Green Neighborhood Council - GOC - Recently Updated Pages

Green Neighborhood Council - GOC

Food Group

Community Garden Workshop

Farm 2 School

Green Living Workshop Handouts

GLW Green Your Eating

July Food Minutes

Green Home Tour

July 15th Meeting

Green Events Calendar

Growing Up Green

GLW Getting Around Green

Database/Resource List - working draft

June Minutes

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

trilety — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:43:51 CDT

The mission of the Green Neighborhood Council is to promote a sustainable way of life in our neighborhoods.

NEXT MEETING
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

6:00 pm

Neighborhood Center for Greater Omaha

Look what's NEW!!

- Green Living Workshop - Handouts

- Green Events Calendar

- GNC Strategic Plan

Project Committee meetings:

Energy Committee

Meeting:TBA

Location: Neighborhood Center for Greater Omaha, 115 S. 49th Ave.

Organizer: Pam Gourdrian pamgoudriaan@gmail.com

Green Living Workshop group
NOTE DATE CHANGE: Meeting: Tuesday, September 9th, 3:30pm

Location: Sierra Club office 5170 Leavenworth (north side of Leavenworth, just east of 52nd St)

Organizer: Cammy Watkins camellia.watkins@sierraclub.org

Green Home Tour Committee
Meeting: Tuesday, August 12th, 6pm
Location: Neighborhood Center
Contact: Tim Hemsath themsath@gmail.com

Food Choices Committee: Contact Trilety Wade for information, trilety@hotmail.com

Farm 2 School Program Committee: 10 November 2008 at 11:30 am

Location: Collaborative Center 115 S. 49th Avenue

Organizer: Trilety Wade

Community Garden Workshop Planning Committee: 13 November 2008 at 6:00 pm
Location: tentatively to be held at Collaborative Center 115 S. 49th Avenue
Organizer: Jody Baines

Waste Reduction and Recycling Survey

Meeting: TBA

Location: Firstar Fiber Facility 10330 "i" St (north side of "i" St just west of 103rd)

Organizer: Steve Andrews and Dale Gubbels dgubbels@firstarfiber.com

The Green Neighborhood Council is a Council of the Green Omaha Coalition. This Council is a resource to homeowners, neighborhood associations, and anyone interested in improving the longevity of our city's most important areas. The council works to develop homeowner workshops, environmentally friendly remodeling guidelines, and assits in neighborhood programs to enhance or redevelop areas in need.

The council's objectives are to develop lines of communication with area neighborhood associations and provide basic green living information to the residential sector the Greater Omaha area.

trilety — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:24:38 CDT

The Mission of the Food Choices Group is:

Encourage the production, preparation, & purchase of local food through hands-on workshops, education, and networking events.

Projects
1. Farm 2 School :
2. Community Garden Workshop Planning CommitteeHow to Start a Community Garden Workshop
3. Database Commitee - the Food Group is working on putting together a comprehensive list of local community gardens, farmers' markets, co-operatives, resources, etc. See the "Database/Resource List" document page

Please contact Trilety (trilety@hotmail.com) w/ questions or to become involved.

Minutes for the Food meetings are posted on pages "February Food Minutes" and "May Food Minutes" and "June Food Minutes" and "July Food Minutes"

trilety — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:21:40 CDT

Committee Organizer: Jody Baines

See below for Minutes from First Workshop Planning Meeting - 9.18.08
Attachment below titled Community Garden Workshop Meeting.pdf

trilety — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:19:21 CDT

Committee Organizer: Katja Koehler-Cole

See below for minutes from the First Farm 2 School Meeting - 9.15.08 - Attachment is titled F2Smtgminutes.pdf

trilety — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:25:26 CDT

Stormwater Management (January 2008):

Green Homes: Stormwater Management
Rain Barrels
Rain Gardens

Green Cleaning (February 2008):

Green Homes: Green Cleaning
How to Make your own Green Cleaners
"Good Clean Fun: How to Clean Your House without Hurting the Planet"

Green Lawncare (March 2008):

