Eco-LOCAL Living magazine Spring 2010

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On the Cover

Spring 2010

Meet Rich and Tara Nimmo of The Saratoga Winery, the eco-localizers for this Spring edition of eco-LOCAL Living. The Nimmo’s had the audacity to start a new business in the middle of what some pundits are calling the “Great Recession.” Starting a new business can be a stressful endeavor, but apparently that wasn’t enough for these two - Tara just gave birth to their first baby! And, to complicate matters further, the two entrepreneurs actually make the product they sell, which in this case, is wine. Crazy, you might say? Maybe, but the Nimmo’s are undaunted by the challenges they have taken on. It is what makes their enterprise so special. They’ve converted an old barn on Route 29 into a wine and specialty foods emporium,where most everything is sourced locally and regionally,right down to the broad white pine bar where the main event, the wine tasting, takes place. And despite the recession all around, the Nimmo’s enterprise has seen great success. Their grand opening was an overflow hit, and weekends are filled to capacity with eager wine connoisseurs.

Rich, with his boundless energy, explains each wine’s character with the pride only a vintner can deliver, while Tara makes sure the place runs smoothly and everyone is happy. And it seems to be working wonderfully! Their convenient location just west of Saratoga Springs has also become a magnet for locally crafted food specialties. The Nimmo’s have personally selected all the products, which have their own unique story to tell. And if you have a few minutes, Rich will be glad to tell it to you. In its short time of existence, The Saratoga Winery has proven that a local enterprise can succeed, even in difficult economic times. And by collaborating with and supporting other local enterprises, the community as a whole will thrive!

The winter that wasn’t is finally waning here in the Northeast, and thoughts turn to Spring and the ensuing warmth that it will bring. With the warmth comes the annual ritual of the running of the maple sap. The Upper Hudson Valley woods come alive with activity, as maple men and women set their taps to gather up nature’s nectar,and boil it down to create maple syrup and other maple delicacies. If you haven’t witnessed the maple run for yourself, then now it the time to do it. The Maple Weekend Open House is scheduled for March 20 & 21, and 27 & 28. The sugarhouses of the region are opening their doors for you to see this annual ritual up close and personal. It’s a sensation of sights and sounds,but most importantly,flavors. Nothing beats fresh made maple syrup poured over a stack of pancakes, and many of the producers on the tour will be serving up a portion just for you. You just gotta go! See our Maple Page for a sampling of participating locations.

Speaking of maple, we feature a story about the Man that Maple Made.

Smitten by the maple bug as a child, Steve Rascher of Salem has made maple perfection his life’s work. He is one of the original tree huggers, embracing stewardship of the forest long before it became a trendy environmentalist moniker.

Another kind of bug has bitten our cover feature – that being the wine bug.

Rich Nimmo and his wife Tara have been making wine for their own consumption for a number of years, and friends and family suggested that they produce it commercially so that more people could enjoy it. It’s not a simple task to go from producing a few cases a year to now making hundreds. But the Nimmo’s have never flinched at taking on a new challenge. Check out their story by Amy Stock within, and we’ll see you at the winery (it’s already become a favorite stop for the locals, yours truly included).

Starting any kind of business can be a daunting task,and finding the money to make it happen can be very difficult. Banks are hesitant to underwrite new ventures.If you don’t have a rich uncle who left you a pile of cash,then where can you go? Fortunately, there is a local source, funded by local people who just may want to make your dream a reality. I am talking about the Capital District Loan Fund, an alternative financial source that has specialized in helping unique business concepts get off the ground, or expand to meet their demand. This is an example of the “Slow Money” we’ve talked about in past in past issues. It’s local investors who are putting their faith and capital into local projects, where they can not only reap a profit, but take direct interest and support for the business ventures right here where they live. It’s the kind of financial stewardship that grows a community, and helps entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. Tracy Frisch gives us a closer look at some of the benefactors of the CDLF,and how their dreams are coming true.

What’s encouraging about all the stories in this Spring edition is that they are all evidence that, despite the national economic woes of the recession, there is still great opportunity for people to do what they love to do and make a vocation out of it. In fact, it is the best hope for our economy - for individuals to take control of their destiny by turning their passion into a cash-in of their talents and skills. Successful local entrepreneurs create local jobs, and the community enjoys the circulating cash flow. Is it your turn this year? Don’t wait for the job market to turn around; make the job market turn around by making that product or delivering that service that you know the community wants and needs. Who knows, you may be the next ecolocal success story to grace our cover. Remember…we are the economy.We are local. We are ecolocal!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE GREEN TEEN…………………………………….…….….Page 6 THE WELLNESS DOC Vitamins are Good for you-Who Knew?……….……Page 7 NEWS and VIEWS……………………………….…….…Page 8 SPRING Eco LOCALIZER Saratoga Winery – Accentuating Local Character……………….…….………Page 10 MONEY MATTERS Shareholder Advocacy Speak and Be Heard……………………….……………Page 13 ASK THE ENERGY EXPERT Spring into Action to Combat Heat Loss…….…………Page 14 Eco-Fashion: A Cure for Sensitive Skin………….………Page 15 LOCAL IDEA Radical Homemaker……………………………….…….…Page 16 LOCAL FOOD Steve Rascher-The Man That Maple Made…….…….……Page 20 LOCAL STYLE Green Hair-Going Organic is for your Head, too….……Page 23 Solar Energy and Historic Preservation A Sensible Solution?………………………….…….………Page 24 Washington County Tourism……………………….…….Page 28 BUY LOCAL Local Money Means Local Business…………….…….……Page 30 Nutitional Supplement Access………………….…….…….Page 32 GeoEngineering Technique Solar Radiation Management....Page 34 Directory of Advertisers……….…….…….……….…….……Page 38 4 ecolocalliving.com

- David DeLozier Publisher

“Ready for the April showers”

Spring 2010 • Issue 13 PUBLISHER / SALES / MARKETING David Delozier 518-858-6866 advertise@ecolocalliving.com

DESIGN / PRODUCTION Centerline Design 518-883-3872

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER Rich and Tara Nimmo of The Saratoga Winery,

By Tom Stock of Stock Studios Photography

CONTRIBUTORS Vanessa Baird, Pat Maloney, Harry Moran, Amy Stock, Olya Prevo, Tracy Frisch, Shannon Hayes, Bonnie Hoag, Dr. Michael Quartararo, Kathleen Quartararo, Mary Beth Mc Cue

ADDRESSES 38 Tamarack Trail Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 ecolocalliving.com By reading and supporting Ecolocal you become part of our team - and help the greater community of the Upper Hudson Valley become a healthier place to live, work and play. Please tell our advertisers you saw them here. Ecolocal Living is published bi-monthly & distributed free of charge to over 300 locations within a 50 mile radius of Saratoga Springs, NY. Ecolocal Living does not guarantee nor warranty any products, services, of any advertisers nor will we be party to any legal or civil proceedings to do with any advertisers. We expect advertisers to honor any advertised claims or promises. Ecolocal Living will not knowingly accept any advertisement that is deemed misleading or fraudulent. We reserve the right to revise, edit and/or reject any and all advertising with or without issuing a reason or cause. We will not publish any article or advertisement that is contrary to the best interest of this publication. We reserve the right to edit articles if needed for content, clarity and relevance.

We use recycled-content paper and water-based ink.

Please pass onto a friend when done reading.

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GREEN TEEN At the Farmers Market Recently my parents and I went to the Farmers Market in Saratoga.

One thing that I liked at this farmers market is that they just don't sell your regular fruits and veggies, but they also sell other things like jewelry and hand knit hats. And when I went, there was even live music!

When I think of a farmers market I think of a farmer wearing a plaid shirt and overalls selling his home grown food/crops.

But that is not the case at all! There are all sorts of people selling many different things.

There was a woman selling different kinds of jewelry. Another guy was selling potato chips-some of which were made from potatoes that were also being sold at the market. (BTW they were really good!) There was a woman selling some yarn and knitted winter hats that looked really cool---and warm at the same time! Still another table had freshly baked bread rolls and pastries.

I have also noticed that the farmer's market food tastes better than the food that comes from the grocery store, it's a lot fresher. Also when we go to the market were always talking with the farmers and people selling the items, they always have something to share, whether it's a recipe or a tip.

The farmers market is a great place to buy locally made goods. A few times my parents even bought me breakfast there. I think it was a reward for getting up early to help them shop - Warm apple cider donuts - definitely worth it!

If you have a an idea for being greener, or a local company or store you love let me know! I want to hear from you!

1Greenteen@gmail.com VANESSA BAIRD is a local teen living green. She thinks that's just great as long as having a green life doesn't mean giving up 'having a life.' She'd love to hear what other teens are doing to be green. You can email her at 1greenteen@gmail.com.

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The Wellness Doc

By Dr. Michael Quartararo

Vitamins are good for you... who knew?

It was bound to happen!

Medicine has caught up with the notion that proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices help your body fight disease. The latest cure all for most disease that medicine “discovered”, Vitamin D. If I sound bitter it's because I am. I have been in practice for over 16 years educating my community that taking a wellness approach to their health is far superior to fighting disease with drugs and surgery and now doctors are claiming they “discovered” that Vitamins have a health benefit. Even though that is a very true statement and one could look at this “latest discovery” as an advancement in medical science, I would like to be the voice of all my colleagues, patients, and anyone who has chosen to live their lives in a holistic way by saying “DUHHHH”.

Now that that is out of the way I would like to share information on vitamin D and it's benefits. How to get it, how much do you need, and why it's so important. Keep in mind, I am coming from a standpoint of having proper nutrition (vitamin D levels) for proper body function and not from a treatment of disease standpoint. That may sound like semantics but it's very important to understand that EVERYONE should have proper Vitamin D, B, C, E, etc... in their bodies regardless of and condition they have or don't have.

Let's start with some science.

The latest research out of the UC San Diego School of Medicine says:

• A large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled study on vitamin D and cancer showed that vitamin D can cut overall cancer risk by as much as 60 percent! This was such groundbreaking news that the Canadian Cancer Society has actually begun endorsing the vitamin as a cancer-prevention therapy.

• Light-skinned women who had high amounts of long-term sun exposure had half the risk of developing advanced breast cancer (cancer that spreads beyond your breast) as women with lower amounts of regular sun exposure, according to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

disease and heart attacks. Dr. Paul D. Varosy set out to determine if taking vitamin D supplements decreases this risk. His team analyzed data from nearly 10,000 women over the age of 65 who were enrolled in a study of how often osteoporosis causes broken bones. Of these, more than 4,200 women reported that they took vitamin D supplements at the time of the study, and another 733 reported a prior history of supplement use.

After following the women for an average of nearly 11 years, researchers found that the risk of heart disease death was 31% lower in those women who were taking vitamin D at the time of the study.

The researchers note that calcium supplements, education, selfreported health status or healthrelated behaviors had no effect on the protection afforded by vitamin D.

• A study by Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent of cancer deaths -- which amounts to 2 million worldwide and 200,000 So it's clear you need vitamin D in the United States -- could be prevented each year with higher and you can avoid the big killer diseases if you have enough. How levels of vitamin D. much is enough? Based on the Even more exciting evidence latest research the recommended shows that the type of cancer is not dosage is 35 units per pound of body that important because vitamin D weight. However it is important to plays a key role in the development understand we get most of our of ALL types of cancer. Once again vitamin D from sunlight. That's right, this is proof that having the right it's so important that your body can nutrients in your body at all times allows your body to function properly and avoid MOST diseases that exist today. But wait doc, not heart disease, that's from being fat and being lazy and genetics right?

