Taking Stock

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.

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• 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!

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

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

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

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

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

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)