Thursday, September 5, 2019

11 Ideas for Connecting Family with Community and Nature




Jericho, Vermont resident Bernie Paquette had a dream about Jericho and how to deepen our relationship with this place. Then another, and another and they kept rolling out suggesting ways to develop community connection, community culture. We can create places and events that draw people out of their houses and into each other's lives. Building local connections strengthens civic community.


Here are a few ways to get to know your neighbors, 
 further connect your family with community, 
and 
help heal our natural environment in the process. 



Which of the IDEAS for commUNITY below strikes your fancy? 


Together let's make it happen!

It all started when I began walking along the sidewalk to the Jericho Country Store three times a week to collect used coffee grounds for composting. (BTW the compost smells so good!) Though the posted speed limit is 25 mph, there is no curb and the greenbelt is narrow with minimal barriers between pedestrians and cars. The road traffic here seemed so obtrusive.   I envied Burlington and some of the Jericho dirt roads with their tree canopies hanging over the road giving a sense of tranquility while walking, running, biking even driving – along the shaded closed-in travel lanes. Thus, my first idea for a friendlier green curb took root.

1. Donate and Install a GREEN CURB 
In lieu of a cement curb, perhaps we can create a 
Native Perennial curb or Green curb

With approval from the Jericho town select board and a nominal grant to purchase 144 black-eyed Susan starter plants from Intervale Conservation Nursery, vision number one was off the blackboard and into the soil of Jericho. Donations from residents bolstered the initial plant purchase.

Welcome to the greenbelt, made of hard-packed fill of mostly sand and rock between the road and sidewalk.  Digging in this substrate nearly required dynamite and a pickax. Lacking a dynamite and pickax town permit, my shovel and I took up the task. 

Growing native perennials on the greenbelt raises the visual barrier between auto and pedestrian and giving notice to travelers – we are community!

*Although the desire is to plant native plants, non-native plants are also being used (in the greenbelt project) as a filler with hopes that over time they can be replaced with native plants. See the list of donations to date at bottom of this posting along with photos of some of the flowers. 
UPDATE: This project was kicked off in the summer of 2020.

2. CREATE A CANOPY
Branch out by promoting and facilitating more native tree plantings where they will create a canopy over the road and sidewalk. 

Why plant more trees? To combat climate change, for traffic calming, for town beautification, for shade, for increased home values, to attract birds, to reduce stress and anxiety, and to leave a gift for your children and grandchildren. In addition, trees maintain local water cycles, clean the soil, and clean the air, slow stormwater runoff. They help control noise and create a sense of place. 



We can do this and retain the beautiful mountain views, and open vistas that we also enjoy in Jericho. We might follow Branch Out Burlington's model. Their tag line is "Branch Out Burlington promotes a vision of a city graced by a variety of beautiful and healthy trees, and a citizenry actively involved with the expansion and preservation of our urban forest." See the list of native trees and how many insects each supports, at the bottom of this post.


3. GROW A MECCA OF NATIVE PLANTS 
Grow additional native plants on public and private land in order to draw in major volumes of butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, dragonflies, native bees, and other exciting and beneficial insects. Native plants to help heal the environment. Perhaps we might arrange a town-wide group Pre-order discount, purchase of native perennials. Perhaps offer three kit choices or a limited number of individual native VT perennials. Secondly, coordinate a VT. Native and N.E. Native (only) perennial plant sale at the Community Center (1-day event). 
UPDATE:: First Annual Community Center Vermont Native Plant Benefit Sale was held in 2020. 

Check out the native flower plantings that Sabina Ernst and volunteers planted on the bank near the Jericho Country Store. In support, perhaps the town could plant native wildflower seed instead of grass seed on town property whenever soil is disturbed. Perhaps residents and the town might support planting wildflower seeds onto the Barber Farm Circle and adjacent plot.  See my post Creating Pollinator Gardens - Let's Go Native for information updates about growing for pollinators.

