Boston GreenScene

BU Students Jumpstart Slow Food Movement

Boys and Girls Planting for Health will be held at the Boys and Girls Club of Boston's Blue Hill Club on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 starting at 9 a.m. The event, organized and run by Nature's Sustainers, a community relations class from Boston University, will be held to help Blue Hill Club build a working garden to teach its members about responsibility, healthy living, sustainability and the slow food movement.

Nature's Sustainers will build Blue Hill Club raised bed gardens and provide the Club with necessary gardening tools. The group of 10 students, four graduate and six undergraduate, will do this by finding sponsorships and partnerships as well as soliciting monetary and in-kind donations. In addition, Nature's Sustainers will bring in individuals from local organizations and businesses to talk to the staff and members of Blue Hill Club about the importance of the slow food movement and healthy living.

Once Nature's Sustainers build the gardens, a group of 10-15 Boston-based middle schoolers who will make up the Gardening Club will be responsible for tending to the gardens during the school year. During the summer, every camp program will work in the gardens.

The food produced will be used in Blue Hill Club's kitchen. The kitchen feeds about 250 kids and teens a night and the plants and vegetables will be used to supplement donations from the Greater Boston Food Bank, which provides all the food. This aspect of the slow food movement will teach the Club members how to grow their own plants and vegetables to incorporate into their daily diet.

For more information, contact Samantha Rajotte at samantha.rajotte@gmail.com or (860) 384-3615.

Blue Hill Club is a member of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston. Founded in 1995 and located in Dorchester, the Club annually serves over 1,400 youth ages 6-18 in Dorchester and Mattapan. Blue Hill Club seeks to provide every child and teen the skills and confidence to succeed.

Nature's Sustainers is a community relations student-run organization based out of Boston University’s College of Communication. With the help of local non-profits, we seek to encourage local children to learn about and participate in the slow food movement. Nature's Sustainers' mission is to encourage Boston’s children to grow fruitful gardens that will inspire them to live a healthy lifestyle and appreciate nature. 

 

GREENING YOUR SUPERBOWL PARTY

Grab your favorite football jersey and park yourself in front of the tube for a face-off with the Steelers and the Packers. Planning on having some friends join you, too? Here are some tips to help you make your party eco-friendly. Thanks to Sustainability Ninja, eHow.com, and Earth911.com, we've got a nice little list to keep you green and clean this February 6th.

• Use cloth napkins and resuable dishes and glassware.
• Recycle your bottles and cans or think about getting a keg and have extra glasses on hand.
• Serve local and organic foods. You can make some kick-ass vegetarian chili without destroying your carbon footprint.
• Send e-vites, e-mail, or text for invitation. It doesn't hurt to pick up the phone once in a while either.
• Skip the decorations. They're only going to end up in the trash anyway, so why bother? Try candles or Chinese lanterns. Choose from what you already have on hand to make your space more festive.
• Don't order take-out and give any leftovers to a local food bank.

Whatever your plans are for Super Bowl LXV, there are a number of ways to have fun and still maintain a green lifestyle. Have any other tips we didn't mention here? Leave a comment and let our other readers know!

Image courtesy of NFL.com via Associated Press.

Organic Wine's Bad Rep?

Organic wines have been discussed in depth on our sister site, CT Green Scene, before (click here for Part 1 and Part 2). Our initial picks were far from fabulous. The second crop was certainly better and showed some promise. Since then, organic wine has been making friends and influencing people, so to speak, along the way.

But they still have a long way to go to catch up to the rest of the wine industry. Many labels that produce organic wine are small growers. The larger labels that have organic wine either have a small section of their farm devoted to it or simply don't advertise the fact that they are organic. It seems the organic label will often scare consumers off.

In an article originally published in the L.A. Times on January 6th, there are some wine growers who are urging the government to allow sulfites--often the source of heated debate when it comes to organic wine--in the winemaking process. They feel that larger producers would then have an incentive to go green. See the excerpt below.

Why isn't more wine 'organic'?
By W. Blake Gray, Special to the Los Angeles Times
January 6, 2011

"Currently for a wine to be labeled " USDA Organic" — a coveted seal of approval for most foods — it must have no added sulfites. However, most winemakers feel that sulfites are crucial in winemaking — they discourage spoilage and preserve fresh fruit flavors. Unlike most organic products, wine may sit for years before being opened. Furthermore, most wines contain some level of sulfites anyway since they are a naturally occurring byproduct of fermentation.





As a result, even though organic food is one of the fastest-growing categories in the supermarket, "organic wine" is an afterthought. No large producers make it. Other types of eco-friendly wine have stepped in to fill the breach, including biodynamic, sustainable and "natural wine," which may have weak or even no official standards. Wine drinkers looking for a healthful, green product face confusing choices, and wineries can claim they're eco-friendly without anyone really checking.





