HMEG Blog

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

2012-01-05T22:20:00.001-06:00

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.

This event is brought to you by the Hamline Midway Environmental Group (www.HMEG.org), 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'

2011-12-12T21:50:00.000-06:00

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

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

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

2011-10-10T15:14:00.001-05:00

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

2011-10-10T10:03:00.000-05:00

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.

Gardening Books for Winter Reading & Inspiration 2011

2011-10-09T08:29:00.000-05:00

These Books were recommended by Hamline Midway neighbors and community gardeners who attended the 'All Community Gardeners Potluck' at Horton Park on September 25, 2011.

"Prairie Style Gardens" Lynn M. Steiner

"Abundantly Wild" Terese Maroon

"Just Weeds: History, Myths, and Uses" Pamela Jones

"Gardening with Prairie Plants" Sally Wasowski

"Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land" Kurt Timmermeister

"Landscaping with Native Plants of Minnesota" Lynn M. Steiner

"Healing Gardens" Romy Rawlings

"Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" Novella Carpenter

"The Feast Nearby: How I Lost My Job, Buried a Marriage, and Found My Way by Keeping Chickens, Foraging, Preserving, Bartering, and Eating Locally (All on $40 a Week)" Robin Mather

The Green Alley work day pilot yields tremendous outcomes!

2011-09-26T22:07:00.000-05:00

The thick of the alley work event

Over 30 volunteers turned out for our alley clean-up on Saturday Sept. 24th! The crew pulled weeds, pulled trees, disposed of garbage, mulched, and planted! Many thank-you's go out to neighbors, Hamline-Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) members, Hamline Midway Coalition's Community Building Committee (CBC), and our Master Gardener Diane Fraser. The alley was transformed when trash-filled, overgrown, and untidy spaces were cleaned up and planted. Plus, some block residents connected for the first time while others strengthened their relationships throughout the process. Better neighbor connections and well-kept spaces can help prevent crime such as illegal dumping, graffiti, and residential burglaries. The vision of the project was to support residents who want to improve their alleys for water quality, safety, food production, and aesthetics. This block on Charles Ave between Griggs and Syndicate got 20 property owners on board with a green alley pilot project, and in exchange, received organizing help and volunteer assistance for a Green Alley Work Day from the CBC and HMEG. One alley resident and work day volunteer expounded on the benefits of the event:

"Many alley [spaces] that looked derelict now look clean and tended-to. I met neighbors I'd never spoken with before, and had great conversations with residents I almost never see. [Plus] I got to use a weed wrench!" Another volunteer said, "Extreme Alley Makeover should be the name of this program - beautiful transformations of neglected space!"

Dozens of block residents turned out only to be greeted by many volunteers from the greater neighborhood who were there just to lend a hand for the day. HMEG and the Southeast Como Improvement Association lent a large supply of tools that included a Weed Wrench. There was a second, and larger, Weed Wrench provided by Midway neighbor Chad from the U of MN. Our Master Gardener, Diane, was an inspiration and energetic leader that would not accept an unfinished job. Further, she lent her truck that was used to rip out stumps of weed trees (this activity went on for about 5 solid hours). The crew hauled 10 truckloads of weeds and brush to the compost site, and 1 truckload to the Ward 4 Clean-up day (concurrent timing was all part of the plan). Lots of transplant daylilies and hostas came from area yards, and a nice batch of natives plants came from Horton Park community gardeners and friends from the University of MN. Short native plants will hopefully colonize some of the cleared spaces, and provide food for native pollinators.

Once the majority of the hard work was done, the group came together for a chili feed potluck. A perfect accent to the productive day.

See the photos of the work event here.
Some before & after shots are in this album.

Residents along the alley are saying that it looks great and they are very thankful. They recognize many benefits from this type of greening, including community building, crime prevention, and beautification.

Acknowledgment goes to Faith Krogstad for contributing to this article.

Free Swamp White Oak

2011-09-19T21:57:00.002-05:00

We had a fun and successful tree distribution on Saturday 9/17/2011 with 63 trees being distributed to residential properties of the Hamline Midway neighborhood. Most of The specimens were fruit trees (apricot, cherry, plum, serviceberry). Another step towards Midway local food security.

However, we have one Swamp white oak tree that needs a good home. It is in a 5-gallon container and looks very healthy. Swamp white oak trees need a large space to grow (H: 50-60’, W: 40-50’) so if you know of a neighbor who has a perfect spot, or another place (park, school ground, business or school) in the Hamline Midway for this tree, please let us know. First come, first served!

"Care of Young Fruit Trees" Workshops on Sept. 17th - Free

2011-09-11T09:59:00.006-05:00

The Hamline Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) and Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply are offering two "Care of Young Fruit Trees" workshops taught by Rebecca Koetter. The classes will be held on on Saturday Sept 17th at Egg|Plant during HMEG's tree distribution day. The 45 minute sessions will be held at noon and 3:00pm. Topics to be covered will include fruit tree planting, mulching, watering, pruning (very basic), reasons for fruit sanitation, rodent protection, and product supply needs. These classes support HMEG's goal of offsetting tree canopy losses in the Midway due to emerald ash borer and help ensure good production from fruit trees that are included in this distribution.

These workshops are specifically designed for the HMEG Tree Team fall 2011 distribution, but they are free and open to anyone. No reservations required.

For those planning on planting- be sure to call Gopher One before you dig: (651) 454-0002

About the instructor: Rebecca Koetter is a Research Fellow at the UMN and a full time manager of several edible trees and shrubs at the TRE Nursery and on the St Paul U of MN campus. She works on urban forestry outreach education programs with the Department of Forest Resources in St. Paul.

What: "Care of Young Fruit Trees" classes
Where: Eggplant Urban Farm Supply, 1771 Selby Ave., St. Paul.
When: 12:00 pm (noon) & 3:00 pm
Who: Taught by Rebecca Koetter, sponsored by Hamline Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) and Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply

Midway All-Community Garden Potluck & Books on Sept 25th

2011-09-10T16:08:00.006-05:00

You are invited to the “Hamline Midway Community Garden Potluck” at Horton Park on Sunday, September 25 at 12:00 p.m. This invitation extends to ALL fellow HM community gardeners, supporters, interested friends, family members, and neighbors, to make this a CELEBRATION of neighborhood community gardening!

In addition to enjoying lunch in the park, we will also have the opportunity to view a short Public Art St. Paul video that highlights Hamline Midway community gardens! The footage for this video was taken during a gathering this summer at Groundswell where a number of community gardeners from the Midway described gardening together, the gardens themselves and the important placemaking roles of these spaces. The staff from Public Art St. Paul synthesized our comments and overlaid them with video they shot in the gardens.

Further, we are inviting attendees to the potluck to bring a new or favorite gardening book! Soon we will be under a blanket of snow, and garden inspiration will be a welcomed antidote. After perusing each other's titles at the potluck, we will have new book wish-lists ready for the upcoming dark and cold nights.

On the 25th, bring along any kind of food that you would like to share, your own place setting to eat from, and of course a book! Horton Park is located between Minnehaha and Englewood Avenues, and between Hamline and Albert Avenues. Look for us at the picnic tables in the middle of the park. We look forward to seeing you and celebrating the fruits of our labor.

*Note - the Hamline Thomas Community Garden potluck for September 18 has morphed into this event and will NOT be held on the 18th - See you at Horton on the 25th!

Can you plant trees in the Fall?

2011-08-12T13:03:00.003-05:00

Fall planting of containerized trees can be quite successful. Roots will continue growing until the soil freezes though watering up until ground freeze is an important step. A nice layer of mulch will ensure the freeze happens evenly. There are a couple of MN extension publications that describe tree planting through November even. Here is one: http://www.mntrees.org/planting.cfm.

Spring and fall are the best time to plant trees in Minnesota, because temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold and soil moisture is plentiful. Trees planted during the summer need more regular watering.
Spring Planting Season: April to early June
Fall Planting Season: late September through November

As far as we researched, fruit trees don't really have any other particular planting demands in this regard than other trees and shrubs (we did ask). Regardless of the time of planting, fruit trees owners should consider installing rodent protection because winter bunny chewing can destroy a tree.

Some urban foresters are starting to consider fall being the better time to plant. A spring planted tree may only have a couple of months to toughen up for the usual summer hot and dry (this year being exceptional).

Of course, every season can vary, as will the performance of a particular plant, which will also depend on how its cared for. Bareroot trees are a different story entirely-they need spring planting.

Summer Events at the Hamline Thomas Community Garden

2011-07-06T10:11:00.007-05:00

Plant & Produce Swap! Bring plants or produce that you would like to exchange with others. 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., Sunday July 17
Tomato Tasting! Bring your favorite tomatoes from your garden. 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., Sunday August 21

Locally Grown Potluck! Bring a dish to share with locally grown ingredients. 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., Sunday September 18

Join your neighbors for some fun! We will be providing garden maintenance during these events. Please bring gardening gloves if you would like to help. Contact Emmy Vadnais with questions atekvadnais@hotmail.com.

You’re Invited to Get a fruit or shade TREE From the HMEG Tree Team!

2011-06-17T08:43:00.006-05:00

As a community, we are facing losing all of our ash trees due to the Emerald ash borer (EAB). In response, the Hamline Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) Tree Team has secured sponsorship to provide trees to Hamline Midway residents at a great discount. Trees are offered first-come, first-served based on availability, limited to one tree per property. Trees cannot be planted on the boulevard. See your choices below:

Fruit Tree Species

Evans Bali Cherry, Prunus cerasus 'Evans Bali'. Zone 3-8. Ht. 15’.
Full sun. Deep, dark red fruit 1" in diameter and excellent for baking
and fresh eating. The fruit is much sweeter than other sour cherries.
Extremely hardy buds. 5-gallon container.

Northstar Cherry, Prunus ‘North Star’. Zone 4-8. Genetic dwarf, Ht.
8-10’. Self-fertile. Full sun. Red fruit with small stone, very productive
sour cherry. 5-gallon container.

Mount Royal Plum, Prunus ‘Mount Royal’. Zone 4-8. Ht. 8-12’. Full
sun. Blue, European plum. Excellent for dessert, jam and preserves.
Tasty right off the tree. 5-gallon container.

Pioneer Chinese Apricot, Prunus armeniaca 'Pioneer'. Zone 4. Ht.10-
15’. Golden-yellow fruits are sweet, firm and juicy. Trees bear young
and heavily. Its pit is edible and tastes of almond. Self-fruitful,
however yields improve with cross-pollination. 5-gallon container.

Native Shade Tree Species

Hackberry, Celtis occidentalis. Zone 3-5. H:50-75' W: 50-75'. Full sun
to part shade. Tolerates dry polluted conditions. Persistent small,
purplish berries. Yellow fall color. Very high wildlife value. 5-gallon
container.

River Birch, Betula nigra. Zone 4-8. H:50-60’ W:35-40’. Clump. Full
sun/light shade. Cinnamon-brown exfoliating bark. Yellow fall color.
High wildlife value. 5-gallon container.

Swamp White Oak, Quercus bicolor. Zone 4-5. H: 50-60' W: 40-50'.
Tolerates most soils. Yellow orange fall color. Persistent leaves in
winter. Fibrous root system. Resistant to salt and soil compaction. Very
high wildlife value. 5-gallon container.

Native Ornamental Tree Species

Pagoda Dogwood, Cornus alternifolia. Zone 4-7. H:15-20’ W:20-25’.
Full sun to shade. Graceful small tree has pale yellow flowers in May
with blue-black fruit. Maroon-red fall color. Branches grow in irregular
tiers, forming a somewhat horizontal, layered look to the plant. High
wildlife value. 5-gallon container.

Serviceberry, Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’ (native
hybrid). Zone 3-8. H:20-25’ W:10-15’. This tree has white blossoms in
spring with sweet purplish-black fruit. Brilliant red-orange fall color.
Heavily branched, the tree has an interesting spreading branch pattern
and attractive light gray bark. High wildlife value. 5-gallon container.

All trees are only $5!

Reserve your tree by September 1st! Contact Hamline Midway Coalition at 651-646-1986 or michaeljon@hamlinemidway.org. Prepayment required. Send your name and choice of tree
along with a $5 check or cash to:

HMC at 1564 Lafond Ave., St.
Paul, MN 55104.

Recipients MUST pick up their tree on September 17 at:

Eggplant Urban Farm Supply,
1771 Selby Ave., St. Paul.
between 10:00am – 6:00pm.

Be sure to call Gopher One before you dig: (651) 454-0002!

Do you need a printable flyer with this info? See this pdf.

Major funding from the Community Organization Partnership Program and McKnight Foundation via the Hamline Midway Coalition. HMEG will gladly take donations towards future greening efforts. Cash or checks can be made to HMC. Thanks!

Bike/Walk Week, June 11 Bike Rodeo and More Bike Fabulousness!

2011-06-05T13:46:00.007-05:00

With warmer weather comes even more opportunities to bike, for recreation, for commuting, and for errands, and this June is full of chances to learn more about biking safely and even earn perks and bonuses for making bicycling part of your everyday routine.

June 4-12 is Twin Cities Bike/Walk Week, and though it's a little late to get a Bike/Walk team organized this year, you can still register yourself at http://bikewalkweek.org/joinup. And of course you can spread the word to friends, neighbors, and co-workers. You can look here for special Bike/Walk events--there might be one happening near you!

Speaking of local events, on June 11, from 10 am-1 pm, HMEG is partnering with Hancock Recreation Center to present a bike safety rodeo for kids. For $5 per child or $12 per family, participants can get a helmet fitting, a bike safety check and minor repairs performed by local mechanics, and the opportunity to try out a safety obstacle course designed by the St. Paul Police. All participants can get a free helmet while supplies last, and at 12:30 there will be door prizes, with lots of great prizes donated by local businesses. On Facebook, you can visit here for more information, or call Hancock Recreation Center at 651-298-4393 for further information or to register ahead of time. Registering at the door is fine, too. We welcome volunteer help, as well! Hancock is located at 1610 Hubbard Avenue, St. Paul 55104.

The local group Bike Minnesota 350 is inviting people to join the Summer of 350/Winter of 350 Challenge, which is to bike 350 miles or kilometers over the summer, fall and winter of 2010, and to track your miles. 350.org is an international organization working to spread the word that we need to get our worldwide carbon dioxide emissions down to 350 parts per million in the atmosphere to preserve a livable planet. Currently, we're at about 390 ppm and rising. You can learn more about the Minnesota bike challenge here, and you can sign up as a member of the 350 Blue Team here.

Mississippi Market has proven its awesomeness once again by offering Bicycle Benefits to customers. For $5, you can purchase a Bicycle Benefits sticker for your bike helmet, and each time you bike to shop at the co-op, show your helmet and get a 5% discount on your groceries (excluding other discounts and not valid on milk, butter, and eggs, which are already sold as cheaply as the co-op can afford). If you're not biking to get groceries, this should provide a nice incentive. If you already are biking to get groceries, score! Get those insulated bags ready and get pedaling!

Finally, this summer those cute green Nice Ride bikes that you've seen in Minneapolis will start being available in St. Paul, including at Hamline University here in the Midway.

It's already been a beautiful summer for bicycling; with all this community support for biking, there's just no reason not to enjoy the community-building, environment-protecting, healthy joys of biking together!

Native Bees: Why should you care and what can you do to help?

