Comings & Goings: February 2014

While it’s important to have an ice-free sidewalk, ice salt is tough on a pet’s paws. As with antifreeze, it can also be lethal.

To avoid accidentally sickening your or neighbors’ animals this winter, look into using pet-friendly, non-toxic, salt-free cold weather supplies. Here are some choices: K-9 Pet Friendly Ice Melt from EC Grow; Safe Paw Ice Melter; and Morton Salt’s Safe-T-Pet Ice Melt.

 

Spring vegetables will be ready for market soon – radishes, peas, purslane and more. Along with this early season harvest, local farms will be signing up members for their 2014 spring and summer Community Supported Aggriculture (CSA) programs.

Learn more about CSAs and meet some of the farmers that offer shares at this month’s CSA Open House at Wheeler Farm, Tuesday, February 25 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Visit csautah.org for a listing of local farms offering CSAs and for links to farm pages.

Grit Garden Planner

If you want help organizing your garden this year, the gardening and farming magazine Grit has an online food garden planner that might help. The program runs on Adobe Flash player and works with Windows PCs, Apple Macs and Linux in all major browsers. Users draw out the shape of their garden and add plant icons – the program has over 130 vegetable, herb and fruit icons.

The program can recommend crop rotations, companion plants and succession planting. It can also adapt to local climates and recommend planting and harvesting times based on local average freezes.

Grit offers a free 30-day trial period after which a subscription costs $25 for one year or $40 for two. gardenplanner.grit.com

 

The Chinese New Year is upon us, and the lunar year of the Horse will be rung in with the Traditional Lion Dance performance by an eight-person troop at the Mandarin Restaurant in Bountiful On Feb. 3 and again on Feb. 11. The dancing “lion” makes its way through the restaurant, among the guests, blessing the kitchen and eating lettuce for good luck.

The Mandarin offers a special menu for the 15-day long celebration (January 31-February 15). Throughout the two week celebration, diners are invited to wear red, said to scare off evil spirits and bad fortune.

Mandarin, 348 E 900 N, Bountiful. 6pm on Mon., February 3 and also Tues., Feb. 11. Reservations: 801-298-2406. www.mandarinutah.com

 

After 12 years on First South near the Salt Palace, Utah Artists Hands has moved to the west portion of the Michael Berry Gallery on Broadway.

Owner Pam O’Mara says she made the move because it was “quiet” on First South, and now says she enjoys sharing the space with Berry on the much busier Broadway, including more foot traffic from the Broadway movie theater. Berry agrees that the move has been working out well, and says he likes interacting with UAH’s customers.

801.355.0206. Noon-7p, Mon.-Fri. Till 5p on Sats. 163 E Broadway. www.utahands.com

 

For those of you who have wished for a friendly tutorial on Salt Lake’s new downtown parking meters, wanted a suggestion on a restaurant or antiques shop, or wondered how to use the GREENbikes, a Downtown Ambassador might soon be coming to your rescue. Or you could become that helpful anonymous hero.

The Downtown Ambassador volunteer program which began last fall is still accepting applications.

Anyone 18 or older can apply. Ambassa­dors complete a half-day training session, offered bi-monthy, after which they are required to serve a minimum of two three-hour shifts per month; the minimum term length is one year. In exchange, ambassadors receive thank-yous in the form of discounts and gift cards from partnering businesses.

www.downtownslc.org/ambassador or contact volunteer coordinator Katie Sikkema at Katie@downtownslc.org or (801) 755-9213.

 

Following Central Utah Art Center’s (CUAC, pronounced quack) successful court case contesting the sudden eviction from their headquarters and gallery space in Ephraim, Utah (CUAC director Adam Bateman called it “an act of censorship”) the contemporary art venue is ready to launch into their annual juried art show, Utah Ties.

This year’s show, with cash prizes, will be judged by Colo­rado artist Adam Gildar, the Director of Art Plant, a residency for professional artists, and the gallerist for Gildar Gallery in Denver.

The deadline is February 28 at midnight. The Utah Ties opening will be held on March 21. See website for details.

175 E. 200 South, SLC.  cuartcenter.org/utah-ties

 

You may have been tuning into RadioWest’s Clearing the Air series about Utah’s bad air, its sources and possible solutions. Now KUED is joining the conversation with a new half-hour episode of UtahNOW, The Air We Breathe, produced by Issac Goeckeritz.

The episode will look to answer some nagging questions: what is an inversion and how does it form, who is actually at risk on bad air days and what is the risk, what are the major contributors and what are the costs and consequences?

KUED, Ch. 7: Wed., Feb. 5 at 7p and repeats on Fri., Feb. 7 at 8p and Sun., Feb. 9 at 4 p.

 

H20 Vitality opened its doors in Sugar House in November, 2013, offering ionized alkaline water by the gallon as well as home filtration systems and micro-current facials and therapy sessions.

Owner Tara Williams’ father suffered prostate cancer and the effects of four years of radiation treatment. She says drinking alkaline water is one of the main reasons his cancer has not come back.

Williams quotes a recent study from China which concludes that 70% of disease and cancer is caused by dehydration. Her store’s purpose is to educate people on the importance of being hydrated in order to live longer, healthier lives, she says.

H20 Vitality offers membership programs with discounts. Curbside service is provided for no extra fee. Delivery is available.

H20 Vitality, 22030 S. 900 East, Ste. F. 801.477.6333. H20Vitality.net

 

Contestants from grades K through 6 are invited to submit original works of art and writing to the annual PBS KIDS contest held by KUED. Stories can be fact, fiction, prose or poetry. Art can include drawings, collages, photography and 3-D creations. Entries are judged on originality, creative expression and storytelling by a panel of local judges.

The contest begins February 1. Contest rules, past submissions, this year’s entry form: KUED.org/kids