Public meetings were held on Wednesdays April 15, 29 and May 13. Items discussed:
Transition Initiative
Food and Farming
Building and Housing
Technical Trainings
Green Business Development
Leadership Training
Stalled Projects
Completed or Upcoming Projects
Upcoming Events
Transition Initiative
On Tuesday, April 28, 2009, the Sonnenschein Green Initiative hosted the 4th Green Evening Cafe. The public event was held from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Emporium. Transition Town Hohenwald was the theme for the April Green Evening. Speakers at the event included: Former Sonnenschein Chair and current Editor of the Lewis County Herald, Becky Newbold, Chamber President Mark Graves, City Vice Mayor Dustin Flowers and others.
Please click here to read the full report.
On Friday May 8, 2009 we received official acceptance into the Transition Town Network. We were granted approval from the network to do our Transition Unleashing on June 6, 2009. Please click here to read more.
Food and Farming
The Food and Farming Working Group has been meeting twice a month. There main project is the development of a Community Garden.
Click here to read about their ground breaking event and to read about Community Gardens.
The Food and Farming Group is looking for donations of the following items for their garden:
mulching materials: newspapers, cardboard, shredded paper; framing materials for beds; peat moss; vermiculite; natural fertilizers; wood chips for paths - Contact Bob Ogden at zoldfartz@yahoo.com
Lastly, an update on the Farmer's Market and Community Kitchen: There were about 4 meeting held regarding the development of a Farmer's Market. There were two other initiatives within the community also discussing different types of markets, all complimentary to our ideas. The Sonnenschein group decided in early May to table this project for two reasons. First - the group wanted to focus their attention on the Community Garden and second, the group saw that the other initiatives were moving forward and we hope to give our support to those efforts.
On the community kitchen front - we're moving slowly in finding funds for such a project. We have a few ideas about locations for the kitchen.
Building and Housing
Jerry and John Risner of Buffalo Valley Inc., have given several presentations to the group on a new green home that Buffalo Valley with support form Sonnenschein, is building on the corner of Walnut and Second Street. Construction may begin as early as this month. The building will incorporate energy efficient materials, solar hot water, water catchment and a Permaculture designed landscape. Click here to read more. Jerry is also applying for grants that would potentially enable green retrofitting in Middle Tennessee.
Technical Trainings
The Tennessee Technology Center at Hohenwald has partnered with the Sonnenschein Green Initiative in the development of a grant for a Green Jobs Technical Training Program. If the training is funded it will hopefully begin in September of 2009 and run through August 2010. The curriculum would include technical trainings in Permaculture, Agroforestry, Sustainable Design, Energy Analysis, Green Building, Weaterization, Solar Hot Water Installation, Photovoltaic Installation, Geothermal Installation, BioChar, Vehicle Conversions to Electric and Vegetable Oil, Ethanol, Biodiesel, Green Business and Career Development.
Green Business Development
One of the primary goals of the Sonnenschein Initiative is Green Business. We hope to help green existing businesses and to develop or attract new businesses. To this aim, Sonnenschein is gearing up for the second Financial Permaculture Course and Green Business Summit to be held September 22-26 in Hohenwald, TN. At the course in 2008, local stakeholders helped design business plans for ethanol production, a green incubator, a green marketplace and several farming initiatives. To prepare for the 2009 Summit, we're creating allies with potential green business stakeholders in the community. Keeping the same themes from 2008: food and farming, building and housing, fuel and energy and green business - we hope to identify opportunities within the community to either build on last years designs or to create effective designs that support he interests of potential local stakeholders. Once we determine our needs, we'll look to invite national experts in that field to attend the event as content instructors. We hope that the community will help guide us in preparing for the Summit. The next Green Evening Cafe on May 26 will partially focus on what green businesses Hohenwald and Lewis County could most benefit from.
Also, related to Business Development, Mark Graves, as Chamber President, recently formed a Green Business Development Committee for the Chamber, as a result of a recent Chamber retreat and strategic planning with the state of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The goal of this new Development Committee is to educate current businesses to capitalize on green energy and efficiency. There first meeting will be June 4. City Vice Mayor, Dustin Flowers stated that the city realizes the opportunities for a green economy and that is why the City supports becoming a Transition Town. Their first true step in support of this effort is renaming the industrial park on Swan Avenue the Hohenwald Eco-Industrial Park and in targeting new Green Industry.
