Mark Your Calendar…Green Conference

Welcome back!

(Picture to the left is conference speaker, Judy Wick)  I just came across information about a conference that I’m now making plans to attend.  It’s called the Bioneers Conference and it is an event featuring “biological pioneers who focus on innovative biological and social strategies at the crossroads of ecology and social justice.”

Translation…a gathering of folks who are as focused on protecting the environment and the people in it as many of you are.   The added bonus, at least from my perspective, is that this event provides an opportunity to learn from those who have developed an expertise on issues close to my heart….specifically sustainable development (green housing), best practices in green living and social justice.

Many of you who manage natural living businesses would be interested in quite a few of the speakers.  One of the plenary speakers, Judy Wicks, founder of Philadelphia’s 24-year-old White Dog Cafe, is a national leader in the local, living economies movement.  Judy will be telling her story of “moving beyond responsible business practices within her company to working cooperatively with other entrepreneurs and citizens to build whole economies based on love o fnature and community.”

The event was started in California 18 years ago and this year’s event will be held there as well.  But…you don’t have to go to California to participate.  Cleveland, Detroit, Traverse City and about 20 other “Beaming Bioneers” cities will receive the satellite downlinks of more than a dozen nationally known speakers for three half days from October 19 – 21, 2007.

I actually think this might be an excellent event for my teens to attend.  Protecting the environment and taking action to address social justice issues are key components of our faith and our school curriculum (we’re Catholic and our kids attend Catholic schools.)   

If you’d like to attend and wish to see which of the conference locations would work for you visit the Bioneers website.

Community Involvement – Your PTA

The things you love about your community were probably made possible by others who share your opinion. Let’s say you have a wonderful nature conservation area where you live, it’s likely because past or current residents in your community took steps to protect that area. The same holds true for our schools where we trustingly send our children each day. Our schools really do benefit from parents who get involved and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is one of the easiest and most effective ways for you to make a difference at your school.

I have been active on my local PTA (or parent council) since my teens were in elementary school. Our elementary school is a lovely, small school that really DEPENDS on the effort and volunteer support of parents. I was pleased to help out. But the other great benefit is that as a PTA volunteer you get to know many of the teachers at your school a little better.

The better you know your child’s teachers, the more comfortable you’ll be in communicating with them regarding any questions that you might have about your child’s achievement in school.

As a member of your PTA you’ll also get to know other parents in your school and that was a great resource to me. If you’re busy with your business or work it can often be difficult to keep abreast of all the activities and programs going on at your school. The network of parents in your PTA can be the BEST source for information not only about the school programs but about things closer to home like trips or cupcake sale deadlines that you know nothing about because the from is still in your child’s knapsack!

If you’re unfamiliar with the role or purpose of your PTA call your school principal now or visit the PTA website to learn more.

The Center of Town

One of the things I love about new urbanism is that you can enjoy the benefits of new urban living whether you live in a new or old development located in the city or the suburb. New urban living is just about enjoying the natural beauty and spirit of our communities.  We make our communities special through our interests in the health and vitality of each other and the greater community around us.

I know I get a little repetitive about this but I truly believe to shape our lives according to our priorities we have to be purposeful in all we do and that includes our community life.   For example, where I live some forward thinking folks decided about 20 years ago that our sprawling, anonymous suburb  really needed a town center to keep people connected and interested in living in the core.  They also believed that this was necessary to curb the trend of residents moving out into our precious and dimimishing farm lands. 

Fast forward a few years and today we have a fantastic town center that is really just a string of reclaimed old buildings along an old main street that was saved from the developers wrecking ball.  That “center” has spurred the development of more retail, professional and service oriented businesses in addition to newly constructed “new urban,” sustainable housing.  Our town center is the place for  jazz festivals, harvest festivals, Old Tyme Christmas festivals and a host of other events that make kids, parents, and everyone else feel a part of something that is real and meaningful.

Our main street has become the “anti-mall” gathering place.  Not overly fancy or expensive, but very relaxing and kind of homey.

Today I took some pictures from our “Jazz Sundays” event.  My daughter and a dear friend I hadn’t seen in a while are standing in front of our “old fashioned” band shell that was built in 2000.   For the rest of the afternoon we sat on the grass listening to wonderful music before walking home with our favorite ice cream cone in hand. 

Hot Summer Cooking Tips for Busy Moms, Hungry Families

Okay I’ve got a treat for you. I know it’s summer, it’s hot, you have so many outdoor activities going on, you’re exhausted  and cooking is the last thing on your mind. Here’s the treat:  I’m going to share with you the means to getting your secret weapon for dealing with the awful question “What am I going to cook for dinner?”  The secret is a resource called “Menu Planning Central.”  This resource, started and managed by some very savvy moms, provides not only planned menus but the shopping list as well!

