The

COVERED BRIDGE

newsletter

Summer has passed so quickly, andwe at Falls Brook Centre are excitedto welcome the Fall with new energyfor the up-coming activities that wehave planned. It’s true what peoplesay that when there’s a lot to do tokeep busy, time will just fly by. Thatwas what we had in the summer. Wewere so busy with various activities.Starting with Bat Box Workshops atKings Landing, visiting Save a NativePlant Nursery, 9th Annual FreeSchool, Future Footprints who wasvisiting our demonstration site, andparticipating in “One Big FamilyPicnic” as part of Canada 150celebration at Wilmot Park.

At the Bat Box workshop, theattendants were enthusiastic and theworkshop turned into warmdiscussions and new ideas on how tosave bat populations in NewBrunswick. More than that, 2attendants made an order for a batbox and their bat boxes werecompleted earlier this month. Theyare as excited for it as we are!

The joy continued at 9th Annual FreeSchool on our beautiful 98 acredemonstration site, Glassville, lastAugust. Even it was a wet weekend,people still chose to come out toenjoy fun learning.

We’re delighted in knowing thateveryone enjoyed the activities,learned something new, and madenew friends! Especially with themomentum of the Canada 150celebrations, Falls Brook Centre wantsto substantiate our mission in inspiringpeople to work together, usingenvironmentally sound practices tocreate thriving local communities.

Therefore, as Fall coming in, we aregearing-up for the next round ofactivities such as a workshop ofUpcycling Plastic Bags into SleepingMats. Our plastic sleeping mat hasreceived enthusiastic responses thatwent beyond our expectation. Manyother workshops will be coming-upsoon during the fall and winter. Forthe dates and what workshops wewill be hosting please go to ourwebsite www.fallsbrookcentre.ca.Enjoy the insight of Sustainability at9th Annual Free School activities!

Happy Fall!

Falls Brook Centre

Team

Seeking Committee Members and General Event Volunteers

Interested in being part of the organisation that inspires people to worktogether? Especially using environmentally sound practices to create thriving localcommunities? Apply to become a Falls Brook Centre volunteer today!

If you are looking for opportunities to give back to your community, make newfriends, have new experiences, and develop your skills, volunteering with FallsBrook Centre is the right place for you.

FBC is seeking dedicated and enthusiastic individuals, who are committed toassisting FBC achieve its goals. We are looking for volunteers to help out with ourboard committees!Our committees include:-Fundraising-Site Development & Operations-Marketing & Promotions

Committee member requirements are commitment to the tasks, decision-making,and integrity. It is a rewarding experience that allows members to gain newinsights and develop new skills that will aid them in future endeavours. Membercommittees are expected to participate in committees meetings (usually held oncea month, alternately at the Glassville Demonstration Site or the FrederictonSatellite Office at the Ville), to take actions needed to achieve the organisationgoals, and to engage in generating revenue (from fundraising, sponsorships,memberships, and services) on behalf of the organization.

If you prefer volunteering in General Events, we also have a role for you!Volunteer members for general events require commitment to attend pre-meeting,orientation meeting (usually 2 hours), and commitment to carry out tasks on theday of the event.

Send an email to our volunteer coordinator at media@fallsbrookcentre.ca .We’ll be delighted to hear from you and find you the best place to utilise your skillsand experience.

No Mushrooms

No Forests

Mushrooms are known to be majorcontributors to the health of all forests.They play key roles in completing thenutrient cycle, decomposing organic matter,and even protecting trees and plants frominfection. There is an evolving practiceknown as Mycoforestry (from mycology, orthe study of fungi), which is the practice ofincorporating local fungi into clear-cutmanagement and reforestation projects.Mycoforestry is changing the way we lookat forest management.

Typical forestry practices can be mademore sustainable by introducing a fewsimple techniques from mycoforestry. Inclearcutting, wood debris is often burnedon-site, or chipped and left on-site. Whenwood debris is burned on-site, it removesthe carbon which is essential for the soiland new forest to grow. A more sustainablepractice would be to inoculate the chippedwood debris with local mushrooms andleave it on-site. This simple practice alonehas many positive effects on clear-cut sites.

• Invites insects and wildlife to feed on theresultant mushrooms, leading to the spreadof spores and further breakdown of chippedwood• Increases biodiversity• Increases the health of the overall forestdue to the symbiotic relationships ofmushrooms and trees (mycorrhizal).Mushrooms are a crucial part of the naturalecosystem. Simply put, without fungi, thereare no forests.

by Nikole Watson Environtmental Education Intern

Moreover some mushrooms are also edible.At 9th Annual Free School last August,University of New Brunswick environmentalengineering graduate Bradley Robichaudgave a workshop on how to identify varioustypes of edible New Brunswick mushroomsas well as identifying some of the poisonouslook-a-likes.