• Some 600,000 cases of breast and colorectal cancers could be prevented each year if vitamin D levels among populations worldwide were increased, according to previous research by Dr. Garland and colleagues. And that's WRONG! Research shows that just counting the death toll for two vitamin D drastically lowers your risk types of cancer. of heart disease. Women who take • Optimizing your vitamin D vitamin D supplements lower their levels could help you to prevent at risk of death from heart disease by least 16 different types of cancer one-third. Low levels of vitamin D in including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, the blood have previously been prostate, and skin cancers. correlated with higher risk of heart

make it, pretty cool. So when determining how much you should supplement, factors such as exposure to sunlight and skin tone must be considered. The only way to know what your vitamin D count is, is by getting a blood test. Your results should be between 5065ng/ml. Once you know your level you can adjust your intake and/or sun exposure accordingly. Research has found that most people make 20,000 units of vitamin D under regular sun exposure, summer time.

That being said and accounted for I recommend 5,000 units per day.

That will help 90% of the people reading this article. 10% may need to take a super dose of 30,000 units for 2-3 weeks to build up their blood vitamin D levels and then taper back to 5,000/day. By the way, another extra-ordinary body function is you can't really overdose on vitamin D. While the UVB rays of the sun produce vitamin D in your skin the UVA rays of the sun tend to destroy any excess vitamin D circulating in your blood. Isn't nature awesome!

So what have doctors really discovered? Vitamins are good for you! We don't need random clinical trials to convince us and we don't need to spend more money to prove it scientifically. Eat well everyday, move a little each day, and keep yours thoughts positive and healthly, you'll be surprised what your body can protect itself from. Until next time, Be Well…

The Wellness Doc

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News and Views Kimberly Martin becomes EcoBroker® Certified only a few in the Capital District region to have earned Ecosociate™ status.

EcoBroker® is recognized as the premiere green designation for real estate professionals. It is designed to educate so agents can help clients market properties with green features, save money and live comfortably, through energy efficiency and environmentally sensitive choices.

Kimberly explains, “I now have additional training on the energy and environmental issues that affect real estate transactions. There are tremendous green resources available in the market, and as part of my service commitment to my clients I can now help them identify and make sense of these invaluable green opportunities.

Roohan Realty is known as the Personally, when I first made the Saratoga Springs based real estate decision to pursue a career in real company with the big green signs. The estate I wanted to approach it from a signs are not the only thing green green perspective. My interest stems about Roohan, as they have just from a simple desire to make the world announced that Kimberly Martin, a healthier place for myself and my Licensed Sales Associate with the family. The EcoBroker® Certification Company, has achieved the EcoBroker® requires an upfront educational Certified designation. She is one of

investment as well as ongoing annual training to stay current and that appealed to me because of the rapidly evolving nature of the field.”

Martin recently purchased an investment property home and is renovating with many “green” features such as low VOC flooring, Energy Star appliances & Low-E windows, spray foam window insulation in addition to R21 wall & R38 ceiling insulation, Energy Star 95% AFUE rated furnace, and more.

“My mother has remodeled her home in Arcata, California with green construction techniques,” said Martin.

It's now on the California Tour of Green Homes. “I was so impressed with her results that I wanted to remodel my investment property in a similar fashion,” she said.

Green homes are an emerging market here in this region and Martin sees great potential for the future. “The big concern right now is energy efficiency,” explains Martin. “People are walking into our office and they

What, for?

What are we for? I know a gazillion things we are against…..

There seems to be an abundance of against these days – and I am only referring to what we see everyday, surrounding us. The war on drugs, join the fight against breast cancer, march for hunger, walk for AIDS, MADD, SADD, anti-abortion… this list of what to be against and what to fight is seemingly endless! Several adages promote a different kind of focus.

What do you think about?

About…EXPANDS! You get what you ask for. If you think you can or you can’t, you’re right. Seek and you shall find.

Your thoughts CREATE YOUR REALITY – not the other way around! Since being against something does not offer a clear focus of positive action or response, I wonder… what would being FOR something do? There has been an anti-war movement for as long as I can remember, and there are still wars. The war on drugs has been raging for years and yet substance 8 ecolocalliving.com

are asking for Energy Star rated homes,” she said. There's a growing demand for sustainable sourced materials as well. Eco Brokers like Martin are trained in the full spectrum of “green-ness,” so they can help sellers market their homes to this attractive buyer niche. Energy Star homes achieve a high level of energy efficiency, and tend to command better sales prices that comparable homes without the rating.

Martin is the first Eco Broker at Roohan Realty to achieve this designation and she is excited to roll out the program in Saratoga Springs. “Roohan is really leading the way as a “green” Realty company,” explains Martin. “They've gone through our offices and integrated systems for recycling, reducing paper consumption, and lighting efficiency. Now with the Eco Broker program, we can help our clients to go green when buying or selling their home!”

Martin holds her Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Humboldt State University.

Kimberly and her husband Chris have two children- Kylee (6 1/2) and Wyatt (5) and live in Wilton. She can be reached at 587.4500 or kmartin@roohanrealty.com.

By Kathleen Quartararo abuse is stronger and more widespread than ever with an even wider variety of abused drugs.The fight against cancer seems to have only produced more cancer and more drugs to do more fighting against more cancer.

Would a shift in attention make a difference? I have learned this much – when my dog barks, and I yell at him to stop, he keeps barking. When I call him to me and pet him, he stops.When my children are arguing and I ask them to stop, they justify their actions and position, all the while bickering! When I ask them to help me with something or give them a job, they do it and forget about the fight.

If our focus continues to be on what we don’t want, how will we ever have time to create what we do want? How many more laws should there be, telling us what we cannot do?

As the fight continues the focus on the symptom, the root cause does not get addressed. Could you imagine being against your car engine seizing up?

FIGHT ENGINE SEIZE UP!! Our cars seem to be all we are consistently (at times religiously) able to proactively take care of to avoid known issues.We change the oil, rotate the tires and get regular tune ups. We use high grade gasoline, additives that increase mileage and improve engine performance. We buy tires that are able to grip the road and carry us safely. All advertising focuses on specific action to take to have a smooth running and safe vehicle.There are maintenance books and businesses solely devoted to vehicle maintenance. Prevention is the mantra. Now I’m just sayin’…. How about doing that for our community?

For our social consciousness and awareness?

We have everything we need at our disposal.. now if we can create public acceptance. YOWZA!!

How about starting with a list of what we are FOR? How about taking action to DO rather than taking a stand against? If we stay busy fighting the

symptom, when will we ever have time to alleviate the root cause?

What ARE we for???

Safe attentive driving - moderation taking responsibility for our actions an active lifestyle - eating for nutrition and health - helping our friends and neighbors - respect for our environment - practicing random acts of kindness - letting the other guy go first - deep breathing - clear air ethical action - teaching our children to be self reliant - caring about how we feel - picking up after ourselves leaving things better than how we found them…. I am flashing back now… I think I am starting to list “All the things I need to know I learned in Kindergarten” if we decide to live with intention, if we are mindful of what we do, what we choose, and where we place our attention, WOW. Really now, THAT would make a difference. That would be cool. WAY COOL. Kathleen is the owner of Virgil’s House, at 49 Henry St., Saratoga Springs.

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Spring Eco-Localizer

The Saratoga Winery – Accentuating Local Character

By David DeLozier l Photos Courtesy of Tom Stock

Blood Root, Hillbilly Mountain Mash, an economic downturn, people still buy and Saratoga Spitfire - no, these aren't the drink wine. Worse case scenario - we'll have names of race horses, they're the names of a lot of wine.” some of Saratoga Winery's new “micro” wines, and they've been selling fast since the “We want to run winery opened in October 2009.

Since that time, owners Rich and Tara Nimmo have been kept busy. Said Rich, “From day one the winery was a hit.” Over 1,000 people came through the winery on their opening weekend. “We've tripled the business that we projected. Our opening day we sold 99 bottles of wine, and between October 1st and Christmas we sold 6,500 bottles.”

Starting a new small business during a major economic downturn was risky - but for Rich and Tara, it was an educated risk they were eager to take. Said Tara, “You have to take smart risks, educate yourself. We felt Saratoga needed something and we thought it was a winery. We were willing to take an educated risk. “ Rich added, “Even during

a good local business,

provide a really good product and a great experience” The winery is located in a former garden/farm stand on Rt 29, which they are leasing to own. “We've always been opportunists,” said Tara. They own two other service businesses in the area.

“We want to run a good local business, provide a really good product and a great experience,” said Rich. He added, “What makes us unique from other wine sellers is any wine we have on the shelf you can taste.

So, you're guaranteed to like the bottle you buy.”

A testament to their success, “The tasting bar is always full,” commented Rich.

However, their success may stem from their willingness to follow their passion for making wine.

Rich and Tara learned the art of wine making from Rich's Uncle, who lives in rural Pennsylvania and has been bottling wine since the 1970's - he currently bottles around 50,000 per year. Said Rich, “He really showed us start to finish working with grapes.” His uncle passed down to them their signature melomel recipe - an allnatural sulfite-free wine made from grapes and honey. His uncle received the recipe from an old Hungarian man. According to Rich, they are the only winery in the region making this version of the centuries old wine.

“Making wine is something we've always enjoyed,” said Rich. “We always made wine in our basement. It got to the point where we were giving so much away people said to us, 'why don't you just open a winery?'”

The Nimmo's thought opening a winery would be something they would do in their 40's. However, when Rich was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 they decided, “why wait until 40 - nothing's a given.”

Said Tara, “Rich's cancer gave us more of a motivation to follow our dream and do what we enjoyed.” She continued, “We always knew we were going to do it we just didn't know it would be this fast.”

After his surgery, the first words Rich spoke to his wife Tara were, “I just want to make wine.” And, so they are. The couple has been triple blessed. In addition to being cancer-free and following their dream to make wine, Tara recently gave birth to a new baby.

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THEIR PROCESS They currently are making and bottling wine on site, as well as using Rich's Uncle's facility in Pennsylvania. They are expanding

their barrel room to eventually make all of the wine on site.

Since opening in October, they've bottled 22,000 bottles. Said Rich, “We are hoping we are going to make it through the season.

We bottle throughout the year and plan to bottle more each year.”

All their grapes come from farmers in the Finger Lakes. “We deal directly with the farmers. This gives us an opportunity to go out and see the grapes we're buying.” This also makes Saratoga Winery truly a regional winery, one of its kind in the Saratoga area.

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The tasting room and storefront, decorated in a charming Adirondack style, provides a warm relaxed environment. “We cater to a broad spectrum of wine enthusiasts. We want people to come and enjoy themselves.”

They offer a variety of tasting opportunities, from single tasting to a full set of their red, whites and their signature melomels. Said Rich, “Our melomels are really popularespecially with people who aren't able to drink regular wine because of the sulfites.”

This all-natural wine, made from grapes and honey, carries a strong unique flavor, very popular among their clients.

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In addition to being the only regional Winery and Tasting room, Saratoga Winery also sells locally made food and crafts from other small local businesses, including: Little Bakery in Grove, selling all natural homemade baked goods - Whalen's Horseradish and a cheese spread made from their Blood Root wine - Willow Marsh Farm cheese located in Ballston Spa - AA Bees Honey based in Round Lake - Maple Syrup from Tara's family's farm in Vermont and Post Modern Design custom-made iron works (wine racks, tables, etc). They are in the process of working with other local vendors to sell their wares, such as Saratoga Sweets and Saratoga Salsa.

Their growing selection of wines ranges from dry reds to sweet whites. They've bottled Said Tara, “We are big on all-natural, local, fourteen wines with plans to bottle four more. from family businesses.”

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Their vision for the next five years is to keep expanding as demand increases. “We've had local wine stores, distributors and restaurants approach us.” Rich and Tara hope to eventually sell their wine through all three. In addition to wine, they hope to eventually make and sell their own micro-brew.

Their tasting and barrel rooms provide a spacious location for events. They have hosted several local fundraisers and plan to make the space available for more in the future. They also hope to sponsor some of their own events this summer, such as a pig roast and a blues/jazz fest.

For a small upstart business in a downturn economy, business keeps looking up for Rich and Tara. To get a taste of their melomel and other specialty wines, visit the winery located on Rt 29, just five minutes from downtown Saratoga Springs.

