Daily Archives: February 29, 2012

Tuesday, March 13 – Margaret Pokorny to Receive Park Partners Award

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Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department will present the first annual Park Partners Award to Margaret Pokorny of the Back Bay during the Boston Flower & Garden Show Preview Party at the Seaport World Trade Center on Tuesday, March 13. The Park Partners Award recognizes Boston citizens who make a significant contribution to beautification and the city’s parks.

A longtime advocate for protecting the natural resources in her neighborhood, Margaret Pokorny has worked closely with residents and city officials to beautify Commonwealth Avenue Mall since she first moved to Back Bay in 1980. She was instrumental in efforts to revive the turf along the Mall, supported the creation of the Women’s Memorial, and has been active in fundraising and caring for trees along the Commonwealth Avenue.

“Margaret has gone above and beyond in order to preserve the quality of life in the neighborhood by advocating for policies which protect trees and encourage use of Commonwealth Avenue Mall by residents and visitors,” Mayor Menino said. “She is vigilant about engaging her neighbors to help water, replace, and protect trees, especially the Dutch elm population. She is always gracious, honest, and direct. The city is lucky to have such an advocate for our green space.”

A hands-on booster for Boston’s parks, Pokorny’s personal slogan is “Born to Prune.” Her in-depth knowledge of her neighborhood parks was evident in her final thesis in the Radcliffe Seminars program in Landscape Design in 1992: a history and master plan for Commonwealth Avenue Mall. She was mentored in the project by her friend and neighbor, the late Stella Trafford, known as the Grande Dame of Boston parks for her own involvement with Commonwealth Avenue Mall, the Public Garden, and Boston Common.

Pokorny worked with Trafford on issues related to the Mall, and became an active member of the Board of the Friends of Copley Square, the Friends of the Public Garden, and the Board of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. She also served as Co-President of the Garden Club of the Back Bay and joined the Board of The Esplanade Association when it was founded in 2000. Margaret has also received the Boston Bowl from the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America.

Tickets are still available for the March 13 Boston Flower & Garden Show Preview Party taking place from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the eve of the 2012 Boston Flower & Garden Show which opens to the public on March 14. In addition to the award presentation, Dr. Gustavo Romero will speak about the Glass Flowers Collection at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and gardening expert Patti “Garden Girl” Moreno will give a talk on Urban Sustainable Living and the five things everyone can do to live more sustainably in the city.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the Parks Department at (617) 635-4032 or visit www.cityofboston.gov/parks/ttd/flowershow.asp.

Saturday, March 3, 4:00 pm – An Everlasting Meal

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Join Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, for an author signing and meet and greet with Tamar Adler, author of An Everlasting Meal, this Saturday, March 3, beginning at 4 pm.

“An Everlasting Meal is beautifully intimate, approaching cooking as a narrative that begins not with a list of ingredients or a tutorial on cutting an onion, but with a way of thinking…. Tamar is one of the great writers I know—her prose is exquisitely crafted, beautiful and clear-eyed and open, in the thoughtful spirit of M.F.K. Fisher. This is a book to sink into and read deeply.”
Alice Waters, from the Foreword

“In this beautiful book, Tamar Adler explores the difference between frugal and resourceful cooking. Few people can turn the act of boiling water into poetry. Adler does. By the time you savor the last page, your kitchen will have transformed into a playground, a boudoir and a wide open field. An Everlasting Meal deserves to be an instant and everlasting culinary classic.”
Raj Patel, author of The Value of Nothing

Tamar Adler is a former editor of Harper’s Magazine, the founding head chef of Farm 255 in Athens, Georgia, and cooked at Chez Panisse from 2007-2009. Her book has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, the Irish Times, the San Francisco Examiner, among other publications. Her writing has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, The New Leader, Mother Jones, Huffington Post, Fine Cooking, Salon.com, Gilt Taste, the Atlantic.com, and more. Tamar lives in Brooklyn, NY.

The event is free. For more information, telephone 617-491-2220, or email ellen@portersquarebooks.com.

 

Friday and Saturday, March 30 – 31 – Thirtieth National Pesticide Forum

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The 30th National Pesticide Forum, Healthy Communities: Green Solutions for Safe Environments, will be held March 30-31, 2012 at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The conference will focus on organic land care, urban/ suburban pesticide use, organic food, and protective national, state, and local policies. The conference is convened by Beyond Pesticides, Environment and Human Health, Inc., the Watershed Partnership, Inc., and co-sponsored by local, state and regional public health and environmental organizations.

Sessions will be held in the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies’ Kroon Hall. This sustainable building is a showcase of the latest developments in green building technology, a healthy and supportive environment for work and study, and a beautiful building that actively connects those who use it with the natural world.

More details and registration information is available on the National Pesticide Forum webpage, www.beyondpesticides.org.  Students $15, members $35, nonmembers $75, businesses $175.