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Meeting Recaps + Information>
March SWM Monthly Meeting Recap
March 31, 2008
MEMORANDUM
To: Sustainable West Milford Participants
From: Dave & Wendy Watson-Hallowell
Re: Meeting Recap from 3/31/08
Date: 4/15/08
Our next meeting will be on Monday, April 28th – at the
Hillcrest Community Center from 7p-9p in Room 8. The
agenda will be posted on the web site shortly. We hope to
see you there!
First and foremost, we would like to extend a warm welcome
to our new participants! Alice Courage, Eileen Kopec, Pat
& Dick Rogers, & Celeste Stapelton.
Rob Sparkes reminded everyone that the Heritage Society has
organized a series of speakers who will present at the West
Milford Museum about growing up in West Milford. The first
of three speakers is our very own, Anne Thornton of Apple
Acres! Anne will speak this Saturday, April 19th, (after
Clean Up Day) at 3pm. The West Milford Museum is across
the street from Town Hall.
Carroll Sparkes shared that Recycling & Beautification will
be showing off recycling barrels that have been painted by
local groups & artists. Barrels will be displayed at the
Clean Up Day Picnic at Town Hall at noon on this Saturday,
April 19th.
Here are the results from our meeting:
Project Updates:
Clean Up Day
Sustainable West Milford is looking for volunteers to help
this Saturday, April 19th. Our group will be combining
forces with the High School environmental club to tackle
Highlander Drive and Bubbling Springs. We will be starting
at 9:30am at the High School and will continue down Macopin
Road to Bubbling Springs. If you would like to volunteer,
please sign up at the following link:
http://www.sustainablewestmilford.citymax.com/page/page/5808413.htm
If you have any questions about Clean Up Day please contact
the coordinator of this event, Joe Natale, at
sustainablejoe@yahoo.com.
Community Garden
Unofficially all of the plots have been sold! We are
taking names for a waiting list. If plots are not paid for
by the end of the month they will be passed onto the next
person on the waiting list.
This Sunday, April 20th Katie will be teaching a “Build
Your Own Trellis” workshop at the Community Garden. Using
natural materials we will be building trellises for the
peas and beans in the garden. The workshop begins at noon.
On Saturday, May 10th the Community Garden will have its
Opening Day. Midsummer Farm & Two Pond Farm will be there
selling organic seedlings, eggs, seasonal & prepared
produce, etc. We will have a performance by Jill Michel,
who will be playing the crystal bowls, a presentation on
growing mushrooms by AJ Bozenmayer, garden tours and more.
The Opening begins at 10am – 1pm.
The next Community Garden meeting is on Wednesday, May 14th
at the Hillcrest Community Center in Room 8 from 7pm –
8:30pm. Our guest speaker will be Celeste Stapleton,
master gardener and West Milford resident & gardener. She
will be speaking to us about organic pest control.
If you would like your name on the waiting list, have any
questions about the Community Garden, or would like to
receive the Community Garden Meeting Minutes please contact
the director, Katie Hayes-Natale at crazyhayes_wm@yahoo.com
or 201-819-8951.
Native Medicinal Garden
On Sunday, April 13th we gathered at the Medicinal Garden
to begin weeding and cleaning up. The garden is in good
shape, but we are always looking for volunteers to help
maintain the space. A schedule has been put together for
volunteers to sign up for a week of watering & weeding -
figure on approximately 45 minutes of time 3 times a week.
This year in addition to endangered medicinal plants, we
will be planting wild, native medicinal plants that have
similar benefits as their endangered counterparts!
Robin Rose Bennett, the garden director will be giving
three talks over the course of the season at the Medicinal
Garden. The dates are currently undecided but will be
posted on the Sustainable West Milford website.
If you have any questions about the Native Medicinal Garden
or are interested in helping out by watering & weeding or
can get in touch with Robin at robin@robinrosebennett.com.
Highlands GreenFest
The first annual Highlands GreenFest is taking place on
Saturday, May 3rd from 10am to 6pm at Bubbling Springs Park
on Macopin Road. (Rain date on Sunday, May 4th)
Highlands GreenFest is being held to educate attendees on
how to live, protect and enjoy all things green! Our goal
is to connect people with resources that help them to live
more sustainably while educating and inspiring them. We
have been very fortunate to have a wonderful outpouring of
support from our local community for this event. We will
have about 30 exhibitors and vendors, almost 20 speakers
and presenters, a full day of music and environmental
movies, a Green Zone for the kids and even a hybrid
"Green-Prix" that crosses the finish line at Highlands
GreenFest.
We are still in need of volunteers to help with many duties
during the festival as well as set-up and breakdown. To
assist with coordinating our volunteers, we have broken the
day into approximately two-hour time slots. Please let us
know if you can fill one, several or all of them by Monday,
April 21st so we can plan accordingly! As a thank you, our
volunteers will receive a special Highlands GreenFest
t-shirt to wear at the event.
Time slots are as follows:
6:30 - 8:30 am
8:30 - 10:30 am
10:30 am - 12:30 pm
12:30 - 2:30 pm
2:30 - 4:30 pm
4:30 - 7:30 pm
You will find more details about the event on our website
at:
http://www.sustainablewestmilford.org/HighlandsGreenFest.html
You will also find advertising information and a copy of
our flier. Please help us spread the word by sharing the
flier at local shops, gyms and schools, and please pass the
link to our site along to anyone you feel will be
interested in attending. Our goal is to have at least
1,000 attendees.
