NNA's First Xmas Tree Recycle Project was a HUGE Success!

On January 12, 2014 the Tree Recycling Sunday was a huge success! Spearheaded by NNA member, Kathleen Abbott, 178 trees were saved from the landfill and chopped into mulch.

Abbot and a hardy crew of volunteers — husband Stephen Waguespack, Mark Buban, Will Hobert and George Niño, and NNA board members Susan Reed Schwartz, Karen Carter Lynch and Julie Hobert — combed North Center's alleys for trees and responded to requests from neighbors for pickup.

What kind of project would you like to suggest this year? NNA will support you and make that idea come to life. 

https://www.facebook.com/northcenterneighborhood or info@northcenterneighborhood.org

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

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

Bird List - Chicago River, Berteau to Montrose

Below is a list of birds spotted during one day! 4/30/12 Clearly the river and the green space up and down the river is a great asset to all of us and one we should continue to take great care of.

Canada Goose  15
Mallard  8
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Green Heron  2
Ring-billed Gull  3
Mourning Dove  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  3
Barn Swallow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
American Robin  12
Gray Catbird  2
European Starling  3
Northern Waterthrush  3
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Swamp Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  20
White-crowned Sparrow  3
Northern Cardinal  2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Common Grackle  6
House Finch  4
American Goldfinch  2
House Sparrow  10

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

The Greening of Northcenter, One Plant at a Time

The Greening of Northcenter, One Plant at a Time

By Patty Wetli

Center Square Journal

With the announcement of Montrose Green–a community garden in collaboration with the Peterson Garden Project–and the Parkway Corners Initiative, Northcenter is fast becoming the little green neighborhood on the prairie.
“Our overall mission is to reduce climate change; one part is plant sources,” says Elizabeth Wenscott, a member of the Northcenter Neighborhood Association’s (NNA) environmental committee. “Parkways, corners, homes, gardens—all things that are green, including green roofs–we’re looking at as an asset, an opportunity for education, a way of reducing carbon, adding beauty and providing food for birds, bees, bats and butterflies.”

For the rest of the article please go to http://www.centersquarejournal.com/news/the-greening-of-northcenter-one-plant-at-a-time and Facebook users be sure to "like" it.

NNA's Greening of Northcenter Neigborhood is ready to break ground on its second year of the Parkway Corner Initiative. 

If you live within the borders of NNA and you are interested in turning your corner into a beautiful, urban, native plant ecosystem then please visit our website to learn more. PARKWAY CORNER INITIATIVE Spring is right around the corner and only 14 corners will be chosen for the 2012 planting, so APPLY NOW!

Next upcoming Environmental Committee meeting - March 7th part two of "New Initiative" meeting at Paul Revere @7pm. Bring in your new ideas, however large or small!

Questions? Email us at greenblog@northcenterneighborhood.org.

Caped Crusaders

Great article, check it out! More reasons to start a bat initiative.

Let's get the myths out of the way.

Bats are not blind rabies-infested vermin that will suck your blood and entangle themselves in your hair.

What they are, obviously, is misunderstood. And, sadly, threatened.

Rob Mies got interested in bats while a student at Eastern Michigan University almost 20 years ago.

Over the years I became fascinated with how important bats are and how much people don't know," he says. "If they learn just a little bit of information about them, people become pro-bat. Or just not hate them."

Read more: http://www.journaltimes.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/caped-crusaders-bats-are-superheroes-that-need-our-help/article_1096cc04-0bc2-11e1-ace3-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1fywjtWx3

Anne Hunt - People You Should Know

Bruce and Anne Hunt, Mari Monroy, Cesar Espinoza

PARISH AND SCHOOLS OF ST. BENEDICT EARN 1ST PLACE IN MAYOR’S LANDSCAPE AWARD PROGRAM

Congratulations to Anne Hunt, Bruce Hunt, Janice Ryan and all the members of the “St. Ben’s Buds” who work on Saturdays to make our area look so great. The award recognizes that in caring for our landscape, we contribute a significant commitment to our neighborhood and to the whole city. Gardens and other green spaces help improve air quality, utilize rainwater and make Chicago a beautiful place in which to live.

