It seems like people in Salem more than other communities try to live “green” lives. I often see people carrying reusable bags and recycling.  We host a Green Living Fair in June and who hasn’t seen those lime green vegetable oil burning Mercedes turbo diesels around town?

Zipcar

Zipcar the low down

What is zipcar?
In case you are unfamiliar with zipcar.com, it is a service that you can join which allows you to reserve and use a car kept locally within a neighborhood. Most people who use these cars do so for short trips, to the grocery or the mall, maybe a run to ikea or Home Depot. Zipcar is a Massachusetts based company and has a cult like following in cities like Cambridge, New York City, San Francisco and now internationally in places like London, and Toronto.

How does that relate to Salem?
For some time now Salem residents who don’t own a car or don’t want to own a car have been asking Zipcar to come to Salem.  Zipcar has listened and on April 5th spoke in front of the Parking Board (minutes can be found here).

Zipcar is requesting six parking spaces in Salem. Two in the Church Street lot adjacent to the cinema, two in the Sewall Street lot by the YMCA and two in Riley Plaza West lot by Steve’s market. As you would expect the Parking Board asked questions regarding liability, snow emergency concerns and what we have come to expect from them compensation. In the end nothing was resolved and the meeting was adjourned

So now what?
The next Parking Board meeting will be held on Monday May 3, 2010 at 120 Washington Street, 3rd floor conference room. If you are interested in Salem getting the Zipcar service, they want to hear from you.  Let the Parking Board know how you feel. It’s your city use your voice to enact positive change.

Take a peek at some of what the Salem Farmers Market has to offer this season. Tomatoes, corn, squash, peppers, gourds, sunflowers, zinnias and a host of other locally grown goodies to get you into the season.

Photos from the Salem Farmers Market

Tomatoes

Fresh baked breadmobile

Salem Farmers Market

Witch

mini pumpkins and gourds

flower power

Pumpkin

Out of my Gourds

Sunflowers

Salem Farmers Market

Featuring fresh produce from eight different farms, many residents gathered armfuls of leafy lettuce, radishes, potted herbs, flowers and the one stand that had something different to offer in the form of strawberries and tomatoes, had quite a line to wait in.

Waiting in line

Anyone hoping for the great variety of fruits and veggies you might find in Boston’s Haymarket will be sadly disappointed. Due to the time of year, available foods were limited to mainly “green stuff”. However, not too many people seemed to mind. Most were just happy to be able to take advantage of shopping for fresh, farm grown produce in their own back yard.

Fresh greens

We are looking forward to a larger and changing selection of available food stuffs from the local farms as the seasons progress. If you are interesting in scooping up some treats make sure you get to Derby Square early for the best selections and to beat the crowds.

More than just fruits and veggies

you can get magickly clean

It seems that not much changes in a hundred years or so, our friends over at Salem Main Streets are reviving an old tradition by organizing a Farmers Market.  The Salem Farmers’ Market will open Thursday, June 25, 2009 from 4-7:00 pm, and will run weekly through October 29, 2009.

For a full list of all the good stuff that is in season or for more info check out the Salem Farmers’ Market website.

Clean Energy Day and Living Green & Renewable Energy Fair

Music

Friday June 13th

• TBA (jazz 6:30-9:30pm) TBA ( 10pm) @ Bangkok Paradise
• Catfish Lucy w/ RSVP @ Dodge Street
• Los Sugar Kings (mambo-salsa dance party 9:30pm) @ Edgewater Cafe
• DJ Seth (alternative, experimental, electronica 8pm) @ Gulu Gulu
• Three Toad Sloth (rock 8pm) @ The Lobster Shanty
• Soul Baby (R&B, Funk, Soul) @ The Lyceum
• Traditional Irish Music (6-9pm) DJ Lost Daze (dance, pop, hip-hop 10pm) @ O’Neill’s
• Brian Maes Band (dance, rock, pop, 80′s) @ Rockafellas
• Matt Tentindo (singer / guitar) @ Spirit’s at 300 Derby
• Groove Therapy @ (8-11:30pm) Strombergs

