April 2023 * No 16

Dear Sustainable Silverton supporters,

 Hello April


In this issue . . .

1) IMPORTANT UPDATE on Recycling Cartons

2) BOTTLE DROP Fundraiser

3) EVENTS - Save the Date!

4) Get Control of Weeds Now

5) Repair Fair a huge success!

6) Know Your Farmer

7) News from the Silverton Fire Department’s,
 “FIRE PREVENTION SPECIALIST” 

8) Electrify Now and Rewiring America 

Sustainable Silverton, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization,

would appreciate your donations. 

Mail a tax deductible check to:

Sustainable Silverton,
1205 Tenino Dr., 

Silverton, OR 97381 

Or, you can now donate through our website

 HERE (Paypal)

In addition, we are using BottleDrop to raise funds
(see article below)

Your donations help to keep Sustainable Silverton afloat!

Please consider signing up on one of our action teams

that benefit the overall Silverton community!


♻Thanks to our March 2023  Farmers Market volunteers ❤


Booth Volunteers: Diana Penley, Kelley Morehouse, 

Driver: Steve Slemenda

  

Please sign up to volunteer at one of our Saturday markets. It's a great way to

meet your neighbors and support our recycling and outreach efforts!


If you would like to sign up to help? 

Email: sustainablesilverton@gmail.com,

Attn: Kelley Morehouse

♻  Recycling Corner  ♻


Important Update on Recycling Cartons

Regretfully, Sustainable Silverton can no longer recycle your cartons.

However, please stop by our Farmers Market booth and we can give you

a shipping label to mail your cartons to the address below.

GFL 

645 W 53rd Place

Denver CO, 80216

For More Information:

https://www.recyclecartons.com/consumer/what-to-do-when-your-city-doesnt-recycle-cartons/

Sign the Carton Council Petition to let our community know you want carton recycling in Silverton

An idea  💡  !

Would you consider attending a City Council meeting to ask that the City start recycling cartons? Let us know your interest.


Help us with our ongoing fundraiser!

Pick up a blue bag from Sustainable Silverton

  

How it works

Each of our Blue bags has a Bottle Drop sticker on it with our code. Hold the label up to the code reader, wait for the light to go on, open the door, throw in the bag and you are done! Sustainable Silverton will get credit for your cans and bottles. We are grateful for your support!

Blue bags will be handed out at the first Saturday of the month Farmers Market at the Sustainable Silverton table. Or, please contact Sustainablesilverton@gmail.com to make arrangements to pick up a blue bag!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Saturday, April 8, 2023 | 11 am - 1 pm

Gardening for Birds, Bees Butterflies at the Oregon Garden

Sustainable Silverton's Action Team on 'Urban Natural Resources' has been looking for ways to develop more backyard wildlife habitat, such as birds, butterflies and native bees. They found a perfect example of an outdoor classroom at the Oregon Garden. 

The Oregon Garden has agreed to be the site of this Naturescaping Series, and Building Backyard Wildlife is the first of the series, focusing on "Gardening for Birds, Bees and Butterflies."

Marion County Master Gardener, Stephanie Hazen, will facilitate the class. Cost is the entry fee into the Oregon Garden. Garden members are free.

For more information and to register, CLICK HERE. Space is limited to 30. We anticipate that the class will be popular so sign up soon.


Silverton Food Coop Pop-Up

EARTH DAY  EVENTS - Saturday, April 22, 2023


Invasive Plant Removal

9 AM - Rotary & Sustainable Silverton:

Invasive Plant Removal and Site Restoration

Where: East end of Cowing Street at the north end of Old Mill Park at Salamander Island Overlook

What to bring: Work gloves, long sleeves, pruning shears

Oak Sapling Protection Projects

2 PM - Sustainable Silverton & Silver Falls School District:

Oak Sapling Protection Project

Where: In the new oak grove at Mark Twain Elementary School

What to bring: Work gloves

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3 PM - Sustainable Silverton & City of Silverton:

Oak Sapling Protection Project

Where: Just south of the skate park

What to bring: Work gloves

Marion County Resourcer Spring Training Course

(formerly Master Recycler program) 

STARTING Tuesday, April 25 !

The class is FREE, meals are provided during classes and field trip transport is also provided!

