An eight-year-old customer pats a four-pound Mrs. Houseworth heirloom tomato.
Tour Sundial Farms by slide-show, in Photo Gallery
June 30, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Just west of the Taconic Parkway, along Route 134 (called Croton Dam Road by then) from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day except Monday, you’ll find propped Sundial Farm Perennials’ brightly painted shout-out that CORN, TOMATOES and CUKES are in plentiful supply right now.

More photos in “Read more” and in Photo Gallery
July 16, 2010
by Laura Rossi-Ortiz

Advocates for a new, sustainable food system are building pathways from local farms to your table in New Castle. If you are looking for a full-time, year-round supplier of good, local food, check out TABLE Local Market located at 11 Babbitt Road in Bedford Hills.  It’s a shop that tackles the industrial food system head-on, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the volume and quality of local food it sells and the care with which local farmers and food suppliers treat the natural resources they use to produce the food.

July 16, 2010
by Laura Rossi-Ortiz

Bart Carey is New Castle’s Recycling Foreman, a member of the town’s Sustainability Advisory Board, and the “go to” guy in our community for answers to particularly sticky questions regarding recycling solid waste management. If you have a recycling question for Bart, he can be reached at the New Castle Recycling Center at 238-8091.

June 18, 2010
by Laura Rossi-Ortiz

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 26% of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream.  That’s a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead!”

June 18, 2010

Saturday and Sunday, Fathers Day weekend, June 19 and 20, from 10:00 a.m. to dusk, the biggest and oldest festival of its kind, Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival—an environmental celebration with music, dance, storytelling, education and activism—will draw thousands of people to Croton Point Park on the Hudson River.

Monday, May 17, 2010
by Carol Durst

Come find out how various green groups’ efforts are going and catch some ideas.  From 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. this Thursday, May 20, the Chappaqua Library will host a roundtable discussion among panelists from community agencies, farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture members (CSA), and environmental management agencies on ways in which to make Westchester County more sustainable. This event is free and open to the public. 

May 7, 2010
by Laura Rossi-Ortiz

A few weeks ago I traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit with some of New York’s lawmakers to press for green initiatives. Those initiatives included legislation to encourage more public transit, sustainable communities and a climate and energy bill that will help the nation lower its carbon footprint while creating green jobs and a new green economy. 

April 30, 2010
by the Greeley Building and Planning Team

The Greeley Building and Planning Team (BPT), a group consisting of students, parents, faculty and administrators who discuss and carry out projects, hope to make the Greeley community a better place.

April 30, 2010

Footprint from Children’s Environmental Literacy Fund
April 23, 2010
by Laura Rossi-Ortiz

Once again, the Town of New Castle has been recognized for environmental leadership.  Westchester County has awarded the town a Municipal Recycling Award for “conducting model programs processing all collected yard waste into usable gardening material as a give back to local residents and the community.”  The Town collected 4,250 tons of waste last year.

Experience Girl Scout Troop 1020’s jungle canopy upstairs at town hall
April 23, 2010
by Laura Rossi-Ortiz

Happy Earth Week!  The 40th anniversary of Earth Day was yesterday, Thursday, April 22.  Keep up the celebration!  Tomorrow, Saturday, April 24, join us for Neat to the Street, New Castle’s Town-wide Cleanup, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Pick up gloves and bags downstairs at town hall, at Millwood Hardware (next to Rocky’s), or on South Greeley Avenue in front of St. Mary the Virgin, the site of the Rotary Pancake Breakfast.

April 9, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Last year more than 100 people helped Westchester County in its effort to monitor the health of local streams and obtain test results for a detailed database on water quality.  Volunteers – 14 and older – are needed again this year. This year’s first training session is Saturday, April 24, at Teatown Lake Reservation, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Image from Pace, “April Earth Month”
April 9, 2010
by Laura Rossi-Ortiz

Now that spring is here most of us are cleaning up our yards to remove fallen branches, dead leaves, weeds and the remains of garden plants.  One easy way to handle yard waste is to compost, which is nature’s way of recycling organic matter into nutrient-rich soil that can be used in your garden.  Composting is easier than bagging yard waste; it reduces the amount of waste the town must pick up; and your homegrown compost will improve your soil and plants. 

This week New Castle was recognized by Pace U’s “How Green Is My Town” program as a leader in sustainability.
March 26, 2010
by Laura Rossi-Ortiz

With April just around the corner, many of us are about to embark on the annual ritual of spring cleaning. In my house, it takes all hands on deck to deal with the junk that has accumulated over the past twelve months, particularly personal documents that need to be shredded, household chemicals, outdated electronics, plastic bags and outdated medications that have piled up in various cabinets and the garage like some island of misfit products. 

July 3, 2009
by Maxine Margo Rubin

Save money and help save the planet in a twist, by switching your incandescent light bulbs to energy saving carbon fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. CFL bulbs use one-fifth the energy of incandescent light bulbs, while a 9-watt CFL produces as much light as its 40-watt incandescent counterpart.