The Secret Life of the Red Fox Book Reading and Art Workshop

Riverbend is excited to host local illustrator Kate Garchinsky for a reading of “The Secret Life of the Red Fox” followed by an art workshop. This fun, educational story is perfect for a winter’s day. The story begins on a snowy February afternoon and follows the mother fox’s life cycle as the seasons change around

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For the Love of Bluebirds

Bluebird numbers were once in decline but thanks to the efforts of conservation minded individuals and organizations their numbers have increased. Unfortunately, some Bluebird lovers think they are doing a good deed by simply putting up a nest box in their back yard. That is not the case and often can do more harm than

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Book Review: Rat Island

Rat Island: Predators in Paradise and the World’s Greatest Wildlife Rescueby William StolzenburgBloomsbury (2011), $26
For city dwellers, rats are a nuisance and a health hazard. But for isolated island species, rats are a death sentence, as William Stolzenburg demonstrates in his new book, Rat Island.

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MEDIA: Planetwalker by John Francis

When you walk the walk like John Francis, you don’t necessarily need to talk the talk. Planetwalker: 17 Years of Silence, 22 Years of Walking is the true story of a native Philadelphian who, after witnessing a devastating 1971 California oil spill, chose to abstain from all motorized transportation. Instead, Francis walked. When his walking

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MEDIA: The City Homesteader by Scott Meyer

How can you get back to the land when you don’t have any land to get back to? In his new book, The City Homesteader: Self-Sufficiency on Any Square Footage, Scott Meyer shows acre-less urban- and suburbanites how to grow and preserve their own food, raise small livestock and become ever more self-sufficient—from composting to

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Review: Bringing It To The Table

Wendell Berry understands technology’s lure to farmers. In 1950, when he was 16, his father bought a tractor, and suddenly he found he was impatient with his mules. But what does a tireless machine do to a farmer’s relationship to the land? Land becomes something to overcome—a perspective shared by a traveler on an interstate

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Book Review: Food Politics

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Healthby Marion NestleUC Press, 2003; $16.95When you bite into an apple, you’re probably not considering the laws and regulations, complex legal relationships and huge amounts of money that go into promoting food products. On your behalf, though, Marion Nestle is.

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Book Review: the Ecology of Commerce

The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainabilityby Paul HawkenHarper Collins, 1993, $19.96Paul Hawken, author, entrepreneur and activist, debunks the tired notion that business and the environment are somehow at odds.  “Common wisdom holds that ecologists worry about nature while economists are concerned with human beings,” Hawken explains. “But economists are in fact taking care

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