SOQUE BULLETIN
June 3, 2011
It's Day 5 of our "5 in 5" FUNDRAISING WEEK !
Please help us reach our goal to raise $5,000 towards our 5 major programs in 5 days
TODAY is a great day to join or donate to the SRWA!
and / or Join us for the Soque Celebration at Sutton Mill TONIGHT 6PM!
It's hard to practice sustainabilty without getting your hands dirty. Linda Lovell of Moonshadow Farms in Demorest
taught us that lesson and many more during her free workshop on planting heirloom tomatoes among other crops
at the Clarkesville Green Way Garden - April 21st.
The 5 Programs of the Soque River Watershed Association
As part of our "5 in 5" fundraiser (to raise $5,000 in 5 days) we're taking a stab at explaining who we are at the SRWA and what our little group is trying to do in the Habersham community and beyond. Hopefully it's coming together as we explain each program one by one. We're running out of time (….as usual) but today we're excited because we're explaining not only our newest program, but the one that is growing the most rapidly and has the potential to make the biggest impact on the community.
PROGRAM #3 - SUSTAINABILTY MODELS
As the SRWA has evolved over the years, one of the things we've realized is that each one of us is going to have to learn some new skills, change our preconceptions about how thing work, and experiment with different practices and behaviors if our local environment is going to have a chance at truly staying pristine and sustainable. With that in mind we set about building our Sustainability Models Program with a goal to demonstrate a full range of sustainability practices that can be implemented by watershed community members at various scales. A principal focus of the program has become “learning to grow things in the service of nature” via rain gardens, streambank vegetation, upland stabilization, and organic food production. Don't worry we'll explain what we mean by each of those. Additional projects focus on water efficiency and re-use and promoting sustainable land-based businesses via a local food market, a community garden, and incorporating more sustainable "land based" products into our local economy. Whew! Where should we start?
1) Water Conservation and Re-Use
Since many economists and political theorists anticipate that dwindling water supplies will be a central crisis of the 21st century, our area should heed this warning as we're likely to be one of the earliest to feel the crunch of water shortages. Why is that? Well, it's a blessing to live up in the mountains, but what that means is that all the water available to us originates from a very small area, beginning at the tops of them hills.
The SRWA aspires for Habersham County to be both a statewide leader in water conservation, and one day a national leader in sustainability practices for water use and water management. We're not there yet, but here's our rapidly growing array of practices that we think all of us should be pushing to implement in both small and large ways. As we talk about each one we really want to highlight the incredible group of partners that we work with. Even though we talk about the programs of the SRWA, all of these efforts are partnerships with people and organizations in the community.
#1 - Rainbarrels
#2 - Cisterns
#3 - Rainwater capture for infiltration
#4 - Rainwater capture for indoor re-use
RAINBARRELS
Rainbarrels are a great starting place for water reduction and reuse around the home. Thanks to our long-time collaborations with Coca-Cola and Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, the SRWA has been able to make rainbarrels widely available for a very low cost $40 for SRWA members and $50 for non-members. Last summer on July 7th we partnered with Tallulah Falls and fitted 80 barrels, and distributed nearly 30 in an effort to put a rainbarrel on every home in Tallulah Falls. This year we're deepening our partnership with Habitat for Humanity by not only making barrels available there on a regular basis but also including literature on how to install and installation kits which include all the equipment needed to get them attached and working.
CISTERNS
Rainbarrels are a good start, but cisterns have incredible potential for capturing large volumes of rainwater, both for use as irrigation water (the easiest use) and even for re-use for non-potable uses in your home, requiring some additional plumbing and filtration. Last August the SRWA installed our first model cistern at Fairview Elementary for use as irrigation water for the Fairview School Garden. The Board of Education, Melissa Maughon, A-1 gutters, Bruce Colston, Stormwater Systems of Cleveland, and the welding school at North Georgia Tech College all contributed to this project.
RAINWATER CAPTURE FOR INFILTRATION
Until very recently we've thought of water that lands on buildings and parking lots as a problem to get off the site via stormpipes as rapidly as possible. Society is slowly realizing the costs of stormwater, both in maintaining stormwater system infrastructure with tax dollars, then the subsequent damage it has to streams (bank scouring, erosion, habitat destruction), and last but not least the loss to our long-term water supplies. We've been trying to spread the word that the biggest water supply we will ever have isn't in a reservoir, or even in our rivers….but stored in the ground. By pushing water off of the landscape with impervious surfaces, we're actually reducing our long-term water supply. That's why we want to take rainwater and turn it into groundwater via infiltration, thus preventing it from becoming stormwater. We do that by encouraging infilration with a very pretty little device we call a Rain Garden. In the last year we've completed two of them, one at North Georgia Technical College and the other we just completed in Cornelia last week. We'd like to continue to see them and other rainwater capture systems both small and large all over the county. Thanks to our partners NGTC, Wilcorps, City of Cornelia, the Cornelia Garden Club, Boy Scouts, Roteract Club and everyone else who contributed time, sweat and money to these model projects.
