Riverview and Lord Roberts CLER program

By the time all is said and done, we will have banded 4,000 + trees in the South Osborne neighbourhood! Stay tuned for next year’s South Osborne Tree Banding Blitz. As the Riverview and Lord Roberts CLER Program is ending at the end of 2011, next year’s blitz will be volunteer-run. You can contact the Riverview or Lord Roberts Community Centre in 2012 if you are wondering how you can get involved.

And don’t forget that bands can be harmful to trees if left up through the summer months. Please remember to remove your bands on May Long Weekend. Better yet, get a few neighbours together and do your whole street and the nearby park!

Thank you to all of the Block Captains and volunteers who made this event possible and such a fantastic success. You are our heroes. 🙂

Tree Banding Training Meeting: Join us this Wednesday, Sep. 7 from 7-8pm at the Riverview Community Centre. This meeting is important for Block Captains, but everyone is welcome. We will be giving away a rain barrel, a kitchen compost pail, a Yoga Shala class, and Trees Winnipeg t-shirts and tote bags.

Sep. 17 Schedule (rain date: Sep. 18): We are aiming to start banding trees at 11am. We will need a few extra volunteers starting at this time, and we will need more volunteers as the day progresses. Once we are able to better assess our remaining supplies after the Block Captains’ streets have been banded, we’re hoping volunteers will come and help us band other streets and public green spaces. If you are able to swing by one of the community centres (Riverview or Lord Roberts) around 2pm, that would be great! There will be coffee and snacks at the community centres starting at 10:00am. We will have ceramic mugs available to drink the coffee at the community centre, or you can also bring a refillable mug. E-mail raimey.gallant@rvlrclimatechange.com for more information or to volunteer.

The first-ever South Osborne Street Festival is coming up on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011, and the Riverview and Lord Roberts CLER Program is ready to meet the community! You’ll find us in the Fort Rouge Leisure Centre parking lot. Here are the activities we’re preparing for you and your family:

Build-A-Recycled-Puppet: Families can get to know the Riverview and Lord Roberts CLER Program at the craft table. Kids will get to show off their rescued-recyclables creation in a real puppet theatre, and adults can enter the CLER prize draw.

South Osborne Bike Hub: Volunteer mechanics will be on hand to teach the masses how to fix bicycles. Bring your bike and the volunteers will even give you on-the-spot service and repair advice. You can even have fun taking bicycles apart and putting them back together!

The Great Apple Peel-Off: Fruit Share invites you to use one of their safe, child-friendly apple peelers to see who can peel, core and slice an apple the fastest. Everyone can participate and everyone gets to taste and enjoy their apple, freshly picked from Winnipeg trees.

Click here to find out information about what other activities the South Osborne Biz has planned.

Do’s and Don’ts of Composting: In this article, we interview composting veteran and Riverview neighbourhood resident Getty Stewart as well as composting expert Sylvie Hebert of Winnipeg’s Green Action Centre. We have a four-day Master Composting Workshop coming up. Click here for more details.

Family Big Fans of Car Sharing: The Peg City Car Co-op has some big fans in the Riverview neighbourhood. Find out what the Car Co-op is all about. You can also visit their website.

Bike Hub Built by Community: The South Osborne Bike Hub is one of many great programs made possible by the Riverview and Lord Roberts CLER Program. Check out the article, and you can visit their website here for more information.

Club Provides Food for Thought : The South Osborne Food Buying Club is a great way to buy sustainable food right in the neighbourhood. Read the article to find out how it works and e-mail urban.community.cooperative@gmail.com to find out more information.

The South Osborne Community Cooperative has coordinated the South Osborne Food Buying Club for one whole year now, and it is now one of the largest in the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative network. The farmers are located in the Clearwater, Manitoba, area, and you can have everything from sustainably-raised meats to organic veggies and grains delivered to your neighbourhood once a month for pickup. Here are the top three reasons why you should buy local.

1. It’s environmentally friendly: Considering it takes upwards of 1,500 miles on average to get your food to your kitchen, buying from local suppliers whenever possible cuts out much of the greenhouse gas emissions needed for travel, cooling and storage.

2. It’s more personable: “Meet Your Farmer” is the slogan of the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative. The farmers in this group take turns delivering the food on the monthly drop off date, and they want to meet you.

3. It’s healthier and tastes better: Organic or antibiotic-free foods are not only better for you, but taste better too. Don’t take my word for it. You be the judge.

Start buying local today by e-mailing Evan at urban.community.cooperative@gmail.com for more information on how you can join the South Osborne Local Food Buying Club. Read here for more information on what a food buying club is.

Farmers from the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative and the South Osborne Food Buying Club networks greet custsomers on the Sat., July 16, pick up.