Because of that, some leading environmentalists in the wine industry — including Paul Dolan of Mendocino Wine Co., a pioneer in organic grape farming — are asking the government to allow sulfites to be added to wines labeled organic. Dolan thinks that change would encourage more grape growers to be certified organic, meaning the use of fewer herbicides and pesticides in vineyards.

"

Click here to read more.



Image courtesy of Parducci.com

Boston Local Food Festival

 

Dear local food advocates, your dream festival has arrived. 

The first annual Boston Local Food Festival is being held on the waterfront at Fort Port Channel on Saturday, October 2nd.  Billed as an event of "Healthy Local Food for All", the free festival features dozens of local restaurants, farms, breweries, wineries, and non-profits dedicated to a sustainable, healthy, and delicious Boston.  Brought to you with support from the Massachsuetts Department of Agriculture, the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston, and several other local organizations -- including the folks that successfully campiagned for the Boston Public Market at Fort Point Channel -- this inaugural event will undoubtedly be the first of many festivals to come. 

The event runs from 11am to 5pm and our only complaint may be that this may not be enough time to take it all in.  For more details: www.bostonlocalfoodfestival.com.  

Event: Second Annual Urban Ag Fair

The Second Annual Urban Ag Fair is coming up in Harvard Square this weekend.  It should be a great day to celebrate fresh, local food in Cambridge -- we'll see you on the 19th!

Who: You

When: September 19th, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Where: Winthrop Park, Harvard Square, Cambridge

Contact: www.harvardsquare.com

Cost: Free

The 2010 Life Is Good Festival

So, you are still pining from the long Labor Day weekend and don't have plans for this weekend yet?  Well, right after you volunteer on Saturday for the 9/11 National Service Day (we'll be cleaning up Dorchester Park with our friends from Boston Cares) you can head down to the 2010 Life Is Good Festival at the Blue Hills Reservation in Canton, Massachusetts.  This two day festival is a celebration of "music and optimism" and benefits The Life Is Good Kids Foundation which helps kids overcome life-threatening challenges.  For more information on this local benefit and to get tickets visit the 2010 Life Is Good Festival website.  Hope to see you there!

Fun events with healthy treats!

Together with Bear Naked we would like to invite you to Live Bear Naked Tour events in Boston. Bear Naked is participating in these events in the hopes of sharing their delicious, pure granola and parfaits with active, healthy-living enthusiasts. They are also bringing Bear Naked swag to giveaway as a thank you for stopping by!

 

Bear Naked is participating in both smaller community events and major events focusing on healthy living, nutrition and fun. Here are a few of the events currently in the line-up:

 

·         Aug. 7-8 – Pan Mass Challenge

·         Aug. 7 – Naukabout Music Festival

·         Aug. 15 – Falmouth Road Race

 

You can read about what Bear Naked has been doing in Boston at the Live Tour blog. Have a healthy, fun summer!

 

Blue Tierra in South Boston

By Sylvia Rozwadowska and Taro Muso

This week we received beautifully crafted chocolate sweets so delicious and memorable that we needed to get some more. Our pursuit led us not to a famous European establishment, but to Boston’s very own chocolatier, the Blue Tierra. To get to this hidden gem, we took the Red Line to Broadway T stop and walked through a quiet neighborhood of Irish pubs and condominiums. 

Blue Tierra, in one phrase, is eclectic chocolate art made from conscientious creativity. Its philosophy pervades beyond chocolate to the café itself. The interior design consists of Bostonian brick walls, Western wooden pews with Middle Eastern pillows, antique tables, oil paintings, and traditional church lighting. Out of these parts emerges a café environment that is interesting yet calming. “Every piece has a story behind it,” explains chocolatier and owner Jen Turner. We asked her a few questions.

Slowfest

SlowFest is a two day festival celebrating session beers from 30 breweries, and food samplings from local New England producers.  Slow Food USA, the hosts of this event, aim to reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food.  Additionally, Slow Food aspires to inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat.  While Slowfest is all about local food, session beer is a global phenomenon and there will be an amazing array of session beers to try.  See you there!

Who: You and your friends, 21+

When: April 23rd & April 24th

Where: Boston Center for the Arts

Cost: Varies by day

Contect: Slowfest

Boston Event: BirdSwell Launch Party

At the most recent Green Mixer, we had the chance to meet the folks from BirdSwell (check out their post on the event).  BirdSwell is a surf-inspired clothing line that is located in Arlington, MA.  We'll be making our way to their launch party and we hope to see you there!

Who: You and your friends, 21+

When: Tuesday, April 13th from 8pm-12am

Where: The Landsdowne Pub

Cost: Free

Contect: BirdSwell