We hope you're having a great summer! Coming up this month we have a great apple-themed Meet Your Greens. And next month, we'll be hosting a Night at the Ivoryton Playhouse, complete with reception and a showing of A Chorus Line (see below). Sign up soon to get our super early bird discount!
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Next Meet Your Greens: July 19th
This month we'll be talking apples with permaculture expert Tom Christopher at Middletown cidery Spoke + Spy. Learn about local apple production, sample locally brewed ciders and connect with local environmentalists. We'll also be joined by the Bread Pitt, which will be serving up sandwiches right outside Spoke + Spy, so bring your appetite!
Also, save the date for upcoming Meet Your Greens: 8/16 and 9/20:
- On August 16th, we'll be touring Smith Farm, a farm offering meaningful work to people with developmental disabilities, and providing food to the Brian House group home and the local community.
- On September 20th, Jane Harris of the Middletown Garden Club will be discussing rooftop gardening on the Community Health Center's rooftop.
For those of you not familiar with
Meet Your Greens: Middletown Green Drinks, this monthly event provides networking opportunities for anyone who is interested in making connections and exchanging news about emerging environmental issues to help keep Lower Connecticut River Valley communities green and growing. An official location of Green Drinks International, this informal monthly gathering of people drawn from the community, nonprofit groups and the business world offers time to brainstorm ideas and plant seeds for collaboration. All are welcome and there is no admission fee, unless otherwise noted. For more information, please visit our website.
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A Night at the Ivoryton Playhouse: A Chorus Line
On August 15th, Rockfall will host a Night at the Ivoryton Playhouse. Before the show, we'll host a reception with drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Then we'll watch A Chorus Line, an award-winning musical that explores a day in the life of 17 dancers in a Broadway musical.
Our reception starts at 6pm, the Performance at 7:30pm. Tickets cost $60 or just $45 if purchased before July 23rd!
Register here.
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Introducing the Winner of the Virginia R. Rollefson Environmental Leadership Scholarship for 2018
We want to offer our congratulations to Olivia Fabrizi, a new graduate of Westbrook High School, for winning the Rockfall Foundation's Virginia R. Rollefson Environmental Leadership Scholarship.
Her effort to remove invasive species at Chatfield Hollow State Park is a great example of youth leadership. Olivia organized volunteers to remove Bristled Knotweed in two areas of the park and helped educate her peers and elementary school students on invasive species. The $1,000 scholarship will help support Olivia's education at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
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All Things Green: How to Grow Kelp in CT with JP Velotti
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JP Velotti discusses oyster and kelp farming. |
After our successful Sustainable Seafood Soiree, we thought it only natural for our next guest of All Things Green to be JP Velotti of East Coast Kelp Farms. JP, our guest at the Soiree and supplier of delicious oysters and kelp, gave a great overview of kelp farming in Connecticut. But we wanted to explore deeper, so join Tony July 12th at 4pm for a conversation on kelp on iCRV Radio or stream it online anytime afterward.
Listen here.
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Reporting Back from our Resilience Reporting Workshop
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| Lee Cruz (facing away) of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven talks with journalists about the Fair Haven neighborhood and its resilience assets and challenges. |
This past weekend, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and the Rockfall Foundation hosted a resilience reporting workshop for regional journalists. We had over a dozen journalists participate, with many from Connecticut and some coming from as far as Cape Cod and DC.
The Saturday program consisted of presentations discussing resilience science, ecological economics, and systems thinking, and then focused in on resilience in Connecticut with two panels of experts, including officials from CIRCA, Eversource, UConn, Yale, and the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority. Sunday, we explored resilience challenges along the coast of Connecticut, from sea level rise and the spread of invasives to legacy pollution and shifting economic realities. We also explored how to increase resilience--such as improving infrastructure, rebuilding natural systems, and cultivating community connections.
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Meet our Grantees: Valley Shore YMCA
The Valley Shore YMCA was supported for the second year by a
Rockfall Foundation grant, for its innovative Farm to Table Specialty camp, which
teaches children the essential life skills of gardening, cooking, and environmental sustainability.
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Tweet, Tweet
If you're not yet following The Rockfall Foundation on Facebook (
@rockfallfoundation) and Twitter (
@RockfallCT), please do. Here we'll share relevant events--ours and other great events in Connecticut--plus a mix of local, regional, and global environmental news.
Please follow along. And remember, with Facebook's changes, click on the arrow under following and click "see first" in your news feed so that our updates aren't lost.
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