5/5: Yard and Barter Sale at the Jones-Rounds’

From McKenzie…

We’re moving to the Aurora Pocket Neighborhood soon and looking to seriously downsize. Lucky for you, we have tons of nice stuff to get rid of!

Come to our Yard and Barter Swap Sale
Sun May 5, 1-4 pm
During Streets Alive!
713 N Cayuga St
Ithaca, NY

Some things you can expect us to be giving away or selling:
Various household knick knacks
Clothes (adult and children)
Toys
Electronics
Furniture (either now or when we move – claim it now!)
Magazines and other publications

Some things we would like to get from trades:
Energy efficient appliances
Medicine cabinet
Bunk beds
High quality wooden bookshelves and/or someone to make built-in shelves

Thanks and hope to see you there, for barter or worse!!!
McKenzie

2/23: Post Holiday Winter Swap at Mel’s!

Saturday, February 23, 10am-3pm
Mel’s Place
505 Cliff Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
RSVP on Facebook

It’s that time of year when we all look around and realize that we’ve amassed a lot of, well, stuff. It could be from holidays, winter crafting, or just holding onto things. Here’s your chance to trade, barter, and/or give away! Get rid of that second blender that Aunt June gave you and maybe pick up a new pair of socks!

This swap will be held in at Mel Casano’s house, in the basement (the concrete floor is more forgiving to tracked-in snow). Park at the Incodema parking lot and come through the backdoor. There will be a few tables for people to set up their stuff, but more would probably be helpful, if you happen to have one that’s easy to transport.

Remember: Saturday is swapping stuff; Sunday is the Seed Swap at Cooperative Extension! It’s a SWAP-A-GANZA.

Learn more about what happens at our swaps, and brush up on your swapping skills.

2/24: Community Seed Swap

Join Cornell Cooperative Extension for the first ever Seedy Sunday in Ithaca! Bring your extra seeds to swap and share with others – they can be home-saved seeds or purchased seeds that you have in surplus. Plus talks and workshops on seed saving and community seed libraries. Free event!

Sunday February 24, 2013, 11am-3pm
CCE-Tompkins Education Center
615 Willow Avenue
Ithaca, NY

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

11:00 am – 11:30 am: Screening of the film Seeds of Freedom, featuring environmental activist Vandana Shiva The film charts the story of seed from its roots at the heart of traditional, diversity-rich farming systems across the world, to being transformed into a powerful commodity, used to monopolize the global food system. Seeds of Freedom seeks to challenge the idea that large-scale, industrial agriculture is the only means by which we can feed the world. In tracking the story of seed it becomes clear how the corporate agenda has driven the takeover of seed in order to make vast profit and control of the global food system.

11:30 am – 12:15 pm: Seed Saving for Beginners (and children!) Learn the basics of getting started with seed saving and get some hands-on experience in seed cleaning. This workshop will empower you to start saving your own seeds this year! Learn how to make Magic Seed Wands for children, and how to construct seed cleaning tools from recycled materials. Presented by Sean Dembrosky of Edible Acres http://www.edibleacres.org/index.htm

12:30 pm – 1:15 pm: Advanced Seed Saving and Selection Techniques We’ve all seen tomato blossoms turning to seed-laden fruits, but have you ever seen a parsnip or carrot plant blossom and go to seed? Come learn about biennial life cycles of root crops and the art and science (mostly the former!) of growing them on to the seed-producing stage. Learn about selection, overwintering of the first year roots, replanting in spring, flowering, seed harvesting and drying. Bring any and all questions related to seed and feel free to share what you’ve learned from your garden, as well! Presented by Petra Page-Mann of Fruition Seeds http://fruitionseeds.com/

1:30 pm – 2:15 pm: Restrictions on Saving Seed in the EU In the US, we are very fortunate that there currently are no restrictions on saving seed to sell or share with others. However, in the European Union, it’s a vastly different situation, with prohibitive registration fees and tight controls over who is allowed to produce seed. Much of this legislation has been driven by the multi-national agriculture companies in order to protect their profits and this has spurred a lively resistance movement in the EU for “Seed Sovereignty”. Presented by Chrys Gardener, CCE staff and former manager of the Irish Seed Savers Association http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm: Roundtable Discussion on Seed Saving Join us for an open discussion on seed saving techniques and anything else to do with seeds! All are welcome to bring questions, tips, and ideas. Discussion leaders include experienced seed savers Tim Springston of Oxbow Farm http://www.farmhack.net/wiki/oxbow-farm, Petra Mann-Page and Matthew Goldfarb of Fruition Seeds http://fruitionseeds.com/, and Chrys Gardener, CCE staff.