Download CLASS FLYER

Sign up for the class at this LINK

- by Jim Esch

The songbirds are calling, can you hear them now, do you see them? If not, a local Bird Walk at the Oregon Garden on May 20 at 8:00 am will attempt to help you do so. For the price of admission to the Oregon Garden, Ron Garst and Jim Esch will each lead small groups (10-15) on hikes identifying birds based on sightings or their songs. No previous birding experience is necessary but binoculars are helpful. Walking will be on developed trails and sturdy shoes/light hiking boots are best for comfort as well as weather-appropriate outerwear. Please note that participants will need to be on their feet for most of this time. 


The Oregon Garden lends itself to successful birding because of the diversity of the Garden’s numerous native plants and varieties of nursery stock that attract birds. Also, the several large areas of native habitats (Oregon white oak, Douglas fir forest, wetlands, ponds, marshes, and open fields and grasses) attract and support many of our local Willamette Valley bird species. There are around seventy land birds commonly found in the Willamette Valley, some as year-round residents and others as migratory visitors. Many of the smaller and colorful songbird species are returning now from wintering in Central and South America to nest and rear their young in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and foothills habitats. And several of these birds are the same you would expect to see in your home’s yard and gardens or in neighborhood community parks and natural areas. On a good day with excellent birding conditions, we could expect to see and/or hear twenty to thirty species, mostly songbirds, but possibly woodpeckers, hawks, owls and/or some waterfowl. 


Ron and Jim are both retired biologists with life-long careers with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, graduates of Oregon State University’s Fish and Wildlife Programs, and somewhat coincidentally Silverton neighbors. They both enjoy outings to the area’s National Wildlife Refuges in the Willamette Valley for birding and photography. They are both volunteers with Sustainable Silverton and are helping with ideas and activities to get people outdoors and increase their awareness of the plants and animals we all share the planet with. Several bird populations across the landscape are in significant decline and our attention to their fate is a gateway to our understanding of ways to help them. Our native bird species are like the “canary in the mine” that shows us a future we can continue to enjoy if we take the right steps.



REGISTER for the BIRD WALK HERE


GARDEN CORNER

Get control of weeds now - Eric Hammond

So many people start the gardening year like I start dinner on a Friday evening even though I know it’s going to end with takeout. If you hit your garden late, catching up is so much harder. Many of us ,when put into that situation, will use chemical controls we’ve resolved not to use . . .

Read More HERE:

Repair Fair a Huge Success!

by Kelley Morehouse

The second Silverton Repair Fair, March 11th, at the Silver Falls Library was a HUGE success! Marion County Environmental Services and Sustainable Silverton volunteers helped 48 community members repair bicycles, sharpen tools, fix small appliances and lamps, as well as help with laminating books and providing computer support.

Our bike expert, Justin Benquerel, (owner of Fall-Line Sport), generously donated his time to repair bicycles while showing community members how to make small repairs on their own.

 

“This is one of the main concepts of the Repair Fair”, said volunteer Kelley Morehouse. By teaching community members how to make their own minor repairs, they gain confidence in repairing their own items in the future. This helps keep fixable household items from being thrown away into the landfill. 

Marion County staff, Dakota Tangredi said; "The participants who passed through were incredibly grateful for the expertise and time spent advising them on their beloved items." 

Please let us know if you would like us to hold another Repair Fair in Silverton. We will be happy to create a list of fixperts and would like to make this an ongoing, bi-yearly event.

Look for upcoming Repair Fairs at the Woodburn Library (May 6)

and at the Keizer Library (May 8) 

Know your Farmer by Darrel Smith

Food is essential to life, like air and water. Food production impacts air and water quality as well as climate. The nutritional quality and purity of our food impacts our health far more than we sometimes realize. The trade offs made by the Government and large corporations are often questioned when these factors need to be balanced. An important way to take personal responsibility for this is to know your farmers. 

Beyond grass seed, hazelnuts and wine; the farms around us produce an amazing array of food. Media is filled with conflicting information about the impact of different foods and production methods. Some of that information is channeled by activists and journalists who may or may not have a balanced perspective. Other information comes from folks with their boots on the ground making it happen. Some of these folks have an international following others live just down the road. No matter how much you think you know it helps to have the perspective of conversations with real farmers. 