2011-05-17T22:54:00.002-05:00

Submitted to the HMEG Blog by Elaine Evans

While most people are familiar with honey bees and their amazing behaviors and hive products, many do not realize that honey bees are not native to North America. Honey bees were brought to North America by European settlers. There are, however, around 20,000 other species of bees worldwide, most of these living a solitary life nesting in the ground or in plant stems. Around 4,000 of these bees are native to North America with around 300 in Minnesota. These bees range widely in size and color, from big fuzzy bumble bees, to tiny metallic green sweat bees. They all rely on nectar and pollen from flowers for food.

Pollinators are responsible for 35% of crop production worldwide. The value of U.S. crops that rely on pollination is valued at over $18.9 billion. Of 100 crop species that provide 90% of food supplies, 71 are bee-pollinated, mainly by wild bees. A simple way to think about this is that pollinators are responsible for roughly one in three mouthfuls of food and drink we consume.

With the advent of large-scale agriculture, human society became reliant on one bee species, the European honey bee, for pollination of our crops. Increasing farm size, with decreasing wild lands surrounding these farms, has reduced habitat for native bees. For these large-scale farms, native bee populations are typically not strong enough to provide the needed pollination services. Honey bees are brought in by commercial beekeepers to pollinate many crops.

Considering the importance of crop pollination to the integrity of our food supply, it is astounding that we rely on one bee species. Sadly, it has taken severe losses of honey bee colonies over the last several decades to increase awareness of this problem. Honey bee declines are due a variety of diseases, pests, parasites, and pesticides combined with the stress created from the pressure to provide pollination services to gigantic monoculture crops. Most commercial beekeepers are migratory, moving bees from one crop to the next across the United States. Bees from all over the county are brought together to pollinate specifics crops, such as almonds in California, oranges in Florida and cranberries in Wisconsin. The bees mingle on the flowers and pests and diseases are shared. Poor nutrition, pesticide exposure and diseases, pests and parasites all combine to make it very difficult for honey bee colonies to survive.

While all bees are exposed to the same threats such as lack of flowering resources and nesting habitats, pesticide exposure, climate change, diseases, pests and pathogens, bee species vary in their responses to these threats. Some species are clearly in decline while others are stable. Honey bees are a unique case as there are not many wild colonies in North America. Basically, all honey bee colonies are managed by people. As such, their populations are dependent on beekeepers. Beekeeping has become much harder due to declining honey prices and the costs of coping with diseases and parasites afflicting honey bees. Since the 1950s, there has been a 50% decline in the number of managed honey bee colonies. Rather than saying that honey bees are in decline, I would say that bee keeping is in decline.

Native bee declines are most likely due to habitat loss and pesticide exposure. Other possible causes include climate change and novel diseases or pests transferred from honey bees or other commercial bee operations. Unfortunately, we don’t know enough about most of our native bees to even really be sure that they are in decline.

If every bee on the planet died tomorrow, we would not starve. Wind pollinated crops, such as rice and wheat and corn, are significant portions of our diets. Many other plants can reproduce without the help of pollinators. However, the quality of our diets would severely decline. Nutritionally, we would be hard set to find good sources of many vitamins that are essential for our health, such as vitamin C. Most fruits and nuts would not be available.

Pollination is often called a keystone ecological process. This means that many other organisms are dependent on the pollination services bees provide. Many plants cannot reproduce at all without pollination. Herbivores depend on those plants for survival, and in turn, carnivores depend on those herbivores. Besides the grave impact on the quality of our food supply with pollinator decline, there is whole chain of organisms that will suffer if bee populations decline significantly.

There are some important things that you can do to help native bees. Plant a garden with lots of native wildflowers. Many hybrid varieties of flowers don’t produce nectar and pollen, so natives are best. Having large patches of the same kind of flowers helps attract more bees. Plan to have something always blooming between April and September. Ground nesting bees use bare soil for nesting, so leaving bare patches of soil is helpful. Stem nesting bees will use pithy stems so don’t cut all your stems down in the fall. Let them stay there as long as you can stand to see them, but at least until the following May. If there are clovers and dandelions in your lawn, let them bloom to provide nectar and pollen. My favorite bee flowers are bee balm, anise hyssop, new england aster, cup plant, leadplant, lupines, wild indigo and purple prairie clover.

Keeping honey bees is a great way to learn about bee biology, provide pollination for your garden and produce your own honey. There is a great class taught at the University of Minnesota every March and October. More info here: http://www.extension.umn.edu/honeybees/components/publiccourses.htm

There are simple nest boxes that can be made to encourage native bee nesting too. More info here: http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/

Spring in the Horton Park wildflower gardens

2011-05-07T17:25:00.003-05:00

The native plants in the wildflower gardens at Horton Park have been behaving as if it was spring for weeks now, even though we all doubted the season until now. In the shade garden, there are false rue anemones blooming and the leaves of common trout lilies showing. These two plants are spring ephemerals, meaning they have only a few short weeks in the spring to send up leaves, bloom, and fruit before it all goes away and energy gets stored in their specialized roots until next year, when they do it all again! This is a strategy to take advantage of the light before the forest canopy greens up and blocks much of the light from reaching the forest floor. Other wildflowers blooming in the shade garden are large-flowered bellwort, downy yellow violet, and wild ginger. In the prairie "sign" garden on Hamline and Minnehaha, there are lovely big patches of prairie smoke and pussytoes in bloom.

Our next gardening date is Monday, May 16th, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. After that, we switch to our regular schedule of second Sundays from noon to 2:00 pm. Join us!

Taking Root: Beginner Gardening Series located in the Hamline Midway neighborhood

2011-05-01T20:45:00.003-05:00

A great opportunity for HM-ites and near neighbors! Be sure to spread the news about this beginning gardener class series for new gardeners happens over 6-classes in the garden through an entire growing season. One class held approximately each month between May & October. Instructors are Courtney and Nate, both from the Midway & Frogtown neighborhoods.

Location:

SPROUT Garden—behind the house located at
1471 Minnehaha Ave W, St. Paul

Cost: $60 for the 6-class series

See Gardening Matters website for more info and registration: http://www.gardeningmatters.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=15

Taking Root is a beginning gardener class series for new gardeners interested in growing their own food. This hands-on 6 class series takes place in the garden, and brings you through an entire growing season in Minnesota, with a class held approximately once a month between May and October.

Offered at the SPROUT community garden in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood on Minnehaha Ave in St. Paul, Hamline-Midway, Frogtown and other neighborhood residents are welcome and encourage to attend!

Taught by experienced growers and neighborhood residents Nathan Schrecengost of Pig’s Eye Urban Farm and Courtney Tchida of Cornercopia Student Organic Farm.

Session 1: Sunday May 15th 3:00 -4:30pm Garden Planning, Bed Preparation and Early Planting

Session 2: Saturday June 11th 3:00 -4:30pm, Planting, Mulching and Garden Maintenance

Session 3: Saturday July 16th 3:00-4:30pm, Planting for fall harvest, crop rotation, and harvest techniques

Session 4: Saturday August 6th 3:00-4:30 pm, Harvesting, Growing problem solving Q &A

Session 5: Saturday September 10th 3:00-4:30pm, Food Preservation & Putting a garden to bed

Session 6: Saturday October 8th 3:00-4:30pm, Orchard Fruits, Bees and Vermicomposting

Horton Park gardening this Friday!

2011-04-27T07:18:00.003-05:00

We are holding our first gardening day at Horton Park this Friday, April 29th, from 10:00 am to noon, a different day than usual because of all the weekend spring holidays this year. We will be raking leaves, clipping dried vegetation from last year, and digging weeds. If you can bring clippers, rakes, a wheelbarrow, and/or your favorite digging tool, please do - otherwise just show up. We should be seeing the earliest spring blooms in the gardens - bloodroot, pussytoes, and prairie smoke will likely be visible. Please join us if you can - it may be the only sunny day this week!

Please fill out HMEG survey about emerging initiatives & meeting alternatives

2011-04-04T21:57:00.011-05:00

HMEG is likely faced with needing to move our meeting night and venue! Please help us ID some meeting options and learn which emerging projects pique your interest. It's only a dozen questions. Many thanks for your assistance.

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Two Compost Bin and Rain Barrel Sales for Ramsey County Residents

2011-03-04T07:53:00.005-06:00

Ramsey County is offering two upcoming sales for compost bins and rain barrels at reduced prices. By composting organic waste (vegetable scraps and yard waste) and capturing rainwater from the roof, you can reduce the need for expensive fertilizers, reduce your water bill, help keep waterways clean, and reduce waste. The Recycling Association of Minnesota will have its sale in Saint Paul on April 30 and May 1 (pre-registration required). The City of Roseville, in partnership with several other cities in Ramsey County, will have its sale on May 7. For more information, see below.

Please note: These types of compost bin offerings usually happen only once in a year.

Rain Barrel and Compost Bin SALE!

Order now to pick up at the
Rock Tenn Paper Mill-St. Paul April 30th & May 1st!
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. each day.
Accepting orders until sold out.
Hurry, while supplies last!

Compost Bin Available

$55


The Earth Machine

Dimensions: 33" x 33"

Capacity: 10 cubic feet

Rain Barrel Styles Available

Both styles $69

The Rain Catcher

Dimensions: 24" W x 34" H

Capacity: 54 gallons

The Systern

Dimensions: 34" H, 26.1" in diameter

Capacity: 55 gallons

Payment by credit card only. Prices listed above do not include sales tax.

City of Roseville Bin & Barrel Sale
Website for the 1 Day Sale

Saturday, May 7, 2011
9:00 - 3:00 pm (or earlier if sold out)

Roseville City Hall
2660 Civic Center Drive
Directions

Help yourself, help your wallet and help your earth at the same time.

Purchase a rainbarrel and/or compost bin at our one day truckload sale Saturday, May 7 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm (or until sold out) at Roseville City Hall, 2660 Civic Center Drive.

Compost bins will be $45 and rainbarrels $55. There will also be kitchen collector pails ($7) and compost turning tools ($15) available to purchase as well.

Food scraps such as fruit and vegetable wastes, breads, pastas, grains, coffee grounds, egg shells, and tea bags as well as weeds, non-woody shrub trimmings, faded flowers, and vines are among the things you can put into your compost instead of your garbage. Compost can be used as mulch and plant food in your yard. Keeping organic waste out of your garbage reduces your trash volume so you could switch to a smaller garbage cart.

Capture rain in a rainbarrel and have a free source of water for your garden. In addition to saving you money, rainbarrels can keep moisture away from your foundation and prevent debris from washing into our storm sewers.

For more information contact Recycling Coordinator Tim Pratt.

HMEG and Mississippi Market to screen the film "Lunch Line"

2011-02-21T21:52:00.003-06:00

Join us for a screening of the film Lunch Line on Wednesday, March 9 at 6 p.m. at the Hamline-Midway Public Library, 1558 W. Minnehaha Ave.

Lunch Line (http://lunchlinefilm.com/) portrays the story of six kids from a tough Chicago neighborhood working to fix school lunch. Their journey parallels the dramatic transformation of school lunch from a weak patchwork of local anti-hunger efforts to a robust national feeding program. Along the way, Senators, Secretaries of Agriculture, entrepreneurs, and activists from across the political spectrum add top-down perspective to a bottom-up film about the American political process, the health and welfare of its future, and the realities of feeding more than 31 million children a day.

This event is being sponsored by the Hamline-Midway Environmental Group and Mississippi Market Natural Foods Co-op. All are welcome to attend. If you plan to attend the film, please RSVP with the number attending to 651-690-0507 or info@msmarket.coop to reserve your seat. There is limited space in the library auditorium. Mississippi Market will be serving organic popcorn!

Gardening for Bees: Library Lecture now arranged by Xerces and HMEG

2011-02-02T14:23:00.007-06:00

Gardening for Bees: Pollinators are essential to the health of our ecosystem and also to the integrity of our food supply. Elaine Evans from the University of Minnesota and the Xerces Society will present information on how your garden can benefit from having a healthy pollinator population. You will also learn what steps to take to encourage native pollinators in our gardens. Made possible by the Hamline Midway Environmental Group (www.hmeg.org) and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (www.xerces.org).

Note, this lecture is part of the Library's spring gardening series.

Date: March 2nd, 2011
Time: 6:30-7:30 pm
Location: Hamline Midway Library

Elaine Evans Conservation Consultant, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Portland, OR, and PhD Candidate at the University of Minnesota. She completed her B.S. in Biology in 1993 from Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA and her M.S. in Entomology at the U of M, St. Paul, 2001, where she studied the impact of floral resource competition between honey bees and bumble bees on the reproductive success of native bumble bees as well as tomato and cranberry pollination and bumble bee rearing. A summary of bumble bee rearing is in the book ―Befriending Bumble Bees: A Guide to Raising Local Bumble Bees. (ALA Godort 2008 Notable Government Document Award Winner) She also authored a chapter on bumble bee pollination in a forthcoming book on bees by fellow Xerces staff member Eric Mader. The focus of her work is to promote conservation of native pollinators. Elaine has worked as a Conservation Consultant for the Xerces Society, a non-profit insect conservation organization, where she worked for Xerces since 2007 studying declining North American Bombus populations. She is currently studying native bee populations in North Dakota.

Report on sucessful boulevard raingarden in the Midway now available to aide Blair-Griggs RSVP residents get their FREE raingarden

2011-01-21T09:34:00.007-06:00

This is an exciting time in the Hamline Midway neighborhood for our stormwater sustainability and for a portion of our neighborhood that will be undergoing the Residential Street Vitality Program RSVP construction in the 2011 season. Residents whose streets will be repaved this summer (Blair-Griggs RSVP Project) are eligible for FREE boulevard rain gardens with joint support from the City of St. Paul and the Capitol Region Watershed District. A rain garden is a shallow, constructed depression to catch rainwater and allow it to infiltrate into the ground within 48 hours. Rain gardens contain plants that can tolerate standing water for several hours. Rain gardens help the Mississippi River's health by allowing water to infiltrate into the ground rather than run off into storm drains directly to the river.

Here are the details tolearn more: If you live in the Blair-Griggs RSVP area (between Hamline and Lexington, and Minnehaha and Thomas) and you are interested, contact Faith at the Hamline Midway Coalition to learn more. Call 651-646-1986 or email faith@hamlinemidway.org. This is a fantastic deal!

To assist folks in visualizing what a boulevard raingarden looks like and how it functions, HMEG is distributing this report on the highly successful example installed by Steve Mitrione in 2010. This report, written by Steve, has photos, diagrams and explanations of the installation and performance of his boulevard raingarden. Projects like these are "win-win-wins" for improving the water quality of the Mississippi River, beautifying your yard, and assisting in the health of boulevard trees.

Please note: you may find this report easier to see if you click on the rightmost icon (a box in box) which will open the document in a new window.

Two January opportunities to find out how to reduce your home energy costs!