Leadership Training
Our group decides that we wanted some leadership training at each of our meetings. We asked Debbie Landers, alumni and instructor during our local Leadership Lewis Trainings has been giving 10-15 minute presentations on leadership development during each of our public meetings. It is our aim to train up leaders within this initiative. So far we have received very positive feedback from the group regarding these presentations.
On a slightly different note, our group has put together a statement on purpose and decision making processes. Here is what we've come up with so far. Click here for details.
Stalled Projects
Green Sewage Treatment Facility: We found out in early May that the proposal for the constructed wetlands for the new Sewage Treatment Facility in Hohenwald were presented to the facility engineers. It was said that they liked the idea but did not approve the design because they feared that it would stall or impede the flow of federal and state funds into the project. The city has decided to table the 'green' design and move forward on the original design and time line proposed by the engineer. The City Recorder, Mark Graves stated that the city was still interested in potential 'green' designs once the facility is constructed. He noted that there may be additional grants available specifically for constructed wetlands or other green projects that could be applied to the Sewage Treatment facility in the future.
Complimentary Currency: In 2008 the local Chamber of Commerce started a complimentary currency called a Chamber Buck. Similar programs are being run elsewhere in the state of TN, in the city of Lebanon for example. Click here to read a previous post about Chamber Bucks.
There was so much interest in the program that the Sonnenschein group decided to have a few conversations about it during our bi-monthly meetings. Every time it got brought up people were very interested in learning more about the topic and the useful success stories from other towns and cities using complimentary currencies around the world. To find out more you can do a search for Ithica, New York, Totnes England, Damanhur Ireland. There are many many more but these are the ones I've personally experienced or read about. As Sonnenschein started learning about these successful case studies we decided to arrange a more formal discussion around the topic by organizing a 3-day Complimentary Currency workshop in September. The goal for the course was at the very least to educate the public about these successful case studies and to make the local Chamber Bucks program more effective in creating a local multiplier effect.
As word spread through the community about our interest in having this conversation around increasing local wealth through a local complimentary currency, a number of people in the community and some in political office immediately opposed the pursuit of any such effort. Comments ranged from fear of socialism to fear of isolation from the global market and concern over replacing the federal note system. In our research (and by no means do we consider ourselves well educated on the subject), we have not found anything suggesting that these concerns are valid - on the contrary we found that complimentary currencies are just that - complimentary, and that they have most often added value to and stimulated local economies. Although our group is still interested in finding out more about working solutions from around the world, we've decided to table the 2009 Complimentary Currency Course and also the Complimentary Currency working group. Our main focus right now is Local Economic and Community Development, Green Business Development and Outreach Education and we have enough to work on right now to keep us very busy. We don't see it strategic or effective for our group to be working on something that has caused such controversy in the community.
Completed Projects
The Lewis County Green Guide was printed and distributed. Please click here to read more.
The Sonnenschein Initiative has a new website this week.
Please visit www.sonnenschiengreentn.org.
Upcoming Events
May 26 - Green Evening Cafe on Green Business Development.
June 5-7 Sustainability Forum - Please click here to read about the Forum
June 13 - Start of Summer Permaculture Series - Please click here for details.
Showing posts with label Food and Farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food and Farming. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Food and Farming Updates
Bob Ogden sent me the following e-mails:
March 28:
Hi Jennifer, Just wanted to update you on the progress of the community garden. I met with Don Jones, City Mayor a few days ago and he is glad to help us get started. He agreed to have the city install a water meter, a water line running the length of the site, and several faucets for our use, at no cost to the group. We will however, be responsible for the water bill. We need to think about fund raising in the very near future to cover expenses.
The first meeting of the people interested in the community garden was held last night at the Senior Center. On very short notice, we had a small, but motivated group of people who had a lot of great ideas. We decided to call the group Sonnenschein Community Garden. We are looking for someone to plow up part of the site (after the water lines are put in) for the start up beds, and the rest to sow in a cover crop for green manure for use as we expand. We talked about open pollinated seeds, heirloom varieties and the dangers of genetically modified seed. We will meet again on the night of April 2nd at 6pm at the Senior Center. I will meet with the mayor Monday afternoon to talk with him and the water supervisor, Bobby McCann about putting in the water system.
PS: We ordered a copy of the film, "The Future Of Food" today. We are anxious to share it with the group. We will let you know when it comes in, so you can check it out.
Anyway, we are on our way to really having a community garden in Hohenwald!