4. INVEST IN QUIET 
Develop an annual town-wide 'group discount sale' of electric lawnmowers (push and ride models). Work towards becoming the town with the least (monoculture) lawn acreage in the state with the most labor- or maintenance-free landscapes by replacing lawn with native trees, shrubs, and perennials. Think paths and scatter rugs instead of wall-to-wall outdoor carpets. Then with time saved, enjoy the quiet and beauty of safe/healthy gardens, meadows, and diverse nature.

5. DISCOVER WHAT IS ALIVE IN JERICHO
Run a bioblitz:  An event in which teams of volunteers work together to find and identify all living species 
in a short continuous period, usually 24 hours. A communal citizen-science event where naturalists, and other specialists as well as any interested persons/volunteers attempt to record all living species in Jericho. 

Another goal of the bioblitz is to get more residents interested in biodiversity and perhaps more aware of the services the various species provide. The event is meant to have an air of festivity, offer the opportunity for people to meet and ask questions of experts in the plant and animal world. Also, to identify rare and unique species, as well as common ones. 

Would you join us (data-collection team) in documenting as many of the living species that we could find in Jericho within one day? Or we could pick a smaller area in Jericho like Mobbs Farm trails to monitor and observe the park, help make scientific discoveries, and record what we find over an extended time. Then use the data for environmental conservation. 

Tasks include: Collecting data, make measurements, enter data, communicate project results, recruit others to participate.

View a guide (pdf) to running a bioblitz here. View photos of children connecting with nature at the 2018 Montpelier Bioblitz here

Inaturalist, ebird, ebutterfly, Vermont Atlas of Life, Vermont Wild Bee Survey, and Bumble Bee Watch are good online resources for citizen-scientist (and for recording living species year-round). Visit my posting (click here) for more information and links to each of these. 
More info. about what motivates Citizen Scientist at bottom of this posting.


6. GUIDE FAMILIES IN NATURE 

What if parents, grandparents, and children in Jericho could meet with other families for guided walks along Jericho natural areas?  What if this new form of social/nature networking were to occur on a regularly scheduled basis? We might influence a generation of nature-loving people. All we need to do is invite them. To view photos from the past South Burlington (SBFiN) program that Bernie led, click here

Forest Bathing anyone? "A quick note about forest therapy guides - they're not guides in the traditional sense, in that they're identifying trees or sharing historical facts. Rather forest therapy guides lead participants on a quiet walk through nature, drawing them out of their heads and into their senses by inviting them to see, hear, feel, and even taste what is around them." ~ Forget Weed. Colorado's Hottest Trend is Forest Bathing article. 

Engaging with nature: It's more than just a walk in the park!


7. Roll out an ANNUAL JERICHO KICKBALL EVENT (OR Broomball)
Fun for all ages, no skill required, cultivating the fearless, trusting, fun-loving, spirit of the Jericho community. Rediscover the joy of kickball

8. Rake up a COMMUNITY LEAF-COMPOSTING PROGRAM.
Leaf mold (created by leaving leaves in a pile for 1 to 3 years) is high in magnesium and calcium and retains three to five times its weight in water, - rivaling peat moss. A town leaf-composting program could provide residents with free or inexpensive compost.  

9. Toss in a HORSESHOE TOURNAMENT
With the objective of teaching the game through demonstrations, and a tournament for newbies as well as one for polished slingers. 

10. "Scoop & Lick" a Jericho Center ICE CREAM SOCIAL
Offering Ice Cream along with a bubble-making table, Frisbees, hand-thrown balsam airplanes, and other summertime (or fall) games on the Jericho Town Green. Ice cream cones and sundaes, bobbing for apples, and other appetizing summer treats a must.