For more information contact: Saratoga Winery & Tasting Room 462 Rt 29 Saratoga Springs, NY 518-584-WINE (9463) thesaratogawinery@rocketmail.com HOURS: Wed-Sat, 12-7 and Sun, 12-5 Starting June 1st Tues-Sun 11-8

www.thesaratogawinery.com

THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM AT SARATOGA invites you to celebrate our planet at the first Saratoga Earth Day Festival on April 17th & 18th. Learn about efforts to improve sustainability both locally and globally. Held throughout downtown Saratoga Springs this family-friendly festival will feature workshops, art, demonstrations, dance, speakers, scavenger hunts, letterboxing and plantings.

Some of the local non-profits, artists and businesses featured in the festival include The Saratoga Farmers Market, Green Conscience, Creative Endeavors of Saratoga Bridges,The Young Performers,The Children’s Museum at Saratoga and Cornell Cooperative Extension. To see the schedule of events, please visit www.cmssny.org. Organizations and individuals interested in hosting events may contact The Children’s Museum at Saratoga at (518) 584-5540. www.saratogaearthday.com

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Money Matters

By Harry Moran, CFP® AIF®

Shareholder Advocacy: Speak and Be Heard!

Few of us probably think of ourselves as part owners of huge multinational corporations but anyone who owns a few mutual funds or stocks in their retirement plan or elsewhere is exactly that. It of course takes a bit of work to influence corporate policy but all shareholders have the right to have their voices be heard in the corporate boardroom and can really be a meaningful force for accountability and policy change.

Democracy, Shareowners.org and MoxyVote now provide shareholders with access to information on how like-minded investment managers, non-profits and unions plan to vote on key issues, as well as providing

Shareholder advocacy refers to any activity which attempts to influence corporate decision-making through communication with management. In this short piece, we're going to briefly explore the primary tools of shareholder advocates: proxy voting, dialogue and shareholder resolutions, and let you know why you should care and what steps you can take to help shape corporate behavior.

Many investors don't find it practical to attend distant annual shareholder general meetings but can instead choose to vote on existing proposals “by proxy”, via mail, phone or the internet. Proposals can also be placed on the ballot by shareholders. While management proposals typically cover “routine” items such as electing directors and approving auditors, shareholder resolutions often address environmental, social or corporate governance issues. When we own stock shares through a mutual fund, we delegate this responsibility to that mutual fund's board of directors, who are now required to disclose to investors how they voted each proxy. Many large institutional and mutual fund managers have historically tended to vote with management or don't vote at all. Keep in mind that an un-cast ballot is automatically voted in favor of management.

opportunities for getting involved directly by teaming up with various groups.

When you've identified a specific issue that you want to address, the best place to start is typically to attempt to engage the corporation in dialogue. While corporations may seem unapproachable, they are of course made up of people who may be responsive to reasonable input. Since dialogue is less confrontational than shareholder resolutions, many corporations see the wisdom of working with shareholders to improve policies and procedures in this less public forum. It's a good idea to check with groups like the Social Investment Forum, The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility or CERES to see if they've already formed coalitions to work on specific issues.

consequences of ignoring this input, and they can serve as very powerful tools for influencing corporate behavior.

Investors are evolving from passive and uninformed owners of stock to determined, committed advocates who know their voice can make a difference. There is a growing perception that many public companies haven't been accountable to their shareholders and recognition that a short-term, “tunnel vision” profit mentality can endanger the long-term economic viability of a company and the greater community that they do business in. This was dramatically illustrated by the severe financial problems seen in many large banks recently, which stemmed largely from lax lending policies, ineffective corporate governance and weak regulatory oversight, and of course ultimately required government intervention to prevent their collapse. The good news is that corporations are becoming much more responsive and shareholder advocates are making real headway on many critical issues and are becoming an increasingly powerful force for positive change.

Harry Moran helps socially conscious investors define and achieve their highest goals by aligning their money with their values. A 23-year veteran of the financial services profession, Mr. Moran has held the Certified Financial Planner® designation since 1991. He is a network member of First Affirmative Financial Network, a national professional organization dedicated to meeting the needs of the socially conscious investing community. Mr. Moran can be reached directly at Cornerstone Financial Advisors at hmoran@cornerstonefinancialny.com or 518-877-8800.

Mention of specific securities, funds, or companies Should dialogue or engagement on a should not be considered an offer or a particular issue fail, it may be time to bring recommendation to buy or sell the security, fund, or Many investors don't cast their votes because concerns directly to shareholders by putting a company. To determine the suitability of any they feel they can't make a difference but it's resolution on the ballot. These resolutions can particular investment, please consult with your estimated that individual shareholders address anything which may adversely impact investment adviser. Remember, past performance is account for 30% of total shares, which the long-term health of the company, its no guarantee of future results and no investment represents a potentially significant voting stakeholders, communities and the planet. strategy can assure success. The opinions expressed bloc. Reading and understanding proxy While virtually all shareholder resolutions are are those of the author and may change without notice. Harry Moran is a registered representative documents can seem a bit overwhelming, non-binding, meaning that companies can offering securities through Cadaret, Grant & Co., Inc., which is another reason why many individual choose to not act on the request, most member FINRA SIPC. Cadaret, Grant is not affiliated shareholders have often not voted their companies recognize the potential with Cornerstone or First Affirmative. shares. Fortunately, websites such as Proxy ecolocalliving.com 13

Ask the Energy Expert

By Patrick Maloney l Energy Management Solutions

Spring into Action to Combat Heat Loss Old Man Winter is standing on his last legs. How effective was your home in keeping him outdoors where he belongs? Did you notice where he was getting in? Or where your hard earned dollars were getting out?

Ice damns or an abundance of icicles on the eves of your roof are sure indications that warm, interior air is leaking into your attic at a high rate.

You may also notice that the snow melts faster on certain areas of your roof consistently. This tells you there is an air leak in the vicinity. In the past the solution was to add more insulation, which helps, but should be the second step.

As we discussed in the last issue, air sealing is #1. This is a great time of year for you do it yourselfers to get up into the attic and start poking around. Not too hot, not too cold. You'll need to get under the existing insulation and find penetrations where air can escape. Look for holes around plumbing pipes and electrical wiring. Also look for where your partition walls meet the ceiling. There are often gaps around the top plate that are a clear path to the attic. Seal the larger gaps with expandable spray foam and the smaller gaps (under _�) with caulking. CAUTION; If you have recessed

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lighting be certain they are rated for contact with insulation. If you are unsure consult an expert for this could be a fire hazard.

Now for the insulation. The most common is fiberglass batts or blanket insulation. It's inexpensive to both purchase and to install.

For fiberglass insulation to be effective it must be installed properly. Any gaps or compression reduce its effectiveness. Proper installation where there are obstructions or oddly spaced joists can be very difficult. In an attic with R-38 insulation (12�), gaps of 2% of the surface lower the performance to

about R-22. That's more than a 40% reduction!

With this in mind, examine your current insulation. Is it a snug fit without gaps or tears? Is it full of dirt? If you observe these issues it may be time to replace it.

Blown in cellulose is a great alternative. It settles into all the nooks and crannies to give you more complete coverage. It's also one of the most ecofriendly insulations on the market. Machinery is necessary to blow the cellulose to where you want it. You could call the pros or you could rent the proper equipment and do it yourself.

Before you leave the attic look at your hatch cover.

Does it have an air tight seal and or insulation? This is a common area where substantial losses occur. There are many products on the market. Seal and Shield makes a variety of attic access insulation and air sealing panels or you can get creative and make your own with foam board and weather stripping.

If you have cold and drafty spots in your home that you don't know how to handle call a BPI accredited contractor. They'll be able to help. They can also come up with solutions to insulate those seemingly nonaccessible areas of your home.

ECO-FASHION: A cure for sensitive skin Do you often wonder why your skin feels dry and itchy? You could be one of the many people in the U.S. with dermatitis, a skin disease. Sometimes dermatitis is caused by products we use, such as soap, too much sun, or even genetics. You may be surprised however to find out it can even be caused by the clothes you wear. While cotton can be a very soft, inexpensive fabric, it can also be drenched in chemicals like pesticides. These pesticides are often used on cotton plants and can cause irritation when your skin touches them.

Since people wear more clothing in the early spring than in the summer to keep warm, they have more contact with these chemicals, therefore increasing skin irritability. This problem is the reason ecoentrepreneur, Diane Ferrante, owner of FabGreenWear, started her business.

About two years ago Diane was told she had dermatitis, a disease that causes extremely sensitive skin.

“The doctor told me I had to give up using certain products that could irritate my skin, like my White Diamonds perfume. He also told me I would have to change my laundry soap to a more chemical or dye-free brand.”

She is not alone. Many of Diane's family members have also been affected by several types of sensitive skin problems ranging from psoriasis to skin cancer. In fact, the National Human Genome Research Institute estimates that 40-50% of Americans who live to age 65 will get skin cancer at least once in their lifetime. In most cases, people must see a doctor in order to get properly diagnosed and treated but in some cases, like Diane's, doctor's recommendations aren't always enough to relieve the symptoms.

“Even after making the changes my doctor recommended I still had issues. I started reading about other possible causes of skin irritation and found out that clothing is a common cause, as the average pair of jeans can contain up to a gallon of pesticides.”

Once Diane found out it could be her clothing causing her illness, she was determined to find places that sold organic or chemical-free clothing.

“When I looked for organic clothing and accessories, I couldn't find anything locally. It seemed I needed to go online to find what I wanted and then have it shipped. This was

really an issue for me since I like to support local businesses and shipping items across the country isn't exactly eco-friendly so I decided to start my own businessFabGreenWear.”

FabGreenWear offers accessories, such as organic cotton scarves, non-toxic jewelry, organic goods for kids and babies, like bibs, burp cloths, blankets, bed sheets, car seat organizers, and pillows. They also make some of the same items for adults. The company started out just offering accessories (therefore the name FabGreenWear) but has recently expanded to include house wares. A clothing line for people and pets is in the works for this spring. Diane hopes to offer her products through local boutiques or other businesses in the capital region soon but for now you can purchase her products online at FabGreenWear.com, local craft shows, and FabGreenParties. FabGreenParties teach guests about green living and the latest tax credits available for their home, offer an

organic meal prepared by the hostess, give guests a chance to swap unused clothes and other items, and of course you can buy FabGreenWear.

“I have so much fun throwing the parties, especially the GivingGreenParties, where charities can benefit from the sale of FabGreenWear. My parents always taught me that it's important to give back to your community and that's why my business donates to charity. My Scarves for a Cause program donates four scarves a year to local charities for auction. The scarves are painted by local artists. Local artists and charities that want to participate in the program should contact me.”

As more people find that buying organic or eco-friendly products is good not just for the planet but their health it's likely that more businesses will follow this green trend. This is why national retailers like Target and WalMart are opening their eyes and have started carrying at least a few organicallymade products, such as socks and sweaters.

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LOCAL IDEA

Radical Homemaker

By Shannon Hayes

How families are achieving ecological, social, and economic transformation...starting under their own roofs.

Long before we could pronounce Betty Friedan's last name, Americans from my generation felt her impact. Many of us born in the mid-1970s learned from our parents and our teachers that women no longer needed to stay home, that there were professional opportunities awaiting us. In my own school experience, homemaking, like farming, gained a reputation as a vocation for the scholastically impaired. Those of us with academic promise learned that we could do whatever we put our minds to, whether it was conquering the world or saving the world. I was personally interested in saving the world. That path eventually led me to conclude that homemaking would play a major role toward achieving that goal.

