Action Alert for CT residents - Voice your support to extend the Ban on Pesticides at K-12th grade schools

ACTION ALERT

Dear Friends,

CT NOFA is part of the CT Safegrounds Coalition. Today we are writing because we need your help.  Lawn pesticides are some of the most toxic chemicals used where people live, work, and play.  These chemicals are wreaking havoc on our health and the environment.  Children are among the most vulnerable when it comes to toxic chemical exposure, so we must do everything we can to protect them.

This year, there will be bills introduced to ban the use of toxic lawn pesticides at high schools, parks, playgrounds, municipal sports field and town greens where our children are being involuntarily exposed to toxic chemicals that are linked to cancer, birth defects, and are considered endocrine disrupters.  To read more about the dangers associated with toxic lawn pesticides click:

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/lawn/factsheets/Pesticide.children.dontmix.pdf .

The power is in your hands.  We are asking you to call or email your representatives today and tell them to support legislation that would ban toxic lawn pesticides in all places where children play.  To find your representatives click:

http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/cgafindleg.asp

Please state the following or put it into your own words and speak from the heart.

“Please support HB-5330 and SB-46.  I am very concerned about Connecticut’s children being exposed to toxic lawn pesticides and am very pleased that Connecticut now has a law prohibiting the use of toxic lawn pesticides at day care centers and school grounds with children through grade 8.  But why are our young people not protected in other places like high schools, parks, playgrounds, municipal sports fields and town greens where they are involuntarily exposed to these toxic chemicals?  Please support legislation to protect Connecticut’s children wherever they may be exposed to toxic lawn pesticides.”

Thank you for all you do.  We have faith that the Connecticut legislature will do what is best for the citizens of Connecticut, but we need to make sure they know what we want.  Call or write your legislator today.  Together we CAN make a difference!

Out & About with AOLCPs - Swimmable & Fishable by 2020

Out & About with AOLCPs

Swimmable & Fishable by 2020
Two AOLCPs Help Restore the River One Neighborhood at a Time
By Kathy Litchfield

PORTSMOUTH, VA – Reducing lawn fertilizers is one of seven specific things homeowners agree to do when they become a “River Star Home” through The Elizabeth River Project, and it’s one that’s close to the heart of NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional (AOLCP) Terri Foss.

“I live on the river and have always been environmentally aware,” said Foss, who works hands-on with riverside dwelling homeowners, taking soil tests and educating them about choosing organic lawn care practices through the River Star Homes Program.

“I feel like I’m doing my part to contribute to the bigger picture of a cleaner, healthier river, that I live and work on. We’re having a lot of success and that makes me feel good,” said the former director of gardens and grounds for the Hermitage Foundation Museum in Norfolk, Va., an 11-acre site surrounded by the Lafayette River – a branch of the Elizabeth River.

2013 Annual Gathering Report

2013 Annual Gathering Report

The Annual Gathering was a success on December 11th in Southbury, CT.  175 people gathered to hear current topics in organic land care and to share their experiences with each other from the 2013 landscaping season.  An organic lunch was served with vegetables from New England farms and exhibitors shared information on organic fertilizers, power equipment, nursery stock and more.

Trevor Smith

Trevor Smith started the day off with Green Infrastructure; clearly demonstrating how a small landscaping business can offer permeable driveways, green roofs, and other rainwater catchment systems. Trevor is also very passionate about urban horticulture and increasing the growing space in small spaces with living walls and other systems such as woolly pockets, which hang on the walls and let you plant small herbs and vegetables - perfect for kids. Trevor is the President of Ecological Landscaping Association (ELA), and he will be giving more workshops on these topics throughout the year at ELA programs.

Dr. Jessica Lubell

Patty Laughlin Integrates Edibles into Every Landscape

Out & About with AOLCPs

Patty Laughlin Integrates Edibles into Every Landscape

 By Kathy Litchfield

EPPING, N.H. – Every landscape Patty Laughlin plants has at least one low-bush blueberry. She considers the blueberry a “gateway fruit” as it is low maintenance, easy to grow and delicious, and seems to quickly lead to a client’s discovery of other wonderful edible plants. 
 
Even if clients don’t ask for edible landscaping, she finds a way to integrate something low maintenance that will provide food for wildlife as well as the humans inhabiting the land.
 
“I’ve always focused on edible gardening. My dad was a master gardener when I was growing up and we always had a big vegetable garden and lots of fruit trees and berry bushes. I didn’t know how spoiled I was until I went to college,” she laughed. “Blueberries are native, so easy to grow, and edibles are so engaging for people in a landscape. The level of interaction you create between the humans and animals and landscape itself gets amplified when you bring edibles into the picture.”

Out & About with AOLCPs

Feature on Mike McCleese

By Kathy Litchfield

For Mike McCleese, finding NOFA was like “fitting into an old shoe.” His Cincinnati-based landscaping company was non-chemical but all of the pieces weren’t coming together until he found himself ensconced in the Rhode Island accreditation course in 2006.

