Kittery PTA Seaside 4 Miler Race

Sign up today for this 4 mile run/ walk through a gorgeous scenic route beggining at Fort Foster in Kittery Point held on Sunday, September 4th at 8:30am. Awards will be given out for best pirate costume, fastest teacher, fastest PTA parent, business teams and age groups! This fall event will be partnered with Kittery's Zero Waste initiative so don't miss the educational programs that will be held at the finish line! 

Healthy food and live music from Soulmate will be offered to all racers after as well! To sign up please go to www.kitterypta.org and don't forget your kids can run for free! 

How I Chose Which Plug- In Car to Buy

By Gina Coplon- Newfield, Director of Sierra Club's Green Fleets & Electric Vehicles Initiative

I'm pleased to say that I finally bought a plug-in car! As the lead electric vehicle (EV) advocate on staff at the Sierra Club and as someone who cares deeply about the need for our country and my family to slash emissions and dependence on oil, I was giving serious thought to switching to an EV. I was definitely feeling guilty about driving a gas-guzzler. Sure, a lot of my trips were by foot, bus, or train. But there were many car trips too, and they were dirty ones.

Maybe you're in the same position I was in a few months ago. You want to switch from a gas guzzler or even a hybrid gas sipper, and you're intrigued by all the new plug-in vehicles on the market.

Which one should you buy? There are a lot of appealing options. After studying this issue thoroughly, I'll tell you that the ideal plug-in vehicle is different for each person and depends on a lot of factors.

How many miles do you drive your car each day? The majority of Americans drive less than 40 miles a day. The Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus EV, and Honda Fit EV go 70-100 miles on a full charge. The Mitsubishi iMiEV goes 60+ miles. The Tesla Model S can drive about 265 miles. Certain factors such as heat, air conditioning, and hills may reduce these distances, so give yourself some wiggle room.

To read Gina's full blog post, click here!

Final Seminar in the Seacoast Local's 'New Local Economy' series

There is no better way to learn from and connect with fellow local business owners than through Seacoast Local’s ‘New Local Economy’ workshop series, held at Seacoast local headquarters, within the Collaborative Office Group, One Washington Center, Suite 457, Dover, NH. The workshops are designed by and for, locally owned and independent businesses along the Seacoast. This three part summer series is coming to a close, with the final seminar, ‘Building Our Business Community Through Collaboration’, this Thursday, August 2nd, from 7:30 to 9:30 am. This workshop will be used to discuss how local businesses can join forces with one another to strengthen the drive behind the shift local movement.

The Green Alliance’s own director and founder, Sarah Brown, will be presenting the seminar. The Green Alliance is a local green business union working to promote and support independent businesses along the Seacoast that have a commitment to sustainability. They do this by building their business partners a support system of associated businesses, and a strong, supportive customer base.

Panelists Ken Young, owner of Young’s Restaurant, and Tom Holbrook, co-owner of RiverRun Bookstore, will accompany Brown, sharing their knowledge and experiences running businesses that have lead the way in promoting local goods and services.

Ken Young has transformed his Durham, NH based restaurant in the past few years to incorporate sustainability with a strong commitment to the local level. Roughly 40 percent of their food suppliers are based throughout New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. Young’s provides donations and services throughout the local community, including food scraps to feed the pigs at Wind Miller Farms in Lee, donations to the UNH student-run Trash 2 Treasure organization, and working with youth at Oyster River High School, to name a few.

Audubon Partnership on par for green-minded Sagamore

Way back in 1929, when R.E. Luff first founded Sagamore Golf Club in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, “green” wasn’t merely an industry fad or maintenance buzzword; it was, quite simply, the way things had always been done.

By the time the family opened its second location in North Hampton, New Hampshire in 1962, all-natural lawn care and links treatment had become an integral part of the Sagamore fold. Over the years, the Luff family charges have become a beacon of sorts for public courses – most of which don’t have the luxury of tapping into country club coffers – looking to eliminate as many chemical-heavy pesticides and fertilizers as possible.

Still, current owner Richard Luff and his crew would be the first to admit that the picturesque, 18-hole course’s green efforts are far from complete. Which is why Sagamore recently struck up a partnership with the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses (ACSP).

A branch of the century-old Audubon Society, ACSP was established in 1992 as a resource for helping golf courses – public as well as private – incorporate environmentally responsible maintenance practices into their day-today operations.

Through a program that includes on-site evaluation, wildlife and habitat mapping, employee engagement, and regular progress tracking, the ACSP seeks to help courses like Sagamore strike a balance between environmental stewardship on the one hand, and the often delicate issue of “playability” and competitiveness.

“We’re one of many courses to adopt this program, and a lot of those who have are very well known,” says Richard Luff. “We feel like we’ve had a head start on a lot of this for years, so we’re not worried about playability being affected at all."

For Jewett Farms + Co, patience pays off with dynamic new partnership

It’s been two years since Jewett Farms + Co.– a Dover-based company renowned for their commitment to sustainable woodworking practices – decided to expand its operations to include a reclaimed flooring operation.

But, in business as in life, when it comes to relationships, sometimes it’s important to never settle.

Now, Jewett Farms can claim with clear confidence that they have, in fact, finally found “the one.”

Last month, Jewett Farms + Co announced a new partnership with Olde Wood Ltd of Malvern, Ohio. Founded by Tommy and Mandy Sancic in 1997, Olde Wood has since grown to become one of the largest reclaimed wood operations anywhere in the country.

With a commitment to using 100% virgin wood, Olde Wood creates hardwood flooring that embodies a sense of history and individuality, with the planks and beams – many of which are over a century old – being sourced from all kinds of unique environments. From Oak that helped build early Western settlements to Pine rescued from now defunct tobacco barns, the beauty of this antique lumber re-emerges as it is salvaged and masterfully restored, ready to take on a new life.

The alliance makes Jewett Farms + Co. the sole New England source for Olde Wood products, a development that promises to bolster the profiles of both companies.

“What made it such a natural partnership was that their philosophy was right in line with ours,” recalls Olivia Lord, Marketing Director for Jewett. “It’s exciting to know you’ve found a like-minded company and a mutually-beneficial partnership.”

While the two are still crossing Ts and dotting Is, Lord says she expects the Jewett Farms showrooms to be stocked with Olde Wood samples in the next few weeks.

How a pre-listing inspection can help sell a home

Even with the greatest of real estate brokers on your side, selling a home can be a tricky thing. Increasingly, many of those looking to sell are finding that a comprehensive home inspection can help lessen the stress of the selling process, and help it go more smoothly.

Traditionally, potential buyers will have a home inspection done after the initial offer is accepted. After a careful review of the inspection report, the prospective buyers will either submit a request to the homeowner to fix some or all of the problems, or ask for a price reduction and tackle the issues themselves.

Because of the many deadlines and documents that must be juggled in order to complete a home sale, the home inspections almost always entail added stress for both parties.

But according to Ed Henningsen of the Eliot-based Henningsen Inspections, such compounded worry only proves that the homeowners themselves should be looking to get a head start on the inspection process.

“For a few hundred dollars, you get a professional inspector who will evaluate the house just like any prospective buyer would’ve done,” says Henningsen, who offers energy audits and radon mitigation tests on top of his cornerstone home inspection service. “That way they can prepare themselves for potential requests from the buyer, and gives them a better idea and a head start on how best to proceed.”

Doing a pre-listing home inspection also allows ample time for improvements to be done in an efficient, organized manner, saving the homeowner both time and money.

With improvements – whether it’s new, more efficient insulation, an improved energy system, or minor touch-ups – squarely in place, the home immediately becomes more marketable, says Henningsen.

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