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It is truly summer, and much has slowed down, but many of our groups are on the move and others are planning for fall. Local food continues to be a focus with The Lexington Farmers' Market and LexFarm finding innovative strategies to adapt to Covid-19 to offer the bounty of local food and products. Cary Library is partnering to create some wonderful content that can be viewed “live” on Zoom or on their YouTube channel.
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LexGWAC is in the midst of working on a capacity building grant from the Community Endowment of Lexington and will have more to share in the fall. In big news from the Town of Lexington, we now have a new Sustainability Director!
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If you haven’t had a chance, please take a minute to check out our new website and share with your network.
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In This Issue–July/August 2020:
- Welcome Lexington's First Sustainability Director
- Film Review: "The Story of Plastic"
- Gardening Series on Zoom
- Residential Curbside Composting
- Lexington Farmers' Market
- LexFarm
- Lexington Bee Company
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Welcome, Stella Carr!
In this role, Stella is tasked with leading the Town’s sustainability efforts. She will build on the progress of existing sustainability initiatives underway, while developing and administering new programs, policies and initiatives to achieve the Town’s sustainability goals (for more info, go to the town’s website).
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LPS Green Teams: "The Story of Plastic" Film Review
In June, over 100 people registered to watch and discuss the documentary The Story of Plastic, a program hosted by Lexington GWAC, LPS Green Teams, and Cary Memorial Library. The film explores our global toxic relationship with plastic, explaining how the material was first presented to the public up until today, where we see the overuse of plastic causing environmental and public health crises all over the planet. Plastic is made from petroleum, so as the oil and gas industry see a decline in demand with the onset of clean energy sources, they are turning their attention to producing and selling more plastic products to replace other sustainable materials. Although the plastics industry promotes the concept of recycling the plastics, we cannot recycle ourselves out of this crisis. We must look at our other “R”s (Reuse, Refuse, Repair, Rot) to help the health of our planet and human population and move toward solving the problem.
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After having a few days to watch the film, the registrants gathered to discuss the path forward, including what action steps they would like to take personally to change our future. Even if you could not participate in the program, we encourage you to watch the film and think about how you can make a difference. The film is now available on Amazon for $2.99.
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For more detailed highlights of the discussion and actions you can take, visit LexingtonGreenTeams.org. It is a terrific Zero Waste resource; together we can make a BIG difference!
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The remote learning video series started in June and will continue through the fall! You can attend “live” on Zoom or go back to the Library YouTube video archive and watch at your leisure with links from the Library archives. Here are some titles of particular relevance to the environment.
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What are the native plants to Lexington and which ones would attract pollinators? Why do we need both? If these questions have been rolling around for you, please join Georgia Harris and Ashley Rooney for this important conversation. We hope you will leave this session with a greater understanding of the beauty of native plants as well as the urgent need to sustain the life of our pollinators.
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Building and maintaining a compost pile is the surest, easiest way to become a better gardener. You’ll be producing food for your garden as leaves, eggshells, orange rinds, and grass clippings become transformed into rich compost. You also can conserve your rainwater and cut down on your water bill with a rainwater barrel.
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Honeybees are the most important pollinators for gardens and agriculture. Alexandra Bartsch of the Lexington Bee Company works with a number of students in the Lexington (MA) High School Bee Club to promote and provide bees free to Lexington's public gardens, orchards, and conservations lands. She and Ashley Rooney will discuss Beekeeping in the Suburbs.
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Everyone knows what a Monarch butterfly looks like, but what about the Monarch caterpillar? Leslie Masson, butterfly aficionado, and Ashley Rooney will tell us about the Monarch’s life in the garden and other insects.
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Help us get to 1,000 households!
Lexington has been making great progress in taking food waste out of the trash and diverting it to be composted, in turn producing a product that feeds the soil on farms and our backyards. There are a few residential compost pick up companies out there; however, Lexington has earned a group price discount of only $100/year for weekly pick up with Black Earth Compost. When you sign up for the service, the town will give you a free locking curbside bin. Black Earth now has 916 Lexington customers that divert ~ 4.1 Tons of food waste a week!! That is a lot of waste kept out of the incinerator and diverted for use as a soil amendment. Take a minute to learn more, visit the Black Earth residential service page to learn more and sign up.
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Corner of Fletcher Ave & Mass Ave
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2:00 - 3:00 pm: Preorders Needed for Entry*
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3:00 - 6:30 pm: General Entry; Onsite Shopping & Preorder Pickup
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*Shoppers will need to have placed a preorder with our farmers and vendors to enter the market between 2 - 3 PM. If you forgot an item or want to add to your order, customers can make on-site purchases during this time.
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While the market will look different this year, the LFM mission is the same: to bring healthy, local food to all members of our community. Much like you’ve become accustomed to, new safety protocols mean that we will be controlling the number of people inside the market and putting markings and signage in place, but in our favorite outdoor market setting, rain or shine. We’re glad to be back.
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For more information on our hours, farmers and vendors attending, placing preorders for pickup, and rules for safer shopping and what to expect, please visit our website or follow us on Facebook.
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Closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and holidays.
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Lexington Community Farm's farmstand is open for retail sales! Shop local and organic! We sell LexFarm-grown organic produce and other local food items. Farmstand shopping is being conducted safely, outside, under a tent.
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52 Lowell St, Lexington MA
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[Bees thriving at the Idlewylde Community Garden]
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The Lexington Bee company has been very busy this season creating public and private apiaries around town. Alexandra Bartsch and her daughter Anastasia, with the help of the Lexington High School Bee Club, provide bees free to pollinate public properties such as the Interfaith Garden, the Cotton Farm Orchard, and other town properties. They also provide a fee-based service for private clients who wish to have bees on their property. The bees pollinate local gardens and enhance the productivity of flowering trees and gardens throughout many neighborhoods. At the moment, the Linden trees are blooming, providing a wonderful sweet, light-colored honey, which the bees are gathering in force.
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Would you like to submit an environmental event or activity?
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Please forward to your network!
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