Big "greener" doings afoot on 10/10/10!

This October 10 -- or 10/10/10, a date whose unique stamp is sparking many environmentally-conscious efforts -- St. Andrew's Church will be the launchpad for the Ayer Go Greener Challenge. This project offers residents of Ayer and other local towns a chance at prizes for making some not-too-difficult, inexpensive changes in their energy consumption habits. The grand prize will be a two-night stay for two at the Appalachian Mountain Club's Highland Visitor Center in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire.

Those who sign up for the challenge will be able to collect points for each step they take in the greener direction, whether it's contacting MassSaves for a free home-energy audit or changing out traditional light bulbs for lower-wattage options, and more. Children can help their families collect more points, for example, by remembering to turn off the water when brushing teeth or turn off lights when leaving rooms. For every 10 points, participants earn another entry toward winning prizes.

To help locals learn more about the types of steps they can take, St. Andrews will host inspirational events over the next several months -- and yes, attending any of these is worth additional points in the challenge. Currently planned are a kids' showing of the Disney movie "Wall-E," which has resonating environmental themes; a presentation geared toward helping families do what they can toward stemming climate change, and a pre-release screening of the film "Carbon Nation."

"Many people want to live green, but 'going green' can be such an overwhelming prospect," says Ayer resident Faith Salter, who is organizing the challenge. "So this event is to help residents see that they can take it in smaller, manageable steps -- going 'greener' a little at a time. All these seemingly small changes by individuals and families add up across the community."

To sign up or learn more about The Ayer Go Greener Challenge, you can go to the kickoff event on Oct. 10 at St. Andrews Church from 2 to 5 p.m., or register to begin collecting points by going to the church website. You can also join the Go Greener Group on GoGreener@yahoogroups.com. The contest wraps up on January 1, 2011.

Ayer's Go Greener Challenge is registered with grassroots climate change action group 350.org, one of thousands of projects that will be part of the group's October "Global Work Party." To read more about this overarching effort, visit www.350.org.

Important info on town stormwater planning this Monday -- yes, tomorrow!
Dan Nason, superintendent of Ayer's Department of Public Works, will introduce plans for a stormwater enterprise fund to help cover the cost of Ayer's efforts to meet state and Federal stormwater management regulations during a public outreach and education session on Monday, Oct. 4., at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

Find new homes for your used winter sporting goods
As part of the Ayer Recycling Committee's Recycle Your Reusables Day on Oct. 23, People of Ayer Concerned about the Environment (PACE) will be holding a sale of gently-used winter sporting goods, from coats and boots to skates and hockey gear to skiing and riding equipment and snowshoes -- and more. If you have items in good condition that are taking up valuable space in your home, stop by one of several collection bins, conveniently located around town, to make donations for the sale:

• Ayer Post Office
• Ayer Public Library children's room entrance
• Ayer High School gym entrance
• Ayer-Shirley Middle School
• Parker School
  

The sale, which benefits PACE and the Ayer Public Schools, will take place during the Recycle Your Reusables event on Oct. 23 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Ayer High School.

Green goings on
Ayer Greenway Committee fall foliage walk -- Saturday, Oct. 9, 9-11 a.m.
For an easy walk and nice views of Long Pond, meet at the end of Wright road, near the cut for a new subdivision. The rain date will be Oct. 10.

The Human Powered Vehicle Festival -- Saturday, Oct. 16, on the Nashua River Rail Trail, all day
Bring the family out for a bike ride to see fun and creative travel solutions, with events and booths on the trail in Ayer and Groton.

State award will help pave way for Ayer to become a "Green Community"

Late last week, Ayer became one of 45 communities that will receive technical assistance to boost its bid to become a "Green Community." A planning grant from the Department of Energy Resources covers the hiring of a planning professional to help the town meet state requirements to earn the "Green Community" designation, which recognizes Massachusetts towns' dedication to cutting their energy use.

Under the Patrick administration's Green Communities Act of 2008, towns who meet a set of five criteria that demonstrate their commitment to reducing energy consumption and pursuing alternative energy solutions become eligible for state grants to help them take their efforts even further.

