BY KATHY LITCHFIELD - Two Massachusetts AOLCPs have embarked upon exciting and substantial  projects, highlighting the work of the NOFA Organic Land Care Program. Donald Bishop of Gardens Are. Inc. in Marlborough and Michael Murray, of Organic Soil Solutions Inc. in Woburn, are each working with municipalities to implement organic practices onto public lawn areas, thanks to a generous $10,000 grant awarded to NOFA/Mass from the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at University of Massachusetts Lowell.

In Ayer, Bishop is working with Parks Supervisor Jeff Thomas to transition the lawns at Sandy Pond Beach to organic management. Sandy Pond is the town's public swimming area, renovated in 2006 into a park environment with basketball, volleyball, playground and picnic areas as well as new sod installed.

"Because the turf at Sandy Pond Beach abuts the town's main recreational body of water and users of the facility are often barefoot and lie on the grass, having organic lawn care will likely create more ideal conditions for both those who visit the park and those who use and live on Sandy Pond," said Thomas. The pond also suffers from thriving invasive aquatic weeds, and local residents are working with the Conservation Commission to limit the use of commercial fertilizers on homeowners' lawns in this area to help alleviate runoff, which they have stated is part of the problem.

In Stoneham, Murray is working with Groundskeeper Rick Arzillo 

and DPW Deputy Manager Larry Brophy to implement organic

techniques at the center circle of the Town Common, surrounded by the Town Hall, Police Station and Fire Station. This circle is used year-round for special events including parades, road races, holiday events as well as for general recreation.

Arzillo said the project "is a great example, to show us what possible improvements this might make in our overall organic program. We'd like to continue in this direction and are happy to have

the help of a NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional."

Both Thomas and Arzillo previously attended the NOFA Organic Lawn & Turf Course on full scholarships, again thanks to TURI, who awarded NOFA/Mass with two $1,000 grants in each of 2007 and 2008.

Two environmental groups, the Nashua River Watershed Association and the Greenscapes Program of the Massachusetts Bays Estuary Association, are also partnering on the grant to help with publicity and further their mission of protecting waterways from lawn chemical runoff and pollution.

Work began at both sites in October, with the application of compost topdressings, overseeding and the addition of humates/kelp on the two properties.  Next Spring, a public kick-off ceremony at each site will highlight the work done and promote organic land care at the municipal and homeowner levels.

As part of the grant, a customized homeowner's brochure will be created describing the benefits of organic lawns, listing websites for resources and listing the local AOLCPs. A "tool kit" will also be created, detailing the overall project, to be used by other municipalities wishing to do organic lawn demonstration projects.

The grant is being coordinated by Kathy Litchfield, OLC Program Coordinator for NOFA/Mass.

For more information about the Organic Lawn Demonstration Projects, email or call Kathy at (413) 773-3830.

The TURI Community Program strives to help organizations raise awareness of the hazards of toxic chemical use and introduce safer alternatives within their neighborhoods. It supports the work of many community organizations by providing grants, training, education and outreach on toxic use reduction methods, alternatives and resources. For more information on TURI, visit www.turi.org or contact Joy Onasch at (978) 934-4343 or joy@turi.org.

It was great to see you this past week and you folks did a wonderful job organizing matters. However, as I enjoyed Professor Janice Thies from Cornell and her Bio Char Science discussion I was deeply and unfortunately disgruntled with the talk by Cornell student  who's name is not listed working on her thesis.  She fed the entire group propaganda with the presentation on the " pragmatist versus opposition to Bio Char.

Dr. Vandana Shiva is one of my personal mentors and has been a proponent for the Organic economic and social agriculture movement for many years world wide. Now people who were not familiar with her work might view her under negative light due to the Cornell student propaganda.  Sounds to me that the wisdom of Dr. Shiva comes clear with what could be if Bio Char falls into the wrong hands with the global marketplace, Officially I am not an opponent of Bio Char as mitigation to climate change or soil ameliorant.

Let that be said. My concerns are far bigger picture than that and I might consider with more data for my organic farm in the future.

Small scale on farm possibly however, if Bio Char becomes deregulated it could cause greater harm to farmers around the world and I think Dr. Shiva has had much experience and as I said wisdom with this.   As some people put it in class discussion "Until we fix the waste stream problem " can we talk about the issues brought forth by this Cornell student.

Thanks for reading my concerns and once again it was great seeing you folks . Other than that part of the course I truly enjoyed all aspects of our schooling. Physiologist and tree expert Kevin Smith was fabulous He has a great sense of humor  and Bill Cullina what can I say except that I love microbiology and his microscopic photography is fascinating. I enjoyed the other speakers and commend all organizing efforts on the part of you and your staff.

Hope you have a great holiday,

Rebecca Lipton, Fresh Idea Organic Land Care Management

We invite you to continue this discussion.  Comments can be sent to Ashley for inclusion in our next e-news or on our website. 

Rebecca also recommended the following links:

http://www.kintespace.com/swf_video/?key=shiva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av6dx9yNiCA
http://www.wiserearth.org/forum/view/9e9fb9a3e1b0b60947f172d9b7366307