Please Support the ‘Energy Elves’ - Volunteer or Donate!

Here from today's Sun GazetteIf you're interested in the next Arlington Energy Masters aka "Energy Elves" volunteer training program partnered between Cooperative Extension/ACE/AMEN please call:
ACE at 703 228 6406 or VCE at 703 228 6400

Conservation Group Seeks Support for ‘Energy Elves’

The homes of 16 Arlington families living in the Marbella Apartments received an early holiday present – energy and water efficiency improvements provided by “Energy Elves,” the Arlington Energy Masters volunteers trained by Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (ACE) and Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE). 

A large group of the volunteers spent 154 hours collectively helping the residents conserve energy and water by installing compact-fluorescent light bulbs, power strips, and outlet and light switch gaskets; sealing cracks and leaks around windows and doors; and converting to low-flow aerators and showerheads. 

The program was developed specifically to support families living in affordable housing buildings throughout our community.

“The energy program not only helps to make our apartments more energy efficient by reducing energy costs, but it also provides education on how to conserve energy,” said  Shanette Yao, resident-services coordinator at Marbella Apartments, which is managed by the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing.

ACE has set a goal to raise $15,000 and secure 300 donations by Dec. 31 to support the Arlington Energy Masters program and ACE’s other conservation and sustainability initiatives. 

For information, see the Web site at www.arlingtonenvironment.org.

Extension Master Gardener Blog Posts

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Garden Professors Blog Invitation: Spreading the Word About Research-Based Gardening Information Posted: 18 Dec 2012 12:53 PM PST Having had the opportunity to meet many of you when I give talks or conduct demonstrations, I know how passionate master gardeners are about spreading research based information. With that in mind we’re asking you to help us spread the word about the Garden Professors blog and the new Garden Professors Facebook page we are putting together. Our group includes Linda Chalker-Scott from Washington State, Holly Scoggins, from Virginia Tech, Bert Cregg, from Michigan State, and myself, Jeff Gillman from University of Minnesota. You can read more about how the Garden Professors blog got started  in our eXtension feature article Our goal is to engage the public around research based gardening and horticulture We cover topics from new trends, flowers, trees (and tree care), while also debating hot issues such as compost tea, using native vs. exotic plants in the landscape, or GMOs.  While there are many differences in gardening across the U.S or even internationally, we find there is a lot of common ground (sometimes even literally) that science can help us understand about how to grow plants. For example, did you know that adding gravel to the bottom of your containers does NOT improve drainage? Adding Gravel to Increase the Drainage? Not so, says the Garden Professors Facebook Page Adding to the Facebook page example above, here are just a few examples of topics we’ve covered on our blog this week: Planting Edibles in the City (contemplating favorite edible plants that would work well in cities) Why Oh Why? (Trees) buried alive (another example of trees being planted too deeply) Closing the Loop (how MSU food waste compost helps grow greens for dining halls) Eternal [gardening] optimist (sometimes we just can’t resist the urge to try some plants) And in the future you can look to see more current events, issues,  and questions addressed, aimed at keeping you up-to-date with reliable, research based gardening information. Please stop by our blog or our Facebook page (where we think the comments are just as fun to read as the posts)….And let us know, what questions do you have about gardening that you’d like to see discussed on the Garden Professors blog? Jeff Gillman Associate Professor Department of Horticultural Science University of Minnesota

Interested in developing GreenSTEM?
Get Connected with Environmental Educators in Northern Virginia with NoVA Outside!

NoVA Outside Networking and Professional Development Event for Environmental Educators - Friday January 25

Guest Speaker: Vince Meldrum - Vice President of EarthEcho International


Register now at http://goo.gl/VFTQp

When: Friday January 25, 2013

Time: 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

1952 Gallows Road
3rd floor conference room
Vienna, VA

This event will include:

• NoVA Outside’s business meeting to shape the future of this soon-to-be 501C3
• Discussion of NoVA Outside's 2013 events for students and educators
• Networking lunch
• Guest Speaker: Vince Meldrum, Vice President of EarthEcho International talks about organization development and fundraising
• This will be the first of four quarterly NoVA Outside networking events

Early bird registration http://goo.gl/VFTQp - now thru Jan 11th

December 2012 Calendar

Cooking Matters Program Leads to Healthy Changes

Jennifer completed two Cooking Matters courses in November. This popular program is the one in which participants attend six weekly classes where they receive a nutrition lesson, cooking instruction, and a bag of groceries featuring the ingredients for the recipe prepared in class. On November 26 she and Hareg Tecklu completed a Cooking Matters for Adults course at Ruby Tucker Family Center and on November 30 she and Shazell Robinson completed a Cooking Matters for Kids course at Mt Vernon Community Center.


