Outdoors in RI: Tree Stewards, Ag and Seafood funding, Educator training, Yellow shirts a 2A force

Rhode Island Tree Council announces Spring Tree Stewards course

From John Campanini, Technical Director, RI Tree Council

The Rhode Island Tree Council announced that registration is now open for its Spring Tree Stewards course, which will be held at the AAA building in Warwick. The course’s lecture sessions are May 1, 8, 15, and 22 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The course’s planting session is May 17 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. The course fee is $50.00 for RITree members and $75 for non-members. Registration can be made online at www.ritree.org or by calling RITree @ 401-764-5885. Seating is limited.

“The Tree Stewards course provides an in-depth look at the basics of tree care and growth and covers various tree-related topics,” says John Campanini, RITree’s technical director. “It’s always been our most popular course, so seating fills up quickly. It’s only one of RI Tree’s many activities to educate the public about trees and their benefits.”

The Tree Stewards Course is held in the fall and the spring at locations throughout Rhode Island. The course reviews the basics of tree care and tree growth, including the following topics:

• Tree Biology
• Tree Identification
• Tree Health
• Planting & Pruning
• Urban Forestry
• Soil

The course also reviews insect and disease diagnosis, common invasives, and plant stressors. Attendees should bring a lunch to the Saturday workshops. The course provides 21.5 ISA CEUs and 20 MG for landscape professionals.

For more information about the courses or to register, call Robin Enos at RI Tree at 401-764-5885 or visit its website: www.ritree.org. People also can register by emailing the organization at [email protected].

About RITree

The Rhode Island Tree Council is a tax-exempt, non-profit group dedicated to improving the state’s tree resources and educating the public on tree benefits. Composed of members, consultants, and volunteers, RITree administers its programs through its Board of Directors, Advisors, and Trustees. The group’s mission is to create healthy urban and community forests that underpin the state’s verdant ecological tapestry, support its vibrant economy, and enrich its residents’ lives. Membership is open to all.

For more information about RITree or any of its programs, contact Robin Enos, Rhode Island Tree Council, at (401) 764-5885, email RITree at [email protected], or visit the Rhode Island Tree Council’s website at www.ritree.org

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K-5 Project WILD

Calling all K-5 educators, join RIDEM Division of Fish and Wildlife’s outreach and education staff for a fun and free professional development opportunity!

April 4th, 9am to 3:30pm at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center

You’ll learn all about the national Project WILD and Growing Up WILD curricula and how you can apply them in your educational setting. You’ll also learn about RIDEM’s Rhody Critter Kits, which combine activities from both curricula with information about local wildlife conservation work happening right in your own backyard. At the end of the day, you’ll head home with a Project WILD and Growing Up WILD curriculum book, connections to real science happenings here in Rhode Island, and ways to share this with your students! Lunch will be provided. This training is free, and open to all who work with elementary school students (teachers, librarians, homeschooling parents, environmental educators, etc), but registration is required. 

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Grants for Local Agriculture & Seafood

Rhode Island’s 2025 Local Agriculture and Seafood Act (LASA) grantees have been announced. 33 local farmers, fishers, specialty food producers received LASA grant awards, totaling $486,000 in funding for projects that will support the growth, development, and marketing of local farms, seafood harvesters, and food businesses. LASA grants support small businesses and enhance Rhode Island’s food security.

The LASA program, established in 2012 by the General Assembly and managed by DEM, is designed to support the growth and success of small food businesses in Rhode Island. The program prioritizes building capacity for markets connecting local farms and fishers with food-insecure communities and supporting agriculture producers and fishers along with the development of small food enterprises. The LASA program provides grants that directly benefit and strengthen RI’s local food system by providing funding for projects that help support the growth, development, and marketing of RI Grown produce and RI Seafood. Over the last 12 years, LASA has provided $3,111,238 through individual program grants up to $20,000 with no direct match required.

The 33 awards were distributed across various categories, including agriculture, aquaculture, seafood or fishery-based projects, and farmers’ markets that support these sectors.

