By Dean Gallea, TEAC Co-Chair

NY State and its public agencies have been providing incentives, grants and recognition to communities in their efforts to reduce carbonization and increase climate resilience. Our Rivertowns - from Sleepy Hollow, through Tarrytown and down to Hastings-on-Hudson - have been among the most prolific in the State in achieving goals set by NYSERDA (the New York State Research and Development Authority) assisted by local Regional Councils. One "star" in this area, Hastings has achieved Silver status in the Climate Smart Communities program, and the highest level of actions taken in the entire state. This year, Tarrytown made strides in that direction, achieving both Clean Energy Community and Climate Smart Community Bronze status, and is currently one of a group of Westchester municipalities working with the Hudson Valley Regional Council (HVRC) on a Village Climate Action Plan for Municipal Operations (MO-CAP.)



Other Rivertowns are making similar efforts and achieving their own goals. In recognition of all this work furthering NY State's climate goals, the HVRC held an awards event Wednesday in Newburgh, honoring our Rivertowns, Westchester County and other municipalities. Tarrytown's Village Trustee Thomas Mitchell and myself attended as representatives of the Village. It proved to be a worthwhile event for all to share ideas and congratulations, and meet with NY State officials who were also in attendance. TEAC thanks the HVRC for the recognition and their assistance in our own Village's work.

By Annie Kravet, TEAC Member

The holiday season is here, and for many of us that means gift giving. If you’re looking for some ideas for gifts that are easier on the environment, here are some ideas for gifts that aren’t physical things: 

• A gift card to a local-to-them restaurant or small business

• An experience: tickets to a museum, movie, or the theater 

• A class: a cooking class, exercise class, pottery class, dance class, etc. 

• An annual pass to a zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, etc. 

• An online course

• A donation to a cause that’s meaningful to the recipient

• For kids: A pass to a kid’s museum or an indoor play place or after school activities 

• A gift certificate for a facial or massage

• A family session with a professional photographer 

Use what you have! Brown paper from paper bags can be reused to wrap gifts - just cut to the size and shape you need, and wrap like you would with wrapping paper! If you’re creative, the brown paper can be spruced up with paints/ stamps/ markers or crayons. You can also save your wrapping paper from gifts you’ve received and reuse it.

If you are someone who has scrap fabric lying around, you can try the eco-friendly Japanese style of gift wrapping called “Furoshiki”. Learn three different ways to wrap gifts using fabric in this video tutorial. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzviuJDJvjg) 

 

Happy holidays from TEAC!

The Winter Garden:

Now that winter is almost here and our beloved deciduous plants have mostly shed their leaves, who says you have to settle for a drab-looking garden for the next 4 to 5 months? 

Beyond the usual evergreens, there are many other beautiful native plants that offer visual interest and color through the dark winter months in addition to offering food for our migrating and resident birds. Why plant only one when you can have them all?

Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata)

This somewhat large shrub has beautiful red berries that provide strong winter interest as well as food for birds and small animals. It is a diecious plant (i.e. requiring male and female plants for pollination) with only the female bearing the berries. 

Winterberry holly

Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea)

This shrub is an all-season wonder. The white berries are attractive and popular with birds. The red leaves provide beautiful fall interest and the final show happens in the winter when the red stems provide a dramatic backdrop to the snow. 

The shrub also comes in a yellow version which is equally stunning in the fall and winter landscape.

Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

This smaller shrub provides vibrant leaf color in the fall and purplish-black fruits that persist in the winter, providing a feast for birds and humans alike (can be used to make jams and jellies although I have not tried either 😉)

And finally, one way of having winter interest in your garden is to leave the hard-stemmed plants such as Sedum and Coneflowers (Echinacea) as well as grasses alone until Spring.  The seedheads not only provide food for birds during the winter but look great when it snows.

By Suzy Allman, TEAC Member


The Long Path through a cedar forest, in Gurnee County Park, Rockland County.

I love evergreen forests this time of year. It's a break from the monochrome, gray tree trunks and branches of the deciduous forest, and the right cedar forest can have the Christmassy feel of a Vermont woodlot.

Just over the Tappan Zee bridge, this winter out-and-back hike will take you through small Gurnee County Park and into South Mountain County Park, in Mount Ivy, Rockland County.

The trail follows a mostly-level winding way along the top of South Mountain, with views of the surrounding area here and there, and a variety of plant life, from evergreens to prickly pear.

Following the Long Path, it's as short or as long as you'd like it to be, but you'll be rewarded after only a few minutes with views off the mountain. Further along, you'll leave a grassy hillside to enter a fragrant cedar forest, a rarity in this part of the state.

I took the trail from the parking lot off Route 45 in Mount Ivy, and hiked to the first of several viewpoints. At first, the traffic noise was ever-present, though not unbearable, but it soon subsided as the cedar trees closed in, covering the hillside to the left and right as I followed the trail along the mountain's spine.

The trail becomes an almost fairy-tale setting here, with the shaggy trunks of juniper and cedar sinking into deep green moss.

I turned around after stopping at a viewpoint for a few minutes, noticing a wide colony of still-fruiting prickly pear, grown mostly flabby in the cold weather.

To hike this stretch of the Long Path, I parked in the lot for Gurnee County Park, just off Route 45 (immediately south of Exit 13 on the Palisades Parkway). There's ample space for several cars in this lot. The trail leaves from here, going uphill briefly before leveling out. (This hike is shown on the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Map No. 112).

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tbsp white miso paste
• 1 clove garlic, grated or finely minced
• 1 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and grated or finely minced
• 2 tsp cornstarch