Greenfox Newsletter, March 2011

Greenfox Newsletter
MARCH 2011

Greetings!

Spring is here and  it is an exciting time of year for Greenfox Schools.   Greenfox classes are moving outside and the kids are working hard applying their winter lessons in the nature surrounding their schools.  Read on to see the wonderful things they have been doing!
Outdoor Education
In the Greenfox Schools after school programs, students around Cambridge are reconnecting with the natural world, getting outside to learn about the Greenfox5.  Through the categories of Greenspace and Food, students this month have been working in the school gardens pruning trees and preparing garden beds for planting.  Students worked with CitySprouts, a non-profit organization that creates school gardens in and around Cambridge, to prepare the trees and gardens for spring.

Students explored the environments surrounding their schools and noticed the many signs of spring.  They even got a head start on the growing season, starting miniature herb gardens in tin cans and recyclable containers to grow their own herbs at home. This lesson introduced students to plant life cycles and where our food comes from.  They are looking forward to eating the herbs they grow!

Community Connections

The Greenfox5 Club at Yale University is getting involved in the local community, working with elementary school students on various sustainability projects.  Each week, groups of Yale students from the club visit 4th grade classrooms in two New Haven public schools.  Using the Greenfox5 model, the club leads lessons and projects with the 4th graders aimed to educate students and inspire sustainability efforts in school and at home.  Currently, the club is focusing on waste, looking at ways to recycle and re-purpose. In a project that focuses on reducing waste, the 4th graders are turning used water bottles into flower vases.
We’re Growing and Hiring!

Greenfox Schools Founding Director, Ashlee Dahlberg (right), and Founder, Kristen von Hoffmann (left), ran an information table at the nuCAUSE Career Fair at Northeastern University on Thursday, March 17th. Several hundred students attended, many of whom showed great interest in the job openings at Greenfox Schools, including positions that are currently posted for a Program Coordinator / Teacher, a Development Coordinator, and Interns. (Applications available online, click here for more information).

Thank you for taking the time to read this March issue of the Greenfox Newsletter.  We hope you enjoyed learning about the most recent developments throughout our organization.  To learn more about Greenfox Schools and see how you can get involved, please visit our website at http://www.greenfoxchools.com.
Thank you again for your continued support!

All the best,

Ashlee

Ashlee Dahlberg
Greenfox Schools Director
amd@greenfoxschools.com

Clean, Green Fun at City’s Schools

News : Education Mar 18, 2011 – 9:57 AM Clean, green fun at city schools By Mayor’s office, city of Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia is announcing the rollout of the “RolyPig” composter to Springdale Elementary School. The Solid Waste and Recycling Department has purchased six RolyPig composters, which will be used at six schools to compost organic food waste. This program will begin at Springdale School with the help of Mayor Pavia, Recycling Supervisor, Dan Colleluori and Phys Ed Instructor, Jeff Gruetzner, on Thursday, March 24th at 12 noon at the school. Students and Staff from the school, along with Chartwells Food Services (the company that supplies the cafeteria food) will all be working together to “feed” the pig. The compost generated will go into the school’s gardens. ‘The RolyPig composter is a fun and easy way for our school children to take the kitchen and food waste at school and turn it into compost. It offers an interactive opportunity to participate in yet another level of recycling,” shared Mayor Michael Pavia. After about 12-15 weeks of feeding and rolling, the RolyPig compost will be ready for the garden. Additional schools slated to receive the RolyPig are Dolan and Cloonan Middle Schools, and the International School at Rogers Magnet. It is anticipated that continued recycling education will help make Stamford a greener environment, while helping reduce our waste removal costs. © Copyright by StamfordPlus.com. Some articles and pictures posted on our website, as indicated by their bylines, were submitted as press releases and do not necessarily reflect the position and opinion of StamfordPlus.com, Stamford Plus magazine, Canaiden LLC or any of its associated entities. Articles may have been edited for brevity and grammar.

Great new price on NaturCut Ideal Lawn Mower

New Price: People Powered Machines has lowered its price on the popular NaturCut Ideal Lawn Mower. This reel mower is now for sale at $185.00. If you have been sitting on the fence, this is a great time to buy.