Green Homes: Green Your Lawncare

Green Your Trash (April 2008):
1. Workshop Handout - Alternatives to Disposables & Where to Find Them
Getting Around Green
Activate Omaha Bike Commuting 101
MetrO! Rideshare
Omaha Community Bike Shop
Omaha Biodeisel Co-op
MAT
Growing Up Green
1. Backyard Composting
2. Worm Composting
3. Resource List, Activities, Projects, Eco-activities around Omaha & on the Web
4. Book List
Green Your Eating
1. Options for Buying Local Food
2. Seasonal Eating Chart
3. Short term Storage Chart
4. Long Term Storage Chart
5. Local Food Recipes
6. Preservation Information
7. Local Foodies Book List
8. How to Create an Instant Garden
9. Succession Planting

trilety — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:23:36 CDT

Please find the following handouts - distributed on 26 July 2008 at the Green Your Eating workshop at Village Pointe Farmers' Market
[All handouts are included as Attachments at the bottom of this page]

1. Options for Buying Local Food
2. Seasonal Chart - find out what's in season when in the Omaha area
3. Short term Storage Chart - How long can you keep kale? Find out w/ this chart
4. Long term Storage Chart - From canning to drying to jamming - find out the best way to preserve your produce
5. Local Recipes - 12 recipes featuring local produce from local foodies
6. Preservation - Find out how to find out more about the art of preserving food
7. Creating an Instant Garden Bed - High Altitude Permaculture handout
8. Local Foodies' Book List - 37 books for your local food library
9. Succession Planting - Learn how to extend your growing season

trilety — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:41:45 CDT

Food Choices Committee Meeting Minutes
14 July 2008
Neighborhood Center, 115 S. 49th Avenue

Mission of Food Choices Committee:
Encourage the production, preparation, and purchase
of local food through hands-on workshops, education,
and networking events.

Attendees: Alaina Hickman (Nebraska Vegetarian Society), Jody Baines (Flatwater Chapter USGBC), Vince Furlong (Omaha Main Streets), Mary Green (Sierra Club), Jay Leighter (Creighton University), Daniel Lawse (Neighborhood Center & GNC), Kathy Townsend (Permaculture student/teacher), Helen Deffenbacher (Green Neighborhood Council), Annette Artherton (Omaha Economic Development Center), Trilety Wade (GNC/NE Food Co-op)

Priority Items: Items on Agenda not numbered – prioritization of topics can be decided during the meeting – prevents one person from deciding importance/priority of items

Omaha Public Library:
• Based on Brian Smith’s idea, Wade will be meeting with Rivkah Sass (Director of Omaha Public Library) to discuss partnering with OPL on their Omaha Reads program, ie promote/suggest food-focused books like “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “In Defense of Food,” and/or “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”

• Wade will update Committee after meeting w/ Sass/Smith

Monthly Green Living Workshop – Hosted by Food Choices Committee (Townsend Update)

• Summary of Workshop
o Green Your Eating Workshop - 26 July 2008 at Village Pointe Farmers’ Market
o Townsend and Green scoped out site - booth/workshop is in traffic pattern of market
o Workshop begins at 10 am w/ 45 minutes devoted to importance of buying, storing, preparing, and producing local food
o Local Food - complex and multi-faceted topic
o 10:45 Michael Braunstein (organizer/founder VPFM) speak to participants about the history of the market and specific stories of a couple of farmers
o Braunstein has 15 cloth bags to give away to participants – will be raffled off if more than 15 folks attend
o 11am – participants go to Metro Culinary Institute booth to view a public cooking demonstration by Brian O’Malley, et al

• Volunteer Needs
o Booth will need to be hosted from 8am to 10am and noon to 1pm (workshop runs from 10am to noon)
o Chairs, table, canopy will be collected at Wade’s
o If you have chairs for use contact Wade at trilety@hotmail.com
o Hickman – out of town but can help w/ preparation – ie handouts
o Baines to help volunteer from 8am to 9:30
o Leighter available to volunteer that morning
o Lawse – via Neighborhood Center – can print out handouts and staple – for reimbursement from GOC
o Need a Volunteer to direct participants to the booth – ie hold a “green your eating workshop” sign
o Decided raffle would be conducted after Braunstein and before cooking demo

