The Center for Sustainable Living

The 2007 community garden is made up of 30 plots tended by Northfield families and individuals. Garden plots are 10 feet by 20 feet (with a 10’x10’ half-plot option also available.) Those who are assigned plots may plant what they choose and are responsible for maintaining their plots throughout the growing season. The produce of the plot will be theirs to use as they wish. All gardeners at the community garden use organic gardening methods, and experienced gardeners are available to help newer gardeners learn the necessary skills. All gardeners also help out with necessary garden tasks, like fence trimming and maintaining the compost. In addition to the individually assigned plots, there is also a “Sharing Plot” which the gardeners communally help to tend and harvest produce from this plot is donated to the food shelf. There are also two plots maintained by Greenvale Park School classes.

The garden is a collaboration between Northfield Community Gardeners, Northfield School District Community Services, and Greenvale Park Elementary School.

Do you long to be planting and weeding and harvesting in the summer, but don’t have a yard to garden in? Would you like to feed your own home-grown produce to your family and friends? Let us know you are interested! You can print out the 2008 Community Garden Interest Form, fill it out and mail it to us, or you can send an e-mail to northfieldcommunitygarden@hotmail.com with the information from the form. PLEASE NOTE: Filling out this form is not the same as applying for a plot . . . formal applications cannot be accepted until early 2008! However, if you are interested, please fill out and mail in this form, to help us know how many people want space and whether we should make the garden larger for next year! And if you give your address or e-mail, we will contact you when it’s time to send an application for the 2008 garden!

Fees: Gardeners pay an annual fee of $25 per plot (or $15 per half plot) to help with garden costs. Financial Assistance is available for those who need it.

Requirements: Plots are open to anyone in Northfield, and applications will be taken on a first-com, first-served basis in early 2008. (A number of plots are temporarily reserved for families of current Greenvale Park Elementary students, in the early weeks of the application period.) The opening date for applications will be announced here and in the Community Services Winter Brochure, mailed to all households in the Northfield School District .

Aaron & Dan

Originally uploaded by The Center for Sustainable Living

Everyone’s Invited to the Greenvale Park Community Garden Open House!

Sunday, August 26, 2 - 4pm

Come Celebrate our first year of growing!

Tour the gardens and meet gardeners.

Taste some community-garden-grown produce.

Learn how you can participate,

Adults and Kids welcome!

Greenvale Park Community Garden is located just west of Greenvale Park School off Lincoln Parkway. (If Lincoln is closed due to construction, you can park on Summerfield Drive (near the bend in the road) and walk over the bridge past the Greenvale playground to the garden. . . . Or walk on sidewalks or bike instead!)

The Northfield Community is invited to a tour of the Greenvale Park Community Garden, June 23, 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., next to Greenvale School. The schedule of events includes:

10:00-10:30 Tour

10:30-11:00 Tips on gardening and organic gardening

11:00-11:30 Tips on composting

Noon: Picnic lunch. Bring your own picnic, blanket and chairs. Lemonade and cookies provided.

See these beautiful gardens in bloom—orange marigolds, pink petunias, sweet peas, tomato plants, squash and corn seedlings. The garden sprouted from a fruitful collaboration between Northfield Community Gardeners, Healthy Community Initiative, the Northfield Garden Club, and Northfield Schools Community Services.

Thirty Northfield families garden in full (10’x20’) or half plots. The fee for a full plot is $25, and $15 for a half plot. Scholarships are available.

The Gardeners envision these community gardens growing and growing—an expanded plot next year at Greenvale, and other gardens at other locations in Northfield.

The tour is hosted by Northfield Center for Sustainable Living and the Northfield Community Gardeners.

Community Garden Work Day 1

Originally uploaded by The Center for Sustainable Living

Photos from the recent Community Garden Work Day have been posted to the Center for Sustainable Living’s Flickr account!

Volunteers came together on May 5, 2007 to make preparations for the Greenvale Park Community Garden.

To check out all of the photos, visit the Photo Set on Flickr!

Sustainability Discussion - The Politics of Sustainability
Guest: Prof. John Barry, Carleton College
Thursday, May 24 7:30pm - 9pm
Conference Room - 801 Hwy 3 North
(former Sheldal offices - across from Dairy Queen)
Northfield, MN

Free and open to the public!

Can we buy our way to a more sustainable society? Will biofuels in our cars and energy efficiency light-bulbs in our homes avert climate change? Is sustainability an objective compatible with the current organisation of the economy and politics? This talk begins from the firm assumption that while such market and technological innovations are necessary the transition away from current unsustainable development requires explicit attention to politics, collective action and leadership. This is particularly there case if one adopts a ‘triple bottom line’ understanding of sustainable development which means we cannot simply focus on the environmental dimension but also attend to the economic and social aspects of creating a more sustainable society, which ultimately means looking at issues of social injustice, human rights, a different and regulated market economy in which the market and state are viewed as instruments to the benefit of the community. Does sustainability require a decision to live in a different type of society and require the revitalisation of our democracy?

Dr. John Barry is Reader in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast an is currently Benedict Distinguished Visiting Professor of Political Science at Carleton College, and a founding member of the Institute for a Sustainable World at QUB. He is also co-leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland (since 2003) and has stood on the Green ticket for local and regional elections. In March 2007 Northern Ireland elected its first ever Green Party Member of the regional Assembly.

