Sustainable Tosa

Read the Twitter Feed

2009-06-04T19:40:00.002-05:00

In the interest of bringing the people of Wauwatosa (and friends nearby) the most concise, up-to-the-minute news relating to sustainability in our area, we will be exclusively "tweeting" via twitter from this point forward. Please read the twitter feed above for the latest.

Sierra Club Family Outings in May

2009-04-27T13:49:00.002-05:00

The announcement below was provided by the Olde Hillcrest Neighborhood Association E-Blast:

Sierra Club Family Outings
Explore hidden treasures within our city. Bring your kids and/or grandkids to Milwaukee County Grounds for short-but-sweet nature walks.

May 2: Travel the Butterfly Trail
Follow the monarch butterfly trail on the Milw. Co. Grounds. Meet at the Co. Parks building, 9480 Watertown Plank Rd. at 10 a.m.

May 9: Talk to Tadpoles
Spot out the tad poles at the County Grounds' ponds. Heads up: wear your galoshes! Meet across the street from Wis. Lutheran College at 89th and Wisconsin Ave. at 10 a.m.

May 16: Look for Spring Birds in Migration
Watch in wonder as the cedar waxwings fuel up on fruited shrubs. Look for other birds as they migrate from Central or South America to as far north as Canada. Meet at Wil-O-Way Underwood Recreation Ctr, 10602 Underwood Pkwy, S/W of Hansen golf course at 10 a.m.

Pre-register: contact Dianne Dagelen at diannedagelen@yahoo.com or 414-771-1505.

Event Announcement: 'Amaranth Tuesdays'

2009-04-27T12:10:00.004-05:00

The announcement below comes from Venice R. Williams, Executive Director of Kujichagulia Lutheran Center:

COME TO THE TABLE
Amaranth Tuesdays: Pay what you can soup night
5 to 7 p.m.
Amaranth Bakery & Cafe
3329 N. Lisbon Avenue, Milwaukee

Tuesday, April 28
A visit with artist Muneer Bahaudeen
Have a bowl of soup and then come across the street to Muneer's studio, a community artist who works with clay to create handmade ceramic tiles. Come see some works in progress and learn about the process of working with clay.

Tuesday, May 12
Make a bowl with Muneer Bahaudeen!
Come back to the studio to design and make a clay bowl of your own. The cost is $28.

Tuesday, May 26
Pick up your bowl and have some soup!
Now that your bowl has been fired and glazed, come pick it up and enjoy a bowl of soup from your own bowl!

This series is sponsored by Amaranth Bakery & SeedFolks Youth Ministry.

For more information or to sign up to create a bowl, contact Muneer at (414) 241-6661 or Venice at (414) 687-0122.

'Tosa Green Summit' Update

2009-04-25T11:39:00.006-05:00

The much anticipated Tosa Green Summit is almost upon us and the roster is up to 23 participants. Below is a list of attendees provided by event organizer Jeff Roznowski:

YOUR GREEN HOME
- Carbon Footprint Reduction ~ Mike Arney
- Rain Gardens for Wauwatosa ~ Harris Byers
- Back Yard Composting and Master Gardening ~ Jennifer Wakefield
- WE Energies Education & Awareness Team ~ Nicholas Welch & Kenny DeBauche
- Focus on Energy ~ Lisa Fox

YOUR GREEN TRANSPORTATION
- Zoo Interchange Project ~ Wisconsin DOT
- Regional Transit ~ Milw. Metropolitan Assoc. of Commerce
- Little Red Ride and Community Bike Sharing ~ Wauwatosa Historical Society

YOUR GREEN CITY
- Beautification Committee ~ Marge Donegan
- How to E-Recycle ~ Wauwatosa Dept. of Public Works
- Park People ~ Wendy Mesich
- Grocery Bag Program ~ Nikki Beckwith
- Wauwatosa Energy Committee ~ John Bahr
- Friends of Hart Park and Sierra Club ~ Rosemary Wehnes

YOUR GREEN NEIGHBORHOOD
- Emerald Ash Borer ~ Parks and Forestry Dept.
- UWEX Urban Apiculture Institute ~ Harris Byers
- The Monarch Trail ~ Barb Agnew
- RiverEdge Nature Center ~ Mary Nolan
- Havenwoods State Forest ~ DNR

YOUR GREEN FOOD SYSTEM
- Growing Power ~ Jim Price
- Tosa Farmers Market ~ Heather Zydek
- Natural STEP for Communities ~ Diane Herman

The summit will take place at the Firefly Room of Wauwatosa's City Hall on Wednesday, April 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. Stop by to learn more about all that our city is doing to become a more sustainable community.

