from the new west blog: preventing mildew and malaise

Toss Those Smelly Children Into the Garden

Let’s face it - we’re going to have more time at home this summer, what with gas prices, airline tickets and pretty much everything else too expensive for us to leave. Which is too bad, because the kids are out of school about now, and lots of parents – except those obnoxious saintly types - are dreading a long summer of trying not to have to amuse them.

Restricted driving = fewer opportunities to get their stinky feet out of your house and off to….somewhere else.

Of course, they may turn into little videogame robots, which in a way could be a relief – especially if you have a soundproof basement with its own refrigerator – but we all know modern kids have a nature deficit and it’s up to us to do something about it.

Even the governor of Idaho is all het up about this. June is “Great Outdoors Month,” as declared by Gov. Butch Otter, who said last week that it concerns him that young people spend half as much time outdoors as children 20 years ago, and too much time on electronic media.

Didn’t you know you’re supposed to be outdoors with them, tossing worms around?

Don’t despair, though; I have a once a week project for them that has all sorts of benefits: they can spray your garden with milk.

Guest review: Idaho Green Expo

Green Expo Should Be Permanent Boise Event

With the Saturday Market and the First Annual Green Expo all being held on Saturday May 17, it was hard to find a parking spot downtown, let alone maneuver through the crowds. The warm and sunny weather beckoned Boiseans to come out and play, and they did – by the thousands.

Boise is beginning to look like a real Metropolis, with people from all over the world at the Expo and many languages being spoken.

Despite the heat, the crowds and the general commotion, people were happy. The atmosphere was festive and chatty, all with one shared interest to learn more about choosing a more environmentally responsible way to live.

From the new west blog: be careful what you wish for

Backyard Temporarily Closed Due to Unprecedented Demand

It’s taken me ten years to convince our backyard streamside wildlife that our deck is a safe place with cozy nests, old trees full of interesting holes, and quantities of healthy bird seed, squirrel chow, duck corn, and approved tidbits. This year, they all got the message, and the animal energy I wanted has finally arrived.

Lately, things are zoo-like. The cat brings snakes in through the cat door. One of my nine squirrels, Itchy, is too bold, and comes into the kitchen to say “Hey! Empty feeder out here!”

NewWest.Net Conferences

Designing the New West

The Designing the New West: Architecture and Landscape in the Mountain West Conference is wrapping up here in Bozeman at the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn. Put on by NewWest.Net and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute, the conference brought together designers from all over the country to explore innovative design ideas, identify best practices, and better understand how to bridge the gap between good architectural theory and sometimes-messy building practices in the fastest growing region in the nation.

A mix of presentations and engaging panel discussions tackled pressing Western issues like sustainable development, land design and the special challenges of urban, rural and resort design, historic preservation and affordable housing.

Click on the photo or here for a slideshow of the days' events. Click "more" for a recap of the conference.

"Upcycling"

Glass Roots Gives New Life to Bozeman Glass

As the Bozeman City Commission moves ahead with curbside recycling, curiously absent from the list of recyclables is glass. When the Department of Environmental Quality ruled that the Holcim cement plant could no longer use recycled glass as an aggregate in cement, the city began crushing glass and using it as a cover on the landfill – not exactly what Bozeman residents had in mind when they took the time to collect and drop off their glass.

Now, with the landfill closing, even the pseudo-recycling of glass is not an option. The city continues to stockpile glass but without a long-term recycling solution.

In light of all this, Jennifer Pearson got a bright idea: this past summer she bought herself an industrial glass kiln and began giving glass new life. Glass Roots, her new business, uses solar power to melt glass and turn it into an array of bathroom tiles and lighting fixtures. The result is beautiful and, best of all, true recycling.

Preserving Eden

Redefining Rural and Urban: A Community Discussion

Editor's Note: As the City of Bozeman and Gallatin County undertake the monumental tasks of steering growth in the Gallatin Valley and beyond, a renewed responsibility falls on the valley's citizens to become part of the process to ensure their property rights, make their values heard and preserve the economies, community spirit and environmental values that make living here so great. In this ongoing series on NewWest.Net/Bozeman, Susan Duncan begins a new discussion on redefining the relationship between rural and urban. As Duncan explains, the two are mutually dependent.

It’s the $64,000 question. The query everybody wants the answer to: “What can we do to keep this place the ‘Eden’ that it is?”

Want to see a real leader on this issue? Look in the mirror. It is time for each one of us to step up to the plate and lead.

Column: Savagemama

A Little Note on Being Thankful

Last week when we sat around a table heavy with home cooked goodness and I thought about what I am thankful for this year, the list was extensive but a few things stood out.

Multimedia

Video: Missoula Squabbles Over Urban Chickens

No matter which way Missoula City Council votes on the controversial urban chicken ordinance, the decision will surely ruffle feathers. The debate over chickens in the city has been contentious -- and, inherently, comical.

In this multimedia project, NewWest.Net/Missoula photographer and reporter Anne Medley teamed up with intern Jonathan Stumpf to explore the issue from both sides of the fence.

Click the image to watch the video.

Leave No Child Inside

Autumn Leaf-Pile Jumping Makes Kids Smarter

The classic American sound of the baseball playoffs on television reminds me of something our family used to do this time of year.

According to the research done by the Children and Nature Network – and dozens of other organizations – “Children are smarter, cooperative, happier and healthier when they have frequent and varied opportunities for free and unstructured play in the out-of-doors.”

In other words, go hit a rock with a stick for awhile, kid. Good for ya.

In the 90s, when my two kids were school-age, we’d have a yearly party called “Catalapa Leaf-Whomping Day.” Two eight-stories-high catalpa trees grow in our streamside backyard - those monsters with dinner-plate-sized leaves and two-foot seed pods that look like dried green beans on crack (perfect for whacking your little sister).