Appalachia--Science in the Public Interest

ASPI Celebrates 35th Anniversary

ASPI announces our 35th anniversary. Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest was founded on Earth Day in April of 1977. Our roots actually go back to 1971 with the founding of the original Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in Washington DC. Our founder, Al Fritsch was one of the three original co-founders of CSPI including James Sullivan and Michael F. Jacobson (CSPI’s current executive director). Al and James had both come from Ralph Nader’s Center for the Study of Responsive Law and Mr. Nader and his sister Claire remain supporters of ASPI to this day. The idea of appropriate technology was very new in the early 70’s. When Al Fritsch founded ASPI he did so with the hope that other regional “Science in the Public Interest Groups” would spin off of CSPI. In Al’s words however, “That was never the case.” This illustrates the point that ASPI occupies a unique niche even after 35 years.

I would like to kick off our anniversary year by taking my hat off to our staff, board, former directors and our supporters. Thank you. If it wasn’t for you we would not have made it this far. Not least of all, we would like thank Al, a true pioneer of conscientious and meaningful change. I am asked frequently what he’s up to. He is still writing and working with Earth Healing (www.earthhealing.info). He has been pastoring Saint Elizabeth Catholic Church in Ravenna, KY. I visited him there in May of last year. He showed me around his garden and gave me a great tip for keeping the rabbits out with hot mustard plants. I had to admire his energy as he enthusiastically shared his plans to create a fruit orchard with a pond and other improvements right there beside his parish on the church grounds. That’s what Al does. He’s always working at creating a better world. In his honor, that’s what we’re going to keep doing too.

I encourage our readers to revisit Al’s “ASPI Milestones.” He compiled ASPI’s accomplishments for our 25th anniversary in 2002 (his last year as director). You can find those milestones on our “Appalachian Alternatives Newsletter” issue #71, spring 2002. Recently looking at his compilation of the first 25 years, I’m excited to add the past 10 years to the list. Look for the continued “ASPI Milestones” in our spring newsletter.

UPCOMING EVENTS

2012 Sustainable Energy
Training Series

The Kentucky Solar Partnership will be hosting the following workshops at the Franklin County Cooperative Extension Office in Frankfort. Who should attend: building contractors, electricians, plumbers, engineers, architects, and anyone interested in working in the solar energy field or using solar electric or solar thermal systems in their home or business.

May Classes with Instructor Chris LaForge, ISPQ Certified Master Trainer for Solar PV
Introduction to Solar Photovoltaics – May 8th & 9th. 8:30am – 5:00pm. Fee: $275
Solar Site Assessments & PV System Design – May 10th. 8:30am – 5:00pm. Fee: $140
Solar PV & the National Electrical Code – May 11th. 8:00am – 4:00pm. Fee: $140

June Classes with Instructor Bill Guiney, Johnson Controls, Inc.
Introduction to Solar Water Heating – June 5th & 6th. 8:30am – 5:00pm. Fee: $275
Status of the US Solar Industry & New Technologies – June 7th. 8:30am – 12:00pm. Fee: $100

July Classes with Instructor Chris LaForge, ISPQ Certified Master Trainer for Solar PV
Advanced Solar Photovoltaics – July 10th, 11th, & 12th. 8:30am – 5:00pm. Fee: $415

For more detailed information you can download a Workshop Guide, visit www.kysolar.org, download a registration form or call the Kentucky Solar Partnership at 502-227-4562 to request a registration form.

ASPI Statement on the Real Promise
of Renewable Energy in Kentucky

The Kentucky Solar Energy Guide
For more information please use the above link

The Kentucky Solar Energy Guide is a comprehensive resource for those interested in using solar energy in Kentucky. The Second Edition contains updated chapters on financial incentives, renewable energy and green building professionals in Kentucky, a new case study, and an updated cover!

Non-Timber Forest Products Workshop
Using Your Woodlot to Increase Farm Income

Turn your woodlot into extra cash without cutting down your trees; with Agroforestry. Learn about growing mushrooms, medicinal plants, fence posts, fruits & nuts, fuel wood, craft materials, maple syrup, honey & bee products and more!
Deborah Hill of U of K Dept. of Forestry - speaker.

EVERYONE WELCOME! *

Special Offering! Tom Mills , Agricultural Agent from Rockcastle Co. Extension Office, will talk about understanding your soil test results, and about how to get involved with your local Farmer’s Market.

When: Thursday March 22, 2012 Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: ASPI - 50 Lair St., Mt. Vernon, KY 40456 606-256-0077
Who: Grow Appalachia Project, Nancy Seaberg—Coordinator nseaberg@a-spi.org

* Free for Grow Appalachia Participants, Small Fee for General Public



ASPI and Grow Appalachia

The Appalachian Community Gardening and Food Security Project, better known as Grow Appalachia, is sponsored by John Paul DeJoria of Paul Mitchell Hair Salons and dedicated to helping Appalachian families plant a healthy future for themselves and their communities by:
• Providing them with skills and resources to grow sustainable, nutritious food.
• Teaching them how to prepare and preserve food in a healthy way.
• Empowering them to share their knowledge in the community.
• Creating programs to provide food to elderly and disabled residents in need.
• Developing local farmers markets to sell surplus food.

