Healthy Community Update #164
June 30, 2008
Local
Active Communities News
-Sarah Panken
This past weekend I visited one of my favorite places: Chicago. I always enjoy going to the Windy City for the great restaurants, museums, and shopping, but perhaps my favorite part of the visit is when we park the car. After we dodge traffic on I-94, inch along scenic Lakeshore Drive, and fight for a suitable parking spot, we ditch the car for the entire weekend. Instead we walk, bike and use public transit to get where we want to go. For me, using active transportation gives me a birds eye view and a better appreciation of a community. On the two mile walk from a restaurant in downtown Chicago to where we were staying, we met people walking friendly dogs, listened to part of a concert, laughed at children playing in a sculptured fountain, and stopped to dance a little Salsa. All of this spontaneous fun would not have happened if we’d been in a car. And cities like Chicago make it so easy to choose active transportation because the accommodations are in place. But this didn’t happen overnight; communities, including Chicago, spend years on creating active living environments. While not all communities are alike, each has the potential to become more walkable and bikeable and you can help make it easy for residents in your hometown to choose active transportation. This edition of the Active Michigan Communities Newsletter has some great ideas to help you get started.
Allen Street Farmers Market
- Hollie Hamel
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
2:30 - 7:00pmHOW could I have not mentioned Jane from AppleSchram Orchards in these recent mailings! (AppleSchram was one of those initial farms in 2004; who came into town trusting that we could pull a rabbit out of a hat to create a viable neighborhood market.) Please be sure to stop by her booth for sweet or hot Italian Brats/Sausages to compliment your summer grilling, and pass her a compliment while you're at it.
If you stopped by last week's Strawberry Festival, you're probably out of berries by now. Felzke Farms plans to bring more this week! The (2) Vangs have also been bringing local berries plus their delicious green onions, greens, and beautiful flowers. Wes of Clark Sugarbush will be offering a wonderful variety of potted herbs and beautiful perennial butterfly bushes. Pick up some of Green Eagle's swiss chard and kale fresh from the garden! ELFCO is bringing sweet cream biscuits from Zingermans, and offering samples of Chocolate Peppermint Peanut Butter from Traverse City! Wildflower has the best fresh parsley on the planet, and Giving Tree brings organic French radishes and fresh and dried herbs for your cooking needs. The Nodding Thistle Farm is also certified organic, and will offer lots of shell, flat & sugar snap peas! Mooville Dairy has local no-sugar-added ice cream (vanilla, mint & butter pecan) as well as many other regular ice cream flavors. Alice's Kitchen will bring free-range beef, chicken and turkey sausage, whitefish, walleye and yellow perch. Green River Cafe will feed us with hummus avocado sandwiches and delicious prepared salads. Kathy Kuhn's hand crafted items and Kathleen Parker's all natural bug spray and sunblock are things we can't be without. Kimi Danford will return with raspberry dessert sauces, blueberry sauces, and chocolate fudge, too!
ANC's guest organization in the Big Tent this week is the the Foster Branch of the Capital Area District Library. Stop by their table in the Big Tent to learn more about their scope of programs for all ages. You will continue to find the ANC Outreach Team promoting breast health with samples of delicious cancer-fighting foods, ANC Program info, the Food Chatter Table, Kid's Table.
Whew! When you've strolled through all of that, head over to the Cafe to sit, rest, and enjoy the scene.
A very big THANKS to the Yard Sign Corps!
See you at the Market!
Warm Regards,
Hollie
Latest Evaluation Tools
-Karah Maninan
Here are some documents that will help evaluate trails, parks, and farmers markets. Click here
Journey to Sustainability
- Terry Link
Special events (including several walks) are being planned for fall at MSU in conjunction with a "Journey to Sustainability" day or week. These include: (edited list)
- Sanford natural area walk
- Campus Tree walk
- Journey to sustainable architecture
- Museums
- Hort Gardens
- Resource fair (possibly tied to movement/fitness)
- Celebrity wheelbarrow race
- Harvest walk to Student Organic Farm (Laura –see below))
- Bike rickshaws, skateboards, scooters, roller blades
- Vegetable oil cars, electric vehicles, unicycles, stilts
- Tie to “journeys” : a “journey toward health”
- Sessions on alternative movements for health – Tai Chi, yoga, dance, etc.
- Provide maps for walking, hiking, cycling see www.re-news.net/map - raise awareness of the campus walking maps developed by CPP during Summer 2007.
- Crop Walk
- Find out what’s on at Wharton, School of Music, Museums, that week that might relate
- push the sustainability theme which has lots of components including health (physical and mental), economic (life cycles, local farming), social (arts and humanities), operations (organic farm, recycling), etc.
- I would also be willing to work with one of two others to showcase non-motorized forms of transportation on campus the week of Sept 15th (e.g., bicycle taxis, skate boards, in-line skates, canoes, etc.)
- use the H4U registration system to “register” people for events/talks/etc.
Contact Terry if you'd like to get involved in some way. link@msu.edu
Walking Club at the Harris Nature Center
-Kit Rich
Walk your way to strong bones, toned muscles and a healthy heart! The Harris Nature Center has organized a Walking Club that meets once a month at a different park for a guided walk. Drop-in walkers are welcome for $2/person/walk.The next scheduled walk is Saturday July 19 at 9 am at North Meridian Road Park, 5191 North Meridian Road Park. Please call (517) 349-3866 to receive a registration form and a list of walk dates.
Regional Growth "Health" Principles
- Janine Sinno
Janine recently shared a few of the core "health related" principles developed through the "Regional Growth Project" -- one of the region's most inclusive, regional, and collaborative vision and planning initiatives.
There's a lot we agree on.... click here
Common Ground Music Festival
- Andrea Reagan
Are you ready for a hot summer and cool nights?
A Residents' Guide for Creating Safe & Walkable Communities
- Janine Sinno
Researchers Discover Details Smaller Than Minutiae
- The Onion
PASADENA, CA—A team of Caltech scientists announced Monday that they have discovered a type of conversational detail smaller than minutiae, the class of particulars long thought to be the smallest possible building blocks of mundanity.
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