The Green Resource Hub offers a variety of programs to support people, businesses, and communities in the paradigm shift to sustainable lifestyles. The Hub hosts regular public events like SEEN events in the second Week of every month and Green Drinks events in the fourth Week of every month. All are welcome!

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April 11th, 2011, 5:30-8pm at La Tourelle Resort & Spa            (Directions)

SEEN Event,

"Grow Your Sustainable Enterpries by Focusing on Your Relationships"

Please join The SEEN for networking and a presentation on growing your sustainable enterprise by focusing on your relationships, facilitated by referral marketing expert David Makar, Referral Institute of Ithaca. In this interactive workshop participants will learn how to add focus and structure to their networking activities, so they can have fun, meet and help people, and get the results they are looking for in their business. David Makar is a 7 year resident of Dryden, lifelong gardener, and owner of the Referral Institute of Ithaca.

The workshop will provide an opportunity to connect with other members of The SEEN, talk about your business, and gain value insights into your referral network. This is a great networking opportunity for you and your business contacts as well; invite a business contact, associate or friend along to further benefit from the experience. See you on April 11th!

To reserve your seat, please RSVP for this event [here]

Speaker Bio:

He's been called the "The Networking Guru," by clients who know him best.

David Makar helps business owners effectively grow their business by improving the quality of their referrals.

In 2004 he moved to the Town of Dryden from Boston and started a website design business called "544 Productions". At the time he had no local clients. In one year, he developed relationships with other business owners and grew to having 15 clients. At the end of the second year he reached 40 clients - all through word-of-mouth, referrals, and business relationships.

In 2009 he went to Referral Institute School to become a Certified Referral Marketing Consultant and in 2010 he launched the Referral Institute of Ithaca to bring the message of structured, effective, and fun Relationship Based Business Development to Tompkins County.
The Referral Institute is a training, coaching and consulting company that focuses 100% on referral marketing.

David trains, consults, and coaches business owners, sales people, and organizations on how to exponentially grow their businesses and organizations using word-of-mouth, to get massive results without "selling" or "cold calling" and with little to no marketing budget!

In his spare time he paddles with the Cayuga Outrigger Canoe Club, serves on the Town Board in the Town of Dryden, and hikes with his wife Arjan and his 4 year old black lab named Tennessee.

His key to success is "Networking, Networking, Networking"

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GREEN DRINKS

March 28th, 2011

Green Drinks Features Planners for a Resilient Tompkins County!
at Northstar (public) House

Please join us for a special Green Drinks Ithaca - a refreshing mix of locals gathering for sustainability, now with a twist of programming!

The SEEN gathering, "Building a Resilient Tompkins County" was intended to be a start of collaborative action towards achieving the community vision for the County. Many in attendance experienced openness for new ideas and refining strategies presented, and noticed sitting next to them was someone else who is most likely a key stakeholder in making that happen. As the evening closed we shared our support for the next steps, and this Green Drinks is an opportunity to do just that!

While we are all thinking about what strategies we specifically can focus on to prioritize our needs, let's continue the conversation and learn more about how the Comprehensive Plan can help. Scott Doyle, a Senior Planner, and possibly a few other members of the Tompkins County Planning team will be present to answer any questions and further the discussion for our resiliency. For example, did you know there is a program to help plant indigenous trees and other great shrubs and flora that helps beautify our natural space and clean the water going into our streams for hundreds of years?!? It is called the Stream Buffer Planting Guide.

As with all Green Drinks events, this event is free and open to the public. At Northstar (public) House, you will find local beers and wines, as well as standard pub fare (some local!) with vegetarian and vegan selections on the menu. Stop by anytime between 7 and 10pm. Please bring a friend or colleague!

Northstar (public) House
202 East Falls Street
Ithaca, NY 14850

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SEEN

March 8th, 2011, 5:30-8pm at La Tourelle Resort & Spa (Directions)

SEEN Event , "Building a Resilient Tompkins County"

Join us for an unprecedented opportunity to engage in open discussion with Tompkins County planning officials on what we can do to make our region more resilient and sustainable in the face of current global, environmental, economic and energy related challenges.

Senior staff of the Tompkins County Planning Department will present how community vision, and a strong local economy, is embodied in the Comprehensive Plan. Specifically, staff will share emerging local strategies that address:

• improving housing options,

• conserving land with important natural features and agricultural resources,

• reducing energy demand and improving energy efficiency, and

• integrating livable neighborhoods with vibrant commercial districts and thriving employment centers.

Following their presentation, we are all invited to share our opinions and insights with regard to the following key questions facing our region:

• Where can future development be located to be sustainable?

• How do we provide more affordable housing locally?

• How can we make our rural landscapes sustainable?

• What can we do locally to achieve a sustainable energy future?

• How can community sustainability become part of our tourism strategy?

• What partnerships or collaborations can we create to make it all happen?

Don't miss this opportunity to weigh in on the strategies being put in place to bring about a more fertile economy for you and your business!

Meet the Presenters and Planning Team:

Presenter Ed Marx, Commissioner of Planning and Community Sustainability, responsible for the management of the Tompkins County Planning Department. Current work includes housing, conservation, energy and sustainability planning.

