Environment Pictures
Enviroment Stories
This spring, homeowners in Lyndale waiting to execute garden and landscaping plans have an extra incentive for incorporating projects that will help prevent polluted storm water runoff. The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District is offering grants to any public or private property in the district looking to enhance water quality through rain-garden landscaping, native shoreline plantings, or pervious pavement installation. Nearly half of the neighborhood (the southeast side) falls into the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. For more information on these grants and other clean water practices visit http://www.minnehahacreek.org/
At it’s November meeting the Environment Committee took a look to see how it did on its work plan for 2012 and to look ahead to what the committee wanted to accomplish in 2013.
The past year has been a successful year for the committee. As a team they continued to take care of the Blaisdell Raingarden, starting with a big clean-up in the spring with volunteers from St. Olaf. If you haven’t been up to the rain garden recently, you should stop by and check it out, it’s a nice green space located on the corner of 32nd and Blaisdell that is intended as a respite for the whole neighborhood.
The easiest way to enjoy the Lyndale Garden Tour is to go. Pop in at the LNA office for your ticket (and extra raffle entries), then show up at the designated time and place. Stroll about Lyndale, admiring neighbors’ creative skills. A sheetmetal pathway? Classical fountain, heirrloom veggies, Koi, or chickens? It’s all here in the ‘hood. The only way to see these inspired gardens is to GO. Treat yourself to the Tour next year, including the after-party and raffle. BEEN there six times.
Helping to organize the tour is almost as easy. It’s a “divide and conquor” project, and LNA’s Environment Committee makes sure no one is overwhelmed. Just make a timeline, list tasks, do them, click “send.” DONE that, too.
The City of Minneapolis has expanded the number of items that can be recycled curb-side at residences throughout the City. In order to better inform residents, the City has partnered with Eastside Food Co-op to conduct community education meetings throughout the City. The meetings will be held May through August, and the tables below shows the meetings currently scheduled. For additional meetings, or changes in the schedule, check Eastside Food Co-op’s website, under plastics recycling: www.eastsidefood.coop.
The Lyndale Environment Committee has been busy this spring. The majority of their time has been spent on cleaning up gardens in the neighborhood and in getting ready for this year’s garden tour.
In April, the Committee worked with St. Olaf on their day of service to get the Blaisdell Rain Garden all set up for the spring. Although you can tell it was a little cold in the picture, what you can’t tell is how much work they put in. Altogether they took out around 25 bags of yard waste out of the garden. Each year St. Olaf students and alumni work with the Environment Committee and Youth Farm on getting neighborhood gardens ready for spring.
The sixth Annual Lyndale Garden Tour is scheduled for Thursday evening, the 12th of July!
This year’s gardens will include some which have never been seen before, plus others which have changed or matured significantly since being on previous tours. They offer ideas for our climate –not the zone 9 gardens on TV! All are examples of “reality landscaping” for our environmental concerns, problem solving, or flashy looks.
Tickets for the event are $8 in advance and include one free raffle, socializing, tidbits, and libations afterwards. They are available anytime from the LNA staff, at the Lyndale monthly meetings, and at Fish Fest. Tickets purchased at the start of the Tour will be $10.
Interested in having your own plot in the Pleasant Avenue Community Garden? We're in the process of filling our plots for this year's growing season and there are a few plots still available, contact Tim at tim@usiwireless.com or Norma at norma@lyndale.org 612.824.9402 x 15 to sign up for a plot or to get your name on the waiting list.
The Environment Committee is getting ready for a very busy spring. At our last meeting in March the committee started to get ready for Litter Outta Lyndale, which will take place on Saturday, May 5th from 10 am to 1 pm. Litter Outta Lyndale is a great chance to get the neighborhood all spiffed up for the summer. This is a great chance for you to volunteer to spend a couple of hours making the neighborhood look a lot nicer. All you have to do is come to the office, pick up a garbage bag, gloves, and a route and head out and pick up some of the winter gunk lying about.
The 2012 Yard Waste Season will begin the week of April 9! Beginning this year all bagged yard waste must be in compostable bags. Acceptable bags include Kraft (paper) bags and compostable plastic bags. Compostable plastic bags should clearly state that they meet ASTM D6400 standards for composting and be marked as compostable. Biodegradable or degradable bags do not meet state law. Watch for the logos below to find bags that meet standards required under law.
A special yard waste collection for City of Minneapolis’ Solid Waste and Recycling customers has been scheduled. All customers are encouraged to properly prepare and set out yard waste on Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 by 6 a.m.
Properly prepared yard waste will be collected Wednesday, December 7th through Friday, December 9th. Yard waste crews will not follow typical collection days. All yard waste must be at the Solid Waste Collection Point on December 7th, 2011 by 6 a.m. to be collected.
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About Lyndale Environment Activities
LNA's Environment Committee works to help create a more sustainable neighborhood. The Committee helps to maintain several garden lots, organizes programs to help people improve the energy efficiency of their homes and businesses, and organizes several neighborhood clean-ups a year.
The committee normally meets on the first Tuesday of the month from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the LNA offices (3537 Nicollet Avenue) for more information contact Jennifer at 612.824.9402 x 12.
Upcoming Events
Join us for an afternoon of great food and fun games. We'll be serving all of your favorite homemade, slow-cooked, mouthwatering BBQ favorites with some interesting twists and a few surprises. We'll also have some fun backyard games and interesting drinks to get summer off to a great start. This is a family-friendly event that you should come really hungry to!
Join us at the May General Membership meeting to hear from Minneapolis Mayoral candidates Mark Andrew & Cam Winton, learn about the noise mitigation process for the I35W Access project, and Avenues for Youth. We will also be having a community vote on a request from Teen Challenge for a variance for expansion of services.
Monthly Committee Meeting for the LNA Environment Committee. The Environment Committee meets on the first Tuesday of the Month.
Join us for one of the best Lyndale events of the year.
Recent Environment Stories
Volunteer Special
Neighborhood Beautifiers:
On Saturday, May 4th from 10am to 1pm LNA's Environment Committee will host its annual Litter Outta Lyndale. This event brings neighbors together to pick up the debris uncovered by the melting snow. Come to the Lyndale Community Center (3537 Nicollet) anytime between 10-1 and enjoy some breakfasty treats, get a bag, gloves, and a route and pitch in for this great neighborhood clean up. Contact jennifer@lyndale.org or 612-824-9402 ext. 12 for more information.
Resource Links
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The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization is one of about three dozen watershed organizations in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.