The Silverton Farmers market and Silverton Food Co-op both offer convenient ways to meet local farmers and look over their product. When my wife and I shop we talk with vendors about their experience with conventional and other production methods. The Farmers market is once again open every Saturday, although some producers only make periodic market days. The Food Co-op has restarted periodic Wednesday Pop-ups for both bulk food and local producers. They also both have lists of local Farmers and food producers on their websites. As part of the Sustainable Silverton efforts to connect people with local food sources I have offered to assist the Food Co-Op in updating their list as well as start a page on the Sustainable Silverton website with Bulletin board links to interested local farms. 

If you are a local farmer, or have a local favorite you think would like to be included on these lists please enter appropriate information on our farm survey form. We are starting a simple list of local farms,  But I also find the tabular format used by the Food Co-op very handy, and will simply point people to theirs rather than attempt to maintain a similar spread sheet. 

Many of the local farmers find that other sales platforms work better for them. A few work through wholesalers and place their product in the local chain stores. Many have traditional farm stands or on farm retail outlets. But if they are not on your route to town, how do you find them? Some may register on commercial directories such as Local Harvest, while others can be found on niche sites such as Real Milk, which is a campaign for real milk (raw) of the Weston A. Price Foundation. The larger raw milk producers will work through a herd share arrangement. Other common arrangements are CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and online sales. But there are other ways to find and communicate with local farmers. Use the search engine on your smart phone or home computer to help you in this search. 

While testing for this article, I found that “near me” did not return the results I was looking for as consistently as I would have thought. Certainly the search engine authors thought it would, since they typically auto finish my search with that. No; what I found worked much better was simply name the product I was looking for then append “Silverton”. 

As I poked around I realized there were a number of things the farmers could do to increase their on-line hit rate: 

● If you have a passion for how you produce the food, share it, that is part of the value you bring. 

● I applaud letting your high schoolers take responsibility for the social media face of the farm. That is an incredibly marketable skill for any young person to get today. 

● Have a Facebook page that your friends and customers can like and follow.

● Claim ownership of your farm stand address on Google maps, post pictures and details of who you are then invite customers to post reviews. 

● Maintain a website, but keep it current. 

● Include your byline, with keywords such as a lead product and “Silverton” hidden in the header text of your website. Keep it short so it shows in the search results. 

● Some professional media managers recommend mailing lists and newsletters to reach folks. While it is more work, it may reach a segment of your customers that would make it worthwhile. 

If you think of other ways we can help connect consumers with local farmers please send us an email to SustainableSilverton@gmail.com, Attention: Food & Agriculture Action Team

News from the Silverton Fire Department’s,
“FIRE PREVENTION SPECIALIST” by Kelley Morehouse 

You have probably heard the new phrases, ‘Home-Hardening’ or ‘Defending your Home’. They refer to terms for preparing your home to be fire resilient in case of wildfires. This means to mitigate full gutters, tall grasses/bushes, and wood fences next to the home that can catch fire during extreme dry seasons. 

These are some of the items that Max Hughes, Fire Prevention Specialist at the Silverton Fire Department, will discuss at an upcoming Open House event. Watch for announcements on their readerboard outside the Fire Department on Silverton Rd.; on their Facebook page; in our newsletter, or on Sustainable Silverton’s Facebook page closer later in spring. 

For those who are unable to climb ladders to change smoke detector batteries (such as senior citizens), they can get help from the Fire Department at no charge. The fire department also uses wireless blowers to clean out debris and spiderwebs from the smoke alarms that can sometimes trigger the alarms. 

Fire-evacuation plans for families or the elderly will be discussed as well as fire-preparedness for the home.

In addition, the Red Cross has donated smoke detectors for those in need as well as smoke detectors for the hearing impaired. Both are distributed and installed, if needed, by the Fire Prevention staff. 

For winter’s safety measures, Max has a term, “shelter in place,” which means when we are experiencing icy weather, just “stay home”.  For significant emergencies like a larger gas leak, warnings will be posted on the Silverton Fire Department’s Facebook page. 

Thanks to the Silverton Fire Department for their great work in the community. Please contact Max or the front office at the Fire Department if interested in obtaining a free smoke alarm. 

Submitted by Kelley Morehouse

We will be writing a follow-up article on these organizations,

Electrify Now and Rewiring America, in our next issue.

Be sure to visit their websites by clicking on their names below!

empowering everyone to create our clean energy future

An abundant world with ready access to clean, sustainable energy is entirely possible. We can all help to create this future by choosing to electrify!

is the leading electrification nonprofit, focused on electrifying everything in

our communities.

link to:

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT (IRA) SAVINGS CALCULATOR