July: Events Around the City

Tuesday July 14th 7-9 pm
Raw Food Classes - Milks, Pâtés & Sprouting Basics
During this two hour workshop we'll try various nut milks, (including chocolate almond milk), 2 seed cheeses including mock tuna pâté and at least 4 different flavours of sprouts! We'll also chat about the different sprouting methods so that you can determine the best for you! Fee: $40 + gst. To register please email Tiffany @ greendrinks.london@gmail.com.

Wednesday July 15th 6:30 PM
Soap Making Workshop - Sparta
Experience the art of soap making. If you are having problems finding a soap that does not leave your skin dry and itchy, sensitive to products on the shelf, or confused with what organic/natural really means this workshop will help you find the answers to your questions. The workshop will run approx 1½ hours and will include take home recipe, instructions and samples of soap made at workshop. Soap and soap making supplies will be available for purchase. Cost: $20+ GST/pp. To register please email Tiffany @ greendrinks.london@gmail.com.

Saturday July 18th 2-4pm
EcoLiving London -London's Environmental Evolution
If you are interested in living more sustainably, but have no idea where to begin, you aren’t alone. Searching for "green" resources in London often feels like looking for that needle in the hay stack. How can we make things better? Join us to explore London’s current Environmental State of the City, what is happening in other municipalities, and how EcoLiving London is going to help bring us up to speed with the rest of the province, the rest of the country, the rest of the world by making information easily accessible to all Londoners. Presented by Tiffany Roschkow, Coordinator - GreenDrinks London. Location: Central Library. No Registration Required

Tuesday July 21 7-9pm
GREENDRINKS LONDON - Herb Walk at The Living Centre
- Nature is the Classroom
Experience the array of edible herbs and plant medicine through the various seasons. There are thousands of species of edible and medicinal plants in the world, yet fewer than 20 species provide 90% of our food. There are hundreds of less well known delicious and nutritious edible plants that live in our back yards and fields. Find out if they're in your back yard!

Tuesday July 21 7-9 pm
Raw Food Classes - Healthy (mostly chocolate) Desserts
We'll prepare delectable brownies, peanut butter squares, chocolate pudding and a strawberry pie -chocked full of nutrients that are oh-so-good for your body! Fee: $40 + gst. To register please email Tiffany @ greendrinks.london@gmail.com.

Saturday July 25 - 26
Summer On The Farm
Visit farm families as they bring in the wheat and barley crop from the fields and preserve the garden bounty in the kitchen. For more information please call Fanshawe Pioneer Village at 519-457-1296 or visit the website www.fanshawepioneervillage.ca for additional information.

Friday July 25 - 26 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Garden Gates Open 2009
Don’t be shy! Show us your garden! This is the perfect neighbourhood garden tour where youll find hidden gems in every part of the city. Take a peek at Londons creative garden scene from backyard waterfalls and floral beds to rooftop oasis. Every garden is welcome! Self guided tour time is Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Visit www.londoncib.ca or call 519-439-7120 for additional information.

Tuesday July 28 7-9 pm
Raw Food Classes - A Raw 4-Course Meal
Share in a raw (yet warm) soup, a salad with a raw seed dressing, a main course - lasagna (again warm, but not cooked) and a mystery raw dessert. Fee: $40 + gst. To register please email Tiffany @ greendrinks.london@gmail.com.

Tue Jul 28 9am & 7pm
Forest Garden Walk @ The Living Centre
Learn about the Harvest Beneath Your Feet - Growing & Eating for Nourishment & Nourishing the Future "Obviously, few of us are in a position to restore the forests. But tens of millions of us have gardens, or access to open spaces such as industrial wastelands, where trees can be planted. and if full advantage can be taken of the potentialities that are available even in heavily built up areas, new "city forests" can arise..." ~ Robert A.de J.Hart

Mon July 27 - August 9
My Earth and Me - StoryBook Gardens
Celebrate and learn about the Earth. Get to know some of Storybook’s famous animal friends, experience the creepy, crawly, slithery world of The Snake Lady, marvel at spectacular birds of prey and enjoy the talented and playful Super Dogs. For more information visit http://www.storybook.london.ca.

Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Centre

It's a chicken, it's a chicken, two ladies on scooters cried as my Mum and I walked up along the path in Kiwanis Park. Sure enough, there it was, an unidentifiable baby chick, just hangin' out. Not one to leave an animal in distress, we looked around to see if there were any others and when there were no relatives in sight, made the executive decision to carry him home. He was incredibly wiggly and affectionate. Tweeted up a storm if he couldn't be near you, crawling up the sleeve of my cousins housecoat as she lay with him in the grass.

After a few phone calls to animal control and vet emerg, we were referred to the lovely Brian Salt at Salthaven in Mount Bridges (www.salthaven.org), who graciously accepted this little orphan into the warmth of his incubation room, along with a host of other baby ducks, geese, owls, and hawks, who he was in the process of rescuing, raising, and releasing back into the wild.