We're Tweeting

2009-04-21T16:25:00.006-05:00

Sustainable Tosa is now on Twitter. Follow our "tweets" at www.twitter.com/sustainabletosa or simply check out the most recent posts here at the ST blog.

Tonight: Neighborhood Discussion

2009-04-20T13:45:00.003-05:00

If you live on the east side of Wauwatosa, don't miss tonight's "Neighborhood Discussion," an event created to bring together East Tosans with Tosa businesses to discuss the "symbiotic relationship" between the East Tosa commercial district and surrounding neighborhoods. "The goal of this meeting is to discuss how best to sustain an enduring, committed focus on creating East Tosa as a progressive urban community offering niche shopping and dining experiences interconnecting with vibrant, established neighborhoods," says the East Tosa blog. The discussion starts at 5 p.m. at Cranky Al's on North Avenue. Learn more at www.easttosa.org.

Back in Action with Two New Blogs

2009-04-20T13:02:00.004-05:00

Although things were pretty quiet over here at Sustainable Tosa over spring break, I created two new blogs last week:

Blue Bungalow Microfarm: From this point on, I will post my personal garden journal, composting experiments, and other news from the day-to-day operations of my 1/4-acre "microfarm" to bluebungalowfarm.blogspot.com;

Tosa Farmers Market: Wauwatosa's own farmers market is coming together quickly. The collective of Tosans behind this project is hoping to launch the market this June, provided we can secure our space in The Village and find enough produce vendors to make opening this year worthwhile. Keep up with this blossoming project by reading news and updates at tosafarmersmarket.blogspot.com. We are also on Facebook, if you'd like to become a fan.

With the launching of these two new blogs, the ST's focus will shift slightly; it will remain an "information clearinghouse" for all things sustainability-related, serving as a central location for press releases and news about local events of interest to Tosans wanting to live more eco-friendly, sustainable lives. However, I will no longer post my personal experiences here; I will save that for the Blue Bungalow blog. Happy reading!

Spring Break

2009-04-11T09:20:00.000-05:00

Sustainable Tosa will suspend posting as we work on behind-the-scenes projects and tend to three kids on Spring Break. Look for new posts in a week or so. Happy Easter!

Farmers Market Meeting Recap

2009-04-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

The success of last night’s farmers market planning meeting at Maxie’s is a testimony to the fact that the timing is just right for Tosa to have its own successful market. Given that the meeting was planned at the last minute, it was a pleasant surprise that 18 people showed up ready to get their hands dirty. Attendees represented neighborhoods including Currie Parkway, Damon Woods, Historic Heights, Jacobus Park, Olde Hillcrest, Tosa East Town and Wauwatosa Village. We also had representatives from the Village of Wauwatosa Business Improvement District and the City of Wauwatosa Health Department in attendance. At the meeting, we had a lively discussion about how to bring back this valuable resource to Wauwatosa.

Among the many things discussed were whether to launch the market in 2009 or wait until 2010, where to locate the market and when to hold the market each week. Although there is still much to be ironed out in terms of the specifics, the general consensus is that we should aim to have a "trial run" this year, launching a smaller market that is more experimental in nature in the hopes that next year's market will be even better than what we come up with this year. We agreed that the best starting location is the place that Karen McNeely, the market's "early initiator," had semi-secured with the city: the parking lot behind the newly renovated Little Red Store, which will open its doors in early May. As for market hours, it looks like we’re aiming for one of two options: Thursday evening and/or Saturday morning. Details will be announced as soon as they solidify; stay tuned!

If you’d like to be involved behind the scenes with the ‘Tosa Market,’ please request a membership to join our Google Group.

Weekend Round Up

2009-04-04T13:00:00.000-05:00

Bike Expo
This weekend is Wheel & Sprocket's Bike Expo 2009 at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park. According to the Wheel & Sproket website, this is the 25th annual expo, with "deals on over 1,500 bicycles and thousands of components and accessories." I was there yesterday afternoon. I kinda regretted spending $5 on parking and dragging my kids along to what was basically a very big bike store -- especially since we have more bikes than we can handle at the moment. But I did enjoy visiting some of the cycling club booths and other information tables. A highlight: the table with trail maps and bike licenses. The "license" is a sticker with a number that you put on your bike after registering online at www.milwaukee.gov. This excited my preschooler, who loves putting stickers on just about everything.

The expo is definitely worth the parking fee if you want to learn about the bike races and bike-related orgs in our area and/or if you're in the market for a new bike. There are some shopping incentives to be had, including various membership discounts and sales. The expo continues today until 6 p.m. and tomorrow (April 5) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more at www.wheelandsprocket.com. If you are able, I suggest riding your bike to the expo to avoid the parking fee!