My own farming background led me to pursue advanced degrees in the field of sustainable agriculture, with a powerful interest in the local food movement. By the time my Ph.D. was conferred, I was married, and I was in a state of confusion. The more I understood about the importance of small farms and the nutritional, ecological, and social value of local food, the more I questioned the value of a 9-to-5 job. If my

Shannon Hayes wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Shannon is the author of Radical Homemakers, The Farmer and the Grill, and The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook. She works with her family on Sap Bush Hollow Farm in upstate New York and hosts two websites, grassfedcooking.com and radicalhomemakers.com. Copies of her books are available through those websites. Portions of this story are excerpted from Shannon Hayes' newest book, Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity From a Consumer Culture, Left to Write Press, 2010.

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husband and I both worked and had children, it appeared that our family's ecological impact would be considerable.

We'd require two cars, professional wardrobes, convenience foods to make up for lost time in the kitchen ‌ and we'd have to buy, rather than produce, harvest, and store, our own food.

The economics didn't work out, either. When we crunched the numbers, our gross incomes from two careers would have been high, but the cost of living was also considerable, especially when daycare was figured into the calculation. Abandoning the job market, we re-joined my parents on our small grassfed livestock farm and became homemakers. For almost ten years now, we've been able to eat locally and organically, support local businesses, avoid big box stores, save money, and support a family of four on less than $45,000 per year.

Wondering if my family was a freaky aberration to the conventional American culture, I decided to post a notice on my webpage, looking to connect with other ecologically minded homemakers. My fingers trembled on the keyboard as I typed

the notice. What, exactly, would be the repercussions for taking a pro-homemaker stand and seeking out others? Was encouraging a Radical Homemaking movement going to unravel all the social advancements that have been made in the last 40-plus years? Women, after all, have been the homemakers since the beginning of time. Or so I thought.

THE ORIGINS OF HOMEMAKING: A VOCATION FOR BOTH SEXES Upon further investigation, I learned that the household did not become the “woman's sphere� until the Industrial Revolution. A search for the origin of the word housewife traces it back to the thirteenth century, as the feudal period was coming to an end in Europe and the first signs of a middle class were popping up. Historian Ruth Schwartz Cowan explains that housewives were wedded to husbands, whose name came from hus, an old spelling of house, and bonded. Husbands were bonded to houses, rather than to lords. Housewives and husbands were free people, who owned their own homes and lived off their land. While there was a division of labor among the sexes in these early households, there was also an equal distribution of domestic work.

Once the Industrial Revolution happened, however, things changed. Men left the household to work for wages, which were then used to purchase goods and services that they were no longer home to provide.

Indeed, the men were the first to lose their domestic skills as successive generations forgot how to butcher the family hog, how to sew leather, how to chop firewood.

As the Industrial Revolution forged on and crossed the ocean to America, men and women eventually stopped working together to provide for their household sustenance. They developed their separate spheres-man in the factory, woman in the home. The more a man worked outside the home, the more the household would have to buy in order to have needs met. Soon the factories were able to fabricate products to supplant the housewives' duties as well. The housewife's primary function ultimately became chauffeur and consumer. The household was no longer a unit of production. It was a unit of consumption.

HOUSEWIFE'S SYNDROME The effect on the American housewife was devastating. In 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, documenting for the first time “the problem that has no name,” Housewife's Syndrome, where American girls grew up fantasizing about finding their husbands, buying their dream homes and appliances, popping out babies, and living happily ever after. In truth, pointed out Friedan, happily-ever-after never came. Countless women suffered from depression and nervous breakdowns as they faced the endless meaningless tasks of shopping and driving children hither and yon. They never had opportunities to fulfill their highest potential, to challenge themselves, to feel as though they were truly contributing to society beyond wielding the credit card to keep the consumer culture humming. Friedan's book sent women to work in droves. And corporate America seized upon a golden opportunity to secure a cheaper workforce and offer countless products to use up their paychecks.

The household was no longer a unit of production. It was a unit of consumption.

Before long, the second family income was no longer an option. In the minds of many, it was a necessity. Homemaking, like eating organic foods, seemed a luxury to be enjoyed only by those wives whose husbands garnered substantial earnings, enabling them to drive their children to school rather than put them on a bus, enroll them in endless enrichment activities, oversee their educational careers, and prepare them for entry into elite colleges in order to win a leg-up in a competitive workforce. At the other extreme, homemaking was seen as the realm of the ultra-religious, where women accepted the role of Biblical “Help Meets” to their husbands. They cooked, cleaned, toiled, served and remained silent and powerless.

My husband and I fell into neither category, and I suspected there were more like us.

Backyard chickens in downtown L.A.? Shannon Hayes found that "radical homemaking" is transcending urban-rural divides. Photo by Shannon Hayes

Preserving food at home lets "radical homemakers" eat local, organic food year-round-even on limited budgets.

Photo by Shannon Hayes

MEET THE RADICAL HOMEMAKERS I was right. I received hundreds of letters from rural, suburban, and city folks alike.

Some ascribed to specific religious faiths, others did not. As long as the home showed no signs of domination or oppression, I was interested in learning more about them. I selected twenty households from my pile, plotted them on a map across the United States, and set about visiting each of them to see what homemaking could look like when men and women shared both power and responsibility. Curious to see if Radical Homemaking was a venture suited to more than just women in married couples, I visited with single parents, stay-at-home dads, widows, and divorcées. I spent time in families with and without children.

A glance into America's past suggests that homemaking could play a big part in addressing the ecological, economic and social crises of our present time.

Homemakers have played a powerful role during several critical periods in our nation's history. By making use of locally available resources, they made the boycotts leading up to the American Revolution possible. They played a critical role in the foundational civic education required to launch a young democratic nation. They were driving forces behind both the abolition and suffrage movements.

Homemakers today could have a similar influence. The Radical Homemakers I interviewed had chosen to make family, community, social justice, and the health of the planet the governing principles of their lives. They rejected any form of labor or the expenditure of any resource that did not honor these tenets. For about 5,000 years, our culture has been hostage to a form of organization by domination that fails to honor our living systems, under which “he who holds the gold makes the rules.” By contrast, the Radical Homemakers are using life skills and relationships as replacements

for gold, on the premise that he or she who doesn't need the gold can change the rules.

The greater one's domestic skills, be they to plant a garden, grow tomatoes on an apartment balcony, mend a shirt, repair an appliance, provide one's own entertainment, cook and preserve a local harvest, or care for children and loved ones, the less dependent one is on the gold.

By virtue of these skills, the Radical Homemakers I interviewed were building a great bridge from our existing extractive economy-where corporate wealth has been regarded as the foundation of economic health, where mining our Earth's resources and exploiting our international neighbors have been acceptable costs of doing business-to a life serving economy, where the goal is, in the words of David Korten, to generate a living for all, rather than a killing for a few; where our resources are sustained, our waters are kept clean, our air pure, and families and can lead meaningful lives. In situations where one person was still required to work out of the home in the conventional extractive economy, homemakers were able to redirect the family's financial, social and temporal resources toward building the life-serving economy. In most cases, however, the homemakers' skills were so considerable that, while members of the household might hold jobs (more often than not they ran their own businesses), the financial needs of the family were so small that no one in the family was forced to accept any employment that did not honor the four tenets of family, community, social justice and ecological sustainability.

While all the families had some form of income that entered their lives, they were not a privileged set by any means. Most of the families I interviewed were living with a sense of abundance at about 200 percent of the federal poverty level. That's a little over $40,000 for a family of four, about 37 percent below the national median family income, and 45 percent below the median income for married couple families. Some lived on considerably less, few had appreciably more. Not surprisingly, those with the lowest incomes had mastered the most domestic skills and had developed the most innovative approaches to living.

RETHINKING THE IMPOSSIBLE The Radical Homemakers were skilled at the mental exercise of rethinking the “givens” of our society and coming to the following conclusions: nobody (who matters) cares what (or if) you drive; housing does not have to cost more than a single moderate income ecolocalliving.com 17

can afford (and can even cost less); it is okay to accept help from family and friends, to let go of the perceived ideal of independence and strive instead for interdependence; health can be achieved without making monthly payments to an insurance company; child care is not a fixed cost; education can be acquired for free; and retirement is possible, regardless of income.

Each home was the center for social change, the starting point from which a better life would ripple out for everyone.

As for domestic skills, the range of talents held by these households was as varied as the day is long. Many kept gardens, but not all. Some gardened on city rooftops, some on country acres, some in suburban yards.

Some were wizards at car and appliance repairs. Others could sew. Some could build and fix houses; some kept livestock. Others crafted furniture, played music, or wrote. All could cook. (Really well, as my waistline will attest.) None of them could do everything.

No one was completely self-sufficient, an independent island separate from the rest of the world. Thus the universal skills that they all possessed were far more complex than simply knowing how to can green beans or build a root cellar. In order to make it as homemakers, these people had to be wizards at nurturing relationships and working with family and community. They needed an intimate understanding of the life-serving economy, where a paycheck is not always exchanged for all services rendered. They needed to be their own

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teachers-to pursue their educations throughout life, forever learning new ways to do more, create more, give more.

In addition, the happiest among them were successful at setting realistic expectations for themselves. They did not live in impeccably clean houses on manicured estates. They saw their homes as living systems and accepted the flux, flow, dirt, and chaos that are a natural part of that.

They were masters at redefining pleasure not as something that should be bought in the consumer marketplace, but as something that could be created, no matter how much or how little money they had in their pockets. And above all, they were fearless. They did not let themselves be bullied by the conventional ideals regarding money, status, or material possessions.

These families did not see their homes as a refuge from the world. Rather, each home was the center for social change, the starting point from which a better life would ripple out for everyone.

Home is where the great change will begin.

It is not where it ends. Once we feel sufficiently proficient with our domestic skills, few of us will be content to simply practice them to the end of our days. Many of us will strive for more, to bring more beauty to the world, to bring about greater social change, to make life better for our neighbors, to contribute our creative powers to the building of a new, brighter, more sustainable, and happier future. That is precisely the great work we should all be

Shannon Hayes in the kitchen with her daughter, Saoirse. Photo by Bob Hooper

tackling. If we start by focusing our energies on our domestic lives, we will do more than reduce our ecological impact and help create a living for all. We will craft a safe, nurturing place from which this great creative work can happen.

ecolocalliving.com 19

LOCAL FOOD

Steve Rascher - The Man That Maple Made Story and Photos by David DeLozier

In some cases, the affliction known as maple madness can become an obsession and no maple man is more obsessed than Staffan “Steve” Rascher, of Shushan, NY. Rascher has been making maple syrup for most of his 71 years on this earth.

As the sun approaches its vernal equinox, daylight wins the fight over darkness.

Despite the joy that warmth and sunshine bring with the Spring Season, it also brings a strange affliction to some people in the Upper Hudson Valley. No, it's not Spring Fever, but Maple Madness. The cool nights and warming days awaken the trees in the great Northern Forests, and a sweet sap begins to rise in the mighty sugar maple.

This perennial ritual calls men out to the woods to capture the nectar in a labyrinth of taps, tubes and tanks, spending sleepless nights in a hot, steamy shack boiling their precious liquid down into the world renowned maple syrup.

In some cases, the affliction known as maple madness can become an obsession and no maple man is more obsessed than Staffan “Steve” Rascher, of Shushan, NY. Rascher has been making maple syrup for most of his 71 years on this earth. In fact, his first batch was made when he was a young lad of just five years old. He still has the sketch he made for his 'show and tell” class, mounted on a wall in his sugarhouse.

“I got some of the old fashioned steel buckets and tapped some trees in the side yard,” recalls Rascher. “Then I gathered up the buckets full of sap, put the sap into a large pan, made a big fire underneath it, and there's smoke and ashes billowing out all over the place and into the pan, and I boiled it down and made maple syrup.” Little did the young boy realize at the time that his parent's homestead would become the source for the World's Best Maple Syrup!

Turns out the Rascher homestead is situated on what is perhaps the perfect landscape for a maple sugar operation. The 400 acre property straddles a narrow valley along the 20 ecolocalliving.com

New York-Vermont border, covered with a mature forest of oak, ash and maple. A small farm stead was cut out of the forest, and this was the land that was to make and shape Steve Rascher.

