Urban fruit tree growers, learn more about the insect pests of fruit trees at Arbor Day 2012!

Maybe you got a fruit tree last fall in the HMEG give-away?  Or maybe you are an aspiring home fruit tree grower?  Either way, HMEG has arranged a great drop-in event to learn more about care of your fruit trees. This demonstration will  be set-up at St. Paul's 2012 Arbor Day celebration. Stop by to learn the  fairly simple ways of detecting the presence of fruit tree insects to determine when, or if any treatment may be needed. Learn to identify the Curculio, Coddling Moth, Apple Maggot fly, various leafrollers, sawfly and more. Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the method stressing least harm to the environment and consumer will be the key approach taught at this demonstration to provide home growers with successful fruit crops. Various insect traps and bagging fruit methods will be demonstrated. Lots of chances to ask question. 

Its all at Horton Park on April 28th for the city of St. Paul’s Arbor Day celebration at Horton Park from 10 am to 1 pm.


About the instructor: Ann Aurelius has been a dedicated Ramsey County Master Gardener for 7 years. She specializes in urban food growing and has spent extensive time with the Gibbs Farm apple orchard trees--learning about the pests that love to snack on them!

This event is part of the 2012 Midway Local Food Resource Hub educational opportunities.

2012 CSA Farm Directory available

From the The Land Stewardship Project:

Spring is just around the corner and eaters in Minnesota and western Wisconsin who want to receive fresh, sustainably-produced food on a weekly basis during the 2012 growing season can reserve a share in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm today. The Land Stewardship Project’s 2012 Twin Cities, Minnesota & Western Wisconsin Region CSA Farm Directory provides detailed information on over 80 farms that deliver to locations in the region.
For a free copy, visit www.landstewardshipproject.org/csa.html or call 612-722-6377. Free paper copies are also available at the Land Stewardship Project's South Minneapolis office, 821 E. 35th St., Suite 200.
Community Supported Agriculture is an arrangement where consumers make a "culinary connection to the land" by buying shares in a farming operation on an annual basis. In return, the farmers provide a weekly supply of fresh, natural produce throughout the growing season (approximately June to October). Most of the farms focus exclusively on fresh produce, although a few also offer shares for other food items such as meat.
Subscriptions are often sold out by early spring, so shares should be reserved early. The details of the share arrangements such as how much and what kind of food is offered vary from farm-to-farm.

CSA VIDEO: Ever wonder what it's like to belong to a CSA farm? Check out this new three-minute video by Larry Schmidt and Katy Podolinsky: Community Supported Agriculture: What to expect when you join a farm.

Arbor Day Plant and Play at Horton Park

Looking for a reason to spend some time at a Midway park with the family? Ever wanted to plant a tree in a local park? Want to learn more about what you can do with your outdoor space? Come out to Horton Park on April 28th for the city of St. Paul’s Arbor Day celebration at Horton Park! With the guidance, volunteers will be planting over 70 trees in Horton Park. After the planting, the Midway Frogtown Arborators will share some brass tunes. Tours of the park’s trees will be offered periodically, as well as slack line and tree climbing opportunities for the kids. In addition, Friends of Horton Park will be opening the community gardens for the season and attendees can partake in that activity too. While at the park, you can get a tattoo, press plants for a City Herbarium with Works Progress, learn about fruit tree pests and diseases from Ramsey County Master Gardeners, make a stem-dwelling native bee nest with Befriending Bumble Bees, and more! The planting will start at 9:00 a.m.(you can register on site beginning at 8:30), rain or shine, and run until 10:30. The rest of the day’s events will run 10 am until 1:00 p.m. There will light refreshments provided, but visitors who plan to be there for long are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch. This event is co-hosted by Friends of Horton Park, the Hamline Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) and St. Paul’s Natural Resources. Come anytime during the event! You can pre-register to help with the planting by contacting Andy at 651-632-2411 or Andy.Rodriguez@ci.stpaul.mn.us. For other inquiries contact steph@hmeg.org.

Location:   Hamline and Minnehaha Aves in the St. Paul Midway
Date: Saturday April 28th
Times: Registration for planting: 8:30am
           Planting: 9-10:30am
           Activities, refreshments, demonstrations and community garden opening: 10am -1pm

HMEG night at the library: Seed swap, winter sowing, and screening of 'Taking Root'

Beat the winter blues and get inspired for a new growing season! Bring your seed collection and catalogs to share. Trade seeds for an exciting new specimen to grow, peer through seed catalogs, learn how you can plant those seeds in the winter (winter sowing) and then take in a film about how planting trees transformed a nation. TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy. Learn more about the film at: http://takingrootfilm.com/.