Earlier this year, members of the Board of Selectmen planned to hire a consulting firm to help advise the town on ways to reduce energy usage in order to become a Green Community, but hit a stumbling block when the Town Meeting article that would have financed it was tabled for future discussion. With the help of the planning professional Ayer will now have on hand, thanks to the award, the town should be able to make a fresh start toward earning the "Green Community" title.

The BOS unanimously agreed to apply for the grant toward the end of August. Under the terms of the grant, Ayer must now commit to meet the five criteria within a year. The town is now planning to form a Green Communities committee to get the push going in earnest.

To read more about the Green Communities initiative and the criteria involved, click here.

Recycle Your Reusables event set for Oct. 23

If you find you've been accumulating a few piles of household odds and ends and are wondering what to do with them, hold the phone...at least a little longer. Recycle Your Reusables, brought to you by the Ayer Recycling Committee and its cosponsors, has reuse solutions for a whole host of items, including, but not limited to:

• Athletic sneakers
• Personal documents
• #6 Styrofoam (even food trays!)
• Canned goods
• Coats and blankets
• Good-condition used furniture and home goods
• Gently-used sporting goods

The event will take place in the Ayer Public Schools parking lot from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. To get more specifics, contact the Ayer Recycling Committee at ayerrecycles@gmail.com or 978-­496-5839. You can also visit the Recycle Your Reusables Ayer blog.

Green goings on

Ayer Recycling Committee quarterly meeting -- Wednesday, Sept. 8, Ayer Town Hall, Conference Room A, 7 p.m.

This session will focus on preparations for the Recycle Your Reusables event (see above), to be held Oct. 23. All are welcome.

Fourth Annual River Day with Congresswoman Niki Tsongas -- Sunday, Sept. 12, noon to 5 p.m.

Celebrate the role of local waterways in connecting and contributing to the Fifth Congressional District with stops along the rivers in the Fifth District. Stops included are:

• Riverwalk Park, Osgood Street, Methuen, noon -- Meet with city officials and Groundwork Lawrence volunteers to discuss efforts to expand and clean up the Spicket River Greenway.
• Muldoon Park, Lowell, 1 p.m. -- Paddle on the Concord River and visit the newly-completed Concord River Greenway with volunteers from the Spindle City Corps, the Massachusetts Audubon Society and Girls Inc., to discuss their efforts to rehabilitate this greenway.
• Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center, Hudson Road, Sudbury, 3 p.m. -- Tour this newly-completed, green building and meet with students from the area to talk about their involvement with the Refuge.

RSVP to Jane Adams in Representative Tsongas' Acton office by e-mail or at 978-263-1951.

DEA National Prescription Drug Takeback Day -- Saturday, Sept. 25, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Get those leftover prescription meds out of your house...safely! You can drop off your expired, unused and unwanted prescription medications at the Littleton and Townsend Police Departments. This event is being held by the Drug Enforcement Agency (supported by the Mass. Department of Public Health).

Law enforcement staff will handle the dropoffs and ensure that the collected medications are safely stored and destroyed in accordance with DEA’s requirements. This collection gets these drugs out of medicine cabinets and closets, protecting people who shouldn’t take them, and prevents them from being flushed down drains and into sewers and septic systems, where many pharmaceutical compounds survive municipal water treatment.

Ayer Greenway Committee Family Rock Scramble -- Saturday, Sept. 18, 9 a.m. to noon

Kids aged six to 12 should have their responsible adults meet at the trailhead on Groton-Harvard Road at 9 for a short hike to Porcupine Hill, followed by an easy-but-steep climb to an area with caves and chimneys to explore for about an hour. Play clothes and sturdy shoes are recommended. Call 978-821-2916 or e-mail event leader Steve Smith with any questions and to sign up for this event

Ayer Greenway Committee monthly meeting -- Saturday, Sept. 25, location TBA

Local couple's season of learning pays off in Gourd & Plenty harvest

Many of us have probably daydreamed at one time or another, "Wouldn't it be great to have a farm of my own? Grow the produce I want to eat. Enjoy the great outdoors and fruits of my own labor?" But where to begin? And how to make sure that dream can be carried out practically?

