Happy New Year & Still Time to Make a Donation to Your Favorite Enviro Group

(Paddling Blue Mountain Lake, NY, photo A. Stock)


I’ve been receiving a number of emails from some of my favorite environmental groups reminding me there is still time to make a donation and receive the tax benefit. So, I thought I would pass along links to some of the groups whose work I follow, support, appreciate (or admittedly, employ me :)

Though economic times are tough, now more than ever, every dollar counts for non-profits.

One of my favorite groups which reaches far back to my childhood is the Fresh Air Fund, www.freshairfund.org. I have fond memories of ‘fresh air fund’ kids coming to Gloversville, where I grew up in upstate NY, staying with various friend’s families. As someone who was raised in a predominantly white, middle-class (at the time) community, these kids from the city raised my curiosity.

I remember asking my mother once if we could have a ‘fresh air kid’ sometime. She balked. She had seven of her own kids to feed and take care of each summer, plus a husband and father-in-law, all on one income. Still, we all agreed it was a worthwhile idea, this group which brought city kids up to the country.

I still recall talking with one of the kids about his experience in Gloversville and him saying he’d never been out of the city. Most of the kids were of similar upbringing - had never spent any time out of the city, so a day in the country and swimming at a lake was truly a first-time experience for them.

Somewhere in me, I knew I felt grateful for having grown up with the natural world as my playground. To this day, as a teacher of environmental studies, I find learning about the environment and creating an ethic of appreciation for it, is best done through direct experience with nature.

I’ve since had adult students who also grew up in the city. Most have some love for nature and animals, but also, most of what they know is through TV. When teaching at Bryant and Stratton College, I always made a point to take my students on a field trip to the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. One woman, six-months pregnant and who remained mostly silent the entire field trip, told me after, ‘Ms Stock, this was the best experience I’ve ever had.’

That’s why this year, I’m supporting the Fresh Air Fund.

I hope you too will make a donation to your favorite charity, whether environmental or other.

Have a safe and happy New Year!
Amy

Below is a list of some of the nonprofits who are doing important work in the Saratoga-Capital Region, Hudson Valley, and beyond. Most have links to donate online. So, take a moment and consider donating today.
















(Students from Troy High School sell produce they've grown as part of Capital District Community Gardens Produce Project, an urban-farm based entrepreneurial job training program for at-risk youth in Troy, photo courtesy CDCG)

Capital District Community Gardens, www.cdcg.org
Saratoga P.L.A.N., http://www.saratogaplan.org/
Agricultural Stewardship Association, http://www.asa.org/
American Farmland Trust, http://www.aft.org/
Northeast Land Trust Alliance, http://www.northeastlta.org/
Regional Farm and Food Project, http://http//www.facebook.com/pages/Regional-Farm-and-Food-Project/124251794716Sustainable Saratoga, http://www.sustainablesaratoga.com/
The WILD Center, http://www.wildcenter.org/
Ashokan Nature Center, http://www.ashokancenter.org/
Kingston Land Trust, http://www.kingstonlandtrust.org/
Woodstock Land Conservancy, http://www.woodstocklandconservancy.org/
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, http://www.clearwater.org/
Scenic Hudson, http://www.scenichudson.org/
National Audubon Society, http://www.audubon.org/
Conservation International, http://www.conservation.org/
Northeast Permaculture Institute, http://www.thepine.org/
The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, http://www.ecostudies.org/
Sustainable Hudson Valley, sustainhv.org
Lake George Land Conservancy, http://www.lglc.org/
Children & Nature Network, http://www.childrenandnature.org/
Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park, http://www.wiltonpreserve.org/
Parks & Trail NY, http://www.ptny.org/
Sustainable South Sound, http://www.sustainablesouthsound.org/
The Resiience Hub, http://www.theresiliencehub.org/
Fresh Air Fund, http://www.freshairfund.org/


(North end of Lake George, NY, photo, A. Stock)

Happy Holidays - Winter Solstice, Hannukah, Christmas

It is no wonder to me why so many holidays occur around this same time of year, the winter solstice - the darkest day of the year.
At winter solstice, we enter into the stillness of winter, of the cold, allowing whatever must be let go, let go. At the same time, we celebrate the return of the light, as the earth makes it transit, yet again, around the sun. Solstice gives us a time to gestate new ideas, new thoughts, and new ways of being we want for our lives.

