Helga invites you to Un-Trash the Holidays

Americans create about 25% more trash during the holidays. So while you make your tree brighter, make your trash lighter! Un-Trashing our planet is a gift we give each other.
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No wrapping paper, no problem.

Use pillowcases. It's okay to ask for them back. Good friends don't mind.

Use dish towels or cloth napkins. If you want them back, ask or make the towel/napkin part of the gift.

Check your recycle bin for clever options such as magazines, flyers, newspaper or paper towel rolls.
 

If you use traditional wrapping paper, check to see if it is recyclable in your area. In Western Massachusetts, wrapping paper (except for metallic, foil, glitter types) is recyclable as well as tissue paper, lottery tickets, greeting cards (if made of paper.) Western Mass residents go to Springfieldmrf.org for more information.

About 40 billion plastic utensils are used in the US every year. Use the real stuff. If your host does not have enough silverware for everyone, loan your set for the party. Since the holidays are about love, love the fact that by using the real stuff, you are no longer sending plastic ware to the landfill for it to remain buried for centuries or to an incincerator where it  burns and spews dioxin, a potent carcinogen.

Helga Enjoys Local Grains from Localgrain.org

Helga purchases a grain share annually from Pioneer Valley Heritage Grains CSA (Community Supported Agriculture): This includes a variety of organic heirloom beans, corn, wheat, oats and more. Why would she choose to purchase a years worth of grain?

A years' worth of grains:  Properly stored, they have a long shelf life.

• Freshness- These grains are freshly harvested and sold to customers shortly after that.  No need to build extra silos to hold the grain or to use fumigants to prevent rats from eating the grain stored there. Grains that are packaged may be years old before you buy them.

Freshly harvested grains.

• Organic Practices- Herbicides and pesticides harm our bodies and pollute our soil and water supply. 
• Pay the farmer directly- This allow farmers to be paid a fair wage (avoids the middleman) and may encourage more people to enter this life supporting profession.  This allows farmland to stay farmland and residents to have access to locally grown grains. 
• Whole Grains-Whole grain flour is often not really 100% whole grain; the wheat germ and some of the bran is often removed from "whole grain" flour hence removing nutrients as well.
• Delicious- Helga is trying heirloom varieties of grain that she never heard of before and has been testing delicious recipes from the localgrain.org website.

Making blue corn tortillas.

Homemade whole grain bread.

Freshly  made bagels.

• Heirloom varieties- They are varieties you may not find anywhere else and are adapted to the New England climate. Farmers save their seeds annually and the plants (and seeds) continue to adapt over time to the changing climate. 
• Zero packaging- Shes bring her own containers. No problem. 

BYOC- Bring your own containers.

• Grain shares are still available at Localgrain.org. grains are picked up in Amherst, MA in January.

Helga Molts and Reuses Feathers.

Don't be chicken to share your hair. Check out this chick below who donated one foot of hair to "Children with Hair Loss." (www.childrenwithhairloss.us)

Before

After
(Cost Cutters/Stylist Mary Ellen)

Chickens celebrating "The Molt"

Facts: 

Wigs with real hair are expensive (about $1000) to make even if the hair is donated.

The rate and length your hair will grow is genetically determined. 

For those with hair to spare, considered donating it. Never let a good molting go to waste!!! 

Helga Promotes AGAWAM CLEAN

Helga along with Agawam's DPW are promoting Agawam's First Annual Town-Wide Clean-Up called AGAWAM CLEAN on Saturday May 2nd from 9 am-noon and we need your help!!!
Here's why:

• Many of Agawam's streets are littered with trash.

Trash from a Feeding Hills Street

• This trash is harmful to pets and wildlife.

Puppies eat trash, especially if it is a food wrapper.

• This trash may enter storm drains and flow directly into our streams, rivers and finally into the ocean contributing to Ocean Garbage Patches.

A dead albratross that ate plastic from the ocean mistaking it for food.
Photo credit:www.ChrisJordan.com

Here's how you can help.

• Pick an area (small or large) that is littered and register your area with the DPW at 821-0624.

• Bring a bag or two and wear gloves.

• Join others on Saturday May 2nd from 9am-noon and clean up that area.

• Take before and after photos of that area and send them to agawam.ma.us/DPW and also share them with others via social media.

• Consider adopting your area and keeping it clean all year.

• Ask other residents, businesses, and civic organizations to join.

• Consider saving old bags that you would normally throw out (such as large dog food bags) and use them as trash bags to save resources.

• Put bagged trash with your weekly trash pick-up. If the trash is from a local business, ask that business if you may use their dumpster.

• If you have any metal items to move, call Mr. T's Trash Removal at 413-205-7082.

• Several Girl Scout Brownie Troops have already volunteered to help with this challenge!!