Good deeds are hard to come by in this fast-paced world, but Brian is picking up the slack and cleaning up the messes that our modern society leaves behind. If you are an animal lover, or even if you're not, visit the website and thank this lovely man with a donation from their wish list or your pocket book. He gets no government funding, he does this work out of the goodness of his heart - and for that I, and the unidentifiable baby chick, are eternally grateful.

P.S. He turned out to be a wild turkey chick.

Jamie’s Fowl Dinners

I love this man… he’s got such a good honest heart and his findings are very much in line with the way things are done in Canada as well.

In this TV show Jamie takes us on a journey of discovery to see for ourselves how 95% of meat chickens and 63% of egg-laying hens are still intensively farmed in the UK. He highlights the welfare implications for the birds as a result of our persistent demand for cheap food, and will hopefully change the way we shop/eat forever.

Website: http://www.jamieoliver.com/jamiesfowldinners/#

Knowledge is power. Educate yourself so that you can make decisions that are in line with your values.

Help Wanted: Greening of the Pool Industry

Hi Tiffany,

I am hoping you can post something on your GreenDrinks blog for me. As I told you at our last function I am working with a local pool company. My two major tasks are 1) to come up with opportunities for waste diversion, and 2) to find eco-friendly alternatives for a lot of the hazardous materials being used in construction such as adhesives, bonding agents, cements, acrylics, appoxys etc. The questions I would like posted are:

1. Do you know of any companies that may be interested in the recycle or reuse of PVC piping, Vinyl pool lining, or heavy duty polymer based plastics?

2. Do you have any suggestions for environmentally friendly construction materials hardy enough for pool design?

I figured this might be a good way to gain more information seeing how information appears to be limited particularly in the North American pool industry.

Thanks,
Jen Reid
jreid45@uwo.ca

Auto-ban: German town goes car-free

Vauban hopes to forge a model community without that great staple of modern life – the car. Now the sound of birdsong has replaced the roar of traffic and children can play in the street.

By Tony Paterson

Friday, 26 June 2009


DANIEL SCHOENEN

In the German town of Vauban the cyclist is king.

The Germans may have given the world the Audi and the autobahn, but they have banished everything with four wheels and an engine from the streets of Vauban – a model brave new world of a community in the country's south-west, next to the borders with Switzerland and France.

In Vauban, a suburb of the university town of Freiburg, luxuriant beds of brilliant flowers replace what would normally be parking outside its neat, middle- class homes. Instead of the roar of traffic, the residents listen to birdsong, children playing and the occasional jingle of a bicycle bell.

"If you want to have a car here, you have to pay about €20,000 for a space in one of our garages on the outskirts of the district," says Andreas Delleske one of the founders and now a promoter of the Vauban project, "but about 57 per cent of the residents sold a car to enjoy the privilege of living here." As a result, most residents travel by bike or use the ultra-efficient tram service that connects the suburb with the centre of Freiburg, 15 minutes away. If they want a car to go on holiday or to shift things, they hire one or join one of the town's car-sharing schemes.

"BUY IN" TO ORGANIC PRODUCE

Fresh, local, organic veggies all summer long... what could be better than that?

London City Farm is fully planted and ready to sell garden shares for the season. For only $20/week you can pick up your basket at:

- Covent Garden Farmers Market (Thursday or Saturday)
- Masonville Mall Farmers Market (Friday)
- Western Fair Farmers Market (Saturday)

Or you can harvest your own at the garden on Monday evenings from 6pm to 8pm.

What is London City Farm?
We are a not-for-profit urban farm dedicated to cultivating heirloom varieties of food by organic methods. These are varieties that have been bred for taste and nutrition, not for travel across the country. You'll be delighted and surprised at the diversity of these fresh, local treasures. Join us in preserving the health and well being of our local community!

What do we do?

We operate a 2-acre plot at Fanshawe Village, and we make the produce available to chefs at local restaurants who appreciate the superior value of locally grown heirloom vegetables. Our produce is also enjoyed by our members who purchase shares.

For more information or to purchase your 2009 share contact ROSE at rosemarywhite@sympatico.ca or 519.777.8299 (email preferred).

KUDO's for GreenDrinks London

(Photo of our Labatt tour courtesy of Jodi Simpson, Tech Alliance)

Thank you GreenDrinkers for being such a welcoming bunch! I am endlessly proud to share time with you. Tiffany

On behalf of myself and my Mom, we'd like to express our Thanks! for Tiffany's warm welcome extended to us to join in your group's recent meeting at The Black Shire Pub in London. Everyone was so friendly, and we truly enjoyed hearing the updates of what is happening in London. We happened to have been seated in the 2nd level of the Pub when your Tuesday tour of Labatt's had concluded. It was a pleasure to chat with all of you!

I noticed on your announcements that your July meeting is a field trip, TBA. Will you share an e-mail to let me know when and where that will be? We might work in another road trip to visit.

Thanks again,

Theresa & Dorothy