Community Planting Day on Saturday, November 3

Volunteers are invited to plant fruit trees at the Gaston Community Center in Dalton on Saturday, November 3rd from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. The trees will be part of an orchard for the center’s new community garden. This event, sponsored by Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial, is in celebration of Keep America Beautiful’sNational Planting Day. This is a new initiative to plant native plants, trees, and shrubs to enhance biodiversity, and protect wildlife in our area.

Pre-registration for volunteers is requested but not required. Participants should wear close toe shoes, and weather appropriate clothes. Tools and supplies will be provided. Click here to download the event flier and for volunteer pre-registration visitwww.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org or call 706-226-6211.

Special thanks to the following event organizers: Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Dalton Tree Board, City of Dalton, Dalton Parks and Recreation, and the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority.

18th Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-up

Be a part of the tradition on Saturday, October 27 when you join other volunteers in cleaning up the Conasauga Watershed. Registration opens at 9:00 am at each of the six clean up sites located in Whitfield County and Murray County. Choose a site and enjoy some muddy merriment as you help care for our area’s beautiful streams and river!

This year’s clean-up will take place at six locations:

• 1. Conasauga River at Carlton Petty Road bridge
• 2. Conasauga River at Highway 2 bridge
• 3. Conasauga River at Lower King’s Bridge/Norton Bridge
• 4. Holly Creek, Murray County, on the Chattahoochee National Forest
• 5. Mill Creek tributary in the City of Dalton
• 6. Coahulla Creek at Prater’s Mill

The 18th Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-up is held in conjunction with Northwest Georgia United Way’s Make A Difference Day and Georgia’s Annual Waterway Clean-Up, Rivers Alive. The first 250 volunteers will receive a free shirt and a hat or reuseable water bottle.

Sturdy shoes or boots, gloves, long pants, and long sleeved shirts are recommended. Hip or chest waders are useful, but are not required. Trash bags and other supplies will be provided.

One of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, the Conasauga River supports 24 endangered species and a dozen other imperiled species, including the Southern Pigtoe mussel and the Conasauga log perch, a fish found nowhere else in the world.

SPONSORS: Shaw Industries, J&J Industries, Dalton Utilities, Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Management Authority (DWRSWMA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Conasauga River Alliance (CRA)

COORDINATORS: Carpet & Rug Institute, CRA, Dalton State College, Dalton Utilities, DWRSWMA, Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Limestone Valley RC & D, TNC, and Murray County Extension

For additional information, please contact John Lugthart at jlugthart@daltonstate.edu, or 706-272-2485.  Click here to download the event flier.

Eek-o-Friendly Costume Swap featuring the Green Halloween Gazebo

(Dalton, GA, September 15, 2012) – Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful invites you to swap your clean, gently-used Halloween costume for one that's new to you at their newest community event, the Eek-o-Friendly Costume Swap featuring the Green Halloween® Gazebo. It will take place on Saturday, October 6 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Gaston Community Center in Dalton. Stop by to "recycle" your costume, and learn new ways to make your Halloween more eco-friendly.

The event area in the gym will be divided into two sections:

• Eek-o-Friendly Costume Swap:
Recycle your clean, gently used Halloween costume from last year and swap it for one that's "new" to you in the spirit of National Costume Swap Day™. Costumes should be in good condition without tears or stains. Accepting family friendly costumes for babies, children, adults, and pets! (A costume to swap is required for admission to this area.)

• Green Halloween Gazebo:
Visit the booths to green your Halloween. Zap energy vampires, choose better treats and treasures, make decor from your recycling bin, dare to adopt a black cat (or dog), and get tips to be more "eek-o-friendly" this fall.

Costume Donations to help stock up the costume swap event are being accepted at Toys In The Attic in Downtown Dalton until Friday, October 5. Drop off full costumes, and miss-matched accessories in the Eek-o-Friendly Costume Swap Donation Box. Please note that this location is for donations only; no swaps will be made at the store. If you take your costumes to Toys In The Attic they will be counted as donations and will NOT qualify you for a swap during the event.