“I can’t tell you how happy I was. In some ways it was like winning the lottery,” he said, admitting his reservations. “I’d been in the business for several years at that point and realized that sometimes there’s a big difference between lofty goals and making a living. But what I found at NOFA was a whole lot of people just like me, trying to make organics work for their businesses. Spending a week with people at an OLC workshop was like slipping into an old pair of comfortable shoes.”

McCleese, a self-described “stressed out social worker” in the 90’s, discovered his passion for plants while working part-time for a woman’s landscaping company. Three days a week, he listened intently and learned about plants as living organisms. Over a few years, he realized his true passion was landscape design and he asked himself a question that changed his life.

“What would make me happiest in life?” he asked himself, and decided, “a dog, a shovel and a truck.” McCleese founded his business, A Guy & His Dog Landscaping, in 1996. After feeling his skin itching from spreading chemical pre-emergents all day he gradually stopped using chemicals and by 2001 was completely chemical-free.  Attending the NOFA OLC course in 2006 was the next big step for McCleese.

LISFF Grant Award Fuels NOFA OLCs Effort to Drve the Demand for Organic Lawns

Last month I attended the Long Island Sound Future Fund Grant Event hosted by National Fish & Wildlife Service and US EPA at The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT.  I arrived dressed in my Red Sox jacket, optimistic that my team would win the World Series and they did it! OLC Program coordinator Jenna Messier and I were thrilled to be surrounded by all the enthusiasm of fellow grantees that like NOFA OLC had been awarded a LISFF Grant! 

We had the the chance to connect with Ann Marie Lisi who heads up the Water Quality Demonstration Station on site.  We shared more information about organic land care, the NOFA OLC Program and the network of Accredited Organic Land Care Professionals that adhere to stricter OLC Standards than other landscape contractors. 

This week we were invited back to do an in-service training workshop. Fellow AOLCP Tom Barry, Grounds Manager and Field Specialist at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, Connecticut taught grass selection, soil testing and fertilization.  I taught the group about good cultural practices and social marketing the message of organic land care.   There are different kinds of lawn care consumers.  Some folks are really focused on health concerns, while others really care about the bottom line and the return on investment of an organic lawn.  Putting organic lawns in the same league as other sustainability successes like fuel efficient cars, energy saving light bulb and non toxic house cleaners helps organic lawns gain more widespread acceptance.

Just as I was optimistic about the Sox winning the championship, I’m optimistic our team of Accredited Organic Land Care Professionals will win over more homeowners to an organic approach next season!  Thanks to the LISFF Grant, I’m grateful to be working with the NOFA OLC Program to educate homeowners and landscape contractors on organic fertilization and cultural best practices for the protection of Long Island Sound.  Additionally, I’m thrilled to share effective social marketing strategies with AOLCP’s to drive the demand for organic land care for the health of the Long Island Sound and the health of the green, local economy. 

Here's the first peek at the Ten Steps to an Organic Lawn fact sheet to be distributed  TMA in Norwalk, CT. The Water Quality Demonstration will be distributing this along with free soil testing information to help visitors on the road to adopting organic lawn care best practices on their yard. We value your feedback!

I really look forward to seeing you at the Annual Gathering on December 11^th in Southbury, CT.  Please stop by the NOFA OLC table to receive another new tool we’re rolling out for all AOLCP's: Fertilizer Application Best Practices for the Landscape Contractor.  Thanks to the LISFF Grant we’re bringing more tools to get your game on to win more homeowners over to an organic approach on their lawn next spring!  

Last week, I met with Tom Tavella, the current ASLA President, to discuss his keynote address at the Annual Gathering on December 11th. We talked about SITES and trends in the industry, which Tom will speak about in detail at the event, so I don't want to spoil the surprise! But, I would like to share some information about how Tom, as a landscape architect, finds jobs to bid on and where you, too could locate work as a sub-contractor.

Tom works in CT, and he goes to the CT Procurement Portal at das.ct.gov/portal and he reads the daily notices which are sent automatically after signing up.  He looks under "landscape, marine, maintenance services, professional services" as a category. ( I will admit, I have spent 30 minutes trying to navigate this wonderful website, so you have to learn the system before using it effectively.)

The next step as a sub-contractor, would be to go contact the town purchasing agent and ask who are the bidders on projects which you are interested in sub-contracting. Then contact those larger firms and pitch yourself and your business as the ideal provider of rain gardens, landscape maintenance services, irrigation, etc!

Tom also suggested building your network of contractors, large firms such as Cherry Hill and Turner in CT. Get on their bid list so they will contact you, when a project of your expertise comes up.

Thanks Tom for these great recommendations, and we look forward to hearing more from you at the Annual Gathering on December 11th in Southbury CT!

Jenna Messier, NOFA Organic Land Care Program Director