Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago - Celebrating Community Resilience

If you are planning on attending this year’s Bioneers event at Roosevelt University on November 1-3, now is the best time to buy your early bird tickets (Oct 3rd).  For information and tickets go to www.bioneerschicago.org.  This is an event that strongly reflects the environmental committees values!

Elizabeth Wenscott (head of our Environmental Committee) has been hard at work with the Bioneers core team putting together a program that we think will strongly resonate with the folks living within the borders of NNA and beyond. For three full days we will be bringing together leading innovators from all walks of life to exchange ideas, build networks and inspire a shift to live on the Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations.  This is a fun, action-oriented gathering for people of all ages and experience levels who want to learn more about taking care of our planet. 

The program will include:

• A main stage with 7 nationally recognized keynotes speaking on topics ranging from hydraulic fracking for natural gas to saving honey bees and stopping violence in our city.

• Over 30 workshops, interactive panel discussions and skill-shares on topics including time-banking, workplace democracy, renewable energy and healthy food.

• Six world cafe sessions on FOOD, WATER, WASTE, ENERGY, SHELTER and COMMUNITY RESILIENCE hosted by our keynotes and Chicago area environmental leaders.

• Organizing sessions on tar sands, hydraulic fracking and coal extraction in Illinois

• An interactive discussion on creative methods for non-violent direct action, featuring: Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-Violence; Savitri D of the Church of Stop Shopping; Greenpeace activist Kelly Mitchell; and Debbie Southorn of AFSC.

• Friday evening reception with ecologist, cancer survivor and activist Dr. Sandra Steingraber and music by our own Rhapsody Snyder

• Performances by Capoeira Angola; Alex Yoffe on the Javanese gamelan; the women’s African drumming ensemble Sheboom; and our own Wellington Avenue UCC choir, leading the audience in “Sing for the Climate”.

• Sunday closing celebration that includes Nathaniel Braddock and members of his Occidental Brothers Dance Band International.

Please join us for this exciting weekend and pass this message on to anyone whom you think might like to attend!

Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago, The Living City

Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago, The Living City November 2-4, 2012-Chicago, becomes the largest Bioneers city in the nation!

Bioneers (root: "biological pioneer") the term describes individuals and groups working in diverse disciplines who have crafted creative solutions to various environmental and socio-cultural problems rooted in shared core values, including whole systems, (anticipatory) thinking, a view of all life as interdependent, and sustainable mutual aid.

Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago invites you to join local and international visionaries to create nature-inspired solutions to society’s most important challenges. Programming for all ages, including speakers, workshops, visual and performing arts, and an exhibit hall. Keynotes by Vandana Shiva, Nina Simons, John Edel, Gerould Wilhelm, Mark Lakeman, Starhawk, and Richard Heinberg. 

GLBC will also have many amazing local people presenting or organizing this event! Jean Russell, Laurel Ross, Elizabeth Wenscott (volunteer coordinator), Michael Howard, Howard Alan, Working Bikes, The Dill Pickle Co-op, Kathleen Duffy, Home Birth in Chicago, Sarah Simmons, Intentional Housing and Co-housing, Sarah Kaplan, Terry Edlin, Ameya Pawar, Joe Moore, David Arfa, James Thindwa, Gerould Wilhelm, Sue Davenport, Nance Klehm, Pete Leki, Julie Peterson, LaManda Joy, Kenn Dunn, Eli Suzukovich, Milton Dixon, Vandana Shiva, Starhawk, Mark Lakeman, and so many more! 

If you are interested in attending this incredible event, please follow this link http://bioneerschicago.org. 

Also note: Volunteer for One-Half Day you will  Get in the Other Half Free!

Parkway Corner Initiative Video

This short video (without music or sound) was created for Laurel Ross when presenting a ”TED style” talk with photos showing how people are making a difference in restoring health to natural areas in the Chicago region on three scales:  in the entire metro region (Chicago Wilderness); at a forest preserve site on the far southside (Beaubien Woods); and on parkway corners in a neighborhood (Northcenter Neighborhood Association). Restoration in our region has been led by small grassroots groups and people of all backgrounds. Large institutions have followed their lead.  