RAINWATER CAPTURE FOR INDOOR REUSE
As we've been experimenting with some of these smaller versions of model practices we've also been looking for just the right opportunity to promote them at a grander scale. Even before the County Commissioners decided to build the new courthouse at the Old High School site, the SRWA wrote and submitted a grant for $100,000 to make the new courthouse the premiere model for innovative water management. The grant outlined how to achieve stormwater infiltration so that the building and parking lots would generate the minimum amount of surface runoff, and maximize infiltration. To top it off, we proposed that a portion of the rainwater falling on the roof of the courthouse should be captured, treated and then used to flush commodes in the courthouse restrooms. The idea was modeled after a similar project recently completed at a school in Athens. Though we didn't receive the grant, we believe it's still a great idea that we hope will be incorporated into the courthouse designs. Based on the Athens model the savings in water use and sewer costs would actually pay for the additonal cost of the project within 10 years. If you're interested in this project check out the project summary attached and let our Commissioners know what you think. Janeann Alison the County Manager has been very receptive to the idea and encouraged us to write the initial proposal.
That's it for our water conservation and re-use projects….now on to……
2) Promoting Sustainable Land Based Businesses
We may be one of the only watershed groups in the country to be actively engaged in promoting sustainable land based businesses as a major component of our work, but we think it's what all watershed groups should be doing, especially in rural areas. Watersheds and the quality of their waters are the culmination of every landuse in a watershed. All land uses have an impact on the watershed, some are good and some are less good. We'd like to see more and more people able to generate a good income, even if it's only a portion of their income from their land in ways that are also sustainable to the watershed landscape. Essentially that means that the land is being managed in ways that builds up the soil, increases water infiltration and reduces runoff and erosion, retains nutrients and even builds nutrients on the site. These are essentially farming skills, and we think that everyone needs to have them even if they aren't farming. We also want our community to have high quality locally produced products that are coming from beautiful and conservation minded landscapes. We think that if people buy local from sustainable land based businesses they are more likely to understand what good land management entails, hold in high esteem those who set a good example, and even learn from them how to treat their own properties. Here are our humble efforts thus far towards these goals:
#1 - The Clarkesville Green Way Garden
#2 - Northeast Georgia Locally Grown
#3 - Community Cannery / Kitchen
The Clarkesville Green Way Garden
The Clarkesville Green Way Garden on the Greenway behind the Mill is our simple way to maintain the agricultural heritage of one of the richest bottomlands in the whole county while also teaching how to garden or farm organically without chemicals and encouraging sustainable practices of all kinds. The garden has 28 plots (10x20) and over 40 gardeners. The techniques we are able to demonstrate include a gravity feed irrigation system aided by a rainwater capture pond, use of organic fertilizers (kelp meal, and mixes that include alfalfa, feather meals), controlling bugs and weeds with attention rather than chemicals, solar powered deer fence, crop diversity, and introduction of potential new cash crops such as sunflowers grown for cooking oil. The garden has allowed us to cultivate some very rich relationships with farmers, and other ag related businesses and interests in the community and has become an incredible social network for generating new ideas towards sustainability.
The Northeast Georgia Locally Grown market has become a remarkable success. In just over one year the market has generated nearly $40,000 in sales of local fruits, veggies, meats, dairy, bread, flowers, soaps, eggs, and dozens of other items all produced in Habersham, Rabun or adjacent counties. There are nearly 30 farms participating and weekly sales are averaging $1,200 with about 40-50 customers per week. Perhaps the most remarkable outcome of the market other than everyone's dinners being more interesting, nutritious and sustainable is that the local farming community has come up with dozens of collaborative ideas that we're beginning to implement to increase sales, increase information exchange, increase our ability to grow sustainability and to simply grow more local food better. If you haven't experience the market, click on the logo and learn all about it.
Community Cannery / Kitchen
Building on the success of the Locally Grown market, SRWA recently began an extremely promising dialogue with the Habersham County School System and Board of Education about the potential for a new cannery to be built at the new high school to have a community kitchen component where local food producers could process and resell locally grown food. Though we're in a very early stage of exploring this idea, numerous staff with the GA Dept. of Education, Dept. of Agriculture and Georgia Organics think that Haberhsam County has the opportunity to set a new model for canneries in the state so that both home canners for personal use and farmers who want to create "value added" products can utilize the same facility maxmizing the use and benefit to the community and increasing the interaction between local farmers and end users. Food processing is a vital component to sustainable land based businesses greatly increasing the economic opportunities.