Ayer residents Beth Suedmeyer and Takashi Tada have made their desire to farm a reality, thanks to the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (NESFP), a program sponsored by Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Community Teamwork Inc. of Lowell.

The husband-and-wife team work a quarter-acre that they've named Gourd & Plenty Farm at one of NESFP's plots of land in Dracut. Their produce -- several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, a rainbow of peppers, eggplants, French heirloom scalloped squash, and fresh basil, among many others -- is now for sale at Ayer's Farmer's Market on Saturdays in Depot Square.

A natural progression toward farming
Beth's interest in farming began early on. She was raised on a farm in southern Illinois where her family raised livestock, corn, wheat and soybeans, all on a part-time basis.

When Beth and Takashi came to Massachusetts for graduate school about 10 years ago, says Beth, "that's when we were exposed to local sustainable agriculture," which furthered her interest. "I always found pleasure in small-scale vegetable and flower gardening. That and the fact that we were both people with a strong sense of environmental stewardship, interested in preserving open space and growing good healthy food, made farming on a somewhat larger scale seem ideal."

As a next step, the couple became caretakers of a town-owned hay farm in Shirley, where they coordinated volunteers and sold the crop. Ready to move forward, the couple enrolled in some educational courses, eventually contacting the state Department of Agricultural Resources, where they learned about New Entry.

The New Entry mission
New Entry supports local agriculture by helping would-be small-scale farmers from diverse backgrounds get a start in Massachusetts. This program gives participants both classroom and field training in key aspects of starting and running a sustainable farm, from business planning to soil preparation to methods of organic gardening and advice on crops.

Participants get their hands into the soil by working a plot (most are in the Lowell and Dracut area) leased to them by NESFP. Their yields are split between New Entry's World PEAS cooperative community-supported agriculture (CSA) project and local farmers' markets.

They can use this land for up to three years. After that, NESFP helps farmers find land of their own to purchase or lease.

Beth and Takashi began their field experience this past spring, hiring New Entry staff to help prepare their raised beds, then getting most of their crops planted around Memorial Day weekend.
The couple has spent the spring and summer heading to their Dracut field two to three nights a week and putting in 10-hour days on Saturdays and Sundays, feeding, weeding and -- now -- harvesting the crops. That's in addition to their respective day jobs: Beth's in Boston in the environmental section of the Department of Transportation; Takashi's working for an environmental and wildlife consulting firm in Boxboro.

Harvesting the experience
Beth and Takashi began selling their organically-grown wares (which, besides those mentioned earlier, include squash blossoms, kale, chard, ground cherries and others) at the Ayer Farmer's Market in August. They expect to continue through the fall, when they'll begin harvesting gourds and pumpkins, as well, and may bring some of the fall produce to an additional farmer's market or two. They also made an appearance at the Bolton Fair.

Asked what the program has added to her gardening knowledge, Beth says, "The biggest improvement to how we're growing is through the New Entry staff's guidance on pest control and disease management. I've really enjoyed learning to use non-chemical methods, such as mesh-type barriers and also a food-grade clay spray that protects the plants. We did have our fair share of insect damage, but we haven't lost much due to pests...knock on wood!"

Another eye-opening lesson from the program: "We definitely get a sense of not being able to charge a price [for produce] equivalent to our input. It costs a lot to produce food."

To other aspiring farmers, Beth says, "I would definitely encourage anyone thinking about this to contact New Entry or the Department of Agricultural Resources. Exploring the opportunities they offer helps put farming as a career in perspective. It's not for everyone. It requires significant commitment, time, passion and work. You don't want to go into it naively, but programs are available that can help you figure out if it's a good fit."