Learn more about mushrooms and how theycan help save the world by attending a FallsBrook Centre mushroom workshop! Forworkshop dates, check out our website at:www.fallsbrookcentre.ca

References:Stamets, Paul. “Mycelium Running – How mushrooms can help save the world”.“Mycoforestry”. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoforestry.

Positives of inoculating “waste” woodchip with local mushroom spores: • Nutrients get decomposed back into thesoil

Sustainable Energy, Economy, and Environment with

Rocket Stoves & Rocket Mass Heaters

by Dani Subagiyo Media & Promotions Coordinator

Technological civilization has always spurredhumans to discover new technologies. In theera of the demand for environmentallyfriendly technology, this becomes achallenge in itself. To answer that in terms ofheating, rocket stoves and rocket massheaters can be the answer. Based onhttp://www.canadianoffthegrid.com , rocketstoves and rocket mass heaters have beenaround for over 30 years, and they’regrowing in popularity.

A facilitator of rocket stoves and rocket massheaters from Praxis Project, Alex Murrayexplains; unlike masonry stoves which aremade from brick and tile stoves, both ofwhich are heavily manufactured products,rocket stoves are made from cob.Cob is clay, sand, and straw which is in ourbackyards right now. ”When we are talkingabout stove and heat retention, talking abouteconomy, why not use our local

product? Why not use products that are notgoing to disturb other people and theenvironment,” he adds. Quotes frombuildnaturally.com, cob walls provideexcellent thermal mass which allow forabsorption of heat energy. The highthermal properties of cob make it ideal foruse around rocket stoves.

At FBC’s 9th Annual Free School workshop,Alex describes rocket stoves as analternative to current iron stoves in thatthey have J chamber or L chambers thatburn wood more efficiently by creating avertical burn tower as well as the horizontalburn. And the mass of cob around the burnchambers and heaters holds and retainsthe heat, then releases it slowly throughoutthe night. So it is not only effective inburning wood up to 75% more efficientlythan typical woodburning stoves, but it alsoholds the heat throughout the night.

“If you’re burning 4 cord of wood now andyou have a chance to burn only one cord ofwood and save 750$ a year …it is moreefficient in that your neighbor not going tosmoked out, save money, scientificallygoing to hold more heat and you will bemore comfortable. There are multipurpose[benefits] that can happen so you can havefree hot water out of your rocket stoves androcket mass heater, the dehydrator, youcan have an oven and a cooking surfaceadditional to your heater.” Clearly, therecan be a lot more going on than just a fire.

Based on the factor of efficiency, rocketstoves have the ability to save money. Butis it also environmentally friendly? ExecutiveDirector Falls Brook Centre Afton Conneelysays, the efficiency of rocket stoves meansdrastically reducing the amount of woodthat we are using. More than that, it canalso use branches or small wood that isrenewable from coppicing

Based on sources from woodlands.co.uk,coppicing is a woodland managementmethod in which the wood from a tree isharvested by cutting a hardwood tree nearground level. The tree does not die butsubsequently regrows over a period ofyears without needing to be replanted.

Alex also explains, the bottom line is wherethe environment can sustain our hardwoodharvesting. [With rocket mass stoves andheaters] … you don’t have to chop downyour 60 foot tall, 80 year old tree. [Usingcoppicing] every 3 years you can chopdown your little trees and use them forfirewood.”

How much do people have to invest tomake a rocket stove or a rocket massheater? Alex answers, it depends on thesize, how many rooms that want to beheated-up, and what resources that wehave around us. Do you have clay andsand in your backyard or will you have totruck it in? Do you have volunteers, paidlabour or willing to do it yourself? Likeeverything else, it all depends. But if youwanted to, you could do it for nearly free.How many times is that a possibility forheating your home?For more resources please go tohttp://www.canadianoffthegrid.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater/

Want to know more from Alex Murray ofthe Praxis Project? We can’t give hispersonal info I’m afraid but go towww.praxisprojectnb.com/ to learn moreabout their efforts and their festivalhappening next June.

Falls Brook Centre Helps Town of Riverview to

Reduce Energy Consumption

These past few months, Falls BrookCentre has been working with the Townof Riverview to help them reduce theenergy consumption in 3 buildings withintheir municipality. The buildings that welooked at were The Fire Station, TownHall, and The Fundy Chocolate RiverStation.

Those buildings were all newlyconstructed or renovated within the last10 years, which lead to very little energylosses through heat. The two key areasthat we assessed were options for lightingretrofits and system sub metering.Replacing old incandescent or compactfluorescent lights with newer LED bulbsCrete opportunities for long-term energyreductions in highly lit areas as well asreducing the maintenance needed inbuildings; LEDs lifespans are typically 3-5times longer than their less energyefficient counterparts.

