Arbor Day/Earth Day Celebration

From the Longmont Parks page:

"April 17th between 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at Thompson Park, 4th & Bross. Arbor Day is a growing experience, Earth Day is about environmental awareness. Come and join in the combined celebration to enjoy and learn more about both. Festivities include obstacle course, games, balloons, live music, an "edible forest" lunch and, of course, the annual tree and rosebush sale. Last year was tree-mendously fun, so if you missed it last year, plan on attending this year. Need more info. call Ken Wicklund, City Forester at 303-651-8449 or email me at ken.wicklund@ci.longmont.co.us. Rain date is April 24th."

This event has been fun for our family! Our boys especially enjoy the zip lines and rids up in a bucket truck!

Miller Farms Gleaning

Yeah so I haven't had as much time to tweak the blog layout as I would have liked but hope to get it all fixed up soon. In the meantime, check out this article from the Times Call about gleaning at Miller Farms this Saturday:

"Miller Farms will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday to visitors who want to dig and keep leftover produce from the Platteville farm.

Farm spokesman Dave Patterson said this year there aren’t as many leftover vegetables as there were during a similar event a year ago because of summertime hail damage, but items such as carrots and Brussels sprouts are still good.

Patterson said that in 2008, gleaners left with about 600,000 pounds of food.

Patterson said people should bring their own shovels, bags and boxes.

Miller Farms is located east of Longmont on Colo. Highway 66."

Video about Longmont Farmer's Market

Here's an interesting video about the Longmont Farmer's market! It includes great info on local farms, why buying locally is good for everyone, the challenges local farms are facing and how you can support them! If you're reading this through a feed reader or email you may need to click here to view the video.

Longmon Farmer's Market

Here's one event that won't be canceled because of a little rain - The Longmont Farmer's Market opens this Saturday!

Boulder County Fairgrounds
Hover Rd. and Boston Ave, Longmont CO.
Hours of operation: Saturdays 8am - 2pm
May 2 - Oct 31, 2009

For more information see their website!

Arbor Day/Earth Day Celebration

The City of Longmont Parks Dept is hosting a combined Arbor Day and Earth Day celebration at Collyer Park on Saturday, April 18th, from 11 am to 3pm. Come learn more about what an arborist does by going up in a bucket truck, riding a zip line or climbing a tree! There will be trees and roses for sale, lunch for a dollar, live music and opportunities to learn more about our environment! The rain date is April 25th. Or maybe they should call it the snow date as things are going these days! :)

Longmont's new recycling program

Do you love the new mixed recycling from the City of Longmont as much as I do? I know it's a small change but removing that center divider and changing from two lids to one is fantastic! I love the increased types of things you can recycle (cardboard, cereal boxes, more types of plastic, yay!) but the no sorting part just makes my life so much easier :) How do all feel about it? Are you recycling more now? I hope so!

Bike to Work Day

Ok so this isn't directly kid related but it's good for you and good for the environment which means you're being a great example for your kids....right? :) Anyway, Bike to Work Day is June 25th and it's a great day to dust off that old Schwinn and put it to good use! On your way to work you can also get some free breakfast and more! Stop by one of these locations between 6:30 and 9 am:

City of Longmont - 350 Kimbark Street
Deja Brew Coffee Shop - 600 S Airport Road
Java Stop - 301 Main Street
Great Harvest Bread Co. - 1100 Ken Pratt Blvd.
St. Vrain Valley Credit Union - 775 Coffman (at the Roosevelt Park n Ride)
YMCA - 950 Lashley Street
Panera Bread - 425 Ken Pratt Blvd

There will also be bike tune-ups available at the City of Longmont (sponsored by High Gear Cyclery) and YMCA (sponsored by Bike-n-Hike) locations.

After work, swing by Lefthand Brewery or the Pumphouse Brewery and show your helmet to receive happy hour discounts! Just remember not to drink and ride :)

Rhythm on the River

I keep forgetting to post about this even though it's one of my family's favorite things to do in Longmont!

This year's Rhythm on the River will be held July 11th from 5 to 9 pm and July 12th from 6:30 am to 8:30 pm. It's held at Roger's Grove and free transportation is provided from the Boulder County Fairgrounds parking lot. There is so much to do! Great food, great music, art projects for kids to make, bounce houses, children's fishing tank, information booths from local business, government and non-profit entities, city trucks to climb all over, a bike obstacle course for the kids and so much more!!! See this page for more details: http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/rotr/activities.htm.

Also, don't forget about the Roger's River Run 5K that starts at 7:30 am on Saturday, July 12th. Register by July 9th at this site - http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/rotr/run_reg.htm! And after all that running you need some fluffy pancakes and juice, right? There's a pancake breakfast provided by the Egg & I from 7 am to 10 am which is free to runners or $3 (cash only) for non-runners.

There's also a fun duck race! There's an article about it here: http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/rotr/run_reg.htm and you can buy your ducks now at the Times Call or through any St. Vrain Rotary member or at the festival! If you buy a lucky duck you could win one of several prizes including a cruise and hot air balloon ride!

The best part is that it's a Zero Waste event meaning that everything (or I guess nearly everything) is recycled! They provide recycling containers at many areas in Roger's Grove and also lots of information on reducing your waste at home too.

We love Rhythm on the River and hope to see you there!

Kids Worm Composting Workshop

I know this is in Boulder but it sounds like it's worth the trip for raising your kids' environmental awareness!

Wednesday, June 11
Kids Worm Composting Workshop
Boulder County Recycling Center
1901 63rd St., Boulder
10:30 - Noon
Please RSVP to 720-564-2242

Explore the wonders of red wiggler worms and how ‘worms can eat our garbage’. Participants will learn how to make a comfortable house for red wigglers, what to feed them and how they make castings that can be used on house plants, flowers and in the garden! Have fun during this hands-on workshop.