11. Share YOUR Story. 
We each have a personal story we can share about life in Jericho, our lives; funny stories, sad stories, inspirational stories, stories from the distant past, stories about change, stories about kindness given, and kindness received... Sharing our stories brings us closer together, builds compassion and understanding. Shared laughter is healthy for all. Listen to examples from Extempo here. Extempo is a more homestead alternative to The Moth (a NY nonprofit dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling).
See VT storytelling article by VT Digger at https://vtdigger.org/2020/02/14/moth-storytellers-reinforce-the-power-to-connect-through-the-spoken-word-%EF%BB%BF/

I think a storytelling venture at the Community Center would draw many folks, friends, families. I hope someone gathers initiative and builds momentum to get one going. The art is not lost, the storytellers are here among us, and the ears of many would very much enjoy hearing enriching and personal stories. We would surely enjoy rides on tales of long ago and not so long ago, from those who tell them well. 


Read here how telling our stories, even across political divides. Hearing each other's stories can create a bond across great divides. https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/11/23/healing-the-heart-of-democracy-parker-palmer/ 

Update: Bill Brisbane volunteered to tell a story for a Jericho Moth event. We need a minimum of three more folks to get this event going. 

12. Quilting Club. Organize a quilting club membership. Invest in quilting tables and other quilting equipment. Arrange for quilting club workshops, public introductory workshops, and perhaps quilting fairs at the Community Center as well as storing equipment there. Contact Maeve Kim if interested.

13. Repair Cafe / Sharing Center. A community repair shop. Contact Transition Town Jericho reps. if interested in forming such an endeavour.


Perhaps such a Repair Cafe could reduce waste, and save folks some expenses through repairing instead of replacing items. Also, just think of all those one-time-use tools you would not have to purchase.

Wikipedia defines a repair cafe as "A repair café is a meeting in which people repair household electrical and mechanical devices, computers, bicycles, clothing, etc. They are organized by and for local residents. Repair cafés are held at a fixed location where tools are available and where they can fix their broken goods with the help of volunteers. Its objectives are to reduce waste, to maintain repair skills, and to strengthen social cohesion. In 2017, the Repair Café Foundation developed an online tool - the RepairMonitor - enabling volunteers to collect and sharing knowledge about repair data via the database. In March 2018, information about almost 4,000 repairs had been entered into this system, aiming to promote reparability and durability of products. "

Good article on a 'Sharing Center': here.

13b. Sharing Center - An option to having a central sharing center location to hold tools, is to keep a list of names of folk who have tools at their home that they were willing to share with a neighbor. 

14. Community nut and fruit orchard. Ann Gnagey is actively working to establish. 

15. Build an outdoor community ice-skating rink.

16. Seed collection cooperative. Town-wide heirloom vegetable seed collection. Town-wide native perennial seed collection. 

17. Sing a song. Meet once a few times a year for a community singalong. Christmas carols, spring fever songs, Barbecue sing along. Perhaps even a Barbershop Quartet. 

18. Karokee night. 


Ideas are easy. Implementation is do-able if we are interested in taking co-ownership of making it happen. Leave a comment to me if any of these strike your fancy! 

Seeking a greater capacity to develop commUNITY,
Bernie

Stay tuned for another vision Bernie intends to explore, "Darken Jericho for dark skies". RELEASE THE STARS AND YOUR DREAMS! Read about the topic at International Dark-Sky Association, and Project Dark Skies.

I can fly without wings,
I sing like a bird,
dance like a ballerina,
hit 7 every time on the dice table,
and every chance I play the lottery
- I win.

If only I could grasp the reason why
I so often sigh,
when I awake,
and its time to
walk and talk
and work
and try.

What am I?
Dreams are a wonderful thing.

Lastly, I fully support and appreciate Ann Gnagey's progress in driving a project to grow nut trees in Jericho.  Planting dreams one tree at a time. Bravo to Ann for getting shovels in the ground and planting a dream!