2011-01-21T09:11:00.002-06:00

So what are you waiting for? Home Energy Squads have been visiting the Hamline Midway neighborhood for about 9 months and many of our homes have been weather stripped, had upgraded lighting, and received water heater blankets and programmable thermostats. It time for you take advantage of this great deal too. Here are two January options to get your deal:

Home Energy Workshop on January 22nd

Come to the Home Energy Workshop on Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 10:00 am at Hancock Recreation Center (1610 Hubbard Ave) to learn about saving money on your energy bills. Saint Paul residents who attend this free energy workshop receive a voucher reducing the cost of a Home Energy Squad visit to only $30 (regularly $50 to $80)! If you participate, you receive nearly $400 in products and services and save an average of $194 a year in energy costs. Saint Paul residents who first attend a free home energy workshop and then receive a Home Energy Squad visit can qualify for up to $650 in rebates for insulation, air sealing, and heating system improvements. See the Neighborhood Energy Connection’s website for more information. You may RSVP to Faith at the Hamline Midway Coalition by calling 651-646-1986 or emailing faith@hamlinemidway.org or just show up on the day of the event.

Home Energy FunFest on January 29th

The Neighborhood Energy Connection’s first-ever Home Energy Funfest will be held Saturday, January 29, 2011, from Noon to 4 p.m. at North End Elementary, 27 East Geranium Ave (just east of Rice). The Funfest is family-friendly and free. Saint Paul families who attend the event can take part in a short, entertaining home energy workshop titled “Attack of the Phantom Load.” By attending this workshop, Saint Paul residents are eligible to receive the ever-popular Home Energy Squad visit for just $30. That’s a $50 discount, made possible by a grant that will end this spring. Attached is the official poster for the event.

HMEG- Let's Celebrate!

2010-11-06T10:40:00.003-05:00

Hamline Midway Environmental Group Volunteer Celebration

Please join us for a casual celebration of the many volunteers who have helped make the Hamline Midway clean and green! Stop by any time from 1:00 to 3:00 to enjoy a cup of coffee, hot cider and a treat with your fellow neighbor volunteers to reflect on the many accomplishments of the Hamline Midway Environmental Group over this past year. From our urban forest, to the community gardens, and the many community events we’ve hosted--you’ve all worked very hard and contributed so much! Also, if you are new to HMEG and/or want to learn more about the group and its recent accomplishments, you are welcome to stop by also. Let’s celebrate!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Gingko’s Coffeehouse

1:00-3:00

Taking Stock

2010-11-03T16:07:00.027-05:00

The Hamline Midway is known for its community gardeners, library lovers, tree supporters, chicken keepers, bike enthusiasts, and such (remember the "urban petri dish"?). This year, ambitious Hamline Midway neighbors have certainly lived up to the billing. Here is a list of accomplishments that Hamline Midway Environment Group supporters have managed to pull off. We say "manage" because folks knew that the goals were high and some individuals were biting off nearly too much. However, these eco-volunteers cannot pass-up a good opportunity and many opportunities certainly presented themselves in 2010. HMEGers are not satisfied with being idle and watching unsustainable situations continue.

Mainly, HMEG folks continued their mantra to "show up" and do.

There are many individuals who contributed to these outcomes. They are not listed specifically here, but our neighborhood, city and globe say "thank you" for your energy!

2010 HMEG accomplishments

Community Gardens and Greening

A new community orchard was installed at Midway Greenspirit Garden. The grant application, orchard design, tool acquisition, tree ordering, installation and maintenance were completed by a wide cast of volunteers. The Orchard is sponsored by the St. Paul Garden Club who granted the money to Gardening Matters for this purpose.
Midway community garden sites coordinated efforts to get plant donations this year through the MN State Horticultural Society's MN Green donations. Selecting, driving, and planning happened across all gardens by volunteers.
A new garden leader for the Hamline-Thomas garden emerged, which continues an interesting cooperative model of rotating community garden leaders.
HMEG was supportive of a gateway planting installed along Snelling and Taylor Avenues. Connecting neighbors to people and resources to help breakthrough bureaucracy.
The Snelling Avenue planter project had a successful year due to new volunteer support and better business coordination through a switch to weekday morning events.
Horton Park community gardeners hosted a Girl Scout troop this season. The girls trimmed, weeded, planted all while learning a bit about native plants.
The Midway Greenspirit Garden hosted the 1^st Annual Midway Plant Swap in October.
HMEG members participated in the Twin Cities wide effort to explore the creation of Local Foods Resource Hubs.

Community Events

HMEG members exhibited at the "Festival of Trees" event at Newell Park in May. Our table had information about the ash tree survey, Emerald Ash Borer, and more. Neighbor volunteers also helped with a bare-root tree planting of 30 trees in and near the park with the 4H kids.
HMEG also exhibited at Newell Park for a second back-to-back weekend in May. The Midway Folks Festival brought many neighbors by the HMEG tent to see tree/EAB information and pick-up a free organic "lawn care" sign for their yards (which were donated by the SE Como neighborhood).
Six Midway community gardens came together to put on the Bugs n' Bike Parade of Community Garden tour in August. Each site had bug themed activities and information.
HMEG hosted a 350.org bike event at the library this fall in conjunction with the 10-10-10 Global Workparty. The event included a bike drive and winter biking workshop.

Trees

The Tree Team acquired a $3,500 grant from Council Member Russ Stark and the COPP fund. This money was sought and used for tree distribution and information in the Midway.
HMEG solicited and received youth book donations about trees from Coughlan Companies. These books were donated to the St. Paul Public Library, with a set staying at the Hamline Midway branch.
The HMEG Tree team, supported by Metro State intern Tanner, executed a volunteer-driven residential ash tree survey determining the number of ash trees exist on private property trees. In the Midway, we have 10% ash trees on private property, which is lower than the public tree rate of 17%. This citizen science initiative is getting attention locally and nationally.
Tree Team held two fundraisers at Borders and 10,000 Villages to raise additional funds for the tree projects.
The Tree Team crew distributed over 60 FREE trees to Midway neighbors in the Fall and each recipient got mulch and tree care manual too.

Waste Reduction

HMEG sponsored a stint of recycling yogurt cups at Shirtz Unlimited. When Whole Foods added #5 recycling, the program transitioned to their collection.
HMEG published a bulletin about leaf recycling Also, volunteers worked with Hamline Hardware to offer fencing lengths that can be used to save leaves for composting/mulching.
HMEG continues to explore community compost & recycling maps and blogs hoping to create a waste reduction resource for our local needs.

And More...

A new HMEG logo was created printed on banners that were designed to be used with new event tablecloth created from reused, hand-dyed materials.
A leap forward in web presence with a new HMEG.org domain (which directs to the new HMEG Blog), a Facebook page, an updated HMC web page with fresh garden & HMEG content. The HMEG Blog came on the scene with many contributors writing about trees, energy conservation, waste reduction, community gardens and neighborhood events.
A relationship with Experiential College EXCO and the Hamline Midway Library Association was forged with the hope that classes on sustainable living are offered.
Promotion of a series Home Energy Workshops by Metro CERTS for the Hamline Midway neighborhood, that included Home Energy Squad visits to outfit homes with bulbs, weather stripping, thermostats, and more.
HMEG members were interviewed for film documentary called the 350 Solutions Revolution.
HMEG member was appointed to the Energy Cents Coalition board, an organization that promotes affordable utility service for low and fixed income people, works to ensure the basic necessity of energy to all citizens, and encourages the participation of low and fixed income citizens in energy issues and energy related decision-making.

Support given to these projects came from Hamline Midway Coalition, Extension Service Master Gardeners & Tree Care Advisors, Home Energy Squad, Hamline University, EXCO, Sibley Bike Depot, Metro CERTS, St. Paul Forestry, Frogtown Gardeners, Metro State, Girl Scouts, Gardening Mattes, CM Russ Stark, St. Paul Garden Club, Hamline Hardware, Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply, Coughlan Companies, Borders, 10,000 Villages, MN350.org, Sibley Bike Depot, Bike/Walk Ambassadors, 350 Solutions Revolution, SECIA, Hamline Midway Library Association

Other green actions this year happened in the Midway too. HMEG celebrates these occurrences too:

A groundbreaking residential boulevard rain garden with curbcut installed on Hubbard Ave - unique for the city. Project success is being shared to various departments and organizations to encourage boulevard rain gardens as a more routine practice.
An new Urban Farm Store, Egg|Plant, was opened by Midway-ites Bob and Audrey.
The Hamline United Methodist Church raingarden was dedicated this year and is now known as the Maxine Smith Raingarden. A new mosaic garden sign was made and installed this year.
A more pedestrian friendly crossing was planned for Peirce Butler Ave at Hamline Ave. This will allow Midway bikers to travel north more safely and avoiding Snelling Avenue's freeway style interchanges.
HMEG's own Diane Dodge was appointed to the Saint Paul Ramsey County Food Commission. Diane will bring and excellent food justice perspective to the commission, and will help ensure the intersection of food and race are not ignored.

Residential Ash Tree Inventory and 2010 Tree Distribution is Completed!

2010-10-25T12:26:00.002-05:00

HMEG's 2010 Residential Ash Tree Inventory has long been completed, but we want to share the final reporting on the project. Over 25 neighbor volunteers (including a 4-year old, 6-year old, and 2 dogs) counted trees on residential properties and identified how many of those are ash. There are over 6,700 trees and approximately 680 ash trees making our residential ash population about 10% as compared to the public (boulevard, park) ash population of 17%. Also collected were how many properties had space for tree plantings and these addresses were given first chance at HMEG shade tree distributions. No other neighborhood in St. Paul has conducted this kind of survey and it could not have happened without the efforts of neighbors Tanner Larsen (as part of an internship) and Barb Spears. Thanks to all volunteers!

To see a full write-up of the project, see an e-copy of the Shade Tree Advocate Winter 2011 issue: http://issuu.com/mnstac/docs/shade_tree_winter_2011.

Help Wanted Hamline Midway Recycles Blogmaster

2010-10-23T08:51:00.000-05:00

Help Wanted

Hamline Midway Recycles

Blogmaster

The Hamline Midway Environmental Group identified a need for a information source for our neighborhood. There is a lot of information about recycle, reuse, or reduce on the internet but where are the LOCAL drop off places so we can also save energy? We began to build http://hmrecycle.blogspot.com/ to fill this need. We now need to find a neighbor who is passionate about recycling who will continue this site development and get the word out to our neighbors.

Take a look at what we have done so far and contact MidwayRecycles@hmeg.org to find out more. Thank you for your help. HMEG

Rain Fall Summer 2010 at the Midway Green Spirit Community Garden

2010-10-18T08:19:00.006-05:00

HMEGer and community gardener, Everett, set-up a rain gauge this season at the Midway Green Spirit Community Garden. The rain gauge is located inside the bee hive enclosure. This is a table of the weekly rain fall for 2010 as measured each Sunday for the previous week.

6/27 - 3.75"
7/4 - 0.25"
7/11 - 1.50"
7/18 - 1.50"
7/25 - 0 .75"
8/1 - 0.4"
8/8 - 0.4"
8/15 - 4.4"
8-15-9/12 - 1.25"
9/19 - 1"
9/24 - 3"
9/24-10/17 - 0"

Average about 1.1"/week during prime growing season.

Thanks Everett for your diligence in collecting this data. For comparison, or more climate data (this year and historical) the University on Minnesota has collected measures on this page.

Climate change bike ride: Send-off the 350 Solutions Revolution bikers on Oct 16th

2010-10-12T12:49:00.001-05:00

350 Solutions Revolution is a bicycle journey across America filming the story of local communities’ working to solve the climate crisis. They started biking from Portland, Oregon to Washington, D.C. and along the way, they are filming a documentary of local communities’ solutions to the climate crisis. On November 16, they will meet with senators in D.C. to share the homegrown solutions with them. Then they will take a train to Florida and sail to Cancun, Mexico for the United Nations Climate Change Conference November 29 – December 10, 2010.

Everyone is welcome to join! You are invited to ride for a day or the whole way. The next ride is on:

Participation Pedal: Sendoff Bike Ride – Oct. 16, 10am @ Walker Sculpture Park

Further, there is a Reception and Fundraiser on October 13, 5-8pm
Celebrate the halfway mark of our journey! Minneapolis, Minnesota! Riders Alec Neal, Katherine Ball, and Malkolm Boothroyd will share stories, solutions, photos and videos about the journey thus far. We will also have art for sale and light refreshments provided by the fabulous pastry chef and author Zoe Francois (www.zoebakes.com)
This reception is also a fundraiser, but their is no obligation to contribute.
Please RSVP: 313.605.2924, info@solutionsrevolution.org
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 5-8pm
Home of Craig and Patricia Neal, 3600 Zenith Avenue S. #101, Minneapolis, MN 55410

What does the number 350 mean?

350 is the most important number in the world—it’s what scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Right now we’re at 387 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. We need to get below 350ppm to stabilize the climate and prevent complete disaster. Our friends at 350.org are supporting this ride and working to get our leaders to craft policies that will put the world on track to 350. Visit 350.org for more information on the science behind 350.
“The Solutions Revolution: Here’s a team that’s spreading the most important number in the world–350–one mile at a time across the middle of the nation. The ride is waking up a country that needs waking up, because our Congress holds one of the keys to solving the climate conundrum!”

- Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org

Free Home Energy Efficiency Workshop for St. Paul Residents

2010-10-12T12:41:00.002-05:00

Saturday, October 16, 2010 from 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

St. Paul residents are saving money and energy by participating in Neighborhood Energy Service. The program, a joint effort by Metro CERT and the Neighborhood Energy Connection, educates residents about energy use and then sends a crew to their home to install basic energy saving materials. Once doors have been weather stripped, light bulbs changed, and thermostats replaced average participants have been saving an average of $192 per year on their energy bills. Participants will receive personal energy reports in the mail after their home visit and are eligible for additional rebates up to $400 for air sealing/insulating and up to $250 for a new furnace/boiler.

Materials installed may include:

Door weather stripping
Compact Flourescent Light (CFL) bulbs
Low flow showerheads
Faucet aerators
Hot water heater blanket
Programmable thermostat

Must attend workshop to qualify for discount and rebates. Program only available to St. Paul residents (renters are welcome!)

Program sponsored by the Environment and Natural Resource Trust Fund. Other partners include Center for Energy and Environment, Xcel Energy, City of St. Paul, and Minnesota Conservation Corps.

Event is FREE, RSVP at http://savesenergy.eventbrite.com/

Central High School Auditorium
275 Lexington Pkwy
Saint Paul, MN 55104

Can't attend on Oct 16th? Check out nes.mncerts.org

HMEG Bulletin: Fall Leaf Recycling for Mulch and Compost

2010-10-06T21:02:00.002-05:00

The Hamline Midway Environment Group has adapted information from the MPCA, Master Gardeners and from their own experience to get the word out that your autumn leaves are a valuable resource. Autumn leaves have nutrients or can fulfill function that is required by your lawn, compost pile, chicken run, or gardens. Sure, you can always take the material to the county yard waste compost site, but here are several eco-smart options that will benefit you for 12 months until the next fall:

If you have a backyard compost bin, or plan to start one, save your dry leaves to use as a carbon source, or "browns". "Browns" are essential to non-smelly, active compost and must be added to vegetable scraps (aka "greens") for compost success. You cannot avoid finding a "browns" source while composting, so why not use what falls onto your yard?

Create free and convenient garden mulch from your leaves by collecting your autumn leaves in a hoop of wire or plastic fencing. They will breakdown partly over the winter and come next summer, you will have a valuable mulch to use in your garden beds. Leaf mulch (sometimes called leaf mold) works especially well in vegetable gardens because it breaks down quickly in one season. If these leaves are mowed first they will fit into a smaller hoop, but this step is not necessary.

