Elisa Fertig talks about “A Look at America’s Family farms”
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This talk is free and open to the public. This will be a 40-minute talk followed by a question-and-answer session. Click here for Zoom link. Join the library for a Zoom talk “A Look at America’s Family Farms” by Elisa Fertig, Agricultual Attaché at the U.S. Mission to the EU in Brussels, for the library’s third speaker event for the “Think Big, Think Green” speaker series. More about family farms? Here you go! American families remain central to the U.S. agricultural economy – making up 98 percent of all farms and providing 88 percent of production. The more than 2 million farms in the United States vary greatly in size and characteristics. In this talk, we will explore the diversity of the American family farm and the key role families play in an agricultural economy.
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What is Earth Day?
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Earth Day, April 22nd, is celebrated around the world as a moment to stop and think about how to best preserve the planet Earth. A non-profit organisation centralises the events that take place. EARTHDAY.ORG’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day in 1970, EARTHDAY.ORG is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 75,000 partners in over 190 countries to drive positive action for our planet. EARTHDAY.ORG is honored that the Biden Administration has decided to convene a global climate summit on Earth Day 2021. Many important environmental events have happened on Earth Day since 1970, including the recent signing of the Paris Agreement, as Earth Day continues to be a momentous and unifying day each and every year. We look forward to being a part of this historic climate summit and making active progress to Restore Our Earth. More info here: About Us | Earth Day |
Cancelled: Textile Arts & Crafts
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If you would like to do textile arts while speaking in English, this activity is for you! Participants will create textile pieces of their choice using any technique that suits them: embroidery, patchwork, quilting, weaving, collages. Our 2021 project is underway and is to create around 30 squares. It will also be an opportunity for each person to learn new techniques. Join us and contribute to this unique project! Covid protocol require that you bring your own materials. Open to library members. If possible, please sign up at the front desk. |
Saturday Reading Group by Zoom
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The Saturday Reading Group is for anyone who loves to read, socialize in English, and meet new people. As a result of the lockdown, the group will meet online by Zoom. Join the meeting by clicking here (Meeting ID: 835 5797 1279). The April read for the group is H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. When Helen Macdonald’s father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer—Helen had been captivated by hawks since childhood—she’d never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk’s fierce and feral temperament mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T.H. White’s chronicle The Goshawk to begin her challenging endeavor. Projecting herself “in the hawk’s wild mind to tame her” tested the limits of Macdonald’s humanity and changed her life. Meetings are once a month on Saturday afternoons starting at 3 pm. Open to all library members. To sign up please contact the group coordinator at bookgroup@ellia.org.
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Cancelled Book Club
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The date for the April book club has been changed to May 21st following the governmental decisions for Covid 19. To join the book club please send an email to the group coordinator here. |
Take your TOEIC test
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The library is an authorised test center for the TOEIC Listening and Reading Test (the Test of English for International Communication). For more information please visit our TOEIC page or to sign up go to the official ETS website.
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Cancelled: Coffee House…masked and no drinks!
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Join the library community for a special moment to talk about anything and everything…in English of course! For the time being, we are inviting everyone to come and socialize but will not be serving drinks in order to keep everyone safe! This is Coffee House with a “hold the coffee” protocol! Things will get better but meanwhile no coffee or tea! Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop by, no need to reserve! |
Books and Tea by Zoom
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With the lockdown, Books and Tea of April 15th will meet by Zoom. To join the meeting, please click here. Enjoy yourselves! “Books and Tea” is usually a monthly meeting for bookworms and tea drinkers at the library or in a café when sanitary restrictions allow it. However, with the current lockdown, you’ll share online about a book you’ve really enjoyed! |
Cancelled: Pizza and Board Games
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Join us for our ever-popular game night and pizza party! Cost is 7 euros (covers pizza and non-alcoholic drinks, 5 euros for native English speakers and children under 13). Event starts at 6 pm sharp. Last entry at 6:15 pm. First come, first serve with 40 participants max. Children under 13 need to be accompanied by an adult. |
“Think Big, Think Green” invites Beverly and Stephane Ott to talk about their family farm & sustainable farm project
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Join the library for a Zoom talk by Zoom with Beverly Ott and Stephane Ott-Hauville (mother and son team!) for the library’s second speaker event for the “Think Big, Think Green” speaker series. Family farms? Here you have a wonderful example! Beverly Ott is co-founder and director of the association ECHOPPE which has been working in West Africa for over 30 years now. (Primarily Togo and Bénin) Beginning with small loans for women in urban areas, ECHOPPE today works with small farmers stimulating projects in agro-écology: beekeeping, forestry, soil conservation and organic farming. She and her husband Olivier also began a farm in Montilliers 20 years ago raising primarily sheep and renting Bed and breakfast rooms.
Beverly and Stéphane will present a dialogue on farming today in Africa and in France including anecdotes of some of the complexities hands-on to project start up. This talk is free and open to the public. There will be a 40-minute talk followed by a question-and-answer session. Click here for Zoom link. |
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Their son Stéphane Ott-Hauville grew up around those projects and after graduating in Engineering in Centrale Marseille he spent a year volunteering in Togo on the farm program Planète Paysans. Today, while he works remotely with the Urban Institute in Washington DC, he decided to turn the family farm into a sustainable farm project to explore local solutions to the climate crisis and share ideas with its many visitors.