Her next presentation that will include the Parkway Corner Inititative, will take place at the Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago on Sunday November 4th, 4:00-4:30

6th Annual Northcenter Garden Walk

The 6th Annual Northcenter Neighborhood Assoc. Garden Walk, Saturday June 16.

47 gardens, a 137 plot community garden, 8 live bands, and several artists showing their work!!!

There are two starting points to pick up maps  1. Bell School 3730 N. Oakley  and 2. Epiphany Church  2008 w. Bradley (and Damen).  Suggested donation is $5 and proceeds go to the Common Pantry.
Believe me, this is a really amazing event if you are a gardener...you will come away inspired and happy!

Please share!

Northcenter Community Yard Sale

Click on this map to make larger, then select print. Here is the official Northcenter Community Yard Sale map!


The Northcenter Neighborhood Association has organized a community garage sale for this coming weekend – June 2nd (June 3rd rain date). Sales will be taking place from 9am-3pm and are located all over Northcenter (Montrose to Addison and Ravenswood to the River).

There are more than 60 families participating and it looks like it will be great weekend to do some local shopping.

NNA Annual Yard/Garage Sale

Reduce, Reuse, Upcycle

Saturday June 2, 2012

(rain date: Sunday June 3)

9:00am-3:00pm

Pick up map at 2037 W. Bradley Place

Special Event with Speakers Rinda West and Laurel Ross

Rinda West

Laurel Ross

Wed. May 2, Revere Park Field House, Special Event, 7 pm.  NNA's Environmental Committee will host speakers Rinda West (Rinda West Landscape Designs, http://rindawestdesigns.com) and Laurel Ross (Urban Conservation Director, Environmental and Conservation Programs - Field Museum) who will talk about:

• the advantages of gardening with native plants
• where to plant native plants in your home garden or public parkways
• how to identify native plants
• and, conservation efforts taking place throughout the Chicago region

This is an event not to be missed!

Community Garden Within 24 hours!

This week we are celebrating April and our brand new community garden at Montrose Green! The garden filled up within twenty-four hours. Thank you to all who signed up to support us. We are very proud of this endeavor.

For all those who were one of the lucky ones to get a plot don't miss out on the community gardens first informational event on Monday April 9th at 7pm with LaManda Joy who will help us learn how to grow our own food, while we get to meet our new fellow gardening neighbors! 

April 9, 2012

Northcenter Neigborhood Association

Environmental Committee Presents

2 SPECIAL EVENTS IN ONE NIGHT!

Revere Park Fieldhouse

2509 W. Irving Park Rd. Chicago IL 60618

For more information on this evenings event please follow this link.

April 9, 2012 Special Event 7-9pm

April 9, 2012

Northcenter Neigborhood Association

Environmental Committee Presents

2 SPECIAL EVENTS IN ONE NIGHT!

Revere Park Fieldhouse

2509 W. Irving Park Rd. Chicago IL 60618

7:00 - 8:00pm

LaManda Joy Talks About The New Montrose Green Community Garden

LaManda Joy, Founder of The Peterson Garden Project, will be speaking and answering questions about the new the new garden, Montrose Green Community Garden (Montrose and the Brown line). If you're interested in learning how to grow your own food or you would like to meet your new gardening neighbors, join us to learn more!

For more information about Montrose Green Community Garden please visit: http://thegreeningofnorthcenter.blogspot.com/2012/03/montrosegreen-community-garden.html

8:00 - 9:00pm

North Center Neighborhood Climate Change & Sustainability Plan

By Michael Ashkenasi

Global climate change is one of the largest issues facing cities in the 21st-Century. A continued reliance on fossil fuels and urban energy consumption patterns are putting us on an unsustainable path. Glaciers, permafrost and sea ice are disappearing. Extreme weather events will continue to cause more flooding, more drought, more public health problems, more economic distress, and more destruction of ecosystems. No area will be immune to these effects and neighborhoods that develop strong environmental visions, plans and policies will be better equipped to deal with these long-term challenges.

