Post Script

Meet MUG in the garden today

The fine green-thumbed people at Milwaukee Urban Gardens will host a get-together today at the Richards Street Garden in the first of a series of monthly "open garden" events. If you're interested in learning more about urban and community gardening, this is a good place to start. Today's meeting is from 4 to 5 p.m. at the garden on the corner of Richards and Clarke.

If you can't make it today but want more info so you can attend a future get-together, head over to the gardeners' website or visit MUG on-line. 

Love the outdoors? Kids? Bugs?

If you answered yes to all of that, and you like to teach, the Urban Ecology Center might have a dream job for you. They're currently looking for an environment educator. See here for details.

From Racine ... to the cover of Food & Wine Magazine

This is a tale of a local boy done good if ever we saw one. Racine native and former chef for Louise's Trattoria, Alex Seidel now finds himself on the cover of Food & Wine magazine, hailed as one of the country's 10 best new chefs.

Currently at the helm of Fruition Restaurant in Denver, Seidel has come a long way since he left UW-Milwaukee to go to culinary school. Seidel tells the Journal Sentinel that he and his wife, Melissa, a Cedarburg native, love to come home to Milwaukee, and when they do, they head to Kopps for burgers and Wells Brothers in Racine for pizza.

The full story here, spotted first on Wisconsin Foodie's Twitter stream.

Shop local, eat local ... and play local, too

One of the things we love about Milwaukee is its diverse and rich arts scene. From Ko-Thi to the Florentine Opera, from the symphony and the Rep to Danceworks, we have big-budget and small-budget productions to choose from. Many of those organizations receive up to 20% of the their funding through UPAF, however, and UPAF is having a hard time.

That's according to Milwaukee Magazine. At the Outpost, we believe in supporting local businesses. Sometimes, it helps to receive a reminder that local arts groups and non-profits need that support, too. If you want to donate to the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF), go here.

(Can the recession go away now?)

Johnson Controls investing in electric

Johnson Controls is going beyond the electric car battery. The Journal Sentinel reports today that a Canadian subsidiary of the Milwaukee-based company is taking an equity stake in Azure Dynamics Corp. of Michigan. In a nutshell, Johnson Controls will own a share in the company that makes components of Ford's new commercial electric delivery trucks.

Via Plugged In.

Bringing food and art into the city

Driving around Milwaukee's streets this summer, you'll notice a little bit of the countryside has been brought in. And you'll be able to take a piece for yourself.

Karen Herzog of the Journal Sentinel wrote this morning about some new -- but definitely old-style -- farm stands that are rolling into the city in time for farmer's market fever.

The project was the idea of the Wormfarm Institute  - a Wisconsin non-profit dedicated to agriculture and the arts; to fostering links between people and the land. With the roadside stands, the organization is bringing a rural aesthetic and fresh food to highly urbanized areas. Art and agriculture.

Herzog writes that another benefit of the project is that the rural artists are able to preserve their culture and heritage; taking wood from barns that are soon to disappear from the landscape, and recycling them into a new, functional form.

The full story and photos at the Journal Sentinel.

Ride to Work with the (wet) Mayor

Mayor Tom Barrett cycled into work today, joined by Ald. Nik Kovak and a bevvy of press peeps. Opting not to take a rain check, Barrett rode a gorgeous Electra Amsterdam -- a loan from Crank Daddy's Bicycle Works -- from his Washington Heights home, along Highland Boulevard and into downtown Milwaukee.

The mobile press conference of sorts revealed plans for more bike lanes and boulevards in the city, as well as curb build-outs to slow traffic and make for more bike-friendly streets. Portland-based Alta Planning & Design has been hired to help the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin put the city's new bike plan into action.

The full story at the Journal Sentinel.

Disaster relief for state's ginseng growers

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that some of Wisconsin's 200 ginseng growers will receive relief loans due to crop damage caused by snow and ice in early May.

We might be known for dairy production, but Wisconsin growers provide the country with 95% of its ginseng. From the Journal Sentinel.

Milwaukee still reaping benefits of Al Gore's brownfields plan

Milwaukee Magazine writes about the city's restored brownfields today, in an interesting piece that looks at the Menomonee Valley, the Harley Davidson Museum and new Amtrak station -- all previously contaminated sites, cleaned up and restored for development.

The magazine writes that "in 2003, there were 351 documented brownfield properties in the City of Milwaukee. Today, just 37 percent of those have yet to be reclaimed."

When Vice President Al Gore got the ball rolling in 1997 by forming the Brownfields National Partnership, Milwaukee was chosen as a showcase community, and has since benefited from grant funding for cleanup projects.

The story cites Alterra's Humboldt Avenue development as an example of a smaller-scale brownfield-to-greenfield restoration project, and we heartily approve (besides, we love their coffee). But we'd also like to mention that the Wauwatosa Outpost coop, a green building, was built on a former brownfield. The redevelopment of the site wasn't good just for Outpost and our owners, but a terrific boon for the village, and yep... we're proud of it.

Happy Bike to Work Week! (don't forget to grab your free coffee)

Need a good reason to take part in Bike To Work Week? We have several that involve the planet and your health. But if that's not enough to convince you, then perhaps you'll be tempted by the free coffee and baked goods at the Morning Commuter Stations around town.

See the list of station locations here, along with notices of related events around town.

WUWM spoke (pun intended) to some cyclist types. See video here.