Presenter Joan Jurkowich, Deputy Commissioner of Planning. Current work includes development focus area and water resource planning.

Presenter Katie Borgella, Principal Planner. Current work includes energy, greenhouse gas emissions and conservation planning.

Discussion Team Member Leslie Schill, Senior Planner. Current work includes affordable housing and County government sustainability.

Discussion Team Member Scott Doyle, Senior Planner. Current work includes conservation and natural hazard mitigation planning.

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SEEN Event Recap, "Taking Back Our Local Food System"

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

An unprecedented crowd of over 120 people attended our February event “Taking Back our Local Food System.” We were pleased with the incredible interest in the local food economy topic, and a warm welcome goes out to our three new entrepreneur members of The SEEN!

Over the course of the presentation, speakers and attendees identified a number of opportunities, challenges and needs, which are summarized here.

• Successes: larger scale farms, storing and growing in winter, thinking differently about what to do with local food, experiment, partnering to make commodities such as beans and grains into local products, supporting the viability of local meat producers, more milk/cheese producers, connecting farms and buyers.

• Challenges: Volume and consistency, profitability, inefficiency, getting enough things together to make it work, creating the structures to transform normal to new ways of operating, availability.

• Recommendations: Increases in scale, infrastructure and equipment and building a local network for storage more local buying instead of importing.

Monika Roth described the transformation of the local food economy over the last four decades. From its origins as a vision for a local foodshed back in the 70s, Ithaca has since budded into one of the most successful hosts of authentic farmers’ markets for a city of its size. Since their emergence over the past 20 years, CSAs now serve 2200 customers within a 30 mile radius of Ithaca and produce about $1M in annual sales. Today, Roth estimates the overall local Ithaca farm & food market at $5M with the growing potential to capture an increasing share of the total $200M food economy. Speakers discussed their role as well as their insights into the opportunities, needs and challenges for taking back our local food economy.

In their own words…

“The hugest part of how we’ve grown has been networking. Small farms are often not that profitable. But we are taking it and spending it in the community. Walmart now wants to buy local produce. That seems kind of insane to me but there seems to be the demand for it.”

-Chaw Chang, Full Plate Farm Collection –A 500 member CSA members

“(I get a) greater satisfaction from growing food crops. (Farmer Ground Flour operates) the ONLY mill grinding 100% local flours. The opportunity is in partnering so the commodities are made into products.”

-Erick Smith, Cayuga Pure Organics –450 acre organic bean farm

The focus has been on buying as much local food as possible, and having it available in a high enough volume to be able to put it on the menu. I learned how to extend the season…buy in bulk in season and process (freezing, pickling, drying) to use year-round. The biggest need is dairy, more cheese and milk…There aren’t enough restaurants who are buying local meat.

-Sam Izzo, Simply Red Bistro – A seasonal destination venue at Sheldrake

“I’m borrowing this, but I’m a vegetarian with a local meat exemption. My job is to facilitate connections that pair farms and buyers. What’s sustainable for small farmers is using the whole carcass…selling cattle vs selling cuts of meat.”

-Matt LeRoux, Cornell Local Beef Program –Cornell’s three head of cattle per week

It’s all been word of mouth marketing. (I’ve built Regional Access) from the ground up. We are getting to the point where we can see the opportunity. The potential is for local products.

-Gary Redmond, Regional Access –A rapidly growing regional food distribution system

In addition, we have reached out to SEEN members like Nancy Richards, owner of the Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese Company, to provide the audience with delicious local hors d'oeuvres. Other SEEN Member's that are contributing to this event include Sustainable Tompkins, Garden Gate Delivery, Bandwagon Brewpub, Waffle Frolic, Northstar House and others. Take a look at the event's panelist below.

" We hope that you will join us for an experience that is sure to empower you to insist that our precious food grows here, stays here, and sustains an abundant way of living".

-The Green Resource Hub Board

Meet the Local Food System Panelists:

Monika Roth, Agriculture Program Leader, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Director ofFarmers Market Coalition, will be the moderator for the evenings panel discussion. Roth commands over 30 years experience growing the local food economy, starting with the growth of the Ithaca Farmers Market, CSA's and the increased diversification of farms and the market outlets they use. Monika has played a key role convening this panel and will share insights from her vast experience in local food infrastructure development.

Chaw Chang, Stick and Stone Farm, Full Plate Collective CSA - locally grown food sales via the Ithaca Farmers Market, Regional Access, and Wegman's. Chang brings lots of experience with all of the market channels, and will share insights on what works, where there are opportunities and challenges for small growers.

Gary Redmond, Owner, Regional Access - a Trumansburg specialty foods distributor focused on marketing New York specialty foods throughout the state to restaurants, food coops, and specialty food stores. Also, Regional Access operates Finger Lakes Organics (FLORA), distributing fresh produce from area farms and employs 35 people. Gary will share his insight into food trend and what buyers want.

Matt LeRoux,Marketing Specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension - Matt has worked closely with Cornell Dining to facilitate the development of the Cornell Dining Local Beef project. Cornell Dining has a commitment to buy 30% of its produce from NY sources and since 2010 launched the NY beef program. Each week Cornell buys 3 head of beef from NY farms that is processed in PA (1 hour away) and then is served in Dining Halls.

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