Of her mentors at New Entry, she says, "They make it all very accessible: the logistics and land and equipment and supplies they make available, and their technical assistance." "

Down the road, Beth says, "We would ultimately like to have our own land and make an investment in good healthy soil, and maybe to offer an educational program to help the next generation understand sustainable farming techniques."

Weeds, not too surprisingly, have been one of her least favorite parts of the experience -- especially since the field was formerly used for hay and is still inclined to sprout now-unwanted grass.

Getting to enjoy nature during their time in the field has been the most satisfying part of the experience, Beth notes. Besides the growth of their vegetables, she and Takashi were happy to have a chance to observe a spotted sandpiper's nest in their field that yielded several fledglings. "It's wonderful to have a piece of land that you're intimately familiar with, and to eat food that you've grown."

You can e-mail Beth and Takashi about their produce and their experience at Gourd&Plenty@gmail.com.

July update: Gang together for greener lawns, don't toss those caps, and more!

Strength in numbers for greener lawn care
About a year and a half ago, one of my neighbors (three cheers, Richard Murphy!) was musing that with the number of people in our neighborhood who've begun to use lawn services, maybe some of us could band together to see if an organic lawn service company would give us a group rate.

It made perfect sense, especially in the current economy: getting a bunch of customers in a concentrated area would save a lawn company on both gas and advertising, and cut down on time employees spend on the road instead of doing lawns, as well. And perhaps such a discount would get a few people who might not otherwise consider going organic over the perceived-costs hurdle.

This discussion took place in November, so the time wasn't quite ripe for further research just then. But his idea stuck with me, and finally, I got around to finding out a little more.

At the recent unveiling, as it were, of Sandy Pond's green areas-as-demonstration project for organic lawn management (you can read about that here), I got to speak with the consultant who is helping Ayer's Parks and Rec Department in its efforts to go greener. John Coppinger, of the Coppinger Company, Inc., in North Chelmsford, is accredited by the Northeast Organic Farming Association as an organic lawn care provider.

The Coppinger Company has an organic lawn care division, The Green Guy. The following are among the services listed on The Green Guy's website:

• Corn gluten hydrosylate pre-emergent crabgrass control
• Organic compost based microbe brews (teas with beneficial microbes, humates, kelp, trace minerals)
• Organic grub control (crabshell extract)
• Slice-seeding
• Lawn aeration
• Organic compost top-dressing
• Core sampling/soil compaction test
• pH testing and soil amendments

So, now that I was face-to-face with an organic lawn care provider, I had to ask...would he consider offering a discounted rate for a group of neighbors interested in his services?

Turns out he would, for as few as four houses in reasonably close proximity to each other -- and they don't have to be adjacent properties, he said. I believe he said the discount would be on the order of 10 percent, though I'm going on memory for that detail, so if you decide to contact him, you'll want to confirm the percentage. Anyway, as you see, it always pays to ask!

The Coppinger Co. is one option for organic lawn care, but if you're reading this and you've got a handful of neighbors interested in using a little neighborly purchasing power, I'd suggest asking the organic lawn service of your choice about a multi-customer discount.

Put a lid on it!
If you've been removing caps from your plastic bottles as you're recycling, it appears you can now stop. Ann Dorfman, vice president of MassRecycle and a long time recycling professional and consultant, recently posed the "caps OK or not?" question to two of the big local-area recycling firms and found that they not only allow lids, but even welcome them.

An EL Harvey representative told Dorfman that it's fine to leave caps on plastic bottles, and that they get recycled as long as they stay on their bottles. The Harvey rep also pointed out that the ones that come off often get "lost" in the process of sorting and baling, in which case they end up as trash. Harvey does not have a separate process to collect caps, per se, the rep noted.

Casella's representative replied, "We do accept them, and as long as all the liquid is out of the bottles, we would prefer them to be on the bottles to be able to capture more of a percentage to go back to the plastic mill recyclers" who turn recycled plastics into new products.

Dorfman weighed in on the topic, as well. "With all the light-weighting of bottles in recent years, the caps can make up as much as 25 percent of the weight of the container, so throwing them away is throwing away a lot of valuable materials."