Ingenuity, design, volunteer effort and use earned a First Place Mayor’s Landscape Award for St. Benedict Parish and Schools, 2215 W. Irving Park. On Saturday, December 3, the winners of the 55th year’s competition were honored at a ceremony and received plaques from Karen Weigert, the City’s Chief Sustainability Officer. The 1st place award to St. Benedict is in the schools category, in one of three regions in the city.

The gardens are adjacent to St. Ben’s preschool, elementary and high schools. Students of all ages come to the gardens for hands-on interaction with the green space. Eighth graders raise money for a class trip by selling bulbs, which they plant along Bell Avenue. Scout troops plant lilac trees, nasturtium seeds and the bulbs from Easter lilies used in the church. Students earn service points when they join regular members of the St. Ben’s Buds garden club to weed, trim, rake and spread mulch. Teaching children to love the earth is a part of the curriculum. How fortunate to have classrooms surrounded by green, growing plants and trees!

The “St. Ben’s Buds” take advantage of plant swaps organized by the Northcenter Neighborhood Association Garden Club and Greencorps Chicago, as well as divided plants from parishioners’ gardens. Annuals from the 47th Ward and the Chamber of Commerce also enhanced the beds this season.

NNA's Partnership with North Branch Restoration Project

The Northcenter Neighborhood Association would like to announce their newly created partnership with the North Branch Restoration Project!

As part of the Greening of Northcenter Neighborhood, the Environmental Committee has joined forces with  the North Branch Restoration Project (NBRP), on their latest project, The Parkway Corner Initiative. This initiative aims to restore public land within the Northcenter Neighborhood Association's  (NNA) borders back to native plant systems, corner by corner. With the help of residents living near these corners,  these native plant areas will create forage for our wildlife, help to absorb rainwater near catch basins, and function as a way educate our neighbors and our children about the importance and history of Chicago's very own native plants!

The Parkway Corner Initiative will be the first truly "urban native plant initiative" within NNA's borders.  Soon, all members of NNA will receive an email listing the details and requirements to be a part of this exciting project.  Although the parkways will not be registered as natural prairies, or woodland ecosystems like many of the areas NBRP manages, this is a beautiful meeting of humans and native plants thriving together.

For those of you who do know The North Branch Restoration Project,  they are a group of dedicated citizens who have worked to help protect and restore native Illinois ecosystems in forest preserves and other public lands along the North Branch of the Chicago River since the 1970's. With over a dozen or so management sites they are among the finest natural areas in the county! 

For more information on the North Branch Restoration Project,  please visit:  http://northbranchrestoration.org

Environmental Committee meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month, 7 pm at Paul Revere Fieldhouse.

      January 4 (CANCELED)

      February 1st and March 7th  (NEW INITIATIVES DAY)

Have you been wanting to join NNA's Environmental Committee? Then all that is required it that you become a member. http://www.northcenterneighborhood.org Do you have an idea or want to lead your own initiative? Then February 1st and March 7th is for you! Join NNA's Environmental Committee and present your ideas!

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

The Bridge between NNA's Garden Walk & Environmental Committee 2011

NNA gardeners celebrate the first completed Parkway Corner

All things are possible in the Northcenter Neighborhood! This year the Garden Club stepped up to do their part by embracing several of the Environmental Committee's initiatives. Proving once again that residence of the Northcenter Neighborhood Association are “home to many progressive and forward-thinking families who are committed to lives that make a small footprint on the earth’s resources.”

Here are the numbers on the successes of this years Garden Walk…

5th ANNUAL GARDEN WALK

44 Gardens participated in this year’s garden walk

250 maps were handed out!

GARDENERS THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE GREEN LAWN INITIATIVE

6 registered their gardens as TRANSITIONAL

3 registered their gardens as ORGANIC

2 registered their gardens as BIODYNAMIC

GARDENERS THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE PARKWAY INITIATIVE

The 1st corner was completed in time for this years garden walk (SW corner of Hamilton and Byron) The corner was designed by Rinda West, maintained by Mercedes Prause and sponsored by NNA)

GARDENERS THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE BEE TRAIL

21 registered as BEE FRIENDLY

GARDENERS THAT CERTIFIED THEIR BACKYARDS AS WILDLIFE HABITATS

3 certified their backyards as a WILDLIFE HABITAT  

A special thanks goes out to Karen Carter-Lynch and Julie Hobert for all their support in helping to build this bridge!

