Fresh Greens

News You Can Use

Here are a few events and happenings you may want to be aware of and participate in over the coming weeks.

MAPS3 Survey for Public Transportation

The Alliance for Public Transportation seeks responses to an important survey by Friday, August 21, 2009. This survey is brief and involves answering only ten questions through the link below.

These questions request information about your interest in transit, MAPS3 and your interest in the Alliance for Public Transportation (APT). Please select the answer that best fits you! Thank you!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=yaDjumCT10Goi9JmYD53UA_3d_3d

 

Sierra Club Cimarron Group Movie Night
Friday, August 28
7 pm social 1/2 hour

Movie at 7:30 pm with discussion following at Backwoods, 12325 North May, Suite 103, OKC

Encounters at the End of the World directed by Werner Herzog

There is a hidden society at the end of the world. One thousand men and women live together under unbelievably close quarters in Antartica, risking their lives and sanity in search of cutting-edge science.

Now, for the first time, an outsider has been admitted. In his first documentary since GRIZZLY MAN, Herzog, accompanied only by his cameraman, traveled to Antarctica, with rare access to raw beauty and raw humanity of the ultimate down under.

Encounters at the End of the World, Herzzog's latest meditation on nature, explores this land of fire, ice and corrosive solitude.

 

 

Eaton to host Prawn Field Day Demonstration

Sept. 12 at 9:30 a.m.

Register by Sept. 4

Eaton will host a field day to demonstrate how he’s been raising freshwater shrimp, or prawns, for the past two years in the pond on his farm near Cashion, northwest of Oklahoma City.

During the two-hour field day, which starts at 9:30, Eaton will harvest his second crop of prawns in as many years. In the meantime, he’ll give visitors the lowdown on production methods, potential problems, and harvesting and marketing.

Eaton received a 2008 Oklahoma Producer Grant from the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture to demonstrate the feasibility of raising prawns in farm ponds as an additional income source for Oklahoma farmers.

Registration for the prawn field day is free, but required by September 4 to reserve a place. Space is limited. To register, email [email protected], or call 918.647.9123. 

Nosh, nibble and buy local goodies at the Local Food Fair today

Sample delicious food, shop, chat and gab at the Local Food Fair this evening. No admission!

A Local Food Fair

Tuesday, July 14

6:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Harn Homestead

1721 North Lincoln Blvd.

Oklahoma City

Local foods, plants, flowers & wine vendors and live music!

Come ready to:

• Shop for locally-grown food & wine (please bring a reusable shopping bag).
• Learn how easy it is to make more sustainable food choices.
• Sample fresh locally-grown food & get to know the people who produce.

Sponsored by:

No-cost energy efficiency assistance program

by Christine Patton

Free energy efficiency upgrades for lower-income families and individuals are now available through a Weatherization Assessment Program sponsored by the Community Action Agency of Oklahoma City (CAA). This program is designed to lower your energy bills and improve your home’s energy efficiency and comfort. This is a time limited offer, so apply today!

How it Works: Call 232-0199 to apply for a free energy audit of your home. CAA will help you identify and install the most important energy efficient improvements (up to $7,000). For example, CAA will install extra insulation, new windows, new exterior doors, caulk, weather stripping, etc. They might even help you with a new refrigerator. You do not have to pay for these improvements - they are a free program sponsored by the United States stimulus package!

Who is Eligible:
1. You must reside in Oklahoma or Canadian County.
2. Your income must be less than 200% of the federal poverty level (Family of one cannot make over $21,660, Family of 2 cannot make over $29,140 and a family of four cannot make over $44,100: other income qualifiers available by calling CAA)
3. You do not have to own the home that is having the energy audit, as long as you fit the income qualifications and have the permission of your landlord.
4. Priority assistance is available for persons over 60, persons with disabilities, or households with children under 12.

This is a free program. Take advantage of this grant to help you live more economically and comfortably in your home! Call today and take advantage of this program (232-0199), or for more information about CAA check out www.caaofokc.org.

Urban agrarian market takes off in Oklahoma City

by Shauna Lawyer Struby

Woohoo. I'm so excited to write this post. Here’s another great way to support your local farmers, ranchers, producers and eat healthy local food. Blooming on the Oklahoma prairie is the new mobile Urban Agrarian Local Foods Market. I’ve been hearing about and watching Matt’s progress on this project and am so thrilled to write just a little about this. Other great local food goodness is on its way as well. Bob Davis and I chatted on Facebook last night and the way is clear with the City of Midwest City for a new farmers market in that area.

Both Matt and Bob are absolutely passionate about local food and are stellar examples of what happens when people set their minds on being the change they want to see in the world. Kudos to them! Now let’s all get out and support them! Eat, enjoy, spread the word!

Urban Agrarian Local Foods Market

Local, sustainable food delivered with local, sustainable energy

· Sunday, June 28, 2009

· 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

· Across the street from Cheevers on the SE corner of NW 23rd and Hudson, Oklahoma City.

The Veggie Van is making a stop and setting up shop on 23rd street every Sunday for an outdoor market. All local food transported by waste vegetable oil. Displays are made out of recycled fence panels and if you get your stuff bagged, it is in a second-use bag from a local retailer. It is an official part of Sunday-funday in the historic district.

Products from local growers and vendors such as: Earth Elements, High Tides & Green Fields, Seasons Catering, Briarberry Farm, OM Gardens, Peach Crest Farms, Redland Juice Co., Rowdy Stickhorse, Urban Farms, Wichita Buffalo, Snider Farms Peanut Barn, Bob's Best Bon Appetitin' Bulgar, and others available seasonally. Plus local garden extras.