We do still have advertising space we need to fill.
Advertisers may be sustainable business enterprises or
individuals, or they may be locally owned businesses listed
in the Buy Local section of our Highlands GreenFest
Program. You may also wish to purchase an advertising
space to share your good wishes and green messages.
To offset the costs incurred for the festival, we are
holding a raffle and silent auction and we are still in
need of donations. If you, or someone you know, can donate
a prize, it would be greatly appreciated. The best prizes
will offer some element of sustainability but all prizes
are gratefully accepted.
Even if you are unable to volunteer, we still hope to see
you come out and enjoy this wonderful event!
Guest Speakers
This month we had a very interesting presentation from
Plant Health Alternatives. Our guest speakers, Dr. Jim
Conroy and Ms. Basis Alexander spoke to us about their work
revitalizing trees. You can check out their website:
www.planthealthalternatives.com.
Dr. Jim, The Tree Whisperer, began the presentation by
making sure everyone understood that trees and plants were
in fact alive. He informed us that as surprising as it may
sound, that he comes across many folks who don’t actually
believe that fact!
Dr. Jim went on to talk about the work he does with trees
beginning with how to identify stressed trees. Stressed
trees have thinning leaves, may have large dead branches,
may have diseases, etc. There are many reasons why a tree
gets stressed:
? Local Environmental Conditions: too hot-cold-wet-dry,
poor lighting, flooding, standing water, long drought, etc,
or some combination
? Multiple Season & Multiple Year Stresses that accumulate
– summer drought followed by extreme winter cold and/or a
cold, wet spring, followed by extreme heat.
? Human Factors: “volcano” mulching, digging or piling
soil at base of tree, transplanting, improper pruning,
bands left on trunk, construction & compacted soil,
removing fall leaves, originally planted too deep, changes
in topography or land grade, abuses like carving,
“topping”, etc.
? Poor Soil Composition, Fertility or Drainage
? Competition from “weeds” or desired plants
? Animal Damage: chewing, digging, rubbing, eating,
tunneling, soiling, climbing, etc
? Excess or Inappropriate Use of Any Product – harsh
fertilizers or protective sprays – or Invasive Technique –
air spading, harsh pruning
? Pollution of Soil, Air or Water
? Global Environmental or Climate Changes – differences in
rainfall amount, change of season length, changes in
insect/disease survival, changed composition of local
eco-system (invasive or non-native plants) changes in
average temperatures or higher night-time temperatures,
changes in level of water table, etc.
? Complication of Added Stresses During or After Issues
Like Poor Soil Fertility, Insect Attack or Disease
Uncorrected these stresses open the door to more insects,
more disease and additive dysfunctions inside the tree or
plant.
Dr. Jim went onto show us how the tree tries to cope with
internal issues before decline begins to show outwardly. A
tree goes about doing its usual functions, like turning
sunlight into food and giving off oxygen for us to breath.
When a stress hits a tree, the tree may not be able to do
its normal functions in the usual way. Like a person or an
animal, the tree adapts how it does its functions. Instead
of going from A to B to C, maybe the tree skips step B and
goes from A to C. The tree can keep adapting itself up to
a certain point. Once the tree hits three stresses, three
adaptations, the tree goes into decline.
When humans get too stressed they end up getting sick. The
same goes for a tree. When the tree gets too stressed, it
gets sick too. This is when disease and infestation occur.
All of these stresses compromise the internal function of
the tree. It can no longer do the functions it needs to do
to live.
Is possible to save a tree when it is in decline?
Absolutely! This is where Dr. Jim comes into the picture.
Similar to humans, trees have energy and they have an
energy field around them. It is within this energy field
that Dr. Jim works with the trees, focusing on their
internal functionality, to restore them to their healthy
vitality. The work he does is similar to alternative
health care for people.
Then Basia came up and spoke to the group. She suggested
some of the books and reference materials they have used.
• The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, Ph.D.
• The Hidden Messages in Water, by Masaru Emoto Ph.D.
Basia went on to talk about modern science verse new
science. Modern science is linear thought and new science
is quantum.
There is new evidence of the heart being a “second” brain -
brain tissue has been discovered in the heart. The heart
has an elector-magnetic field and is believed to have its
own energy center, which can be measured up to five feet
around a person.
Basia then went on to led us on a visualization on how to
connect with plants they brought to the meeting.
After the visualization Dr. Jim returned to talk about how
trees and plants operate in a community. Even if the roots
or branches are not touching plants support each other
energetically. We are all connected energetically –
people, trees, animals, the planet. Dr. Jim finalizes his
work with trees by reconnecting them with their surrounding
community of other trees and plants.
You can log onto their website to check out upcoming talks
and workshops. www.plantheatlhalternatives.com
Next Month’s Agenda
Our next meeting is on Monday, April 28th – at the
Hillcrest Community Center from 7p-9p in Room 8.
Highlands GreenFest – we will be finalizing details for the
Highlands GreenFest, coordinating volunteers, etc.
Project Updates – Community Garden and Native Medicinal
Garden updates, events, work days and projects.
New Events & Projects
We hope to see you there and feel free to bring a friend!
Please let us know if we missed or misrepresented anything
in this recap. If you have any questions or suggestions,
please give us a call at 973-853-2139/23.
Dave & Wendy
Watson-Hallowell
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