I personally enjoy the winter solstice as it marks for me the ending of one year, and beginning of another. It provides a moment to look at all I have learned, how my life has been going, what I've accomplished, or not, and how I want it to go for the coming year.

I have this quote on a little inspirational card someone gave to me years ago,

The quote says,

"The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning." by Ivy Baker Priest

I love this quote. It reminds me at this time of year, that the end of one year also ushers in the beginning of another. So as we hustle and bustle about our lives for the holidays, celebrating in whatever way we may - I wish you all the peace and joy of the returning light. May you celebrate ALL the lessons and joy of the past year, and welcome in even more joy for the coming year.

And remember, at least as I try to, it is often the simple things in life which can bring us the most joy - a smile from a friend, the funny words of a three year old, or the laughter of the clerk behind the counter when you share a joke. Sometimes the small things have the greatest impact.

And, don't forget to shop local - in my opinion, one of the most 'green' things you can do :)

Thank you to all who have read and enjoyed my blog. I look forward to writing more in the coming year, examining sustainability in a deeper way, and on a larger scale.

I want to end sharing a really great video to watch - a wonderful gift and reminder of the small wonders of everyday life. A look at Life In A Day of people around the globe - how they live their lives, their values, friends, challenges and joys. A study of similarities, contrasts, contradictions and interconnectedness of all our lives, complex and yet entirely simple. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday?feature=watch

Living with the change of seasons

I have a friend who a few years back wrote to me in an email, 'we're all doing good here. Our life seems to have its own seasons now.'

I woke this morning remembering how much I try sometimes to resist change, and particularly, the change of seasons. I was reminded this morning, as I rose at 6:30, just a bit before the sunrise, that though we are only in early December we are actually in the darkest time of the year.

December 21st, just a few weeks away, marks the Winter Solstice - the darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere - when the earth is furthest from the sun. As I deal with my busy schedule - end of semester grading, preparing for a family xmas, and other life and work responsibilities, I paused this morning to remember and reflect on how disconnected I can get sometimes from the rhthyms of nature, and yet, how much my body and soul are influenced and directed by those rhthyms.

My body wants to huddle in bed, read a book, sit and meditate, whereas, my spirit is driven to get to work, attend that conference, go out and run. I sleep more in the winter, and that old winter weight is desperately trying to gain itself on.

Now that I own a house and I heat my house, in part, with a woodstove - I have come to be more and more mindful of the impending winter. Fall also means the time for stacking wood, preparing kindling, mulching garden beds, and generally ensuring I've finished my raking (not quite) and put away other outside items.

Still, this doesn't always mean I like the cold, but each year, I force my body and brain to embrace it.

It is however, hard for me to remember, or rather accept, the change of seasons. Perhaps because I love the fall, and, I had a particularly inspiring fall season, November seemed to trick me in wanting to believe winter won't come. Again, my body told me it was time to slow down. This year, just at the change of seasons and change of clocks, I got a major cold. I was sick for weeks, which is actually quite unusual for me. I know it was in part because the change of seasons was telling me: slow down, take your time, and prepare.

That is perhaps the message for me, of winter. And what, I believe, my friend Lisa referred to in her email to me. Just as spring is planting time of new seeds and ideas, summer the time of joy of new growth, and fall the time of abundance and harvest - winter is the time to rest, reflect, take stock, and prepare for the coming year.