Wednesday February 22, 2011 at the Hamline Midway branch library auditorium

• 5:30-6:15 Seed exchange and winter sowing demo.
• 6:15-7:45 Film
• 7:45-8:00 Wrap-up/clean-up

Come to all or part of the evening! This event has free admission and will have light refreshments; Do bring your own covered beverage container and bowl to reduce waste. (However, if you plan to be there from seed time to film ending, you may want to bring along a bit more nourishment.)

A note for parents- This event is intended mostly for adults. This film may not be suitable for children (some violence, recounting history of Kenya). Please do your due diligence before bringing your kids.

This event is brought to you by the Hamline Midway Environmental Group (www.HMEG.org), Hamline Midway Library Association, U of MN Master Gardeners, Mississippi Market, and is part of the community events/education offered by Hamline Midway's new Local Food Resource Hub

HMEG in the Good 100 Challenge for 'Midway Tool Lending Library: green alleys and gardens'

Here is a chance to make something happen! The Hamline Midway Environment Group ( HMEG ) offered up this sharing idea in the Good 100 Challenge and the week of voting is nearly up.  Thursday it closes.  We have not done too much on PR here, so trailing in the pack. But who knows? If we all vote and ask another to vote too...

Regardless, Green Alleys & Tool Libraries are  great ideas and the pilots have been very encouraging (thanks to all who pitched in). The pilot was lead and planned by the Community Building Committee in Sept. Go to this post on HMEG Blog to see a recap and links to photos from that day. 

Go vote!

YOUR VOTE

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THE IDEA

A successful pilot 'Green Alley' event in 2010 has encouraged Midway neighbors to begin forming a Tool Lending Library. Many higher cost tools such as the Weed Wrench are perfect for sharing since they are needed for short periods. The Weed Wrench removes weed trees without the need for herbicides.http://hamlinemidwaycoalition.org/

THE PLAN

The neighbors of the Hamline Midway see our pilot 'Green Alley' event and our soon-to-be-formed 'Local Food Gardening Hub' are a means to facilitate community building and sustainability within our built environment. Our pilot 'Green Alley' project engaged nearly 40 volunteers and 4 trucks toting 10 loads of brush to composting over a 5 hour period. This event required lots of tools, including the efficient, durable, but expensive, Weed Wrench. Shared community tools such as the Weed Wrench form the basis for more community engagement and provide a nexus for neighbor making. With this grant award, the Midway neighborhood will secure garden/food production tools, set-up a tool lending library and host more community greening events.

DISCUSSION

4Comments

Type your comment here...To learn more about weed wrenches checkout http://www.weedwrench.com/weedwrench/how_to_use_weed_wrench.cfm.

by MNMidway Greening

 7 days ago | Reply

this event was a first for me to see . I was there watching my grandchildren and the work they did was fantastic. I was truely impressed. They took a before picture and after. what a wonderful difference and for the good,

by givinglove

 3 days ago | Reply

I am still in awe of the transformation in the alley! I hope to be part of another event!

by Epavlics

 2 days ago | Reply

This idea makes so much sense - and will save neighbors money that they can use for other beautification and place-making projects - native plants, front-yard gardens, rain gardens, etc. Can't wait to see this idea become a reality!

by aksireland

 2 days ago | Reply

'Choose to Reuse' coupon books valid through Nov 30th

Even though the "Choose to Reuse" coupon book is made by Hennepin County, it still has many usable coupons for Midwayites! Eighty retailers to offer great deals on used and rental items, the list of them is below

The 2011 coupon books are available at retail locations &  partners, or You can also download the coupon book here . Coupons are valid October 1 through November 30.


