Meet Your Greens

By David Beers

On October 6, Norfolk hosted a Meet Your Greens get-together at the Infinity Bistro. This was the first time this event has come to our town. It is a free, informal gathering of conservationists that occurs a few times a year at various locations throughout Litchfield County. Catherine Rawson, of the Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust, arranges the events. According to Rawson, “These gatherings started three years ago to provide us in the conservation community an opportunity to make connections and exchange news about environmental issues, conservation initiatives, local farming, land use and more.”

The Litchfield County Meet Your Greens is based on the popular nationwide Green Drinks gatherings. For Hans Carlson of Great Mountain Forest, this was his first time at a Green Drinks event in Connecticut.  Carlson has attended many such events across the border in Great Barrington as part of the Berkshire County Green Drinks.

The Norfolk gathering was sponsored by the Norfolk Land Trust, the Colebrook Land Conservancy and the Litchfield Hills Greenprint Collaborative.

Once Rawson finds a group of local conservation organizations to sponsor the event, they work together to arrange a venue and to present information about their organizations at the event. Typically, the events are at a local eatery that provides some snacks, with drinks and meals available for purchase. Past venues include the GW Tavern in Washington Depot, Giffords in Kent, the Litchfield Distillery in Litchfield, the White Hart Inn in Salisbury and the Hopkins Inn in Warren.

The 20 to 30 folks who attended are all looking forward to the next time Meet Your Greens comes to town.