October 2010
 
Greetings all!  
 
 
Our next Meeting/Gathering.  We will meet next on November 4th, 7:00 p.m., Stockton Municipal Building.  Please join us.  This will be an important planning meeting for the coming year.  The agenda will accompany the November newsletter.  Mark your calendars!  

Upcoming Events:

October 1-3, 1 pm – 4 pm.  The Barns of Portage County.  The Rising Star Mill and the Portage County Historical Society presents a photographic exhibit of area barns.  All are welcome to stop at the Rising Star Mill in Nelsonville to view pictures of area barns.

October 2nd, 10 am – 4 pm - Wisconsin Solar Tour   On Saturday, October 2 homes and businesses around Wisconsin are opening their doors and offering free tours of their renewable energy systems. Come and learn about renewable energy, green building techniques, and sustainable living ideas. Tour sites are owned, lived in, and worked in by ordinary people. Find out how renewable energy works for them. Tours are free and open to the public, so stop on by. Visit the Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s website for a complete listing or call 715-592-6595. www.the-mrea.org/solartour.php.

October 2, 10am – 4pm - Karner Blue Rendezvous, Little Plover River State Fisheries Area  Come celebrate local efforts of habitat restoration for the Karner Blue Butterfly. Engage in seed sifting and planting, watch restoration demonstrations, create beautiful crafts, eat local food and enjoy quality music. It all FREE!  Directions from Stevens Point: Take Hwy 51 south, take exit 153 for County B, take a left on Eisenhower Avenue, drive about a mile, the Rendezvous will be on your right. For more information contact Benjamin VanThiel at 920.257.9441

October 2 & October 16, 12:00 pm - Portage County Public Library, Stevens Point & October 9, 9 a.m. – Jensen Center, Amherst - Watts Up? meter workshop.  This hour long workshop will teach you the basics of home energy use and how to set up, use, read, and analyze the meter data. With a “Watts Up? Meter” you are able to log watt usage so you can see the load profile as it changes over the course of a day, week, or any time frame desired. The meter tells the user the amount of electricity use in kilowatt hours (kWh) per month, costs of usage, and more. Just simply plug the appliance into the meter and the meter into the wall. Once you’ve downloaded the data into a PC it can be viewed, graphed, and analyzed. The computer software that comes with the “Watts Up? Meter” can also calculate savings if you were to replace your appliance with an ENERGY STAR standard appliance. To register for this FREE workshop at the Portage County Library please contact Joe Kottwitz at (715) 345-5898. Any questions about the workshop may be directed towards Joe.

October 16, 8 a.m. (registration), 8:30 a.m. (program) to noon. – Fall Gardening Seminar, Mid-State Technical College, 500 32nd St. N., Wis. Rapids.  This seminar titled “Bark, Berries, Grasses and Beyond: Adding Interest to the Dormant Garden” is sponsored by the Wood County Master Gardener Volunteers.  Featured presenter is Jeff Epping, director of horticulture at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison. The registration fee is $10, payable at the door, and the registration deadline is October 8th.  To sign up, call the UW Ext. office at 715-421-8440.
 
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