2025 grantees:

Annie’s Farm (Providence) – $8,881: To purchase a tool shed, small animal exclusion fencing, and irrigation equipment to boost production of vegetables and African specialty crops, along with harvest bins and carts.
Aquidneck Island Oyster Company (South Kingstown) – $20,000: For a shellfish counting machine to support operations to meet the growing demand for bay scallops and enhance oyster production.
Ayers Foundation (Westerly) – $13,600: To upgrade to a more powerful generator to expand volume capacity and ensure uninterrupted service for the Farmers Community Food Hub cold storage facilities.
Big Train Farm (North Scituate) – $19,980: To support six beginning farm operations in the Seed to Seed Farm School apprenticeship program, which provides training in core farm business skills and wage assistance.
Chai Thao dba Daily Farm (Providence) – $17,502: To purchase a walk-in cooler for vegetable storage to ensure proper storage and handling of vegetables for markets.
Chou Vang (Hope) – $7,000: For an outdoor wood storage shed to store farm equipment and produce. This extra space will benefit all the Southside Community Land Trust farmers at the Good Earth Farm.
Commercial Fisheries Center of RI (Wakefield) – $18,000: To expand the reach of the Seafood Donation Program, which provides underappreciated, local seafood species caught by RI Fishermen and fishing businesses to Rhode Islanders facing food insecurity.
Eliya Ntahondereye (Providence) – $5,444: For a walk-behind tractor and tiller, new harvest bins for farmer’s market and wholesale sales, and other small equipment like fencing and a garden cart.
Farm Coast Brewery dba Gnarly Vines Farm (Tiverton) – $13,546: To upgrade mobile poultry processing equipment to improve efficiency, worker safety, and processing capacity to reduce costs and meet the growing demand for direct-to-consumer poultry sales.
Farm Fresh Rhode Island (Providence) – $18,000: To expand Hope’s Harvest program to support small, BIPOC farmers in Rhode Island by providing contracts to grow produce for the emergency food system, thereby connecting food insecure communities with farmers’ fresh, healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Farmacy Herbs LLC (Providence) – $18,136: To expand production by renovating the current drying room to help reduce electricity costs, ensure better climate controls, and a shorter drying and processing cycle for herbal teas and products.
Grateful Bee Apiary (North Smithfield) – $19,533: To double honey production and enhance processing capabilities, which will increase local honey availability, improve food safety, and strengthen partnerships with Rhode Island farms through pollination services and market access.
Hallene Farm Products (West Kingston) – $11,959: To upgrade and modernize greenhouse heating systems to reduce costs, improve heat consistency, and minimize crop failures.
Hmong RI Association, Inc. (Providence) – $17,225: To acquire essential tractor components, including a rototiller, front-end loader, flail mower, and field cultivator to modernize farming operations by improving soil preparation, weed management, and material handling, reducing manual labor and operational inefficiencies.
Hoofprint Farm (Foster) – $20,000: To construct a dedicated production and processing facility and install a commercial-grade walk-in cooler to enhance the quality and longevity of locally grown flowers. 
Interstellar Microgreens LLC (West Warwick) – $13,000: To purchase a flat filler, a key piece of equipment, that will automate production, reduce labor demands, and increase operational capacity by 400%.
Local Patch LLC (Portsmouth) – $3,950: To increase carrot production and distribution to local food banks and improve washing processes by using a barrel washer.
Lovewell Farms (Hope Valley) – $19,951: To expand operations by 50% to increase production and value-added product capacity to meet growing market demand while supporting sustainable farming practices.
Lucayda Farm LLC (Cranston) – $20,000: To support production automation to support chemical-free edible plant starts, increasing capacity by 50% and enhancing efficiency, and expanding service to 20 new CSA members.
Narragansett Indian Tribe (Charlestown) – $10,879: To purchase equipment and supplies to provide healthy, culturally relevant traditional foods to the Tribal community, promoting healing and well-being while reconnecting with ancestral gardening practices and reclaiming food sovereignty and addressing health disparities rooted in historical trauma caused by colonization.
Northern Rhode Island Conservation District (Johnston) – $20,000: To improve and upgrade the electrical infrastructure for current agricultural producers at Snake Den Farm, so they can expand their propagation operations and support future agricultural land leases.
Open fArms Retreat (Cumberland) – $19,895: To purchase a small tractor to increase production, sustainability, and capacity of the extensive no-till raised bed system for produce and herb production.
P&L Bayside Apiary (Barrington) – $11,453: To upgrade and expand queen-rearing and nucleus colony production to meet the growing demands of local beekeepers and farmers.
Phoenix Ocean Farm (Portsmouth) – $3,700: To expand a newly re-established oyster farm in the Sakonnet River through the purchase of 20 bottom cages, enabling growth from 25,000 to 100,000 oyster seedlings. 
Potter’s Farm (Providence) – $20,000: To purchase a walk-behind tiller with interchangeable implements and fencing materials to improve efficiency and protect crops.
Quonnie LLC (Charlestown) – $20,000: To install a clam sorting and counting machine and shucking equipment, along with additional shellfish harvesting tools to support the processing, handling, and distribution of underutilized seafood species.
Sanctuary Herbs of Providence (Smithfield) – $5,971: To purchase a commercial dehydrator and an upgraded POS system. These improvements will increase our purchasing power with the local farmers we partner with and decrease the amount of time it takes to dehydrate goods for our value-added tea blends and spices.
Small World Farm, LLC (Little Compton) – $20,000: To install a walk-in cold storage unit to preserve harvest and expand market opportunities and reduce food waste, enhance collaboration with neighboring farmers, and support food security.
Smithfield Growers (Smithfield) – $9,799: To expand mushroom production through the acquisition of upgraded equipment to streamline production, improve efficiency, and support growth to meet increasing demand.
Stonehenge Farm (Pascoag) – $19,888: To upgrade equipment used for cold storage to more effectively produce, store, and sell a greater quantity of food on site.
The Cove Oyster Co. LLC (Narragansett) – $18,500: To purchase cages for shellfish bed restoration work and to engage BIPOC youth through engagement programs.
West Passage Oyster Company (North Kingstown) – $12,740: To unlock new markets by increasing oyster production by 29% through sustainable aquaculture.Wicked Tiny Farm LLC (Narragansett) – $12,564: To purchase harvesting equipment, upgraded equipment for sanitation systems, and a multi-use trailer to provide on-farm and at-market cold storage for harvested crops.

