Grassroots Green
Everything Old is Green Again
As part of the 2010 Great Lakes Folk Festival, the Michigan State University Museum will host a variety of tradition-bearers who carry on traditions that help restore, conserve and revitalize the planet.
Presentations, demonstrations and activities that feature citizen groups and individuals who engage in green occupations, environmental activism, organic gardening, recycled arts and folk wisdom—will share information, ideas and activities that will help us consider the environment in the ways we live.
The Grassroots Green Program will offer an array of ways in which people are choosing the green life in several areas throughout the Great Lakes Folk Festival grounds:
Local and Sustainable Foods Area
This area will feature several different people and organizations involved in local and sustainable foods, including:
* independent organic farmers- Chela and Steve Ashley, Green Eagle farm in Onondaga. Look for them at local Farmer's Markets and Greg Lawrence from Michigan's Thumb
* the MSU Student Organic Farmers, who run a CSA farm on campus (community sustained agriculture)
* Northwest Lansing Initiative Garden Project, which runs gardens in several schools in the Lansing school district and tries to address the problem of the “food desert” in Northwest Lansing through a corner store project. The Northwest Initiative Garden Project will be present with kids from their summer camp, selling produce that they have grown, and making organic fruit smoothies.
* Greater Lansing Food Bank Garden Project who provides assistance to urban gardeners
* Members of the Center of Michigan Beekeepers (COMB) will be present to do beekeeping demos, sell Michigan honey and promote the importance of beekeeping
* a local urban chicken farmer
* Crosby Mint Farm – organic family farmers who recently saved their ancestral farm
* Urbandale Farm of Lansing, Michigan- Urban Farming in the neighborhood
There will also be a food demonstration stage where we will host demos and talk sessions about:
* Putting food up through canning, fermentation, dried foods and jams and jellies
* vegan and raw food demos by Mico Fossum
* fruit smoothies from the garden by Northwest Lansing Initiative
In addition several participants will be selling organic produce, honey, and other organic food.
Green Arts Marketplace
Craftspeople making functional and beautiful art and objects from recycled materials will be featured in the Green Arts Marketplace, the first of its kind in the area. Here are a few examples of arts that will be shown and sold to our audience:
* bottlecap jewelry
* rag rugs
* t-shirt quilts
* handmade brooms
* pop top bags
* handmade lye soap
* recycled paper cake toppers and stationery
* decorative birds made from old tin containers
For more information on vendors, visit the Green Arts Marketplace page
Green Marketplace
Grassroots Green will also feature a marketplace of vendors who market “green” products for the home:
* solar lanterns
* home wind turbines
* solar ovens
* composting toilets and garden composters
Green Groups
Non-profit and community groups who are working toward a sustainable planet will be present to share their activities. Student organizations, local environmental groups and representatives from the Big Greens will be on hand.
Green Kids Activities
* MSU Children’s Garden will be on hand to help kids plant salad crops to take home, grow and eat
* Creation Station volunteers will help kids make crafts from recycled materials
* Gina Adams-Levy of Peace, Love and Planet will make yard art with kids from recycled plant pots
* Northwest Initiative Summer Camp will make “produce” magnets with kids
Talkers and Tellers Stage
At the Talking and Telling Stage, moderated narrative sessions will explore a diversity of approaches to lessening the impact of human activity on the environment, for a seated audience.
Session topics include:
* Living the Green Life
* Local and Sustainable Foods
* Upcycling, Recycling and Re-Used Folk Arts
* Products of the Future
The Talkers and Tellers Stage will also host the 2010 Michigan Heritage Awards Ceremony and three Michigan authors of Environmental titles, in cooperation with the MSU Press.
Funding Opportunities
Grassroots support can make a difference to the success of the 2010 Great Lakes Folk Festival! We welcome your organization's or company's support of the many different assets to the festival, whether it is in the form of technical support with logistics and materials, food services, advertising support, children's activities, or direct programming support that pays artists and tradition-bearers who are the main attraction of the festival.
For more information on Festival Sponsorship, click here
or contact one of the staff members listed below.
Contacts:
MSU Museum / Great Lakes Folk Festival Grassroots Green Program Co-Curators:
Lynne Swanson (swansonl@msu.edu)
LuAnne Kozma (kozma@msu.edu)
Sponsorships:
Mike Secord, event manager (secordm@msu.edu)