Questions: Contact Matthew Burch, [email protected].

Bob Waldrop Elected Mayor Of OKC

by Peak Oil Hausfrau

Featured here is the first post of the Envision 2020 blog, which imagines the events in Oklahoma City as we transition from the present, a time of abundant and cheap energy, to the future, a time of declining and expensive energy...

(OKLAHOMA CITY) Mar. 7, 2014 -- Bob Waldrop, local social justice activist and founder of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, was elected mayor of Oklahoma City in a landslide election yesterday evening.

"I am proud my fellow citizens have embraced my platform of 'Local Food, Energy and Economy,'" Mayor-elect Waldrop told Peak Oil Hausfrau today. "It shows that our city is ready to tackle the enormous challenges facing us and take responsibility for our future. When we are willing to work together, we can create great things as a community."

Opponents tried to paint Waldrop as a radical, calling him a "sad old Hobbit hippie," "permaculturist" and "local foodie fanatic." These attacks did not resonate with a population weary of years of recession and the lingering effects of the financial crash of 2009. Local groups banded together in a swell of grassroots support to knock on over 54,000 doors in a massive volunteer campaign.

First on Waldrop's agenda: Restoring granaries within city limits. Mayor-elect Waldrop explained, "This step will provide local food security in the face of another oil shock like the one of 2011. We will have grain and beans on hand to provide a two-week basic minimum diet for our most vulnerable citizens. But I encourage everyone to have three months of their own food storage if at all possible."

The oil crisis of 2011 laid the foundations for Mr. Waldrop's campaign of "Local Food, Energy and Economy." While not entirely unprepared due to the efforts of local group Transition Town OKC, Oklahoma City nonetheless endured great stress from the effects of the oil supply crisis. Without constant deliveries of food, grocery shelves were emptied within three days of the Ras Tanura refinery bombing in Saudi Arabia on June 14, 2011. Highways and roads became deserted, and basic city services stopped. Luckily, the crisis lasted only two weeks before the federal government began rationing gasoline and released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ensure coal and food deliveries. Still, the economy was at a standstill, and without regular paychecks, many people could not even afford to buy the food that was available.

Leading citizens, business and spiritual leaders from all walks and parties endorsed Waldrop, including many that had opposed him in the past.

"After the Crisis of '11, the Federation of Churches realized that we needed a city that would prepare for the future of oil depletion, not be stuck in the past of oil dependence. We decided to mobilize and make sure that the city had a plan. Our church was very excited to support Bob's campaign, which had a great, innovative focus on preparedness, resilience, and localization," said John Franks, minister, Faith and Hope Community Church.

Mayor-elect Waldrop will celebrate his election with a "Local Food Extravaganza," and invites all citizens to an open-air potluck festival downtown to be held directly after his inauguration. "We look forward to bringing all our citizens back into the democratic process," he remarked. "My administration will be one of inclusiveness and responsibility and will offer a new vision for the future--one of energy efficiency, local food and economy, shared transport and renewable energy. Our hope is that everyone will participate."

New Law, Good News for Area Pets

by Chelsea Simpson

Sustainability in Oklahoma City took a small, unexpected step forward last week. As of January 15, the city will pay for the spaying or neutering of any dogs and cats that wind up at the city shelter, even if their owners come to claim them. Previously, owners hoping to take their lost pets home were required to pay a fee to cover the costs associated with caring for the animal at the shelter. But now owners can have that fee waived if they provide proof that their pet has been altered or agree to have it altered at the city’s expense.

Hopefully the fee waiver will result in more owners claiming their pets, which will save the city in boarding and euthanasia costs, and more pets being altered, which will eventually lead to a decrease in the overall population of unwanted pets.

That last point is where sustainability comes in: unwanted pets. According to an article in the Journal Record last month, Oklahoma City euthanized 17,654 dogs and cats last year. That is waste, my friends, at its most grotesque. I fret about throwing away all kinds of things—leftover potatoes, socks with holes, wrinkled printer paper. I also realize that we are a wasteful society, consuming too much on many fronts, but the lives’ of living things? That stretches wastefulness beyond acceptable limits.

Let’s remind ourselves what we are talking about here because I grew up on a farm, and I eat meat. I know the argument, and it goes like this, “Dogs and cats are animals, and just like livestock they are here to be used by humans. If that’s how you feel, then use them—let them warm your lap and welcome your visitors and perform more noble tasks, like search and rescue or bomb sniffing because that’s what they were bred for. There is no need to breed new animals so long as thousands of them are being euthanized. To my knowledge, no one kills cattle just to make room for more cattle; we kill them for a purpose. Their slaughter isn’t simply a matter of convenience.

Yet more dogs and cats continue to be produced because we keep buying them. Then we throw the old ones away. So as we move toward sustainability with our recycled pop cans, hybrid cars and local food, let’s not forget our loyal companions. “Recycle” a pet from the shelter. Avoid creating “new waste” by spaying and neutering. And support new legislation and rules like the one that took effect last week.

Walking OKC

The OKC Gazette has a great article this week about the "walkability" of Oklahoma City, or the unwalkability some would say. I thought the topic was a good one for us to discuss.

How much do you rely on your own two feet for transportation? Do you have any horror stories about trying to cross NW Expressway sans wheels? What do you think our city could do to encourage more walking? Join the discussion with your thoughts and passions on getting around the oldest of ways.