Big Box Rain Gardens
This may be old news, but I just noticed that the Burleigh Square parking lot at 124th and Burleigh (home to Lowes and Office Max) has several rain gardens, complete with little informative markers. I did some digging and came across this site, which explains the project: www.cproperties.com. Whether you approve of big box commercialism or not, this is an endeavor worth checking out -- especially if you're wondering how a properly installed rain garden should look.

Compost Tea
This last week, Martha Stewart had a segmant on compost tea featuring an interview with Michael Alms of Growing Solutions, a company that sells fancy compost tea machines. I love the concept, but I also think the more ambitious DIYer could make her own tea, without spending gobs of money on more space-consuming plastic products. So I got experimental and came up with some ideas of my own, which I'll share in a blog post early next week. In the meantime, here's Martha's blog on the subject.

U-Turn
A new consignment shop is coming to the North Avenue Business District next to Cranky Al's. "U-Turn" joins The Village's "Tuesday's Child" (in the same building as Neimann's Candies on Harwood), another consignment shop carrying children's clothing and accessories. Make sure to support these great stores within walking distance of many of our homes! This article at OnMilwaukee.com has more information about U-Turn, slated to open in early May.

Got Daylilies?
If not, I'm digging up a bunch to make room for another vegetable patch and would be happy to find new homes for them before they end up in my compost bin. E-mail me if you'd like some. I'll even loan you my shovel. All you need to bring is something to carry them home.

Drive Smarter Challenge
Perhaps you've noticed the bright new billboard at Wisconsin Avenue and Hawley in MKE advertising the website drivesmarterchallenge.org. Visitors enter information about their cars at this interactive site in order to find out how to save money on fuel (and cut back on CO2 emmissions) using suggested driving techniques. I drive a 2002 Toyota Sienna with six cylanders; the site said I could save up to $491 a year by following six suggestions, including keeping my tires inflated, reducing "VMT" (vehicle miles traveled) by walking and biking more and combining errands, driving less aggressively, and so on. Take the challenge and see how much you can save!

Cul-du-Sac Communes
I heard about this phenomenon on NPR and thought it was fascinating. I've only just begun learning about the "Cul-du-Sac Commune" movement that puts a new, more balanced spin on the concept of the "intentional community." I think some of our neighborhood associations in Tosa come close to resembling the Cul-du-Sac Commune. Here's a free .pdf with instructions on how to start your own commmunity: www.wannastartacommune.com.

Reminder: Farmer's Market Meeting Tomorrow Night!
Finally, don't forget to join us for the first Wauwatosa Farmers Market planning meeting, Sunday night at 7 p.m. at Maxie's Southern Comfort. If you'd like to come, please remember to r.s.v.p.. If you can't make the meeting but want to be involved, request a membership to the 'Tosa Market' groups.google.com.

Repurposing Project: Play-Doh Planters

2009-03-31T13:00:00.000-05:00

Many people think being ecologically responsible means recycling. While recycling is certainly important, even more important is repurposing. Repurposing basically means giving new life to the items in your house that you might have otherwise discarded into the trash or recycling bin.

Repurposing often involves creative, out-of-the-box thinking. For example, we're fixing up our basement right now and have gobs of old fiberglass insulation stuffed between the floor joists that make up the basement "ceiling." We've wanted to remove it for a while now but have agonized over the thought of throwing all that nasty stuff into a dumpster. Then my husband had an idea: why not take that fiberglass and use it to insulate our tiny mowhawk of an attic? The small space above our bungalow's second floor is under-insulated, and for months now we've tried to figure out the best way to insulate our attic so we can retain a bit more heat in the winter. Repurposing our old basement insulation solves two problems at once: the problem of waste disposal and the problem of attic heat loss. Seems like the best kind of win-win situation to me.

Anyway, I noticed a couple weeks ago that I had a growing stack of empty Play-Doh containers. The yellow plastic cups sat on my kitchen counter for a few days waiting to be dealt with; that's when the idea struck me to use the little cups as seedling planters.

Last year was my first summer getting my feet wet with vegetable gardening, and although I didn't get much, I had a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes. I managed to save some of the seeds, and a few weeks ago I planted them with the intention of growing some indoors. My idea is to eventually plant them in hanging baskets in a couple windows and then let them flow over the sides of the baskets.

The seedlings were growing nicely in the biodegradable egg carton in which I'd planted several seeds on Feb. 16. But Saturday, March 28 I noticed their leaves looking a little discolored. So I knew the time had come for a transplant into a larger container.

I started by washing remaining bits of dried Play-Doh from the yellow cups. Then I used an Awl to poke four holes in the bottom of each.

Next, I filled each container with a 50/50 mixture of seed starter and potting soil and added 1/2 tsp. of crushed egg shells to each cup (when I cook with eggs, I wash, dry and crush the shells; I've read it's good to add egg shells the soil of many plants, including tomatoes, as the calcium in the shells can help prevent certain leaf diseases).