Use a mower to break leaves into tiny pieces and leave them on your lawn. A leaf layer that is thin enough to still see some grass is fine for lawns and returns valuable nutrients back to the grass plants.

If you have pets, or backyard chickens, dried leaves are a source of free and sustainable bedding. By storing bagged leaves in a sheltered location, you can omit the need to purchase and transport animal bedding.

Whether you compost your own leaves or take them to the county compost site, it's important to make sure that you are not raking up dog waste. Dog and cat waste can carry disease and need to be disposed of properly.

You can also help keep our water and air clean by what you don't do with that pile of leaves:

Don't throw yard waste in the trash. Mixing yard and tree waste with your trash is illegal in Minnesota.

Don't rake leaves onto a city street or sidewalk. It washes too many leaves, and therefore nutrients, into the Mississippi River via the stormwater sewers.

And last, don't burn large piles of leaves. Burning of twigs and yard debris releases large amounts of air pollution in to the atmosphere.

Click here if you would like a printable copy of this flyer (pdf)

Some labels for your plant swap transplants

2010-09-29T14:57:00.002-05:00

This Saturday is the Hamline Midway Plant Swap! Have you started collecting some plant divisions and seeds for trade? To facilitate swapping, we have a pre-made label for you. Try to fill out as much as possible, but its OK if there is missing information.

To download a pdf sheet of 6 labels go here:
http://tinyurl.com/HMEGplant-labels

We will see you at the swap!

First Annual Hamline Midway Plant Swap

Sat, October 2, 10am – 2pm

	At the Hamline Park Building (SE corner of Snelling & Lafond)

350.org Community Biking Event @Hamline Midway Library: Bike drive, workshops, & kid's activities

2010-09-26T22:04:00.005-05:00

Community members in the Midway are joining the Global Work Party organized by 350.org campaign! Be a part of the world wide action day by participating in the FREE community biking event at the Hamline Midway Library. The joy of biking need not end when the snow starts to fly!

Our Free Winter Biking Workshop and Community Bike Drive takes place on Saturday, October 9, 12:30-4 pm. Learn some tips for your winter riding, AND contribute to a used bike drive to collect unwanted bikes to help power Sibley Bike Depot's community bicycling programs.

Here is the schedule line-up:

donate used, unwanted bikes to Sibley Bike Depot, a suggested donation of $10 to cover bike repairs/parts is requested if possible. Used bikes power Sibley Bike Depot's great community programs. No bike turned away! (12:30-2:00pm)
chat with Smart Trips and Bike/Walk Ambassadors about year-round bike resources (1:00 - 1:30pm),
attend the winter commuting workshop (1:30-3:00pm),
attend the “How to Fix a Flat (Bike) Tire” workshop (3:00-4:00pm).
Kids' activities and treats available.

To pre-register, or for more information, contact Carrie at carriepomeroy (at) tcq.net. All are welcome to attend even if you don't sign up ahead of time, but pre-registering would be helpful for planning purposes.

The next day, we also have the chance to join our efforts with the larger Twin Cities communities at two exciting events on Sun., 10/10/2010: 1) a 10-mile group bike ride starting at Como Park and ending near the Stone Arch Bridge, and 2) a celebration at the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis to gather together the many people working on climate change in our communities and to share stories and information.

Why 350? Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO₂ in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. The thing is, we are presently at 390 ppm. Global Work Parties address the fact that communities need to keep trying to reduce their carbon emissions.

This event is co-sponsored by Sibley Bike Depot, Hamline Midway Environment Group, Hamline Midway Library Association, 350.org, Twin Cities Bike/Walk Ambassadors, and St. Paul Smart Trips.

About the photo: Was taken at the 350 Bicycle Ride in Mumbai, India. Students in Mumbai, India hosted a bike ride and formed a human 350 in celebration of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action in 2009. This was one of 5,200 creative demonstrations that happened around the world.

First Annual Hamline Midway Plant Swap Set For October 2nd

2010-09-12T08:27:00.008-05:00

All plant loving neighborhood residents are invited to the First Annual Hamline Midway Plant Swap, 10:00am - 2:00pm, Saturday, October 2 at the Hamline Park Building (SE corner of Snelling & Lafond). Bring perennial plants (or seeds) to trade or give away.

The swap will be simple, bring plants to give away or trade. If you don't have any plant to give away, come anyway as I am sure there will be someone who has more than they need of a particular plant.

The plant swap is sponsored by the Midway Greenspirit Community Garden and will coincide with the Hamline Midway Tree Team free tree give-away at the same location. We hope there will be synergy between these two events. See www.hmeg.org for details on the tree event or email treeteam (at) hmeg.org.

See you there.

Stephen Mitrione
Garden Coordinator
Midway Greenspirit Garden
St. Paul, MN
smitrione (at) iphouse.com

You’re Invited to Get a FREE TREE From the Hamline Midway Tree Team!

2010-09-06T20:54:00.005-05:00

As a community, we are facing losing all of our ash trees due to the Emerald ash borer. Neighbor volunteers have surveyed the Hamline Midway neighborhood this summer to identify ash trees and tree planting spaces on residential properties. Further, the Hamline Midway Tree Team has secured sponsorship to distribute free trees and we want to give one to YOU!

Most of the trees come from Outback Nursery, a native plant nursery in Hastings whose owner has a connection to the neighborhood. Others have been donated. Trees are offered first-come, first- served based on availability, limited to one tree per property and cannot be planted on the boulevard. See your choices below.

Available Tree Species

American Basswood, Tilia americana. Zone 3-6. 5-gallon container. Ht. 50-60' W 30-40'. Full sun to partial shade. Shade tolerant. Golden yellow fall color. Fragrant flower clusters.

Black Walnut, Juglans nigra. Zone 4-7. (Donated - native). Approx. 2-gallon container. Ht. 50-75' W 50-75'. Tolerates drought. Full sun. Golden yellow fall color. Edible nuts. Large nuts.Allelopathic.

European hornbeam, Carpinus betulus. Zone 4-7. (Donated – non-native). 1-gallon container. Ht. 50-60’ W 40’-60’. Dense dark green foliage. Yellow fall color. Ribbed nutlet. Fluted bark.

Hackberry, Celtis occidentalis. Zone 3-5. 7-gallon container. Ht. 50-75' W 50-75'. Full sun to part shade. Tolerates dry polluted conditions. Persistent small, purplish berries. Yellow fall color. Very high wildlife value.

Red Pine, Pinus resinosa. Zone 2-4. 2-gallon container. Ht. 75' W 35-55'. Full sun. Minnesota State Tree. Also called Norway Pine. Long dark green needles. Reddish bark. Canopy becomes open and flat-topped with age.

Swamp White Oak, Quercus bicolor. Zone 4-5. 5-gallon container. Ht. 50-60' W 40-50'. Tolerates most soils. Requires wet to moist acidic soil. Flood tolerant. Exfoliating two-tone bark. Yellow orange fall color. Persistent leaves in winter. Fibrous root system. Resistant to salt and soil compaction. Very high wildlife value.

Tamarack, Larix laricina. Zone 2-5. (Donated - native). 1-gallon container. Ht. 50-75’ W 15’-30’. Midsize tree. Soft needles turn straw yellow in fall before dropping, medium to fast growth rate; prefers full to partial sun.

Yellow Birch, Betula alleghaniensis. Zone 2-4. 5-gallon container. Ht. 60-70' W 30'. Full sun to part shade. Yellowish-bronze, exfoliating bark. Beautiful yellow fall color. Resistant to
birch borer. Very high wildlife value.

Recipients MUST pick up their tree on October 2 at the Hamline Midway Coalition parking lot between 8:00am –12:00N. Tree care experts will be on hand with information and free advice. FREE mulch available – bring your own container. Assistance with delivery and tree planting may be available upon request.

Reserve your FREE tree by September 26!

E-mail
treeteam@hmeg.org
or call Barb at
651-646-5568.

Be sure to call Gopher One before you dig: (651) 454-0002

We Take Donations! If you can offset your free tree with $10, $15 or more, your investment will go right back into the tree fund for future plantings. Checks can be made to HMC. Thanks!

Major funding from the Community Organization Partnership Program and McKnight Foundation via the Hamline Midway Coalition.

A project of the Hamline Midway Environmental Group www.HMEG.org

_____________________________________________________

This information can be downloaded as a pdf flyer too.

An observant son, a winter biking workshop, and community action with the 350.org campaign in the Midway

2010-09-05T13:57:00.005-05:00

by Carrie Pomeroy
On Saturday, October 9, 12:30-4 pm, there's going to be a winter biking workshop and community used bike drive at the Hamline Midway Library, co-sponsored by community partners HMEG, the Hamline Midway Library Association, Sibley Bike Depot, and St. Paul Smart Trips. There will be workshops on winter bike commuting and how to fix a flat tire (I'm especially looking forward to that one!), as well as children's activities and a bike drive to collect used bikes for Sibley Bike Depot's many great community programs. This event is one of 1200+ locally organized climate work days in 110+ countries, inspired by the international group 350.org, and aimed at lowering carbon emission through local community actions. You can find more information on the event on the 350.org website or on Facebook.

I wanted to tell you a little bit about what motivated me to reach out to all these great community partners and basically say, "Hey kids, let's put on a show!" I've long been aware of climate change and the need to live simply and conserve energy, but this summer, the need to make some big changes really hit home for me. The images from the Gulf oil spill profoundly troubled me, as they did so many others. I did some pretty sobering reading, including Thomas J. Friedman's "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" and Sharon Astyk's "Depletion and Abundance" and "A Nation of Farmers." One day, my son and I were talking about how the world would probably look very different when he was my age. He nodded and said, "Things are either going to be a lot better or a lot worse."

I decided I really needed to start living, as Sharon Astyk puts it, as if I actually do love my children--in other words, to take responsibility for how my actions affect the world our children live in and will inherit. One of the baby steps I took this summer was to get involved with 350.org, a worldwide movement led by author and activist Bill McKibben. 350 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere is the level many scientists believe is the level we need to be at in order to maintain a livable planet and stave off some of the worst impacts of climate change. We're now at 392 parts per million and rising. This year, 350's theme is "Get to Work," and as part of that theme, they're sponsoring thousands of climate work days all over the world. People are planting trees, installing solar panels, caulking cracks in buildings, picking up trash. One trio I've gotten to know is biking across the country from Portland, OR to Washington, DC, then taking a train and a boat to Mexico for the next big climate change conference in Cancun. All along the way, they'll be filming local climate change solutions around the country. You can find out more about them at http://www.350solutionsrevolution.org/

Inspired by the 350 Solutions Revolution cross-country journey, my own love of biking, and the love of biking I see in our neighborhood, I decided a winter biking event would be a fun way to take action here in the Midway. Planning this event, I've gotten to know folks in HMEG and been inspired by all the good, pro-active work they're already doing to lower carbon emissions and point our neighborhood toward a more sustainable future. From the Greenspirit Community Garden to this summer's Tree Team effort to document residential ash trees and offer trees to neighbors in danger of losing trees to emerald ash borers, from the Sunday barter market to the Bikes 'n' Bugs garden tour, they are building community and solutions in exactly the way our world so desperately needs.

As Bill McKibben has put it, cheap energy has given us independence and convenience, but it's also made us less reliant on our neighbors--and there's been a spiritual and emotional price for that, as well as an ecological one. Our future is undoubtedly challenging, but it may also point us back to a happier, more connected way of life.

We could use lots of help with the biking event on October 9, so if you'd like to volunteer, please let me know by emailing carriepomeroy (at) tcq.net . Or just attend and get inspired to gear up for safe, fun winter biking!

HMEG has a new look!

2010-08-29T22:44:00.009-05:00

This posting has been waiting to shine for some time. If you had not noticed, the HMEG logo got a significant upgrade this year. Much of the credit for the new logo goes to Midway-ite Mona Toft, who re-designed the HMEG logo . Mona added the color scheme, tree seedling and a border, bringing the former logo to the prime-time.

In our preparations for HMEG spring events, the group wanted to take the snazzy new logo on the road to both the Arbor Day/Festival of Trees, and the Midway Folk Festival.

Christina Jenson and Erin Pavlica collaborated on the the hand-dyed tablecloth, made of reused fabric. Mona arranged for our fabric banners to be printed by Christi Michaels-Flaherty, owner of T-Shirt Lady.Biz, Digital Garment & Fabric Printing.

The result of these efforts were brilliant. The HMEG booth was sharp. Kudos to all involved, your service is greatly appreciated.

The photo above shows Mona next to the banner in May at Newell Park.

Contribute to HMEG's tree fund by buying books on 8/21 and 8/22 at Borders

2010-08-14T21:37:00.008-05:00

For a printable pdf of this voucher, click this link.

Shop at Midway Borders in-store and bring this bar code with you. Or, shop online and enter the Borders online code. A percentage of the net sales raised from this coupon will be donated to the Hamline Midway Tree Project to buy more trees for the neighborhood! Its Border's Benefit Days – their way of giving back! Click to learn more about the HMEG Tree Team.

Valid 08/21/10 – 08/22/10 at the Midway-St. Paul Store Only or Online using Borders Online Code: HMTP8212W for use at www.borders.com

Excludes previous purchases, gift cards, newspapers, magazines, coupon books, digital downloads, comics, special orders, video games, Smartbox products, Rosetta Stone software, and shipping. Void where prohibited by law. Any other use constitutes fraud. Cash value .01¢. Not redeemable for cash. Valid on 8/21/10 - 8/22/10.

Cashiers: Ring items, select S3, select S4, scan or enter barcode #, select S1, enter $0.01, and Total. Note: if a customer presents a Total Purchase coupon, such as "$5 off Total Purchase" or "10% off Total Purchase", use this barcode to ring that discount. Follow the instructions on the original coupon, but scan the barcode on the Benefits Day voucher. The register will only accept one barcode for Total Purchase coupons.

HMEG Photo Site

2010-08-08T22:22:00.003-05:00

Have you clicked through the HMEG photo collection? Some recent additions have been made this week. See all the albums at our photo site http://picasaweb.google.com/hortonpark. Have other pictures to contribute or willing to fill in captions? Contact steph at hmeg dot org .

HMEG Events and Other Projects

Jun 4, 2010

photos: 12

Market Days - Midway Barter Market

Aug 2, 2009

photos: 6

Friends of Horton Park

Jul 12, 2009

photos: 92

HUMC Maxine Smith Raingarden

Feb 7, 2009

photos: 36

Snelling Avenue Planter Project

Jan 26, 2009

photos: 49

HMEG Rain Barrel Workshops

Jun 8, 2007

photos: 17

Hamline Thomas Intersection Improvements and Community Garden

May 24, 2007

photos: 33

Midway Greenspirit Garden

Feb 7, 2007

photos: 19

Hamline Midway Tree Team

Sep 26, 2006

photos: 46

Hamline Midway Bugs n' Bikes Community Garden Tour

2010-08-06T09:04:00.008-05:00

Spend the day biking between Hamline Midway gardens, participating in activities, eating wonderful food, and having a great time at the:

Hamline Midway Bugs n' Bikes Community Garden Tour Saturday, August 21st, 10 am – 2 pm

Part of the Gardening Matters “Parade of Community Gardens”

Here is the list of the SIX community gardens participating in Hamline Midway neighborhood and the exciting activities and events each site is planning. This day will celebrate these sites and the people who volunteer to make them happen. Lots of fun to be had right in the Midway!