As the daylight retreats and the cold approaches, I hope you'll each take the time to reflect on the changes of seasons in your own life, and remember in gratitude just how much we are reliant upon this earth, and one another, for our sustenance.

I want to close with a quote from a section of Aldo Leopold's 'A Sand County Almanac', which I'm reading for one of my classes:

February - Good Oak

There are two spiritual dangers in now owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnance.

To avoid the first danger, one should plant a garden, preferably where there is no grocer to confuse the issue.

To avoid the second, he should lay a split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace, and let it warm his shins while a February blizzard tosses the trees outside. If one has cut, split, hauled, and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to those who spend the weekend in town astride a radiator.

Film and Food Festival - Saratoga Nov 17-20

Don't miss this great lineup of films this week at Saratoga Film Forum, focused on some of the most critical and contemporary issues facing food and farming in our country.

Thursday
Vanishing of the Bees
Thurs., Nov. 17th, 7:30 p.m. Directed by George Langworthy and Maryam HeneinUSA2009
2009's Vanishing of the Bees is stinging documentary that investigates the economic, political, and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee due to the tragic phenomenon known as "Colony Collapse Disorder."

Our screening of Vanishing of the Bees will be followed by a panel discussion.
Speakers include: Nate Darrow, Saratoga Apple--From a long line of Vermont applekeepers, Nate Darrow and his wife Christine Gaud took over the third-generation commercial apple orchard and farm stand, Saratoga Apple, in 1994. They also cultivate raspberries, cherries asparagus, plums, and other bee-dependent fruits. Darrow uses both wild bees and European honeybees he rents from beekeepers to pollinate his fruit.

Anne Frey, EAS Master Beekeeper--Anne Frey has kept bees since 1989, but has only considered herself a beekeeper since 1994. She worked for a commercial beekeeper from 2000 to 2003, became an Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS) Master Beekeeper in 2002, and from 2003 to 2007 was president of Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association (SABA). She currently raises hardy northern queens and runs 20 hives in New York State.

Justin Stevens, Betterbee, Inc.--Second-generation beekeeper Justin Stevens is the manager of the Greenwich-based family business, Betterbee Inc, which not only sells honey but has developed more than 30 products for the beekeeping community, and routinely offers workshops in hive management and mite control. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala, Stevens worked with indigenous beekeepers and their Africanized honeybees. He has been keeping bees all his life.

Prior to the screening we will feature a special performance by Jonathan Greene of Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Flight of the Bumblebee."
Official Web site for Vanishing of the Bees
Vanishing of the Bees at the Internet Movie Database


Friday
Urban Roots
Fri., Nov. 18th, 7:30 p.m.Directed by Mark MacInnisUSA2011
Documentary about the spontaneous emergence of urban farming in the city of Detroit. In a city with the most vacant lots in the country, a small group of dedicated citizens has started an urban environmental movement with the potential to transform not just a decaying city, but perhaps a country after the end of its industrial age.

Our screening of Urban Roots will be followed by a panel discussion. Speakers
include: Abby Lublin, Collard City Growers
Patricia Salkin, Assoc. Dean and Director, Government Law Center of Albany Law School--Patricia E. Salkin is the Raymond & Ella Smith Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School where she is also Associate Dean and Director of the Government Law Center. She is the author of the 5-volume American Law of Zoning and the 4-volume New York Zoning Law & Practice. She is a member of the the US EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and she has recently written a number of articles related to legal issues with urban agriculture including articles on regional foodsheds, backyard chickens and neighborhood beekeeping.

Official Web site for Urban RootsUrban Roots at the Internet Movie Database


Saturday
Spring Street Classic Film Series
The Grapes of Wrath
Sat., Nov. 19th, 7 p.m.Directed by John Ford Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson, based on the novel by John Steinbeck USA129 min.1940Not Rated

This month's Spring Street Classic Film fits in nicely with our Farm and Food Film Festival. John Ford's classic film, based on John Steinbeck's novel, follows the Joads on their arduous trek from Dustbowl-era Oklahoma to the "promised land" of California, and they seek work and opportunity in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Low & Lonesome, featuring Phil Drum & Rob Adkins will play Depression-era songs before our screening of The Grapes of Wrath.