I carefully transplanted each of my seedlings from the biodegradable egg carton to the larger Play-Doh containers.

Finally, I covered the soil around each transplanted seedling with finely chopped sphagnum peat moss. I placed the Play-Doh lids at the bottom of each cup to catch water drainage. Then I watered and misted them and put all except for two in one of my mini green houses. The remaining two cups were placed under growlights in the kitchen.

My seedlings seem much happier now that they have more room to stretch their roots! Some of them did lose the yellowing lower leaves, which tells me I should have transplanted these little guys about a week ago.

On a related note, I repurposed a flat biodegradable eggroll tray from Trader Joe's to start about 15 spinach seeds, which I also intend to grow indoors. After rinsing the tray lightly, I layered it with potting soil, then seed starter, then laid the seeds on top of soil. I covered the seeds with a very light dusting of well chopped sphagnum peat moss (mostly the particles at the bottom of the bag). Then I spritzed with my mister and and put the tray in my southern "seed starting" greenhouse.

Incidentally, I have two greenhouses I bought for about $30 each from Harbor Freight on Greenfield Avenue in West Allis. They aren't the sturdiest of structures, but for the price, I'm pretty happy with them. They're great for starting seeds in a warm, moist environment. I put one in front of my eastern-facing sliding glass door and one in my southern dining room window. Haven't decided yet whether I'm going to keep them indoors year round or move them outside just before the last frost date to harden off my seeds.

If you're looking for repurposing projects, try googling the keywords "repurposing ideas" and you'll find all sorts of information. Have fun!

Weekend Round Up

2009-03-28T11:38:00.001-05:00

It's been a very busy week here at Sustainable Tosa, and there's so much to blog about I'm going to wrap a few entries into one with this first official "Weekend Round Up."

Farmer's Market Planning Meeting
Wauwatosa residents are invited to a planning meeting for the forthcoming Wauwatosa Farmer's Market (AKA the "Tosa Market") on Sunday, April 5 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held in the upstairs dining area at Maxie's Southern Comfort (68th and Fairview). At the event, we'll brainstorm on how to design and implement a successful market for the 2009 season. We'll also discuss and sign up for roles in the interest of sharing the work load. Please R.S.V.P. at your earliest convenience so we have an idea of how many people to expect at the meeting. If you can't make it to the meeting but would still like to be involved, please let us know.

Shorewood Chickens
Shorewood's backyard chicken movement is gaining momentum, and now the Journal Sentinel's Shorewood Now is asking readers to weigh in on whether residents want to legalize chicken rearing. At the time of this posting the split was 47% in favor, 34% against and 19% somewhere in between (with about 300 votes). I've been following the backyard chicken movement for a while now and broached the subject at the Tosa Town Square last summer. Tosans' reactions are mixed. Around the same time I e-mailed one of our aldermen to seek her opinion; she thought the idea of chickens in Tosa was an absolute no-go. At this point, I'm too busy turning my house into an urban homestead and helping to revive the Wauwatosa farmer's market to consider single-handedly fighting to legalize chickens in Tosa, but I am a supporter and would be happy to be part of a group that pushes for an ordinance change. Anyone up for the challenge of organizing this?

Tonight is Earth Hour!
This evening from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. is Earth Hour. People around the world are asked to turn off their lights for one hour as a "vote for the Earth" and against global warming. If it weren't for this looming spring storm, it might have been a great time for a little night hike. Most likely we'll end up shoveling snow in the dark. How will you spend Earth Hour?

Tosa to Receive Stimulus Money for Energy Efficiency
Wauwatosa Now reported yesterday that Tosa will get a $220,000 chunk of Stimulus funds toward becoming more energy efficient. Read about this funding and how it will be used at Wauwatosa Now.

Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit
The 2009 Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit will wrap up today. Were you there? If yes and you would like to write up your impressions of the event for the Sustainable Tosa blog, please e-mail us.

Weekend Reading: 'My Empire of Dirt'
Finally, If you're looking for a little light weekend reading on the subject of urban farming, you might find this article on the subject infotaining. I found it equal parts hilarious, disturbing and enlightening.

Next week, I'll blog on computers and energy usage, repurposed plastic containers for gardening, and much more. Here's hoping this "winter weather" on the horizon passes quickly!

Just what is 'Victory Gardening'?

2009-03-25T09:41:00.000-05:00

This morning I was sharing with my husband the exciting and informative Victory Garden Initiative Google Forum and was surprised when he asked, "what exactly is victory gardening"? Good question.

I stumbled across the victory gardening concept last summer, at the height of my peak oil panic. The movement originated during World War I, when nations including the U.S., U.K., Germany and Canada encouraged citizens to grow their own fruits and vegetables in the interest of saving a majority of farm-raised food for their soldiers. Hence the use of the word "victory" (support the war effort by growing your own food and we'll be victorious over our enemies!).