ASPI is proud to be one of 15 grant Grow Appalachia recipients for the year of 2012, allowing us to bring this very worthwhile project to Rockcastle County. Priority has been given to low-income and multi-generational households, though we have welcomed all interested gardeners, and/or potential gardeners. The project’s goal of assisting local families to become more self-reliant in healthy, sustainable food production is an important one, made more so in this current, troubling economy.

The Grow Appalachia Project is coming along nicely. We have over 40 families who are interested in having a family garden or becoming members of a community garden. Grow Appalachia provides some of these project participants with supplies to prepare and maintain their gardens as well as inform them through monthly workshops in basic gardening and food preservation skills. Some participating families will be provided with seeds and starter plants, hand tools, fertilizer & soil amendments, as well as some canning equipment, as needed. A new project tiller purchased from Earth Tools will be available to participants. Soil testing will be done through the Extension Office and paid for with grant funds.

We have received generous support from the Rockcastle County Healthy Communities Committee as well as several businesses. The local schools are actively involved in growing starter plants and some of the high school students will also be volunteering labor to the project. The mayor’s office has had us on his regular local radio show (WRVK) and the local newspaper, the Mount Vernon Signal, has run articles about the project. We are pleased to have so much local support and believe this is a great opportunity for ASPI as well as the local community. A great way for ASPI to celebrate this 35th anniversary year!

Nancy Seaberg is the project coordinator; Mark Spencer is doing the video recording of the community garden site and Jack Keiffer will be assisting in the ASPI demonstration garden plot. Thanks to director, Alan Whetsel, for getting the garden site at the ASPI office enlarged and improved to allow it to be one of two community garden sites for the project.

Please check out our Grow Appalachia program link for more information about what Grow Appalachia is doing for the people of Appalachia. If you would like to contribute in some way, please contact Nancy at the ASPI office; 606-256-0077; nseaberg@a-spi.org.

Watershed News

Winter is the time of year when we catch up and plan for the coming spring and summer. This year, ASPI is working with Upper Cumberland Watershed Watch, focusing on revamping our training protocols and making sure that all our citizen volunteers have fresh supplies and replacement equipment. The Rockcastle Regional group will be focusing on former drinking water springs in our watershed, most still in use but officially unmonitored now since city water has been brought in.

ASPI continues to work with local citizens and organizations to monitor the proposed US Forest Service's Crooked Creek Vegetation Management project. USFS would allow logging and the use of herbicides above a local spring and bottling plant at Climax, KY. Many people depend on this source for drinking water, as well as homeowners on the Clear Creek side of the ridge who have their own developed springs, so the impacts of this proposal are of importance.

Rockcastle Karst Conservancy and ASPI are collaborating on the installation of a modern composting restroom facility at Great Saltpetre Preserve. In the next month, we will begin to tour and demonstrate dry toilets and greywater set-ups from homemade to commercial construction.

ASPI is also pleased to be collaborating with the Rockcastle Board of Eduction and Rockcastle County Solid Waste Program to provide an educator, Wanda Hammons, to work in our three elementary schools on clean water and recycling issues. Our kids are the future, and the more information they have, the better able to make good environmental decisions in the future! If you want to find out more about, or take part in, any of the activities above, please contact Deb Bledsoe - 513-200-6352, debcaves@yahoo.com

Nature Center Update

The first phase of repairs have been completed at the Nature Center building and final clean-up is underway. We expect to begin scheduling programs this spring in our new and improved building. The popular Appalachia Forest Ecology program will again be working primarily with 3rd grade students, assisting them with preparation for the standardized 4th grade science testing. We are investigating the possibility of teaming up with the local PRIDE education program in order to stretch our funds and allow us to reach more students with our combined programs. Stay tuned for updates!

2012 Simple Lifestyle Calendars Are Here!

Appalachian Elders

One thing we all share, within and outside the mountains, is this mystery of aging, this journey from cradle to grave. Wisdom has no better channel than the Elders of our communities. Our 35th edition Simple Lifestyle Calendar features striking photographs from several talented artists, and various ways in which to celebrate nature and the Simple Life. Commemorate with us the many facets of our mountain Seniors and their unique Appalachian heritage.

DOWN ON THE RIVER
by Jack Kieffer

You have probably heard the music of the spring peepers both in the spring and in the fall. The birds also give us a wonderful music that can remind us of Who made them. There is quite a chorus of many other little ones in the summer. Now that most of these are quiet with the colder weather, we can hear new sources of music from nature. We have the gentle little brooks with their unique music, like water being poured into a glass with ice cubes. After a rain the volume of water increases and the volume of the sound also increases. The many little brooks pouring into the Rockcastle River cause it to rise and swish around fallen trees and change from a lazy river to a rushing stream. But the gentle brook can be a pleasant and peaceful sound that can soothe and relax. A walk along a brook can be a wonderful way to enjoy the changing music it produces as it tumbles over different stones and as it falls farther here and less far a ways up the hillside. It can be very healing to the body and the soul. Another kind of music comes from the trees as the wind blows through them, it can be a very quiet whisper when the wind is a gentle breeze. As the wind increases in speed, the gentle breeze can turn into roar and sound like a train going by right next to you. The wind, which is the air moving, can do many things, both good and destructive. It can keep us cool in the summer and can make us too cool in the winter. The wind can also be very powerful, rooting up the trees and most everything in its path. Our Creator can get our attention with His wind, if we forget about our neighbor and Him.