Wicked Tiny Farm LLC (Narragansett) – $12,564: To purchase harvesting equipment, upgraded equipment for sanitation systems, and a multi-use trailer to provide on-farm and at-market cold storage for harvested crops.

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2A at the RI State House – a sea of yellow

This week over 1,000 people came to the RI State House for hearings on various “gun bills” – over 5 hours of presentations and testimonies had a large majority of “yellow shirts” up to the microphones. The bills are now in “held for further study” limbo.

Here is a presentation from Vanessa of Gothix, who makes the case about defense and minority women and men.

Yesterday, I presented my case to the House Committee against Rhode Island's so-called 'Assault Weapons' ban. I hate identity politics, but many of these lawmakers have no problem pandering to Black and Latino voters when it suits them…SO, I decided to speak their language. 😉 pic.twitter.com/pz8pNaYvar

— (Vanessa) Gothix (@GothixTV) March 27, 2025

Watch the entire (!) night’s testimony, here:

With the House hearings concluded, the bills now move to the Senate Judiciary Committee. And, quoting RI Gun Rights, “At the close of the House hearings, all gun-related bills were “held for further study”, a procedural move that doesn’t kill the bills, it simply tables them temporarily. Any one of them can resurface at any time before the legislative session ends in June. And if history is any indication, we know what can happen next.

In the final weeks of session, leadership often suspends the rules, allowing them to fast-track controversial legislation with no further hearings or public input. We saw it with the magazine ban: introduced, passed out of committee, and pushed through both chambers. Once that happens, our voices are silenced. No debate. No comment. No say.”

Check out their page on next steps: https://rigunrights.com/next-steps-senate/