Wikipedia states that victory gardens not only allowed the average citizen to support the war effort, but lifted the spirits of downtrodden folks suffering through two world wars and the Great Depression: "these gardens were also considered a civil 'morale booster' — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. Making victory gardens became a part of daily life on the home front."

Today there is a victory garden revival occurring as we fight some vicious new enemies: global climate change, the energy crisis, and the worldwide economic slowdown. Victory garden enthusiasts feel that when we support our local economies, buy from area farmers and grow as much of our own food as possible, only then will we dramatically decrease the amount of energy we use and only then will our world begin to heal from the wounds of 20th century greed. The movement is gaining so much momentum that even the White House now has its own vegetable garden, the first since the days of FDR.

Have you made plans for your victory garden yet? Spring has only just begun in Southeast Wisconsin (has it begun yet???), so now is the perfect time to get started. And whether you live on several acres or have only an apartment balcony and a few sunny windows, you can participate. Find support and learn more about victory gardening at thevictorygardeninitiative.com.

I heart Tosa

2009-03-24T20:58:00.001-05:00

The last couple of days have been exciting ones over here at the Sustainable Tosa HQ, where I've been in talks with the current Tosa Farmers Market organizer (whom I finally connected with earlier this week) about taking the reins and pushing this project forward. I will announce whatever I can about this effort as soon as plans solidify. But in the meantime, I wanted to share with you an impression: it seems that one positive outcome of this difficult recession is that folks are drawing together in exciting ways. In the last two weeks I have made so many meaningful connections with movers and shakers who are taking action right here, right now, in the name of positive change. One connection I made this evening was with Meg Miller, one of the organizers of the North Avenue Neighborhood Alliance, an exciting group that is hoping to stimulate activity and growth in Tosa's North Avenue 16-block trade district.

In hard times, it's critical that citizens of any community draw together and share resources. Tonight I'm reflecting on whether it's possible for Tosans to defy the recession, to go green, and to lead the way toward a new kind of social, environmental, and economic responsibility in the 21st century. Yes, I realize this is idealistic. But if we don't have ideals, we have nothing to aim for, and nothing will ever progress.

All in all, I'm ecstatic that we have a growing number of passionate action-takers in this sweet little city of ours. What a great place to live!

The Home & Garden Show

2009-03-22T20:47:00.001-05:00

This afternoon I spent about three hours at the 85th Realtors Home and Garden Show at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park. It was interesting to see the prominence (trendiness?) of the whole "green" theme this year. I find this both wonderful and a little disturbing. On the one hand, I'm thrilled to see sustainability reaching critical mass. But it also bothers me to see the movement warped by the opportunistic and greedy, therefore making it that much more difficult for the well-intentioned but uninformed to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to eco-friendly products and services.

Of course, I also have some gripes with the show itself, where there seems to be little regard for paper waste. Forget about the fact that one of the exhibitors told me that a year or two ago he observed all the arbor vitaes from the live garden displays get tossed into a dumpster at the end of the show. I also detest the concept of being charged $8 per adult to be overloaded with advertisements and tempted into spending even more money.

Still, there are a few events at the HGS in the week to come that might appeal to sustainers. Having seen a grand total of none of them, I can't vouch for the quality of these presentations, nor can I guarantee that some of them won't be advertisements in disguise. Nonetheless, some of the garden-related seminars at the Solutions Stage are mighty appealing. I may even end up spending $8 this Friday night to catch UW Master Gardener Deb Mauhar's seminar on composting.

If you do end up spending some time at Home & Garden Show, I especially recommend stopping by the booths of the UW Master Gardeners, the Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens and the Prairie Future Seed Company. A word to the wise: avoid making eye contact with vendors at any booths that don't appeal to you, or you may just get roped in. :)

A Farmers Market for Tosa?

2009-03-20T11:00:00.000-05:00

Last summer I happened upon an interesting thread at Wauwatosa Now's Tosa Town Square about the Wauwatosa Farmers Market. The thread was started by someone who asked why we didn't seem to have one. One of the responses came from a resident writing under the name "nowatosagirl," who said she was, as of July 2008, "doing some preliminary leg work to get the farmers market back up and running for the 2009 season."