She added, "Leaving the lid on when you return your deposit bottle using a reverse vending machine is perfectly OK and guarantees the lid won’t get lost in the process." She suggested flattening the capped bottles before recycling them to help ensure that lids stay on through the baling process and make it safely to the remanufacturer.

Thanks to the Ayer Recycling Committee's Laurie Sabol for passing this one on to me.

NRWA wants your observations and photos

Your observations of life along the Nashua River can help NRWA assess what's happening on and around the water. NRWA is especially interested in reports of trash, erosion, and invasive species, which help them keep track of conditions and look for chances to make a difference. NRWA also welcomes news of bald eagle, river otter and other wildlife sightings.

If you have an observation to share or question to ask, please e-mail Kathryn Nelson, NRWA Water Monitoring Coordinator, at KathrynN@nashuariverwatershed.org and include the date and location, and if possible, a digital photo.

NRWA is also putting out a call for photos of the watershed. The organization is always on the hunt for fresh images of rivers and streams, landscapes, and local flora and fauna, as well as historical shots of NRWA, to use on its website, in newsletters, press releases and other communications materials.

For digital photographers, NRWA requests high-resolution images (for easier printing). The group is also happy to scan hard copy photographs if that’s what you have. If you have a watershed photo you’d like to share, please contact Wynne Treanor-Kvenvold, NRWA Communications Manager, at 978-448-0299, or e-mail her at WynneT@nashuariverwatershed.org. You can e-mail photos to her, pop a disk of images in the mail, or stop by the River Resource Center in Groton with hard copies or your thumb drive.

If you’re e-mailing or mailing images, please identify where you took the picture, an approximate date, and your name (so they can credit you).

Green goings on
Greenway Committee Bike Ride on the Nashua River Rail Trail -- Saturday, July 17, 9 a.m.
Riders will head out from the Ayer parking lot, and, depending on experience and interest, will either go to Groton or on to Pepperell and back, through conservation lands in these towns and along the Nashua River for the last third. BYO bike and other gear (helmets are strongly encouraged).

23rd Annual Monoosnoc Brook Cleanup, Leominster -- Saturday, August 7
The Nashua River Watershed Association is looking for volunteers for its annual Monoosnoc Brook clean-up. In the past 20 years, volunteers have removed tons of litter from the brook to help keep Leominster clean, protect drinking water, and preserve wildlife habitat. More details will soon be available on NRWA's website, or you may contact Pete Lanza at 978-534-5331, or NRWA at 978-448-0299.

It's practically here! Recycling the easy way!

Starting the first weekend in July, your trek to the Ayer Transfer Station -- and your recycling system at home -- are going to get streamlined. You'll be able to toss virtually all your recyclables, from aluminum to plastic to glass to paper and cardboard, into one recycling container at your home, and then dump them into one -- just one! -- big recycling container at the transfer station.

Then they'll all be hauled away by the Ayer Department of Public Works' new recycling contractor, Casella Waste Systems, to be thoroughly sorted into their respective types and sent to Casella's customers, who incorporate recycled materials into their products. To learn more about just how Casella's process -- known as zero-sort recycling -- works, check out this video of their operation.

The new transfer station setup will feature one big hopper/compactor located roughly where all the multiple bins for individual types of recycling were previously. You'll pull up alongside the hopper, take your personal container of recyclables and empty it into the hopper, move on to the solid-waste area to offload your trash, and that will be that!

"Couldn't be any easier"
John Gamelin, transfer station foreman, says the new process "will cut down on the time it takes residents to do their recycling at the transfer station and make visits here much safer by simplifying the flow of traffic. It couldn't be any easier."

Gamelin notes that the change to the central hopper and the smoother traffic flow are also allowing him to redistribute space at the transfer station to meet other needs. He plans on a few additional parking spaces for the reuse shed and will move the electronics trailer and reserve a few spaces there, as well.