The Grapes of Wrath will be screened at the Spring Street Gallery, 110 Spring Street.Admission is free. The Grapes of Wrath at the Internet Movie Database


Sunday
The Greenhorns
Sun., Nov. 20th, 3 p.m.Directed by Severine von Tscharner FlemingUSA2010

Armed with a camcorder, farmer/filmmaker/activist Severine von Tscharner Fleming spent two years crisscrossing America, meeting and mobilizing a network of revolutionary young farmers. The Greenhorns is an ode to their grit and entrepreneurial spirit, an exploration of sustainable agriculture, and an enticement to reclaim our national soil.

Our screening of The Greenhorns will include a panel discussion featuring:
Cara Fraver and Luke Deikis, Quincy Farm--After three years working for other farmers in the Hudson Valley, they started off on their own this spring, founding Quincy Farm in Easton, and cultivating just under three acres for the Glens Falls, Schenectady, and Ballston Spa farmers' markets. Despite a challenging first season, they look forward to expanding production for 2012, as well as adding a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to their market outlets.

Michael Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick Family Farm--Michael Kilpatrick is a young, first-generation farmer who is the owner and leader of Kilpatrick Family Farm. The farm, a mixed vegetable and animal operation, specializes in providing vegetables, meat, and eggs through their year round CSA and farmer's markets. Michael and his crew farm 12-15 acres of vegetables, 100 acres of hay/pasture and 1/3 of an acre of covered production in and around Granville, NY on mostly rented land.

Teri Ptacek, Executive Director, Agricultural Stewardship Association--Teri Ptacek has been the executive director of the Agricultural Stewardship Association (ASA) in Greenwich for over eight years. A land trust that protects farmland in Washington and Rensselaer Counties, the breadbasket of the Capital District, ASA stewards over 12,000 acres, 83 properties, with 19 more farms in the works. Before heading up ASA, Teri was the director of the American Farmland Trust, in Saratoga Springs.

Sunday's screening will also include a special food event. Local chefs will provide appetizers made with local ingredients, as well as homemade desserts.
Participating restaurants include:
Official Web site for The GreenhornsThe Greenhorns at the Internet Movie Database

Doing what you love is sustainable

So many of us are so busy with all our various obligations: work, family, kids, houses, mates, that we forget sometimes to make time to do the things we really love.

I was reminded this weekend of one of the things I used to love - birdwatching, which, I haven't really actively done in a long time. I'm actually okay with this, as I've come to discover other activities I enjoy, or should I say, just happen to be priorities at this time in my life.

One - is running, and the second - is writing. I've actually run on and off for exercise since I was in high school. Only in the past year, and perhaps even the past four to five months, have I discovered the joy I can get out of pushing my body to go farther or faster than I thought I could. Of course, running also triggers lots of feel-good endorphins, as does most exercise, so that's an added bonus. There is however, something fabulous about pushing your limits.

The mornings when I run and write are the days which just flow, and are the most even and balanced. The two activities seem to balance me in just the right way. I think because they are two activities I absolutely must do - my body, my soul, call it what you will, but it's like my entire being is boosted when I do these two things.

There is something really magical about the power of training. Just as when I run more and longer, I train my body to handle longer distances, the same is true of writing. The more I write, and the more time I spend crafting my words carefully, the stronger a writer I become. Both of course, like life in general, are works in progress.

Though I could be using my running time to do other things, for me, this is sacred time I need to remain healthy and balanced. And, when we are healthy and balanced is when we bring our best selves to whatever work or task is in front of us, or contribution which is calling us.

I've also discovered a wonderful community of runners. Ironically, many of my friends have been running for years - good friends from high school, past jobs, etc - all run. I knew they were runners, but I never really understood it as something they'd committed to.