I was recently at a neighborhood event and the subject of the Tosa Farmers Market came up. A fellow mom and I were wondering why we didn't have our own market anymore when all the surrounding towns have them. So a few days later, I called the City of Wauwatosa, hoping to dig up the name of the person and/or group reviving the defunct market for the 2009 season. I have yet to speak with the person in the Health Department who is supposed to know more about the history of the farmers market in Wauwatosa, but in the meantime, I am getting the impression from the brief conversations I've had with a few other folks that perhaps the "Tosa Farmers Market Revival Effort" has hit some kind of road block, or has fallen through completely. I'm basing this on the fact that no one seems to know anything about whether or not the market is coming back in 2009. Given that the farmers market season starts in about two months, I would assume that at this point at least the City of Wauwatosa would be aware of its rebirth if it were going to occur.

This leads me to a question: if the 'Farmers Market Revival' indeed fell through, do Tosa residents feel we need our own market when there are some great farmers markets nearby?

REMINDER: Rain Gardens Meeting Tonight!

2009-03-19T09:15:00.000-05:00

Learn more about Wauwatosa's rain garden program by attending tonight's informational meeting on the subject, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Riverview Room of the Muellner Building at Hart Park. At the event, Wauwatosa resident and Milwaukee County Urban Apiculture Institute instructor Harris Byers will explain the basics of rain gardening and help residents get started with the city's program.

Wauwatosa property owners who participate in the Rain Gardens for Wauwatosa Program will be reimbursed $5 a square foot (up to a maximum of 500 sq. ft.) for installing a "functional rain garden
that meets minimal program requirements." The program is funded by grant money from the Wisconsin DNR and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District.

Attendance at tonight's informational meeting is recommended but not mandatory; registration is not required. If you would like to reap the many benefits of rain gardens but can't make the meeting this evening, an information packet and application is available online in .pdf form. Learn more at www.wauwatosa.net.

If you've participated in the Rain Gardens for Wauwatosa program, we'd love to have you share your experience with our readers by commenting on this post. Or, if you'd like to write a longer testamonial about the program, please contact the ST blog editor.

Tosa Green Summit

2009-03-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

This April 29, the first Tosa Green Summit will bring together local organizations and Wauwatosa residents to talk about sustainability. Several area groups will present information at tables in an open-house setting in the Firefly Room of Wauwatosa City Hall, from 5 to 7 p.m. Invited attendees include (but are not limited to) representatives from the Rain Gardens for Wauwatosa Program, WE Energies, The Bike Federation of Wisconsin, The Urban Apiculture Institute, Friends of Hart Park, the Wauwatosa Historical Society, Share Wisconsin, the Urban Ecology Center. Other attendees include Mike Arney, organizer of Wauwatosa Village Neighborhood Association's Low Carbon Diet groups, and Nikki Beckwith, a resident interested in promoting the use of green grocery store bags. NOTE: not all invited attendees have confirmed yet -- stay tuned for a complete list of confirmed organizations, coming in April.

The event grew out of an initiative founded by a group of long-time Tosa residents who "share a deep appreciation and passion...for the City of Wauwatosa and want to do things to continue to make this a great place to work and learn and play," said Jeff Roznowski, one of the Summit's organizers.

Sustainable Tosa will post profiles of the various attendees this April. We'll also highlight some of the other projects of Roznowski and his as-yet-unnamed community advocacy group in the weeks to come.

For more information about the Tosa Green Summit, or to get involved, contact Jeff Roznowski at jroznowski(at)wi.rr.com.

On a related note, the Wisconsin Technical College System will be hosting its own green conference: The 2009 Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit. The event will take place March 25 through 29 at three locations: Discovery World and the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee and at the ECAM facility at Milwaukee Area Technical College in Oak Creek. More information is available at www.renewableenergysummit.org.

Google Book: Wisconsin Gardening

2009-03-15T07:52:00.001-05:00

Just came across this link on the Victory Garden Initiatve google list: The Wisconsin Garden Guide: The Complete Guide to Vegetables, Flowers, Herbs, Fruits & Nuts, Lawn & Landscaping, Indoor Gardening by Jerry Minnich. Looks like a great read.

The book, last published in 1995, is available at amazon, as well as from the publisher, Prairie Oak Press. I wonder if any local bookstores have a copy on hand?

If anyone would like to read and review Wisconsin Gardening for ST, please let me know.

FREE Electronics Recycling Event Today

2009-03-14T08:23:00.000-05:00

WISN just reported that there will be an electronics recycling event today on the north lot of State Fair Park in West Allis from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is sponsored by the City of Milwaukee and Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful. Items accepted include TVs, microwaves, cell phones, cordless phones, printers, scanners, cameras, computers and more (no large appliances, though). Learn more at wisn.com.

Article: 'Green Homes'

2009-03-12T11:16:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting article I found through a friend on Facebook. Warning: you need to have a subscription to the New York Times website to read this and any other archived article of the NYT. Don't hestitate to sign up for a subscription, if you don't already have one. It's free and entirely worth it, even if you have reservations about giving out your e-mail address to strangers.