The Rascher family emigrated from Sweden to the United States in 1941, fleeing the advance of Hitler's Third Reich into Scandinavia. While staying with their host family in New York City, German Spys were captured after landing on a Long Island Beach. Afraid of a German advance into New York City, the elder Sigurd Rascher went in search of a place far away from cities and potential strife. He made contact with a land broker from Arlington, Vermont, who had several parcels of interest. Sigurd would get out of the truck at each stop, grab his shovel, and dig a hole. The first two sites in Vermont were rejected because of gravely soil. The broker had only one other choice, just over the border in New York. The shovel blade sank deep into the soil without resistance. The hole got bigger; all that was there was a beautiful loam. Without hesitation, Sigurd bought the property, knowing that he could feed his family with the rich soil in this valley.

Already a prominent saxophone player of world renown, Sigurd Rascher quickly made a name for himself in music circles with his unique style of play. His big break came

when he was chosen to play in the USO band that toured with Bob Hope during World War II. Farming was not his strong trait, but it would be where young Staffan would stake his claim and name.

His father may have traveled the world, but the only world Steve was interested in was the land at his doorstep. In 1971, he put down his own roots amongst the trees he loves, by building a log home just down the street from the family homestead. This house was built just like his ancestors from Sweden would have built a home - by hand.

Whole logs were acquired from a logging operation in Chester VT. Two tractor trailer loads full. Everything was hand peeled with a draw knife and hand sawed with his trusty chainsaw. “I still use the same chainsaw everyday that I built this house with,” Steve says with pride. All joints were hand carved, and secured with long spikes. “There's about 600 pounds of 18” spikes in this house,” he said All the window frames had to be custom made, because, at the time, there were none built that were large enough for the width of the logs.

“Everything in this house was handmade, nothing was bought from a factory” he said.

“There's no finish on these logs, it's all natural. Finishes off gas, and you end up breathing that stuff. So I never put a finish on them.”

Steve had no formal training in construction.

“I trained myself,” said Steve. “I come from northern Sweden where there are log cabins like this that are thousands of years old.

They're all pretty much built like this one.”

From this idyllic setting, Steve Rascher learned to love the woods and his trees. “I was a treehugger before guys like you were even born,” he said with a smirk. “If you love your trees, they'll love you back!”

Through the years, Rascher has nurtured his trees, and in particular, his maples, to become a highly productive sugar bush. The forest is much like a park, with an open floor and large, majestic trees towering skyward.

He has built a network of tubes throughout the woods, taking advantage of the natural sloping topography so that all the sap freely flows by gravity to a tank position across the road from his sugarhouse. His meticulous care of the system and care of the forest biome deliver a steady supply of liquid gold every Spring.

Rascher is a stickler for quality and the numerous awards and ribbons decorating the walls of the sugarhouse are testimony to that. “I've got a whole drawer full of ribbons from competitions through the years,” he boasted. “I'd won the International Award for Maple Syrup in 1997 and was awarded a special blanket - like the ones that the winners at Saratoga horse track get,” he said with pride. “I've won it ever since, but they no longer give away the blanket.” As holder of the coveted title “World's Best Maple Syrup, Rascher has what many other maple men want. But he keeps winning, year after year.

“I've been teaching people how to make maple sugar for 50 years now,” Steve explains. “A few years back I had an international maple tour here, for a demonstration.

It was the summer time, but I still had to show them how I do it. Since I had no sap, I filled the evaporator with distilled water and added a gallon of maple syrup, and then boiled it all out again so they all could see how it was done.”

In 1997 Rascher's original sugarhouse was lost to an arsonist rampage. The sugar house was one of about six other structures in the County that were torched, all in one night. “I've been on the fire department here locally for 38 years or so, and let me tell you there's nothing sadder than seeing your own pride and joy go up in flames,” said Steve. The arsonist apparently was having problems at home. “Well, he's got a nice

new home now, over at the State Prison.”

Undeterred, Rasher rebuilt the sugarhouse on the exact spot as the old one, but even better. He had an evaporator built to his specifications by Tom and Bill at the Grimm Corporation of Rutland VT. Like Rascher himself, it is an original; there's none like it anywhere else.

An opportunity came for others to grab the top maple syrup honors when Rasher fell ill a couple of years ago to a run in with Lyme Disease. He was down, but not out.

Last year, while recovering from his serious illness, he was only able to make maple syrup from one tree, in his front yard. He took some samples of this small batch down to the International Competition in Bennington, Vermont, and to the amazement of all attendees, he swept the awards. “The Rash is back!” declared one of the attendees. “I got the blue ribbon for every single class!” Steve said. “And, I was the class winner for Light Amber, which is the most difficult class to win” With a new lease on life, Rasher is taking on his maple operation with renewed gusto.

He's been busy installing all new sap lines into the sugar bush - a Herculean task for someone in top shape, let alone a Lyme Disease survivor. -Continued on Page 37

ecolocalliving.com 21

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LOCAL STYLE

Green Hair - Going organic is for your head, too Story and pictures by David Delozier

Realizing that toxins in the hair treatments were affecting her health, Ms. Gaffney has made a conscious effort to detoxify the environment of her salon as well.

Hair salons have long been criticized for the pollution they generate. Traditional hair dyes and many shampoos contain harmful synthetic chemicals that are routinely used on customers’ scalps—and then washed down the drain where they can accumulate in waterways, soils and even our bloodstreams.

While there doesn’t appear to be an industrywide, coordinated effort to green up these operations, green-friendly salons are popping up all across the country, leading the charge by taking matters into their own hands.

Pure Elements in Guilderland is one such salon that prides itself on its chemical-free atmosphere. Spurred on by her own health problems related to working with conventional hair dyes, owner Kristin Gaffney decided to go all organic with her salon when the chemical treatments that she had been using were giving her a bad reaction. “I had chronic sinus infections – all the time” said Gaffney. “I asked my doctor why I kept getting these infections. She asked about the products I was using, so I brought in a bottle to show her. She pointed out the ammonia as a main ingredient, and said ‘there’s the culprit!’”

penetrate the hair follicle. Unfortunately, the application must stay on the hair for about a half an hour, so both the customer and the stylist must endure the fumes during that time period. “So to color hair using organic ingredients, we use heat, explains Gaffney, The ammonia is necessary to open up the hair pointing to the hair dryer unit. follicle so that the color pigments can When she first opened her eco-friendly hair salon in August, Ms. Gaffney had no idea the amount of buzz she would generate. As someone who is environmentally conscious, it made sense to Kristin that her salon reflected her concern for the environment.

reception from the public has been encouraging. Her sign on busy Western Avenue is getting some attention, and there is a steady stream of new faces coming in. “I have a new customer who left her stylist of 20 years to come here for the organic difference,” said Gaffney. Gaffney boasts that she even has a customer from New York City, who was introduced to the salon by her mother during a holiday visit. Another loyal customer, Stephanie Delancey, makes the drive from her home in Saratoga Springs to Pure Elements for the improvement she sees and feels with her hair. “I got tired of my head itching for days after a color treatment,” explained Delancey. “My mom had been coming to Kristin for years for her manicures and pedicures, so she recommended I come and try it out. I haven’t gone anywhere else since!”

Realizing that toxins in the hair treatments were affecting her health, Ms. Gaffney has made a conscious effort to detoxify the environment of her salon as well. The paint on the walls is no-VOC paint,” she said. “The lights are LED, which are low energy consuming. All the cleaning products that we In addition to the green approach to the salon use are green and non-toxic. We use lowservices, Ms. Gaffney also has brought in impact hair dryers that produce half the some locally sourced products for her emissions of traditional models.” customers. A customer who makes jewelry The customers at Pure Elements appreciate all has several pieces for sale, and there is line of that Gaffney has done to provide a safe, essential oils and balms made locally. “We really want to promote local here, says comfortable hair salon.

Gaffney. “We’re part of the community, and Since opening the doors in April 2009 and the we want to help others succeed here too!”

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Solar energy and historic preservation:

A SENSIBLE SOLUTION? In a presentation, Alteris demonstrated that after a solar system is taken down, simple re-shingling of the roof is all it takes to get the house back to its prior look.

By Olya Prevo of Alteris Renewables, Inc.

A team of solar designers at the Albany office of Alteris Renewables, decided to work with the Maxwells on not only designing a system that would complement this Victorian style beauty built in 1880, but also on submitting an application for the solar system installation permit to the city's Design Review Commission.

To minimize visibility and help the system blend in as much as possible, Alteris proposed to install 20 SunPower black solar electric modules, flush with the roof and elevated by only a few inches. The panels are immediately adjacent to the neighboring ones, so the system ends up looking like a single unit resembling a lowprofile skylight. The black solar array is only slightly noticeable on the dark grey roof shingles of the house. Besides the panels, this solar installation did not have any exterior components: all wiring and conduit was concealed inside the walls and the solar inverter was installed inside the home's basement.

When Saratoga residents Carol and Otis Maxwell contacted local solar installers to get an estimate for a solar electric installation for their beautiful Victorian home in downtown Saratoga Springs, most solar companies were not so eager to proceed upon learning that the couple's house was located within the city's historic district. In Saratoga Springs, the Design Review Commission (DRC) has jurisdiction over exterior building changes on most properties within the city's historic district and over its historic landmark sites. This means that any exterior changes, including house painting, roof replacement, changing windows, installing satellite dishes in the city's historic district have to be reviewed and approved by the Commission. The review process is notorious for its critical approach towards any significant changes to the historic and 24 ecolocalliving.com

architectural character of the Saratoga Springs landscape. This made acquiring permission to install the first completely visible solar electric system on the downtown historic home a daunting task.

Many of us have seen examples of older solar hot water systems: large dark colored rectangular collectors typically mounted at an odd angle, often drastically altering the outline and style of a building. These systems were often installed in the late 70s and early 80s, when generous government incentives and recent oil crises encouraged homeowners to prioritize utility function of these systems, not necessarily paying attention to their aesthetic role.

Installations from that era showed little sensitivity for the historic nature of many of the homes they were mounted on.

When the project was examined by the Design Review Commission, the members were especially concerned about the effect this photovoltaic system would have on the structure of the building: if an average PV system should last about 30 years, what would happen to the building after the system serves its life and is taken down? In a presentation, Alteris demonstrated that after a solar system is taken down, simple re-shingling of the roof is all it takes to get the house back to its prior look.

After some deliberations, the DRC voted to approve the project.

Alteris installed the system in late 2009 and now, the Maxwell family enjoys the benefits of net-metering. Whenever sun shines and their system produces more power than house needs, excess power flows back out to the grid, spinning the meter backwards, accumulating credits. At night, when sun is down and solar system is asleep, the

Maxwells use electricity from the grid, “cashing in” the credits accumulated during sunny days.

The Maxwell's successful quest for obtaining a permit for the solar installation is an example of how the use of modern solar technology can be combined with sensible planning and engineering to create unobtrusive and visually undisruptive solar systems, even in an historic neighborhood.

Mounting solar modules on flat roofs is another great strategy that allows for seamless incorporation of solar energy into historic buildings without altering their aesthetical appearance. There are numerous manufacturers that engineer flat roof solar rack systems, which allow us to complete solar installations without any roof penetrations.

The Alteris team has used flat roof installation methods on another building located in the heart of Saratoga's historic district - former School #4, now an office building at 112 Spring Street. This is an award-winning historic restoration project envisioned and brought to life by Barbara Glaser of Linell Lands, Inc. This quaint 1910 building was transformed from a run-down

school administration facility into a stateof-the-art office building rebuilt utilizing energy efficient building components and environmentally sensitive restoration practices.

Anyone taking a stroll down Spring Street would not suspect from looking at the building that there is a 14 kW solar “power plant” hidden on the roof. The only place the system is visible from is above the roofline.

Not all historic buildings, however, are good candidates for such solar installations.

