Soque Bulletin Blog: July 2012

SOQUE BULLETIN

Monday July 23, 2012

It doesn't look like much now but where Mike Bramblett (the County's facilities director) is standing

will be a curbless main drive into the courthouse, with all the runoff directed into a vegetated swale located where he's staring.

We'll continue to photograph each phase of these new structures and describe them in upcoming newspaper columns, see below.

1) Support Local Farms - SHOP at Northeast Georgia LOCALLY GROWN

2) SRWA and Grace Calvary Church team up to maintain GREENWAYS bridge and boardwalk

3) SRWA staff to write monthly columns on conservation and sustainability topics

4) SRWA Radio and Podcasts now available on www.soque.org

5) Soque Camp for kids everyday this week

6) Upcoming Events - Rainbarrel / Raingarden Workshop - August 16th & Paddle Clean Up - September 29

1) Support Local Farms - SHOP at Northeast Georgia LOCALLY GROWN

It's the height of the growing season. We encourage you to support local farms and enjoy the fruits of the summer by shopping at the Northeast Georgia Locally Grown farmers market. If you haven't tried before it's an online market, with orders taken Sunday night from 9pm until Monday night at 9pm (so you still have plenty of time this week). You can order foods from dozens of farms across Northeast Georgia and they'll harvest fresh produce just for you. There's a plethora of other foods such as breads, milk, meats, eggs and more. Pick up is at Grace Calvary Chuch in Clarkesville on Wednesday from 5-7pm, or in Tiger, GA same times. Give it a try we think you'll enjoy it. (We also encourage you to visit the Clarkesville Farmers Market at the Garden of Wellness.) We'll be conducting a USER survey in a week or so to get your feedback. Thanks for supporting local foods and we hope you'll EAT WELL!

http://northeastgeorgia.locallygrown.net/welcome

Locally Grown is a project of the SRWA to promote sustainable land based businesses

in Habersham County and beyond

2) SRWA and Grace Calvary Church team up to maintain GREENWAYS bridge and boardwalk

If you've ever taken a walk along the Clarkesville Greenway you've noticed that two of the prettiest features are the boardwalk over the "Wetland that Built Itselt" and the bridge over Rocky Branch that takes you to Mary Street Park. Luckily both of these structures are going to get some needed maintenance thanks to a YOUTH GROUP all the way from Gainseville, FL and Grace Calvary Church. They were looking for a volunteer project, and offered to help us put fresh Wood Sealer which will lengthen the life of these structures by a decade or more. We'll have pictures of their work project which begins tomorrow morning around 10am. We encourage you to head down to the Greenway sometime after Wednesday (both structures will be closed for 24 hours following the treatment) and see how nice they look. It's good to have support like this for our community resources. Big thanks to the City of Clarkesville as well who provided the materials needed for this project. If you have a group seeking a community project let us know. There are many opportunities to give something back.

3) SRWA staff to write monthly columns on conservation and sustainability topics

The Northeast Georgian recently graciously asked us to write two monthly articles for the newspaper about a range of conservation and sustainability topics. Every other week Duncan Hughes and Justin Ellis will alternate in submitting a story about a broad range of topics and projects. Big Thanks to the Northeast Georgian for this great opportunity. Here's a copy of last Friday's article. We hope you enjoy.

We received some very kind feedback to this article the following day:

"I just read your column in the Northeast Georgian explaining what a "watershed" is and how water "works" in the natural world. Thank you for the clearest explanation I've ever heard--particularly the description of groundwater, a mystery to many of us. I know you probably speak to school groups from time to time, but I think lots of other groups would benefit from hearing you give such explanations. I will be looking forward to this column from you and Duncan! Thanks!"

Thank You! We're looking forward to writing more!

4) SRWA Radio and Video Podcasts now available on www.soque.org

The digital age has really made it easier and easier to disseminate information in quick and useful ways. We're trying to catch up with these trends by making some of our pre-recorded Radio and Video stories readily available. We haven't mastered these techniques yet, but we do have a new Media Player on our website that allows you to listen to MP3 radio shows and watch videos directly from our website. You can also download the AUDIO mp3 and put them on your I-POD and other mp3 player to listen to while on the go. We have about 6 short programs available now and will be adding another half dozen in the weeks ahead.

One reason we were inspired to give this a try was a recent program with Candice Felice at WPPR, the NPR affiliate here in Demorest on July 20, 2012. During the program she interviews Justin Ellis, the SRWA Director, and Ben Dockins the manager of the Clarkesville Farmers Market and asks some interesting questions about growing organic food, the linkages between agriculture and clean water, and the availability of local food across Northeast Georgia. To find this new feature click on the following link:

http://www.soque.org/audio.html

5) Soque Camp for kids everyday this week

Duncan Hughes is leading our kids camp this week during which they will get to climb to the headwaters, collect fish and macroinvertebrates, visit local farms, and canoe the Soque River. Ah, to be a kid again. We'll post photos to our Facebook page of the weeks activities.

6) Upcoming Events - Harvesting RAIN using Rainbarrel / Raingarden Workshop - August 16th & Paddle Clean Up - September 29

Mark your calendars for the SRWA's next two events. First is our annual RAINBARREL and RAINGARDEN Workshop coming up in about three weeks on August 16th. The workshop and LUNCH is once again held at the Visual Technology Building at North Georgia Technical College from 12-2pm. Spread the word as this is one of our best attended workshops. We'll cover all the details on the benefits of Harvesting Rain using rainbarrels and raingardens. We'll also tour the rain garden built over 2 years ago on the college campus. Rainbarrels will be available for this day only at the discounted price of $35 (normally $45) as our way of saying thanks for learning about the importance of reusing rainwater in the environment. Last but not least we'll again have the tastiest Local Food Lunch in all Habersham County with Heriloom Tomates from Moonshadow Farms on locally baked bread, and blueberry cobbler from local blueberries for desert. A lunch donation of $5-$10 is encouraged.