• Group Education & Networking
o To keep Committee members “in the know” and provide networking opportunities - various organizations/groups with similar or complimentary missions will be invited to present/discuss their organizations at the beginning of monthly Food meetings
o Proposed – 3 groups invited to each monthly meeting to present for 10 minutes each – then GNC Food Group can present to visiting groups – remaining 30 to 60 minutes dedicated to Food Choices Committee business –
o Send contacts/names of potential organizations/groups to be invited to upcoming monthly food meetings – please send to trilety@hotmail.com

• October Workshop
o June meeting – it was decided October workshop would focus on preservation, canning, etc
o Feedback had been received that Aug/Sept is a better time for a preservation wkshp
o Green – preservation, ie apple butters, etc can easily be done in fall
o Townsend – workshop should be done early enough to allow participants time after to purchase materials, give it a couple tries, etc
o Lawse – thinks BIG Garden project also doing hands-on workshops – GNC could provide volunteer support and promotional support – Lawse to confirm w/ Mews about workshop
o In the case BIG is doing a preservation workshop – GNC can partner in that effort
o In the case BIG is not doing a preservation workshop – then GNC/Foods will host a preservation workshop – schedule for September
• Importance of and reasons for preserving – theory/concept
• How to make apple butter or salsa – or one activity – hands/on
• Possible locations – extension, Healing Arts Center, First Unitarian Church

• Workshop Topics & Forming a Committee
o Following workshop topics were offered at the June meeting, via email, and during today’s meeting:
• Local Food 101
• Annual Food Summit – bring together local groups, councils, representatives
• Starting & Saving Seeds
• Preservation, lactofermentation, canning
• How to start a community garden
• Permaculture
• Healthy vegetarian eating – Hickman can suggest speakers
• CSAs – how to join as a member & how to start a CSA
• Omaha land-use policy regarding local food, gardens, etc
• Food policy – Community Food Systems
• How to host a local Thanksgiving or Local Christmas
• Education in micro-enterprises and getting products in local convenience stores, business enterprise opportunities
• Producing/preparing products for sale/distribution
• Bring kids to the farm – see that food doesn’t come from stores

o All in attendance indicated interest in supporting efforts of workshops
o Artherton – most effective to end up with a workshop committee of only 2 or 3 people
o Email additional topics or priorities to trilety@hotmail.com

• Potential Partnerships for Workshops/Programs

o Club Possible – (collaborative effort among Visiting Nurses Association, Operation Frontline, Activate Omaha Kids) volunteer chefs teach low-income and at-risk youth how to prepare healthy meals – Food Choices could educate kids and chefs on importance of local food
• No action – Could be invited to one of the monthly meetings

o Activate Omaha Kids – Some of the projects AOK is promoting: 1) Conducting neighborhood audits it identify assets and barriers to physical activity and healthy eating, 2) Expand Club Possible, 3) Support policies to improve access to fruits and vegetables, and 4) Develop neighborhood projects to enhance physical activity and healthy foods –
• No action – Could be invited to one of the monthly meetings

• Next Meeting
o Next Monthly Meeting of the Food Choices Committee scheduled for Monday 18 August 2008 @ 11:30 am

o Location: TBD – May be held at Omaha Economic Development Center (24th & Lake) if OEDC wishes to be one of the invited guest presenters

o Location – if OEDC cannot present, meeting may be held at Neighborhood Center

Meeting Adjourned at 12:40 pm

themsath — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:56:50 CDT

Green Neighborhood Council

Green Home Tour
Food . Water . Waste . Energy . Transportation
for Neighborhood Sustainability

Meeting Minutes

July 15th, 2008

May 27th, 2008

May 5th, 2008

March 24, 2008

February 11, 2008

Green Home Tour
Planning Meeting Minutes
NEXT MEETING: August 12th, 6pm @ Neighborhood Center

Volunteer Orientation
August 23rd, 2pm at the Neighborhood Center, contact Cammy Watkins if you are interested in volunteering

Committee: Megan Leggit (City Sprouts), Daniel Lawse (Neighborhood Center), Trilety Wade (GNC), Tim Hemsath (Flatwater), Clayton Miller (Flatwater), Teresa Gleason (Omaha by Design), Cynthia Shuck (Gifford Park NA/ReTree Ambassador), Cammy Watkins (Sierra Club), Jack Phillips

themsath — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:55:54 CDT

Green Home Tour Planning Meeting. Tuesday, July 15, 6 PM at the Neighborhood Center, 114 S. 49th Ave.

