Thursday, April 22, 2010

Food & Community: Come to Eat, Come to Listen, Come to Share!

Alden Library's last Earth Month 2010 event will be BIG so don't miss it!  Ronda Clark, executive director of Community Food Initiatives will join us to talk about CFI's work with food security in Appalachia including:
  • gardening programs
  • workshops
  • seed saving & composting
  • food donations
Our session will be accompanied by fresh local refreshments, so come join us around the table!

Wednesday April 28th   
12-1 pm
Alden Library 319  

Image:

Friday, April 16, 2010

Heart & Soil Film Screening Next Wednesday w/ Guest Art Trese

The film Heart & Soil, a documentary on sustainable agriculture, will be shown at Alden Library's next Earth Month event.  Please join us!
Wed. April 21
12 - 1 pm
Alden Library Rm 319

We are also very much looking forward to our guest for the session, Prof of Plant Biology Art Trese, who will lead a discussion about his work with community gardening & sustainable agriculture. Here's a video of Prof Trese and OU students at work in the gardens:



Thursday, April 15, 2010

Worm Circus Roundup

A big Thank You to all who made our worm composting workshop on Wednesday a great success -- Thanks to all who helped with the planning, the publicity and the setting up. And Thanks to Will Dewees, our worm expert extraordinaire. Most of all, Thank You to all who attended -- we had our largest audience yet with nearly 40 people!

Will showed the audience that worms need the following to stay healthy and transform food waste into compost:

air  ~~  moisture (but not too much!)  ~~  darkness  ~~  food scraps (no protein)

Read more about the worm composting tips Will presented in today's Post article

Will at the Athens Farmer's Market


Worm composting book recommended by Will:

Appelhof, M. (1982). Worms eat my garbage (1st ed.). Kalamazoo, Mich., USA: Flower Press.

Photos by Sherry DiBari


Friday, April 9, 2010

Worms & Dirt Workshop (Getting Your Hands Dirty Optional)

Worms & Dirt: Managing Food Waste in a Very Small Space
Wed. April 14
12-1 pm
Alden Library 4th fl patio

Learn about producing food & managing food waste in a very small space. Guest Will DeWees (whom many of you may know from his worms & daffodil sales at the Athens Farmers Market) will demonstrate how easy it is to construct a small-scale worm composting box, and if time permits we will also learn a little bit about gardening in small containers that you can place anywhere there is sun.  We will also have a "worm-knowledge" contest and some free giveaways (taking worms home is optional!)

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Follow up to Grain Food Workshop

Thanks to everyone who attended our first Earth Month event, "Grain Food: Building a Regional Staple Food System," and a special Thank You to our guest, Michelle Ajamian, for leading a really interesting discussion about growing staple food crops such as amaranth & black beans locally.

Here are some links we found later about work of the Appalachian Staple Foods Collaborative:
Also, here is the website address for OEFFA (Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association)
Photo by flora.cyclam on Flickr

Short Films on Food

As promised, here are links to the free online short films we showed on food  -- check out these sources for many more short films on environmental topics:

Media that Matters Film Festival
Good Food: A Collection of Short Films on Food & Sustainability
featuring
"The Meatrix"
Louis Fox / Sustainable Table, Free Range Graphics
Prelinger Archives -- historic ephemeral films produced from 1927-1987. Many topics are represented, but here are some on food:
Miracles in Agriculture (12:49) / Seed for Tomorrow (19:55) / It Takes Everybody to Build This Land (20:00)
Live Earth Film Festival
Award-winning filmmakers were commissioned to create awareness-raising short films.



Monday, April 5, 2010

First Alden Library Earth Month Event This Week!

Please join us on Wednesday to hear about a very interesting local sustainable food project -- growing grains in Athens -- yes, right here in Ohio!  We will also be showing some classic food film shorts to get the discussion going.  Open to all Athens students, faculty, staff & community.  Refreshments provided.

Building a Regional Staple Food System
Michelle Ajamian & Brandon Jaeger
Appalachian Staple Foods Collaborative 
Wed Apr 7
12:00 - 1:00 pm
Alden Library Rm 319 (Friends Rm)

Friday, April 2, 2010

See FRESH tonight at Baker Center!

The new documentary film FRESH will be shown tonight at Baker Center Theater at 7pm. This is a late addition to the Office of Sustainability's Earth Month Calendar so spread the word!