Eco
Last week, the Borough's Sustainability Partners led by The Green Team - The Garden Club, Incredible Edible Merchantville, Shade Tree Commission and the MES Junior Green Team & Garden Club - completed their initial re-application for for bronze re-certification from Sustainable Jersey. They each updated actions completed over the last two years and choose some new municipal actions they plan to complete this year. The Green Team is interested in developing a Creative Team with the Borough this year, Incredible Edible has submitted three (3) Innovative Projects: first, becoming a HUB for Stockton University's Maple Tree Project to promote maple sugaring in NJ; second, taking our message to school-aged children to encourage schools to become living learning landscapes so that food and where it comes from become part of every child’s education; and third, researching whether using clover seeding will maximize the potential of our public green spaces by providing water efficient landscapes, bringing nutrients to the soil and making lawns more hospitable to pollinators. The Borough is working on public information and engagement strategies and health initiatives. Thank you to all who have volunteered and participated in this recertification cycle - hoping to add enough points for SILVER Certification in 2023!
Published in
Eco
FABSCRAP is a non-profit recycling fabric scraps from design and fashion companies in NYC and creating opportunities for reuse. They endeavor to end commercial textile “waste” and maximize the value of unused fabric. Both their Brooklyn and Philadelphia Warehouses have reopened and FABSCRAP is jumping back into what they do best - keeping fabric from landfills. We come to you! FABSCRAP will pickup your fabric scraps as soon as possible. We aim to create the most efficient routes, so we typically schedule multiple pickups per day. Pickups routes are created every FRIDAY for the following week.If you're Looking for a sustainable jumpstart to the New Year come volunteer with us to support an organization that you love, sign up to volunteer and sort fabric. You’ll get an inside look into our recycling process learn more about textiles and fibers, and meet other like minded individuals in the community. As a thank you for your time each volunteer gets to take home 5lbs of fabric. Every three months, FABSCRAP highlights an artist or designer who utilizes textile waste in their work, and who serves as an example within their community of not only sourcing more sustainably, but also how to manipulate textile waste into something new and beautiful using their specific talent and skill set. Julie Woodard of Juicebox Workshop is Philly's featured fabric artist. Students, artists, crafters, quilters, sewers, teachers, and of course, other designers can use any material we collect that is not proprietary. Make an appointment to come to the warehouse to "shop" the scraps. Some larger pieces and Scrap Packs of smaller pieces, organized by color, are sold through our online store.
Published in
Eco
There is a plan to transport massive quantities of liquified natural gas (LNG) through our communities in South Jersey via rail and/or truck. But grassroots activism could derail this multimillion-dollar fossil-fuel scheme, which involves creating a marine export facility in Greenwich Township (Gibbstown), Gloucester County. Many of us who live in the communities that will be impacted are rallying to oppose this plan. Merchantville, where Dorothy Foley - a longtime resident of Merchantville, leader of the Merchantville Green Team and a member of the Tri-county Sustainability Alliance and Camden for Clean Air - resides in this tiny community of less than a square mile tucked between Pennsauken and Cherry Hill within a one-mile radius of a likely rail and truck route for the LNG shipments. In her opinion, the planet does not need this, nor any other LNG export terminals. South Jersey communities should not bear the immediate threat to public and community safety. Read more.
Published in
Green Team
Who else is getting excited for fall? With a slight chill in the air today it got us in the mood to start sharing some of what we have in store for you next month! To start, we just wanted to remind everyone we’ll be offering a weekly market, running every Friday in October from 5:00-9:00 p.m. We’ll have alternating craft and artisan vendors in addition to a couple local farms and some of our downtown shops. Keep and eye out for entertainment, craft and activity announcements plus more event highlights as we get closer to Monsterville! This week, on October 7th, enjoy a paint and take pumpkin craft, while supplies last!
Published in
Market Off Center
Good morning Merchantville peeps! We are accepting excess produce, herb, plant and seed donations from all your gardens for our table at the first Market Off Centre of the season! Please drop off any washed produce or herbs to our tent between 4:00-4:30 so we can support the efforts of the volunteers who this event! If you need a produce donation pick-up, send your address in the comments on our FB page and we’ll run by and grab it! Thanks so much! #supportingfoodsecurity #fosteringgoodhealth #promotingsustainableliving #connectingcommunity
We. Are. Back. On Friday, July 1st, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Merchantville's "Market Off Centre" will return better than ever and we're celebrating with a throw back skate party on the Merchantville Mile. So roll on down and stickup for the weekend. Vendor spaces are $35. Interested vendors please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This year we’re looking to recruit some community members to join our newly formed and growing event team, shake things up a bit and get some shoppers downtown to check out this beautifully evolving market. Our first three markets are on July 1st, August 12th and September 2nd - RAIN or SHINE. See you there!