Sub metering systems involvesmonitoring which aspects of a buildingdraw the most power. This can be theheating, lighting, refrigeration,appliances, etc.

Once it is understood how muchenergy these systems are using, planscan be put in place to reduce them,especially the peak loads. Thistechnique is becoming more commonnot just in large buildings, but manyhomeowners are also starting tomonitor the energy use of variousaspects of their own house!

Riverview is participating in theFederation of Canadian MunicipalitiesPartners for Climate Protectionprogram, with the goal of reducingtheir town's greenhouse gas emissionsby 20% from their 2008 levels. ThePartners for Climate Protection (PCP)program is a network of Canadianmunicipal governments that havecommitted to reducing greenhousegases (GHG) and to acting on climatechange. Since the program's inceptionin 1994, over 300 municipalities havejoined PCP, making a publiccommitment to reduce emissions.

If you want to know if your communityis participating in this community, youcan follow their involvement on the'members' page of the Federation ofCanadian Municipalities website! We atFalls Brook Centre glad to see thisprogram gaining traction across theprovince as we work towards agreener economy.

by Max Mathies Former Renewable Energy Coordinator

Permaculture CreatesSustainable Ecosystem & Economy

by Dani Subagiyo Media & Promotions Coordinator

Maybe you have heard about permaculture, but have you heard of it in the context of a

design land management system? Do you know why Falls Brook Centre (FBC) is

interested in this system and why they have implemented it on the demonstration site?

Take a look at the interview with FBC Executive Director, Afton Conneely during a

break before the 9th Annual Free School.

Dani : Does anyone in the world practice permaculture?

Afton : Oh, yes. There’s a lot! In Maine, US, and British Columbia. Internship student

Ryan McDowell added: even in Edmonton, Calgary.

Dani : Does it work in terms of the changes in weather as well? Canada has a pretty

harsh winter, especially in the Maritime provinces.

Afton : Permaculture works anywhere in the world. The key part that people have to

recognise is that you have to be aware of how the weather in your particular micro-

climate really is. Is it 26 weeks of winter or 20 weeks? Because it can impact the kind

of plants that you put in. You can change your micro-climate. If you put in a water

pond, you can actually increase the relative temperature of the micro-climate and put

in trees that have fruit in that high temperature. You can change the quality of your

soil relatively quickly, so you can take advantage of the place that has more sun. But it

needs planning and recognition that nature works as a system. It doesn’t work as plan

A, plan B, plan C, and put them together. That’s not a system. You have to think about

how they relate to each other and protect each other. It takes a lot of work and

knowledge in the beginning but the reward at the end is far higher.

Dani : Does permaculture also work in terms of theeconomy? Because at the end, farmers want to have anabundant harvest.

Afton : It does work in terms of the economy in that itgives you is a variety of sources to make money from.It gives you resiliency. For example, consider an appleorchard in a year that is bad for an apple crop, wherethe trees only produce half or a third of the apples thatyou estimated and planned for.In a mono-culture system that's a disaster. In apolyculture system however, it isn't. This is because byit's very nature a polycultural system has a range ofcrops for you to earn money from.In apple tree guilds like the ones we are implementingin Glassville, there is a selection of annuals andperennials planted under each tree. So in a year that'sbad for apples, it's good for water melons, orcucumbers.

The other thing that happens is when you plan this out ahead of time and you put incomfrey, thyme and other aromatic plants, things that attract pollinators and birds,then what you end up with is less disease in your apple tree. Because the pests thatdamage apple trees are discouraged and minimised. It’s a way of feeding the soil andfeeding the tree which in turn makes a crop better. It gives you a variety of streams ofrevenue that you will not get if you have only apple trees.

Dani : Is permaculture something new in the Maritimes, or in New Brunswick?

Afton : The word is getting more and more recognised. In a way, the brand is becomingmore recognisable. But what it actually entails is not quite as known.Ryan just told us about a landscaper who was on his Permaculture design Course inOntario. The landscaper was only there because his customers told him they wantedPermaculture “done” to their properties. The landscaper had no idea aboutpermaculture, so he went and got trained and certified. Now the landscaper can offerpermaculture design as part of his services. That is how you make change.We are in a capitalistic society, change is made when a customer demands somethingdifferent and the service provider goes and learns the skills to provide that new service.They get paid to design and implement a system, other people realise the addedbenefit, more people ask for it, permaculture gets spread. That’s how you do it.

Dani : I’m still curious….Why is FBC interested inPermaculture?