Talk to you later, Bob & Sara Ogden and Leila Oertel
March 14:
Just wanted to bring you up to date on what's going on with the Community Garden project. Terry Bunch, the Director for the Housing Authority, has offered us the use of a two acre lot. It is located next to the Highland Retreat Academy, across from the Ambulatory Care Center. The Academy has a greenhouse right next door and the Principal, June Defoe, seemed excited to help us and said we may be able to start seedlings in their greenhouse. It is likely that we'll get the kids involved with the garden. The land is level, has roads on two sides, water is available by setting a meter. Bob will contact the city about that Monday. Terry also took us out to see another piece of land behind the housing project on the other end of town, back east of High Forest Hardware that is available. Jerry Risner of Buffalo Valley also donated some land that we could use for another garden site. We personally thought the property next to the Highland Retreat Academy is perfect for our project, but it is always nice to have more options. Check it out and let us know what you think.
We are meeting with John Mast, an organic farmer and some of his friends, along with David Mitzel and Leila Oertel Tuesday night at 6pm at the school house by the Yoder Market to discuss a Farmers Market for Hohenwald. If anyone from the group wants to join us, we would be happy to have their input. Things seem to be starting to click for the project, so we are hopeful.
Next week, we will be making phone calls to scout out a place for the Community Garden group to meet and brainstorm ideas. We were thinking about the Senior Citizen Center because the Garden Club meets there already, and they also have a nice big kitchen area that would work well for the Community Kitchen projects. Bob just got off the phone with Mike Sheth, who is very enthusiastic about the Community Garden. He said that he wouldn't be able to physically participate in the garden, but that he would like to help out financially to get it started.
We will be at the County Commissioners meeting Monday night to show support for the proclamation put before the commissioners.
Talk to you soon, Bob & Sara Ogden and Leila Oertel.
March 28:
Hi Jennifer, Just wanted to update you on the progress of the community garden. I met with Don Jones, City Mayor a few days ago and he is glad to help us get started. He agreed to have the city install a water meter, a water line running the length of the site, and several faucets for our use, at no cost to the group. We will however, be responsible for the water bill. We need to think about fund raising in the very near future to cover expenses.
The first meeting of the people interested in the community garden was held last night at the Senior Center. On very short notice, we had a small, but motivated group of people who had a lot of great ideas. We decided to call the group Sonnenschein Community Garden. We are looking for someone to plow up part of the site (after the water lines are put in) for the start up beds, and the rest to sow in a cover crop for green manure for use as we expand. We talked about open pollinated seeds, heirloom varieties and the dangers of genetically modified seed. We will meet again on the night of April 2nd at 6pm at the Senior Center. I will meet with the mayor Monday afternoon to talk with him and the water supervisor, Bobby McCann about putting in the water system.
PS: We ordered a copy of the film, "The Future Of Food" today. We are anxious to share it with the group. We will let you know when it comes in, so you can check it out.
Anyway, we are on our way to really having a community garden in Hohenwald!
Talk to you later, Bob & Sara Ogden and Leila Oertel
March 14:
Just wanted to bring you up to date on what's going on with the Community Garden project. Terry Bunch, the Director for the Housing Authority, has offered us the use of a two acre lot. It is located next to the Highland Retreat Academy, across from the Ambulatory Care Center. The Academy has a greenhouse right next door and the Principal, June Defoe, seemed excited to help us and said we may be able to start seedlings in their greenhouse. It is likely that we'll get the kids involved with the garden. The land is level, has roads on two sides, water is available by setting a meter. Bob will contact the city about that Monday. Terry also took us out to see another piece of land behind the housing project on the other end of town, back east of High Forest Hardware that is available. Jerry Risner of Buffalo Valley also donated some land that we could use for another garden site. We personally thought the property next to the Highland Retreat Academy is perfect for our project, but it is always nice to have more options. Check it out and let us know what you think.
We are meeting with John Mast, an organic farmer and some of his friends, along with David Mitzel and Leila Oertel Tuesday night at 6pm at the school house by the Yoder Market to discuss a Farmers Market for Hohenwald. If anyone from the group wants to join us, we would be happy to have their input. Things seem to be starting to click for the project, so we are hopeful.
Next week, we will be making phone calls to scout out a place for the Community Garden group to meet and brainstorm ideas. We were thinking about the Senior Citizen Center because the Garden Club meets there already, and they also have a nice big kitchen area that would work well for the Community Kitchen projects. Bob just got off the phone with Mike Sheth, who is very enthusiastic about the Community Garden. He said that he wouldn't be able to physically participate in the garden, but that he would like to help out financially to get it started.
We will be at the County Commissioners meeting Monday night to show support for the proclamation put before the commissioners.