Finally, I've discovered the many benefits. Perhaps it's our tribal nature, but there is also some uncanny bond or connection when you talk with someone who runs, participate in or watch a race. You want each person to succeed, and you want to motivate one another. This is also one of the great benefits of running, from my dental hygienist who encouraged me to run my first 5K, to my friend out west who's been training for marathons for over five years, sometimes by our own committment and action, we encourage each other to become our best.

Cultivating discipline, endurance, committment and steadfastness in any activity, whether running, writing, or gardening, especially one we love, can only lead to greater opening and joy. How can this be anything other than essential to sustainable living!

Figs, Fig Wasps, and Pollinators in Decline Symposium

Below is an interesting link/information I received earlier today about an upcoming symposium on the decline of pollinators. This particularly caught my attention since I'm teaching a course on Biology of Ecosystems, and was just reading in one of the texts, Noah's Garden, how fig plants are reliant upon the fig wasp for pollination, and how one gardener's figs didn't fruit because there were no fig wasps to pollinate.

Sounds crazy - I know. Here's a link to some fig 'fanatics', that is, biologists who study figs and fig wasps. And, if you're not believing me, here's a link to an image that describes the process. In scientific terms, this relationship between the fig plant and the fig wasp is called mutualism.

(Double-click the image to read it. Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/bps/media-view/19378/0/0/0)

So, here's a concept, we wouldn't have much of our food resources without our pollinators, so pollinators = sustainability.


Onto the Symposium Announcement:

International Symposium Addresses the Pollinator Declines

WASHINGTON, D.C., OCTOBER19, 2011, --/WORLD-WIRE/-- One out of everythird bite of food we consume comes from plants that depend on beesand other pollinating animals for reproduction, yet Colony CollapseDisorder continues to plague honey bees, stump researchers, and alarmthe agricultural community. While many people are aware of pollinatordeclines, very few know how they can help. Now is the chance!

A week of brainstorming and technology transfer between NorthAmerica’s leading pollinator scientists and stakeholders at the 11thAnnual North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC)International Conference will begin with a film screening for thepublic and press of “The Strange Disappearance of the Bees” at theSmithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Auditorium onTuesday October 25th at 3:30 PM. Attendees will have a chance toparticipate in a question and answer session with the leadingpollinator authorities following the film screening.

Additionally, the public is invited to join the NAPPC morningsymposium, “Our Future Flies on the Wings of Pollinators” onWednesday, October 26, 2011 from 9-11 AM featuring keynote addressesby; Bryan Arroyo, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Ed Flanagan, JasperWyman & Son, Rev. Richard Cizik, The New Evangelical Partnership forthe Common Good, and more. During this public session, the Bee SmartTMMobile Planting App and the Bee SmartTM School Garden Kit willofficially be released. The Bee SmartTM School Garden Kit is gearedfor 3-6 grade classrooms interested in learning about the connectionbetween pollinators, food, and people. The Bee SmartTM Mobile PlantingApp is the only pollinator planting app available for smartphones, andprovides nearly 1,000 different planting suggestions based on the typeof pollinator habitat gardeners want to create. “These new toolsgive hands-on support to make a real difference for bees and allpollinators,” said Laurie Davies Adams, ED of the PollinatorPartnership (P2), the 501(c)3 that oversees NAPPC.

The public will also witness the signing of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) between P2 and the National Park Service. With thesigning of the new MOU, the total acreage influenced by P2 to promotepollinators will be tipped close to 2 billion acres.

Recipients of the Pollinator Advocate Award will be honored for thework they done for pollinators in local gardens (Dr. Clement Kent –Canada), along utility rights-of-way (Jimmy Brown – USA), acrossagricultural landscapes (Peter and Laura Berthelsen – USA), and atmigration overwintering sites (Dr. Isabel Ramirez – Mexico) at theTuesday VIP evening reception. P2 supporter Spring44 will be at thisevent sweetening the reception with specially crafted cocktails madefrom their signature Honey Vodka; this sustainable spirit is availablenationally and each purchase supports P2’s pollinator conservation.