Sustainer's Confessional

2009-03-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday I posted my "sustainability testamonial," in which I talked about the changes our family has made in the way of living more sustainability. Those are changes we're proud of -- changes we recommend other people make as well. But they only tell half of the story. The fuller picture -- the picture of us stepping outside of our best light -- shows us failing, making mistakes, getting frustrated. Lest I be thought of as some kind of Super Sustainer, I felt it imperative that I show my bad side as well as my good side.

So I'll step inside this virtual confession box and take a moment to disclose some of my sustainability sins:

I use household bleach. I tried to quit, but I simply could not figure out how to soak my dirty kitchen rags in a sanitary way before throwing them in the wash once a week. I couldn't figure out how to kill the unidentified molds and bacteria in my sink (and my toilet) when vinegar seemed to leave a pinkish film on everything. So I continue to use a few tablespoons of bleach here and a few cups there. (Incidentally, in researching this subject I came across the following Vegetarian Times article that discusses the bleach controversy. Interesting.).

I drive a gas-guzzling, non-hybrid toyota mini-van and, in moments of weakness, I sometimes drive my kids three blocks to school. Although I wish I could walk or bike everywhere and even fantasized about purchasing a family rickshaw for transport, the reality is that with three kids and an always-full schedule, the car is the quickest way from point A to point B.

When I'm feeling extra lazy, I will not wash out and recycle peanut butter containers or really old, neglected jars of salsa in my fridge. Instead, I'll throw them directly in the garbage. And once in a while, when my kids' rooms are absolute pits and they finally decide to clean, I'll turn a blind eye when they stuff mountains of perfectly recyclable scratch paper in the garbage, just because I don't want to pick through trash to pull out recyclables.

Not all of my bulbs are CFLS, and I plan to keep it that way -- at least for now. You can't put CFLs in lights with dimmers, which I have in my dining room and bedroom.

I use a dishwasher daily (although the jury's still out on whether or not this is a bad thing). I run water shamelessly when I hand-wash, so I happen to think that, for now anyway, it's more efficient for me to clean a load of dishes automatically each night.

More often than not, I don't buy local. I shop weekly at various big boxes and buy a majority of my groceries from grocery store chains. And yes, I even go to Wal-Mart once in a while. My favorite grocery store is Trader Joe's, with Sentry coming in at a close second, Aldi at third, and, yes, even Sam's Club makes the list of my top four or five places to shop. I recently let my ownership at Outpost Natural Foods run out; it's simply too expensive for me to shop there on a regular basis, much as I like what they do.

I'm sure there are many other random acts of laziness that prevent me from being a Super Sustainer. Why am I sharing this with the blog readers of the world? Primarily to illustrate that we start moving toward sustainability by taking baby steps. Each small step we take brings us that much closer to doing what's right by the created world and its creator. As Dr. Leo Marvin said in the film What About Bob, baby steps means "setting small, reasonable goals." I've set mine, and like a toddler I'm slowly wobbling my way toward those goals. When I fall, I struggle to get up, then take another step.

What baby step are you going to take today?

Treading Lightly into the World of Sustainability

2009-03-10T14:01:00.001-05:00

Editor's note: A version of the following article was published in the fall 2008 issue of the Olde Hillcrest Neighborhood Association newsletter. It is our "sustainability testimonial." If you would like to share a sustainability testimonial with ST, please e-mail us.

Last summer our family made a decision: to stop talking about our passion for the earth and its natural resources and actually change our lives for the better, taking small steps to reduce our carbon footprint and live greener. We realized that if we had any hope that the good people of America could change their ways for the better, that change had to start with us.

So began our proverbial trek into the world of practical sustainability at our home in Olde Hillcrest. Our first baby step toward sustainability came with replacing almost all of our household light bulbs with high efficiency Compact Fluorescent bulbs. Since then, we've taken things up several notches. Here are ten things we did this summer to reduce our carbon footprint, live more sustainably, and save money.

1. Reducing. One of the most important things any conscientious citizen can do to live sustainably is to cut down energy use. After analyzing where we used and where we wasted, we made significant efforts to turn off everything we possibly could when not in use. This included turning of most lights, computers and TVs when not in use and not using the central air that is installed in our home. In fact, we kept our AC off all summer, and although there were a few muggy days that proved uncomfortable for us, one does get used to the heat fairly quickly. In the winter, we hope to keep our heat on the low side, use our wood-burning fireplace to warm our living room, and take measures to retain the heat in our home (i.e. weatherizing drafty windows. This summer we replaced the draftiest windows in our home with triple pane windows).

2. Reusing. Why buy new when you can get something just as good (and sometimes better) at a thrift store or antique shop? The truth is, much of the "here today, gone tomorrow" items sold at big box stores aren't nearly as sturdy and have far less character than the clothing and home furnishings that can be bought for much less at resale shops. Other ways to reuse involve avoiding disposable items (dishware, napkins, household rags, shopping bags) in favor of washable items made to last.