I have even better news.  You can win one full year’s subscription to this service by entering a contest being held by a great mom and business owner that I’ve recently come to know.  Her name is Nell and you can visit her blog to read more about the contest. The deadline ends September 15.

Caring for Parents

I’ve always thought my parents looked young.  In my mind they looked the same to me now as they did when I was a kid. That all changed significantly for me last week. It only takes one serious illness to make you realize that life has been preparing you for a role reversal you weren’t expecting. [Read more]

Garage Sales and Life’s Little Journies

Garage sales are a big deal in my community. Our street use to do one every spring and then the last two years we passed on the “opportunity.” Well this weekend my neighbor got me all into the garage sale fever again.

My neighbor and I are both early birds. We’re out either on our porch or busying in the garden around 7 a.m. each weekend morning. On Saturday she asked whether I was going to “the” garage sale. It was one of those sales being held by a real “Martha Stewart” type homeowner. Her house is one that everyone loves (great decor, grass is ALWAYS green, and hubby never falls behind on fixing chores). You know that her stuff is going to be terrific. I wasn’t planning on visiting her sale because that was too much pressure for me and I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to withstand the early morning crowd crush.

My neighbor got me out of my chair anyway. Off we went walking through our neighborhood to garage sale mecca. We bumped into two power walking neighbors who quickly decided to do a u-turn and join us on our trek to the sale. You should have seen us with our hair in various stages of disarray and our vintage (I’m being kind) tops and shorts. I was literally dressed just to putter around the lawn, and I definitely looked the part.

At the sale, I ended up deciding that I did not need yet another side table or teflon pot, but I did get a great brass finger towel stand for the kids’ bathroom and a chess set for my son.

You know it wasn’t what I purchased that made my morning so sweet it was the people and conversations that I had along the way that made me happy and grateful to live in my community.

Shopping New Urban Style

I just came back from a trip through Ohio where we visited two “new urban” shopping or rather lifestyle centers. This is the next generation of the shopping mall and I really like it. I’ve never been much of a mall person to begin with. In this “new urban” shopping destination stores are laid out along streets in a town-like atmosphere.

Our first stop was the The Greene in Beavercreek. Beavercreek was/is a farming community that is fast becoming a booming suburb of Dayton. The new urbanism mind set may well save the lovely countryside in this area through the development of high density centers like The Greene. For many of us when we hear high density, we think ugh, claustrophobia, high rise buildings. Well, that’s not the case with new urbanism design. The area is visually attractive, walkable and takes up LESS SPACE than traditional new developments! Another bonus…there are quaint European looking apartments with balconies on top of some of the stores. This will appeal to young couples and professionals who aren’t ready to purchase a home.

Next on our trip was the Legacy Village in the east suburbs of Cleveland. Again, beautiful architecture, fabulous stores and people everywhere! For a city worried about hanging on to its young families and professionals, the Legacy development could not have come at a better time. I just hope they don’t stop with shopping facilities. For a real community we need a mixture of interesting housing types close by and I didn’t see too much of that with Legacy Village.

Hooray for the demise of the boring suburban mall and shopping plaza! Let’s build community and protect our Green space. New urban design isn’t perfect just yet but it is surely taking hold and making significant improvements where we live and work.

St. Louis Loves New Urbanism

A St. Louis, Missouri, newspaper (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) reports on the growing popularity of new urbanism communities in the St. Louis region. One couple profiled said they decided to move to a new urban community so that they could have “more than a home.” They wanted a place where they didn’t have to drive everywhere and could walk safely around their neighborhood. The experience is a new and pleasant one for many new residents making a similar move in that region:

“A few weeks ago, Lee Ann Borcherding sat on her front porch with her daughter Lisa, 20, in New Town, where hundreds of homes rise out farmland and are connected by canals.

There’s a small market, a frozen custard shop, real estate offices and restaurants. People kayak, bike, skate and drive golf carts around the neighborhood.

“On the weekends you can’t sit out here without seeing 20 bikes go by,” Lisa Borcherding said.

Often sightseers show up just to look at the place. There are concerts at a local amphitheater, and people gather at the town hall to watch movies and drink martinis. “We are like in a zoo,” Lee Ann Borcherding said, adding that it’s a little difficult to get in and out of the area.

Richard Ward, a local real estate consultant, said New Town is probably the best example of new urbanist development built from scratch.”

Read the whole story here.