Please help us spread the word by printing out the attached PDF Flier and putting one up in a public location!

Last year's workshop attendees observe and learn about the Rain Garden at NGTC.

Paddle Clean Up - September 29 - in conjunction with Rivers Alive.

You may want to make your reservations early for our only paddle clean-up of the year. The trip is limited to 40 total volunteers. Must have your own boat and be able to carry it. We'll have folks drop their boats off at Farm Hill just north of the City of Clarkesville. The paddle clean up will take out at Habersham Mills Lake. Trip should take no more than 2-3 hours. We'll start at 9am to meet at a location to be determined. We'll have several vehicles to drive folks back to their cars to come pick up their boats at the Lake. We expect to find some interesting accumulations in this area as we've not been here before. To reserve your spot e-mail Justin at soque@windstream.net. All participants will get a Rivers Alive t-shirt.

Justin Ellis

Executive Director

Soque River Watershed Association

www.soque.org

706-754-9382

SOQUE BULLETIN

July 5th, 2012

The SRWA is hosting a series of SEE THE SOQUE events where we'll take people to see

public areas of the SOQUE WATERSHED that not many people know are public.

Our first stop is a 1 mile section of the upper Soque at Jackson Bridge Road on 197.

1) SEE THE SOQUE EVENT - "SOQUE RIVER CLEANUP @ Jackson Bridge" - Saturday July 7th - 9am

2) Rainbarrels are back at the HABITAT RESTORE

3) GEORGIA MOUNTAINS FARM TOUR - over 150 attend first time event

1) SEE THE SOQUE EVENT - "SOQUE RIVER CLEANUP @ Jackson Bridge" - Saturday July 7th - 9am

If you are itching for an opportunity to see more of the SOQUE your next opportunity will be our SOQUE RIVER CLEANUP – Saturday July 7^th. The Jackson Bridge recreational area is a 1 mile stretch of the mainstem of the SOQUE RIVER all within National Forest Lands. The area is commonly known by fisherman and is the only signficant access site for Trout Fishing on the Soque River. It's located between Brigadoon Lodge and Blackhawk Flyfishing on 197. We haven't done a clean up here in over 4 years.

The Soque River Watershed Association is participating in American Rivers National River Cleanup event. We should have some free t-shirts for volunteers. Volunteers will meet at 9am at Old Clarkesville Mill (left parking lot) and carpool up to the bridge by 9:30 (you can meet us at the bridge if you're coming from the northend of the county). We'll provide all the garbage bags and gloves you'll need. The area around the 197 bridge is all within the National Forest and encompasses a one mile section of public access to the Soque. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's beautiful.

After the cleanup the group will enjoy a short hike on the opposite side of the road to explore another National Forest Land propety. For more details call 706-754-9382 or soque@windstream.net.

Here's a simple map of the National Forest Boundary line upstream of Jackson Bridge.

2) Rainbarrels are back at the HABITAT RESTORE

Our partnership with Habitat for Humanity to help distribute rainbarrels throughout Habersham County and North Georgia has been one of our most successful partnerships, getting bigger and stronger each year. Last year we introduced our new and improved rainbarrel designs that make hooking a rainbarrel up easier than ever. Everything comes with a Do-It-Yourself kit that takes about 15 minutes to assemble and only needs a power drill. You'll drill a spigot hole in the barrel (hole saws included), an inlet/outlet hole in the top of the barrel, and one small hole in your existing downspout.

Everyone who has used the new barrels agrees these designs are great as it keeps mosquitos out, and solves the problem of overflow from the barrel (it all goes right back into your downspout).

Barrels at the Habitat ReStore in Clarekesville are $45 and include everything you'll need to set up this very effective WATER CONSERVATION tool.

Rainbarrels are $45 and available now at Habitat for Humanity

We have a goal to sell 50 barrels through Habitat this year!

For more details on the new design for these rainbarrels click here to see our installation brochure.

3) GEORGIA MOUNTAINS FARM TOUR - over 150 attend first time event

We were amazed to see about 45-50 total carloads and somewhere around 150 total individuals attending the first ever GEORGIA MOUNTAINS FARM TOUR despite the 104°-109° heat (and hotter in some places).

The tour was designed to showcase the diversity and collaboration amongst local food farms that are growing sustainable and organic food to sell to local food eaters. This was a huge expansion of our Tour of Sustainable Farms event we've done the two years prior, with this event covering 14 total farms, two community gardens, and two local chefs serving fresh local dishes.

Here's some of the feedback we've received from attendees:

· "One of the best weekends I've had in a long time."

· "What a wonderful and wholesome way to spend a weekend with our family!"

· "An enjoyable and educational way to meet great people involved in interesting farming techniques and to enjoy a day exploring the mountains."

· "Absolutely fantastic! Getting to know just a few of the small farmers in the area was very motivating."

We're still trying to collect feedback from attendees so if you were there please take our survey and you'll receive a small gift as our thanks for attending and helping us improve for next year. Click for the SURVEY.

If you weren't able to attend this year but want to see what you missed, and get excited about next years event, go to the FACEBOOK page for the brand new FARMERS NETWORK that helped organize the event. Proceeds from the event will go towards future collaborative projects for this new FARMERS NETWORK.