Many historic buildings have slate roofing tiles which are much too brittle to work with. We would recommend south facing roofs that are unobstructed by shade from 9am through 3pm throughout the year.

Asphalt shingle and standing seam metal roofs are the best roofing types to be integrated with solar panel installations.

Buildings with flat roofs can be great candidates as well.

energy into your home. Many of our clients find that right now is a great time to install solar energy systems due to generous tax credits, incentives, and lower module prices.

Here in Upstate New York, we have an abundant amount of sunshine for solar panels to produce plentiful power throughout the year. In addition to generating clean electricity and reducing your carbon footprint on the planet, installing a solar system enables you to partake in reducing this country's dependence on foreign energy sources.

Finally, your solar electric system will provide you independence from constantly rising electricity prices.

You can reach a local Alteris Renewables Solar Energy Specialist at 518-512-5154.

If you own a home full of history and charm and suspect that you have good sun exposure, an Alteris Renewables solar energy specialist would be happy to conduct a free site evaluation and advise you on the best solution to incorporate solar

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The Tour of the Battenkill is a 62 mile race (124 miles for the Professional Invitational!) around the Battenkill Valley in Washington County, New York. The race passes through the Towns of Cambridge, White Creek, Jackson, Salem, Easton and Greenwich and the Villages of Cambridge, Shushan, Salem and Greenwich and then ending back in Cambridge near the historic Green Bridge. The Tour of the Battenkill benefits Farm Team-A regional junior cycling team, and various civic and community groups in our area.

The complete Tour of the Battenkill race schedule is: • April 9-10, 2010- Pro/Am - The Nation's largest Pro/Am road cycling event!

• April 16-18, 2010- Pro Weekend!

• April 17- Ride2Recovery - A benefit ride for wounded war veterans www.ride2recovery.com • April 18 - PRO INVITATIONAL - Professional teams from the USA, Canada, Australia, and Europe!

Recommended spectator travel routes within the race course, as well as unpaved sections, have been highlighted for your convenience on the race's website. The Villages of Cambridge and Greenwich will have exciting events featuring music, food and beverage. Saratoga residents will find the Village of Greenwich

THE ARTISAN'S GUILD

featuring work by local artists & exhibits in The Focus Gallery 196 B NORTH MAIN ST. SALEM, NY 518 854-3506 SALEMARTISTGUILD@AOL.COM

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easily accessible and a thrilling place to watch the race as riders come off route 29 turning onto Rte 372 directly in the center of the Village.

While there, take the time to visit the many merchants and eateries on Main Street and in Livery Square. Drink like the PROs by purchasing your Battenkill Creamery commemorative chocolate milk at Green Pea Market. Just off the finish line in Cambridge the Farm Bureau will host a special agricultural display and the Cambridge Hotel will have delicious food and drink specials. Approaching the finish, en-route from Greenwich, the West End of Cambridge will feature a hot spot (a prime viewing location) as the racers enter the Village and sprint to the finish. In Salem consider watching the race from the intersection of Rte 22 and 30 as the racers take a hard left and travel up Rte 30 past Salem Art Works and climb to Battenkill Valley Creamery (take the short cut off Rte 22 and Hanks road) another great viewing location- cheer the racers on by lifting your bottle of chocolate milk. On April 18 the PROs will do a double loop through Shushan before they travel up Rte 62 to Salem.

The race requires a number of volunteers and sponsors to make it successful and safe.

To learn more about the race and how you can participate or be a spectator visit www.tourofthebattenkill.com The Washington County Fiber Tour is a free, selfguided driving tour that takes place every spring throughout Washington County, NY. Drive from farm to farm through the scenic hills and vales of Washington County visiting our Fiber producers and their alpacas, goats, llamas, rabbits and sheep. See home crafted yarns, weavings, knitted items, fleeces and more.

Learn about spinning, knitting, weaving and felting, and about raising the livestock and pets that we cherish!

During the tour you will enjoy many unique experiences on each farm so don't miss any of them. Try your hand at some old time spinning and weaving; Fiber dyeing in traditional and modern techniques including environmentally friendly and kool-aid. Meet the craftsperson and see how the human hand makes each item unique and a treasure to own.

At the farms you will be able to see how raw alpaca fleece is transformed into beautiful garments. You will be able to try your hand at traditional fiber arts including spinning, felting and weaving. Ask questions about and get some hands on experience with the animals.

You can even take an alpaca through the obstacle course and have your picture taken with them! Finish off your trip with a visit to the farms gift shop featuring a wide selection of fine garments including socks, hats, mittens, sweaters, scarves, yarns and more.

Visit Washington County the week of April 24 & 25. Travel our beautiful roads in the early spring green, stop in our quaint Villages for a bite to eat, stroll our main streets and discover Washington County. For more info go to www.washingtoncountyfibertour.org.

For more information on cool events and warm hospitality in Washington County - like the Cambridge Valley Hot Air Balloon Festival, hiking or floating along the quite side of Lake George and the Rogers Island Challenge check washingtonnycounty.com.

Come for a visit, you will be glad you did.

Come visit our local Maple sugar houses in March - Watch the maple sap boil down to sweet syrup, then enjoy it on a stack of pancakes!

Maple Weekends Open House: March 20th-21st & 27th-28th 2010

ecolocalliving.com 29

BUY LOCAL

Local Money means Local Business

By JTracy Frisch, Contributing Writer

When Banks Say No, Micro-Businesses Turn to the Community Loan Fund Last fall, after thirty-two years, the Cambridge Food Coop graduated out of cramped quarters in Hubbard Hall, a restored opera house run by an arts organization, into a bright and inviting new home of its own. The move gave it an attractive storefront that's finally big enough for customers to see all the stock.

"It's almost like a beacon on the street," says Marianne Pender, the president of the coop's board, of the window-lit space.

As with many expansions, one hurdle was financial. The coop ultimately had to borrow $35,000 to complete renovations and equipment acquisitions for the former real estate office it was leasing.

But banks wouldn't recognize the unique structure of a cooperative. "They wanted [to lend to] a business with one owner," explains Pender. They even asked the coop's board of directors to personally guarantee the loan!

The food coop has 200 member-owners.

Given this cold reception, it was natural for the coop to turn to the Capital District Community Loan Fund, where it was already an investor. The 25-year-old nonprofit financial institution lends to small businesses, and not-profit community and economic development projects in an eleven-county region.

A few years before, flush with a small surplus, the coop had invested some of its cash in the Loan Fund, where it would do good, rather than putting it a regular bank savings account. Coop members had been impressed with the Loan Fund's support for micro businesses. Now their business needed its help.

After visiting the coop's current store and future site and getting a good picture of the coop's needs and plans, the Loan Fund sent the coop's loan application to its board.When it was approved, the loan officer personally delivered the check and papers to sign! Later when the coop found that the project would cost more than anticipated, the Loan Fund came through with the additional sum. They toured the new store after it opened for business and expect updates.

"I cannot give them enough praise," Pender 30 ecolocalliving.com

tells me. "It was refreshing to have someone repeatedly thwarted by the refusal of local that was truly interested in what we are banks to lend for social needs, were responsible for creating this grassroots doing." financial institution. Back then, the concept The Cambridge Food Co-op is representative was new and less than a handful of of the several hundred small businesses and Community Loan Funds existed, in Boston, organizations that the Capital District New Hampshire, and Philadelphia.

Community Loan Fund has lent to in its twenty-five years. Its $25 million total in All these early Loan Funds were formed under cumulative loans commands an enviable the tutelage of the Institute for Community default rate under 2 percent! The coop Economics (ICE), which was run by the late president's story reveals an obvious reason visionary Chuck Matthei. (He is also known to that virtually all loans get paid back -- the on- some in the region for developing an going technical assistance and innovative model for Roxbury Farm in communication that staff provides to Columbia County, and other Community borrowers. As satisfied clients can attest, that Supported Agriculture farms, to make good caring service sets it apart from most other farmland secure and affordable for themselves and future generations of lenders today. sustainable farmers.)

Cambridge Food Co-op 25 East Main Street, Cambridge, NY 12816 One man who was especially instrumental in 518/677-5731 getting the Capital District Community Loan www.cambridgefoodcoop.com Fund off the ground was Kirby White. As an ICE consultant, he brought expertise as the Community activists, such as Roger writer of the institute's handbook on the Markowcz, the long-time director of United subject. While providing technical assistance Tenants of Albany, whose efforts had been to the new loan fund for its early years, the

Cambridge, NY, native even moved to Troy and then Albany.

grains like wheat, rye, and barley) that causes symptoms that mimic various diseases. A decade ago, as the condition was "almost unheard of," recalls Birch, there were very few food products on the market.

In the intervening decades, White has had other roles with the Loan Fund - borrower (as director of a land trust), lender, member, and board member, and he still finds that it "continues to be fun!" Looking back to its modest roots, he is "awed by what [the Loan Fund] has become - in terms of its financial capacity and its organizational culture."

Since 1985 the Loan Fund has been building up its pool of funds to its present $10 million portfolio, half of which is now equity. Much of this money is lent at below-market rate by a diverse group of socially concerned investors - individuals, civic and faith groups, businesses, and even banks. Donations, large and small, and grants also capitalize the Hippotherapy is a modality in which the funding pool. movement of the horse promotes a person's This revolving loan fund makes capital mobility. The horse's stride stimulates available to non-profits as well as small dormant muscles and nerves, and simply businesses owned by low-income people, being on a horse gives a person "total minorities, and women. All sorts of sensory bombardment," Lovegrove explains. enterprises in area cities, the countryside, and in between have benefited as loan recipients. She describes the business venture, which The Loan Fund also provides workshops and opened in 2006, as "a labor of love." She and other trainings to help people start and her partners, who are physical therapists, all work full-time jobs elsewhere. develop their enterprises.

Housing has always held a central place with the Capital District Community Loan Fund.

This year, in four counties, it will launch its first home mortgage-lending program.

Competing nationally with over 450 other applicants for a large U.S. Department of Treasury grant for this purpose, the Loan Fund was one of only 62 organizations selected.

It was 'learn or starve," so I started cooking, says Birch. When she and her family left Niskayuna to live in rural Washington County, she decided to open a shop for others like her.

They leased a vacant ice cream parlor in Brunswick and plowed in their life savings to refurbish it. She started with gluten-free pastas and soups, and added new foods, like breads, donuts, cookies, and even pizza, as she figured out how to make them.

Soon the business, which opened in September 2007, was demanding all their waking hours. She gave up her cleaning business, and before long, her husband had to quit his job, too. Internet sales took off, and they shipped out orders every day.

But after a year and two weeks, the basement flooded in a bad storm, and the fire department ended up condemning the building as unsafe. Their business insurance helped tremendously, but during the six months they were closed and in the process of trying to work out a move to a suitable The business originated after Lovegrove and location, they lost their clientele. one of future partners rented space at an They finally found a 3,000 square foot indoor horse arena to work as volunteers location in Latham. It's almost twice as big as with special needs children. The site their first shop, but the insurance would only presented difficulties for people with physical pay to replace exactly what they had. limitations so they decided to design a more Latham's more stringent building code also suitable setting. After doing a business plan mandated an extra bathroom, another and purchasing land for their future therapy unwelcome expense. center, they were able to secure a loan from a bank. But they "maxed out" their borrowing "No one would grant me a loan, even though limit with only sufficient capital for a rough we had a successful business," Birch says. structure.

In another interesting housing initiative the Loan Fund has lent $500,000 toward the construction of 10 LEED "Platinum" certified low-income green homes in Schenectady. But Short the $60,000 required for fine-tuning the that's a whole story in itself. building and adding comforts, they got I spoke with two other recent Loan Fund assistance from the Community Loan Fund. borrowers. Each operates a unique enterprise Lovegrove says she appreciated the that supplies an essential service. willingness of the staff to talk with them, Britta Lovegrove is an R.N. with a deep love listen, and advise. for horses and working with children. At EBC "We can always call. They're much friendlier, Therapy Center, the business she co-owns and user-friendly than a bank," she says. And with two other women in the Albany County without the Loan Fund, their dream of hill town of East Berne, she has the chance to making hippotherapy available in the Capital combine these interests. The center's initials Region would be unfulfilled. stand for "Everybody Counts," a phrase that EBC Therapy Center sums up the owners' philosophy.