Both programs had 15 participants each and both were in Alexandria. If you know of a site that could benefit from this course contact Jennifer Abel.

New Program in the Making

Family & Consumer Sciences agents are developing programming to teach healthy lifestyles for people with type 2 diabetes in Arlington.  The program, Balanced Living with Diabetes, was developed by Virginia Tech researchers in the Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise Department.  It is aimed at teaching people how to manage blood glucose better by improving their eating and physical activity habits.

Katie and Jennifer are in the planning process now and look forward to piloting classes in the spring.

The Mission in ANR Involving Four Basic Program Areas

The Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension program will focus on core mission messages in
2013.  Our basic programs fall within the areas of Urban Agriculture, Sustainable Landscape Management Practices, Urban Forestry, and Natural Resource Conservation with much overlap in these four areas. Our support for the Tree Stewards volunteers helps to support the Urban Forestry canopy mission.  The work of these trained volunteers, provides the backbone for a package of public education that promotes concepts of the right tree, right place and correct pruning and planting  techniques. Tree Stewards will begin their annual volunteer training course on February 13th.   Applications are available at their website at www.treestewards.org    

The Arlington Regional Master Naturalists will again be offering a spring training class for members interested in working to protect and promote good management practices for our green space natural resources. Engaged in outreach that reaches from water quality monitoring to native plant sales, and bringing wildlife to schools, this growing group of volunteers has been supported and sponsored by Extension for the past 5 years.  For more information about their activities and programs see: www.armn.org

VCE Master Gardeners are the arms of Extension ANR outreach that encompass Sustainable Landscape Management practices and urban agriculture education. ANR provided 112 public programs on these subjects during 2012.  With the recently completed 2012 training class completed, the program is safely moving forward on a new fall training rotation.  We are so pleased to be looking forward to the following events:    March: Arlington Home Show and Landscaping Expo,   April: Alexandria Earth Day; MGNV Plant Sale; the opening of our fifth farmer’s market plant clinics and our fifth demonstration gardens.  In 2013, we will offer new online course resources.  Look for our series at the Arlington Public Schools Adult Continuing Education classes in the spring and the new U.S. Botanical Garden curriculum-based, Landscaping for a Sustainable Yard beginning on January 19th. For more information about this series or any of our fine public education offerings go to our website or to the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia website at:  www.mgnv.org

Kids get a Dose of Reality

Every year FCS agent Jennifer Abel and the Master Financial Education Volunteers conduct several Kids Marketplace and Reality Store events to help teach children and teens about smart money management skills.  In these hands-on simulations, students receive hypothetical family situations and a monthly income.  They visit a series of stations (housing, transportation, entertainment, groceries, clothing, personal care, medical, etc.) and make decisions about how to spend their money.

The goal of the exercise is for the participants to take care of the needs of their hypothetical families without running out of money while also putting some money into savings.  Kids Marketplace is for elementary school students while Reality Store is for teens in middle and high school.

These events have been very popular this fall.  In November, staff and volunteers led a Kids Marketplace for 71 students at Barrett Elementary School, a Reality Store for 347 eighth graders at Hammond  Middle School, and a Reality Store for 25 teens from military families from around the country who assembled for a conference at the Crystal City Sheraton.

Participants learn a great deal at these events as evidenced by the evaluations that they complete. Many cite the importance of saving, gaining a greater understanding for what their parents have to deal with, and the importance of planning before having children as key lessons that they learn.  Many more events will be held in 2013 so if you are interested in volunteering (requires no preparation work before the event) please contact Jennifer Abel: jabel@vt.edu.