11/10: Fixers Collective Planning Meeting

Finger Lakes ReUse invites anyone who has things to repair, wants to help fix items, or wants to learn how to fix items to a planning meeting for our new fixers collective on November 10th at the ReUse Center at the Triphammer Marketplace, 2255 N Triphammer Road, Ithaca. The fixers collective is open to anyone who wants to prolong the lifespan of items such as home electronics, furniture, small appliances and more. The planning meeting will be 3pm to 4pm, followed by a fixer lab from 4pm to 5pm. Please fill out the fixers collective survey to let us know if you are interested in attending or in learning more.

We will meet in the Furniture Overflow Showroom (the storefront to the right of the ReUse Center) at Triphammer Marketplace.

Bring your ideas – this will be a collaborative and evolving effort and will be guided by those who are actively participating – so your thoughts and input at this first meeting will be very important, but there will be lots of opportunity to grow and improve the collective! We hope to start small but really grow this event into a vibrant community experience. One of our largest current challenges is that we have zero storage space, so projects will need to be portable – in and out each time we meet. We can offer a heated space, large work table, an assortment of tools, and internet access to research fixes, but we’ll have challenges with projects that may take more than a couple of hours to fix, etc. Feel free to bring along tools and an item that needs to be fixed. We’ll leave the last hour for repair attempts – although no guarantees that we’ll have the skillset, tools, or time to tackle your project. We’ll see! Let’s meet and talk from 3pm to 4pm, and have a fixer lab from 4pm to 5pm. Future meetings (time and frequency) will be discussed at the meeting, but will hopefully continue to evolve and expand – we’ll continue to publish updates to the full email list.

There was some interest in the initial survey responses in paying a fee to have items fixed – so one of the topics we will be considering is some sort of sliding-fee structure which will support this effort. We can give you an update on FLR job training programs and initiatives to support underserved individuals in Tompkins County.

Looking forward to seeing you Saturday!

Diane

Diane Cohen
Executive Director, Finger Lakes ReUse, Inc.

Teresa and Jeremy Installed a Little Free Library!

Teresa and Jeremy, active participants in the Share Tompkins community, just installed a “Little Free Library” in front of their house! It’s an awesome way to share books with your neighbors. Here’s what Teresa has to say…

Little Free Libraries

The Little Free Libraries were started in Wisconsin in late 2010 as a way of promoting literacy and community through the use of small, publically accessible book exchanges. When my husband and I recently went back to Wisconsin for a friend’s wedding, we found ourselves charmed by the variety and number of Little Free Libraries in our old neighborhood, and decided to bring a little of that magic back to Ithaca with us.

Building

We spent some time thinking about how to build a weathertight yet accessible little box, but after looking at the plans available at their website and considering our meager construction skill, we decided to buy one made from recycled materials. However, someone with more time and ability than me could certainly put one together in a weekend or two from any combination of found, recycled, or purchased materials. Most of the ones we’ve seen are about the size of a small laundry basket, with a door to keep out the elements. One of the cleverer designs I’ve seen is actually the next-nearest Library – a repurposed phone kiosk just outside Syracuse University’s Library and Information Science department. Photo here

Location

We live on a busy street with a fair amount of foot, car, and bike
traffic, so we didn’t need to look farther than our own front yard. But other libraries are located in a wide variety of public and private places – outside of businesses, homes, and schools.

Books

We’re book fiends, and always have a stack of books to be passed along to other readers. Our Little Library is new, but I hope that it will become a neighborhood resource for exchanging beloved titles.