251 Cole Hill Road, East Berne, NY 12059

EBC uses horses to assist with children with 518/872-1870 www.ebcpt.com special needs, veterans, and other populations. The staff also offers therapeutic Sherry Birch had been sick for many years, riding, as well as yoga, energy therapy, and making the rounds of various doctors' offices.

Finally a physician tested her for celiac home-based therapies. disease, an intolerance to gluten (found in ecolocalliving.com 31

"The banks wanted a three-year market analysis for a business just like ours, but we have the only 100 percent gluten-free restaurant in the country!"

In the end, the Community Loan Fund saved the day. Birches were able to borrow $20,000 to cover the shortfalls. Last March they reopened Sherry Lynn's Gluten-Free as a specialty restaurant, bakery, and grocery store. While they still haven't gotten their online business back to the point it was, they are continuing to grow and can finally see "the light at the end of the tunnel."

Birch expresses deep gratitude. "They were absolutely amazing. They talked to me on a human level, and they believed in me when no one else would."

Sherry Lynn's Gluten-Free, LLC 836 Troy-Schenectady Road, Latham, NY 12110 one mile west of the Northway

518/786-7700 www.sherrylynnsglutenfree.com The Capital District Community Loan Fund offers both a community resource for small businesses and not-profits, and an opportunity to contribute to the community wellbeing.

Consider loaning a portion of your savings to the Community Loan Fund • Become a Loan Fund member or donate money outright.

Making small loans with technical assistance and intensive contact does not pay for itself • Contact the Loan Fund about free workshops for micro enterprises, non-profits, and specialized groups like artists.

Capital District Community Loan Fund 255 Orange Street, Albany, NY 12210, 518/436-8586

www.cdclf.org

462 Route 29 West, Saratoga, NY 12866 • 518-584-WINE (9463) www.thesaratogawinery.com

Spring Hours: Wed – Sat 12-7 Sun 12-5 Select from 15 hand-crafted wines, including all natural Melomel – made with local honey

We offer a growing selection of LOCAL specialty foods, Plus, we are available for private parties and your special events!

JOIN US FOR WINE TASTING DAILY! Gift certificates and gift baskets, wine accessories and gifts for the wine lover.

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Nutritional Supplement Access is at Risk by Our Government

By Mary Beth McCue RD LDN CDN Integrative and Functional Nutritionist

To the average consumer, choosing nutritional supplements can be daunting, bewildering and complex. “What nutrients do I need”, “What name brand do I use”, “Where should I buy them?” “Are they all the same quality?” “Do I really need them?” The best way to be guided in the world of supplements is to speak with holistic health care professionals that are educated about how they work in the body, and that work with nutrients in a setting where they see clients.

Based on the degree that an individual wants to explore their nutritional health and need, there are many ways to approach the use of supplements. If you have symptoms or a health condition you are trying to resolve – which most people do – then there are certain nutrients (as well as food sources) you will want to use to help resolve them.

For example aswaganda can help adrenal fatigue, amino acids can support the liver and/or used for mood and brain balancing.

If your feeling well and want to know what you should take as prevention measures – then you may want to consider a multi vitamin, an Omega 3 Fatty Acid, probably a Vitamin D and maybe some antioxidants.

If you want to get advice on which of the plethora of specialty nutritional tests could be recommended for you, to unravel other potential unique deficiencies, a nutritional professional can easily guide you.

Once you realize what you need and decide what you want – you would want to know what to know the best forms of the nutrients to take, the proper dosing and duration

based on your unique needs, and then the best company brands and locations of where to purchase them.

In a nutshell - Credentialed health care professionals, whom are committed to excellence in nutritional health care and “Holistic and Integrative Medicine”, can guide you with this and more. They use only scientifically formulated professional products that work and that have scientific and practice proven records of superior results. In contrast to this, the nutritional products in the retail and consumer market are not regulated. Therefore, when you purchase these over the counter nutritional line products, they can contain “anything”.

The company is not regulated to test for quality, safety and effectiveness as does practitioner/professional line products do.

Most, if not all the negative press information on supplements has been based on retail products not practitioner products.

This means the reports are based on the products sold at department stores or drug stores, not from your Integrative Medicine Physician or Dietitian. Further, it is believed that the negative press has been purposely designed and positioned for the benefit of (the extremely political and influential) U.S. based pharmaceutical companies.

Meeting with an expert in nutrition to help understand the use and need of supplements is becoming more and more common practice in our culture. But this may not be a choice we will have in the future. The US government wants to change that so that they can acquire money by over charging us.

You can help stop this from happening.

There is some BAD legislation in Congress right now that could harm our access to supplements. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) have cosponsored a new bill misleadingly called The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA).

The DSSA would repeal key sections of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), signed into law by thenPresident Clinton. This legislation would change current regulation for dietary supplements. It would give the FDA full discretion and power to compile a discreet list of supplements allowed to remain on the market – making many of them prescription only, limit what is available at all, while banning all others.

Most of us understand that the FDA is friendly to drug companies (which pay its bills and provide good revolving door jobs) and hostile to supplement companies. Under this bill, this same Agency could quite arbitrarily ban any supplement it wished or turn it over to drug companies to be

developed as a drug and sold for multiples of its price as a supplement. This bill, if passed, can offer patents to drug companies and in many other ways severely limit access to dietary supplements.

A variety of organizations have swung into action to stop John McCain’s new bill that threatens dietary supplements. Already thousands of messages are on their way to Capitol Hill in protest.

Please be sure that your message is among them. I encourage you to act now to send a message to your Senator or Congressman, or both. It took me 10 minutes. Please go to www.anh-usa.org/new_site/?p=2326, and clink the link “please take action now” in the first paragraph of the article. Then simply follow the directions and a form letter with your information attached will be sent to your Senator or Congressman. It is very simple.

DSHEA protects supplements 1) if they are food products that have been in the food supply and not chemically altered or 2) if they were sold as supplements prior to 1994, the year that DSHEA was passed. If a supplement fits one of these two descriptions, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cannot arbitrarily ban it or reclassify it as a drug. DSHEA provides the framework for effective regulation of dietary supplements by the FDA. The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) would eliminate the supplement protections contained in DSHEA and allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) arbitrary authority to draw up a list of what supplements can be sold and at what potency levels. These levels would go so low, the products would not be effective and you would have to get a prescription from a MD who does not know about the nutrients, does not have time to educate himself and in most cases simply will not.

So please act now and write to your Senator and Congressman to oppose this legislation.

Your future health depends on this.

ecolocalliving.com 33

Geoengineering Technique Solar Radiation Management Without addressing the root causes of our condition how can we hope to discover real remedies? The Bonnefire Coalition imagines a world in which we share Earth's bounty with all Beings.

By Bonnie Hoag for The Bonnefire Coalition

While the term “geoengineering” is still being refined, the Council on Foreign Relations defines it as “Any of a variety of strategies, such as injecting light-reflecting particles into the stratosphere, that might be used to modify the Earth's atmosphere-ocean system in an attempt to slow or reverse global warming.” (from the CFR Unilateral Geoengineering workshop May 5, 2008).

Here, at the outset, I submit that my first remedy to the sickened condition of Earth is simply for our species to wake up from our coma! We are trained and educated away from common sense and personal responsibility. And we are starved for the kind of nourishment which simplicity and generosity might provide. For now, simplicity is gobbled up by excess. Our sense of entitlement shapes our solutions.

Without addressing the root causes of our condition how can we hope to discover real remedies? The Bonnefire Coalition imagines a world in which we share Earth's bounty with all Beings. It's only common decency.

It's only common sense.

The Bonnefire Coalition was initiated to stop the pluming jet trails, what NASA calls Persistent Jet Contrails. PJCs are those trails - often appearing in grids, Xs and parallel lines - which are witnessed and recorded daily and globally. As PJCs expand they combine to veil the sky and dim the sun.

NASA agrees with the Bonnefire Coalition that PJCs are contributing to global warming and reducing direct sunlight. While we have been busy trying to stop the effects of PJCs, another geoengineering acronym has sprouted in the laboratories of the global scientific community: SRM, which is the focus of this article.

SRM - Solar Radiation Management is one of the most disturbingly inventive of the geoengineering techniques currently being discussed. By definition, “SRM and related strategies seek to directly intervene in the climate system, without directly affecting atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.” (from Ken Caldeira's testimony - Geoengineering: Assessing the Implications of Large-Scale Climate 34 ecolocalliving.com

Intervention, before the House Committee on Science and Technology, November 5, 2009). By another definition “SRM aims to offset the warming caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by the Earth.” (from Lee Lane's testimony - Researching Solar Radiation Management as a Climate Policy Option before the House Committee on Science and Technology, November 5, 2009).

On November 5, 2009 the U.S. government went public with its SRM geoengineering schemes, as the House of Representatives conducted Hearings before the House Committee on Science and Technology. The testimonies describe possible future geoengineering techniques to abate global warming. This excursion into a public forum gives us a most rare opportunity to ask our legislators to speak on our behalf, to say firmly to the geoengineers, “No! You may not!

The congressional hearings discuss several methods for implementing Solar Radiation Management. The one of particular concern to us is administered by military jets, high in the stratosphere, laying down particles of Sulfur Dioxide (Council on Foreign Relations Unilateral Geoengineering May 5, 2008 workshop) which effectively haze the sky and dim the sun. Our research indicates that Sulfur Dioxide is not the only particulate being considered. “Other candidates include hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and soot.”

(Crutzen, 2006) (from Lee Lane's November 5, 2009 testimony). “A fairly broad range of materials might be used as stratospheric scatterers” (Caldeira and Wood 2008) (from Lee Lane's November 5, 2009 testimony).

“Potential types of particles for injection include sulfur dioxide, aluminum oxide dust or even designer self-levitating aerosols…”

(CFR Unilateral Geoengineering May 5, 2008 workshop).

“Cloud Cover Modification,” is another Solar Radiation Management (SRM) technique which uses particulates to reflect sunlight back into space, away from the Earth. For this method of modifying marinc stratocumulus clouds “the level of Sulfur

Dioxide emissions required to counteract the effects of double CO2 concentrations was estimated at 31,000 tons per day, an amount equivalent at the time to the SO2 [Sulfur Dioxide] emissions from a coal-fired plant for an entire year.” (CFR Unilateral Geoengineering May 5, 2008 workshop).

How is this use of SO2 even being considered when we have been working to reduce the effects of SO2 emissions? Out of fairness to the Council on Foreign Relations, they do acknowledge that this method “would have massive environmental impacts in the form of acid rain.” If so, why are we even discussing its use?

In his November 5th testimony, while assessing risks of various geoengineering techniques, Professor Alan Robock, of Rutgers University, states that “with brightening of marine clouds there is… a possible large impact on the oceanic food chain due to less solar energy needed for plankton at the base of the food chain to grow.” Less solar energy [which is] needed for the plankton at the base of the food chain? If common sense prevailed, this SRM technique would be dismissed without consideration.

Further, if “brightened clouds” over the oceans will steal sunlight from fundamental life processes, what losses are incurred when the Aerosol Program hazes the sky?

In a critical breach of common sense some of our scientists seem to have forgotten that we need the sun. We need direct sunlight for fundamental life processes such as photosynthesis! Yes, there are creatures who flourish in darkness and without oxygen, but we are not those creatures, nor are countless other sentient beings who share this planet with us. It is astounding, really, that so simple and significant a concept seems to have completely escaped some of the scientific community.

