CSA in the 'hood

ejohnson at the Peak Soil blog has a great writeup on something some of us have known about already: a CSA (community supported agriculture) right in our very own Martin Acres. You can read about Kipp Nash's venture here. Definitely worth reading!

Nepal Cuisine in the neighborhood

Since we have moved to Boulder in the spring our family has enjoyed eating at a Nepali/Indian restaurant in the Meadows Parkway shopping mall (Naryan's Nepal Restaurant). I was surprised to find out last week that as of about 1 month ago the establishment was under new management. I wondered where the original owners had gone because I really enjoyed their food and the service was friendly.

I mention all this because two days ago we decided to try out a new Nepali restaurant at 4720 Table Mesa Drive (see map here) only a few yards south of our neighborhood. The food was great and I soon realized that this was a new restaurant that was (surprise!) owned/operated by the former owners of Naryan's Nepal Restaurant. The new restaurant is called Nepal Cuisine. The restaurant is so new that there is no online information that I could find about hours, address, contact info, etc. I have a copy of the business card here where you can get more information.

Not only have we rediscovered a source of great Indian/Nepali food... the restaurant is only one block from our house and essentially in our neighborhood. Another great reason to live in Martin Acres!

Tasty Butter Braids

Hello,

The cooperative preschool (Peter Pan Preschool) that our children Kate and Joel attend in Boulder is having its fall fund raiser. This year's fund raiser involves selling Butter Braid Pastries.



Joel and Kate are only just learning about money and marketing so we are helping them out. They really enjoy their time at the school. I like it because I get to take them there in the mornings on our bike/trailer setup. But I digress... these pastries taste great. Someone put a taste sampler out near the door where parents bring their children to the school. I had to return a number of times to the table before I finally left the building. If you love good quality baked sweets... this is for you.

If you would like to purchase one or more of these delicious pastries, here are the details:

1. each Butter Braid Pastry costs $9.00
2. we need to have our order in to the school before the morning of October 19, so please sign up before then.
3. contact me at alfred.sawatzky@gmail.com (you can contact Becky, too, but I don't want to give the spammers her e-mail on this blog) and tell me how many of each of the following you would like (click here list of ingredients and nutrition information)
   
• Bavarian Creme Chocolate Icing
• Cherry
• Apple
• Blueberry Cream Cheese
• Cinnamon
• Cream Cheese
4. we can arrange payment when you contact me. Ideally I would like payment before the October 19 deadline, but we can also discuss other arrangements.
5. I will be receiving the ordered pastries on November 1st and will get them to you as soon as possible after that.

Thanks for helping out our preschool.

Regards,

Alfred Sawatzky

Climate Smart Neighborhood Sweep in Martin Acres

You may have seen notices in the neighborhood about Climate Smart's Neighborhood Sweep this Saturday. From their website:

The neighborhood sweep is an opportunity for the city to visit residents door to door and offer educational materials and energy saving resources - such as compact fluorescent light bulbs. The ClimateSmart program selects 1-2 neighborhoods each year to visit. Teams of University of Colorado Green Teams students and Boulder County senior citizen tax workers are paired up to visit the homes and provide ClimateSmart kits and an opportunity for residents to sign up for a more in-depth ClimateSmart Home visit.

Ideally they would like to talk to someone at the house when they deliver the kit but if you cannot be there and really want a kit I think you can leave a note on your door asking for one anyways.



View Larger Map

I was very excited that our house would be included in it but when I created that map I saw that we are one block too far to the east. Doh! Anyways, I hope many MA residents avail themselves of this great opportunity.

First Post

I attended the monthly meeting of the Martin Acres Neighborhood Association this last Monday evening. It was my first meeting since we moved to the neighborhood this spring. What a wonderful way to get to stay connected to our neighbors.

There were two topics of particular interest to me that evening. The first one was concerning energy audits. More details of this presentation are covered by Osman in his post "Actually, It's Easy to Be Green". What I got out of the presentation is that it is most important to have a technical energy audit done first before you spend your time, energy and money on a solution that you think will make your house more energy efficient.

Another part of the evening was given to the discussion of remodeling in the neighborhood. The presenter was Camille Hook. She and her family had recently completed a pop-top addition to their house. Many of the points she presented are also available in another post by Osman titled "Pop Top Experience: An Interview with Camille Hook".

One topic of interest to me that Camille mentioned that is not in Osman's article has to do with the urban gardening that is going on in our neighborhood. One that is using her yard and others to create a neighborhood CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is run by Kipp Nash. Kipp and friends make use of front yards, back yards and community gardens to grow fresh vegetables that he shares with his CSA and sells at the Boulder Farmers' Market. Since I heard about this earlier this year I have been intrigued by the concept and want to promote it as much as I can.

Some links that mention Kipp's organization ("Community Roots"):
- Boulder Farmers’ Market: Fresh and Locally Grown
- LocalHarvest