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Movie Night: With My Own Two Wheels

Posted on May 14, 2012 by gaborzol

We are co-sponsoring a movie with Amherst Bike Week on Tuesday, May 15 in Amherst Town Hall, Town Room 2nd Floor starting at 7:00 pm.
For more information, see our flyer:
Flyer Movie With my own two wheels

Posted in Cargo Bicycling, Movies | Tagged bicycle, bike week, movie, show | Leave a comment

Transition Amherst Outings

Posted on May 14, 2012 by gaborzol

The first series of walks aimed to get to know our neighborhood, and local resources together.

Sunday May 20, 1:00 PM
Exploration of Prexy’s Ridge, an old-growth forest on the UMass campus. http://blogs.umass.edu/campbell/
This 24 acre forest in the northeast section of the UMass Amherst campus is now on the Inventory of Historic and Archaeological Assets of the Commonwealth. It contains some of the oldest trees in Amherst, because this site has never been cleared and has been a “witness” to the initial settlement of East Hadley, Amherst, and the University. Prexy’s Ridge also contains an old observatory on the top, and an old orchard on the eastern slope. Meet at parking lot #43, next to the Totman gymnasium on the UMass campus (at the corner of North Pleasant Street and Eastman Lane). Wear sturdy boots – the slope is steep! and dress for the weather. We’ll have a great time exploring and learning. Led by Elisa Campbell.

Sunday June 17, 1:00 PM
Hitchcock Center, 525 South Pleasant Street. http://www.hitchcockcenter.org
Join us for an exploratory nature walk on the trails at the Hitchcock Center at Larch Hill. We will ramble and observe and look more closely at the miracles of nature that can be found all around us! Bring binoculars and your curiosity. This will not be a strenuous walk. Ted Watt, Naturalist at the Hitchcock Center, will lead the walk. Ted is fascinated by all aspects of the natural world and enjoys wondering and thinking together with others about how it all fits together to support life.

Sunday July 8, 1:00 PM
Amherst College Sanctuary Trails. https://www.amherst.edu/museums/sanctuary/recreation
We’ll explore the woods, a small pond (where painted turtles, ducks, herons and muskrats are often sighted), a large meadow loop (full of birds), and the sweeping vista where the Amherst College ‘president’s house’ used to stand. Dress for the weather and bring your binoculars. Approximately 5 miles, but not strenuous. Meet at the trailhead at the intersection of College & Shumway Streets. Led by Dori Goldman.

Sunday July 22, 1:00 PM
Mid-summer Edible Mushroom Foraging
We will explore the mid-waters of the Amethyst and Buffam Brooks where we’ll be on the lookout for black trumpets and boletus mushrooms. Meet at the northern dead-end of Gates Rd (Meetinghouse Rd) in Pelham off of North Valley Rd. (as distinguished from the dead-end of this road on the southern end at Amherst Rd). Led by Wm Levine.

More to come…
All free, fun, and open to all

Already happened:

Sunday May 6, 4:00 PM until dusk
Many Hands Farm Corps, at Amethyst Farm, 132 Pelham Road. http://www.manyhandsfarmcorps.com
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm tour and picnic potluck. Bring something to share, a plate and utensil, a glass and something to drink, and spend the afternoon/evening enjoying the the open space, the beautiful weather, and the company of friends and neighbors. Led by Ryan Karb.

Sunday May 13, 1:00 PM
Hampshire College Farm Center, 791 West Street. http://www.hampshire.edu/academics/5728.htm
Tour of the Hampshire College Farm. Led by Leslie Cox, farm manager.

Posted in Walks | Tagged exploration, outing, walk | 2 Comments

Meetings related to a new “All Things Local” store in downtown Amherst

Posted on May 14, 2012 by gaborzol

Imagine a place where everything is made locally (from pears to pickles, sweaters to soap), where you could shop at a convenient year-round location featuring many producers and pay at a single checkout — a new “All Things Local” store in downtown Amherst.