The NAPPC Symposium is a unique opportunity to get the latest insightson why pollinators matter, what you can do to help pollinators, andwhat are the benefits, challenges, and outcomes anticipated across thecontinent in the next decade. Please join NAPPC and explore theinteraction between humans, plants and pollinators, broadening ourunderstanding of the role pollinators play in major issues facingNorth America. Visit http://www.nappc.org/ to RSVP and learn more about theseevents.

Managed by the non-profit Pollinator Partnership, NAPPC is acollaborative effort of over 130 organizations in the U.S., Canada,and Mexico whose common goal is to promote awareness of the essentialrole that pollinators play in food systems and ecosystems, and toprovide the public with simple, effective ways to engage inenvironmental stewardship.

To learn more about the North AmericanPollinator Protection Campaign visit http://www.nappc.org/ or the PollinatorPartnership visithttp://www.pollinator.org.

CONTACT:
Tom Van Arsdall
tva@pollinator.org <mailto:tva@pollinator.org>
t: 703 509 4746

Olivia Jacobsen
oj@pollinator.org <mailto:oj@pollinator.org>
t: 415.362.1137

10 life lessons learned

It's been quite a while since I posted here. Sometimes life just gets busy...work, more work, house, exercise, meditate, garden, play...it all takes time.

However, in my commitment to follow through on those things I say I will do, below is my top 10 list of 'insights' I came away with on my trip this summer out to the Pacific Northwest to visit friends.

Most are inspired by the stories and experiences shared with people I have known a long time, some almost twenty years. Most were friends who were at one time a daily part of my life, but now mostly we exchange occasional 'hello' and 'how are you' messages via Facebook.

I spent a lot of time one on one, catching up on the intricacies of life, the loves come and gone, the kids that have grown up and graduated, new jobs, illness, weddings. Life moves forward, and yet, I find with people whom I've known so intimately, we easily fall back into a familiar rhythm.

I know this post seems a bit off topic from 'sustainability', but living sustainably, in my opinion, means cultivating deep community. My community expands far beyond the borders of Saratoga, where I live. I still rely upon these friends, near and far, to help nurture and support my creativity and sense of purpose, as I hope I do for them. Of course, cultivating community locally is really essential for what I call deep sustainability. Still, these connections we have with people who live afar are equally important, though perhaps less frequent. Some simply feed some aspect of our soul, and keeping those connections is essential.

So, here's my list of the top 10 great insights/reminders I came away with - inspired by my Oly friends!

1) Good friends who care deeply about you will always be your friends regardless of where you are located - learn to carry them in your heart and you can call upon them at any time.
2) Love takes time - the kind that's really lasting anyways. And sometimes, 'being in love just isn't enough', as one friend said to me of her brief but passionate long-distance romance
3) There is always someone whose life experience has been more difficult than your own - learn from those people's challenges and strengths
4) Change happens - to us all
5) Keep in touch with the people you care about-sometimes they need you more than you might expect
6) Love deeply and care about what you do
7) Laugh a lot!
8) Sometimes it's not so essential to take everything so seriously
9) Enjoy what you have while you have it
10) Be thankful !

It may all seem so simple, but sometimes we need simple reminders to be thankful. Life can change instantly, as I learned of one friend who had a serious illness come upon fast.

And, as people come and go in our lives, there will always be those constancies. They can help you get through the tough times. In the meantime, reaching out to people near you - like my neighbors with whom I share a kindred feeling of 'neighborliness'. We even gardened together this summer. Sharing resources, ideas, information, creativity - that's an essential part of a thriving life, and, in my opinion, for building deep community and sustainability...

So, connect with an old friend, and have a cup of coffee with your neighbor - both may surprise and delight you.