• The SAVE Club and Environmental Sciences Classes at Agawam High School are organizing clean-ups of the school grounds.

A litter free town is possible when we change the current culture to the culture of AGAWAM CLEAN. There are a number of beautiful litter-free places thoughout out the world and Agawam can be one of them. Let's put Agawam on that litter-free  map.

Trash Talkin' with Nancy and Helga

Click on the link below to see information about an upcoming event which addresses ways to reduce your trash footprint.
Trash Talkin' with Nancy and (Helga)

Helga Offers Free Gym Membership--No Buck Bucks

So you've been thinking of joining a local gym but prefer not to shell out the bucks.  Or you find treadmills and ellipticals such a dread. For a limited time, you can join Helga's Free Rooftop Gym and help the environment at the same time.  Here's what you get for this amazing price:


Free use of roof rakes to work the biceps, triceps, pecs, deltoids, and trapezius muscles all while removing snow from solar panels.

Helga working out at Helga's Free Rooftop Gym

Don't know if you're strong enough to handle this--the roof rake has extensions-- a 5 foot extension for beginners and up to 20 feet for those training for triathlons.

This chick is getting buff at Helga's Free Rooftop Gym 

Free ladders to climb up to the roof to work your quadriceps, gluteal muscles(gluteal maximus, gluteal minimus, and gluteal medius), gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

Ladders at Helga's Free Rooftop Gym are fun to climb. The snow is here to catch you if you fall.


What about daycare? There is a snow arena for wee ones to build snowmen (and women), snow forts, snow angels and snow devils.  Pets welcome.

A puppy enjoying the snow arena at Helga's Free Rooftop Gym. 

But hold on. Your kid prefers to climb trees.  The snow is so high that any child 3 feet or taller can reach the lowest branches of the 50 ft. Norway Maple trees in the arena.

At Helga's Free Rooftop Gym, kids can climb the Norway maple tree over yonder while members build muscle and clear photovoltaic solar panels.

There is more.  For the first 100 families to sign, there are free snow cones containing snow flakes (and a few stray particulates from the air.)

At Helga's Free Rooftop Gym, Helga stops to make a Free Rooftop Snow Cone--plain or feather flavored.
That's one talented chick.

Transportation is an issue?  For an additional workout and no additional fee, consider cross country skiing, snow snowing, sledding or tobagganing here.

Helga's cousin Midnight decides to go back to get her snow shoes for her trek to Helga's Free Rooftop Gym.

Bring a friend and get a free snowball! Guaranteed not to melt if the temperature stays below 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius.  No kidding.

At Helga Free Rooftop Gym, quality control is a serious business. Helga's other cousin Helen determines that the temperature is indeed freezing and that your free snowballs will not melt.

Why remove the snow?

• Photovoltaic solar panels  produce considerable energy even the the winter. The snow will eventually melt but Helga's Free Rooftop Gym speeds the process along.
• This 42 panel system has averaged a little over 1 megawatt (1000 kilowatts) monthly with a range of 326-1561 kilowatts monthly over the past 4 years since it was installed. Our total carbon offset has been 33.1 tons or the equivalent of 3 acres of trees.
• In addition, removing excessive snow from roofs can prevent ice damming and the subsequent damage it may cause.
• See information below from University of Minnesota extension 
• An ice dam is a ridge of ice that forms at the edge of a roof and prevents melting snow (water) from draining off the roof. The water that backs up behind the dam can leak into a home and cause damage to walls, ceilings, insulation, and other areas.
• 

http://www.extension.umn.edu/environment/housing-technology/moisture-management/ice-dams/

Helga Gives Thanks

Helga enjoyed her 1st Annual Zero Waste Christmas Eve Extravaganza with 50 of her close family members and friends at her sister's family home. All party goers contributed to making this holiday an exciting success. 

• The hosts organized their beautiful home for 50 guests.

Coffee station

• Helga's siblings brought over extra dishes, silverware, and cloth napkins-- enough for 50.

Dishes, silverware, cloth napkins for 50

• Helga brought a chicken scrap bucket-- the leftover food scraps went to backyard chickens to provide nutrients for them to produce eggs.

Container for chicken scraps

Chickens eating the party scraps... Yum!

• Helga's siblings washed dishes, cups & silverware.

• All guests brought a plate of delicious food in a reusable container and then brought their own serving plate/crock pot home to wash. (This made clean-up easier at the hosts' home.)

Delicious hors d'ouerves

Fresh salad in reusable container

• There were recycling bins for bottles, cans and paper.

Recycling bin for paper

• There were buckets for corks and bottle caps to use for arts & crafts.

Wine glasses and cork container

Bottles caps for crafters

• And best of all... everyone enjoyed each others' company and their shared family mission of using resources wisely.

A very special thanks to the hosts and to Helga's wonderful extended family.

Happy New Year!!!