Pump up those bike tires and chart your course:

41. Snelling Planters
755 Snelling Ave N
::Bug hat activity
::Composting information/demonstrations
::Sidewalk sale & free popcorn at Hamline Hardware

at Mosaic on a Stick
595 Snelling Avenue N
::Free community mosaic on a stick project 12-2pm

42. SPROUT Garden
1514 W Englewood Ave
::Bike check-ups, tune-ups, and education with Terri from Now Bikes and Fitness
::Bike Activity with Scott and Carrie from the Hamline Church
::Crafting project for kids!

43. Maxine Smith Rain Garden
Hamline Church-W Minnehaha Ave & N Simpson St.
::Rain garden information
::Capitol Region Watershed District staff present to answer questions on managing rain water runoff
::Face painting and cargo bike demonstration.

44. Midway GreenSpirit
W Pierce Butler Route & Hamline Ave N
::Check out the new orchard!
::Eat honey sweetened treats
::Ask Master Gardeners and beekeepers everything you ever wanted to know
::Beehive Demo at 1 pm; kids activities

45. Horton Park Gardens
W Minnehaha Ave & Hamline Ave N
::View beautiful native plant gardens
::Get questions about tree growing & emerald ash borer answered by experts
::Learn about the neighborhood tree inventory and how to get a free or low cost tree for your yard
::Refreshments and activities

46. Hamline Thomas Garden
Hamline Ave N & W Thomas Ave
::Information on monarch butterflies
::Learn the history of the garden – from decay to beauty!
::Come at 1:00 for a 15 minute lively and informative stuffed animal show by playwright, ::performer, and teacher Leslye Orr of Dreamland Arts.

Note: the numbers on the map correspond to the numbers above, which correspond to the listings posted at www.gardeningmatters.org, which will correspond to the bright orange directional signs you will see on the Parade day. A poster/flier for the Bugs n' Bike Tour for printing can be found here.

This map can also be accessed online at Google Maps

HMEG's own Diane Dodge to serve on Saint Paul Ramsey County Food Commission

2010-07-29T19:16:00.004-05:00

HMEG's own Diane Dodge is stepping up to the plate again. This time for the Saint Paul Ramsey County Food Commission formed, their first meeting is on August 2nd. As we HMEGers know, Diane will bring and excellent food justice perspective to the commission, and will ensure the intersection of food and race are not ignored. Go Diane!

Article from Minnpost.com

St. Paul, Ramsey County form high-powered commission on food and nutrition

By Joe Kimball | Published Tue, Jun 15 2010 10:08 am

A new 14-member commission will look at the operation of local food systems in Ramsey County and St. Paul.

Its mission:

To suggest policies, share information and develop strategies to increase access to affordable and nutritious foods. The Commission will create an action plan for a sustainable system that increases production, distribution and consumption of healthy, local food.

Topics ripe for discussion include: hunger, nutrition, food-related illness, community and backyard gardening, farmers' markets, culturally specific food availability, transportation for distributing and obtaining food, food access and security and environmental concerns related to food systems.

Seven members appointed by the City of St. Paul are:

Metric Giles, an urban gardener and member of the Rondo community.
Berne Hesse, a union organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789.
Becky Meyer, a community developer focusing on food issues with the East Side Neighborhood Development Co.
Helene Murray, director of the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Sustainable Agriculture.
Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of public radio’s “The Splendid Table,” cooking teacher and cookbook author.
Leonard Russo, proprietor of Heartland Restaurant.
Hai Truong, proprietor of Ngon Vietnamese Bistro.

The members appointed by Ramsey County are:

Diane Dodge, founding member of the Minnesota Food and Justice Alliance and Growing Food and Justice.
Nadja Berneche, an urban farmer and community service learning coordinator for Metropolitan State University.
Linda Litrell, founding member of the Sustainable Agriculture Study Group at the University of Minnesota.
Katie Koecher, a scientific relations professional for the University of Minnesota’s Food Science and Nutrition department.
Seth Kuhl-Stennes, a volunteer with the Minnesota Project’s Fruit of the City program, Celeste’s Dream Community Garden and Gardening Matters.
Colleen Schlieper, an urban farmer focusing on vegetable and egg production.
Robert Schuneman, chief operating officer for Swanson Meats.

Six Hamline-Midway Community Gardens participating in the 5th Annual Parade of Community Gardens!

2010-07-23T20:07:00.007-05:00

Bike, walk, run, skate, drive if need be to explore and celebrate a variety of green spaces and the bugs that help them grow on the Hamline-Midway Bugs n’ Bikes Community Garden Tour! Saturday, August 21 10am-2pm, six Hamline-Midway community gardens will offer fun, educational, and creative activities and treats for all ages as part of the 5th annual Parade of Community Gardens. Stop by any location to start your tour and pick up a map and schedule of events. Locations include:

Hamline-Thomas Community Garden at Hamline and Thomas Avenues
Hamline United Methodist Church at 1514 Englewood Ave
SPROUTS Community Gardens at 1514 Englewood Ave
Horton Park at Minnehaha and Hamline Avenues
Midway GreenSpirit Community Garden off of Pierce Butler between Hamline Avenue and Albert Street
Snelling Avenue Planters at Hamline Hardware at 755 Snelling Ave N

For further information or to get involved with these Midway garden sites and their events, please email junelune1@gmail.com.

Ten Thousand Villages Helping the HMEG Tree Team Buy More Trees for the Neighborhood!

2010-07-21T13:49:00.006-05:00

Here is a fun opportunity to support the Hamline Midway Tree Team in raising money to buy more trees for residents in the Hamline Midway neighborhood. Simply shop at Ten Thousand Villages this Thursday evening, July 22, from 5-8:00 pm! Barb from HMEG's Tree Team, will be on hand with info on this project and the Emerald Ash borer and greet customers.

Ten Thousand Villages St. Paul is a non-profit, fair trade gift shop whose mission is to provide vital, fair income to Third World people by offering home decor, jewelry and personal accessories, books, cookbooks, coffee and chocolate from over 38 countries around the world. They recognize the importance of trees and green spaces to a healthy, vibrant community so they are supporting our effort by providing a Benefit Shopping Night. You can do your part - it's easy!

Simply stop by the store on July 22, 2010 between 5:00 and 8:00pm. For every purchase made that evening, 20% of the proceeds go to the HMEG Tree Team. The store is located at 867 Grand Avenue (at Victoria Crossing West). Visit www.tenthousandvillages.com to learn more!

Rain Garden at Hamline Church dedicated to Maxine Smith

2010-07-05T14:12:00.003-05:00

The Maxine Smith Rain Garden was dedicated at the Hamline United Methodist Church last Sunday. The rain garden was created with the leadership of Hamline Midway resident Amy Schultz, church members and neighborhood volunteers through a grant from the Capitol Region Watershed District. The rain garden was established to conserve rain water that previously ran off the parking lots into the street. After three years, the rain garden is now a beautiful and flourishing addition to the Hamline Church grounds. The rain garden is dedicated to Maxine Smith, a long time church member and Midway resident who died of cancer. Maxine was the "ray of sunshine" that helped establish and maintain the gardens that surround the church and elsewhere in the neighborhood. When you pass the Maxine Smith Rain Garden, think of the many gifts that Maxine shared with our community and celebrate this great lady of gardens.

What's Blooming in the Horton Park Native Plant Gardens?

2010-06-30T19:51:00.004-05:00

Early summer is a beautiful time in oak savannas and prairies. The oak savanna garden in Horton Park has many plants blooming right now. Purples and oranges are especially vivid. For purples, leadplant (pictured under the pollinators blog entry)and harebells are in full bloom and attracting insect pollinators. Butterfly milkweed is its gorgeous orange self, preening to attract monarch butterflies. Other blooming plants are

Canada wild rye, which is one of the early blooming prairie grasses;
bird-foot coreopsis;
thimbleweed; and
northern bedstraw.

Grab a wildflower book and visit the park to identify and enjoy these beauties!

Home Energy Squad knocking on doors

2010-06-28T20:08:00.002-05:00

Home Energy Squad Street Teams Arriving in Hamline Midway

Energy Bill Savings are coming to your doorstep! The Neighborhood Energy Connection, a local nonprofit group, will be door-knocking in Hamline-Midway during the weeks of June 28 and July 5 to sign up residents for their Home Energy Squad program. A visit from the Home Energy Squad is the easiest, fastest, and most effective way to start saving on utility bills. The Squads will install key energy-saving products in your home, such as exterior door weather stripping, a programmable thermostat, a great new showerhead, and bathroom and kitchen faucet aerators. Residents who schedule a Home Energy Squad appointment will receive a discounted Home Energy Squad visit as well as a gift certificate to a great neighborhood business. It’s a win-win: save money on your bills and save energy resources for the planet! For more information on the Home Energy Squads and the Neighborhood Energy Connection, or to sign up to join the door-to-door campaign as a Street Team volunteer, visit http://thenec.org/home_energy/ or call (651) 221-4462 ext. 111. Watch the campaign roll out on the Neighborhood Energy Connection’s Facebook page!

HMEG is Talking Trees!

2010-06-23T12:03:00.003-05:00

Hamline Midway Ash Tree Inventory Underway!
The Hamline Midway Environmental Group Tree Team has recruited 18 neighbor volunteers to help count the number of ash trees in our neighborhood. We want to know how the residential ash population compares to the known public (boulevard, park) ash population of about 17%. This will help us identify areas in the neighborhood that are more susceptible to ash tree loss due to the Emerald ash borer (EAB). We could still use volunteers (of all ages) and would be happy to teach you how to identify ash trees and conduct a very simple inventory by August 1! If you'd like to help, please contact the Tree Team at treeteam@hmeg.or or Tanner at 651-917-1248.
Trees for the Hamline Midway Neighborhood!

Fall Tree Planting
In conjunction with the ash tree inventory, the Hamline Midway Environmental Group Tree Team will be offering trees this fall to neighborhood residents to plant in their yards. Funding is provided by Councilman Russ Stark from the Community Organization Partnership Program (COPP) and the HMC Board from the McKnight Foundation. This summer, the Tree Team will be determining the species of trees to be offered and developing the project. If you are interested in a tree, please contact the Tree Team at treeteam@hmeg.org or Barb at 651-646-5568 to get your name on the list. More info to come!

The importance of native pollinators

2010-06-13T10:03:00.002-05:00

The importance of native pollinators as posted on MidPoint Green

The Midway community gardens are hatching a plan for the August event called the Parade of Community gardens on 8/21/2010. Its too soon to let you know about all the fun details, but it will involve six Midway community garden sites, and will give visitors a peek at pollinators. Even in our urban area, pollinators are vital. In this photo, my Leadplant is being visited by bees. at the Midway Greenspirit garden, the beehive there are increasing yields of tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, strawberries, , raspberries, apples, melons, sunflowers, pumpkins, plums, and squash both in the garden and for miles around. Native pollinators can be even more efficient at the job, such as bumblebees increasing yields even more. The Xerces Society is an organization looking into the importance of invertebrates. Below is some quality information from Xerces on how to encourage native pollinators which were developed for roadsides. While a small residential urban yard may need to be selective from this list of practices, most are applicable for our cities too. I see it in my own yard and in my community gardens regularly. Xerces research show that using native plants in a landscape can double the number of bee counts and increase the types of bees found there by 35%. So you want to get the most out of your food production gardens? Plant for the bees too!

From Xerces:

Eighty-seven of the world’s 124 most commonly cultivated crops are insect/animal pollinated. Between 60 to 80% of the world’s 250,000 flowering plants depend on animals for pollination.
In the United States, the National Research Council (2007) reported noteworthy losses of both managed and wild pollinators. Habitat loss, pesticide use, diseases, parasites, and the spread of invasive species are the major causes of pollinator decline. Threats to pollinator communities affect not only pollinators themselves but also natural ecosystems and agricultural productivity.

Key design factors & practices to enhance flower diversity for bee habitat around farms, gardens or roadsides include:

Planting choices
1) Use native wildflowers and grasses, with high densities of flowers.
2) Plant a minimum of 3 blooming plant species during each season.
3) Aim for season-long blooming plants, early and late season blooming plants are especially important.
4) Plant a range of wildflowers of varying colors and shapes. Bees mainly visit blue, white, yellow, and purple flowers.
5) Plant flowers in single species clumps for best results.

Providing Nest Sites
6) Warm season, clump-forming grasses provide bumble bee nest sites.
7) Have a mix of forbs and shrubs.
8) Don’t mow or hay entire grassy meadows or roadsides, leave some for pollinators.
9) Conserve habitat for rabbit burrows and groundhog burrows for bee nesting sites.
10) Reduce tillage and avoid plastic sheeting for ground nesting bees.

Reducing the Impact of Mowing and Spraying
11) Intensive mowing or grazing impacts abundance of bees.
12) Avoid or minimize the use of insecticides.

Time to garden this weekend at Horton

2010-06-09T13:23:00.003-05:00

Time to garden this weekend at Horton. Paul and Steph will be poking around our plants, sniffing out undesirables and planting a few grass and shade plant donations from the Friends School Plant Sale. Our butterfly weed may be making an appearance along with harebells and bedstraw. We welcome you to join us. Tools, gloves and light refreshments will be on hand as usual.

Second Sunday at Horton Park

Sun, June 13, 12pm – 2pm

Further, we are excited to preview a second June session, this time with a little twist! We are hosting a Happy Hour time at a midway backyard prairie that will occur after spreading woodchip around our park gardens. Community gardening isn't just about the plants! The date is Friday June 25th, in the early evening. We will send more details as the date approaches, but please make note.

Note on the picture: Paul is being helped by a Girl Scout Daisy as they root out weeds during the May session at Horton Park. The Daisy's attended the May session at Horton and had a great time weeding, watering, clipping and planting! We planted a few large flowered beardtongue and saw columbine, prairie smoke, pussytoes, downy violet and wild phlox in bloom.

City of Minneapolis Takes a Position on Chemical Treatments of Ash Trees

2010-06-04T15:51:00.006-05:00

The decision to apply chemical treatments to ash trees is a personal choice that is largely influenced by economic considerations and concern for the health of the surrounding environment, as well as by our emotional attachment to certain trees. Even then, it is a decision that should be made thoughtfully and with the benefit of having read what is known about the different treatment options

However, many have taken the position that it is best not to further expose communities to the risks associated with pesticides - that we should focus our efforts on planting diverse trees in available spaces and plan for the future of a healthy urban forest. Will the City of Minneapolis have any influence on the approach we take in Saint Paul to address the loss of our ash trees?

The Minneapolis City Council recently passed Resolution 2010R-268:

“Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved by The City Council of the City of Minneapolis:

That the City of Minneapolis urges residents to protect the city's soil, water, flora, fauna and human health during the emerald ash borer infestation by refraining from applying insecticides to trees on private property.

Be It Further Resolved that the City of Minneapolis encourages residents to join the City in focusing our efforts and resources on growing the next generation of the City's urban forest, filling open spaces on private and public property with diverse trees, bush and native grass species, replacing both infested and non-infested ash trees with other tree species, and caring for our entire urban forest with careful monitoring and watering of all yard and boulevard trees.