Published in
Market Off Center
Tagged under
Incredible Edible Merchantville is participating in the #SeedMoneyChallenge, a 30-day fundraising challenge and we could really use your support TODAY! In addition to keeping the funds we raise from individuals like you, we have a chance to win a challenge grant of up to $1000 from SeedMoney based on how much we raise over the course of the 30-day period running from November 15th to December 15th. As an extra incentive, SeedMoney is offering 50 $100 bonus grants to the 50 garden projects that have raised the most after the first week. Your support TODAY can put us into the running for one of those bonus grants. You can find our donation page here: https://donate.seedmoney.org/
Published in
Stewardship
Tagged under
Now that the gardening season has ended and you've picked the season’s last vegetables, let some plants go to seed and harvest them for planting next year. “Saving seed can be really fun and is a great way to learn about plants,” Weston Miller, a horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension Service, said. “If you choose the right types of vegetables, you can keep them going year after year without buying them again.” The easiest crops for saving seed are annual plants that self-pollinate, such as lettuce, beans, peas, peppers, eggplants and tomatoes. Collect seed from the healthiest plants and allow them to dry. Store seeds in tightly sealed glass containers in a cool and dark location and label with the type and the date. The refrigerator or freezer is also a good place for storing seeds that you collect and also seeds that you buy. Put small seeds in envelopes and label them. Place the envelopes in sealable freezer bags.
Published in
Stewardship
Tagged under
As the community's sustainability organization, Merchantville's Green Team is requesting that a proposed resolution be placed on the agenda for the upcoming Council meeting on Monday, October 25th, to convey to the Borough their support for Council passing a resolution requesting the Delaware River Basin Commission oppose the Dock-2 Project and the transport of highly volatile fracked gas through our region. This dangerous project would transport highly volatile liquefied natural gas (LNG) nearly 200 miles by truck and rails through our communities, endangering the planet and public health. All of Merchantville is within 1 to 2 miles of the train tracks and clearly within the Evacuation Zone in the event of an accident. We are in a position as a community to declare our opposition to a plan that puts our residents in danger. Resolutions opposing the Gibbstown LNG Terminal were passed in Runnemede, Pennsauken and Haddon Township. Moving this resolution, at the very least, will let those in power know that their constituents are paying attention and may help them make better decisions. If this project goes ahead, it would be the first major facility in the nation to liquefy LNG in a shale region requiring long distance overland delivery for export overseas. Opponents cite what they say would be the risk of environmental damage from the construction and from the operation of the terminal. They also question the safety of transporting 3 million to 4 million gallons of LNG a day through the Philadelphia metropolitan area to a site that for a century was a DuPont dynamite factory. If the Gibbstown project goes ahead, oceangoing tankers laden with LNG will be sailing past low-income neighborhoods in Chester, followed by the port of Wilmington, various coastal refuges on the Delaware and New Jersey riverbanks, and Delaware’s beaches. Environmentalists say they are hopeful they may be able to stop New Jersey’s first liquefied natural gas export terminal after an unexpected vote by the Delaware River Basin Commission to defer a decision on whether to approve its construction.
Published in
Eco
Bring the kids, meet friends and neighbors and shop at the Market Off Centre on Fridays in October between 5-9 p.m. This week's events include pumpkin painting and story time with a reading of “How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?” Call to pre-order your Pumpkin Paint Kits in advance to guarantee availability. Next Friday, October 15th you'll enjoy some spooky fun at the Market! Halloween games and creepy crafts will be available for the kids while you shop handmade/homemade goods, plants, cut flowers and other items. The market is located along a beautiful, tree-lined greenway in The 2nd annual Monsterville Jack O’Lantern Walk on October 22nd. Bring your own Jack O’Lantern and have it displayed along the Bike Path. The Merchantville Public Events Committee will provide a candle for each pumpkin. Check out weekly market vendors here.
Published in
Market Off Center
Tagged under
The Green Team is urging residents and neighbors to rid Monsterville of as much single-use plastic as possible during the month of October. We still have until October 30th to reach our goal of collecting 500 lbs. of thin plastic to win the Trex Company Recycling Challenge. Let’s eliminate those bags from our homes; do good for our environment, and win another Trex bench in the process. There are 3 donation bins: The Station, Ryan’s Retail and The Refill Market in Haddon Township. Donations have been light lately so let’s recommit to this great challenge. For a reminder on what types of plastic to donate, go here.
Published in
Green Team