Earth Day Celebration with Evergreen Minds at the Vassar Farm (in person)
Project Growing Together Community Garden is located on the grounds of the ecological preserve at Vassar College.
11 am – 11:45 – Musical Meditation in the Garden – Eric Fraser
Eric Fraser is a licensed music therapist and a multi-instrumentalist, educator, composer, and songwriter. Eric’s orientation to Indian classical music serves as inspiration for melody, and a creative tool for improvisation on original styles that incorporate voice, guitar, keyboard, electronics and looping. Join Eric in the garden with his Bansuri (a bamboo flute from India) for a relaxing and grounding musical meditation in and with nature! www.ericfraser.com
12-12:45 – Wild Hudson Valley – Justin Wexler & Anna Plattner
Those That Sustain Us: The Role of Plants in Hudson Valley Native Life:
Local indigenous communities once relied on the great diversity of plants that call the Hudson Valley home. Join ethnoecologist, teacher and farmer, Justin Wexler of Wild Hudson Valley to explore some of the important plants for food, tools, fiber, medicine and dyes, and their role in Lenape culture both centuries ago and today. www.wildhudsonvalley.com
12:50-1:45 –Creating Mushroom Sculptures for the Garden! —Serena Domingues:
Serena is a multi-media creator exploring conceptual ideas about human nature and how we impact the natural world and ourselves. She will be hosting a sculpture workshop; teaching the importance of mushrooms and how to make one out of clay! Each participant will be able to keep a mushroom and give one to the garden. Her website is www.serenasnature.com to learn more about her work and classes. Suggested donation $10-$20 pp–Pay what you can for this activity!
1:50 – 2:10 – The Practice and Science of Home Composting—Joyce deVries Tomaselli: Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County
Joyce deVries Tomaselli is Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County’s (CCEDC) Community Horticulture Resource Educator and a Master Gardener.
Join us as Joyce shares how to effectively compost organic materials and successfully use them in gardening. Learn how organic matter improves key aspects of soil and enables plants to take up the nutrients they need. Join us to learn all about it! http://ccedutchess.org/
2:30-3:15 – Move with the FLOW of NATURE: Qigong in the Garden—Kele Baker
Relax, restore and revitalize in this comfortable qigong (“chee-gong”) session. Through a series of easy, fun meditative movements, learn how to embody the resilience of a tree, the joy of the sun, the groundedness of earth, the courage of the mountain, and graceful flow of water. These therapeutic movement and breathing practices are easy to do and adaptable to all abilities. You are welcome to stand or sit for the session. Teacher Kele Baker is a senior trainer for Holden Qigong, Healer Within Qigong and Tai Chi Easy. Locally, Kele teaches qigong courses for Vassar College LLI and Marist College CLS. She also teaches online group classes and one-to-one coaching sessions. www.kelebaker.com
3:30-4 – Closing Celebration & Music in the Garden with Dementia Care Champion, Dr. Al Power, MD
We are honored to have the world-renowned G. Allen Power join us as we officially open our community garden! Dr. Power will be playing his guitar for a fun, musical ribbon-cutting in the Garden!
Dr. Power is a board-certified internist, geriatrician, and clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Rochester. He is also a Certified Eden Alternative® Educator, a member of the Eden Alternative board of directors and an international educator on transformation models of care for older adults, particularly those living with changing cognitive abilities.
In addition, Dr. Power is also a trained musician and songwriter with three recordings, including Life Worth Living: A Celebration of Elders and Those Who Care for Them. His songs have been recorded by several artists and performed on three continents. Peter, Paul and Mary performed his song of elder autonomy, “If You Don’t Mind”, and Walter Cronkite used his song, “I’ll Love You Forever” in a 1995 Discovery Channel profile of American families.
You can learn more about Dr. Power’s contributions to dementia care and his books, Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing the Culture of Care and Dementia Beyond Disease: Enhancing Well-Being at http://www.alpower.net/alpower_bio.htm
Other FUN Happenings Throughout the Day:
- The fabulous Vassar Band, Fowlmouth Adds to the Earth Day Festivities https://www.instagram.com/fowlmouth.band/
- Our Intern, Lixuanyi (Joy) Pan will be preparing an authentic Chinese Dish!
- Nature Mandala Making: Everyone is Welcome to add to Our community Mandala!
- Pix with Chix! Join Bea the Mayor—The World’s Most Beloved Chicken (ok, well…maybe just in the Hudson Valley)…and her person, Evergreen Minds Board Member, Karen Finnegan visit and you can have your photo taken with The Mayor!