To explore this idea we are convening community discussions at Town Hall: first a learning session, followed by a planning session. All are invited, please help spread the word (flyer attached below).

We will begin by learning from a successful model of a producer/consumer cooperative in Ohio called “Local Roots” (localrootswooster.com/). The core idea is to create a resilient local community market by employing a model with lower costs (because of significant contributions from volunteers who care about the mission) and shared-risk (items are sold on consignment, rather than taking on debt to stock inventory). The store’s design makes it

Easy for buyers to buy:
Convenient location and hours
Year-round and indoors
Ability to pick-and-choose among many local producers
Single checkout, with all the usual payment options

Easy for producers to sell:
Producers set their own price
90% of the selling price goes back to the producer where it belongs (no brokers or middle-men)
fast drop off
don’t have to be onsite (lower staffing costs)
online pre-sale bulk orders

We are particularly interested in this as a cooperative venture that supports local livelihoods and community investment. Please come if you can, and help spread the word.

Yours in cooperation,
The “All Things Local” Working Group
Bernard Brennan
Tina Clark
John Gerber
Emily Stephens
John White

Share these events:
Learning session: www.facebook.com/events/412325108789037/
Planning session: www.facebook.com/events/380079648705666/

Flyers:
Local Roots flyer

Local Roots Handout

Posted in All Things Local links | Tagged All Things Local store, local products market, Local Roots, Town Hall | Leave a comment

‘All Things Local’ Store

Posted on May 9, 2012 by gaborzol

See these flyers about creating an ‘All Things Local’ store in Amherst! Local Roots flyer Local Roots Handout

Posted in All Things Local links | 1 Comment

Test Post fromemil

Posted on April 20, 2012 by gaborzol

Posted in Blog | Leave a comment

Spring bicycle Tune-up

Posted on April 14, 2012 by gaborzol

Spring bicycle tune-up:

Saturday, April 28, 3pm – 5pm

Prepare your bike to kick off the season safely! Transition Amherst offers a free bicycle tune-up at Gabor’s Neighborhood Bicycle Resource Center on April 28th, Saturday, at 3pm – 5pm.
Don’t despair if you cannot attend the Bike Lab’s workshop on April 7th in Northampton,* or come to both if you want.
We will look at
* fixing flats,
* adjusting brakes, and gears
* overall lubrication
* fitting the bike for comfort,
* gearing both you and the bike up for non-winter riding.
The workshop is free, but please let us know if you are interested in coming, by sending and email to gaborzol@gmail.com.

Details:
Time: April 28, Saturday, 3pm – 5pm
Location: 44 Beston street, Amherst (in Gabor’s “Neighborhood Bicycle Resource Center”)

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*
The Bike Lab will be providing a workshop on April 7, 2012, 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Dynamite Space in the basement of Thornes Marketplace, 150 Main St, Northampton, for anyone wanting to learn more or share what they know about basic bike maintenance and repairs. It is free, informal, and open to the public. If you have questions about fixing flats, understanding gears, bike fit, brake adjustments, suspicious squeaks or creaks, or riding safely in traffic and in cold, the Bike Lab can come up with answers. If you have a bike, bring it. Feel free to drop in at any time during the evening. There will be tools on hand for you to use, and mechanics who can explain how things work. You can also pick up local bike maps and street smarts booklets.

Posted in Cargo Bicycling, Reskilling Workshops | Tagged bicycle, reskilling, workshop | Leave a comment

Queen of the Sun

Posted on April 5, 2012 by gaborzol

Movie Night: Queen of the Sun:

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 7:00pm until 10:00pm

What’s behind the global bee colony collapse crisis? The Queen of the Sun film takes us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive. This engaging and ultimately uplifting film explores the synergistic connection between bees and agriculture – our food source – and weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heartfelt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world including Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva. Together they reveal both the problems and the solutions in the effort to renew a culture in balance with nature.