"A dream, a dream!
No: no dream. Or say, a dream, certainly a dream, nothing but a dream, but only as all inventions are dreams: vivid and impalpable presences that haunt the mind's chambers, escaping now and then into the place where they take on weight and cast shadows." The Wizard of West Orange by Steven Millahuser in The Best American Short Stories - Salman Rushdie editor.



Jericho Vermont Images of Community -  Intimate, caring, and personal; reflecting the community and its stories.   Published by Bernie Paquette Follow @ https://www.facebook.com/JerichoVTImages/

*Green Curb project Thank You Katrina Allen, Patty Carroll, Bert Lindholm, Leslie Nulty, Ann & Tom Baribault, Gaye Symington, and Gail Shipman, for donations of native perennial donations to the project. Thank You, Mickey and Christy Dutcher for water from your outdoor hose line and mulch and cart repair. Thank You Sally Lacy for the use of orange safety cones. Thank You for those helping with watering including Sally Lacy, Bryant PleissSarah Brown.  Thank You Tom and Ann Baribault and Deborah and Nick Governale for the wood chips used for mulching some of the green belt plantings.








Names (and native range) of some of the plantings in the Browns Trace greenbelt include: (Bold = native to U.S.)
  • Black-eyed SusanRudbeckia hirta L. - Central U.S.
  • New England AsterSymphyotrichum novae-angliae - Eastern N.A.
  • Primrose or SundropsOenothera fruticosa - Eastern & Central N.A. 
  • Phlox - Phlox paniculata - Eastern U.S.
  • Joe Pye weed - Eutrochium purpureum - Eastern & Centra N.A.
  • Spiderwort or Spider lily - Tradescantia - Eastern U.S. 
  • Yarrow - Achillea millefolium - N.A., Europe, western Asia.
  • Hosta - Hosta ventricosta - China
  • Orange day lily - Hemerocallis fulva - China or Japan
  • Lily (various hybrids)
  • Creeping Geranium, Geranium -
  • Peony, Paeonia - Asia, Europe, Western N.A. 
  • Iris, Iris 
  • Daisy



Comments received:

Scoop & lick That sounds fun to me! We’d be interested in others as well.  I’ll stay tuned.  Great ideas!
K.K. Jericho

I love the idea of a kickball event and the horseshoe tournament! I don't know how hard it is to coordinate but a weekly gathering of either of those things would be cool too. As a mom with 2 little ones, I know both my husband and I would love to participate in things like that but can't necessarily do it at the same time since one would need to watch the kids. Maybe, if something like this does come to fruition we could organize a list to take turns supervising young kids at the events so both parents can have fun if they desire.
We have lived in Jericho for 5 years now and I love the sense of community I have found here and welcome any other options to get to know our neighbors.
J.P. Jericho

A choice to make for the Jericho community


If, we build it will they (you) come? Tell me which of 11 ideas for connecting families with community and nature you would likely participate in if a group of residents put one of these visions in place. Options include Guided Families in Nature walks, discovering what is alive in Jericho, investing in quiet, kickball event, horseshoe tournament, Scoop and Lick: Ice cream social, and others. 

Why develop any of these? To further encourage and nurture genuine relationships, trust, and a place of belonging for families in Jericho; to connect families with their natural environment, with nature and all its wonders; to add to the Jericho repertoire of annual fun family-oriented events. In addition, help heal our natural environment in the process.

Without voiced support from the community, these ideas will become like flowers without pollinators, left to fade away without producing a bounty.

You have a choice to make. Voice your support for one or more of the projects or allow the opportunity to incentivize project organizers to dissipate.

 It takes a great deal of time and energy to produce events such as the Jericho Pet Parade, and Cookie fest, and visits by Santa. Your voice can add fuel to drive more of these types of family-oriented events. View the 11 project visions at the posting listed below then tell the community via FPF, which one strikes your fancy. Which one of the 11 ideas would your family participate in if offered in Jericho Center?

Visualization + Volunteers + Participation = Community Events.