2nd Swing Golf.......................................................................1


A Shoe-A-New.........................................................................1


Appliance Depot....................................................................1


Architectural Antiques.......................................................1


Arc’s Value Village..................................................................1


Assistance League Thrift Shop......................................1


Attic to Basement..................................................................1


Barrel Depot..............................................................................1


Beeline Consignment Boutique...................................2


Bellies to Babies......................................................................2


Better Homes & Garbage..................................................2


Better Than Ever.....................................................................2


Broadway Party & Tent Rental .......................................2


Broadway Rental Equipment.........................................2


B-Squad Vintage & Vinyl ...................................................2


Capital Deals.............................................................................2


Cartridge World MN, Inc. .................................................3


Cartridge World Roseville.................................................3


Clothes Mentor.......................................................................3


Computer Revolution.........................................................3


Corner Store Vintage...........................................................3


CostumeRentals.....................................................................3


Creative Sewing Centers...................................................3


Designer Wardrobe .............................................................3


Down in the Valley................................................................4


Earth Exchange.......................................................................4


East Side Thrift Store ...........................................................4


Eastside Food Co-op...........................................................4


Educated Bride.com.............................................................4


Electric Fetus............................................................................4


Encore Consignment Boutique....................................4


Everyday People.....................................................................4


Furnish Office & Home.......................................................5


Golf USA......................................................................................5


Goodwill......................................................................................5


HalloweenCostumes.com................................................5


Hidden Treasures Thrift Store ........................................5


Hill-Valley Boutique..............................................................5


Hoigaard’s...................................................................................5


Hope Chest for Breast Cancer ......................................5


Hymie’s Vintage Records ..................................................6


Instant Replay Sports..........................................................6


Jackson Medical Equipment .........................................6


Just Between Friends..........................................................6


Lane True Value Hardware and Rental......................6


Magers & Quinn Booksellers...........................................6


Midwest Mountaineering................................................6


Mr. Michael Recycles Bicycles, LLC..............................6


Music Go Round, St Paul...................................................7


My Sister’s Closet...................................................................7


National Camera Exchange.............................................7


Nine – Maternity Clothing Consignment...............7


Norcostco ..................................................................................7


OceanTech.................................................................................7


Odds N Ends.............................................................................7


Once Upon A Child.....................................................7 & 8


Paperback Exchange...........................................................8


Pawn America..........................................................................8


Plato’s Closet (select locations).....................................8


Professional ReBuilding Outlet......................................9


Rags From Riches..................................................................9


Reddy Rents, Inc.


J & F Reddy Rents, Inc. ...............................................9


Hiawatha Reddy Rents, Inc. ...................................9


Rewind.........................................................................................9


Second Debut and Second Debut 2.........................9


Shop Again, Inc. .....................................................................9


St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Stores....................................9


The Cottage House..............................................................9


The Kid’s Rack........................................................................10


The Lost and Found Inc. ................................................10


The PROP Shop....................................................................10


The Salvation Army Family Stores/


Donation Centers...............................................................10


The Wabi Sabi Shop..........................................................10


The Wedding Chapel &


Formal Affair Tuxedos..............................................10


Twin Cities Magic & Costume.....................................10


Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore..............10


Uncle Edgar’s Mystery Bookstore.....................10

Central Corridor bike tour, community greening, community herbarium all converging at Horton Park on Oct 16th

The Hamline Midway community gardeners and residents will be greeting folks from The Central Corridor Roadside Attraction Bicycle Tour at their stop at Horton Park on Sunday Octover 16th at 10:00 am. The visit will be brief, but will give the neighborhood a chance to convey why we are involved in gardening & greening efforts, and what our hopes/dreams are for the future of plants and people along the Central Corridor. The stop would be about 15-30 minutes. The bike tour-goers will stop at Horton  to hear about a vision for the future for Horton Park, for the surrounding neighborhood(s), and/or for our urban environment generally speaking. Thinking big, this could include ideas around reviving the arboretum/more education efforts about plants? More/larger community gardens? A community farm/orchard? More citizen science projects in the neighborhoods?

We will share some the story of Horton Park: how/why it was created, the plants that are there and efforts that are already underway to share information about these plants with people who visit, it's "invisible" or "sleepy" presence. It is also an opportunity to think big and riff on hopes and dreams.

Works Progress will be playing host too and will highlight possible roles for collaborative artists in the process of dreaming a future for plants and people. They are hoping to launch a public art project next year that would engage a broad array of Twin Cities residents in this conversation by enlisting them to help collect and press plants for a Community Herbarium. Sunday attendees will get to trial the first efforts around the community herbarium where stories will accompany the pressed plants. Visitors can take part in an activity pressing some plants from Horton Park.