Talk to you soon, Bob & Sara Ogden and Leila Oertel.
Green Evening Cafe with a Seed and Plant Exchange
The Sonnenschein Green Initiative hosted the third Green Evening Cafe on Tuesday, March 24, 6-8:30 pm at the Emporium Cafe, downtown, Hohenwald. Food and Farming was the theme for the March Green Evening. Fifty seven people attended the evening, which began and ended with a seed and plant exchange. Cassandra and Tom Warner of Cane Creek Nature Works Farm sponsored the event. Cassandra spoke on the benefits of gardening. Matthew English of Ecological Artisans spoke about applying Permaculture to your gardens, orchards and landscapes.
The Sonnenschein Food and Farming working group also gave a presentation on the development of food and farming businesses such as a local farmers market, community kitchen and community gardens. After the presentations Jennifer Dauksha-English led a World Cafe on Food and Farming. She explained that the cafe process was a cross pollination of ideas and that folks needed to remember that there were no right answers. The process is like an invention room - where all ideas are accepted. Following is a small sampling of ideas that were harvested through the cafe conversations: Hold harvest dinners and potlucks; Host garden and farm tours with fun activities for kids; Contact your local farmers and get them to grow just what you need; Start a Freecycle; Incorporate crafts and art into plans for a new Farmers Market; Educate children through 4-H, Future Farmers of America and other unique activities; Need Market to have perfect location and lot's of participants; Co-op market and surplus taken to Nashville; Need a central person to disseminate information about initiative and tips; Support local farmers and businesses; Buy bulk produce from Amish and then sell at market; Give out awards for growing food at local fair.
Jennifer ended the cafe with a think and listen to give people the opportunity to discuss next steps. Although there were no specific plans to adopt any of these new ideas immediately, the evening was a great success as it is a great building block and networking opportunity. Throughout the event 15 door prizes were handed out, more than half of them were plants. On leaving, several event participants stated that they had a lot of fun and that the evening was wonderful for the community. Please join us for these planned series of free, once-a-month evening events building on Hohenwald's efforts to make Lewis County greener, safer, and more economically viable. The Green Evening Cafe series will be the fourth Tuesday of every month. Call 931-796-4874, 888-878-2434 x 5 or e-mail info@holisticecology.org for more details.
Below is a list of Green Evenings: January 17 - Green Talk and Trade Show Join us for a Green Home Products Trade Show with an evening presentation by Lawrence Brothers Construction.
February 19 - Recession To Sustainability - Getting From Here to There, by Adam Turtle of Earth Advocates Research Farm. Discuss the development of appropriate cooperative local trade.
March 24 - Food and Farming Join us for a Green Evening World Cafe to discuss the development of food and farming enterprises. A seed and plant exchange will take place.
April 28 - Transition Towns Join us for a Green Evening World Cafe with discussions on the making of Transition Town Hohenwald and Lewis County!
May 26 - Complimentary Currency Join us for presentations and discussions on appropriate cooperative trade and regional currencies.
June 23 - Home Grown Fuel We'll hear presentations on fuel efficiency and alternative fuels, and then discuss the development of local alternative fuel and energy enterprises.
July 28 - Green Business Incubation Join us for a Green Evening World Cafe on the development of green enterprises and economic development strategies.
August 25 - The Built Environment Join us for a Green Evening presentation, view a home energy and money saving video called Kilowatt Ours and then discuss the development of green building enterprises.
The series will continue the fourth Tuesday of each month September - December, 2009.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Third Transition Update
The Sonnenschein Green Initiative, Transition Committee held a meeting Wednesday, March 4, with 27 people in attendance. Here are the highlights:
OUTREACH EDUCATION: Jennifer Dauksha-English presented the details for our Summer Permaculture Certification Series, and our 3-day Regional Sustainability Forum, which will be held June 5-7. The group spent 20 minutes reviewing Jennifer's 8-page newly developed Green Guide for Lewis County, TN. The group is trying to raise $800 by asking local businesses and organizations to join the initiative and get their names listed in the Green Guide. The Guide will hopefully be posted in a few weeks.
YOUTH EDUCATION: Debbie Landers again introduced the four students from the General Assembly Academy. The students started a blog - to view their blog click here. They also wrote a letter to the editor about the Sonnenschein Green Initiative - to read letter click here. Debbie shared the students curriculum that they helped design. Click here to view curriculum.