The new Greenvale Park Community Garden is off to a great start! 27 families and individuals have so far claimed space in the garden, filling 17 of the 21 available plots. Northfield Tractor & Equipment has generously offered to donate plowing and tilling of the garden this year, and the Healthy Communities Initiative have donated some additional funds for scholarships and supplies. We’re looking ahead toward the groundbreaking that will happen in the next month, bringing the garden into seeable, touchable, taste-able reality!

To that end, the Northfield Community Gardeners are seeking community help in collecting some of the tools that will be needed for the garden. We’ll need some tools that the gardeners can share. When spring cleaning time hits your garage, look around for garden tools in good condition that you’re no longer using: rakes, hoes, shovels, garden forks, spades, trowels, pruners, etc. We need some wheelbarrows and wagons to help move buckets of water around the garden, and we’d also like to have a rechargeable weed trimmer (preferably not gas powered) for trimming our long perimeter fence. If you’ve upgraded tools and still have some used but usable ones cluttering your garage or barn, we’d love to help simplify your life by taking those extras off your hands!

And here’s another idea: it would be wonderful to have a small shed created from recycled materials, to store our communal tools and to add another visual symbol of our green intentions to the garden site. Any architects or handy crafts-people out there who would like to set their minds (and shoulders) to this project? We do have some funding to help purchase supplies. Contact us at northfieldcommunitygarden@hotmail.com if you can help with designing and supervising construction of such a shed . . . or if you have tools to donate!

This weekend, April 20-21, The Center for Sustainable Living will be hosting a Permaculture Film Festival and an Intro to Permaculture Workshop. The Film Festival on Friday is FREE, and will be held at St. Olaf College. We will also be taking last minute registrations for the Introduction to Permaculture Workshop at the Film Festival! The cost for the all-day workshop is $75 for individuals, $40 for Students/Seniors, and a $95 Couple’s Rate. A sliding fee is also available, as we do not wish to turn anyone away for financial reasons who may be interested in the workshop!

Here are the details! We hope you will join us!

Permaculture Film Festival - Friday, April 20 - 6:30pm - 9pm
Co-sponsored by the St. Olaf Environmental Coalition
Room 515, Rolvaag Memorial Library
St. Olaf College (Campus Map)
FREE and open to the public

Introduction to Permaculture Class - Saturday, April 21 - 9am - 5pm
Conference Room, 801 Hwy 3 North (blue office building across from Dairy Queen)
Northfield, MN
Registration is Required - $75 per person, $40 students/seniors, $95 “couples” rate

We will be taking registrations for the workshop both at the Film Festival, and in the morning immediately before the workshop!

For more information, please download the Introduction to Permaculture Flyer and Class Registration Form, or email info@centerforsustainableliving.org.

A coalition of members from The Center for Sustainable Living, RENew Northfield, and the Cannon River Watershed Partnership met with consultants from ACP Visioning and Planning on Monday, April 2, as part of a “community stakeholder” meeting regarding the upcoming revisions of the Northfield Comprehensive Plan.

NOTE: The Public Meeting concerning the revision of the Northfield Comprehensive Plan is TODAY, April 3rd, from 7pm - 9pm.
Location: Northfield Armory, 519 Division Street. (Econofoods welcomes public parking in their lot for this event. Thank you, Econofoods!)

“All of us environmental folks were consistent in what we see as essential for sustainability in the next ten years or so,” recounted Olivia Frey, Secretary and board member of the CSL.
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Our board of directors has grown to eleven members! The CSL would like to welcome our new officers and Board of Directors for 2007, who were elected at our Annual Meeting on Sunday, March 18, 2007.

Dan Borek, Co-Chair
Rose Ann Steenhoek, Co-Chair
Olivia Frey, Secretary
Joey Robison, Treasurer
Aidan Curry
Herb Frey
Jared Cooper
Scott Schumacher, Webmaster
Brian Conlan
Theresa Zeman
Lynne Reeck

Very soon, the City of Northfield will hold a meeting to invite public comment on the revision of the Northfield Comprehensive Plan, or “blueprint.” The Comprehensive Plan is revised once every seven years, and this is the year for revision, once again.

Because of the timeliness of an upcoming meeting for public comment on April 3, 2007, The Center for Sustainable Living will host a discussion about the Northfield Comprehensive Plan at our next Community Sustainability Discussion, March 20th.

The topic will be, “Put your GREEN on the Blue” - Green Ideas for the Northfield Comprehensive Plan. Join us as we discuss and brainstorm how to ensure that sustainable land use and greener initiatives are factored into the comprehensive plan, so that we may collectively prepare ourselves for the upcoming public meeting, aptly entitled “Put your fingerprint on Northfield’s blueprint.”

Details:

Community Sustainability Discussion
“Put your GREEN on the Blue” - Green Ideas for the Northfield Comprehensive Plan
Tuesday, March 20
7:30pm - 9pm
Conference Room
801 Hwy 3 North (Across from Dairy Queen)
FREE and open to the public

For more information on the Northfield Comprehensive Plan, visit www.northfieldplan.org.