In 2008, the “Chicago Climate Action Plan” was published. It was an ambitious outline of how to reduce the city’s carbon (CO2) footprint 25% below 1990-levels by the year 2020, and 80% below 1990-levels by 2050. This “North Center Neighborhood Climate Change & Sustainability Plan” acts as a public resource for North Center neighborhood residents and stakeholders on how we can face climate change at the neighborhood level. While focusing on North Center specifically, the Plan is also meant to illustrate the links this area has to its neighbors, and to the Chicago region as a whole.

We invite you to the Monday, April 9th meeting of our Environment Committee where the “North Center Neighborhood Climate Change & Sustainability Plan” will be presented by neighborhood resident and NNA Environmental Committee member Michael Ashkenasi."

Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse presents a Gardening Exchange Even

Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse presents a

Gardening Exchange Event

Saturday, March 10 from 11-4 pm

http://greennetchicago.org/gardening-exchange-event-at-kilbourn-park-organic-greenhouse

Jump start your spring at Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse’s second annual Gardening Exchange Event. Bring your friends and connect with your neighbors at this community event and fundraiser.

You will have the opportunity to take basic organic gardening classes and find gently used gardening and cooking tools at bargain prices. All proceeds will support Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse’s programs that connect kids to nature and healthy foods. Purchases can be made with cash and checks, no credit cards will be accepted.

Free Gardening Demonstrations

Worm Composting, Winter Sowing, Lawn to Lake Water Model Demonstration, High Tunnel Construction, Soil Block Demonstration

Let’s Start Growing Workshops 1-4 pm

$20 for series(cash only, register on site)

Grow Veggies Grow

Seneca Kern, We Farm America

1:15-2:00

Want to get started growing your own fresh organic produce here in the city, but don't know where to begin? WeFarm America will provide the basic tools and resources to get you started safely and confidently outdoors or indoors, backyard, porch or balcony.

Crop Diversity In Gardens

Dave Snyder, Uncommon Grounds Rooftop Gardener

2:15-3:00

Across the world, there has been a dramatic decrease in crop varieties available, but home gardeners can make a difference. This workshop provides a brief overview of the crisis and uses it as a framework for ways of planning your home or community garden plot.

Landscaping with Native Plants

Rebecca Schillo, Ecologist

3:15 – 4:00 p.m.

Native plants are well-adapted to our region's soils and climate making them a lower-maintenance, more environmentally-friendly choice than many of their ornamental counterparts. Native plants can also provide crucial habitat for our birds, butterflies, and pollinators. Come discover more about the complex interactions between native plants and insects and the difference between planting an ornamental species like butterfly bush (Buddleia spp.) and a native species like butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa).

Kirsten Akre Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse 3501 N. Kilbourn Chicago, IL 60641 greenhouse: tel:773-685-3359 LIKE us on Facebook for Program Information

47th Ward Fall Clean & Green 9am - 3 pm

Don't miss this great opportunity to be part of a Ward-wide effort to clean and beautify our neighborhoods and the Chicago River! 

This is the 1st event of this kind that our new alderman's office is sponsoring. River Clean-up is on the priority list, and the MWRD barge will be on the river at Berteau at approximately 8am.  The barge captain is willing to give a presentation at that time to the children regarding what they do for the river. Bring your children or their whole class to see our beautiful river.  The barge will go as far north as Lawrence and then down through the 32nd Ward to Goose Island and clean the river of debris and trim low hanging branches on both sides of the bank.

Contact the Wards office for more info: info@chicago47.org or call 773-868-4747

Biodynamics for the Backyard & Garden

1 DAY WORKSHOP (Limit 30 people)

Learn about the origin and fundamental principles of Biodynamic agriculture in both theory and practice. Special emphasis will be placed on practical applications on a smaller scale for the yard, garden and vegetable plot. We will make a liquid treatment to fortify the soil and plants, an application to stimulate microbial activity in compost piles, and a poultice paste to strengthen and heal a 100 year-old horse chestnut tree.