Before continuing with other risks of the proposed Aerosol Program, I want to interject another sun-related solution which was discussed by the Council of Foreign Relations in its May 5, 2008 Unilateral Geoengineering workshop.

“Land Cover Modification - A few large continental nations might be able to produce significant changes in planetary albedo [Earth's ability to reflect incoming light] through massive modifications in land cover. This would entail replacing dark forest cover with much lighter and more reflective cover such as grass lands or steppe.” “Replacing” is a euphemism for deforestation. Deforestation? At a time when the planet is said to be suffocating from Carbon Dioxide? Didn't we learn as kids that forests are our friends because they breathe in our carbon dioxide and give back to us our oxygen?

Where, in all of this, are the Environmental Impact Statements? Where is the public awareness? Why are we not included in the decision-making process? Where are our legislators who will defend for us the most fundamental life processes which are at stake with these Dr. Strangelove “solutions”?

Returning, for a moment, to Professor Alan Robock's November 5, 2009 testimony before the House Committee on Science and Technology, and focusing on Solar Radiation Management technology, he lists seventeen risks.

1) SRM could produce drought in Asia and Africa, threatening the food and water supply for billions of people. [Practical racism aside, the Earth's atmosphere is a closed system. What goes around, comes around. BH]

2) It will not halt continued ocean acidification from CO2.

3) It would deplete ozone.

4) It would increase dangerous ultraviolet radiation.

5) With SRM the reduction of direct solar radiation and the increase in diffuse radiation would make the sky less blue and produce much less solar power from systems using focused sunlight. [And would profoundly affect fundamental life processes. BH] 6) Any system to inject particles or their precursors into the stratosphere at the needed rate would have large local environmental impacts.

7) If discontinued there would be much more rapid warming, much more rapid than would occur without geoengineering.

8) If a series of volcanic eruptions produced unwanted cooling, geoengineering could not be stopped rapidly to compensate.

9) Geoengineering would put permanent pollution above astronomers' telescopes.

10) There will be unexpected consequences.

11) There will be human error with sophisticated technical systems.

12) Geoengineering would lessen the public will to address climate change with mitigation.

13) Do humans have the right to control the climate of the entire planet to benefit them, without consideration of all other species?

14) Potential military use of geoengineering technology raises ethical concerns.

15) What if some benefit from

geoengineering technology while others are harmed?

16) Who would control geoengineering systems?

17) The costs of implementing geoengineering would be less than the costs associated with the potential damages of geoengineering.

It is important to add two more problems to Professor Robock's list 18) SRM will affect physical and mental health. The Dimming of the Sun and increasing manmade cloud cover are already associated with a rise in Ricketts and other vitamin-D-deficiency diseases, as well as depression and asthma.

19) SRM will affect life processes vital to agriculture, forestry and natural resources/systems.

References: Historical Perspectives on “Fixing the Sky” November 5, 2009 statement (before the US House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology) Dr. James Fleming, Professor and Director of Science, Technology and Society, Colby College Geoengineering: Assessing the Implications of Large-Scale Climate Intervention November 5, 2009 testimony (before the House Committee on Science and Technology) Ken Caldeira, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Global Ecology, Stanford, California Geoengineering the Climate: Science, Governance & Uncertainty November 5, 2009 testimony (before the House Committee on Science & Technology) John Shepherd of the National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, United Kingdom Researching Solar Radiation Management as a Climate Policy Option November 5, 2009 statement (before the House Committee on Science and Technology) Lee Lane, Co-director of the American Enterprise Institute Geoengineering Project Unilateral Geoengineering Council on Foreign Relations May 5, 2008 workshop To read the November 5, 2009 congressional testimonies on geoengineering please use the following links: agriculturedefensecoalition.org/ Use search engine “Geoengineering”science.house.gov/Publications/hearings_markups _details.aspx?NewsID=2668 and/or democrats.science.house.gov/Media/file /Commdocs /hearings/2009/Full/5nov/Robock_Testimony.pdf Contact the Bonnefire Coalition at bonne_fire@yahoo.com or 518-8547764 in New York State Learn more about the Bonnefire Coalition by clicking on its icon at www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org

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Cooking Local with Maple Syrup

By Diane Conroy-LaCivita, Harmony House Marketplace Early Spring is the also the maple sugaring season. Once the warm days and cool nights have given way to consistently warmer weather, many around New York State celebrate maple season. Upstate and downstate alike come alive with communities holding festivals, complete with maple demonstrations and tastings. Pure maple is a natural product with considerable variation in flavors. Like wines, syrup flavor is affected by soil type, tree genetics, weather conditions, time during the season when the sap is collected, and processing technique. Producers in every region consistently are able to produce great tasting, high quality products.

Maple is truly a wonderful local product that should be enjoyed!

Maple-Glazed Sausages with Figs 2 tablespoons maple syrup • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 16 oz. fully cooked sausages (Bilinski’s of Cohoes are available at Price Chopper stores) • 8 ripe fresh figs, each cut lengthwise in half Preheat oven to 450o F. In a small bowl blend maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. On a foiled baking pan, place sausages and figs in a single layer and brush with syrup mixture. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until heated through and golden.Turn sausage and figs over and brush with remaining syrup mixture. Return to oven and bake for another 4-5 minutes Serve with fresh steamed swiss chard form your local farmers market for a complete meal 36 ecolocalliving.com

Continued from Page 23 But Steve is committed to quality, and he felt that the old lines had to go. “The doctor said I should keep busy with work to stay healthy. I told him, don't worry about that one,” he laughed.

Rascher's next ambition is to get his syrup certified by Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA). It's a very stringent classification that requires absolute purity. Rasher is confident that he'll pass with ease - he owns the property on both sides of the road, all the way to the ridge tops. “There are no contaminants in this valley,” he point out. “Everything I do here is natural. It's just me, the maples, and God's hand over mine.” The trees are just returning the favor of a lifetime of care. It is a love affair, for the man that maple made.

For more information, contact Rascher's Sugar House 347 Perry Hill Road, Town of Salem 518-854-3770 Features an owner-designed 5x12 wood-fired stainless steel evaporator. Won "Worlds Best Maple Syrup" and New York State Legislature Recognition.

Open year round by appointment.

Tours during maple season.

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Directory of Advertisers Please mention that you found them in eco-LOCAL Living!

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY Alteris Renewables, Inc. Commercial and Residential Solar and Wind Energy 120 Broadway, Menands, NY 12204 518-512-5154 www.alterisinc.com Empire Solar Store Solar, Wind and Alt-Energy Home Accessories 7 Brunswick Rd., Suite 2, Troy, NY 12180 518-272-1461 www.empiresolarstore.com The Radiant Store, Inc. Solar Heating and Hot Water Solutions 10 Hermes Rd., Malta, NY 12020 518-899-2791 www.theradiantstoreinc.com

FARMS AND FOOD Locust Grove Smokehouse Butcher Shop and USDA Processor of Beef and Pork 4725 SR 40, Argyle, NY 12809 518-638-8591 Mack Brook Farm 100% Grass-Fed Beef 312 McEachron Hill Rd., Argyle, NY 12801 518-638-6187 www.mackbrookfarm.com Native Farm Flowers Florist and local flower grower Wing Road Farm, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-369-8713 Schenectady Green Market Public Farmers Market Sunday mornings @ Proctors Arcade, Schenectady, NY www.schenectadygreenmarket.com Nagimor Farm Pasture-raised beef, pork, chicken and eggs 165 Hite Rd., Warnerville, NY 12187 518-254-0021 Ozze Foods Wholesome snack food PO Box 4772, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-221-0806 www.zennuts.com Saratoga Organics Hydroponics and home gardening supplies 19 Front St., Ballston Spa, NY 12020 518-885-2005 www.saratogaorganics.com Rathbun's Maple Maple products 1208 Hatch Hill Rd., Whitehall, NY 12887 518-642-1799 www.rathbunsmaple.com

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Dry Brook Sugar House Maple products 432 Chambers Rd. Salem, NY 12865 518-854-3955 www.drybrooksugarhouse.com

Harry Moran/Cornerstone Financial Sustainable Financial Consulting 1 Rozell Dr., Ballston Lake, NY 12019 518-877-8800 www.cornerstone-fa.com

Grottoli's Maple Maple products 91 Ritchie Rd., Middle Granville, NY 12835 518-642-2856 grottolimaple@yahoo.com

Enhanced Wellness Eco home and personal products 64 N. Allen St., Albany, NY 12203 518-459-0640

Mapleland Farms Maple products 525 Bunker Hill Rd. Argyle, NY 12865 518-854-7669 www.maplelandfarms.com Nightingale's Maple Farm Maple products 4888 Jersey Hill Rd., Hagaman, NY 12010 518-882-9334 Rascher's Sugar House Maple products 347 Perry Hill Rd., Sushan, NY 12873 518-854-3770 Urbavores Home gardening services 518-421-2802 urbavores@gmail.com www.urbavores.com

BUILDING SERVICES Legacy Timber Frames Timber Frame Design and Construction 691 CR 70, Stillwater, NY 12170 518-279-9108 Phinney Design Group Architecture and LEED Structures 142 Grand Ave., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-587-7120 www.phinneydesign.com Advanced Energy Panels Manufacturer of thermal window inserts 91 Church St., Hoosick Falls NY 12090 518-686-9581 www.advancedenergypanels.com Northeast Spray Foam High performance insulation 7 Rocky Ridge, Warrensburg, NY 12885 518-623-7010 www.northeastsprayfoam.com

PERSONAL SERVICES Adirondack Advanced Chiropractic Holistic wellness and spinal care 402 Rowland St., Ballston Spa, NY 12020 518-363-0202 www.adirondacadvancedchiropractic.com

The Beauty Society Holistic salon services 123 Dunning St., Malta, NY 12020 518-899-7570 Pure Elements Salon An organic salon 1726 Western Ave., Albany, NY 12203 518-608-5405

HOME SERVICES Blue Moon Sharpening Service Knife and blade sharpening and hand-made gourmet dressings 518-893-2669 bluemoondressing@aol.com Eco Maids Green cleaning services 518-298-4060 www.ecomaids.com

Black Dog Wine & Liquor 63 W. Main St., Cambridge, NY 12816 518-677-2275 www.blackdogwines.com Runway 7 eco Fashions Sustainably-minded Mens and Womens clothing and accessories 952 Troy Schenectady Rd. Latham, NY 12110 518-378-7995 www.runway7eco.com The Saratoga Winery Local vintner 464 Rt. 29, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-584-9463 www.thesaratogawinery.com Saratoga Zymergist Wine and beer making supplies and advice 112 Excelsior Ave., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-580-9785 www.saratogazymergist.com Zola Kids Sustainably-minded Kids Clothing and accessories 380 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-583-2050 www.zolakids.com

RESTAURANTS

Green Conscience Home and Garden Eco home products and accessories 33 Church St., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-306-5196 www.green-conscience.com

Amigos Cantina Mexican style restaurant 42 Ferry St., Schuylerville, NY 12871 518-695-9595 www.amigoscantina.net

Green Martha Home organizing and de-clutter your life PO Box 11, Greenwich, NY 12834 518-692-9539

Harmony House Marketplace CafĂŠ and bakery 184-190 Remsen St., Cohoes, NY 12047 518-238-2232

Preble Realty Serving Southern Washington County 4061 SR 22, Salem, NY 12865 518-854-7888 www.PrebleRealty.com

Some Like It Hot CafĂŠ and bistro 93 Main St., Greenwich, NY 12866 518-692-0200

Roohan Realty Serving Saratoga County 519 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-366-0946 www.roohanrealty.com

RETAIL Artique Local art and craft emporium 1536 Crescent Rd., Clifton Park, NY 12065 518-724-0750 www.artiqueshopping.com FabGreenWear.com Green fashions 518-879-3947

SCHOOLS Adirondack School An alternative to public school 5158 CR 113, Greenwich, NY 12834 518-695-5294 www.adirondackschoolneny.com

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