NaturCut Ideal: The NaturCut Ideal cuts from .6″ to 2.75″ and mows a 16″ swath. It is powered with 10″ wheels and cuts with 5 flame hardened reel blades. The Ideal utilizes the non-contact cutting system which means the blades stay sharp much longer than mowers which use the contact cutting system. Estimated blade life for the Ideal is 8-10 years.

NaturCut Ideal 40

Two Year Warranty: The Ideal comes with a two year warranty and using a Grass Catcher is an option with this mower.

How to best use Coco Fiber with your composter, compost pails and crocks

Coco Fiber in Collection Pails/Compost Crock: Generally one must take the disc or brick of Coco Fiber and rehydrate and decompress it by placing in a container of water. Once the fiber has expanded its best to dry it out by leaving the fiber out on your porch or deck or at the very least in an open bucket in your kitchen. Coco fiber works best for collection pails when its its completely dried out. The reason for drying is that the coco fiber can then be added each time you add green matter to your composter and it will immediately absorb excess moisture to prevent odor and improper breakdown. If you store coco fiber in expanded dry form you will have the best results. Each time you add green matter to your collection pail or compost crock add a layer of coco fiber to completely cover the newly added green matter.  You will notice less odor and pests in the collection pail. When you are ready to transfer your collection pail to a larger composter the material will already be premixed with green and brown matter.

Hint: If coco fiber discs are used in the compressed form, it can be broken up by hand and added to the pail without having to decompress.  You can even drop the whole disc in and it will eventually absorb the excess moisture and start to expand.  Its simply a  matter off convenience. But a good rule of thumb is to maximize the benefits of the coco fiber by storing it in expanded dry form.

Coco Fiber in Composters: It’s always best to expand the coco fiber and dry it out before use in the composters. But generally it’s ok to expand the coco fiber and add immediately to large composters because they tend to dry out faster (due to the higher temperatures) and the added moisture in coco fiber could be beneficial to the compost mix. A 1:3 ratio of coco fiber to green matter is a good rule of thumb but it really depends on the types of green matter being added. So the user needs to balance the mix based on his needs. Again how you use the coco fiber can depend on need and convenience so some may want to simply add a compressed brick or disc directly to the bin. The decision to decompress and dry out simply depends on whether the user has time or more importantly is whether they need an immediate effect. For example if their compost is starting to smell then dry expanded coco fiber will rapidly solve their odor issue. If the compost is well balanced and without significant odor then they can get away with adding the compressed form directly or even the expanded wet form immediately after expansion.

Coco Fiber in NatureMill: In the NatureMilll an easy way to use the coco fiber is to break up a coco fiber disc and spread a layer over the top after adding green matter. We recently added a coco fiber pellet pack. If you are using the pellets you simply have to add 3 pellets for every 5 cups of green matter. The pellets are small enough so they wont jam the machine and will absorb moisture and expand on their own.

Coco Fiber in Worm Bins: Decompress the coco fiber by soaking in water and then drain off excess water and place directly in the bin as a bedding for the worms.

How to Compare Reel Mowers

New Reel Mowers: As the years have gone by the reel mower market has grown. In just the last year two very fine mowers have been added. The Fiskars Momentum and the NaturCut reel mowers are the new mowers.

Exceptional Reel Mowers: The Fiskars and NaturCut join the Brill and Silent Cut as our top reel mowers made today. The Silent Cut mowers come in four variations and are excellent at mowing Bermuda and Zoysia lawns. Brill, the best selling European mower, works well for small lawns which are not St. Augustine, Bermuda, or Zoysia.

Electric Reel Mowers: Cel Power makes the Cel PowerMow which is an electric reel mower. It is powered with a battery and can be used manually as well. Battery run time is between 45 minutes and an hour depending on density of the lawn.

To Compare: We offer a Comparison Chart for your use. It will tell you the number of blades, prices, warranty and lots of other important information.

 

Free Shipping on New Recharge Electric Riding Mower

Free Shipping: People Powered Machines is pleased to offer free shipping on the New Recharge Electric Riding Mower. The Recharge Mower was a popular item last year, and we’d like to kick off the spring season with this special offer.

Recharge Electric Riding Lawnmower

Recharge Mower: The Recharge Mower can mow up to 3 hours on a single charge and can do lawns of 3 acres on a single charge. Virtually maintenance free, the Recharges 27″ blade can get through normal gates and passage ways. Recharges in 10 – 12 hours.