Transition Amherst is holding a FREE screening on Tuesday, April 17 at the Jones Library. Film begins at 7 p.m. and is followed by Questions and Answers with a beekeeping expert.

Posted in Movies | Tagged bees, movie, Queen of the Sun | Comments Off

Great Unleashing

Posted on March 12, 2012 by gaborzol

This page shows information about what preparations we take on our Great Unleashing event (or Planting the Seed).

———————————
Great Unleashing Subcommittee

February 23rd

John, Rick, Betsy, Bernard, Patty

-Chatted with Tina over the phone for a bit, she will be coming to one of our meetings soon.

-The goal of this meeting is to develop a framework to strategize the great unleashing

-Outreach is a priority. We need to get our name out there

-We spent some time discussing Bernard’s proposal that we should have monthly events between now and the GU. He suggests 3 types of monthly events based on his previous experience in New Haven:

-Movie

-Skill sharing (set schedule)

-Walk (getting to know your bioregion)

If we did this, we would need to locate a venue. John will check out Unitarian space (Green sanctuary: Ann Perkins) and library. Betsy will check with the first congregational church

Some ideas: Watch the film: The economics of happiness, organize some sort of tour of CSAs? There may be a solar installation in the old landfill. We could plan a site visit with the sustainability people? We could do different walks: Historical, herbal, forest edibles.

Outreach is a big thing:

We need to do awareness raising, movement building, etc to have a successful unleashing.

We need to reach three types of people (in preparation for GU):

1. Like-minded organizations

-Talk with the leaders of groups (Schmoozing)

(including Town/University outreach: maybe this could become a working group on its own)

-Cosponsoring events (Movies, walks, etc) invite them to lead it

-Diversity outreach? Latino, African American, disadvantaged

We already have a list of groups that we can use.

2. Like-minded people (The choir)

-Monthly events

-Transition list

-Individual connection

-Growth group

3. General public: Nice if they come but they might not be a focus of our work: Student outreach? Farmer’s market, Hand out flyer, tabling, banner? Media coverage? Letters to the editor, E-mail lists, flyers, newspaper, etc.

(outreach to families, younger children?, common school, Hitchcock center, Waldorf school?). Rick wants to help create flyers for leaving information when we go out.

-Amherst sustainability festival presence: April 21st (Maybe a film that night or a speaker… getting the sustainability coordinator more involved? Maybe she can do a little presentation about sustainability plans in Amherst).

This type of reach is a build up for the actual day, but we will need publicity for the event as we get closer to the date: Flyers, press releases, valley free radio shows, etc.

Identify the venue for GU: (Gabrielle, Ophelia-?-) A public school may be a good idea. A place with separate rooms for break out sessions, and big gymnasium for bigger talks, etc.

Potential dates? What are the other events that happen in town during that time?

September 16/23/30 Saturday/Sunday?

Logistics: The day of: (Wedding planner role). Lots of stuff in this category as well. We need to divide this in some way that makes sense. Tables, chairs, food, technology, set up, clean-up. Child-care (on-site: one room- college students), Registration desk, Big board, etc. Printing signs for the break out rooms. Food: Maybe ask for donations from a vendor, ask them to come and sell their stuff.

Deciding on an MC (someone to hold the space, but also a spokesperson).

Entertainment! (sub-committee): Identify some sort of musical entertainment for the end of the evening.

Reporting the day of or day after?

Rick wrote a song for the event and we practiced a bit.

Posted in Celebrating Amherst | Tagged celebrating Amherst, great unleashing, initiating group | Leave a comment

Group Decisions

Posted on February 14, 2012 by gaborzol

List of decisions the initiating group has made, and some proposals also.

11/11/2011 We decided our mission statement is:
Our purpose is to foster vibrant and resilient community—in the face of rising energy-prices, climate change, and economic instability—by empowering one another to share our skills and gifts, and create a better life for all.

Not a decision, only a proposed group process:
Group Process in Meetings

Posted in Decisions, Initiating Group | Comments Off