3. Recycling. Thankfully, Wauwatosa has a strong recycling program, so we continue to look for things around the house to recycle instead of toss – especially all the mounds of papers we receive from work and school. Recycling, for us, also means taking much of our food and yard waste and composting (see #5)

4. Creating edible landscaping. This last summer we discovered the joy of turning our postage stamp yard into a tiny "urban homestead," opting to landscape with as many usable plants as possible. In our front yard, we grew a variety of native plants that soak up rain water and attract beneficial insects and birds. In the back, we've started a living fence that includes blueberry, blackberry and grape plants. We've planted young cherry and apple trees that we plan to prune for our urban backyard, even using the espalier technique to maximize fruit crops within the smallest space possible. Our groundcover plants include strawberries and herbs. We grow vegetables in three raised garden beds and hope to add a couple more next summer. Incidentally, we mow the small patches of grass in the front and back with a reel mower that requires no gas or electric to operate – just a little muscle. Although we're just getting started, growing some of our own food is rewarding in so many ways – it's affordable, wholesome and delicious and requires no shipping fuel. And nothing beats salsa made from homegrown tomatoes and cilantro, cake baked with organic baby carrots, or mojitos mixed with spearmint cut fresh from the yard.

5. Composting. Rotting food may not excite you terribly, but in our household we have fallen in love with composting as a way to cut down on waste and to create rich organic fertilizer. This summer we worked on both a traditional compost bin and a homemade vermicomposter (aka a "worm farm"). Vermicomposters are an excellent way to produce super-rich compost in a short amount of time.

6. Installing rain barrels. Want to save a few extra dollars each summer on your water bill and reduce rain run-off? Install some rain barrels. We bought two from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and are thrilled to be able to water our gardens and fruit trees with free, fresh rain water, instead of with expensive chlorinated water from our hose. Rain barrels are available from a number of non-and-for-profit vendors in the greater Milwaukee area.

7. Detoxing. We made a decision to avoid using the harsh lawn and garden chemicals and cleaning agents that taint our water supply. Instead, we've worked toward detoxing by bringing the harsh cleaning agents in our home to one of the various Household Hazardous Waste sites. We have slowly been replacing most of our cleaning agents with natural alternatives, which can be purchased in many grocery stores or made from scratch – recipes abound online.

8. Experimenting with alternative energy. One can spend anything from a few bucks on a crank flashlight to thousands of dollars on solar panels and tens of thousands of dollars on a hybrid car. We don't have much disposable income, so we decided to start small. Steve built his own 36-watt solar station for about $350 – at the moment it creates enough energy to power our pond pump for part of the day. If you don't have the time, money and/or know-how to create your own energy, you can support Wisconsin Energies' alternative energy program.

9. Supporting the local economy. Whenever possible, we try to support local businesses. In Olde Hilcrest we are fortunate to have a number of locally-owned businesses within walking distance in The Village and on North Avenue.

10. Switching to natural transport. We've all done it – driven to the library, the school, the bank a few blocks away when we could have walked or biked, just because we were feeling tired, were in a hurry, or didn't want to break out the umbrellas on a drizzly day. As for our family, we've been trying harder these days to resist the urge to drive whenever possible, biking or walking instead. It's great for the earth, for our pocketbooks, and for our own well-being.

Sustainable Tosa: Redefining Normal

2009-03-09T00:23:00.000-05:00

Sustainable Tosa is a new blog and Facebook group that will act as information clearinghouse and virtual meeting place for rain-barreling, worm-composting, victory-gardening "sustainers" who want to live simply and healthfully in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Our goal is to redefine the norms that guide our everyday lives, shifting from an individualistic era of bigger-faster-more to an era that is community oriented, organic and sustainble. Why sustainable? To "sustain" is to support, relieve, nourish. We "sustainers" want to support, relieve, and nourish our world and its inhabitants by living thoughtfully and by using the earth's natural resources in responsible ways.

ST will provide content on all things relating to the "green" or "sustainable" lifestyle, from gardening to alternative energy and everything in between. The blog will feature both general information about sustainability as well as practical information involving Wauwatosa-area businesses, nonprofit organizations and relevant government initiatives.

ST is not just for the community -- we'd like it to be produced by the community. So we need your help:

Citizens: ask us your questions and we'll try to answer them, or share your ideas and we'll post them here;

Local organizations: send us press releases and we'll promote your news if it we think it's relevant to our readers;

Writers: contribute content to the blog.

For more information on contributing content and news to ST, please e-mail blog editor Heather Zydek at heatherzydek(at)gmail(dot)com.

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