Saturday June 14th

• TBA (jazz 6:30-9:30pm) TBA(  10pm) @ Bangkok Paradise
• Nutshell w/ American Idiots (green day tribute) @ Dodge Street
• DJ Zati (10pm) @ Fresh Taste of Asia
• 2nd Saturday Bluegrass Jam (2:30PM – 5:30PM) The Jazz Navigators (jazz 8pm) @ Gulu Gulu
• TBA @ The Lobster Shanty
• Santarella – Kimball Duo (soft rock) @ The Lyceum
• Traditional Irish Music (6-9pm) DJ Cee Block (dance, pop, hip-hop 10pm) @ O’Neill’s
• Open Bar Band (dance, rock, pop, 80’s) @ Rockafellas
• TBA @ Spirit’s at 300 Derby
• Dis n’ Dat Band @ (8-11:30pm) Strombergs

Movies

Cinema Salem will be showing:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG-13)
Friday & Saturday at 11:10AM, 1:45, 4:25, 7:30 and 10:00
Sunday at 11:10AM, 1:45, 4:25 and 7:30

Sex and the City (R)
Friday & Saturday at 12:00noon, 3:00, 6:45 and 9:45
Sunday at 12noon, 3:00 and 6:45

Kung Fu Panda (PG)
Friday & Saturday 11:30AM, 2:15, 4:45, 7:00 and 9:15
Sunday 11:30AM, 2:15, 4:45 and 7:00

The Gathering at Salem will be showing:

Riding Giants (PG-13)
Friday 8PM

Insider Picks

Looking over the listings this weekend Friday nights winner is the unlikely paring of Catfish Lucy and Radio Scotvoid Productions. I want to find out if Dodge Streets booking agent is a genius or a dim-wit for paring a cool and wack DJ with the blues tunes of CFL.  Saturday hit it early over at Gulu-Gulu for The Jazz Navigators at 8pm then get your boom boom on late night with DJ Cee Block around the corner at O’Neills.

This Saturday Salem will be hosting it’s first official “Clean Energy Day” in conjunction with the Living Green & Renewable Energy Fair.

Everyone is talking “Green” these days and while I’m no tree-hugger if I can save a buck here and there while doing something environmentally friendly I’m all for it. The Old Town Hall will have vendors and booths set up to inform you about renewable energy, transportation, building and remodeling, lawn and garden, organic food and locally grown produce and household products.

Over at CinemaSalem at 10am a free showing of the propaganda film Killowatt Ours.

Filmmaker Jeff Barrie’s retort to the Vice President about energy usage and proposed proliferation of coal burning power plants. It’s an hour long trip down the “were killing the earth” road filmed about 5 years ago. If you can wade through all the people are evil tripe you will find some easy to impliment common sense steps to help lessen your impact on our planet.
- Creasey Silo

Even The Gathering is getting in on the festivites with a series of talks.

• 11 am – 12 pm: Salem Goes Green / Wind 101 presented by Cindy Keegan
• 12 pm – 1 pm: Living With Climate Change presented by Jeff Barz-Snell
• 1 pm – 2 pm: Greenscapes 101 presented by Barbara Warren
• 2 pm – 3 pm: Green Remodeling presented by Paul Marquis

Personal Note

Adjusting your lifestyle to be more environmentally is simple to do and shouldn’t cost you anything. You will see some vendors (or Electricity Companies) who want you to pay big bucks to offset your usage. People want you to purchase carbon credits in order to make you feel good about that plane you took to Hawaii for your eco vacation. Don’t fall into the trap – don’t get scammed. Instead of paying some guy $20 so he will allegedly plant a tree in the rain forest you can plant a tree right here in Salem.

I started bringing my own bag (a duffel bag like you take to the gym) to Steve’s Market when I shop for groceries. I also turn of all the lights when I leave a room (and my electricity bill showed a noticeable decrease). Replacing some bulbs in your house with the green friendly bulbs is an easy first step to take.

Just remember to do your homework and watch your cash.

(c) Forrest Frazier

Chris Crandall over at In Season is offering a great service to the people of Salem who are interested in getting some locally grown / harvested food. They have New England suppliers for fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, bread and dry goods and deliver it to down town Salem each Saturday. All you need to do is log on to their website, click on the shop links and find what you want. Saturday you mossy on down to Pamplemousse where they will be set across the street from 11am to 2pm and pick up your fresh food.

This time of year there is not too much in the way of fresh fruits and veggies but I’m assured that is soon to come in the warmer months. For now, check out their other selections including meat, dairy, breads and jams.