POSTSCRIPT

Sometimes Bernie's visions seem a bit warped at first.
My slightly more abstract ideas do not always (in fact seldom) germinate. However, they do sometimes get the town residents’ attention. My article titled Jericho goes Quiet caught on but I am not sure folks are quite ready to have the idea fully implemented just yet. The article starts with “The town of Jericho has set upon creating an ambitious noise ordinance. New ordinance to schedule periods of complete silence in town." One of the proposed ordinances reads “Street traffic: Roads (to be) permanently covered with open-cell foam that will have the combined benefit of silencing traffic and slowing it down. Until applied to sidewalks, walkers should wear moccasins, run barefoot.”

My proposal Unpaving Browns Trace – to bring the country back to the country brought dozens of folks out to a tar-busting event. However, we fell short of putting up a covered bridge in front of the Country Store and could not keep the cows grazing on the Jericho Center green 
 - they kept ambling over to the Country Store for cremes and slushies. However, there is still occasion from time to time to lasso goats or sheep along the sidewalk in Jericho. Read more at https://jerichovermont.blogspot.com/2017/12/i-lassoed-goat-in-jericho-vermont.html.

Creating a mountain resort in Jericho also gained some early traction only to slide down the slope into the - good ideas that never fully took off - gulley. 

A couple of ideas are still cooking and getting considerable attention from national chains. Patents are pending on Photovoltaic Chicken and Electro SyrupJericho may yet add a jolt to Maple Syrup and perhaps gain well-deserved national attention – I hope we have complete streets of native plantings by then. We want folks to know we are a community of visions with the gumption to implement them.

Plant warm hugs and native plants!
Bernie


When choosing a tree to plant consider this
list of New England Native plants

with wildlife value

and desirable landscaping attributes.

Common name/Family/Genus/       Followed by the No. of Species supported

White Oak: Fagaceae, quercus 534
Willow: Salicaceae, salix - 456
Cherry, Plum: Rosaceae, prunus 456
Birch: Betulaceae, betula 413` 
Cottonwood: Salicaceae, populus 368
Crapapple: Rosaceae, malus 311
Blueberry/Cranberry: Ericaceae, vaccinium 288
Maple, Box Elder: Aceraceae, acer 285
Elm: Ulmaceae, ulmus 213
Pine: Pinaceae, pinus 203
Hickory: Juglandaceae, carya 200
Hawthorn: Rosaceae, crataegus 159
Alder: Betulaceae, alnus 156
Spruce: Pinaceae, Picea 156
Ash: Oleaceae, fraxinus 150
Basswood, Linden: Tiliaceae, tilia 150
Filbert, hazlenut: Betulaceae, corylus 131
Walnut, butternut: Juglandaceae juglans
Beech: Fagaceae Fagus 126
Chestnut: Fagaceae castanea 125
From Bringing Nature Home, - How you can sustain wildlife with Native Plants. By Douglas W. Tallamy. Available at the Jericho Center Library.

Conifers (Species supported not noted)
Common / Latin names
Balsam Fir Abies balsamea
Atlantic White Cedar Chamaecyparis thyoides
Red Cedar Juniperus virginiana
Tamarack Larix laricina
White Spruce Picea glauca
Jack Pine Pinus banksiana
Red Pine Pinus resinosa
Pitch Pine Pinus rigida
White Pine Pinus strobus
Canada Yew Taxus canadensis
Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar Thuja occidentalis
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Reference information regarding Citizen Scientist
The study’s conclusions based on the surveys included some take-home messages for organizers of hands-on citizen science efforts:
Long-term participants tend to be motivated by a project’s mission and goals, and successful programs communicate scientific findings back to participants so that they can see their individual contribution as part of the big picture of project results.

Experienced participants focus on where they conduct their project activities, indicating that sense of place is important to volunteers.


Both new and long-term participants focused on their social interactions as a central part of project activities, suggesting that successful hands-on, citizen science combines high-quality scientific activity with building and maintaining social relationships.

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