GREEN PROCLAMATION: Debbie Landers and Connie Sharp reported on the progress of the Proclamation. The group decided that the Proclamation would be brought before the City and County in the month of April instead of March, so that we have more time to speak with the City Council Memebrs and Couty Commisisoners. By postponing we will have more time to educate them on the initiative before they vote. Connie Sharp made photocopies of all the Commisioners contact information and passed this out to our group so that the group can make calls over the next weeks.
Food and Farming Working Group also held a meeting Wednesday, March 4. The group is organizing the next Green Evening Cafe' on March 24, 6-8:30 pm at the Emporium in downtown Hohenwald. The Food and Farming Group spent time figuring out the itinerary for the Green Evening. Presentors during the evening will include: Matthew English and Cliff Davis of Ecological Artisans and Casandra Warner of Cane Creek Nature Works Farm. We will also have a cafe conversation (for details on world cafe click here) on food and farming in Lewis County. There will be a seed and plant exchange as part of the event.
After the event planning session we split into three breakout groups: Farmers Market, Community Garden and Community Kitchen. The Farmers Market group noted that the creation of a Farmers Market was being discussed on both the city and county level. One of the members of this group has started communicating with a number of Amish and Menonite in the community to gain their interest in participating. The Community Garden group announced that Buffalo Valley was going to lease the group some land to start a garden this Spring. The lease will be minimal, just enough to cover property taxes. Just after the meeting about 14 people took a field trip to the new garden site. The Community Kitchen group did not have much to report on as this was the first time the topic was discussed since November, 2008. They did identfiy an immediate need for the community kitchen for a potential alternative cheese business. The group came up with a few next steps to contact other operating kitchens.
The next Sonnenschein Green Initiative meeting will be held Wednesday, March 18 from 11:30-1:30 at the Technology Center in Hohenwald. The group meets every other Wednesday. For more details about upcoming meetings and projects contact info@holisticecology.org, 931-796-4874 or 888-878-2434.
OUTREACH EDUCATION: Jennifer Dauksha-English presented the details for our Summer Permaculture Certification Series, and our 3-day Regional Sustainability Forum, which will be held June 5-7. The group spent 20 minutes reviewing Jennifer's 8-page newly developed Green Guide for Lewis County, TN. The group is trying to raise $800 by asking local businesses and organizations to join the initiative and get their names listed in the Green Guide. The Guide will hopefully be posted in a few weeks.
YOUTH EDUCATION: Debbie Landers again introduced the four students from the General Assembly Academy. The students started a blog - to view their blog click here. They also wrote a letter to the editor about the Sonnenschein Green Initiative - to read letter click here. Debbie shared the students curriculum that they helped design. Click here to view curriculum.
GREEN PROCLAMATION: Debbie Landers and Connie Sharp reported on the progress of the Proclamation. The group decided that the Proclamation would be brought before the City and County in the month of April instead of March, so that we have more time to speak with the City Council Memebrs and Couty Commisisoners. By postponing we will have more time to educate them on the initiative before they vote. Connie Sharp made photocopies of all the Commisioners contact information and passed this out to our group so that the group can make calls over the next weeks.
Food and Farming Working Group also held a meeting Wednesday, March 4. The group is organizing the next Green Evening Cafe' on March 24, 6-8:30 pm at the Emporium in downtown Hohenwald. The Food and Farming Group spent time figuring out the itinerary for the Green Evening. Presentors during the evening will include: Matthew English and Cliff Davis of Ecological Artisans and Casandra Warner of Cane Creek Nature Works Farm. We will also have a cafe conversation (for details on world cafe click here) on food and farming in Lewis County. There will be a seed and plant exchange as part of the event.
After the event planning session we split into three breakout groups: Farmers Market, Community Garden and Community Kitchen. The Farmers Market group noted that the creation of a Farmers Market was being discussed on both the city and county level. One of the members of this group has started communicating with a number of Amish and Menonite in the community to gain their interest in participating. The Community Garden group announced that Buffalo Valley was going to lease the group some land to start a garden this Spring. The lease will be minimal, just enough to cover property taxes. Just after the meeting about 14 people took a field trip to the new garden site. The Community Kitchen group did not have much to report on as this was the first time the topic was discussed since November, 2008. They did identfiy an immediate need for the community kitchen for a potential alternative cheese business. The group came up with a few next steps to contact other operating kitchens.
The next Sonnenschein Green Initiative meeting will be held Wednesday, March 18 from 11:30-1:30 at the Technology Center in Hohenwald. The group meets every other Wednesday. For more details about upcoming meetings and projects contact info@holisticecology.org, 931-796-4874 or 888-878-2434.
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