Be It Further Resolved that the City strongly cautions Minneapolis residents not to use pesticides that are applied directly to the soil or sprayed on the tree bark or canopy, due to the high likelihood that the chemicals will drain into surface or groundwater and the increased risk that these applications pose to children, pets, beneficial pollinating insects, and nearby plants. Adopted 5/28/2010”

Here are just a few sources for more information on Emerald ash borer-related topics:

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Minnesota Department of Agriculture

University of Minnesota Extension

Recycle your garden pots through October 1st

2010-06-04T07:31:00.006-05:00

You have got your seedlings transplanted (mostly) and now have a pile of greenhouse plastic. It's a good idea to reuse pots, trays, or baskets whenever possible to save money and reduce waste. However, the volume of pots can add up and these plastics can not be set out for curbside recycling pickup. You do have an easy recycling option set-up by the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association and Choice Plastics. Select garden centers will accept plastic pots, trays, and hanging baskets for recycling from April 15th through October 1st. Just bring clean, plastic garden pots to the registered drop sites listed on the MNLA website. (Please note that some sites will take pots only on June 19-20 and September 18-19.)

Guidelines:
• Do not bring household plastic or clay pots.
• Dump all soil and remove metal hangers.
• Your garden center will only take plastic for a limited time. Ask a staff person for more details.

The closest location to the Midway appears to be Linder's Garden Center - 270 W Larpenteur Ave, Roseville, MN 55113. Mother Earth Gardens is not too far either - 3738 42nd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55406.

Energy Smart Homes

2010-05-22T23:45:00.012-05:00

Saint Paul homeowners can now apply for zero-interest loans up to $6,500 for home energy efficiency improvements! Apartment owners can also get $200 rebates on energy star refrigerators. The application and eligibility info is available at: http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=3882
Pre-applications must be postmarked by June 11. For more details, see the news release below.

Saint Paul Launches "Energy Smart Homes"

May 19th, 2010

SAINT PAUL - Providing Saint Paul residents with the tools to lower energy consumption and cut costs, Mayor Chris Coleman unveiled the $550,000 Energy Smart Homes loan and rebate initiative today.

“By renovating their homes and replacing old appliances, our residents will save money and decrease energy usage in Saint Paul,” Mayor Chris Coleman said. “This is one more way we are improving building efficiency, lowering energy costs, and protecting our environment while solidifying Saint Paul as a national leader in environmental sustainability.”

Made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, Energy Smart Homes will provide funding for energy-saving improvements to houses and apartment buildings, thereby lowering monthly utility bills to residents, strengthening the City’s tax base, and reducing the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Energy Smart Homes will also create jobs, a key component of ARRA, by creating a need for contractors, including heating and insulation contractors.

Energy Smart Homes is a two-pronged initiative. $500,000 will be used to make no-interest loans up to $6,500 to homeowners to make energy-saving improvements to their homes. These funds will also leverage Xcel Energy rebates. Prior to making the improvements, each home will undergo a home energy audit to identify the greatest needs.

Eligible expenses may include furnace replacement, insulation and air sealing. “These are the most cost-effective improvements a homeowner can make,” said Chris Duffrin, Executive Director of Neighborhood Energy Connection, the sole provider of Xcel Energy Home Energy Audits in Saint Paul. He went on, “Before you install solar panels or even new windows, you want to be sure that you have an energy-efficient furnace, adequate insulation, and that air leaks in walls and around windows are sealed.”

Saint Paul homeowners of all incomes are eligible to apply, though incomes will affect the loan amounts and other initiative requirements.

“Cool Cash for Cold Clunkers” is the working title for the second component of the Energy Smart Homes initiative and consists of cash rebates for owners of apartment buildings in Saint Paul who replace old inefficient refrigerators in their rental units with new ENERGY STAR refrigerators.

ENERGY STAR, a joint initiative of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, is committed to saving people money and protecting the environment through energy efficient products and practices. According to the ENERGY STAR web site (www.energystar.gov), as a result of recent improvements in insulation and compressors, today's refrigerators use much less energy than older models. In fact, replacing a refrigerator from the 1980’s with an ENERGY STAR refrigerator could save as much as $100 each year on utility bills.

Energy Smart Homes will provide up to ten $200 rebates to owners of apartment buildings. And while the building owner will benefit from the cash rebates, many tenants will realize the monthly savings resulting from lower utility bills.

It is anticipated that the demand for the no-interest loans and refrigerator rebates will exceed the funds available, so Mayor Coleman is asking interested individuals to submit a simple pre-application postmarked by June 11. Individuals will be randomly selected. Selected homeowners seeking funds for energy-saving improvements will be invited to complete a full application and selected apartment building owners seeking refrigerator rebates will be notified and informed of the process for receiving their rebates.

For details about the Energy Smart Homes loan and rebate initiative, including eligibility conditions and other requirements, go to www.stpaul.gov or call 651-266-6655 for a pre-application.

****

The City of Saint Paul is also launching the Sustainable Saint Paul’s Energy Challenge Grants initiative. The initiative will give non-profit organizations, neighborhood and business associations the opportunity to receive Federal stimulus funds for projects that will assist Saint Paul residents and businesses in reducing their energy use and climate change impact.

Organizations must utilize the funds for projects that promote either the Neighborhood Energy Connection’s Home Energy Squads, Center for Energy and Environment’s One-Stop Efficiency Shop Program, the Minnesota Energy Challenge or other successful cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs.

Eligible applicants may request up to $5,000 for projects completed by June 30, 2011. Applications for the Energy Challenge Grants must be received by June 14, 2010.

For more information regarding the City of Saint Paul’s climate change efforts and to find an application, please visit the Sustainable Saint Paul website at: www.stpaul.gov/sustainability or call 651-266-8520.

###

Rebates for Solar Hot Water and Solar Hot Air Installations

2010-05-22T21:15:00.018-05:00

If your concerned about reducing your carbon footprint, the biggest bang for your buck comes from conservation and efficiency. [Want to know more? Don't miss the Free Energy Efficiency Workshop, May 25th at Central High School] But let's say you've gone to the February Neighborhood Energy Workshop, you're already practicing those energy saving measures recommended, you've caulked your air leaks, upgraded your insulation, and installed high efficiency appliances. Then you may want to consider solar hot air and hot water. These are the most affordable and cost effective renewable energy technologies out there AND rebates on both are still available from the MN State Energy Office! More info is in the newsletter below (abbreviated for the blog).

-Lise

Solar News

Minnesota Solar Electric Rebate Program update
The Minnesota Solar Electric Rebate for residences and small businesses has been fully reserved; waiting-list applications with a postmarked date of no later than May 28, 2010 will be accepted. Up to $2.5 million in ARRA-funded rebates is available for solar electric installations with rated capacities of 0.5 to 5 kilowatts. To access application materials, visit our Rebates & Credits section.

Solar electric installations reach record highs in 2009
A record number of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems were installed in Minnesota in 2009, according to the Minnesota Utility Solar Integration Rankings compiled by the Minnesota Department of Commerce's Office of Energy Security. The rankings found a record 72 new solar electric systems with a combined record capacity of 784 kilowatts (kW) were installed in 2009. The previous high was reached in 2007, with 56 installations at 286 kW. Read more in our recent news release.

Underwriters Laboratories offers new PV training program
A new program to train and certify installers of PV products and systems will be offered beginning in July 2010 through Underwriters Laboratories University. Learn more at the UL University website.

Minnesota Solar Hot Water and Solar Air Heat Rebates

Up to $500,000 in rebates is available for businesses and residences. Solar hot water rebates are available for residences and small businesses. Solar air heat rebates are available for residences and will be available soon for businesses. To access application materials, visit our Rebates & Credits section.

Training Opportunities:

The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) maintains a list of registered training providers, which includes learning institutions in Minnesota. Beginner training opportunities are listed in the Entry Level section of the NABCEP website. Recertification training opportunities are listed in the Certification section of the NABCEP website.

The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society (MRES) offers classes and workshops in solar hot water and PV design and installation. Courses are open to both members and non-members. View details in the Classes and Workshops section on the MRES website.

The Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) provides solar energy training courses held throughout the region for consumers, businesses, and installers. Courses are open to all on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit the Course Workshops section of the MREA website to learn more and register for courses.

If you have questions or need more information, contact us at 800-657-3710 or energy.info@state.mn.us

Solar Hot Water at Wellstone Apartments
This 49-unit apartment complex installed a solar hot water system with help from the state solar rebate. Read more here

Upcoming Events

Office of Energy Security/Commerce Events Calendar

Clean Energy Resource Teams Events Calendar

MN Renewable Energy Society Events Calendar

Quick Links

Office of Energy Security

MN Department of Commerce

Database of Incentives

U.S. Department of Energy

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

HMEG to be at Hamline Midway Spring Festival on Sunday May 23rd

2010-05-22T08:50:00.004-05:00

Where to be this Sunday? Newell Park of course, for the Hamline Midway Spring Festival. Music and more. HEMG will have a tent set-up too which HMEGers are welcome to sit at. There will be info about composting, energy workshops, gardening and of course trees. Be sure to ask how YOU can help with the upcoming residential ash tree survey! Here is the details about the Spring Festival as provided by the Facebook event:

Hello All,

On Sunday, it will be hot. Please, bring water, some more water, and some extra water after that. If anything, bring a water bottle to continue to refill throughout the day at the fountain by the main building. The bathrooms and silent auction are also housed within the main building.

Here's the Schedule of Events as it stands now for the HMSF on Sunday, May 23rd.

Main stage will kick off at 12 noon with the amazing Brianna Lane. If you haven't done it yet, now is the time to get right with the Lane. Then around 1pm the modern psychedelic folk blues of Nikki and the Ruemates. This will be the Ruemates plugged in and packing a drummer. Now, at 2pm, we have our friends from Cleveland, the most attractive, post-graduate, folk-punk band there is, Heelsplitter. Yes, they are named after the fresh water mussel, that crippled so many of the early inhabitants of North America. Now, making his HMSF debut, the hardest working man in Eagle River, MN, Drew Peterson. Drew will be joined by HMSF veteran, Bradley Smith on bass. Acoustic, working man, soul from two true gentlemen. At 4pm, we have another HMSF debut, but he is a man who needs no introduction here in St. Paul, Pulitzer prize winning writer for the Pioneer Press, David Hanners. Who just this last March released an amazing new album, "The Traveler's Burden". A stunning set of songs, beautifully crafted by David and producer Ric Lee. Look at this hat trick, we have Dan Newton and his Cafe Accordion Orchestra making THEIR HMSF debut as well. Veterans of some of the Twin Cities' finest stages, Dan and his CAO, stand as one of the finest examples of the depth of talent that exists the Twin Cities. They will get rolling around 5:30. Then, to bring it all back home, we have Hamline-Midway's very own, LOUDRAY. The RAY will play a set on their own, before being joined by some friends from the day to jam out the festival, until we have to get to the after parties.

Just when you that that was way to cool to be true, we have a second stage as well.
The second stage line up looks something like this at this writing.
At 12:30 or so, we will have a special surprise guest making HIS HMSF debut. Then, at 1:30, those stalwarts of the HSMF, a band I am proud to say has grown into one of the most adventurous acoustic combos in the Twin Towns today, and they have been with the HMSF since Day One. My friends and yours, The Sans Souci Quartet. Following the SSQ at about 2:30pm, St. Paul's Bluegrass Juggernauts, Pocahontas County!!!! No stranger to the HMSF stage, PC wishes to welcome our new mandolin player, Eric Larson to the Festival fun. Now, this is why I love putting these shows together, the opportunity for creating rare, or one of a kind musical experiences. Here, again, veterans of the HMSF, Kim and Quillan Roe, leaders of the 331 club house band, the Roe Family Singers, will perform a rare duo set. This rare spectacle, which has become a HMSF tradition will begin a touch before 4pm. Capping off the second stage, a man who has deserved very little respect over his life, and who has gotten even less than that, another HMSF veteran, a Midway familiar, "Sneaky" Pete Bauer. "Sneaky" will be kicking out an extra long set of his trademark growl and groan starting at around 5pm.

Also happening at the second stage, Midway artist Lindsey Nyygard will be directing a live painting event featuring you!! That's right, we want a picture that was painted by the Hamline Midway Community and our friends. So make sure to swing over and have Lindsey get you a brush, and put your touch to the community canvas.

And, all of these musicians and more will be performing at the Turf Club (Univ. and Snelling) and the Dubliner Pub (Univ. and Vandalia) Sunday night, after the HMSF has wrapped up.

The wonderful folks down at the Midway YMCA are going to be out at the park as well. Here is a schedule of their day at Newell Park.

Midway YMCA Promotional Table:
1:00-4:00 (we will be there at 12:30 to set up) - We will have some face painting and carnival games (bean bag toss) happening at our table during the entirety of our time there. These, of course, are all free of charge.

Structured Youth Activities:
We will run three time blocks of structured games for kids in the field. We are targeting about a half hour for each. They all will be different activities, though I listed two as 'Field Games' - which will be comprised of most of tag-like games. That was the best thing I could think of to call them without confusing people about what would be happening.

Field Games at 1:30 - 2:00
Kickball at 2:30 - 3:00
Field Games at 3:30 - 4:00

Plenty more happening, over 45 items to bid on in the silent auction, all of them awesome. Art, fun, music, food, can't beat it!!!

I hear Zander is preparing his rib sauce now. Get ready, and remember to bring some WATER!!!

Be well,
Colin Anderson

Snelling Avenue Planters to get colorful on Thursday morning

2010-05-19T10:00:00.001-05:00

Are you available on Thursday morning? If so, come join the crew to get the Snelling Avenue planters filled with plants donated by Hamline University. Snelling Avenue businesses and neighbor volunteers annually tend the planters. Hamline also pays for a water truck from the city. SPARC supports the planting too by getting the word out to folks on the avenue. Its a team effort to get this small placemaking effort under way. Between the community mosaics (HMC, Mosaic on a Stick), and the colorful annuals, the award winning planters are a visible connection to the Hamline Midway neighborhood for us and the over 40,000 vehicles per day that pass them.

Consider helping on planting day! Bring gloves, any trowels, water containers and wagon/wheelbarrows you may have.

Snelling Ave. Planter Planting

Thu, May 20. 11:00 am

Where	Hamline park

Seeking Midway "citizen scientists" to help count ash trees during the 2010 summer

2010-05-17T17:02:00.010-05:00

The 2010 Hamline Midway Tree Planting and Ash Tree Inventory Program

This summer, the Hamline Midway Environmental Group Tree Team will be counting the number of residential ash trees to guide our 2010 tree planting program that will occur this fall. Volunteer surveyors are being solicited! Are you a person who may walk frequently in the neighborhood? Or, one who would like to engage their kids in a local eco-opportunity after school is out? Or are you a person who is interested in our urban forest/habitat? Or, would you like an “excuse” to go beyond your immediate block and explore a different part of the neighborhood? Then this could be a volunteer experience for you; neighbors become citizen scientists! Volunteer surveyors will be taught how to confidently identify ash trees and record their observations on a simple recording form. Residents of the Hamline Midway neighborhood, of all ages and experiences, are encouraged to participate! You can do this at your own pace and on your own schedule as long as we get the data by August 1.

We will be hosting two upcoming training sessions at the Hamline Midway Coalition Building (Snelling and LaFond) for volunteers (of all ages) on:

Tuesday June 1 – 6:30-8:30 and
Saturday June 5 – 9:00-11:00

With the center of the Emerald ash borer (EAB) infestation so close to the Midway neighborhood, now is the time to consider the impact of losing our ash trees and do something about it! The information we collect will help target future tree plantings in our neighborhood.