Moving right along to our final Sustainability Model component…..
3) Growing Vegetation
It almost seems silly to have to say that growing vegetation is essential to sustainablity, but the SRWA has realized more and more how much we don't know about how to get things to grow in order to restore areas that have become denuded or degraded. We're rapidly learning everything from achieving good soil chemistry, to soil amendments, to grasses, and riparian plants, rain garden plants, irrigation systems, greenhouses, you name it, we need to know it because you've got to grow things to achieve sustainability.
#1 - Upland Site Stabilization
#2 - Grow Something Green CAMPAIGN
Upland Site Stabilization
Areas with denuded vegetation aren't good for watersheds….or aesthetics for that matter. They often contribute sediment, don't allow rainwater to percolate into the ground, increase temperatures, and just generally don't add anything to our enviroments. One of our biggest supporters in working to restore denuded sites has been the Habersham County School system. Several of their schools lack permanent vegetation and in collaboration with the NGTC Turf and Horticulture departments and the County Extension agent we've created a plan to balance soil chemistry, amend soils, and plant grasses so that the school's will be green and productive. Pictured above is David Barnes one of our farm partners spreading lime at Fairview Elementary where we plant to plant and irrigate Bermuda sometime in the coming months.
Grow Something Green CAMPAIGN
Our absolutely newest project….so new we don't even have a photo yet is our “Grow Something Green” Campaign which is an expansion of our upland stabilization efforts. The goal of the campaign is to identify areas blighted by unstable soils and launch community projects to amend the soils, then plant grass and native and flowering plants to stabilize the soil, increase rainwater infiltration and beautify our community one site at a time. We're working to find the ideal site to launch this effort and a spare moment to squeeze it in our schedule, but when it happens we hope it'll inspire everyone to cover red soils in a blanket of green and in the process learn how to grow vegetation.
That's it for our Sustainablity Models Program - we'll discuss our last two programs the Policy and Compliance program and our Conservation Lands program at the "5 in 5" party tonight, and in a future e-mail.
THANKS FOR SUPPORTING OUR
"5 in 5" FUNDRAISER THIS WEEK
There's numerous ways to help us make our goal by making a contribution
#1 - Make a donation or new membership gift ONLINE by clicking the leaf
#2 - Pledge an amount and you can send a check by mail
#3 - Pledge an amount and you can bring your check to our "5 in 5" party on Friday
** No parking at Sutton Mill **
ALL PARKING IS AT North GA Tech and we have a 18 passenger bus running shuttles every 10 minutes
#4 - Buy lots and lots of raffle tickets - Check out the full list of items below - tickets are $5
Here's our awesome RAFFLE ITEMS
Item and Value
|
Business
|
Owner / contact
|
Homemade cutting board
|
Randy Moser
|
Randy Moser
|
Corn husk Doll by
Sarah Samsel
|
Sarah Samsel
|
Sarah Samsel
|
$20 gift certificate of Local Food from Locally Grown
|
Locally Grown
|
Justin Ellis
|
Artisan Fly Box and Trout Flies by Ron Thomas ($65 value)
|
Bob Parker
|
Bob Parker
|
Metal Fish ($40 value)
|
Soque Artworks
|
Rush Smith
|
Headwaters Print ($50 value)
|
The Saturday Shop
|
John Kollock
|
Black Dog Gift Certificate (value $25)
|
Black Dog
|
|
Canoe Rental on the Chattahoochee for 2 (value ?)
|
Wildwood Outfitters /
Gale Builders
|
Dave and Beverly Gale
|
Raft Rental on the Chattahoochee for 4 (value ?)
|
Wildwood Outfitters /
Gale Builders
|
Dave and Beverly Gale
|
LL Bean Fly Rod
|
Trout Unlimited
|
Brian Sandven
|
Mark of the Potter Vase ($40 value)
Cobalt blue vase with copper red shoulder
by Maraiah Wenn
|
Mark of the Potter
|
Michael Foust
|
Vintage Metal Sign ($70 value)
|
Cottage Garden
|
|
One Month Free Gym Membership ($69 value)
|
Performance Gym
|
David Provine
|
Ridges Resort and and Club on Lake Chatuge in Hiawasee ($200 value)
|
Headwaters Realty
|
Dale and Jean Holmes
|
St Croix Imperial Fly Rod – 8’ 2 pc 8 wt ($229 value)
|
Steven Patrick
|
Steven Patrick
|
(you can buy tickets even if you can't attend by sending an e-mail request and paying online)
Hope to see you tonight!
Justin Ellis
Executive Director
Soque River Watershed Association
706-754-9382
END OF YEAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE
If you're not already a member, now's a great time to join. Or click on the OTHER category and add the amount of your one time donation. You can also find our donation page from our website www.soque.org.
