Soque Bulletin Blog: Soque Bulletin

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.