Thank you to the following organization for participating in this new event: - Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Georgia Power, Toys In The Attic, Bradley Wellness Center, Northwest Georgia Humane Society, Dalton State College, and the Dalton Fire Department.

For more event information visit www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org,www.facebook.com/keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful, or call 706-278-5001.

Photo: Recycle your costume at the Eek-o-Friendly Costume Swap featuring the Green Halloween® Gazebo on Saturday, October 6 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Gaston Community Center. Costumes for children, adults, and pets are accepted.

Composting: Nature’s Way of Recycling

Green material is added to a compost bin to help produce compost.  Greens include vegetable and fruit scraps.  Photo: Flickr/Gudlyf

Celebrating International Compost Awareness Week

(Dalton, GA, May 9, 2012) –  According to the EPA’s 2010 Municipal Solid Waste study, 27% of household waste in the United States is made up of food remnants and yard trimmings.  These organic residuals can be very useful to the environment if they’re recycled into compost instead of being thrown away.  Composting can easily be started in your backyard by combining landscape trimmings and food scraps in a compost bin.  Nature takes care of the rest, producing a nutrient rich soil amendment through the decomposition process after several months.

Compost producing bins are filled with a combination of “brown” materials, “green” materials, and water for moisture.  Brown materials include paper, cardboard, dry yard waste like dry leaves, small branches and twigs, and straw.  Greens include wet yard waste like fresh grass clippings, green leaves, as well as food scraps like vegetable and fruit peels, coffee grounds, and bread.   Each category provides the nitrogen and carbon needed for nature’s recycling process to begin.   When the material at the bottom of the bin is dark and rich in color, and has no remnants of food or yard waste, the compost is ready to use.

To celebrate International Compost Awareness Week, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is hosting a Compost Bin Sale at the Downtown Dalton Saturday Market.  On Saturday, May 12th at the Dalton Green from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm volunteers will be distributing composting information and selling a limited number of “Garden Gourmet” Backyard Composters for only $40.00 each, 50% off the retail price of $79.99.

International Compost Awareness Week, organized by the US Composting Council, is from May 6 to 12 this year.  To learn more about composting visit www.compostingcouncil.org.  For event information call Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful at 706-226-6211 or visit www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org.

Compost Bin Sale - Saturday, May 5 and May 12

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is celebrating International Compost Awareness Week by hosting a Compost Bin Sale on May 5 and May 12 at the Downtown Dalton Saturday Market.  A limited number of Garden Gourmet Backyard Composters are available.

Celebrating International Compost Awareness Week

(Dalton, GA, May 3, 2012) – In partnership with International Compost Awareness Week, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is hosting two Compost Bin Sales at the Downtown Dalton Saturday Market.  On both Saturday, May 5th and Saturday, May 12th at the Dalton Green from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm volunteers will be selling a limited number of the “Garden Gourmet” Backyard Composter for only $40.00 each, 50% off the retail price of $79.99.  A portion of each sale benefits environmental education for K-12 students in Whitfield County, and several Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful events like Christmas Tree Recycling Day.

The “Garden Gourmet” backyard composter is an attractive bin that fits neatly into almost any backyard space thanks to its compact size of 24”x24”x36”.   The easy to assemble bin is made from 51% recycled plastic and includes convenient features like a sliding bottom door to remove compost.  It’s an ideal choice for beginners since it includes a basic composting guide.

Gardeners refer to composting as “turning your garbage into gold” because it keeps food scraps and organic waste out of the landfill while allowing nature to recycle them into a nutritious soil amendment.   Items that can be added to your compost pile include coffee grounds, tea bags, fruit and vegetable scraps, leaves, hair, and grass clippings.

International Compost Awareness Week, organized by the US Composting Council, is from May 6 to 12 this year.  For more information, and to learn more about composting visit the US Composting Council at www.compostingcouncil.org.

For more information call Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful at 706-226-6211 or visit www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org.