If you’d like to browse the Library and trade some books, or if you want a library of your own and want to see it in person, please stop by 1039 Hanshaw Rd. to check it out!

July 10: Community Swap Hosted by Jules

Anyone can host their own swap and here’s one coming up!

From the organizer, Jules Behrens…

I’m hosting my first swap. Here’s the info:

What: Bring anything that you would like to trade, give, swap or sell cheap. Focus on educational materials, books, and games, but household items, clothes, etc. are welcome. Please be prepared for the possibility of bringing some things home if necessary.

Where: 966 Comfort Rd. Danby – about 12 minutes from downtown Ithaca

When: Tuesday, 7/10 4pm to ~7:30.

This will also be a potluck for those who would like. Bring music, instruments, etc, to play too!

Email me with any questions/thoughts/pointers.

3/30: Swap at Fire on the Wire Studios

Friday, March 30, 2012, 3-6pm
Fire On The Water Studios
317 Taughannock Blvd, Ithaca, NY 14850

Bring what you want to purge from your life (clothes, housewares, and whatnot)… take what you need, or think you must have 🙂

2/1: Gallery Swap

Support Share Tompkins and check out Fire on the Water Studios, a fresh gallery and art education space, while swapping your goods and making new friends!

Share Tompkins Gallery Swap
Wednesday, February 1, 5-7 pm
Fire on the Water Studios
317 Taughannock Blvd, Ithaca

Bring to share/swap/buy/sell/trade/talk about:
Clothing for adults and children
Toys
Art
Books, movies, music, and other media
Craft supplies
Preserved food
Graphic design services
Dog walking
etc.

Don’t have anything to trade? Don’t worry! Come empty handed and see what relationships you can foster.

Contact McKenzie (717-903-4871/grasswriter@gmail.com) with any questions.
We hope to see you there!

RSVP on Facebook
Check out Fire on the Water

12/11: Ithaca Free Barter Market Grand Opening

Check out this event, organized by some Occupy Ithaca folks!

Sunday, December 11, 2011, 12-3pm
Dewitt Park, Ithaca

Come participate in the Ithaca Free Barter Market, a new community based trade event, using Ithaca Hours as a base currency. The event will be a truly free market, allowing free barter between people, as well as using Ithaca Hours as the backbone to facilitate trade. We are asking participants to bring things they want to sell or trade as well as submit a lists of things you have to sell or want to buy so that we can compile them. If you have Ithaca Hours, please bring them to the event, if you don’t we will be providing micro loans as seed money. If you have questions or comments, feel free to email Lucas Bonnet at Whirlingdervishofrevolution@gmail.com

RSVP on Facebook

12/8: Take It Or Leave It Sustainable Gift Swap

Thursday, December 8, 2011, 8am-5pm
Emerson Suite B in Campus Center at Ithaca College

RSVP on Swidjit
RSVP on Facebook

Looking for some interesting gifts for friends and family but not looking to break your bank account? Need to get rid of some stuff? Come to Ithaca College’s Take It Or Leave It sustainable gift swap, where you can do both of these things! The gift swap is brought to you by ICES (the IC Environmental Society), REMP (IC’s Resource and Environmental Management Program), and Share Tompkins.

Donate your gently used clothes, odds and ends, school supplies, kitchen supplies, books, movies, etc. to the gift swap and avoid sending it to the landfill. And rather than buying something new and increasing demand for extraction of natural resources, you may find something that one of your loved ones could really use or appreciate.

The event will be held Thursday, December 8th, from 8am – 5pm in Emerson Suite B in Campus Center at Ithaca College. Drop off your donations as early as 8am or any time throughout the day until 5pm, and browse for as long as you wish.

There will also be food (including vegan hot chocolate!), music, and fun such as face painting and hula hooping, and space to just take a break and kick back. We will also be raffling off sustainable items and gift certificates to local businesses, such as Finger Lakes ReUse and Collegetown Bagels.

This event is entirely free and open to the public. The more the merrier! For additional info and individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations contact Margaret Keating.