Parkway #1 Complete

Top Left: Before - Right: After

THE MISSION
To create pollinator friendly parkway corner landscapes using native plant sources to create a colorful array of pesticide free, bee's, birds, butterfly and even bat friendly landscapes.

Native plants are deep-rooted plants and will also help to absorb rainwater deep into the soil versus short rooted plants/grass which have very short roots systems. Native plants can also withstand a large range of wet-to-dry conditions making these corners requiring very low maintenance.


THIS CORNER
Designed by Rinda West. 
Sponsored by Northcenter Neighborhood Association
Maintained by Mercedes Prause
Worker bees included Green Kenny and Scott, the neighbors surrounding Hamilton & Byron, Elizabeth Wenscott and Mercedes Prause.

PLANT LIST
Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'
Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis
Wild Petunia   Ruellia humilis
Black Eyed Susan - Rudbeckia hirta
New England Aster - Aster novae-angliae
Woodland Aster - Aster divaricatus
Wild Geranium - Geranium maculatum
Husker Red Penstemon 
Evening Primrose - Oenothera macrocarpa
Penn Sedge - Carex pennsylvanica
Prairie Dropseed Grass - Sporobolus heterolepis
Purple Coneflower - Echinacea purpurea
Beebalm - Monarda fistulosa

Spring has Sprung and WE are going Greener

With the start of the gardening season and the Garden Walk just around the corner (June 26th) now is the time to consider going a little or a lot greener!


The Northcenter Neighborhood Association has created an Environmental Committee, and members of that committee, have come of with a few initiatives that we hope will tie in with members of the Garden Club!

The Green Lawn Initiative
Is an initiative to create a coalition of gardeners, neighbor - by neighbor, that are committed to creating beautiful green lawns for all (wildlife, pets, children etcetera). Once a coalition of committed gardeners grow in numbers we will be able to

• obtain eco-friendly lawn services at a discount;
• affect the products and techniques used in Northcenter;s parks and public spaces; and
• ensure a clean soil and water supply for our health.

If you live within NNA's borders, register your yard with us and receive a corresponding sign to position on your lawn. For those of you that participate in the NNA's Garden Walk let show your commitment to a healthier, greener garden! Join by emailing us at greenblog@northcenterneighborhood.org and let us know what kind of lawn you have.

Organic
Organic gardening incorporates the entire landscape design and environment to improve and maximize the garden soil's health, structure, texture, as well as maximize the production and health of developing plants without using synthethic commercial fertilizers, pesticides, or fungicides.

Biodynamic
Biodynamic gardening is a method of organic gardening that treats the landscape as a unified and individual organisms, emphasizing balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants and animals as a self nourishing system without external inputs. As in organic gardening, artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are strictly avoided. Methods using fermented herbal and mineral preparations are applied according to the astronomical sowing and planting calendar.

Transitional
Transitional gardening means the gardener/s have chosen to adopt either Organic gardening methods or Biodynamic gardening methods. It takes 3 years for a garden to heal from conventional gardening practices to a healthy vibrant organic garden, hence the name, Transitional.

Parkway Corner Initiative
Is an initiative to create pollinator friendly parkway corner landscapes using native plant sources to create a colorful array of pesticide free, bee's, birds, butterfly and even bat friendly landscapes.

Native plants are deep-rooted plants and will also help to absorb rainwater deep into the soil versus short rooted plants/grass which have very short roots systems. Native plants can also withstand a large range of wet-to-dry conditions making these corners requiring very low maintenance.

If you live within NNA's borders and would like your corner to be beautified with attract native pollinators, email us at greenblog@northcenterneighborhood.org

The Bee Trail Project
The Bee Trail map was created in response to the devestating number of Honeybee losses since 2006. The goal of the Bee Trail Project is to protect the Honeybee (and all other native pollinators) by having as many households gardens, public spaces, schools... within 3 mile radius of a recognized hive and make those spaces bee friendly.