Other changes afoot, according to Gamelin:

• The transfer station will no longer provide bins for separating returnable cans from non-returnables. All cans will now go into the zero-sort hopper for recycling.
• The transfer station is now accepting plastic toys such as Big Wheels and plastic play structures for recycling. These items will NOT go into the zero-sort system, but will be handled separately by Casella.

For the first few weeks the new system is in effect, volunteers from MassToss (a.k.a. the North Central Regional Solid Waste Cooperative) and the Ayer Recycling Committee plan to be at the transfer station to help with the transition.

Ayer is gaining something more than just convenience from this change. "By making recycling easier for residents," said DPW Superintendent Dan Nason (back in March, when the news of the upcoming change first broke), "we are hoping to increase Ayer's recycling numbers, which will save us money and decrease our tonnage of municipal solid waste, which will also yield savings for the town." Not a bad thing for the planet, either!

Wednesday recyclers, please note: The transfer station will be closed on Wednesday, June 30, to prepare for the changeover, but will reopen with the new system in place Saturday, July 3.

New pay-as-you-throw bags available all around town
In related news, bags -- instead of bag ties -- for trash are now available at five locations throughout the town: The DPW office, Aubuchon Hardware, Hannaford, Moore's and Kelly's Hallmark.

"Having multiple locations open weekdays and weekends will make purchasing these bags much more convenient for residents who work late or long hours," says the DPW's Nason.

The new trash bags cost $1 per 15-gallon bag and $1.50 per 30-gallon bag, in unlimited quantities.

"Grass roots action" taking on new meaning at Sandy Pond

The grassy areas at Sandy Pond Beach for stretching out beach towels and having picnics are green in more ways than one: their root system is in the process of becoming healthier and stronger, thanks to new techniques the Ayer Parks Department has begun using to care for them. And when you walk barefoot on the grass or swim in the pond, you're not getting a load of toxic lawn chemicals you weren't bargaining for.

These changes are putting Sandy Pond in the spotlight as an organic lawn demonstration project for the Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts Chapter (NOFA/Mass). The project aims to let homeowners from here and surrounding areas see firsthand how organic methods and products work at a place they know and use. The ultimate hope is that those who visit the beach throughout the project (Ayer has committed to maintain the space organically through at least June 2013) will decide to apply what they learn to their own lawns.

NOFA/Mass celebrated the kickoff of the demonstration project this past Saturday at Sandy Pond Beach, where residents were out enjoying both the lawns and the water on a hot weekend day. Among those on hand for the event were Kathy Litchfield, NOFA/Mass Organic Land Care Coordinator, who is in charge of the demonstration project; Liz Harriman of the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) of UMass Lowell, which granted the funds for this project (as well as a similar project underway in the town of Stoneham); Jeff Thomas, Ayer Parks Supervisor, and Laurie Nehring, president of People of Ayer Concerned about the Environment (PACE).

The Parks Department has been partnering for much of the past year with NOFA/Mass' Land Care Program to go organic on Sandy Pond's lawn. TURI's recent grant is allowing the town to consult with John Coppinger of the Coppinger Company Inc., a North Chelmsford-based NOFA Accredited Organic Lawn Care Professional, as part of the demonstration project. Coppinger also attended the kickoff event, taking questions from a few interested locals who wondered about some of the techniques involved.

The Parks Department's Thomas has been taking courses through NOFA/Mass for the past few years, partly in response to the concerns of some of the town's environmentally-oriented groups, which have been anxious to reduce the use of commercial fertilizers and other toxic lawn care products near town waterways. "The NOFA courses taught me to view grass as a plant, not a product," he said. "If you want a product, you might as well put down a carpet."

He added, "We've been using these techniques for the past couple of years, trying to limit ourselves to no more than a single application of fertilizer each year, as well as stopping the use of insecticides. At the same time, we're using methods like soil aeration and proper irrigation to help the lawn develop a proper root system."