Afton : Permaculture is a system of improvement that canbe applied anywhere. It's about designing abundance withthe resources you have available to you and can beimplemented everywhere from a thousand acre property toa balcony garden.It doesn't destroy our environment, in fact it supports andallows our ecosystems to thrive while still giving ushumans a comfortable place to live. With mindfulness andPermaculture, you really can have it all!

Interested in learning more about successful permaculturebusinesses?Check out the video for Miracle Farm in Quebec'sMonteregie on youtube https://youtu.be/3riW_yiCN5E Theowners of this 12 acre property converted 5 acres oforchard into a polyculture U-Pick and they've never lookedback!

Plastic Sleeping Mat, From a Showcase to a Workshop

Falls Brook Centre has alwayslooked to be innovative in theirapproach to sustainablecommunities. Free School is anopportunity to showcasedifferent methods andtechniques that we look toimplement in the coming year.This year we introduced peg-loomed plastic bag sleepingmats.

The idea for this came from the community where a local organization was doingsomething similar: Crocheting plastic bags into sleeping mats. Crochet requires skill andwould be a barrier for introducing it into a classroom or Eco Citizens Club environment.YouTube became a resource for other methods of creating the sleeping mats and thepeg loom seemed the most effective and simplest method for a novice crowd.

The community response has been beyondexpectation. At “One Big Family Picnic”, atWilmot Park on August 25th, our booth gotlots of visitor attention. Starting from thosewho wanted to check how thick the mat is,to those trying to sleep on it, and evenasking for the workshop to learn how tomake one. To answer that enthusiasm, thisfall we are looking forward to gatheringnew partners and preparing anothersleeping mat workshop.

The tutorial video was posted by GoodShephard Church, somewhere in Georgia,and it was detailed enough that after a fewwatches, we could understand how tomake a mat. The next step was makingour own peg loom. This was done inpartnership with the Makerspace, which islocated in the Ville Cooperative. The loomwas created with offcuts and extra piecesand required no money in its construction.The bags were gathered from localrecycling centers and community memberswho answered the call for extra shoppingbags. Bags were then sorted and prepared,and the whole process was launched atFree School on August 19th.

Join Us Now Become a Member

Becoming a member of the FBC family gets you lots of perks throughout the year! Your support helps us demonstrate techniques and technologies that will help bring New Brunswick to the forefront of ecological and economical sustainability. Head to fallsbrookcentre.ca to get yours today!

$25 – Red Squirrel

-Special member pricing on select FBC workshops, asubscription to The Covered Bridge, free camping atselect FBC events (including the Annual Free School),and an organic cotton tote bag and FBC sticker.

$50 - The Gray JaySpecial member pricing on select FBC workshops, asubscription to The Covered Bridge, free camping at FBCevents (including the Annual Free School), and anorganic cotton tote bag, a metal “Say Yes to the Tap”reusable water bottle, and a FBC sticker. Plus acharitable tax receipt for $25

$75 - The Red FoxSpecial member pricing on all FBC workshops, a subscription to The Covered Bridge, free camping at FBC events (including the 9th Annual Free School), and an organic cotton FBC t-shirt, an organic cotton tote bag, a metal “Say Yes to the Tap” reusable water bottle, and a FBC sticker. Plus a charitable tax receipt for $50.

$100 - The Black BearLeave your mark and ensure your legacy lives on atthe FBC Demonstration site! With this membership,you’ll get your name inscribed on the side of the mainlodge for all to appreciate. The official unveiling of the“member wall” will take place at the Annual FreeSchool.

Plus special member pricing on all FBC workshops, a subscription to The Covered Bridge, free camping at FBC events (including the 9th Annual Free School), and an organic cotton FBC t-shirt, an organic cotton tote bag, a metal “Say Yes to the Tap” reusable water bottle, and a FBC sticker. And a charitable tax receipt for $75.

Falls Brook Centre

Merchandise

There is another way to support us! By having our merchandise, you support communities in having knowledge and skills in environmentally sound practices.

Contact Us

Falls Brook Centre

@FallsBrookNB

@fallsbrookcentre

Satellite Office241 Canada StreetFredericton, NBE3A 2Z8Phone: (506) 454-5480

Demonstration Site426 West Glassville RdGlassville, NBE7L 1W4Phone: (506) 246-1115

Donate to Falls Brook Centre

Visit fallsbrookcentre.ca

As a registered charity, we rely heavily on contributions from personal donors.These contributions help us initiate new projects, continue to host great eventslike Free School, teach workshops in classrooms across New Brunswick, andmaintain our day-to-day operations. We welcome your support, and are able tooffer charitable tax receipts for all donations over $15 CAD.

Get our merchandise by contacting us today! We will deliver it to your address,shipping extra. Payment methods are; paypal, credit card, e-transfer and cash.T-shirt is $35, tank is $15, metal water bottle is $12, glass water bottle is $15,and tote bag is $10.