NNA members, gardner, beekeeper, Elizabeth Wenscott and Lisa Hish have created a unique opportunity for its residence. Both have agreed to allow our residence to be the first go "get of the map" before it goes national. For more information of The Bee Trail Project, please visit www.thebeetraiil.org

ALSO DID YOU KNOW that Chicago is pushing to be the first major city in the U.S. to be certified as wildlife habitat friendly (food, water, cover, and places to raise young) through the National Wildlife Federation? To accomplish this goal Chicago need 1,000 residence, local schools, churches or businesses to get certified.  Gethsemane Gardens has teamed up with the NWF and is ready to help us if needed. For more information go to http://www.gethsemanegardens.com/category_s/88.htm

These are exciting times in the Northcenter Neighborhood and we hope that spring will inspire to carry through with "Big Ideas or Little Acts."  

Take the Green Lawn Challenge

A beautiful, green lawn has long symbolized America’s commitment to their homes and community.  The race for a perfect, weed-free, green lawn has spawned many lawn products that promise a perfect lawn, and their use has become commonplace across our country.  Over time, however, we have realized that the perfect green grass that quickly follows an application of pesticide or weed killers is masking environmental damage that occurs beyond.  The soil and water supply harbor and move those contaminants, and eventually, our food and water supplies are contaminated. 

Fortunately, there are numerous green alternatives to these harmful products that deliver the same results without causing harm to the environment.  In North Center, we realize that each of us can make responsible choices within our own yards, but without the commitment of our neighbors, our efforts won’t have the impact to protect our soil and water supplies. 

We are therefore starting the GREEN LAWNS initiative.  Neighbor – by – neighbor, we are signing up North Center residents to build a coalition of people committed to obtaining a beautiful, green lawn without resorting to harmful pesticides and pollutants.  By signing up, you promise to do one thing:


ensure that only eco-friendly- pesticide and weed killer products enter your yard.

As a coalition, we can use our strength to

• obtain eco-friendly lawn services at a discount;
•  affect the products and techniques used in North Center’s parks and public spaces; and
• ensure a clean soil and water supply for our health.  

Join by emailing us at greenlawns@northcenter.org.   

The Bee Trail Project

Bee Trail Project within the Northcenter Neighborhood

Join the Bee Trail Project

In 2009, Elizabeth Wenscott and Lisa Hish from the Tai Chi Center of Chicago joined the growing movement of backyard beekeepers by keeping hives. The goal of the Bee Trail Project is to have as many interested households and gardens  within the 3 mile radius from the hives make changes that support the health of the honey bee.

Actions promoting bee health:

• Join the Bee Trail Project by choosing one or more of the below suggestions. Send us an email info@sustainablereturn.org stating your commitment level, and we will put a corresponding triangle on the 3 Mile Bee Trail Map (see above). Get a RED triangle for 1 committed change, YELLOW triangle for 2 committed changes and a GREEN triangle for 3 or more committed changes! Maintain your own hive and and we will give you a star! This is a fun way to see how both you and the neighborhood are impacting the Queen's Domain.

• Plant bee-friendly plants and trees in your yard. Consider plants that bloom not only in the summer flowers and late flowers but but also consider bee-friendly spring blooms: the bees need the spring pollen to make food for their young.

• Bees love dandelions, clover and plantain. Consider changing from a perfectly manicured chemically-laden lawn to a bee and bird friendly lawn.

• Bees need water just like any other creature. Water helps to maintain the hive temperature and humidity level. Water is needed for thirsty growing bees. Some honeybees' main task in life is carting water. Each bee may make typically 50 trips a day, each time collecting about 25 mg of water. When the colony is very short of water other foraging bees are diverted from collecting nectar and pollen to join in the effort. Consider providing a clean source of water such as a fountain. Once honeybees have located a good source of water they tend to continue using it, even when other sources become available.

• Buy raw, local, honey. If available, buy honey from bees raised organically or biodynamically. Honey is the only food that has no expiration date: it doesn't spoil.

• Eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides in your garden. Bees need food without poison for themselves and their hive just like we do!

• Eliminate the use of dryer sheets. The chemicals on those sheets are released into the air when heated in the dryer, potentially interfering in the bees ability to "smell" pollen flows. The same is true for other strong scented laundry detergents etc.

• Sign up to host a hive on your property, when swarms are caught and additional hives become available.

• Become a beekeeper yourself. For the real enthusiasts, start your beekeeping career with a topbar hive, which is healthier for the bees.

• Support local and national beekeepers. Example: Join the bee guardian movement run by our hero, Corwin Bell, Bee Guardian.