PORTSMOUTH — They were yukking it up inside Greenvale Vineyard’s tasting room on Sunday for the winery’s first-ever “Comedy for Conservation” event.

Proceeds from the sold-out event benefited the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District (ERICD). Ashley Gutermuth, a New Jersey-based stand-up comedian and actor, was the headliner.

“This show was billed as ‘Comedy for Conservation’ so of course, I have to recycle jokes,” Gutermuth said at the start of her set.

The show covered a range of topics, but highlighted Ashley’s love of “plogging” — a combination of jogging and picking up trash, which Ashley has been doing on her runs every day for over two years. 

“I love jogging and I do it every day, but I realized my arms weren’t doing anything, they were just along for the ride, so that’s how the plogging started,” Gutermuth said. “I’ve picked up over 800 pounds of trash in the past two and half years. That amounts to an adult-sized grizzly bear, or seven wheels of parmesan cheese.”

Gutermuth has appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, where she was chosen by Jerry Seinfeld to win the “Seinfeld Challenge.” In 2021, she won the headliner category of the U.S. Comedy Contest.

The event was one of a series of Earth Month events hosted by ERICD throughout the month of April. A seedling sale this past Saturday (also at Greenvale Vineyards) distributed almost 1,400 plants that will be planted in the area. 

“Incorporating more native plants into your home landscape helps attract pollinators that increase crop yields, as well as slow down stormwater,” said Nancy Parker Wilson, an ERICD board of directors member and site host for the sale. Two sold-out rain barrel events will take place in the coming weeks and supporters have been actively plogging all month.

To learn more about ERICD, visit www.easternriconservation.org or contact Sara Churgin at schurgin.ericd@gmail.com.