Grace Street Garden

Hosted by Lisa Hish and Elizabeth Wenscott

2112 W. Grace St.

Chicago, IL. 60618

Sunday, October 23, 2011

10:00 am - 12:00 pm - Biodynamic Tree Paste 

12:00 pm 1:00 pm - Biodynamic Compost Pile Application 

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Yard & Garden Stir and Soil Application 

Guests that participate in the Yard and Garden Stir will receive a pint size sample of Biodynamic Soil Prep to take home . PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN CONTAINER!!!!

Complete do-it-yourself Biodynamic yard and garden application  and or compost applications will be available for purchase.

Class taught by Ben Wilson of Angelic Organics.

Please pre-register by email to: ewenscott@mac.com or call (773) 396-2653.

Annual Plant Swap

Annual Garden Swap

Saturday, October 8th  at 9am 

Do you have extra plants or pots and not enough room to enjoy them? Consider sharing the rewards of your own garden at our annual Garden Swap. This is a perfect opportunity to trade tips along with your flora while recycling at the same time. Please label your plants in containers or bags so that everyone can enliven their own gardens with new plants from friends and neighbors.

The Plant Swap will be hosted by Julie Hobert at her home:

2037 W. Bradley Place

The Year of the Bat

Bat Conservation International has become a 2011-2012 International Year of the Bat lead partner and we urge you to participate in the global celebration. http://www.yearofthebat.org


2011 October 15. Chicago, Illinois. BCI Bat Symposium will take place at The Field Museum. Featured speaker will be the Founder and President Emeritus Bat Conservation International Dr. Merlin Tuttle. This is a great opportunity for all members of NNA to learn from leading bat biologists about our friend and neighbor the bat.  To register http://www.batcon.org/index.php/get-involved/year-of-the-bat.html

Wonderful Wasps

Wonderful Wasps:  Everything you didn't know you wanted to know about wasps in your garden! WHEN: Friday, June 24 at 8:00 PM LOCATION: Tai Chi Center of Chicago  4043 N. Ravenswood Ave. Suite 201  Chicago, IL 606013  773-396-2653 ABOUT ERIC R. EATON Eric R. Eaton, professional writer and entomologist and principal author of the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America will give an illustrated talk about wasps, their role in the garden, and how you can enhance their nesting habitat (along with native solitary bees). He will also answer questions about insects and arachnids. Check Eric out on line at:  BLOG http://bugeric.blogspot.com/  FACEBOOK http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000417396070 Eric also contributes to the following sites:  http://www.spideridentification.org  http://www.allexperts.com/  http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740  http://whatsthatbug.com/ WHAT TO BRING Bring your book for Eric to sign.  (no books will be sold at this event, so hurry and make sure to order your book online!) http://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Insects-America-Guides/dp/0618153101/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306859949&sr=8-1 This is a friendly neighborhood event with NO CHARGE but feel free to bring something to eat or drink to share and a folding chair if you have one. ALSO...  The Bullfrogs Community Choir will provide a musical treat. This event is sponsored by  The Tai Chi Center of Chicago - Sustainable Return  North Branch Restoration Project  Riverbank Neighbors

Earth Hour - Candle Power

Earth Hour - Candle Power
March 26, 2011
8:30 - 9:30pm

Northcenter Neighborhood Association  invites all households and businesses to turn off their nonessential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

During Earth Hour - Candle Power

• Light a candle and place it in your front window so all can see your commitment to a healthy environment.
• Sit out on your front porch with family and friends and share in the fun with your neighbors.
• Let us know if you participate and we will compile the total power saved in Northcenter greenblog@northcenterneighborhood.org
• Create your own unique Candle Power event.

For the official Earth Hour website, please visit http://www.earthhour.org