1 Media: KOIS $200 spot and possible interview week of. Tim/Daniel and Teresa to write spot.
we should have our marketing strategy pretty much ironed out
by the end of this meeting.

Daniel and Teresa have list to distribute final flyer.

2 Sponorships: Thanks Daniel for all the MUD/OPPD items.
MUD - Free giveaways for Material and water home. Bags, water meters and water bottles. Daniel
OPPD - 100 CFLs for Energy House. Daniel
FOOD HOME FREE GIVEAWAY. Daniel has seeds?
ACE - Cammy to look at getting items on "shopping" list at discounted price
Home Energy Defense, $200 cash donation + home energy audit prize for Energy House. Daniel
Straws Stick and Bricks $100 gift card for Material house. Tim
Mulhalls donated rain barrel for Water House. Trilety
COOP members for FOOD House. Trilety

3 Graphics: final flyer completed by July 22nd.
All graphics done by next meeting for review.
Shopping list to be on back of each home flyer for hand-out

4 Volunteer Update: Cammy - Aug. 23rd volunteer orientation at neighborhood center, 2pm. Home Hosts to coordinate times of their home orientations and let cammy know. Cynthia has own volunteers for community garden and will contact the bike shop to make sure they are up to speed on this event.
All volunteers email Cammy.

5 Home updates: scripts, lists, final items
Jack Phillips Tree Tour - strike Jack from flyer and Tim to ask NSA Justin Evertson to conduct tour. Tim has list of tree on google map.
Each home to have individual flyers, explaining in more detail item in the home. Tickets provided (500) total and hand stamp at each home administered by home host with $5 fee. Kids under 12yrs old are free.
Tim needs to get cards done for homes, list of items, garden stands for plant labels. Graphic format for promotional materials completed.

6 Next steps:
finalize all graphic materials by Aug. 1st,
Promote and advertise event locally.

Thanks to everyone for their efforts and hard work.

megreen4 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:28:19 CDT

Please Add your events to the calendar. This is a resource for all groups to use to advertise their "Green" events!

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14 Valentine's Day	15	16
17 First Unitarian Church of Omaha Interfaith Forum Series: Reconnecting with & Changing our Rural Landscapes 1pm First Unitarian Church 3114 Harney St	18	19	20	21	22	23 Green Living Workshop: Green Your Cleaning 10am 1013 Leavenworth St
24	25	26 USGBC LEED Panel Series: LEED for Homes 11am -1pm Scott Conference Ctr 6450 Pine St	27	28 Sierra Club Program: An Intro to National Outings 7pm First United Methodist Church 69th & Cass	29 Restore Omaha 2008 Reception For info: www. restoreomaha.com

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
						1 Restore Omaha 2008 Conference For info: www. restoreomaha.com
2 Restore Omaha 2008 Tours For info: www. restoreomaha.com	3	4	5	6	7	New Horizons Food Buying Club: Discounted organic groceries. 9-11 a.m.Corrigan Center, X Street at 39th. More info at eatorganicomaha.org Or, call Norma at 292-3036 8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15 St. Patrick's Day
16	17	18	19	20	21	22 Green Living Workshop: Green Your Lawncare - 10am Neighborhood Center 115 S. 49th Ave.
23	24	25	26	27 "ReTree Omaha: Creating a Sustainable Urban Canopy" Sierra Club Program 7 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 69th & Cass	28	29
30	31

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28 Sierra Club Program: Nature Walk at Allwine Prairie 7 p.m. 14810 State Street FREE More Info at 556-1830	29	30
31

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11 Veteran's Day	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27 Thanksgiving Day	28	29
30

trilety — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:20:51 CDT

See below for postings of the handouts distributed at the 12 July 2008 Growing Up Green Workshop.