- Our hard-working Vassar Interns and community Volunteers will be here to greet you and help throughout the Event!
Leading with Artivism: Back to the Roots: a Latino Experience (virtual)
Join Arts Mid-Hudson (virtually) as we talk with artivist Daniel Villegas.
Villegas shows, with his unique sound & music, that the whole Earth’s group consciousness is changing and that it’s all about changing our individual “frequencies” as we all strive to move towards a group consciousness that is completely heart-centered. Register here!
City of PoughkeepsieHistoric District & Landmark Preservation Commission Meeting (in person)
The Historic District and Landmark Preservation Commission (HDLPC) is a group of city residents appointed by the Mayor who are charged with reviewing all plans for the moving, exterior construction, alteration or repair, landscaping or demolition or any change in the exterior appearance of places, sites, structures or buildings designated landmarks or landmark sites and all places, sites, structures or buildings wholly or partly within the boundaries of a historic district.
Performing Art 2022 at Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (in person)
Performing Art is a highly-collaborative, annual project that brings together a diverse ensemble of creators to explore the relationship between visual and performing art. Performing Art 2022 was fully devised and developed by the cast under the direction of Liz Dahmen using the visual art in the current exhibit “Mary Frank: The Observing Heart.”
Dutchess County to Host Veterans Services Town Hall (virtual)
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro with the Division of Veterans’ Services will be hosting a live Veteran’s Town Hall forum. The forum will include a panel of knowledgeable individuals including Dutchess County veterans program managers, members of the VA, and representatives from other local veterans’ services who will discuss county and national resources and support available for veterans and their loved ones. Light refreshments will be served, and veterans and their families are encouraged to attend. Registration is not required.
Environmentalists on Olana: Inspiring Partnerships to Protect Inspiring Views
Frederic Church designed Olana’s landscape to maximize his views of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, an inspiration for many of his paintings. Join Scenic Hudson Director of Land Conservation Cari Watkins Bates and Director of Land Use Advocacy Jeffrey Anzevino to learn how Olana has inspired 50 years of collaborative — and ongoing — efforts to protect Olana’s integral viewshed and create exciting ways of connecting people with the region’s natural beauty and cultural heritage.
Cari Watkins-Bates’ 20+ year career in land conservation has been focused on the preservation, restoration, and access to both natural and cultural resources (including agricultural lands). She has a MA in Energy and Environmental Analysis from Boston University. Prior to joining Scenic Hudson, she was with The Nature Conservancy’s Nevada Field Office.
Jeffrey Anzevino, AICP, the Director of Land Use Advocacy at Scenic Hudson where he has worked for 30 years helping communities revitalize their riverfronts, protect views and expand river access. He has a BA in Geography from the University of Maryland.
$15 person, $10 members. Advanced registration required. For more information or to learn more about program discounts, please contact education@olana.org.
The Perils of Plastics (virtual)
The League of Women Voters of Westchester County invites you to a virtual forum to find out why the production, use and disposal of plastic is one of the greatest environmental and health threats of our time.
Featuring Eric Cirino, author of Thicker Than Water: A Quest for Solutions to the Plastics Crisis and Jim Vallette, President of Materials Research L3C and author of The New Coal: Plastics and Climate Change.
This event is co-sponsored by: Bedford 2030, Beyond Plastics, Climate Reality Project– Westchester Chapter, Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, ELLA of Teatown Reservation, Green Ossining, Mothers Out Front, New York League of Conservation Voters, League of Women Voters of NY State, Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, Sustainable Westchester, and Westchester County.
Hudson Valley Cybersecurity Series | Cyber Essentials (virtual)
Join Pattern for Progress in a series of four live virtual events to address critical cyber security issues pertinent to municipalities, school districts, utilities, industries, and businesses. Register here!
Cyber Essentials – The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will share information that is essential to protecting computer systems, data and infrastructure for local government and businesses. CISA will also discuss its “SHIELDS UP” guidance for all organizations – big and small – to adopt a heightened posture as a result of Russia’s unprovoked attacks in Ukraine. Although there is no specific or credible cyber threat in the United States, CISA is encouraging organizations to practice extra vigilance and report unusual activities on their government, utility or business networks
PK4Keeps Open House (in person)
Attend the third open house for PK4Keeps on March 24th and be part of the effort to create Poughkeepsie’s new comprehensive plan and zoning code. Learn about PK4Keeps, talk to project representatives, and contribute your voice to the development of community strategies. Register here!