Residents who are interested in volunteering with other neighbors for the ash tree inventory are encouraged to contact the Tree Team at treeteam@hmeg.org or call Tanner at (651) 917-1248.

Look for more info on this project and tree care at the HMEG table at the Hamline Midway Spring Festival on May 23rd from 12:00-5:00 in Newell Park!

Clothesline Poem for welcoming a sunny day by Gene

2010-05-14T07:42:00.006-05:00

It has been a long week of (needed) rain, but today the sun is back. To honor the big ball in the sky, a poem offered by Gene, our Frogtown friend who steps lightly on this earth. Especially when she is hanging her laundry. Thanks Gene for this inspiration.

Clothesline Poem from St. Paul
The old wicker basket
sits at my feet
on the green, green grass.
My back's to the sun.
In their turns,
I SNAP
each garment in the wind,
clip it to the line;
all will be smooth and dry in an hour when,
each in their turn,
in a slow steady rhythm,
I’ll unclip them
and fold them
and drop them
in the old wicker basket
on the green, green grass,
just like my mother used to do,
and hers before her
and hers before her
and hers before her . . .

G Marault

Dirt cheap and easy: Green Cleaners

2010-05-12T22:13:00.004-05:00

I just finished a batch of home made cleaners. Alice's Wonder Spray is commonly known. I find that this recipe really can take care of most every day wipe-ups. Further it is cheap, pennies a bottle. Making your own cleaner is another small way to take control of your sustainability. Proctor & Gamble just is not always needed.

This type of mix-your-own cleaner is quite easily mixed up by kids. My 8 year old is our chief-cleaner-maker. The Mighty Midway 4H group made Alice's Wonder Spry as a event in Midway neighborhood. I once even helped a whole preschool make some -with lots of helpers (The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization MWMO sponsored these events). Having different scents available makes the mixing task fun! Lemon, and cedar are very nice.

MWMO wants to folks to try Wonder Spray because its safer for us and safer for our surface waters (i.e. the Mississippi River). Plus, it works!

Here is the basic Wonder Spray recipe:

Ingredients

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon borax
1 1/2 cups very warm water
1T liquid dish soap
3-15 drops essential oils (optional)

Directions

Fill bottle with the warm water. Add the the vinegar and borax in a 16oz spray bottle,
and shake to dissolve the vinegar and borax. Add soap LAST and then scent with essential oil if desired.

Mother's Day (5/9) at Horton Park

2010-05-06T18:42:00.003-05:00

Please join us on Mother's Day (5/9) at Horton Park for some native wildflower gardening. The gardens look terrific following our early April cleanup, but the weeds are now gaining due to the unseasonably warm weather. We would love to have your help in rooting them out and helping the natives to flourish. We'll have treats to share and will be happy to teach you to identify the native plants. As always, bring your favorite gardening tools (some provided too), and join your neighbors for as little time or as much as you would like! We will be there from noon to 2:00 pm.

The garden's email list can be found here: http://groups.google.com/group/hortonpark and garden dates are posted on the HMEG calendar http://tinyurl.com/HMEGcalendar

Make an impact alongside the Hamline Thomas community gardeners: May volunteers needed

2010-05-03T21:34:00.005-05:00

The garden at the Super USA on Hamline and Thomas is trying something a little different this year - instead of a big planting extravaganza, we've chosen three spring dates to meet in the garden for shorter time periods to add plants and seeds as they become available. Here are the dates and times:

Wednesday, April 28th, 5:30 pm
Wednesday, May 12th, 5:30 pm
Thursday, May 27th, 5:30 pm

The garden has more and more perennials returning each year, including the bulbs planted by Peter last year, so we won't need to add as many plants. However, let us know if you have some divisions from your garden that are compatible with the full sun and the warm color scheme of red, yellow, orange with some white.

These dates are added to the HMEG calendar. We hope you can attend and lend a hand. This corner was transformed a few years ago through the hard work of community members and volunteers continue to be important to retain the positive impacts of the place-making achievements. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact me. Thanks, and hope to see you in the garden!

Hannah Texler
hortonpark at gmail dot com

Ramsey County Master Gardeners supporting Midway and Frogtown neighborhoods

2010-05-03T11:23:00.001-05:00

This is a moment to shout out to Ramsey County Master Gardeners (RCMG) in the Midway. So many Midway and Frogtown garden projects are nicely highlighted in the RCMG year end report from 2009. I particularly want to shine a light on Diane's work. She is successfully working hard within this organization to bring in intern Master Gardeners from diverse backgrounds. She also takes her Master Gardening service time to our urban neighborhoods, augmenting community efforts in growing their own food. She would want you to check out another organization she works for called "Growing Food and Justice for All".

Here is that Master Gardener 2009 report (pdf). In it you will find summaries of Hamline Midway and Frogtown community garden projects including Aurora-St. Anthony Peace Garden, Horton Park Community Garden, Snelling Avenue Planter Project, Frogtown Gardeners, Frogtown Orchard Project. Also supported and not mentioned are projects at Galtier Elementary, Hamline High Rise, LEAP Academy, HUMC Rain Gardens, and Midway Green Spirit Garden.

Master Gardeners are a well used resource in our St. Paul neighborhoods. Many thanks to their members!

Where to Recycle?: Plastic bottle caps, wine corks

2010-04-28T22:13:00.009-05:00

Here are some recycling options shared by HMEG members. Through our 5 years, we often take up the topic of waste reduction, including applying for grants. This is the first in a series where hard to recycled items are featured. To see all the posts, click our label "waste reduction.

Recycle all "twist on" plastic bottle caps at an Aveda salon!
From the Ramsey County A-Z Disposal Guide:
Recycle Caps with Aveda is an ongoing recycling program that accepts plastic bottle caps. Caps that are accepted include any plastic "twist on" caps such as water bottles, soda bottles, milk bottles, ketchup bottles, shampoo bottles and laundry detergent bottles. Caps that are NOT accepted include metal caps and any "snap fit" plastic caps such as margarine and cottage cheese caps.

Bring your caps to an AVEDA store near you. Please call ahead to confirm they are participating in this program.

Recycle your wine corks at all Whole Foods locations- Cork is a renewable, recyclable material that doesn’t belong in our landfills. What to do? Bring your corks to Whole Foods stores, and drop them in the handy Cork ReHarvest boxes.

FREE ENERGY EFFICIENCY WORKSHOP

2010-04-28T21:37:00.023-05:00

The Neighborhood Energy Connection (NEC) is offering a FREE workshop on saving energy and money in your home.

Tuesday, May 25 at 7 - 8:30 p.m.*
Central High School auditorium
275 Lexington Pkwy N, St. Paul

Workshop attendees can sign-up for a home visit from the Home Energy Squad with up to $400 dollars worth of goods and services for only a for only a $30 co-pay. The Home Energy Squad will visit your home and recommend several energy-saving measures. You choose which improvements to make, and the Squad will install them--on the spot! Choose among exterior door weather stripping, programmable thermostats, compact fluorescent lighting, water-saving shower heads and faucet aerators, insulating water heater blankets, and more.

Make sure you ask for a blower-door test to determine how weather-tight your home is and to find out where your biggest air leaks are (this test is included in the $30 co-pay, but you have to ask for it).

Most of our feedback about the program has been very positive, but we missed a lot of neighbors in Hamline-Midway so another workshop has been arranged. Most participants are expected to save over $100 a year on energy just based on the materials we’re installing.

How Do I Sign Up?
Walk-ins are welcome, but RSVPs are appreciated, call:
Carl Samuelson
The Green Institute
612-278-7123
csamuelson@greeninstitute.org
*If you need childcare, please RSVP your children at least a week in advance or childcare will not be provided. Call Carl @ 612-278-7123.

Please bring your checkbook (or $30 cash), calendar, and a utility bill (if available) to the workshop to complete your registration.

Program Partners
The Neighborhood Energy Connection (NEC) and the Metro Clean Energy Resource
Team (CERT) are teaming up with other non-profits, businesses and government to pro-
vide this program in Saint Paul. Partners include The Center for Energy and Environ-
ment, Xcel Energy and the Saint Paul District Councils. Funding is provided by the Min-
nesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. This program is only available to Saint Paul Residents.

What's blooming at Horton Park?

2010-04-24T17:24:00.014-05:00

Like gardens and natural areas everywhere, the native plant gardens at Horton Park are lovely with the blooms of this very early spring. The shade garden has carpets of downy yellow violet; you can also see the delicate white flowers of false rue anemone and the drooping yellow flowers of large-flowered bellwort, also called merrybells. The serviceberries, the small trees we planted to provide more shade, are in bloom too.

The oak savanna gardens have golden alexanders about to burst into bloom. Next to the sidewalk the prairie violets have purple flowers and the pussytoes and prairie smoke are in full bloom.

Featured plant: bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa)
Today's featured plant is the bur oak. You can see one in flower in the smaller of the oak savanna gardens. Bur oaks don't generally produce flowers and fruits until they are about 35 years old, so you know this tree has been around for awhile. The flowers of bur oak are separate; what you see are the male catkins, which are long, graceful inflorescences producing many small brownish flowers without petals - they are pollinated by the wind. The female flowers are in much smaller catkins. When they produce fruits, you can tell a bur oak acorn by the fringed cap covering it. Bur oaks were once one of the most common trees in Ramsey County, occurring throughout the area in oak woodlands and oak savannas. They often grow far apart, so their branches tend to spread out and create attractive open-grown forms - great for climbing on. They have thick corky bark which is highly resistant to fire. This feature helps them survive in oak savannas, which burned frequently in the 1800s and earlier, both from lightning fires and from fires set by native people to produce good forage for the bison and elk that once lived here. Bur oaks also have deep tap roots, which help them find water even during droughts. If you visit the park, see if you can find two other bur oaks, smaller trees planted by the Friends of Horton Park in recent years - too young to produce flowers.

HMEG now on Facebook

2010-04-23T11:21:00.004-05:00

Hamline-Midway Environmental Group

Our Service Learner Nick got us rolling, Erin has amped it up a bit... but its true! HMEG now has a Facebook fan page and as we pass Earth Day, the numbers of fans are growing. Are you on Facebook? Like us, and ask your Midway friends to too.

Pagoda Dogwood planted at Library last fall by HMEG

2010-04-21T21:55:00.007-05:00

I went to check on the pagoda dogwood at the Library today and was surprised to find that not only had it leafed out, but the baby tree had friends! The tree was planted during the fall 2009 Hamline Midway Library celebration event. HMEG was there with information about trees and emerald ash borer (EAB). We also brought along a tree and with fellow neighbors' help, planted in front of the library where the ground's crew had approved. I am not sure who planted the tulips, but the act of volunteers planting a tree proved to be contagious.

Pagoda dogwood is a native Minnesota tree that is smaller in stature and is often found in understory situations. It has a horizontal branching that give it a Japanese feel. This particular pagoda came from the Como Corner Community Garden in SE Minneapolis where the pagodas there often produce seedlings.

Watch this blog for more opportunities to plant trees over the next season.

Library series: Eating, Reading and Living Well

2010-04-16T22:35:00.008-05:00

Another free, food-focused event series. Another chance to screen Food Inc.! If you have already seen Food Inc., Fresh and other similar food documentaries, the included author events could give a deeper dive. I will add the Midway-centric events to the HMEG calendar, but all of these dates are interesting to me.

If you want to find fellow HMEGers to attend with, the GoogleGroup is a good place to inquire with neighbors. The following information is from The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library.

Eating, Reading and Living Well

Food Will Win the War: Minnesota Crops, Cooks, and Conservation during World War I

Monday, April 26, 7 pm
Merriam Park Branch Library, 1831 Marshall Ave.

Author and food historian Rae Katherine Eighmey will present her latest work, revealing the efforts made by "Citizen Soldiers" who observed Meatless Mondays and Wheatless Wednesdays to conserve food for the boys "over there."

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 pm
West 7th Branch Library (in Community Center), 265 Oneida St.

In the second book by Dr. Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, they have taken their super-fast method of bread making and adapted it for the health-conscious baker. Featuring a dozen recipes with 100% whole grain, pita, pizza, and 10 gluten-free specialties. If you've wanted to produce the best yourself, this is your starting point.

"Food, Inc." - a film by Robert Kenner

Monday, May 10, 7 pm
Rondo Outreach Branch Library, 461 N. Dale St.

Featuring interviews with experts such as Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma; In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto), along with forward-thinking social entrepreneurs, this film reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat and how it is produced.

Healthy Breadmaking Demonstrations

Monday, May 17, 7 pm
Mississippi Market, 1500 W. 7th St.

Zoe Francois, co-author of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, will lead a walk through the market to look at grains and ingredients, demonstrate five minutes of prep, and sample some recipes for you.

The Conscious Kitchen by Alexandra Zissu

Monday, May 24, 7 pm
Highland Park Branch Library, Hillcrest Recreation Center Auditorium, 1974 Ford Parkway

If you have wondered how to manage what is good for personal health, good for the planet, and still tastes great, this discussion will help you to easily make decisions you will feel good about - both physically and consciously.

The Eating, Reading, and Living Well series is presented by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library and sponsored by Mississippi Market. Two Saint Paul Locations: 622 Selby Avenue & 1500 W. 7th Street.

low cost tree sale available to St. Paul residents, deadline for order 4/17

2010-04-14T14:17:00.001-05:00

This sale is the The Friends of the Parks and Trails Tree sale where low cost trees are available to metro residents. Order today!

_________________________________________________

Buy a Tree Sale 2010. Order trees until Saturday April 17. Pick up trees 9AM-1PM Saturday May 1. To order trees: print the Tree Sale Form (PDF) and mail it with a check. Your phone and email are needed if you forget to pickup your trees.

Autumn Blaze Maple
Bicolor White Oak *
Black Hills Spruce
Pagoda Dogwood *
Thornless Cockspur Hawthorn
Mount Royal Plum
Honeycrisp Apple
Arrowwood Viburnum *
Little Lamb Hydrangea
Blue Velvet Hypericum
Miss Canada Lilac
Hope For Humanity Rose
Wisteria Aunt Dee

* Native

Online Donation of Trees to Parks Credit card only, your donation is tax deductible because we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Give trees to City or County Parks of your choice from our list.
Donated trees will be picked up and planted by the park system you choose.

Pickup Sites:

Highland Park Pavilion, 1200 Montreal Ave., St. Paul
Ramsey County Parks Garage, 2015 No. Van Dyke, Maplewood

For more information contact PeggyLynch@visi.com (Peggy Lynch) Telephone: 651-698-4543

Mailing address:
The Friends of the Parks and Trails of St. Paul and Ramsey County
1621 Beechwood Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55116

MN Dept of Ag offers new information for homeowners considering EAB treatment

2010-04-14T13:39:00.004-05:00

The HMEG members at the April meeting discussed how treating a tree could be done in a community fashion. For example, if there is one valuable ash tree that shades many backyards, or neighbors together want to stagger the boulevard losses on their block, folks could together cover the cost of treatment. (Note, St. Paul's Forestry Dept. should be contacted if treating a boulevard tree is being considered)

Also note that treatment is not 100% effective, nor is it a 1 time commitment. More info is available in the the 2 page pdf brochure. Regardless of your decision on whether to treat with pesticides or not, do plant a tree this year!