Liz Harriman, who represented TURI at the kickoff event, reminded the crowd that it's not just the products that end up on the lawns here that are of concern, but the upstream places where lawn chemicals are manufactured as well -- places that often suffer dramatically; for instance, manufacturing towns with increased cancer rates. "When you make a difference here, you make a difference there," she said. She applauded those involved in the project, noting, "You're showing the town residents that if you can go organic with lawn care here at Sandy Pond, they can do it at home."

PACE's Nehring said, "I'm so pleased the town is doing this." PACE, the Ayer Conservation Commission and the Ayer Greenway Committee are among the town groups that have been urging the town to green its lawn care methods.

NOFA/Mass' Litchfield said, "We are very happy to be an educational resource to homeowners in the town of Ayer and beyond."

For more about this project and ways to go organic on your home lawn, visit www.nofamass.org or www.organiclandcare.net.

Captions:
Top, Sandy Pond Beach getting a workout last Saturday.
Middle, 11-year-old Ayer resident Colin plants flower seeds with a NOFA volunteer at last Saturday's demonstration project kickoff event.
Bottom: A view of the lawns, green and ready for summer.


Green Goings On
Tooker land trail build, Saturday, June 19, 9 a.m.-noon
Meet at Oak Ridge Drive (watch for a volunteer to guide you to the right spot) to help the Ayer Greenway Committee build a trail access through the newly acquired Tooker land into the existing Pine Meadow Conservation lands. Long pants and appropriate shoes are the dress code; rakes, nippers and gloves the toolkit. Would-be trailblazers should also bring water. For more information, contact Patrick Hughes at 978-772-2528.

See organic lawn care in action at Sandy Pond, starting this Saturday

Ever wished you could see how well organic lawn care products and techniques work on someone else's lawn before trying them on your own? Your chance has come. NOFA/Mass (the Massachusetts chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association), the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) of U. Mass Lowell and Ayer Parks and Recreation are teaming up to show locals how it's done on the lawn by our own Sandy Pond.

The project gets under way at the pond this Saturday, June 5, from 1-3 p.m., with an event featuring speakers from several of the involved groups, children's activities and light refreshments. And of course, there will be info on how homeowners can green their lawns, as well.

Saturday's event is just the beginning: Ayer Parks and Rec, working in concert with an organic land care provider, will be maintaining the patch of land at Sandy Pond organically through at least June 2013. That means residents will have a great chance to see longer-term results from the new lawn care approach.

For more information on the kickoff event, contact NOFA/Mass' Kathy Litchfield, coordinator, at 413-773-3830 or kathy@nofamass.org.

Green goings on

Marion Stoddart documentary screening premiere, Saturday, June 12, 6:15 to 11 p.m.
This film is the story of Marion Stoddart, a grassroots organizer who led the 1960s push to clean up the Nashua River. The evening will begin at 6:15 p.m. with a light hors d’oeuvres reception and a chance to meet Marion Stoddart. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. at Lawrence Academy's Richardson-Mees Performing Arts Center, Rte. 40, in Groton, followed by a party across the street at the Old Groton Inn’s Carriage House (128 Main St.) at 8 p.m.

The pre-premiere mingle and film screening are free, but tickets must be reserved. Tickets to the party are $25. To reserve and purchase tickets go to www.workof1000.org/screenings, call 617-834-7315 or e-mail Marea Santos at Work of 1000.

NRWA Father's Day paddle on the Squannacook, Sunday June 20, 1-4 p.m.
The Nashua River Watershed Association is leading a paddle on the Squannacook River on Father’s Day with guide Stacey Chilcoat, NRWA River Classroom Director. The roundtrip flat water paddle, departing from West Groton, offers takers a look at a section of the Squannacook River known for its rich wildlife habitat and natural beauty. NRWA will provide field guides and other identification materials.

The trip is open to the public and free of charge, though donations to support NRWA programs are welcomed. Trips run as planned in a variety of weather conditions, including mist and light rain. You may bring your own boat or rent from Nashoba Paddler.

Space on the trip is limited and pre-registration is required, whether or not you bring your own boat. Registration is due by June 17th. To pre-register, or for more information, call NRWA at 978-448-0299, or e-mail Elizabeth Harris.