Every few weeks Bill Mares’ voice comes over the airwaves of Vermont Public Radio (VPR), sharing his thoughts and experiences on topics ranging from beekeeping to marathon running to international politics, all in 3 minutes. At Branch Out Burlington’s free winter seminar at the Main Street Landing on Sunday February 5 at 4 pm, people will have a chance to hear more from Bill and what he is thinking about and doing. His lecture titled 'Bees, Trees and Coffee Beans' will draw links between our local urban forest trees, the bees that rely on them for food in the spring, and how both bees and trees contribute to the sustainable production of coffee in Latin America. He will draw on his experiences about trees in Vermont and beyond and explain the important role bees play in our ecosystem. He will also share his ideas of how urban and rural dwellers alike can help protect the environment, from keeping bees to drinking shade-grown coffee.
Bill is a former journalist, Vermont legislator, local history teacher, and author or co-author of 13 books including the recently released '3.14 and OUT' and 'BEES BESIEGED'. He has kept bees in Vermont for almost forty years. He has been president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association (VBA) and is currently president of the Eastern Apicultural Society. In the last seven years, over 500 people have taken his basic beekeeping class at Champlain Valley Union High School ACCESS program. Under the auspices of the non-profit Food 4 Farmers, Mares and Dewey Caron are building a web-based project to teach beekeeping to coffee farmers in Latin America. In April, Mares and Caron will present their findings to the 6,000-member Specialty Coffee Association of America annual conference in Portland, Oregon.
Mare’s interests are as varied and eclectic as his listeners, and with passion, humor, and a wry self-awareness, he is able to show us facets of our society through a different lens. He is a proud citizen of Vermont, our country, and of the world, with a passion for art, music, agriculture, athleticism, and the human condition. All of these are bound to be revealed in his lecture on February 5, and are guaranteed to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.
Check out our resources page and the new brochures put out by the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program. Topics include planning to purchase a tree, protecting your investment with proper planting techniques, the right tree for the right place and a guide to pruning trees. Learn more . . .
For the fifth year in a row, Branch Out Burlington is offering bare-root trees at unbelievable prices. Trees are 5-6 feet and branched. These trees have sold out in the past four years. Please order early! Trees must be picked up at The UVM Hort Farm during the Annual Burlington Community Tree Nursery Planting, which takes place on Saturday May 5th, 2012 between 9 and 11:00 a.m. Learn more . . .
Join a dedicated group of volunteers at Branch Out Burlington! (also known as BOB!). Together with the City Arborist, Our Tree Keepers work each year to increase the number of trees and to improve our precious green spaces. If you are interested in having a tree in front of your house, and are willing to learn about tree care and water your tree, please get in touch with us. We want YOU! To learn more . . .
Click here to view a Burlington City Tree Planting at Lakeside Neighborhood
Please visit the website of our local "friends"
"People who live in Burlington’s neighborhoods are often proud of the natural beauty -- especially the trees. Broad leafy trees, quietly celebrating the cycle of the seasons from bud to green to orange and crimson to dust, and returning to bud once again. And tall evergreen trees exist, stalwart and vibrant with life, even throughout the depths of winter’s snows. If community is the heart of a city, then trees must surely be its lungs."