Information from the MDA:

Consider These 3 Things before Choosing to Use an Insecticide:

1. Identify if EAB is Near
To prevent unnecessary use of insecticides, first identify how close EAB is to your property. If you want to protect a high-value ash tree, the rule of thumb is to start chemical treatments when an EAB infestation is confirmed near your property. Your ash trees may be at risk if your property is within 15 miles of an EAB infestation, or if your property is within a county that has been quarantined for EAB (as of April 2010, the list of quarantined counties in Minnesota includes Hennepin, Ramsey and Houston Counties). Treatment programs that begin too early may be a waste of money and may have unintended environmental consequences. Check the MDA’s Interactive EAB Survey Map at http://gis.mda.state.mn.us/eab/ for current EAB infestations.

2. Consider Removing and Replacing the Ash Trees on Your Property
Consider whether ash trees on your property are worth protecting. Trees enhance a property’s value, but it may be more cost effective to replace a small or struggling ash tree than to pay the cost of ongoing treatments. In addition, trees in poor or declining health are not likely to respond well to insecticide treatments. Treat with an insecticide only if the tree is apparently healthy or
less than 50 percent of the crown is discolored or has sparse foliage. Consider tree removal if your ash tree has:

Greater than 50 percent crown dieback
Extensive mower or trimmer damage
Existing EAB damage (see www.emeraldashborer.info/files/E-2938.pdf)
Poor location such as under power lines or too close to a structure
Poor planting
Previous topping or extreme pruning

3. Remember Treatment Requires a Long-Term Commitment
Once EAB arrives in an area, it will remain a constant threat to ash trees for many years to come. It is likely that protective treatments will be needed for the rest of the tree’s life.

EAB Interactive Map

2010-04-12T15:13:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Amy Sparks, Executive Director, St. Anthony Park Community Council, District 12 for this great info!

There is an interactive map of the Emerald Ash Borer infestation at http://gis.mda.state.mn.us/eab/. You can search by address (use the Find button in the upper left corner). It shows removed trees, standing awaiting removal, removed no EAB found and more.

It took me some time to figure out how to find stuff so I'll give you a clue: In the upper right hand corner, click on Legend. Then click on the + sign next to Emerald Ash Borer Detection so you find out what the symbols are. If you click on a the info button (an I with a circle around it), then click on a particular dot, you can get an address most of the time.

Permaculture Research Institute offering classes nearby the Midway

2010-04-12T09:49:00.010-05:00

"Permaculture Research Institute-Cold Climate" is certainly a mouthful, but they are in important volunteer supported organization here in the Twin Cities who teach sustainable small scale food production. Their instructors are well practiced and have a lot to share. I am profiling their current offerings here for a couple of reasons.

First off, they have a class series running in Frogtown starting this week, which is much closer for Midwayites than their usual venues. Secondly, this series is being taught by fellow HMEGer, Courtney Tchida! Courtney promised us last year she would get a St. Paul class series going and happily that has worked.

Note, PRI classes are not free. There may be some scholarship arrangements for some of their classes. However, these classes are an investment and will arm you with enough information to gain a return on your investment.

Below is the information recently sent by PRI to their email subscribers:

April 13, 20, 27 6-8:30 PM and
May 4,11 6-8:30 PM
Learn small-scale techniques for growing food in urban areas, for your own family’s use or for urban markets. In response to widespread demand, we are repeating this updated Urban Farming series taught by Courtney Tchida.

… choose any or all! $15 per class ($20 at the door) or all 5 for $60. (Click a course topic above for more details and registration.)

__________

May 1 9 AM - 4 PM
In one day, learn all you need to successfully grow food in our cold temperate climate, with special focus on urban gardens and African crop varieties. $60
more details

April 16 7-9 PM
Lecture by entomologist Neil Cunningham gives an overview of biological strategies for insect management in edible landscapes. $15

April 17 9AM - 3PM
Neil Cunningham and Dan Halsey lead a day of combined classroom and hands-on experience. Learn more about options for organic and biological pest controls and how they work. Design and install habitat for beneficial insects. $35

Receive a $5 discount when you register for both the lecture and the workshop!
more details

__________

May 15 1-5 PM
Join others in the Twin Cities area as we continue to shape the permaculture collaborative's role within PRI Cold Climate and bring small groups together around specific permaculture projects. Free and open to all.
more details

See all Upcoming Events on the front page left column of the PRI Cold Climate website.

New feature: What's happening in the Horton Park community gardens?

2010-04-09T15:26:00.008-05:00

Remember to join us in the Horton Park community gardens tomorrow, Saturday, from 9:00 to 11:00 am when we will be raking and clipping, cleaning up the gardens to get ready for spring! I visited the gardens today, and this early spring is showing itself in the park. In the prairie garden on Hamline and Minnehaha, the prairie smoke is in bloom, and the pussytoes have flower buds. In our shade garden, the bloodroot and wild ginger have flowers.

Featured plant of the month: wild ginger (Asarum canadense)
If you have never taken the time to get down on your knees and look at wild ginger flowers, you've missed a treat. Wild ginger is in the Aristolochiaceae, or birthwort, family. The most visible part of the flowers is the elongated sepals - there are 3 of them, spreading and sometimes twisted, and colored a rich dark red. The flowers grow close to the ground, where they are pollinated by beetles. The plants are easily identifiable by the thick, hairy, heart-shaped leaves. Wild ginger spreads easily by rhizomes (which are stems that creep along the ground). The rhizomes smell a bit like ginger, though the plants are not related to the ginger we buy in the store. It is possible to make a candy or spice from the rhizomes of wild ginger by cutting them into short sections, boiling them for an hour, then simmering them in a sugar syrup for 20 minutes, then separating them and drying them. (But please don't dig up the plants in the garden!). Wild ginger grows in rich mesic forests with lots of shade. Look for them in sugar maple-basswood-red oak forests, such as those in Nerstrand Big Woods State Park or on north-facing slopes in Frontenac State Park. They are easy to grow in shade gardens and are readily available from many native landscaping shops. Here is a link to the University of Wisconsin herbarium website page that has great pictures of this lovely plant.

Saturday at Newell Park: Professional Tree Climbing, activities like ziplines, tree planting and more

2010-04-07T12:37:00.006-05:00

Midway and folks nearby- Newell Park should be your destination on Saturday, May 15th! Park visitors will find the Arbor Day tree planting and Festival of Trees event.
including the professional tee climbing competitions. Could this be extreme reality TV happening right in the Hamline Midway? Schedule is as follows. HMEG will also be in attendance with information on composting, energy workshops and how to participate in the 2010 ash tree survey that we are conducting (surveyors needed!).

The event will begin at 9:00 with a volunteer welcome and opening remarks followed by a planting demonstration and the planting of 32 trees around the park. Please bike or walk to the event if possible. On street parking will be available around the park and there is a small parking lot at the north end of the park.

After the tree planting event there will be an Emerald Ash Borer presentation given by a Tree Care Advisor who can answer questions about the insect and its potential impact on Saint Paul's urban forest. The Festival of Trees and Tree Climbing Championships will concurrently run during the day on Saturday. Check out the climbers, vendors, information tables, and kids activities including a zip line, climbing wall, scavenger hunt, and face painting.

2010 MSA Tree Climbing Championship
Saint Paul Festival of Trees and Arbor Day Celebration
at Newell Park, 900 N. Fairview Avenue

Saturday May 15th
8:00-4:00……. Tree Climbing Championship Events

Work Climb
Belayed Speed Climb
Secured Footlock
Aerial Rescue
Throwline

9:00-11:00…... Arbor Day Volunteer Tree Planting Event
11:00-11:30…. Emerald Ash Borer Presentation
10:00-2:00 ….. Kids Activities

Scavenger Hunt
Climbing Walls
Bucket Rides
Zip Line

Sunday, May 16th
10:00-2:00…... Tree Climbing Championship
Masters Challenge

The compost hunt is on

2010-04-05T22:00:00.001-05:00

The compost hunt is on. The county sites are stocked, but will go quick. Community gardens are jostling for a complimentary delivery. Residents all over are looking at their woeful soils thinking, "I need some compost". Yes you do!

This is a perfect segue to highlight the compost bin sale that is happening now. Its also a great opportunity to reveal that the Hamline Midway Environment Group is hot on composting too, so much so they are working on a compost Google map much like the original community compost map of Philadelphia.

In this vein, I want to share a post written by Kirsten Saylor of Gardening Matters. It appears they have noticed the compost cries too.

"It's the time of year (spring), when folks start asking us about how to get some compost for their garden. This question comes up every year on the listserve. I recommend people checking out the COMGAR archives (search on keyword "compost") for additional advice and insight, but basically here's my quick recommendation...

If you're a community garden in Minneapolis or Ramsey County, there's instructions for compost on www.gardeningmatters.org. If you're a community garden not within Minneapolis and Ramsey County, then contact your city or county to see if they have any resources or policies about providing free or deeply discounted compost to community gardens.

If you're private/home garden, then here are some options for you...
1) ask neighbors if they have more compost than they can use. You may be surprised.
2) www.yardstogardens.org just advertised that they are trying to help people with surplus compost connect with those that need it.
3) make your own -- worms or a bin out back -- and I don't mean to be flippant, gardeners need to be on the vanguard of keeping valuable nutrients in their "ecosystem" and not letting any of that good compostable stuff get away and stuck in a landfill or burned for energy. If not gardeners, then who will?"

Happy Planting! Kirsten

Occurring now are two notable trends nationwide - 1) a rabid and valuable desire to grow-your-own food which requires good soil, and 2) a needy trash system which is overburdened with food waste. Compost intersects both of of these trends, each satisfying the other.

Burning restrictions take effect in 25 counties, including Twin Cities area

2010-03-29T14:37:00.006-05:00

Rapid snowmelt, low precipitation, and warm weather in the month of March have combined to create a condition that is unsafe for burning. A High Fire Danger Rating means unattended fires are likely to escape, quick to spread, and difficult to put out if not caught early. Beginning today, the DNR is placing restrictions on burning in several counties, including Ramsey and Hennepin. During this period, it is recommended that we compost or chip debris.

Follow these links for more information about fire danger and burning restrictions:

Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota DNR

Rain barrel and compost bin sale on now through the Recycling Association of Minnesota

2010-03-26T22:06:00.001-05:00

Rain barrels and/or compost bins are available for Twin Cities residents to purchase from the Recycling Association of Minnesota. For those folks living in the Hamline Midway, you can also take the additional CRWD discount found here (pdf).
Order by 4/22/2010 to pick up at the Living Green Expo at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand North Parking Lot
May 1, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. or May 2, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Accepting orders until April 22, 2010.

Compost Bin Available $55


The Earth Machine Dimensions: 33" x 33" Capacity: 10 cubic feet

Rain Barrel Styles Available:

Both styles $65


The Rain Catcher Dimensions: 24" W x 34" H Capacity: 54 gallons

The Systern

Dimensions: 34" H, 26.1" in diameter
Capacity: 55 gallons

Payment by credit card only. Prices listed above do not include sales tax.

Rebates offered for residents residing in: -Capitol Region Watershed District -Ramsey-Washington Watershed District To find out more, CLICK HERE (pdf).

DIRECTIONS FOR ORDERING: -ST. PAUL (Living Green Expo): May 1-2 (pdf)

HMEG Blog

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

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

THE IDEA

THE PLAN

DISCUSSION

4Comments

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

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

Gardening Books for Winter Reading & Inspiration 2011

The Green Alley work day pilot yields tremendous outcomes!

Free Swamp White Oak

"Care of Young Fruit Trees" Workshops on Sept. 17th - Free

Midway All-Community Garden Potluck & Books on Sept 25th

Can you plant trees in the Fall?

Summer Events at the Hamline Thomas Community Garden

You’re Invited to Get a fruit or shade TREE From the HMEG Tree Team!

Bike/Walk Week, June 11 Bike Rodeo and More Bike Fabulousness!

Native Bees: Why should you care and what can you do to help?

Spring in the Horton Park wildflower gardens

Taking Root: Beginner Gardening Series located in the Hamline Midway neighborhood

Horton Park gardening this Friday!

Please fill out HMEG survey about emerging initiatives & meeting alternatives

Two Compost Bin and Rain Barrel Sales for Ramsey County Residents

HMEG and Mississippi Market to screen the film "Lunch Line"

Gardening for Bees: Library Lecture now arranged by Xerces and HMEG

Report on sucessful boulevard raingarden in the Midway now available to aide Blair-Griggs RSVP residents get their FREE raingarden

Two January opportunities to find out how to reduce your home energy costs!

HMEG- Let's Celebrate!

Taking Stock

Community Gardens and Greening

Community Events

Trees

Waste Reduction

And More...

Residential Ash Tree Inventory and 2010 Tree Distribution is Completed!

Help Wanted Hamline Midway Recycles Blogmaster

Rain Fall Summer 2010 at the Midway Green Spirit Community Garden

Climate change bike ride: Send-off the 350 Solutions Revolution bikers on Oct 16th

Free Home Energy Efficiency Workshop for St. Paul Residents

Saturday, October 16, 2010 from 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Central High School Auditorium 275 Lexington Pkwy Saint Paul, MN 55104

HMEG Bulletin: Fall Leaf Recycling for Mulch and Compost

Some labels for your plant swap transplants

350.org Community Biking Event @Hamline Midway Library: Bike drive, workshops, & kid's activities

First Annual Hamline Midway Plant Swap Set For October 2nd

You’re Invited to Get a FREE TREE From the Hamline Midway Tree Team!

An observant son, a winter biking workshop, and community action with the 350.org campaign in the Midway

HMEG has a new look!

Contribute to HMEG's tree fund by buying books on 8/21 and 8/22 at Borders

HMEG Photo Site

Hamline Midway Bugs n' Bikes Community Garden Tour

HMEG's own Diane Dodge to serve on Saint Paul Ramsey County Food Commission

Six Hamline-Midway Community Gardens participating in the 5th Annual Parade of Community Gardens!

Ten Thousand Villages Helping the HMEG Tree Team Buy More Trees for the Neighborhood!

Rain Garden at Hamline Church dedicated to Maxine Smith

What's Blooming in the Horton Park Native Plant Gardens?

Home Energy Squad knocking on doors

HMEG is Talking Trees!

The importance of native pollinators

The importance of native pollinators as posted on MidPoint Green

Time to garden this weekend at Horton

City of Minneapolis Takes a Position on Chemical Treatments of Ash Trees

Recycle your garden pots through October 1st

Energy Smart Homes

Rebates for Solar Hot Water and Solar Hot Air Installations

HMEG to be at Hamline Midway Spring Festival on Sunday May 23rd

Snelling Avenue Planters to get colorful on Thursday morning

Seeking Midway "citizen scientists" to help count ash trees during the 2010 summer

Clothesline Poem for welcoming a sunny day by Gene

Dirt cheap and easy: Green Cleaners

Ingredients

Directions

Mother's Day (5/9) at Horton Park

Make an impact alongside the Hamline Thomas community gardeners: May volunteers needed

Ramsey County Master Gardeners supporting Midway and Frogtown neighborhoods

Where to Recycle?: Plastic bottle caps, wine corks

FREE ENERGY EFFICIENCY WORKSHOP

What's blooming at Horton Park?

HMEG now on Facebook

Central High School Auditorium
275 Lexington Pkwy
Saint Paul, MN 55104