Looking for a good read that’s also eco-friendly? Find a Green Shelf near you. A project of the Midtown Palo Alto Green Team, Green Shelves are just that – a bookshelf lined with green paper and stocked with environmentally-friendly reading material for all to borrow and read. Working together with local schools, businesses and public areas, we hope to establish a number of Green Shelves that will carry books on carbon-cutting topics for all ages, nonfiction and fiction alike.

The aim of the Green Shelf is to provide an opportunity to share materials with like-minded people throughout the city as well as to raise awareness and knowledge among the general population. We hope that Green Shelf books will also be the starting points for conversations and building connections in the community. Anyone can pick up a specially-marked book from a green-paper lined Green Shelf, read it and return it when done. You can return it to any other Green Shelf in the city.

The first Green Shelves are at Parents Nursery School (Louis Road and Garland – currently for school-families only) and Philz Coffee (Middlefield and Loma Verde). Be sure to ask about the Green Shelf when you visit these local establishments and others. More locations will be coming.

If you’d like to participate, you can donate books or literature on eco-friendly topics to the Green Shelves. Any books on environmental issues (a few multiples are okay because we can use them at multiple locations), current magazines, kids’ materials, or gardening-related materials (secular materials only) are welcome. You can also participate by suggesting books and locations.

Check out a book at a Green Shelf near you. If you have donations, a suggestion for a book, or would like to have a Green Shelf at your location, please contact the Midtown Green Team by email: midtown (at) pagreenteams (dot) org

MOTHER’S DAY GARDEN-CRAFT-BIKE-MUSIC SHARE

Neighbors sharing food, exchanging crafts, repairing bikes, and making music

Sunday,  May 13 11am – noon      FREE !
Common Ground Organic Garden Supply & Education Center
559 College Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306   

Hop on your bikes with your favorite mother for this 4 Event Mother’s Day Share. Join us to share your garden and kitchen bounty, your extra arts and crafts supplies. Bring what you have to share; take home something you don’t.   You’ll also learn to make homemade musical instruments and get a (or learn to do your own) bike tunup.  Bring your bikes, homegrown fruit, vegetables, eggs, herbs, honey, flowers, paints, markers, fabric, yarn, paper, patterns, books, garden/craft tools, kits and more. Be sure to bring a bag to take home the bounty!

Local Garden Share – Bring extra bounty from the garden (produce, fruit, herbs, eggs, honey, flowers, plants in pots), things made in the kitchen from the things from the garden, seeds, seedlings, tools, utensils, books, magazines. Anything garden and food-related is welcome.

Craft Share – Bring your arts and crafts supplies and tools, and even artistic creations to share.  At 11:30, we’ll have demos on rose beads and packaging, homemade supplies and envelopes, and more, along with wind chimes and musical instruments (see Scrapaphony below).

Bicycle workshop – Let’s work together to do minor maintenance and make minor adjustments to improve your bike for efficiency, safety and comfort, with Tom Kabat. He’ll help you with: Tire pressure, Oiling squeaky chains, Seat ergonomics, Adjusting bar position for good wristernomics, Adjusting gears, brakes and headsets. He can also coach you through fixing a flat tire!

Scrapaphony – Fun with Fun Sounds – a workshop in making musical instruments from scraps with Herb Moore. He’ll be sharing examples of simple homemade “instruments,” wind chimes from spare keys, a canning jar “water drum.” He’ll also share an approach to exploring sound with found objects.
 

Throughout the Bay Area, neighbors are coming together for sharing locally grown, fresh produce, as well as arts and crafts supplies, and other household items. Our Palo Alto sharing event is supported by a coalition of community ecological organizations and neighborhood groups including: Acterra, Barron Park Green Team, Midtown Green Team, Barron Park Garden Network, Barron Park Assn, Common Ground, City of Palo Alto Community Gardens, Slow Food South Bay, Transition Palo Alto and Transition Silicon Valley.

The Common Ground store is open during the event, so plan to stop in to get any supplies you need to continue your garden bounty or more.  Also, the event is located only 3 blocks from the California Ave Farmers’ Market, which is open from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.  You will have time to shop or have lunch at the market after the event.

Sunday, March 18th at Opal’z in Midtown Palo Alto, a record (approximately) 50 people converged on the upstairs room, normally reserved for birthday parties and soap-making. Instead, these locals were armed with bags of fabrics, paints, papers, ornaments and all sorts of arts and craft supplies. The attendees were eager to swap and jumped in to sort through the piles and boxes of a huge variety of items. Yarns and needles quickly disappeared, the prettiest fabrics snatched up, scrapbooks and more found new homes and luckily were saved from the landfill. The aromas of Annie (Opal’z proprietor)’s fragrant soaps filled the air as people shared stories and filled bags.

The crowd was such that there was a high, steady, hum through the room, and we limited the demos to only paper beads and a few things that can be made from a tshirt, leaving Annie’s other demos for future swaps. There was still a lot of stuff left over at the end (in the future, please remember to stay to take home your extras!), so crafters, teachers, families, and artists can look forward to more supplies at the next Craft swap, to be shared with the Garden Share on May 13th, 11am at Common Ground.

A few photos from this swap, thanks to Annie, are below. Thanks to all who attended! If you couldn’t make it, we hope to see you in May.

Are you a crafter? An artist? A teacher? A parent? Bring your paints, pens, fabrics, yarn, stickers, patterns, craft books, paper goods, stickers, and more to the next Craft Swap. Then take home what you need for your artwork, your lesson plans, your projects. While you’re there, learn a new skill, get to know other people in the neighborhood with similar interests, and score some artsy craftsy loot!  It’s free and fun.

New Demos on paper and rose beads, making lip balm, things to make with a tshirt.
Sunday, March 18th, 1pm-2pm
Opalz, 719 Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto (behind Starbucks, at the corner of Middlefield) – upstairs
opalzoap.com (Please note, this upstairs location is not handicapped-accessible and may have aromas for those who are sensitive)

How does it work? Bring whatever supplies you have (no one will be turned away for being empty-handed) and come watch the demos (light snacks will be provided). At 1:15, grab a bag and start shopping for free. At the end, take home whatever’s left of what you brought (if anything!).

A caveat: you may need multiple bags!

More info at www.transitionpaloalto.org/projects/craft-swap

The craft swap continues, a chance to share your arts and crafts supplies, get some new-to-you goodies, and get to know other people in the area while keeping stuff out of the landfill!
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