garden design – followed by a hands-on workshop and an actual install in Fairfield with the help Mr. Peterson and the Master Gardener’s of Extension.

Backyard Abundance will visit Fairfield this Friday evening to kick off the workshop and lecture series with a presentation on creating bountiful backyard landscapes and resilient communities. For more information on events, the schedule, locations and workshop descriptions can be found on the City’s website, and you can also contact Scott Timm at the Extension office at stimm@iastate.edu.

For a a complete listing of workshops please download this printable brochure.

The Fairfield City Council Property Committee met yesterday to discuss a proposal to end the City’s annual trash pick ups. Committee members John Revolinski (Chairperson) and Myron Gookin, discussed a plan that would end the Spring and Fall bulk trash pick ups and save the City tens of thousands of dollars (committee member Susan Silvers was not in attendance).

The new plan being proposed might look like this:

• Once a year, each household would be allowed to haul one pick up truck worth of eligible garbage to the waste management facility for free deposit.
• For a small fee, Waste Management would pick up large items from residents.
• 2010 would be the last year residents would receive the existing Spring and Fall bulk trash pick up service.
• Before transitioning to the new plan, the City would implement a program to educate residents the changes in order to prepare everyone for 2011.

A resident in attendance at the Property Committee meeting asked about residents who did not own the means to haul their own trash (did not own a pickup truck for instance), or were not physically able to load and unload trash. Council member John Revolinski suggested that the new program would attract small businesses that would provide trash hauling as a service to those not able to haul their own trash.

The tone of the meeting was positive, with committee members excited about a plan that will save City funds, as well as encourage residents to reuse-reduce-recycle. A discussion from last Fall on the Fairfield Voice was cited as useful feedback for the committee.

The elimination of the City’s annual trash pick up program, along with the proposed replacement plan are on the right track.  I believe that while the cost savings are a plus, the most benefit comes in the reduction of lazy waste.

Having said that I would like to see a plan that is more in line with what I believe are the goals of the City’s Go-Green Strategic Plan, which includes objectives to “Establish Fairfield as a model Waste to Energy community / Waste to Resource community” (a fancy way of saying they want to minimize waste).  To that end I would suggest the following plan:

• Eliminate the City’s annual bulk trash pick up.
• Hold a summer long initiative to encourage residents to drop off toxic household waste at the Waste Management facility. Including information in the water bill about the types and dangers of household toxic waste.
• Maintain fees for waste drop off. Don’t encourage residents to take truck loads of trash to the dump. The fees are only $5-$8 as it stands.
• Promote the Fairfield Freecycle Facebook Page, local thrift stores, and community initiatives to help residents give away unwanted used items.
• Introduce a “lean and green” trash service. Households can opt into a free trash pick up service, in which they get a trash bin that is 40% the size of the normal can. The bin would be green and branded in a way so that the owner can show it with pride on their curb.  Encourage families to throw out less on a daily and weekly bases and involve students in similar programs at school.

I’m interested to hear your ideas for how Fairfield can get closer to reaching the goals laid out in our Go-Green plan with regards to reduction of waste.  Please post your ideas or entire plans if you have them.

Ronnie Cummins, founder and director of the Organic Consumers Association, will be giving a free public lecture entitled “Climate Catastrophe: How Organic Agriculture and Green Technology Can Help Us Survive the 21st Century” on Wednesday, March 10, 7:30pm at the Fairfield Public Library.

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a non-profit, U.S. based network of 850,000 consumers, dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting a healthy, just, and sustainable system of agriculture and commerce. The OCA’s primary strategy is to work on national and global campaigns promoting health, justice, and sustainability that integrate public education, marketplace pressure, media work, litigation, and grassroots lobbying.

In his article The Organic Revolution: How We Can Stop Global Warming Cummins writes, “Beyond the gloom and doom of the climate crisis, there lies a powerful and regenerative grassroots solution: organic food, farming, and ranching.”

“Millions of organic farmers, ranchers, conservationists, and backyard gardeners (supported by millions of organic consumers) are demonstrating that we can build a healthy alternative to industrial agriculture and Food Inc. Our growing organic movement is proving that we can not only feed the world with healthy food, but also reverse global warming, by capturing and sequestering billions of tons of climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases in the soil, through plant photosynthesis, composting, cover crops, rotational grazing, wetlands preservation, and reforestation.”

Cummins is the editor of OCA’s website, organicconsumers.org, Organic Bytes newsletters, and Organic View. He also serves on the steering committee of OCA’s Mexico affiliate, Via Organica.

Cummins has been active as a writer and activist since the 1960s, with extensive experience in human rights, anti-war, anti-nuclear, labor, consumer, environmental, and sustainable agriculture campaigns. Over the past decades he has served as director of US and international efforts such as the Pure Food Campaign and the Global Days of Action Against GMOs. From 1992-98 Cummins served as a campaign director for the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C. In 1998, Cummins organized the SOS (Save Organic Standards) Campaign, spearheading the largest consumer grassroots backlash against the US Department of Agriculture in recent history. He is also a frequent lecturer, both in the US and abroad.

Cummins’ visit to Fairfield is sponsored by Sustainability Research Institute, the not-for-profit research arm of The Sky Factory, LC.

Here is another great opportunity for local gardeners new and experienced to learn more about growing their own food!  As part of his internship in the Iowa Master Gardener program, MUM Sustainable Living professor Alex Kachan is offering a series of workshops on various aspects of small-scale, organic gardening to the entire community for free.  The only requirement is that you register at least one week in advance because each workshop is limited to 15 participants.  If Alex gets more than 15 requests for a workshop he will schedule a repeat for the overflow members.

I had the great pleasure of both attending one of Alex’s lectures on Vermicomposting (using composting worms to biologically break down organic matter) and working with him at the Ecovillage CSA two summers ago.  He is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about growing food sustainably from every step in the cycle, so I am sure these workshops will be not only informative but inspiring.

Here is a brief listing of workshop times and topics.  Email Alex at the address below for complete descriptions and to reserve a spot in the ones that interest you.

Sunday, March 14th, 2010: Starting Seeds
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: SL Dept., room 111 & SL greenhouse

Sunday, April 18th, 2010: Making your bed – the art of Double Digging!
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: MUM Community Garden

Sunday, April 25th, 2010: Compost – learning to grow soil!
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: MUM Community Garden

Sunday, May 2nd 2010: Compost Tea – pampering your soil & vegetables!
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: SL Dept. room 111

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010: Garden Q&A’s
Workshop length: 2:00– 4:00 PM (2 hours)
Location: MUM Community Garden

Workshops will be filled on a first come, first served basis.  To register, choose the workshops you wish to take and send their titles, dates & your name to Alex at: akachan@mum.edu

Click here to download a flyer providing more details on the workshops.