Attachments at the bottom of the page include:
1. "worm brochure.pdf" - Worm Composting pamphlet
2. "backyard.pdf" - Backyard Composing pamphlet
3. "Growing up Green Handout.pdf" - List of local and web resources and projects and activities to help raise green kids
4. "Green Kids Booklist.pdf" - List of Green-focused Books for young and old readers

livegreen — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:28:37 CDT

MAT Omaha - get schedules, rates, routes, etc
MetrO! Rideshare
Omaha Biodiesel Co-op
Community Bicycle Shop Omaha
Activate Omaha's Bike Commuting 101 Guide and New Bike Map

trilety — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:49:18 CDT

See Attachment at bottom of page - "food database notes.pdf" for working draft of Resource/Database list including: 1) local farmers' markets, community gardens, etc, 2) local organizations/resources w/ activities similar/complimentary to Food Choices group, and 3) web resources for local food initiatives, etc

1

New Year's Day

21
Martin Luther King Jr. Day

trilety — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:43:56 CDT

Food Choices Committee Meeting
09 June 2008, 5:30 to 6:45pm at Trilety Wade’s house

Attendees: Kathy Townsend, Kristin Czerminger, Darrel Czerminger, Alaina Hickman, Mary Green, Brian Smith, Trilety Wade

Partnering Discussion:

The Resource List (included w/ agenda email and posted on wetpaint site) provides information on local organizations conducting activities similar to/or complimentary to the Food Choices Committee.

Wade – partnering especially important if Food Choices Committee begins a long-term policy project, ie development of a Food Charter to be signed by various groups and submitted to City Council

Smith – need to be careful w/ promoting policy/legislation with 501c3 status

Wade – Green Omaha Coalition has a council specific to Policy – could work with them to facilitate focus

Smith – or promote policy change via networking/education, ie a Food Summit - bring public and organizations together for presentations and networking – invite Nebraska Restaurant Association, City Council, Co-op, NE Sustainable Agriculture Society, etc

Smith – Metro Food Net – local organization gathering excess prepared food and distributing to hungry, also have a nutrition education component

Wade – Omaha Food Bank initiated local Fresh Truck program – taken from model of the ice cream/ding ding man – the Fresh Truck distributes free fruits/veggies to local kids in Omaha. Goal is to reach 100 kids a day for three days a week.

Smith – check w/ Alegent Health/Activate Omaha Kids (Molly O’Dell) conducting a food shed project

* Smith – Work with Omaha Public Library to have one of the Omaha Reads books be a food-focused book, ie “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral” by Kingsolver or “In Defense of Food” by Pollan, etc

Project Discussion

What projects would support the mission of the Food Choices Committee and garner support from volunteers?

Hickman – workshops create interest and would educate

K. Czerminger – hosting workshops would also bring exposure to the group and bring more people to the possible Food Summit

Townsend – with all the interest in local food – what people don’t know how to do is grow their own – or why to grow their own – other groups aren’t addressing this issue

Green – make sure not to conflict with Green Living Workshops of Green Neighborhood Council

Discussion and Concurrence from group that Hosting Food Workshops will support the mission of the Food Choices Committee by providing education, networking, and hands-on workshop opportunities – all of which will encourage the purchase, preparation, and preservation of local food.

Hickman – Potential topics for workshops: buying local, how to start/maintain a community garden, How to preserve/store food ie canning/dehydration/lacto-fermentation, seed starting

Smith – Need to broaden focus to those “not in the know” with regards to food – those people that aren’t yet informed as to the why/how – cater to all audiences

Wade – Local Food 101, ie

K. Czerminger – Workshops need to educate as to the why – not just the how

Various expert presenters, as well as internal experts, will be invited to present at the workshops

Four workshops a year with an end of year/fall Food Summit

The Green Living Workshop – organized by the Food Choices Committee on 26 July 2008 – could be considered introductory workshop

October Food Choices Workshop – Food Storage/Preservation – specifics to be discussed at next Food Choices Meeting

Next Meeting
Monday, 14 July 2008 – at 11:30 am – location TBD – RSVP to Trilety Wade, trilety@hotmail.com