2010 Recharge Electric Riding Mower

Cutting Height: The Recharge cuts from .75″ up to 2.75″ which gives it a great cutting range.

Composting the Food Waste of 18,000 soldiers!

Army Consultant: On  Monday we spoke with an Army consultant about providing a composting service. The service was for 18,000 soldiers, three meals per day, seven days per week. That is a lot of food waste.

A Rocket Composter

Waste Pulper and Rocket: If used with the Waste Pulper which decreases food waste by 75%, the Rocket can handle this volume of food waste. Our large Rocket can handle 2,775 gallons of food waste per week. After two weeks the Rocket will be making compost each day.

Compost: The Compost needs to be cured for about three weeks after it is produced before being used. This means letting it sit under dry conditions. After three weeks you are in compost!

Testimonial for the NaturCut Ideal 40

Mowing Report: After cutting the grass about 8 times with my Naturcut Ideal 40, I thought I would report back. The machine is still working great as expected. I have always cut the grass in a different direction each time and continue to do so as you instructed. The cleaning with a good silicon spray is also a good idea. I found Liquid Wrench makes a great silicon spray and is available at my local Advanced Auto Parts store. I’ll have to say I continue to prefer the sound of the Ideal over the snapper. Something about the sound of good machinery. The neighbors never know when I cut the grass. The yard continues to look great. I cut it about every 5-6 days, never on Tuesday or Thursday.

Exercise, One of My Goals: One of my reasons for purchasing a push reel mower was to get a little additional exercise each week. This past weekend I decided to run the numbers and see just how much exercise I was getting. As I stated in a previous email, I do a little bit of cycling. One thing I have appreciated is that cutting with the NaturCut Ideal 40 keeps my legs loosened up between bike rides. I monitor my bicycle rides with a heart rate monitor and while not an exact science, the monitoring does provide a good comparison from ride to ride to see how I am doing. For the record, I’m 54 years old and weigh around 152 lbs. On a Tuesday or Thursday night group ride I will typically burn between 900 and 1,200 calories on a 25 mile one hour and twenty minute ride, depending on who’s serving up the suffering.

NaturCut Ideal 40 Reel Mower

Now for my mowing experiment:
Here is the yard, front, back and some along the road at the top of the hill adds up to a little more than 7,000 square feet of grass. A typical late summer bermuda grass yard in need of one more bag of fertilizer.
Conditions: 89 degrees, 85% humidity.

Right tools for the right job: Road bike fresh off a 75 mile Saturday morning ride. The NaturCut Ideal 40 patiently waiting it’s turn.

Now the results:
Time spent cutting the grass at a relaxed pace: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 130
Calories burned: 364
Calories burned per minute cutting grass: 8.1
Calories burned per minute riding bicycle on Tuesday or Thursday at around 1,000 calories for 80 min.: 12.5

Conclusion:
It looks like I play harder than I work. Don’t tell the wife, she thinks I’m suffering out in the heat cutting grass. She gets so much entertainment out of sitting on the porch under the fan with the dog watching me walk back in forth, I would hate to spoil it for her. They come out of the shade occasionally and wander out into the yard to visit me. I try to make it look like work.

The Perfect Time for your Grass Stitcher

Perfect Time: This is the perfect time for you to repair your lawn using the Grass Stitcher. Repair the spots which were harmed by the snow plow. Repair the spots where most of the football game was played. Repair that one low spot of your fairly level lawn.

The unique action: The unique action of the Grass Stitcher’s wheels creates the perfect seed-germination environment. The unique wheels loosen soil around each perforation, so soil crumbles when watered, providing theideal soil/seed contact for germination

Grass Stitcher

Extra-wide hole opening: The extra-wide hole opening is designed to accept just the right amount of seed for your repair. Durable carbon-reinforced wheels withstand the force needed to achieve adequate planting depth for your lawn.

$ 85 World Water Day Rebate

$85 World Water Day Rebate –  Feb 14th to March 26th

Boost the environment with Sun-Mar’s World Water Day Rebate! Since Sun-Mar composting toilets use little or no water and will not pollute lake or ground water, they are the perfect product to celebrate World Water Day. That’s why Sun-Mar is offering a special $85.00 rebate for every Sun-Mar composting toilet purchased from February 14th to March 26th, 2011.

If you have any questions: please contact the peoplepoweredmachines.com or call 978 884 8156