All ages welcome with adult.

Directions: At the intersection of 63rd St. and Arapahoe Rd. in Boulder, head north on 63rd St. for ¼ mile to the Boulder County Recycling Center. Turn left into facility and follow signs for Visitors to administration building at the back of the property.

Free reusable bags at Wal-Mart

Thanks to Mom Advice's Freebie Friday post today: "As part of Earth Month 2008, Wal-Mart and Kellogg’s will be partnering to give away one million custom-made reusable shopping bags on Saturday, April 19th at 8AM local time.

Plastic bags can take as long as 1,000 years to degrade. Wal-Mart sells reusable shopping bags every day made from recycled materials you can use instead, for just $1."

We love our shopping bags and the satisfaction we get each week not throwing away 6-8 plastic bags or watching them pile up in the pantry :) Plus they are easy to carry and hold a lot more!

Register for a Community Garden plot!

Also from the City of Longmont:

Second Start Community Garden

The Second Start Community Garden, located east of Main Street, at 11th Avenue at Baker Street, is taking registrations for the 2008 gardening season. The Second Start Community Garden is an organic garden, with individual garden plots, but shared workdays for common areas, and social events during the growing season. Fees are based on income. To reserve a plot or for more information, contact Joy Kemna at 303-776-3747 or Veronica Sommers at 303-485-6904.

Sounds like a great activity for kids and adults to enjoy together!

Arbor Day Celebration

The City of Longmont Parks Department will host their annual Arbor Day celebration on Saturday, April 19th, from 11 am to 3 pm at Thompson Park. We went last year and it was a great kid event - they had arborists that helped kids climb and rapel from trees, bucket truck rides, live entertainment and lots of opportunities for kids to learn about trees and protecting our environment. See you there!

Update 4/11/08: Just a few more details from the city: The Arbor Day celebration will be held Saturday, April 19th, from 11 am to 3 pm at Thompson Park located at 4th and Bross. The public is invited to climb a tree, take a bucket truck ride, and enjoy some live entertainment. A $1 lunch will be available along with balloons, wood carving, Smokey the Bear and a tree/rosebush sale. In case of poor weather, the festivities will move to April 26. Call 303-651-8446 for more information.

Holiday recycling

Ever wondered which of your holiday items can be recycled in Boulder County - from wrapping paper to christmas light strings to trees?

There's lots of info on the Eco-Cycle website - http://www.ecocycle.org/seasonal/winter/.

The City of Longmont will also allow Christmas tree dropoff from December 26th through January 4th at these locations:

- Eco-Cycle at 140 Martin Street
- Roosevelt Park Parking lot south of 8th Ave.
- Garden Acres Baseball Park West side of parking lot of 18th Ave.
- Kanemoto Park Parking lot south of Pratt Parkway
- Centennial Park East parking lot off of Alpine Street

For more info, see this site: http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/solidwaste/events/christmastree.htm.

Merry Christmas!

America Recycles Day, tour the BC Recycling Center

Here's another activity idea for Saturday posted to a moms' group this morning....

In celebration of America Recycles Day, a Family Fun Tour of the Boulder County Recycling Center is planned on Saturday, November 10 from 11 a.m. to 12 noon. The center is located at 1901 63rd Street in Boulder, just 1/4 off of Arapahoe and 63rd St.

Reservations are encouraged.

The one-hour tour begins in the Recycling Center lobby and will feature a 10-minute video and include an informational tour of the facility. The tour will cover topics such as where does our trash go; how to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost to achieve Zero Waste; how to recycle correctly; and the importance of buying recycled products. Due to the timing of the facilities operations, we will need to start right at 11 am to ensure we see the sorting of cans and bottles. For more information or to RSVP, call 720-564-2223 or you email Stacy Swank Lambright at ssswank@yahoo.com).

I usually try to stick with activities in the city of Longmont but this seemed fun and Boulder County related so I'm posting it :) Would you like to see area activities that might not be in our city? I won't go crazy with them (because really, who has the time?) but if there are any I find interesting enough that I would drive to get there then maybe I'll go ahead and post them....

Safer Toys

Ok, so this isn't specific to Longmont, of course, but it interests me as a mom so I thought you might like to know about it too! We've all heard about the massive toy recalls lately - mostly China-made toys and mostly because of lead paint issues. Well, this site - http://www.coolmompicks.com/safertoy07/ - put together a list of safer toys either because they're made out of organic material or made in the USA. And, if you're a penny pincher like me and your first thought is "organic? Yeah, I'd love to be greener but I don't have a lot of green" then this list will be a pleasant surprise for you - they have a bunch of discount codes at the bottom! And, while I'd love for you to spend your money in Longmont instead of on the web, I still think you should check it out - might give you some great ideas for Christmas presents! :) Enjoy!

Renewable energy

Ok, so this post is a little different than previous ones in that it's not an event or activity for your child, but it still relates to them. After all, we want them to enjoy the Earth and all its beauty as much as we have, right? Did you know you can sign up for renewable energy from Longmont Power? Here's the blurb from this week's city newsletter:

"Enhance our environment by subscribing to Longmont Power & Communications’ renewable energy. Using as little as 100 kilowatts of renewable energy per month for one year is equivalent to planting a half-acre of trees or not driving a gas-powered car for a distance of 2,400 miles! Learn more about enhancing our environment by subscribing to LPC’s renewable energy at www.ci.longmont.co.us/lpc or by calling 303-651-8386."

It adds a tiny bit more to your electric bill - 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour so just $1.50 extra per month per 100 kilowatt hours. You can find out how many kilowatt hours you used last month on your bill. Sign up! An extra $1.50 (or more if you can) will make a difference! If we all take small steps we can change the world!